In the Tents of Kedar

This one stopped me cold!

Woe is me, for I soujourn in Mesheck,

For I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

Too long has my soul had its dwelling

With those who hate peace.

I am for peace, but when I speak, 

They are for war.

(Ps. 120:5-7)

Upon reading through the Psalms last week I almost burst out laughing when I read the above. I envisioned the Psalmist thinking "Woe is me, I am surrounding by clowns.  Never am I not surrounded by clowns!" The trouble is that the writer is not surrounded just by fools, but by those whose mindset is continually occupied by belligerency and conflict.  Reason and logic is not a part of this scenario. 

Consider Mesheck and Kedar to be a metaphor for the entire world; the World that we now occupy. As Soloman rightly discerned:  "That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done.  So there is nothing new under the sun"   (Ecc. 1:9 - emphasis added)

The psalmist could not have sojourned in Mesheck to the far north of the Black and Caspian sea and resided in the far south of Kedar at the same time. The one is occupied by the barbaric tribal sons of Japheth who will eventually invade Israel to help close the age (Eek. 36-39); the other by the rebellious tribal sons of Ishmael. Enough said; there will be no peace in these lands - a metaphor is strongly implied here - from the far North to the far South this is the World in which we currently reside and dwell.

Consider our day:   As I have alluded to more than once, we in America have been subjected to two plus years of hateful speech against our current president.  When I was younger I recall the claim that those out of power in this county were "the loyal opposition".  I doubt that it was ever sincere, but at least we all claimed that it was a noble and attainable reality.  I have not heard that term in over thirty years. We have a party that is willing to commit subversion against its own people until that office is returned to its own control. I am not advocating for our current President; he is not even subject-matter here.  What is pertinent here is the reality of a never ending intractable lust for power that is being manifest in the form of a warfare that will allow for no opposition. One is invited to consider the possibility that we are currently living among conditions described in Is. 5:20-23 and I Tim. 3:1-5.

We live in a belligerent society both world-wide and in our own country. When one brings to mind such entities as Iran, China, Russia, militant Islam, the EU, mass immigration into Western societies, Hamas, the PA, Antisemitism etc, one's attention is not inclined to peaceful thoughts. There are two Peoples that occupy the planet:  Those who belong to the Kingdom of God and those who belong to the kingdom of the World. The latter cannot allow the former to have room to breath.  We are the enemy and we will have to be dealt with.  Those of intellectual and spiritual integrity in their heart will speak  peace. Those who lust for power will return war. 

The righteous of the World are shedding light and the accountability that accompanies such a phenomenon.  We are exposing a sacred cow that is multi-layered. Licentiousness and a lust for total control in the matrix of globalism is their demand. That cow is sacrosanct.  One dares not share light and moral accountability in the land where that cow grazes. That land is the entire planet.  A strong nation with a strong military as the only cop on the block cannot be tolerated. The only cop allowed will be a centralized and godless oligarchy that is only accountable to itself.

We speak peace: Redemption, love, forgiveness, Light, biblical accountability, faithfulness, etc.

They return war 

Beloved - we dwell in Kedar

Perhaps it's time to consider the gravity of it all and to understand that peace does not await us until He returns. We are a called-out and a separated-out people. We don't think like they do and we don't speak as they do.

Hedge Removal

OK -

So It's Been Awhile!

There was a time when I thought that I may never return to this site. Mediocrity and dormancy were my friends. However, in my observations of the current insanity that has become the mind-set of the current world community, I find that I must reengage.

 

How Dare I Not!

Let me explain.  Isaiah the prophet recorded the following upon hearing God's voice concerning National Israel and her rebellious ways: 



So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up.  I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.  For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant.  Thus He looked for justice but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress



The bold has been added to the passage found in Isaiah 5:5-7. Let's consider this passage to be a metaphor for the Day in which we live. Further, let's postulate that we are living in the very last of days as we approach the end of the reign of godless Man upon the earth. There are eschatological conditions found in Paul's warnings to Timothy found in 2 Tim. 3:1-5 describing sinful behaviors that have so often  been practiced by those described in that passage that they have become the very inner-nature of those so described.  It is becoming apparent that in the world-community today that there are those who practice those same traits described in Paul's warnings. They are being emboldened to pursue a condition of international rebellion in their lust for power to such a degree that such pursuit may be irreversible. They abound and they seem to posses precious little inhibition.  These are the current leaders of the world-community. Such conditions may well provoke the wrath of God as we further approach His Coming. Lawless utterances are being shouted out by the major leaders of the world community today;  Those who call  the evil to be the good and who substitute the darkness for the light are those who are currently inviting the woes of God found in Isaiah 5:20f. We live in the information age; an age unlike any other - rebellions can be unleashed in a nano-second.

