THE RUINING OF AMERICA PART VII

Samuel has traced the inevitable cycle of government in a fallen world. He now comes to the conclusion of this vicious cycle: totalitarianism. When left to itself, government comes to its final destination; the people are controlled by a tyrant. He states this in I Samuel 8:17b: ". . .  you will become his [the king's] servants." 

In other words, under a tryanny, the people exist for the state and work for the state. There is no government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Samuel then predicts, "You shall cry out in that day because of your king."  He's telling them the oppression will become intolerable. Regardng the prediction of Samuel about the state, history answers, "Amen!"

Alva J. McLain looks back to 1917 and writes: "In 1917, when America entered the first conflict [WWI], it was widely supposed that once we had abolished the kings and emperors, all would be well. So we witnessed the dethronment of the Russian tzar and the German Kaiser, to say nothing of the lesser breeds. And in their stead we got Stalin and Hitler! Today, we look back nostalgically, not to sure that the abolishing of the kings has improved the world political situation over the days prior to 1914."  

Let's sum up by quoting McLain: "It is to the lasting credit of the Founding Fathers of our own American system that they regarded all highly centalized government  with a deep and cold suspicion, holding that the less we had of it the better of we would be. But strangely enough today, for every failure of highly centralized government, its supporters have no rmedy except a larger dose of the same thing."

Human government is necessary; it was instituted by God in Genesis 9. James Madison, "The Father of our Constitution" said, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary."  

McLain finshes with this warning: "But people who are wise never let it get too big or powerul. Unless strictly limited, there is the loss of liberty, econimic distress, and political despair. " 

 THE RUINING OF AMERICA: PART VI

We have been examining God's Word to Samuel in which God warns Israel about what governments do in a fallen world. So far, we've looked at five characteristics of their downward spiral. We've reached number six: corruption. I Samuel 8:15: "He [the king] will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants." 

As we saw in Part 5, governments never have enough money; as time progresses and beauracracies multiply, the "desk sitters" must be paid. To be paid, the government needs more money from its belieagured citizens. This leads to corruption. The truth of the matter is that a large portion of that money comes to rest in the coffers of those who support the party in power who took it away from the citizens through taxation. 

The ruling party will point out to the citizenry that it's spending the money for, as they always say, "The common good." But truth be told, the government takes the money from those who work to produce it and then hand it over to the the non-producers in the society. This procedure goes under the beneficient name of "wealth reditribution." 

To continue this distribution, the rulers must stay in power, so they act on this formula: spend, tax, elect. The horde of nonproducing citizens realize that they can vote themselves more money by keeping such rulers in power. 

A vicious cyle has thus begun.

TBC

THE RUINING OF AMERICA PART V

 The news isn't good as Samuel continues to trace the descent into ruin of the institution called goverment.  What would you think the next step would be in view of the ones listed so far? Samuel has warned that the descent would in include an ever=expanding beauracracy and the hiring of employees for useless jobs.

You would be right if you said that next in the progression would be burdensome taxation to support all of that. The state will always want more money; the taxes must increase. As Samuel says, "The state will take 10% of your seed and 10% of your vvineyards and 10% of your sheep. This would effect only Israel's food supply but today, the burden is much worse. 

New York City is one of the few U.S. cities that imposes a local income tax in addition to the state tax. This tax applies only to residents, regardless of where they work. New York City has a combined sales tax rate of 8.875%, which includes 4% from the state, 4.5% from the city, and a 0.375% surcharge for the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD). Businesses collect this tax at the point of sale and remit it to the government. Some necessities, such as unprepared food and prescription medications, are exempt, while restaurant meals, electronics, and luxury goods are fully taxable.The list is endless. 

For every dollar the state spends, you have one dollar less to spend. Such budensome taxation demoralizes the population and supresses any incentive to work, produce, and earn. The government spends money on what others want, not on what you want, on what thebeaucrates think is what's good for you, such as:

1. $419,470 spent to study if lonely rats are more likely to seek cocaine.
   (NY Post)

2. $10,000 awarded to a drag show on ice promoting climate awareness.
   (NY Post)

3. $477,000 spent on experiments involving transgender monkeys.
   (NY Post)

4. $549,000 spent to test cats’ performance on treadmills in Russia.
   (NY Post)

5. $2.24 million to research COVID-19 transmission in cats.
   (NY Post)

6. Millions spent researching magic and its cultural impact.
   (Newsweek)

7. $32,596 spent on breakdancing initiatives.
   (HSGAC Report)

8. $620,000 spent on arming the Environmental Protection Agency.
   (NY Post)

9. $1.3 billion sent to deceased people through federal programs.
   (NY Post)

10. $171 million paid in unemployment benefits to incarcerated individuals.
    (Washington Examiner)

11. $2 billion spent on maintaining and leasing unused properties.
    (NY Post)

12. 
    

