Martyrs For Christ = Defeat For Satan

     I will be completely honest.  I pray for the strength to stand in opposition to Satan.  I do not want to love this life or this host body so much that I am willing to choose either over my testimony for Christ.  I'm sure every Christian in this country put themselves in the place of those faithful souls in Oregon who did not deny their Savior in favor of saving themselves.  I ask myself, "Could I have proclaimed my allegiance to Him when faced with certain death"?  Could you?

     And would I have had the courage to exercise my newfound discernment regarding spiritual warfare, and demanded, "In the Name of Jesus, [that the shooter] put down the gun and leave this room!"  Do I have the faith that I so boldly proclaim; and do I wholeheartedly believe in the Authority of Christ and the Power of the Holy Spirit to defeat such evil actions of God's enemy?  I do not want to be an empty vessel of false bravado.  I want my faith to be REAL and an AUTHENTIC weapon against the threats of the devil!
     But when I look in the mirror, is my profession of faith as sincere and genuine as that of the saints in the Middle East who are being martyred for refusing to convert to Islam?  Their stories are almost too difficult to read.  We hear of torture and beheadings and rapes and crucifixions... all because they are Christians who will not deny their faith.  The brutality seems unreal to our Western minds; as if we are reading some ancient text of uncivilized barbarians.  Yet, we must not turn away or refuse to acknowledge that 21st Century Christians are facing such opposition from Satan and his earthly soldiers.  We must prepare ourselves to share our "testimony" in our hour of need, because I fear it is coming faster than we think.
     We must not take lightly that the Oregon shooter was obsessed with Satan; or that he wished to "serve the darkness"; or that he stated that he "would be welcomed in hell and embraced by the devil."  He is no different than satan's workers in Syria who recently cut off the fingertips of a boy and severely beat him, telling his father they would stop the torture only if he, the father, returned to Islam."  The father was a ministry leader who had planted nine churches near their Syrian village, and when he refused, militants also tortured and beat him, and two other ministry workers. The three men and the boy then met their deaths in crucifixion.
    But their martyrdom is not an isolated case.  There are reports that nearly 11,000 people have been executed since June 2014.  And their stories are far too common ... villagers praying in the name of Jesus; others praying the Lord’s Prayer; others lifting their heads to commend their spirits to Jesus.  Many of the women are sold into sex slave markets, while the men are slaughtered in front of their families.  I know that sounds too diabolical to happen on our soil, but before last week could you have imagined a demon-filled man asking students in a classroom if they were Christian before shooting them in the head?
     I am not writing this blog post to sensationalize these atrocities. It is essential that we realize that Christianity is very near to being wiped out in Syria, and we must not be so naive as to think that satan will be satisfied with that single accomplishment.  He has many instruments at his disposal. Those who adhere to radical Islam and Shariah law are threatening not only the Middle East, but Europe, and our own country.   But he has also managed to infiltrate the minds of delusional people through drugs, music, and the occult.  And sadly, our culture chooses to remove the Ten Commandments from the public square, while allowing Satanic Temples equal access to "believers".
     So, while I am warning you that persecution is on the rise, and very likely coming to a neighborhood near you -- and sooner than you'd like to admit -- we are not to cower in a corner and hope it passes by us.   We have examples before us; not only the martyrs of the Bible, but modern-day saints who suffered so that they might glorify the name of Jesus.  There is power in their personal sacrifice and testimony ... Power to testify to the grace of God; the power of Christ that is made perfect in our weakness; and the power of Christ's blood that was shed for us that we, too, might rise again --- all signifying utter and complete and absolute defeat for Satan!
     Never for a moment think that he is winning.  We must look upon all opposition as an opportunity to stand and to glorify our Lord.  Satan may come to steal, kill, and destroy, but Christ has come to give us eternal life and it is abundantly superior to anything that satan offers.  Now is the time for us to build a strong foundation of faith on which to stand in our hour of trial, knowing that we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us.  I have a feeling that when the moment comes, He will be holding our mortal bodies up and we will feel His arms around us, as our spirit returns Home.  That is not a day to fear.  Rather, we are to strain forward for what lies ahead, pressing towards our goal of eternal life with our Savior.  If martyrdom is the path I am to take, let me approach it with utter devotion to Christ and with the knowledge that Satan has met defeat.

Acts 7:55, 59:      But he [Stephen], being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God .... And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 
   

20th Century Genocide and Gun Control

     Once again, Americans who support our Second Amendment rights are getting a little nervous over recent comments by the President after the Oregon college murders.  Just what did he mean when he said that "other countries [like Great Britain and Australia] being able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings."  I guess the "almost" was quite appropriate since one day after the Oregon shooting, an alleged 15-year-old gunman in Australia, described as “a radicalized youth of Middle Eastern decent,” shot and killed a New South Wales police civilian.  Once again, we see that strict gun control laws will never eliminate all gun deaths.
     But that wasn't the only warning we're receiving.  At a press briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest confirmed that President Obama is preparing a series of executive actions on gun control to match the stronger tone and passion of his post-Oregon news conference.  Earnest emphasized that gun control measures are a "high priority" for the White House, and “I can tell you that they’re not stumped, they’re continuing to review the law that’s on the books and continuing to consult with legal authorities, but also others, who may have ideas about what steps that can be taken to keep guns out of the hands of criminals."
     But we all know what that means ... stricter measures and steps to keep guns out of the hands of all citizens.  Yet I cannot understand why it is so difficult for those citizens who applaud more gun control to see where it inevitably leads.  Without the ability to defend ourselves against terrorists, criminals, or an out-of-control government, we are all potential victims of not only chaos and death, but full-blown genocide.  In case you think that I'm blowing things way out of proportion, I'd like you to consider the facts as presented by an organization called Jews For the Preservation of Firearm Ownership (JPFO).  As perhaps the most well-known victims of gun control measures that resulted in genocide, I think they have a salient argument.
     Their message is simple: "Disarmed people are neither free nor safe - they become the criminals' prey and the tyrants' playthings." When the civilians are defenseless and their government goes bad, however, thousands and millions of innocent people die.  In other words, when political power becomes too focused on control, the individual rights of a nation's citizens are endangered.  For that power to ultimately control the citizenry, the people must be disarmed.  To prove that point, here is a quick history lesson...

