THE SNARE

    Did you learn a lot about snares while studying Revelation? I fear you were
so interested in the end times, you passed by the snares warnings without giving
them too much thought. The snares, of course, are the faults Christ found existing
in the church. Snares are the devices Satan uses to catch us and prevent us
from becoming committed Christians. There are more than 20 places in scripture
that tell us to be aware of snares.

    I'm postponing briefly more information about the New Apostolic Reformation,
because we need to understand how Satan's snares work. There are two major
methods of snare science. The first is repetition, and the second is patient
ignorance. See Ecclesiastes 9:12, "For man also does not know his time: Like
fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men
are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them."

    See also, Luke 21:34,35. When you read these two verses, I can hear you
saying to yourself, "I'm not drunken, nor do I carouse. I'm a serious person who tries
to follow God's Word." Don't forget the second part of that admonition, that warns
about cares of this life. Scripture tells us, "But take heed to yourselves, lest your
hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and
that Day come on you unexpectedly, For it will come as a snare on all those who
dwell on the face of the whole earth."

    For most of us, it's quite easy to avoid common pitfalls of sin such as overuse
of alcohol, too much food, stealing, etc. The tough part is overcoming the cares
of the world and not researching the information diligently presented to us in an
effort to persuade us to take certain action. This is true both in church and politics.

    Let's look at the use of repetition. This is a major factor in advertising and money.
Advertisers think up more and more ways to get their product name in your mind
by sight and sound. Jingles, songs, video, endorsements and samples attempt to
keep you continuously aware of their product. You may even hum some of the
jingles. It works. After a period of time you accept the message whether you use it
or not. The same could be said about church. You may even learn liturgy and
repeat it without thinking about the meaning. I've used "falling away" to try to get
you to understand the sequence of end times. A political example is "entitlements."
Politicians have bundled social security with several other programs that are entirely
different. Social security is not a gift. It is money a worker and employer pay into a
fund by law, that is placed in an account earning interest. It is money the worker
received for work, and the employer's contribution was computed as part of the
total wage. It is a retirement program for many people who can never earn enough
during working years to have a pension or IRA. Social security is paid for by the
person receiving it, not the taxpayers. It is not taxpayer money. In religion, in the
church, the snare is the promise of peace and understanding through Chrislam.

    Now let's look at patient ignorance. This is simply a matter of refusing to recognize
a problem or situation for an extended period of time. You refuse to discuss the
subject. Lawyers use this to delay cases that could cost their clients large sums of
money. Two points for their un-Christian action: expenses may prevent the claimant
from continuing the case, or the claimant and/or witnesses may die. This is carnal
action. Another example was a hot button subject just a few years ago: bringing the
troops home and getting out of the "wars". You don't hear much about this any more.
The politicians who talked about this didn't know how difficult it could and would be,
and when they did some research, they dropped the subject. We probably would have
little or no national debt if we weren't involved in this quicksand venture. Once you
venture into quicksand, it's almost impossible to get out. If politicians are so concerned
about national debt and cutting funding, why don't they talk about the trillions spent
on these unwinable conflicts? Congress never created any funding specific to this
continuing expense. The church world has so many of these patient ignorance
subjects it would take up too much space to list them. Scripture describes them and
tells us how to deal with this. How can a denomination rewrite or revise God's Word
while the congregations accept the blasphemy?

    Christians must be wary of these methods both in church and politics. This gets
sticky when the two are intertwined as they are now. We do not have thinking and
reasoning Christians today. We have people who are so concerned with making a
living and raising families they don't research the information that is drilled into them.
Political and scripture research are subjects not on their grocery list.

Both politicians and preachers are salesmen today. They are selling their agenda
to you, and raising large sums of money is the conduit. We are flooded with polls.
These snake oil salesmen want to know what you like and how you think(?). They
are especially interested in subjects that spark immediate emotions. Unfortunately,
most people are more emotional than thinkers.

    I recall the days before mega churches, and especially the short radio programs,
where fund raising was not a major issue. Later, the sales pitch was brought in, and
virtually every religious program asked you to contribute. I remember when James
Bakker of PTL had a large pile of money on the stage and picked up a scoop shovel
of money and asked viewers to send more. I also recall a Texas preacher with a
teleministry sending ushers out in the congregation for a collection, and they returned
with actual bushel baskets of money, most of it in bills. One of the major hooks in
these fund raising efforts was miracle healing. Some of the miracle healing was real,
but others were fake. Lots of Christians were taken in then, and still are, but the
preachers and politicians are using different subjects. When you examine the subjects,
you find some worthwhile, while others are as fake and misleading as in the past
example. All are designed to collect money. It is your responsibility to do the research.

    Now that you have been warned about the snares, you need to examine this new
threat in the church called New Apostolic Reformation. This is what may be called
the Evangelical Plan to bring America into a theocracy. The only theocracy that worked
was when God, personally, directed man through priests and prophets before man
desired a human king. The NAR plan will bring religious control not so far removed
from the Muslim sharia law. It features the loss of personal freedom and forced values
on people. Some of these values are outrageous and have little in common with
Christianity. In many cases, they require your response and obedience to be very
un-Christian because they cannot achieve control otherwise.

    I promised to also bring an examination of our President into these two conflicting
plans, and now is the time. He has not shown leadership, and caves in when he can
find a reason to benefit. An example was the extension of tax cuts--$129,000 a year--
to the wealthy that changed the income tax laws. Enacted under Bush, this law was
up for renewal or expiration. Obama proposed its expiration, but faced a firestorm from
Republicans. The wealthy loved that tax break which has given them $1,290,000 over
ten years. That's a lot better than social security recipients with not one cent increase
for the cost of living (where is the evidence cost of living hasn't gone up?). Allowing
that tax break to expire is NOT raising taxes. Obama caved in when he realized he
and his wife could use that extra $129,000 a year. The Republicans saw a nice
carrot could sway Obama,and they're still using it.

