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.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Who's Ready?
Now as to the times and 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. While they are saying, “Peace and safety! then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (I Thess. 5:1-3)
We just finished this passage on Tue night. Here are some thoughts and questions that I would like to have considered:
There are some in our Christian community who believe that this passage will be literally fulfilled. Further, there are those of us who actually believe that we are living in the days where we might be participants in just such a scenario. If Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is proclaiming that the world community is in no way ready for this moment, then it might be productive to ask just who is. What do you think?
Let’s divide the world community into several parts. Do you think that the non-believing community is ready? By implication, they are the very ones who are claiming “peace and safety”. No, they certainly don’t appear to be ready? Well, how about the man-made Church? It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of those who make up this community are seeking after the very same sentiment. “Let’s heal the world in the name of Christ” they might be saying. “Peace and safety” through cooperation with the various religions of the world is certainly a noble goal is it not? No, I don’t think that that huge two- billion- strong community is ready for the “sudden destruction” looming ahead. All right, how about the true Church, namely, the remnant? Now this becomes problematic. Surely the remnant is seeing handwriting upon a wall, are they not? The problem here, it seems to me, is that many of us are seeing but we still have hope that somehow we, through prayer, or whatever, are going to bring about some kind of healing to this world. But that is not what Paul is saying, is it? So who’s left (we’ll talk about national Israel at some later time)?
But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief…(I Thess. 5:4) Are you one of these brethren? If you are, I’m suggesting that you are a minority even in the remnant community of Christ. Do you believe that we are approaching the very day of the Lord? If so, then we are in the nascent stages of birth pangs are we not? If we exegete this passage, how do we get away from that sobering conclusion? Eventually the entire community of remnant believers will see since we are not in darkness that the day should overwhelm us. Until then, those of us who consider ourselves watchmen need to be warning our believing community, including those who are in that man-made church that there is a freight train coming - no?
TAFTCom… beloved ones; TAFTCom…
We just finished this passage on Tue night. Here are some thoughts and questions that I would like to have considered:
There are some in our Christian community who believe that this passage will be literally fulfilled. Further, there are those of us who actually believe that we are living in the days where we might be participants in just such a scenario. If Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is proclaiming that the world community is in no way ready for this moment, then it might be productive to ask just who is. What do you think?
Let’s divide the world community into several parts. Do you think that the non-believing community is ready? By implication, they are the very ones who are claiming “peace and safety”. No, they certainly don’t appear to be ready? Well, how about the man-made Church? It seems to me that the overwhelming majority of those who make up this community are seeking after the very same sentiment. “Let’s heal the world in the name of Christ” they might be saying. “Peace and safety” through cooperation with the various religions of the world is certainly a noble goal is it not? No, I don’t think that that huge two- billion- strong community is ready for the “sudden destruction” looming ahead. All right, how about the true Church, namely, the remnant? Now this becomes problematic. Surely the remnant is seeing handwriting upon a wall, are they not? The problem here, it seems to me, is that many of us are seeing but we still have hope that somehow we, through prayer, or whatever, are going to bring about some kind of healing to this world. But that is not what Paul is saying, is it? So who’s left (we’ll talk about national Israel at some later time)?
But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief…(I Thess. 5:4) Are you one of these brethren? If you are, I’m suggesting that you are a minority even in the remnant community of Christ. Do you believe that we are approaching the very day of the Lord? If so, then we are in the nascent stages of birth pangs are we not? If we exegete this passage, how do we get away from that sobering conclusion? Eventually the entire community of remnant believers will see since we are not in darkness that the day should overwhelm us. Until then, those of us who consider ourselves watchmen need to be warning our believing community, including those who are in that man-made church that there is a freight train coming - no?
TAFTCom… beloved ones; TAFTCom…
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Caroline at the JPost
OK - this time I really, really, really mean it. I am going to post more than once every seven years, or so, from this very second on. I’m not exactly sure what it was that I just said and I will probably fail again, but I really, really do mean it.
What got me going again was this article in the Jerusalem Post written by a no-nonsense girl by the name of Caroline Glick. To those of you who know of her, you love her, or you hate her. Personally, I love her. She says it like it is, and, without apologies; a Golda Meir in the making. This particular article displays just one more evidence of an exercise in international appeasement that is being lived out by a snake-bit Western society. Sadly, this exercise never seems to be resisted by our world community. We made a feeble attempt to proactively resist appeasement in Iraq and the entire world, including many in the church (?), rose up in a massive collective whine. The whine, seemingly won the day. In the comments section, I found this response to be more than plausible:
Sadly, the West has virtually surrendered to the Jihadists and abandoned Israel already. Next, the right wing backlash will increase as seen now in Austria. This will be good for slowing the flow of radical Islam to Europe (but not good enough to stop it), but will have the unwanted effect of increased anti-semitism in Europe. We have been abandoned by the US who is broke and will not be able to do anything except what its creditors (Chine/Russia/Japan) demand of it. Get ready for bad times ahead. (Eli - #24)
If you want to read of the particulars on how Italy surrendered to the Jihadist murderers - go to the article. It’s not so much that I wanted to surface just one more surrender that I generated this article, however, but rather that I wanted to introduce those of you who did not know of just such a beast as Caroline Glick to her ongoing comments on current events. If you are interested in such subject matter, it would be profitable to put the Jerusalem Post on your Favorite Places.
