"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" Titus 2:13

Future Hope

Dear Friends,

Greetings in this last weekend of 2008 before Christmas. Here is a little something we read recently that we thought it would be nice to share with you.

Christmas living is the best kind of Christmas giving.--Van Dyke

If you hitch your wagon to a star, be sure it is the star of Bethlehem. --Eleanor Doan

Christ did not come to do away with suffering; He did not come to explain it; He came to fill it with His presence.--Paul Claudel

The hinge of history is on the door of a Bethlehem stable.--W. S. Sacman, 19th century Methodist pastor

The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world.

Christmas is not a date. It is a state of mind.--Mary Ellen Chase

It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.--Charles Dickens

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.--W. T. Ellis

The joy of brightening others' lives, bearing each other's burdens, easing others' loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas.--W. C. Jones

Christmas is not just a day, an event to be observed and speedily forgotten; it is a spirit which should permeate every part of our lives. To believe that the spirit of Christmas does change lives and to labor for the realization of its coming to all men is the essence of our faith in Christ.--William Parks

Christmas began in the heart of God. It is complete only when it reaches the heart of man.--Religious Telescope

The light that shines from the humble manger is strong enough to lighten our way to the end of our days.--Vita-Rays

This is, of course, the time when we celebrate the birth of God's Son Jesus Christ. His birth, death, and resurrection are the most important and key pivotal events in world history. With the way the world is going today, without the promises of His soon coming return, where would our hope lie? "For thou art my hope, O Lord GOD." (Psalm 71:5) Jesus even said in Matthew 24:22 "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened".

Yet there are individuals and organizations in this world who would try to deny mankind our only real hope. One major organization recently did a mass mailing containing the following statement:

"America has a big problem at Christmas-time - a "dilemma". Christianity is given much more prominence than other faiths. Jews, some African-Americans, who celebrate Kwanzaa, and other religious minorities feel left out, as if their holiday observances are unequal to those of Christianity...

We are launching a massive campaign, educating public schools, government institutions, and town officials nationwide that such "bias" in favor of Christianity is not only unconstitutional but a grievous civil rights violation.

In order to make members of all religions welcome during the holidays we insist that "schools and governments . . . cannot favor one religion over another." Administrators should allow no more references to Jesus than to Mohammed or Confucius. Ideally, no more Christmas trees should be displayed than stars of David or Buddhist shrines. Only a sprinkling of Christmas carols can be allowed, interspersed with secular "x-mas" music...songs which ‘call on God for His blessing and contain an avowal of divine faith' are not appropriate for public school students to sing." Instead of celebrating Christ as Savior, we contend the Christmas season should be a time to celebrate all the world's diverse paths to God." (Paraphrased)

Of course Jesus said; "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6) In the book of 1John, chapter 2 verse 7 states: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son".

In the book of 1John, chapter 2 verses 15-18 says "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."

What we are witnessing with today's headlines is a passing away of this current world.

Sunday Times

An Adequate Way To Drive To Hell

December 7 2008

Jeremy Clarkson (Jeremy Clarkson is an English journalist and broadcaster who specializes in motoring.)

I was in Dublin last weekend, and had a very real sense I'd been invited to the last days of the Roman empire. As far as I could work out, everyone had a Rolls-Royce Phantom and a coat made from something that's now extinct. And then there were the women. Wow. Not that long ago every girl on the Emerald Isle had a face the colour of straw and orange hair. Now it's the other way around.

Everyone appeared to be drunk on naked hedonism. I've never seen so much just being drizzled onto so many improbable things, none of which was potted herring. It was like Barcelona but with beer. And as I careered from bar to bar all I could think was: "Jesus. Can't they see what's coming?"Ireland is tiny. Its population is smaller than New Zealand's, so how could the Irish ever have generated the cash for so many trips to the hairdressers, so many lobsters and so many Rollers? And how, now, as they become the first country in Europe to go officially into recession, can they not see the financial meteorite coming? Why are they not all at home, singing mournful songs?

It's the same story on this side of the Irish Sea, of course. We're all still plunging hither and thither, guzzling wine and wondering what preposterously expensive electronic toys the children will want to smash on Christmas morning this year. We can't see the meteorite coming either. I think mainly this is because the government is not telling us the truth. It's painting Gordon Brown as a global economic messiah and fiddling about with Vat, pretending that the coming recession will be bad. But that it can deal with it.

