Here’s the article in The Atlantic: What ISIS Really Wants: The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it. Graeme Wood. MARCH 2015.
Category: Last Days
As the World Turns
As the world turns was the name of a soup opera that my Mother watched many years ago. That’s what I thought of when I read the title of Geoffrey Grider’s blog “As The World Descends Into Turmoil, God Commands Bible Believers To ‘Fear Not’.” (Click on the title to redirect to the full article.)
In the article that is worth reading, Mr. Grinder makes many references to scripture about not fearing the turmoil that WILL come upon us with the Day of the LORD, as spoken of in Zephaniah, and many other places.
The great day of the Lord is near,
near and hastening fast;
the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter;
the mighty man cries aloud there.
A day of wrath is that day,
a day of distress and anguish,
a day of ruin and devastation,
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness,
a day of trumpet blast and battle cry
against the fortified cities
and against the lofty battlements. Zephaniah 1:14-16
I felt it important to declare that America will not be destroyed by its enemies; this is also a warning to America’s enemies that they will be judged for their actions against America. This holds for all nations within which the Righteous of G-d may be found. For countries such as Islamic nation states, that persecute the Righteous within their own borders, they will experience the Wrath of G-d without restraint.
While America cannot be utterly destroyed, it has, can, and will be attacked from within and from without by unrighteous people and nation states. This means not only that we, the Righteous of G-d, experience various emotional and physical distress, but that many may experience the death of their bodies. But that is not death. For the Righteous of G-d live with G-d through the salvation gift from Y’shuaJesus. Praise the Lord!
Now, let me point out that in Mr. Grider’s blog, he states “I believe that the Lord does not want us reading about things that may happen, and of which we have no control. We are giving the devil room for his fiery darts when we focus on things which bring fear to our hearts.” While I agree that now doubt we will deal with fear when we read of various reports or theories of what could happen, even Y’shuaJesus said we would hear these things. We cannot avoid it. And we can use such reactions to our advantage. We can use reports to make us aware of how best to prepare. If we do not hear the warning, how will we be able to properly respond?
Read Mr. Grider’s article. Read the scriptures that calm our fears. Trust in our Lord Y’shuaJesus.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
A Christless Christianity
In his article, Thomas D. Williams writes:
“So much for taking Christ out of Christmas. New efforts propose the more radical agenda of taking him out of Christianity altogether.
“Every year, it seems, an attempt is made, usually around the Christian holidays, to debunk some aspect of Christian belief— usually involving the Virgin birth, or Jesus’ resurrection, or his relationship with women. This year features an effort to depose Jesus as the founder of the Christian church, replacing him with the apostle Paul.
“Millions celebrate the birth of Jesus without realizing that it was the Apostle Paul, not Jesus, who was the founder of Christianity,” writes James D. Tabor in The Daily Beast.
“As innovative as this proposition sounds, it is a reheated version of an old theory that has been exhaustively debated, and basically put to rest among serious scholars of Christianity.”
Well, while Mr. Williams would like to put us at ease when he says that such arguments have been “put to rest among serious scholars of Christianity,” there remains a lot of sheep left to lead astray.
Thinking of deception, not long ago I came across a book that explores the historical evidence that Jesus didn’t even exist. Basically, the author says it was all a great myth to subdue the population of Jerusalem and the occupied Israel and take away the people’s will to revolt against Rome.
It seems to me that this coming year will find us very much in the middle of lots of “proof” against the traditional teachings of the Bible, refuting all that we’ve come to know as Gospel. We must remain ever close to the source of our faith, our Lord Y’shuaJesus.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine . . .
namaste
In her letter to the Light House Trails blog, a lady says, “Deception and the wiles of the evil one care not whom they lead astray, as long as His people are hurt by those they love.” She refers to a Christmas greeting she received from the wife of a church elder that concluded in “namaste.” Read the post.
You can also read an article about Oprah and her new age workshop, as one commentator described, ending with a “new age alter call.”
