Category: Last Days
Making Waves; Warming Clouds
When I was a kid, my family headed to Fort Leavenworth where Dad was to attend the Command and General Staff College. Crossing the desert we went many miles with nothing but static on the AM radio in the station wagon. It’s not that way anymore. Any one with XM satellite radio can listen to a wide selection of music, talk radio, news, and the Family Radio (Christian broadcasting) channel from coast to coast without interruption.
There was a time in the States when cars had another band in addition to AM called MF, which is a shortwave band. That ceased in the early 1950s when, allegedly, politicians didn’t want Americans to easily be able to listen to broadcasts from Communist Russia. Unlike the AM and FM radios, shortwave radios are able to receive broadcasts from around the world.
As technology changed giving us the internet and satellite radio, many people thought that shortwave broadcasting would drop off through disuse. It hasn’t. What I’ve noticed is that over the past year, with folks staying at home, there’s been a renewed interest in shortwave reception.
One of the first shortwave broadcasts I listened to is HCJB. “1931–On Christmas Day, the HCJB Radio Station begins transmitting with 200 watts of power from a remodeled sheep barn north of Quito. The broadcast was a combination of Spanish and English, and the program christened the HCJB Radio Station “La Voz de los Andes”, and included the hymn “Grande es Tu fidelidad,” according to its website.
In addition to expanding it’s transmission of the Christian message, it provided small receivers to enable people to listen to the broadcasts. Today, HCJB has a global reach in many languages, assists other organizations in establishing broadcast stations, and trains broadcasters. Unfortunately, from what I was able to find, HCJB no longer has English-language broadcasts to North America. It does have one in Australia, which might be possible to receive as the sunspot cycle returns to its highs.
There are other stations with broadcasts in English, and that are located in the States. One is WWCR, broadcasting from Nashville, TN. An example of a program it broadcasts is Truth For Life with Pastor Alistair Begg of Parkside Church. That program is broadcast at 8 am CT on 15.835 MHz (That’s in the 19 meter shortwave band.)
What does it take to receive these shortwave broadcasts? Looking on Amazon, for instance, there are still a number of reasonably priced shortwave receivers available. The cheapest at around $50 probably won’t work well. For $149 and up to $200, there are some that may work well. Like most electronics the sky’s the limit as far as cost. While the higher end receivers are going to be better in receiving, they also have many “bells and whistles” added.
A quick introduction to using one of these receivers. While many have short antennas attached to them, similar to the old AM-FM radios we used to take to the beach, they won’t really work all that well. Like the days of rural living and trying to get a TV station from the big city, it takes an antenna outside the house to work best. It can be a simple wire connected to the receiver and strung outside through a window stretched to a tree, for instance.
L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Notes:
If interested in shortwave broadcast listing, called Shortwave Listening (SWL) there are a number of websites devoted to it. SWLing is but one of them.
Here’s a Wikipedia article: Shortwave Broadcasting in the United States, that may be of interest. I contains a listing of broadcasters, including some Christian.
With one of my hand-held amateur radios I was able to receive a few stations using the antenna on it. They were weak. I hope to find some time, perhaps use some saved during daylight savings time, and toss a wire out the window for a go at it. I do hope the HOA board doesn’t see it and complain.
I mentioned some ideas for local, small-church pastors to connect to their congregations apart from the internet. I’m working on that. Sorry.
A Song of David; A Song for us
To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith A Psalm of David.
1 Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone;
for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor;
with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that makes great boasts,
4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail,
our lips are with us; who is master over us?”
5 “Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan,
I will now arise,” says the LORD;
“I will place him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the LORD are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.
7 You, O LORD, will keep them;
you will guard usb from this generation forever.
8 On every side the wicked prowl,
as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
Psalm 12
Crisis Today; Crisis in the First Century
It doesn’t look good for the people of Earth these days. While we’ve weathered many storms, it seems we are in the midst of the Perfect Storm. Are we facing a second wave of of Corona Virus? Many countries are failing economically. Some are saying America is facing a another civil war, or at least a Constitutional Crisis.
How do we prepare?
Chip Ingram, in his Coffee Break series, compares these tribulations to those of the First Century. His short teaching is here: In Crisis and Uncertainty.
In other relevant “old news,” take a quick tour through Haggai, Ezra, Nehemiah. A remnant of Israelis returned to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. Despite full support from Babylonian kings, they experienced opposition, to put it mildly, to their presence.
After many starts and stops, they rebuilt their homes, The Temple, and the walls around Jerusalem. Yet opposition continued. The gates to Jerusalem were destroyed. The people gave up hope.
When Nehemiah, still in Babylon as a wine steward to the king, heard, he sought permission to go to his people.
Nehemiah, accompanied by others, returned to embolden the other returned Israelis to rebuild the gates despite threats of war. When they had done so, they looked into the Law and discovered the command to celebrate The Feast of Succoth, (Nehemiah 8:13) which is also know as The Feast of Tabernacles, or The Feast.
