IN GOD WE TRUST
“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.” (Psm.91:1-2)
David had been a fugitive from Saul who was seeking to kill him. God had hidden him in secret places and protected him. Unbelievers in power often persecuted God’s servants. God had arranged true prophets to be hidden in caves when Israel worshiped idols (1 Kn. 18:4). God had “reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kn.19:18) “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (Rom. 11:1-5) Today there are many Messianic Jews in Israel that are hidden in God’s secret places. In the End Time God will prepare secret places for the Remnant Church during the Great Tribulation (Rev. 12:13-17). God will be our refuge and our fortress. In God we trust.
“Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler [And] from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth [shall be your] shield and buckler.” (Psm.91:3-4)
In times of distress, danger, and oppression, believers can look to God for support and help. In times of crisis, in combat, and when confronting death, even non-believers will turn to God for help. There is a saying “there are no atheists in the foxholes.” And time and again, believers find deliverance in ample measure. Conversely, the scriptures warn against reliance on one's own power, allies, or wealth to prevail in the fight when the true source of power is available through faith. The passages include expressions of confidence in divine deliverance.
The “perilous pestilence” can refer to the crisis that Americans are facing today. Our Lord Jesus Christ has prophesied: “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Mt. 24:7-8)
A pestilence is an epidemic of a highly contagious or infectious disease such as bubonic plague. Modern science seems to have eliminated the fear of plague, but today we are on the verge of a deadly scourge that could kill more people than have ever been killed in all the pestilences yet known to man. It is the plague of AIDS. And right now the terrorists use anthrax as a biological weapon to cause a pestilence against America.
Anthrax is an invisible and odorless substance that is extremely lethal. An anthrax aerosol that is sprayed in the air and carried by the wind would have the potential to travel many kilometers before disseminating. In 1970, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee estimated that casualties following the theoretical aircraft release of 50 kilograms of anthrax over a developed urban population of 5 million would be about 250,000, of whom 100,000 would probably die without treatment. A 1993 report by the US Congressional Office of Technology Assessment estimated that between 130,000 and 3 million deaths could follow the aerosolized release of 100 kilograms of anthrax spores upwind of Washington DC, a mortality comparable to that expected from a nuclear weapon. An economic model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested a cost of $26.2 billion per 100,000 persons exposed.
God has promised to deliver His children from pestilences such as anthrax attacks. Have no fear.
“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, [Nor] of the arrow [that] flies by day, [Nor] of the pestilence [that] walks in darkness, [Nor] of the destruction [that] lays waste at noonday.” (Psm.91:5-6)
The arrows that were used in combat during the time of King David could refer to the guided missiles of our time. On September 11, 2001 the terrorists hijacked commercial jumbo jetliners and used them as guided missiles to crash into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington D.C. God wants to assure His children they will not be harmed by the terrorists.
“A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; [But] it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.” Because you have made the LORD, [who is] my refuge, [Even] the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In [their] hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I [will be] with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation." (Psm. 91:7)
A MIRACLE TESTIMONY FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER
(Special thanks to Jim Bramlett from Maranatha Gospel Mission for this post)
Dear friends:
Today I received from a friend the incredible story of survival from the World Trade Center. It is from Sujo & Mini John, a young Christian, Indian couple who live in New Jersey and who worked at the World Trade Center in New York City. My detective-like nature could not resist trying to contact them, which I did, and I was able to speak with both of them, confirming the story, plus discovering more information. Sujo is astonished at how his story has gone around the world because he mailed it to only 20 e-mail friends. It started spreading on the Internet. Somehow the 700 Club got the story and sent a camera crew up there to interview him. Some of his e-mail addressees are in Calcutta, India and he has been told that even Muslims are copying the story and passing it out to others on the streets! One Muslim called him and said, "Your God is powerful to do what he did." He believes the perpetrators must be found and punished, but he has a burden to reach the Muslims with the love of Christ. He is so excited that God is using his experience as a witness. People were saved when he shared this the other day at his Assemblies of God church and he believes many more will be saved. Mini worked at Morgan Stanley and Sujo worked at Network Plus. Mini is pregnant. Please pray for both of them as they no longer have jobs. However, they are too busy praising the Lord for being alive and being thankful to worry about it.