    How does Obama fit into the two plans? I've not read his writings, but I have read
the book reviews. Two things stand out. He attended a supposed Christian church
for many years before he became President. The preacher at the church was a wild
man, preaching racism and hatred. He clearly hated America. How could Obama sit in
all those rantings unless he had some sympathy for the teaching? I couldn't, could you?
Then, when asked about the problems between Muslims and Christians, he is reported
to have said that when the chips fell (my verb), he would have to be a Muslim. Since
becoming President, he has appointed an overly un-representative number of Muslims
to fairly high-ranking federal jobs. His wife was quoted as saying she was finally proud
to be an American after he won the presidential primary. All this is food for thought and
research. I present this information to balance the political/church subject, and for you
to do some research so you understand where all party candidates come from. This is
the work God has for you. To be obedient, YOU must do the research, and it must be
fair--not the words from the mouths of candidates or the President. If you don't do the
research before you vote, you will be around to gain membership in the falling away
organization.

    I recently heard a staunch Tea Party supporter claim the Democrats were being racist
because Rep. Maxine Waters, a black Democrat, told the Tea Party to go to hell. She
was not being racist; she was decrying the proposed cuts in spending that are a direct
hit on the income of the poor, black, white and all colors. Think of the tax breaks given
the rich. Of those making $250,000 a year, 46% pay no taxes. Of those making over a
million a year, the government gives $129,000 to each person, and this money is our
tax dollars, not theirs. These greedy millionaires have collected $1,290,000 each since
Bush and a Republican congress passed the legislation 10 years ago. People on
social security formerly received one or two percent raises each year. They have not
received one cent in a raise for two years, because the government says the cost of
living has not gone up. Now the Republicans want to cut social service programs to
offset the wealthy increases.

    A woman made a comment in the newspaper recently, saying the minimum wage
workers such as those at Burger King and McDonalds do not pay taxes and are leeches
on society's workers. This is another case of ignorance and following the false
statements by politicians. Any one who has worked for a paycheck, including Burger
King and McDonalds, knows taxes are deducted from the pay before the worker receives
the check. This woman said these people should have to pay at least one percent so
real workers didn't have to pay for these people. Now, this is an easy lie to check, because
any check stub from a worker making minimum wage will show the tax deductions. But,
the woman was only interested in repeating the political lie.

    From the above paragraph, you see how easy it is to become the bearer of lies and
misinformation to influence voters. Most people do not check the facts in these spats
of political propaganda, and will base their beliefs on everything but the truth. Although
I have tattled on both political parties, it may seem I picked on Republicans. That is
because candidates from that party have made so many outlandish claims and
statements.

    Most of the Republican candidates have bought into two very unChristian programs.
One is the debt reduction pledge most signed. This pledge was not presented by any
publicly elected official or anyone with even marginally acceptable qualifications or
credentials. The pledge requires Republicans to vote no on any proposal that may be
considered to raise taxes unless there is an accompanying proposal to pay for the
proposed tax. This pledge nearly undid the debt raising, and wasted weeks of time
while Republicans staged a phony fight and the Tea Party's few elected representatives
held over 300 million hostage.

    The other program is the New Apostolic Reformation organization. This is a sort of
shadow organization. To find out about it, you have to search some websites. Information
about them has been kept pretty much under cover. These people all loudly claim they
are Christians. This organization is anything but Christian and does not follow scripture.
Oh, they do quote verses here and there, but the whole truth is explained in the name
of their organization. NEW means something that didn't exist previously. Does that touch
your reasoning? Think Rev. 22:18,19. NOTHING new may be added, and NOTHING
may be taken away from this prophecy. Do you have trouble understanding plain
English. God does not accept ANYTHING new to scripture. If you accept this "new"
organization or vote for any of the member candidates, I won't be seeing you on the
rapture trip.

    For all you non-believers, liberals, and especially conservatives, who did not pick
up the importance of the previous paragraph, look at the middle word of the title,
APOSTOLIC. Many modern day churches have members they claim are modern
day apostles, so this is not new. The powers these new NAR members claim go
far beyond the ordinary. It depends on whom they are trying to influence. Some
candidates appear to belong because they believe the claim, while others belong
because it is a powerful group.

    Now, for the real kicker. The NAR has taken a page from part of our Lutheran
organizations, and they are REFORMING the bible and the church. Exactly what are
they doing? They are CHANGING scripture to agree with their agenda. Again, they
are violating Rev. 22:18,19. What is their agenda? They want to create a theocratic
nation, similar to the Muslim Caliphate. It would work like the Sharia Law works in
Muslim nations. Goodbye freedom. Look at some of the proposed laws by these
misled new Republican/Tea Party congressmen and recently elected state governors
and legislators. With these people in full control, God and Christ will be brushed
aside.

    Yes, I said brushed aside. Because a theocracy will be so powerful it will replace
Christ on the throne and will be elemental in the tribulation period. I know many of
you will find this writing difficult to believe, but so were the situations leading up to
the World Wars, the Berlin Wall (both up and down), the Communist take-over of
mainland China, the Twin Towers, etc. It's the difficult things to believe that result
in calamities. You will be responsible for your support of any and all candidates.
If none suit you, you'll have to pray about it. You can't say you weren't warned.

Rev. Walbear