      •  From 1915-1917, the Ottoman Empire killed approximately 1 to 1.5 million Armenians (mostly Christians).  To accomplish this genocide Turkey enacted laws that required permits for gun ownership, which resulted in a Government list of owners, and an eventual ban on possessing firearms.
     •  From 1929-1945, the Soviet Union killed 20 million people; among them political opponents and whole farming communities.  Their gun laws included licensing of owners, a ban on possession, and severe penalties for disobeying gun laws.
     •  From 1933-1945, Nazi Germany killed political opponents, Jews, Gypsies, critics and those deemed "unsuitable" -- totaling nearly 20 million people.  Again, gun laws required registration and licensing; stricter handgun regulations; and finally, a ban on gun possession altogether.
     •  From 1927-1949, Nationalist China killed 10 million people, including political opponents and Army conscripts that defied them.  Their methods of gun control included a Government permit system and a ban on private ownership.
     •  From 1949-1976, Communist China was responsible for the deaths of 20-35 million people (the figure is hard to define due to the level of atrocities and inability to document missing persons -- they just simply disappeared).  Political opponents, enemies of the State, and complete rural populations were destroyed.  Red China instituted laws that resulted in prison or death to "counter-revolutionary criminals" and anyone resisting any government program.  There was also a death penalty for supplying guns to such "criminals".
     •  There was a purge in Guatemala from 1960-1981 of Mayan Indians and political enemies of the State.  Between 100-200,000 people were killed.  The government implemented a registration of guns and owners; high licensing fees for owning guns; a prohibition on carrying guns; a ban on guns and sharp tools; and ultimately, a confiscation of all guns.
     •  From 1971-1979 there were 300,000 people killed in Uganda -- mostly Christians and political enemies.  Through Firearms Ordinances and Acts, the government began a program to register all guns and owners; require licenses for transactions; issued warrantless searches; and you guessed it ... confiscated guns.
     •  From 1975-1979 the diabolical Khmer Rouge in Cambodia decimated 2,000,000 lives!  They wiped out educated people and their political enemies.  They accomplished this through requiring licenses for guns, owners, ammunition & transactions; requiring a photo ID with fingerprints on all citizens who owned guns; and requiring that licenses be inspected quarterly.
     •  And in 1994, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in Rwanda.  Owners of guns had to register their weapons and ammunition.  They needed to provide a justifiable reason for owning a gun.  Concealable guns were outlawed; and of course, eventually all guns were confiscated.
     This is not, by any means, the complete list of genocide during the 20th Century.  There have been 7-10 million Ukrainians killed, and let's not forget the million or more in Bosnia and Serbia throughout the 20th Century.  But I believe that this approximate number of 90 million people gives ample reason to be concerned when governments begin talking about limiting gun ownership or "executing" stricter laws regarding the purchase and manufacture of guns.
     It is irrefutable in the above statistics -- these totalitarian governments murdered their own citizens; far more people were killed than by wars or common criminals.  And how could this happen?  Because the people were disarmed and unable to protect themselves.  The history is there, and is hard to ignore.
     I want to be clear ... I am not prepared to say that this is what our own government has in mind.  But when coupled with the above historical facts; the rush to global "gun control policies" by the United Nations; the soaring crime rates in other countries, such as Britain, after gun prohibition (sorry, Piers Morgan, but it is true!); and the increase in racist and religious attacks on citizens around the world.... well, it just seems downright foolish to think that more gun laws are going to inhibit violence.
     Personal self-defense is every single person's right.  I believe it is a God-given right.  Yes, we are told, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all."  But, the Word also says there is a time to battle and defend yourself, a time to "Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior." (Joel 3:10)  Unfortunately, there is evil in this world, and we must be allowed to defend ourselves against it.  History has shown us that an unarmed citizenry is overrun by the evil, and restrictive gun laws were the overriding factor in Evil's victory.  I pray we do not become history's next victims.

Psalm 94:16    "Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers?"

 
   

When Morals Override Policy

     Let me give you a quote from our first President, George Washington.  It is a single sentence from his first Inaugural Address, given on April 30, 1789.  He said, "The foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable (unchanging) principles of private morality, and the preeminence (superiority) of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world."

SFC Charles Martland

     This quote is the basis on which I am declaring my support for Charles Martland. In case you do not know who he is, Sergeant 1st Class Charles Martland, is a member of the Green Beret Special Forces, who is being separated involuntarily from the U.S. Army for kicking and body slamming an Afghan police commander he describes as a “brutal child rapist.”
     According to Martland and other members of our U.S. forces, the apparent culture of [sexual] abuse has caused the Afghan population to view the Afghan Local Police (ALP) and the U.S. soldiers who back and train them, as worse than the Taliban – offering serious blowback to the already challenged U.S. mission in Afghanistan.
     According to an article in The New York Times, rampant sexual abuse of children by Afghan officers — otherwise known as “bacha bazi” or “boy play” — isn’t new. While some U.S. soldiers and Marines have specifically been told not to intervene, they have chosen to do so anyway in the face of potential disciplinary action.  Hence, we have the story of SFC Martland and former Captain Daniel Quinn, who were disciplined by the Army after they beat a powerful local police official who they concluded had been raping a small boy.  Such discipline is allegedly part of the unspoken requirement from the Chain of Command to ignore such activities among the local Afghan allies; you know .... "just look the other way because it’s their culture.”
     But let me quote SFC Martland's side of the story, and then you tell me if you could turn a blind eye and ear to such immoral acts.  Quinn and Martland were told by a young Afghan boy and his mother, through an Afghan interpreter, that the boy had been tied to a post at the home of Afghan Local Police commander Abdul Rahman and raped repeatedly for up to two weeks. When his mother tried to stop the attacks, they told the soldiers, Rahman’s brother beat her. Quinn says he verified the story with other ALP commanders from neighboring villages. Then they invited Rahman to the camp to discuss the allegations.
     “After the child rapist laughed it off and referenced that it was only a boy, Captain Quinn picked him up and threw him,” Martland writes. Martland then proceeded to “body slam him multiple times,” kick him in the rib cage, and put his foot on his neck. “I continued to body slam him and throw him for fifty meters until he was outside the camp,” Martland writes. “He was never knocked out, and he ran away from our camp.” The incident lasted no more than five minutes, he says.
     Quinn told CNN that they took the action they took because otherwise nothing would be done by the Army or local authorities. “The reason we weren’t able to step in with these local rape cases was we didn’t want to undermine the authority of the local government,” he said. “We were trying to build up the local government. Us acting after the local government fails to can certainly undermine their credibility.... Even when we patiently explained how serious the charge was, he kept laughing. As a man, as a father of a young boy myself at the time, I felt obliged to step in to prevent further repeat occurrences.”  And you must understand that these rapes are oftentimes occurring at U.S. military installations, making the locals look upon our troops as complicit.  It is not exactly the best way to develop an atmosphere of trust among the Afghani people.
     But it is the words of Marine Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. in that New York Times article that are especially haunting.  Before he was gunned down in Helmland Province in 2012 by a 17-year-old Afghan ‘tea boy’ for a local police chief, Buckley told his father that at night he could hear Afghan officers sexually abusing young boys, but there was nothing he could do about it.  "At night we can hear them screaming... it made me sick to my stomach."
     Naturally, officials at the Pentagon deny that there are explicit orders to ignore the rape of children.  But they will also admit that policing the local population is not "the priority of their mission".  But I ask you, what are our soldiers expected to do?  In a written statement requested by House Armed Services Committee member, Representative Duncan Hunter, Martland stated, "While I understand that a military lawyer can say that I was legally wrong, we felt a moral obligation to act."
     And should that not be this man's primary duty?  A military without the "private morality" that this nation's first Commander-in-Chief extolled will become nothing less than a cold, heartless machine designed to wage war.  Obviously, by ignoring the abuse of these Afghan boys, we were not commanding the respect of the Afghan people --- and our soldiers could not respect themselves.
     I applaud the courage and the boldness of Sergeant 1st Class Charles Martland and Captain Daniel Quinn.  While the official military position is that they took the law into their own hands in the form of vigilantism, I prefer to look upon their actions as those of moral, righteous men.  The words of Anglo-Irish statesman and political theorist Edmund Burke have never been more appropriate ... "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."  Thank God that there are men like Martland and Quinn who exemplify this truth.

