I TRIED, BUT

 Earlier, I learned that one of my relatives by marriage had attended a Joyce Meyer conference. For the sake of anonymity, let's call this person "Brooks." (You know, like the all-star 3rd baseman for the Baltimore Orioles, Brooks Robinson, but it could also be a girls' name, like in the old TV show,  "Our Miss Brooks.")

I wrote Brooks a letter, enclosing "Laying Down the Law" as a gift, since our relationship has been an excellent one. As I explained, it was given in gratitude. 

I continued the letter by doing two things: I informed Brooks that Joyce Meyer (JM) was a heretic, citing actual quotes to back up my charge. Like the Bible says, "By their fruits you shall know them." (In context, "fruits" refers to their words, not their deeds, a common misconception.)

I didn't hear from Brooks for some time. I didn't hear, that is, until this week when a brief note arrived. Until then, I thought I'd lost a friend. After reading the note, maybe I have.

Before I tell you The Rest of the Story (a shameless plug promoting my radio program), I need to say something, though it strays from the subject. Periodically, when I listen to pastors or read some of their newsletters, I often find an interesting theme that runs through them: in every witnessing encounter they have, it always turns out to be successful. But we all know life doesn't work that way. We live in a fallen world. Sometimes we go to the plate and get a hit; sometimes we go to the plate and strike out. What I was reading or listening to from those pastors wasn't real. 

OK. Now back to The Rest of the Story. Brooks informed me about being a follower of JM for 20 years(!) and that many others followed her. I was surprised at the mention of the 20-year relationship, but everybody knows that JM has a huge following at every conference. Brooks went on to say that there was enjoyment in the fellowship experienced at the conferences.

However, the biggest surprise of all was read, "I've never heard her say any of the things (my word was for "things" was "heresies") you asserted in your letter." So, my charges were merely unsubstantiated "assertions." But, for 20 years, Brooks has never noticed anything amiss?!

I would have preferred to read, "I've never heard her say these assertions, but I'll look into it," or "I'll do some further study on this serious matter." 

What I "asserted" is easily found on the Internet; a child could do it with the help of friend Google. The heretical "sermons" are there for the hearing in living color. "He who hath an ear, let him hear."

Or JM writes books where I found the heresies. 

I'll close by mentioning two important things: we all try, and sometimes we strike out; we all try, and sometimes we hit a home run. We don't need one more brag-a-mony that gives the impression, "I really put that guy down." That's not the real world.I struck out.

The second thing is I'll try again. I'll send the direct quotes from JM, citing the book for Brooks (notice the clever alliteration) and page number, or the link where Brooks can hear and see it, live and in living color, or in black and white on page # 38, and encourage Brooks to study the matter. 

Stay tuned. When I know something, you'll know something.

I want to Tell You a Story

 I want to tell you a story. If a story can make you sad and angry simultaneously, this is such a narrative. 

What I'm going to tell you is not fictional but true. It happened in a real place, a real home, and a real older lady who lived with her son and daughter-in-law. Involved in the story is a real pastor who came to visit this lady.

She had a disease, the one most dreaded. Her pastor came often to the home to offer prayer and comfort, but he was one of those men who did just the opposite. His words carried no solace. He delivered his messages to her in the privacy that her son and daughter-in-law were graciously allowing the two to have. But when her son discovered what the pastor was doing, he no longer allowed such privacy. 

Her son discovered that her pastor was a thief who, in every visit, stole something precious from his mother. You see, the pastor was one of those false teachers who believed this:

."Because Jesus had perfect health, you can have perfect health…Jesus didn’t have tumors so you don’t have to have them either…as Jesus is in his health, so are you.”  

Then the visiting pastor echoed such ideas as this: “He [God] promises to heal all – everyone, any, any whatsoever, everything – all our diseases.”.  

After one of those visits, the lady's son discovered his mother in tears, and through her tears, she blurted out the question and the demand, "Why doesn't God heal me?" The pastor who was to bring comfort into that room had left the poor lady thinking something was wrong with her because he had told her she didn't have enough faith or else she would be healed. His visits left her defeated and bitter.  From that time on, her son and his wife sat in on all the visits. 

