Something Even More Wicked…

Last Saturday I blogged on Something Wicked that was coming our way: transgenderism, antisemitism and abortion are just three of the major trends in our society that will call for God’s judgment on the USA and much of the West that follows our lead.

Briefly, YHWH judged Israel (aka Ephraim; the ten tribes initially led by Jeroboam) and Judah (Judah and Benjamin), the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, for their repeated national idolatry and violence within the land.  The bloodshed of innocents cried out to God more than Abel’s blood had when he was murdered by his brother, Cain.

How much more will the worship of sexuality, the hatred of the descendants of Jacob and the abortion of millions of living humans invoke the anger of a just God?  Unbelievers do not like to hear that God will judge sin… until they have been offended!  Then they want God to act immediately to condemn whoever has hurt them or their cause, without considering His great mercy and love for humankind, and that His ways may have different priorities than they espouse.

How much longer can the USA proceed on its downward spiral until The God Who Is says, “ENOUGH!”  (See Habakkuk 2.)  Has there been enough idolatry?  Though we do not make giant statues of gold to worship (?), people in our nation adore many things more than the LORD who said, “You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

There has been enough bloodshed in America to overshadow the days of the Kings of Israel and their slaughter of children sacrificed to Molech and Ashtoreth; abortion killed in the USA more than 1,026,000 babies in 2023, compared to less than 19,000 deaths by gun violence or accidents.  Yet those were the headlines that grabbed attention; the confused girls who were pressured by a parent or a boyfriend or status to abort their babies did not attract the spotlight, even though they numbered in the hundreds of thousands.

• Cheers erupted in the New York state legislature in 2019 as they approved a law allowing for abortion up to the time of birth, which brought to mind the drums and noise made when children were placed in Molech’s arms to burn, so that the screams of the babies could not be heard.    
• In 2015, religious freedom seemed compromised when a Washington high school football coach was fired for praying with his team after a game.  Joe Kennedy waited roughly six years for the Supreme Court to hear the oral arguments for his case.  This was a notable case in 2022, and recent events have caused the issue to resurface.
• Earlier this year, Laura, an 11-year-old student of Creekside Elementary in Washington state, requested to start an interfaith prayer club at her school.  Her request was denied even though an LGBT club was approved about the same time as Laura’s request causing one commenter to note, “Sadly, the promotion of LGBT identities is held sacred while religion is sidelined and marginalized.”
• Toronto Police Service sent its “Progress Pride Flag-wrapped scout car” to drive around the streets of the city while crime remains at levels not seen for years.
• Pelosi says Democrats will codify a “right” to abortion if they win in November.  Such a devout Catholic?
• The legislative body of the United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant Christian denomination in the US, voted to repeal a 40-year ban on the ordination of gay clergy on May 1, 2024.
• This coming June, homosexual “pride masses” are scheduled to take place in hundreds of Catholic churches in the USA and Canada as a reaction to celebrations in traditional churches of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

On the governmental front, the current administration may be waging a secretive war on Christian faith – prayer, churches, Bible studies in senior living centers, and even Christian kids in school are all under attack.  Joe Biden is empowering anti-Christian forces in the FBI and DOJ to severely deplete our religious liberty.  Agencies have been caught placing spies in churches, making your bank report when you purchase a Bible, targeting “radical traditionalist” Christians and banning Bible studies at senior living centers – and this is just the beginning.  The ACLJ is in court to protect teachers who were banned on April 18, 2024 from praying “where students could see them.”

The Department of Justice’s investigation into the FBI’s disturbing 2023 memo suggesting that Catholicism is a breeding ground for violent domestic terrorists – especially within Traditional Latin Mass circles – found that the memo “failed to adhere to FBI standards” but showed “no evidence of malicious intent,” absolving the agency of wrongdoing.

Toronto city officials have appealed to the Trudeau government to legalize ALL quantities of crack, cocaine, heroin, meth, and other hard drugs, despite warnings that it will bring increased chaos and violence to the city, already seeing the highest crime rates ever.

Northwestern University this month cut a deal with encampment protesters to establish full-ride scholarships for “palestinian” students, even though there is no such national nor biological identity.  This is to appease the angry mobs who storm buildings and threaten the safety of Jewish students and faculty.

