The Orlando Shooting Was A Hoax?

I am just puzzled. Don't even know which blog to post this on.

It started when I read a post posted from a Facebook friend. I see so much slander on Facebook, and I had to wonder if this was slander or just plain craziness.

A couple of weeks ago, there were 49 people who were killed in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. This was one of the worst criminal activities committed in American History. People are very sad in Central Florida right now. I also know that those who have liberal political views will take advantage of this trying to persuade people to have strict gun control.

The post had a link to a page that was called 'Top 13 Holes In The Official Orlando Narrative"
https://www.intellihub.com/151961-2/

This article completely wipes out any idea that 49 people were killed by a gunman on that fateful June morning in Orlando, Florida. The article claims that all the people who were shot were actors, acting out the part of being harmed or killed. The article even said that some got up and walked after they were being carried out.

I can't wrap my head around this. But hey, didn't this happen another time? I can't believe that people don't believe that the Holocaust ever happened. Try telling that to a Holocaust survivor though. Unfortunately for that situation, there are almost no surviving people who were involved in the Holocaust today.

Here is a link listing the names of those who died at the Pulse that morning.

https://mic.com/articles/146017/names-of-victims-of-pulse-nightclub-shooting-these-are-the-people-who-died-on-sunday#.83uHNHh6P

I picked one of the names, did a search, and found info on him, and here is a tribute to him:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pulse-orlando-nightclub-shooting/victims/os-orlando-mass-shooting-juan-chevez-martinez-20160613-story.html


Here is an excerpt on the page I am describing. The article was written by someone who believes that this whole event was staged:

Orlando Narrative Hole #6: No Bodies, No Blood
"We were told that Mateen supposedly killed 50 and injured 53, yet we were not shown any real bodies or blood of the incident. We were however shown scenes of people carrying “victims” … who could suddenly walk normally again right after they thought they were off camera."

I have a friend who told me that her second cousin was one who was killed during the shooting. How can someone think this was staged when there really were people who died?

I talked with someone who works at a hospital in Orlando, and asked him about it. The hospital which took care of most of the victims was ORMC, but Florida Hospital did take care of 10 of those patients. He couldn't speak for ORMC, since he worked for Florida Hospital, but he was aware of those who were being treated at Florida Hospital.

What is wrong with this picture? This article is written to make people think that there is a conspiracy behind the shootings, and it is not necessarily brought on by Islam. Here is another excerpt from the article:
"The official Orlando narrative spun by the MSM (Mainstream Media) on behalf of the US Government is yet another brazen piece of propaganda designed to fool casual onlookers who haven’t investigated the matter fully. Now that it has been over 2 weeks since the incident and the dust has somewhat settled, it’s clear to see that Orlando was another blueprint false flag operation to spread fear, stokeIslamophobia, promote gun control and strip your rights. Orlando was the latest in a long string of false flag operations that have gained significant publicity in recent times, starting with 9/11 (the grand daddy false flag attack) and including the Aurora Batman shooting, Sandy Hook, the Boston Marathon bombing, Paris I, Paris II and San Bernardino among others. "

What is puzzling to me is, who do they think is the culprit behind all these episodes? The answer is, in their minds, the government. Everyone in the government is working together to secretly destroy our nation and take our freedoms away. I will admit that there are obviously those in the government who are doing this, but, it is not the government, per se, that is behind this crime. This is something I think we need to be aware of because if we don't, we will start giving more power and credit to our government, whether it is due to them or not.

The government is not like God. The government is an agency appointed by God to protect us. Unfortunately, our nation has turned away from God, and wants to live life apart from God. God is sovereign over the government and we are beginning to reap what we have sown. But the government is not where the problem lies. The problem lies in the hearts of wicked men and women, and sometimes these wicked people are those who are leading our country. They are trying hard to strip us of our freedoms. Many in the government are simply puppets for Satan. Those who are perverted will be used by the devil for his plans.

My point is, though, that if we want to be credible, we have to write credible articles. If we write articles that are based upon conspiracy theories, and if we present them as if they are true, how will people believe us when we try to share the Gospel with them?

If there are documented people who died, how can someone say that the event was staged? This was a very sad time for people who live in Orlando. They are suffering great loss. Yet, there is someone who wants everyone to believe that those deaths never took place. How cruel to think that people who are grieving are looked at as if their son or daughter never went through the horror that they did. 

What can we do in response to this tragedy? We can pray. We can also pray that God will reveal His truth and will use His word to minister to many who are affected by this sad situation.

Can God Save People Like Obama And Trump?

Today, I am really troubled by some posts people make on FB or Twitter, or whatever means of communicating on the Internet one has.

I am talking specifically about the observation that certain people are evil. The Bible does say that we all are evil. But what I am seeing is a trend that seems to divide up people into different groups of evil.

For instance, some would think that Trump is evil. According to the Bible, Trump is evil. But according to the Bible, I also have an evil heart, left to myself.

The question really isn't 'are we evil?'. We already know the answer to that question. Instead, it should be, have we responded to the Gospel? Have we received a new heart from God? Did we truly come to Christ?

What I notice about this response that Trump or Obama being evil, is that it seems to imply that we aren't evil. Didn't Jesus die for evil people? Or did Jesus only die for people who were a little bad?

Does Trump need God's grace? Can we extend God's grace to him? Some would say that Trump doesn't deserve God's grace. Do you and I deserve God's grace? Or did God look down on us and see how hard we were trying to reach Him and credit us with that?

The Bible says that no one seeks God on his or her own. The reason we came to Christ, if we do indeed know Him, is because He revealed Himself to us, and we saw our sins in the light of God's holiness, which resulted in our seeing a need for a Savior. We turned to Him in repentance and faith, and He saved us.

