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Current Events | A Glorious Risposte

A little birdie has sent me this wonderful comment to the left made by a gentleman (it is not my job, nor my place to shame people so he will remain anonymous) and it’s unsurprising. I really wanted to be done after my last post before the holidays, but that unfortunately can’t happen. This is meant to be a post of encouragement and warning at the same time. Christ told us “If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you” (Jn 15:18, ESV) There is coming a time, soon, where this man’s sentiments will be the prevailing zeitgeist against all professing, true Christians. Anyone who professes salvation in Christ, being led by the Spirit, will be persecuted.

Now, I have heard the issues you all are having in your respective organizations, and I hear your anxiety and frustrations. I am not here to tell you it is going to be easy. Our King, while incarnate on this earth even told us it wouldn’t be easy. There will be many that think they can speak for our King, they can’t. There are many more that think they know what we as Christians are supposed to do, say and how we are to act (as you all have seen). They DON’T know this. What then do we say in response? What is our riposte to their unbelief?

The Lord has put everyone with a religious exemption using their faith in the Spirit and salvation through Christ on a pedestal for persecution and humiliation. Let this be your ministry just as I write to you now. Peter told us “Have no fear of them or be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to ANYONE [HR, Supervisor, vile coworker included] who asks you for the reason for the hope that in in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect“

So what answer do we give? What defense is our hope?

WE GIVE THE GOSPEL

I know some of you may feel pressured to lie or to finagle your way out of it. Stand firm on your foundations! Peter also told us “That those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” Likewise Paul said he was not ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Rom 1:16). We must realize we are coming to a point, and some of you are starting to feel the pressure, where we must stand for our King or the very mere mortal existence we have. Christ put it plainly that if we are ashamed of Him on Earth, He “will be ashamed of them when He comes in his father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

Like it or not, when you decided to use your credentials as a servant of Heaven as an excuse (while valid) not to take this vaccine, God had a plan for you. That plan did not involve lying about your vaccine status when solicited rather, that plan was for you to spread the Gospel of our King.

If people want to jest or act like they know our faith, let them; however, give them a taste of what our faith is, in love. It’s not faith in men, politicians, corporations or science, it’s faith in an eternal God and Lord of creation, who came as a man to sacrifice himself as the final payment for our fallibility, that that God could finally spend eternity with his Creation once again.

The world will treat you differently, as an outcast, that I will promise. However, our Savior said it best, “Take Heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33, ESV)

The time is near, stand for Heaven. Soli Deo Gloria.

Current Events | A Divine Direction

I sit here to write this and I firmly grasp the world has been thrown into turmoil. I know that we are in a different place than we were even a year ago, and while concerning to see how the world is moving at record breaking pace, we now know we cannot trust in man. As I explained in No Terrestrial Help, we cannot continue to look to religious leaders to provide anything. We have been entrusted by God to follow His word and His Spirit. While the Church at large is biblical, it has largely failed and the body of believers have chosen to follow men, men which we are told are fallible (Romans 3:23), liars (Num 23:19) and deceivers in their religious pomp (Jn 8:44).

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Current Events | No Terrestrial Help

A little birdie told me that after my last blog a few companies decided to change their religious exemption forms to add the phrase “Did anyone help you write this”, while I would be flattered and honored to be the answer given to this question, it is not my goal to be the reason for anything, for any reason given should always point back to Christ. I will say that it does perturb me a bit, as these people are actively trying to stop what we know is God giving discernment among His elect to choose not to follow along with these mandates, for whatever reason. We do know one thing, however, as the Apostle Peter 1 writes “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.” It’s amazing how relevant this is, across the world are protests, riots, and unemployment sky-rocketing for the same reasons that I am writing this blog post right now. For some unknown reason (though many will try to grasp at mortal arguments for comfort) many are choosing to give up their lives for freedom. As Christians, we know particularly well that our freedom comes not from employers, nor from the government or our patriotic forefathers, but through Christ alone. As Moses told Israel 2, “The Lord will fight for you and you have only to be silent.” So, the best bet, is at the end of the day give the only answer that will help you or me or anyone on this earth at any given moment, God. 

