America Is in Trouble

For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. (Zechariah 2:8)

For anyone paying even the least amount of attention to current events, it should be obvious that our country, the United States of America, is in serious trouble. Our wide-open borders allow thousands of illegal, undocumented, foreign invaders to enter our country every day. We err in thinking that these border crossers come only from Mexico. Indeed, they come from countries around the globe: China, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, several South American countries, and many other places. Many of these countries hate America. Of greater concern, a large majority of these invaders are young, single, military-age men – men who have no allegiance or affinity toward American values or loyalty to our Constitution. These same invaders break our laws, murder, rape, and demand sustenance from our government. They do not come to contribute, but to take all they can get.

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 Dan's Sin

Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations … The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, … and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law: (Deuteronomy 29:18-21)

Dan was Jacob’s first son born to him by Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid. His name means “judge.” He was the fifth of Jacob’s sons. Before Jacob died, he blessed his sons. Of Dan, Israel said. “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward” (Genesis 49:16-17). Long after Dan had died and his “tribe” came out of Egypt, Moses declared of the tribe, “And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan” (Deuteronomy 33:22). “By this probably Moses intended to point out the strength and prowess of this tribe, that it should extend its territories, and live a sort of predatory life.”

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 The Land Belongs to Israel

Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. (Joshua 1:2)

Reading through the Pentateuch, one soon finds God’s unconditional promise to the patriarch Abraham giving him and his descendants the land of Canaan. When God cut the deal with Abraham, He took all of the responsibility for its fulfillment on Himself. “In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). Before sealing the deal, God told Abraham what would become of his descendants. “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” (Genesis 15:13, emphasis mine).

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 Incurring A Curse

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)

There is a notion going around and gaining strength that the promises God made to Israel have been taken away from Israel and given to the Church. There is also the idea that the Jews occupying the modern nation of Israel are not the same people to whom God made the promise, therefore God’s promises made to Israel are null and void since the original Israelites no longer exist. Both notions are false.

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 Smart Ass

And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? (Numbers 22:28)

My daily Bible reading brings me to the Book of Numbers, and as the name suggests, there are many long, detailed lists of names and numbers, which make for very dry reading. The minutiae serve as an important resource for deep study, but for casual reading, it can be a little boring. It is easy to forget that it is, after all, God’s Word, and God included everything in it for a reason. That said, Numbers does include some interesting accounts that play out later in Scripture.

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 God Is Particular

(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 6:15)

This year I have been following a chronological reading plan for reading the Bible through in the year, and currently, I am trudging through the book of Leviticus. Beginning with Exodus 20 when God speaks the Ten Commandments in the hearing of the children of Israel, Scripture goes into tedious detail for the proper worship of God by the Israelites.

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 The Diorama

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Corinthians 15:3-4)

The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) opened the Discovery Center for Science and Earth History (DC) on Labor Day of 2019. As the year kicked off, the final touches were being added, tweaked, and polished before the big opening day.

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 God Hardens Hearts

And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. (Exodus 4:21)

I am not a pessimist, nor am I an optimist. I see myself as more of a realist. I analyze and evaluate things on a deeper rather than a superficial level. That is not to say that my perception is always accurate by any means, but I do try to assess things without relying on my emotions. That does not mean that I do not have or express emotion. However, I try not to allow emotions to influence my assessment of what I see taking place around me. In my analysis of the world around me, I do not rely on my experience because I have not experienced every situation that there is to experience. Rather, I evaluate things through the lens of God’s Word, which has something to say about every possible experience we may face. My worldview finds its basis in the Bible. Some may say that is a very narrowminded way to look at things, and it may be; however, I have found it to be accurate in every case.

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 Nothing To Write

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

I have nothing new to offer today. I spent much time last week blowing and shoveling snow which left me exhausted and without much enthusiasm for brain exertion. With what little energy that remained, I focused on preparing a Sunday School lesson for the youth of our Church, certainly, a higher priority than the posting of another blog article.

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 Not Too Cold For Squirrels!

Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough … (Isaiah 56:11)

Columbus, Nebraska experienced bitter cold, biting northerly winds, and blowing snow this past week (January 7-13, 2024), and the forecast calls for more of the same in the following week. On days like this, I thank God for a nice, warm, well-insulated home that shelters us from the elements. Columbus won dubious notoriety for the greatest snowfall amount in the area with 13 inches of snow on Monday. More snow followed on Tuesday with strong winds creating deep snow drifts. Some of the drifts around my house were more than three feet deep. Then again on Thursday and into Friday (as I write this article) more snow and wind continued making the snow drifts deeper and covering all the areas I had cleared on Wednesday.

