Sharing Christian biblical message using sound principles.
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Raymond Clements retweeted
A growing number of scientists agree: Our universe and life were produced by intelligent design, not unguided evolution. This site exists to document the mounting scientific evidence for nature’s intelligent design. Through this site, you can explore the evidence for intelligent design for yourself.
More at intelligentdesign.org
Raymond Clements retweeted
Official figures out this morning report that last month, the UK government borrowed £24.5 billion.
But the fineprint shows that almost £11 billion of that extra borrowing went on debt interest payments.
That's more than £400 per household on debt service costs, in September alone.
So far during this financial year, from April to September, the government's debt interest payments amount to £61 billion.
Now, this number will barely feature in UK newspapers and across our airwaves. It may be mentioned in passing in out-of-the-way business sections, or on the odd business bulletin.
But this huge debt interest bill won't register with the vast majority of our political and media class, or impact the national debate.
Let me explain why that's so wrong and so dangerous ...
£61 billion is a massive amount of money.
It's equivalent to the UK's entire annual defence budget – the money we're paying, increasingly to foreign creditors, simply to service our national debt for six months, not to pay any of it back.
£61 billion is equivalent to the money you'd raise over a year from adding a whopping 7 pence to the basic rate of income tax.
For £61 billion, you could build around 40 large, state-of-the-art hospitals, or employ more than 100 thousand extra nurses for ten years.
£61 billion would pay for free-at-the-point of use social care for everyone who needs it in the UK, for an entire year – three times over.
Again, this is the debt interest bill on Britain's spiralling national debt – now more than 3 trillion pounds – over the last six months alone.
The UK's public finances are close to meltdown – yet so many MPs and journalists continue blithely to view ever more public spending and borrowing as the answer to every problem.
Those who highlight the dangers post by our hugely precarious national accounts are dismissed as cranks, ideologues or worse.
But basic arithmetic has no ideology.
And there is nothing "progressive" or "kind" or "right-on" about driving the UK ever closer to the fiscal cliff edge, provoking a crisis that will make the "austerity" years of the 2010s feel like a picnic, a crisis in which poorer households will suffer the most.
Yes, Britain's national debt is lower than that of France. But because our borrowing has been rising so sharply, and because we're so prone to inflation, our debt service costs are much higher.
The UK is spending a disgraceful 3.6pc of GDP on public debt interest, while France spends less than 2.5pc.
Endless airtime and column inches are devoted to spurious conversations about a billion or two of additional "fiscal headroom" we may or may not have in three years' time.
And, of course, any "extra headroom" is immediately pledged in new spending – which means yet more borrowing.
These conversations are a waste of time – and, in fact, are deeply counterproductive. Three-year fiscal forecasts, even one- and two-year forecasts, routinely turn out to be askew by tens of billions of pounds.
I'm not saying we don't need fiscal rules - we do, but we need more immediate rules, which actually bite, acting as a meaningful constraint on out-of-control borrowing and spending.
Instead, political and media sages present the nation with spuriously precise discussions about fictional fiscal outcomes way into the future – using rules which are deliberately designed to kick arithmetic realities into the long grass ....
An increasingly expensive, over-bearing, out of control state is not the answer to Britain problems.
But unless we change course, it will certainly be our downfall.
Please like/share if you think what I'm saying is important – and if fiscal realities should feature more prominently in our national debate.
And for more sharp, plain-speaking economic analysis subscribe to:
"When The Facts Change - economic and politics in a fast-moving world, with Liam Halligan"
Raymond Clements retweeted
Most of my English audience doesn’t know this.
I translated parts of the Quran into Moroccan Darija, the dialect people actually speak.
One reason the Quran stays unexposed is that it is written in old Classical Arabic. Most people, even Arabic speakers, do not understand it firsthand. They wait for a sheikh to tell them what it says.
Put it in ordinary speech and the doctrines are no longer hidden. They read as banal.
For that, many Moroccan media outlets ran a smear campaign against me. I was on front pages, accused of tahrif al-Quran, corrupting the Quran.
