Welcome on this New Years Eve 2005 as we engage on our eleventh annual Prophecy Update. I remember when I got saved some 23 years ago now, that Bible prophecy was on the forefront, everyone was talking about it. But today my friends, times they are a changing. Listen to what Jan Markell wrote back on February 12, 2005 in an article called, “Haven’t You Heard – Your “Purpose” Isn’t Prophecy?” We are told:
I am deeply concerned and grieved that some of our nation’s most prominent Christian leaders just can’t get it right when it comes to issues of Bible prophecy or Israel. Equally troubling is the fact that eschatology has vanished from our pulpits some 15 – 20 years ago because it is “divisive,” “confusing,” and might drive away today’s “seekers.” I cannot figure out why the message that “the King is coming” doesn’t fit in today’s “feel good” theology.
The Bible says in II Thessalonians that there will be a great “falling away” from sound doctrine. Perhaps that explains the surge of the trendy theology called “Preterism” which teaches that all or most of prophecy is history. It took place in 70 AD with the destruction of Jerusalem. The tribulation was the persecution of the saints. Nero was the antichrist most likely, though he died in 68 AD by suicide.
There are Full and Partial Preterists. A Partial Preterist would consider a Full Preterist heretical, for a Full Preterist teaches that Jesus even returned in 70 AD, although only “in spirit.” But all Preterists believe there is no future antichrist, Tribulation, Millennium, or role for national Israel present or future. They do believe in the Second Coming of Christ and the resurrection of believers, but not in a Rapture.
The theology came along in the 1600’s but wasn’t made trendy until 20th Century teachers like Ken Gentry, R. C. Sproul, Gary DeMar, and “The Bible Answerman” Hank Hanegraaff started heralding it. Hanegraaff clearly never met a Dispensationalist he didn’t address in a demeaning manner.
He uses his powerful international radio microphone to denounce Tim Lahaye, Hal Lindsey, and many more, on a weekly basis.
Hank or his guests weekly plead the cause of the persecuted and “occupied” Palestinians with distorted Scripture and historical revisionism, yet his books and radio show make him one of the most powerful men in the forefront of Christianity.
But even more respected is Rick Warren, the man trying to give us all “purpose” while at the same time telling his readers to stay away from Bible prophecy. While I know that many have grown from the whole “purpose-driven phenomenon,” I am grieved that this powerful Christian leaders says on pages 285-286 of his book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” that Jesus told his disciples, “The details of my return are none of your business.”
Rick, give us chapter and verse for that! We are to focus on our “mission” which isn’t Bible prophecy. We are to preach the gospel to every nation and then the end will come says, Rick, but that happens in the Tribulation.
He suggests that prophecy is a “diversion of the devil” and then implies that those who do not focus on the work God has planned for us – from which prophecy diverts us – is not fit for the kingdom of God.
He doesn’t get it that two thirds of the Bible is prophecy and that Jesus tells us to “watch and pray” for His return. In Matthew 16, He chastises the Pharisees for knowing the signs of the weather but not the signs of the times.
Rick robs us of our “blessed hope” and our “purpose” could in no way have anything to do with sounding an alarm to the lateness of the hour which would fit into Rick’s evangelistic plan. Bible prophecy and evangelism fit like a hand in a glove!
The misunderstanding or abuse of prophecy goes all the way to the top. Many of us campaigned for George W. Bush praying that by his second term he would be reached by men with sound theology to better shape his Middle East goals. But he remains blinded by his Replacement Theology background – that is, the Church is the new Israel so we can pressure Israel to carve up her land until the cows come home and there will be no consequences.
Most of his staff falls into the same camp, but they all put America at risk. If they only had been taught sound eschatology, this might not be the case.
I conclude that you can have an international platform, sell millions of books, and even rise to high political office with little consequences if you have indifference towards prophecy or skewed eschatological theology, and have Israel not much more relevant than the Canary Islands.
