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So, Mark, are you religious?

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“So, Mark, are you religious? Do you think that religion will solve the problems of the world today?”

You’ll hardly every find me using that word, “religious”. I think that word is only twice found in the Bible. I’m not religious, but I found out by severe experience that there is a spiritual world. That Satan, Lucifer is real and so is the God of the Bible.

You don’t like that? I know how you feel. But when reality and truth raised their strange heads directly into my life, then the wise thing to do was to just accept it, whether it was my former viewpoint or not.

That’s how it is for me. There is a spiritual world. The most severe, taxing, words-fail-me-to express experience of my life involved coming to find that there is a spiritual world, inhabited by good and bad spirits. And I had to make an immediate decision at that time as to which group I wanted to align myself with.

That wasn’t religion; please don’t demean me and minimalise me by using that now-hated word. But truth it was; the most fundamental battlefront and expose of truth that could happen.

I don’t come here to discuss religion but to tell you what I found from the most existential personal battle I ever experience in my 70+ years of my life. Don’t talk to me about religion. You are seriously missing the point. It’s the spiritual world I found was real and which I love to talk about, whether it be the miracles I’ve experienced or the fundamental truths I’ve based my life on since I was 21.

Face it. You are trying to trivialize me and mock me when you talk about religion. If there is a spiritual world, and that is what I found, then YOU may find that YOU’re ill-prepared and on shaky ground, if you’ve no knowledge or experience of that realty.

And probably a little “PS” needs to be added. It’s possible that someone reading this might think, “Why did he get so upset? Wasn’t that just a simple, innocent question Mark was asked?”

What I wrote above was the result of a conversation and experience I had with someone. In that situation, it was clear through the tone of voice and overall demeanor of the person I was talking to that it was not a sincere, seeking question but a snarky, veiled attempt to hang the “religious” label on me.

I can see how that question asked by someone else, seeking to understand me better and what I stand for, might have said the same thing. In that case, it would be easy to hear the sincerity in their voice and in that situation I would have answered completely differently.

 

Every man to his tents!

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Sometimes you just feel like, “Every man to his tents”. You’ve had enough. What’s in front of you is overwhelming. You’re taken aback by the events of the times and just feel you have to get away from it all.

Of course, “Every man to his tents” was expressed close to 3000 years ago by commoners in ancient Israel after their utter disillusionment with “the house of David” which had ruled them with the blessing of God for so long.

King David’s grandson, Rehoboam, had neither the heart of his grandfather David or the wisdom of his father Solomon. He exposed himself as a shallow, heartless neophyte and the people of Israel came to say “What have we to do with the house of David?” “Every man to his tents!” That’s how it is now, in many ways.

The institutions, individuals, symbols and beliefs that so many have held fundamental for generations are now often crumbling to dust. The political parties that held the allegiance of millions, even many of the denominations that were the hitching posts of millions, have morphed into some new, strange, alien thing.

So, “Every man to his tents”. And is this all bad? Maybe not. For those sincerely seeking truth, this is a time of turning away from the images and forms of the present day and turning back to “your tents”, to a time with your family and a time to reassess in your heart “What the heck is going on!” And also asking ourselves profoundly “What should we be holding on to?” is actually an act and mercy of God, when that question becomes paramount.

I think millions are turning to their tents, away from the confusion of present debates and the cacophony of media disputations. It looks like a defeat to turn away to your tents. But maybe there you’ll find, as you pause, ponder and move away from the din and discord of the present, that there you’ll actually be better able to hear the “still, small voice” of God, like Elijah did when he fled alone to a mountain and there heard God’s voice. (I King 18:36).

That period of time just after King Solomon was actually a very significant time. It was at the end of God’s mighty blessings on a united Israel, which reached its zenith in King David and then continued with his son Solomon afterwards.

But there’s much truth in the statement that the influence of one mighty man of God seems seldom to reach beyond the second generation of his followers. In King David’s case, God actually gave him a son, Solomon, who did very much to follow in the footsteps of his father David. And the reign of Solomon, after David, was pretty much the zenith of Israel’s power, close to 3000 years ago.

But God has no grandchildren. Solomon’s sons were far from the sample they’d seen in their dad and grandfather. The commoners of Israel soon sensed it and there comes the phrase, “ever man to his tents.” The music wasn’t playing anymore. Those who’d spoken to them the Word of God for several generations were now, in their children, no longer doing that.

So, “Every man to his tents”. It turned out that the individuals of Israel had to each themselves sort out the new situation and find for themselves a new, personal channel of truth as the former channels, their Godly kings, had ceased to be the oracles and shepherds of God.

But was God dead? No, of course not. And this time of each individual withdrawing to his tent was the way and hand of God to draw His people back closer to Himself. The time of the united kingdom of Israel was at its end. What actually was happening was a huge transition in the nature and composition of the believers in the God of Abraham. Had He abandoned them? No. But there was fundamentally no longer a truly Godly king to be led by, as there had been for 80 years in the realms of David and Solomon.

But the Lord was still there. And perhaps in the lowly individual tents of the Jews back then multitudes were drawn closer to the Lord than they’d ever been.

There were really no prophets yet, as there later came to be. But they had the words of David and Solomon to feast upon and to grow in as they adjusted to the new times they were living in, after Israel broke up into the 10 tribes of the north and the tiny rump remnant in the south, the 2 tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

Does this mean anything for today? Very many in these times are feeling the same, “Every man to his tents!” They find no affinity with the divisions and the shenanigans of the present because they find no underlying truth or direction in it, compared to times just a few years back.

So they abandon social media, abandon denominations and/or political parties and they come to the same conclusions folks did after King Solomon. “What have we to do with the house of David?!” Or in our times, “What have we to do with the political parties or even denominations that formerly spoke the truth and led the way forward but now are overtaken by darkness?”

Head to the hills! Go off grid! Or for some, just really withdrawing from all the tumult and shallowness of the present evil world and seeing if you can’t at least find some peace and sanity in your heart by withdrawing to “your tent”.

I say, “More power to them.” There are certainly times for this. Pulling back, turning away from the frolicking, foaming, foolish, frivolous present and searching alone in your tent and in your heart to find that still small voice which can cause you to rise above the confusion of this present world.

Feel you need to withdraw to your tents? Could be a good idea. Maybe you’ll come back a much better person for it, with a clearer vision of the present realities of God as He speaks to you, away from the battle. We certainly all need tent time, especially when those we followed and looked to turn out to no longer be the instruments of God and truth.

“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.

Hindi Daniel 7 video: “दानिएल की किताब अध्याय ७”

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I’ve been able to complete the Hindi version of the video on the book of Daniel chapter 7. Daniel 7 is the Old Testament chapter that most thoroughly prepares us for the book of Revelation. The imagery, information, characters and timing found in Daniel 7 are all seen more fully in Revelation. I believe much of Daniel 7 has been fulfilled. But the parts Daniel himself was most desirous to know about are for the endtime soon to come. Here is the link to the video:

Truth us, oh Lord!

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Can “truth” be a verb? Can God “truth us”? I never thought of that before. But, my gosh, how we need God to truth us. What darkness we live in, what confusion, what banality. But God can truth us. He can just almost blast us with the truth, blowing away the clouds and the gloomy uncertainty.

Oh, how we need that. Left to ourselves, we would be quickly overcome with the onslaught of bewilderment that assails us every day. No wonder many people just leave all to go live alone in the woods. Maybe they hope to find their sanity again there. Or they reluctantly take their little children out of public school because they realize how much darkness now dominates those formerly happy halls of learning.

So we need a powerful infusion of truth, the same way people die without an infusion of oxygen. It’s that serious in these times. Maybe that’s something I like, strange as it may seem, about this present indescribable war in Ukraine. I lived in eastern Ukraine for 18 months just over 10 years ago so I know those cities , those roads, those fields, those people and those children and orphanages. But, strange as it may seem, the war in Ukraine has brought a glimmer of sanity back into the Western world and the world overall.