At all costs, those pastors must keep various verses locked up, kept from their congregations. Such texts as:

1. John 5: Jesus goes to a pool with many, many sick people present, yet only heals one.

2. II Cor. 11:24ff

3. Philippians. 2:25-27 

4. II Tim. 4:20

This story is true and is the story of a number so large that no man can count. This believer died in defeat. It is so sad and so maddening. 

WHY WOULD A PASTOR SAY THIS?

 It's amazing that a pastor has what one author called, "A special animus for those whom he deems overly occupied with Bible prophecy." 

The pastor, Rick Warren, has written that when the disciples wanted to talk about prophecy, Jesus refused to do so, saying, "The details of My return are none of your business." Really? 

Yes, he wrote that in one of the most popular books ever, The Purpose Driven Life. That book has sold over 50 million copies, making it one of the best-selling books in publishng history. So, how many millions of people read and never checked it out that Jesus said in reference to prophecy, "It's none of your business."

Again, really? Over 25% of the Bible is devoted to prophecy. Ignore it? Pastor Warren goes on to connect being concerned with prophecy is "Trying to figure out  the exact timing of Christ's return." Warren seems to think that the abuse of some in setting dates (which no repubable Bible teacher or scholar does) is justification for ignoring eschatology.

Dr. Charles Ryrie states an important principle: "Abuse of a doctine is no reason for playing down the truth of that doctrine." 

How important is prophecy? In I Thessalonians, 4:13-18, Paul took the time to discuss the rapture of the church because the believers were "uninformed" about it. In the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24, Jesus spent 51 verses teaching prophecy to His students. He didn't say or even imply, "It's none of your business!"

In I Cor. 15:51ff, Paul instructs the Corinthians about the rapture of the church. What about alll the prophecy in Revelation 4 to the end of the book? That book contains a massive amount of prophecy.

The book of Revelation has something important to say in chapter 1 verse 3: "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near." 

That one verse nails it. How can a pastor say what that pastor said/

BEWARE THE BILLBOARDS

 "Chrislam," you can see the word in giant letters on billboards as you drive on the Interstates or city streets. What's going on with that word? Absolutely nothing good. 

Chrislam" refers to a movement that's attempting to blend elements of biblical Christianity and Islam into a single religious practice. It's what God warned Israel about; syncretism with the pagans around them.  

Those pushing Chrislam want a gullible public to believe that Christians and Muslims worship the same God and that certain theological differences may be minimized to promote unity. Biblical Christianity and Islam can be blended together into one if you can blend oil and water. 

HOW SO?

1. The Bible teaches that there is only one path to God the Father, and that path is found in Jesus Christ. As Scripture states: “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6).

Christianity affirms the deity of Christ (John 1:1,14) and proclaims His death and bodily resurrection as central to salvation (I Cor. 15:3-4). Islam, by contrast, sees Jesus merely as a prophet and denies  His crucifixion and resurrection.

2.the Bible teaches salvation is by grace alone, through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). This contrasts sharply with Islamic teachings, which emphasize obedience to certain practices to earn favor with God.

3. Biblical Christianity holds the Bible is the inspired Word of God. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). 

Chrislam, however, typically accepts both the Bible and the Qur’an as holy texts. This approach raises significant conflicts because the Qur’an and the Bible differ fundamentally in describing God, Christ, salvation, and humanity’s fall into sin. (From The Bible Hub)

OBAMA'S INAUGRURATION: DID YOU CATCH IT?

One of the most inF\fluential pastors in the whole wide world is Rick Warren. not only that, he's author of "The Purpose Driven Life" and "The Purpose Driven Church" which sold copies in bazillions, purchansed by evangelical churches and Christians all over the globe and translated into language after language. 

Pastors jam his conferences by the thousands to learn how they can have a mega church just as he does. He draws them like a super magnet from all over the world; they hang on his every word; they buy enough of his books to propel him into the NT Times best-seller lists week after week. The secular world has designated Warre as "America's Pastor."

But did you catch what Warren said when he prayed at the 2009 ingugration of President Obama? His closing sentence was, "I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray: then he quotes Matthew 6:9-13. 

