So not going to read the news before bed

I am SO not going to read the news in the evening again. I read an article about the President of the United States sending letters to all schools encouraging school administration to allow students to freely choose which bathroom they want to use.

The Profound Unfairness of the Baltimore Riots - The Daily Banter — Baltimore Riots – The Daily Banter

So, anyway, I had a couple dreams during the night. In one I dreamt that somebody shot the Angel G-d assigned to maintain order upon Earth. I saw people in the streets laughing and rejoicing that the restraints were lifted. Cars came to a stop in the middle of the streets and people got out and started rioting. It was happening all over the world.

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32

The dream was not a nightmare; there was no fear that I felt. I only experienced sadness. Not even shock. Just sadness. It’s been nearly eight years since I felt in the Spirit that G-d was beginning to gather His own. An Ingathering. A Spiritual gathering of people who would praise and worship and pray, linked together in the Spirit. And in Revelation an Angel of G-d travels the Earth marking the People of G-d. This comes before the antichrist calls for all people to be marked with the mark of the beast. There is a division happening. Over the past eight years so much has happened. Preachers and Christians are coming out of the woodwork, declaring their allegiance to ideas never before associated with Bible-believing people. They are in the physical Christian church but are not Christian in their belief. Now they begin to articulate a false view in public. There truly is a falling away of Biblical Christian viewpoint, of True Christian belief. And those espousing non-Christian ways remain in the shambles of the Physical Church, taking it over, making it their own. A coup.

It’s as if for the past six-thousand years the Spirit of G-d has maintained a certain order on Earth. An order that limited chaos. Limited evil. Not totally supressing it, but limiting how far it could go. But now. . . evil is beginning to take center stage. Evil is consuming the people of Earth. There seems no limit to what people will do, what people will support others doing. The Earth dances at the edge of decadence, ready to take the plunge, ignoring the Dante’s sign warning: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”

But for those who marked by G-d, whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, we are taught by the Apostle Paul that:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 31-39

Saturday Night Begins Tisha B’Av

Saturday evening begins the ninth day of the fifth month in the Jewish calendar, which is “Tisha B’Av, the Fast of the Ninth of Av, is a day of mourning to commemorate the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people, many of which have occurred on the ninth of Av,” according to Judaism 101.

“Tisha B’Av primarily commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temples, both of which were destroyed on the ninth of Av (the first by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.; the second by the Romans in 70 C.E.).

“Although this holiday is primarily meant to commemorate the destruction of the Temple, it is appropriate to consider on this day the many other tragedies of the Jewish people, many of which occurred on this day, most notably the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 and from England in 1290.” —Judaism 101

There is another tradgedy that concerns the ninth of Av. “The year is 1313 BCE. The Israelites are in the desert, recently having experienced the miraculous Exodus, and are now poised to enter the Promised Land. But first they dispatch a reconnaissance mission to assist in formulating a prudent battle strategy. The spies return on the eighth day of Avand report that the land is unconquerable. That night, the 9th of Av, the people cry. They insist that they’d rather go back to Egypt than be slaughtered by the Canaanites. G‑d is highly displeased by this public demonstration of distrust in His power, and consequently that generation of Israelites never enters the Holy Land. Only their children have that privilege, after wandering in the desert for another 38 years. — Chabad.org

Those things happened a long time ago. More recently,”World War II and the Holocaust, historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. And yes, amazingly enough, Germany declared war on Russia, effectively catapulting the First World War into motion, on the 9th of Av, Tisha b’Av.” — Chabad.org

So, how long must we remember things of the past? As long as it takes that they are not repeated.

Chabad.org put it this way: “What do you make of all this? Jews see this as another confirmation of the deeply held conviction that history isn’t haphazard; events—even terrible ones—are part of a Divine plan and have spiritual meaning. The message of time is that everything has a rational purpose, even though we don’t understand it.”

Killing us gently

aaa3_1193 — Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Nasr bin Ali al-Ansi holds what the group said was its first “press conference.”

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. . .

Of Lawlessness, Last Days, and Dreams

We are told that in the Last Days before the return of our King, lawlessness will increase. Looking back throughout our human history, we can see periods of war, famine, plague. Certainly. But something is afoot these days that sets us beyond what has come before.

This week in the news North Korea tells foreigners to leave South Korea as it struts its stuff like a roster before a cock fight. The Mid East is bathed in blood as secular dictators are being pushed aside so that a religious government might rise in the ashes. And then there is Iran. In America violence seems rampant, erupting in the most unlikely places. Throughout, ordinary people are frustrated, angry, rude, unkind, and don’t even know why.

It feels like the Spirit of G-d is departing–that no longer is evil somewhat reigned. We are left to suffer the consequences of our sins.

This is just the way it happens. Does a father forever continue to treat his children as infants? At some point a father looks at his child through tears and says, “You are on your own now.”

Yet we are also told that:

. . .in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. . .

Acts 2:17

So between what feels as with drawl of the Spirit and a pouring out of the Spirit?

It is a time for us to learn endurance, patient waiting, faith. We have not lost the Spirit of G-d within us. G-d has not departed from us. We are anointed with the oil of gladness, and can, if we choice, revel in the joy of the Holy Ghost. Today. But we must make an effort to seek G-d, through His Son Y’shuaJesus, by the power of the Spirit. We must rest in the LORD now, find His peace amidst the lawlessness of this present world.

As things fall apart, we must recognize that the Lord is with us. We must rally beneath His Banner of Love. We must be holy, must be wholly His. We must forgive insults and act wisely. We must not be alarmed. And when we dream dreams we must pay attention to them, be encouraged by them. For it is when the dreams come to us, G-d may speak His quiet voice, encouraging us, healing us, changing us, and instructing us.

Lord Bless, Keep, and Shine upon you and yours. . .

Violence in America, and elsewhere

“When is anyone going to get serious? The problem is violence, a violence of monstrous and horrific proportions that has infected America’s popular culture,” wrote L. Brent Bozell III, in his column, ‘Dialogue’ Required for Violent Video Games, published February 22, 2013, in a column on CNSNews.com

Well, yes, it is obvious, violence has infected America. But when did this infestation of violence begin? Has this epidemic taken hold only recently with rampages resulting in school shootings? What was index case, as it the first instance of a disease is called? Was it the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, when on Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman killed 26 people, including 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7, at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., about 65 miles northeast of New York City, an event that reignited a national debate over gun control.

But wait, a timeline of school shootings shows the first to be Feb. 2, 1996, in Moses Lake, Washington, when Two students and one teacher killed, one other wounded when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire on his algebra class. (Source: Time Line of Worldwide School Shootings.

Perhaps this epidemic of violence began with something much larger in scope, such as the horrific violence done to Americans on September 11, 2001, when a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. areas on September 11, 2001. On that Tuesday morning, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger jets, intending to fly them in suicide attacks into targeted buildings. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Both towers collapsed within two hours and falling debris, combined with fires that the debris initiated in several surrounding buildings, led to the partial or complete collapse of all the other buildings in the World Trade Center complex, also causing major damage to ten other large structures in the immediate area of the complex. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon (the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense), leading to a partial collapse in its western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. Almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including all 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes. (source: Wikipedia)

Maybe we need to go back well beyond our recent history. Perhaps we should look at the beginnings of humankind.

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand.

Genesis 4:8-11

G-d cursed Cain for this evil, this violence. Here we are some 5700 years later and violence is rampant upon the Earth. It seems to me, one of the issues is that we choose to forget the origin of violence. If Cain slew Able today, we might examine Cain to see why he did what he did. We might declare that he was mentally incompetent, and society let him down by allowing him access to a club. Some might even blame Able for provoking his poor brother.