If you will allow for the metaphor to be one that is describing the world-conditions that prevail in the day in which we are currently engaged, then let's further consider that God may well have a "hedge of protection" currently restraining the total unleashing of hatred by the godless world community against His current vineyard. That big Bear Paw-of-a-Hand that is currently restraining total evil may soon be finally removed with the eschatological results that have been awaiting Man since the day of rebellion in the Garden of Eden.



Question





 If the restraints against evil are totally removed, will godless Man always and immediately do that which is evil? - Well, the question is obviously rhetorical, and, as it should also be obvious, it is my strong suggestion that, yes indeed, godless man will always seek the licentious inclinations of his, or her, heart to do that thing that will immediately gratify and lead to that final rebellion reserved for the wrath found in the passages alluded to in the books of 2 Timothy and Isaiah - please read.

 
                                                        Please Consider:

The Godly of the World have lost the information-flow of facts. 

Consider that we have been witnessing a paradigm-like shift concerning civility in our country for the last two years.  The powerful leaders of the political party that has been out of power for that time has exercised no restraint in expressing hatred for the current President.  Indeed, the political Left, along with the Media, along with academia, along with the entertainment community have exercised no restraint in the vomiting-out of the vile language expressing that hate even in public venues - and - in their eyes they have paid no political price. They have no reason to self-inhibit this unrestrained activity.

Let us observe, also, the flow of illegals immigrants ready to hemorrhage into our country. There seems to be an unlimited supply of money, along with an agenda, to direct its flow and it is painfully obvious that they will strongly support the same political party that approves of the agenda and is expressing that hate.

When the current POTUS is out of office there will be a huge vacuum that will demand to be filled. Will there still be a hedge-like protection inhibiting the godless from filling it?  Their frustration (not being able to hate the POTUS out of office) will be their motivation to maximize their renewed power and they will have no inhibitions to abuse that power. Will we be ready?


Sorry for the tedium - it's been a while.



Few Survived the War

 There are times in life when one is so emotionally sobered by the introduction of an extemporaneous thought that he, or she, immediately stops whatever pursuit of knowledge being engaged at the time and is compelled to allow serious reflection to dominate the moment. Such was the case with me while reading a book describing the modern history of Jewish Zionism (Howard Sachar, A History of Israel: From the Rise of Zionism to Our Time).

The year is 1939.  For 1800 years the Jewish People have been without a national home. Rome has crushed the second Jewish revolt (135 AD), expelled all Jews from Jerusalem and placed a death sentence upon any Jew who would dare reenter the City. The Jewish people have been without their national home for those 1800 years. Now, Diaspora Jews are slowly returning from nearly two millennia of gentile domicile to the land of Palestine with the hope of the eventual obtaining of statehood under their own authority. The process has been described as the Zionist Movement (ca. 1850 to the present). The process has been brutally slow and tedious. World War One has caused the defeat of the Ottoman Empire and their hold on the land of Palestine has been severed. The League of Nations has turned over (mandated) the land of Palestine (and surrounding territories) to the victorious British government. When the war ended in 1918, the British were in sympathy with the return of exiled Jews to their original, and Biblical, home land.  Now, however, it is 1939 and that sympathy is far more inclined toward the Arabs, than to the Jews.  World War Two is about to explode upon the global community. One can only imagine the mental/emotional state of the Zionist community at that time.

Under the British mandate, the land is to be distributed between the Jews and the Arabs with the thought of giving statehood to each. What territory should be given to the Jews and how much should be given to the Arabs is the question. Much has changed in the subsequent twenty one years since the war's end. Hitler is the guerilla in the Western world's living room now.  He is expansionist in intent, has raised the most advanced military in the World, hates the Jews and has demonstrated that hostility for more than a decade. Mein Kampf has been published and there is no hiding from the content. The immediacy of World War Two is upon the minds of all.  So, what does a mandated British authority due in those circumstances, and at that time? It appears that one does the logical thing, of course, one favors the holder of the oil deposits of the Middle East, i.e., the Arabs.  Unfortunately, that decision mandated against facilitating the Jews at the same time.  The Arabs in the Palestinian area hate the Jews and are convinced that they will eventually exceed the Arabs in population and exercise hegemony over them. Arab subversion of the process will continue even unto this day.