3 John 1:11    "Beloved, do not imitate evil but imitate good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God."

John 1:5

The light shines in the darkness, 

and the darkness has not overcome it.

    I chose this Scripture today after having a long and detailed discussion with a Godly woman that I admire and trust.  She initially approached me after a Bible study I attended in which we are studying spiritual warfare.  The subject of deliverance has occasionally permeated our discussion group and several women had shared overcoming spiritual and demonic oppression through biblical deliverance sessions, and she wanted to know my opinion and about my experience in this sphere. 

     Our discussion covered a wide range of topics... from our personal testimonies; my experience with deliverance; to our shared frustration with what she called "Churchiology" and the limitations of denominational doctrine and religiosity; to our different opinions on the contributions of the heroes of the Reformation (she is a staunch Calvinist; I find such man-made doctrine to be stifling).  But after digesting our nearly four-hour conversation, I am left a little confused about one of the areas we covered.

     First let me say, that the bolder I get about discussing spiritual warfare and the ability of Satan and his demons to afflict the minds, emotions, will, and flesh of Christians, the more astonished I am at the response I get.  Most Christians have had it drummed into their heads that "Christians cannot be __________ by a demon."  

     So how did you fill in that blank?  Did you say "afflicted" or "oppressed"; what about "possessed"?  Let me make my position perfectly clear.  I believe that the spirit of a saved Christian cannot be possessed by a demon.  When you receive salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, then "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).  Our spirit resides with Jesus and we cannot be harmed by Satan.  However, while on earth, we still have a soul, which is our flesh, mind, emotions and will.  These areas of our life can be tormented and afflicted and oppressed by Satan and his demons.  That's why we are warned that Satan "prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8), and that he comes like "a thief to steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10).

     So, back to what I started to say ... the bolder I get about proclaiming these truths, the more I hear from Christians who have experienced demonic attacks ... real physical attacks (a heavy presence on their chests keeping them down) or severe attacks of anxiety or depression; even to the point of hearing thoughts in their heads telling them that God's Word is a lie.  My friend was no exception.  She had suffered several times in her life as a Christian from what she knew were attacks from the dark side.  So let me just say that I have been astonished at the number of Christians who have come out of the shadows, so to speak and -- perhaps for the first time -- dared to speak up about their spiritual battles. 

     YET, (and this is what continues to amaze me) they still cannot see the merits of engaging in spiritual warfare, claiming their authority in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, and defeating those entities that are crippling their Christian walk.  I spent nearly four hours in deep discourse on our Christian sanctification and the process of living in victory in Christ; hearing about her personal struggles against the forces of Satan, and yet she insisted that we must not engage the darkness ... she insisted that we defeat the darkness by turning on the Light [that is Jesus].  Her premise (if my assumption is correct) rested on our need to persevere and endure until God relieves or delivers us from the darkness; that in this process (however long it takes) and by fervent prayer, He will lift us up out of our season of torment into the Light, and our relationship with Him is strengthened.

     I can agree with her on one fundamental principle ... it is not by our power or authority that we are delivered, but Christ's!  But I cannot agree that we are to take no action other than to pray and persevere; to wait on the Lord to deliver us.  I do not believe that we are to be passive Christians when attacked.  Christ instructed His Apostles and 70 other faceless, nameless Disciples to go out and in HIS NAME to preach the Gospel, cast out demons and heal the sick.  They were men, just like you and me, and He gave them the Authority and Power to defeat the Enemy's attacks.  

     Obviously, by their own admission, Christians are still under demonic attack.  Why are we not implementing the strategy given to us directly by Jesus?  He did not tell the Apostles and Disciples to pray away the demons; or to just hunker down and persevere and after a season, He would take away the torment.  He showed them, through His own actions, how to fight the spiritual war and then sent them out to do it!  Yes, He told them that sometimes they needed to accompany their spiritual strategy with prayer and fasting, but I do not believe He ever intended us to be silent in our suffering.  

     If I look at only my own small sphere of believing friends, the number of people who confess to demonic attacks has been astounding!  So what must the number be among Christians nationwide?  But if none of them know how to actively fight the Enemy in the name of Jesus, then no wonder the Church is so ineffective in living victorious lives or being able to witness to unbelievers and bring them into the Light of Jesus's saving grace!  Why would any suffering unbeliever turn to the Church for deliverance and freedom from satan's demonic attacks?  We can't even deliver ourselves!

     And in case you haven't noticed, the darkness is growing across our land.  But, at the same time, a remnant of God's chosen are discovering that through Jesus's Name, we have power and authority to battle the Enemy.  We are actively in the fight and reclaiming territory.  The darkness is not only being engaged in the spiritual realms, but it is being turned back to let the Light shine into lives that were once defeated and lost.  When we can show unbelievers the authority and power of Christ to fight and defeat their enemies, they are more open to the Light of the Gospel message.  Go back and read the Scriptures ... isn't that exactly what Jesus was doing?  

When Will We Face The Truth?