God bless you,
Jim
Dear friends and family,
"Rejoice for the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord." Even though darkness surrounds us and death looms all over us, we have peace in the sweet name of the Lord Jesus. It's a miracle that I am alive this moment. Most of you know that we used to work in the World Trade Center in Manhattan (I on the 81st floor of WTC One and my wife Mini on 71st floor of WTC Two). I reached my work at 7:30 in the morning. I just faxed out some documents and was returning to my desk when I heard this real loud explosion. Our building shook and tilted...screams went out all over our floor. The first aircraft had hit the floor above us. Soon debris from the aircraft flew into our office and everything started going up in flames. Everyone held calm as we started making our way to the stairway. That moment my heart sank, as I had no clue if the plane had hit our tower or the one my wife was working in. She is about to enter the building as she starts work at 9:00 in the morning.
We were all being evacuated through the stairway. My cell phone would not work. So as I came down, I entered an office on the 53rd floor and tried to make some calls. The only number I could reach was my cousin's wife who lived in Queens, NY. I told her that I was fine and that I am coming down the stairs. But I was really worried about my wife, and then I continued my run down the stairs. While we were going down there were hundreds of firemen and policemen going up to rescue people trapped. These brave men would never make it to their homes. They escorted us through the exit of World Trade 2 and I had just reached the revolving door of the building that I heard a loud explosion and the whole building collapsed. The 110-story building collapsed and I was at the door of the building with boulders and mortar flying over us. A few of us huddled to one end of the building and God gave me this strength that saw me through. I started pleading the blood of Jesus and told the people around me that all of us were going to die and if there was anyone who did not know Christ to call upon His name. So everyone started crying, "Jesus!" When you are near death, BELIEVE ME, some people are so ready to accept our Jesus. By then the whole building had fallen and we were in the debris. Not a single boulder or any material fell on me. I found myself in three feet of white soot. I got up...by then there was silence. I could see dead bodies all over. God directed me to a guy on the ground that had a searchlight on. I picked him up and said only Jesus can save us and that we had to live.
When he was up I saw this jacket which had "FBI" written on it. We held our hands and started walking through the rubble. That flashlight saved our lives. We could not see anything for miles. It was like a snow blizzard with the flying concrete and ash. The Holy Spirit then showed me a light flashing on top of an ambulance so I told this FBI guy that light was where we had to head to because that ambulance was on the street. We somehow made to the ambulance, which was hit badly by the flying mortar, but God had kept the flashing light on just for me. From there on it was quite easy making our way out. But the feeling that gripped was that my wife Mini who was to be on WTC 2. All kinds of images went through my mind.
Crowds started running from all over downtown to safer places far away from the skyscrapers. We ran, walked for an hour and throughout the whole time from 8:45 am when the first plane landed, I was trying to use my cell phone to no vain. At 12:00 pm my cell phone rang. It was Mini and when she heard my voice she realized that I was alive. This is another miracle of how I received this call, as no one was able to make or receive calls. Mini had not made it to the Tower. Her train reached the site 5 minutes after the first crash so she did not make it to the Towers. She was hysterical on the streets thinking I was dead and she could see people jumping out of the building. She reached 39th street in Manhattan near the Ferry and somehow I reached there. We looked back and could see our buildings both in ashes. All that remained was the smoke going up. I cannot explain the sense of relief that we had when we saw each other. When that explosion took place and the building was crumbling over me I could see the pictures of my wife, my parents, grandmother loved ones flash through my mind and now what a relief that we are alive.
God is so good. I have no scratch on my body. Let me tell you something friends...God knows the count of our hair and our God never sleeps or slumbers. His coming is so soon. Live each day as if He is coming today.