In a Friday sermon dedicated specifically to me at the Hassan II Mosque, the main mosque in the country, the imam Laqzabri, appointed by the king, insulted me and asked Allah to destroy me.
Thousands of worshippers cursed me during the prayer.
I kept the newspapers. This one is from 2010. The headline: “The fascinating story of the Moroccan who altered the Quran.”
Raymond Clements retweeted
A new Israeli documentary is setting the record straight.
NAZA: The Real Story offers a firsthand account from senior IDF commanders and intelligence officers who were directly involved in the fight against Hamas in Gaza.
Using combat footage, declassified materials, captured intelligence, and firsthand testimony, the documentary provides important context about how the war was fought and the challenges Israeli forces faced on the battlefield.
Watch NAZA: The Real Story with English subtitles: nazadocumentary.com
Raymond Clements retweeted
The oldest Christian writing outside the New Testament (perhaps older than some of the New Testament) is the "Didache," also known as "The Teaching Of The Twelve."
The Didache shows us what Christians were being taught in the first century, in the first generation after Christ:
"Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not corrupt youth (sexually); thou shalt not commit fornication; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not use soothsaying; thou shalt not practice sorcery; thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born; thou shalt not covet the goods of thy neighbour."
Raymond Clements retweeted
Fear of going to hell wasn’t the reason I accepted Jesus Christ..
I was at my lowest point in life. I hit rock bottom and I was about to jump out of a hotel window and end my life. I was ashamed of the sinful lifestyle I was living as an Onlyfans girl.
The shame and the feeling of disgust was overwhelming. I hated my life, I hated the world and I felt like nobody loved me.
For some time, I wanted to get out of that lifestyle. But after being deceived and tricked out of my money by a man I thought loved me, I ended up facing homelessness.
I reflected on my life and all I could see was how much people had hurt me, the pain and suffering I had experienced in my life and I just wanted to escape all the feelings of sadness and shame. But I realized that it was all my fault. I was the one who made certain choices leading up to this situation.
All I could think was “just kill yourself”, “you’ve ruined your life”, “no one cares about you”, “the world is better off without you”, “you’re just a whore”, “your family is ashamed of you”, “no one will ever marry you”, “you’re homeless and will suffer even more”, “you’re stupid”, and etc.
In desperation, I cried out to God for the first time in life. I yelled at God and told Him that if He was real, He needed to show me He is real because I was ready to end it all. No one was there to stop me. I could easily jump out of the window and die without anyone intervening or knowing until it was done. I was at my breaking point, and I had accepted that this was it for me. After crying my entire heart out to God, I stood up off the floor ready to go open the window to carry out my ending.
When I stood up, I instantly became lightheaded, I walked to the bed and layed down. As soon as my back hit the mattress I felt a presence I had never felt before ever in life.
It was an overwhelming love that I can’t put into words, this presence came over my entire body and every single thought I had was silenced. I didn’t have a single thought, my mind went completely blank and all I could feel was overwhelming peace, love and it was so beautiful that I never wanted it to end. Every moment was better than the last and nothing was even happening. The best word I can use to describe it was pure bliss.
The first thought I had was “I am here with you”
I felt a tear come out of my eye.
And I knew, that that was God.
At that moment I was absolutely shocked. It’s an experience I will never forget and I will always long to be immersed in that bliss, peace and love again..
I went to sleep and the next morning, I posted on all my socials that I was quitting onlyfans and I wanted to give my life to God.
Now, I didn’t know who God was. All I knew was that I had an encounter with God in that hotel room. I was raised a spiritist, and I never went to church and I had never read the Bible in my life. I didn’t know anything about this God. All I had known was sin, darkness and the brokenness I lived in up until that moment.
After I posted that, a girl I had met one time asked if I wanted to go to church with her. This was the first time anyone had ever invited me to church. I said yes, and when I arrived I spoke to a woman there who told me about Jesus for the first time. I couldn’t believe it.
