There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says no international pressure for a hostage deal will force Israel to stop the war in Gaza before it achieves its goals, including eliminating Hamas and getting hostages released- and why the Temple Mount in Jerusalem could become a flash point for tensions again; how Hezbollah could potentially attack inside the US with sleeper cells across the country; the first Indigenous Peoples Embassy is opened in Jerusalem, showing support for Jews from indigenous people around the world; our Studio 5 first look at the new film “Ordinary Angels,” based on the true story of a hairdresser who got a community to help a widowed father save the life of his seriously ill young daughter; and hundreds of students come to Christ at an event at Florida State University.
Blinken’s February 5 memo informs State Department employees that they should no longer use ‘gendered’ terms such as ‘mother,’ ‘father,’ and ‘manpower.’
As artificial intelligence shapes more aspects of life, its integration into systems of faith raises new theological questions, and experts say churches need to prepare.
The Barna Group, in partnership with Gloo – the faith-based technology platform connecting people to local churches, and others – surveyed ministry leaders to reveal what they think about AI & the Church.
“One of the questions we asked is, ‘Do you think God can work through AI?’ And we found a really large number of pastors who say, ‘God CAN work through AI,'” said lead researcher Ashley Ekmay of the Barna Group.
(David Morrill – Protestia) “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” is no doubt a familiar idiom for discerning Christians. For climate alarmists, the idiom is no doubt, “Where there’s smoke, there’s an opening for Marxism.”
The latest smoke pointing to another SBC seminary fire came in the form of a video of a pagan earth worship ritual performed at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Atmospheric scientist, evangelical Christian, and aggressive Twitter blocker Katharine Hayhoe – along with five other panelists – was subject to the bizarre ritual before the discussion commenced.
Upon realizing this was the same Katharine Hayhoe Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary had platformed in 2021 to teach seminary students the gospel-centeredness of radical climate ideology, journalists and social media discerners took it upon themselves to figure out that SEBTS had vouched for and exposed their students to someone who believes mankind is “digging up and burning fossil fuels that are wrapping an extra blanket around our planet causing it to warm” and who has laughably asserted that “the temperature of the planet has been as stable as that of the human body” (despite easily available evidence to the contrary). View article →
There seems to be a strong and purposeful trend to cancel out the Old Testament of the Bible since Christ has come into human history. It takes off on a theme that Christ took charge and all prophecy of the future from past utterances of the prophets are no longer relevant.
It takes on the appearance of a “Kingdom Now” theology, and the next thing to come is a new heaven and new earth coming down to replace the present heaven and earth. Chronologically, that won’t happen until the end of the Millennium, at least one thousand and seven or more years, according to Revelation 21:1.
Those false teachers cancel out the coming of Jesus to “ingather” His body of believers just before the seven years of the tribulation begins, now looming on the immediate horizon. That missing 70th week of Daniel, told by the angel Gabriel to Daniel and reported at Daniel 9:23 and following, can be none other than the seven-year tribulation period.
A major fault that openly defies Scripture is their claim that Jesus did not die on the cross for the whole world but just for those who believe. Scriptures that deny that claim are readily seen, as in 1 John 2:2: “And He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world.” John 3:16 is even changed to mean “For God so loved the world [of believers] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Does “whosoever” mean anyone, or how did that “world of believers” get belief before Christ died for them?
Furthermore, Romans 5:6 says, “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly!” He died for sinners, and I was one of that ungodly bunch. Romans 5:8 further establishes that His death came first, before the believers, saying, “But God commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
But Romans 5:18 then brings the reason that the death of Christ was necessary in order that mankind would have access to everlasting life by choice if he wanted it: “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through oneMan’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.”
An available gift is not automatically effective until it is accepted, so this does not mean all mankind is saved. Mankind must choose Christ’s provision of redemption. He is that gift for salvation. And twisting Scriptures to mean something else is obviously promoting a false doctrine. The Scripture is clear in 1 John 5:11-12: “And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” The gospel is an Old Testament promise.
Another Old Testament command also speaks out. When did the Great Commission actually begin? In Psalm 107:2 it says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.”
The foundations of our faith are told in the Old Testament, and God never made a promise He did not intend to fulfill. It has been reported that at least 300 or more prophecies and promises of Jesus and His coming into the world have been fulfilled.
Paul, the Apostle, was well-versed in the Holy Scriptures and said so in his testimony in Philippians 3. His declaration in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 was based on Old Testament Scriptures, for none of the New Testament writings had been brought into formal observance yet.
In his epistles, Paul made two worthy observances that testify to the value of the Old Testament in our theology today. In 1 Corinthians 10:11, he reported this: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
God has not changed one bit since the beginning, before time began and eternity past was incomprehensible to mortal minds.
Not only does Paul point us to the Old Testament for examples of sinfulness we must avoid, but he also looks there for the Lord’s affirmations of positive qualities. Romans 15:4-5 tells us of those: “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus.”
The shedding of blood as the requirement for salvation is recorded in Genesis 3 and is later codified in the law in Leviticus 17:11, saying, “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for sin, for it is the blood that makes the atonement.”
It is further established in Hebrews 9:22 with this: “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” And, of course, that final blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as One without sin confirmed and fulfilled that law in its perfection.
Concerning the fulfillment of “every jot and tittle of the law,” as claimed of Christ, we see in Hebrews 4:15 how His response to temptations reveals His deity: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Two passages that are so detailed of the coming Messiah’s crucifixion that they cannot be called as no longer relevant Scriptures. Psalm 22 is the first one, and Isaiah 53 is the other one.
That first one details the horror of dying on a cross. You may recall that account in the gospels when Jesus was nailed to the cross on the third hour, that is, at 9:00 a.m. Then, at the ninth hour, or 3:00 p.m., He was pronounced dead. He was hanging there for six hours!
He had just said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” then, “It is finished,” and, “And when Jesus had cried out with a loud voice, He said, ‘Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.’ Having said this, He breathed His last.”
It is an unimaginable and horrible way to die, hanging nailed to an upright cross for six hours, and for the two thieves, having their legs broken to complete their deaths. But for Jesus, a prophecy was fulfilled that none of His bones would be broken.
The Isaiah 53 prophecy tells of His suffering at the hands of the religious leaders as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” and His hanging between two thieves. It is too truthful to be relegated to nothing worth remembering, as it seems this new “revelation” is promoting.
Another prophecy that stands out in its fulfillment is found in Psalm 16:9-10, saying, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.”
In John 11, in the account of the death of Lazarus, his sister cautioned Jesus about the condition of her brother’s body, for it had been in the grave for four days, and she said, “Now He stinks.” That is, his body had begun to experience corruption.
Thus, Jesus had maintained that He would follow the example of Jonah who had been in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights. Jesus said, “I will be three days and three nights in the belly of the earth.” Then Peter writes that “He went and preached to the spirits in prison” (1 Peter 3:19).
One of the less recognized considerations of the Old Testament is its place in the four revelations of God to mankind. His first way of identifying Himself was by His audible voice, for no man can see God face to face and live, as the Word declares. And encounters with heavenly beings by people that are recorded in the Old Testament show their responses of great fear as they fall on their faces.
Secondly, “He revealed Himself in the law.” How was that, you wonder? As Jesus is later identified, it is the character of His being, as He fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law.
Then, Hebrews 1 reveals Him in the person of His only begotten Son, as Jesus declared to Phillip, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” and, “Before Abraham was, I AM!”
Finally, He comes into the world at the end of those seven years of tribulation and reigns for a thousand years from Jerusalem, “ruling with a rod of iron” in a theocracy not known to mankind from their prior history.
The “whole counsel of God” is a principle of biblical study that tests whether or not the student is allowing for contradictions that might exist in his basic doctrine discoveries. Just as the Bereans did, as told in Acts 17:11, the Old Testament is necessary to learn of the whole counsel of God. Proverbs is a book of great wisdom with such truths as, “Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10).
And, Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will guide your steps.”
When Jude wrote his letter, he was going to write about their common salvation, but he “found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Since he quoted Peter’s second letter, dated about 66 A.D., Jude possibly wrote his document not long after that time.
Those New Testament letters were not based on new writings, per se, but had to have been founded on Old Testament Scriptures. As the Bereans readily searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was so, and that was all they had, it remains that “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” came out of Old Testament Scriptures.
Read the angel’s message to Daniel of that missing 70th week that so well describes the purpose of God’s plan to punish Israel for their disobedience and to restore them to His grace and fellowship in an everlasting righteousness.
You who would hijack the promises and prophecies of God for these last days to create doctrines of your own making, get ready for a sudden awakening to a God of judgment. When the flesh of Adam’s heritage injects its tongs into the plan of God and twists Scripture to its own understanding, God must make necessary corrections and exact judgment.
Christendom is a word I view as designed by secularists of the world to encompass their misunderstood view of what comprises True Christianity. Under this misunderstanding, all who claim to be Christians are, according to this worldly definition, Christians. All fall under the term Christendom.
There are many sects, faiths, and religious systems that the secularists include within their favored term to encapsulate, to one degree or the other, religious belief in and spiritual embrace of the figure called Jesus Christ. These are each and every one false.
In my own view of what it means to be a Christian, there is but one system of faith. There is no other person, method, or anything else that can make a person a Christian. That Faith system, the Bible –God’s Word—tells us that Jesus Christ alone is the Savior of mankind. The person is a Christian who accepts without question what Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).
There is nothing that stands between God and the human being other than Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten (born in the flesh) Son.
It is with this Truth from God’s Word –the Bible—that I must somewhat qualify, or perhaps explain, the title of this article.
Pope’s defection – a key end times signal
The Catholic system of belief –of which there are several versions—often is separated by those commentating on the Catholic faith as differing from mere Christianity. This is, presumably, because those devotees to that system consider their Catholic Church as the only True Church to the exclusion of others that left as part of the Reformation and since have divided into multiple factions of Protestantism.
Catholicism says there are layers of mediators between God and mankind, i.e., one must confess to a priest, who might take the confession to the Mother of God (Mary), who, again, presumably might take the confession to the Son (Jesus) Who then, presumably takes the confession and obtains the forgiveness necessary from God the Father. At least, this is my –a neophyte in comprehension of the Catholic system— cursory understanding of how the Catholic system of mediation works.
I cannot even begin to accept this for many reasons, but to name just one reason, I offer this Truth from God’s Holy Word.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5).