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Killing us gently
CNSNews.com – Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based affiliate, which on Saturday shot dead an American journalist and a South African teacher to prevent their rescue by U.S. Special Forces, wants the world to know that it opposes beheadings and other forms of brutality practiced by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL).
Read the article at CNS.com.
Wow. And there are “churches” that want to join together to form a religious alliance with these folks. I mean, seriously. If we aren’t facing the Last Days, if these things aren’t leading to the final battle between good and evil. . . I’m mean seriously, shooting a person dead is so much kinder than beheading. Wow!
Lord Y’shua, have mercy upon us. . .
How to Prepare
Prepare? For what shall we prepare? A quick look at Ready.com shows us that there are a lot of things that can happen for which we should prepare. And there are a lot of very practical things we can do in our preparation for various natural and unnatural disasters. But I’m not talking about those disasters at the moment. No. I’m thinking more about preparing for the a time when our G-d, who is slow to anger, has His fill and brings His wrath upon the earth. G-d said:
I will bring distress on mankind,
so that they shall walk like the blind,
because they have sinned against the Lord;
their blood shall be poured out like dust,
and their flesh like dung. Zeph 1:17
This distress that G-d will bring on humankind makes us walk like the blind. This distress is spoken of also in Joel 1:15, where there is great famine. There are many who say that war brings famine, which is followed by disease. But in the case of West Africa today, it is disease that came first, then famine is following closely behind. In South Sudan, war prevented planting of the fields, which is leading directly to famine over the coming months. The Day of the LORD is a day of great distress. Walking like a blind man could mean stumbling, like one might do if one were famished, ready to die from starvation. Walking like a blind man might also mean that the people simply don’t see they must humble themselves and seek the LORD, who is gracious to save.
Salvation. We are talking about Salvation. And if humankind suffers distress, humankind won’t seek out the LORD for His salvation to come. The time to seek the LORD is, and always has been, now. First, we must SEE and understand G-d’s purpose of salvation. “For G-d so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life,” (John 3:16). Second, we must SEE and understand that our problem is separation from G-d. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G-d,” (Romans 3:23). Third, we must SEE and understand that G-d’s remedy is The Cross. “For there is One G-d and One Mediator between G-d and men, the Man Christ Y’shuaJesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,” (1Timothy 2:5,6). Fourth, we must SEE and understand that we must respond by trusting in Messiah Y’shuaJesus. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of G-d, to those who believe in His Name,” (John 1:12). And Fifth, we must SEE and understand that G-d provides assurance though His Word. “For whoever call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved,” (Romans 10:13). [From commentary in The Billy Graham Training Center Bible)
And we have this to consider BEFORE the distress of the Great Day of the LORD:
Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land,
who do his just commands;
seek righteousness; seek humility;
perhaps you may be hidden
on the day of the anger of the Lord.” Zeph 2:3
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Are these the Last Days? Does it really matter?
There is compelling evidence that the Last Days are upon. Throughout the world, we find it more and more difficult to sing of the lazy, hazy days of summer. Even people who normally don’t outwardly mention such things are wondering what’s really happening. People are becoming scarred. Now, certainly, the world has faced its disasters. Since the early Twentieth Century, there have been two world wars with great loss of life, an epidemic that took the lives fifty million people, devastating floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, and many prolonged, deadly wars and civil conflicts. Crime is endemic. Here in the United States we have armed our local police departments as if preparing for war. And throughout the last 70 years we’ve had the threat of nuclear annihilation hanging over us. But this year is different.
“Nearly on a daily basis, we witness our very earth in what seems like birth pangs— be it nuclear threat, terrorism, hurricanes, earthquakes, or tornadoes—or violence, wars and rumors of war—while most people seem almost oblivious to what is happening (or may see something is amiss but do not turn to Scripture and Bible prophecy to understand the implications). Again, God is sounding out a warning to make ready.
“Even now, while the reality of the Antichrist and a one-world religion is looming closer and closer all the time, preachers and teachers are sitting at their desks inking out sermons that discredit Bible prophecy.” Lighthouse Blog
“The world is moving so fast, and so many devastating things are happening on a daily basis that even serious issues are constantly placed on the back burner to make way for a more serious or a more current piece of bad news.
