The Great Global Reset Coming Your Way Soon!
Friday, October 30, 2020
Thursday, October 29, 2020
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Thirsting for God
I was reading Psalm 102 and came across the phrase: “I am like a pelican of the wilderness.”1 It led me to wonder what exactly the psalmist meant.
It brought to my mind a wildlife documentary of Africa that I once watched. The documentary showed how after the heavy spring downfall, a lake would be created in what had been a semi-arid wilderness. The parent pelicans would come, nest, and rear their young along the newly created lake. But over the course of the summer, the lake would slowly start to dry up. The adult pelicans would eventually fly away with the young pelicans that were old enough to fly. However, those pelicans which were last to be born and still not so sure about flight would stay by the diminishing lake. Eventually they would die as the lake turned to desert or wilderness once again.
The author in the psalm may be seen as painting a picture of his desperation for God; like a dying pelican in desperate need of water and rescue, so do we look to God for help in the time of great affliction and distress.
The passage reminds me of another psalm which says, “As the hart [deer] pants after the water brook, so pants my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?”2 We see the author, who most scholars believe was Israel's King David, comparing his desire and need for God to a deer who is panting in its search for a watery brook to drink from. We need God’s presence in our lives. We need His Spirit within us to bring us happiness and to fill that aching void in our heart which He has made for Himself alone to fill.
To the one searching for God’s presence, the Lord says, “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.”3Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “They which do hunger and thirst after righteousness … shall be filled.”4
In Psalm 42, the author keeps repeating how his soul is cast down. He says, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted in me?” 5 Though the author of the psalm is feeling that dryness of spirit, he does not stay there. He calls out to God for His mercy and help. He reminds God of His promises to His children. He says, “All thy waves and billows are gone over me.”6 Here he sounds like he feels like a drowning man going down for the last time. But he continues with, “Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”7 He reminds God of His loving kindness and he keeps God’s Word as his song and prayer in the night season.
Finally, he reminds himself to not lose his hope in God and finishes his song with “Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”8 Please do not lose hope in God if you are feeling down and out and with no sunrise on the horizon. God loves you and will work things out as He always has before. Do not lose hope! Call upon Him with all your heart. He is not far from any of us, as the apostle Paul so wisely put it: “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’”9
Lift up your hands in praise unto Him, the God of all flesh. He loves you and is going to take care of you somehow. Trust Him. Meditate on His promises, and His Word will be “a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path.”10 For “the path of the just is like a shining light that shines more and more until that perfect day.”11 Or as Apostle Peter expressed it, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day star arise in your hearts”12 and your heart and mind are illuminated by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And remember what C. S. Lewis wrote, “If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.” Or as the author of Hebrews has written, “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he has prepared for them a city.”13
Keep desiring and thirsting for God, and He'll do His part to prepare a place for you.14
When the long day is over and the journey is done,
I shall rest in that blessed abode.
And the One that I love shall be waiting for me,
when I come to the end of life's road.15
1 Psalm 102:6. Scriptures from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
2 Psalm 42:1–3.3 Jeremiah 29:13.
4 Matthew 5:6.
5 Psalm 42:5, 11.
6 Psalm 42:7.
7 Psalm 42:8.
8 Psalm 42:11.
9 Acts 17:27–28 NIV.
10 Psalm 119:105.
11 Proverbs 4:18.
12 2 Peter 1:19.
13 Hebrews 11:16.
14 John 14:2: “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”
15 From the song “At the End of the Road” by A. H. Ackley.
Tuesday, October 27, 2020
Miracles of Faith
A compilation
Audio length: 10:12 Download Audio (9.3MB)
To have faith can sound cliché. Like what does it mean and how do I use it?
A couple of months ago, I read through the book of Matthew and had my viewpoint on faith refreshed. Several stories stood out to me in such a dynamic way, including the story where Jesus is asked by a father to heal his dying daughter,1 Jesus’ encounter with two blind men that begged Him to heal them,2 and Jesus’ meeting with a Canaanite woman who sought healing for her daughter.3 It was as if I was reading them for the first time. In reading these stories, I noticed a common thread.
In each account, individuals were begging Jesus for healing either for themselves or for their child. They were saying, “Have mercy on us!” In other words, “Sympathize with us and heal us because You can.” But in each situation Jesus turns around and puts the ball right back in their court by telling them that He didn’t heal them because He could, but He healed them because they believed He could.
I like the story of the blind men in particular. In this story, the whole time these blind men are crying out “Have mercy, have mercy.” And when Jesus does address them, what does He say? “Do you believe that I can do this?”4 He didn’t want to heal them out of pity, it seems. He wanted to heal them because of their faith; He wanted them to know that. When He asked the magic question, they got the point. Yes, they believed He could do it. And because they believed, He healed. As simple as that.