I wanted to end my life, and Jesus wanted to give me a new life.
The gospel hit me like a ton of bricks.
I was in awe of this Jesus she spoke about. I wanted to know Him because He was unlike anyone I had ever met.
After I accepted Christ, a group there huddled around me, prayed for me and I felt the same overwhelming presence again that I felt the night before. I now knew that Jesus is God.
They asked me if I wanted to get baptized right on the spot and I agreed. Then they gave me my first Bible.
I was born again as a new creation in Christ and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I used to be a victim. Now I’m more than a conqueror! Thank you Jesus!
Raymond Clements retweeted
Here’s 5 ways the Pharisees are a perfect correlation to the Papacy (and in many cases Eastern Orthodoxy).
1. Jesus said of the Pharisees that they “sit in Moses’ seat” meaning that they genuinely carried forward a kind of teaching authority connected to Moses. This is the most important parallel because, it is believed the Pope sits in the chair of Peter or EO’s stand on their apostolic succession. This single parallel means that Jesus’ treatment of them is valid when it comes to others who claim (legit or not) to have such a position in teaching authority.
2. The Pharisees claimed to have unwritten Tradition which came to them from Moses. It was preserved through time and carried binding authority upon Jews. This is identical to RC and EO claims, as they insist they are not innovating but preserving what Jesus and the apostles taught but which was not written down.
3. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for teaching their traditions which conflicted with and subverted the commands of God in Scripture. He pulled no punches here! Their additions to God’s word were rejected. Their Tradition, along with its supposed claims to merely preserve unwritten teachings from Moses, were subjected to the testing of Scripture. Scripture had authority over the Tradition. Jesus modeled for us the practicing of Sola Scriptura.
4. Their authority was acknowledged and diminished. Jesus acknowledged they sat in Moses’ seat and as much as they merely taught what Moses said they were to be obeyed. But when they added their traditions and rules of man their authority was to be ignored. They were going beyond the sphere where their authority could hold power. Why? Because the power was in Scripture and when they departed from it they went away powerless. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox authority should be treated the same way.
5. In the end, Jesus was continuing the work of God and those men could either get with it or get left behind. Some of them got with it. Nicodemus is a wonderful example of a man who was in those ranks who learned that he didn’t know as much as he thought. Jesus exposed the ignorance of Scripture that results from a mind ruled by Tradition when he said to Nicodemus, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?”
— John 3:10
The Pharisees are a solid parallel of ecclesial authorities who came after the apostles’ time.
Raymond Clements retweeted
There's a tremendous amount of difference between the the midtrib rapture and the prewrath rapture. If the Rapture is midtribulational, then we could conceivably determine the exact day of its occurrence. This is not the case in prewrath. In the prewrath scheme, the Rapture occurs at an unknown (and unknowable) time after the opening of the Sixth Seal.
It's also quite curious that anyone would say that the only thing which happens after the Sixth Seal is the sealing of the 144,000. It's blatantly obvious that immediately after the sealing of the 144,000 we see the great multitude that comes out of the Great Tribulation appearing in Heaven, so numerous that no one can count them. Their appearance clearly takes place after the Sixth Seal, and before the Seventh Seal.
The prewrath rapture also meets the necessary qualification that the Rapture initiate the Day of the Lord. Because the Rapture initiates the Day of the Lord, it will necessarily follow come subsequent to the several notable things that are prophesied to occur before the Day of the Lord.
So, no, prewrath is not imminent in the way that pretrib is imminent. The prewrath rapture only becomes imminent when the cosmic signs of the Sixth Seal are seen. This is the only kind of imminence laid out for us in the Scriptures.
Raymond Clements retweeted
They taught you snow is black.
Trump didn’t ban the press for sport. He hit a propaganda machine Bertrand Russell wrote the manual for — mass psychology so you never ask where your convictions came from.
$6 diesel isn’t “Trump broke it.” It’s thirty years of zero-growth policy.