The British publish the White Paper of 1939 with the authority that goes with it - and it is not kind towards the Jews.  Immigration is severely cut and is ordered to cease completely in five years.  If it ever resumes in the future it must be at the approval of the Arabs. Further, it is now illegal for anyone to sell any Palestinian land to the Jews. A "death warrant" has just been issued for the Jews of Europe. This the response of the leaders of the Zionist cause upon the receipt of the document.

The author (Sachar) describes the moment this way:

The Jews were not in a position to draw emotional solace from what they regarded as the justice of their cause.  They viewed the White Paper as a likely death warrant for their people in Europe and conceivably for their hopes in Palestine.  Late in the evening of August 24, 1939, Weizmann bade farewell to the delegates of the Zionist Congress at Geneva.  As a new European conflict threatened, the atmosphere of the final session  was charged with an acute awareness of impending tragedy.  The departures were painful.  Weizmann said, in part: "it is with a heavy heart that I take my leave....If, as I hope, we are spared in life and our work continues, who knows-perhaps a new light will shine upon us from the thick, black gloom....There are some things which cannot fail to come to pass, things without which the world cannot be imagined."  Deep emotion gripped the Congress.  Weizmann embraced his colleagues on the platform.  There were tears in many eyes.  Few of the European delegates survived the war.

 

Obviously, the bold has been added, and yes, this is the sentence that caused me to pause and reflect (weep?). Many knew that the subsequent years would be ominous. Perhaps none would anticipate sixty million dead, and six million of them would be Jews.

 

Perhaps it would be wise for those of us who sympathize with the Zionist movement to pay more attention to the world-events that seem to be current among us.  The Arab mentality that seems to dominate the godless community of the World today is gravitating at no small pace to that prevalent  in 1939. 

 

1939 may be closer than we know.

 

Watch Israel - it's important.

South on Route 90

Just returned from Israel and yes - all that it was supposed to be- and more! Hopefully this will be the first of many posts on the subject.  I will get more personal at a later post to address the wonderful people that I went with, but not wanting to lose some of the thoughts that came with this adventure, I will begin with Route 90.

There are a few thoughts that haunt me in life.  One I have held for about twenty years, or so.  When the Allenby Bridge was opened in 1994 near Jericho allowing traffic to move from Israel across the Jordon River to the land of Jordon itself, I thought that if I were living there, it would be more than satisfying to cross over and stand where Joshua and the armies of Israel actually stood waiting to invade the land. Well, more than satisfying is nice, but haunting is still the operative word.  Let's fast-forward twenty-plus years to day five on the trip. 

We are in the north of Israel looking at the Golan Heights to the left, Lebanon to the right and driving south on route 90. Later on to our left are the mountains of Ammon and Moab with the Jordon River separating us. Soon I hear our guide announce that Jericho is on our right with Mt. Nebo on our left.  Nebo, Ammon and Moab;  Moses conducted warfare in those mountains and mustered his troops for the invasion of Canaan!  He would soon turn the authority over to Joshua for such a task.  We come to the northern tip of the Dead Sea.  A short time later we stop and opportunity to float in the Dead Sea is offered. Several take advantage of such.

While watching the activities, our guide walks up and stands next to me.  We are alone.  Surely, this is a God thing.  Surely there is a least one person on the planet that understands the enormity of the moment besides myself.  We are gazing across the Dead Sea observing Nebo, Ammon and Moab!  I speak: "OK, we just passed Jericho; Nebo is at the top of that mountain range, and down the far slope on the other side dwelt the Ammonites and the Moabites. We are actually observing the area where Joshua led the armies of Israel down this side of the mountain  in order to cross the Jordon River and to surround the city of Jericho with the purpose of destroying that city and conquering all of Canaan on both sides of the Jordon."  "Correct?", I ask.  "Correct", he responds -  Thank you very much. Twenty-some years of frustration have been removed from my shoulders. I drank in the scene.

OK, let's see what it must have been like approximately 3500 years ago.  Route 90 is a dirt path. We are Canaanite dwellers in the walled city of Jericho looking south on dirt path 90. We are in the midst of Canaan with the Philistines on our right. To our immediate left is the Jordon River as it drains in to the Dead Sea.  Across that river is the long mountain range where the Ammonites and the Moabites live, "but there are terrifying reports that a huge army is conquering everybody in sight on the other side of that range and they are headed our way".  In Southern California there are two mountain ranges that dovetail each other; the San Gabriel's and the San Bernardino's. Between those two ranges armies could pour into the valley and conquer.  It looked a little like that to me.  There was a gap observable to the inhabitants of the city where they could observe the armies of the living God pour through as they covered the plain between that range and the river that protected them.  How frightening that scenario must have been!

The peoples have heard, they tremble; Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; The leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; All the inhabitants  of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of your arm they are motionless as stone; Until your people pass over, O LORD, Until the people pass over whom You have purchased. You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O LORD, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O LORD, which Your hands have established. The LORD shall reign forever and ever.

 

God promised that He would send hornets before them (Exod. 15:14-18).

 

I thought of a typology at that time.  Moses passed the anointing on to Joshua (Yehoshua) to complete the conquest.  He did his job (however imperfectly).  Canaan was filthy and corrupt beyond redemption.  It was that way before, was that way then, has been that way for all of history and is that way to this day.  Never will there not be Canaan in this World. There will soon be a day when the Father will tap the Son (our Joshua - Yeshua Jesus) on the shoulder and free Him for the task of returning to this Canaan and to end it all; a task that He was born for and that He died for.  The typology will be complete.

 

And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.  And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"

(Rev. 6:14-17)

 

A called-out people remain to be rescued and redeemed. The Canaanites of the world will be properly put in great fear.  Perhaps it would be nice if the redeemed were just a little bit more sobered by the sum of it all.

 



No More Oceans

 Many years ago my wife and I were addressing one of her early illnesses when, upon discussing what we should do to ameliorate that condition, she turned to me and declared this eternal truth:  "You know what? - old age sucks".  We both burst out laughing.

Old age does produce some good fruit, however.  It tends to increase wisdom through the trials and successes of life, and it tends to further increase such wisdom by the accumulation of the rote-data that is obtained when one observes the accumulation of human events over many years.

What My Father Saw

(Era #1)

 

Dad was born in 1904.  He lived in an era that went through a violent cultural transition from one of horse and carriage and musket-loading to one of the tank, the Gatling gun and bomb dropping.  When he was a young lad there were reports that there was some kind of a machine that actually got off the ground and flew.  When one went to be entertained, one went to an auditorium and heard an orchestra with people dancing and preforming on a stage; it was known as vaudeville.

 

There have been many wars in human history, but dad lived through a war that was known as a "world war".  What is that all about?  Well, it was not world-wide in acreage, but it did kill approximately twelve million people and several nations did participate. We Americans eventually crossed an ocean to help defeat Germany in that war. Fortunately, that ocean also separated us and protected us from harm had Germany been strong enough and expansionist-minded enough to send their armies over here.  Dad gained much wisdom through those years; he had seen a semi paradigm shift in human culture. The modern age had begun.

 

What I Have Seen

(Era #2)

 

Like dad, I was a very young lad when the world-community advanced from the age of twelve million killed to the age of sixty million killed.  Like dad, I have seen and experienced much.  The Second World War was as much a continuation of the First World War as it was the generation of a new war.The hatred generated by Germany's defeat in WWI helped generate the reality of Germany's expansionist thrust in WWII, one, that conquered most of Europe and was heading into Russia with much gusto. Holocaust?  What in the world is a holocaust?  Well, it happened, and six million Jews were murdered before the war ended. During that war a very large and expansionist Japan joined, as an ally, to the German war machine.  We had two very formidable enemies to engage.  Fortunately, we had two oceans to help protect us.

 

The age between the wars and leading up to the era know as the information age saw a paradigm shift.  Entertainment advanced from Vaudeville to moving pictures; information from radio to TV; from the typewriter to the computer. Transportation and warfare advanced from the biplane to the missile; from twelve million killed to sixty million killed.  Like my father, I have seen much and have gained in wisdom because of it. The modern age took steroids and eventually transformed into the information age.

 

What We Are About to See

(Era #3)

 

It might be more informative to say "what we are currently seeing"?  My father saw a semi paradigm shift in world culture.  I have seen a full-sized paradigm shift in world culture and am currently seeing the international community doing things that seem to be beyond even the natural realm.  We may be observing at this very moment in world history not merely a paradigm shift in our culture, but may be observing a process that is not merely paradigmatic in nature, but is biblical in nature.  If so -  how sobered in nature should we be (one might ask)?

 

Science is accomplishing knowledge that is almost supernatural in nature.

Western culture is seemingly helpless before world-wide rebellion and militancy.

Hatred and polarized rebellion dominate our culture and politics.