That made me look at the story of the Canaanite woman differently. Jesus responded to her request for healing by saying that He had been sent to the lost children of Israel, and it wasn’t right to “take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs,”5 telling her that she was not fit to eat at the master’s table. But in reading this again, I wondered, Was He putting her down, or rather, was He giving her an opportunity to prove to Him that she had faith, an opportunity to gain a great reward for having faith at that critical moment?
He didn’t answer her request right away. He had her persist and prove that she had faith in Him before He granted her what she asked. Afterwards He told her, “You have great faith!”6 And at that moment, her daughter was healed.
In another story in Matthew 17, Jesus rescues the disciples from their failed healing attempt and explains why they couldn’t do the miracle. He said, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, `Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”7
I love how Jesus makes it so simple. It was just a matter of faith. Did they believe not only that God could heal the boy, but more importantly that when they prayed, God would hear them, and answer their prayer? They knew Jesus could do it, but did they know that they too could do it?
He also gave them a size comparison—faith as tiny as a mustard seed is potent enough to receive a mammoth miracle. Think about that.
Jesus also said, “According to your faith will it be done to you.”8 In other words, “If you have the faith for it, you will have it.” Quite a promise.
All this talk of faith can make faith seem nebulous, like, “What is it exactly?” Here’s a simple definition of faith that works for me: Faith is knowing God can and will act according to His will.
After I read these accounts from Matthew, it made me stop and ask myself if there were any prayers I was praying that I didn’t really have faith for the answers. Was I expecting less from God than He was able to give? Was I confining Him to a tiny work space because of my tiny faith?—Joykie Walters
Faith for miracles
It took a miracle to put the stars in place.
It took a miracle to hang the world in space.
But when He saved my soul,
Cleansed and made me whole,
It took a miracle of love and grace.
—John W. Peterson
Listen to Martha Reed Galvin interpret the song below:
Faith in the Bible creates faith in the miraculous. The Bible not only reveals the acts of the supernatural God, but it also imparts faith to anyone who reads it with an open heart.9 The Bible has a miraculous, transforming effect on our lives, and that gives us faith for other miracles. Faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ, faith in the Christ of the Bible, makes for faith in our everyday lives. That’s because real faith believes in the changeless Christ and His power.
Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus promised, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”10 Then after His resurrection, when He appeared to His disciples, He said that signs (miracles) would follow those who believed in Him, and miracles did follow.11
It wasn’t long before others were saying of the first Christians, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”12 Those first followers and the ones who were to come had such confidence that the supernatural power of God was at their command that they dared to challenge the mighty Roman Empire and shook it to its very foundations.
If Jesus is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,”13 why is it so hard to believe that He, in answer to prayer, can do the same kinds of miracles today? Wherever you find real faith manifested, you will find miracles. If you live in His Word, if you dig out His promises and build your faith on them, if you trust Him to keep His word even when it seems impossible, you’ll see God at work in the realm of the supernatural.
“With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”14
It’s been my practice for many years, whenever some desperate need arose, to trust God to work a miracle. I didn’t always get the miracle I was praying for, but He did send answers to prayer many more times than He kept me waiting or said no.
His compassion and love for you, His willingness to come to your rescue in times of need, and His faithfulness to His promises are just the same today. He longs to see faith and meet your needs.
The next time you are facing an impossible situation or need, claim this promise in utter confidence: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”15 His power is the same today, and God is still on the throne, and prayer changes things!—Virginia Brandt Berg
I cannot understand how anyone cannot believe in miracles, when the Bible contains so many accounts of miracles. Of course, you meet some intellectuals who contend that the miracles recorded in the Bible either never happened or can be explained scientifically, or if they did happen, such miracles are impossible today. Well, those miracles did happen just like the Bible says they did, and in every case it took two elements: the power of God and someone’s faith. The power of God hasn’t changed, so you can expect to see miracles today.
Faith in the Bible creates faith in the miraculous. The Bible not only reveals the acts of the supernatural God, but it also imparts faith to anyone who reads it with an open heart.9 The Bible has a miraculous, transforming effect on our lives, and that gives us faith for other miracles. Faith in God and His Son Jesus Christ, faith in the Christ of the Bible, makes for faith in our everyday lives. That’s because real faith believes in the changeless Christ and His power.
Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus promised, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”10 Then after His resurrection, when He appeared to His disciples, He said that signs (miracles) would follow those who believed in Him, and miracles did follow.11
It wasn’t long before others were saying of the first Christians, “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”12 Those first followers and the ones who were to come had such confidence that the supernatural power of God was at their command that they dared to challenge the mighty Roman Empire and shook it to its very foundations.