A Bush era “presidential emergency action document” reveals sweeping and broad powers the executive branch can wield in the face of a “crisis,” real or imagined.  Ponder how these powers can be abused when “Christians” are viewed as a threat to public peace for adhering to the teachings of the Bible.  Consider how “hate speech” laws can be twisted to include any quotations from the Bible that condemn actions being normalized in our upside-down society.

While globally, America is still relatively safe, this can change in a heartbeat… or the lack of one from an elected official😳!  We still have groups that provide legal protections and take action against persecution of Christians (as well as mistreatment of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and other religiously justifiable activities; think Falun Gong or Chinese artists such as Shun Yun).  However, we may be like the proverbial frog in a slowly warming kettle.

Christ-follower, be aware that you may be required to love your enemy in ways you have not imagined: expressing concern for a jailer from a cell while you await trial; helping in a soup kitchen when you are not allowed to work; praying for people who spit at you and deride you as being “outdated,” narrow-minded, bigoted and hateful.  Love them as Jesus loved His Roman crucifiers and the Sanhedrin rulers who mocked Him while He was on the cross: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The USA has passed a “point of no return.”  I mourn, not only for the loss to the world of the “city on a hill,” but for my children and grandchildren who will live in a nation those of us over 45 will not recognize.

No matter who “wins” in our coming election, the infections of socialism, anti-Americanism, and selfish philosophy permeate our society too deeply to be cured by any one elected official.  The swamp that Donald Trump arrogantly thought he could clean up in his first term drowned him out, as much because of his supercilious attitude and self-importance as illegalities perpetrated by those who despised him.

We Christ-followers in the USA must prepare for coming persecution such as the Hebrews have suffered for so long.

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.” Jesus, John 17:14-15

Something Wicked This Way Comes

“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Jesus, John 16:33

Yet something wicked this way comes.  Not the carnival nor the Ray Bradbury book or the movie of the same name, but something much more sinister and relevant to the lives of Christ-followers in the USA and other nations influenced by America’s churches.

I am not a prophet and have no “word of the LORD” on this, but it seems to me we have passed a point of no return.  The world is rapidly spinning out of control of societal norms that have been standards for hundreds of years.  Even Nazi Germany from the 1930s to WW2 was mostly recognized as violating basic human rights, even as the political madness ruled from the top down by way of fear and intimidation.  Many people rapidly escaped and various plots to assassinate Hitler or his henchmen were unsuccessful.  But there was a keen sense in the rest of the world that Germany and Japan were on the wrong side of history.

Now we see history “rhyming.”  Remember, it never repeats just as certainly as a man cannot step in the same river twice.  Antisemitism is at levels higher and more widely spread across the globe than the 1930s.  Universities that once allowed vigorous discussion of divergent ideas, years ago began shouting down unpopular views that expressed traditional values.  Administrators have kowtowed to leftist and elitist abusers that they trained to resist what those of us over 40 considered normal.  A student leader at Columbia, Khymani James, declares, “Zionists don’t deserve to live.  Be glad — be grateful — that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.”

Aside from the Israel/Gaza storm, men pretending to be women are now invited to change in Olympic women’s dressing rooms for the next series of games.  In spite of obvious physical differences, how these guys “feel” about themselves matters more than what their biology teachers told them.  When girls object, they are vilified as bigoted and narrow-minded and are sexually discriminating against these “trans-women.”

The upcoming Paris Olympics are trying to balance “wokeness” with public displeasure at men competing in women’s sports by dumping the decisions of who qualifies back onto the individual governing bodies of each sport.  There’s a lack of backbone for you.

“Gender-affirming” surgeries tripled in the USA from 2016 to 2019 with 12-18 year-olds accounting for 10% of permanent mutilations of naturally-born characteristics.  Boys and girls, can you say “social contagion?”  The governor of Arizona vetoed a state legislature bill that would have prevented confused school boys from showering with girls stating, “I will not sign legislation that attacks Arizonans.”

In April this year the German parliament overwhelmingly passed a so-called “self-identification law,” which allows people confused about their sex, including minors, to change their legal gender once per year.  The government is promoting puberty blockers and hormones on its website for gender-confused children at ages when kids should be riding bicycles and playing with dolls and trucks.

Live Action’s “Meet Baby Olivia” video shares a realistic look at the development of preborn children in the womb, validated by well-qualified OB/GYN doctors.  While some states are moving to require the video for sex-ed classes, an article for USA today claimed it would mislead people and stigmatize teenage girls who have an abortion when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

The issue here is not that society is changing, but that Christ-honoring Biblical truth is being side-lined by prophets of a new age.
>How long before wearing a kippah can result in being arrested?  Try last week!
>Will we who believe God created distinct males and females in His image be accused of hate speech for quoting the Bible?  Try a couple years ago and still fighting for free speech and to stay out of prison!
>When will someone lose a job for espousing open dialogue on divisive issues?  Try last week again!
>Fortunately our government will never spy on citizens going about their daily business😳.  They can leave that to Google and Apple.
>Then again, maybe they will, but they will only use such surveillance against the “bad guys.”

Now, if we can just be certain we who call on the Name of YHWH or Jesus are never on the “bad guys” list!  But if we insist on allowing Hebrews to wear their identity on their heads, some may want to kill us.  If we label men and women as birth-assigned genders, we could be in trouble.  If we feel we should be allowed to express our faith by talking openly about being Jewish or Christian we may be discretely followed or imprisoned.  If we insist a human is a human as soon as he/she has all the genetic information of a human, there are voices that will call us liars and try to drown us out.

Do not expect the next election to stem the tide of history.  We are heading for the last stanza of the rhyme.  Love your enemies and trust in Jesus!  He has overcome the world.

Who can you NOT criticize?

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions…

As Christ-followers, we are faced with decisions every day for which we are supposed to seek wisdom from The God Who Is.  This includes everything from who we are to marry, where we are to live, what we are to eat, and how to respond to that crazy driver who tailgates you until he has opportunity to pass and then zooms in as though to force you off the road.  Obviously, some decisions are greater than others and will have more impact on our lives.

When I stand before my God one day (probably sooner than most of my readers😏), do I want to have to confess to Him that I voted for a misogynistic playground bully who was blatantly selfish, viciously vindictive, thrived on personal insults and denigration of anyone who disagreed with him, and felt that he should have immunity from laws that apply to the rest of us?

Or do I want to confess that I voted for a lying Catholic who supported abortion up to the time of birth, was untruthful about whether God created man and woman as distinct genders, who lied about “freedom” while enabling the Department Of Justice to label Christians as “extremists” for quoting the Bible, and cared so little about law that he promoted illegal immigration of millions?

Decisions, decisions, decisions…

Perhaps, as a wiser friend once commented, the USA may have come to this point as the beginning of a compassionate and just God’s judgment on our nation.  A liberal friend of mine remarked that it is sad that we have this choice between these two old white guys.  He asked with a wistful voice, “Is this the best we can do?”

As a Christ-follower, not a “christian-nationalist,” I need to go back and read my Master’s three-chapter Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, 6 and 7.  I need to pray in the Holy Spirit as well as with my understanding (per 1 Corinthian 14:15) and ask Father, “What am I not applying in this sermon that I should be doing?”  I remember this world is not my Home; I am an alien living here.😎

You may be thinking, “If we can just get XYZ elected, everything will be all right!”  WRONG.

We will not get what God wants for us from any politician or elected official.  They will not teach us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.  They may even become the ones doing the persecution!  They will not instruct by word or example how to overcome unjust anger, control our lusts nor keep our promises.  As our political climate flourishes on fear, it is unlikely any of them will coach us how to avoid anxiety or to be content.  What politician (other than maybe Jimmy Carter?) even tried to live by the Golden Rule: “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.”? (Matthew 7:12)

Does The God Who Is really appoint world leaders such as the USA’s or Russia’s President or China’s Chairman or the UN’s Secretary General?  Who allowed Sinwar to rule Hamas and let a terrorist group take over the people living in Israel’s historic land?  Who will orchestrate the last global conflict that will be part of the scenario to welcome back the King of kings and Lord of lords?

So my decision is to be doing whatever Jesus wants me to be working on when He returns; loving my neighbor, praying for my persecutors (more coming on that in April), learning to lean on Him for His Holy Spirit’s wisdom, listening to His still, small voice instead of the clamor of popular music and movies.  I need to be learning to apply the lessons Jesus taught, asking for His mercy for how far short I so often fall, and trust that He will work out His plan for our lives and the world, even if it looks like Job’s trials.  God is good all the time and all the time, God is good.

People who love women and babies and want them both to LIVE, braved a cold day in January!

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Only one minute and 27 seconds in this time-lapse, but WoW‼️ The Pro-Life generation turned out HUGE in freezing temps on January 19, 2024 to celebrate the new opportunities for women and unborn children to enjoy life‼️

The 2024 March for Life | The pro-life movement is here to walk With Every Woman, For Every Child! pic.twitter.com/uHvZPJzMwj

— March for Life (@March_for_Life) January 19, 2024

Lila Rose at the UN, November 17, 2023

My apologies; we will wait one more week to address the Whispers of God.  In the meantime, you can attune your ear to hear Him; “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Jesus)😉
Today, January 20, 2024, the 20th Annual Walk for Life West Coast is occurring in San Francisco, California, where Live Action president, Lila Rose will be speaking.  Yesterday the Washington D.C. March for Life occurred in spite of the snow and freezing temperatures.

On Friday, November 17, 2023 Rose joined the United Nations Transatlantic Summit  to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).  Here is a transcript of most of her speech:

“When the member states of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the world was reeling.  We were three years removed from the liberation of the Nazi death camps in 1945, where the horrors of the evils committed against the Jewish people and political dissidents emerged, and the world would never be the same.  Their human rights were violated.  They were enslaved, their bodies used for labor or human experimentation at the whim of their captors.  They were cruelly tortured and degraded as if they were less than animals.  They were murdered.”

Killing on an industrial scale.
Rose noted the Universal Declaration was not written as “an academic exercise,” but rather “a robust response to some of the greatest atrocities and most severe and systematic human rights abuses perpetrated in modern history.  These were bloody times, in living memory of some who are with us today.  The 20th century saw more bloodshed than any century before.  World War I; over 20 million deaths.  World War II; over 70 million deaths, including six million Jews murdered in the Nazi Holocaust.”  Then millions more killings were carried out under Josef Stalin’s reign of terror, and then millions more under Mao Zedong.  “It was killing on an industrial scale.

“The capacity for evil exists in every human heart but so does the capacity for good.  As Solzhenitsyn points out, ‘The line between good and evil has always cut through every human heart.’  The truth is every single one of us is spiritual, formed in the likeness of goodness itself, oriented toward the Highest of Powers, God Himself.  Each of us possesses reason to know and to choose the good.  Respect for the everyday miracle of human life, respect for every human person must be the first movement of our shared moral conscience and so inspired the United Natons Declaration of Human Rights.

The Declaration That ALL Have the Right to Life.
“From Article 3 of the Declaration, ‘Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person’. From Article 6, ‘Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law’. From Article 7, ‘All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.’  Who is the ‘All‘ this Declaration promises rights to?  Who is included in ‘Everyone‘?

“The Declaration’s preamble states that the rights enumerated are for ‘ALL members of the human family.’  It states: ‘recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of ALL members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.’

“So how does one become a member of the human family?  I am proud to be a member of the human family, as I know all of you are with me today, as is the little baby daughter in my womb.  Here is a quick review for us, thanks to a team of medical experts and scientists, created with Live Action and world-class animators:” This is the Baby Olivia video Rose showed midway through her speech:

“Many powerful people today… argue that a human in the womb is not a human, is not a life, and is certainly not worthy of the basic human rights enumerated in the Declaration.  Instead, these powerful people argue that one must pass through the magical birth canal in order to receive one’s humanity —how ludicrous!  It’s clear; science is clear that human life does not begin at birth, but before, at the moment of fertilization.

“Since our Universal Human Rights are grounded in being human and being a member of the human species, not in your age, not in your level of development, not in your location, human embryos and fetuses have the same inalienable and universal right to life as human infants, toddlers, teenagers and adults.

“So, how are we doing here in 2023 when it comes to Human Rights for ALL, for Everyone, for ALL members of the human family?

There is no right to kill.
“Here’s the hard truth: every year, globally, seventy million children are slaughtered by abortion.  That’s as if World War II happened again every single year with its victims exclusively civilians, particularly children.  Abortion is, by far, the worst human rights crisis of the last half century.  In fact, most of the members the United Nations outright support this human rights abuse.