Appreciate all your prayers. My heart goes out for thousands who died in our building, many of them people we knew.
God Bless you all.
Sujo & Mini
There are also testimonies connected to the terrorist attacks involving people I know:
· The wife of the pastor I know works at the Pentagon. Her office was in the very same section that was hit! The plane stopped ONE WALL SHORT of where she was sitting. Fortunately she didn't experience serious injuries.
· The father of a friend of mine here in Virginia also works at the Pentagon. He had planned on getting cash at an ATM machine where the plane later hit. But he changed his mind at the last minute. That decision saved his life.
· Two ladies I know who live and work at the Calvary Pentecostal Campground in Ashland, Virginia took a trip to New York and had planned on touring the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11th. It was a good thing they didn't go up there earlier in the day.
· On the day of "prayer and remembrance" (September 14th), I felt led to call a friend of mine who lives in the Philadelphia area. She told me that a couple we both know was visiting her and they had ministered at a New York church the Sunday before. This couple originally had planned on staying in New York two more days to do some sightseeing. But the wife felt a strong prompting to get out of New York sooner.
Praise the Living God for divine protection!
(End of Testimony by Jim Bramlett from Maranatha Gospel Mission for this post)
Do not trust in the money that has
the inscription “In God we trust”
How did the U.S. Money have the inscription “In God we trust”?
From the US Treasury's website:
From Treasury Department records it appears that the first suggestion that God be recognized on U.S. coinage can be traced to a letter addressed to the Secretary of Treasury from a minister in 1861. An Act of Congress, approved on April 11, 1864, authorized the coinage of two-cent coins upon which the motto first appeared.
The motto was omitted from the new gold coins issued in 1907, causing a storm of public criticism. As a result, legislation passed in May 1908 made "In God We Trust" mandatory on all coins on which it had previously appeared.
Legislation approved July 11, 1955, made the appearance of "In God We Trust" mandatory on all coins and paper currency of the United States. By Act of July 30, 1956, "In God We Trust" became the national motto of the United States.
Several years ago, the appearance of "In God We Trust" on our money was challenged in the federal courts. The challenge was rejected by the lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review the case.
How did the U.S. Money lost its Value in Recent Years
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt. 6:19-21)
Here our Lord Jesus Christ gives a threefold reason for not having a lifestyle based on materialism. When Jesus spoke about destruction by the moth He referred to clothes that could be eaten by the moths. Some people have an uncontrollable greed to accumulate clothes, hats, shoes and filling their wardrobes. Imelda Marcos was known to have a fabulous wardrobe that included 3,000 pairs of shoes. When her husband Ferdinand Marcos was deposed of the presidency in the Philippines in 1986 she could not take any of her possessions from the presidential palace.
The rust that destroys can be applied to all things that are made from metal. Titanic, the 882-foot luxury liner boasted a double-bottomed hull and sixteen watertight compartments and was considered virtually unsinkable. It also contained seven grand staircases, two immense glass and wrought iron skylights, a Turkish bath, a library, a squash court, a swimming pool, parlor suites with private promenades that cost $4,350, and twenty lifeboats. At 46,328 gross tons, the Titanic was the largest ship afloat. It carried some of the richest, most powerful industrialists of her day. Together, their personal fortunes were worth $600 million in 1912! The Titanic sank when it struck an iceberg at 11:40 P.M. on 14 April 1912. Dr. Robert Ballard, an oceanographer and marine biologist, found the remains of the Titanic in 1985. The once proud luxury liner now lay 12,500 feet straight down on the seabed where the pressure is about 6500 pounds per square inch. All the metal parts of the Titanic have rusted. If you can access the internet just visit this web site Click Here and look at the rust on the Titanic. It is just like what our Lord Jesus Christ has said. Do not seek after things that rust.
Many American Christians are not greedy for material things. They just want to save some money for their retirement. It is normal for them to carry life insurance policies in case some unforeseen circumstances would cause their families to have financial setbacks. One of the most popular ways to save money in the Nineties was to invest in the mutual funds. Let us look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average Chart. In the first week of May 2001 it had a value of about 11,337.740 points. On September 11 the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. When the market opened on September 17 DJIA had dropped to 8,235.810 points. On that one day alone DJIA had dropped a record of 684.810 points.