If Jesus is “the same yesterday, today, and forever,”13 why is it so hard to believe that He, in answer to prayer, can do the same kinds of miracles today? Wherever you find real faith manifested, you will find miracles. If you live in His Word, if you dig out His promises and build your faith on them, if you trust Him to keep His word even when it seems impossible, you’ll see God at work in the realm of the supernatural.
“With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”14
It’s been my practice for many years, whenever some desperate need arose, to trust God to work a miracle. I didn’t always get the miracle I was praying for, but He did send answers to prayer many more times than He kept me waiting or said no.
His compassion and love for you, His willingness to come to your rescue in times of need, and His faithfulness to His promises are just the same today. He longs to see faith and meet your needs.
The next time you are facing an impossible situation or need, claim this promise in utter confidence: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”15 His power is the same today, and God is still on the throne, and prayer changes things!—Virginia Brandt Berg
Published on Anchor October 2020. Read by Reuben Ruchevsky.
Monday, October 26, 2020
Saturday, October 24, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
Thursday, October 22, 2020
You Can Understand the Future
Chapter 1
The Introduction:You Can Know the Future by Understanding Bible Prophecy!
Many people are worried about the future. They look around them and see a world full of confusion, strife, economic failure and corruption, constant threat of war, terrorism, domestic violence, and sexual abuse. There are problems at home, problems at school, problems at work, problems with the neighbors, problems in the family, problems at church, financial problems, and health problems. But the biggest fear and worry is the constant fear that tomorrow will be worse, that there is no help in sight.
Man has seemed to have forgotten that there is a God who helps and who has told us that He is an ever-present help in time of trouble.[1] Because we do not know the future and how things will work out, we become anxious. We worry for ourselves, for our children and for their children. With the world in such a mess, as we see it today, is there any hope for the future? If we knew the future, would it help us to have faith that God is in control, even if it looks as if He has abandoned us to our own devices? Would it give us the confidence we need to struggle on and keep fighting in spite of all the obstacles that besiege us daily?
It is my earnest prayer and hope that the information I am about to share with you will be an impetus for you to dig deep into God’s Word. I pray this information will draw you closer to Him. I pray that it will help and encourage you so that you will be able to help and encourage others in the difficult days that lie ahead. One day we will meet together at Jesus’ feet, where He will wipe every tear from our eyes and there shall be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more.[8] Are you preparing for God’s tomorrow? May the words the Lord has given me in this book, be a blessing to you and your family and open your eyes to the events that shall soon suddenly befall us.
[2] Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
[3] John 10:10 The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
[4] Matthew 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
[5] Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
[6] Proverbs 22:3
[7] Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
[8] Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Chapter 2
The Bible: a book of Prophecy
I was listening to a lecture by Bill Salus entitled “The Future of America in Bible Prophecy.”[1] Bill is a famous American author, radio host and lecturer on Bible Prophecy. He starts off his lecture by quoting Isaiah,
Can we know the future? God’s Word says that we can, because God can reveal it. The prophet Amos said,
The prophet’s job was to give the Word of God to the people, to follow God’s instructions in spite of opposition by family, friends or community. Many of them bemoaned their fate as God’s mouth-pieces, because they were ill received. In Chronicles we read,
In this book, I am going to reveal to you what God has revealed to me, one of his servants. I am going to talk about where I believe America fits in Bible prophecy. It will be an interesting study. I hope you will enjoy it. But first I must share a little about who I am and what qualifies me as one of God’s servants. In these first chapters of the book I will share my story and I will let you judge from there. May God bless us as we study His Word together.
Notes:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKOKqCk5vuo (accessed 03/16)
[2] Isaiah 48:9-10
[3] Amos 3:7
Chapter 3
My Testimony – The Early Years
Recently I have been reading through the documents I presented to my local draft board back in the year or so before receiving my notice for induction into military service in November 1971. I had applied to the board for a deferment as a conscientious objector. I was asked by them to explain my beliefs and from where, from whom and how I arrived at them. I will quote from the documents I presented to the board in this first part of My Testimony. Remember, I was twenty-one years old when writing this.
I need to interrupt here and confess that the above statement was how I was viewing my parents at that time. The truth actually was that my parents were a lot deeper and intellectually and politically aware than I thought. Now that I have made that point, let’s go back to my letter to the military draft board.
“I have never talked seriously with my parents, but I remember in high school my mother’s words in regard to my sister's dating.... ‘Do what comes naturally,’ which I interpreted as, ‘Do what you think is right, or what your conscience dictates.’ It is from my parents that the philosophy of love has been so deeply ingrained in me, though I suspect they are not aware of it."