“Just to name a few, the list includes: ISIS, Ebola, drought, famine, drug cartels, unabated illegal crossings at our Southern border, a house of cards economy, kidnappings, a gridlocked Congress that is more concerned with inflicting damage on the opposing party than serving the people, unaddressed massive government scandals and potential terrorist attacks on the homeland.” Worrisome Things, Charlie Daniels
See that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. Matthew 24:4-8
What’s a Christian to do? First, we are told by our Lord Y’shuaJesus to not be alarmed, all these things are to take place. Despite this, I long for the conflicts to end, for peace in this world to prevail. I feel the hurt of the millions of suffering people, and wish for resolve. I feel powerless to stop the agony. And then there are time in which I sit back and say to myself, “Fine. If there is war and disease and famine, let it be.” For these things are to happen. They happen because we made them happen. G-d didn’t start the wars, didn’t make us suffer disease, didn’t make us starve. G-d didn’t inspire a jihad that destroys rather than builds up. G-d, when He stood as a man looking over Jerusalem said that He’d wanted so much to gather up His people like a hen would gather her chicks. G-d wants us to have peace; we choose conflict. We are guilty. We hate. We sin. We have cried out for justice, and we have gotten it.
The second thing that we must do is summed up on that post from Lighthouse Blog: “If you love Jesus Christ and His Word and if you really want to serve Him, now is the time to be fully surrendered to the Lord without reservation. Whatever the cost. We are invited to the wedding feast, ready to meet our Savior, with wicks trimmed and lamps burning. Now is the time to make ready.” Lighthouse Blog
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon you. . .
As the Days of Noah. . .
The Last Days. It’s on a lot of minds these days. Wars. Ebola. Islamic Terrorists. Rampant Crime. How could we not think that these are the Last Days. Yet, in all sincerity, as a human race we’ve had wars, famine, plague, and more than enough crime. The past looks pretty ugly. And yet, the mass of men, living lives of quiet desperation (thanks HD Thoreau) just kept on living. “Eat, Drink, Be Merry, for Tomorrow We May Die!” is the prevailing motto. This is the paradigm in which we, as Earth-dwellers live.
That’s what the Days of Noah were all about. Just going on despite the violence they perpetrated or experienced. That’s my sense of it all. We talk of the Last Days, but do we really believe it is here? Reading Genesis chapter six tells of G-d’s disappointment with the sin of the people. They’d become a real pain [ in King James English that was translated as G-d repenting of His creation] to Him. It’s Y’shuaJesus’s view of those times that opens things up for me.
But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Matthew 24:36-39
Generally, people are simple unaware. Period. Sure, we occasionally get a Chicken Little running about yelling, “The sky is falling. The sky is falling.” And lots of things point to toward the Last Days. But we largely ignore the signs. We go on marrying, eating, living, dying. And maybe that’s okay, too. Maybe our lives are meant simply to be lived, that we just need to be good and do good, in the capacity that we find ourselves. Maybe that’s enough. But in the Days of Noah, the people were violent, sinful, because they’d lost their view of G-d. They’d forgotten G-d. The people of Israel, years later, did the same thing. A judge would arise, chosen by G-d to turn the hearts and minds of the people back to G-d–and to vanquish the enemy that had come against Israel. Than the judge would die and the people would again forget.
What I think. . . maybe. . . it’s okay to go on marrying, eating, and going to church weekly or whatever; but we need to turn our eyes toward the Heavens, we need to turn our eyes toward the Lord. The Lord must be the center. For if the Lord is the Center, then the Center will hold and our lives won’t fall apart.
Awake in the morning rejoicing G-d; go to bed at night thanking G-d for another mundane, ordinary day living for and through Him. And if at night we hear a voice calling our name. . . Listen Up! Look Up!
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
It’s a crazy world these days
Ferguson, MO. According to news reports, out-of-town agitators are entering the town and stirring up trouble. These reports say police arrests are being made of mostly people from out of town, many from out of state. Coming from outside, stirring up trouble, isn’t new. I remember Watts, the major riot in the 1960s. While living in Augusta, GA, in the early 1970s, I was told about protests and subsequent riots there. Local folks were peacefully protesting some issue and agitators came from the north stirring up trouble, turning the protests into riots.