Now I know a lot of you who read this are looking for answers, and if you don’t want to read my reasoning then that’s fine, just scroll to the end; however, if you want to hear my reasoning both academic and theological please continue reading. In Genesis 12 we read about how Abraham and his wife Sarah were forced into Egypt by famine. While Abraham was very wealthy and was favored by God in his own land, traveling to a separate nation with a foreign king brought fear upon him (sound familiar?). As they were traveling through Egypt, Abraham told Sarah to lie to the Egyptians and say they were only siblings because if she told the truth they would kill Abraham. The Egyptian king ended up taking Sarah as a concubine.  If you recall in a previous chapter, God told Abraham that his descendants would outnumber the stars in the sky and the sand by the sea, but by the Egyptian king taking Sarah as his concubine, this would break God’s plan. Man’s own intelligence, once again, was trusted instead of God. If God promised Abraham something like descendants, while he and his wife was barren, would God honestly allow him to die before that happened?

The answer is, of course not, later on in Genesis 12 (v. 19), we see that because of Abraham’s sin (Lying and not trusting in God), God had to plague the Egyptians in order for them to release Sarah back to Abraham. 

Now, while the story is compelling how does this help us with the mandate? How does this help us with the new updated forms? 

I’m not quite done yet, let’s continue on, shall we?

An article by ABC News published on September 17th decided to try and cut these religious exemptions off by the head. They went to many church leaders of many denominations and asked if they will support a religious exemption. Most major denominations said “no”. Here are the following quotes. 

Greek Orthodox: “pay heed to competent medical authorities and to avoid the false narratives utterly unfounded in science. No clergy are to issue such religious exemption letters.”

Evangelical Lutheran Church: “There is no evident basis for religious exemption.”

Roman Catholic Church: an exemption letter would be “acting in contradiction” to the Pope. 

Robert Jeffress, Pastor of First Baptist Dallas: “There is no credible religious argument against the vaccines”

There is a large problem with all of these people saying this. They think they are speaking for God, they think at the end of the day by ignoring the millions of people around the globe that are refusing this vaccine for mostly unknown reasons that they are doing a service to the world. God told the prophet Jeremiah directly 3 “CURSED is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength.” The problem is these people have put themselves above God and have told us that we need to follow them in this matter! Heresy. These people have failed each and every one of you. They ignored the power of God and the Spirit and for that they will be judged. 

So what now? Where do we go from here. I have some good news, the Pope can’t save you, the president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church can’t save you, the bishops in the orthodox church can’t save you, and no pastor can save you. Christ can. 

We are futher told in the book of Hebrews 4 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Directly from the Bible, what these supposed church leaders say they believe in, it tells us OUR LEADER IS NOT HUMAN AND DIDN’T SIN. Our leader is on the right hand of God and gives us HELP in the time of need. 

Your denominations aren’t going to be asked when you enter Heaven, for there aren’t any Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, or Baptists in Heaven, only Christians. Our leader, our king, isn’t a man, it is God alone. Our help and the “author and finisher” 5 of our faith isn’t man, it is God alone.  Therefore, when you fill in that blank of “Did anyone help you write this”, much to their chagrin, put with peace in your heart “My God through the influence of the Holy Spirit.” As I’ve said before, the gospel is the most powerful answer to all of this. They have their rejections lined up for arguments of “My body is a temple” or “Aborted Fetal Cells” or “This is an experimental vaccine”, but what they can’t argue with is the Gospel or the Holy Spirit. Once again, God speed and may the God of Peace, the only God of Peace keep you in the days forward. 

Current Events | No Earthly Mandate

To vax or not to vax, this is the question surrounding Christians everywhere. I’ve kept largely silent on this issue in public. Privately I’ve made my opinion quite clear. Speaking to Christians, I am going to say this, the action itself doesn’t matter. Just like any action we take, we must be honest with ourselves and with God. As the late evangelist and minister Ron Hamilton once said, “There are two choices on the shelf, pleasing God or pleasing self.” This is the whole point of Christianity and the Christian life, we must wake up every morning and we must decide that we are going to do everything to please God or to please our flesh. 

So I will start here. Our primary command in life is to love God (Matt 22:37), and we love him by keeping His commandments (1 John 5:3). Before He left the Earth, Christ told us two things. The first was a promise, to send the Great Comforter (John 14:16), the Holy Spirit. Second, was a divine mandate, He commanded us to go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every living thing (Matt 28:16-20). 