"Yeshua" is the Hebrew name for Jesus, next came "Jesus" i. e. Spanish pronunciation. but who is Isa? That's the Muslim name for Jesus.(!) As stated above, Isa is that "Jesus" who, accorfing to Islam, is merely  a prophet who Islam teaches was not crucified and there was no resurrection.

Billboards aren't the only problem as we see in Warren's public statements at a World Economic Forum panel discussion: 

"To my Islamic brotherher from Italy, I would say I'm not really interested in interfaith dialogue; I'm inereted in interfaith projects. We've got enough talk. So . . a few weeks ago, at Georgetown University, we brought in three imams, we brought three Catholic priests, we brought in three evangelical pastors and we bught in three Rabbis and we said, 'What can we do about AIDS?' And we started on some comon ground  on those issues; what can we do that we all care about?"

Red flags go up after reading that speech. First, no believer is a brother of an Islamist. Second, the mission of the church is not to "do something about AIDS:" Christ gave the church its marching orders--the Great Commission to evagelize and make disiciples. Warren expands the Great Commission to include social work, which distracts the church.

Eric Barger, a world religions expert, writes, "Warren's use of the name of Isa, the false Jesus of Islam, was a slap in the face to all he that he had alrady prayed. . .  In fact, in Islam, the prophet  Isa ("eee-sa) is actually the destroyer of Christianity, not its Savior."

BEWARE THEBILLBOARDS

THE BIBLE VERSE ERIKA KIRK QUOTED

 At the memorial service for her husband, Charlie Kirk, his widow, Erika, quoted Luke 23:34: "But Jesus was saying, 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.' And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves." (NASB, 1995) This was a highly dramatic moment in the memorial as she put this text front and center, in the hearing of an estimated 90-100 thousand in person and an estimated 25-30 million online, with Turning Point USA claiming over 100 million views, although this number cannot be verified .

This is the first of seven things Jesus said while enduring the inconceivable horrors of the crucifixtion. It is thought that, from its position in the record, to have been spoken very early, probably while the Roman soldiers, the crucifixtion team, were driving the nails into His hands and feet. The soldiers would have heard Him say that, up close and personal. They had never heard such words as those. They were accustomed to the wild, raving curses of the condemned. 

We need to ask a question at this point: about whom is Jesus praying to the God the Father conceerning forgiveness? In other words who are the ones who "know not what they are doing"?

Let's begin with the process of elimination. His prayer wasn't for Pilate; he knew that he had condemned an innocent man. It was he who "took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.” 

Jesus wasn't making the request for the chief priests and scribes, because their sin was against their first-hand knowledge of the words and miracles of Jesus, His credtials to prove He was the Messiah, even to the point of their not being able to refute the raising of Lazarus from the dead: "Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs." (Jn. 11:47) 

In addition, in Matthew 12, the leadership of israel commited what Jesus called, "the unforgivable sin," that of attributing Jesus' miracles to the occult. 

He wasn't making the request for the people of Jerusalem and Israel; they had heard Him speak and teach; they had seen more miracles to the extent that "There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I [John] suppose that even the world itself *would not contain the books that *would be written." 

Despite this massive amount of revelation, the people joined with the Pharisees --in an uproar they shouted their verdict raging to Pilate, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The answer: “We have no king but Caesar. (Jn. 19:12, 15)

In the last week of His earthly life, Jesus renered this verdict on the people and predicted a coming judgment on them: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling." (Matt. 27;24) And the judgment to come: "And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down," i. e. the destruction of Jersalem in 70 AD by the Romans. They weren't forgiven; they were disciplined according Deut. 28 and its worst of the cycles of punishment, dispersion from the land. 

Therefore, by the process of eliminattion and the context of Jesus' prayer, for whom is He making the request? The crucixtion team, the Gentiles hammering the nails. They were in the city only because of the massive influx of Jews from all over the known world who have come for the Passover. 

We also see that the context of the prayer reveald the object of the supplication: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.' And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves." Immediately after the prayer of Jesus, the Gentile soldiers are mentioned as gambling over the clothing, thus demonstrating their ignorance as to the significance of what was happening on Calvary. 

Barnes Notes on the Bible gets it right: "The Romans knew not what they did, as they were really ignorant that He was the Son of God."

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?"