“The helpless victims of this abuse have no representation here.  They are too young, too vulnerable to speak.  They are totally dependent on others.  They cannot rally, they cannot vote, they cannot demonstrate.  They require and rely on adults to speak for them.  They are babies, infants, growing in the womb of their mothers.  The womb which should be a safe haven, a place of nourishment and unconditional love, has become a war zone. 

“What are the euphemisms used in polite society, even in this building, that cloak the brutal reality of abortion?  Even the word ‘abortion’ sanitizes the unnatural act that kills a human being.  ‘Reproductive healthcare,’ ‘Women’s rights,’ ‘The right to choose,’ ‘Bodily autonomy.’  Reproductive healthcare does not include the right to harm a child — that is ludicrous!  Women’s rights do not include the right to kill a little woman, a little girl in the womb — that is ludicrous!  The right to choose does not include the right to murder — that is ludicrous!  My bodily autonomy, as a woman, does not include the right to destroy the little daughter growing in my womb — that is ludicrous!

Speaking up for the preborn.
“How have we bought so many ludicrous lies?  It’s because the unborn cannot speak that the born, the powerful, have succeeded in trampling on their rights.  The human rights abuse of abortion has killed billions of innocent human beings over the last half century, eclipsing every other cause of death or human rights abuse.  Abortion is the leading cause of death globally and it deprives its innocent victims of their first human right: LIFE.

“From Article 4 of the Declaration of Human Rights, ‘No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.  Slavery shall be prohibited in all forms.’  From Article 5, ‘No one shall be subject to torture or to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment.’

“Abortion not only violates the unborn child’s right to life, abortion also violates the child’s right to be free from slavery and the right to be free from torture.  With abortion, human beings are treated as property to be created and killed at will.  Unborn children are routinely bred for stem cell research; their cells used for medical experimentation; their body parts sold or traded.  In the name of ‘medical research,’ millions of human embryos are created only to be victims of experiments, manipulated and ultimately to be destroyed in labs across the world. 

“Abortion also is torture for millions of murdered children.  In abortion procedures, children are routinely subjected to the worst acts of violence imaginable.  A Dilation and Evacuation, or D&E abortion, is the most common procedure used for a second trimester abortion committed on babies 14 weeks old through 22 weeks old.  In a D&E abortion, the abortionist inserts a large suction catheter into the uterus and turns it on, emptying amniotic fluid.  After the amniotic fluid has been removed the abortionist uses a Sopher clamp, a grasping instrument with sharp teeth, to grasp and pull one by one the living moving baby’s arms and legs, ripping their limbs from the child’s body.  The abortionist continues to grasp the child’s intestines, spine, heart, lungs and any other body parts.  The most difficult part of the procedure is usually finding, grasping and crushing the baby’s head.  You see, many abortions are not just killing. A D&E abortion is excruciating, torturous killing of a baby who feels every second of his or her live dismemberment.

“Abortion at its core is a contradiction of every human right.  If human rights are not for ALL, then they are for none.  If human rights do not apply to life in the womb, then they apply to no one.  If our youngest child is not considered worthy of these rights, then why do these rights matter for anyone?  As Mother Teresa said prophetically, ‘In a nation where a mother can kill her own child what is left but for you or for I to kill one another?’  We must do better.  We can do better to live up to the great ideals of this Declaration.  We must stand for ALL human rights for ALL and the most basic human right: LIFE for ALL members of the human family.

“So how do we move forward?  How do we protect human rights worldwide?  I call on the United Nations to address this human rights crisis of abortion and set a resolution of all its member nations to end it.  A strong leader stands on the truth and the truth is the first step toward lasting political victory.  We must refuse to tolerate in our nations the homicide of any child in the womb no matter the circumstances or excuses.  It is our duty to abolish abortion.  It is our duty once more to listen to our human conscience and refuse to rationalize why one child should be welcomed and another one killed.

“As we protect fundamental human rights we can ensure that every soul has the opportunity to be born, to live and to thrive.  Our shared commitment to the dignity of EVERY life for EVERY member of the human family will secure us the freedom, justice and peace that we so deeply desire for each of our beloved nations.  Thank you.”

Just to be clear, if you have had an abortion you can find peace and forgiveness from Jesus, though the mourning for the child you killed may stay with you for the rest of your life.

The Dechurching of America in 2024

I am not a prophet, but there are trends that anyone can see that can help us prognosticate.

“We are experiencing the largest religious shift in US history – greater than the Great Awakenings, but in the opposite direction.” The Great Dechurching by Jim Davis, Michael Graham, and Ryan Burge

First Alliance Church in Lexington, Kentucky is at a cusp of decision as the attendance is topping 1000 almost every Sunday.  Do we try to figure out how to stay in our location, add to the current three meeting times, expand with property across the street, move to a new location and new building?  Hmm, some say these are “good problems” to have.

However, this seems to be unique, even in Lexington.  Many legacy churches in town struggle with budgets, personnel and schedules.  Nationally, attendance at evangelical churches is down as some 40 million (40,000,000) former church-going adults no longer put in an appearance.  The pandemic that taught us we could “attend” online seems to have taken a toll on “in-person” attendance.  Yet, the overall continuing trend in America is toward less church attendance, even “online.” 

The “dechurched” grew gradually over the last few decades, but since the pandemic this shift has become a startling jolt!  If the trend continues to expand, as such trends tend to do, the number of “dechurched” may soon surpass the “unchurched” – those who never attended.

A greater concern addressed in The Great Dechurching is that too many alleged Christ-followers have come to depend on the “wow” appeal of churches to win people to Jesus.  The authors raise the question if we have forgotten what it means to be salt, light and yeast in the world? (Matthew 5:13-14; Matthew 13:33)  Have we succumbed to the succubus of contemporary rock worship performances or flashy sermons complete with videos or textured art presentations to the loss of personally feeling responsible for our next door neighbor’s salvation?

The result of “dechurching” means that for the first time in eighty years, more adults in the USA do not attend church than those that do.  This accelerating of the “dechurching” from the 1990s to now may have many factors, but probably the most influential sociological impact came from the rise of the internet.  While only 20% of American homes had internet service in the late 1990s, connectivity via the web has grown exponentially.  Since 2021 over 90% of homes have access.

Of course, this alone does not explain the “dechurching,” but is a major contributing factor.  Increasing secularization, promoted by the web, grows in the USA as our religious foundations continue to erode.  One of the most significant reverberations of 40,000,000 adding to the more than 100 million (100,000,000) who already do not attend means that less than half of the US population will be attending church services in 2024!

The predictions in the Bible (Zechariah 12:2-3, 14:2) that no nation will stand with Israel at the end of time means that even the USA will abandon our ally.  Christ-followers will continue to support the tiny nation, but “dechurching” will remove the influence of orthodox doctrine that churches teach, and leave the less than half of Americans who still attend church on the outside of the political trends that will eventually lead to our demise as a world leading nation and supporter of democracies such as Israel.

More so, the declining belief in the special status of the Hebrews being God’ chosen people will result in those of us who do believe being ostracized as hateful religious radicals, dangerous to society and a menace to the “acceptable” political order. While there is currently some push back against anti-Semitism, watch for the resistance to decrease and the hatred of Jews, globally, to increase.

Are we as Christ-followers really ready to embrace Paul’s view, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”?  How enamored are we of our McMansions, our worldly comforts and secular “values?”  How can we influence new adherents to commit themselves unreservedly to Jesus and His power to redeem?  How can we “shine as lights” in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation as the Philippian Christians did?

Maybe the “dechurching” of America is a good thing in one way.  As a black background is used by a jeweler to expose the brightness of a diamond, so the changing of America will make those of us who follow Jesus in every aspect of our lives look even more different than we have in the past few decades.  We may have to lose some of the trappings of contemporary society, but it is a society that is going to hell in a handbasket.  Do we really need better “production values” for our worship?  Should the cult of personality dictate who we select for pastors?  Maybe scale back on the investment in hi-tech sound boards and multiple LED screens and spend a little more in training and supporting evangelism and time in prayer?

What is there for us in a culture that worships Barbie, idolizes hypersexed icons, believes that we have to “learn to love ourselves,” and that humans can do anything we set our minds to do?  Is there anything there that we would really want to take to Heaven with us? Is there anyone you would like to see go to Heaven with you? Have you told them of your desire?

All I want in Heaven is to see Jesus and live with Him for eternity with others who will have loved His appearing (2 Timothy 4:7-8). Happy New Year. Maybe next year in Jerusalem⁉️

Perspective Matters – Wordless Wednesday

Is Ray Kurzweil “THE” Antichrist?

Maybe Greg Brockman? Elon Musk? Benjamin Netanyahu? Mark Zuckerface?

Just for the record, knowing the identity of the Antichrist is layers of strata below the importance of knowing the real Christ; and that is knowing Him, not just knowing about Him.  Besides, Scripture says we will not know who the Antichrist is until he is “revealed.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)  Just the same, in these times in which we live, facing issues from AI to CBDCs to wars in the Mideast to Israeli politics to the Pope denying basic Roman Catholic doctrine to America’s dissipation of world leadership, it is very possible that the “man of sin”  may be alive and lining up his minions for world leadership.  So just consider:

In case you have not heard of him yet, Ray Kurzweil is the director of engineering at Google and a futurist who has seen many of his predictions come true (and many not).  Greg Brockman, President of OpenAI, the undisputed leading firm in the AI universe is expecting poverty, hunger and sickness to be eliminated by Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) in the next seven years, based primarily on the work of Kurzweil, The Singularity Is Near.

A September 27, 2023, article in All Israel News reported on a discussion with Brockman, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk and MIT professor Max Tegmark in which Brockman made his ominous prediction of the end of humanity as we know it, or a merger of AGI and humans to create heaven on earth, i.e., immortality…  Hmm, I wonder if there is any difference?  Elon Musk’s Neuralink may be the instrument leading us past this “event horizon” into a brave new world, or could it portend the infamous “mark of the Beast?” (Revelation 13:16-17)

Born on February 12, 1948, the 75-year-old Hebrew author, inventor and entrepreneur is not likely to be around much longer to see his dream of the merging of humans and computers that he predicts will come by 2045.  But then many are living well into their 90s, making it very possible that even if this “Singularity” did not occur until then, he may be present as a 97-year-old to watch.  Besides, Brockman expects the Singularity in 2030, not 2045!  On the possibility of divine intelligence, Kurzweil has said “Does God exist? I would say ‘Not yet.'”😏

There are detractors like Corey Pein who say The Singularity is hogwash.  In a 2018 article Pein reports that technology is the new state religion and Singularitarianism is its most extreme and fanatical sect.  These are the elite “true-believers” who claim it is not science fiction any more than weather prediction is sci-fi.  “It’s a serious hypothesis about the future of life on Earth.”  These religious fanatics expect computer intelligence to surpass human intelligence very soon as the exponential growth of technology shows no sign of slowing.

In spite of critics, a 2011 Time magazine named Kurzweil one of the one hundred “most influential people in the world” and endorsed the Singularity sect in a cover story.  While seemingly “preposterous,” the magazine declared, “the prospect of super-intelligent immortal cyborgs deserves sober, careful evaluation.”

Kurzweil’s awards are numerous and his associations have placed him alongside presidential candidates (Barack Obama in 2007) and presidents (Johnson, Reagan and Clinton) as well as scientists and technocrats of every stripe.  All he needs is to suffer a “mortal wound” that is miraculously healed and then unleash the Singularity as a third-in-command who would require everyone to worship him.  Revelation 13 reads an awfully lot like Kurzweil’s predictions!  But again, he may be too old.

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the UN on September 22, 2023, and he promoted this same notion of an AI future that would induct an AI Utopia!  In the final words of his speech, Netanyahu said that humanity should work to “avoid the perils of AI by combining the forces of human and machine intelligence, to usher in a brilliant future for our world in our time, and for all time.”

Now Mark Zuckerberg is another story.  Here’s a relatively young man who has accrued billions of dollars and followers, a sort of Bill Gates protégé.  However, he looks and acts more like a low-brow version of “the image of the beast” (Revelation 13:14-15) than one of the living beasts.  Is he an android?  The first attempt at AI deception?  “I am human,” he claims in one of the interviews.
The first two beasts will have to do a better job than this, if the image of the beast is a cyborg.😂

But as I began, let me emphasize, the more important identity to know is Jesus.  We will not be able to identify the “man of sin,” that is the Antichrist, until the Church that is currently restraining him is removed (2 Thessalonians 2:6-7).  Even so, come Lord Jesus, come.

