Joy to the World

"Joy to the World" was written by Isaac Watts in 1719. He "named" it "The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom." But the world changed the name to infer an advent in a manger.

Watts' song chronicles His second coming, i.e., the "Day of the Lord," the Day he cometh to "Judge the earth," but also the time of perfection and beauty, when "heaven and nature" literally sing "a new song — the joy of heaven and earth.

"Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. The mountains and the hills shall break forth... into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" (cf. Isa 55:12). 

"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains" (cf. Isa 49:13). 

"Sing, O... heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout... lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing... mountains, O forest, and every tree therein" (Isa 44:23). 

"Pastures...clothed with flocks; the valleys... covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing" (cf. Psa 65:13). 

"Praise him... heavens of heavens, and... waters that be above the heavens" (cf. Psa 148:4). 

"And they sung "a new song," saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev 5:9). 

"The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God... Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees ... said, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out" (cf. Luk 19:37-40).

Why did the world transgress the "joy" of "The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom" by replacing it with with the nondescript self edifying "Joy to the World"? 

 Because the "new song" depicts a time that will be "the best of times" for some, but the "the worst of times" for most"!

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Mat 7:14)!

  A New Song

Saved? 



By Thalpha (Own work) [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

©2017 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.

A New Song

Since Eden, the world has awaited the fulfillment of the "first" prophecy, and the consummation — when once again the morning stars will sing together, and all the sons of God will shout for joy? (cf. Job 38:4-7).

"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel" (Gen 3:15),

and of "that Day" when the “the Lord reigneth,” and when the final glory of His kingdom echoes in the refrain of "a new song"!

Isaac Watts in 1719 wrote "The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom" ( a paraphrase of that "new song").

The Messiah’s Coming and Kingdom

Joy to the world! The Lord is come; ["for he cometh to judge the earth" Psa 96:13]

Let earth receive her King; ["he shall judge the world with righteousness" Psa 96:13]

Let every heart prepare Him room ["ye that go down to the sea, and all... the isles, and the inhabitants" Isa 42:10]

And heaven and nature sing ["Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein" Psa 96:12]

And heaven and nature sing, ["then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice" Psa 96:12]

And heaven and heaven and nature sing, ["the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing Isa 55:12]


Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns; ["O sing unto the LORD a new song; "Psa 98:10]

Let men their songs employ; ["Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth"]

While fields and floods [Let the floods clap their hands: [Psa 98:8]

rocks, hills and plains [let the hills be joyful together Psa 98:8]

Repeat the sounding joy ["Sing unto the LORD ... with the voice of a psalm" Psa 98:5]

Repeat the sounding joy,["Sing unto the LORD with the harp" Psa 98:5]

Repeat, Repeat, the sounding joy. ["and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands" Isa 55:12]


No more let sins and sorrows grow, ["in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" Gen 3:17]

Nor thorns infest the ground; ["Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee" Gen 3:18]

He comes and make the blessings flow ["her seed shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" Gen 3:15]

Far as the curse is found, ["in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children Gen" 3:16]

Far as the curse is found, ["cursed is the ground for thy sake" Gen 3:17]

Far as, far as the curse is found.


He rules the world with truth and grace, ["he shall judge the world with righteousness, and truth" Psa 96]

And makes the nations prove ["Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth" Psa 98:9]

The glories of His righteousness ["he shall judge the world with righteousness" Psa 96]

And wonders of His love, ["for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood" Rev 5:9]

And wonders of His love, ["out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation" Rev 5:9]

And wonders, and wonders of His love.


"The whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God... Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees ... said, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out" (cf. Luk 19:37-40).

©2017 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.

The Times of the Gentiles

“We will move the American Embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem” was Trump's contingent promise as a presidential candidate.

Many hoped that cold January inauguration day, might hold the fulfillment of that promise, but it came and went without so much as a word. Likewise, the first several months of his presidency. Then in June, he signed a waiver postponing the embassy's relocation. And, during his first trip to Israel as president in this regard, from Trump there was only silence. In October, Trump backpedaled once again, alleging the elusive Israel and Palestine peace process as his first priority.

However, on Dec. 6, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as the "the eternal capital of the Jewish people."

Now evangelicals are pondering what it all means, considering the constraints under which Trump made the decision, i.e., being "tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind" of anti-Semitism.

 Last year, just before the first day of Chanukah the U.N. Security Council voted — world 14, Israel 0. Yesterday's vote would have been essentially the same, but for "let's make a deal" Trump's vindictive "Let them vote against us. We'll save a lot. We don't care" referring to U.N. funding as well as U.N. member nation funding cuts.

