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cpdevos · 4 years

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5/24/19 Faith over Fear Pt. 4

Good day all!

Hope you're all having an amazing and blessed week!

Today, I'll be going through the fourth part of the faith over fear series: faith over the fear of hardships and suffering. Although suffering can encapsulate a multitude of things, I will mainly be focusing on the persecution from others because of the faith, and the spiritual warfare that occurs when we join the army of the Lord. Before you read, I'd recommend praying over some of those fears and asking God to reveal the various ways that you have deliberately tried to stay comfortable in avoiding persecution. Also, this song is fire, and it has fire in the title so it's extra fire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmNc0L7Ac5c

Ask for a humble heart to receive what God has to speak to you through these verses:

2 Timothy 3:12 New King James Version (NKJV)12 Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

2 Timothy 4:8 New King James Version (NKJV)

8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

2 Timothy 4:17 New King James Version (NKJV)17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and

that

all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Y'all, I just want to say, I'm so excited to write this devo just because personally I was so encouraged when I meditated on these verses. Keep in mind that when Paul writes this, these are written scriptures inspired by God. So even to this day 2000 years later, the Holy Spirit can speak truth into your life from His Holy word.

Don't get it twisted. Following Jesus WILL bring you many trials and difficulties in life. The Bible is very clear that there is no way around this. I've been watching many Youtube pastors recently and unfortunately, many just outright lie about the teachings of the Bible and it just gets me so upset. Jesus said it Himself in Luke 9:23 that those who want to follow Him must also take up their cross. And Paul says here in 2 Timothy 3:12 that those who desire to live godly in Jesus WILL suffer persecution. I want to make sure that it is understood for those reading this devo that God doesn't promise wealth and health. There aren't tricks to have "enough faith" so that God would take away the sufferings or trials of various kinds. Instead, we need to learn a few things in order to weather the storms that will come and find the true joy that God offers.

Since there isn't much to analyze in the passage unlike the previous devos I've written, I'm going to dive straight into some steps that the Bible tells us on how we can overcome the fear of hardship.

Accepting Jesus into your life. I know starting with this may be very simple and basic for many of you believers, but in order for wanting to cultivate and produce any fruit from the Holy Spirit, it is most imperative that you have this step in your life first. If you haven't accepted Jesus as your saviour (and repented of your sins to God), regardless of whether you have heard of the gospel or not, I would really challenge you to take a step of faith in exploring what that means in your life. And please, email me or any of the devo writers (or mature followers of Christ) on what that looks like or at least why we believe it is the best thing in the world. But back to what I wanted to say, the verse above ( 2 Timothy 3:12) very clearly states that those who suffer, suffer because they would be pursuing a godly life IN Christ Jesus. This isn't to say those who aren't pursuing Jesus won't suffer (in fact they will face eternal punishment if there is no repentance by the time they see God) but for our purposes of having faith over this type of fear, we need to acknowledge why we're in this position and identify the spiritual war ahead of us. Like I mentioned earlier, Jesus says "take up your cross!" To mirror and be like Jesus really means that we're one, identifying Him as the ruler of our life, and two, consciously following Him with a total and complete obedience. We won't be perfect, but we are asked to offer our lives as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1) so that it may be acceptable to God. Like Jesus, we're going to be mocked, laughed at, and going against what is popular in the world. So, we need to ask ourselves, "Gain the whole world or lose our souls?" If you were to ask me, Jesus is worth giving up all my life and infinitely more. He deserves all our glory and praise and it starts with our willingness to surrender our lives to Him.

Spiritual Armor of God. Pastor Plato preached on this last week about Ephesians 6:10-18 and for those who were there, I hope you were paying attention because I'm not going through all of it again. But in short, to have faith over the fear of suffering, we need to be equipped to fight it. This may include reading God's word daily and meditating on the powerful truths found in it, or praying constantly, never ceasing to petition for the Lord to help you with various struggles in life. Whatever that may be, we NEED to be connected to the source. Plug into His goodness and dive into His grace. The better and higher your understanding of God is and the more that you are humbly committing to His ways, the easier it will be for the fruits of the Spirit to grow in you. That belt of truth will be easy to put on when you find it from God's word, and the shoes of the gospel of peace will be tightly bound on your feet when you are faithfully proclaiming the true testimony of Jesus Christ found in scripture. Be prepared. Be equipped through God's power and strength through the discipline of seeking Him, and dying to your old self daily. As you will find in the later steps, pushing yourself to have these disciplines will produce in you something far greater than the riches of the world.