THE RUINING OF AMERICA IV

 

In I Samuel 8, the prophet Samuel is warning Israel of what governments do just by their own nature. So far in our study, we have now come to warning number four. A government will, like a juggernaut, advance to existing for its own sake. The government will set its beaurocarcy to "doing its work" (I Samuel 8:16). "for its itself" (vs. 11); for "its harvest" (12; and for its chariots" (vs. 11) 

In other words, the functions of the government are to ensure the maintaning of the government. The government will talk about "serving the people," but the focus is not on serving the people; the focus of the government is on its own support and maintanance. The officials of the state will "talk a good game" of being for that nebulous group called "the people," but their focus is not on them. The focus of the government is bent in on itself.. 

This should be evident. The first loyalty of the employee of the government is not to "the people." Instead, it's to the party. Thus the employee's focus is on the party that controls the government. The party is the be-all-and-end-all for the employee. 

In short, the government will operate for its own sake, not for "we the people." So, that's the progression of the government; it will come to where the idea of "You were elected to serve the people" becomes a fiction. It will progress to serve itself. 

Samuel isn't through with his blunt warnings. Has he has more to say.

TBC  

THE RUINING OF AMERICA PART III

     

Samuel continues to reveal what a monarchy would entail for the Israelites and in so doing, he reveals the progression of how governments march toward their own ruin over a short amount of time. We've come to the third point in the march of the doomed: "the government will take your sons and your daughters" (I Sam. 8:8, 11, 16). 

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson ran for a second term on the slogan, "He kept us out of war." He knew Americans wanted no part of the war in Europe. but did anybody notice that there was one word missing in that impactful slogan, the word, "will," as in, "He will keep us out of war." "He kept" did not mean "He will keep."

After his election, he reversed his course and over 24 million men were registered in the draft. Of those, 2.8 million men were drafted; just over 500 thousand in the last half of 1917 and nearly 2.3 million men in by 1918. The war took 116,516 lives while the war in Viet Nam claimed 64,000 lives. 

As a result of rebelling against Samuel's warning that government takes "your sons and your daughters" is the taking of those who should be involved in family matters, farming, and working in factories. The result was a shortage of labor and serious econmic consequences. 

Add the fact that the percentage of women working outside the home jumped from 23.6% to a whopping 46.7% in 1918! Almost half of the working age mothers were now outside the home for the entire day. 

TO BE CONTINUED

THE RUINING OF AMERICA II

 

In I Samuel 8, the nation of Israel expressed its desire to be like all the other nations even though in their founding documents, God had called them to be separate from the Gentile nations around them: Moses reminds the Israelites of their unique status: "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession, above all the peoples on the face of the earth." 

This text is a destructive blow to multiculturalism which is "the concept that promotes the recognition, inclusion, and celebration of diverse cultural identities within a society. In theory, it encourages tolerance, acceptance, and cultural exchange. However, multiculturalism can pose challenges to social cohesion and national identity.

What the nation wanted was a change in the format of the theocracy: "No more judges. Give us a monarchy." This triggered Samuel to let them know that this was a rejection of God's will for them but if that's what they wanted, so be it, but he then went on to tell them the consequences. In so doing, he declared that there would be a progression in which all human government produces.

In last week's blog we saw the first stage in the progression: the government will bring the people into its service beginning with military service, then into civil service. Thus begins a bureaucracy, a word taken from French and Greek, meaning "rule from a desk." Today, this is what we call, "The Deep State."

Samuel's prediction now moves to the next stage: the government will create jobs such as "captains over fifties and captains over thousands." Included in this job creation will be those who "run before the king's chariots." The government will create the job of the runner whose only function is to call attention to the chariot riding king. This is what a bureaucracy does: it creates useless jobs. 

The problem is that once a bureaucracy begins, dislodging it is like trying to remove a face from Mt. Rushmore with a noodle. The desk ruler is like Elliot Ness and his men, untouchable. The bureaucrat was not voted into the position and cannot be voted out. To quote Cassius to Brutus in Shakespear's "Julius Caesar," "Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs, and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves." 

"The original bureaucracy of the federal government consisted only of employees from three small departments — State, Treasury, and War. The executive branch employs today almost three million people. Not only have the numbers of bureaucrats grown, but also the methods and standards for hiring and promoting people have changed dramatically." (From ushistory.org)

 

THE RUINING OF AMERICA

The Bible predicts the ruin of America. Wait! What! No, America is not predicted in the Bible anywhere. Any one who says so is reading America into the Scriptures; it's not there. What I mean by the Bible's predicting is that it America and every other country, although not metioned by name, is predicted in regard to being under certain principles given in I Samuel 8 by none other than the prophet Samuel. Let's look at this.