     First of all, let me say, that I grieve over the deaths of the students who were tragically killed on that college campus in Oregon.  No loss of life is ever justified in this manner, and we are just at the beginning of all the theories, conjectures, speculations and accusations.  The internet is abuzz with "information" on the shooter.  What is the real truth, and will we ever know all the facts surrounding the perpetrator, or why he did what he did.  Was it his seeming isolation coupled with his alleged involvement with magick and the occult?  Was it his purported interest in paramilitary groups like the IRA or ISIS?  Was he really a Christian-hater and/or a proponent of the Black Lives Matter group?  Or just like all the latest murderers who use a gun as their weapon, are we simply willing to lay his actions at the feet of "mental illness"?  I'm sorry, but all of these questions and suppositions just aren't lining up to give us a clear picture of who this killer was.
     Yet instead of trying to solve the mystery of how all these similar shootings committed by disgruntled, alienated malcontents are connected, we get another lecture chastising the American people and Congress for not pursuing stricter gun control laws.  Frankly, I am tired of this argument, and exhausted by the political posturing.  Guns, in this case (and the other mass shootings), are the choice of weapon that evil uses to create mayhem, chaos, and death.  In fact, the definition of a weapon is "a thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage; [and in this instance] a means of gaining an advantage in a conflict."  Why can't we ever get beyond the instrument of violence to focus on the slayer?
     And I'm not talking about the particular shooter or gunmen; I'm talking about the murderer who "has been since the beginning" (John 8:44), and who is behind every deluded person who picks up a gun thinking it will settle a score, give him notoriety, eliminate his enemies, or just because he hears "the voices in his head."  This murderer is the devil, and he is actually a thief ... the one who robs the shooter of the truth -- which is that the devil/murderer has only one objective: to steal, kill, and destroy humans.  And the shooter is simply his instrument.  The truth is that the shooter's murderous rampage will not silence his demons nor fill the emptiness inside.  It only serves to feed the devil's lust for power and his insatiable appetite to devour.
      As I have pointed out time and again, we must decide to quit looking at surface issues as a way of explaining away the growing evil that is coming upon the earth.  None of the things that the media or pop psychologists wish to suggest as the reasons why mass shootings are occurring is the root of this epidemic.  Yes, being a loner; social media; anger; feeling marginalized -- these are all elements that feed into a profile of a mass shooter.  But these men have listened to the lies of the Tempter; lies that suggest the world will appreciate their violent deeds and their names will be celebrated.
    The very fact that this shooter asked his victims to state whether they identified as Christians or not leaves no doubt in my mind that the devil is ramping up his agenda.  He is no longer being subtle or hiding his motives.  The shooter -- the devil's instrument of murder -- targeted, as his victims, those who believe in Jesus Christ.  They were shot point-blank in the head.  Those who didn't answer or said, "No" were shot in the leg.  What could be more apparent?  God's enemy destroys those who are loyal to Him.  Yet, that narrative is already beginning to fade from the media reports -- if it has been mentioned at all!  We can't have that piece of the puzzle out there front and center, now can we?  But a note left behind by the shooter clearly states his purpose: he would be "welcomed in Hell and embraced by the devil."  I hope he is enjoying his eternal damnation.
    In the meantime the news media and politicians will spend the next days, weeks, and months discussing how and why [or why not] stricter gun laws, or more regulations regarding the mentally ill will eliminate the next mass shooter.  But this should be a big warning flag for those of us who recognize Jesus as our Savior; we should be spiritually discerning that the devil is getting bolder and more confident in his attacks.  We should be spiritually preparing to resist the coming attacks, and above all else, be ready to declare our allegiance to God --- even unto death.  What courage it took for that second, third, fourth ... ninth student to identify themselves as belonging to Christ; to stand for Him in what was a certain and unavoidable death at the hands of the devil's proxy.  If there is any comfort at all in this tragedy, it is the steadfastness of faith displayed by these saints.  When my time comes, may I be as bold and unflinching as they.

1 John 3:8    "He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil."
   

The World On Edge

     It took only a matter of hours after his speech at the United Nations for Russian President Vladimir Putin to act.  It was a speech that argued that "certain" nations had circumvented the U.N. charter and acted selfishly, resulting in a power vacuum in the Middle East that has been filled by Islamic terrorists.  It was a speech that charged "it is hypocritical and irresponsible to make loud declarations about the threat of international terrorism while turning a blind eye to the channels of financing and supporting terrorists, including the process of trafficking and illicit trade in oil and arms."  He went on to say, "It would be equally irresponsible to try to manipulate extremist groups and place them at one's service in order to achieve one's own political goals in the hope of later dealing with them or, in other words, liquidating them."
     To sum up his speech, it was one that seemed to indicate not only veiled accusations against the U.S., but also proposed that the UN had out-lived its original purpose, and nations must come together and build a coalition against global terrorism.  But he also stressed that state sovereignty must be recognized, and seemed to indicate that where this sovereignty came into conflict with the UN charter, that a nation's autonomy and dominion ruled.
   

     So, as I said at the beginning of this blog post, it took a very short time for him to act on the latter proposition.  On Wednesday, Russia, without U.N. authorization, began airstrikes in Syria, and have since conscripted a reported 150,000 troops to begin a ground offensive.  Depending on whether you listen to U.S. spokesmen, or Russian, these attacks are designed to prolong the sectarian strife in the Middle East, or to begin a campaign for wiping out ISIS, which Russia says other world leaders have let go far too long.
     I certainly cannot offer an informed analysis on what is really behind the actions of global powers.  Since when has any government been truthful to its people during wartime?  All I know is that my Biblical worldview is becoming clearer.   In the battle of Ezekiel 38-39, the armies come primarily from the north and involve only a few nations of the earth.  I am not ready to declare that this is what we are seeing at the moment, but it certainly feels like we are headed in that direction.  Russia and Iran are definitely combining their efforts, supposedly to join forces to fight ISIS.  But has anyone given any thought to how this might eventually effect Israel?
     We must not forget the following statements from the leading military and religious leaders of Iran...  the major general of Iran’s army proclaimed this, "We will annihilate Israel for sure. We are glad that we are in the forefront of executing the supreme leader’s order to destroy Israel." And as for the Supreme Ayatollah, himself—a few days after the US/Iran nuclear deal was announced, he released his latest book.  It is a 400-page creed planning to destroy the state of Israel.  Last month, Khomeini once again made the genocidal intentions clear before Iran’s top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts.  He spoke about Israel—home to over 6 million Jews. He pledged, "There will be no Israel in 25 years."
     Therefore, I submit to you the words of Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as he spoke before the United Nations General Assembly.  Netanyahu said, “Ladies and gentlemen, I have long said that the greatest danger facing our world is the coupling of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. I am gravely concerned that the nuclear deal with Iran will prove to be the marriage certificate of that holy union. I know that well-intentioned people sincerely believe that this is the best way to block Iran’s path to the bomb, but one of history’s most important, yet least learned lessons is this, the best intentions don’t prevent the worst outcomes. The vast majority of Israelis believe that this nuclear deal with Iran is a very bad deal. What makes matters even worse is that we see a world celebrating this bad deal ... Seventy years after the murder of 6 million Jews, Iran’s rulers promised to destroy my country, murder my people, and the response from this body, the response from nearly every one of the governments represented here has been absolutely nothing. Utter silence. Deafening silence.”
     Then Netanyahu made his point in a most dramatic way --- he stood silent for almost a minute.  And then he continued, “Ladies and gentlemen, it is not easy to oppose something that is embraced by the greatest powers in the world.  Believe me, it would be far easier to remain silent. But throughout our history, the Jewish people have learned the heavy price of silence. And as the Prime Minister of the Jewish state—as someone who knows that history, I refuse to be silent. I’ll say it again—the days when the Jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over...  For in every generation, there were those who rose up to destroy our people. In antiquity we faced destruction from the ancient empires of Babylon and Rome, and in the Middle Ages we faced inquisition and expulsion, and in modern times we faced the Holocaust, and yet the Jewish people have persevered, and now another regime has surfaced swearing to destroy Israel. That the regime would be wise to consider this, I stand here today representing Israel, a country 67 years young, but the nation state of the people nearly 4,000 years old. Yet, the empires of Babylon and Rome are not represented in this hall of nations, and neither is the thousand year Reich, those seemingly invisible empires are long gone, but Israel lives. The people of Israel live.”
     So, I ask you, what is the significance of Russia and Iran uniting to fight in Syria?  After all, these very nations are the ancient nations of Old Testament prophecies.  Gog, Magog (Russia), Persia (Iran) and the city of Damascus in Syria all play important parts in End Times eschatology.  And we must not ignore that Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and China are players to be considered, too.  So, has God begun to implement His judgment upon the earth?  Are these the first stirrings of the Tribulation?  No one can say.  But this much I do know ... if it is the beginning, it is all for God's glory and to call His nation Israel back to Him.  Just like America, the people of Israel [largely] do not recognize or worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The Talmud and Kabbalah are methods, Rabbinic teachings, and doctrines that originated in Judaism but often distort God's original Word, just as the Emerging Church and New Age religion have twisted the Church.
     We must not be surprised if war is a Divine factor in their awakening and redemption.  Whether it happens tomorrow, next week, next month, or several years from now, He will save His remnant ... He always has.  May that day come soon.

Isaiah 37:29    "Because you rage against Me and because your insolence has reached My ears, I will put my hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth, and I will make you return by the way you came."
   

Is There A Connection Between Abortion and Satanism?

     This week the national spotlight is on the Congressional hearings on Planned Parenthood and their alleged negotiations to sell baby body parts to medical researchers.  By now, you have at least heard about (if not seen) the videos produced by the Center for Medical Progress.  They are disgusting and show not only the greed of the abortion industry, but the blatant disregard for the life of an unborn fetus.
     As Breitbart.com reported, Congressional Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz opened the hearings by explaining that Planned Parenthood is a rich and wasteful organization of limited value to the women it serves, and that it wastes American tax dollars. He said they make $1.3 billion a year in revenue, spent $5 million a year on travel, pay their top executives lavishly — $600,000 for CEO Cecile Richards alone — and throw fancy parties, one of them called “Champagne Chocolate”.
     But the main thrust of Congress's questioning was something I would also like to know ... why should the American taxpayer fund an organization that had a $127 million profit last year?  Take away whether you agree with a woman's right to an abortion, or whether you think it is immoral or not; and it then becomes a question of pure economics.  And they obviously don't need the funding.  
     But there is something else we need to consider about Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics.  We need to go beyond the stall tactics of Ms. Richards; her misrepresentation of PP's revenues from abortions; the ridiculous claims of sexism and a "war on women" made against Representative Chaffetz; and finally, the most absurd of all: that the videos were a result of false editing by abortion "extremists".  There is a far more sinister and evil underbelly that exists.  It is almost incomprehensible, but those with discerning minds will be able to detect the fingerprints of satan.

     If you are old enough to remember the movie "Rosemary's Baby", then you have a glimpse of what I am about to share.  But before I give you some of the details of what I have found, I must tell you that I at first resisted the story I'm about to tell you; it was just so fantastical that I could not comprehend such evil.  But the story kept coming back into focus, and being confirmed by sources that I considered credible.  I finally decided that perhaps this was the final piece of evidence that would convict the American public that abortion is ultimately the child sacrifice of this century, and something that God has hated since His chosen people followed the Ammonite practice of child sacrifice to their false god Molech.  And so, I bring you the testimony of Zachary King, an imposing figure, and an ex-Satanist and former High Wizard of a satanic coven.
     His testimony is riveting ... and chilling.  It can be summed up in this short summary:  Zachary  was an average boy from an American neighborhood who grew up in a Baptist home. He began practicing magick at 10, joined a satanic coven at 13, and had broken all 10 Commandments by the time he was 15 years old. From his teen years to adulthood he worked his way up to High Wizard in the coven and actively pushed satan’s agenda including ritualistic abortions.
     Abortions as a ritual for satan?  What does that mean?!?  And how do you get from playing games of magick to killing babies for satan?  (NOTE:  "Magic" is what a magician does on stage; slight of hand and parlor tricks.  "Magick" is a term that designates witchery, wizardry, and black magic.) As Zachary tells it, it was a natural progression ... from childhood games like "Bloody Mary" (chanting while looking into a bathroom mirror, which summoned a demon); to Dungeons and Dragons; to experimenting with casting real spells through magick; to an introduction to a coven, and an eventual rise to the top spot of High Wizard.
     “[It all started when] I turned 14, and they told me there was going to be a sex party in someone’s house and all the males in the coven were going to sleep with this woman,” recalls King, now 47 and a pro-life activist living in Florida.  Too young to understand what "abortion" meant, he asked an older member of the coven, "What is an abortion?"  The answer: "“He said ‘we say a spell and there is a baby in its mother’s womb and we kill it.’”
     Zachary might have been young, but he was old enough to wonder if that was legal or not.  The answer was short and to the point:  "As long as it's inside the woman, it's legal."  That was the beginning of a dark road within the occult that would lead to Zachary overseeing more than 140 "ritualistic abortions".
     “Knowing a spell could kill someone inside a woman, and that’s legal, and five minutes later it’s illegal, I said, ‘This is awesome. I can do this all day long.’ You step through this door and you can kill, and you step through this other door and you go to prison. That in itself should tell you how satanic it is,” King said. “The coven leader called it a baby ... not a lump of cells ... and he said, ‘You kill it.’ They didn’t call it a lump of cells.”
     But here's where King's story becomes pure evil.  He said he performed many of the sacrificial abortion rituals at the clinics of “a large abortion provider,” but he would not identify the provider for fear of lawsuits.  King said he was hired to be there, casting his spells, by the abortionists.  “They have hired you to perform a satanic spell and, in order for that to happen, your hands have to get bloody.”
     Now rip your mind away from the horror of that statement and contemplate just how satan is counterfeiting God's blood sacrifice.  From the Garden of Eden (where animals were slain for skins to cover Adam and Eve's nakedness and sin); to the animal sacrifices in the Temple; to Christ's death on the Cross, God has demanded a blood sacrifice for the atonement of sin.  But here is satan demanding a blood sacrifice for his own glorification!  It is the blood that is at the center of this satanic ritual.
     “In satanism, killing something, or the death of something, is the most effective way of getting your spell accomplished,” Zachary said. “As far as trying to get satan’s approval, to give you something that you want, killing something is the best way to go. Killing something is the ultimate offering to Satan, and if you can kill an unborn, that is his ultimate goal.”  I can't help but wonder if abortion is some sort of payback, or revenge killing proposed by satan because he was unable to stop the birth of Jesus, whom he knows will crush his head.  (If he couldn't stop Jesus's birth, then he will see that millions of other babies are destroyed).
     But here's the truly wicked dynamic of this ritual ... He said the women whose abortions he attended would get pregnant with the intent of killing their unborn baby as a sacrifice to Satan.  “So the women knew why I was there,” King said. “They know there’s a satanic ritual going on."
    Zachary King's life story took a different turn in 2008, when he says he was miraculously rescued from satanism and has since become a warrior for Jesus Christ.  I have no reason to doubt his conversion or his testimony of his past life.  For none other than Alveda King, a pro-life activist with Priests for Life, and the niece of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said she believes King’s story, because she’s heard others like it over the years.  Still, she has no idea how prevalent such practices may be.
     But Zachary King's testimony is not the only one I came across.  In the same article on World Net Daily, it was mentioned that Life Site News, a pro-life website, published a 2010 profile of Abigail Seidman, who from the age of 10 was working in an abortion clinic managed by her mother, a nurse.  Seidman told Life Site her mother’s descent into the abortion culture was not motivated by the usual talking points – to save women from dangerous back-alley abortions, or to “help” women in difficult situations, or even for the money. It was a religion – literally.
      Seidman described the abortion clinic where her mother worked as “pervaded with occult imagery and practices.” The employees considered abortion “a form of sacrifice,” and would perform the procedure as a sort of ritual. They worshiped pagan deities embodying death, which is why Seidman thinks it is incumbent upon Pro-Life activists to know what they are truly fighting.
     The occult is at the root of the abortion industry, and "The occult believers are the ‘core’ of the pro-abortion movement, just as the born-again Christians are the ‘core’ of the pro-life movement...  I see no harm in striking at its heart, and informing ‘pro-choice’ people (particularly the well-meaning but misguided Christians) of who and what they are truly associating themselves with."
    As proof of the satanic overtones to pro-abortion protests, consider the 2013 protests at the Capitol building in Austin, Texas.  A video of a pro-life advocate speaking reveals that at the 5 minute 15 second mark, you can hear pro-abortion activists clearly chanting, "Hail, Satan".   And then you have Mark Crutcher, founder of Life Dynamics, a pro-life advocacy group based in Denton, Texas, who said he has been aware "since day one" that there is a darker spiritual side to the abortion industry that goes unseen.  "We've interviewed a few people here. It was about 1992 or 93, and we had a girl who came from Missouri and she claimed to be involved in the same sort of thing (that Zachary King talks about)," he said. "Women getting pregnant with the intent to kill their babies and women being told they could make themselves holy by offering up their baby as a sacrifice."
     This woman described situations where they would extract babies and do spells and satanic rituals.
The woman also told Crutcher that one of the things they tell women in the counseling sessions is, "You make your baby holy like Jesus, because he shed his blood for you to make your life better, and your baby can shed his blood for you, too."  More of the counterfeit blood atonement!
     The WND article is a litany of some of the most bizarre and evil rituals and sacraments to satan that I have ever read.  It's hard to imagine that women could be tempted to be involved in such savage sacrifices of their own children, or could become so deceived and separated from God.  But those, like Zachary King, who have come out of the occult and into the Light that is Jesus Christ, have a warning for us.
     Just as the abortion and homosexuality agendas have become incrementally acceptable in our society, so will satanism ... if we don't shout it from the rooftops!  Consider King's reasoning when he says, "At Yale last year, we had an attempted black mass. Then in Oklahoma we had an actual black mass... Now they're talking about establishing actual satanic churches out in the open... Everything satanic is coming out in the open, they're not denying it anymore. They're not hiding it in the basement and out in the woods anymore," King said. "It's just out in the open like everything else."
     And if you doubt that it is as pervasive as King alleges, or that satanism is a vital and growing religion, or that when we fight against abortion providers such as Planned Parenthood, we are fighting a spiritual war, just listen to what Father Pavone of Priests for Life says:  "Abortion has never been merely, or even primarily, a political issue. It is a false religion," he writes. "When pro-life Christians, for example, pray in front of an abortion mill, it is not simply a matter of pro-life people opposing false medicine. It is the True Church in conflict with a false Church. One former clinic security guard, after being converted, admitted why he was angry at pro-life sidewalk counselors: 'You were coming to protest in front of our church. That clinic was where we conducted our worship.'"
      If you have made it through this article, then I am assuming you are at least open to the idea that satan is heavily involved in the abortion agenda.  This blog post is hard to get through, and there is more detailed testimony from Zachary King, on this website, should you desire to investigate.  But the thing I want us all to take away from this monstrous and evil situation is that we must get in the spiritual battle.  I don't know if it is too late for God to forgive us ... we have let over 55 million babies serve as blood sacrifices to satan -- whether it was an overt ritual or under the pretense of "healthcare for women", as PP CEO Richards likes to assert.
     But I cannot deny the truth.  We failed those babies.  We failed to stand in the gap for them; and we let abortion become tolerated and allowed in our Christian nation.  Now the curtain has been pulled aside.  Whether it is the "parts for profit" agenda of Planned Parenthood, or the blood ritual sacrifices of satanists, we can no longer contradict what is before us.  We must defeat satan in his plan to destroy God's creations -- both in the spiritual realm and in this physical sphere.  Pray that abortion clinics will be shut down; lobby your elected officials to de-fund Planned Parenthood; ask Heaven's army of angels to surround and protect the unborn in the womb; and be bold in speaking out about the destructive and evil practices of abortion.  Let evil no longer hide behind socially acceptable labels.  Abortion is not healthcare for women; and as creations of God, we do not have the right to kill what He has created within us.  It is time to get in this spiritual battle, before anymore unborn babies are sacrificed.

Leviticus 20:3    "I myself will set My face against that man and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given one of his children to Molech, to make My sanctuary unclean and to profane My holy name."











   




     

The Millennial Generation: Is Their Narcissism Good For the Workplace?

Today's blog post was generated after watching "CBS Sunday Morning" this week, and a segment on the Millennial generation.  I guess I'm no different than my parents before me, or their parents before them ... but I find myself asking "What's going on with this generation of kids"? 

     Every generation must face the fears about their future.  A common concern is the question, "What is the state of the U.S. economy, and will I be able to establish a firm foundation for the rest of my life?"  None have been more apprehensive than what we call "The Millennial Generation".  Of course, the natural tendency for us older Americans is to compare this generation with our own.
     My parent's generation was "The Greatest Generation", which gave birth to my generation, "The Baby-Boomers".  The offspring of my generation is called "The Millennials," because they will come of age during the new millennium.  
     Born between the years of 1981 and 2000, they now constitute 75,000,000 in numbers, and one out of every three workers in the U.S.  So how is this generation affecting the American workplace?  I think you will get a clear picture when I give you this quote from Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University:  "We know from looking at narcissism scores among college students from the 1980s to recent surveys, this generation does score higher on narcissism... from 1 out of 8, [it has grown] to 1 out of 3."