Now, I write all of the above in order to try to explain how the Catholic pope –Pope Francis—has “defected” and why this “defection” is a key end times signal.
My belief in Christ alone for salvation precludes my counting the pope as within Christianity, but rather under the Christendom umbrella posited by the secularists, as I’ve tried to show above. So, when I say that Pope Francis has “defected,” I don’t mean that he has, in my view, defected from the True Christian Faith.
In my view, because of the Catholic Church’s declaration that there are a number of mediators between God and Man (as just one reason in this regard), this pope –or any other pope—can’t defect from a faith system under which they’ve never been.
This said, this pope, Pope Francis, has defected from that faith system –Catholicism—which has in common with True Christianity the belief that God finds homosexuality to be an egregious sin of an abominable sort. This agreement between the True Christian Faith and the Catholic faith does point starkly to the defection that this pope champions.
The following helps make understandable the end times apostasy at this late hour of the Church Age (Age of Grace).
Pope Francis is now accusing opponents of priestly gay-couple blessings of being hypocrites when, in fact, his blessing of homosexual relations and calling it good is hypocrisy. According to Francis, all the holy popes, bishops, and saints of Church history were hypocrites because they denied blessings to gay couples and barred them from the Church.
In a recent interview, Francis expressed his strongest words thus far concerning his decision to bless homosexual couples. He told NBC: “Nobody gets scandalized if I give my blessings to a businessman who perhaps *exploits people, and this is a very grave sin. But they get scandalized if I give them to a homosexual, Pope Francis, via ‘Credere.’ This is Hypocrisy.”
This is a highly inappropriate comparison and reflects an obstinate attempt to continue his blessing of homosexual unions. His argument holds no water. Comparing a businessman to a homosexual makes as much sense as comparing a carpenter to a rapist. A carpenter, by definition, is a responsible working man, whereas a homosexual, by definition, is a sex offender on the path to perdition. Businessmen generally are responsible people working to support their families, unlike homosexuals whose criminal lives “cry to heaven for vengeance.”
If a businessman comes to a priest for a blessing, it means he truly wants this blessing for his soul and for success in his work, so the priest should bless him. And while he might commit some sins or faults in his work, that’s not a reason to deny him a blessing. “A just man shall fall seven times” (Proverbs 24:16) and then rises.
Whereas, if a homosexual couple comes to a priest for a blessing, it’s because they want their shameful relationship blessed. Were it otherwise, they wouldn’t dare to approach the priest ‘holding hands’ together. They want their gay union blessed, so Francis blesses it because he is a gay sympathizer. He is blessing their homosexual aspirations, not their souls, thereby working their eternal ruin, and then he calls it “good.” That is hypocrisy! [Source: Francis: Opponents of Clerical Gay Couple Blessings are ‘Hypocrites,’ by David Martin, Canada Free Press, February 8, 2024]
My writing of late has been on the likeness of our present time to being like that of Lot’s day in Sodom. This pope and his declarations –the latest being on the matter of sodomy and his opposition to his Catholic faith system, highlight, I think, just how near is that moment when Jesus foretold He will next be “revealed” and God’s judgment would fall on a Sodom and Gomorrah-like people.
There are today pronounced instances of falling away within major denominations from the True Faith found in God’s Holy Word. Homosexuality is at the heart of much of this defection. This “defection” by this pope from his own false system also smacks of Paul’s forewarning found in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 about the falling away (the apostasy) that will occur just before Antichrist comes onto the scene following the Rapture of the True Church –all born-again believers.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thes 2:3).
Despite God’s dire forewarning about those who fall under what He calls the abomination of homosexuality, He desires to forgive and bring into His family all who repent and believe in His Son, Jesus Christ, for salvation. And I must say here that those who are Catholics who believe in Jesus Christ alone for the salvation of their souls are “in Christ” forever. But they are saved in spite of, not because of, their Catholicism. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. Here is how to receive God’s Forgiveness and be part of God’s Heavenly Family forever.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).
The world is quick to tell Christians that this is not our home. The gospel reminds us why this is such wonderful news. Today, Sinclair Ferguson shows how our heavenly citizenship shapes our identity, our hope, and our way of life.
My favorite source for evidence related to science these days is the Discovery Institute. Not only do they employ the rock star of science and religion, Dr. Stephen C. Meyer, but they have a bunch more excellent speakers. They publish a lot of books, and many of those are made into audio book versions. One of the guys I like the most is Brian Miller, who contributes to their books and does videos.
He did a recent video talking about the Big Bang cosmology, and its relevance to the question of God’s existence. It’s important for people who prefer the young-Earth interpretation of Genesis to realize that the Big Bang is not compatible with naturalism. It’s actually lethal to naturalism, because it requires a SUPER-natural cause to bring the natural world into being. I have friends who prefer the young Earth interpretation of Genesis who argue with the co-workers and family members from the Big Bang, just to get them started on their spiritual journey.
Anyway, here is the video:
And here are the questions that he answers:
What is the big bang theory?
Why did scientists initially dispute the big bang?
What did scientists believe before the big bang?
What models have been proposed to maintain the idea of an eternal universe?
Why did scientists come to accept the big bang?
Who is Georges Lemaitre?
How did the scientific community receive Lemaitre’s idea?
How did Edwin Hubble contribute to the big bang theory?
What is the most compelling evidence for the big bang?
What does the big bang imply about belief in God?
Are there current critics of the big bang model?
Why is an eternal universe so important to atheists?
Why is the big bang theory still being challenged?
Did the universe have a beginning?
What are the arguments against a beginning to the universe?
What is a singularity?
Does the universe need a creator?
What about the idea of a multiverse?
Lawrence Krauss thinks the universe possibly came from “nothing.” How would you respond?
What does Lawrence Krauss mean by nothing?
If this is something that you have not looked into, this video is a pretty good primer. He only mentions the expanding universe and the cosmic microwave background radiation as evidences. But there are other good ones, such as the light element abundance predictions (75% hydrogen, 24% helium).
There are definitely open problems with the Big Bang cosmology, but the main thing that Christians should know is that this evidence is used in formal academic debates by people like William Lane Craig, Stephen C. Meyer, etc. to annihilate atheism. Personally, I would be thrilled if the scientific evidence tilted towards a young Earth. And it very well could, and there are good people working on that problem. But I do think that all Christians should at least be aware that the current “best” cosmological model is lethal to atheism.
Vital reading on the spiritual battles we are involved in:
The Bible clearly teaches that God exists, that Satan exists, that angels exist, and that demons exist. There is a spiritual world that is all around us, and it has a massive impact on all that we do, think and say. Given that God and Satan are at war with each other, and given that angels and demons are at war with each other, it should come as no surprise that believers are caught in the crossfire.
But some Christians might be a bit squeamish here, claiming we should not draw attention to the devil, demons, and the like. Well, the Bible draws attention to them, and so should we. Spiritual beings, both good and evil, exist, and the Christian needs to be aware of them.
How we understand how this spiritual war impacts us can be a matter of some debate. Can a Christian be impacted by demons? Maybe even possessed by demons? How do we stand against the forces of darkness? What about things like exorcism? And what do we know about angels and demons?
Plenty of questions arise here. As such, plenty of books have been written on these matters over the years. I cannot mention them all, but I can try to mention some of the ones that I found to be helpful. Here then are 50 volumes that do a good job of covering these various issues:
Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches About the Unseen World – and Why It Matters by Dr. Michael S. Heiser (Author)
Anderson, Neil, The Bondage Breaker. Harvest House, 1993.
Anderson, Neil and Timothy Warner, The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare. Regal, 2000.
Arnold, Clinton, Three Crucial Questions about Spiritual Warfare. Baker, 1997.
Arnold, Clinton, Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Paul’s Letters. IVP, 1992.
Heiser, Michael, Angels: What the Bible Really Says About God’s Heavenly Host. Lexham Press, 2018.
Heiser, Michael, Demons: What the Bible Really Says About the Powers of Darkness. Lexham Press, 2020.
Heiser, Michael, Supernatural: What the Bible Teaches About the Unseen World – and Why It Matters. Lexham Press, 2015.
Heiser, Michael, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Lexham Press, 2015.
Ingram, Chip, The Invisible War: What Every Believer Needs to Know about Satan, Demons, and Spiritual Warfare. Baker, 2005, 2015.
Jeremiah, David, The Spiritual Warfare Answer Book. Thomas Nelson, 2016.
Koch, Kurt, Demonology Past and Present. Kregel, 1973.
Koch, Kurt, Satan’s Devices. Kregel, 1978.
Kohl, Ronald, ed., Our Ancient Foe. P&R, 2019.
Kraft, Charles, Defeating Dark Angels: Breaking Demonic Oppression in the Believer’s Life. Regal, 1992.
Kraft, Charles, The Evangelical’s Guide to Spiritual Warfare. Chosen Books, 2015.
Kreeft, Peter, Angels and Demons. Ignatius, 1995.
Lane, Anthony, ed., The Unseen World: Christian Reflections on Angels, Demons and the Heavenly Realm. Baker, 1996.
Leahy, Frederick, Satan Cast Out. Banner of Truth, 1975.
Lewis, C. S., The Screwtape Letters. Macmillan, 1944.
Logan, Jim, Reclaiming Surrendered Ground: Protecting Your Family from Spiritual Attacks. Moody, 2016.
Lutzer, Erwin, The Serpent of Paradise: The Incredible Story of How Satan’s Rebellion Serves God’s Purposes, republished as God’s Devil. Moody, 1996, 2015.
MacArthur, John, God, Satan and Angels. Word of Grace, 1983.
Mayhue, Richard, Unmasking Satan. Kregel, 1998.
Murphy, Ed, Handbook on Spiritual Warfare. Thomas Nelson, 1992.
Noll, Stephen, Angels of Light, Powers of Darkness. IVP, 1998.
Oropeza, B. J., 99 Answers to Questions about Angels, Demons & Spiritual Warfare. IVP, 1997.
Page, Sydney, Powers of Evil: A Biblical Study of Satan and Demons. Baker, 1995.
Powlison, David, Power Encounters: Reclaiming Spiritual Warfare. Revell, 1994.
Prince, Derek, Victory in Spiritual Warfare: Outfitting Yourself for the Battle. 1987, 2011.
Rhodes, Ron, Spiritual Warfare in the End Times. Harvest Prophecy, 2020.
Spurgeon, C. H., Spurgeon on Prayer & Spiritual Warfare. Whitaker House, 1998.
Williams, Peter, The Case for Angels. Paternoster, 2006.
As always, when I mention a kazillion titles – or 50 – some folks will be a bit overwhelmed, and might ask me to narrow things down a bit. Well, maybe these authors would be well worth starting with: Anderson, Arnold, Heiser, Murphy and Storms.
Let me finish with just four brief quotes on all this:
“If once the curtain were pulled back, and the spiritual world behind it came to view, it would expose to our spiritual vision a struggle so intense, so convulsive, sweeping everything within its range, that the fiercest battle fought on earth would seem, by comparison, a mere game. Not here, but up there – that is where the real conflict is engaged. Our earthly struggle drones in its backlash.” Abraham Kuyper
“Where are you? You are in enemy country, a stranger and an alien. The world is not your friend. If it is, then you are not God’s friend, for whoever is the friend of the world is the enemy of God. Be certain that you will find enemies everywhere. When you sleep, remember that you are resting on the battlefield; when you travel, suspect an ambush in every hedge.” Charles Spurgeon
“We alone, as Christians, understand what is wrong with the world. We see powers and principalities, the rulers of the darkness of this world, behind the visible and seen phenomena, and we see perplexed politicians trying to deal with the problems, and failing. We know they must fail because they do not see what is at the back of it all. We see it as the conflict between heaven and hell.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“The primary battle is a spiritual battle in the heavenlies. But this does not mean, therefore, that the battle we are in is otherworldly or outside of human history. It is a real spiritual battle, but it is equally a battle here on earth in our own country, our own communities, our places of work and our schools, and even our own homes. The spiritual battle has its counterpart in the visible world, in the minds of men and women, and in every area of human culture. In the realm of space and time the heavenly battle is fought on the stage of human history.” Francis Schaeffer
In this podcast, J. Warner discusses his personal journey to Christianity with Frank Sontag from KKLA 99.5 Los Angeles. Jim spent an afternoon with Frank talking about atheism, Christian theism and the journey from one to the other. Jim also talked about the nature of the Church in America and the need for Christian Case Making.
When Israel’s Messiah arrived, He wasn’t exactly what they expected. His life and teaching were shockingly different to what the nation anticipated—especially in the case of the religious elite.
One of Jesus’ clearest breaks with the Messianic expectations of His time was in His Sermon on the Mount.
Throughout Matthew 5, He repeatedly highlights the fact that the Jewish establishment had perverted the Word of God with traditions. Over and over, Jesus uses some variation of His words in Matthew 5:43, “You have heard that it was said.” This brief introduction was used to identify the prevailing tradition that dominated Judaism at the time. It was a familiar phrase, used in rabbinical teaching to introduce doctrine and tradition that had been passed down through Israel’s history. However, in the mouth of the Lord, it was a subtle way to differentiate Israel’s low, defective theology from the truth of Scripture and the clear teaching of God’s law. He was effectively alerting His audience that the following statement did not represent God or the Old Testament—it simply reflected the Jews’ traditional dogma.
In Matthew 5:43, He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” This rabbinical teaching was a poor and misleading paraphrase of God’s commandment in Leviticus 19:17–18: “You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”
Comparing the rabbinical tradition with Leviticus, it’s clear that the rabbis had made some alterations. To begin with, they left off the final two words of the original command (“as yourself”)—a convenient omission.
It’s possible—perhaps even likely—that the rabbis and scribes were simply too proud to tolerate the implications of loving anyone else as much as they loved themselves. Remember, these were the same hypocrites Jesus was about to single out for their arrogance and their love for the praise of men. “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full . . . When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners to that they may be seen by men” (Matthew 6:2, 5).
Even their acts of piety and devotion were staged to draw maximum attention back onto themselves. And although the command to love others the way they loved themselves was unmistakably a part of God’s law, the prospect of obeying it would have been offensive in the extreme. Such equal love for others would have been an affront to their high view of their own spiritual status. For Israel’s religious elite, loving those they considered beneath them as though they were equals would have been inconceivable.
The fact is that it isn’t easy for any of us to love someone else as thoroughly as we love ourselves. Our love for ourselves is unfeigned, fervent, habitual, and permanent. It generally respects and prioritizes all our needs, wants, desires, hopes, and ambitions. It consistently promotes our well-being. It does everything possible to secure our own happiness and satisfaction, protect our own welfare, produce our own comfort, and meet all our own interests. It seeks our own pleasure and fulfilment, and it knows no limit of effort to secure all of these things. Scripture says that is exactly how we are to love our neighbor. But Israel’s religious elite left that out, reducing “love your neighbor” to something less than such consummate devotion.
Worse still, the rabbis and scribes had narrowed the definition of “neighbor” to exclude virtually everyone but themselves. That meant the command didn’t apply to social pariahs like the tax gatherers, who had betrayed their fellow Jews by siding with Rome and extorting their countrymen through excessive taxation. In the eyes of the Pharisees, even sharing a meal with such villains was enough to call your character into question (Matthew 9:11). In the same way, the Jews believed that the command to love one’s neighbor did not apply to adulterers, criminals, and other overt sinners (cf. Luke 18:11). Naturally, it excluded all gentiles. In fact, the narrow definition of “neighbor” even left out many of the common folk throughout Israel—for the most part, the religious leaders had nothing but disdain for their fellow Jews. Such exclusivity only served to further feed their prideful, evil hearts.