The people of Israel have had enough; they are sick and tired of being under the judges. The judges were men called by God at various times to deliver Israel from enemies who were attemptking to destroy her. Israel came to see this as a problem; they had to wait for God to raise up a deliverer to lead them. In other words, they were to live by faith that God was going to do this. Waiting on the Lord isn't easy, we all know that. 

So,they make a request of Samuel: "All the other nations have kings. We demand one." Their reasoning was that a king would always be there one after the other, always visible and at the ready to enforce the Law and lead them into battle. 

This was a rebellious demand which Samuel took as insulting to his ministy but God pointed outthat their demand was a rejection of Him, not the prophet. The people have free will, so they were told that if they want to be like other nations in rebellion of God's call to be diffent, then, go head but I will, through Samuel, tell you what's going to happen. What will happen is recorded in I Samuel 8:7ff. 

What's going to happen to Israel is what will happen to all governments of all time in a fallen world because this is the way goverments are in such a world. And what's going to happen will bring ruin upon any nation. 

What Samuel reveals to them is a progression which leads to ruin and it doesn't take long to bring any and all nations down. The progression goes like this:

1.The govenment will bring the people into its service in all areas of life such as agricuture. The American government's control of agricuture can be seen in the 1930s, 

At that time, American farmers were paid by the government not to produce. by paying farmers. This meant that the government was controling farm production. 

What happened when we paid farmers not to produce? First, Americans had to pay more for bread, corn and cotton shirts. The higher prices for farmers meant price increases for customers buying farm products.

Second, because farmers were growing smaller crops, we used up more quickly the food being grown, and soon had to import the very crops we were paying farmers not to produce. In 1935, the U.S. imported 36 million pounds of cotton, 13 million bushels of wheat, and 34 million bushels of corn. This govdfnment contol was a disaster. (From "The NewYork Times")

This would include manufacturing control as well as food processing. A bureaucracy has begun. FDR had begun to put water in the American gas tank. The progression to ruin had begun.

[The progression is detailed in "The Greatness of the Kingdom" by Alva J. McClain.]

TO BE CONTINUED

MEGYN KELLY, CHARLIE KIRK, A PRIEST, AND HOSEA

 

Hosea 4:1-2: "Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,

For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land,
Because there is no]faithfulness or kindness
Or knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery.
They employ violence, so that bloodshed [c]follows bloodshed

The scene in Israel had become serious; the people were running wild all over five of the Ten Commandments. They had ears of stone in regard to the Word of God. They weren't listening to the prophets who were calling them back to the Bible. 

Their ears of stone had caused a vacuum; as Aristotle said, "Nature abhors a vacuum." Something must rush into a vacuum. In their case, some things, plural, took its place: "Swearing, a reference to curses made in the name of some deity in which one person calls down calamity on another, such as "I wish he were dead!" or "May he be struck dead!" 

Violence rushed into the vacuum. The news carried one report after another of violent crimes which were so common that they seemed to follow one another without interruption as in "bloodshed follows bloodshed," the prophet thundered. Their society had fallen apart, all because "there was no knowledge of God in the land." 

No one's property was safe. To the Israelites, "Thou shalt not steal" was a suggestion to be ignored. 

The root of the bitter fruit wasn't poverty, a lack of education, or being homeless; the root was spiritual. God's people had rejected the Bible. The record of their past had taught them nothing; God's disciplining rod had come to their forefathers who paid with pain. 

THE HERE, THE NOW

If a speaker with a biblical world view is going to speak on college campus, he or she must enter its ivy walls with heavy security. If a Jewish student is to go to class, it would be best for him or her to divest themselves of any attire that would reveal their identity. On one campus not too long ago, a rabbi advised all Jewish students to go home or else face rapid mobs from which they would have no protection from the school and local authorities.

On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk entered a campus in Utah to do what he loved to do--sit under an awning and answer thousands of students' questions one by one, seeking to persuade students via the Socratic method of dialogue, question and answer.  

A female student accuses him of being a fascist. He asks, "What's a Fascist?" Her reply, "I don't know." Through that one question, he has politely shown her she doesn't know what she's talking about. another student informs Mr. Kirk that he will cast his vote for Kamala Harris, so Kirk asks him to name her greatest accomplishment. Silence. Then he asks, "Name one accomplishment. Crickets. That's he Socratic method.

ENTER MEGYN AND A PRIEST

On Megyn Kelly's podcast as seen on YouTube, she is distraught and rightly so. She also must travel with heavy security. Her guest is a Roman Catholic priest whom she respects and calls upon to make some sense out of the tragedy. His reply is that man ruined what God had created. 

She asks him, "What should we do?" The young priest answers, "We must stand up strong and do good. Kelly agrees and tells him and her audience, "Yes, that's what we should do. You don't get in heaven unless you do good." That's not unusual; that's what a Roman Catholic would say. But how many millions were hearing that false gospel snd will continue to hear it? Over and over again, the Bible in which Charlie Kirk unashamedly believed informs u, heaven isn't entered by works but by faith alone o Christ apart from works as the gospel of John says a hundred times. 