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How Are Humans Affecting Climate?

How Are Humans Affecting Climate?

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, (Romans 1:21-22)

It should not be a shock to anyone that a cabal of super-rich elites seeks to dominate the world by imposing ridiculous and drastic measures to reduce the human population and establish themselves as the dominating class of a utopian world. In an article published on the AMAC ™ website, Ben Shapiro says, “They appoint themselves the representatives of global interests — without elections, without accountability — and then create mechanisms of national and international order to control citizens over whom they claim to preside.”

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 Come 2024!

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)

The last chapter in the Book of Revelation was my final reading for the year. There, the verse above jumped out at me. The verse is an invitation to those who are “outside” of the body of Christ to come and “take of the water of life freely.” Notice who issues the invitation: “the Spirit and the Bride.” We understand that “the Spirit” is the Holy Spirit. The “Bride” is the Church of Christ (not the denomination by that name) – the body of believers who have been saved by grace through faith.

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 The Mystery of the Gospel

… that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (Ephesians 6:19)

The Gospel is a mystery. The Gospel (Greek: euaggelion) means “good tidings” or “good news.” The angel brought the euaggelion to the shepherds who watched their flocks by night.[1] It was the euaggelion that the Savior was born in Bethlehem. But what did this euaggelion mean? When the angels departed, the shepherds hurried to Bethlehem to see the euaggelion for themselves. Once they had seen the baby, they spread the news to all who would hear. “And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds” (Luke 2:18, emphasis mine). It was a mystery!

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 Chose or Chosen?

For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14)

I find myself in the midst of Christian brothers who have strong Calvinist leanings. I accept most of the five points of Calvinism to some degree – Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints (T.U.L.I.P.) – but I cannot fully embrace U, L, and I. I completely agree with T and P – the Total Depravity of man, and the Perseverance of the Saints, i.e., “once saved, always saved.”

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 Shepherd of Shepherds

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (Luke 2:8)

One of the best arguments against the birth of Christ having taken place in late December is this fact recorded by Luke in his Gospel. There were shepherds out in the fields watching over their flocks. By late December, there is not sufficient grazing to sustain large flocks of sheep. Jerusalem is near the same latitude as Dallas, Texas where I used to live, and by the middle to the end of November, there is not much left on which cattle can graze. So, they need to be fed on hay or “cake” until the next spring. So, it seems very unlikely that shepherds would be out in the fields tending to sheep in the wintertime.

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 Three Days

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. (Hosea 6:2)

In one of my Bible readings this week, I was reading Luke’s account of Jesus’ resurrection. Luke records that two disciples (not apostles) were returning to their home in Emmaus. Because they invited Jesus into their home, I assume that they were husband and wife; Luke does not say. Regardless, after Jesus broke bread with them and disappeared from their sight, they finally recognized that it was Jesus who had traveled with them. They immediately returned to Jerusalem and found “the eleven” together. However, according to John’s account, Thomas was not with them. Apparently, Luke used the term (“the eleven”) in a generic sense referring to the Apostles.

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 One Was Thankful

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, (Luke 17:15)

Thanksgiving Day is upon us, and I’m sure most of us have plans for food, family, friends, and fellowship. In today’s culture, Thanksgiving Day is just a good excuse to have a day (or two) off work, indulge in gluttonous behavior, and worship before the luminous god of football followed by the giving of alms to the god of materialism the next day, all the while in complete ignorance of the significance of the day.

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 The Land

But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. (Isaiah 43:1)

One cannot escape the flood of wars and rumors of wars coming from the Middle East. More than two weeks ago, at the climax of the Feast of Tabernacles in Israel, Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel. They killed many innocent civilians and took away many captives. They raped women and tortured and killed children and babies. Their atrocities left the world in shock. Not since ISIS have such horrors been on full display for the world to see.

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 Little Ones

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)

The verse above was part of my daily Bible reading this week. It is a very familiar verse that I have read hundreds of times perhaps, heard sermons preached on it, and participated in Bible studies that covered it. When read out of context, it seems that Jesus refers to children – “little ones” – in this discourse, and that is the way it has been presented, or at least the way I have understood it, in the past.

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 Spit In The Eye

When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, (John 9:6)

Jesus performed many healing miracles during His time of ministry on earth. The miracles were not only an expression of His compassion for the hurting, but they served as evidence of who He was according to predictive prophecy.

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