Tonight begins The Feast. Yeshua celebrated The Feast, too, (John 7 through 9). Here’s an article by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem:
L-RD Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Temple of G-D
In Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians—2:3,4—Paul writes about the Great Day of the L-RD and how it doesn’t happen until “the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
Looking at Barnes’s Notes. He makes the following comment concerning the Temple of G-D:
“Sitteth in the temple of God – That is, in the Christian church. It is by no means necessary to understand this of the temple at Jerusalem, which was standing at the time this Epistle was written, because: the phrase “the temple of God” is several times used with reference to the Christian church, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 3:17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:21; Revelation 3:12; and, . . When the Christian church was founded, it was spoken of as the peculiar dwelling-place of God.”
The Christian Church, according to Pastor Barnes, is the Temple of G-D. I wondered about this.
Jesus did refer to His body as the Temple. “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,c and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. (John 2:18-21)
The references cited by Pastor Barnes refer to the individual Christian, the Christian’s body, as being the Temple of G-D, or the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Is the Pastor wrong? What am I missing?
The Christian Church—the True Church of Christ—isn’t a religious institution, it isn’t a specific place or building. The Christian Church is considered the Body of Christ on Earth, which is made up of all Believers in Christ. In this regard, the Church is the Temple of G-D. Pastor Barnes has a point. The Christian Church is the Temple of G-D on Earth.
When we think of this man of lawlessness of whom Apostle Paul speaks, we think antichrist. When we think about the Temple that will be desecrated by this antichrist we think about a reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem, on the site of two former Temples.
When Pastor Barnes thinks about the Temple he thinks about the Church. He says of the antichrist that he is “claiming in the Church of Christ the authority and homage which God had in the temple at Jerusalem.” Pastor Barnes also dispels the thought that the antichrist must actual say he is G-D. He puts it this way, “Showing himself that he is God – This does not necessarily mean that he actually, in so many words, claimed to be God; but that he usurped the place of God, and claimed the prerogatives of God.”
Rather, then, than a man who stands in a building proclaiming himself to be god, could we understand this as a way of thinking that affects our heart? Think about “authority and homage” in relation to us as individual believers. What have I allowed to hold authority over my life? To what do I give homage that is due only to the Father of our L-RD Jesus? Do I revere and submit to people or institutions or even ideas in any way above or even equal to our G-D? Those would be gods. Idols. Could the views and ideas of politicians, scientists, philosophers, public health authorities, hold sway over me above that of G-D? If they don’t now, could they in the future?
And G-D spoke all these words, saying, “I am the L-RD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the L-RD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:1-5 The First Commandment)
President Trump Doesn’t Speak Well
Sunday morning President Trump addressed the nation on the Special Ops raid on the IS leader who was responsible for many murders, including four Americans.
“He just can’t speak right,” said someone who’d listened to the speech also. “He doesn’t sound like a president should sound.”
Having learned the impossibility of actually speaking about anything to do with religion or politics with a liberal, I didn’t say much, and totally ignored that baiting comment. Baiting, as it would lead to a discussion that one can’t win against a liberal. One doesn’t argue facts against emotion. Yet I couldn’t resist saying just one thing.
“Perhaps. But he speaks the way most Americans speak,” I said. He doesn’t use ten dollar words when a dime word will do—I didn’t add that, though.
A neighbor, who is from New York City, once told me that President Trump speaks just like a New Yorker. Does President Trump have the oratory gift of, say, President Reagan? No. Certainly not. So what. As I see it, what President Trump said came across loud and clear. What he said, as I see it, made sense.
I thought about it a bit later, and remembered a recent American president that could captivate an audience. From the first time the man spoke at a party convention, he seemed to enthrall listeners. Later, as president, he could almost entrance me. I remember hearing him speak and realizing he was nearly mesmerizing, yet he didn’t actually say anything, and what he did say didn’t make a bit of sense to me at all.
I remembered, too, something that the Apostle Paul wrote the the Corinthian Believers.
“And my word and my preaching were not with persuasive words of man’s wisdom. . .” (1 Corinthians 2:4)
Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not saying President Trump is like the Apostle Paul; I’m not saying his words are the inspiration of G-D. However, as Apostle Paul wrote to the Believers in Rome:
“. . .there is no authority except that which G-D has established.” (Romans 13:1)
Disagree with President Trump for his policies, his actions, okay. But to discount his actions simply because he isn’t a polished orator seems foolish.
This whole thing makes me sad, too, as I think that people can so easily be fooled by fancy speech, mesmerizing personalities, who whip up an emotional response that, if analyzed, is illogical. I think of 1930s Germany, and the fiery speeches that fueled heinous crimes against humanity.
I think, too, of the warnings about the antichrist that deceives the world. I’m sure that person will have a gift of oratory, and that the world will be mesmerized by empty, vain words.
The world will be deceived. Even Believers can be lead astray until they are awakened by the Spirit of G-D.