Kelly revealed that she and the priest have ears of stone.

I began with Hosea. I conclude with Paul who wrote of a society with ears of stone:

"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. 

 

 

THE ENDURING RAGE

 When it comes to history, far too many are far to ignorant of a global, entrenched, irrational, fanatical, and demonic hatred: there's a soft name for this irrationality; antisemetism. That's a euphemism for "Jew hatred." Jew hatred is the most ancient of all hatreds; popes and princes, kings, queens, pharoahs, professors, students, universities and politicians have Jewish blood on their hands. National heroes have promoted the raging; "heroes" like Henry Ford have promoted it. 

Let's take a look back, way back, throughout history and see the specifics and results of this hatred. The picture isn't pretty and, most important, it's way, way worse than you think it is. To start our historical journey, let's go back to Spain in the fifteenth century, that century at whose close Columbus sailed the ocean blue. (This notation is not to suggest that he was a hater of the Jews; he wasn't but two famous people he knew were. He delayed sailing out of the harbor so he could save a few Jews.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO BE A JEW IN SPAIN BACK THEN?

In 1391, a mob murdered 4,000 Jews in Seville. In the space of 90 days, 5,000 more had een murdered. Tens of thousands more were forced to convert to the Roman Catholic Church. Those horrific numbers didn't quench Spain's thirst for the blood of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The people had come to believe that Jewish blood was so tainted that even a forced conversion couldn't eliminate the problem. Their solution: extermination. 

This triggered the infamous Spanish Inquition during which 32,000 were burned at the stake. Those who weren't were forced to wear clothes with yellow crosses. If they refused, they were branded and burned to death. Other punishments: Jews were banned from being lawyers, notaries, or doctors. They couldn't bear arms, thus rendering them defenseless. Gun control! Jews couldn't receive money, carve stone, own a tavern, ride a horse, travel by cart or carriage, wear gold, silver, or precious stones, silk, or grow a beard.

THE MAGNIFICENT IRONY

The king and queen of Spain were Ferdinand and Isabella. Under their rule an edict went out that all Jews were to be exiled from Spain. In July 1492, the exodus began. When Columbus left on his famous voyage in August, he could not use the port of Cadiz because of the large numbers of Jews waiting to board ships in the harbor. 

How was his trip in which he discovered the new world financed? Ferdinand and Isabella funded Columbus' voyage through a combination of royal treasury funds and contributions from the city of Palos.

And it was in the new world that a nation would be founded to support giving the Jews their homeland in 1948 and provide protection for them.

THE SPANISH ARMADA

And what happened to Spain? What happened to Spain was that they ran into Genesis 12:3b : ". . . those who curse you [the Jews], I [God] will curse."

And this brings us to the mighty Spanish Armada. "The Spanish Armada was a fleet sent by King Philip II of Spain in 1588 to invade England. The Armada faced numerous challenges, including poor weather ["the wind and the waves obey His voice"] and strategic miscalculations, leading to its defeat by the English navy. This defeat marked a significant turning point in history, as it established England's naval supremacy and was celebrated as a great victory for Protestant England over Catholic Spain."  

ONE WORD THE BIBLE STUDENT SHOULD NEVER SAY

 There is one word the Bible student should never say and it's all because of the Roman emperor Hadrian who ruled from 117-138 AD. He had the effrontery to go into Israel and rename it! The name he chose was because he wanted to mock the Jews. He wanted to rename the land to de-Judaize it. 

The new and insulting name he chose was "Palestine" because it's a derivative of "Philistine" who were the ancient enemies of Israel. He chose he name both to mock and to humiliate the Jews. Let's call what he did what it is, a slur. 

The Bible never uses the word "Palestine." Threfore we should not use it of the land of Israel.

Now you know. 

THE OBSESSION

 People can have all kinds of obsessions--heroin, alcohol, the New York Yankees, a celebrity, the royal family, or they diet to the point of anorexia.

But there's one obsession that's worldwide and outstrips all the others. That obsession is Jew hatred. Such a hatred has it's own technical term:antisemitism. Henry Ford had it. So did Bobby Fischer, Charles Lindbergh, Martin Luther, Charles Dickens, and Mel Gibson who ranted,  "The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.'" 

We can show that ancient hatred to be irrational by looking at some statistics which show us the percentages of the population of Jews living in various countries:

America: 2.3%

France: 3/4 of 1%

The United Kingdom: 0.5% (Yet people think they control the world and have started every war.)

Another fact: there is only one country in the world in which the Jewish population is the majority (Israel). 

Let's turn our attention to the percentage of Jews in relation to the world's population: 0.2%

Yet, the world is addicted to Jew hatred. Antisemitism has been called "the oldest hatred." Israel faces more criticism and condemnation in the United Nations than any other country. The UN passes more resolutions against Israel than any other country.

University campuses are also addicted to hating 0.2% of the world's population; students riot, take over buildings, lead chants over bullhorns they don't even know what they mean, and attack and harrass Jews on campus to the extent that a rabbi advised Jewish studets of one Ivy League college to go home for their own safety while the administrations of those schools did nothing to protect them. 

All this, while N. Korea, Cuba, China, and Russia have murdered millions of their own people and are ignored.

There is an evil supernatural component at work, promoting this addiction. Only the Bible informs us about it in Revelation 12. 

DRONES IN AUSTIN, TX

 Would it be safe to say that America has rejected God and His Word? I believe that's true. So the question what happens next, that is, it creates a vacuum and, as the saying goes, "Nature abhors a vacuum." Therefore, a vacuum creates, automatically, the necessity to fill it. The question is what has filled it?

I think we could use one word to describe the "filler:" irrationality" The reason for the filler is because, as Proverbs says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." If there is no wisdom, irrationality prevails.

Let's look at some examples of irrationality. 

1. The idea that how I feel determines reality. If a male "feels" that he is not a male, then, he isn't. This irrationality has led to all kinds of collateral damage too evident to mention. 

2. The feeling that marriages and families don't  matter. Vows mean nothing; children don't need a father. A relationship within the bounds of marriage is not sacred. But the family is the place where children learn to be trustworthy, to share, and and to have boundaries. The family is a nation in miniature.  

3. The idea that diversity is strength. Yet, as history has shown, a nation needs a common language, a common body of literature, a common law, and a common enforcement of that law, et al. If it does not, the nation breaks into various tribes, each seeking power over the other.

4. The feeling that each person has his or her own truth. The deduction from this is that everyone else MUST accept the other person's truth. Man has become his own god. 

5. The feeling that man, through government, can build Eden on earth. So when their candiate doesn't win the election, they become hysterical. A correlary of this is that since making the bulding of Eden their goal, they can use political power to force others into their belief because "it's for their own good.

6. Another result of irrationality'filling the vacuum is violence.

And this leads us to the reason for the title of this blog: drones in Austin, Tx. I was on my way to my secular meeting, now on Wednesdays, listening to the car radio. "It's back to school time," the annoucer said and, "A poll has been taken that asked the question, 'What is a parent's biggest concern for the start of schoo?'" My alert mind came up the the answer: the cost of getting a child ready for school--new clothes to stay up with the Joneses; school supplies, things like that but, boy, was I ever wrong. 

The numbe one concern among the polled parents was school shootings. To say it another way, their number one concern was that their child might be gunned down and killed at school!

This is where Austin enters the picture. A local company has developed drones that will fly over some of the Austin schools during the school day and will be able to report to the authorities if it sees a student or anyone else approaching the school with a weapon. Our schools have become places where we have to fly drones over them to protect the students from being murdered.

Now, granted, this is in the experimental stage for the school year but it does show us one thing: there are serious consequences for irrationality that automatically comes from rejecting God and His word. 

The price of rejecting God and His Word is indeed heavy. 

HE SAID "THE CHURCH IS LYING TO YOU"

 He's popular on YouTube, a Pastor, Author, and University Dean. He has an unusual name: Voddie Baucham. He has a sermon on YouTube with a title meant to attract: "Christians, You've Been Lied to about the Rapture." 

A summary of his sermon is that heclaims in no uncertain \ terms that the rapture is a false doctrine invented by a man named John N. Darby in the first half of the 1830s and no one ever heard of such a thing until then. He speaks with a dogatic dogmatic and forked tongue. What he says is nothing new; the rapture has been under attack for a long, long time and Darby is usually mentioned in every attack. 

But I wonder if such authors and speakers on the attck have consided these facts:

1. In the last decade, classics scholar Francis X. Gumerlock has researched the approximately 500 volumes of the writings of the church fathers, (those who lived after the apostles) that have never been translated into English. He once told Mark Hitchcock in an e-mail over a decade ago that he had three file drawers full of rapture statements from throughout Early and Medieval Period of church history. 

2. Gumerlock found a significant number of pre-tribulational rapture statements throughout the history of the church well before the time of Darby. The earliest he has cited thus far is from The Apocalypse of Elijah. Scholars date the sermon around 285 AD. coming from somewhere in Egypt. The rapture passage is as follows:

At that time the Christ will have compassion on those who are his. He will send his angels from heaven, sixty-four thousand in number, each having six wings. Their voices will move heaven and earth, when they praise and give glory. Those upon whose forehead is written the name of the Christ, upon whose right hand is the seal, both small and great, they will be taken on their wings and removed from the wrath.