Now let us look at the NASDAQ chart. On March 10, 2000 it had reached the peak at 5,048,620 points. Since then it has continued to drop and on September 11, 2001 the day of the terrorist attack it dropped to 1,579.550 points. There is a drop of 3,469.070 or 68,71% in one and half years.
The stock market reopened on September 17 for the first time since the previous week's terrorist attacks. Stocks plunged despite the Federal Reserve's cut in interest rates. At 1:40 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 654 points and the Nasdaq was down 101 points. The DOW had the largest drop in one day in the history of the stock market. Both the Dow Jones Industrial average and the Nasdaq have since recovered from their drops on that tragic day. But the lesson that we must learn is not to put our faith and trust in money, wealth, riches, stocks, bonds, and material things, but only in the One True God in Jesus Christ. Christians must only store up for
themselves Treasures in Heaven
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Having shown what we must not do in respect of treasures here on earth, and knowing his inclination to be such that man will needs have something for his treasure, our Lord Jesus Christ here makes known what treasure we may store up for ourselves. But how shall we store up treasures in heaven for we cannot go there ourselves? Here is how we can store up treasures in heaven.
1. Through our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:4-6)
2. Our Lord Jesus Christ promised the seventy evangelists: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Lk. 10:19-20) When we preach the Gospel of the Kingdom we will not only triumph over the devil but our names are also written in heaven.
3. God has promised to bless us with heavenly blessings when we give offerings willfully, cheerfully and sparingly. "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Cor. 9:6-8)
May God bless You
A sermon based on this article was preached by Paul Wong
to a congregation in Houston, Texas on October 27, 2001
It was republished on this website on July 16, 2012
For comments please write first to: arkwriterpw@gmail.com
David had been a fugitive from Saul who was seeking to kill him. God had hidden him in secret places and protected him. Unbelievers in power often persecuted God’s servants. God had arranged true prophets to be hidden in caves when Israel worshiped idols (1 Kn. 18:4). God had “reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” (1 Kn.19:18) “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (Rom. 11:1-5) Today there are many Messianic Jews in Israel that are hidden in God’s secret places. In the End Time God will prepare secret places for the Remnant Church during the Great Tribulation (Rev. 12:13-17). God will be our refuge and our fortress. In God we trust.
“Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler [And] from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth [shall be your] shield and buckler.” (Psm.91:3-4)
In times of distress, danger, and oppression, believers can look to God for support and help. In times of crisis, in combat, and when confronting death, even non-believers will turn to God for help. There is a saying “there are no atheists in the foxholes.” And time and again, believers find deliverance in ample measure. Conversely, the scriptures warn against reliance on one's own power, allies, or wealth to prevail in the fight when the true source of power is available through faith. The passages include expressions of confidence in divine deliverance.
The “perilous pestilence” can refer to the crisis that Americans are facing today. Our Lord Jesus Christ has prophesied: “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” (Mt. 24:7-8)
A pestilence is an epidemic of a highly contagious or infectious disease such as bubonic plague. Modern science seems to have eliminated the fear of plague, but today we are on the verge of a deadly scourge that could kill more people than have ever been killed in all the pestilences yet known to man. It is the plague of AIDS. And right now the terrorists use anthrax as a biological weapon to cause a pestilence against America.
Anthrax is an invisible and odorless substance that is extremely lethal. An anthrax aerosol that is sprayed in the air and carried by the wind would have the potential to travel many kilometers before disseminating. In 1970, a World Health Organization (WHO) expert committee estimated that casualties following the theoretical aircraft release of 50 kilograms of anthrax over a developed urban population of 5 million would be about 250,000, of whom 100,000 would probably die without treatment. A 1993 report by the US Congressional Office of Technology Assessment estimated that between 130,000 and 3 million deaths could follow the aerosolized release of 100 kilograms of anthrax spores upwind of Washington DC, a mortality comparable to that expected from a nuclear weapon. An economic model developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggested a cost of $26.2 billion per 100,000 persons exposed.
