Water Of The Word 085 Newsletter

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"Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." Rom. 1:32

I believe the "man of sin" of 2 Thess. and the evil beast of Revelation refer to our Number Two Villain. Who is the Beast of Revelation? I know there are many different ideas on the subject but I believe him to be our Number Two villain: Nero.

Why does Nero qualify as our Number Two Villain of all time? Nero had almost limitless power in the Roman Empire and he was evil to the core. It would be rare crime that he was not guilty of. He murdered his mother [and his favourite wife], he committed incest, he raped men and women, he loved torture, he [most likely] had Rome set on fire so he could rebuild it and name it after himself, he stole the property of others, he was a drunkard, and the list just goes on and on. He was so bad, even from the Roman point-of-view, that he was the first emperor to be declared an Enemy of the State by the Roman Senate.

Of course, the peak of his crimes was when he used the Christians as scapegoats for the Great Fire of Rome. He went out of his way to invent ways of torturing Christians to death which would also mock their faith. His viciousness against the Church was so great than even the bloody-thristy, hard-hearted Roman crowds began to pity these innocent victims of a madman's lust. He was the first world leader to try to stamp out Christianity. Nero's name has come down through history with horror when most of the other emperors are forgotten.

What can we learn from this? With our Number One Villain, Judas, we saw that he was not unlike us. Just small steps turned his greed to betrayal. But Nero is different. He is not like us at all...or perhaps we only want to think we are different.

Nero was so powerful [and mad] that he had no restraint. We, of course, cannot afford to be unrestrained. But, do we habour secret sins? Do we take secret pleasure when others do wrong things? No, we would never risk our own reputation on doing some of these things, but do we derive a certain amount of pleasure when others do them? Do we secretly wish it was us? If so, Scripture says we are no different from those who do commit the sins. And evil thoughts harboured will often leave to evil actions later on.

Another thing we can learn is that evil men may seek to destroy the Church generally and Christians specifically but they will not succeed. No matter how great the force that throws itself against the Church, it will only be shattered on the Rock. No one attacks the Church and succeeds long-term - not even a Nero. From this we can draw encouragement. We can also gain the strength to stand in hard times. We get to win in the end. Our sweat, blood, and tears will bear fruit on this earth before the return of Christ whether we are here to see it or whether we are watching from heaven's balconies. Let no one pressure you out of following Christ.

SPECIAL OFFER

Who will be our Number Three Villian next month? So far no one has come up with the right answer, although one gentleman sent an e-mail with no comments so I don't know if it was a guess or not. For the first 3 people who can guess the person I am going to name as Villain number 3, I will give a free course of their choice from The Joshua Club. All I can tell you is that this person has caused wide-spread damage on a number of levels and lived within the last 300 years. E-mail me your guesses, only one guess per e-mail. Also, you can tell me who you think should be the number 3 villain of all time [in any era] and I will print your ideas.

BOOK REVIEW

If you are serious about understanding freedom then you need to read Healing Our World by Dr. Mary Ruwart. Although not a Christian book it is very close to a Christian world-view. Step-by-step Dr. Ruwart strips away the mask of socialism in our society. In plain, simple language she shows why we have the problems in our economies, our environments, our schools, our banks, and our medical systems that we do. With clear examples she shows what went wrong and how to fix it. You will see why the government's attempts to fix these and other problems only makes them worse. If we are to save Western civilization from collapse in the future, books like these need to be best sellers now.

WEBSITE PICK

The first edition of Healing Our World can be downloaded free at Dr. Mary Ruwart or you can purchase a hardcopy from our Bookstore. The most up-to-date version can be purchased on Dr. Ruwart's site. The site also contains a lot of valuable information but keep in mind that, like everything else, it has to be weighed in the light of Scripture. She is dead wrong on her view of abortion, for example.

PERSONAL BLOG

Dr. Mary Ruwart makes a great case against the tragic socialism that is undermining Western Civilization. Socialism can never build, like Satan himself, it can only destroy what others have built. Yet daily Canadians, Americans, and others cry for more and more socialism. Not caring what God says they ask the government to steal from their neighbours. Unfortunately libertarianism - which is the position of Dr. Ruwart - taken to extreme would be as destructive as our current socialism. Only in Scripture can the balance be found for a truly free society. Nevertheless, I do recommend that everyone read Dr. Ruwart's book to clear their mind of foolish, demonic, socialist thinking. Don't be deceived, we are all influenced by it.

ANNOUCEMENTS

This is a new article on site: What Is The Free Market?. Important information in our declining society.

I have restructured and renamed the Justice and Civil Government page. It is now called Christian Social Theory. In restructuring it there are now a few articles which are linked to from more than one page. Christian Social Theory is going to focus on the issues of how God expects this planet to be operated. Check out this page and watch for new articles to come. Also, this year there will be a workbook course covering the basics of the Free Market, Economics, Inflation, Money Systems, Crime and Punishment, the Environment, and much more. Keep your eyes open for it!

Note: if you want to recommend this page to someone or link to it you can also use the domain names: christian-social-theory.com or christiansocialtheory.com. They all take you to the same page.

God bless you,
Glenn Davis
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