The testing of your faith produces perseverance. Now that we've identified who we're serving and how to best ready ourselves against spiritual evils, there is encouragement found in James 1 about the persecution we will be facing. He says, count it ALL joy when trials of various kinds come your way because the testing of your faith produces patience/perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in NOTHING. The more that I've studied and read the Bible, I've been seeing a common theme about this term "longsuffering". Francis Chan said in a sermon that we often want to use our faith to battle the hardships in our life. Although in a sense, the armor of God may be used for attack, it is actually intended more importantly for defense. We defend our faith and endure the trials in life, rather than trying to fight our way through it. And this is a good thing! Jesus endured persecution as the Son of God yet stayed firm in the truth of who He was. Many of His disciples including Paul lived lives of struggle and pain for Christ's sake. This is to be expected but Jesus preaches in Luke 6:22-23 that those who are rejected and excluded for the sake of the Son of Man would have a reward in heaven far greater than their present struggles. So, whether you're facing a physical or spiritual trial in life, be steadfast in God, continue to pursue righteousness and faith (2 Timothy 2:22) so that you may be worthy of the kingdom of God. Point is: faith produces perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope (Romans 5:3-4), so ENDURE!

No comfort like the Father's. Finally, I want to end by encouraging you all to find rest in the God almighty. I could literally go on forever talking about and praising His greatness and loving character (we gon do that in heaven haha) because we have the assurance and promise that He will be with us till the end of time. The last two verses I put up there (2 Timothy 4:8,17) are a reflection of that. Paul writes that all (not just himself) that have truly loved God and accepted the appearing of His son, eagerly enduring and persevering the trials thrown at them, will one day receive a crown of righteousness in heaven given by the righteous Judge. This should be immensely exciting for us to know that the hardships we face now are nothing compared to what we will receive later. Fight the good fight of faith, hold onto the love God provides and the truth of His word, and one day we can run home towards the arms of our savior, resting eternally in His presence and beautiful glory. Paul goes on later in the chapter to write about being completely alone and abandoned by everyone, not even having a friend that would stand with him in his first defense. Yet, he found solace in God's strength. Verse 17 says "the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me..." I don't know why I was just so encouraged by this but when I read it, God was really speaking this truth to me that I should have no fear knowing that the creator stands beside me through the fire. I mean, that's crazy!! The God who was there at the beginning of time and who will be there at the end is strengthening us. HE is the source of our strength. The Great I Am is not only watching over us but protecting us! The King of all Kings, who needed no counsel nor any man to feel fulfilled, willingly died on the cross for us so that we could be justified and redeemed. That same God and that Savior is with us now! Lean and press into His power and grace. Pray and ask earnestly for God to shine His glory through your weaknesses. When we have this attitude and true understanding of who stands in our defense, we can properly testify of His greatness and overwhelming love to the world. Take heart, He has overcome the world! (John 16:33)

I'm sorry these devos have been long, but I'll be wrapping up the series soon. I'm praying that you can take something away from these verses, even if it's something small to remind you of the mighty God we serve! Now, run back into whatever fiery trials you're facing and persevere with faith!

Pray to close,

Moses Koo

#momo #moses

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britishdeepstate · 6 years

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Black Propaganda Rages on as the Ottoman Empire Begins to Lose Ground

In the beginning of this chapter, it was explained how the British deep state chose the Ottoman Empire and the Turks as its primary targets beginning in the mid 19th century. During those years, the British deep state started a systematic propaganda war against the Ottoman Empire. Vilifying the Ottoman army with imaginary tales of violence, and insulting Sultan Abdul Hamid II with disrespectful names like the ‘Red Sultan‘ were among the methods employed.

However, the longest and fiercest propaganda targeted the Turkish people, the main body of constituents and the rulers of the Ottoman Empire. The leading British figures of the time sought to prepare the background for their goal of colonializing the Turkish people and therefore called the Turkish nation ‘backward, barbarous and primitive’ as a part of their plan.