My article to the military continued.
Every Stoic was a Stoic, but where in Christendom is the Christian? [1]
Notes:
[1] Emerson, Ralph Waldo, Self Reliance, essay. http://www.quotery.com/quotes/for-every-stoic-was-a-stoic-but-in-christendom-where/ (accessed 03/2016)
Chapter 4
The Tough College Years
Before getting started with the following chapter, I need to write a disclaimer. The title here is The Tough College Years. But by no means were they as tough as my fellow American colleagues were experiencing, who were fighting and dying by the tune of 5,000 a year in Vietnam. My friend Ronnie Santoro [1] was one of them. He joined the US Marines after high school and didn’t make it through a year in combat. Real war is not like a video game where you just “start over.”
It was some time in that first year, that my former girlfriend came and told me she had another boyfriend. I was destroyed. Here I had been trying to keep all the church rules against premarital sex and the thing that I loved the most, my girlfriend, “God” took from me and gave to another. I fell into a deep depression. I was mad at “God.” I stopped believing in Him and threw away my "religious" faith and threw myself into atheism, evolution and political anarchy. I had been taking a geology course that first year that fed me evolution and “billions of years.” I swallowed it all in as a rational justification for our existence without the need of a “God.” I began attacking the faith of Christian girls I would date. I tried to convert others to my new-found beliefs proving through science that the Bible was wrong.
In my psychology course we were studying, among others, Freud with his psychoanalysis, and Skinner with his psychological behaviorism, which was sort of the equivalent to psychological dialectic materialism. In Comparative Religion the head of the Religion department showed he was more emotionally excited about the “truths” of Buddhism than in the words of Jesus Christ. In my course on Modern European Novels, we were reading Kafka, Sartre and Camus with their atheistic existential meaningless-life world view.
Because of the love my Aunt Ida had manifested to me, at that moment on the bridge, I knew I couldn’t kill myself. Even though my atheism and my existentialism seemed to cry “Just Do It,” I couldn’t. Somebody loved me. Ida loved me, and because Ida loved me, that meant love existed. I had felt it in Ida’s arms. If love existed, life wasn’t meaningless. Life was worth living. I just needed to keep on searching for the answers.
If life doesn’t seem worth living for you at the moment, maybe Nick Vujicic’s inspirational YouTube video will encourage you. Whatever you do, don’t give up![4]
I need to reiterate here that my parents were loving people. My mother often received into our home the individual woman neighbors who would confide in her their problems. My father was a happy, helpful person who was always making conversation with strangers in the supermarket or doing some shopping for one of the neighbors. But coming from a Polish family, we weren’t a very affectionate family. My parents didn’t give me hugs, or my grandparents. However, Ida did, as well as my Godmother Aunt Dolores.
In the 1980s, psychologist Dr. Virginia Satir shared with the 4,000 delegates of the American Orthopsychiatric Association the results of tests concerning the affects of hugging.[5] Research had shown that as the amount of hugs a person received increased, so their psychological health and happiness also increased.
The study concluded that 4 hugs a day were needed for survival, while 8 hugs were required for psychological, mental and emotional maintenance. For growth and happiness, 12 hugs a day were necessary. I think the “Free Hug” movement evolved from the above research. In Portugal we have a national association called “Abraços,” or “Hugs,”[6] based on the same idea with the goal of helping people infected by the AIDS virus.
Parents, please hug your children. I recently read a regret list where one of the regrets was “I wish I had hugged my wife, my children, my friends and my loved ones more often. I wish I had shown more physical affection for my loved ones.” I think we could all be more loving and do more to show our love through hugs and other forms of physical affection.
Three and a half years ago, as I was about to go to sleep, at around 12 midnight, I received a telephone call. It was one of those calls you don’t want anyone to receive. My twenty-seven year old son had gone missing. He hadn’t showed up for work. His friends found his clothing on the beach not far from their rented bungalow. He was a good worker, conscientious, a good son and I was proud of him. Yet, I couldn’t remember when was the last time I had told him, “Martin, I love you,” or “Martin, I’m proud of you.” I couldn’t remember the last time I had hugged him and showed him in a tangible way that I loved him.
Of course, the Lord is always a very present help in time of trouble. I was surprised how He helped me get through the perhaps most difficult event of my life, my son’s death. I prayed. I read the Bible. I spent time praising. But His most present help came in the form of the hugs I received, the physical affection that I received, the love I received sometimes from total strangers.
