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

How long could this man live in Gaza?

Wouldn’t it be interesting if he tried this in a muslim setting like Samaria, Gaza or Iran? “Palestine” is 192 out of a list of 197 for hostility to LGBTQ; Iran is #197.

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.

Ahh, I remember it exactly; cemented memories.

“I remember it exactly.”  Words of unforgiveness.  Words of bitterness.  Words of unresolved anger.

Memories are tricky.  When my brother, two years older than me, and I were reminiscing about our childhood, I ‘remember’ him asking, “Were we even raised in the same house!?”  That is, if my memory serves me well?😉  But oftentimes our memories do NOT serve us well.  We enhance some details; we skip major influences of the event; we miss details others will recollect; our perspective changes what we recall over the days or years.  One of the problems with retrospection is we do not really remember time; we only relive moments in time.

And so the flow of memories’ seconds get set in stone as they become concreted and hard, impossible to remember any other way.  How sad when those moments are of pain, problems and perturbations.

“I remember it exactly.  It was ten years ago to this day!  She was wearing that skimpy purple top and tight black pants that showed off every curve and carrying that obnoxious tiny red(?) handbag.  She had on those tacky heels and that stupid pony tail(?) in her hair.  There were only nine(?) other people in the lobby including two(?) children and she was eating a box of popcorn(?) and she said  ‘x.y.z.‘‼️and it was exactly those words.”(?)

Jesus at times had harsh words for those who opposed Him without reason, but He seemed more interested in forgiving people who were “wrong” in one way or another: Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, the rich young ruler, the woman taken in the act of adultery, the blind, the lame and the beggars, His crucifiers.

When we hold onto grudges and paste them into our memory, we need to read 1 Corinthians 13:5 in the NASB or NIV: “[Love] does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.“  Whenever someone wishes to tell of an offense, it is important to ask the reporter some questions:

• Is this something I need to know? 
• Is this something that is ongoing?
• Is this something about which you have spoken to the offender? 
• Is your intention to get help or to dishonor the offender?
• Is this something you really want welded in your memory?

There are offenses which cannot be forgotten in this life: abuse, cruelty, wounds and scars left behind.  For those I highly recommend a text from Lysa TerKeurst, Forgiving What You Can’t Forget.  However, even for those we cannot seem to forget, we need to be bring them to the Cross and to a Christ-honoring counselor to find healing and forgiveness for both the offender and ourselves for our difficulty in forgiving.  Those hurtful experiences are not for public consumption to be shared on Facebook or TikTok.  Remember Jesus stern words, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15)

A counselor I once knew advised his clients to write down every offense of the person who had wronged them in order to experience catharsis of the pain and anger.  However, it seems all this would do is firmly cement the misdeeds like stones in a sidewalk.  Another counselor advised the same, but added, “Then burn the page and forgive.”  This seemed more in line with what Jesus taught.  The counselor said, “Forgiveness is an act of your will whereby you cancel the debt another person owes you, and if thereafter you remember that debt in anger, it is your sin of fraud to confess.”

Forgiveness is at the same time the hardest and easiest thing for us to do; hardest because it requires we die to ourselves and to the memory, the moment, we were offended; easiest because, as Lewis Smeades wrote, “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”

For Your Eyes Only… A Covenant for Men

Idolatry is the worship of anything that is NOT the true and living God, the Creator, The God Who Is, whose “Name” is YHWH or Yahweh.  Sunday last our Living Word class looked at 1 Samuel 12-13, particularly, 12:21.  Samuel said to the people, “Indeed, you must not turn aside, for then you would go after useless things [idols] which cannot benefit or save, because they are useless.”

The guide for our class noted that in the West we do not worship physical idols like Chemosh, Asherah, Baal nor any statues of wood, silver or gold (?), but asked the class to identify modern Western “idols.”  Some were quick to note fame, wealth, and power as “gods” to which we devote ourselves.  With about 50% men in the class, I wondered if anyone, myself included, would venture to identify one of American men’s most common idols, pornography.  My suspicion is that it was not mentioned for fear that whoever brought it up would be suspected of being a porn users!

Pornography is a scourge on American men and how one deals with it as an ongoing addiction affects how a man views women, interacts with others and warrants attention if one is to be free from it.  There are various programs and online assistants (see list at the end of this blog) to help men become unfettered from porn’s chains.  Almost all of these projects address some level of accountability; finding a friend to share the struggle.  Some of us may be able to overcome sexual or pornography addiction without this, but most will find themselves repeating a cycle of lust, satisfaction, guilt, recommitment, lust… endlessly without someone to share the load.

Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, came under heavy political fire for admitting that he and his son were “accountability partners” using Covenant Eyes, a costly monitoring program that is designed to reveal to your partner any time you access “questionable content” on whatever devices you have logged with the system.  Whether you agree with Speaker Johnson’s politics or not, this was an admirable step to protect his then 17-year-old son from becoming addicted to porn.

Pornography is SOOO easy to get with the advent of computers and smartphones!  David Wilkerson, in his 1974 book, The Vision, prophesied accurately that R-rated movies would soon be available on television and that our nation would experience a flood of filth such as it had never seen, even in the Roaring 1920s.  Much of his vision has already come to pass, but there is more to it that is still in the future.  (Keep in mind, any time a “prophet” speaks, we who follow Jesus are to “weigh what is said,” (1 Corinthians 14:29) and anything Father says through a prophet will line up with what He has revealed in the Bible. (See Jeremiah 29.))

The rampant hyper-sexuality of our society mirrors the Roman culture to which Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 7 with advice to married people.  The prevalence of temptation is why he commanded that married couples should satisfy each other’s sexual desires to help in overcoming temptation, but that by concession he affirms that he would rather the unmarried remain single if they are able to exercise this gift.  Many of us are not so gifted as was Paul.

For those of us men who have strong sexual desires, we must confront our sexual appetite with self-control, especially in the area of pornography.  Do not use excuses such as “Well, it’s not like I’m actually committing adultery.” (Matthew 5:28)  “No one is being hurt by my looking.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5; 2 Timothy 2:22)  “No one has to know.” (Numbers 32:23; Matthew 6:6)  “I can quit anytime.” (Proverbs 26:24-28)  These are probably the most common lies the devil will speak into a man to keep him bound in the sin of pornography, but there are others.  “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.  For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” (Galatians 6:7-8)

Jesus is coming again soon, my brothers, and we must be ready!  Do whatever it takes to get free from “stronghold” sin.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.  Look at what is before your eyes.“ (2 Corinthian 10:4-7)

Very few of us could make the claims Job made, but it is worth considering that if God has forgiven us our sins, we need to live closer to what Job declared, and make a “covenant with our eyes.”   If there is no one in your circle whom you can trust to covenant with you and you need someone, reach out to me via my Contact on my Home Page.

JOB 31
“I have made a covenant with my eyes;
How then could I look at a virgin?
   And what is the portion of God from above,
Or the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
   Is it not disaster to the criminal,
And misfortune to those who practice injustice?
   Does He not see my ways,
And count all my steps?

“If I have walked with deception,
And my foot has hurried after deceit,
   Let Him weigh me with accurate scales,
And let God know my integrity.
   If my step has turned from the way,
Or my heart followed my eyes,
Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,
   Let me sow and another eat,
And let my crops be uprooted.

“If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
Or I have lurked at my neighbor’s doorway,
   May my wife grind grain for another,
And let others kneel down over her.
   For that would be a lustful crime;
Moreover, it would be wrongdoing punishable by judges.
   For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon,
And would uproot all my increase.

“If I have rejected the claim of my male or female slaves
When they filed a complaint against me,
   What then could I do when God arises?
And when He calls me to account, how am I to answer Him?
   Did He who made me in the womb not make him,
And the same one create us in the womb?

“If I have kept the poor from their desire,
Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,
   Or have eaten my morsel alone,
And the orphan has not shared it
   (But from my youth he grew up with me as with a father,
And from my infancy I guided her),
   If I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,
Or that the needy had no covering,
   If his waist has not thanked me,
And if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
   If I have lifted up my hand against the orphan,
Because I saw I had support in the gate,
   May my shoulder fall from its socket,
And my arm be broken off at the elbow.
   For disaster from God is a terror to me,
And because of His majesty I can do nothing.

“If I have put my confidence in gold,
And called fine gold my trust,
   If I have gloated because my wealth was great,
And because my hand had obtained so much;
   If I have looked at the sun when it shone,
Or the moon going in splendor,
   And my heart was secretly enticed [to worship them],
And my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
   That too would have been a guilty deed calling for judgment,
For I would have denied God above.

“Have I rejoiced at the misfortune of my enemy,
Or become excited when evil found him?
   No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin
By asking for his life in a curse.
   Have the people of my tent not said,
‘Who can find one who has not been satisfied with his meat’?
    The stranger has not spent the night outside,
For I have opened my doors to the traveler.
   Have I covered my wrongdoings like a man,
By hiding my guilt in my shirt pocket,
   Because I feared the great multitude
And the contempt of families terrified me,
And I kept silent and did not go out of doors?
   Oh that I had one to hear me!
Here is my signature;
Let the Almighty answer me!
And the indictment which my adversary has written,
   I would certainly carry it on my shoulder,
I would tie it to myself like a garland.
   I would declare to Him the number of my steps;
Like a prince, I would approach Him.

“If my land cries out against me,
And its furrows weep together;
   If I have eaten its fruit without money,
Or have caused its owners to lose their lives,
   May the thorn-bush grow instead of wheat,
And stinkweed instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.

Online helps for establishing accountability and overcoming pornography addiction:
Covenant Eyes
https://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-Porn-Addiction
https://puredesires.org
https://www.cru.org/us/en/train-and-grow/life-and-relationships/hardships/set-free-pornography-addiction.html
https://www.audible.com/podcast/Episode-108-Starting-The-Journey-to-Freedom-from-Porn-Addiction/B0CRFZVZPF
https://seekingintegrity.com/https://sexandrelationshiphealing.com
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fixing-families/202102/addicted-porn-how-get-back-in-control

Changing Your Thought Patterns

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 Mid-Tribulation Letter from One Who Missed the Rapture – from “The Mark” by Tim LaHaye/Jerry Jenkins

To: The beloved tribulation saints scattered to the four corners of the earth, believers in the one true Yahweh God and His matchless Son, Jesus the Christ, our Savior and Lord.
From: Your servant, Tsion Ben-Judah, blessed by the Lord with the unspeakable privilege of teaching you, under the authority of His Holy Spirit, from the Bible, the very Word of God.
Re: The Dawn of the Great Tribulation

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As is so often true when I sit to write to you, I come in both joy and sorrow, with delight but also with soberness of spirit…  And I always thank God for the miracle of technology that allows me to write to you all over the world.
Though I have met few of you personally and look forward to that one day, either in the Millennial Kingdom or in Heaven, I feel deeply that family bonds have been created by our regularly sharing the deep riches of Scriptures through this medium.  Thank you for your continued prayers that I will remain faithful and true to my calling and healthy enough to continue for as long as Father gives me breath.
I ask that all of you who have volunteered to translate these words into languages not supported by the built-in conversion programs begin that immediately…
Glory to God for news that we have long since passed the one-billion mark in readership.  We know that there are many more brothers and sisters in the faith who are without computers or the ability to read these words…  Hundreds of thousands join us every day, and we pray you will tell more and more about our family.
We have been through so much together, I say this without boasting but with glory to God Almighty: As I have endeavored to rightly divide the Word of Truth to you, God has proven Himself the author over and over.  For centuries scholars have puzzled over the mysterious prophetic passages in the Bible, and at one time I was one of those puzzled ones.  The language seemed obscure, the message deep and elusive, the meaning apparently figurative and symbolic.  Yet when I began an incisive and thorough examination of these passages with an open mind and heart, it was as if God revealed something to me that freed my intellect.
I have discovered, strictly from an academic approach that nearly 30% of the Bible (Old and New Testaments together) consists of prophetic passages.  I could not understand why God would include these if He intended them to be other than understandable to His children.

While the messianic prophecies were fairly straightforward and, indeed, led me to believe in Jesus as their unique fulfillment, I prayed earnestly that God would reveal to me the key to the rest of the predictive passages.  This He did in a most understated way.  He simply impressed on me to take the words as literally as I took any others from the Bible, unless the context and the wording itself indicated otherwise.
In other words I had always taken at its word a passage such as, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” or “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Why then, could I not take just as straightforwardly a verse which said that John the Revelator saw a pale horse?
Yes, I understand that the horse stood for something.  And yet, the Bible said that John saw it.  I took that literally, along with other prophetic statements (unless they used phrases such as “like unto” or others that made it clear they were symbolic).
My dear friends, the Scriptures opened up to me in a way I never dreamed possible.  That is how I knew the great Seal Judgments (Revelation 6) and the Trumpet Judgments (Revelation 8–9) were coming, how I was able to interpret what form they might take, and even in what sequence they would occur.
That is how I know that the Bowl Judgments (Revelation 16) are yet to come, and that they will be exponentially worse than all those that came before.  That is how I knew that these plagues and trials were more than just judgments on an unholy and unbelieving world.  That is how I knew that this whole period of history is also one more evidence of the long-suffering, loving-kindness and mercy of God.
Believers, we have turned a corner.

Skeptics – and I know many of you drop in here now and then to see what we zealots are up to – we have passed the point of gentility.  Up to now, while I have been forthright about the Scriptures, I have been somewhat circumspect about the current rulers of this world.
No more.  As every prophecy in the Bible has so far come to pass, as the leader of this world has preached peace while wielding a sword, as he died by the sword and was resurrected as the Scriptures foretold, and as his right-hand man has been imbued with similar evil power, there can be no more doubt.
Nicolae Carpathia, the so-called Excellency and Supreme Potentate of the Global Community, is both anti-Christian and Antichrist himself.  And the Bible says the resurrected Antichrist is literally indwelt by Satan.  Leon Fortunato, who had an image of Antichrist erected and now forces one and all to worship it or face their own peril, is Antichrist’s false prophet.  As the Bible predicted, he has power to give utterance to the image and to call down fire from heaven to destroy those who refuse.

What is next?  Consider the clear prophetic passage in Revelation 13:11-18:
“Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down on the earth in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of man: his number is 666.”

It won’t be long before everyone will be forced to bow the knee to Carpathia or his image, to bear his name or number on their forehead or right hand, or face the consequences.
Those consequences?  Those of us without what the Bible calls the mark of the beast will not be allowed to legally buy or sell.  If we publicly refuse to accept the mark of the beast, we will be beheaded.  While it is the greatest desire of my life to live to see the Glorious Appearing of my Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, at the end of the Great Tribulation (a few days short of three and a half year from now), what greater cause could there ever be for which to give one’s life?
Many millions of us will be required to do just that.  While it conjures in us age-old self-preservation instincts and we worry that at that hour we will be found lacking courage, loyalty and faithfulness, let me reassure you.  The God who calls you to the ultimate sacrifice will also give you the power to endure it.  No one can receive the mark of the beast by accident.  It is a once-for-all decision that will forever condemn you to eternity without God.
While many will be called to live in secret, to support one another through private markets, some will find themselves caught, singled out, dragged into a public beheading, to which the only antidote is a rejection of Christ and a taking of the mark of the beast.
If you are already a believer, you will not be able to turn your back on Christ.  If you are undecided and don’t want to follow the crowd, what will you do when faced with the mark or the loss of your head?  I plead with you to believe, to receive Christ, to envelop yourself with protection from on high.
We are entering into the bloodiest season in the history of the world.  Those who take the mark of the beast will suffer affliction at the hand of God.  Those who refuse it will be martyred for His blessed cause.  Never has the choice been so stark, so plain.