The thing is, it goes beyond the index case of violence in the world. It goes to the heart of the matter, and influences upon the human heart. Paul put it this way:

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.

Ephesians 6:12

Looking to blame individuals, looking to deter violence taking away what we perceive as the cause of that violence, misses the point. There is violence in America, as there is violence throughout the world. This violence has a source in spiritual wickedness in high places. Spiritual beings unchecked by the lack of Christian Watchmen.

Take a minute today, and tomorrow, and the next tomorrow, to recognize there are unseen forces unleashed upon our communities. Take just a minute to ask the Lord Y’shuaJesus to come “against the principalities, against the powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

These are the forces of evil that are ruining our communities, our nations, our world.

Come, Lord Y’shuaJesus. Come Back and conquer and rule.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon y’all. . .

Surprized at the Violence?

Things seemed to be going so well. The weather wasn’t perfect, but tolerable. People up in New York were starting to get clear of the destruction of their double whammy storms. The election is over. Whether we celebrate or mourn, at least we know now were we stand for the next four years. Here in Georgia it’s raining. And it’s about time, too. And on the XMRadio I’ve been listening to “Radio Hanukkah.”-eight days of music celebrating the Maccabees Victory and beginning again of worshiping G-d in The Temple. It celebrates the miracle of light, a light that stayed lite eight days when there was only enough oil for one.

Then a young man barely out of his teens shoots a bunch of kids and six adults. Defenseless kids. Defenseless adults. Law enforcement officers comb the man’s house, where he also murdered his mother, for clues to how and why. The murdered children and adults are mourned–by us all.

How long will we all remember, though? Certainly parents of slaughtered babies will not soon forget their anguish, their loss. But we move on, CNN moves on, the world moves on, live goes on. There may be superficial answers offered us to our questions of “Why?” We will be told that the boy played too many violent video games too often. We will be told the boy watched violent television. We will told the boy was brilliant, but somehow damaged goods.

Even after we move on “solutions” will be proposed. Advocates will cry out for our attention, trying to get our ears. The “solutions” will include taking away any implement that might be used to cause harm. Take away access to evil guns. Curb violence on television. Restrict video games.

This month Christians celebrate the birth of a Savior. Not just any savior. The Savior. This is the time we need more than ever to understand that controls upon our liberties lead only to tyranny and that solutions only lay in accepting the only true savior, the only true peace that there is–Y’shuaJesus.

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Random Acts. . .

Repent! Jesus is coming soon (Photo credit: Ben Sutherland)

Iniquity abounds in this world in which we reside. Iniquity is no longer a random act; it seems it is the norm. We must know we are merely strangers here. We must believe in our hearts that we are new creatures, reborn through Y’shuaJesus’s redemptive act of enduring kindness. While we walk, through various trials and tribulations, the Spirit of G-d is with us, beside us, within us.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2 Thes 2:7-10

Iniquity is also referred to as “lawlessness.” While it means having no law, it refers to the spirit of these days in which we live. For it is in these days that there is a turning away from G-d and G-d’s Law. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians that while there is this spirit of lawlessness in the world, it is contained until G-d chooses to let it completely go. I pointed out the move here in Georgia to encourage “Random Acts of Kindness” and the various community service projects that are undertaken. These, promoted by both Christians and non-Christians, are ways in which G-d keeps some light shining. Y’shuaJesus said to work while it is still day, for in the night, no work can be done.

This all makes me think about the search party going into Sodom to seek out any righteous that may be there, and if things are truly as bad as rumor had it.

And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

Genesis 18:20-23

G-d didn’t find enough salt in Sodom, so took Lot and his family out, then destroyed the place. It serves as an example to us as iniquity continues to rise and the act of being considerate, just being nice, decline. We are salt the preserves even as things around us fall apart slowly. For there are still some that may hear the Spirit calling their names, and accept the promise of life, abundant live, today and forever.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .