Salvation is on its way. . .

[ I began this note New Year’s Day. I added pieces to it on and off for a week or so before dropping it. Now I’ve come back to it. I share it now with you. Perhaps it’s a good time to do so. ] The New Year is barely underway, yet things are as CRAZY as ever. Happy New Year! [ belated, now. ]

Since I began this post on New Year’s Day, things haven’t changed much globally, though. There’s still the talk of a small financial hiccup that could lead to a major melt down of economies all over the world—or not. Your guess is as good as anyone’s guess. And people actually get paid to guess about these things. They don’t have to be right in their predictions. They just spout them off and move on to the next impending crisis meant to worry us.

I’d earlier written that the outlook for the new year is much the same as the events reported throughout the world as we closed out last year. Namely, refugees flooding into “safe-haven” countries, the ever-expanding Islamic State, terrorism, freak storms and other threats to our safety, and violence against and by law enforcement personnel. Oh, and of course we’ll see even more coverage on the American political scene. [ Here it is April, and that’s still accurate. ]

The common denominator in all events reported is that we need solutions to all that is going on in the world. The conclusions we are to reach is that the state of the world isn’t good, but there are people offering solutions that are good. It’s all about saving the world. It’s about salvation. Seriously!

What does salvation mean to us? What is the opposite of salvation? I’ve thought about these questions in the past. They return to me as I reread what we call the “transfiguration” of Y’shuaJesus, Matthew 17:1-13.

Salvation, according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, means: “. . .the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians (Ex. 14:13), and of deliverance generally from evil or danger. In the New Testament it is specially used with reference to the great deliverance from the guilt and the pollution of sin wrought out by Jesus Christ, “the great salvation,” (Heb. 2:3).

Simply put, salvation is an action that directly benefits us. It is an action of G-d through Y’shuaJesus toward us. The Name Jesus comes to us from the Hebrew name Y’shua. It literally means L-rd Saves. As John Parson puts it, it is “understood in light of G-d’s redemptive power and saving acts.”

But to a very secular world, salvation means something different. Science offers salvation when it gives us solutions to “help” us make our lives “better.” We have financial experts who offer the salvation of wealth, and the management of wealth. We have the medical establishment that includes the pharmaceutics industry that offers the salvation of health and healthy living. We have an automobile industry that offers the salvation of better and safer cars. We have military and law enforcement that offer us the salvation of protection, safety. And we have politicians that offer their own brand of salvation in creating laws to govern our lives, to make our lives “better.”

it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. 1 John 2:18

The Biblical opposite of Salvation is the antichrist. Antichrist, according to Easton’s Bible Dictionary, refers to “against Christ, or an opposition Christ, a rival Christ. The word is used only by the Apostle John. Referring to false teachers, he says (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 1:7), “Even now are there many antichrists.”

(1) This name has been applied to the “little horn” of the “king of fierce countenance” (Dan. 7:24, 25; 8:23- 25).
(2) It has been applied also to the “false Christs” spoken of by our Lord (Matt. 24:5, 23, 24).
(3) To the “man of sin” described by Paul (2 Thess. 2:3, 4, 8- 10).
(4) And to the “beast from the sea” (Rev. 13:1; 17:1- 18)”

So. . .

So, here we are and in the Northern Hemisphere we’re looking at summer coming. Well, here in the American State of Georgia that is very true. But just a couple weeks ago, snow and storms made their way through some northern states. It’s been five months since New Year’s Day. The Dow is climbing again after dropping severely. Nobody even notices anymore. The price of silver dropped, and now rises. Gold is following that pattern, too. Even the price of oil, which dropped so low folks were thinking it would cause a crash, has begun to rise just enough that it’s not a big topic. Yet still voices of doom cry that the economy is going to fail, that riots overwhelm the resources in cities, and martial law will be declared. And on and on and on. . .

Salvation. Buy this. Do this. Prepare for this. Worry about this. . . and that. . . and a whole lot of other things. It’s enough to make a person. . . CRAZY.

But not that’s not all. Rumors abound about political candidates for the highest office in America, the presidency. Controversy surrounds the death of a conservative Supreme Court Justice, Justice Antonin Scalia, who’d served since his appointment by President Reagan in 1986. We’ve got people attacking the right of Christians to conduct their business affairs according to Christian values. For two-hundred years America has stood for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to bear arms, freedom from unlawful search and seizure. Today these freedoms are being attacked. Not from foreign enemies, but from within our own borders, by people who are native-born citizens. We’re either being led to believe that the world is ending, or the world is ending.

It’s enough to drive a person. . . CRAZY!

What’s a person to do?

O keep my soul, and deliver me:
let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me;
for I wait on thee. Psalm 25:20,21

Too simple?

It seems to me that the secular world wants it to be complicated to match the CRAZINESS of the world. The secular world is still filled with chaos. We still need to persevere in our preparations for any event, any disaster, that might come our way. We must be wise. We must be gentle. We need to be reminded occasionally that we need not worry. He who called us to Him, He who offers true salvation, will come. It will be in His time. It will be in His way. Like Gandolf in the Lord of the Rings, our Lord Y’shuaJesus will not be late; He will not be early; He will always be right on time. His time. His way. His truth.

I am rereading Romans. I came to chapter five and really didn’t like what I read. But there it is. We will experience tribulation. We will. Not only that but we will glory in tribulations. Wow. Okay. We’ll glory in tribulation. Ouch. But it has its reward.

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also:knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Romans 5:1-5

Our L-rd Y’shuaJesus is our salvation. And that’s the only thing that’s not CRAZY!

Faith and Works

The Apostle James wrote (James 2:14):

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can his faith save him?

This statement has been a subject of controversy. For Martin Luther, it isn’t just the idea of faith and works that is rejected, “Luther made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon (Bible).” —Wikipedia

King David didn’t have a problem with the whole Faith and Works thing. In Psalm 61:7 he wrote:

My salvation and glory depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God.

In the same Psalm, 61:12, he wrote:

For You repay each according to his works.

This is one way of explaining how Faith and Works compliment each other: “People in desperation are often prepared to resort to criminal activity such as theft and extortion (verse 11) as means of extricating themselves from the crises they confront. David’s message here is that this tendency results from a lack of faith in the Almighty’s power to rescue and support. If a person truly believes that, as David declares in this Psalm’s final verse, God “repays each man in accordance with his conduct,” then he would never resort to unlawful tactics during times of need. He would instead appeal to the Almighty for salvation and trust in the assistance God extends to His loyal servants.” —Tehillim

The “main stream” sees trouble ahead

In April, 2015, Ann Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, wrote, in her blog, about a talk she’d recently given on Joel 1:1 through Joel 2:17.

“The messages almost made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Why? Because God was clearly warning that His judgment is coming on America and on our world, and it’s going to be ugly. I knew it then, and I know it now,” she wrote.

Her blog referenced two scriptures, Matthew 24:21 Psalm 107:19:

For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now. . .Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.

Ms. Lotz understands the times in which we live are in fulfillment of scripture, and are clear warnings to the entire world. She also understands that believers have a responsibility to cry out to the Lord, Who can save.

“I believe Jesus is soon to return to take all of His followers to Heaven with Him in what is referred to as The Rapture. While this will be deliverance for His people, can you imagine the impact on our nation, let alone the world, when suddenly every single authentic Christian disappears?” Ms. Lotz wrote.

Ms. Lotz goes on to describe the chaos that ensues after Christians depart Earth, rescued from the wrath that comes to Earth.

“Institutions will collapse. Banks will close. The Stock Market will plunge. Planes will fall out of the sky. Cars will crash on the road. Government in America at every level will disintegrate. Families will be torn apart. In the unprecedented turmoil, our nation will be vulnerable for our enemies to seize the moment and attack us. There will be mass chaos, confusion, fear, grief, despair, anger, threats, danger. . . judgment,” she wrote.

This view is similar to the way the rapture is depicted in a film I watched not long ago. Christians leave and chaos follows. Sounds arrogant, don’t you think? Things are already falling apart, and we’re still here. On the other hand, we need to look at Israel while stuck in Egypt. Ms. Lotz points out that before the Exodus, Israel experienced three of the ten plagues.

“God may allow His people today to go through a time of distress and trouble before The Rapture takes place,” She wrote.

There are three views that I know of that describe the relation between the rapture and the time of tribulation, which is seven years. One view has Christians leaving Earth before the tribulation; another view says after the tribulation, just before the coming of the Lord. One other view is that Christians experience the first half of the tribulation only. I suppose Ms. Lotz’s views would be for a mid-trib rapture.

I don’t know. I do know that a prudent person desires rescue before trouble, but is prepared for staying around during time of distress. Look at Israel, Exodus 6-8, and we see the people experiencing the first three plagues while being protected, shielded from the remainder—then the were rescued. And they were rescued in style. G-d let them stay for the remaining plagues just to show His control over the situation. Only Egyptians experienced the troubles, the wrath of G-d. And by the time Israel left, the people took with them lots of silver and gold and livestock, all given to them by the Egyptians.

When is this all going to happen? G-d hasn’t revealed the precise day or time yet. We see signs of the times, as the cliché goes. And one might argue, as I’ve heard, that the cycle of events depicted in the Book of Revelation occur every hundred years. But it feels as if something is afoot now. That something is happening soon. Thee’s a tension, a troubling. . . Things just don’t feel right.

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. . .

teotwawki: the end of the world as we know it

There’s really nothing new under the sun, as King Solomon was inspired to write. So it is with the idea that we should always be prepared for the end of the world as we know it.

In a recent article published in The Trumpet, the author, Joel Hilliker, praises James Wesley, Rawles, and Survival Blog, and his compassionate approach to preparing for any calamity. The author wrote:

“Survivalist thinking is often associated with paramilitary activities, racism and religious extremism. But as global stability deteriorates and threats to civilization increase, it is becoming more mainstream. For his part, Rawles is avowedly anti-racist, and apparently moderate in his religion. He emphasizes preparing in a way that enables a person to fulfill the “moral imperative” of charity, giving to the needy in times of crisis.

“There is something to be admired in the clear-eyed pragmatism of those taking steps to face calamity. Unlike the far more common head-in-the-sand approach, it acknowledges the seriousness of the times, and recognizes the need to do something—to work while it is day, since the night is coming.”

In the article, Mr. Hilliker spends some time and citing scriptures that say that we should be aware of the potential for disasters, especially the End Time Tribulation period, The Last Days. He rightfully urges us to “to condition our minds for catastrophes, because they [The Last Days] are coming. It is because of the human tendency to ignore such realities that Jesus Christ warned,

[T]ake heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day”—that is, the period of destruction just ahead of us—“come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

(Luke 21:34-35).

That said, Mr. Hilliker goes on to totally disagree with practical preparedness, citing various scriptures beginning with this one:

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal,” Christ instructed. “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

(Matthew 6:19-21).

In his conclusion, Mr. Hilliker states, “In a 1966 article, “Don’t Store Up Large Quantities of Food,” Herbert W. Armstrong wrote, “Do not spend extra money on foodstuffs above your normal supplies and perhaps some few ‘staples’ which could carry you through a temporary food shortage on a vastly curtailed and reduced diet, in a severe and temporary emergency, for only a few WEEKS! … If you ever store more food than the normal laying up in summer for winter—you’re hoarding, and God Almighty may well withdraw His protection from you!” [emphasis added]

Wait Just One Minute, Please! Take a look at Israel living off G-d’s handouts in the desert waiting for an entire generation of Israelis to die off before it can cross over into the Promised Land. Mr. Hilliker uses that experience in his justification for Faith Alone as the key to Being Prepared. He says Spiritual Preparedness, not physical, is Being Prepared. I disagree. I respect the view that being right with our Lord Y’shuaJesus is all that is required to physically survive in a long-term survival situation, a situation where help will never come from any human. G-d can intervene. G-d can provide. We can trust G-d. But did Israel leave Egypt with nothing? And did Israel plan to spend forty years in a desert with no provisions? Israel left Egypt with wealth given to them by the people of Egypt. Israel left fairly well off for a trek though the desert to the Promised Land. It was disobedience that resulted in an extended stay in the harsh conditions of the desert. It was disobedience that required G-d to provide sustenance to prevent the all the people from dying off in the desert.

It seems to me we need a more balanced approach, and we need to look at a few other scriptures. How about starting with Y’shuaJesus’s parables for instance that tell us that we are to be practical in our approach to live. It was the foolish bridesmaids that didn’t come prepared to wait for entrance into the festival hall for the Feast of the Groom. It was the the man who failed to invest his “talent” that was chastised by the Returning Lord of the Land.

And let us not forget that it was Joseph who had Egypt store up seven years of grain for the seven years of famine that would come about. And it was stored up in preparation for Israel to come down to Egypt to live, though Joseph didn’t realize it at the time.

There was a pretty good movie that circulated in the mid-1980s that pitted the Spiritual with the Totally Practical, the peaceful protest with the armed protest. I don’t recall the name, but it was set during the time of the Spanish conquest of South America. Two priest, two friends, each choice a different approach to protect the inhabitants of a village. One priest gathered villagers to pray, the other trained villagers to protect themselves. In the end both priest died as the Spanish conquest of the land was completed. The end left the viewer to decide which priest took the most appropriate defensive strategy. In a purely rational view, neither priest failed, neither priest succeeded. Both died. It leaves one understanding, however, that each is judged later, by the Lord. That each did what he thought right. There was a special moment at the end of the movie that showed the two dying priests crawling toward one another, to grasp hands. I, as a viewer, felt there was no judgement of one toward the other for his way of protest. They did what they had to do.

And so it is with us, today. Pray now before the coming collapse of our delicately intertwined society, which is dependent upon a fragile supply chain. We must, as Mr. Hilliker points out, repent and trust in G-d. G-d will provide! It is for you to decide if G-d will provide your sustenance now or later. If now, so be it. If later, okay. In the end, we it is our mandate to trust G-d and follow what He places in your heart.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Micah and a Lasting Peace

Many promise peace. Probably most famous is British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, who promised “peace in our time.” He did this in defense of an appeasement agreement in Munich that allowed Germany to take part of Czechoslovakia. But this didn’t appease Germany. Poland was in its sights. When Poland fell to Germany, England entered what would become WWII. England suffered greatly during the war, with much destruction coming upon it.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

1 Thes 5:3

Y’shuaJesus didn’t promise peace on Earth.

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Matthew 10:34

He promised peace, though, through HIM.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

In the Book of Micah, we find a prophet itemizing the failures of his country–its iniquities. He cries out to his people regarding G-d’s requirements: justice and mercy, walking humbly with G-d. To Micah, proper worship of G-d is the prime ingredient for a proper relationship. Consequences follow when a people loses its relationship with G-d. Destruction. But Micah also promises redemption, salvation. He foretold of the Messiah. He also foretold that the Last Days would usher in a lasting peace with the Earthly reign of Messiah, Y’shuaJesus.

And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Micah 4:3

Bad times come. Bad times go. We ride the worldly roller coaster. Peace we have through all this that is brought into our hearts through our faith in Y’shuaJesus. He is the Only Way to Peace.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .