Galatians 5:17

For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, 

and the Spirit against the flesh; 

and these are contrary to one another, 

so that you do not do the things that you wish.

     As I began to write this blog post, the words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic popped into my head ... He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.  I fear that this world is in mortal danger of seeing His "terrible swift sword."  

     Why do I say this? Because the societies of the world and the popular culture are telling us that we should just be ourselves; be true to the "real" you; don't listen to what others say, and become whatever satisfies you and makes you happy.  But that is not what the Bible tells us, and if you are a Christian, then you must adhere to the warning that Galatians 5:17 presents.

     I am completely astonished at the speed with which our society has adopted this "be whoever you are" mentality.  Our youth are overwhelmed with advice from celebrities to "embrace the inner you" -- no matter who that might be!  The problem is that who you, me -- all of us are-- is sinners!  We are not called to be who we think we are, or who we want to be.  We are called to a higher standard and to resist what we want and become like Jesus.

     But because many in society have denied Jesus and the Holy Spirit a place in their lives, they don't know who they are in God's eyes.  This has given the Enemy the perfect opportunity to introduce a variety of options as to who they can be.  And it has resulted in confusion that will lead many to miss out on the transformative power of faith in Jesus Christ.

     I can't help but relate this to the interview that Diane Sawyer did with Bruce Jenner.  I hadn't made any conscious decision to watch the program or to avoid it.  It really wasn't on my radar.  But after a long, tiring week, we wanted to catch up on the news in the world and when we turned on the TV, the Jenner interview had begun.  

     What I saw was a tortured human being.  I have no doubt that his feelings, his emotions, and his struggle to know who he really is are genuine.  He professed to be a Christian, and although I didn't see the entire program, what I did see gave me no evidence that he understands that the battle within himself has eternal consequences.  He is seeking to transform himself into another identity as a human being.  I wish he understood that the transformation that will truly put his soul at rest is to deny the flesh and be transformed by the power of Jesus.  A physical transformation will not quell his demons ... only through a spiritual transformation will he find the being he is supposed to be.

     The philosophies of being "born this way" or "God made me to be who I truly feel I am" are convenient lies to cover the sins of the flesh.  We are not just flesh and blood, we are spirit beings.  God knit us in the womb just as He designed us to be.  Being "born this way" cannot be a fitting excuse for those who embrace their inner bisexuality, homosexuality or transgenderism if, as a society, we do not allow it be used by those who will say they have inner desires to molest children, or to cheat on their spouse.  We are all sinners and none of us should be the real us!

     I want to make it clear that I am not without sympathy for Bruce Jenner and other fellow human beings who suffer the effects of such confusion.  I saw an intelligent, loving, kind man who has struggled his whole life, and fought the desires of his flesh.  But it saddens me that he does not appear to have considered denying the flesh in order to please the Spirit.  Jesus said that if anyone would declare himself a follower [of Him], that person must deny himself and take up his own cross.  I have no doubt that Bruce Jenner's cross was a difficult one to bear, and it just got too much to carry the burden.  I wish he realized that he will never be perfect in the flesh, but he can be made perfect in the Spirit.  

     We all have the freedom to choose either the flesh or the Holy Spirit; and it is so much easier and natural to choose our fleshly desires.  It is a battle that must be waged and won every single day of this life.  But it can be won -- with the strength and power of Jesus who abides in us.  Instead of striving to be true to ourselves, we should strive to remain true to Him!

What The Armenian Genocide Tells Us

     Yesterday marked the 100th anniversary of nearly one-and-a-half million people killed during the genocide campaign against Armenian and Christian minorities by the Turkish Islamic Ottoman empire -- I would note, this was history's last caliphate prior to ISIS.

     Now, the current leader of Turkey can deny that a genocide took place; and the current White House can refuse (for the seventh straight year) to use the word “genocide” when referring to this atrocity, but they can't make the truth disappear.  Historical scholars stand beside groups like the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA), who report the following:  "More than one million Armenians perished as the result of execution, starvation, disease, the harsh environment, and physical abuse.  A people who lived in eastern Turkey for nearly 3,000 years [that is, 2,500 years before the Islamic Turks invaded and occupied Anatolia, now known as “Turkey”] lost its homeland and was profoundly decimated in the first large-scale genocide of the twentieth century.  At the beginning of 1915 there were some two million Armenians within Turkey; today there are fewer than 60,000."
     Furthermore, there is actual correspondence from a member of the Turkish regime at the time.  One of the documents authenticated by Turkish authorities in 1919 is a telegram sent in June 1915 by Dr. Sakir, one of the leaders of the secret organization that carried out the planning and implementation of the Genocide.  He asks the provincial party official who is responsible for carrying out the deportations and massacres of Armenians within his district: "Are the Armenians, who are being dispatched from there, being liquidated? Are those harmful persons whom you inform us you are exiling and banishing, being exterminated, or are they being merely dispatched and exiled? Answer explicitly....".  It sounds pretty systematic, premeditated and highly coordinated to me!
     The historical deniers of genocide will try to get you to believe that the indigenous Armenians died through the process of resettlement, or because they were caught in war zones.  But the numbers don't lie ... 1,500,000 deaths over a two-year period aren't "accidental", or because they were in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
     You cannot deny such historical accounts as these:  Torture squads would apply red-hot irons, tear off flesh with hot pincers, then pour boiled butter into the wounds. The soles of the feet would be beaten, slashed, and laced with salt. Dr. Mehmed Reshid tortured Armenians by nailing horseshoes to their feet and marching them through the streets. He also crucified them on makeshift crosses... The Muslims hacked Armenians to pieces and dashed infants on the rocks before their mothers. They burned bodies not for sanitary reasons but in search of gold coins they believed the Armenians had swallowed. The Muslims also tore apart the victims’ feces in the search for gold. U.S. consul Leslie Davis, a former attorney and journalist, documented the Islamic zeal...  “We could all hear them piously calling upon Allah to bless them in their efforts to kill the hated Christians,” Davis wrote. “Night after night this same chant went up to heaven and day after day these Turks carried on their bloody work.” Around Lake Goeljik, Davis wrote, “thousands and thousands of Armenians, mostly innocent and helpless women and children, were butchered on its shores and barbarously mutilated.”
     So the question remains -- Why the denials?  And why hasn't the U.S. government officially confirmed the Armenian Genocide ... especially since the U.S. House of Representatives has a long and proud tradition of reaffirming America’s moral stand against all genocides – past and present?  Here is a list of those they have acknowledged in the past, by either commemorating them or condemning them:  the Holocaust, the Cambodian genocide, the Darfur genocide, the Ukrainian genocide, and the Bosnian genocide.  Furthermore, 44 individual states have acknowledged it!
     Perhaps some of the reasons for denying the past atrocity find their equal in the attempts to deny what the current caliphate is attempting to accomplish. In the period immediately after World War I the tactic was to find scapegoats to blame for what was said to be only a security measure that had gone awry due to unscrupulous officials, Kurds, and common criminals.  This was followed by an attempt to avoid the whole issue, with silence, diplomatic efforts, and political pressure used where possible.  In the 1930s, for example, Turkey pressured the U.S. State Department into preventing MGM Studios from producing a film based on Franz Werfel's The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, a book that depicted aspects of the Genocide in a district located west of Antioch on the Mediterranean Sea, far from the Russian front.
     Today, we hear the White House press corps downplaying the atrocities of ISIS against Christian minorities in the Middle East; after all, they are only like a "J.V. team", right?  Furthermore, the ANCA reports that the Turkish government has hired former U.S. Congressman to lobby on their behalf in attempts to keep the U.S. from officially recognizing the Genocide.
     In the 1960s, prompted by the worldwide commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Genocide, efforts were made to influence journalists, teachers, and public officials by telling "the other side of the story."  Foreign scholars were encouraged to revise the record of genocide, presenting an account largely blaming the Armenians or, in another version, wartime conditions which claimed the lives of more Turks than Armenians.  Thereafter, Turkey tried to prohibit any mention of the Genocide in a United Nations report and was successful in its pressure on the Reagan and Bush administrations in defeating Congressional resolutions that would have designated April 24 as a national day of remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.  The Turkish government has also attempted to exclude any mention of the Genocide from American textbooks.  Stronger efforts still have been made to prevent any discussion of the 1915 genocide being formally included in the social studies curriculum as part of Holocaust and genocide studies.
     Does that ring a bell?  Do we not see that the current Caliphate is influencing the media, and using them, to tell their side of the story?  Are not some journalists and public officials complicit in playing down the danger of Islamic radicalism?  Isn't Common Core attempting to rewrite history, as well as present a sanitized version of Islam, while decrying the barbarism of Christianity?
      So, it is up to the world to tell the truth and to warn of the familiar images of genocide that are flooding out of the Middle East.  And in case you still doubt the veracity of the Armenian Genocide, I invite you to read the miraculous story of a 100-year-old Armenian woman, who is one of the last people alive to give a first-person account of the annihilation of her people.  Read her story so that you will know the horrors of genocide, and so her memories will never die.
     
Psalm 116:115    "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."

   

The Sustainability Movement: Coming To A Campus Near You!

     A good friend of mine forwarded this report to me, and I found it worthy of passing on to you.  To be honest, I was surprised to find the extent to which this topic has been promoted in our centers of higher education.  But I was equally surprised, and interested, to find that the report was written by The National Association of Scholars.  Their mission statement reads:  "The National Association of Scholars is an independent membership association of academics and others working to sustain the tradition of reasoned scholarship and civil debate in America’s colleges and universities. We uphold the standards of a liberal arts education that fosters intellectual freedom, searches for the truth, and promotes virtuous citizenship."  That's refreshing, isn't it?  
     They publish studies of current higher education policy and practice with the aim of drawing attention to weaknesses and stimulating improvements, as well as engage in public advocacy to pass legislation to advance the cause of higher education reform.  
     The NAS has taken the whole "climate change" and "sustainability" movements to task, and examined how our systems of higher education have co-opted them.  The following are excerpts from this important document, titled Sustainability: Higher Education's New Fundamentalism.

     The Executive Summary of the report states that “Sustainability” is a key idea on college campuses in the United States and the rest of the Western world. To the unsuspecting, sustainability is just a new name for environmentalism. But the word really marks out a new and larger ideological territory in which curtailing economic, political, and intellectual liberty is the price that must be paid now to ensure the welfare of future generations.  It further states that the sustainability movement has distorted higher education.
     While remaining neutral on the "global warming" debate, NAS nevertheless stands by the principle that all important ideas ought to be open to reasoned debate and careful examination of the evidence. But there are those in the sustainability movement whose declared position is that the time for debate is over and that those who persist in raising basic questions are “climate deniers.” The NAS report contends that the “debate-is-over” position is itself at odds with intellectual freedom and is why the campus sustainability movement should be examined skeptically.
     Sustainability is fast becoming the dominant ideology at colleges and universities in the United States, Britain, and many other parts of the Western world, and is often confused with the term environmentalism.   But the goals of the sustainability movement are different. They go far beyond ensuring clean air and water and protecting vulnerable plants and animals.
     As an ideology, sustainability takes aim at economic and political liberty. Sustainability pictures economic liberty as a combination of strip mining, industrial waste, and rampant pollution. It pictures political liberty as people voting to enjoy the present, heedless of what it will cost future generations. Sustainability’s alternative to economic liberty is a regime of far-reaching regulation that controls virtually every aspect of energy, industry, personal consumption, waste, food, and transportation. Sustainability’s alternative to political liberty is control vested in agencies and panels run by experts insulated from elections or other expressions of popular will.  (Can you see why this is a dangerous movement on college campuses?)
     In less than a decade, the campus sustainability movement has gone from a minor thread of campus activism to becoming the master narrrative of what “liberal education” should seek to accomplish for students and for society as a whole.
     Here's how it could affect us:  The movement is much more than a call for environmental responsibility. It is a summons for fundamental changes in human life—changes that include the imposition of vast new social, political, and economic controls. Sustainability advocates vary among themselves in how far they think these fundamental changes need to go, but a great many of them view “capitalism” as the primary enemy. They see as the root problem the economic and social system that brought modern industrial technology into the world and freed much of humanity from the drudgery of subsistence labor.
     Some of the most ardent advocates of the Sustainability Movement declare that the environmental crises of today call for no less than the abolition of capitalism!   And here's the real danger:  The sustainability movement presents itself as benign concern for the natural environment, but its deeper aim is radical economic transformation.  (Do you think the average college student could be swayed by this narrative?)
     But the roots of the Sustainability movement go even deeper.  Sustainability combines an environmental theme with an economic call to arms and a recipe for harsh and often non-democratic forms of political control. To understand the sustainability movement correctly, however, we need to add one more ingredient: its embrace of identity politics under the rubric of “social sustainability.” The basic idea is that a sustainable society must not only rid itself of the penchant for exploiting nature but also of exploitation of oppressed groups of people.  (See how it works?)
     We need to be aware that Sustainability reaches into cultural and social institutions, and it demands strict regulation to keep everything in line. Sustainability thus calls for the overthrow of patriarchal systems, misogynist bias, racist prejudice, and traditional marriage norms. It ties social and economic grievances to environmental degradation: women are disproportionately harmed by wars over resource shortages; minorities are more likely to live near landfills and polluting factories; previously colonized and oppressed nations are more likely to be flooded and scorched by global warming; the poor are least responsible for causing climate change but also least able to protect themselves from its effects; traditional marriage (without abortion and strict birth control) overpopulates the globe and mires communities in poverty. Rising global warming and the threat of runaway consumption augment these dangers.

     I think you are beginning to get the picture, right?  Sustainability is an ideology that attempts to unite environmental activism, anti-capitalism, and a progressive vision of social justice ... and it does it all with a utopian/totalitarian intent.   If left unchecked, it will exact enormous costs by diverting resources from better ends, co-opting higher education, and instilling in students a profound distaste for political and economic freedom.
     Can we afford to turn a blind eye to this phenomenon?  Are we looking at a new policy shift in government, away from capitalism and towards strict regulations?  What we need to realize is that  the college campus has become the center of this sustainability authoritarianism.  If we don't examine it carefully, it could very well take over our college campuses and convince the next generation of American decision-makers that freedom -- whether economic, political, social, or otherwise -- is unnecessary in a tightly regulated and totalitarian state.  It's time we educated ourselves on this popular movement.

For a thorough reading of the entire National Association of Scholars report on Sustainability, please click here.

Isaiah 40:8    "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever."
   
   

The Real Meaning Of Peace In Our Lives

     This last weekend I was blessed to get together with a faithful group of Christians who, while spread out across a couple hundred miles, are still in proximity to each other when it comes to understanding the times.  As expected, whenever you get more than two or three people of faith together, you will find differences in theology and Biblical understanding.  But, for the most part, we were all on the same page in recognizing that world events are coming to a head; that certain situations and conditions in the world could point to the prophesied tribulation upon mankind.
     Not surprisingly, I could sense both boldness and unease in the room.  There were those of us who were bold in our warnings of spiritual warfare; laying it out in real terms of opened portals and demonic activity against the followers of Christ.  And then there were those who were skeptical, denying that we would face such battle; that God would not allow that to happen because it would not glorify Him.   I am only left to think that perhaps the thought of spiritual warfare is unsettling and threatens the peace of my fellow Christians.  But do we really know the true meaning of God's peace?  I would like to share my perspective with you.
     I have been greatly blessed through an association with a Messianic Jewish organization that ministers in Israel.  They truly know what it is to operate out of God's peace!  But they have taught me that "peace", in the Biblical sense, is more than a soft, restful, calm and serene soul.  For them, Peace is Power!  Let me see if I can explain ...
     In John 16, Jesus is preparing His disciples for the time when He will leave them to go to His Father.  Naturally, they are dismayed and cannot fathom a life without His guidance.  But Jesus confirms that they will have Him in the presence of the Holy Spirit that will indwell them.  We are all familiar with that concept, and we know that He also tells them not to worry, that "in Me, you will have peace."  But here's what we don't fully comprehend!

     Peace -- remember, it is the peace of Jesus that indwells us -- in the light of encroaching darkness is not only the fruit of a life filled with the presence of the Holy Spirit, but it is also a weapon of war!  Contemplate His words ... the Amplified version of the Bible records Jesus as saying, " But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the Truth. For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].  He will honor and glorify Me, because He will take of (draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (transmit) it to you.
     What is it that Jesus has, that the Holy Spirit will draw upon and give to us?  Power from God!  He will give us a strategy for overcoming the world!  This power and authority from Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, gives us the confidence to know that we are not victims of whatever world leaders decide.  Instead we are players; we are world-changers; we are overcomers, just as Jesus was!  "Peace" is by no means a passive term, here.  We are to call upon it as we wage spiritual war against the Enemy.
     Peace is not a noun; a state of mind, soul, or spirit to be wished for.  Peace is a verb; it is what Jesus said we would receive from Him in order to overcome the tribulations we would endure.  It is a powerful tool in our spiritual warfare arsenal, and it is ours to wield.  When we use His power and the authority from the Holy Spirit to overcome this world, we are truly in the midst of His peace.  When we take to heart his words in John 14:27, we gain both His Peace and the serene calmness the world knows as peace:  "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."
     As my friends in Israel have shown me, we are never helpless, and as those who have been "called out" by God, we can make a difference by partnering with Him through the use of Jesus's power and authority, which reside in us as the Holy Spirit.  Let's use His power to embrace our peace!

Philippians 4:6-7   “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”


   

Does Gender Really Matter?

     I have to admit, I wasn't sure if this topic was something I should approach.  I always try to speak my faith into the world, and there is no question how I would view this subject from my biblical foundation or worldview.  To be honest, I just wanted to ignore it, but it kept coming to the forefront of my mind (and the news); and one day I realized all the following headlines were screaming that it needed to be addressed ...
•  President Obama Opens White House's First Gender-Neutral Bathroom
•  Sweden Adds Gender Neutral Pronoun To Official Dictionary
•  All-Womens College To Admit Transgender Students for Class of 2020
•  Planet Fitness Revokes Woman's Membership For Speaking Out Against Man in Women's Restroom
•  Franklin Graham Speaks Out Against Transgender Restrooms
•  Pope Francis Meets With Transgender Man and Fiancé
•  Department of Education Says Title IX Applies To Transgender Students
•  Transgender Student Wins $75,000 In Legal Fight Over Bathroom
     

     I have tried to approach these circumstances from a Godly perspective and according to His sovereign standards.  Apparently it is not enough that our culture is forcing us to accept the gay lifestyle as mainstream, but now we must recognize those people whose self-identity does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender.  In other words, our culture is declaring that certain people should have the freedom to interpret their gender according to their desires, instead of on the basis of their reproductive functions.  In simpler terms ... and I do not want to appear crass, but ... just because a person has a penis, does not mean that this person has to be regarded as a man.
     To be honest, this is really foreign territory for me, and I am uncomfortable trying to speak for people who identify with this lifestyle.  So forgive me if I went to a source website to get the "official" answers.  Here's what I learned:  "Transgender" has become the politically correct term for what society used to refer to as "Transexual".  But apparently among this culture, it was decided that the new term was an easier sell to the general public, and sounded less scary.
    So, if this person determines that he desires to be a woman, then it usually involves a change from their physical gender to their desired target gender.  That means some sort of reassignment surgery changing their physical appearance, and/or hormone replacement.  In the strictest sense, a transsexual is a person who has had surgery to change their physical appearance to match their target gender and live fulltime as this new gender.  Some transsexuals move into society and live solely as their target gender and identify as only male or only female.  As with all labels, nothing is black and white and there is plenty of gray area.  In fact, there are some people who don’t identify as any gender, and prefer to be considered "gender free".
    OK, I hope that I have represented this emerging sector of our society in a fair and accurate manner.  But I cannot ignore the profound impact it is taking upon our education systems, our privacy, and, most importantly, on our faith.  We are being coerced, through federal laws, to accept something that is inherently against God's sovereignty as Creator.  He knits us in the womb ... He makes us ... and He has determined what sex we are, according to His divine plan.
     But now we are being asked to accept that an individual can proclaim his or her "preferred" gender based on "feelings and emotions", rather than on biology.  Federally funded schools, from kindergarten through high school, must allow students to attend single-gender classes (such as girls-only sex education/health classes) based on their declared “gender identity,” according to a Department of Education (DoE) memo issued December 1, 2014.  That means that your elementary school (and younger!) daughters will be exposed to boys who want to be girls during discussions on biological functions of the female body.  Do you think there might be just a little bit of confusion?  Not to mention that they will be exposed to the notion that this is normal!
     My God, how far is this culture willing to go to offend God?  When you have the highest God-appointed governing authority in the land (read Romans 13) promoting self-determination of gender identity by designating a Gender-Neutral bathroom in the White House, then it is a calculated affront to the Lord.  And when the Catholic Church's full, supreme, and universal authority signals his tolerance of transgenderism by granting an audience with a sexually reassigned man and his fiancé, then might God not be insulted?  After all, the Pope is supposed to be God's representative on earth; and when other priests openly denounce this impression of acceptance, then it all smacks as a slap in the face of the Supreme Creator!
     How arrogant of the created to contravene the Creator; to violate His Wisdom and perfect knowledge; and to diverge from the Hand who has made all things!  It is Satan's greatest desire to cause disharmony, disorder, and confusion among the inhabitants of the earth.  Can you be anymore confused if you are uncertain as to which sex you are?  And the acceptance (and perpetuation) of this state of confusion as somehow defensible or appropriate just shows me that God is nowhere in the consideration.  When we, as a nation and culture, begin to blur the lines of creation (use the word "nature" if you need to), then we are open to any and all transformation; accomplishing it in ever more surprising and "magical" ways.  Transgenderism is just the first step towards shifting our focus away from being made in the image of God.
     I am not without sympathy for people who are so uncertain about who they are.  After reading articles on their different journeys, I realized that many report "strained" and "difficult" relationships, and a profound sense of loneliness.  What a burden it must be to, in effect, become your own creator.  We must pray for the spirits of confusion to be cast out of this world; and to be delivered from the coming abominations that Satan has planned.

1 Corinthians 6:20    "For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."




     

We're One Step Closer To The Edge

   

     By now, I'm sure you've heard that Apple has 1,000,000 pre-orders for its newest technology apparatus, the Apple Watch.  The rate at which people signed up for the Watch far surpassed the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010.
    Excuse me, while I refuse to get in line.  It amazes me that people (many of whom I consider quite intelligent) would so willingly expose themselves to "the plan".  What am I talking about?  For starters, let me show you the path that these "sheeple" are being led down.
     Can you even remember what it was like before personal computers?  Do you remember thinking that you didn't really have much need for that clunky contraption, or that you couldn't imagine why you would need one?  So, how many of you are reading this blog on some form of that very same invention?  I mean, even our 70 and 80-year old parents have one sitting on their desk!
     Next, do you remember any time before cell phones?  Did you even see it coming -- that we would one day be taking our computers with us everywhere?  Or did you ever think you would be glued to yours?  Well, that's how easy it has been to get us accustomed and addicted to our computers.  We can no longer conduct business without one, and if you want to communicate with anyone under the age of 25, you better have one.  Not only that, we get our news, pay our bills, and buy anything we want from this one small device.
     And now we're ready for the next step, right?  The tech gurus have designed a way we can wear our technology on our arms; we no longer have to carry anything, we can wear it right on our person. And a million people can't wait!  It doesn't officially go on sale until this Friday, April 24th, but it's already a blockbuster.  And the Millennials will rush headlong for the nearest Apple Store!
     So, if it's only been a little over 10 years since the push for "a personal computer in every home"; and only 8 years since the iPhone became a necessity; we can probably anticipate the rollout of your own personal computer IN you before the end of this decade ... don't you think?
     And I predict that the lemmings will be just as eager to get in line for this as they have for everything else.  Why not?  With every new innovation, they have continued their impulsive collaboration with the mass movement of technology enthusiasts, and rushed headlong towards their own destruction.  They never question what the end game is, nor look up long enough to see where this all leads.
     Faith seems to play no part in this mania.  Christians who would tell you that they are saved by the blood of Jesus cannot put their phones down long enough to sit through a Bible study.  What idols we have made of technology!  And they don't even recognize that they are enslaved to something that will soon call them to become ungodly.
     Chip implantment is no longer undercover ... it is out in the open and the plan is to make it as commonplace as that computer sitting on every desk in America.  Yes, they will sell the Apple Watch as one more step towards making technology convenient.  It's the next step that you should fear; that's the step that will affect your mortal soul.  Will you get in line?

Psalm 135:15-18    "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; they have eyes, but do not see; they have ears, but do not hear, nor is there any breath in their mouths. Those who make them become like them, so do all who trust in them!"

The Survivors Remember ...

     This week and last, memorials are being held among the survivors of the Nazi death camps.  In Israel, these days are marked under the banner of Holocaust Remembrance Day.  For those of us who read of the atrocities committed by one human being against another, it is difficult to escape the emotions that accompany the tragedy of millions of lives lost; all because they were born a Jew.
     Our anger and tears and sympathy are displayed as we try to pay homage to those murdered, and we try to put ourselves in their place.  How would we have endured such blind hatred and evil?  Could we have survived it?  Are we even aware that the same unbridled hate is coming against Christians in the Middle East -- and will become a reality here at home?  Have we forgotten the lessons and the voices of history?
     The truth is, none of us can come close to knowing how horrific it was.  We only have the words of the few remaining survivors to keep the truth alive; to repudiate the attempts to rewrite history.  We should pay attention and listen carefully....
     Last Friday, on April 16th, Noah Klieger and Rabbi Israel Meir Lau raised the flag of Israel at the March of the Living in Poland.  Noah was one of the few Jews who survived Auschwitz; Rabbi Lau was the youngest prisoner to be liberated from Buchenwald. Neither would have dared dream at the time that one day they would participate in a symbolic march in memory of the millions murdered by the Germans.
     "The only dream that all the prisoners in the Jews' camps had was to live one day more than Adolf Hitler and survive the Reich of horrors he established. I was a prisoner at Auschwitz at the time, a nameless prisoner, with a number tattooed on my left arm. A prisoner without rights, whose life or death were determined by one SS officer or another.
      Can an ordinary person imagine hundreds of people sitting side by side at the latrine, the building in which holes were dug in the ground every half a meter, holes in which we defecated, many of us suffering from serious dysentery. An ordinary person definitely can't imagine that, just like he can't imagine standing for hours in the parade yard at the end of a working day, when the SS officers find out that one prisoner has not returned (they counted us when we left and returned from work). As long as they didn’t find the missing prisoner, as long as they suspected that someone had managed to escape, they made us stand there for hours. With no other option, we relieved ourselves while standing up. In the extremely cold weather, the urine and feces froze on our bodies and thin pajamas we were wearing. In the summer, the stench made hundreds of us – maybe even thousands – faint."
     There is the story of 80-year-old Rita Kasimow Brown, a recognized Holocaust artist, who always painted herself in her portraits in white.  " I think it has to do with the little white, not-so-white nightgown that I survived the whole Holocaust in."  Rita was just seven years old when the Nazis invaded her hometown of Turmolt, Poland.  In 1941, the Nazis rounded up the Jews there and put them in a ghetto.
     Rita's memories, like so many of the remaining survivors, are those of a child.  "What happened was we escaped the ghetto. We were hiding in all sorts of places, in barns, in bunkers, in all kinds of places with other people, but we got sick and had colds and then my father went away for a few days and what he did, he found another Christian family," she said.  "And there he dug a big pit under the stable and had a connection to the potato bin and a latch that you can open to the farmer's home," she recalled. "Now it was total darkness. We had a little light, from the cow shed, a little straw so there was a little light.  This is how we lived 20 months. We were hungry and fearful. It was just a living hell. It was a living grave," she said.
     As they lay there, Rita's mother taught her songs that she knew from the very cultured life she had led in her birthplace of Vilna.  "We sat like this and prayed and tried to sleep," she said, clutching at her heart.  Being awake was a nightmare, she explained, hour by hour, suffering day and night.  Most of her father's 12 siblings died while her little family of five stayed alive.
     "Being creative helped me survive and not only survive but keep my sanity," Rita said.  "I survived the Nazi murder machine, but the thing for us, the Nazi Holocaust survivors…we are wounded survivors."
     The Holocaust has not only affected those who lived through it, but the following generations.  David Hershkoviz would hear his mother screaming in her sleep as she relived the agony: a German soldier separated her from her own mother, who died at Auschwitz.  Hershkoviz's mother died two years ago. But through a "second generation" study course in central Israel, he's keeping her story alive. The Shem Olam Holocaust Institute is educating people like Hershkoviz to tell their stories when the Holocaust survivors are gone.

     And how many Christians share the story of journalist Nancy Beasley, who ignored the story of the Holocaust for too long?  When her Editor forced her to cover a story on the tragedy, she could no longer avoid it.  "I ended up going to a Kristalnacht ceremony where I think I heard my heart break because the survivors were talking about their family members who did not live, and it just changed my life completely," she said.
     "There was a woman named Raja Shlom and she witnessed the murder of her husband, her father and her father-in-law. And just moments before they were executed, she was talking to her husband. She'd taken some food [to him] and he said, 'Just save the boy, just save the boy,'" Beasley said.
    With the help of a German guard who had been her student, Shlom escaped with her mother, sister and the little boy, whose name was Emanuel.  "And she would say to the farmers as she went through the countryside, 'Don't be afraid. My son's name is Emanuel. That means God is with us,'" she told CBN News.  Those farmers along the way, hid the family.  Now 70 years later, Emanuel's son, Gadi, lives in Israel.  Beasley went on to spend the next 7 years writing that family's story in a book titled Izzy's Fire.  She wrote it to educate children so that they will not fall for the false narrative that God's enemies would have them believe.
     So what are the lessons for us today?  We not only see nations like Iran, who openly cry for the destruction of Israel, but the same evil intentions are being spearheaded against Christians, and it is spreading across the globe.  And if we think we will be spared Satan's plan to rid the world of those who belong to Jesus, then that's all the more reason that we should listen to these survivors.
     Evil will come as rapidly against us as it swept through Europe 70 years ago.  It will harden the hearts of your neighbors.  You will not recognize your family members or friends; they will suddenly become enemies if you do not step in line.  The stories you have read today are those of people who never dreamed that their lives would take that turn.  We must not refuse to listen to them or to learn from them.  Pray for strength to endure what is coming upon the earth, and pray that you will overcome evil with the testimony of Jesus Christ.  The Evil that overtook the world 70 years ago was not wiped out.  It just went into hibernation and is now awakening from its slumber.  We will soon feel it sweep the earth, and this time it is determined to win!

Psalm 50:15    "And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."


   

   

John 6:66

After this many of His disciples turned back 

and no longer walked with Him.

     John, Chapter 6, begins with a wonderful tribute to the affirmation of Jesus's influence on the Jews who came to see and hear this man from Galilee.  In fact, the second verse of the chapter tells us that a great crowd was following Him because they had seen the great miracles He had accomplished in healing the sick.  If you will recall last Sunday's blog post, these wonders and signs were undertaken by Jesus for the express purpose of giving Him an opportunity to share the Gospel message.

     The chapter continues with the feeding of the 5,000 near the town of Bethsaida.  The people were astounded by the miracle He performed of feeding the throng with only five barley loaves; and the miracle the next day of seeing Jesus approaching the shore in a boat manned by His disciples.  (They knew that the Disciples had left the shore to go fishing on their own, and that Jesus had not gone into the boat with them the evening before -- yet here He was departing from the boat!)  

     They were more than happy to call themselves His disciples and to receive Him as a Prophet from God and a miracle-worker when he fed them and filled their fleshly bodies with real bread and sustenance.  But when He begins to preach to them about a spiritual bread, and asks them to seek after the true Heavenly Bread from the Father, which is present in Himself, they begin to balk.  They don't trust in what He is offering, and want only that which satisfies their physical hunger. 

     He then gives them the litmus test of what it means to be a real follower of His.  He tells them that " I am the Bread of Life [that gives life—the Living Bread].  Your forefathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and [yet] they died.  [But] this is the Bread that comes down from heaven, so that [any]one may eat of it and never die."  Will they get it?  Will they believe and trust in what He says?  But they don't understand ... "How is He able to give us His flesh to eat?"

     But Jesus keeps delivering the same message -- to the crowds that follow Him, and in the synagogues where they gather to hear Him teach.  "This is the Bread that came down from heaven. It is not like the manna which our forefathers ate, and yet died; he who takes this Bread for his food shall live forever."  Still they grumbled and complained about the difficulty of understanding what He meant.  It was too hard and difficult and strange to understand.  No one else could understand it, and it was offensive to their ears and their culture.  John 6:60 finds them asking, "Who can stand to hear it? [Who can be expected to listen to such teaching?]".

     Jesus knew that they protested against His teaching behind His back, and confronts them by proclaiming that "some of you fail to believe and trust and have faith."  He then goes on to explain the astounding fact that "no one can come to Me unless it is granted him [unless he is enabled to do so] by the Father."  Then comes our selected Scripture for today ... After this, many of His disciples drew back (returned to their old associations) and no longer accompanied Him.

     Why did they reject His message; because that is, in essence, what they did.  And how does this relate to us, His modern-day followers?  Could we say that these disciples were members of His following, but not committed to believing His teachings?  They certainly seemed mesmerized by the miracles and satisfied when He fed them earthly bread, which they could understand.  But when He asked them to trust in Him and have faith in something bigger than what they were comfortable in accepting, then they were more than willing to depart from Him and turn back to the way they had come.

     How is it any different today?  How many people are "in the church", yet are not true Christians?  How many people profess to be "followers of Christ", yet reject the Word and its commandments?  Remember ... in John 6, those people who had difficulty with Jesus' teaching and who ended up turning away from Him are called His disciples.  The very question they asked, (Who can be expected to listen to such teaching?) shows the state of their heart.  They certainly don't want to take any responsibility themselves for such a teaching that is just too difficult to accept; it goes against common sensibilities and acceptable practices.  

     Do we not see this today among those who call themselves Jesus's disciples?  Don't they proclaim that the Word's teachings on homosexuality are too offensive and difficult to understand in light of what our culture has become?  And do they not refuse to understand the teachings against the shedding of innocent blood, and therefore find ways to compromise their faith in support of abortion?  There are people in Christ's Church today who have tried to make Jesus into a version of Himself that they can bend to their own purpose.  These are the disciples and the churches who promote same-sex marriage, homosexuality in the priesthood, and the premise that a woman has the right to terminate her unborn child.  

     They are more than happy to be called a "Christian" when the teaching of the Word is all about grace and love and feeding the poor.  But when the teaching starts making them uncomfortable, and they have to engage with a combative culture who doesn't understand what it means to trust and believe and have faith in Him, then they are more than willing to turn back (and away) from Him ... that teaching is just too hard to follow ... Who can be expected to agree with that?  

     Jesus is now asking us the same question that He asked His Twelve Disciples ... would they, too, turn and leave Him?  Then, as today, the true and faithful believers will cling to Him and not depart, saying, "We have learned to believe and trust, and [more] we have come to know [surely] that You are the Holy One of God, the Christ (the Anointed One), the Son of the living God."  Like those twelve faithful Disciples of old, we continue to walk with Him and trust in His every word and deed.  We will not reject Him!

Will Enforced Vaccinations Become The Law of the Land?

     The state of California appears to be at the forefront of forcing a showdown between those who are pro-vaccine adherents and those who maintain it should be freedom of choice.  I'm afraid that my "conspiracy" hackles are once again rising as this debate heats up.
     Supposedly the rush to law for mandatory vaccinations centers around an outbreak of measles, which originated last winter at Disneyland.  There was an immediate panic over all the deaths that would ensue, as infected children returned to their home cities and states.  The media did everything they could to fan the flames of fear and promote nationwide vaccinations among our country's school-age children.  There was all kinds of media buzz over "the outbreaks" of measles across the land.  But I could not find one report or statistic about run-away numbers of infected, or deaths.  Only one report said, "Measles count at 59 and rising" ... but that was nationwide!  We had that many in one semester of my elementary school in the 1960s.  And if I recall, no one died and no serious health issues ensued.  Is it all a sham for forced inoculations?

     If so, California is Ground Zero for amending state legislation which would require children at public and private schools to be vaccinated unless a doctor determines they should be exempt for medical reasons.
     But there has been some measure of success in stopping the government from forcing children to be vaccinated.  As of this last week, California SB277 has stalled, and the bill's author was given a one-week delay to alter the legislation in order to make it more presentable to legislators.
     At the heart of the debate are the issues of personal freedoms versus public health.  Some lawmakers were concerned that the bill would deprive unvaccinated kids of a constitutionally required education by barring them from schools.  And choosing to homeschool your children would not necessarily protect your children from the long arm of this law.  Some lawmakers said the way the bill is written, children who are homeschooled would be barred from group learning with other homeschooling families.
     It appears to me that this would be government "strong-arm" tactics.  By refusing to educate non-vaccinated children in the public schools, and by putting roadblocks in the way of home-schooled kids, the government is attempting to force it's own medical mandate on its citizens.  Not only is this a personal choice issue, but many parents are skeptical of the added chemicals in vaccines.  They simply do not trust across-the-board vaccinations because the government "says so".
     Just in case the "scare tactics" of the measles outbreak don't work, pro-vaccine advocates aren't above pitting parents against each other.  Children who cannot be immunized due to adverse reactions (those being treated for cancer, for instance) would be required to stay home for 21 days because another parent refused immunizations based on religious or anti-vaccine positions.  Do you see how it works?  Those who choose not to vaccinate (for whatever reason) are seen as the villains -- if everyone would just vaccinate their kids, then the state wouldn't have to quarantine anyone.
     So, here's how that thinking goes ... I don't really care or worry about what might be in those vaccines.  I think you should vaccinate your kids so it doesn't interfere with my child's education.  We should just all blindly follow what the state tells us.
     But parents who are skeptical of vaccines have usually done their homework.  It is not a knee-jerk reaction and they are well-schooled in the possible reactions that come with chemicals and multiple vaccinations.  They should not be forced to comply with government edicts regarding the health of their children.  As one mother stated, “I would leave the state” if the bill passes. “This is about informed consent. We should be able to make our own decisions.”  (Of course, a few hundred thousand unvaccinated immigrant children in your state should help you make that decision, right?}
     So we should all be watching California very carefully.  Those of us born with the "suspicious gene" will find it ironic that due to an inflated sense of alarm over a few cases of the measles last December, we now find, just a few months later, a bill before the California legislature that seeks to make vaccinations by the State mandatory.  If they are able to get this legislation passed, then it will become precedence for amendments to the law in the other 49 states.
    I do not think parents are being over-paranoid to mistrust vaccinations.  When one considers the government's interest in genetic engineering, and private pharmaceutical companies being funded to research nanobot medicine -- not to mention technological advances towards transhumanism -- one would be foolish to indiscriminately vaccinate your child.  As the California mother said, it is about informed consent ... the American people should become knowledgable on this subject, and they should demand their right to decide for themselves and their children.  Stay vigilant!

Addendum:  Public schools in Spokane, Washington are invoking a law that requires proof of vaccination before students are allowed to remain in the classroom.  Those who oppose the compulsory vaccinations must provide a signed waiver from a health care professional or be able to prove that they challenge it on religious grounds.  Coming soon to a school near you!

Revelation 18:23   "... and all nations were deceived by your sorcery."  [ The root Greek word for "sorcery" is actually pharmakeia (to administer drugs)].

The Best Defense Of the 2nd Amendment I've Ever Heard!

     I suppose the Sandy Hook tragedy will forever be used by the gun control crowd to further their talking points.  It's a conveniently emotional topic in which to rally support for more gun regulation and eventual transformation of the Second Amendment.  So, I wasn't surprised to hear it brought up again in an attempt to portray conservative Presidential candidates as the heartless gun nuts that the Opposition would like us all to believe they are.  But here is how you handle that trap ...
     Question:  In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, a statistic surfaced putting support for background checks at 90%.  Did you go against the want of the nation, with your vote against Manchin-Toomey [which would have required background checks on all commercial sales of guns]?  And also, how does public opinion shape your response to national problems?
     Candidate's Response:  You know there's an old line ... there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.  You're right, that was a poll that was bandied around a lot, but you can find a lot of results in a poll, depending on how you frame the question.
     As you and I both know, we have a system of background checks in place right now.  When either of us goes to a federally licensed firearms dealer, there's a background check that is put in place.  What Manchin-Toomey was trying to do was extend that to every private sale between two individuals... to put the federal government [in the middle], (not in terms of having a system of background checks for federally licensed dealers) ... but for you and me, for two guys in a duck blind selling their shotguns, one to the other.  And the federal government doesn't have any business there.
     And if you ask the American people that, they don't want the federal government getting in between private consensual sales between individual citizens.
     And I would note ... when you asked about the role of public opinion polls ... when it comes to Constitutional rights, what matters is what the Bill of Rights says.  It doesn't matter what might be popular at the moment.  We've seen regimes across the face of the earth come and take away peoples guns; strip away their right to defend themselves.  And sometimes it's been very popular, and yet it is an inevitable prelude to tyranny.
     Our country was founded on a radical proposition, which is that our rights don't come from government.  They come from God.  And the purpose of the Constitution .... Thomas Jefferson said the Constitution serves as chains to bind the mischief of government.  And the entire reason for the Second Amendment is not for hunting; it's not for target shooting -- those are both wonderful; it's great to go with your family and your kids to go hunting or skeet shooting -- but that is not what the Second Amendment is for.  The Second Amendment is there so you and I can protect our homes, our families, our children, and our lives.  It's also there as a fundamental check on government tyranny.  And that ultimately is not subject to public opinion polls.  It's subject to the expressed protection of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution.
     My response:  Those who would seek to bow to public opinion as the ultimate decision-maker would lead us down that slippery path to tyranny.  Are they that naive?  Can they not look at history and see how easily the masses have been manipulated and have played right into their tyrant's hand?  All one has to do is read a concise history of how the Nazi Party used gun control to "cleanse" and "control"; first, their own nation, and then the nations they proceeded to invade and conquer.
     Did you know that in 1941, just days before the Pearl Harbor attack, Congress reaffirmed Second Amendment rights and prohibited gun registration?  Look how easily public opinion has been swayed in just 74 years!  So do you really want some public opinion polls to determine your freedoms and the right to protect yourself, home, and country?  Due to the proclivity of sheep to be easily led to the slaughter, how could you trust those opinions?  Based on the near ignorance of important issues by the populace in this country, public opinion polls is a ridiculous way to govern!  The Constitution is the best -- and only -- method by which we can maintain our freedoms.  The freedoms that were given to us by God should not be subject to the whims and impulses of the guileless masses.

By the way, that educated response to the Second Amendment ambush was Senator Ted Cruz.  You can hear his response first-hand by clicking on this link.

1 Peter 2:16   "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."