The bottom line is this: Millions of prophecy books including “The Late-Great Planet Earth” and the “Left Behind” series have won untold numbers to Eternity. The hour is much too late to have these theologies torn apart and ridiculed when we need to use such teaching to win the lost while we have time!
How convenient of the enemy to blur the sound theology behind true Dispensationalist teaching and get people wondering if all prophecy is history, the Church is Israel, and we are deluded if we think our “purpose” is to believe sound prophetic teaching when that is but a diversion.
I’m frustrated and I wonder if God isn’t weeping.
- Jan Markell
Isn’t it interesting that Christian leaders are coming against prophecy even though Jesus rebuked the Jewish people for not knowing Bible prophecy, what day it was. In Luke 19:41-44 we are told, “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.’”
I wonder what the Lord would say to His Church today, a church who is moving away from Biblical prophecy and are not waiting for the glorious appearing of our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ? Bible prophecy is important, if it wasn’t then why is over 25% of the Bible prophetic in nature? Thus, if these men who deny Bible prophecy, these men who tell us that it is not important, who are they speaking for? I will give you a hint, it is not God!
I know, that seems harsh but there are only two possibilities and if it is not of God, then it is a doctrine of demons! We need to understand what time it is on God’s prophetic time clock because I believe it helps us to stay focused on the work of the Great Commission, of bringing people to Jesus and making them disciples of Christ!
Tonight’s studies will be broken down into two sections. In our first study we will be looking at: THE DECLINE OF MORALITY, THE ONE WORLD RELIGION/THE COMPROMISE OF CHRISTIANITY, THE EARTH IS BEGINNING TO WOBBLE. And then in our second study we will be looking at: THE ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT, THE CASHLESS SOCIETY, THE COMING WAR, ISRAEL IN THE NEWS. So with that said, we have a lot to cover, let’s begin to look at Biblical prophecy as it relates to what we see happening in this world today!
1. THE DECLINE OF MORALITY
I think many today don’t see the decline of our morals today because it has been a slow, steady decline, that I now see moving faster and faster and it doesn’t even faze us. Listen to what Paul told Timothy regarding the last days and what they would be like, the morality of the last days. In II Timothy 3:1-5 we are told, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
Let me just share with you a few articles to show you where we are at as a nation. And the reality is, if you watch the news, if you see what is on television and the movies, the games that our children are buying, if you watch how people are behaving, this is no surprise.
In regards to sexual perversion, this article by Gene Veith is scary. It is called, “Tossing the lat taboo” and it was in World April 10, 1999. We are told:
Last year an article was published in the American Psychological Association’s flagship publication, the APA Psychological Bulletin, arguing that sex between adults and children is not intrinsically bad or harmful but can actually be beneficial to some individuals later in life. . . . It was concluded that if the encounter is consensual and enjoyed, sex between adults and children is not harmful at all. In light of these findings, negative terms such as “abuse,” “molestation,” and “victims’ should be replaced by values-neutral phrases like “adult-child sex.” . . .
. . . In 1973 the APA removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses and in 1998 ruled that psychologists should not try to help homosexuals change their behavior or orientation, even if the patient wants to change. . . . Bauserman has written other apologetics for pedophilia, including one article in which he claimed that men who counseled troubled adolescent boys could achieve “miracles not by preaching to them, but by sleeping with them.” He noted in another article that parents should treat pedophiles as “partners” in their child’s upbringing. If Bauserman has his way, child molestation will be the next perversion to receive society’s blessing.
- Gene Veith
Folks, it is these people, these professionals that we are sending people to for help, even our children! No wonder so many American’s are so messed up! Listen to these results of some 1,700 sixth-to-ninth graders who attended a Rhode Island Rape Crisis Center’s Assault Awareness program.
What in the world are we teaching our children that they feel sexual abuse is OK?
It is so bad that 31% of the boys and 32% of the girls said it would not be improper for a man to rape a woman who has had previous sexual experiences! That is very scary to me!
In New York four girls beat up their sixth-grade teacher because she refused to turn on the Jerry Springer show in the classroom. The topic on that show that day was, “Bisexual relationships hurt married couples.”
I don’t think we realize how the times have changed because we have buried our heads in the sand and we don’t want to look! I will just share with you how quickly; just in 40 years things have changed. You have probably heard of this before, but it does drive home the point! Listen carefully to the top disciplinary problems faced by teachers in the classroom back in 1940. They were:
Then, in the 1980’s educators were asked the same question by college researchers.
The top disciplinary problems for teachers in the 1980’s were:
We live in a society were people are calling good evil and evil good. People don’t know or they just don’t want to know what is right and what is wrong. Why is that? Because Paul said that this would take place in the last days where people are lovers of themselves and whatever satisfies them is right, no matter how deviant their behavior is!
U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan published a disturbing essay entitled “Defining Deviancy Down.” In the November 22, 1993 issue of The New Republic, Commentator Charles Krauthammer writes “Moynihan’s powerful point is that with the moral deregulation of the 1960s, we have had an explosion of deviancy in family life, criminal behavior and public displays of psychosis. And we have dealt with it in the only way possible: by redefining deviancy down so as to explain away and make ‘normal’ what a more civilized, ordered and healthy society long ago would have labeled – and long ago did label – deviant.”
In Charles Swindoll’s book, The Quest for Character, we are told, “sociologist and historian Carle Zimmerman, in his 1947 book Family and Civilization, recorded his keen observations as he compared the disintegration of various cultures with the parallel decline of family life in those cultures. Eight specific patterns of domestic behavior typified the downward spiral of each culture Zimmerman studied: Marriage loses its sacredness . . . is frequently broken by divorce; traditional meaning of the marriage ceremony is lost; feminist movements abound; there is increased public disrespect for parents and authority in general; an acceleration of juvenile delinquency, promiscuity and rebellion occurs; there is refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibilities; a growing desire for, and acceptance of, adultery is evident; there is increasing interest in, and spread of, sexual perversions and sex-related crimes.”
It is not my intention to spend the whole night on this subject, there is so much we can talk about. What I want you to see is that we as a nation, if we continue down this path, are in trouble. If America continues to shed the values of her Judeo-Christian heritage, she will surely follow ancient Rome into bondage. Freedom cannot coexist for long with moral depravity!
2. THE ONE WORLD RELIGION/THE COMPROMISE OF
CHRISTIANITY
The book of Revelation speaks of a false prophet who will rise up and unite the religions of the world together and cause the people of the world to worship the Beast or the Antichrist. Revelation chapter 13 describes this man as having two horns like a lamb but he speaks like a dragon! Thus, he is the false prophet.
Over the years we have seen this ecumenical movement growing where the Christian faith is being watered down, it is being compromised so we can all come together in peace. The idea is we all worship the same God even though we may take different roads to get there. Obviously that is not true and Paul warns us in I Timothy 4:1-2, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.”
We see Protestants embracing Catholicism but do they even realize how many Christians were put to death by the Catholic Church during the “Dark Ages” in Europe because they were protesting against the Catholic Church? Just to name a few doctrines that don’t line up with Scripture that the Catholic Church embraces: the purpose of baptism, relevance of church traditions, transubstantiation, confession to a priest, devotion and prayer to Mary, existence of purgatory, necessity of the Mass, the means of salvation, only to name a few. In an article title “Have Protestants Become Catholics?” Gary Kah said this regarding the death of Pope John Paul II:
Chuck Colson, Billy Graham, Benny Hinn, Paul Crouch, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Robert Schuller and many others seemed to be running over each other to offer the most flattering comments. Some of their remarks did not come as a surprise as I already knew, based on research, where these men stood. However, I was most disappointed by Jack Van Impe who devoted two entire television programs to praising the pope and the Catholic Church. I felt deeply wounded and betrayed by Jack, especially since I became a Christian through his ministry as a boy. I would have never dreamed that he’d become so compromised. . . . [Pope John Paul II] believed that the Holy Spirit was present in all people whether they are Christian or not. . .