Trump's recognition of Jerusalem was courageous and commendable. However, Jerusalem will continue as before, to be trodden down of the Gentiles, and peace in that regard will remain an illusion. Says who?

Jesus prophesied what was to come in 70 AD — "they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (cf. Luke 21:24).

This very day, Jerusalem continues to be trodden down of the Gentiles, and will be until the "times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." But when will that be?
The Apostle Paul informs us "that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Rom 11:25). However, there will be a time when Israel's darkness as a nation will be light.

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn" (Zec 12:9-10).

Ever want to know when the LORD'S second coming  will occur? Jesus told the Nation of Israel "exactly" when it will be!

"Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Mat 23:39).

¹By Michael Himbeault (https://www.flickr.com/photos/riebart/4653728769) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AHourglass_.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Hourglass_.jpg

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Jerusalem

The United States, in the person of Donald John Trump, on Dec. 6, 2017, was the first nation to recognize Jerusalem as "the eternal capital of the Jewish people." The United Nations voted today in protest.

The United Nations is an institution of "man" not God. Before its New York "Tower of Babel" is a wall with a God usurping misappropriation of the words of Isaiah:

"They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."

The "united nations" conveniently truncated the contextual preface of the complete verse, i.e., "He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people" (cf. Isaiah 2:4).

The Lord will bring this to completion, but not by a "union of nations", and only "after" this proclamation!

"Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles [Nations]; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: ... Let the heathen [Nations] be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. [And]...
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake" (cf. Joel 3:9-16).

¹By Capt. Phœbus (talk) 17:01, 31 October 2007 (UTC) (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AIsaiah_Wall.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Isaiah_Wall.jpg

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Ten Weeks

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Massacre of Mérindol

Massacre of Mérindol, 1545, by Gustave Dore.¹

The leaders in the 1545 massacres were Jean Maynier d'Oppède, ... and Antoine Escalin des Aimars... . 

These... took the villages of Mérindol and Cabrières and also devastated neighbouring Waldensian villages. Historians have estimated that the soldiers killed hundreds to thousands of people. ... In total, they destroyed between 22 and 28 villages. ...

In the aftermath, both Francis I and Pope Paul III approved of the actions taken; the Pope rewarded Maynier with Imperial honours. (Massacre of Mérindol, Wikipedia, last edited on 22 December 2016).






¹By Gustave Dore (1832-1886) (Le Point No1978) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMassacre_of_the_Vaudois_of_Merindol.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Massacre_of_the_Vaudois_of_Merindol.jpg

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The Fingers of God

Marie, 1928.

"A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one's birth" (Ecc 7:1). 

Marie was born just before the winter of 1921, one of eight children in a little house with a table, four chairs, a stove, a single bed and cots that lined the walls. Never enough to eat and always work to do. She carried wood, brought in water, and sometimes even dug with her fingers for the last bits of coal embedded in the cold hard ground. That was her life, but her smile never betrayed it.

Her world was a green meadow all full of flowers bejeweled with the morning dew, the abode of butterflies as evening hastens. Close by a little stream with beautiful blue-green duck eggs in occasional clutches along the grassy banks. Sometimes she would sneak away with some "delicious" book and under a favorite tree spend a few minutes that she wished could stretch into uninterrupted hours. She loved rainy spring nights, as she lay close by her sister under the tin roofed porch they shared.

Marie shared many memories of herself as a small child on a church pew almost ready to topple over; of a mother who told her about Jesus; of Christmas with only a stocking, apple, and orange; of the classmate who, because of her ragged and stained clothes, would not take her hand; of dances and her oldest sister, uncomfortable with walking dark streets alone, compelling her to go, and as her sister danced the night away, little Marie, nowhere to be found, was fast asleep and warm among the coats. 

Of her father awakening her in the coolness of predawn summer mornings, and the two of them with buckets in hand walking down an old railroad track together in search of wild berries; of the cold she and her sister endured on that little porch with only screens and blankets between them and winter; of the secret weapon, the Lord provided late one night as she walked home alone from the corner drug store where she worked, a paper bag that left that someone, who lightly but intentionally brushed her dress in passing, stunned and covered in the chocolate malt intended for her mother.

And she described the bittersweet memory of her older sister Dolly, a little girl so full of joy the neighbors called her "Sunshine." She was always ready to help. When mother ask, she was always the one to go. One day she came home from school all wet and cold and talking strange. "I reached up and touched the fingers of God."

After she went to bed that night, things were never quite the same. Each day she grew more ill. Her desperate mother searched and bought the only doll that little house ever would know. And just before she went to sleep that one last time, my mother remembered her singing "Jingle Bells… Jingle Bells." A short time later all her things were burned, except for the little doll. Her mother put it in a drawer that was never "ever" to be opened! And my mother remembered her mother's scream as that little body was laid to rest along a footpath in a grave without a stone.

Marie grew up, married, and gave us life. I remembered her gathering us together, opening the Bible, and smiling as she read. She loved us, but she knew her love was not enough. We would have to make His love our own.

As the years progressed, time was not kind; her body was contorted with pain, but neither her smile or prayers were abated. She no longer had to remind us that "strength is made perfect in weakness." I moved away, but innumerable letters followed through the years. Each punctuated with purloined thoughts or words of His, and very spring she reminded me.

"The winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land" (Song 2:12).

She commit a little of Scripture to memory each day, to recite or read to shut-ins, those in nursing homes, her children, grandchildren, my father, and whoever else she had opportunity. She continually longed for everyone to share her joy. Her concern for others never faltered, even with labored breath just minutes before her death, she looked at my brother, smiled, and said "it’s time for you to go."

It has been many years since my mother reminisced about that little grave without a stone. That’s when I thought of the small door stop, white and round and exquisitely engraved with the likeness of a dove, a remembrance lost to time — some other sadness, a child, a distant grave. I looked at it, I looked at her, she smiled and within the hour she was leading my brother and I to the place that only she would know. As I knelt and dug and embedded that likeness of a dove on that little unmarked grave, I can still remember her bittersweet smile. Someday I will see them hand in hand running through green meadows all full of flowers, bejeweled with morning dew, the abode of butterflies as evening hastens.

Marie was always listening, and she is listening still for that familiar voice, and the long clear clarion call of the trumpet when all who love Him will stand at attention as the dead come forth to meet Him in the air.

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1Thessalonians 4: 14-18).

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1Corinthians 15:51-52).

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God Does Not Play Dice

Max Born¹

A Google Doodle, virtually always a facsimile of some dead person epitomizing the "spirit of this age," recently caught my attention.

Hovering, over the scribble revealed a field to which I once aspired, and a name — physicist "Max Born."
Born's bio reads like the "Who's Who" of the glory days of German theoretical physics. The better known of his affiliates include Werner Heisenberg, Max Planck, Edward Teller, Enrico Fermi, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein.



 Although best known for his contribution to the quantum mechanics, Heisenberg, Born's assistant once familiar with quantum phenomena, eclipsed his master by compiling and publishing a theory in 1925 for which he [Heisenberg] was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for the creation of quantum mechanics."

In a letter to Born on 4 December 1926, Einstein expressed his reservations:

"Quantum mechanics is certainly imposing. But an inner voice tells me that it is not yet the real thing. The theory says a lot, but does not really bring us any closer to the secret of the 'old one'. I, at any rate, am convinced that He is not playing at dice."

Einstein, an early founder of quantum theory, did not accept Born's "philosophical" implementation of quantum mechanics that rejected the Newtonian fundamentals of "determinism" and "causality" that underlie essentially every credible scientific theory, with the "once singular" exception of quantum mechanics! Thus, Einstein appropriately reminded Born that God does not play dice!

In 1954, Born was belatedly recognized for "fundamental research" in quantum mechanics. In his Nobel acceptance he "transgressed" the scientific context by presenting a polemic on the ideas of "absolute certitude," "absolute exactness," "final truth," and "belief in a single truth."

"I believe that ideas such as absolute certitude, absolute exactness, final truth, etc. are figments of the imagination which should not be admissible in any field of science. ... This loosening of thinking (Lockerung des Denkens) seems to me to be the greatest blessing which modern science has given to us. For the belief in a single truth and in being the possessor thereof is the root cause of all evil in the world."

Both Einstein and Born knew there was a God, "because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse" (Rom 1:19-20).

Yet, Einstein's restless contemplation of the "subtle, intangible, and inexplicable" caused him to search for Him in all the wrong places, while Born, consistent with Google Doodle, in his Nobel "testimony" essentially declared God "the root cause of all evil in the world."



¹Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=137838

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The Prodigal

That’s my father on the right with a string on his finger taking a selfie. On the left his younger brother David on leave from the Navy. Together again with their sister on that all so familiar farm in Missouri late in November. The “Dust Bowl Days” were past and “Great Depression” over. It had been a wonderful time, that Thanksgiving of 1941. And it was after 2 AM as my father gently triggered the camera shutter. A few hours later, the “prodigal” was once again on his way.

The U.S.S. Oglala, bucking waves under full power, was urgently propelling toward its Pacific destination. It "had" to arrive before the 7th. However, fatigue eventually took its toll on the minelayer, a WW1 converted passenger steamer. Silently adrift, it summoned assistance. After a tow cable was attached and the feverish pace resumed, David commented to his superior: “If we go any faster that cable is ‘gona’ snap.” And “snap” it did!

The U.S.S. Oglala entered Pearl Harbor during the early morning hours of December 7, the last to arrive. It moored “side by side” with the U.S.S. Helena, completing the formation of "Battleship Row."

And as the sun rose on “December 7, 1941,” most of the Oglala crew, including her commanding officer, were still “out on the town.” However, the men in the boiler room, the cook, the second in command, and a few others including David were at their stations. When the sound of revving planes and whistling bombs punctuated the morning tranquility, General Quarters was sounded. The second in command screamed, “Man the Guns”! David screamed back: “What guns”! Someone found the keys, unlocked the magazine, and after some fumbling a 3"/50 cal. A.A. gun and three .30 cal. machine guns were manned and returning fire.

Then as several enemy planes strafed the deck, a buddy standing immediately behind David was struck in the face, then a Zero flying low and amidships, then a torpedo and its contrail as it converged on the Oglala. It would soon be over! The Oglala lifted out of the water, but he was still alive! The submerged munition had gone under the Oglala and struck the Helena on the other side.

They continued firing, reporting some “definite hits.” However, the Oglala’s hull had ruptured and was flooding rapidly. For an hour and a half the meager crew was uninterrupted in returning fire as the Oglala continued to list to her port side. 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°. Then as the commanding officer finally returned, the Oglala listed to its side, and those who could swam away.

Back on a farm in Missouri, a family had but one thought. “Is he alive.” The phone was never unattended. A speaker in the kitchen was connected remotely to the wireless in the library. And as hours turned to days, a mother listened and waited. And during the days before Christmas, sleep was haunted by the sound of “tapping” sailors trapped in the impenetrable hulls of sinking ships….

David remained afloat for the remainder of the war, but in the years that followed, David never forgot that day or his buddy, and the question, "Why him, not me?"

The “prodigal” returned to the soil, married, had children, and as aimless years went by, he was haunted by the question, "Why not me?" Then one night in a small church, down on his 70 year old knees, he found the answer:

“I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son.... And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him…. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found….” (Luke 15:18-24).

Not long ago, his pastor was at the hospital with his wife and son. "Dad, you are the best father a son could ever have." David, gasping for breath from the decadence of earlier years, with effort and in kind responded "you are the best son a father could ever have." And as final exchanges waned, his pastor ask: "David, do you want the service at the church or the funeral home?" Then David with joy and peace and a smile consistent with his latter years shot back: "SURPRISE ME"!

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1).

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The Pit

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Center of the World

Martin Behaim's Erdapfel¹

Obama's first phone call to a foreign leader only hours after taking office was to PLO Chairman Abbas to communicate his commitment to the Arab-Israeli “peace” process. His second call was to Israeli PM Olmert. Obama's overriding priority has never vacillated, it has always been the “center of the world” i.e., that tiny little nation approximately the size of New Jersey that is always in news!

As shouts of “Death to Israel” still echoed in the streets of Iran three summers ago, nuclear talks in Vienna concluded with Iran receiving concessions beyond their wildest dreams as documented by photos of the normally reserved diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif (Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran) dancing for joy on his balcony.

Secretary John Kerry concluded with a eulogy to the President "who had the courage to launch this process, believe in it, support it, encourage it, when many thought the objective was impossible, and who led the way from the start to the finish." 

A “process” that gave Iran unlimited resources to facilitate Arab-Israeli “peace” by "annihilating" one or both parties in the process.

Today as the world waits with bated breath, one can only wonder who Trump called first today.

"For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.... Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.... No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD. (cf. Isaiah 54:5-17).

1© Alexander Franke (Ossiostborn) (via Wikimedia-Commons), 31 March 2006/ Martin Behaims Erdapfel/ This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany license.

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The Rats Will Run For Cover!

La Ligue des Rats,  Gustave Doré¹

It was all so familiar, some years ago,  hearing J. Vernon McGee reminisce about growing up on a small southern farm. Of rising early, lighting a lantern, and walking to the barn to tend the livestock. He described opening the door and how the light shown in the darkness. And how the birds in the rafters would begin to sing and how the rats over in the corner would run for cover.

This brings to remembrance a parable our Lord once told, a parable of wheat and tares, and how the “children of the kingdom” and the “children of the wicked one” were to “grow together until the harvest.”

For us this presents a problem, for wheat and tares are indistinguishable for a time. So how are we to know?

The answer is amazingly simple: show forth the light of His Word, and the birds will begin to sing and the rats will run for cover!



Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALa_Ligue_des_Rats.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/La_Ligue_des_Rats.jpg

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The Eschaton

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand"¹

North Korea launched another missile today. This one went higher and further than any before —  defense analysts concluding the power and range were consistent with a fully functional ICBM for which we have no deterrent — well within range of Washington DC and everything in between.

Concurrent nuclear tests, the most recent eclipsing by virtually an order of magnitude any previous underground test confirmed the signature of a far more destructive "thermo" nuclear capability. The delivery of such a capability was simulated today with a 100kg payload.

Many wonder why there is no Eschaton (end times) allusion to America in Scripture. Perhaps, there is no "end times" America — brings to remembrance the poignant words of Paul's Roman epistle.

"Knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand" (cf. Romans 13:11-12).

If the night was far spent, and the "Day" at hand in Paul's day, how much so today?

Saved?



See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAmanecerluzzyacentillo2.JPG https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Amanecerluzzyacentillo2.JPG

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To the Hebrews

This post remains under construction!

The Ten Commandments

Moses, Gustave Doré.¹

Roy Moore's affinity for the Ten Commandments is to be commended. However, his Bible begin and ended with Exodus Chapter 20. Yet, that was quite sufficient for most of his judicial decisions, but not the rest! 

The Scriptures contain far more, some that would have been very advantageous to the judge, had he taken the time — matters pertaining to "thoughts and intents of the heart.""

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. (Matthew 5:27-28).

Or:

I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?" (Job 31:1-2).

Back to Moore who demanded that we as a society hear the trumpet of Sinai from which hailed the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, Moore never realized to whom the twentieth chapter was written "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exodus 20:2). Hopefully, that will give a clue.

Moore, was marooned on an island in the Dispensation of the Law of Moses, void of the Spirit, where God's will was written on "tables of stone" rather than in the present Dispensation of Grace where it is written by "the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart" (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:2-8).

Likewise, many churches today, failing to "rightly divide the word of truth" (cf. 2 Ti 2:15), have been marooned on islands in the Dispensation of the Law of Moses while wearing life jackets of Grace. Hard to swim when shackled to "tables of stone"!


Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMoses_dore.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Moses_dore.jpg

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And They Sat Down to Drink

The Great King, King of Kings (Shahanshah) and King of Nations¹

"What we're seeing is that Iran is trying to create a regional hegemony from Tehran, through Iraq, through Syria and ultimately Lebanon and the Mediterranean in order to create an empire. ... This would be a threat not only to the region – to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the rational players, and of course Israel – but to the world because their goal is to dominate ultimately and subjugate the entire region and thereafter the world."²

Not only is Iran recreating the empire "that once was," but is also attempting to consummate the "annihilation" that hitherto failed!





“… in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces)” (Esther 1:1). Xerxes I King of Persia and Media (ancient Iran) whose Daiva Inscriptions record his title as the Great King, King of Kings (Shahanshah) and King of Nations i.e., of the world.²

“King Ahasuerus promote[d] Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him. And all the king's servants, that were in the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman… But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence…. And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai….

And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasuries. 

And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey….

The posts went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace.

And the king and Haman sat down to drink" (cf. Esther 3:1-15).

¹By Nick Taylor [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APersepolis%2C_Iran_(2471048564).jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Persepolis%2C_Iran_%282471048564%29.jpg

²Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, CBN News Bureau, Washington, DC, 11-10-2017.

³Inscriptions of Xerxes Lines 6-13 (Roland G. Kent in "Language" Vol. 13 No. 4).

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Prayer

 Praying Hands Albrecht Dürer, 1508.¹

After Evangelist Franklin Graham and Vice President Mike Pence and a plethora of others weighed in on criticism of House Speaker Paul Ryan's Sutherland Springs comment, it is time to review "prayer" fundamentals. 

God the Father does not listen to those who are not "His own," "God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth" (cf. John 9:31) — with one "exception" "whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:13). God will hear that petition, and will not refuse!

The apostle Paul further explains, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14). 

"... I declare unto you the gospel... By which also you are saved... 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" (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

If you believe Christ died for your sins as described in the Scriptures, "and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day" as described in the Scriptures, and have called on Him — God the Father, through the indwelling Spirit, in the name of his Son will hear your prayer!

Now, back to Ryan, "if" he has not believed and called on the Lord, he may think prayer is appropriate, but he is just talking to the wind. Furthermore, "He that is of God heareth God's words" (cf. John 8:47).



¹By Albrecht Dürer - gallery.euroweb.hu, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=263190

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Out of Sodom

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Dead Nations Never Rise Again?

The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem²

British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James, Lord Balfour, 100 years ago Friday sent a communique, that came to be known as the "Balfour Declaration."

Dear Lord Rothschild,

His Majesty's government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object... .

Arthur James Balfour

Rome's imperial legions, commanded by her future Caesar Titus Flavius Vespasianus in AD 70 made Jerusalem a desolation. The second temple was set aflame and as it burned, rivulets of gold betraying its magnificence mingled with the blood that bathed the temple mount. And as the conflation consumed the city, a remnant, a Jewish diaspora, was scattered by the four winds of heaven to all the nations of the earth.

Longfellow in the 1845 poem “The Jewish Cemetery at Newport” bewails “How strange it seems! These Hebrews in their graves” as he describes the diaspora of the Jews “in narrow streets and lanes obscure," in “Ghetto and Judenstrass, in mirk and mire” partaking “unleavened bread and bitter herbs of exile” slaking their “thirst with [the] marah of their tears” while enduring “the life of anguish and the death of fire.”

But lamentably, in the last four verses, Longfellow affirms a two millennia "anathema."

But ah! what once has been shall be no more!
The groaning earth in travail and in pain
Brings forth its races, but does not restore,
And the dead nations never rise again.

 But ah! What once has been shall "be" again! In 1948 a dead nation "did" rise again!

 But ah! Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus’ “Eternal” Roman Imperium! “What once has been shall be no more!”

 “… The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD” (Ezekiel 37:1-14).¹

¹The bones of this prophecy are those of the "whole" house of Israel, which the LORD, in a yet future day will bring up out of their graves and into the land of Israel. "And they shall look upon Him whom they have pierced," and shall know the LORD. And they shall be "born of the Spirit," and shall live!


² By David Roberts, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10987959

©2017 Christian. Textual content may be copied and distributed, but it may not be sold.

The True Reformation

Schlosskirche in Wittenberg¹

The true reformation was not a consequence of 95 theses posted on a Wittenberg door for debate 500 years ago today, but rather it was the revelation of the light of the Scriptures. For a thousand years it had been encrypted in Latin and sequestered in cathedrals and seminaries and monasteries while untold masses perished — ever in want of the "words of life."

But in a moment in time Tyndale, and others who translated His Word into the languages of the lost, caused even the “boy that driveth the plow to know more of the Scripture than” those who inhibited the cathedrals and seminaries and monasteries of that world that once was. The Scriptures, replicated by a revolutionary technology, quickened multitudes to be “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23).

These new believers were the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, those who desired to be called the children of God. 

Because "believers only" baptism was an easily identified act of obedience, they were often referred to as Anabaptists (re-baptizers). Averting the aspersion, they called themselves the Brethren of the Lord; those who obediently followed His plain and simple Word.

And they were not a just another sect, they spring up everywhere in "a moment in time."



¹User: Pedelecs at wikivoyage shared [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASchlosskirche_Wittenberg_innen.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Schlosskirche_Wittenberg_innen.jpg

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The Question of the Ages

Only One Thing Will Work

Jerusalem Golden Gate 1900¹

"Sorry, but only one thing will work!”

Our President cryptically commented today regarding North Korean provocation. So what is that one thing that will work, and what is to be sorry about?

The Hetz 3 is an anti-ballistic missile that provides exo-atmospheric interception of ballistic missiles (during the outer-space portion of trajectory), including "all" intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) carrying nuclear, or any other warheads.

The Hetz 3 literally "chases" ICBMs into outer-space at leisure, destroying them with 99% or better efficiency. ICBMs reach exo-atmospheric altitudes to achieve hyper-sonic velocities during thermal phase reentry to avoid countermeasures, such as the "THAAD"  that was NOT designed to destroy ICBMs in terminal phase or any other phase!

Moreover, the mature Hetz 3 kill vehicle is essentially available off the shelf ($2–3 million per unit), not requiring a massive decades long development program costing tens of billions like the THAAD!

"So what is to be sorry about?" Did I neglect to mention that "the only thing to work" Hetz 3 is "single source" and is better known as Israel's "Arrow 3"!

As Kim prepares for his next ICBM "test" launch, this one targeting mainland U.S.A, our president, in grave need of the "incomparable" deterrent capability the Arrow 3 would offer – "burned that bridge" today when he announced he would not be moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Such is "the times of the Gentiles," i.e., when "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luke 21:24).