It was a few months after my aborted suicide attempt, while smoking hashish with a close friend, when I had my "God" experience. I want to make it clear here I am not advocating taking drugs to find God, but God used that experience on my path to Him. I recently asked a friend of mine if he had a similar experience while doing drugs. His answer was, yes, he did. But he had also had some very bad experiences - bad, demonic trips. It was the bad trips that assured him the Devil was real and caused him to search more desperately for God.
Here’s what happened to me. In a vision, I saw a small ball of light in the upper corner of the room. I was talking to my close friend Chris Smith at the moment. He was using some kind of encounter psychology to help me to open up. Finally, I reached out and touched his arm and said, “Yes, Chris, I need help!” At that very moment, with my confession of desperate need, the ball of light descended from the corner of the room and embraced me. Instantly, I was enveloped in an energy-field of unexplainable love. It was like a spiritual orgasm, a spiritual epiphany. My whole being had been transformed in an instance. It was kind of like what was visualized in the movie Cocoon[7] when the main male actor has “alien sex” with the beautiful female alien.
However, the question of war and my involvement in it, as I was due to be drafted after my four-year college deferment ended, led me to start reading heavily on the subject of conscientious objection to war and draft resistance. In my reading, I came across Leo Tolstoy’s Letter to a Non-Commissioned Officer,[8] and The Kingdom of God is Within You.[9] As Tolstoy mentions the teaching of Christ from the Sermon on the Mount in these writings, I started to read and study Jesus´ own words found in chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.
In June of 1971, I graduated from Marietta College with a Bachelors of Arts degree in History and was on the Dean’s List with a straight B average. But by the month of October I had been denied conscientious objector status by the military, and after refusing to take the various pre-entrance examinations, I had been ordered to appear for induction into the US military or face the consequences. My mother, God bless her soul, telephoned me at the end of October telling me the FBI had been around to arrest me as I had not appeared for induction on the date specified.
But I was soon to find out that God does answer prayer when we call upon Him with all our heart, even if our mind sometimes gets in the way.
Notes:
[1] http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/SantoroRP01a.htm# (accessed 03/2016
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life (accessed 03/2016)
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw2phldcmCQ (accessed 03/2016)
[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJvEoLPLIg8 (accessed 03/2016)
[5] http://eqi.org/ht.htm (accessed 03/2016)
[6] http://www.abraco.org.pt/ (accessed 03/2016)
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoon_(film) (accessed 03/2016)
[9] http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4602 (accessed 03/2016)
Chapter 5
The Miracle and Answered Prayer!
A few days passed and I still did not know what I would do about the draft. I knew my time was short and the FBI would soon find me in Marietta, as I was making no efforts to hide. In the end, I had decided to resist the draft and go to prison if need be. Resistance was a stance which every young American youth could take; white, black, educated, uneducated, rich or poor. Cassius Clay, the famous boxer, who later changed his name to Mohammed Ali, had refused induction into the US military and had been jailed for it. I thought refusing induction was the most honest position to take, as it was open to every man and not just to the middle or upper-class white boys who could find a deferment or escape to Canada or Sweden.
After a time talking, we stopped at a restaurant where I bowed my head and asked Jesus, if He really was the Son of God, to come into my heart and life and show me. Later as we drove further, Chris talked with me about the importance of the Holy Spirit. So, while driving my brother’s Volkswagen Beetle down the motor way, I prayed to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Only a few more miles up the road was where I needed to drop them off to start on my way back to Marietta, about one hundred miles south of Columbus.
I had spoken with Christian youth on the college campus. Those dedicated to Christ were usually always very pro-American, anti-communist and therefore willing to support the war effort in some way. I even had a very close friend who had been a conscientious objector and had served as an army medic in Vietnam. But as much as he had tried, he could not convince me that the conscientious objector was the most righteous or moral stand.
During my search for conscientious objector status, I had also gone and spoken to both Catholic Priests and Protestant Ministers. They had told me it was my Christian duty to obey the government and don the army uniform and perform my duty for God and country. I had already come to the decision from reading Tolstoy and others, including Mark Twain's famous War Prayer[1] and the New Testament, that this pro-war stance was a compromise and not in accordance with the words of Jesus. I had finally met some Christians who believed as I did about the war, and I now was going to see what made them tick.
If you are interested in praying the prayer I prayed please watch Billy Graham’s Defining Moments.[2]
Notes:
[1] http://www.ntua.gr/lurk/making/warprayer.html (accessed 03/2016)
[2] https://myhopewithbillygraham.org/program/defining-moments/ (accessed 03/2016)
Chapter 6
We rolled into Ellenville, New York after an all-night journey through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Ellenville was a beautiful little town in the Catskill Mountains, some one hundred miles north of New York City! It was already November and the trees were beginning to change their colors.