The core of the ecumenical movement bears no resemblance to biblical Christianity. All sorts of beliefs may freely mingle as this quote from former Catholic priest Matthew Fox illustrates:
“The coming together of the historical Jesus and the Cosmic Christ will make Christianity whole at last . . . Christianity has been out of touch with its ‘core’, its center . . . Perhaps a new ‘ecumenical council’ will be forthcoming in our lifetime. This one would be deeply ecumenical and would call forth the wisdom of the world’s religions . . . What is needed if there is to be a twenty-first century for Mother Earth and her children is a spiritual vision that prays, celebrates, and lives out the reality of the Cosmic Christ who lives and breathes in Jesus and in all God’s children, in all the prophets of religion everywhere, in all creatures in the universe.”
- Matthew Fox, Coming of the cosmic Christ, p. 7
And it only gets worse as we are training up our children in New Age spirituality that is far from Christianity. Listen carefully to this article, “Bible School to use Harry Potter Theme.” We are told:
CARLISLE, Pa. – A church in Carlisle has decided to use J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter tales in its Bible School. Saint John’s Episcopal Church has doubled vacation Bible school enrollment since doing so.
This summer the theme is “Wizards and Wonders: The Journey with Harry Potter,” has preschoolers take flying lessons on miniature broomsticks at a makeshift Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft. Older students play a game of Quidditch, and more than 100 youngsters get Bible verses in their daily owl mail.
A minister said the Bible and the Harry Potter stories have what she calls “a slew of parallel lessons”
- AP, August 17, 2005
This is from Agape Press, September 29, 2005. We are told:
A leading Christian publisher of youth ministry material is being accused of introducing young people to practices rooted in New Age Eastern spirituality.
Today, the 2005 National Youth Workers Conference kicks off in Sacramento, California, but not without criticism. The conference is sponsored by Youth Specialties, a group that one Christian author says introduces students to labyrinth walks, yoga, and contemplative prayer practices. For that reason, Cathy Mickels – co-author of the book Spiritual Junkfood: The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth - is advising youth workers and parents to distance themselves from the conference and Youth Specialties.
“One of their goals, they say, “is to know God first-hand as a living reality. That’s why they’re putting kids into contemplative prayer-type situations,” she explains. “How do we know God first-hand as a living reality? We read the Word of God because it is God-breathed and it is God-inspired. [What Youth Specialties is doing] is an undermining of God’s Word; that is an undermining of the Christian faith.
Mickels also claims Youth Specialties teaches youth pastors to introduce students to ancient eastern spiritual practices.
“Nowhere in God’s Word does it say that you take kids on labyrinth walks, [or] that you introduce students to yoga or to contemplative prayer practices where you say a word over and over again to put yourself into what Youth Specialties says is a ‘semi-conscious state,’ she states. “None of these practices are in God’s Word.” . . .
- Agape Press, Jim Brown, September 29, 2005
Some leaders within the Christian church, men who have huge fellowships and followings are leading people down this path into a New Age spirituality which will grow into a one world religion and it seems like the church of Jesus Christ is apathetic to it all! We need to awaken from our spiritual sleep and take a stand for our faith!
Many of you have heard of Rick Warren and his books The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life, maybe you have even read them. I do believe that he has a purpose he is trying to get us to follow, but I don’t see it deepening our faith but to lead us into this New Age spirituality, this ecumenical movement that embraces all, that all roads lead to God. If you doubt that, just listen carefully to who he is teaming up with. This letter is in response to what Rick Warren had posted on the Internet regarding some accusations made by Lighthouse Trails Publishing back on June 17, 2005. This is part of the E-mail that I received from Lighthouse:
The real issue addressed in the press release was concerning Ken Blanchard – a man who, according to Rick Warren, has “signed on” to help implement Warren’s global Peace Plan. Both in the press release and on our research web site, we have provided numerous instances where Blanchard has shown his endorsement and promotion of the New Age such as in the foreword of the 2001 book, What Would Buddha Do At Work?, in which Ken Blanchard states:
“Buddha points to the path and invites us to begin our journey to enlightenment. I point this little jewel of a book and invite you to begin (or continue) your journey to enlightened work.”
Blanchard’s latest endorsement of the New Age centers around Vijay Eswaran’s book, In The Sphere of SILENCE, a June 2005 release that promotes the inner silence through mystical prayer practices, i.e. contemplative prayer. Of the book, Ken Blanchard states:
“This book is a wonderful guide on how to enter the realm of silence and draw closer to God.”
Such comments speak for themselves. And yet, this same Ken Blanchard will, later this summer, share a speaking platform with Rick Warren in the Leadership Summit 2005, which will be broadcast to 100 cities and over 50,000 leaders throughout North America!
Let me just give you just a couple of things for you to think about:
Doesn’t something seem to be off? Doesn’t something seem to be wrong? How can we be fooled so easily? It is because we are not being fed the Word of God and because of that we can’t discern between good and evil. Look at the blasphemous Bible translations that have come out that change what the Scriptures say about Jesus. For instance, Eugene Peterson, the author of The Message Bible, which is just garbage and yet many read it like it is the Word of God. It is not. And this man who put together this translation of the Bible had this to say:
“The importance of poetry and novels is that the Christian life involves the use of the imagination, after all, we are dealing with the invisible. And, imagination is our training in dealing with the invisible, making connections . . . I don’t want to do away with or denigrate theology or exegesis, but our primary allies in this business are the artists . . . Why do people spend so much time studying the Bible? How much do you need to know? We invest all this time in understanding the text which has a separate life of it’s own and we think we’re being more pious and spiritual when we’re doing it . . . [Christians] should be studying it less, not more. You just need enough to pay attention to God . . . I’m just not at all pleased with all the emphasis on the Bible study as if it’s some kind of special thing that Christians do, and the more they do the better.”
- A Conversation with Eugene Peterson,” Mars Hill Review,
Fall 1995, Issue No. 3, pp. 73-90
Do you see how the Church is being set up to believe the lie because they are spiritually illiterate! Again, listen carefully to this:
“Many churches evaluate spiritual maturity solely on the basis of how well you can identify Bible characters, interpret Bible passages, quote Bible verses, and explain biblical theology. The ability to debate doctrine is considered by some as the ultimate proof of your spirituality.
Underlying this approach is the conviction that all anyone really needs to grow spiritually is the Bible. I call churches with this emphasis – ‘classroom churches.’ Classroom churches tend to be left-brain oriented and cognitive-focused. They stress teaching Bible content and doctrine, but they give little – if any – emphasis to believers’ emotional, experiential, and relational development.”
This was taken from Rick Warren’s article titled “maturity requires a wide variety of spiritual experiences.” Rick wrote this and sends this out to pastors from his site pastor.com. What is wrong with this picture?
Just read God’s Word and you will see what is wrong with it, but again, we are being told not to and that way we will not be able to discern good from evil, right from wrong. Paul tells us in II Timothy 4:3-4, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
As much as these leaders are telling us that Bible study is not important, just listen to what God has to say about His Word, the things He has told us. This is from
II Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Why are we trying to go to the world so we can have “emotional, experiential, and relational development” when everything that we need for us as Christians to grow is found in the inerrant Word of God!
Again, I truly believe it is Biblical illiteracy that opens the door for this feel good gospel, this New Age spirituality and into the church of Laodicea or the lukewarm church of the last days spoken of in Revelation chapter 3 where Jesus is outside the church knocking to get in!
