Treachery

 The "election cycle" has been in full swing for a while now.  I get LOTS of stuff from the Trump campaign, including unrequested text messages on my phone, literature in the mail box, emails and all the rest.

Trump had my support in 2016.  I believed God was raising him up "for such a time as this."  As it appeared that only a miracle would produce an "election victory" over Hillary and the Democrats, I was fairly certain that God had intervened.  Daniel 4:17, 25, 32 were all on my radar:  "... the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men."

The "lowest of men" part made sense.  I'd also read the prayer of Manasseh, and believed in redemption.  God changes people - He sure changed me.  So I spent the next four years giving The Donald the benefit of almost every doubt.  "He knows what he's doing," I thought.  He has the big picture, and God is behind it.  The Swamp is big and he might not be able to drain it all, but we've been praying for revival since the Promise Keepers stood in the gap in 1997.  Our God hears and answers prayer.

The "Covid Pandemic" changed all that.  Trump betrayed every single one of us.  He gave Fauci and Birx all the leverage they needed to foist this scam on a trusting public and begin the final destruction of the country.  And then when some of the MAGA faithful were hauled off to the DC Gulag following the scam "insurrection" he didn't do a damned thing for them.

Trump is treacherous.  He's owned by the British Pilgrim Society, and apparently ultimately beholden to the British Crown and the City of London.  He's offered as a "political messiah" but he's exactly the kind of false messiah that Jesus warned us about.  He did NOT almost take a bullet in Butler, PA last July.  That whole narrative "starts with H and rhymes with 'jokes'."  Anything more explicit gets banned on YouTube and maybe by this platform also.

I doubt there will be an election in November, and I suspect all the "candidates" already know it.  This is just money-laundering in plain sight.  As Claire Wolfe (I believe) famously said, "If voting could change anything, it would be illegal."  I'm not at all concerned.  We don't need "democracy" or elections, or "selections."  We need a benevolent despot.

I expect He will arrive directly.

More on "the incident" here:  https://stevekerp.wordpress.com/2024/07/17/the-incident/

Stop Beating Yourself Up

I like football.  I follow the Packers every year, from the pre-season through the first game of the playoffs when they tend to choke and bomb out.  Whenever they are down at half time, I encourage myself and my fellow-fans with the truism that "anything the other team did to the Packers during the first half, the Pack can do to them in the second."  They put up 20 and hold us to 3, we can do the same and go into overtime tied.

Of course, no one plays for a tie.  At half time, both teams re-calibrate.  Figure out how to exploit weaknesses discovered, and figure out how to avoid making mistakes.  "Get your head in the game."  Make them beat us, if they can.  We don't want to beat ourselves.

We've seen plenty of come-from-behind heroics - in the NFL (okay, so maybe it's rigged) but also in life.  Your life and mine.

Satan, sin, the world-flesh-and-devil, all combine to beat the hell out of us when we're stupid, poorly coached, maybe unmotivated, maybe mis-prioritised.   But we're in the second half now, and need not dwell on the fumbles, dropped passes, or any of the other mistakes we made before half time. 

Yes, I screwed up a lot - I assume most of us probably did.  None of us can ever think we "did okay" or somehow "deserve" to win this game.  The best we can do during the second half is listen CAREFULLY to the Coach and follow His directions.  If we can just do that, we can still prevail.  We can still become the men (and women) God wants us to become.  We are still His workmanship.

We're close to the "finish line" (to switch to Paul's metaphor in Heb. 12:1) but we're not there yet.  Stop looking back at the mistakes of your past (Phil. 3:13) and look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.  He is coming soon, and His reward is with Him.

Where Are Your Ripples?

 If you throw a stone into a pond, the stone will create ripples in the water.  This is not complicated.

If someone says they threw a stone into the pond but no ripples were observed or detected, you would properly conclude that he was lying or mistaken or confused ... or something.

This is an illustration in the natural world of the spiritual relationship between faith and works.  As James says:

Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?  You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.  - James 2:18-24

As I said, this is not complicated.  Saving faith is made visible - is manifested - by works.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:10)

Because saving faith must NECESSARILY produce good works, it can be honestly observed that any so-called "believer" who does NOT display a changed life does not have saving faith.  This stirs up some theologians, who make a sharp distinction between "faith" and "works" and then insist the former is essential to salvation, but the latter is not. And their prime example is the thief on the cross, who had saving faith but no (alleged) opportunity for works.  Therefore, some reason, works must NOT be essential.  Is this thinking reasonable?

First, as I have pointed out previously, if being crucified was the way to get saved without works, I doubt that any would choose that option.  But this also displays some ignorance of crucifixion.  So let's clear that up.

We'll start easy:  if you are teaching a Sunday school class or speaking to others about Christ and the gospel, is that a "work"?  Or if you go to a hospital or senior living facility just to encourage the people who are there, is that a "work"?  I think we'd agree that these are - indeed - good works, proceeding from faith.  The act of speaking is a work.  And we do those sorts of works regularly.

What was the penitent thief doing?  He was speaking words of faith and encouragement while being crucified.  When one is crucified, all your weight is crushing your diaphragm.  You can breathe in, but it's agonizingly difficult to exhale.  You must push up with your lacerated feet to release the air in your lungs.  Speech is a series of painful gasps.  

It would have been easier for the thief to say nothing.  Breathing was painful, and speaking made it worse.  But he managed to say, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong," and "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."