     That should concern us because the definition of narcissism is self-love, self-admiration, self-absorption, self-obsession, conceit, self-centeredness, self-regard, egotism, egoism.  Let's just say modesty is not a part of their vocabulary.  In fact, after decades of studying self-assessments by millions of the Millennialists in which they reported how accomplished, how motivated, and how special they consider themselves, Professor Twenge wrote a book on them entitled, Generation Me.
     That seems to say it all, doesn't it?  Furthermore, one of her research papers reveals that "Millennials in the workplace are defined by... the combination of not wanting to work hard, but still wanting more money and status...".  As Twenge explains, this latest generation is seeing and facing a more competitive and challenging job market than previous generations.  The problem is they haven't been prepared, perhaps because they received so much praise growing up and they got a trophy just for showing up at sporting events.  As Twenge accurately comments, "Unfortunately, the workplace doesn't work that way.  You have to do so much more than just show up."
     The scary thing is that the question now becomes, "Are they going to adapt to the workforce, or is the workforce going to adapt to them?"  Professor Twenge says the answer to that question will shape the future of the U.S. economy.  And sadly, I'm afraid that the forecast for our future may not be as bright as it should be.
     Mind you, I am not seeking to condemn all Millennials, but from what I have seen, far too many of them have an "entitlement" attitude.  If the work gets a little too hard, or they get bored, or it just isn't something they "want" to do ... they quit.  Or I have also seen that they will do the job assigned to them, but no more or no less -- and then they want a raise and a promotion.  One member of the Millennial generation was at least honest in her assessment of her peer group:  "The need for praise is absolute.  That is a big issue in our generation.  We don't particularly respond well to criticism, and we absolutely want praise immediately."  Do the words spoiled, overindulged, and bratty come to mind?
     Yet her honesty was also right on target when she said that the explosion of internet technology had done her generation no favors.  "The internet culture is part of the problem... you put a picture up on Facebook, you want to be in double, triple "Likes" within the hour.  If you put a picture up on Facebook, and no one likes it, you feel as though you failed.  This instant-gratification cycle that we've gotten into has developed into a bit of a problem in the workforce."  But she also credits a certain amount of "delusional narcissism" as necessary if you want to be a successful and creative entrepreneur.
     While I will admit that confidence in yourself is a great trait in the workplace, what happened to those workers who are willing to be the first one on the job, and the last one to go home?  Those who do more than is asked of them? Or those who are grateful to have a job, instead of always expecting more to be handed to them, or to be accommodated and catered to?
     I especially find it interesting that of those Millennial workers that seemed super-motivated during the CBS program, they all seemed to be children of immigrants.  The workers of Asian or Middle Eastern ethnicity had a different attitude about them; as though they thrived on the competition and challenges of proving themselves --- instead of workers who are multi-generational Americans and are the products of easier, more comfortable, and less demanding life-styles.   
     In the end, what does this mean for the American workplace and the future of the U.S. economy?  Does our DNA still contain the elements of motivation, single-handed determination, and the drive to succeed?  Or have we spawned a generation of pampered, spoon-fed kids with their hand out and no will to go beyond the minimal effort?  If so, I'm afraid that we will continue to see our economy surpassed by those countries who are willing to put their nose to the grindstone and give more than expected of them, and who are willing to be patient for their gratification and rewards.  Unless they can find it within themselves to put their employer first, in hopes that their hard work will pay off in the future, I'm afraid Millennials will find themselves living in their parents' basements, dreaming of the next job and their instant reward.  I know I'm going to sound old-fashioned, but narcissism is no replacement for a good work ethic.  I can hear my father now....

Proverbs 27:18    "Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who guards his master will be honored."


     
       

The Constitution and Sharia Law

     Over the past week, much has made in the media about comments by GOP Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson concerning a Muslim running for President of the United States.  So that we are clear on exactly what he said, I would like to reprint the exchange between Carson and Meet The Press host, Chuck Todd...

TODD: Let me wrap this up by finally dealing with what's been going on [with] Donald Trump, and a deal with a questioner that claimed that the president was Muslim. Let me ask you the question this way: Should a president's faith matter? Should your faith matter to voters?

CARSON: Well, I guess it depends on what that faith is. If it's inconsistent with the values and principles of America, then of course it should matter. But if it fits within the realm of America and consistent with the Constitution, no problem.

CHUCK TODD: So do you believe that Islam is consistent with the Constitution?

DR. BEN CARSON: No, I don't, I do not.

CHUCK TODD: So you--

DR. BEN CARSON: I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.

      Now, I'm sure if Dr. Carson could have that moment back, he would have elaborated on his answer, or explained it in more depth, as he has attempted to do in ensuing interviews.  As he has spelled out in the last few days, he would have no problem with a Muslim President, as long as the candidate denounces Sharia law.  And, I for one, believe that is what he meant by a potential candidate's faith being consistent with the values and principles of America.
     But that is precisely why he is still under fire ... and I have to agree with him.  From everything I have read about Sharia Law, it is not compatible with the fundamental principles of ruling our behavior in this country -- let alone being in harmony with the Constitution.  And I think that a lot of the backlash Dr. Carson has suffered is because either the Elite and the Media don't comprehend the consequences of Sharia Law in this nation -- or they understand it quite well, but are adhering to the same old tolerant, politically correct playbook.  Either way, I fear that they are misguided.
     But you don't have to take my word for it.  You can read the words of Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a Doctor of Internal Medicine with a master's degree in cognitive psychology and educational techniques.  According to his own biography, Hamid was a member of a radical Islamic organization, Jamaa Islameia JI (of Egypt), with Dr. Ayman Al-Zawaherri, who later became the second in command of Al-Qaeda. After being radicalized in the JI (approximately thirty-five years ago), he had an awakening of his human conscience, recognized the threat of Radical Islam, and started to teach modern peaceful interpretations of classical Islamic core texts.
     Make no mistake, Hamid is still a Muslim, but he wrote this in an article regarding Dr. Ben Carson's warning about Sharia Law:  “I can state unequivocally that Dr. Carson is correct. Without a single exception, the approved Islamic literature teaches violent principles such as killing apostates, beating women, killing gays, and enslaving female war prisoners for sexual purposes.”