What does this tell us? 

Well, first in the book of Isaiah, God tells Israel something we all should keep in the back of our minds constantly, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying ‘this is the way, walk in it’, when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.”(Isa 30:21) So because of this, we know that God directs us in everything we do that we might do them for His glory. 

Second, we know from the Great Commission, God’s plan is to lead as many to salvation as He deems necessary. Therefore, we can assess that anything we are told to do by the spirit is through His will and is necessary for the furtherance of the gospel. My fencepost position on the vaccine itself is this, it is a decision made (hopefully) through soul searching and prayer in following what God wants specifically for you. The passport and other things associated with that will be discussed later on, right now I am focusing on helping the academically and theologically weak church. 

We are coming to a point not only in Western Culture but also in Christianity itself that will give us the privilege and opportunity to stand for our faith. Realistically though, how do we do that? How do we go to an employer or the government and tell them here is my conviction? What do we do when we lose everything over our conviction? 

Standing for something is scary, especially standing for something when one doesn’t know the possible outcome. God wants you to stand for Him, as stated above, the point of being a Christian is to spread the gospel, and if you lose every earthly possession in the process that is God’s will. Christ on this earth told us specifically that if we lose everything on earth, we will gain our soul in heaven (Mk 8:36). It is easy to profess to be a Christian, it is easy to speak what God wants you to say and to follow rules, read the Bible and go to church. It is something else entirely when your livelihood and life is threatened. 

So what do we do? Do we deny Christ and the Spirit leading us and therefore deny His saving power or do we follow and have faith in Him. That is the choice ahead, is money, wealth and even food our concern or is following the only true God in defense of His truth and our kingdom of Heaven. 

When you go before your employer with a religious exemption, do not use mortal arguments about stem cells, or conspiracies or whatever, use the power of the gospel of Christ Jesus. Tell them that the Spirit of God Himself has directed you not to take the vaccine and that He is the one that should be listened to, not man. If a mortal argument is used, they can deny that a lot easier, than denying the gospel. 

See, 60 percent of the U.S. Still identify in some sort of way as Christian. For them to deny that God could be ministering in your heart, then they will not only face an identity crisis of faith but spiritual judgment. We have been warned we will be delivered up to government and kings for our faith, however, our arguments will not stand, the only argument that will is the argument that is given by the Spirit (Matt 24:9). That specific argument by and through the Spirit will always end up being the gospel. 

The same power of creation is the power of the gospel itself. Your testimony, the Gospel, and the Spirit will get you through this. Once again, I will warn everyone if you’re actually doing this for selfish or non-spiritual reasons, please do not use your testimony. It will only bring pain and suffering as that is not the will of God. So please, when you are faced with a decision do it in prayer and thanksgiving so the will of God may be known in your life.  Remember, let your answers to questions about this be “yes” or “no” whether this is to your employer or to your government. To all who read this, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all even unto the end of the age. 

Current Events | Matthew West CANCELLED?!

Have you all seen the music video and/or heard the song Modest is Hottest, by Matthew West? As a father of a little girl, I think it’s a hilariously appropriate video. It honestly is a counter-culture view of the world and a treatise on how Christian ladies should act. See, and I want to put this in perspective for all of you, Christianity today is not in vogue anymore. True Christianity is much more of an afterthought in the mainstream, if not downright hated. Sure, you can say you’re a Christian, but if you act like one, you better watch out the wolves will get you!

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Current Events | No Earthly King

I was going to do today’s post on a completely different topic, but since the prior idea is something that is continually ongoing, I think it can wait. I got interrupted in the middle of the other post while scrolling through Facebook and then I saw this photo.

In 1912, as the legend goes, Ralph Rose- the U.S. Flag bearer was walking during the opening ceremony of the Olympics. When asked why he didn’t dip the flag in respect to the King of England, Ralph happily replied, “This flag dips to no earthly king”.  I find this interesting as during this period of American history almost 90% of people would be considered Christians. 

In 2021, Americans seem okay to kneel however to their propaganda overlords. In the photo above, the White Americans are seen bowing in repentance for their “sin” of slavery. Don’t get me wrong, slavery is an awful, horrible thing, however, why should these people in the modern era “confess” their sin to a man? This man can’t save them, this man can’t do anything. These people have gone absolutely bonkers.