That first morning I remember meeting Don Slovenski from a Catholic-Polish family like my own. He had been President of the Catholic Young People's Association and had represented the Association in the Washington, DC’s Christian Young People’s Convention. He picked up a conversation with me and we were soon immersed in an interesting Bible study of Daniel 2 and end-time prophecy.
I was one of the older people at the camp and one of the few with a college education. My work crew was mainly rebellious 18 and 19 year-olds coming from the hippy scene, who did not take kindly to schedules and overseers. As a result, many times I stayed up late until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning finishing up the dishes. The problem was I had to be up at 5:30 am to start breakfast. After a few weeks of this grueling schedule, I was suffering from physical exhaustion from lack of sleep.
Also, I was still holding unto my old vegetarian eating habits. But here, very little vegetarian proteins were available to eat, as most of the food was donated by local businesses or fast-food joints, and consisted of sandwiches, donuts, pastas, and some local in-season fruits. I remember on various occasions fainting from exhaustion. I finally saw the necessity of eating what was set before me, as Paul so wisely admonished.[3]
Notes:
[1] John 14:6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
[2] John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
[3] 1Corinthians 10:27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
Chapter 7
Sought by the FBI: God's Plan and Way of Escape!
After graduating from Marietta College, I began working as a teacher at Friendship School in Marietta, Ohio. I had a class of twelve slightly physically and or mentally handicapped children from ages seven to thirteen plus one autistic boy. I had requested that this job be counted as my alternative service, if I had been granted conscientious objector status. But my request was denied. However, even knowing of my problem with the military, the director of the school had hired me as I had worked as a volunteer for two years doing fifteen hours a week as teacher assistant. I had even cut down on some of my studies to make volunteering possible. But on Monday, November 9th, I had not showed up for work. Neither had I phoned in which was unusual for me, as I was generally conscientious. What had happened?
so obviously there will be tears in Heaven as we acknowledge our wrong-doing, and try to make things right! I am sorry, family, for how I hurt you. Please find a way to forgive me.
Looking back on these circumstances and all that happened, I can see it was God's plan to save me from the FBI, who may have been totally confused by these events. I could not have invented a better plan had I tried. But God manufactured His own way of escape for me, to enable me to spend time in His Word learning of Him and His will for my life. As He says in His Word,
Notes:
[1] Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Chapter 8
The Test and the Reward
When my family finally received word from me by post, my parents came to see me at the training center. The conditions at the center were very basic. It was not an officially recognized institution, but rather more of a Christian community and run as a training center for disciples. Some of the Jesus People movement from California had started it. I remember sleeping on the floor at night in a thinly-walled cabin. But I was learning to be a disciple for Jesus. Whatever physical sacrifice I had to make was hardly important.
My parents wanted to be sure I knew what I was doing. They were quite reluctant to let me stay at the center. If I wanted to serve God, why could I not become a Priest or find some other way? But seeing I was twenty-two years of age at the time, and they could not convince me otherwise, they left, hoping it was a passing phase.
My father later told me something when he was near to the end of his life. He had found Jesus through some woman he had met at the day center he frequented. He said, “Dennis, you found Jesus when you were young and dedicated your whole life to Him, which I could never understand. I lived almost my whole life without that personal relationship with Jesus. I do not know how I did it, but now that I have found Jesus, I understand your decision and life choices.”
A few days after my parent’s visit, a close friend from childhood named Chris came for an afternoon. He was going to bring me home “one way or the other.” That’s what he told me when we went for a ride in his car. But seeing the conviction and happiness I had and that I was staying at the training center under my free will, he also left, though somewhat disappointed.
Finally, some of my college friends and my brother came from Ohio to convince me I was making a bad decision and bring me to my senses. But again, it was fruitless. My will was sure and I could not be moved. I must apologize here to my brother for the way he found his car. All his music tapes were missing. The tires of his car were flat and no compensation was given, though he did recover some money from my bank account back in Marietta. With close to 200 young people, many coming off drugs and out of hippy lifestyles, not everyone was as “Christian” as they should have been.
If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth & the truth shall set you free.[3]
Apostle Paul also said,
If any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.[4]
I was becoming that new man in Christ. In December, there was a heavy downfall of snow. I was responsible for bringing the food to the director’s office in the evenings. One evening I overheard the directors talking about testing some of the new students to see if they were really there for the right motives. The following morning a group of us were taken on a job to move a broken-down vehicle to a more accessible location on the campus. Besides the snow, it started sleeting, and I remember I did not have adequate winter clothing, as I had never gone back to Marietta to pick up my things, seeing it was so far away.
