Category Archives: Current events

Christmas thoughts

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Whew! I’m glad it’s Christmas time. Just to have that whiff of fresh air that comes with the sounds, sights and thoughts of Christmas. I’ve had a somewhat traumatic year. It’s not only been the two major surgeries and numerous teeth removed, it’s been the constant depressing news from both abroad and here in my country.

But that’s why I’m embracing Christmas more this year than at other times. I need to get my mind out of the dismal turmoil of the present and on the verities of the enumerable miracles that occurred at the birth of Jesus, which still resonate and impact our present, so many centuries later.

They say, “the greater the darkness, the greater the light” and that’s how Christmas is to me right now. Medically for me this year, there was lower back surgery in February, several months of dental work and then “full reverse shoulder replacement” in August. And I am so very thankful and amazed to be able to say that those all worked out extremely well, with utterly competent doctors and dentists so that I’m now feeling better than I have in years. I really do have a lot to be thankful for.

But also this year, my heart has been grieved and heavy for the plight of the Ukrainians and those suffering in Gaza. I lived 2½ years in eastern Ukraine and Moscow so I feel I know that part of the world pretty well. It has so upset me to hear of the plight of those dear folks and the utter unjustness of Putin’s aggression there.

And although I’ve never been to Gaza or the West Bank, I have friends who’ve lived for extended periods in those places, in Christian service to try to alleviate the suffering there. And in both the news from Ukraine and from the Middle East, the frustration and heart ache builds up in me to an unbearable degree.

Of course, all the while, we are to “cast all our cares on Him for He cares for us”. (I Peter 5:7)  And I do that. Also I am thankful that the Lord has made a way so that I’ve been able to have material produced in both Russian and Arabic which I air weekly throughout the Russian and Arabic speaking world.

Back, before the fall of Communism, Radio Free Europe would broadcast into the countries “behind the Iron Curtain” to provide an alternative view of realty that contradicted what totalitarian Communism propagated to its captive peoples. And still today, though Communism fell over 40 years ago, there’s still an incredible need to broadcast the truth of God to so many parts of the world that are mostly cut off from hearing the gospel of God.

Bethlehem-at-ChristmasSo, thank God for Christmas. Thank God for a “holiday season”, as it is called now, in which nations hearken back to the birth in Bethlehem 2000 years ago of the most unique Man in history, prophesied to come, born of a virgin, despised by His own people, willingly crucified and raised by God the Father on the third day. CNN will probably not be running a special on this and in some places in the West it’s nearly become illegal to even mention it or openly celebrate it.

Nevertheless, the celestial elixirs of God yearly blow upon us like refreshing heavenly monsoons each Christmas, to refocus our minds on the eternal truths that pull us out of the chaotic present and back in to the saving power of God, to deliver us yet again from ourselves and this present evil world.

And I might add, I’m so thankful for my many friends in many lands who I have known through the years, “companions in tribulation” or Facebook friends who I’ve never met physically, who keep in touch and with whom I can have a kindred spirit and to know that there is a link that unites us through faith in Him.

I hope you have had a good year, even if you’ve had to smile through your tears or even your clinched teeth. Somehow we’ve made it through the year, we’ve kept the faith (at least more or less, ha!) and we’ve been strengthened through our trials and experiences. I hope you are continuing to let your light shine before men, that you are “falling on the Rock” and letting Him sustain you and that you are at peace with Him and those around you.

Your friend in Him, Mark

 

 

Eclipse coming my way

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I’m expecting 4 minutes of total eclipse here at my house in less than 3 days. I don’t really know what will come of it. A half million people are said to be travailing to my area to check it out and there are plenty of scare mongers who are telling everyone to stock up on groceries, gasoline and water. Actually, very many Texas counties have declared a state of emergency already in preparation for the event.

It does make sense that there could be really a whole lot of people parked on the side of the road that goes past my house. Full total eclipses are rare and that’s what will be happening here. And folks in these parts can rather easily get pretty free and rowdy so it all just remains to be seen how this will play out.

Meanwhile, the weather forecasters are saying it will be “nip and tuck” as to whether there will be clear skies enough for anyone to be able to view the eclipse. It’s supposed to happen in early afternoon and it’s not certain at all that there will be clear skies to see it. One way or the other, day will be turning to night as the full eclipse passes over here so at least we will be seeing “darkness at noon”.

I’ve thought a lot about what if anything I should write about this event that will be here where I am. Forty years ago, right at this time, I was going through perhaps the greatest “eclipse” of my personal life as my own family fell apart. And, strangely, there was a pop song that was popular right around that time called “Total eclipse of the heart”. It really somehow struck me so deeply what the words of that song said as it summed up what I was going through, so unspeakable and mostly unbearable.

I was going to make a video from my house here, linking this upcoming eclipse to my “eclipse” at this time in 1984. I decided not to do that but instead write something since so very many people in these times are going through their own “eclipses”. The light of their lives suddenly leaves them, their dearest loved one, mate, child or whoever is suddenly just not there and they’re plunged into darkness, just like a total eclipse in the middle of the day.

When that happened to me, I cried every day for 5 months. I woke up in the mornings and was crying in ten seconds. Why am I sharing this? To somehow reach out to anyone, and there are so very many, who are in a personal, mighty “eclipse of the heart”. If that’s not you right now, then perhaps you know of someone who’s life has collapsed, whose dearest loved one has left them, or their family has turned against them and they are suddenly so alone and without light or love in this world that many just give up and die.