God, Himself, gave a name to this three-and-a-half-year period.  Matthew 24:21-22 records Jesus saying, “For then there will be Great Tribulation such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, but for the elect’s sake [that’s you and me, believer] those days will be shortened.”
In all God’s dealings with mankind, this is the shortest period on record, and yet more Scripture is devoted to it than any other period except the life of Christ.  While the Hebrew prophets referred to this as a time of “vengeance of our God” for the slaughter of the prophets and saints over the centuries, it is also a time of mercy.  God goes to extreme measures to compress the decision-making time for men and women before the coming of Christ to set up His earthly Kingdom.
Despite that this is clearly the most awful time in history, I still say it also a merciful act of God to give as many souls possible an opportunity to put their faith in Christ.  Oh, people, we are the army of God with a massive job to do in a short time.  May we do it with willingness and eagerness, and the courage that comes only from Him.  There are countless souls in need of saving, and we have the truth.
It may be hard to recognize God’s mercy when His wrath is also intensifying.  Woe to those who believe the lie that God is only “love.”  Yes, He is love, and His gift of Jesus as the Sacrifice for our sin is the greatest evidence of this.  But the Bible also says God is “holy, holy,…holy”  He is righteous and a God of justice, and it is not in His nature to allow sin to go unpunished or unpaid for.
We are engaged in a great worldwide battle with Satan himself, for the souls of men and women.  Do not think that I lightly advance to the front lines with this truth, nor understanding the power of the evil one.   But I have placed my faith and trust in the God who sits high above the heavens, in the God who is above all gods, and among whom there is none like Him.

Scripture is clear that you can test both prophet and prophecy.  I make no claim of being a prophet, but I believe the prophecies.  If they are not true and don’t come to pass, then I am a liar and the Bible is bogus, and we are without hope.  But if the Bible is true, next on the agenda is the ceremonial desecration of the temple in Jerusalem by Antichrist.  This a prediction made by Daniel, Jesus, Paul and John.
My brothers and sisters of Jewish blood, which I proudly share, will cringe to know that this desecration will include the sacrificing of a pig on the sacred altar.  It also includes blasphemy against God, profanity, derogatory statements about God and Messiah, and a denial of His resurrection.
If you are Jewish and have not yet been persuaded that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah and you have been deceived by the lies of the Antichrist, perhaps your mind will change when he breaks his covenant with Israel and withdraws his guarantee of Israel’s safety.  But he shows no favoritism.  Besides reviling the Jews, he will slaughter believers in Jesus.  If this does not happen, label me a heretic or mad and look elsewhere than the Holy Bible for hope.

Thank you for your patience and for the blessed privilege of communicating with you again.  Let me leave you on a note of hope.  My next message will concern the difference between the Book of Life and the Lamb’s Book of Life, and what those mean to you and me.
Until then, may you rest assured that if you are a believer and have placed your hope and trust in the work of Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and for life everlasting, your name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  And it can never be erased.
Until we meet again, I bless you in the Name of Jesus.  May He bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you, and give you peace.

Your servant, Tsion Ben-Judah

Two (Three?) Questions to Consider

I do not believe I have ever presented a blog as a challenge or like a “prompt.”  However, recently a website I follow sent out the following two questions.  Please do not write a 150 word essay in the comments.  (“Comments” are supposed to be short!)  A simple “Yes” or “No” to the first will suffice, and if you cannot summarize in 150 words, try to do so and share it in an email.  Most document programs can count your words for you.

For the second, feel free to weigh in with a comment and a brief reason for your selection.

Challenge 1: Can you write out the Gospel in 150 words?

Challenge 2: What do you consider the strongest mandate for evangelism: 1) The Great Commission, 2) The example of Jesus, 3) The entire Bible, 4) The lostness of friends?

If you are not a Christ-follower, let me propose a different challenge:
Challenge 3: What do you think Christians mean when they say, “You need to be saved.”?  Salvation from what?  How do they think you can be saved?  Has anyone ever proposed this to you?

Any replies or views will be welcome as long as one does not use foul language, blaspheme or attack anyone personally.  Feel free to reply in the comments or by email (capost3k@gmail.com) if your reply is lengthy.

 

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.