Announcements
TITHING STATEMENTS: for 2022 are available for pick-up at the table in the church hallway, before and after each service.
LIVING CROSS MEETING: A casting meeting for this year’s Living Cross presentation will take place Sunday, January 29, at 7:30pm in Baker.
SWEETHEART BANQUET: Our Annual Sweetheart Banquet is scheduled for Sunday, February 10, at Martin’s Westminster. Tickets are available to purchase through Sunday, January 29.
Childcare will be available for children infant up to 10 years old. If you need childcare, please sign up at the Welcome Desk by Wednesday, February 1. Please see Andrew Mouring if you have any questions or to purchase tickets.
From My Heart
After the evening service today, we are going to have a “new members reception.” We usually have this reception every year, but because of Covid concerns, we have not been able to have one for a couple of years now. So, if you have joined our Church of the Open Door family in 2020 through today - you are more than welcome to attend this evening’s reception. We will gather in Baker Auditorium (where the Conqueror’s Sunday School class meets). I sure hope to see you there.
The trip to the Holy Land is off to a good start! The trip is scheduled for October 27th and depending on if you take the extension to Petra, in southern Jordan, and then go further south into Saudi Arabia, we will return on November 8. If you choose to do the Israel-only portion of the trip, the flight home will be on November 4, and you will be home on the 5th. If you are interested in going, please contact the church office for more information.
There are three monotheistic religions in the world. The first is Judaism, then Christianity, and then Islam. By “monotheistic” I mean these three religions believe in “one” God. Each of these has its own eschatology (the study of future things). In Judaism, Gog and Magog lead a confederation of enemies who rise up against the nation of Israel in the last days. The war will be devastating, but the armies of God and Magog will ultimately be defeated by the King of Israel, ushering in the Messianic era (the Millennium).
Rabbi Pinchas Winston, a prolific end-times Jewish author and speaker, says the following about this coming conflict. “The war of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38) is like a final pre-Messiah clean-up, which is why Israel can endure its severity.” In Judaism, they see this coming battle and believe this time of horrible destruction will be necessary in order to get to the golden age of the 1,000-year reign of the Messiah.
Of course, Christianity believes the battle of Ezekiel 38 is where the Antichrist and his worldwide army will gather for the final showdown with the Lord Jesus as He returns to this earth to fight in the Battle of Armageddon.
And Islam also believes in this huge battle that is coming. The Islamists believe, however, that they will be the “good guys” in this battle, and that the Antichrist, whom they will believe is their Messiah, will defeat the true Messiah and will conquer the world for Allah, establishing Sharia Law over the entire earth.
Isn’t it strange how all three of these “one-God” religions all see the same scene unfold in the last days, and yet they see it through their own religion’s favorable light? The Jewish theologians see this Battle of Armageddon as so Divinely blessed by God, that the world will be shocked and will turn to Jehovah God when they witness the victory He gives His
people, Israel. They teach that just as the people were convinced to serve God when David killed Goliath, the same effect will happen when they see “little” Israel destroy the Goliath army coming to fight at Armageddon! It is time for Him to return for His own! Agreed?
Pastor Norris