Why Trump Banned the Press (They Taught You Snow is Black):
Raymond Clements retweeted
I keep coming back to Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians 2 about having (or, rather, not having) a love for the truth. Today, sad to say, we love being right more than we love the truth.
Are you safeguarding your soul by making sure that you have a love for the truth?
Raymond Clements retweeted
At the Keswick Convention last week, considered the most conservative evangelical conference in the UK, a mission agency conducted a large poll asking delegates whether Andy Burnham would be a good Prime Minister. 70% of delegates said he would. That is, a hard socialist, statist, pro-queer theory advocate is considered a great choice. Enough said about the condition of the biblical worldview in the conservative evangelical church in Britain.
Raymond Clements retweeted
There are many prophetic ministries that simply give people what they want in exchange for financial support. They make up prophecies, and people eat them up, buy their books, and send them money.
But we are part of the problem. Why are we so susceptible to vague prophecies that can be manipulated in almost any direction? And if those prophecies claim to expose some conspiracy, we love them all the more.
The only reason these people continue is because we keep buying it. We feast on it.
And this was the problem in Jeremiah’s day. It wasn’t merely that there were lying prophets or that the priesthood was corrupt. It was that the people preferred them to the true biblical prophet who was actually speaking the word of the Lord. It’s written right here:
“A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?”
I want you to notice something. Jeremiah mentions three things: 1) lying prophets, 2) corrupt ministers, and 3) the people loved it.
But at the beginning, he doesn’t say that horrible and shocking “things” have happened. He says a horrible and shocking “thing” has happened. That is correct in the Hebrew as well. It is singular.
It wasn't shocking that the prophets were lying. It wasn't shocking that the priests were corrupt. The shocking thing was that the people of God preferred it that way. They preferred being lied to over knowing the truth.
In The Matrix, there is a moment when one of the men who has escaped the Matrix and discovered the truth makes a deal with the enemy. He wants to go back. He wants to forget what he now knows and simply enjoy living the lie. For him, the illusion has become preferable to reality.
Sadly, that same dynamic can be seen among those who go to and fro looking for the next prophecy, the next sensational revelation, or the next testimony from someone claiming to have visited heaven.
I believe in prophecy. I believe God still speaks today. But just as in Jeremiah’s day, I also believe corrupt ministers can exploit our faith in these things for their own gain.
If only we would stop feeding them.
Raymond Clements retweeted
Should Gentile disciples keep the Noahide laws? Do any other Torah commandments apply to them? vist.ly/5dxim
Raymond Clements retweeted
Old Testament Scriptures that people commonly apply to themselves, but, in context, are about the nation of Israel:
1. "No weapon formed against you shall prosper" - Isaiah 54:17
2. "For I know the plans that I have for you... plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope." - Jeremiah 29:11
3. "He will never leave you nor forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:6
4. "Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you." - Joshua 1:9
Can you think of others?
Raymond Clements retweeted
Ten years ago today, the leader and founder of al-Qaeda's chapter in Syria, Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, showed his face to the public for the first time.
What a difference a decade can make.
Still debatable whether we've seen his TRUE face.
Raymond Clements retweeted
Did Paul reject the Torah? According to his own words, he did not.
Paul declared that faith does not nullify the Torah but rather establishes it (Rom. 3:31).
He taught that the Torah reveals what sin is (Rom. 7:7) and warned believers against persisting in sin (Rom. 6:1–2).
He called the Torah “holy and righteous and good” and said he “delights” in it (Rom. 7:12, 22), echoing the Psalms (Ps. 19:7–14; 119:77, 92, 174).
He explained that the flesh resists submitting to the Torah (Rom. 8:7), but those who walk according to the Spirit are empowered to fulfill the Torah’s righteous requirements (Rom. 8:4), in accordance with the promises of the Hebrew Prophets (Jer. 31:33; Ezek. 36:27).
Paul similarly instructed believers to “fulfill the law” through love (Rom. 13:8, 10), citing Leviticus 19:18—“love your neighbor as yourself”—and four of the Ten Commandments and “any other commandment” (Rom. 13:9).