2. Here is another one, a sermon consisting of 1,500 Latin words preached on the end times as early as the 300s AD:

"Why therefore do we not reject every care of earthly actions and prepare ourselves for the meeting of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that he may draw us from the confusion, which overwhelms all the world? . . . For all the saints and elect of God are gathered together before the tribulation, which is to come, and are taken to the Lord, in order that they may not see at any time the confusion which overwhelms the world because of our sins."

This should suffice to prove that John Darby didn't invent the rapture of the church. Paul revealed it in I Thessalonians 4:13-18 (q. v.) and I Corinthians 15:51ff. What I have brought to your attention is only two examples from three file draws full of the pre-tribulational rapture infomation way, way, way before Darby in the 1830s.

Dr. Tommy Ice summarizes: "Recent research has unearthed plenty of pre-trib rapture advocates before Darby, which are now available when someone brings up that tired, old argument that “No one held to pretribulationism before 1830.” That tired, old argument is now on YouTube.

RAGING FINGERNAILS

 We are witnessing an excercize of unbelievable pain. Let's look at the backstory which normal people would say, "That's insanity."

We're all familiar with the dispicable event but here's a summary: "On October 7th, 2023, the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented terrorist attack on Israel, killing some 1,200 people (mainly civilians). 240 Israeli citizens and foreigners were taken as hostages and taken into Gaza." The reason: they were Jews. It's on the hostages that we'll focus.

In America and, I suppose, elsewhere, the friends and relatives of the hostages began to post pictures of them in public places and on the grounds of university campuses; photos of men, women, children, and babies, now in the hands of savages who beheaded and burned alive their innocent victims. Again, why? Because they were Jews.

The posted pictures were a lest-we-forget gesture. These 240 hostages are not to be forgotten; they are trying to hang on in a hell on earth. They are somebodys' sons and daughters; comeone's wife;someone's father; someones' mother.

It's inconceivable but it's true; the posting of their pictures ingnited a rage among antisemites. It was a rage from head to toe, infecting even their fingernails. The Jew-haters began to tear down and destroy the posters, tearing them from where they had been afixed.

And this is where their fingernails come into play. Melonie Phillips, a Jew and a British author witnessed people tearing taking down the posters from wooden poles, say like telephone poles by digging their fingernails into the wood in order to tear the the pictures and their messages down. Finger nails embedded into the posts! It's difficul to imagine the pain that would cause, but fueled by the octane of rage, they did it. She and others remarked on the eyes of those with fingernails afixed in the tearing: there was something off and odd about them. They said their looked demonic.

Such hatred against a people who comprise a global population of only15.7 million. Thats 0.2% of the world's population. Their land is the size of New Jersey. Yet, the  fallen world is obsessed with the Jews and with Israel. the UN codemns them with every vote; students in the universitys hound, harass, and assault them rioting along the way.  

This is a supernatual rage from the evil side of the universe; a fury so deep it's in their fingernails.

THE PASTOR AND JOHN 3:16

 I ran across the website of a conservative, Bible-believing church in our area. I came across it because I was searching for something else. The church had a page which instructed the reader on "How to Accept Christ Into Your Life", so I thought I'd ck it out. I did and found "Four Steps" to accept Christ into your life. You and I know that when we read something like that, the article is off in the wrong direction. Here are the 4 steps:

1. Admit your need. (I am a sinner)

2. Be willing to turn from your sins. 

3. Believe that Jesus Christ dies for you on the cross and rose from the grave.

4. Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to control your life through the Holy Spirit. (Receive him as Lord)

 

We suggest praying the following prayer to accept Christ as your Savior and Lord.

 

"Dear God,

I know I'm an [sic]sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness.

I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son. I believe that He died for my sin and that you raised Him to life again.

I want to trust Him as my Savior and follow Him as Lord, from this day forward. Guide my life and help me to do your will.

I pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen"

If I were to go to the pastor and say, "I'm considering joining your church but before I do, I need to know, do you know and believe Jn. 3:16?" No doubt about it, he would answer with a resounding,"YES!" as he pounded the Bible on his desk. Then I would ask him, "Please tell me, where do you see that I must "be willing to turn from my sins" in Jn. 3:16?

I would continue, "Pray and invite Jesus into my heart?"  Then, politely, I would ask, "Where do you find that I must "pray, and invite Jesus Christ to control my life through the Holy Spirit?" Another question, "Where in any gospel invitation in the book of Acts (or anywhere else) do we find the Apostles telling anyone "to ask God to forgive them to be saved?" Where do we find that the person to be saved has to pray a prayer, even something called "The Sinner's Prayer?"

If he were honest, he would have to say, "I don't see any of them in the verse. I see only one requirement which is, "whosoever believes."

I could reply,  "Then you don't believe John 3:16, do you?"

 

 

HE ACTUALLY SAID THIS?

The philosophical system that is Calvinism can, at times, force the Calviist to say some ludicrous things. 

