MORIEL MINISTRIES - By Jacob Prasch - May 24, 2010

A number of websites reacted unfavorably to an advertised conference scheduled to take place at the Calvary Chapel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA where Skip Heitzig is pastor. Moriel also posted these reports after being contacted by various Calvary Chapel pastors and people, mainly in the USA. Mr. Sweet is by no scriptural standard a Christian, but by every reasonable standard a New Age mystic and a pure Gnostic. It was therefore with some delight we are informed from the USA that the event has been canceled.

We believe pastor Heitzig made the correct decision. It may be that he and his staff were not fully informed about the nature of Mr. Sweet's heretical beliefs at the time he agreed to host the conference. We are aware that multiple Calvary Chapel pastors contacted Pastor Heitzig expressing their own concerns, but in this regard, we cannot comment further. Plainly, however, it was not Skip Heitzig who was the villain. Mr. Sweet on the other hand propounds views nothing short of apostate, which many would hold to be of demonic inspiration. Our own fear of course is that such an event featuring Mr. Sweet would have damaged the reputation of Calvary Chapel.

In light of these events we have removed our own report and we urge the various other ministries and websites to remove their own as well. None of us is immune from mistakes and in today's world, they can be very easy to make. We applaud Skip Heitzig's actions and salute the godly integrity of his decision to cancel the event. We trust other websites and electronic newsletters will drop the matter quickly and consider it a closed affair.

Jacob Prasch

MORIEL MINISTRIES - By Danny Isom - April 21, 2010

Nebuchadnezzar the king to all the peoples, nations, and men of every language that live in all the earth: "May your peace abound! It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me.

"How great are His signs
And how mighty are His wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom
And His dominion is from generation to generation. (Daniel 4:1-3)

To have a Gentile write in Scripture about his coming to faith in the One True God is an attention grabber in and of itself, but whereas so many people throughout Scripture are documented as remaining unchanged spiritually after witnessing a sign or wonder, here we have someone who actually testifies to being changed by them. But if you just flopped open your Bible and began reading Daniel 4 you would probably think Nebuchadnezzar is referring to the signs and wonders connected to the events in this chapter and miss the fact that these are actually the culmination of a series of signs and wonders. Yes, Nebuchadnezzar witnessed some very amazing signs and wonders recorded previously in Daniel 2 and 3 but the fact is that he did not allow them to change his heart. No, having missed the greater application of what God was teaching through those other signs and wonders, Nebuchadnezzar's testimony here is that after one final round of signs and wonders he finally "gets it".

In Daniel 2 we are provided with the account of how God provided an amazing dream to Nebuchadnezzar but no one could explain its meaning to the king except through Daniel. What was the king's public confession after witnessing these signs and wonders?

The king answered Daniel and said, "Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery." (Daniel 2:47)

It is an acknowledgment of sorts but far from a ringing endorsement of recognizing how much the king of the earth needed the King of Heaven.

And what was Nebuchadnezzar's public confession after all the brouhaha in Daniel 3 after witnessing the signs and wonders associated with the persecution of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego for their faith in the One True God?

Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the king's command, and yielded up their bodies so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way." (Daniel 3:28-29)

He appears to be drawing a little closer, but this is still far from a personal confession of a changed heart. In effect, Nebuchadnezzar has personally witnessed signs and wonders which he himself acknowledges could come from no one but the God of Israel, but spiritually he continues life unchanged. So now, God is going to provide signs and wonders yet again for a third time, but these are going to belong to a very different category than those previously experienced.

Having repeatedly failed to learn the right spiritual lesson so as to be changed from the heart by signs and wonders which demonstrated God's sovereignty and character benignly, now the king of the earth is going to experience signs and wonders that express the King of Heaven's judgment. He could have learned from signs and wonders that witnessed to the truth, now instead he will learn from signs and wonders rendering judgment for rejecting that truth.

Yes, Nebuchadnezzar's remarkable testimony provided to us in Daniel 4 is actually a lesson in how God uses signs and wonders in general and how they work on the heart specifically. God repeatedly reached out with a "carrot", so to speak, but repeated rejection of His peaceful gestures ultimately warranted an extreme "big stick" in an attempt to save even the most stubborn heart. God's first choice was not to put Nebuchadnezzar through seven years of punishment, it was the only option left because of the repeated choices Nebuchadnezzar made to reject every previous approach of the One True God. Nebuchadnezzar did not really believe the signs and wonders provided as an outreach, but he certainly believed after the signs and wonders of judgment.

To my mind this is the overall principle behind Jesus' own teaching that when it comes to the End Times, signs and wonders will increase with frequency and intensity analogous to increasing birth pangs leading to a birth.

"But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. (Matthew 24:8)

The "silence" or gap between each wave is meant to provide the time to learn and properly apply the greater spiritual lesson from the last round of events. But if we study all the signs and wonders predicted to come, it becomes clear that they begin to transition from things that testify to our need for a personal relationship with Christ, to judgment for consistently refusing to heed those calls, to ultimately culminating in the expression of God's wrath - destruction for steadfastly refusing to submit. The purpose of signs and wonders is not to provide God with the opportunity to show off His power, but to make an ever-greater appeal to change from the heart.

