Science Confirms Biblical Creation
Thursday, September 6, 2018
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
The Strongman is Coming!
I had a sad experience today. I went to see a friend of mine and as we got to talking about the situation in Europe with the immigrants. He said,
“Look, we, the Portuguese, go all around the world and wherever we are, we manage to assimilate into the host culture. When we go to France, we become as the French. When we go to America, we become as the Americans. Or to Canada, we become like the Canadians. We don’t bother anybody and are friendly and we work, and we work hard.
“But these immigrants coming from Africa and the Middle East don’t do that. They refuse to assimilate. They come here with the attitude that they are deserving of our help and all they want to do is to live on welfare. They are even worse than the gypsies, as they even kill us and hate us. Why are we letting them into our country? What good is it bringing? It seems to me what the world needs now is another dictator, another strongman to put things in order, because the situation is going too far.
“Yes, Dennis, I know that Christ told us to love our enemies, and turn the other cheek, but this is too much and we are not Christ. He could turn the other cheek and even forgive His enemies. But I’m not Christ and I can’t and I won’t. And I’m sick of letting these people into our countries when more than half the time they don’t even work. They sit on welfare and have the attitude that it’s their right and we are the ones that are in the wrong.
“I know it’s a bad thing, but what we need is another war to clean up these people and get rid of hthem and make them stay in their own countries. And if we need some sort of strong dictator to do it, then so be it. That’s how I feel. I’m getting more and more angry every day.”
My friend is what I consider a very nice person. He has helped our work of helping the poor for many years. His oldest son is in school in the States on a basketball scholarship and wants to become the first portuguese player in the NBA. This young man is studying Aeronautic Engineering at the University of Utah and gets top grades.
My friend has worked hard all his life since high school as a butcher. He works long hours and has sacrificed to try to give his family a better standard of living than he had. But he’s frustrated at the many immigrants coming into Europe who refuse to assimilate with our culture and abuse our tolerance to the point they even willing to kill us and think they are doing God service.
At this point I tried to explain to my friend that what he is feeling, Jesus talked about two thousand years ago. Just before His Passion, His disciples asked Christ what would be the sign of His coming and of the end of the world. One of the many details that Jesus gave to His disciples was,
“Because iniquity would abound, the love of many would wax cold.”[1]
That is exactly what is happening with my friend. All the evil that he is seeing constantly on the television and in the papers is causing him to harden his heart toward his fellowman. My friend’s love for his fellowman, in this case, the poor of Africa, and the refugees from the Middle East war, is waxing cold. Why? Because of the growth of iniquity, of sin, and of violence in the world today.
Maybe it’s not the growth, maybe the world has always been this evil, but the fact is that the television and media continually feed us with horrible news of hatred and violence. So much so, that our hearts become hardened. We shut up our bowels of compassion out of fear. We put down our Christian faith and decide that war is a necessity. Mistrust and hatred of other races and cultures becomes the rule, and we feel it’s justifiable if we want to have any future for our children. A strong dictator who will put things in order, seems the only solution.
Sad to say, that’s the sorry state and way many people think in the West today. People have been overwhelmed with violence and hatred daily in the stories they read in the newspapers, or hear on the television, or see in the movies. It just gets to be too much and they can’t take it any more. They feel their only defence mechanism is to harden their hearts and close their doors and borders under lock and key to keep the evil out.
But the trouble is that we have evil is in our own hearts. By shutting up our hearts of love towards others, we are hardening our hearts and letting hatred gain place in our lives and in our relationship with others. We are failing our Christian commitment to “love our neighbor as ourselves,”[2] and “to love our enemies.”[3] But Christianity did not begin in such a manner. It did not grow through hatred and fear and closing in on itself. No, Christianity grew through love and openess and willingness to die for truth and love in spite of overwhelming odds and enemies. The early Christians believed and lived differently. They were so convinced of the words of Christ and His message of love that they were willing to go to the death in their defence of those words and truths rather than picking up arms to defend themselves and fight for their justice and freedom.
No, the early Christians, would have never started a violent revolution, like Mohammed did the 600s, like the American colonists did in 1776, like the French did in 1789, or the Bolshevics did in 1917, like the Republicanos did in Spain in 1936, like Hitler did in 1939, and like Nelson Mandelo did down in South Africa in the 1950s. The Christian revolution was a revolution in the spirit. It was a revolution of love. Love for God and love for fellowman. The Christians were willing to die proclaiming that truth. Their children were often slain, or violated, but they kept to the course dying together with them as martyrs. And yet, the way the Christians lived and died, forgiving and loving their enemies, had such a great affect on the lives of their persecutors, that they themselves became believers. The persecutors were converted by the love those they persecuted had towards them.