I’m so glad I came through that time; it took around 13 months before the vast shadow that was upon my life began to lift. Maybe that’s you just now. Or someone who’s near to you in your life right now. Folks, there is an epidemic of loneliness, despair and spiritual darkness that’s descended on many millions of people around the world in these times.

But eclipses don’t last forever. Mine didn’t. Perhaps a secret for me was that I knew God and His son Jesus. And They are able to deliver us from the lowest hell. It was that faith, that God was bigger than my circumstances, that gave me the grace to just hold on and keep praying through a time like I’d never gone through before.

If it’s you, or someone you love, the secret is to hold on to faith in God. This coming eclipse to my part of the world will pass. We all take that for granted now. And I can tell you personally that if you’re in a total eclipse, a sudden darkness unlike you’ve ever seen before, then hold on. You say you can’t hold on because you don’t know God or Jesus? Then it really is a great time to get acquainted with them.

God is in control of the world and He can bring you through and out of whatever you’re going through, just the way He will bring us through this darkness that’s soon coming to my neck of the woods in central Texas. Hold on to the Lord, He can do what no other can do.

And I might add, back when I was going through my “total eclipse of the heart”, there were a few very dear friends who remained friends with me when it really looked like to most that I would shrivel away and die. But they encouraged me and did what they could to help me through that time. Would to God that all of us would remain steadfast and true friends to those we know who are in a place of darkness at this time. “A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.” Proverbs 17:17

Miracles in Europe

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Coming from an atheist background, the miracles in my life have been beacons of personal experience and sustenance. In this second audio recording, I’ve included 3 events that happened to me in the years I lived in Europe where the miraculous hand of God got me through dangerous, virtually impossible situations.

I’ve found that it’s a much quicker process to do audio recordings like this, compared to doing full 30 minute videos as I have been doing for years. So my plan is to continue to produce more of these.

I hope you find these accounts to be an inspiration and uplift to you in your life. I’d be glad to hear any feedback or reactions to these recordings from any of you. The link to the recording on YouTube can be found below.

All the best to you, your friend,

Mark

“Summoning” and A.I.

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I scan the horizon daily for “the signs of the times”. Some things have been there for years. But, what’s new? What’s now in view that indicates progress toward the very final end time foreseen in the Bible?

“Artificial Intelligence” has been around for years, in some sense. But in recent times, with things like Chat GPT, there’s a new chapter and a new time of greatly enhanced computer advancement. For me, I view this from the perspective of a Christian who’s looking to see the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and the coming of the future foretold through the Biblical prophets.

I prefer to keep things as simple as possible. But I’m going to need to take the narrative up a notch in discussing A.I. and the Bible, to some of the more mysterious, complex aspects of the Biblical future, spoken of by Jesus and the prophets.

Most of those reading this have heard somewhere of “the Anti-Christ”, the prophesied world dictator who will arise, just before the return of Jesus. And certainly the concept of “the mark of the beast” has become more and more known, even by secularist around the world.

They may not believe it but many millions have come to know the ideas behind the verse that says of a future point in time, “No man might buy or sell unless he had the mark of the beast… in his hand or his forehead”. This is also where the famous reference to “the number of the beast [the anti-Christ] which is 666“. (Revelation 13:16-18)

But the number of those grasping these things greatly shrinks when we get to places in the Bible that may be where we find Artificial Intelligence becoming part of the fulfillment. We could start with one of the least understood things Jesus of Nazareth ever said. And He said it at a pinnacle moment in a pinnacle chapter, when He was telling His disciples about His return to earth and the time just before that event.

Don’t worry if you don’t understand it, I’m not sure anyone yet has a complete, total grasp of how this will be fulfilled. Jesus said, “When you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso reads, let him understand.” (Matthew 24:15)

Didn’t get it, did you? No worries; we’re going to try to delve into this, comparing Scripture with Scripture, as well as bringing in AI, and then see if there’s a clearer idea of it all from doing that.

Probably the biggest enigma in what Jesus said there is that phrase “the abomination of desolation”. Most likely you have no idea what that is. And I’m not going to be able to definitely clear it all up for you. But it’s worth looking into since Jesus brought it up. And also the prophet Daniel was told about this over 500 years before Jesus pointed to it, when talking about His second coming. [By the way, I went over these things in more detail in a video I did some years ago which linked Jesus’ words in Matthew 24 with the last verse in Daniel 9, verse 27. Here’s the link to that video:]

“Mark! Mark! I have it! The abomination of desolation is the Anti-Christ!”

Well, some do teach that but I personally don’t think the “AC” is the abomination. Jesus said “the abomination of desolation” was spoken of by the prophet Daniel. That phrase is used in several places in Daniel but the one that is most clear is Daniel 11:31. It says this. “And arms [armaments] shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength [soon to be rebuilt temple in Jerusalem]; and they shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that makes desolate.”

This and other places always give the picture of the abomination being a thing. Jesus said it will “stand” in the temple. It will be “placed” there. But the Antichrist is a person “the son of perdition”, similarly to how Jesus was a person, the very Son of God. As well, II Thessalonians 2:3 & 4 says the Antichrist will “sit in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God”. So I feel pretty strongly that the abomination is “a thing”, not a person.

The mystery deepens, no? One thing to remember, the word “abomination” in the Old Testament was often used to speak of what we today call an idol. They were physical objects, placed in temples where the gods of old, Dagon, Ashtoreth, Baal and others were worshipped. The Greeks and Romans had similar things, all the way up to New Testament times.

“Mark, is there anything in the book of Revelation about this?”

I think there is and this is where we get a view of where Artificial Intelligence may be an integral part of it all. I mentioned already those mysterious verses in Revelation 13 about “666” and “the mark of the beast”.

But we have to go deeper. We have to squeeze the truth from more of these verses to get a fuller picture. Many have heard vaguely of the Antichrist to come. But far fewer know that the book of Revelation says he will have a “side kick”, evidently a number 2 man, who the Bible calls “the false prophet”. And it says of this false prophet, in Revelation 13 that, “he has power to give life to the image of the Beast, that the image of the Beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the Beast should be slain.” (Revelation 13:15)

What’s the image of the beast, you ask? It becomes fascinating when we find that the word “image” in the Bible is often referring to an idol, just as the word “abomination” did in the Old Testament. If you do a Word study on those two words, “abomination” and “image”, you’ll see how many times they are referring to what we today call idols.

And I’ve taught and do believe that “the image of the beast” in Revelation 13 and “the abomination of desolation” that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 are the same thing. That might be a jump for some but I believe it is a sound conclusion that can stand review.

It is my opinion that “the abomination of desolation” and “the image of the beast” both refer to some kind of very advanced “machine”, for lack of a better word. Or I could say computer but one that’s so far advanced that it’s beyond what most regular folks in the world today can imagine. My thought on this is similar to a number of Bible students who’ve looked deeply into the specifics of the Bible’s teaching on the end time.

And this falls into the realm of reality since we all know just how fast and how far technology is advancing in those fields. Elon Musk is creating bio chips to link our brains into a mega-network that may bring on forms of bio-technical eternal life.

In all this, I zero in on the verse that says, “He had power to give life to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many of those that did not worship the beast should be slain”. So, a life-infused computer that can speak, also directing or monitoring all economic transactions on earth, as it says in Revelation 13:17. But actually, how farfetched does that really seem to be in the times we now live in?

I want to bring in here some things that have appeared recently in the New York Times newspaper. And keep in mind the part about “he had power to give life to the image of the beast”. Because that’s what’s comes to my mind when I’ve several times seen the word “summoning” in connection with what the absolute top scientists in Silicon Valley and elsewhere are working on with these things.

What are those tech creators summoning? The articles say they are summoning spirits, demons from beyond or whatever to inhabit and dwell in their most advanced computer concoctions in order to have them reach the limits and realms that the A.I. coders are trying to take things to. And this sounds exactly like what those verses in the book of Revelation said would ultimately happen.

I’ll end this with just a few of the quotes I’ve taken note of in the New York Times articles that have come out about this. Here’s one.

“In 2018, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google — and not one of the tech executives known for overstatement — said, ‘A.I. is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire.’”

[from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/11/technology/silicon-valley-confronts-the-idea-that-the-singularity-is-here.html]

And even more, this quote gets to the essence of where AI advancement has come to. Read this paragraph with focus and bring in what the Bible says “the image of the Beast” will be capable of.

“We typically reach for science fiction stories when thinking about A.I. I’ve come to believe the apt metaphors lurk in fantasy novels and occult texts. As my colleague Ross Douthat wrote, this is an act of summoning. The coders casting these spells have no idea what will stumble through the portal. What is oddest, in my conversations with them, is that they speak of this freely. These are not naifs who believe their call can be heard only by angels. They believe they might summon demons. They are calling anyway.”

[from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/opinion/chatbots-artificial-intelligence-future-weirdness.html]

Friends, this is not coming from Alex Jones or some loony loner in a cabin in Idaho. This is published in what’s considered by the power elites to be the most reputable newspaper in America. They boldly publish that the most advanced scientific creators are now openly summoning demons into their computers.

I’ll end this with part of an article by Ross Douthat, again in the New York Times. It perhaps summarizes much better than I can what we are seeing here and what this is leading towards.

“In this sense what we’re doing resembles a complex incantation, a calling of spirits from Shakespeare’s “vasty deep.” Build a system that imitates human intelligence, make it talk like a person and answer questions like an encyclopedia and solve problems through leaps we can’t quite follow, and wait expectantly to see if something infuses itself into the mysterious space where the leaps are happening, summoned by the inviting home that we have made.

Such a summoning is most feared by A.I. alarmists, at present, because the spirit might be disobedient, destructive, a rampaging Skynet bent on our extermination.

But the old stories of the magicians and their bargains, of Faust and his Mephistopheles, suggest that we would be wise to fear apparent obedience as well.’

[from https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/opinion/magic-science-ufo-ai.html]

 

 

Has Putin shot his bolt?

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There was almost no fear greater than the fear of Russia. But now Putin’s had to (as they say in poker), “Put what you’ve got on the table.” And it hasn’t looked good so far. No one expected Ukraine to be able to withstand Russia. But they have.

One year into the war, it’s rather a stalemate. But that’s a defeat in many ways for Russia. They were our greatest fear and have been for over 70 years. And now? You can feel they have perhaps two choices. Go fully nuclear, the unspeakable alternative that’s remained our global fear since World War II. Or they can continue to send 10’s of 1000’s of their young men (in a nation desperate to repopulate itself) into the meat grinder of eastern Ukraine, to face resolute Ukrainians and the best weapons the Western powers can provide. Simply put, it’s not looking great for the mystique of Russian superiority and ultimate world dominance, as so many of us have bought into for so long.

And what if you study Bible prophecy? What about “the king of the north”? What about Ezekiel 38? My friends, we’ve been counting on these guys, haven’t we? No need to squirm, I could do the same. I think there are a lot of folks around who’ve been counting on Russia to provide a good deal of the power and “evil” to be fulfilled that’s been predicted in the end time build up, spoken of in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation.

But presently, Russia is losing huge numbers of troops and equipment on the plains of eastern Ukraine. And those resources in blood and treasure are not something that springs freely up out of the ground. They are depleted, they’re being exhausted and so very many look at it and feel it’s a fool’s errand that Mr. Putin has sent Russian power and prestige into. “All for nothing”, so many feel of the present war in Ukraine. My prophecy aficionado friends, how will Russia invade the Middle East if they can’t even take the eastern most part of Ukraine?

I hope you’re not expecting me to pull the cookies out of the fire and the rabbit out of the hat on this. I’m as stumped as you are. Perhaps some scenario develops where Putin is overthrown and a new leader arises who’ll lead Russia into a wiser and more prosperous future, more than at any time in its past. But as always, “what if’s” abound at every turn.

How does this all impact the picture of the unfolding end time, which in other areas continues to proceed most forebodingly? I really don’t know. And in my searching the internet for anyone else out there who sees all these data points leading us toward… what!…, I haven’t heard of anyone coming up with a clear, cognizant foreseeing of where all this is leading.

New and stranger goings on proceed briskly in the secular nation of Israel in the Middle East. Will the new, ultra religious government there clear the way for the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem? And artificial intelligence meanwhile is gathering pace by leaps and bounds; some now predict that “the singularity” is only 7 years away. Tragic natural disasters fall on top of immense refugee crises, war against Iran is a daily storm on the horizon, Western nations muddle through their internal befuddlements and suicide rates for young people increase year by year.

And the latest fear is that China will come to the aid of Russia with an infinity of weaponry, matching what the West is giving Ukraine. My, how that would be an unfathomably ominous turn of events in this saga. Would that not bring us face to face with the full scenario of World War III that was so before us at the height of the Cold War?

How does it all turn out? Will Russia ultimately sue for peace (as Germany did in World War I) and be defeated on the battle field after human losses unheard of before that time? Will China come to the side and aid of Russia, creating a new axis of power internationally? Will there be a cease fire where both sides get just enough of what they want so that both can claim a type of victory? Your guess may be as good as mine.

Still, I remain convinced that the end of the matter of these wars and rumors of wars is that through the haze and heartbreak will be the unfolding of Bible prophecy that will ultimately lead to the so welcomed second coming of our dear Jesus Christ to bring peace to the earth, after “a time of trouble such as was not since the beginning of the world”, to establish His righteous government, ordained and foretold by God and the prophets.

Of course that sounds ludicrous to the unbelievers who are in the majority now. But as the final events unfold, I believe so many will see ultimately that the only sane explanation of this present world is one that takes us to what turns out to be truly our only hope: God Himself and His intervention to save us all from ourselves and each other, where the people of the earth accept and welcome the intervention of God to pull our existence out of the destruction we have brought it to.

The Waning West

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When’s the best time to attack your enemy? When he is weak, divided and distracted. This principle works across innumerable fields. And let’s be blunt. The West at this time is all of those to a huge degree: weak, divided and distracted.

Did Putin have that in mind when he launched the attack on Ukraine? Quite possibly. His war efforts were initially thwarted. But recently he seems to be in the ascendency as the West faces the increasingly grave consequences of their own sanctions against Russia. Putin can yet enact policies that can probably inflict economic hardships on West Europe that they will not be willing or able to bear this coming winter.

But Ukraine is not the only front. Other nations are watching. They’re seeing the obvious weaknesses of so many Western nations: weak leadership, weak convictions, even the weakness of character that’s so evident in many Western populations.

Eastern and southern nations are observing it all, making decisions, taking sides, getting on board with one agenda or another. Did you know that there are two nations that, if they weren’t so ostracized, could have an almost immediate impact on the world oil markets? Venezuela and to a greater extent Iran have very vast oil reserves and they could bring these reserves into the world oil market very quickly.

Why hasn’t that happened? Well, Venezuela has been shunned and banned by the USA for years because of their embrace of socialism so that there have been embargoes and they’ve been excluded economically by the USA, with the cooperation of other Latin American countries.  But their oil reserves are immense and bringing Venezuela on stream and into world oil markets would have a quick, very major effect.

The same is true and even more so of Iran. Iran has been so vilified by Western media that we’ve all been successfully lulled into thinking that there’s hardly anything worse than Iran. But their proven oil reserves are such that allowing them to sell on the open market again could in a few short months very strongly change the world energy picture. But nobody would dare tell you that and it’s not going to happen because great work for decades has gone on in the media around the world to picture Iran as a villainous, pariah state.

Meanwhile, the nations of the world watch things unfold. Have you noticed how and where the largest nations seem to be placing their bets? Simply put, it doesn’t look like they’re really getting on the band wagon with the West’s confrontation with Putin. But there’s another front, another flash point that just might erupt.

Years ago I was in my driveway watching two doves fighting it out on the ground in the front yard. Suddenly I heard and felt a “swoosh” go right by my ear. It was a hawk which had seen those two birds fighting and was doing all it could to take advantage of their distractions. The hawk swept past me incredibly fast to try to capture at least one of the birds and it was able to do that. In their distraction of fighting amongst themselves, they didn’t see the outside danger of their mutual enemy and it cost the life of one of them.

Could this simple principle be at work internationally right now in our times? As the West is so weakened, distracted, divided and morally exhausted, could another front open similarly to the one in Ukraine? I hesitate to get too specific but many of you in Asia know of a smaller country there that has been eyed by a very large country for years. The smaller Asian country has long felt that it would be protected by strong friends in the West.

But many are saying that if the wise men of that large country ever were seeing a time when a move against that smaller country would possibly be met with (at best) a feeble and inept response, this might be the time.

Would it be moral? Ethical? Christian and resounding with the values that have been upheld by the West for centuries? No. But in the grim world of Machiavellian realty, this present Western weakness may provide a golden opportunity for things to seem to be possible to non-Western, non-Christian world leaders that stronger governments and stronger times in the West would have been able to prevent. Obviously I’m speaking obliquely. But “they that have ears to hear”, and those who keep up with East Asian power politics, will know what I’m referring to.

Am I predicting this? Prophesying it? No. But I’m reading things from pundits who are more observant than I am that this is like a very obvious “chess move” that’s presenting itself at this time, as the virtually leaderless West is so weighted down with its own problems that it makes for an excellent moment for great Asian leaders to launch attacks they have considered for decades.

And, yes, the Bible has precedents for all this. One man said of how he was defeated, “While I was busy here and there, the man was gone.” (I Kings 20:40)  While he was distracted, while he was turned aside from his task of the Lord’s highest service, the enemy swept in and carried off what he was responsible for.

Or, from the New Testament, “If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself for the battle?” (I Corinthians 14:8)  Western leadership can currently at best give a very hesitant, uncertain sound of any foreign danger while America is so preoccupied with its own internal wrangling. And the classic annals of battle will tell you that

one’s enemies are constantly looking for a weakness, an opportunity and an unguarded moment to launch an attack when they feel their adversaries are at their weakest.

Still, the mercy of God prevails. But it is a very serious moment and most people have no idea how vulnerable the distracted, weakened West is to an assault at this time.

Checking your local school board

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I’m flooded daily with info/spin regarding our society. But I’ve come to feel that the local schools in, not my country but my county is the realm in which I can and should try to take action.

In all the overstatements and hyperbola that’s so normal now, I hesitate to explain how important I’ve come to see simple school board elections going on in the 20 miles around me. In the last few months I’ve often spoken at school board meetings for the independent school district that I live in, which has around 40,000 students.

Again, there’s so much overstatement in our times that if I try to tell you what’s going on, you’ll very easily default to the “my eyes glaze over” attitude that so many of us have had to take on, just to survive all that we’re almost assaulted with.

But, friends, this is not about the border, not  about gun rights or black lives matter or Afghanistan, Hillary, Hunter, Benghazi, Israel, Iran, inflation or the price of gasoline. This is about your and my children and grandchildren. It’s plainly and simply as clear as that.

Let me offer you a realistic scenario that’s not at all outside the possible. Your 11 or 12 year old son, daughter or grandchild comes home from school and wants to talk with you or their parents. Haltingly, they announce that they’re no longer the gender they were born with. They explain that they’ve been learning in public school that they’re free to choose their gender and that they can be liberated from the shackles of society’s bonds and “to be what they inwardly have come to realize they really are.”

Ones in school have been helping them in this “transition”, there are medical procedures that have been offered them and they feel they have the boldness to break free and to change their sex and their identify.

You gasp. “Where did you get that idea?!” They calmly explain that they’ve been getting council and help for months if not years from teachers and councilors at the public school you’ve been trusting was taking care of the most precious thing in your life, your child or grandchild. But it is too late.

Without your knowledge, this influence has been going on for months or years in the public school your child or grandchild has been going to. And by the time you find out about it, it’s too late. They openly now wear clothing contrary to the gender they were born. They’ve morphed into another person than the one you raised. You are helpless, enraged and desperate. But it’s too late.

And this scenario is playing out in innumerable families across America and the world for that matter. While parents and grandparents were lulled into a false sense of security that “certainly our children are safe in the public schools of Texas!” or where ever you live, these outside forces have persistently and with great organization and cunning been able to implement agendas in schools across the country that have made this nightmare a reality for parents and grandparents across this nation.

Is there any solution? Can anything be done? If we change Presidents, will that change things? Or change governors or senators? From what I’ve been experiencing, I’ve found that the lynchpin in all this lies much closer to the local level. Evidently the real center of power in these things is the local school board that oversees the local schools in your area. Where I live, there are 7 members on the school board. Presently, one of them is a dedicated Christian, vehemently opposed to the gender dystopia that is funneled into the school district classrooms from “woke”, ultra leftist gender-bender organizations at the national level.

And there are school board elections coming up in the elections in November. While we are so swapped with controversies about national elections, the fact is that the members of your local school board are the ones who make the decisions as to what is let into the curriculum of the schools your kids and grandkids go to. And what is kept out.

You didn’t know that? The local media didn’t report any of this? They don’t because even here in supposedly ultra Christian central Texas, virtually every element of the media is safely in the hands of the most “progressive” elements of the leftists. So what I’m sharing here just goes unreported.

I grew up in a media family and was around newspapers almost daily from the time I was 4. This is the background I was brought up with and it grieves me how much the modern media has ceased to portray any form of balanced, unbiased information.

The bottom line? If you don’t know where to put your time and energies, I suggest you check out the situation in your local schools where your kids and grandkids are being educated. Concerned, often Christian, parents and grandparents have been “flipping” local school boards in Texas and elsewhere over the last year or so and have been able to turn the tide of ungodly filth that has made such an inroad into the lives of our children and grandchildren. “Woke” school trustees have been voted out in elections and ones with traditional values have been voted in to turn back the influx of evil that has been filing schools.

Thank God we still have a pretty good dose of democracy still with us. I mean really, thank God. Elections can still change things, especially at the local level. So, I suggest you perhaps look into it. What kind of “gender studies” are your children and grandchildren being subjected to in elementary and middle schools, not to mention high schools? What kind of books do they find in the school libraries? Have you ever looked at some of those books? So often books are there that are literally “as gross as it gets”, fully illustrated. Your local media didn’t tell you that? No, they usually don’t.

This may be one of the greatest spiritual battles of our times, of our generation. It reminds me of the place in Revelation where it says “The dragon stood before the woman to devour the child as soon as it was brought forth.” (Revelation 12:4) Whether the Dragon devours children though abortion, before birth, or whether it devastates the souls of children through gender dystopia in public schools, either way the devil is in an active onslaught against children in these times and he’s gotten away with a lot.

“The thief comes not but to kill and to steal.” (John 10:10)

In our times, if the devil can’t kill them through abortion, he now tries to steal them in public schools after they are born. So there is nothing new under the sun.

But if you’re waiting for the news of this to appear on your local TV, you may not hear of it until your children tell you they want a sex change, if then. And it will be too late.

In summation, simply put, check it out. Before it’s too late. Which it already almost is.

Jesus returned to earth in 70 A.D.?

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Did Jesus of Nazareth’s 2nd coming happen in 70 A.D? Did the fulfillments of dozens of prophecies reach their final climax then? Don’t laugh. Sadly there has been a ripple in the community of those who believe in the Lord’s return, somehow gazing toward this view that the return of Jesus to reign and rule happened in 70 AD.

Instead of sharing thoughts I have on this, I think it would be best to just share what the Early Church Fathers said on this subject. Several of these men died a martyr’s death. And they lived and led the Christians at the time when the vehement fires of Christian discipleship were at their strongest, in the first one to three hundred years after the ascension of the Lord.

If anyone had a close understanding of the original mindset of the “church” that Jesus left behind on earth, it would be these men and women. Did they believe the Lord had come back in 70 AD? Were they looking to that date as the time of the fulfillment of most all prophecies?

Of course you know the answer. None of them talked or taught that way. They all looked forward to the future, yet-to-be-fulfilled return of the Lord, after 42 months of great tribulation and the revelation of the endtime antichrist spoken of in prophecy throughout Scripture. Here’s what they said.

Barnabas, who  traveled with the Apostle Paul,  wrote: “The final stumbling block approaches…for the whole past time of your faith will profit you nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also withstand coming sources of danger….then the evil one Antichrist may find no means of entrance….” (Epistle of Barnabas, chp.4)

Justin Martyr (100-165) wrote: “The man of apostasy, [Antichrist] who speaks strange things
against the Most High, shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians..” (Dialogue with Trypho, chp.110)

Irenaeus (138-202)  a contemporary of  Justin Martyr, wrote: “And they, the ten kings who will arise, shall lay Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast antichrist and put the church to flight” (Against Heresies, V, chp.26)

Tertullian (150-220)  a contemporary of  Irenaeus,  wrote: “The souls of the martyrs are taught to wait [Rev.6:9-10] that the beast Antichrist with his false prophet may wage war on the Church of God…” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chp.25)

Cyprian (200-258)  a contemporary of  Tertullian,  wrote: “The day of affliction has begun to hang over our heads, and the end of the world and the time of the Antichrist to draw near, so that we must all stand prepared for the battle…” (Epistle, 55, 1)

Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386),  wrote: “The church declares to you the things concerning Antichrist before they arrive…it is well that, knowing these things, thou shouldest make thyself ready beforehand.” (Catechetical Lectures, 15,9)

And there is much more than this, from the pillars of Christianity from the Early Church Fathers to modern times, pointing towards the future coming of the Lord as well as the end time events that the Bible says will happen in the very final days before His return. If you have an interest in these things and want to read more on this, you could go to this link, https://earlychurchbelief.blogspot.com/2008/08/early-church-fathers.html

But certainly some will ask, “Why does any of this matter?”

If the enemy of God can get us to drop our spiritual sword and shield, then he gains victory over us. And it can be a very disarming thought that virtually all Bible prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD, that the climactic, world- shattering prophecies of Daniel, Revelation and many others in the Bible, not to mention the words of Jesus Himself, were all drained of their significance at the time of the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.

It’s like that cartoon I put in another article on this subject, which I’ll add again here. “Relax, it all happened in 70 AD.” Exactly, if that’s the conclusion you come to. Relax.

Except that that’s not the voice of the Lord and the doctrine isn’t either.

I’ve tried to make this article short enough so that folks will feel they can read it without getting bogged down. If you’ve somehow come in contact with this doctrine, it’s technical name is “preterism”, I hope that these quotes on the subject from the Early Church Fathers will persuade you that the earliest Christians did not at all look at 70 AD as “the end”. But they looked forward, as many of us now do, to a coming return of the Lord to establish His Kingdom on earth. God bless you.

 

 

Don’t be soon shaken in mind or be troubled

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The hits keep coming, no? Seems like, if the right one don’t get you, the left one will, unless you watch out. That’s what I’m experiencing right now. And from what I’m hearing from friends, a lot of people -young and old- are experiencing the same.

Maybe you could say, like in the song in the movie “Joker”, “That’s Life!” But actually life isn’t always like that and all the time. Kids in schools here are “identifying” not only as opposite to their genders, but some public school students are identifying as cats or other animals in elementary and middle schools! And they’re getting public attention and media backing if the other students and the school administration don’t fully support them in their new identity as a cat or dog in public school!!

One in 7 students in some middle schools here have recorded a personal suicide plan. Teachers are leaving public schools in unprecedented numbers.

School board meetings across America are becoming the culture wars’ front line of combat. I’ve been involved in those here locally in recent months. But just everywhere you look, there seems to be a great confusion upon this country and it may be the same in other countries as well.

I had to ask some dear friends tonight to pray for me as I’ve been having some health issues and then on top of that the outlook across the landscape of my nation is looking increasingly bleak and foreboding. It’s like a howling storm outside and I’ve had to retreat a little bit at the moment, just to draw back and count my many blessings, to remember the Rock upon which my personal life is founded and to not let “the affairs of this life choke the Word” (Luke 8:14), which can happen if I pay too much attention to “the affairs of this life”.

For the people of faith, the people of Jesus and His Word, these are the times that can test us to the edge. Really a lot of people are just throwing in the towel. They are committing suicide. They are seeking solace in drugs and multitudes are dying there, so many in their teens and 20’s. Or they are grabbing their rifle and going out to kill as many as they can. They are despondent and at wit’s end corner. I too have felt to some degree what I imagine millions of Americans are feeling.

It’s hell to be alone. “All the lonely people, where do they all belong?, sang the Beatles. What a heart cry and question for our times. To be expected, the Bible answered that question 3000 years ago. “God sets the solitary in families” (Psalm 68:6)..

I’m so thankful that I’ve had at least some fellowship and community to be a part of in the last 6 or so years. Fellow missionaries rented a room to me in their house and I became part of their family to some degree. Then in the last year it’s worked out to get my own place; a dear missionary couple now rent two rooms from me here and I’m very blessed to have their fellowship and camaraderie.

I don’t know how I’d be doing if I was just totally on my own in this increasingly crazy, cold, confusing world as it is now. I talked to a sister in the Lord a few days ago, another dear soul who’s “borne the burden and the heat of the day” (Matthew 20:12) on some far-flung mission fields for decades and is now alone, a sad widow, longing for friends, family and to find a way forward.

The verse that came to me that prompted me to write this article is worth referring to at this time. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, “That you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled…” (II Thes. 2:2). . That is totally how things can be sometimes. Without the strong tower of the Lord –Proverbs 18:10- and His salvation, His Word and safe keeping, none of us are able to stand against the onslaughts that come against every person alive in this world.

But just toughing it out won’t really work. It’s a bigger storm than that. Think of the suicides, the drug overdoses, the mass killings, the howling rage on the Left and on the Right that is just the way it is here in America in these times. And you think you are just going to be blithely oblivious to it all? If you have a conscience and are aware at all of the conditions of our society, you are going to be distraught, troubled and desperate, at least I think so.

Solutions. For one and the first, be saved in Christ. Be assured of your salvation and as well, receive the indwelling power of the promised Holy Spirit, as the Early Church did. You can think, “Oh, if I was about to be martyred by the Islamic forces of ISIS, I would be an incredibly bold witness for the Lord!” Maybe you would be.

But so often the Devil attacks as the serpent, with his words, before He attacks physically as the dragon. Right now the forces of the Serpent are grinding insidiously upon every individual in our nation and you as a Christian are going to have to take on the full armor of God to withstand the darkness, perhaps as you never have until now.

Are you standing on the Word? Have you memorized and are you quoting the promises of God? Are you steadfastly resisting  the darkness and drawing near to the Lord? Also, are you in some kind of fellowship with others who are strong in Him? This doesn’t necessarily have to be some formal church; that actually might not even work since so many there consciously choose to minimize the crises of our times. That’s often been my personal experience here.

Are you in fellowship with other Christians who can pray with your and support you in your faith and battle? “One shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand to flight” (Deut 32:30). You will have all the more difficulty if you’re trying to face these hellish times on your own. Get in contact with praying, believing, fighting, aware Christians who you can band together with and be stronger together with.