Truth is helpless before a world culture calling "good as evil and evil as good".

Mass murder by the militants-of-the-world is justified by euphemisms.

Mass immigration, planned and proactive, is destroying Western culture.

The Western church is manifestly bifurcating into the called-out, and the apostate.

The information age is capable of generating any godless act possible in a nanosecond.

Belligerents of the world possess nuclear weapons with the abilities to send them worldwide.

Political parties, out of power, commit subversion against their own in order to regain that power.

God is effectively being removed from world society by design.

And on it goes, and it is not subject to our approval, nor our ability to end.

 

We are in the information age, the restrictions to evil and rebellion toward God are being removed and godless man will always do what is his nature to do when evil is available without restraints.

 

In the natural realm - We have no more oceans!

 

However, to those of us who belong to Christ, we have an ocean that is not of the natural realm.  We have an ocean that is eternal in size.  Let all that is depressing above drive us into His bosom.  We are a called-out people and need to start thinking of ourselves that way, lest we find ourselves to be without any ocean and time has run out.

 

 

Let's be wise!

 





 

 

 

 

 

 



 





 

 

Neglected Subject-matter

Thursday (11/16) I attended a Kindred C.C. conference with Phillip De Courcy (pastor) as host and Dr. John MacArthur as guest speaker. To those who are familiar with these two men it will be obvious that much substance was presented.

Dr. MacArthur finished the event with an expression of how the Church - as kingdom of God - should be identified and, then, to emphasize to our Christian community the import of such an identity. Five categories of emphasis were offered-up with the intent of Dr. MacArthur to imply (or to declare) that these were imperatives to the Church and not mere teachings. 

The Church body, being a member of His Kingdom, needs to teach, and even emphasize

these five truths:

 

The Kingdom and the Chosen -

 

He is sovereign over us if we are members of the chosen community.

This reality is not subject to our approval. If we are to be members of His kingdom, then He is our sovereign King who rules over us, and we are to hear and to obey as He sees fit. 

 

The Kingdom and substitution -

 

In His blood we have been bought.  We are His slaves through His blood. If we deny that we are slaves, then we deny that we have been bought and our eternity is fixed, and it will not be nice.

 

The Kingdom and Sanctification.

 

Kingdom members must become fully formed in Him that He might become fully formed in us. We are to be in that process of becoming Christ-like.  Simply put, we are to be internally transformed.

 

The Kingdom and Scripture,

 

The Truth is our foundation.  There is one Book that contains the Truth and that is the Holy Scriptures. This is our one, and only, source of Truth.

 

The Kingdom and the Second Coming of Christ.

 

Dr. MacArthur states it thus: "The end of the story is the reason for the story."

 

 

Some Comments

 

 

First of all you will notice that I have not used any Scriptures with the above.  It is not my intent to convince anyone of the truth of such claims, but, rather, to exhort our leaders to use these imperatives as a teaching and preaching module in our community - and then - to call to the attention of whomever we may have influence over with in that Christian community - that they realize the gravity of such imperatives - and especially "as we see the days approach."

I believe that our evangelical community has done a robust job in the proclamation of the fact that Christ laid His life down - and all that that means - for our salvation. He was our Substitute.  Well done here for number two.  However, I have not often heard of teaching/preaching on our being a called-out community.  I place emphasis here on one being a called-out  believer - number one -  more than on one being a chosen believer. Let's stay away from that mine-field for now.

Sanctification is a word that is often heard in Church.  One usually envisions a white robe with angels singing.  Less often does the concept of set-apartness and being in His presence become subject-matter. This requires an effort that needs to be talked about.  Being in His presence is more than a theological and intellectual  belief.  We are born again; we have the right to enter in to His presence which is real sanctification - but - our flesh is strong.  Vigilant pursuit over a prolonged period of time is required in the denying of that flesh.  Liberty and fruit-bearing awaits such efforts.

The Kingdom as Scripture has been well appreciated in our community.  Dr. MacArthur took the Scriptures to be more than we usually understand, namely, that the Book is the only source of Truth in the World.  I agree. Others can write and speak true things; but only the Book contains The Truth.

Finally, concerning His (soon) coming, I repeat the above quote - "The end of the story is the reason for the story." It's important, is it not?"  The King is coming and we may be less prepared for that event than we think we are.

Finally

 

 

I have obviously extrapolated - by inference - from Dr. MacArthur's five imperatives.  He may disagree with some of my emphatic declarations.  Apologies where that may be the case.  My intent is not to declare truth; the truth is resident within his five points and not in my extrapolations.