This was not a casual discussion in a Jerusalem coffee shop, and it probably took the thief a while to get it all out.  But he said it - syllable by painful syllable.  The people standing around the cross may not have heard it, but Jesus did and it's a safe assumption that when the disciples asked Him about it after the resurrection, Jesus gave them the full account.  This is a short sermon by a dying man to an audience of one - that has been heard or read by millions of people around the world for the past 2,000 years.  This thief probably preached to more people than Billy Graham ever did.  So YES, the faith of the penitent thief was completed by works.  His "pebble of faith" created the expected ripples.

That was a bit of a detour, because my intention in this post is to, once again, defend the idea of "Lordship salvation" from those who think it's a heresy, that one need not make Jesus the LORD of one's life, or that any good works are unnecessary.  "Just believe," they insist.  "Belief is all that is required."  Some even suggest that works are an insult to God, because it suggests you are trying to save yourself, you think Christ's sacrifice was insufficient, or you are trying to earn or deserve salvation.  I addressed that here: 

The Selfish Gospel

and here:

Lordship Salvation - Another Perspective

Examine yourself, as Paul advises in 1 Cor. 11:28.  Be ready; Jesus is coming soon, and His reward is with Him, "to give to every one according to his work." - Rev. 22:12

Because It's True

Perhaps you are already familiar with "Cold Case Christianity" and the work of J. Warner Wallace.  If not, an introduction is definitely in order.  Wallace was a homicide detective of distinction in Los Angeles, along with being a fairly hard core atheist.  He was challenged to apply his investigative skills to the gospel narratives and he accepted the challenge.  Today, as a believer and skilled apologist, he is focused on training Christians to be able to present and defend the claims of the gospel.

Of interest is the "gospel presentations" he was exposed to when still an unbeliever; presentations he found to be unconvincing.  Maybe you have used similar approaches with family or friends.  They generally flow along the lines of testimony or personal experience: "I was crushed by guilt until Jesus set me free" or "I felt lost and was living a life without purpose, but Jesus changed my life," or even "if you say this prayer and invite Jesus into your heart, you will find peace and joy.  It worked for me."

There are two problems with personal experience:  they are personal, and they are experience.  Both of these criteria are subjective.  That is not proof.  It's not good enough for a courtroom, it wasn't good enough for Wallace, and it should not be good enough for us.  The question is not "how did it make me feel?" or "how did it affect my life?"  The only significant question is:  Is it TRUE?

For our purposes, however, there is a second question:  Is it relevant?  And I suspect that's the higher hurdle that must be cleared.  After all, there are LOTS of things that are true - things that can be proven in court and things that may be scientifically significant.  Laws of physics and chemistry are true, discoverable, and as far as we can tell, immutable.  But so what?  We use our cell phones because they work (experience) and care not about what makes them work.  The underlying physics and chemistry are both incomprehensible and irrelevant to nearly all of us.  

When sharing the gospel, we need to be trained to clearly explain why it is true.  But we also need to deal with why it matters, and I'd suggest that is one reason we need to be more than superficially conversant with Bible prophecy.   Contrary to the strident claims of atheists and evolutionists, this world is not meaningless, purposeless, or ultimately subjective.  We are experiencing a TEMPORARY world and a TEMPORARY life.  All who are here share in God's common grace.  All can enjoy the beauty of a sunset.  All can be refreshed by cold, pure water on a hot summer day.  Every good thing in this world has its source in a benevolent Creator.  No one is entitled to God's grace.  But the time we all have to enjoy it is both temporary and short.

At some time in the near future, this temporary period of common grace will end, and Biblical prophecy sheds necessary light on this expectation.  Those who are reconciled to God will be preserved and the rest will be destroyed.  Our message is both highly relevant and TIME-CRITICAL   The fact that Jesus Christ is LORD is central and critical to both the gospel message and the prophetic certainties of the future.

We should have some urgency, and especially in our prayer lives, regarding our commission and function as ambassadors for Christ.   This does NOT mean an over-excited presentation to the lost or indifferent, but it DOES mean a change in our priorities.  We are the ones who should "see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25) and live accordingly.  We should see prophecy, NOT as an arcane abstraction, but as a present reality.  

There are some things about the distant past that we can't know.  They are buried by the sands of time, but they are no less true for being unknown.  Similarly, there are some things about the future that we can't know; very probably a design feature of apocalyptic writing.  Nevertheless, there are things that we CAN know and SHOULD know, and those things are both true and relevant.  Most Christians I know shrug off prophecy and the study of it because it's confusing, divisive, or not relevant to their day-to-day life.  Even though a significant amount of scripture deals with prophecy, many brush off the topic by quoting (without context) Matthew 24:36.

Jesus told us to WATCH!  (Mark 13:37).  He said that those who do not know the signs of the times are HYPOCRITES! (Matthew 16:3)   I would not want to be surprised, find myself suddenly standing before Christ, and hear Him rebuke me for not watching and for being a hypocrite.  (And by the way, the excuse for not going to church because "the church is full of hypocrites" is true for this reason.)

I'm not here to criticize, but just to encourage whoever reads this to re-prioritize before it's eternally too late.  Turn off the TV.  Be reconciled and make restitution with those you have offended, defrauded, or sinned against.  Live the rest of your life in the light of unfolding prophetic reality.  It's later than you think.

A Romantic Conjecture

The last days are likened to the days of Lot.  As we know, God was looking for righteous people in Sodom, that He might spare the city.  So He sent two angels and they were greeted with hospitality from Lot, but with hostility by the rest of the townspeople.  Perhaps the "test" for righteousness was hospitality to strangers.

Jesus said in Matt. 24 and Mark 13 that He would send His angels to gather His elect.

In Rev. 3:10 the promise of being kept from the hour of trial is for those who persevere.

The romantic conjecture is that we will all have opportunities in these last pre-rapture moments to entertain angels (Hebrews 13:2) and that is the test of perseverance.  God will send angels, in the guise of homeless, lost, crippled and the like - to determine whether we are really persevering in the faith, or whether we talk the talk only.  The "theological" Christians will have all the answers, of course.  But those who take the Lordship of Christ seriously will display their faith by their works.

‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ (Matthew 25:40)

Oblivious

 NATO has been poking the Russian bear with a sharp stick for a few years now, with military proxy attacks, ignored promises, "sanctions" and no doubt many nefarious acts performed out of public view.

Russia has - understandably - had enough.

According to Hal Turner and many others, we have apparently crossed the last "red line."

This is the threshold of national judgment - orchestrated by God Himself against America, perhaps at the hands of Russia and China ... and perhaps not.  After all, we have the Yellowstone caldera, primed and ready to blow.  There's the Cascadia subduction zone and the New Madrid fault line.  There's the San Andreas fault.

I understand the Atlantic is a cauldron of potential violent hurricane activity for the upcoming season, and the sun has already sent a few CME's in our direction.

America is currently "celebrating" Gay Pride Month.  My opinion of these activities is irrelevant - it's only God's view that matters, and He has made His position crystal clear.  The deaf and disinterested Western cultures seem to think God is unwilling or unable to deal with this affront to His Law.  I think that will prove to be a fatal miscalculation.

The beat goes on - the noise gets louder and the distractions pile up.  But not for much longer.

Get ready, America - judgment is at the door.

Obama a Marxist?

I made the statement in "Remember Lot's Wife" that Mr. Obama is a "certified Marxist" (more properly "certifiable") and one of my blog visitors took exception to that statement.  RampantCrumpet wrote "Obama is not by any stretch of the imagination a 'Marxist'."

He's entitled to his view, of course.  But before one can categorize Mr. Obama's political philosophy, it would be helpful to know what a Marxist is.

Wikipedia provides the following:

Marxism is a worldview and method of societal analysis that focuses on class relations and societal conflict, that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, and a dialectical view of social transformation.

Marxism from Wikipedia

The original post was written several years ago, and RampantCrumpet's comment is also fairly old. In the time that has transpired, I think it has become abundantly clear that Mr. Obama relies heavily on "class relations" (that is, conflict between classes) and that he is working aggressively to re-make the American social fabric.  The outworking of Marxist philosophy in the world's political arena is well-known and I believe there is little doubt that Mr. Obama is taking America down that road as quickly as he can.

In short, I stand by my statement and believe history bears out its accuracy.   By the way, the case has been made that Islam is Marxist-socialism in the guise of a religion. We probably don't have time to explore that, but in view of the direction these anti-God philosophies go, it's not hard to make the case.

Mr. Crumpet also stated that I've gone off the road into political theory.  My conclusion is that political philosophies have theological roots.  I've said that many times and, again, I believe history bears it out.  To lay out any theological conclusion and not explore the political and cultural implications is to leave the discussion unfinished.

A final comment, that Obama's economic policies "do not and should not concern Christians" is a mystifying conclusion.  "Thou shalt not steal" is a commandment.  Institutionalizing theft should be a concern of Christians as much as institutionalizing the murder of inconvenient children.

Remembering Lot's Wife

Wives actually don't show up all that favorably in the Bible.  Some stellar exceptions are Noah's wife in the Old Testament and Aquila's wife in the New.  But from Eve to Mrs. Job to Mrs. Lot to Jezebel to Sapphira ...  we get the picture.

But of all the wives, Jesus admonished us to remember one in particular:  Mrs. Lot.  We know the story — angelic visitors were sent, by God's grace, to rescue Lot and his family before Sodom was destroyed.  Lot warned his family, but some of them thought he was joking.  Whether motivated by love, obedience or faith, just three left with Lot before the city was destroyed.

We know the story:  she didn't believe enough to remain obedient.  She looked back — after being warned explicitly not to — and she became a pillar of salt.  Now, why would Jesus point to this particular incident as something that those living in these last days should remember?  A few reasons come to mind.

First, Mrs. Lot didn't know where she was living.  She apparently didn't believe that she was living in a city that was coming under judgment.

Second, she didn't know when she was living.  She may have believed, in a general sense, that God would judge the world "some day."  She did not know that the day had come.

Finally, it appears that she did not know WHY she was living.  Her "job description" as Lot's wife involved being a "suitable helper" for her husband.  By disobeying and looking back, she effectively deserted Lot just when he probably needed her the most.

These things are coming into sharper focus for me as we see the judgments against America continuing.  As I write, a dispersant called Corexit is being dumped in massive quantities in the Gulf of Mexico, which is making that body of water TOXIC.  At the same time, national weather services are predicting an unusually severe hurricane season.  We have a certifiable Marxist in the White House and an economy on the brink of total collapse.  It should be clear to any student of scripture that God's benevolent hand of restraint is being withdrawn, and that some frightening things are in the very near future.  It troubles me that many who consider themselves Christians are either unaware, or unconcerned.

Most of us have never experienced an economic collapse.  Most of us have never lived in an aggressive police state (such as existed in Germany under Hitler and in Russia under Stalin).  None of us has experienced a hurricane that is spreading toxic waste and oil over large portions of the landscape.  And tragically, most of us continue in the false hope that "it can't happen here."

Remember Lot's wife.

America has shed the blood of over 50 million innocent babies, and that blood — like Abel's — cries out to the just Judge for vengeance.  God has given us ample time to repent, and we have not repented.  The problems now facing us are not political problems or environmental problems or economic problems; they are SPIRITUAL problems — the hard-heartedness, rebelliousness and disobedience of people who purport to be children of God.  We are occupied by the activities of our busy lives and the amusements of the culture.  The Titanic is going down but we're in the lounge playing cards and can't be distracted.

God is not deceived; neither will He be mocked.  He is not mollified by our little prayer asking Jesus into our hearts, or our superficial once-a-week religious exercises.  The Judge of all the earth will do right, and He has been warning us continually.  Will we listen?  Will we OBEY?

Remember Lot's wife.

National Day of Prayer Outrage

http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/may2010/fancyjo57-1.htm

Billy Graham is apparently a 32nd or 33rd degree Mason, and the physical contact shown here is allegedly a Masonic handshake (see response by "Oops" at the end of the posting) of some sort. Whether either of these allegations is true, your view of these things is probably correct. I strongly suspect that Franklin is "one of us" and his dad is not.

Political philosophy grows from theological roots, and I believe that Billy's easy-believism "gospel" and his promotion of the non-participatory and Nicolaitan American church model did plenty to prepare the country for the rise of Obama. Pastors and surveys consistently show that most people choose a church and go to church "to have their needs met," NOT to "prepare them for works of ministry" or even "to participate in corporate worship." So we have a bunch of folks who call themselves Christians because they said a prayer once or made a decision to "accept" Jesus - and they want God and government to take care of them.

Satan's strategy folks: to engender rank disobedience in the body of Christ to the command to "grow up in all things in Christ" (Ephesians 4) so that Jesus has an eternal day-care center and NOT the mature bride He deserves.

Obama and Billy Graham are theologically on the same page. Graham nurtured the roots of this blasphemous fruit, and Obama is now finishing what Graham began. Obama hasn't made much of a secret about his contempt for Bible-believing Christians, and one can only wonder how Billy really feels about those of us who take Christ seriously.

The scripture plainly states: "And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose [them]" (Eph. 5:11).

Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

Steve


Raleigh, North-Carolina
Anakypto Forum on BlogTalkRadio

A word about "false prophets"

http://falseprophetwatch.blogspot.com/2009/11/prophecy-for-x-mas-day.html


I was doing some web research and came upon this link. The blog author positions himself as one able to root out and expose "false prophets" - his tag line being "Exposing False Prophets Who Refuse To Repent of their False Prophecies or Abominations."

Hear! Hear! - He seems to think that citing Amos 3:7 is somehow a flashing neon sign that says, "What follows is a false prophecy."

Oh, well. The self-appointed prophets of Micaiah's day sang from the same hymn book. John Lawler added his voice to many with his admonition that served as source material for the anonymous "falseprophetwatch" blogger. John's warning is here:
http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/nov2009/stevec1126.htm
I guess I'm guilty by association, but would like to point out to the skeptics viewing these posts that Jonah was also a "false prophet." By their definition, anyway -- Jonah said that Nineveh was 40 days from destruction. No fudge factors, no weasel words, nothing ambiguous. "Forty days and you're done!"

But God relented. Jonah may have been upset because he was embarrassed; his prophecy didn't come to pass! More apparent, however, is that Jonah was upset because he hated the Ninevites and WANTED THEM DESTROYED. And this was a true prophet of God.

That to say this: first, John Lawler's Christmas prophecy did not specify WHICH Christmas. Obviously, it wasn't last Christmas. But the imagination need not be stretched to believe that this coming Christmas could be the one in view. God, in His mercy, has given the people a WHOLE YEAR to get their affairs in order and leave the danger zone. In His mercy, He has given California a 12.6% jobless rate, further motivation for the people who live there to move anywhere else.

Daniel Matson has pointed to November 8th as a likely "official" beginning of the Tribulation period, though for folks in Iceland (and downwind), their Tribulation period may have already begun. Suffice it to say, we're at least on the on-ramp to the last seven years of this highway to hell, and we can at least expect more folks like the falseprophecywatch blogger to come out of the woodwork and post their resistance ... until the infrastructure collapses here and the internet becomes, like so many other creature comforts, just a memory.

That to say this: if you have a watching/warning ministry, keep at it.


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Are we a "Christian nation"?

I got a link to the video Our Judeo-Christian Nation which is Congressman Randy Forbes' response to Not-the-President Obama's recent comment that we are not a Christian nation.

Here's my response after viewing the videos:

Obama did not deny our Christian heritage, so Forbes is answering a point that was never raised.

Would a "Christian nation" really "legally" murder over 50 million children? Would a "Christian nation" really legalize homosexuality? I don't know what point Obama was trying to make, but like Caiaphas (see John 11:49-52) he may have been speaking a prophetic word. We — the nominal "Christians" in this country — have in fact repudiated our Christian heritage. David Barton has done landmark work in this area, and I would guess that most church-going Christians know more about the work of Simon Cowell than they do about Barton's achievements.

John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

James Madison: "We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions... upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

Are we a "moral and religious people" as contemplated by Adams, or Washington, or Witherspoon? Does the average American Christian even know the Ten Commandments?

As Walt Kelly said many years ago through his "Pogo" comic strip: "We have met the enemy, and they is us."

2 Chron. 7:14 predicates national healing on the repentance of "My people who are called by My name." When we, as Christians, repent before the throne of God .... then Mr. Obama can eat those words. Until then, the Muslims actually have some of the moral high ground, because they don't murder their inconvenient children and they don't tolerate sodomy.

Check out ---> http://www.prayersforthepeople.com/id100.html <--- for some sobering thoughts.

I'm not defending Obama, not by a long shot. He is the most rabidly pro-abortion "President" in our history, not because he favors abortion (as a Muslim, he opposes it) but because he favors dead Americans.

But we — the Christians — have brought this on ourselves. Check out Ezekiel 16:49-50. Sounds like us to me.

We in Laodicean America are in deep, deep doo. And the problem is not Obama ... it's us. He did not repudiate our Christian heritage; we did.

Will we repent? Will we rebuild our family altars? Will we turn off the streams of video immorality that flow into our homes and fall before our Savior in tears? Will we make restitution? Or will we continue to comfort ourselves that "we're Christians; the problem is with the Democrats/Socialists/homosexuals/Muslims" and that God is somehow indifferent to our sins because, after all, we "invited Jesus into our hearts"?

I posted these thoughts on an online forum, and one reader took exception to my statement that "the Muslims actually have some of the moral high ground, because they don't murder their inconvenient children."  He pointed out what is fairly common knowledge by asking, "What would you call sending young children out as suicide bombers?  What would you call it when Iran sent their little kids to the front lines to be the triggers/sensors for booby traps?"

It's a point worth considering.  I don't believe for a second that Islam is more moral in the Biblical sense than Christianity.  My point is that American "Christianity" is on the same level.  They kill kids; we kill kids.  They "justify" it because it's their war against the infidels.  We "justify" it because "we can't afford another child right now" or "I won't be able to fit into my prom dress" or "what will the neighbors say?  I'm a deacon!"  Have they killed fifty million yet?

We in America are "horrified" that those "evil Muslims" would send their kids out onto the battlefield to trigger booby traps, but how much noise do we make about guys like Tiller and Haskell ... or the abortionist who has an office right down the street?  What do American "Christians" have to say about that?  A lot apparently said, "We want Obama."  The one sin that Jesus rebuked more severely than any other was that of hypocrisy.

Matthew 12:41 comes to mind, as does Ezekiel 23:11.  The Ninevites were no paragons, but they had the sense to repent in the face of imminent judgment.  "Oholibah" had more spiritual light, and yet one-upped the wickedness of her sister.

They have the Koran; we have the Word of God.

And I stand by my statement.  We had a Christian heritage, and we have squandered it.  God will hold us accountable, and having "Proclaim Liberty" engraved on the Liberty Bell won't blunt His judgment.  It's not Obama's fault and it's not Islam's fault; it is OUR fault.

We are in trouble.  Will we repent?

Time will tell. But there isn't much of that left, either.

When is Pentecost? And How Much Does It Matter?

I was recently asked why I am using July 23rd as my Pentecost date for The Final Fulfillment of Pentecost.

I had contacted Arnold Bowen and he said it's on July 22nd. Then I went to Troy Miller's "creation calendar" site and checked out http://www.creationcalendar.com/CalendarIssue/17-FeastOfWeeks.pdf and that seems to point to the 20th (unless I miscounted).

I also considered Deuteronomy 16:9-10, which says:

"You shall count seven weeks for yourself; begin to count the seven weeks from [the time] you begin [to put] the sickle to the grain. Then you shall keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give as the LORD your God blesses you.

I can certainly sympathize with anyone who says the whole issue is confusing.

I selected July 23 because it's the "outside limit" and because, at the time, Arnold was my most trustworthy source. July 22 is the New Moon.

It will also be Obama's 183rd day in office. It could be that he plans to have all the Christians off the streets at the end of his 172nd day and then he will "rest" (faithful Muslim that he is) and we will have ten days in the slammer (Rev. 2:10) before we are delivered ... one way or the other. Highly speculative, I readily admit ... but in today's political climate it is not all that unlikely.

From a practical point of view, it's becoming less important to me because, when that time actually arrives, I believe there will be Magor Missabib ("terror on every side") and most of our neighbors will be freaking out. In any event, our calling at this hour, I believe, is to speak prophetically, and our example should be John the Baptist, during whose ministry the Kingdom was also at hand.

In The Greatest Prophet? Steve & Marilyn Hill point out:

According to Jesus the greatest prophet was John the Baptist who came preaching "repentance for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." So far as we know John never had a vision, dream or angelic encounter. Yet Jesus called him the greatest prophet!

So if we get the date right, good for us. But if we get the message wrong ....

My prayer is that each of you remains strong and focused, and that you are extremely effective in the ministry God has given you.

Pentecost Rapture 2009

A case can be made that Pentecost is a feast that lasts more than one day (Acts 21:27). If the Feast of Weeks is a week long, we still could have a "Pentecost rapture" this year, while not knowing the day or the hour.

In the parable of the bridesmaids, the bridegroom was delayed. He was not there at the appointed time. At midnight, when ALL the lamps were apparently running out of oil, the delayed bridegroom's arrival was announced. Was the Lord telling us, in veiled parabolic language, how events would play out when He returned for His bride?

We can speculate, of course. What isn't speculative is the growing international animosity against Israel and the accelerating efforts of Iran to develop nuclear weapons. These are, to me, much more compelling arguments for the soon coming of Christ than are my extrapolations from parables. And Jesus definitely gave us signs to watch for that concern Israel, and relate her last-days distress to His return.

Not-the-President Obama is out of town this week. Most of his cabinet will be in the midwest. It appears that the NWO people in our federal government know that something major is about to happen, and that DC will not be a very safe place to be. A rapture in the next six days remains, to me, extremely likely.

What's Wrong With Being a 'Date-Setter'?

Thomas Ice has a problem with it. So does Pastor Joseph R. Chambers of Paw Creek Ministries, who asserts that "we are forbidden to set dates."

Oh, really?

I find it interesting that there was a specific date set for Jesus' first coming, and He held the Jews responsible for knowing it. Jesus rode into Jerusalem in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9 exactly 483 years TO THE DAY after the decree by Artaxerxes to rebuild the city, just as Daniel said.

Brother Ice "supports" his position with scripture:

Matthew 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Mark 13:32 is an exact parallel.

Matthew 24:42 "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.

Matthew 24:44 "For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.

Matthew 25:13 "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. Mark 13:33-37 is a parallel passage.

Acts 1:7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

Sorry, but I see no support here. I see neither a COMMAND nor any prohibition; simply statements of fact that were true when uttered, and applied to those to whom spoken. The fact that they don't know doesn't mean that WE can't know, that we won't find out, or that we are forbidden to search for the answer. Nor do I see a refutation of Amos 3:7

Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.

David Jeremiah recently pointed out that we probably know more about the book of Daniel than Daniel did. The prophecies concerning the end times were a 'closed book' for much of church history, but these things are for us to know in our time. Mapping current events to Bible prophecy is what the command to "Watch" is all about, and extrapolating to particular windows of time is hardly inappropriate.

I concede that Edgar Whisenant and many others have given themselves black eyes by making predictions that were inaccurate. But it does not logically follow that, because one or a hundred students of the Word make errors in their study, that the rest of us should stop watching and stop warning.

Is a watchman who won't warn any better (or any worse) than a watchman who won't watch?

The king has departed on a long journey. He has given instructions to watch for his return. Does the watchman fulfill his duty by simply reminding the people that the king will return? If he does not know exactly when the king will return, does this excuse him from being at his post?

And if he sees -- off in the distance -- something that indicates the king may be returning, should he announce it? Or should he "wait and see"? If he sees all the signs of the kings approach but does not see the king, should he proclaim it? If he thinks he knows when the king will arrive, should he say so?

Jesus told us to "watch and pray." Just what did He mean by that? Did He really mean "wish and pray" or "hope and pray"? What does "watch" REQUIRE us to be doing?

Perhaps it means watch for the signs that He said would immediately precede His return. If that's true, they why are so many Christians so ignorant of the signs, and so ignorant of what is going on in the world? Are we being .... disobedient?

If we love Him, we are to keep His commandments. Did He command us to "watch"?

I'm a date-setter. I have nothing to gain if I am right, and plenty to lose if I am wrong. But I believe that both current events and prophecy are pointing at Pentecost 2009 as the day of the rapture of the church, and I believe Jesus' command to me to be a watchman REQUIRES that I proclaim my conclusions and how I reached them.

His command also requires some due diligence on the part of those who hear what I have to say.

See you on Saturday.

Final Note on Corrie Ten Boom

I took some heat for my previous post because I mentioned Corrie Ten Boom in what one reader thought was a "malicious" way. So it wasn't general heat; just one miffed brother. Except for that, the response to my theme -- that "the problem is that the professional clergy does not prepare the saints for ANYTHING." -- was overwhelmingly positive.

So let me briefly clarify: Corrie Ten Boom had a ministry of reconciliation, mainly for Europeans in the aftermath of World War II. I cannot and do not judge her, nor do I, did I, or did I intend to "malign" (malign: having or showing intense often vicious ill will: malevolent) her or her ministry. However, I was and remain unwilling to give her a pass for what I consider shabby eschatology. Nor can I countenance the vilification of Christians who see the reasonableness of a pre-trib rapture. I am not asserting that Corrie did so, but it appears that she considered pre-tribbers to be "heretics." I believe that rises to the level of vilification.

I stand by my comments regarding the "celebrity Christianity" that seems to characterize much of American-style "Christianity" but I cannot include Corrie in that, since she apparently did not aspire to "celebrity" status and, in any event, she was not an American. She had a ministry, and she served with genuine humility, always seeking to glorify her Savior. Would that more of us would follow her example.

The negative feedback I got began with my being accused of dishonesty, and descending from there. My dialog with my detractor has hopefully resolved our differences, and it would be inappropriate to post it here. Suffice it to say that I hope this suffices.

'Nuff said.

The Rapture and Corrie Ten Boom

In A History of the Early Church & Post-Tribulation Doctrine, author Richard Perry presents his defense for the post-tribulation eschatology, and buttresses his arguments with the opinions of the late Corrie Ten Boom.

First things first - if the pre-tribulation rapture is true, then it would be wrong to withhold it from Christians, to label it as false, or to marginalize it or vilify those who proclaim it. If it is true, it is God's truth, and God's truth -- ALL of it -- belongs to ALL of God's people.

Let's be clear on what it is that we believe: that there is a prophesied specific time of extreme tribulation that will affect the entire earth during the very last years before Christ's visible return to establish His Kingdom and begin to reign on the throne of David, and that Christians who are alive when this particular period of tribulation begins will be removed from the earth beforehand.

THAT is the pre-trib rapture position, and to attempt to make it apply to ALL hardship and ALL tribulation throughout the entire "church age" is to misrepresent the eschatology. Yes, Christians will be persecuted ... but to a point. The church has endured persecution and tribulation since Jesus left. All we're saying is that the final years of tribulation are not for the church.

That being said, let us consider for the sake of the argument that Christians will NOT be spared. Let's say they must prepare themselves spiritually for end-time tribulation. Just what does this "preparation" look like? How should the Christian proceed?

I would suggest that, first of all, the Christian deal with all known sin. Repent! When appropriate and possible, make restitution! Clean up your life - identify and discard every bad habit, every evil vice. Get all the garbage out of your home and out of your life. Get your prayer life on track; live by faith. If you are facing hardship, and especially hardship directed at you by an anti-Christian world that wants to destroy your faith, it would seem that your optimal preparations would be quite clear. You need to get your faith established. If you are being persecuted, you sure don't want sin in your life to get between you and God.

BUT - if you look at my suggested activities, you will see that they are exactly the same as I recommend for those anticipating the rapture. In other words, whether we live or whether we leave, we are the Lord's. Preparing for the rapture also prepares you for hardship.

The problem is that the professional clergy does not prepare the saints for ANYTHING. Many "believers" have such a casual view of sin that they see no need to deal with it; they think the rapture is a come-as-you-are party, and that spots and wrinkles, or even the total absence of a wedding garment, are nothing to be concerned about. "Jesus loves me so much that sin doesn't matter! Let's party down!!" I personally know people who consider themselves Christians who refuse to believe in the imminent rapture ... and also refuse to believe in imminent tribulation! They think things are gonna stay about the same, or eventually get better again.

I think Miss Corrie mis-identified the problem. At least she's correct in stating that there is a problem. But the problem is not Pre-trib eschatology, but American ecclesiology. The American way of "doing church" doesn't prepare anyone for much of anything. Going to a building and having someone lecture you for 45 minutes every Sunday morning is not the abundant Christian life. Singing hymns only equips you to sing hymns. Listening to "professional" Christians equips you to listen. Participating in the "Christian" youth group equips you to play video games or go to a theme park. Practically NONE of the Christian busy-work in American-style churches equips the saints for the hard work of living for Christ in a world that hates Him. Instead, we have embraced "Pagan Christianity." Most of the folks who I know who ARE equipped grew up at home on their own. They started their own small group, did their own Bible study or otherwise started taking their Lord very seriously. Very few are equipped or even encouraged by their "church leadership."

And Corrie allowed herself to become part of the problem. She has allowed herself (may she rest in peace) to become a "Christian celebrity." That's how we "do church" here. Most of us just spectate. Christianity, for many, is just another item on the "To Do" list that is checked off on Sunday morning. We want celebrities: the big name preachers and the big name musicians and the notorious sinners who got saved ... or the concentration camp survivors. The thing that gets left out is God's grace. Corrie endured the camp by grace; the same grace that holds my life together. But we prefer celebrities ... just like the world.

I agree that most American Christians are unprepared for either rapture or tribulation. The problem is not with the eschatology, however. It's with a liturgical, organizational (rather than organic) religionized Christianity that does not allow for the equipping of the saints, mainly because it strips Christ of His proper headship and replaces Him with Christian celebrities and professional clergy.

Final thoughts: Pre-trib rapture belief is not a heresy. Heresies mis-represent God and replace God-centered priorities with man-centered ones. Much "prosperity theology" is heretical because it posits that the comfort of man is paramount to holiness. "Family-centered" ministries also err in placing the "needs" of the family before our duty to love and serve God. Most of the pre-tribbers I know love God first and foremost; many have lost relationships with family members because they love the Lord first. The real heresy in this argument is the heresy that the body of Christ is an organization run by professionals, rather than an organism headed by Christ.

Secondly, the play-out of end-time events is becoming more refined as prophecy becomes history.  My current understanding is that there will be a partial rapture for "those who overcome," followed by a period of "Great Tribulation" (Rev. 2:22) for those believers who refuse to repent - and this will very possibly be the four horsemen of Rev. chapter 6.  This will be followed by 42 months (Rev. 13:5) of global terror under the reign of the Beast/Dragon, during which time God's wrath will be poured out.  The remainder of Daniel's final 'week' will be reconciliation and rebuilding.  

Preparing for His appearing -- "The Bride must make herself ready"

The days before Christ's return are ticking down quickly. The most probable dates, to me, are May 21st (the Ascension) and May 31st (Pentecost). However, we should be ready for His appearing at any moment. I have recommended a few action steps, which I repeat here for those who may be new to this blog or may have not seen them:

Get your spiritual house in order. REPENT. This means align your life with the law of God. Where you have sinned, you must acknowledge your sin, confess it to God, and make restitution where-ever possible and AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

OBEY - Every person who was saved in the Church Age repented, confessed, was baptized, and submitted to the Lordship of Christ in ALL of life. If you are not living in newness of life, it's because you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Do yourself (and your loved ones!) a favor: turn off the TV, take out the trash (foul books, music, videos, etc.) and get your heart right before God. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF. Don't trifle with God, His law, or His offer of salvation. He WILL preserve you if your belief is evidenced by obedience, hatred of sin, holy living, and love of the brethren.

Don't be deceived. Study your Bible. The time is getting really short.

Pray for those you know who are still lost. No one can come to faith in Christ unless the Father draws him (John 6:44). IF you are saved, you have a privilege and an advantage that most people don't share: access to God's Throne of Grace. Use it!