God has promised to deliver His children from pestilences such as anthrax attacks. Have no fear.
“You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, [Nor] of the arrow [that] flies by day, [Nor] of the pestilence [that] walks in darkness, [Nor] of the destruction [that] lays waste at noonday.” (Psm.91:5-6)
The arrows that were used in combat during the time of King David could refer to the guided missiles of our time. On September 11, 2001 the terrorists hijacked commercial jumbo jetliners and used them as guided missiles to crash into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building in Washington D.C. God wants to assure His children they will not be harmed by the terrorists.
“A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; [But] it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.” Because you have made the LORD, [who is] my refuge, [Even] the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In [their] hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I [will be] with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation." (Psm. 91:7)
A MIRACLE TESTIMONY FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER
(Special thanks to Jim Bramlett from Maranatha Gospel Mission for this post)
Dear friends:
Today I received from a friend the incredible story of survival from the World Trade Center. It is from Sujo & Mini John, a young Christian, Indian couple who live in New Jersey and who worked at the World Trade Center in New York City. My detective-like nature could not resist trying to contact them, which I did, and I was able to speak with both of them, confirming the story, plus discovering more information. Sujo is astonished at how his story has gone around the world because he mailed it to only 20 e-mail friends. It started spreading on the Internet. Somehow the 700 Club got the story and sent a camera crew up there to interview him. Some of his e-mail addressees are in Calcutta, India and he has been told that even Muslims are copying the story and passing it out to others on the streets! One Muslim called him and said, "Your God is powerful to do what he did." He believes the perpetrators must be found and punished, but he has a burden to reach the Muslims with the love of Christ. He is so excited that God is using his experience as a witness. People were saved when he shared this the other day at his Assemblies of God church and he believes many more will be saved. Mini worked at Morgan Stanley and Sujo worked at Network Plus. Mini is pregnant. Please pray for both of them as they no longer have jobs. However, they are too busy praising the Lord for being alive and being thankful to worry about it.
God bless you,
Jim
Dear friends and family,
"Rejoice for the steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord." Even though darkness surrounds us and death looms all over us, we have peace in the sweet name of the Lord Jesus. It's a miracle that I am alive this moment. Most of you know that we used to work in the World Trade Center in Manhattan (I on the 81st floor of WTC One and my wife Mini on 71st floor of WTC Two). I reached my work at 7:30 in the morning. I just faxed out some documents and was returning to my desk when I heard this real loud explosion. Our building shook and tilted...screams went out all over our floor. The first aircraft had hit the floor above us. Soon debris from the aircraft flew into our office and everything started going up in flames. Everyone held calm as we started making our way to the stairway. That moment my heart sank, as I had no clue if the plane had hit our tower or the one my wife was working in. She is about to enter the building as she starts work at 9:00 in the morning.
We were all being evacuated through the stairway. My cell phone would not work. So as I came down, I entered an office on the 53rd floor and tried to make some calls. The only number I could reach was my cousin's wife who lived in Queens, NY. I told her that I was fine and that I am coming down the stairs. But I was really worried about my wife, and then I continued my run down the stairs. While we were going down there were hundreds of firemen and policemen going up to rescue people trapped. These brave men would never make it to their homes. They escorted us through the exit of World Trade 2 and I had just reached the revolving door of the building that I heard a loud explosion and the whole building collapsed. The 110-story building collapsed and I was at the door of the building with boulders and mortar flying over us. A few of us huddled to one end of the building and God gave me this strength that saw me through. I started pleading the blood of Jesus and told the people around me that all of us were going to die and if there was anyone who did not know Christ to call upon His name. So everyone started crying, "Jesus!" When you are near death, BELIEVE ME, some people are so ready to accept our Jesus. By then the whole building had fallen and we were in the debris. Not a single boulder or any material fell on me. I found myself in three feet of white soot. I got up...by then there was silence. I could see dead bodies all over. God directed me to a guy on the ground that had a searchlight on. I picked him up and said only Jesus can save us and that we had to live.