These statements are the opposite of what we would expect from someone who believed that the Messiah had rendered the Torah irrelevant to believers.
But what about Paul’s earliest interpreters? Did they believe he rejected the Torah? Some apparently did. But there are also some very prominent voices who did not, and their testimony has been canonized in the New Testament.
For instance, Luke goes to great lengths in Acts to depict Paul as living “in observance of the law” (Acts 21:24; cf. 24:14–17; 25:8; 28:17). He even depicts Paul as participating in temple rituals for the purpose of debunking a rumor that he taught Jewish believers to forsake the Torah (Acts 21:22–26).
Peter is another of Paul’s earliest interpreters, and he warned that ignorant and unstable people were misinterpreting Paul’s letters. Peter specifically connects this mishandling of Paul’s letters to “the error of lawless people” (2 Peter 3:15–16). In other words, he warned that those who reject the Law twist Paul’s letters to support their false teachings. According to Peter, using Paul’s letters to support antinomianism is a distortion of Paul’s message.
To be sure, Paul makes seemingly negative statements about the Torah in some of his letters. However, I do not believe that Paul was schizophrenic or a hypocrite. I do not believe that Luke and Peter misunderstood or misrepresented him.
One way that many of these seemingly negative statements could be harmonized with Paul’s positive statements is to recognize that his criticism is directed toward a misuse of the Torah, not the Torah itself. Daniel Block provides a good summary:
“[Paul’s] statements must be interpreted both in the light of Moses and in the context of particular arguments. In both Romans and Galatians Paul was responding to those who insist that salvation comes by the works of the law, as represented by circumcision. To those who represent this view he replies that if one looks to the law as a way of salvation, it will lead to death. On the other hand, if one looks to the law as a guide for those already saved, it yields life (cf. Gal 5:13-25). On this matter Moses and Paul are in perfect agreement” (The Gospel according to Moses, pp. 131–132).
So again, did Paul reject the Torah? According to his own words and the testimony of Luke and Peter, he did not. However, very early on, there were people who said that he did (Acts 21:21; 2 Pet. 3:15–17), and this rumor persists today despite Paul himself explicitly denying it (Acts 21:24; 24:14–17; 25:8; 28:17).
Raymond Clements retweeted
Tired of Bible verses that feel confusing or discouraging? See what they actually meant in Jesus’ time. Simple, eye-opening explanations →
Raymond Clements retweeted
This is an official mandate of the League of Nations (the precursor to the United Nations) from 1922, confirming Britain as being responsible for taking steps toward establishing a Jewish national home in the territory then called Palestine.
“Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed… in favour of the establishment
in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people… and Whereas recognition has thereby been given to the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country… The Mandatory [that is, Britain,] shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home….”
This agreement came twenty years before the Holocaust, but at the tail end of the Russian pogroms which had caused millions of Jews to flee from Poland and throughout Eastern Europe. The Zionist goal of establishing a “Jewish national home in Palestine” was achieved through legal means, not through conquest or theft. The steps which were taken before 1948 toward the reconstituting of Israel were done according to the explicit mandate of the League of Nations.
Raymond Clements retweeted
Many Christians do not realize that there is a difference between heaven and the Millennial Kingdom that Jesus will establish on earth.
The two are often conflated incorrectly.
Raymond Clements retweeted
Many people misunderstand Christian Zionism.
Some think Christian Zionists believe Israel is a bastion of biblical righteousness.
We don't.
Some think Christian Zionists believe the Israeli government is above criticism.
We don't.
Some think Christian Zionists believe Jews are saved apart from Yeshua.
We don't.
Some think Christian Zionists believe God will never judge Israel for its secularism or sin.
We don't.
Christian Zionism is simply the belief that God has fulfilled His promise to regather the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland, just as the prophets foretold.
It also believes that a day is coming when all Israel will look upon her Messiah, receive His atonement, and be saved as a nation.
Supporting Israel is not the same as claiming Israel is perfect.
It is recognizing that God keeps His promises.