"The times of the Gentiles" began when the Chaldeans breached the walls of Jerusalem, burning the city and the temple of Solomon, and scattering the few who escaped to the four winds of heaven (587 BC), and "the times of the Gentiles"will be complete when Christ returns to "judge" the nations that "remain" regarding their affinity with Israel, or lack thereof.

I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink" (Joel 3:2-3, cf. Matthew 25:31-46).

¹See page for author [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AJerusalem_Goldenes_Tor_um_1900.jpghttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Jerusalem_Goldenes_Tor_um_1900.jpg

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The Gospel of the Kingdom

The Tyndale Bible¹

"When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel" (Act 1:6).

The eleven were asking in regard to the "redemption" of Israel -- the fulfillment of kingdom prophecy when the Lord will rule the earth with the "Law of Moses" and a "rod of iron" and the mandate of the Sermon on the Mount, and "out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (cf. Isaiah 2:1-3).

As our Lord concluded His earthly ministry, His answer morphed into a directive to, once again, preach the "gospel of the kingdom," as in Matthew 10, but this time in the power of the Spirit, witnessing unto Him "both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (cf. Act 1:8).


However, are we to preach the "gospel of the kingdom" today?

"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed" (Gal 1:6-8).

Our Lord's "gospel of the kingdom" was a wonderful gospel, and would have been a "glorious" one had Israel accepted it. Yet, it was the "quintessential" gospel, for by it came "the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world"! 

However, during this age of grace our "glorified" and "ascended" Lord "revealed" to Paul what he refers to as "my gospel." Paul's gospel is a gospel by which "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" (cf. Rom_2:16), a gospel "kept secret since the world began," (cf. Rom_16:25), a gospel by which "Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead" (cf. 2Ti_2:8), a gospel that supersedes Israel's "gospel of the kingdom," ONLY during this "dispensation of grace"! But when the Body of Christ and the Spirit within her is removed the earth, the "gospel of the kingdom" will resume unabated, until it becomes the "glorious" gospel God originally intended.

"For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal 1:9-12).



¹By Peter Schöffer (printer); William Tyndale (British Library Board) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATyndale_Bible_-_Gospel_of_John.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Tyndale_Bible_-_Gospel_of_John.jpg

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God in Control

Cities

Kansas City, Columbia, and St Louis ─ 2016¹

Essentially every major city in America has a different "soul" from the less populous areas surrounding it. Forget the 2016 Red State - Blue State maps. 

There are only “Blue Cities” floating in a “political sea of red” as far as the eye can see! 

This elicits the question ─ do cities make people liberal, or do people make cities liberal? 

The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished." Scripture does not record a single "city" of that antediluvian world, but that it was "one global city of iniquity"!

Thereafter, God said unto Noah and his sons, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," but "contrary" to God's command, "as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. ... And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be 'scattered' abroad upon the face of the whole earth." (cf. Genesis 11:2-4). 

 On a plain in the land of Shinar Nimrod² a “mighty hunter” of men, and “the souls of men" compelled them to build Babel the very "first" city, and its tower, “whose top may reach unto heaven."

The question remains ─ do cities make people liberal, or do people make cities liberal, or does it make any difference?


 ¹By Ali Zifan - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48101411

²"Nimrod as a mighty hunter founded a powerful kingdom; and the founding of this kingdom is shown by the verb וַתְּהִי with ו consec. to have been the consequence or result of his strength in hunting, so that the hunting was most intimately connected with the establishment of the kingdom. Hence, if the expression “a mighty hunter” relates primarily to hunting in the literal sense, we must add to the literal meaning the figurative signification of a “hunter of men” (“trapper of men by stratagem and force,” Herder); Nimrod the hunter became a tyrant, a powerful hunter of men. This course of life gave occasion to the proverb, “like Nimrod, a mighty hunter against the Lord,” which immortalized not his skill in hunting beasts, but the success of his hunting of men in the establishment of an imperial kingdom by tyranny and power. But if this be the meaning of the proverb, יְהֹוָה לִפְנֵי “in the face of Jehovah” can only mean in defiance of Jehovah" (Keil and Delitzsch Commentaries, cf. Genesis 10:6-20).

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A Zvika Force of One

A Destroyed Centurion in Sinai ¹

On Yom Kippur, Israel’s most holy Shabbat 44 years ago, the forces of 13 Arab nations, and contingent of Cuban and Palestinian troops converged on Israel to administer a coup de grâce!