According to Cyrus Hamlin, the founder and first president of the American Robert College in Istanbul, the anti-Turkish propaganda of the British began prior to WWI. A ‘propaganda bureau’ was set up in 1870 in London, with the duty of spreading news against Turkey in other countries and managing the relevant propaganda.(Salahi Sonyel, The Great War and The Tragedy of Anatolia, TTK, 2000, pp.170-182)

This propaganda was the first step toward the British deep state’s dream of ‘a divided Ottoman Empire’.

William Ewart Gladstone, who served as the British Prime Minister from 1880 to 1885, was among the inventors of this policy. Gladstone uttered numerous insults against the Turkish nation and sought to use those insults to support his imperialist projects that involved aspirations such as to drive the Turks back to the steppes of Central Asia for the continuation of their civilization. Once he said that the so-called evil actions of Turks can be eliminated only when they are eliminated. (Süleyman Kocabaş, Hindistan Yolu ve Petrol Uğruna Yapılanlar: Türkiye ve İngiltere [All that was done for the Route to India and Oil], Istanbul: Vatan Publication, 1985, p. 231) (The Noble Turkish nation is above such words)

Ahmet İhsan, a member of the Committee of Union and Progress, also mentioned Gladstone’s approach in his memoir:

Notorious Gladstone held up a Qur’an in British parliament and said that as long as Turks walk with this Book, they are harmful to civilization.(Ahmet İhsan, Matbuat Hatıralarım [My Press Memoirs], Istanbul: A. İhsan Publishing, 1931, p. 57) (The Qur’an is above such remarks)

In addition to such outrageous remarks, Gladstone didn’t refrain from producing propaganda material against the Turks. In his book Bulgarian Horrors and the Question of the East that was widely disseminated in London, he actively sought to provoke the British people against the Turkish nation. For instance, he said, “Let the Turks now carry away their abuses in the only possible manner, namely by carrying off themselves.”

The anti-Turkish propaganda was so intense, even the Conservative government that had previously been amicable to Turkey, changed its stance. André Maurois writes in his book A History of England:

“Gladstone kindled British opinion against them [the Turks] by pamphleteering and speech-making…“(Andre Maurois, A History of England, Translated from the French by Hamish Miles, Thirty Bedford Square, London, p. 457)

Gladstone remained in power between 1880-1885 as Prime Minister and, during his term of office, the anti-Turkish sentiment spread immensely. The media, in particular, carried out an intense indoctrination with regards to the Turkish and Ottoman identities. Fake news of ‘Turkish barbarity‘ and ‘Turkish violence‘ spread like wildfire. Sir Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett, the British MP who observed the Turkish-Greek war of 1897 at the battlefield, mentions the hostile policy that the British suddenly unleashed against the Turks in his memoirs:

The most violent denunciations and the most vituperative epithets were indulged in during the ten months after December, 1894, and were based upon journalistic fictions… These stories either had no existence whatever in reality, or rested on the most slender basis of fact.

By atrocity-mongering and sham sentiment, I mean two things: first, the charge against a nation or power of atrocities which do not exist… For nine months the Sultan, the Turkish Government, the Turkish army, and the Turkish people were vilified and attacked in England for alleged atrocities… which never had any existence at all. … These horrible atrocities never existed; the stories were absolute fiction…

While the British tried to show Ottomans as a barbarous, backward, primitive and violent society using absurd lies, they were also giving the subliminal message that the Ottoman Empire had to be brought down. Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith said in a speech that the Ottoman Empire was on its deathbed and maintained that the sick man would not revive again.(Ragıp Üner, “Tarihte Türk-İngiliz İlişkileri” [Turkish-British Relations in History], Hayat Tarih Mecmuası, vol. 2, p. 9, 1975, p. 26)

This entire propaganda operation was carried out in tandem with the British deep state’s operation to dismember the Ottoman Empire. In 1898, the British Prime Minister Lord Salisbury sent a telegram to the British ambassador at St. Petersburg suggesting a ‘partition of preponderance’ between Russia and Britain in the Ottoman Empire confirming the existence of this strategy.