If we came to know the Lord on the basis of our sins being like mistakes, or if we really do not think that we are not that bad, then we need to be concerned. Did we really understand the Gospel message? Did we truly see the seriousness of our sin before a holy God? Do we really believe God can save those who are terrible sinners, or do we think that people have to prove themselves to God before He will accept them and give them His grace?

Think about this please. If you think that Obama is too hard for God to redeem, please consider the fact that, in God's eyes, you and I are just as hard for God to save. If Jesus died only for those who were not bad sinners, then there would be little hope for those who are in the depths of sin. Grace would not be amazing to us, and we would be hypocrites for singing 'Amazing Grace' in our church services (or anywhere else). If we are little sinners, and Jesus paid an extremely high price to pay for our sins, do we credit ourselves partly for our salvation?

One last thought: If Trump did have a genuine conversion in his life, he will bear fruit for God's glory. But remember, bearing fruit is not necessarily something we see in great proportions immediately. If he did come to Christ, we will begin to see evidence of it, over a period of time. He will not be perfect though, and will probably make decisions we won't agree with.

We look at people like Trump and Obama and doubt that they would ever be saved. Well, they will never come to Christ on their own. But is God's arm too short for Him to save wretch, wicked people like Obama or Trump (or you and I, for that matter)? Maybe if we prayed for people to come to Christ, God would save more people. But even more than that, we need to have faith and believe that God can save wicked people and stop doubting what God can do, especially in situations that look impossible to us. We need to stop believing that wicked people will never get saved.

Questions and Insights Into the Body of Christ Today - The Activation Of The Holy Spirit In Our Hearts

     I have been involved with social media for the past 6 years or so, and have learned a lot. I have collected a lot of new recipes. I have learned how to take care of animals and plants. Added up together, I may have even had access to learning as much as if I went to college (if I had the time to do all the research on my studies!) In fact, I did go to school and took college credit classes.

  Not everything has been good though, that I have learned. One thing that I constantly see is professing Christians tearing others down. It is one thing to expose false teachers when we see them. They are dangerous, and need to be exposed. But it needs to be done properly, if it is going to be effective.

    The other concerning thing I see is professing Christians who limit the power of God. It kind of ties in with the activity of those professing Christians who are on a hunt to catch the false teachers. Many of those who are exposing false teachers, also are those who seem to limit the potential for God interacting in the lives of His people today.

   While we have to expose false teachers as the opportunity presents itself, the Bible does not actually talk very much about this. We find Paul mentioning the names of a few, but the Bible does not put a strong emphasis on doing this. We are to expose the works of darkness, and furthermore, we are to bring light and truth to those in darkness.

   One thing we can do, is to spend our time teaching people how to be discerning. But instead, we are trying to do the discernment for them, ourselves. We do this by picking out a person we don't like (Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, for examples) and we tear them apart on Facebook or Twitter, thinking we are doing a service for others, when in reality, we are practicing sanctified slander. We think it is justifiable to slander people we don't agree with and we call it, 'warning' people about their evil.

   The other problem that ties in with this is that many of these people who slander other well-known Christians, is that they (not all though) are also practicing Christian Deists. What I mean by that is simply that these people are the same ones who do not believe God can speak to our hearts today. They accuse Pentecostals and Charismatics of hearing God's voice outside of the Bible. This is just not true though. When God speaks to our hearts, everything He says will be based upon His word.

   The spiritual gifts are for today, and they are not adding to Scripture when they are in use properly. But if we believe that God's power is not available today for us, or that God does not work through the gifts anymore today, (even though God always showed His power in the Old Testament and at the beginning of the church age, as well as in eternity), we are going to be powerless Christians and will end up defeated or deceived. Christians can be deceived as well as those who don't know the Lord. If we put God in a box, (a box of our own making and belief system) then when He is at work, we will miss Him because He does not fit into our ideas of who He is. We don't even know how to interpret His word, because that takes the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and that is considered, by many, to be extra Biblical.

   The way this works is that God reveals Himself to us through His Holy Spirit. The word of God comes alive in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. God opens up our hearts and minds to the Scriptures by revelation of the Holy Spirit. God quickens our dead souls and makes them come alive by the power of the Holy Spirit. He guides us into all truth by the Holy Spirit. By God's Holy Spirit, we can learn to separate the truth from the lies. We can grow in discernment. This is where the crux of the matter is, I believe.

   Bottom line is, at least from what I see, is that we are tending to replace the work of the Holy Spirit, by our own understanding (or what we think we know about) of the Scriptures. We are rendering God powerless and we are not experiencing the relationship with Him that He desires, simply because we are trying to find everything personal (if there is anything) right out of the Scriptures. Everything God is, is written in Scriptures, but you will not find your name in the Bible! The Bible tells about who God is in relation to who man is, and how man can be reconciled back to God, and how people can have a growing relationship with Him. But it is not a step by step instruction book for that with our names in it. That is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Holy Spirit activates God's word in our hearts and makes God real to us. The Holy Spirit makes the word of God alive to us. The Holy Spirit reveals the power of the Cross to us, and helps us to overcome the enemies we have (sin, the world, the devil, evil).

   We cannot just learn the word of God and think we have arrived. We put our trust in our theological understanding and knowledge, but the Holy Spirit helps us apply God's word to our hearts. If we don't apply God's word to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we are useless in the kingdom of God. When the word of God is only knowledge to us, and not applied to our hearts, we will be defeated and deceived! (Of course, if we are deceived, we will not know it because that is the nature of deception)!

"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." 

James 1:22-25 ESV

Just remember; the same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives in us! He can be trusted.

"What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;  or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:11, 12 ESV