On that fateful Day of Atonement, the Israelis were outnumbered and outgunned by staggering margins. In Sinai, for example, exactly 450 Israeli troops faced an invading force of 100,000 Egyptians, who enjoyed a superiority in artillery of 40-1 and a force of 1,350 tanks against Israel’s 91. On the Golan, the Syrians had eight tanks for every Israeli tank, and even higher ratios of troops, guns and planes; later the Syrians would be bolstered by contingents of Iraqis, Jordanians, Palestinians, Saudi Arabians, Kuwaitis and Moroccans. In addition, the Arabs were equipped with the latest in Soviet rocketry, against which Israel had virtually no defense (Matt Nesvisky, The Lessons We Learned in 1973, The Jewish Journal, 2004-09-24).

Of those young men who stood between Israel and death, Golda Meir later recalls, ‘They fought and fell like lions’ (Peter Colon, The Yom Kippur War, Israel My Glory Oct/Nov 1997 p.15).

After the first day, the enemy in the Golan with tactical, logistical, and numerical superiority, the element of surprise, and Soviet supplied night-vision virtually destroyed Israeli resistance and was headed toward a strategic crossroads and Israel’s divisional headquarters. During the night, Lieutenant Zvika Greengold, a young blond son of Holocaust survivors, unattached to any unit, hitchhiked to the conflagration. Removing the dead from a Centurion tank, he took command.

For the next 20 hours, Zvika Force [koach Tzvika], as he came to be known on the radio net, fought running battles with Syrian tanks—sometimes alone, sometimes as part of a larger unit, changing tanks half a dozen times as they were knocked out. He was wounded and burned but stayed in action and repeatedly showed up at critical moments from an unexpected direction to change the course of a skirmish (Abraham Rabinovich, Shattered Heights, The Jerusalem Post, September 25, 1998).

His and a few remaining Israeli tanks succeeded in stalling the enemy who apparently thought they were confronting a superior force. Concurrently Prime Minister Golda Meir, conceding the Golan, began implementing the Samson Option (Judges 16:30):

During the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Israel came close to making a nuclear preemptive strike when it seemed to be facing defeat at the hands of Syrian armor, according to a half dozen former U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials familiar with the still-classified incident…. According to a former senior U.S. diplomat, by Oct. 8, Israel's northern front commander, Maj. Gen. Yitzak Hoffi, had informed Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan that he couldn't hold out much longer against the 14,000 Syrian tanks rolling through Israeli defenses on the Golan Heights. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Dayan was ‘attacked by acute panic’ and declared to advisers: ‘This is the end of the Third Temple.’ But if Israel was to perish, it would take Damascus and Cairo with it. According to a former senior CIA official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, Dayan sought an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Golda Meir and secured her authorization to arm 13 intermediate-range Jericho missiles with nuclear warheads. Eight F-4 Phantom fighter aircraft were also to be given nuclear arms, former senior U.S. officials said (Richard Sale (UPI Terrorism Correspondent), Yom Kippur: Israel's 1973 nuclear alert, United Press International, 9/16/2002).

Unlike the "Army of One" recruiting ploy, the day is coming when every son of Israel will literally be a Zvika Force of One:

In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them (Zechariah 12:6-8).

¹See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ADestroyed_Centurion_in_Sinai.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Destroyed_Centurion_in_Sinai.jpg

A Form of Godliness

http://galleries.apps.chicagotribune.com/chi-140207-st-valentines-day-massacre-pictures/#chi-massacre-crowd2-20080728

Planet X

Just another false prophecy¹

"Planet X" is just another edition of the Herald Camping saga. Unfortunately, Ed Stetzer in Christianity Today is adding to the confusion, citing the chronologically inappropriate "Day of the Lord" passage:

 "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Matthew 24:36).

 This passage regards the Second coming of the Lord. The Body of Christ, not appointed to wrath, will "be caught up... to meet the Lord in the air" (1Th 4:17) seven years before:

 The Greek word rendered “travail” ὠδίν ōdin is used to describe a woman in the pangs of birth. We appear to be seeing subtle manifestations of that "beginning of travail." Unfortunately, Christendom is focused, if focused at all, on "Israel's" prophetic "flowchart," rather than its own, unaware that the "beginning of travail" follows that which "must" come before, i.e., "The Quickening." As a mother senses that "twinkling" sensation of life within, when the child latent in the darkness of her womb emanates that first discernible affirmation of life, so will the "Body of Christ" sense that "twinkling sensation of life within when "caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:17).

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52).

 "The Quickening" is the consummation of a seven faceted mystery "which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (cf. Colossians 1:26-27).




¹By O'Dea at WikiCommons, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15275300