Underneath this relentless anti-Ottoman propaganda of the British deep state lay the glaring truth that they promoted enmity towards the Turks. The leaders of the British deep state, as a reflection of their imperialist way of thinking, sought to justify their actions by labeling the nations they targeted as “backward, primitive and barbarous”. A letter written by British Sir Edward Grey on August 11, 1908, following the declaration of the Second Constitutional Period, reflects this sentiment clearly:

What has happened already in Turkey is so marvellous that I suppose it is not impossible that she will establish a Constitution, but it may well be that the habit of vicious and corrupt government will be too strong for reform and that animosities of race … will again produce violence and disorder.(SOURCE)

Lord Salisbury wrote the following about the Turks in a confidential document of 1911:

Even Mr. Buxton seems to recognize the absurdity of a nation in this state of barbarism claiming to be treated as a European State and to abolish capitulations and so on.(The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, Volume 111, 1911, p. 292 )

The British deep state wanted faster results, and stepped up the psychological pressure on the Ottoman Empire and the Turks and extended the scale of its black propaganda against them. For that they turned to the US administration and the US media for support, and rubbed their anti-Turkish sentiment on to the American people. The following words of US senator Henry Cabot Lodge clearly display this hatred and fanaticism:

In the days of their success [the Ottoman Turks] were a scourge to Europe and Christendom. In the long centuries of their decay they have been the pest and the curse of Europe, the source of innumerable wars, the executioners in countless massacres…Such a… government as this is a curse to modern civilization. … My earnest hope is that among the results of the war… one of the great results I pray for will be the final extinction of the Turkish Empire in Europe.(John M. Vander Lippe, “The Other Treaty of Lausanne: The American Public and Official Debate on Turkish-American Relations”, The Turkish Yearbook of International Relations, vol. 23, 1993)

When Colonel House suggested Henry Morgenthau as ambassador to Turkey in 1912, the US President Woodrow Wilson said, “There ain’t going to be no Turkey,” to which House replied, “Then let him go look for it“.

Wilson revealed the prevalent anti-Turkish stance in the USA during those days when he said that what the American public will approve would be the defense of Armenians or any other nations against Turks.(Doğan Avcıoğlu, Milli Kurtuluş Tarihi [National Independence History], 4th ed., Istanbul: Tekin Publications, 1996, p. 285)

French historian Albert Sorel, on the other hand, said the following:

This is the policy some civilizations pursue in the East. They snatch parts of Turkish, Indian, Chinese lands, seize their wealth, kill them and then tell them ‘don’t get angry, we’re not fighting with you. We are your best friends.’ (SOURCE)

Ahmed Rıza in his book La Crise de L’Islâm (The Crisis of Islam) explained the black propaganda of the British deep state against the Turks in the words of a Westerner:

Enduring the presence of Turks in Europe, who maintain their classic barbarous and tyrannical character, is a stain for the European civilization; Turks must be kicked out of Europe. (tatürk High Institution of Language and History, Turkish Institution of History Publications, pp. 122-126) (The Noble Turkish nation is above such words)

Let’s remember at this point that prior to WWI, the British deep state had heavily focused on the United States and easily manipulated it into alignment with its goals. The Turkophobia that developed in the United States during this time was due to the efforts of the British deep state and the relevant media propaganda in the country.

However, there were many sensible people at the time who refused to give into this racist trend in Britain and Europe, and could appreciate the Turkish people. For instance, the British officer Frederick Gustavus Burnaby who travelled to Turkey at the end of 19th century is one of those rare personalities. His descriptions in his book On Horseback Through Asia Minor give an unbiased and accurate account of the Ottoman Empire at the time. At a time when Turkophobia was at its peak in Britain, this British officer was in Anatolia and explained what he saw:

People in this country who abuse the Turkish nation, and accuse them of every vice under the sun, would do well to leave off writing pamphlets and travel a little in Anatolia… many writers who call themselves Christians might well take a lesson from the Turks in Asia Minor. (Frederick Burnaby, On Horseback Through Asia Minor, Cosimo, Inc., 2007, p. 81)

Likewise, many unbiased foreign war correspondents who had been in Turkey during the Balkan wars, wrote the truth about the Turks:

Since there are in Europe armchair philosophers who write that the Turkish soldiers are looters and murderers, it is our duty to protest with energy. We have always found the Turks showing great endurance and restraint; we have never witnessed any act of cruelty. (Pierre Loti, Turkey in agony, Translated from the French of Pierre Loti, Published for the Ottoman Committee, London p. 66)

Black Propaganda Rages on as the Ottoman Empire Begins to Lose Ground BritishDeepState.net

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