These days, Riot-control techniques include using spotters to locate, and quickly subdue such agitators. The difficult thing is entering a crowd of people to arrest one agitator, who may quickly turn the entire crowd against the arresting officers.
This outside interference–or support, depending on your outlook–is told in the Book of Acts.
But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was proclaimed of Paul at Beroea also, they came thither likewise, stirring up and troubling the multitudes. Acts 17:13
As Believers, as Elect, as People of G-d, we know there are fallen angels from Heaven here to trouble the people of this world, both Believers and non-believers. We know this. The agitators in Ferguson, MO, are themselves being stirred up. Any love of peace is being driven out of them.
These are troubling times; these are crazy times. Weird things are happening throughout the Earth, not just in Ferguson, MO. Ebola in Africa, with potential cases popping up in other countries outside of Africa. The U.S. is entering the ware in Iraq–again. There is trouble throughout the Middle East. And Arabs broke a short stay of violence in Gaza. There’s a volcano possibly erupting in Iceland. Muslim scholars are now calling for a ‘global uprising’ against Israel. Evan as we are building complex computer networks throughout the world, becoming technologically advanced, Al Qaeda is targeting U.S. infrastructure for a digital 9/11. And then there’s California, the state in which I was born and lived most of my live: California breaks drought record as 58% of state hits driest level. Are the Horsemen of Revelation upon us? I don’t know. I only know that we have a response to make, action to take. It is this:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph 6:12
The warfare in which we engage is spiritual. Our weapons are spiritual. And our prayers are not based upon our strength, our courage, our righteousness; we pray in the Name of the Lord our Messiah.
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon y’all. . .
An Alien Invasion “May Be The Only Way To Unite. . .
. . . this increasingly divided world,” President Bill Clinton said on television talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live earlier this month. “If we were visited someday, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
This came from an article by Michael Snyder in The Truth in which Mr Snyder also writes: “Back in 1987, President Ronald Reagan made a similar statement. He told the United Nations General Assembly that “I occasionally think how quickly our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside of this world.”
Mr. Snyder also mentions that since President Reagan made his statement up to President Clinton’s statement, much has happened to prepare the world for aliens coming to visit. “We have been primed to expect that it will happen someday,” he wrote.
Well, Mr. Snyder is probably young, and can’t look back to the production of H.G. Well’s The War of the World on The Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was performed as a Halloween episode of the series on October 30, 1938. It created quite a stir, with many people believing it was real, and there was some panic.
We’ve been enthralled with aliens for longer that the 1980s to the present. It’s just that we seem to love the idea of alien’s attacking the world; the world fights the alien inavaders and wins, of course.
Interestingly, another possible take on aliens is being suggested by some scientist who’ve recanted on the idea of a Darwinian Evolution, and others others that are saying there may be other possibilities than Evolution, espousing an attitude of “we don’t know.” Even a staunch Darwinian, Richard Dawkins, “one of the world’s most famous champions of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and a staunch atheist, has recently been discussing the possibility that life on Earth could be the result of advanced alien engineering.
“Dawkins has said that he still believes that life most likely originated on earth, but he has also said than an alien designed start is an “intriguing possibility.” Intelligent life, he has explained, could have evolved elsewhere in the universe according to modern Darwinian theory, and this intelligent life could have eventually learned to engineer new life, and an engineered seed could then have ended up on earth and subsequently evolved into to all the life found here today.here is another development that makes Darwin’s Theory look entirely tame. It’s called Intelligent Design.” [from The Oligarch]
What does our Lord have to say about all of this?
Pay attention, you stupid people!
Fools, when will you be wise?
Can the One who shaped the ear not hear,
the One who formed the eye not see?
The One who instructs nations,
the One who teaches man knowledge —
does He not discipline?
The Lord knows man’s thoughts;
they are meaningless [from Psalm 94]
Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .
Jonah’s Song 