JOEL 2 GENERATION

 

I'm seeing it from several sources already - NeverTrumper Christians and other Christians who are firmly within "the Babylonian System" virtual signalling  about all the ways they "imagine" Christians who believe the incoming Trump Administration and MAGA mandate are going to neglect the poor, mistreat the LGBTQ+ community (yes, I literally saw that from someone criticizing our opposition to "Drag Queen Story Hour"), violate our Biblical mandate to welcome the "alien and stranger" (let's not mention about those who are violent, criminal, drug trafficking, terrorist, human trafficking ones!). They are convinced that somehow we are racist (and blind to it of course) who will take America back to the days of wicked racial discrimination and abusive policies. The list of accusations they are making our truly incredible! And that is ALL that it is. VIRTUE SIGNALING. They will do nothing themselves. But they will message endlessly about all of ...

Bottom line is bitterness and critical spirits are always things we should be aware of! And don't mistake needed criticism for a 'critical spirit'. Why a post about "this hour" in particular? And these two particular things - bitterness and critical spirits? I see that these two things are particularly prevalent right now and they seem to be potentially two of the most toxic things that will hinder what God intends to do. As I've argued, I believe we are in a unique hour of history. There is a kairos moment that we are about to enter into. And the path forward is littered with landmines - two of those are succumbing to bitterness and to critical spirits. It isn't that I can't think of other 'landmines', but these two have been highlighted to us. So if the shoe fits, then wear it. If somehow you don't track with what I am saying and don't see these potential pitfalls, praise God. Pray for me! We have come through one of the most difficu...

My previous post was about Biblical Cyrus' mandate to judge ancient Babylon and I considered the parallel with Trump's role in doing the same thing to our modern-day Babylonian system. Cyrus had another role to play which was to set God's people free from the captivity they were in. That is what this post is about. What does it mean that the Church is being set free? What should we be doing if in fact a modern-day Cyrus is being used by God to free us from things that have had us captive? That have been holding us back? So, let us get back to our Biblical character of Cyrus. Imagine we are in the 6th century BC and God's people have been under judgment during their 70 years of Babylonian captivity. For all those decades, faithful Jews within Babylon were crying out to Yahweh for deliverance AND for God to judge the very ones who God was using to judge them. And then the deliverer came. Cyrus the PAGAN Persian emperor basically took over the entire Middle East and beyond...

To review a key chapter in Biblical History, God's people came under judgment in 586 BC when the southern Kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians and they were taken into captivity in Babylon for 70 years as was prophesied. Also prophesied was that one day they would be freed from their captivity and allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Jewish Temple. A great story - faith-filled, inspiring and yet sobering. Disobedience leads to judgment. And God ultimately delivered His people. God has never changed and "everything that was written in the past was written to teach us" ( Romans 15:4 ). An aspect of the story however that only recently seems to have been re-considered is that God raised up a PAGAN king, King Cyrus, to judge the PAGAN Babylonians. While God judged His people for their disobedience of His commandments, He also judgment upon the pagan "tool", the Babylonians, that He used to first judge the People of God. Cyrus is mentioned in several pas...

Recently I gave a message entitled "Confessions of a Modern-Day Pharisee". I believe that the reason over 20% of the Gospel of Matthew involves the Pharisees (and other Jewish religious leaders) is because we would struggle with our own "Pharisaical Tendencies". God knew we would struggle with the same things Jesus confronted them about. I know I do.  I came up with a Pharisee version of Tim Hawkin's "You Might be a Redneck if..."  I MIGHT BE A PHARISEE IF... …IF I AM THE SELF-APPOINTED CORRECTOR OF EVERYONE ELSE'S DOCTRINE   IF I THINK THAT THE " SPEAK THE TRUTH " PART OF "SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE"  IS THE "KEY" TO THAT VERSE…   …IF ONE OF MY FAVORITE VERSES IS "THE SPIRITUAL MAN JUDGES ALL THINGS" (1 Cor. 2:15)   IF PRAYING THE IMPRECATORY PSALMS MAKES ME OUTRAGEOUSLY HAPPY…   …IF I THINK THE “GIFT OF DISCERNMENT” MEANS KNOWING WHAT IS WRONG IN EVERYBODY ELSE'S LIFE   IF I AM SITTING HERE THINKING ABO...

This past week as we are teaching through the Epistle of First Peter  we came across what I believe to be one of the most challenging verses for modern Western Christians because somehow we have been taught and believed that we can somehow live a Christian life that won't include suffering. And I know many Christians that when suffering came into their lives, that teaching/belief, led to the shipwreck of their faith ( 1 Timothy 1:19 ). Some of that has been the result of being Christians in the Western First World (be that North America, Western Europe and/or Australia/New Zealand). We haven't faced a lot of the suffering that is far more common in other parts of the world. As to those that TEACH this idea, that has come from a radical misunderstanding of God's covenants, taking promises out of the Old Testament that were EXCLUSIVELY and ONLY for Israel as a NATION under the Mosaic Covenant (i.e. Deuteronomy 28:1-14 ). This is a false teaching and tragically has destroyed t...