But it wasn’t enough to redact God’s instructions and deny vast swaths of the population “neighbor” status—the rabbinical tradition had also added a clause to the command. Christ’s quote of their teaching indicates that they tacked on a spurious phrase: “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy” (Matthew 5:43, emphasis added). That law of Leviticus did not have any such limitation. It said nothing about who was considered a neighbor. It didn’t separate gentiles or sort out people of a lower socioeconomic status. The divisions the rabbis and scribes were creating and enforcing had no biblical basis whatsoever. In other words, they legitimized antipathy, enmity, and hatred for others by shoehorning it into their theological tradition. Worse, they equated their sinful, self-serving addition with God’s Word.
In fact, their teaching overtly contradicted God’s law. Leviticus 19:34 says, “The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” Furthermore, Exodus 12:49 says, “The same law shall apply to the native as to the stranger who sojourns among you.” God’s law did not change from person to person. It was not limited by ethnic or geographical lines. It set a fixed standard that applied equally to both the Jews and the gentiles in their midst. But the religious elite had conveniently ignored that too.
In order to understand just how deeply this was entrenched, one needs to look at the literature of the time. If you read any of the Essene literature—the Qumran community where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found—you find statements like “Love all that [God] has chosen and hate all that He has rejected.”[1]
We also find the exhortation to “love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in God’s design, and hate all the sons of darkness.”[2]
For such an exclusive religious sect, that could mean all non-Essenes—that’s how isolationist they had become. Across the scope of first-century Judaism, the idea of loving your neighbor had really become a license to hate. One of the maxims of the Pharisees in those days was, “If a Jew sees a gentile fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out, for it is written, ‘You shall not rise up against the blood of your neighbor,’ but this man is not your neighbor.” Through their reckless reinterpretation of God’s law, they could make a case for allowing a gentile to drown. They had effectively canonized their haughtiness and hatred. That was the dominant religious tradition that Jesus confronted.
But these outrageous beliefs did not develop in a vacuum. The traditions that Jesus destroys in this passage developed over generations. Next time, we’ll see how Israel perverted even more passages of Scripture to legitimize their unloving attitude toward their neighbors.
21:1Sovereignty of God. A king’s decisions are controlled by God. The verse uses synthetic parallelism to develop the point. The first line affirms that the decisions (“heart”) of the king are under the Lord’s control (“in the hand”), and the second explains that God directs the king as he pleases. What clarifies the second line is the simile that the heart is “like a watercourse.” As a farmer channels the water where he wants and regulates its flow, so does the Lord with the king. No human ruler is supreme; to put it another way, the Lord is truly the King of kings. Scripture offers many examples of the truth of this proverb (Ezr 7:21; Isa 10:6–7; 41:2–4; Da 2:21; Jn 19:11).[1]
1 This proverb features the Lord’s sovereign benediction upon those that please him through his anointed magistrate. Verset A presents the king’s heart both as under the Lord’s sovereign control and as the source of the people’s life. God’s inscrutable mastery extends to the king, the most powerful of human beings, and to the heart, their most free member. The Lord rules even the most free and powerful of all human beings (see 16:14f; 19:12; 20:2). Verset B restricts the Sovereign’s benefits to those who please him. As the heart of the individual determines and directs his every move, the king’s (see 14:28) heart (see p. I:90) determines the nation’s direction and wellbeing (see 10–15). In the Lord’s hand (beyad yhwh, cf. 18:21) could restrict the heart to one that submits itself to the Lord’s power, care and/or authority (see 18:21), but the parallel infers it is non-restrictive, referring to every king’s heart. God’s inscrutable mastery directs the king who has in his hands the life and death of his subjects (16:10–15). Here, the anthropomorphism teaches that the God steers the king’s heart according to the Lord’s good pleasure. The metaphor is a channel of water (or canal, see 5:16; cf. Sir. 48:17) denotes a decision that blesses, not curses, the people. Water is especially precious in the parched Near East. Aside from Lamentations 3:48 and Psalm 119:136, which use the phrase in a hyperbole for tears, it always connotes positively the channeling of abundant, gladdening, life-giving water in an otherwise dry place. Whereas a river (nāhār) might run wild and a wadi (nāḥāl) run dry, the artificial stream of water provides a steady, directed, full supply of refreshing, living giving water. However, it takes great skill and power to direct water’s chaotic nature. In the metaphor upon (see 17:8) all refers to everything in the garden needing water and in its interpretation to every needy person in his realm (see 20:28). Who please him (or whom he delights in, cf. 18:2) “denotes the direction of [God’s] heart or passion.… The basis of God’s delight or lack of it revolves around human obedience (cf. Ps 37:22, 28, 34, 38),” restricting his benedictions to the faithful. The Lord has no emotional pleasure in fools and wickedness (cf. 3:32; 8:7; 11:1, 20; 12:22; 13:19; 15:8, 9, 26; 16:5, 12, 13; 17:15; 20:10, 23; 24:9; 28:9; 29:27; Ps. 5:5). The parallel “Lord’s hand” implies the Lord is the subject and the king’s heart the object of he turns it (see 2:2). Farmers in Mesopotamia and Egypt divert the water by putting up dams and other obstructions in the stream’s flow to direct the water to their fields and gardens. Palestinian farmers depend on heavenly rain (cf. Deut. 11:10–12), but must have captured and directed the water to where it was most needed. Natural streams are not meant, because their direction is fixed. The Lord is the Farmer; the king’s heart is the flexible channel; and his well-watered garden is the pious and ethical needy. In Isaiah 32:2, each ruler is compared to a “stream of water in a dry place,” a reference to salvation from oppressive government. Their governments included guidance by sages. The proverb instructs the audience to be those who please the Lord to receive his favors through his king (16:15; 19:12; cf. Gen. 20:6; 41:37–45; Ps. 106:46; Dan 2:48; 3:30; 6:1–3, 28; Ezra 1:1; 6:22; 7:27; 9:9). It also may instruct them to pray for God’s blessing through the king (Neh. 2:4–5; 1 Tim. 2:1–2), and perhaps cautions the king against arrogance for he functions according to Providence (cf. Isa. 44:28; Jer. 25:9; Acts 4:27–28).[2]
21:1. The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.
This chapter is bracketed by an inclusio, focusing us upon the ‘Lord’ (vv. 1–3, 30, 31). Here, He is held forth as the only absolute Sovereign. Certainly, God controls the hearts of all men (Prov. 16:9; 19:21; 20:24). But, it may appear that kings, rulers and presidents hold absolute sway. They may even believe that they possess such power, yet they are ‘in the hand of the Lord.’ Their thinking, motives, inclinations and decisions are under the absolute control of God Himself.
By the king’s ‘heart’ is meant all his powers of reasoning, feeling and choice. These are ‘like channels of water.’ The expression describes small irrigation ditches used to bring life-giving water to otherwise unusable land. The farmer directed the water by digging such ditches wherever he wanted and by, then, opening and closing the pathway for the water to flow (Deut. 11:10; Isa. 32:1–2). So, too, God ‘turns it [the king’s heart] wherever He wishes.’ He is able to make even the evil intentions of a man’s heart promote His glorious purposes (Ps. 76:10).
Scripture is filled with examples of such control by God over the hearts of rulers, particularly as they deal with His people and stand to influence His purposes: Abimelech (Gen. 20:6; Ps. 105:14–15), Pharaoh (Acts 7:10; Exod. 10:1–2), Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:21–23, 27), Tiglath-Pileser (Isa. 10:5–7), Cyrus (Ezra 6:22; Isa. 45:1–4), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:30–31, 34–37), Belshazzar (Dan. 5:22–28), and Pilate (John 19:11). This truth is affirmed throughout the Scriptures (Eccles. 9:1; Dan. 2:21; Ps.105:25; 106:46; Rev. 17:17).
Only God is absolute in His control. ‘There is no wisdom and no understanding And no counsel against the Lord’ (v. 30).[3]
Ver. 1. The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord.—God and the human race:—
In these verses we have God unfolded to us.—
I. As the controller of human hearts. Some suppose there is an allusion to the gardener directing the rills of water through the different parts of his ground, and that the comparison is between the ease with which the gardener does this and the ease with which the Almighty controls the purposes and volitions of the human soul.
1. This is an undoubted fact. A priori reasoning renders this obvious. The God of infinite wisdom must have a purpose to answer in relation to the existence and history of the human race. He has a purpose not only in the rise and fall of empires, but in all the events that happen in the individual history of the obscure as well as the illustrious. But unless He has a control over the workings of the human heart and the volitions of the human soul, how could this purpose be realised? If He controls not the thoughts and impulses of the human mind, He has no control over the human race, and His purposes have no guarantee for their fulfilment.
2. This fact interferes not with human responsibility. Though the Creator has an absolute control over all the workings of our minds, yet we are conscious that we are free in all our volitions and actions. Though the reconciliation of these two facts transcends our philosophy, they involve no absurdity.
II. As the judge of human character. There is a connection between the second and first verses. The connection suggests—
1. That God judges men’s characters, not according to their own estimate. Men generally are so vain that they form a high opinion of themselves, but this estimate may be the very reverse of God’s.
2. That God judges men’s characters not according to the result of their conduct. Though they may unwittingly work out His plans, they do not approve themselves to Him on that account.
3. That God judges men’s characters by the heart. The essence of the character is in the motive.
III. As the approver of human goodness (ver. 3). Sacrifice, at best, is only circumstantially good—rectitude is essentially so. Sacrifice, at best, is only the means and expression of good—rectitude is goodness itself. God accepts the moral without the ceremonial, but never the ceremonial without the moral. The universe can do without the ceremonial, but not without the moral. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
God rules the hearts of men:—
General Gordon had an Arab text inscribed over his throne in the Palace of Khartoum—“God rules over the hearts of men.”[4]
[1] Ross, A. P. (2008). Proverbs. In T. Longman III, Garland David E. (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Proverbs–Isaiah (Revised Edition) (Vol. 6, p. 181). Zondervan.
Intimate fellowship with Yahweh is for those who fear him,
and he makes known his covenant to them.