Lies My Scientist Told Me

We should be able to enjoy Father’s creation without being scared senseless by baseless claims of the end of the world!  I thought that was the fare offered by lunatic fringe religious radicals in burlap robes and sandwich signs: 🔥The End Is Near!🔥  Now mainstream media has donned the gunny-sack vestments and horror stories of the end of life as we know it.

The Washington Post, USA Today, Axios, CNBC, Yahoo News and even The New Scientist reported July 4, 2023, to be the hottest day on record.  This would be cause for concern… if it was true!  Even CNN, that fortress of “The Most Trusted Name in News,” got caught up in the flurry of breathless reporting.  Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN Worldwide, even proposed changing the CNN slogan to “Holy Crap! We’re All Gonna Die,” to be on-screen 24 hours a day.  (It’s satire folks; don’t overuse your inhalers.)

Note that the graphs below represent data from European Environmental Agency as well as the US Historical Climate Network, not exactly conservative anti-fear-mongers; mostly boring scientists with nothing to do but catalog real data.

Climate change and global warming are simply the latest tactic in fear-mongering intended to convince people that we need government oversight to protect us from ourselves, instead of letting us enjoy God’s creation and rest in knowing that He will provide and protect all who are His.

I am not saying we should ignore genuine concerns like reducing litter, constructing weather-safe buildings, keeping parks and green spaces healthy or protecting wildlife… reasonably.  However, one must be careful with outright falsehoods presented as though they were settled science!  The fact is that science is NEVER settled!  The whole concept of science is to test, retest and test again.  Demonstrate reproducible results by reproducing them.  Examine the data and see if it matches any of the hypotheses.

Why does this matter to a Christ-follower whose life is hid in Jesus and secure for eternity?  Because the mad media will continue to portray falsehoods as being true in hopes that we will be deceived and buy into a “savior” who will have all the answers we need to solve all the “problems” of the world.

“False prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”  (Matthew 24:24)
“Evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  (2 Timothy 3:13)

The CO2 Coalition has an interesting take on the latest bogeyman to hit the airwaves about July 4^th’s alleged record heat.  By the way, when you look at the charts they show, note that CO2 has risen significantly since 1970, which CO2 Coalition says is a good thing, not the demonic gremlin of climate catastrophe the government wants us to fear.

“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”  Justice Louis Brandeis

“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government ha gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.”  Ronald Reagan

“The protected need to be protected from the unprotected by forcing the unprotected to use the protection that didn’t protect the protected.” Thompson Lengles.

__________________________________________________________

Hotter Than the Fourth of July!

It was widely reported recently that July 4th, 2023 was the hottest day in Earth’s recorded history.

Paulo Ceppi, a climate scientist at London’s Grantham Institute stated: “It hasn’t been this warm since at least 125,000 years ago, which was the previous interglacial.” And, of course, it was reported that it was our fault due to our “sins of emission.”

This didn’t meet the smell test for the scientists at the CO₂ Coalition. We know that previous warm periods were warmer than our modern temperatures. For example, during the Roman Warm Period there was citrus being grown in the north of England and barley was grown by Vikings on Greenland 1,000 years ago. Why aren’t they grown there now? It’s quite simple: Lower modern temperatures.

So, here at the CO₂ Coalition, we did what scientists are trained to do:
We looked at the available data. Our Science and Research Associate Byron Soepyan reviewed temperature data from the US Historical Climatology Network and found that both the number of weather stations reporting temperature over 100 degrees F and the Maximum Average Temperature for July 4th were slightly declining since the record began in 1895 – not increasing – as Ceppi claimed.

So, as we say in the South, “cool your heels,” and don’t let the climate goblins spook you.  Trust in Jesus, use the brain he gave you to analyze the information, and rest in His hands.  He still has the whole world in them.

Addendum as of this morning:

Look for upcoming newsletters that will document how U. S. governmental agencies like EPA and NOAA have been removing data and information that does not conform to the their promotion of a man-made climate crisis. Below is an important chart that somehow slipped by EPA’s “consensus” censorship squad. It is a map of all 1,066 weather stations across the United States. The change in the number of hot days for that station are ID’d as increasing (red), stayed the same (blank) or decreasing (blue). A total of 863 stations, or 81%, reported either a decrease or no change in the number of hot days! Any guesses on how long this map will remain up on their site?

As reported by EPA, only 19% of all weather stations report an increase in the number of hot days since 1948!