When I was a teenager our local pastor became terminally ill and yet he was miraculously cured, a medically verifiable fact by his doctors and the local hospital. Did we start having healing crusades? Did we start laying hands on everyone who was sick? Did he become the object of veneration for having experienced a miracle? No, he came back empowered with the Word of God like never before in his life and initiated revival preaching repentance and a return to God's Word and ways with unbelievable results. To my knowledge, no one else in the course of his ministry was ever healed of anything or experienced anything I would call "supernatural". There was a greater message attached to the sign that turned out to be far more important than the sign itself.

It would be easy at this point to launch into a tirade against the many individuals, groups, and even movements who place an undue priority on seeking signs and wonders. But equally amiss, in my opinion, are those of us placing an undue emphasis on the signs and wonders of these Last Days.

Over the past 62 years we have received enough fulfillment of specific prophecies in God's Word to shake us permanently out of ever living comfortable in this old world. We have already witnessed enough to irrevocably change us from the heart and to induce us to heed the greater lesson of these things, which calls us into an ever-greater personal relationship with Christ. We should actually be more motivated in sharing the Gospel and working while it is still day than ever before. But what do you suppose is going to happen to those who, like Nebuchadnezzar, acknowledge God is working but go on living unchanged? Sooner or later, it will escalate to judgment, and eventually to the very wrath of God.

I would submit that this is already the case. I believe what we are experiencing in the Western world is not simply evil running amok or strictly the eternal battle between Satan and the Church, but much is judgment from God for a Church that has willfully chosen to no longer be salt and light to the world. To be sure the End Times will play out exactly according to God's will, but I am not convinced every single thing we have been witnessing in recent years is specifically an End Times event predicted in the Bible. There is also the reasonable possibility that in addition to those things there is an increase in frequency and intensity because, like Nebuchadnezzar, so many are simply not paying attention, not learning the right lesson, not repenting and returning in earnest. I have no doubt that many of the things we are witnessing testify of His imminent return; I equally believe many of the things we are witnessing are the result of hardened, unrepentant hearts who are risking having to learn things the hard way.

I am not praying that I will see any new signs and wonders. I am praying I will see more hearts yield to the greater message behind the signs and wonders we have already seen.

In His Love,

Servant@WalkWithTheWord.org

A Reader Writes:

Jacob,

Bro, I'm preparing a five part teaching on The United States in Prophecy. I'd like some input from you on something. What do you think about Ezek. 38:13 and the reference to the young lions of Tarshish (KJV)? Have you done a study on this as to whether or not it is a possible reference to the United States? Just wondering. God bless.

Jacob Responds:

There are those who speculate that this is a prophetic prediction of the British Isles. The evidence is nebulous but not impossible. However, it would mean that there is a third Tarshish in addition to the ones existing, probably around the Rock of Gibraltar as in the book of Jonah and also the Horn of East Africa as in the days of Solomon. There is simply no proof. No proof does not mean it cannot possibly be true but that it cannot be proven to be true.

They then draw the conclusion that since countries like the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand came mainly from Britain that it applies to them. This is of course more speculation.

When Scripture speaks of nations in prophecy it defines them geographically, anthropologically, or both. (Greek: basilea "kingdom" or ethnon = "race" with the Hebrew equivalents of Malchut and Goy respectively).

There is simply no documented or archaeological evidence that a third Tarshish existed in the British Isles.

A further problem is that those most pressing this view are the British-Israelite cults (known as Armstrongists in the USA). On the basis of the evidence that exists, I would never teach that the USA could be said to be the "young lions of Tarshish" (although it may be a possibility in some estimations). The most I would say is, "There are some who have speculated that..." I would also say that the USA is never specifically mentioned in Scripture nor is Britain. Its existence was not even known (except by God) to people in Israel.

What may be a better case is Spain. One scriptural instance of Tarshish was almost certainly located on the opposite side of the Mediterranean near Gibraltar (which the ancient Greek mariners knew as 'The Pillars of Hercules"). Since one Tarshish was in Spain and since Spain is twice named in the New Testament (Paul wrote of his desire to visit Spain in Romans 15:24, 28), a stronger scriptural case could be made for Spain.

Furthermore, regarding this argument of this pertaining to nations coming from the British Isles, we must remember that geographically the USA was more Spanish than British or French or Dutch. Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and major areas of Oregon, Utah, and Nevada as well as Puerto Rico were all Spanish. Later France temporarily ceded Louisiana to Spain before the Louisiana Purchase by Jefferson from Napoleon. Americans of Hispanic descent already outnumber those of British (English, Welsh, and Scottish descent); it is only when we add those of Irish descent that Americans descended from the British Isles are the largest ethnic group of Americans. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Phoenix, Albuquerque, San Diego, San Juan, and Las Vegas all have huge Hispanic-American populations and Spanish is the second language in the USA. But again, we cannot be dogmatic about these things or over-speculate concerning them. It is fine to consider the evidence, but the evidence is so inconclusive it should not be the object of focus in a major way.

What Scripture states about the Middle East and Europe in eschatological prophecy however, does not require any speculation. It is therefore the focus on which we should mainly concentrate.

That is about all I can tell you.

In Jesus,

Jacob