When he was up I saw this jacket which had "FBI" written on it. We held our hands and started walking through the rubble. That flashlight saved our lives. We could not see anything for miles. It was like a snow blizzard with the flying concrete and ash. The Holy Spirit then showed me a light flashing on top of an ambulance so I told this FBI guy that light was where we had to head to because that ambulance was on the street. We somehow made to the ambulance, which was hit badly by the flying mortar, but God had kept the flashing light on just for me. From there on it was quite easy making our way out. But the feeling that gripped was that my wife Mini who was to be on WTC 2. All kinds of images went through my mind.
Crowds started running from all over downtown to safer places far away from the skyscrapers. We ran, walked for an hour and throughout the whole time from 8:45 am when the first plane landed, I was trying to use my cell phone to no vain. At 12:00 pm my cell phone rang. It was Mini and when she heard my voice she realized that I was alive. This is another miracle of how I received this call, as no one was able to make or receive calls. Mini had not made it to the Tower. Her train reached the site 5 minutes after the first crash so she did not make it to the Towers. She was hysterical on the streets thinking I was dead and she could see people jumping out of the building. She reached 39th street in Manhattan near the Ferry and somehow I reached there. We looked back and could see our buildings both in ashes. All that remained was the smoke going up. I cannot explain the sense of relief that we had when we saw each other. When that explosion took place and the building was crumbling over me I could see the pictures of my wife, my parents, grandmother loved ones flash through my mind and now what a relief that we are alive.
God is so good. I have no scratch on my body. Let me tell you something friends...God knows the count of our hair and our God never sleeps or slumbers. His coming is so soon. Live each day as if He is coming today.
Appreciate all your prayers. My heart goes out for thousands who died in our building, many of them people we knew.
God Bless you all.
Sujo & Mini
There are also testimonies connected to the terrorist attacks involving people I know:
· The wife of the pastor I know works at the Pentagon. Her office was in the very same section that was hit! The plane stopped ONE WALL SHORT of where she was sitting. Fortunately she didn't experience serious injuries.
· The father of a friend of mine here in Virginia also works at the Pentagon. He had planned on getting cash at an ATM machine where the plane later hit. But he changed his mind at the last minute. That decision saved his life.
· Two ladies I know who live and work at the Calvary Pentecostal Campground in Ashland, Virginia took a trip to New York and had planned on touring the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11th. It was a good thing they didn't go up there earlier in the day.
· On the day of "prayer and remembrance" (September 14th), I felt led to call a friend of mine who lives in the Philadelphia area. She told me that a couple we both know was visiting her and they had ministered at a New York church the Sunday before. This couple originally had planned on staying in New York two more days to do some sightseeing. But the wife felt a strong prompting to get out of New York sooner.
Praise the Living God for divine protection!
(End of Testimony by Jim Bramlett from Maranatha Gospel Mission for this post)
Do not trust in the money that has
the inscription “In God we trust”
How did the U.S. Money have the inscription “In God we trust”?
From the US Treasury's website:
From Treasury Department records it appears that the first suggestion that God be recognized on U.S. coinage can be traced to a letter addressed to the Secretary of Treasury from a minister in 1861. An Act of Congress, approved on April 11, 1864, authorized the coinage of two-cent coins upon which the motto first appeared.
The motto was omitted from the new gold coins issued in 1907, causing a storm of public criticism. As a result, legislation passed in May 1908 made "In God We Trust" mandatory on all coins on which it had previously appeared.
Legislation approved July 11, 1955, made the appearance of "In God We Trust" mandatory on all coins and paper currency of the United States. By Act of July 30, 1956, "In God We Trust" became the national motto of the United States.