See you soon - I hope.
What got me going again was this article in the Jerusalem Post written by a no-nonsense girl by the name of Caroline Glick. To those of you who know of her, you love her, or you hate her. Personally, I love her. She says it like it is, and, without apologies; a Golda Meir in the making. This particular article displays just one more evidence of an exercise in international appeasement that is being lived out by a snake-bit Western society. Sadly, this exercise never seems to be resisted by our world community. We made a feeble attempt to proactively resist appeasement in Iraq and the entire world, including many in the church (?), rose up in a massive collective whine. The whine, seemingly won the day. In the comments section, I found this response to be more than plausible:
Sadly, the West has virtually surrendered to the Jihadists and abandoned Israel already. Next, the right wing backlash will increase as seen now in Austria. This will be good for slowing the flow of radical Islam to Europe (but not good enough to stop it), but will have the unwanted effect of increased anti-semitism in Europe. We have been abandoned by the US who is broke and will not be able to do anything except what its creditors (Chine/Russia/Japan) demand of it. Get ready for bad times ahead. (Eli - #24)
If you want to read of the particulars on how Italy surrendered to the Jihadist murderers - go to the article. It’s not so much that I wanted to surface just one more surrender that I generated this article, however, but rather that I wanted to introduce those of you who did not know of just such a beast as Caroline Glick to her ongoing comments on current events. If you are interested in such subject matter, it would be profitable to put the Jerusalem Post on your Favorite Places.
See you soon - I hope.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
With Minimum Comment
Here are some thoughts from Marvin Rosenthal:
As I began this letter to you, I wanted to use a word or phrase to describe our world at this hour of history.
I thought of words like "critical," "explosive," "uncertain," "confused," and "wicked." I thought of phrases like "time bomb," "completely unprepared for what is coming," and "all-out war with God."
In the final analysis, I could not choose just one word or phrase. Tragically, they are all true.
This is a critical, explosive, uncertain, confused, and wicked hour of history. The world is like a time bomb ready to explode. Most people are completely unprepared for what is coming, totally ignorant of what they will soon confront, and unaware of the fact that they are opposing the God who created them and His Son who died to save them.
Clear and compelling specific and international events of a prophetic nature are converging in our generation. They point toward the approaching end of this age. How much time remains? I do not know.
As I write these words, I could be depressed and feel like a man with an old-fashioned signboard hung over his shoulders which reads, "The end of the world is coming!" Fortunately, I am delivered from that fatalistic mindset because I have absolute assurance of the ultimate, total victory through the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming.
The world does not know where we are or what the answers are to the pressing problems we face. You will not get answers from the media, academia, or the government. And tragically, much of the co-called church is liberal, lost, and can provide no help. They, themselves, are like a blind man in a dark room, looking for a black cat that is not there.
The world is burning, and much of the Church is fiddling. There is a grave urgency at this hour, and few are picking up on it.
So, there's at least two of us - amazing! I received this form letter from Marvin Rosenthal yesterday (9/19). He continues in the letter to address replacement theology which we will address many times in the future, but for now let's have the above speak for itself.
The ministry is Zion's Hope; the magazine is Zion's Fire. If you do not subscribe to this magazine, I strongly suggest that you do. This man is intellectually honest; his logic is reasonable, and his exegesis is penetrating.
The bold was added by me.
As I began this letter to you, I wanted to use a word or phrase to describe our world at this hour of history.
I thought of words like "critical," "explosive," "uncertain," "confused," and "wicked." I thought of phrases like "time bomb," "completely unprepared for what is coming," and "all-out war with God."
In the final analysis, I could not choose just one word or phrase. Tragically, they are all true.
This is a critical, explosive, uncertain, confused, and wicked hour of history. The world is like a time bomb ready to explode. Most people are completely unprepared for what is coming, totally ignorant of what they will soon confront, and unaware of the fact that they are opposing the God who created them and His Son who died to save them.
Clear and compelling specific and international events of a prophetic nature are converging in our generation. They point toward the approaching end of this age. How much time remains? I do not know.
As I write these words, I could be depressed and feel like a man with an old-fashioned signboard hung over his shoulders which reads, "The end of the world is coming!" Fortunately, I am delivered from that fatalistic mindset because I have absolute assurance of the ultimate, total victory through the Lord Jesus Christ at His coming.
The world does not know where we are or what the answers are to the pressing problems we face. You will not get answers from the media, academia, or the government. And tragically, much of the co-called church is liberal, lost, and can provide no help. They, themselves, are like a blind man in a dark room, looking for a black cat that is not there.
The world is burning, and much of the Church is fiddling. There is a grave urgency at this hour, and few are picking up on it.
So, there's at least two of us - amazing! I received this form letter from Marvin Rosenthal yesterday (9/19). He continues in the letter to address replacement theology which we will address many times in the future, but for now let's have the above speak for itself.
The ministry is Zion's Hope; the magazine is Zion's Fire. If you do not subscribe to this magazine, I strongly suggest that you do. This man is intellectually honest; his logic is reasonable, and his exegesis is penetrating.
The bold was added by me.
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