Spiritual Growth

December 2, 2024
Bonhoeffer, German Christians, Confessing Church, Eric Metaxas, Angel Studios
Published by Emily Tomko at December 2, 2024
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Bonhoeffer: the film, the book, and the challenge to the church

In 1932, Hitler gave his personal assurance to prominent pastor and veteran WWI Naval Chaplain Martin Niemöller that he would keep his hands off the church and never institute a pogrom against the Jews. But in order to conform German culture to his schemes, Hitler needed to compromise the church. Thus accelerated the church struggle, in which German Christians abandoned whole segments of the bible that did not fit Nazi objectives, and the Confessing Church found itself increasingly at odds with the culture around it.
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November 22, 2024
Judgment of God, Great White Throne, Final Judgment, Day of the Lord
Published by Emily Tomko at November 22, 2024
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“This was your life!” The Great White Throne and the Judgment Seat of Christ

"We have all eternity to celebrate the victories, but only a few hours before sundown to win them," said Amy Carmichael. Every member of the human race will appear before one of two thrones at the end of the age. In this final post on the Judgments of God, we reflect on this important reality that is sometimes shadowy in the mind of the Christian.
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November 10, 2024
sword of the Spirit, spoken word, confession, profession, judge righteously
Published by Emily Tomko at November 10, 2024
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Judging: a forbidden sin or the Christian’s divine duty?

So you see for the Christian it is not enough simply to live in quiet integrity. Fervent, aggressive prayer against the enemy in the knowledge of how Christ through Calvary whipped him and his nobles for our sake - that is, foremost that we might see Christ's kingdom manifest here on earth (Matthew 6:10) and destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), is the daily duty of every serious disciple of Christ. But even that is not enough. Scripture makes it clear that the Lord requires His faithful ones to open their mouths in the public square and speak truth.
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November 4, 2024
Justice and mercy; G K Chesterton, Planned Parenthood abortion
Published by Emily Tomko at November 4, 2024
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Justice vs. Charity: when the church and government switch roles

"It is for the king to ensure justice, and the saint to ensure charity." G. K. Chesterton Scripture designates the role of government as an institution designed to punish wickedness. Over the last one hundred years in the United States, the government has usurped the role of the church, offering "charitable benefits" in the form of many social programs. Robbing Peter to pay Paul secures the vote of Paul, it's been observed. Moreover, government "benevolence" ensures that the bloated monstrosity of bureaucracy grows unchecked, thereby acquiring ever more power and less accountability with its citizens. The government increasingly is revealing itself hostile to the nation's Christian roots, and slack on crime. Meanwhile, the trend of modern evangelicalism has become "Justice."
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October 29, 2024
The judgments of God, postmodernism in American evangelical church
Published by Emily Tomko at October 29, 2024
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Five ways the church gets God’s judgments wrong

  Napoleon stands out as perhaps the ultimate example of a tyrant who, when brought to justice, has the opportunity to reflect on life and eternity. Napoleon in exile on St. Helena observed of Christ, “What a conqueror! A conqueror who…wins to Himself not only one nation, but the whole human race. What a marvel! He attaches to Himself the human soul with all its energies. And how? By a miracle which surpasses all others. He claims the love of men – that is to say, the most difficult thing in the world to obtain…..He claims it; He requires it absolutely and undividedly….Alexander, Caesar, Hannibal, Lous X!V strove in vain to secure this…He kindles the flame of a love which causes a man’s self love to die.”
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October 11, 2024
Published by Emily Tomko at October 11, 2024
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God’s justice is a mercy: why we pray for His intervention

The satirist and statesman Jonathan Swift compared laws to cobwebs, "which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through." Lawfare and two-tiered justice are not new.     God's justice, which is His will, is not automatic. When Christ instructed His disciples to pray "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done" (Matthew 6:10) He was giving them a directive to overthrow the works of the ruler of this world (2 Cor. 4:4) and displace them with His own righteous edicts.
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September 25, 2024
East Wind, wind of the Lord, God''s judgments, Red Sea parting
Published by Emily Tomko at September 25, 2024
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Praying for God’s judgments?

Many Christians and secularists alike tend to think of God’s judgments as undesirable or even cruel. Some suppose that judgment is synonymous with hail, lightening, earthquakes, and floods. The scriptural pattern of God’s judgments often involved His people being invaded by foreigners who did not share their customs, took over their resources, and oppressed them. We cannot ignore that Peter told the church that “Judgment begins with the household of faith” (1 Peter 4:17).
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August 12, 2024
Revelation Beast, Beast System, Mark of the Beast, Great Dragon, United Nations, WEF
Published by Emily Tomko at August 12, 2024
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The Blueprint for the Beast System in Revelation

The manipulation by these globalist billionaires of currency, agriculture, medicine, proxy wars, and mass migration is all leading to that which appears eerily similar to what Jesus and His apostles foretold, along with the events John saw unfolding in Revelation. Technology now affords the ability to produce these on a mass scale:
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July 22, 2024
Published by Emily Tomko at July 22, 2024
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Praying for your nation without double-mindedness

"It is for the king to ensure justice, and the saint to ensure charity," said G. K. Chesterton famously. In other words, the role of the government is to uphold civil law. The role of the church is to administer Christ's benevolence. Over the last century, government has usurped the role of the church and offered handouts - not because it has any inherent godliness, but because it seeks power over the one receiving its "benefits." In the last couple decades, governments around the world have taken this to a new extreme, abdicating their role to uphold lawfulness altogether and offering the money of hard-working citizens to criminal vagrants. This is heavily due to the spirit of lawlessness at work through globalists in the United Nations and WEF and their corrupt influence over national and even local authorities. Even God-fearing Christians are greatly confused about their own role and the government's in this matter, and as a result, cannot think about this in a single-minded manner. Thus they cannot pray effectively.
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June 26, 2024
cynicism, idealism and fatalism
Published by Emily Tomko at June 26, 2024
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Hell’s trifecta trap: Cynicism, Idealism, and Fatalism

Without fervent prayer, God's will is largely held back from what He purposes to do in the earth. As Chip Brogden stated, "“If God will do whatever He wishes, regardless of whether we pray or not, then we do not need to pray at all, and the Lord’s instructions on praying for the Kingdom and His will are superfluous. . .Apart from Him, we can do nothing. Apart from us, He will do nothing.”
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