     So does Sharia Law look like, sound like, or resemble the Constitution in any form or matter?  I think not.  Our Constitution was written with specific goals in mind:  to form a more perfect union of the peoples of this nation; to establish justice for all;  to ensure domestic tranquility; to provide for the common defense; to promote the general welfare; and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and future generations.
     From all I can ascertain, Islamic (Shariah) Law was made to protect five things: (religion, self, mind, offspring, and property), which the Koran says are the main rights of humans in this life.  But it  is the "violent principles" of Sharia Law that Dr. Hamid says are taught in order to protect these rights that are not only "necessary rules of the religion" [of Islam], but "fly in the face of the Constitution".
     And besides considering both Hamid and Dr. Carson's comments, one must examine the facts in a  World Net Daily article:  There are now an estimated 3 million Muslims residing in the United States as citizens or with permanent legal status, and more than 250,000 new Muslim residents enter the U.S. per year as refugees, on work visas and student-based visas, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. (And that doesn't include the recent push for additional Middle Eastern refugees urged by the President and the UN).  
    The WND article also included a May 2015 poll by The Center For Security Policy that revealed the following:  a majority (51%) agreed that “Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to shariah.”  When that question was put to the broader U.S. population, the overwhelming majority held that shariah should not displace the U.S. Constitution (86% to 2%).
     In addition, the article showed that more than half (51%) of U.S. Muslims polled also believe either that they should have the choice of American or shariah courts, or that they should have their own tribunals to apply shariah. Only 39% of those polled said that Muslims in the U.S. should be subject to American courts.  Even more troubling, is the fact that nearly a quarter of the Muslims polled believed that, “It is legitimate to use violence to punish those who give offense to Islam by, for example, portraying the prophet Mohammed.”
     So, why all the outrage and condemnation over Dr. Carson's comments?  You may not agree with him, or like his non-political and honest answer.  But can anyone legitimately say that there is no foundation for his concerns?  Where are the ardent feminists and those who celebrate the Supreme Court's recent ruling on gay marriage -- especially, when sharia law in Yemen, Saudia Arabia, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Somalia, Iraq and Iran approve the death penalty for homosexuals, and women are subjugated citizens? Do they really think they will get an "Americanized" version of Sharia Law in this country?
     And why aren't those who always scream about "separation of Church and State" agreeing with Dr. Carson?  If they are being intellectually honest, it seems to me they must admit that Sharia Law would be a far more oppressive influence on our culture and society than Christianity.  Would these folks protest the restrictions that Sharia Law wants to impose on our society as much as they object to a nativity scene on the public square?
     During a Fox News video poll regarding the Constitution and Sharia Law, the most common answer given by American Muslims was the following:  “The Sharia law is made by God — by Allah; the Constitution was made by people.”  In case you don't get the implications of that statement, I believe those that wish Sharia Law to be above our Constitution would like to see it not only supersede our founding document, but replace it.
     Now, I happen to believe that our founding documents were greatly influenced by Christian-Judeo beliefs and principles, and Sharia Law is in direct conflict with the freedoms of both my faith and my country’s governing laws.  Apparently Dr. Ben Carson feels the same way, and it is refreshing and crucial that men like him have the courage to stand up and defend Christianity and the Constitution.
     All we have to do is look at Europe to see what the metamorphosis of our nation might look like.  Now is not the time for political correctness and compromise.  I say, "Bravo" to Dr. Carson for single-handedly standing for the uniqueness and sovereignty of our nation.  May God continue to give him the courage to be bold and speak the truth!

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

   
   

Pieces Are Being Moved On The Cosmic Chess Board

     Having trouble making sense of the players in the Middle East and how it all might align with End Times prophecy?  Don't worry ... I am, too.  To be honest, I have never felt that I needed to position everything I was seeing with the puzzling timeline offered by Scripture.  It's not that I think I will be raptured and it will be of no consequence to me -- (I happen to think that we Christians will be needed on earth, for a time, to offer words of hope, encouragement, and endurance during the battles leading up to God's wrath against the wicked) --- it's just that I have always figured that God will clearly reveal those times and His instructions for His people, when it is necessary.
     That being said, it's hard to ignore some of the major world events we are seeing before our eyes.  And it's really hard to look at them through Western eyes.  We, in America, tend to forget that the Bible's inspired writers and prophets were Middle Eastern, and we try to translate and understand their epistles and letters through the lens of today's Western experience.  So, I'm not here to say that I have any unique insight into what's happening around the globe; and I probably have more questions than answers.  But I thought we should at least look at what's in the news and be aware of how events can impact us in the present, as well as their End Times implications.

      For me, right now, it's all about Russia and what is really going on between the world's superpowers in the Middle East.  It's all over the news that Russia has deployed a small, but consequential military force into Syria, which may have the potential of changing the dynamic in that war-torn country.  It has been four years since the start of the Syrian civil war, with U.S.-backed rebel forces fighting against Syrian President Bashar Assad and his faithful Syrian army.  The sectarian war has created a breakdown in authority, providing the opportunity for ISIS to get a foothold and begin building their caliphate.  Russia has said that they want to assist Syria in fighting ISIS, and that is their primary objective in coming to Syria's aid.
     But, as always, when global powers begin making military moves, there is more to the story.  From what I can gather, there is a history of a Russia/Syrian alliance, back to the 1970s when Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, aligned with Moscow.  In fact, Syria is among the last proxies, or representatives, of the Russian political influence in the Middle East.  Interestingly enough, that puts Russia on the same side as Iran, who also provides military aid and guidance to Assad through their proxy, Hezbollah.  Apparently, Vladimir Putin was getting a little concerned that Iran was having too much influence in Syria, hence the show of military force.
     There are also those who surmise that Russia's escalating presence in the Middle East might forecast a threat to Western interests; or on the other hand, provide valuable intelligence and military aid in fighting Islamic jihad.  Either way, Russia gives themselves a way to bargain for Western and European concessions in regards to Ukraine and economic sanctions.
     But what I find even more interesting than the Russia/Assad vs. US/Syrian rebels chess match, is that Russia appears to be partnering with China in forming a coalition to take the fight to ISIS in the Middle East.  One news source reported, "according to a senior officer in the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) that is stationed inside the Syrian coastal city of Latakia, Chinese military personnel and aerial assets are scheduled to arrive in the coming weeks (6 weeks) to the port-city of Tartous."

     Add to this news the suggestion that Turkey was waiting in the wings to take advantage of Syria's civil war, (before Russia and China showed up), and you have the makings of the major players in both the Ezekiel 38 war and "the army of the Kings of the East" mentioned in Revelation, Chapters 9 and 16.
     Can I make all the puzzle pieces fit nicely to form a clear picture of End Times events?  No.  But there is enough going on that my spiritual radar is up.  And it just seems as if the world is careening towards, if not an apocalyptic alignment of a one-world government, economic, and religious system, then at least an Armageddon-style conflict that will result in the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies of an emerging New World Order and Anti-Christ kingdom.
     Of course no one, least of all me, has any proof that any of this will happen, or that it is Biblical.  But, as we are called to watch and stay awake, I think it is incumbent upon us to pay attention to these events that are quickening our spirits.  So, listen carefully to the words of Vladimir Putin, as he appears before the UN General Assembly today.  See if you can hear the prophetic words of Scripture in his speech.  And then remember --- all these world powers are jockeying for position; for winner-take-all in the sweepstakes that is the Middle East.  But we know that there are really only two players in the game ... the devil and God.  We are living out a cosmic chess match that has already been won in the spiritual realm.  All that remains is for our KING to be crowned!

Luke 21:36    "But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."