While the landscape of Christians continues to decline in the United States, 65% still consider themselves aligned with some form of Christianity. And in this picture alone, most would consider themselves Christians. If that’s the case, why on Earth are they bowing to anyone?

Unless these people are directly responsible for slavery itself, they should not be asking for forgiveness from any man, woman or child regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or creed. These people cannot wipe their slate clean, nor do they want to. The people holding the event are on a power trip.

This leads me to say concurrently, that this propaganda along with all others is no more than a human made religion seeking to enfranchise the people that have bought into it. They will be abused, they will be kicked, and they will be enslaved in their own mind thinking they owe these people something. 

Christ made it clear, “No one can serve two masters”. If anyone of these kneeling call themselves Christians, I would dare to say they are not.

Unfortunately, this radical ideology has infiltrated our churches. The Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America blatantly support and advocate for a postmodern social justice. The United Methodist Church also does the same. These are two of the largest factions of Christianity in America, yet they are following man made doctrine that doesn’t even teach about Christ. 

For the final point, either Americans have no interest in really being Christians, yet want the name recognition or they are faithfully following this apostate church that has been created under a new religion. This religion is not of God, but is created from the number of man. 

Current Events | Uniformed Tik Tok Teens decide to weigh in on Israel-Palestine Conflict

By now, if you’ve seen my other writings we all know I love language. So bare with me for a moment as we go down a couple trails together, but ultimately arrive at the age-old adage “ignorance is bliss”.

Did you ever wonder where the term “Palestine” came from? Let’s take a trip way back in time, about 3200 years ago. In the 12th century B.C., the first iteration of the word “Palestine” came from the Egyptians. Although the word “Palestine” wasn’t actually the word at all, we would translate the word today as “Philistine” while the Hebrew would call it “Palesheth.” The Philistines were coastal people situated where Gaza is today. And up until the Babylonian Empire took Israel captive in 586 BCE, the Philistines were always a pain to the Jewish people.

After many wars, empires, and the like, there became a new reigning empire in the world. Its name was Greece, and it was led by a man named Alexander the Great. Somehow, most likely because their navy landed on Philistine shores off the Mediterranean, the whole region would be known then on as “Philistia.” This is very important because this is the first iteration of a new word.

However, this new empire would not last (as most don’t); the Roman Empire took over the area in 63 B.C. by Roman General Pompey. In 70 A.D, a revolt would cause major headaches for the Romans, the republic was in turmoil, and they didn’t need to deal with dissenters. So, they quashed the revolution of Judea by the Jewish people. Soon after that initial revolt, they would mint coins for the area marked as “Judea Capta” or Capture/Occupied Judea. However, not even 70 years after that, in 135 A.D., there would be another revolt by the Jews in the same area.

The Romans quashed that as well, but this time, they would call it “Palestine” and remove all names, traces, and history linking back to Israel to quash the mental revolt as well as the physical one.

Due to the Roman Empire’s influence in the West, the area has retained the name of Palestine, but in reality, it has always been the natural home of Israel. It has also been the natural home of Israel fighting with its neighbor Philistia. Arabic still retains the usage of the word Philistia and Palestine is never used.

So where do I want to go with this? Due to the recent conflict with Israel and Gaza, many people on both sides have weighed on it; however, as usually is the case, one side uses social media a lot better than the other to get their opinions out. Unfortunately, this time, it’s very uninformed.

Tik Tok Teens have been using memes and viral messaging that is at best intellectually vapid to support Palestine and BTS. They simply are regurgitating the views of many on the left that “Israel bad, Palestine victims,” which, especially in this instance, couldn’t be further from the truth. Now I know Israel isn’t perfect and no country is, but there is a continual volley back and forth from Gaza and Israel of rockets and missiles. Unfortunately, Hamas, the terror organization deep within the Palestinian Regional Authority, uses women and children as shields for their weapons depots. So, when the news media and others gain videos or pictures of the carnage, it always makes Israel look terrible for targeting civilians.

This conflict has been ongoing since around 1000 B.C., and it won’t stop. Their fighting is well documented Biblically and in multiple extraBiblical records. The Tik Tok stars don’t care, nor do they want to look into this fighting further. They want to jump on the bandwagon all for the sake of likes and popularity, which, as we also know from the Bible, never ends well.