 

With all of the above said, wouldn't it be more than productive if we were to exercise such teachings in our local churches.  Considering the World-conditions as they are (and they are in a godless plunge downwards) it seems more than wise to actively pursue such as the above - and to do so with a prolonged effort - in order that His community be better prepared for that day.   

 

 



 



The New Sultan

I recently finished reading a book entitled The New Sultan by Soner Cagaptay (London, I. B. Tauris, 2017). The country involved is Turkey; the new-sultan-wannabe is Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's current president. The book is more than readable.  The author is succinct, plausible in his conclusions and (oh the joy!) does not appear to have an agenda. Here is some background that will aid us in getting oriented to the substance of the book:

At the end of the First World War Germany was defeated along with the subsequent fall of its ally Turkey. Turkey was the center of authority for the centuries-old Ottoman Empire, thus, it's authority and polity was Muslim with it's culture, likewise, being Muslim.  The former polity was terminated by military defeat; the latter cultural makeup remained, and does so to this day. 

In 1923, five years after the termination of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey formerly became a secular state under the presidency of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. It has remained so for almost a century.  In that time, Turkey has wavered between its affection for an alliance (both culturally, and politically)  with Europe, and its desire to remain independent.  Turkey is, to this day, a member of NATO, that organization that was generated during the days of the cold-war when Russian expansionism was intimidating Europe, America, and Western civilization in general.  This writer remembers the days when he would observe Turkish Colonels and Generals participating with American troops during Seventh-Army military exercises in Germany.  They were faithful allies. They participated with zeal with American troops during the Korean war.  Their culture, to this day, detests the Russian entity. In short they were, at least, a non-threat to the Western community, and, at best, willing to "jump into the fox-hole" with us when needed.

All of that has changed - and why does it even matter?

 

Turkey will play a critical geopolitical role in the events of the Middle East.  After the attempted coup of July 2016, the spotlight is on Recep Tayyip Erdogan - the powerful leader of the country whose increasingly authoritarian regime has heightened tensions both within and outside the country. Erdogan's crackdown on dissent has been brutal and consistent - hundreds of journalists arrested, academics officially banned from leaving the country, university deans fired and nearly half of the highest-ranking army officers in custody.  As opponents accuse his Justice and Development Party (AKP) of heavy-handedness, Erdogan promises to bring order and stability under a 'strongman'(inside flap).

In short, Erdogan has declared Turkey to be an Islamic state.  The polity of the State has rejoined the culture of the State.  The days of Ataturk are over. The Ottoman Empire is being given new life and Recep Tayyip Erdogan is its Sultan. I find it to be interesting that Erdogan has gained a similar hegemony that accrued to Hitler in the early 1930's, namely, that academia, the court system, the military, the religion, and the information-flow came under his (their) dominance. 

So why does it matter and why should the Christian man or woman even care in this modern world culture where political leaders are ever more exercising lust for power, doing so in a duplicitous manner, and seemingly always able to get away with such behavior?  "They're all doing it." One is surprised whenever world conditions are otherwise.  Well, here is my take on the matter:

There are those in our community who believe that modern-day Turkey will be a participant with Russia and Persia (Iran) in the invasion of Israel as is described in Ezekiel chapters 38-9.  Erdogan has turned his back not only on Israel, but he has likewise done so to Western Europe (spurning EU membership) and also to the United States.  He is currently courting Putin of Russia, yet is at odds with Iran. He has also been an adversary to Syria in their civil war.  Russia and Iran have been very supportive of Assad and thus to Syria.   Will he, or won't he join in?

 

-- so --

 

Let's consider two ways to approach this subject matter and all other matters concerning the close of the age (and if one believes the Ezekiel passage is yet to be, then one understands that such an event will indeed close the age): 

 

First of all, let's determine to read the Word with honesty and integrity of heart and do so without an agenda.  Let's exegete and not eisegete.  We don't have to know every detail of the close of the age.  Godless Man will do what godless men do.  They don't always behave logically. Let's read the Word while observing World events. In respect of Ezekiel's passage "all the planets seem to be lining up."

 

Secondly, let's understand that we may face a severe testing of our faith when world-events approach the finality of all things.  The worst thing that can happen to a man or woman of faith is to be tested under fire and deny the faith.  Now is the time to strengthen ourselves, and those who surround us, in the faith.

 

If you are interested in such matters then read the book.  It will serve you well.