And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a first-born. (Zech. 12:10)
Do you believe that Zechariah 12:10 is yet to be? If you do, does it not seem reasonable to believe that Zechariah 12:1-9 is also yet to be? All that is just to suggest that God is not yet done with national Israel. I will deal with that subject-matter many times in the near future. It is both controversial and important.
Israel came to my mind recently as I was browsing through my favorite places and found a site that I must have added in the far past but never retrieved for use, at least not to my memory. The site is called Watcher's Lamp and it contained a video that seems to sum up the present spiritual paralysis that so dominates the so-called Middle East peace process. The video is entitled What Really Happened in The Middle East.
The video speaks for itself. I will not comment on it except to remark that reason, logic, fair play and diplomacy is not destined to win the day in this world - rather - spiritual drunkenness, violence in the name of freedom, international betrayal and false claims of peace will.
What then are we to do as Christian believers at this present time? In following the very reason for this site I would encourage more sobriety on our part concerning the moment in which we live. Peace and fair play is not destined for this planet until the day comes when we will all look upon Him whom we have pierced and spiritual darkness will no longer be allowed to substitute for His marvelous light.
Check out the site and see what you think.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Hallelujah in the Market Place
Got this email from a friend. It may be making the rounds, but if you have not seen it, then, enjoy - even worship.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphabetPhotography
http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphabetPhotography
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
The Beginning of Wisdom
13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron ; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. (Rev. 19:13-15 - bold added)
In chapter 19 of this book God is about the business of summing up all of human history. The wrath of the Lamb (an oxymoron in natural terms) is being unleashed upon all who are in rebellion to His authority and who are in rebellion to everything that He requires of human kind. Psalm 2 is about to be realized in its entirety. What is of interest to me here is the use of the NASB terminology “the fierce wrath of God”.
There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated as “wrath” in the English. The one being orge; the other being thumos. The former is by far the more used of the two words. However, John, the author of the book of the Revelation, has chosen to fixate upon the later of the two to reveal to us the seeming mind-set and even the very viscera of God at this time of history. In this one chapter (19) the author has alluded to this aspect of God’s wrath more than all of the references to it in the rest of the New Testament. If one can imagine that John is the very amanuenses of God Himself then one becomes somewhat sobered by the thought that God is speaking to us in our day concerning what is about to be. What should be our response to such a scenario?
W. E. Vine (Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Zondervan, 1982 – I, pp.55-6) sums up the use of the two words thus:
Thumos, wrath is to be distinguished from orge, in this respect, that thumos indicates a more agitated condition of the feelings, an outburst of wrath from inward indignation, while orge suggests a more settled or abiding condition of mind, frequently with a view to taking revenge. Orge is less sudden in its rise than thumos,but more lasting in nature Thumos expresses more the inward feelings, orge the more active emotion.
Am I being tedious here? Why is this important other than as an academic nicety? Well, I suppose that to whatever degree one believes that all of these events have already occurred in history, or that the book of Revelation is mostly symbolic and that the events contained within the book will not be literally realized, then, to that degree this evaluation is not all that meaningful. However, to whatever degree one supposes that these events are yet future and will indeed be literally fulfilled, then to that degree, the scenario becomes quite sobering, do you not agree? What became even more striking to me as I contemplated the usage of these words was the fact that both words were found together in verse 15. Both thumos and orge were used in the sentence; the first being used as an adjective of the second. He Who sits upon the white horse is about to wage war (v. 11). The fury of His wrath will be contained no longer! We need to be far more serious in our Christian walk. The day may be soon upon us. Jesus is not coming to reason with godless man; He is coming to divide!
When did you last hear this taught or preached?
In chapter 19 of this book God is about the business of summing up all of human history. The wrath of the Lamb (an oxymoron in natural terms) is being unleashed upon all who are in rebellion to His authority and who are in rebellion to everything that He requires of human kind. Psalm 2 is about to be realized in its entirety. What is of interest to me here is the use of the NASB terminology “the fierce wrath of God”.
There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated as “wrath” in the English. The one being orge; the other being thumos. The former is by far the more used of the two words. However, John, the author of the book of the Revelation, has chosen to fixate upon the later of the two to reveal to us the seeming mind-set and even the very viscera of God at this time of history. In this one chapter (19) the author has alluded to this aspect of God’s wrath more than all of the references to it in the rest of the New Testament. If one can imagine that John is the very amanuenses of God Himself then one becomes somewhat sobered by the thought that God is speaking to us in our day concerning what is about to be. What should be our response to such a scenario?
W. E. Vine (Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Zondervan, 1982 – I, pp.55-6) sums up the use of the two words thus:
Thumos, wrath is to be distinguished from orge, in this respect, that thumos indicates a more agitated condition of the feelings, an outburst of wrath from inward indignation, while orge suggests a more settled or abiding condition of mind, frequently with a view to taking revenge. Orge is less sudden in its rise than thumos,but more lasting in nature Thumos expresses more the inward feelings, orge the more active emotion.
Am I being tedious here? Why is this important other than as an academic nicety? Well, I suppose that to whatever degree one believes that all of these events have already occurred in history, or that the book of Revelation is mostly symbolic and that the events contained within the book will not be literally realized, then, to that degree this evaluation is not all that meaningful. However, to whatever degree one supposes that these events are yet future and will indeed be literally fulfilled, then to that degree, the scenario becomes quite sobering, do you not agree? What became even more striking to me as I contemplated the usage of these words was the fact that both words were found together in verse 15. Both thumos and orge were used in the sentence; the first being used as an adjective of the second. He Who sits upon the white horse is about to wage war (v. 11). The fury of His wrath will be contained no longer! We need to be far more serious in our Christian walk. The day may be soon upon us. Jesus is not coming to reason with godless man; He is coming to divide!
When did you last hear this taught or preached?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The Laws of Gravity
A September 3rd article in American Thinker by Mladen Andrijasevic said this:
If we drop a ball what will happen to it? It will fall to the ground because of the gravitational force acting between two masses, an inherent property of all matter. If we have a Muslim minority in a country what will happen? They will try to impose Islam on everyone else, because of jihad, one of the basic tenets of Islam which commands them to do so.
The above is, in short, what the problem is with the prospects of the Washington DC peace negotiations. The dignitaries sitting in the room will not all of a sudden start hovering in mid air. Gravity will keep them in their seats. The Palestinians will not all of a sudden behave any differently – jihad will command them to act. The prospects for achieving peace are nil.
We have seen US presidents come and go. We have seen Oslo I, Oslo II, Taba, Wye, Tenet, Mitchell, Zinni, Sharm El-Sheikh, Roadmap, Annapolis come and go. What remains constant is the refusal to accept the obvious reason why peace cannot be achieved. (bold added).
I remember when reading this article two months ago that it was missing the completed section. Upon looking to click on some button in order to retrieve the rest of the article, I discovered that, indeed, I had already read the entire article. The article was either simplistic in its subject matter, or it was so incredibly profound in nature that no more need be said.
So what did the author attempt to say? Namely this: The tenets of “the religion of peace” demand jihad which demands that Islam be imposed upon all. Further, peace cannot be achieved in light of this kind of a mind-set. The tenets of Islam demand that Islam conquer and peace will not be achieved until that condition wins the day. Simple enough. If true, then why do we think that we can reason with these people? Why does the man-made edifice known as the “Church” attempt to do so at the expense of the unique claims of the gospel and of the Savior God who makes claim to being the one and only set-apart God of the universe?
One cannot defy the laws of gravity; one cannot reason with the militant and proactive thrust of Islam. Either deny the above or engage in the defense of the gospel. This coming battle is not subject to our approval. We fight, or we gravitate towards apostasy thru ecumenism and appeasement.
If we drop a ball what will happen to it? It will fall to the ground because of the gravitational force acting between two masses, an inherent property of all matter. If we have a Muslim minority in a country what will happen? They will try to impose Islam on everyone else, because of jihad, one of the basic tenets of Islam which commands them to do so.
The above is, in short, what the problem is with the prospects of the Washington DC peace negotiations. The dignitaries sitting in the room will not all of a sudden start hovering in mid air. Gravity will keep them in their seats. The Palestinians will not all of a sudden behave any differently – jihad will command them to act. The prospects for achieving peace are nil.
We have seen US presidents come and go. We have seen Oslo I, Oslo II, Taba, Wye, Tenet, Mitchell, Zinni, Sharm El-Sheikh, Roadmap, Annapolis come and go. What remains constant is the refusal to accept the obvious reason why peace cannot be achieved. (bold added).
I remember when reading this article two months ago that it was missing the completed section. Upon looking to click on some button in order to retrieve the rest of the article, I discovered that, indeed, I had already read the entire article. The article was either simplistic in its subject matter, or it was so incredibly profound in nature that no more need be said.
So what did the author attempt to say? Namely this: The tenets of “the religion of peace” demand jihad which demands that Islam be imposed upon all. Further, peace cannot be achieved in light of this kind of a mind-set. The tenets of Islam demand that Islam conquer and peace will not be achieved until that condition wins the day. Simple enough. If true, then why do we think that we can reason with these people? Why does the man-made edifice known as the “Church” attempt to do so at the expense of the unique claims of the gospel and of the Savior God who makes claim to being the one and only set-apart God of the universe?
One cannot defy the laws of gravity; one cannot reason with the militant and proactive thrust of Islam. Either deny the above or engage in the defense of the gospel. This coming battle is not subject to our approval. We fight, or we gravitate towards apostasy thru ecumenism and appeasement.
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