Who will stand with me today for Christ? Who will stand with me today for the love of God and fellowman? Who will believe with me today the words of Christ? Jesus said,
“If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.”[4]
Who will lay down his life with me that the testimony of the love of God lives? The prophet Jeremiah was considered a traitor because he spoke out against his countries war. They had been in servitude to their Babylonian rulers, but they rebelled. And the Lord sent Jeremiah who admonished them over and over again to submit to the yoke of Babylon. But they would not. They wanted their freedom and they believed God was with them. The Lord, through Jeremiah, pleaded with them and warned them that unless they surrendered to the Babylonian armies they would not escape with their lives or save their city. But the political and religious leaders would not submit, nor surrender. As a result, just as God had warned, Israel as a nation was defeated, and Jerusalem with the first Temple was destroyed.
The Bible tells us we are headed for another terrible time in world history. We are approaching the days when all the world will clamar and shout for the strongman to put law and order back in place.[5] But the strongman will not be a righteous one. He may come in looking righteous,[6] but in the end he’ll want the whole world for himself. Thus will begin the greatest persecution of any who will not submit to the one-world order and receive the obligatory mark of submission in their right hand or forehead.[7] Jesus called those coming days, the Great Tribulation.[8] He told us that he had shortened the days, because if he didn’t, no life would be left on earth.[9]
The Apostle Paul, talking about those same days, the days of Christ’s return, said that they would not come until there would be a great falling away from the faith and the Final Strongman be revealed.[10] Christian doctrine for hundreds of years had believed this scenario. However, with the “Left Behind” series the Christians have been fooled to believe they will miraculously escape the three and a half years of tribulation. But they will not. Just like our Christian friends in Syria did not, but died for their faith. So will many die again in the days predicted in the Holy Scriptres.[11]
But the Christians will indeed escape the last terrible days of the Wrath of God[12], poured out upon the wicked for some 45-75 days at the conclusion of the Days of Tribulation. The days of wrath will be even more intense than the tribulation period. [13] The tribulation period ends when Christ raptures His saints away to Heaven to unite with the Heavenly Host[14] and later return with them at the famous Battle of Armageddon.[15] At that battle evil will be defeated and Satan imprisoned for a thousand years.[16] Then Christ will rule on earth during the Millenium period.[17] God will still be trying to win the unbelievers to His righteous cause. And yet still, many will not yield, just like today.
We could very well be approaching those dreadful days warned of by Jesus, Paul and in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. God has been very patient with us. He has given us much time to get our act together and make the world a place of peace and harmony for all men. But we have failed and we have failed miserably.
We have aborted our children to have more freedom and modern luxuries. We have lied and cheated, and we have committed adultery with money and the things that money can buy. We have left God in the out house to be shit upon. We don’t want Him around annoying us with His religiousity. We’ve had enough of that. We’re intelligent people now and know better than to fall for that. We are no longer children. Now we can see face to face and we don’t want any of His crap. We’re free and we’ve never going back to that delusion, the God delusion.
But God will not be mocked. He may let mankind almost destroy itself to show His patience and love for us. Yet, finally, He will enter into to His creation and stop the carnage before it’s too late.[18]
And what about you. Do you want to be part of His kingdom of love and peace and harmony for all peoples? Or do you want hatred and anger and mistrust to grow in your heart until it overwhelms you and you yield to the the Son of Perdition and his evil plans. The choice is up to you. Choose God. He’s the best choice and He needs you to stand up for Him.
Footnotes:
[1] Matthew 24:12
[2] Matthew 22:39 “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
[3] Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”
[4] John 15:18-21
[5] Revelation 13:7-8 “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
[6] Daniel 11:21 “And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.”
[7] Revelation 13:16 “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:”
[8] Matthew 24:21 “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
[9] Matthew 24: 22 “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
[10] 2 Thessolonians 2:1-4 “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
[11] Daniel 11:35 "And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed."
[12] 1 Thessalonians 5:9 "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."
[13] Revelation 16:1-21 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+16%3A1-21&version=AKJV
[14] Matthew 24:29-31 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 30 and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
[15] Revlation 19:11-21 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+19%3A11-21&version=AKJV
[16] Revelation 20:1-3 “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”
[17] Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”
Monday, September 3, 2018
Sunday, September 2, 2018
Friday, August 24, 2018
Isaiah 58
Today’s meditation will be on Isaiah 58.
The Lord is speaking to the prophet and says to him,
“Cry aloud! Spare not! Lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins.
“Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.”[1]
So here we see the Lord explaining that the people of God are delighting in making a show of seeking God. It’s a big show that they are putting on, but their hearts are really not in following Him. Like Jesus is quoted as saying,
“Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”[2]
Back in Isaiah 58 we see the Lord expressing the response of the people.
“Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?”[3]
But the Lord responds,
“Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
“Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?”[4]
I remember going to a big fancy church in the Bermudas where my son had died. At the end of the service the pastor reminded the parisheners that the following week they were going to be fasting and praying for the situation of the young people in the church. Of course, that’s always a noble goal to pray for our young people as they pass through the troubled waters of adolesence and young adulthood. The pastor was reminding everyone, these big over weight African Caribian women, of the next week’s fast. He was telling them, “We’re not going to eat, we’re just going to have juices because we’re going to really seek the Lord.” And the woman moaned.
But the Lord says here, that instead of our fasting, that only enhances our self-righteousness, so that at the end of the week we can feel so good with ourselves because we’ve done some fasting. That instead of that, there is a fast that He has chosen. There is something that He wants us to do. He explains,
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen?” to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
“Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”[5]
In other words, the Lord is saying that we even should help our own family. Maybe someone in our family needs our help, but we don’t want to help them, because we have hardened our heart against them. They are our own family and we know their sins, and short-comings, and undeservingness. But the Lord says we need to loosen the bands that the wicked have placed on the poor and needy. We need to let the oppressed go free. We need to deal our bread to the hungry, and bring the poor that are cast out into better living conditions. And finally we shouldn’t turn our backs away from our own family. If we do these things the Lord tells us what’s going to happen? He says,
“Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.”[6]
Are you sick and need healing? Start helping other people. Start opening up the windows of your life on others. Do you want healing? Do you want God to hear your prayers? Then follow the advice the Lord gives in His response to the self-righteous religionists complaining at God for not answering their fasting and praying. If you follow the Lord’s advice and start helping others, He Himself is going to be your reward and your face in going to shine because the Lord is going to be with you. Then it won’t even matter if your healed or not because you’ll have found the true meaning of life, the Lord Himself. But besides knowing the Lord, He promises,
“Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
“And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:
“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”[7]
So there we have a beautiful chapter from the book of Isaiah explaining how God will answer our prayers. God Himself gives the conditions we need to fulfill if we really want Him to answer our prayers. It’s not the fast of denying ourselves food and drink that the Lord wants, where we just feel so righteous about what we’ve done and therefore feel God has to answer our prayer because of our self-righteous fasting, something that we’ve done and therefore God deserves to answer.
Yes, there is something we can do to have our prayers answered, and that’s to open up our lives upon others and help others. That is where God promises to hear our prayers. When we get busy helping the oppressed, and feeding the poor and taking care of those in need, even those in our own family, then, that’s what God’s going to bless.
However, in the New Testament, Paul reminds us that we can even do those good things, like giving to help the poor and helping others, in the spirit of self-righteousness, and not in the spirit of love. If we do our good works of helping other self-righteously, Paul informs us that it is nothing. He says,
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profits me nothing.”[8]
That’s because God is love and if we don’t have love, we don’t have God. Like the Apostle John has written,
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”[9]
So, if you want healing, if you want answers to prayer, get busy helping others, because when you do, you are putting yourself in the position for God to answer your prayers. God will bless you as you help others. You take care of those that God brings across your path and He promises to take care of you. His presence will be with you and will satisfy you, greater than any thing this world could offer. Try His formular. You’ll get answers to prayer and find happiness and fulfillment of heart, mind and body.
Notes:
[1] Isaiah 58:1-2
[2] Matthew 15:7-9
[3] Isaiah 58:3a
[4] Isaiah 58:3b-5
[5] Isaiah 58:6-7
[6] Isaiah 58:8
[7] Isaiah 58:9-14
[8] 1 Corinthians 13:3
[9] 1 John 4:8
