Shades of Things to Come

"Now we see only a blurred reflection in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known." I Cor 13:12

Much of what we see in today's world, and moreso across our nation, are dark clouds brewing on the horizon, with pockets of storms overhead . The details & distinctions are vague, but the mere fact of their presence is foreboding, not a cause for joy & celebration for the masses. Some seem to be elated over the prospect, and others actually appear to be seeding the clouds. Still more interpret the impending darkness as a catalyst to bring about new world order, change & centralization. It's no wonder many are confused, frightened, disillusioned, and without any real hope. False hopes abound, based entirely on political rhetoric, skewed media bias, and right out lies wrung from altered statistics. No one seems to question or take to task those in authority who propagate these "misrepresentations", or take the time to dig for the truth. At least not to the extent of their recanting or sincerely apologizing to we who are being deceived.

In garnering information from the primary sources, reported news, hearsay & personal observation, the actual facts are sifted out by astute discernment of all three. True spiritual discernment is a sword honed by the Holy Spirit. "Do not believe every spirit, but try (test, discriminate, prove) the spirits...because many false prophets (teachers, reporters, leaders) are gone out into the world." I Jn4:1
How is it honed?
"(By) the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart." Eph 6:17, Heb 4:12

One of the most difficult aspects of the transforming of our minds as Christians is the realization is that most everything we know comes from visual, oral & written communications, transferred from someone else. Then, we realize that it is not What we believe, but WHO. Thus, all the information, data, facts, opinions, biases & philosophies we have adopted, formulated & embraced are based upon the works of others. How much of it is truth? Not as much as you might think...

The news I post may not be the most widely reported. Sometimes it may have been squashed by the mainstream media as un-newsworthy, not titillating or exciting enough, or unfitting with their liberal philosophy. And, although I cannot guarantee 100% verity of these articles, I can guarantee that the whole truth is NOT being revealed through the mainstream media. The most I may hope for is to provoke someone's thinking into investigating for themselves. If I ever unwittingly spread a lie, or even a half-truth, I humbly apologize and stand corrected before Yashua and man.

___________________________NEWS________________________________

True unemployment rate already at 20% (Jul 6 '09)

Google Unemployment rate Graph (Current)

USPS Projects $7Billion Loss in 2009

States Buckling under Revenue Crash

Symantec (Norton) quarterly profit tumbles 58%

Over 425,000 sign Petition in seeking Obama's citizenship proof
"Birthers" discredited by White House, mainstream media...Complete WND Archive

Making Sense of a World Gone Crazy

I'm not blogging as often, 'cause the Good Lord is blessing me with plenty of work. I'm not participating in this global mess, but trusting my Heavenly Employer each & every day. He does provide.

I'm sure most of us are level-headed, hard working, take-care-of-our-families, thoughtful kind of people. It's those other people who are driving our nation and the world off the cliff. You know, those rich, power mad politicians & lobbyists in Washington, those madmen dictators & religious nuts in foreign countries. Right? NO, wrong...dead wrong. It starts much closer to home.

It starts within ourselves, then our families, our communities, expanding across our nation and around the globe. The influences we allow to foster & affect ourselves spread incrementally, permeating our thoughts & lives little by little, day by day. Whether it's the shows we watch on TV, the books we read, the people we listen to, the activities we engage in, and the philosophies we adopt, they all add up to the persons we are on a daily basis. Then, there are the little hidden indulgences we keep to ourselves; the one too many pills or drinks we take to "help us get by, or help us cope", the little lies we told to make things go smoother, the occasional gambling or pornography we dabble in, the advantage we took of our neighbor or a stranger at the store or driving on the highway, the self-pride we took over a co-worker who just got reamed by the boss. Then, it spreads to our relationships; the spouse we're always arguing with, the rebellious child who contends with everything we say, the in-laws who always get on our nerves, the neighbor who's ever encroaching in our space, or the boss who's constantly in your face.
And who do we most often ignore, curse, defile, blame in all of this? Our Creator, Our Maker God who quietly provides the sunshine that lights our day, the water we drink, the air we breathe, the food we eat, the material for the clothes we wear and the things we manufacture. Everything on this planet is on loan to us, and we never make a payment to the true owner, we never say thank you, we never honor or praise His Goodness. Sure, we always lay blame for the bad stuff, the disease, the poverty, the natural calamities, the unfortunate circumstances which befall us. But, all the things we take for granted everyday are entitled to us...Really? Will there ever come a time we have to answer for all which we have done?
The Word of God says, "For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself...for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of the Messiah (Christ). For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then, every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Rom 14:7-12
No one today wants to hear the "sin" word. We pass it off as some irrelevant, ancient idea that has no meaning or bearing on us anymore. But, do we really understand what "sin" is? "Sin", in its simplest form is "missing the mark". Whose mark? God's mark, God's Bullseye. We do not live the lives our Creator intended, we fail miserably. The Ten Commandments (you remember them?) outline what God's Mark is, what the bullseye encompasses. Everyday, we miss this mark in one form or fashion, it's inevitable. It's in our nature, a willful flaw in our being.
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. (God's perfection)". Even more sadly, there is a penalty for missing the mark, "the wages (payment, reward, end result) of sin is death". Rom 3:23, 6:23
Thus, it stands to reason that mankind, for all his intellect & technology, cannot achieve perfection. He can never live in complete harmony with himself or one another. There is, has been, and always will be, strife, war, neglect, violence, and inhumanity. We can rack our brains, take all the social classes in the world, have the best parenting & education money can buy, and none of it will change our basic human nature. All of man's history, past, present & future gives irrefutable evidence to this simple fact. So, what is the answer? It's not what, but who.
Who stands above all the annals of history, exemplifies and satisfies all that God demands & requires from us? Who did completely what we cannot do? Who shields us from the penalty, wrath, & sting, of sin & death? Who empowers us to live holy, separated, pleasing, lives to God? There's only one who, who has rescued us from this body of death? Thank God through Yashua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) our Lord. "...the free gift of God is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord.""God commended (showed, demonstrated) his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Rom 7:24, 6:23, 5:8
So then, how & where do we start? How do we appropriate this gift, this forgiveness, this empowerment? We do it by faith, and only by faith. Not by works, not by any good deed or deeds, not by any human achievement, only by faith. What faith? Faith in who?
"...the life which I now live...I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.""For it is by His grace we are rescued, through faith; and this is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God." Faith is how we connect to Christ, through the Word of God. The instant of decision, sparked by the conviction of the Holy Spirit, is when we begin to believe God. For without faith, it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He rewards them that diligently seek Him (with greater faith).""And the scripture was fulfilled.., Abraham believed God, and it was imputed (credited to his account) unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." Heb 11:6, James 2:23
The instant we realize God is right, we are wrong, we ARE sinners, and our salvation is only in Christ, we are reborn by His Spirit. We embrace who He is, what He has done, and is doing for us & in us. "Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God...you must be born from above." Jn 3:3,7 Now, the real work begins; "...be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Rom 12:2
So, there is no other recourse. We either believe God or man. There is no middle ground. We know man lies & deceives, so how can we or could we put our faith in him? Man's answers all prove false. "Yashua (Jesus) said unto him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me." Jn 14:6 "The person who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in himself. The person who does not believe God has made (called) him a liar by not believing the testimony that God has given about his Son." I Jn 5:10 "In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began." Titus 1:2
In the midst of all that's going on in the world, and where it's headed, who can you believe? Right now, this moment, believe God.

One Big Awful Mistake America

As long as I've been writing this call-to-arms (figuratively) for America to repent (return to Almighty God in Yashua Christ & the Bible) for the past 8 years, it's been mentally & spiritually exhausting. First in e-mails, then on the web, I've measured and taken the pulse of America's heart & spirit; high & low, rich & poor, happy & sad. It doesn't take a PhD to know the patient is dying. All the symptoms have been & are too apparent for several generations; excessive, wasteful living & lifestyle, an over-abundant diet of greed, avarice, pleasure-seeking, living for self, with no concern for the things of God, no sense of sin, and no love of Christ & the Gospel. Everything that once made this nation strong in the Lord, bountiful in His blessings, the salt of the Earth, the light for hope shining in a dark & dying world, has been cast aside & forsaken for vain philosophies & religions, wealth & accumulation, glitz & glamor, false government salvation, and sole concern for the temporal. It breaks my heart to see what we have become and where we're going. As Jeremiah wept for Israel, so I weep for America...
The avalanche of bad & disheartening news on every front hasn't abated, in fact, it's building momentum. The tsunami of despair grows higher each day across this land; joblessness, homelessness, crime, violence, corruption, inhumanity, spiritual deadness, sin in all its forms rises to drown us. Until we realize God & His Spirit in Yashua are our only redemption, we and this world are destined for failure. Ever since man's first rebellion, mankind has refused God's rule over us, we sought our own way of salvation, invented our own gods...and thought we didn't need Him, and even deny His existence.
I don't care how educated or learned one may be, they are a fool to think or harbor the thought God isn't. As a lifelong student of science & engineering, intellectually, I cannot but conclude that He is. The glory & awe of creation stand testament to His Majesty, His Mentality, Skill & Forethought, His Grace and Mercy. The DNA which instructs each & every cell to know its specific purpose & function, the genetics which determine the exact size, scope & limits of procreation & reproduction, the engineering of physical laws of the universe, the moral & spiritual character of humankind are but a few of the evidences of His handiwork. The odds of any one of these, or even accumatively, happening by chance are by best guess, 1 in 10 to the 120th power (10 followed by 120 zeros). You'd have a better chance of a tornado going thru a metal scrapyard and leaving behind a fully functioning, ready for take-off, Boeing 747 in its wake.
Sure the invisible, often silent, God is beyond the reach of our senses, but our souls cannot deny the obvious without committing spiritual suicide. But, we have and do anyway...
I've re-emphasized over & over that America's ills are not political, financial, educational or societal, they are only symptoms. America's ill is spiritual. She has turned her back on YHWH God, and sought her own way for these past generations, and God's mercy & grace are no longer being extended. America's cancer has killed us from within, and our weakness is showing to the rest of the world. Like jackals circling the fallen, diseased antelope, our enemies gather to finish our demise. It's only a matter of time...
Time to gather your family, gather your friends, gather strangers, and even your enemies and tell them of God's Timeless Plan of Redemption in Christ. Tell them how we are by nature at enmity with Him, how we sin against Him, ourselves and each other, and are therefore condemned to death. Then, tell them how God loves us even so, even while we hate, despise and curse His name. So much so, that He became a man just like us, undertook every suffering life heaps upon us, yet went willingly to die and bear the punishment we more than deserve. He who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we should live eternally with and in Him. Furthermore, and tantamount, to show that the chains of sin and death were broken forever, He rose from the dead. Whereever, beyond our known universe, Heaven and God's Throne is, He watches, listens and answers the prayers of all those who call upon Him in repentance and faith. He lifts us above the sufferings and circumstances of this world, cleanses us from the inside out, prepares a place for every new believer in Him, and counts down the minutes til He stands up and says to His angels, "Let's go, it's time to gather my flock". "For as many as receive Him, to each & every one He gives the authority to become His children, to be called the Sons & Daughters of God." Tell them His testimony, be His witness, love your neighbor (and family) as yourself. The sand in God's hourglass is running out, we are past the eleventh hour, and the opportunities for you to win the souls of the lost are becoming fewer & fewer.
Every day we see God's foretelling of the End Times coming to pass. Contemplation, discussion and enactment of a world government, a world currency, and a world religion are on the lips of world leaders and in the news more & more. Signs on the earth and across the heavens pulsate like a woman in labor pains, like a pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other. Global warming, global cooling, record heats, colds, floods, rains, snows, droughts, famines, disease & pestilence. Man-made catastrophes, food contaminations, crime & unspeakable violence, civil wars, uprisings & rebellions, political upheavals, financial ruin, and human despair boil in the cauldron of our humanity. There is no hope, except hope in God in Christ Yashua (Jesus).
For those of us found in Him, He has saved us from the penalty of sin, He is saving us from the persistence of sin in ourselves and the world, and will save us from the destruction and devastation of sin to come. He has so promised, and God cannot lie. It will come to pass.

As a watchman on the wall of His Kingdom, I see the landscape of battle before me. I shout warnings to the masses, and beckon all who would come into the safety of Christ. He has already declared, "Whosoever will, come. Come, all who are weary and burdened by sin and its consequence. Come, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and see that it is light. Come, taste & see that the Lord is good. I have prepared a banquet and feast before you. Come."

Regardless of what the newscasters, pundits & politicos say, the truth of world news continues to be nothing but doom & gloom. I won't heap more coals upon the already evident headlines. The good news is always that Yashua God has conquered death, there is hope, there will be new heavens and earth, righteousness will reign forever as He reigns. God in Christ is our King of Kings, Lord of lords, Ruler of rulers, and we long for the day when He enters Jerusalem for the final time to be our God and we His people forever & ever.