When your personal friends who you know and love are face to face with one of the strongest armies in the world, when they could die any day along with the hundreds of people who they are regularly ministering to in a city you once lived in, then the whole question of “fake news” and what the “elites” are doing really fades out of the picture.

I don’t know what’s happening in Ukraine from the mass media. I know from what my personal friends are telling me from there. And this is good because for far too long so many of us have been imposed upon to live in some kind of fantasia “la-la land” where there virtually is no truth but everything we hear and read is doubted and questioned. I don’t question the war in Ukraine. I wake up every morning to find if my personal friends still in Kharkov, Dnipro and Kiev have survived the night and are alive this morning.

The Bible says “God is not the author of confusion” (I Corinthians 14:33). But then who is the author of confusion? Truly, it’s the devil himself. He thrives on sowing confusion at every opportunity and that confusion is so much a hallmark of our present times.

We need the Lord to truth us, to just be that powerful that His love, His truth and His reality will be that much greater than the confusion and insanity of this present evil world. I’m so thankful for the promises of God in His Word that He will tell us the truth, that we will be able to continue with a “sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7) and that the onslaughts of the enemies of God, as well as the meandering confusion of the lost sheep, goats, snakes, foxes and wolves of this world will not be victorious over the truth of God that He continues to pump into His children.

Lord help us all to hold onto the truth of God the way an underwater diver holds on to their oxygen mask. Truly we are like that, under water in this world of misinformation, confusion and lack of absolutes. So we need our good Godly helpers in the Spiritual world on the surface above us, like as if they were in a boat above us in the water, to keep that spiritual oxygen pumping to us, so we can stay alive down here in these present depths.

As strange as it may seem, this is perhaps how those in the spiritual world and God’s great hereafter view us who presently live in these realms below. That we are totally dependant on the armor of God, sustained by the lifeline from above of truth-giving Spirit and life itself that only comes from God. Thus we survive and can function here in this alien world but only as we work together with our life-giving sustainers, the angels of God and the Sustainer Himself, God’s Holy Spirit.

Stay alive brethren. Don’t get “the rapture of the deep” where you just get enchanted with the strange underworld we presently live in and decide to go sauntering off into it. Keep the vision that we are not of this present underworld. Keep breathing the oxygen that is from above, pumped down to us by God’s blessed Holy Spirit through the mask and piping of His salvation so that we can continue to exist in this strange reality that we now dwell in, “as strangers and pilgrims” (Hebrews 11:15).

And may the Lord continue to “truth us”, to powerfully pump His truth to us so we can make sense of things and keep our heads while all about us others are losing theirs. So it is for now. Amen, Lord truth us!

Chinese Video: “历史上 预言的力量”

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I’ve been able to complete in Chinese the beginning video in the Prophecies of Daniel series, which in English is called “An Introduction to Prophecy in History”. In Chinese this video is called “The Power of Prophecy in History”.

For many people, Biblical prophecy is something they’ve never heard of and have no knowledge of. In the video I try to introduce this phenomenon as it frequently was seen in the history of ancient Israel. This class also sets the stage and background with the history of ancient Israel, against which chapters in Daniel repeatedly foretell the future to come. The video can be seen at this link:

From Atheist to Believer

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Here’s a 20 minute video where I share about my early life and a near-death experience I had in university that God used to deliver me from entrenched atheism. This filming was done impromptu and unscripted so in places I jump from one thought to another, plus some parts are still difficult to talk about or explain. I hope it is a blessing in some way.

 

On a Personal Note

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Maybe I should write an update about my personal life. Lots has been happening. I last wrote a post about personal matters when I was in Brazil 2 years ago. Back then I was on a trip to Rio and Sao Paulo to do recordings in Portuguese for the Prophecies of Daniel videos. The first Portuguese video I did went on YouTube in the fall of 2019, a very fulfilling milestone for me in the work I was doing to get these into foreign languages.

But a funny thing happened. Around that time I felt prompted from the Lord that I should begin to turn back towards completing the Prophecies of Daniel series in English, doing videos in English on Daniel chapters 10 through 12. I had last done videos in English when I completed the second video on Daniel chapter 9, back 5 years earlier.

Then as I prepared to film the Daniel 10 video in early 2020, I began to go through what the whole world was experiencing at that time: the impact of the global Corona virus pandemic. Although some dear friends of mine got sick with it, even friends who lived very close to me, I’ve stayed healthy through it all and I personally know only a handful of friends who’ve died of the virus.

One thing the pandemic did was to increase the social isolation that I’d been experiencing for the last 5 years or so. And maybe I should tell you how that affected me as I don’t want to make this just about what’s been getting done but also what’s been happening in my life, even my personal life.

Through 2020 I was concentrated on getting the 4 videos done that would complete the Daniel series in English. I stayed very focused, possibly too focused on getting these done, including all the myriad details that go into each one. And the Lord blessedly raised up some dear friends in the Houston area who were able to do the filming on the videos, which they did well and the end product was coming out nice.

By the fall of 2020 I was filming on the third of the 4 videos that were to be done. But inside I felt like I was drying up. Between the Corona virus restrictions and my own super-focused work on finishing the English videos, I just felt like something, perhaps many things were missing in my life.

So one afternoon in Houston, I guess I sort of “had it out with the Lord”. I told Him I felt like I just couldn’t go on with the regime and pace that I’d been having and that I needed a more well-rounded life, more social interaction with real people, not just in cyberspace, and a better balance between work and all the other aspects of life.

It was almost like the Lord had been waiting for me to pray that prayer. Immediately I got the strong impression that I should finish the rest of the English videos on Daniel and then make a real effort to move back to Austin and get my own place. I’d been living rurally for nearly 5 years northeast of San Antonio with some dear friends, renting a room from them. But I had established very little in the way of a personal life there and what I did have still revolved around visiting Austin, well over an hour away up the freeway.

In January of 2021, the last video in the series, the Daniel 12 video, went up on YouTube. It was the longest one I’ve ever done and one I enjoyed very much. Then, right after that, I turned my attention towards what the Lord had pointed out to me was my next step: moving back to Austin and getting my own place there. And, truly amazingly, in 5 months time I was moving into this wonderful house that I now live in.

Even in normal times that would be pretty quick but any of you who are familiar with the Austin housing market right now know what a marvel that is. Prices in the area are so high now that it’s becoming a regularly reported subject in the news in the States. But the Lord raised up a very helpful real estate agent from the Sunday school group I’ve known in Austin for years and she really came through, helping me navigate all the hoops and hurdles.

It’s been incredible to get the place I have in the circumstances and conditions of the present. I don’t say “it’s just right” very often but I do think this is appropriate here. And just to show the Lord’s love in all this, the property is covered with trees and I’ve always liked gardening and things like that. Back in January I put a request out to friends for their prayers that the Lord would provide a good house for me; thanks so much for the many of you who prayed for this.

So, “the Lord has done great things for us, whereof we are glad.” (Psalm 126:3) Meanwhile, I haven’t visited my kids and grandkids in Scandinavia in 2 years, because of the pandemic. And efforts in recent days to see if I can now visit over there haven’t gone well, mainly because the travel restrictions to Norway are still very daunting and I’m literally not allowed to go there, even though I have been vaccinated. I’m hoping and praying that there will be a easing of the restrictions soon so that I can see all of them again, including a new grandson who I have never seen.

And I’m not really finished with the videos yet. I have 13 foreign language videos which were recorded in my travels abroad between 2015 and 2019 that have not been finalized. I still have a lot of work to do just to complete these ones that are already well along the way.

This move and recent events have all been a major “sea change” in my life, one that has been very needed and also rather surprising in how well it has all gone. Sometimes the Lord does “exceedingly abundantly, above all we ask or thing.” (Ephesians 3:20) I’ve got a lot to be thankful for.

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.