I don't think it can. I have spoken to a couple of pretty senior bankers in the past couple of weeks and their story is rather different. They don't refer to the looming problems as being like 1992 or even 1929. They talk about a total financial meltdown. They talk about the End of Days.

Already we are seeing household names disappearing from the high street and with them will go the suppliers whose names have only ever been visible behind the grime on motorway vans. The job losses will mount. And mount. And mount. And as they climb, the bad debt will put even more pressure on the banks until every single one of them stutters and fails.

From what I gather, Spain has had it. Along with Italy, Ireland and very possibly the UK.

I'm told that in simple terms money will cease to function as a meaningful commodity. The binary dots and dashes that the entire system will flicker and die. And without money there will be no business. No means of selling goods. No means of transporting them. No means of making them in the first place even. That's why another friend of mine has recently sold his London house and bought a house in the country . . . with a kitchen garden.

These, as I see them, are the facts. Planet Earth thought it had £10. But it turns out we had only £2. Which means everyone must lose 80% of their wealth. And that's going to be a problem if you were living on the breadline beforehand.

There will be absolute chaos: riots, lynchings, starvation. It'll be a world without power or fuel, and with no fuel there's no way the modern agricultural system can be maintained. Which means there will be no food either. You might like to stop and think about that for a while.

I believe the government knows this is a distinct possibility and that it might happen next year, and there is absolutely nothing it can do to stop "it happening". But instead of telling us straight, it calls the crisis the "credit crunch" to make it sound like a breakfast cereal.

I can't say I blame it, really. If an enormous meteorite was heading our way and the authorities knew it couldn't be stopped or diverted, why bother telling anyone? Best to let us soldier on in the dark until it all goes dark for real.

(He then goes on to review the new Vauxhall Insignia 2.8 V6. Although Jeremy generally writes and reviews cars and his article was written with a bit of humor, nevertheless there is a lot of truth in this article. ) Below are a few more timely headlines:

Associated Press

Bush considering "orderly" auto bankruptcy

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is seriously considering "orderly" bankruptcy as a way of dealing with the desperately ailing U.S. auto industry.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said Thursday, "There's an orderly way to do bankruptcies that provides for more of a soft landing. I think that's what we would be talking about."

President George W. Bush, asked about an auto rescue plan during an appearance before a private group, said he hadn't decided what he would do.

But he, like Perino, spoke of the idea of bankruptcies organized by the federal government as a possible way to go.

"Under normal circumstances, no question bankruptcy court is the best way to work through credit and debt and restructuring," he said. "These aren't normal circumstances. That's the problem."

Guardian.co.uk

27,000 Woolies staff face axe

Zoe Wood

December 17 2008

The high street downturn today claimed its biggest casualty with Woolworths' '27,000 shopworkers told they face redundancy in the new year.

Talks with potential white knights continue but administrators Deloitte have told staff they should prepare themselves for the worst.

'Some people have been with the company for 10, 20 years and it really means something to them as individuals,' said one head office worker. Woolworths has been around for 99 years so it is almost a heritage brand.'

A first tranche of 200 stores will close on 27 December followed by further outlets on 30 December and 2 January. The final stores will open their doors to the public for the last time on 5 January, bringing down the curtain on nearly a century's trading.

As Satan said to God in Job 2:4-5 "And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. " In other words when everything around you is crumbling and your own life and well being are threatened what will people do.

Will they turn to Jesus and the salvation He offers or to the soon coming antichrist, the Beast, and his solution, the mark! "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. (Rev. 13:16-17)

Jesus said "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.(John 6:27) There is no unemployment in God's Kingdom. In fact Jesus is always looking for laborers to help fulfill His great commission.(Matthew 9:38 and Mark 16:15)

If you have not already received Jesus as your Saviour you can do so right now. Just pray this simple prayer. Dear Jesus, I thank you for coming to earth that first Christmas day, and that you died for my sins. I acknowledge I need your forgiveness for the mistakes I have made, I ask you to come into my heart and to give me eternal life so that I also can have that hope for the future when you return soon to take me up in the rapture. In Jesus name I pray!

If you would like to write us with any question you may have we invite you to do so, or if you would like to contact one of our Christian mystics for a message from beyond please feel free to contact us.

God bless and keep you with hope for the future. "The outlook may not always be good, but the uplook is great!"

Almondtree Productions

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)