Several years ago, the appearance of "In God We Trust" on our money was challenged in the federal courts. The challenge was rejected by the lower federal courts, and the Supreme Court of the United States declined to review the case.
How did the U.S. Money lost its Value in Recent Years
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt. 6:19-21)
Here our Lord Jesus Christ gives a threefold reason for not having a lifestyle based on materialism. When Jesus spoke about destruction by the moth He referred to clothes that could be eaten by the moths. Some people have an uncontrollable greed to accumulate clothes, hats, shoes and filling their wardrobes. Imelda Marcos was known to have a fabulous wardrobe that included 3,000 pairs of shoes. When her husband Ferdinand Marcos was deposed of the presidency in the Philippines in 1986 she could not take any of her possessions from the presidential palace.
The rust that destroys can be applied to all things that are made from metal. Titanic, the 882-foot luxury liner boasted a double-bottomed hull and sixteen watertight compartments and was considered virtually unsinkable. It also contained seven grand staircases, two immense glass and wrought iron skylights, a Turkish bath, a library, a squash court, a swimming pool, parlor suites with private promenades that cost $4,350, and twenty lifeboats. At 46,328 gross tons, the Titanic was the largest ship afloat. It carried some of the richest, most powerful industrialists of her day. Together, their personal fortunes were worth $600 million in 1912! The Titanic sank when it struck an iceberg at 11:40 P.M. on 14 April 1912. Dr. Robert Ballard, an oceanographer and marine biologist, found the remains of the Titanic in 1985. The once proud luxury liner now lay 12,500 feet straight down on the seabed where the pressure is about 6500 pounds per square inch. All the metal parts of the Titanic have rusted. If you can access the internet just visit this web site Click Here and look at the rust on the Titanic. It is just like what our Lord Jesus Christ has said. Do not seek after things that rust.
Many American Christians are not greedy for material things. They just want to save some money for their retirement. It is normal for them to carry life insurance policies in case some unforeseen circumstances would cause their families to have financial setbacks. One of the most popular ways to save money in the Nineties was to invest in the mutual funds. Let us look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average Chart. In the first week of May 2001 it had a value of about 11,337.740 points. On September 11 the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. When the market opened on September 17 DJIA had dropped to 8,235.810 points. On that one day alone DJIA had dropped a record of 684.810 points.
Now let us look at the NASDAQ chart. On March 10, 2000 it had reached the peak at 5,048,620 points. Since then it has continued to drop and on September 11, 2001 the day of the terrorist attack it dropped to 1,579.550 points. There is a drop of 3,469.070 or 68,71% in one and half years.
The stock market reopened on September 17 for the first time since the previous week's terrorist attacks. Stocks plunged despite the Federal Reserve's cut in interest rates. At 1:40 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 654 points and the Nasdaq was down 101 points. The DOW had the largest drop in one day in the history of the stock market. Both the Dow Jones Industrial average and the Nasdaq have since recovered from their drops on that tragic day. But the lesson that we must learn is not to put our faith and trust in money, wealth, riches, stocks, bonds, and material things, but only in the One True God in Jesus Christ. Christians must only store up for
themselves Treasures in Heaven
“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Having shown what we must not do in respect of treasures here on earth, and knowing his inclination to be such that man will needs have something for his treasure, our Lord Jesus Christ here makes known what treasure we may store up for ourselves. But how shall we store up treasures in heaven for we cannot go there ourselves? Here is how we can store up treasures in heaven.
1. Through our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:4-6)
2. Our Lord Jesus Christ promised the seventy evangelists: “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Lk. 10:19-20) When we preach the Gospel of the Kingdom we will not only triumph over the devil but our names are also written in heaven.
3. God has promised to bless us with heavenly blessings when we give offerings willfully, cheerfully and sparingly. "But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Cor. 9:6-8)
May God bless You
A sermon based on this article was preached by Paul Wong
to a congregation in Houston, Texas on October 27, 2001
It was republished on this website on July 16, 2012
For comments please write first to: arkwriterpw@gmail.com
Paul Wong.