Let us watch. As Yeshua said:
“But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.” (Luke 12:39)
The Promise
And the Problem
“Yet a little while and the world will see me no more,
but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” —John 14:19
YeshuaJesus said that those who believed in Him would live again. They would also see Him again. While Yeshua was going away, He was going to come back to Earth. And though His followers may die, like Yeshua, they would come back from death into life and be with Him. They would see Yeshua in the flesh, physically.
Yeshua also revealed a problem that was going to happen. He said that the world would see Him no more. Yeshua, during His time on Earth. was a thorn in the side of the religious leaders. He presented a problem for them. There are accounts in which those leaders felt they couldn’t act against Yeshua for fear of the people. Yeshua’s mere presence was a problem for all people. He stood before people, in the flesh, and showed the Love of G-D, Father. As it was then, it is today, the love of the G-D of Israel is shown through Yeshua. And it is rejected because too often people want their own way.
Today the world cannot see Yeshua. This is a problem for the world in at least two ways. First, it is a problem in that it is much more difficult to believe in what isn’t seen. Thomas, a disciple of Yeshua, had the opportunity to place his finger in wound Yeshua received during His death. The other disciples physically saw the risen Yeshua, walked with Him, talked with Him. Today we don’t physically see Yeshua. Hard to believe what you don’t see, isn’t it? After Thomas said he believed, Yeshua said to him,
“Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
The second way that it is a problem that Yeshua isn’t physically seen is that any restraint that might have been present when Yeshua was here in the flesh is removed. Unbelieving people, political leaders, even the courts of the land, seemingly are able to do as they please, unconstrained. Also, within the Christian community, leaders do as they please regardless of Scripture. They feel as though they are no longer constrained. Life. Liberty. Happiness. Do what we please. Yippee! We’re Free!
Early in America’s foundation, we were considered a Christian nation. Even in my public school days, children stood in the morning, faced the flat, the symbol of America, and pledged allegiance to the unity of our country under the Name of the G-D of Israel. When did things change? When was it that things became more unconstrained? I believe a mile marker on our path toward destruction came in 1973.
1973 was a very good year for me, overall. It was not a very good year for a whole lot of babies in America, however. It was a death sentence issued by the Supreme Court in its decision in the case of Roe -v- Wade, which allowed the murder of babies simply because a person didn’t want to give birth to, and raise, the baby. That set us on the proverbial slippery slope, on a path toward destruction. Or as Barry McGuire sang, Eve of Destruction.
What we can’t see, can’t hurt us, right?
Wrong!
L-RD Bless, Protect, Shine upon y’all, and then He will give His Peace. . .
The World is a Beautiful Place
In high school I read a lot of books and poetry. Two of my favorite poets were Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Allen Ginsburg. In Lawrence Ferlinghetti: Poet-at-Large, author Larry Smith noted that the author “writes truly memorable poetry, poems that lodge themselves in the consciousness of the reader and generate awareness and change. And his writing sings, with the sad and comic music of the streets.” (Source: Lawrence Ferlinghetti Poetry Foundation)
One verse embedded itself into my consciousness, “goosing statues.” Any time I thought of it, a visual image popped into my mind of me running around a park goosing statues. One thing that strikes me about this particular poem, in rereading it this morning, is its timelessness. It was as appropriate in the 1950s and 60s as it is today.
Here’s Mr. Ferlinghetti’s poem:
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind happiness
not always being
so very much fun
if you don’t mind a touch of hell
now and then
just when everything is fine
because even in heaven
they don’t sing
all the time
The world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t mind some people dying
all the time
or maybe only starving
some of the time
which isn’t half bad
if it isn’t you
Oh the world is a beautiful place
to be born into
if you don’t much mind
a few dead minds
in the higher places
or a bomb or two
now and then
in your upturned faces
or such other improprieties
as our Name Brand society
is prey to
with its men of distinction
and its men of extinction
and its priests
and other patrolmen
and its various segregations
and congressional investigations
and other constipations
that our fool flesh
is heir to
Yes the world is the best place of all
for a lot of such things as
making the fun scene
and making the love scene
and making the sad scene
and singing low songs and having inspirations
and walking around
looking at everything
and smelling flowers
and goosing statues
and even thinking
and kissing people and
making babies and wearing pants
and waving hats and
dancing
and going swimming in rivers
on picnics
in the middle of the summer
and just generally
‘living it up’
Yes
but then right in the middle of it
comes the smiling
mortician
Anyone understand?
The weather reports that hurricane Nate made a second landfall in Biloxi, MS, just after midnight today. It’s now downgraded to a tropical depression as it heads inland. This is the third hurricane to ravage America’s coast since the Eclipse in September 21, 2017. And since then there has been a terrible mass murder in Las Vegas, NV. There have been many other murders, crimes, and distressing events throughout the world. People are wondering, “Are these the ‘End Times’?” Well. . . Continue reading “Anyone understand?”
He said She said Who asked you
“Churches in a number of states are being threatened, even an Orthodox Church,” he said while reading a news report online.
“What network is that? Oh, Fox News. . . They’re so biased,” she said.
Jonah’s Song 