My eyes are continually toward Yahweh,
because he will take my feet from the net.
Reading: Mark 9:42–50
“And whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it is better for him if instead a large millstone is placed around his neck and he is thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter into life crippled than, having two hands, to go into hell—into the unquenchable fire! And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter into life lame than, having two feet, to be thrown into hell! And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than, having two eyes, to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not extinguished.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt becomes deprived of its salt content, by what can you make it salty? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”
Reflection
There is a perfect cure for all the ills that man is heir to. There is a cure that is sovereign, sufficient, sure, and speedy. Jesus Christ announced that cure long ago, but the overwhelming majority of men and women have not listened, and so our evils, miseries, and despair continue. You will find that our Lord Jesus Christ proposed the cure for all our ills in Matthew 11:28–30, “Come to me, all of you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to carry and my burden is light.” Christ Jesus Himself is the cure for all our evils. He came to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). He does it for all who receive Him. Poverty, sickness, bereavement, failure, bitterness of heart, despair, and death—as well as sin and unbelief—are all works of the devil. We can have done with them by coming to Jesus, the Christ of God.
I propose to take up these various evils and show how Jesus, the Christ of God, is the cure for them all and how each one of us may be done with them right now.
—R. A. Torrey
The Gospel for Today
Response
What sins are present in your life right now? Ask your spouse or a trusted friend in your church community to help you recognize and address these sins. Pray that God would shed light on the darkness in your life and use you to spread light.[1]
A heated exchange erupted on Fox News’ “The Five” as co-hosts debated the implications of an egregious decision by New York judge Arthur Engoron against former President Donald Trump.
The panel discussion took a fiery turn when Jeanine Pirro, Greg Gutfeld, and Jesse Watters clashed with their Democrat co-host Jessica Tarlov over the ruling and broader issues affecting New York.
Jeanine Pirro, a former judge, vehemently criticized the handling of Trump’s fraud case.
“This Leticia James is out of control. She is unethical. She is inept. You do not pick a person and say, ‘I will find a crime. I don’t like you. I’m going to find…’ We’ve got all this crime going out here, and this woman’s after Donald Trump. Shame on her and all of them,” said Pirro.
The conversation then shifted to Democrat co-host Jessica Tarlov, who countered by emphasizing the legal implications of Trump’s actions and the need to uphold the law against falsifying business records and committing insurance fraud.
“I assume they’ve thought about this long enough that they have a good answer for that. But basically, everyone who is defending Donald Trump in this, from Kevin O’Leary to some folks here, is saying it is okay to falsify your business records, to issue false financial statements, to commit conspiracy for insurance fraud,” said Tarlov.
However, the debate quickly escalated as Tarlov and Pirro clashed over the specifics of Trump’s financial dealings, with Tarlov insinuating that Trump maintained three sets of books for various purposes—a claim that Pirro challenged.
Tarlov then mentioned about the January 6 event and the FBI raid in Mar-a-Lago.
“So since Donald Trump ran the first time, he has been making this argument, ‘If they could do this to me, they could do this to you.’ The average person is not inflating their wealth by 800 million to $2.2 billion. They’re not sexually assaulting women. They’re not storing classified documents in the toilet. They’re not fomenting an insurrection,” said Tarlov.
Gutfeld joined the fray by drawing an analogy between contract negotiations and Trump’s situation, suggesting that aggressive bargaining doesn’t equate to breaking the law. “There is no fraud here, which is why you’re bringing up other stuff,” Gutfeld directed at Tarlov.
Watters then weighed in, arguing that Tarlov lacked an understanding of real estate, finance, and the legal complexities involved in such cases. He staunchly defended Trump’s impact on New York City, lambasting Letitia James for not addressing street crime and targeting political adversaries instead.
“Jessica knows nothing about real estate, real estate valuations, real estate development, the IRS, or getting loans from big banks to develop skylines in New York City. Donald Trump did more for New York City than a thousand Leticia James has done,” said Watters.
“Then her phony friend, Alvin Bragg, if you just try to defend yourself working at a bodega or on the subway, he goes after you. That’s why 160 businesses have left New York. That’s why almost a million New Yorkers have left. This is an unsafe climate if you have a certain political opinion. It’s why companies don’t do business in Venezuela, Russia, and Pakistan, because it’s corrupt. Because if you’re on the other side of the political people that are in power at the time, they’ll target your business.”
Watters extended the debate to national politics, drawing comparisons between the scrutiny of Trump and the business dealings of the Biden crime family. He called for equal treatment under the law, highlighting accusations of tax fraud and improper foreign dealings by the Bidens.
WATCH:
Judge Jeanine Pirro OVERRULES political persecution of Trump on LIVE TV, DESTROYS lib co-host's case after NYC ruling proves Regime is TERRIFIED about 2024 pic.twitter.com/JjBAAqwqJm
Society must cancel this man before it’s too late… In this video, Todd Friel reviews a piece on the sharp contrast between Karl Marx and Charles Spurgeon, and shares his perspective on it as a Bible-believing Christian.
(David Morrill – Protestia) “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire” is no doubt a familiar idiom for discerning Christians. For climate alarmists, the idiom is no doubt, “Where there’s smoke, there’s an opening for Marxism.”
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