It was freezing cold and I ended up fainting as we tried to push the vehicle. I, also, had not been eating properly. The group of students carried me back to one of the unused cabins. Someone tried to light a fire in the wood stove to warm us up. However, the chimney was blocked and all the smoke filled the room. Here we were freezing cold, wet, choking from the smoke. But I was happy. My heart was with God and I had found His peace and truth. Love was indeed the answer.
Peace I leave with you,
Jesus said,
My peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.[5]
I was not worried or afraid anymore. God was real and He was going to take care of me somehow. The time at the Ellenville was like being at a boot camp or in the war together. Instead of having my military boot camp at Fort Dix, I had my spiritual boot camp at the training center in Ellenville. I learned that we are in a spiritual battle and we must use spiritual weapons to defeat the enemy. Like Apostle Paul has said,
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty thorough God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into capacity every thought to the obedience of Christ.[6] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.[7]
Great bonds of friendship were formed, some of which, I have until this day. Upon graduating from the three-month course, I sent my certification of ministry training into my draft board. A few months later I was notified that my draft status had been changed and I was no longer 1-A, or immediately available for induction into military service. For some reason, not explained by the draft board, I had been reclassified. God had done the miracle and rewarded my decision to serve Him no matter what. From that moment on, I dedicated my life to the service of bringing souls to the Kingdom of God.
God had answered His promise and delivered me from the hand of man. I in turn had promised Him I would love and serve Him to my dying breath.
Notes:
[1] Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
[3] John 8:31-32
[5] John 14:27
[7] Ephesians 6:12
[8] Matthew 6:33
Chapter 9
Another part of the training program was the witnessing adventures into New York City, especially Greenwich Village, a gathering place for hippies and beatniks. After a few weeks of intense classes, inspiration and Scripture memorization, it was time to share my new-found faith with others. I was roaring to go in spite of my natural shyness. Friday afternoon rolled in the “Prophet Bus,” an old converted school bus with red sack cloth as curtains on the windows and red carpeted floor. “Maybe they are communists after all,” I thought again. Nevertheless, I piled into the bus with the other students and got ready for my next adventure: witnessing for Jesus.
We traveled down the one hundred miles to the George Washington Bridge. One of the teachers pulled out his guitar and started singing a song called “Filthy City Babylon,” with illusions to chapters seventeen and eighteen in the book of Revelation. The bridge and the city were decked out with all manner of lights. After the song, another teacher read verses right from the book of Revelation:
And the woman which thou saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.[2]
Here we were entering that “great city,” New York City, which truly reigned economically over the kings of the earth through her banking system and commerce. The teacher kept on reading.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues; For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.[3]
For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.[4]
Surely this was a picture of the American Empire with its financial capital in New York City, which uses its great financial power to suck the natural resources and wealth from the nations of the earth. And yet all the nations wanted to sell their merchandise here in America where they could make good money. They would close their eyes to America's sins of war and oppression of the poor nations, as long as they were making money and filling their own pockets.
We entered into New York City and over to Greenwich Village. It was great to be able to share my new faith with others. But not many were really interested. Most people were into their own trip and could not be bothered. Nevertheless, there always was someone searching and looking for they knew-not-what, and they were ready to hear my story and meet my Lord. Are you?
But how can I so rapidly come to the above conclusion that America is the modern day fulfillment of Babylon the Whore of the book of Revelation? Let’s get back into our study of the Bible as a book of prophecy to see how. Let us “rightly divide the word of truth”[5] to see if these things are so. First we will go into a little Bible history to see if we can actually trust the Bible as an accurate book of prophecy. Here we go.
Table of Contents for Rest of Book
Notes:
[2] Revelation 17:18
[4] Revelation 18:23
[5] 2Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a work man that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Table of Contents for Rest of Book
Part Two - Fulfilled Prophecy: Chapters 10-19
[To go to chapters 10-13 inclusive click on the link]
Chapter 10: The God of Daniel - The Revealer of Secrets
Chapter 11: Daniel's Mentor Joseph - The Imhotep Connection
Chapter 12: The Daniel - Isaac Newton Connection
Chapter 13: Jesus, the Book of Daniel, and the Temple Institute
[To go to chapters 14-19 inclusive click on the following link. To go to the chapters separatedly follow links below.]