A case in point is an answer one of the leading Calvinists, R. Sproul, gave to this question: "How can I be be happy in heaven if my mother isn't there but is in Hell?" That's a good question and one we'll answer in our coming study on "Heaven." Sproul's answer floored me.

He said, "When you look down from heaven and see your mother in Hell, you will rejoice!" 

We need to stop here and remind ourselves that oneof the peals of TULIP is "Unconditional Election" which means  "God chose certain individuals for salvation based entirely on His grace, irrespective of their actions or choices. This decision reflects God’s sovereign will, established before the creation of the world."

There it is: God did not chose that person's mother to be one of he elect to be saved and go to heaven. He,  by not choosing her to go to heaven, authomatically chose her to go to hell. 

Why did He chooe her for hell? The Calvinist would have to say, going by their system, that she is in hell to show the glory of God. Keep in mind, that by their system, some babies will wind up in Hell. All this somehow to show the glory of God.

Therefore, Sproul said that when some son ,in heaven, sees his mother or his child in everlasting torment, he will be overjoyed becausse by his mother's being in Hell,she is glorifyig God, He will prasie God thety are there.. 

We say to this, "Really? Is that your answer? Jesus, seeing the rejection of Israel, "burst into tears." (Literal translation.) He did not rejoice. 

THE SEASHELL SERMON

 One of the leading voices among Calvinists is John Piper who gave a sermon on May 20, 2000, at the Passion Conference in Memphis. An article described it as "a powerful message that emphasized the importance of living for Jesus rather than wasting one's life on material pursuits." 

Piper used the story of Bob and Penny who collected seashells to illustrate the hobby as a waste of their years, saying that serving others is a meaningful way to live. Piper talked about Bob's and Penny's retirement consisting of hours and hours of piling up an impressive array of seashells. His point was one of disdain for the couple and mockery.

The article went on to say, "The sermon has had a lasting impact, inspiring many to prioritize their spiritual lives and mission over materialism, and has become a significant part of Christian culture and education." 

But wait a minute before we mark the couple as losers because of their hobby. According to the philosohy that is Calvinism, in eternity past, God sovereinly decreed that Bob and Penny spend their last years wasting their lives on this material pursuit. Accoding to Piper's belief system, they had no choice in the matter, God decreed that they end their lives as failures; they could spend their time in no other way. 

This brings us to the Bema Seat of Christ, the review of each beliver's life for rewards or loss of rewards. At the Bema, some believers will have their works revealed as rewardable---gold, silver and precious stones, while other believers will be shown to have their works as wood, hay, and stubble for collecting seashells. Bob and Penny will be in this group.

But according to Calvinism, each one at the judgment will have been preprogramed to produce the results they did. No one had any choice in the matter as to how he would spend the years of this life. God preprogramed Bob and Penny to collect the shells and wind up as producing stubble. 

Therefore, the Bema Seat judgment, according to Calvism, is pre-rigged. God predetermined that some would fail while others would hear a "Well done thou good and faithful servant." But as Calvin said, neither group could have done otherwise than they did.

So, why did Piper chastize Bob and Penny? This makes no sense. And neither does Calvinism.

NIGHMARE ON CALVIN STREET

 I have a recurring nightmare from which I wake up in a cold sweat, screaming. In my dream, I'm in my senior year, spring semester, ready to graduate from Tx Tech University. But unknown to me, the always igilent administration has discovered that I lack one course in algebra and I will not be graduating. Not only that but they are now on the way from across campus to come and get me. At this point, I wake up. 

If the Calvinist has read Colossians 1: 13-20, it will be hard for him to sleep at night:  Notice the words in boldface type as you read:  "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things [z]hold together. 18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. 19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven."

OK, Did you catch it? The fodder for the Calvinist's nightmare is crystal clear. 

Do you agree that Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, created all things? Do you agree that all things include both in the heavens and on earth? Do you agree that all things include all human beings? Of course, we agree, that's as clear as crystal. 

Then, you must agree that Jesus  reconciled all things to Himself through His death on the Cross --a way of reconciliation was made available for any soul who would place their trust in Jesus' substitutionary, fully atoning death in their place. Jesus became the Reconciler flinging wide open the gates so that sinful men could be brought back into communion with their Creator, God the Father.

By this text, the philosopical system that is Calvinism has fallen. All things have been reeconciled to God. 

"All things "would include  all things on the earth.  The "L" (Limited Atonement) in Calvinism's "TULIP" has been plucked from the flower. If one letter gets plucked, all the other letters suffer the same fate. Christ died for all.

HARVARD'S FINAL EXAM

 October 7 was the catalyist for an outpouring of Jew hatred at Harvard University et al. By some strange twist of demonic logic, faculty, students, and outsiders protested, camped out on the campus grounds and harrassed with chants, some vulgar, and general intimidatio. 

