Category Archives: Insights and personal views

“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”

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A famous phrase from at least the time of Rome said, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”. Does it apply to now? Is God preparing to destroy parts of the world and so is allowing them to descend into madness so that they bring on their own destruction? To say the least, it’s happened before. The Latin rendition was, “Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat,”  an opinion that’s been around for centuries.

Paul the Apostle spoke of this in a different way. He said that God sends “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (II Thessalonians 2:11) But to whom is that strong delusion sent? Paul covers that quite succinctly. Those who “receive not the truth, that they may be saved.” (II Thessalonians 2:10)

I’ve personally witnessed the progression of history over the last 50 or 60 years. I enjoyed and spent time sharing my faith at Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park in London in 1971. How has Britain progressed over the last 50 years? Or Dam Square in Amsterdam where I was in 1972? Have the nations of Western Europe and North America “progressed”? You might think to say yes. But what do you think the answer would be in the eyes of God? “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”

What incredible depth that saying has and I think I only for the first time really saw it and realized it tonight. Is that saying something that the Hebrew Bible would agree with? It certainly is. One of the most incredible passages in the Old Testament bears out this thought. God said to the spirits around His throne, “Who shall persuade [ancient king of Israel] Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gilead… And one came forth and said, ‘I will go forth and being a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets’. And the Lord said, ‘Go, you shall persuade him’.” (I Kings 22:20-22)

This is almost unfathomable for many people. But the Bible says that the Lord convened a multitude of spirits before His throne and that he sanctioned one who said he would go and be a lying spirit in the mouth of the prophets of the evil king Ahab.

This is not taught in the kids’ Sunday school class on Sunday. Or most likely even from the pulpit. But it’s the same idea as the ancient thought, “Quos Deus vult perdere prius”. Or as another translation gives it, “Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first deprives of reason”. Perhaps, if you prefer the Greek rendition, Sophocles said, “Evil appears as good in the minds of those whom god leads to destruction.”

God, at length, when they have rejected His messengers, despised His words and misused his prophets, sends a lying spirit to deceive fully and utterly those ones who have already gone so far in rejecting Him.

Like the Bible says of ancient King Saul, who ruled before King David, “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him”  (I Sam 16:14). This is where we are now in our times. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.

We all feel it and sense it. There is a spirit of madness and virtually insanity that is upon so many in our nations at this time. It is unsustainable. It is overwhelmingly lacking in basic truth and a grasp of reality and the truth that is of this time. But historically this is what happens before destruction. The ancients knew this.

But these are the overwhelmingly fearful and foreboding times we live in. If you study history, you’ll be aware of times when a lone voice was raised, “one crying in the wilderness”. (Mark 1:3) But it went unheeded. The multitude had hasted to follow evil. “They mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his people until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people and there was no remedy.” (II Chronicles 36:16) Ask the Germans, they can tell you about it.

Well, this kind of talk is not popular. It’s depressing and discouraging. Still, historically, a solid case could be made that the times we are in right at this moment could be encapsulated by that phrase, “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”.

Madness, unreasonableness, fierce senselessness is the order of the day here in our times and even is daily seen in my home country. Hopefully you are not sucked into these things. Hopefully you are anchored in the Lord and His truth. Because the delusion is very strong in our times. And multitudes are being confused and perplexed by it. May God help you and us all.

 

Once more, into the breach

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One more time and you feel like it will kill you. You feel you have given your all. But the job is not done. You don’t know if you can take any more. This is what soldiers experience. Or some of those in sports. And even some Christians.

It is said of Jesus, “He poured out His soul unto death.” (Isaiah 53:12) “He went a little further and fell on His face.” (Matthew 26:39) For Jesus, He went all the way, “even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:8)

It’s a funny place to be in your life. You believe in what you are doing. But you’ve come to the place where it really costs you something. If you keep going further, there looks to be real loss; personal loss will be the price. Maybe there is physical pain but maybe it’s just emotional and spiritual pain, hopes, plans and possibilities. The results of decisions that you know are going to further the kingdom of God, but really cost you personally.

This is what the quote from Shakespeare is about, “once more, into the breach”. I’ve never read Shakespeare extensively but I do know that his writings are considered to be some of the greatest heights ever reached in the English language. Here’s what he wrote about “into the breach”

“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger.”

From Shakespeare’s play “Henry the Fifth”

Maybe you’ve come to a place in your life where your hopes, dreams and possibilities have come together in a unique and golden opportunity that’s before you and you recognize it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. But you also see clearly that there is a price to pay. To reach your goal is going to take everything, all that you have and no one will know about it but you and God.

I’ve never been in a physical war. Never had bullets whizzing by me, never had artillery shells exploding around me. But I think this must be how it is for people in that situation, where their life is on the line from minute to minute.

I like sports for this reason. People in sports have to give their total all if they are going to succeed. Half hearted people are not successful in sports. Actually it is the same in Christianity but it doesn’t show up as easily. Christians are actually supposed to be maintaining many of the attributes of soldiers. “A good soldier of Jesus Christ” (II Timothy 2:3) And also the discipline and commitment of athletes. “Lay aside ever weight and the sins that so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus…”   (Hebrews 12:1 & 2)

Many people cry at the end of a movie. But have you ever cried at the opening scenes of a movie? That happened to me one time. I was just going through a very rough marriage and family breakup and I went to watch “Chariots of Fire”. The opening scene was of these athletes running on a beach and the music was so moving. So the movie had been on a minute or two and I started crying. God was speaking to me that I just had to be like those athletes and to keep going and moving on.

