I really like the song, “Desert Song” by Hillsong from their album This Is Our God. The lyrics resonate in me in a deep and profound way – mainly the following..

“All of my life. In every season.  You are still God. I have a reason to sing.  I have a reason to worship.”

I’ve come back to these lyrics through the good, the bad and the ugly.  Literally I found life in these words in all of those seasons.

Recently I came across a video about one of the performers on this song, Jill McCloghry.  Leading up to the recording of this album,, Jill went through an incredible heartache – the loss of a child.

Have a watch of the following video for her testimony and be moved by Jill’s story and how in every season, God is still God – and there is always a reason to worship.

I’ve posted about Jamendo before.  If your looking for some awesome free and legal to download music, then you need to check out www.jamendo.com

I personally really enjoy the instrumental, electronica, atmospheric genre of music while I work and Jamendo has a few great artists on board.  Below are some of my favourite artists.  Feel free to download to your heart’s content. It’s free and totally legal.

Bill Gates did a talk at TED last February about his theory that we can only reach zero emissions by reducing either our population, services, energy, or carbon output to zero. Personally I’m not a big fan of man made climate change however I’m all for using this planet in a more efficient way – so I was interested in what he had to say.

And what he shared stopped me dead in my tracks.  The above is his equation for carbon emissions and what contributes to it.  You can see that “people” is mentioned first – and that makes sense as the more people there are, the more emissions.

Because having people on this planet is a given, I thought Gates would spend most of his time on the other areas – and he did, but it’s what he said about people that shocked me.

“The world today has 6.8 billion people. That’s heading up to about nine billion. Now if we do a really great job on new vaccines, health care, reproductive health services, we could lower that by perhaps 10 or 15 percent”

Check out the video below…

That equates to up to a billion people less if they do a good job on “vaccines…reproductive health services….”  In other words, can this mean that they will create vaccines that will kill people and promote abortion that will lower the earths population by up to a billion people?

I don’t know, you tell me. What is true is that Bill Gates, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Oprah Winfrey Warren Buffet, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg met in early 2009 and on top of the agenda was population control.  This meeting come a few weeks after the Bilderberg Group met in Greece where population control was again on top of the agenda.

According to a former Bilderberg member, UK Economist Will Hutton, the ultimate goals of the Bilderbergers are plain and simple…

“The primary goals of the Bilderberg Group are a one-world government, a one-world monetary system and a vast reduction in world population. And to no one’s surprise, the Bilderbergers would like very much to be in charge of that government.”

For a long time, these discussions remained in the minds of pot smoking conspiracy theorists.  However, it’s actually the Bilderbergers and their henchmen who are now coming out of the closet and actually stating their goals in plain site.

And the mechanism that allows them to do so, and for their message to be accepted without question is the fear around climate change. Bill Gate’s presentation at TED’s is a classic example of their agenda marching forward and the scary thing is that the public swallows the pill without even batting an eyelid.

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To be a supporter of Israel these days is to go against the norm.  This world seems to take delight in bashing this country to no end.

Despite this, I am here to say that I am a Biblical Zionist.  I believe in the right for Israel to exist and I believe in the right for the nation to defend itself against an enemy hell bent to destroy it.

Sure, not all they do is right as they are governed by fallen people like you and me.  And I’ve also heard of the so called “conspiracy theories” about the Jewish nation.

But all this is nothing new.  Even at it’s conception, was a conspiracy to get rid of a favoured son…

“They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits.  Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” Gen Gen 37: 18-20

But later in the story, it is declared..

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Gen 50:20

The Zionist movement is seen with contempt by many.  And like Joseph’s brothers, many have contributed to the birth of modern Israel with ulterior motives and continue to do so. 

But through it all, is my good and great God, working out his purpose through the actions of mankind and allowing the nation of Israel to be reborn and to grow in strength and number.

You see, God is the ultimate Zionist and it is the desire of His heart to see the nation of Israel reborn and to gather it’s people back to it.  There are numerable Scriptural references to this and an example of which is..

“As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.” Eze 34:12-13

Make no mistake, God is the ultimate Zionist and for any Muslim or Westerner to point his finger against the nation of Israel, is for him to stand opposed to the will of the Creator – somewhere I never want to find myself in.

I celebrate in the fact that God has caused this non Jewish heart of mine to be a Zionist and I delight in what He is building into this country.  Below is a video which gives but a glimpse of the reality of Israel despite it’s opposition.

And to further set myself against the trend of the western world, I present to you a music video by UK Jewish rapper “Antithesis” – who has recently made the aliyah to Israel – further proof that God is at work gathering His own.

I celebrate at what I see God is doing with His people.  And I look forward to stage two of His plan – the day He introduces them to His Son.  This is what I am looking forward to seeing once the regathered eyes are opened..

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.” Zech 12":10

This world is a broken place.  When I venture out into nature and marvel at the beauty of what I see, the thought that never evades me is that what I see has been under a curse and has been decaying for a long, long time.

As I watch mankind pursue new knowledge and achieve awesome things, I often wonder what would be the fruit of his labours if he wasn’t a fallen creature.

As I watch human behaviour on my day to day existence, I see so much anger, greed, and self exultation and I wonder where is that place in man’s heart to remember to be still and know that God is God.

As I watch the value of human beings being determined on how they contribute to a nation’s GDP or a return on shareholders investments, I wonder how we miss this reality that we are so cherished by our Creator that He stepped into our world to die for us.

As I watch the animal world devour itself based on the hierarchy of the food chain, I wonder if these things were meant to be.  So much violence.  Life is broken and yet needs to be this way to survive. 

If one was honest with ones self, one would come to a realisation that the norm actually sucks – and sucks quite bad.  It’s like what we experience today is but a shadow of what we were designed to experience.  The advances in technology gives us the false impression, a deceitful veneer, that all is well and progressing forward as planned on planet earth, populated with human.

And yet, scratch beneath the surface, beyond the number of Facebook friends you have, or Twitter followers, whether you like PC’s or Mac’s, iPhone’s, Toyota’s or BMW’s or some other brand in any industry and just about anything else and you will find it.

Tucked away in some “do not disturb” part of your existence, you will find a yearning, a groaning of a reality you were designed to experience and yet fail to realise.  And because it’s in that “no go” place that you have that “itch has not yet been scratched” and you have failed in this area of fulfilment at it’s most basic and primitive level, you, and the vast majority of mankind simply ignore it as we pop more antidepressants into our mouths to numb our failures.

No.  There is something fundamentally wrong with our existence and to turn a blind eye to it is a stupid thing to do.  It’s like this whole earth of ours is waiting for things to be restored – and man taking dominion over it once again.  But not just any man – mankind redeemed by God – son’s of God.  Us in our restored reality.

Next time you walk around nature, society and culture, keep this in mind…

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” Rom 8:19-22

Freedom from bondage and corruption – sounds awesome. God’s heart is to restore all things.  He is a jealous God and I get the sneaking suspicion that His heart breaks in seeing things not where they should be on some many facets.  He will restore and He will redeem – in all of creation.

One of which is the natural world – and this is so beautifully captured in the following..

“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” Isa 11:6-9

Imagine a restored world where a wolf, lamb, leopard, young goat, calf, cow and bear all hang out together with a child in their midst as he plays with snakes with no risk to his, or any animals safety?  This world will be restored one day and the scenes described above are just part of this restoration.

And to give but a glimpse into this reality, you need to check out the following clip and just imagine if this was the norm for all the world.