I know that, especially among the Evangelical community here in the U.S. there is still a lot of resistance to what is mis-characterized as "water salvation" and this leads to a great deal of resistance to water baptism. I was once among them. However, true conversion ALWAYS results in obedience, and immersion is both 1) a command of Christ, and 2) a prerequisite for the rapture. Check out The Epic Event and notice that according to Hebrews 10, to participate in the Event we must:

1. draw near with a true heart,
2. have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
3. have our bodies washed with pure water,
4. hold fast the confession of hope without wavering,
5. stir up love and good works, and
6. exhort one another.

Here is an excellent audio resource by Mark Biltz that you may also find helpful:

A Church Without Blemish — If you've ever wondered about the meaning of "spots, wrinkles and blemishes," this is an in depth study allowing the Bible to explain itself.

Remember - once that trumpet sounds, it will be TOO LATE to do any more preparation. Let's all be found without spot, wrinkle or blemish when our beloved Lord returns for us. Let's make it His most joyful day!

Why the "Tea Party" Movement Will Go Nowhere

The "tea party" movement will go NOWHERE. Here's why:

Our problem is not economic or political. It is a moral rot undergirt by the culture's willingness to accept homosexuality, and primarily by the culture's willingness to accept the "right to choose."

Our rights come from God as an endowment, but we have squandered the endowment by embracing what God abhors. We now have the blood of 50 million innocent American babies crying out to God for vengeance. God has obviously decided to take our God-given rights away.

Were these tea-partiers staunchly opposed to the wickedness of abortion, we would at least have standing to appeal to God and rely upon His Divine providence. Or His mercy. But alas! many of our conservative and patriotic comrades-in-arms have no problem with abortion at all! They think "choice" in all matters is a good thing, and object only to an overbearing central government's meddling.

There is no consensus for righteousness amongst these tea-partiers, and God is properly using Obama and his ilk to punish America for her sins.

So this "tea party" fad is simply a tempest in a teapot. There is NO call for repentance, or for the end of the shedding of innocent blood. For this reason, the patriots cannot prevail.

In the days of Israel's revivals, the idols were torn down and the center of Molech worship in Jerusalem, the valley of the son of Hinnom, was turned into a garbage dump. When we give that sort of treatment to the abortion "clinics" in our communities, then maybe ... MAYBE ... God will hear and relent. But I don't think it's gonna happen. It appears that the Libertarians are the strongest bloc within the "freedom movement" and they still don't get it. On most of the political forums I've visited, talk of tax resistance is fine, but talk of ending abortion is "mixing politics with religion" ... the same old cop-out.

I don't even know a lot of Christians who are passionate about ending abortion. So, if we won't end it, God will.

P.S. Another excellent treatment of this topic was written by Joel McDurmon: TEA-Party Hypocrisy: How Much Socialism Is Acceptable?

Prophetic Implications

In the world of eschatology, much has been made of the regathering of the Jews in their ancient homeland. I have been rather critical of this "sign" because many of the so-called "Jews" in the modern STATE of Israel are allegedly not descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Instead, they come from the Khazar kingdom of early Europe and they are not even Semitic people.

That being said, it may still be that the re-establishment of a Jewish nation could be a sign. It is certainly unprecedented. And in view of the prophesied destruction of 2/3 of the people in the land at the hands of the "Magog Alliance," it is not outside the realm of possibility that the survivors could be Mizrachim Jews; that is, Semitic people.

Highly speculative, and no offense intended. In any event, if the creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 is of prophetic significance -- if this is the "budding of the fig tree" that portends the final generation before the return of Christ -- then it's possible to crunch a few numbers. If the maximum time passes and Jesus does not return, we will know that Israel's re-establishment was not a sign. However, it is better to be prepared for the Lord's return and be mistaken, than to NOT be prepared and have Him come.

A Biblical "generation" is generally agreed to be seventy years. Indeed, that is the only possibility remaining if the "fig tree" budded in 1948. In addition, a prophetic year is 360 days. Thus, the duration of a generation would be 25,200 days and the last day would be on May 12, 2017. If there is a final 7-year period of worldwide tribulation, which many Bible students see as the most likely meaning of the end-time prophecies, that period would have to begin no later than June 18, 2010

However, a quick perusal of the news on the internet, or your favorite print media (if they haven't already gone bankrupt) seems to announce that some "tribulation" has already begun. Can you find anyone (who isn't trying to sell you something) who thinks things are going to get better any time soon? Will these multi-trillion dollar bail-out schemes help the average working stiff, or put any bread on YOUR table, or help you with YOUR mortgage?

Is it possible that we are seeing a ramp-up to world-wide chaos: economies in shambles, people at war, violence in the streets, famines and plagues? What would one expect the world to look like after the Four Horsemen begin their work?

My experience in discussing these things is that most people don't believe we are really on the threshold of the return of Christ. This, of course, is another confirming sign; just what Jesus said to expect. However, looking at the scriptures and at the state and direction of our world, it is hard to draw any other conclusion.

This is it, folks. Jesus Christ IS coming back. Russia and Iran are forming an alliance, and the next major event (besides the removal of the Bride of Christ from the earth) will be a major war in the middle east, and judgment on the "coastlands."

Read The Final Fulfillment of Pentecost (or re-read it - it's been enhanced) and follow the links at the bottom. If you are fearful as you face the future, it's because your heart isn't right.

Judgment is coming. Expect it, and be ready for it.