The twist of logic was that they they blamed Jews for their own savage massacre. The world has never seen such rage against the Jews in 90 years. The attackers on Oct 7th being the savages they were, killed men, women, children, and babies with methods that can only be described as barbaric--beheading and burning babies to death.

The conflict began after hundreds of Harvard students flooded the campus calling for genocide against the Jews. How in the world did this Jew hatred infect the campus? Revelation 12 says that its orign is satanic. This demonic rage was added by something else, something you would swear could never happen in America. 

Further investigation suggested the students may have picked up their antisemitic ideas from what they learned in such Harvard classes as "Studies in Antisemitism" in which the final exam required students to flood the campus and call for genocide against the Jews!

FOOLS WITH DARKENED HEARTS

 Romans 1:21:  "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing to be wise, they became fools, 

The ancient Roman family gathers for dinner, carefully prepared by the mother of the household. The father, the children, are in their usual places around the table. There are two other guests{ the household gods who were known as the Lares and the Penates. As the mother serves the food to her children and her husband, she has set a plate of dinner for the Lares and the Penates. Dinner is served and they enjoy a meal together.

Yet the food on the plates of the household gods remains. The gods at the table do not eat a bite; the food remains just as she arranged it on the plate. Yet, she dutifully goes through the same serving everyday. 

We would ask, "Can you not see that you have placed powerless statuettes at the table who cannot speak, lift a hand, open their mouths and eat? What's wrong with you? Why do you go through with this meaningless repetition day after day?" We know: because they have become fools with darkened hearts having rejected the truth of Ps. 19:1-2. 

A darkened heart can become serious, very serious. When we read of the record of the history of Israel, a nation who all too often absorbed the idolatry of the cultures around them and the moral diseases that came with it. God sent several prophets to the Israelites to excoriate one generation after another for pracitcing the killing of their own children as sacrifices! God calls this abomination "causing their children to pass through the fire." 

What in the world?! "They became fools." Here's the way the heathen and the Jews came to look at this practice as something good: "To show our live for our god, we offer to him the most precious thing in the world, our child." This is how darkened the human heart can be. This conclusion has to be of satanic origin. 

This abomination has been discovered in South America--altars built  by the native peoples with jars all around them containing the skeletons of babies and children. Say "good-bye to the noble savage theory which was the position of Reusseau: it's the idea that human beings in their natural state—before the development of society and civilization—were inherently good, peaceful, and virtuous. 

Rousseau believed that human beings were born free and equal, living a simple, uncomplicated life in harmony with nature. He contrasted this idealized state of humanity with the corrupting influences of society and civilization-- private property, which he saw as responsible for inequality, greed, and violence.

We live in a culture that has moved away from its biblical underpinnings so we should expect to Romans one's infiltration into our society in which people have become fools. Examples abound:

1. Defund the police

2. A person can change his or her gender

3. Males can and should be able to crush females in sports.

3. There are no such things a boundaries for countries.

4. Human nature is malleable.

5. Since truth is relative, what is true today is not true tomorrow.

A society filled with darkened hearts is a society in which people "pass through the fire."

THE SARTORIAL CHOICE

 There's a strange Scripture in Zephaniah that perplexes the Western mind but it shouldn't. Take a look at it: 

"Then it will come about on the day of the Lord’s sacrifice That I will punish the princes, the king’s sons And all who clothe themselves with foreign garments." There is, as always in the Bible, a biblical context and a cultural context to the verse. 

The biblicat context is that the Southern Kingdom of Israel has, by choice, allowed spiritual rot metastasize through every level of their society. The prophet is enumerating the corruption of the nation and he's come to the royal court charging them with practicing Baal rituals and worship, along with the infiltration of the idols of MolUck. These are foreign gods imported into Israel by Jezebel and her ilk. One of the acts of ritual and worship of this god was human sacrifice including children. 

In a word picture, the prophet displays the Southern Kingdom as a "sacrifice" prepared by God for the "guests" (the Babylonians) to eat. Then the prophet tells the princes that they will be punished for wearing "foreign garmets." That sounds odd; why punish them for their choice of robes? 

There is an excellent reason; their choice of wardrobe is making a statement of their values. Their robes were what the Babylonian or Egyptian royaly wore. By choosing that clothing, they were making a sartorial statement that they were adopting the values of the Babylonian or Egyptian culure. But is that so odd?

No, not really. Take a look at the recent mobs of Jew haters on university campuses and what do you see? The same thing as in the Southern Kingdom of Israel. The destructive and disruptive mobs  choose to wear the keffiyeh to show solidarity with the Oct. 7th terrotists. Their clothing is  a statement of rejecting America's founding upon Christian values and showing their loyalty to the values of viscious Jew hating terrorists.

These will be the bankers, lawyers, judges, senators, reprsentatives, teachers, professors, and college presidents for decades to come. As Lincoln said, "The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next."  Get ready, they're on the way!