Chapter 14: The Genesis Messianic Prophecy Link
Chapter 15: Bible Prophecy - Mathematically Impossible! Link
Chapter 16: The Noah Prophecy Link
Chapter 17: The Wild Man Prophecy Link
Chapter 18: Isaac's Prophecy Link
Chapter 19: Prophecies of Consequences Link
[To go to chapters 20-26 inclusive click on the link. To go to the chapters individually follow the links below]
Part Three - The Evidence and Arguments for America Being "Babylon the Whore" of Revelation 17&18
Chapter 20: Are You a Prophecy Nut? LinkChapter 21: Is America in Bible Prophecy? Link
Chapter 22: Is the Babylon of Revelation America? Link
Chapter 23: Revelation 17 and Commentary Link
Chapter 24: Who is the Great Harlot of Revelation? Link
Chapter 25: The Boogie Banker Man Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out! Link
Chapter 26: The World, Brother, The World! Money, Money, Money Makes the World Go Round! Link
[To go to chapters 27-30 click on the link.]
Chapter 27: The American Dream of Easy Living Link
Chapter 28: Revelation Chapter 18 Link
Chapter 29: Music is the Message - The Sirens of Babylon!
Chapter 30: Football, Fatima, and Fado - The FIFA Olympic Connection
[To go to chapters 31-35 click on the link.]
Chapter 31: Israel Has Forsaken Its Maker and Builds Temples!
Chapter 32: Arms, Arms, and More Arms! - It's Blood Money, Baby!
Chapter 33: Israel of Old and America: a Parallel History
Chapter 34: Consequences, Consequences, and More Consequences!
Chapter 35: Blessing or Curse - Which Will You Have?
[To go to chapters 36-40 click on the link.]
Part Four - More Evidence and Arguments Against America: Chapters 36-50
Chapter 36: The Divided Kingdom
Chapter 37: We Are Sisters, We Are Harlots, and We Are Not Ashamed!
Chapter 38: Reiki and the New Age Movement
Chapter 39: Letter to a Friend Involved with reiki
Chapter 40: Is Revival Possible?
[To go to chapters 41-42 click on the link.]
Chapter 41: In Defense of Heterosexuality
Chapter 42: Will We Also Be Buried in Profound Obscurity?
[To go to chapters 43-44 click on the link.]
Chapter 43: Paul's Understanding and Vision for a New Nation - The New Jew Theology
Chapter 44: Jesus and a New Spiritual Israel! - More Than Overcomers!
[To go to chapter 45 click on the link.]
Chapter 45: What About the Ten Commandments and Jewish Festivals and Kosher Eating Laws?
[To go to chapter 46 click on the link.]
Chapter 46: To Believe, or Not to Believe, That is the Question? - The Evolution Connection!
[To go to chapters 47-48 click on the link.]
Chapter 47: The Scofield Connection – The Pre-Tribulation Fallacy with Corrie Ten Boom’s Perspective
Chapter 48: Moses’ Exhortation to Israel, America and the World!
[To go to chapters 49-51 click on the link.]
Chapter 49: The Illuminati and the Protocols of Zion - How Deep is That Rabbit Hole?
Chapter 50: How Short is Shortened? – The Secret!
Chapter 36: The Divided Kingdom
Chapter 37: We Are Sisters, We Are Harlots, and We Are Not Ashamed!
Chapter 38: Reiki and the New Age Movement
Chapter 39: Letter to a Friend Involved with reiki
Chapter 40: Is Revival Possible?
[To go to chapters 41-42 click on the link.]
Chapter 41: In Defense of Heterosexuality
Chapter 42: Will We Also Be Buried in Profound Obscurity?
[To go to chapters 43-44 click on the link.]
Chapter 43: Paul's Understanding and Vision for a New Nation - The New Jew Theology
Chapter 44: Jesus and a New Spiritual Israel! - More Than Overcomers!
[To go to chapter 45 click on the link.]
Chapter 45: What About the Ten Commandments and Jewish Festivals and Kosher Eating Laws?
[To go to chapter 46 click on the link.]
Chapter 46: To Believe, or Not to Believe, That is the Question? - The Evolution Connection!
[To go to chapters 47-48 click on the link.]
Chapter 47: The Scofield Connection – The Pre-Tribulation Fallacy with Corrie Ten Boom’s Perspective
Chapter 48: Moses’ Exhortation to Israel, America and the World!
[To go to chapters 49-51 click on the link.]
Chapter 49: The Illuminati and the Protocols of Zion - How Deep is That Rabbit Hole?
Chapter 50: How Short is Shortened? – The Secret!
Part Five - The Verdict: Chapter 51-52
Chapter 51: The End is Coming
[To go to postscript click on the link.]
Chapter 52: [Postscript] Spiritual Warfare in the Last Days - We are under Attack!
Chapter 51: The End is Coming
[To go to postscript click on the link.]
Chapter 52: [Postscript] Spiritual Warfare in the Last Days - We are under Attack!