Sometimes, that’s how we can make it, with a broken heart. We don’t have the strength in ourselves. We can’t run the race. We can’t measure up to the task before us. We are weak, very much, in ourselves. But then we have to give ourselves over to the Lord. He has to be the one that goes further within us in our lives. It’s only our faith in Him in us that gives us the power and faith to go as far as He calls us to go.

This is the better life He has called us to. A life of purpose, of impact and effect on the world we live, a life that is lived from the heart that He has entered and changed. But sometimes, no one really knows but God. No one sees what you are paying for decisions you are making. Soldiers dying in the battle, athletes giving their utmost and then more. And yes, Christians, like Jesus did in the garden of Gethsemane when “He went a little further and fell on his face.” (Matthew 26:39)

It can be so difficult. But then it also is an incredible blessing of the Lord, to be in a place where you clearly have to decide if you will go that far, if you will die that much, if you will suffer that distance. Paul in the Bible evidently experienced this. In one place he said “I die daily”. (I Corinthians 15:31)

I truly believe that at some point in the future, Christians around the world will be in “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation”. (Daniel 12:1) Jesus clearly said a time like that would come. For so many, times come that test us very much, where decisions test how far we will go, often the way it is for soldiers in battle or athletes in competition. But then as the Bible says about these warriors and competitors of this world, “They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, be we an incorruptible.” (I Corinthians 9:25)

Often it can be like Shakespeare said in “Henry the Fifth”, like soldiers in the midst of mortal combat, “once more, into the breach”. May the Lord in us help us to go further than we ever could in our own strength and faith. May we press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Budding… in September

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My trees were dead and are alive again! Some trees (and lives) look truly dead, like what’s been happening here this summer in Texas. The scorching sun and heat have devastated some of the trees and many have totally dried up and turned brown.

Day by day as the drought got worse here, it grieved me to see how so many of the trees in the back lot were wilting and turning brown. At length I hauled out the garden hose to do emergency watering of many of them that make up the far back of the property. But more and more, a lot of them lost all their leaves and looked fully dead. (Like some peoples’ lives, maybe?)

Then, after a grueling July and August with temperatures daily around 105 (38 Centigrade), we ended up getting several days of strong, steady rains. So, so needed. Like the verse, “You, Lord, did send a plentiful rain whereby you did confirm Your inheritance when it was weary.” (Psalm 68:9)

But was it too late to help the trees? Like so many people’s lives, it really does look like it’s too late. Not only is there no fruit in their lives, even their leaves have withered and gone. No joy, no faith, no shine or sign of life is left, even though they’re still alive in the physical.

This morning, a few days after the rains, I was having my morning walk in the back and I could hardly believe my eyes. Many of the “dead” trees were budding! In the second half of September! I was so happy to see that. Like long lost friends you thought were gone forever, they came back. But how? Above ground, all signs of life had been scorched and dried up by the relentless sun and heat.

But underneath, below the surface, the roots had stayed alive. Is this possibly symbolic of anything? Do you think this is possible in the very many lives we all know who seem to have dried up and died even many years ago? Could some of those people still have roots of faith alive below the surface? Could some of those people “bud in September”?

It took an act of God. My feeble efforts to do watering during the worst of the drought may have helped a little. But it took the clouds and storms from heaven to drench the earth and provide the roots the missing elements of water, like faith. Over the next days the few remaining trees that still had some leaves began to perk up. But this morning, like a second spring, about 70% of the trees I’d counted as dead have been showing little green leaves everywhere among the branches.

“This my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.” (Luke 15:24) If God can do this with trees, do you think He can do this with people? Can He send storms and rains that somehow soak the soil of our souls, bringing a renewing of faith and life below the surface and the visible, in the roots of our beings so that life can again appear where it looked as dead as a doornail for a long time?

“With God, nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37) It’s wonderful when the Lord somehow speaks to you through His creation or His deeds there. A few years ago, I had another lesson out in the back lot, in the depths of December. I wrote a blog article about that, “Green Leaves Hanging On”. It was the cold of winter but a few green leaves in the back were still holding on. That really spoke to my heart.

Paul said, “The invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” (Romans 1:20). We all need hope. We all need faith. Jesus said, “He that believes on me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) But many people, just like our trees in the back, come into a time in their lives when they do thirst. They lose faith. Or they are talked out of it by friends. They “cast away their confidence” (Hebrews 10:35) and like the prodigal son, go off and away from the wellsprings of life to waste their lives. Until a mighty famine comes. Or a mighty drought.

Only the Lord can do it. Only the Lord can somehow allow the unseen roots to still be alive below the surface after all the life seems to have ebbed away in the part we can see. “You renew the face of the earth.” (Psalm 104:30)

It was a beautiful and heartening experience this morning and an unexpected one. The symbolism of it all immediately struck me of the greater meaning of how the Lord can do the same thing in the lives of many we know who’ve withered, wilted and fallen away over the years for whatever reason. Would to God that He will send rains of refreshing and renewal to all those ones as well. Amen

Salvation and rewards

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Is salvation cheap? In some ways it is. In fact it is free because it is a gift of God. This upsets some folks and they just don’t think it’s fair or right. Of course it cost Jesus the ultimate price to give us the gift of salvation. But for us it’s free, it can only be received.

But some say, “Well, the devils believe in Jesus”. Someone said that to me yesterday. There’s a verse that says, “You believe in one God? You do well; the devils also believe and tremble.” (James 2:19) It doesn’t say they “believe in Jesus”, there. Certainly the demons in the spiritual world are knowledgeable that there is a God and when Jesus was on earth some of them said to Him, “We know who you are, the Son of God.” (Luke 4:34) But personally I would never say, “the devils believe in Jesus.”

A verse that was priceless to me at the very beginning of my salvation was this one. “But as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)

That’s exactly what happened to me. In my experience of having Jesus dawn in my life, it was “receiving” Him that brought to me a power in my innermost heart and soul that had been so completely missing before that.

Sin had had dominion over me in such a complete and overpowering way. But through some dear young teen-aged Jesus People sharing the Bible with me, I came to know of the path of salvation. So I came to Jesus.

But in my case, “believing” in Him was utterly united and linked to “receiving” Him, as that verse says. Receiving Him by actually verbally inviting Him into my heart and life, after my friends showed me John 1:12 and other verses, like Revelation 3:20, where the Lord said He would come in to us.

Some say, in fact someone said to me yesterday, that this is not enough. But it certainly was for me. It wasn’t some mental thing, a glib recitation of some lines of rhetoric. It was the cry of my heart to the throne of God. And God answered. Jesus did come into my heart. I did become “a new creature in Christ Jesus” (II Corinthians 5:17). I was “born again”. (John 3:3)

But Mark, is that all?!

Well, no, of course not; that’s not all. My life is an example of that in that I’ve gone on from that event (when I was 21) to an incredible life of joy and Christian service that’s still fresh and exhilarating many decades after my original born again experience.

But I think I know what some are concerned about.  I guess it could be called accountability. They’re concerned that someone can just almost trick God, “say the magic words” and then skate home free all the way to heaven, while living the same hellish life that most people do in this world.

No, that’s not how it works. For one, I can tell you that I’ve virtually never run into a person like that who has prayed to receive Jesus. Those who do instinctively come to God with a reverence, already knowing their desperate need and that there is a God and His Son who are there to help and answer.

My life and the life of my friends has been based primarily around witnessing and soul winning. That’s what Jesus called His disciples to 2000 years ago and what the original Jesus Movement of the early 70’s was fundamentally about. So I spent many years witnessing on the streets in places like Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Strip, Trafalgar Square in London, Dam Square in Amsterdam and later in Vienna, Budapest, India, Indonesia and on from there, endeavoring to lead souls to Christ with the message of salvation.

It’s a spiritual thing. It’s something that the Lord does through you and with you and it’s a very serious time when you’re trying to win people to Him. The Lord gives you enough discernment to know whether the ones you are witnessing to are receiving what you are saying and are receptive or whether they are shallow and playing games. So in my experience, I don’t think I’ve run into almost any people who were just insincerely, nonchalantly reciting a prayer instead of really coming to God in prayer for His help and salvation.

But then, you ask, “What happens next?” Well, for so many I know, they really had an experience with the Lord and were astounded by the change in their lives. Like the apostle Peter wrote, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.” (I Peter 2:2)

That’s what happened to me; I immediately had a huge appetite to study the Bible and to feed from it spiritually. My friends were there to help me and I just gulped down all I could, day after day and it became the new main source of knowledge and truth for me from that day on.

But I know what some are driving at. What about if someone just tries to go on their merry way, no sign of change, no different from what they were before? Of course I would question them about the depth and reality of the prayer they prayed, if that happened. But, to cut to the chase, let’s say that something like that does happen. Are they saved? Will they go to heaven? Have they sort of “pulled a fast one” on God?

This is where rewards come in. I’m convinced that there will be folks in heaven, perhaps a lot of them, with not a whole lot of rewards. They had saving faith. They believed in God, they believed that Jesus was the Son of God and in the basics of what Christ said and did. Maybe they went to church. Sometimes they prayed or even knew a little from the Bible.

But the vast and main thrust of their lives was for this world, the things of this world, the pleasures of this world, and the goals of this world. Jesus and God were in no way first place. What’s God going to do with people like that? Send them to hell? They were actually believers.

Maybe it’s like Jesus said to one group of believers in the book of Revelation, “You have a name, you live and are dead.” (Revelation 3:1) Some people, probably very many people are like this. For some the Lord in His mercy sends along chastening, bereavement, tribulation, tests and purgings to try to get them to turn to Him and away from their sins. Sometimes this works. He has to smash their idols, just as He did with the people of Israel in ancient times.

If we are truly one of His children but we are not following forward with the path and leading that He is calling us to in this life, then He will very definitely send along chastening to our straying ways. There are oodles of promises in God’s Word about that. But getting back to the original issue, still the bottom line and opening paragraph comes back to “belief”. This is repeated over and over in the Word. That’s the beginning and the requirement. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

Are you worried about “the mark of the Beast”?

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There’s a lot online now about “the mark of the Beast”. So many people are concerned about this that I feel I should say something. I put off writing this article but several people recently wrote me about this.

Is “the mark of the Beast” already here? Can it be forced on you? Is the Covid 19 vaccine “the mark of the Beast”? A great Bible verse to remember in times like this is, “God is not the author of confusion…” (I Corinthians 14:33).

I wonder how many people even know what “the mark of the Beast” is or, I should say, what it will be. It’s in the news a lot currently, even in some of the mainstream media. Briefly, “the mark of the Beast” is found in the book of Revelation, mainly in chapter 13. This chapter is about the last “forty-two months” (Revelation 13:5) before the return of Jesus to this earth as the King of God that he is.

Here’s the most specific thing in Scriptures about the mark of the Beast.

“And he causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. And his number is six hundred and sixty six.” (Revelation 13:16-18)

Of course, including this here may bring to mind more questions than it does answers. Who is the “he” mentioned at the beginning? What kind of “mark” is it talking about? Some kind of tattoo? Or like what many now say: an implant of some kind? What does that mean about “666”? Or even the simply question: what is “the beast”? I’ll answer that one right away. “The beast” is the Antichrist of the endtime who’s been predicted to come in many places both in the Old and New Testament.

But it gets worse. Because the next chapter, chapter 14, tells us that

“…the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worships the beast and his image and receives his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:9 & 10)

So the Bible says that in the very last days, no person will be able to buy or sell unless they have “the mark of the beast”. And then it says that anyone who does accept the mark of the beast will be punished with the wrath of God. Wonderfully, we can fall back on the strong promise in God’s Word, that “He will not allow us to be tempted above that we are able to bear but with the temptation he will make a way of escape, that we may be able to bear it.” (I Corinthians 10:13)

And this is exactly what the Bible says that God is planning to do in this last period of 3½ years before the second coming of the Lord. We’ve seen what is said about all this in Revelation chapter 13 and 14. But in Revelation chapter 12, there are incredible promises to His believing children, the Christian believers of the final days. Twice in the chapter, it says almost the same thing. Verse 6 of Revelation 12 says

“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days.”

Then perhaps for emphasis and to underline the Lord’s faithfulness to His bride, the body of believers in the final days, verse 14 says,

“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time from the face of the serpent.”

For an explanation of that phrase referring to “a time, times, and half a time”, see the video I did on Daniel 7, at around the 24:32 mark, where I explain about this. Daniel chapter 7 is the first place in the Bible where that phrase, “a time, times, and half a time”, is used to refer to 3.5 years. But it comes up in other Scriptures many more times after this.

Where does this leave us? Are we all going to be killed if we don’t take the mark of the beast? Or sent to the lake of fire if we do? I certainly don’t believe that those are our only two options.

To keep this somewhat short, I’ll add in here the links to two articles I’ve done specifically on “the woman in the wilderness” that is spoken of in Revelation 12. Here is a recent article written on it. And here is one, “Fleeing into the wilderness… in Bulgaria” that I wrote a few years ago, when I was in Bulgaria, on the subject of “the woman in the wilderness” in the final days.

I don’t believe you can be forced to take the mark of the beast, when it does ultimately appear, probably in times soon to come. God is not going to pour out His wrath on you because you were compelled to go against His will. “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”. (I John 4:4)

Neither do I believe at all that any upcoming vaccine against the corona virus is going to be, or contain, the mark of the Beast. This is ludicrous, unscriptural palaver. Christians really need to be reading up about things and not be victims of such shallow, politically motivated hearsay.

I get upset at how easily Christians nowadays are duped into believing the latest fad or “wind of doctrine” that blows their way concerning Bible prophecy. It may be a sign of how weak and unlearned the majority of believers are when it comes to knowledge of the prophetic end time.

If there is any good in the current hue and cry about the corona virus and the mark of the beast, it could be that at least it is getting out the basic idea that there will be a mark of the beast in the end time. This is similar to how the movie a few years back about “Left Behind” got out the idea of the second coming of the Lord, even though the central premise of  that movie was that there would be a Rapture before the Great Tribulation which is false doctrine.

If you are currently worrying about the mark of the beast, I suggest you don’t. Instead, try to really get into the Word about it and the whole subject of the final days before the second coming of the Lord. I’ve spent the last few years in making a series of videos on the prophecies of Daniel which are featured on my website by that name where this article appears. There are also many blog articles that go into various aspects of the end times. I hope the material will be a blessing to you and that you will be able to grow in a knowledge of His Word for the difficult times that already face us and for the more difficult times soon to come.

Anarchy and stable government

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Perhaps the November elections in the USA will pass without violent unrest. Some people here now flirt with the idea of an uprising if the election doesn’t go their way.  Talk show host for years have spoken against the government, declaring that the government is our enemy. My friends, I’ve lived in over 50 countries as a missionary, 36 years on the mission field and I can tell you this: you don’t know how good we have it.

Do you know what a civil war is really like? Do you know what you are contemplating or being lured into contemplating? Just a few years ago a long time friend of mine really wanted to get into a fist fight with me. I didn’t go for it but they really pushed me. They told me later, “I didn’t want to kill you; I just thought we’d slap each other around a little.”

But so often, Pandora’s box being opened, you don’t realize what will come out. And people in America are talking amongst themselves about civil unrest, both on the Right and on the Left. People have been heavily armed here for years. And sadly the Christians are just as much in the middle of all this as anyone.

I wish I could scream at some people right now. Do they have any idea what they are thinking about and contemplating? No, 99% don’t. They’ve lived in the incredible bubble of America all their lives which, as bad as it is in some ways and places, is nothing when you compare it to the conditions of anarchy and civil war that can come to a country and stay there, if they open the door to violence.

I wish the voice of history could call out to American hearts and minds, all the millions of people over the last hundreds of years could speak to you from beyond, our ancestors who lived and died in anarchy and societal collapse because some ones thought that the time had come to rise up against the government. Or their neighbors. Or the opposition. Or whatever.

But Americans don’t know history anymore. They don’t even know their own history. Almost all my relatives came to Texas after the Civil War in the 1860’s, from Mississippi and Alabama after the war there had brought their lives to ruin and havoc. They fled like Syrians have done in our times; they crossed the Mississippi River and came to Texas.

Many Americans today are spoiling for a fight. They’re “fed up and not going to take it anymore!” “They have no choice!” Sad, foolish people bringing on their own sorrow. It’s like a dream that you see happening but you can’t intervene to stop it. If you don’t like the election in November, are you going to take up arms against the other side?! Your side lost so that’s the last straw?!

“It must be rigged! It’s all a conspiracy! We have to take back our nation!”

YOU ARE BEING DUPED. You are going to reject the democratic processes that have worked here for close to 250 years and instead rely on your gun rage? Or your “woke” comrades on campus and their neo-Marxist agenda?

But many people are past reasoning. “The lines have been drawn, the curse it is cast”, sang Bob Dylan over 50 years ago. And it may be truer now than it ever has been. This is the spirit of the times, just before great cataclysm. People are all jazzed up for their cause, full of hate of their “enemies”, even though it be their own neighbors. And off they go to the jolly war they have been prepped and hyped up for over years. When will we ever learn?

I’m concerned about the US election in November. I’d love to be proven wrong. I’d love to see everything turn for the better, the flaming rhetoric get turned down, a little bit of reconciliation appear in the air, the Corona virus begin to subside and happy days be here again.

We’ve had a period of relative peace and safety here in North American for over 150 years, at least when compared to places like the former Yugoslavia, Lebanon, Syria, Northern Ireland, Israel, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and perhaps you can think of many more.

Yes, there have been injustices, oppression, racism, inequality and a host of inexcusable grievances that were unwarranted. But we haven’t really had major wide spread civil unrest and war within our borders since 1865.

Maybe we are at the high-water mark. Perhaps soon cooler heads will prevail. Maybe in the next days and weeks things will swing back towards dialogue and away from violence and escalation. Because if the centrifugal forces keep increasing that are pulling this nation to its edges, then violence may in fact be the end result of where things are going at election time.

If any of you are toying with the idea that taking up arms is a way to make America a more righteous place, I just wish there was some way I could impart to you how that idea has failed to deliver over and over again for hundreds of years, no matter how righteous it may have looked at the time.

And especially if you are a Christian, just get a grip on the Lord and your own heart and reject that idea! It is not the leading of God; it is not what the Lord is leading you to do. But instead it comes from strident, secular, Satanic forces which don’t have the mind of Christ working in them.

Please pray for peace in our country. Amen.

 

Strengthen the things that remain

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General George Patton, the flamboyant but successful American general attended ceremonies in Berlin in 1945 of victorious forces who had defeated the Nazis. Generals from the West and Russian generals who led forces who had attacked from the east, met in Berlin to celebrate. But Patton at one point attempted to provoke a major incident with one of the Russian generals there.

Patton said plainly to all that Allied western forces should just keep rolling on from Germany and immediately drive straight at Moscow to defeat Russian Communism while they could. Patton saw Communism to be a great threat to the rest of the world. Of course he was overruled and considered almost crazy at the time. But, looking back, we can wonder.

It was clear to Patton that the threat from the Left was just as grim as the threat from the Right had been. And perhaps we’re facing a very similar moment in our times. Many are sickened and exasperated by the leadership of the USA since 2016. People of all stripes and persuasions have been aghast and heartsick because of the utter lack of empathy or competence the US president has shown, as well as his lack of response to the Covid 19 crisis. Many Americans across the political spectrum have come to feel that this man and his regime have to go.

But then what? The conservative, right wing in America has given us the president we’ve had for the last 4 years. But can we turn to the liberal party of the left? Pardon me but it’s like we have two choices. “Do you want the red devils or the blue devils?” Not dissimilar to what seemed to be the choice facing the world of the 1930’s and 1940’s.

The Democratic Party now is not the party of John Kennedy or Martin Luther King, any more than the Republicans are still the party of Ronald Reagan. Maybe you haven’t been looking but the Democrats, who may end up winning the election here in 4 months, are exceptionally divided between traditional Democratic views, which triumphed the cause of the common man and workers’ rights, and the so-called “Progressives” who, when you scrap the veneer, are actually neo-Marxists in every way.

So people of our times are really stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Like Patton saw, there are serious and existential threats from both the Right and the Left, just as it was in earlier times between Nazism on the one hand and Communism on the left.

Solution? I’m not sure there is one. But some famous words of Jesus came to me this morning, “Strengthen the things that remain.” (Revelation 3:2) I have to be honest; I don’t know how much I hold to the idea of praying for God to save America. Maybe He will. It’s like the Australians are known to say, “She’ll come round, mate.” Meaning, “It’ll all work out somehow and stabilize.” Maybe it will; it has at other times when things have been rough.

But also in history there have been innumerable times when it didn’t come round. It finally collapsed and often, looking back, people could see that it was the hand of God, finally withdrawing His protection and allowing the sins of the people and nation to finally get the best of them. Their cup of iniquity was full and collapse came.

God even told the prophet Jeremiah, just before the collapse of his nation around 600 years before Jesus, “Pray not for this people for their good.” (Jeremiah 14:11) In God’s eyes, it had come time for His judgments on Israel and they were taken captive by Babylon shortly afterwards. That may be where the USA has come to now, in spite of the fact that there are still many sincere Christians here.

But it’s always good council to “strengthen the things that remain”. Even now, maybe it’s like the council another prophet of Israel gave a few years after the times of Jeremiah to the king of Babylon, where the Jews had been driven to. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, when God had told the king that judgment was coming on him, “O king break from your sins by righteousness and your injustice by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of your peaceful times.” (Daniel 4:27) The Democrats in America have traditionally been the party that has stood up for the poor and, my gosh, the poor and middle classes here sure need help now, “red and yellow, black and white.”

But if he gets elected, Biden’s greatest threat won’t be the Republicans. It will be from the neo-Marxists of the left wing of his own party who could work as Lenin and the Bolsheviks did in Moscow after the fall of the Russian Czar. The more moderate Mensheviks were initially leading the changes in 1917, after the fall of the Romanov dynasty. But the moderates and democrats were swept aside by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. And from there, the horrors of the reality of atheist Communism gripped hundreds of millions people over the next 70 years.

As for me and those I fellowship with, we’re going to keep serving the Lord. If those in America still holding on to the principles that existed even 20 or 30 years ago would/could band together and “strengthen the things that remain”, maybe America could weather this storm upon it now. I’m pessimistic but then again, perhaps the Australians are right, “She’ll come round, mate.”  One way or the other, I’m going to be holding on to the Lord and His calling and His will in this time. But I am a little concerned that we may be in for a very rough ride and unprecedented times over the next few months. Lord help us all.

Shedding the blood of war in peace

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Some people crack up very easily. The slightest provocation, a hint of disagreement and they just freak out. For some, they take a dive into depression. Others burst forth with a stream of accusations against the person they felt offended by. Sometimes it even goes beyond words to physically violence and death, all because of some perceived slight, something taken the wrong way that was never meant or should have never been blown up to what it was.

Yes, certainly sometimes it was more than a perceived slight. It was long term oppression and injustice and people are outraged about that. I’ll get to that in a moment.

But, about people freaking out and cracking up very easily, you might be one who says, “Happens all the time”. Yes, it does. And the damage done to friendships, families, lives, children, marriages, societies and even nations is often close to irreparable. Some of this gets personal for me. I’ve had a good life in many ways. But also I have seen this kind of destructive behavior up close and have experienced the long term devastation that is not just hurtful but damages almost beyond redemption the souls, hearts and lives it touches.

Jesus said one time, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9) In my life, I’ve seen a lot of “domestic warfare”, I guess it could be called. And from seeing this, I came to where I felt the most important thing in life was the wisdom of the heart rather than the intelligence of the mind. I’d seen a lot of smart people who ruined the lives of others without regrets because they were “so smart” but they didn’t care how much they hurt their loved ones, how much they brought disruption to their families.

I have always been in a family that believed in changing the world , that there are serious problems around us in our societies and in the world, injustices that need to be exposed and addressed, causes worth fighting for, staying stirred up about and sacrificing for.

But then, how do you do that? How do you actually address those things, whether in your personal family or in society at large? How vehement do you get? What “weapons” do you use? Are there any tactics that are not allowed? Is there any need for accuracy and truthfulness in what we say and do?  Or is it more important to just be as raw and visceral as you want to be and then let the chips fall where they may? What sacrifices are worth making in order to reach your goal?

There are so many factors in this, so many tangents that could be gone down and explored. But I’ll use an example from history where this subject and difficulty is highlighted. An ancient king, David, had a most trusted and loyal commander of his armed forces, his own cousin Joab. But ultimately, David said of Joab that he had “shed the blood of war in peace”. (I Kings 2:5) Joab murdered a rival military leader in Israel, Abner, who had been the leader of the forces of King Saul.

But it was uncalled for, unprovoked, unnecessary and unwise. The murder of Abner could have easily brought Israel into full civil war between those still loyal to Saul’s regime and the new one of King David. Joab shed the blood of war in peace. He murdered his rival and ultimately Joab was sentenced to death for his crime. He wasn’t in some battle against those bent on destroying his people; he just committed murder because of jealously and rivalry. He shed the blood of war in peace.

But many today do just what Joab did. They fly off the handle at the drop of the hat and feel utterly justified in doing it. Usually it doesn’t end up as a murder but then sometimes it does. But if they don’t commit murder, their words spoken in haste and without love or wisdom go out as firebrands and stick in the hearts of ones who are often friends or loved ones. David’s son, Solomon, said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”. (Proverbs 18:21) Words are real things, they bless or they curse, they lift up or they drag down. Jesus even said that we will give an account one day of every word we have spoken.

Again, to remember the words of an ancient king and poet, “I am for peace. But when I speak, they are for war.” (Psalms 120:6) Today I see a lot of vehement people. I even agree with a lot of what they say and the way they see things. There are things that need to be changed, things that have been tolerated for far too long. A good measure of vehemence and righteous exasperation is needed in order to keep some of these subjects on the boil until changes have been made and corners turned.

But I do fear that behind the words and in the hearts of at least some of these folks there is more than just a call for change and justice. There is hatred and vengeance. And a determination to achieve domination over ones they perceive to be utterly evil. I often feel that nothing short of full capitulation and surrender in a most complete sense by their perceived enemies will satisfy a number of these who have grievances. And again you could say, “What’s new? It’s been going on for thousands of years.”

Well, I am for peace. I am for conflict resolution. I’m for standing up to injustice. I’m also for living peaceable with all men. Sadly, I don’t think we are going to have that level of wisdom, unity and civility in this world we have now. It will only happen at the return of “the Prince of Peace“. (Isaiah 9:6) Meanwhile, I am going to do what I can to live within the peace and wisdom of God as much as I can in my interactions with others. And I hope to persuade all I can to do the same.

Ageism

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In her 70’s, my mom said, “I’m old. But I’m not old-old.” But it’s sad and wrong to discriminate against anyone because of their age. And “ageism” is the relatively new word for this. Discrimination is a hurtful but very common thing, worldwide. You’ve heard of “racism”, I’ve written about that several times. And “sexism” is now a common word, usually meaning discrimination against women. But ageism is just as hurtful and also just not smart or even productive.

Both of my parents made it well into their 90’s. It runs in their families. My mom in particular never “lost it” mentally in any way and hardly lost it physically much at all until the last month of two of her life. In earlier generations it was not uncommon that by the time someone hit 60, they were really considered old and were sometimes at the edge of their families who treated them with detached aloofness at times. And often they died sad and alone. Progress has been made in these things and in more recent times there is more concern in many societies for “the elderly”.

But I have to admit I probably could be considered in that category at times, as are now many of my friends. How’s that working for me? Actually, it’s probably a surprise to younger readers but it’s really not too bad. If I go about things wisely, I’ve felt very little drop off in my physical abilities and vitality compared to twenty or more years ago. I’ve got a host of “irons in the fire” and “pots on the stove” that keep me busier than I almost can keep up with. I’m doing fine, as far as I’m concerned.

But it’s disheartening to run into manifestations of ageism. It seems  some folks think that people in their 60’s and 70’s are unquestionably “over the hill”. There’s that hint of condescension from some who try to be polite but you are left with the feeling that they secretly wish we’d just go away. Or at least we’d go someplace else where we are not seen or where we don’t interfere with the way things should be run and done in these times.

Sad stuff. Of course not everyone is like that. But ageism is just as real in our times and felt by folks just as much as is racism or sexism. It’s a waste of human resources as well as a lack of vision. What some short sighted people don’t get is the wealth of knowledge and experience that “older people” have gained. Certainly some folks who are into their 60’s are not able to do as much physically as they did before. But on the other hand many of them are really doing just fine and have a lot of gas in the tank and fire in the belly. The Bible says, “A grey head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.” (Proverbs 16:31)

But it’s just the inborn sinful nature of mankind to discriminate, to “judge according to the flesh” (John 8:15) and “look on the outward appearance” (I Samuel 16:7), rather than the heart. Also, it must be said that some people “faint in their minds” (Hebrews 12:3), as they grow older. “Where there is no vision the people perish” (Proverb 28:18) and this can happen to people as they age. They give up spiritually and also give up mentally and physically.

However, not everyone does that. In the Bible, Caleb, at the age of 85 famously said, “I’ll take the mountain” (Joshua 14:10-12) and he led his tribe up the mountain in military conquest of the land promised to the Jews in the years after Moses.

It’s cruelty, discrimination and a lack of godly wisdom to let ageism affect your views, especially if you are a Christian who is dealing with and shepherding other Christians. If there is any place in this world where compassion and empathy should triumph, it is in Christian circles. So when there is discrimination and segregation according to age that goes on in Christian fellowships, it is particularly hurtful and unwise as well.

“But Mark, aren’t you creating division here? In saying these things you are dividing the body of Christ and encouraging division.”

I’ve thought about that. But if a person of color experiences racism, is it wrong of him to mention it? Or if a woman experiences sexism, should she remain silent? In the same way, I mean to cause no division by mentioning the fact that ageism exists. Rather, I hope that by talking about these things we can overcome them together and heal any divisions.

It takes a mature, seasoned person to not default to ageism when it comes to Christian shepherding. You just naturally want to hang out with your kind of folks. “Old people” can just seem like a drag if you”re not looking at things with the eyes of the Lord. But this is opposite of the ways of God’s Spirit. Paul said to Timothy, “Let no man despise your youth” (I Timothy 4:12). I think we can certainly say conversely to the ones who are 60 and older, “Let no man despise your age.”

*****

 One final thought: we’re all sinners; we’ve all been guilty of these things. Racism, sexism and ageism are part of the inborn sinful nature of mankind and all of us have been guilty of these things, and more, at one time or the other. So if you’ve been affected by ageism, it’s good to remember that. Jesus said, if someone sins against us, that we are to “go and tell him his fault” (Matthew 18:15) between he and you alone. Getting self righteous, bitter and unforgiving are some of the easy sins that those who’ve been sinned against can easily fall into. Lord help us all to forgive and strive for love and unity.

The Coral snake in the driveway

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Yesterday there was a big Coral snake in the driveway. We killed it. Coral snakes are the most poisonous snakes in my part of the world, more poisonous than rattle snakes. It wouldn’t really have been right at the time to say, “Oh, don’t worry. Don’t be afraid. Everything is going to be alright.”

No, at that moment the danger was real. Waiting until the snake was biting your foot would not have been a good idea. Clear, immediate action was needed to eliminate the danger, and in this case it was to kill the snake. This can all seem so simple and basic that it doesn’t even deserve discussion. But in these times, with very real and deadly danger upon so many nations, it’s an object lesson in how to react to this.

Certainly there are times to say, “Oh, don’t be afraid, don’t worry.” Certainly there are times to “Just trust the Lord.” But somewhere in most people is a modicum of what we nowadays call “common sense”. It’s not right 100% of the time but on the other hand it often is. And just knowing when to go with the simplest and most childlike reaction to things can turn out to really be the wisdom of God in some situations.

But when things get a little more complicated than a Coral snake in the driveway, that’s when it becomes more difficult to discern truth from falsehood and reality from something conjured up in our minds or in the minds of others. It seems to me like the snake yesterday was almost allegorical of the present crisis. That snake was real. It wasn’t a hoax, it wasn’t a conspiracy, it didn’t have an agenda, it didn’t come from the Left or the Right or a foreign power. In was utterly real; it was deadly, alive and on the property.

At times like that, if ever, our most basic being needs to be working properly, our minds clear, our heart in the right place and our practical understanding fully functioning. And, I should add, we’re hearing from God. It’s a matter of life and death. For many if not most of us in these times and in the affluent West, we haven’t almost ever run into situations like this. But we have now. The snake is in the driveway. It doesn’t really matter where it came from. It doesn’t really matter if some neighbor put it there, it doesn’t seem to be the time to really get cerebral about it all.

To me at least there’s a parallel to the greater picture of our present crisis. There’s just real wisdom to, in certain situations, being very practical and not procrastinating. “Hesitate and all is lost” is a saying many of us have heard. Practical common sense yesterday was to just run get a shovel and smash the thing. It was that dangerous. Similarly in these times, those who survive, individuals and societies, are the ones who recognize the danger, recognize also what the needed response should be, and then do it.

Admittedly, every situation may not be as simple and clear as a poisonous snake in front of us. This pandemic is full of unknowns. This disease is primarily new and confronting it is not as simply as running to get the shovel. It is worldwide or becoming so. There are no extremely simply, unarguable methods in how to deal with it. But there are some lessons and parallels.

For one, focus. If there suddenly had been a big discussion and argument about what path to take as the snake slithered towards the house, that would not have been smart. Some could argue for the rights of the snake, the moral implications of whether it should be killed or not. Sides could be taken and more time spend on who was to blame, why this had happened, if we were seeing things the right way, is there an agenda, if the snake was even there or not and who could end up wining the high ground with their viewpoint on the crisis that was there on the ground.

King Solomon said, “The prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punish.” (Proverbs 27:12) We could even apply the words of Jesus here when He said, “A strong man armed keeps his goods in peace.” (Luke 11:21) I’m very thankful in these times for the practical-minded scientific and medical communities who are often working around the clock to try to find genuine real solutions to this crisis that can save lives and help make it so that this doesn’t turn into the kind of thing that happened in earlier centuries when 100’s of millions of people died from various kinds of plagues. “Oh, don’t worry! It can’t happen here” is all too easy a thought and reaction to that possibility. But I’m pretty sure it definitely can and in some places and ways it already has gone rather far that direction.

May God help us all to be clear minded, unprejudiced, not too cerebral, political or holding on to old prejudges in this very real time. Lord help us to move fast when we need to, to not procrastinate or overestimate our safety and underestimate the dangers that are about. And may the Lord help us to pull together, to love our neighbors, walk in wisdom and even be led of Him so we can make it through this time that is unprecedented in the lives of almost all of us.