“Mark, is this the end time?! Are we about to see the final end time events, Mark!?”

 

I don’t know; it would seem so. But I do know that presently we are seeing “Men’s hearts failing them for fear” (Luke 21:26) ; we are seeing “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12) and many other such verses about the end time that describe well our present distress.

I was listening to a daily devotion by Charles Spurgeon this morning and it really spoke to me. He talked about how God closed the door of the Ark upon Noah and his family. God separated and protected Noah’s family as the very worst days of God’s judgments on earth happened. And then Spurgeon quoted a verse that I’ve been aware of but have seldom every used much.

Isaiah 26:20 says, “Come, my people, enter into your chambers and shut your doors around you; hide for a little moment, until the fury has passed by.” I’ve never been one much for monastic living or the hermit’s life. I’ve believed that the Lord’s admonition, “Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23) was what Jesus wanted His disciples to do.

But certainly there is a time and place to, for the most part, hunker down, to pray and stay in fellowship with others almost like how it is in Texas when a hurricane or tornado is going over you. Things right now may actually be just that tough.

Are you about to get knocked out by the tempestuous storms of confusion and Godlessness that are prevailing presently in America? Are you staying strengthened in the Lord? Do you know of any lost sheep out there alone in the storm who may not make it without your fellowship and inclusion? It’s very rough right now for many people, 11 year olds and 70 year olds. God help us all to be drawing circles that count others in. Be not soon shaken in mind.

Smoke and Mirrors

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Have you ever felt you were surrounded by fluff and froth? The hype, the posturing, the flaunted pretenses? Just think, did Jesus have a public relations team? Did Jesus worry about His image and issue press releases? Umm, no.

One of the greatest blessings of being a discipleship Christian is that the Lord strips away the pretension, the falsehood, the insincerity that’s so naturally a part of the landscape of this present world. The Lord has ways of putting us through the fire to burn away the dross and the immense vanity that is the accompanying baggage of virtually every person in this world.

The Lord said He would have us be as children with their guileless innocence and their nearness to the fundamentals of life. But the farther we go in “the course of this world” (Ephesians 2:2), the more we take on what Jesus called “leaven” (Luke 12:1). That’s not a word used or understood much anymore but it refers to the yeast that bakers would use back then. The yeast “leavened” the bread. It made it rise and be bigger but it didn’t really add much in the way of substance or nourishment.

The Bible said it so simply 2000 years ago that people get “puffed up”. But when that’s all that you can see anymore, it becomes the new normal, “par for the course” and the emperor’s clothes that everyone is suppose to see. But a few still blurt out that there really isn’t anything there!

I can’t tell you how thankful I am for the pureness and reality that can be found in a life of following the truths of the Bible. As so many poets, song writers and thinkers have said through the generations, this present world is an upside-down, backwards fantasia that we all have to navigate through each day. And it’s a battle for the people of faith as we’re just humans of like passions and can easily succumb to the sirens of Satan that seem to be virtually on every corner and on every web site.

And the funny thing is, nearly everyone is still strangely aware that something is not quite right. So many things have a funny ring to them. Or, like food, you bite into it and you can just tell there is nothing there; no nourishment, no value, just fluff. So I am dumbfounded that somehow the high God has made it so that I can turn back to the truths that were revealed to me when I was 21 years old. I can go back to the Bible verses I memorized at that time and find that they still strongly resonate with me, like dear old friends whose companionship is still as strong and real as it was when I first met them long ago.

To be honest, perhaps all of us of the people of faith get hit with the idea every so often, “I guess I’m a little weird.” Ha! Do you think Moses in Egypt ever thought that? Or Noah before the Flood? I guess that’s the price we have to pay for being “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

But here’s a thought. Pity the multitudes of pitiful “sheep” in this present world, people who are mingled among the great mass of humanity in these present times but who don’t really know the Lord yet. That was how I was. I was a sheep of God but I didn’t know it. So I tried to run with the wolves and the people who are truly comfortable with the darkness and the valueless vanity of these times.

I just didn’t fit in, although I really tried. I was a sheep of God but I didn’t know it. And there are still multitudes like that now, misfits, “queer” characters who don’t know who they are until somehow the voice of God breaks through to them. It could be someone who shared some snippet of the truth of God with them, some Christian song they heard, some dream they had, something that awakens them out of the present darkness and draws them into the light of God’s truth and love which is what they were actually looking for all along.

But really, how can any of us discern the fluff from solid, tangible truths and realities? For the people of faith, we have the measuring stick of God’s truths in His Word and personal contact with the Spirit of God who can “lead us into all truth” (John 16:13), even in times such as these.

Thankfully there is an alternative to the smoke and mirrors, bells and whistles and façades and charades of these times. There is the blissful resonance of the truth to be found in the Word of God. There is the warmth to be found in the matchless love that the Lord can bring to you through a fellow Christian. Without the truth and reality of the Lord, those of us who are His would not be able to withstand the forces of the insanity that is upon the world at this time.

Perhaps that is why there’s such an increase in suicides and drug use. May the Lord help us all to continue to be His light and salt, to be His hands to reach out to help the immense number of people who are fainting and dying in this time that’s so lacking in truth and flooded with shadows.