Look at what is going on in Christian bookstores today and when someone questions them about it, they don’t see the problem, they just want to be open and not so narrow-minded about things. But listen to what is happening and this is from The Berean Call Extra. We are told:
If the word “Christian” was not part of their logo, readers could easily mistake Family Christian Stores’ recent sales flyer as a New Age publication. Nine spiritualistic symbols “dance” around a central circle in a flowing sunburst patter. Turning the cover, a lavish spread is devoted to explain “nine sacred paths” to worship God: 1) Naturalists: 2) Sensates; 3) Traditionalists; 4) Ascetics; 5) Activists; 6) Caregivers; 7) Enthusiasts; 8) Contemplatives; and 9) Intellectuals. Each of these “paths” is defined (since the terminology is foreign to most evangelicals except for those versed – or immersed – in Catholic mysticism or the New Age). The entire display is given credence by a large advertisement for Andy Stanley’s new four-part, small group video series called You’ve Got Style, marketed under Stanley’s “northpoint” church resource imprint – a product of Multonmah Publishers. Readers are invited to take an online “worship style” quiz, which connects the “familychristian” website to Stanley’s own “sacredpaths” survey. The 45-question personality inventory is designed to reveal “how you draw near to God.” Several questions make no distinction between Catholic and Christian – for example: “I enjoy attending a ‘high church’ service with incense and . . . [the] Eucharist.”
The promotional copy describes Stanley’s teaching as “inspired by Gary Thomas’s book, Sacred Pathways. Due to the massive marketing forces at work, and the widespread influence of Stanley (whose church near Atlanta, Georgia, hosts over 10,000 adults in three Sunday a.m. services), further inquiry into the origin of the “nine sacred paths” – and how they oppose the one “narrow way” and “strait gate is necessary. . . .
Folks, this is nothing more than psycho-spiritual mysticism with New Age influences. It is not Christian! My prayer is that you would be moved to stand strong, that you would be more alert to what is happening in Christianity today and hold everything up to the light of God’s Word, that is our plum line showing us what is right and what is wrong, what is from God and what is not! We can’t stop the move towards a one-world religion but we also don’t have to jump on board of this bandwagon, joining forces with them. We need to expose the false so people can see the truth. Remember what Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.” We must not go by our own personal feelings because we can be wrong, but God is never wrong and thus, we can trust Him and His Word and not the words of man!
3. THE EARTH IS BEGINNING TO WOBBLE
In Isaiah 24:20 we are told, “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, And shall totter like a hut; Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, And it will fall, and not rise again.” This is speaking of the events that will occur during the Tribulation Period and it seems to me it is saying that the earth’s axis will shift causing the earth to wobble like a top. Can this happen? We saw this a year ago with the massive earthquake and the Tsunami that moved some major landmasses in Southeast Asia and the earths axis shifted slightly! During the Tribulation Period every island and mountain will be moved out of its place, so I truly believe that is what the Lord is speaking of.
In the last days it seems like earthquakes are on the increase worldwide, just as the Bible predicts. I believe these are just false labor pains preparing the world for the true labor pains that will occur during the Tribulation Period leading into the Great Tribulation or the last 3½ years of the 7 year Tribulation Period. Just to give you a few examples of some major earthquakes:
In 2000 there were some 22,256 earthquakes worldwide and in 2004 it rose to 31,1999 and it seems like the number continues to increase each year. What does this all mean? It means that we as Christians need to be ready and use the opportunities we have to share our faith, to give people the only true hope there is, Jesus Christ. Thus, people get ready, Jesus is coming to take us home! When? Only time will tell but be ready, stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth, the truth of God’s Word in a day when the church seems to be negating it, watering it down.
It is as Jude admonishes us in Jude 3, “Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” The Amplified Bible puts it this way, “Beloved, my whole concern was to write to you in regard to our common salvation. [But] I found it necessary and was impelled to write you and urgently appeal to and exhort [you] to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints [the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God].” And lastly, in The Living Bible we are told, “Dearly loved friends, I had been planning to write you some thoughts about the salvation God has given us, but now I find I must write of something else instead, urging you to stoutly defend the truth that God gave once for all to his people to keep without change through the years.” Stand strong and watch for the signs that point to Jesus’ return, may they strengthen your faith!