Than the past few weeks with the reactions to the passing of Florida’s “Wait till eight” bill and the leak of Alito’s draft decision on overturning Roe v. Wade. The unhinged reactions from people who have done remarkably extreme body modifications to themselves is literally the demonic manifesting their screams of defeat into the physical world.
Was Sodom And Gomorrah An Asteroid Air-Burst?
Modern Day Prophecies
I tend to believe that usually prophecies are generally more personal in scope, intended for the individual and the current moment. And that those with the gift of prophecy are rare – or at least those who exercise it properly are. And I’m exceptionally skeptical of most prophets I ever see on TV or the internet – or at least skeptical of how people interpret their prophecies.
Some of the more politically enthusiastic Christians I know pointed me towards videos of Kim Clement. And his prophecies were spot on about world events – and not all of them have yet come to pass. We’re in the middle of them. Although I do think that many who have viewed these prophecies are making the mistake of thinking that just because God is moving pieces on the board that those pieces are purely holy and righteous. Look to the old testament – God used the Babylonians, Egyptians, and all of the other nations whom he described as despicable.
Don’t Conflate Marks Of The Beast
Just as there are many antichrists, but also an antichrist, there are many Marks of the Beast. Any sign that places political fealty ahead of allegiance to Christ is a Mark of the Beast. Yes, this includes virtue signaling over one’s vaccination status. But it also includes pretty much every other type of virtue signaling. And none of that means that what one is virtue signaling over is the Mark of the Beast.
Some Perspective On Old Testament Stories From An Unusual Source
Recently I’ve been reading through some of the Sagas of the Icelanders. For those unfamiliar with these, they’re the recorded histories of how the Vikings settled Iceland, from a thousand years ago, and the oldest novels in existence.
Here’s the tie in to scripture: in the Sagas it is very apparent that there are conflations between the individual and their household/group/warband, and also drastic condensing of conversations and times. And it’s written in exactly the same style as much of the old Testament. So when I reread the stories of those books, now I’m a lot more aware of these things occurring there as well, of conversations that took months getting condensed to a sentence and such.
Seeing God In The Current Political Situation
I don’t want this blog to be about politics, so I’m not intending for this post to be political – but it is going to venture close to that edge. And especially in light of how perilous I think it is to misrepresent God in a matter, note that these are thoughts I hold lightly – theories of what I think I’ve observed, not to be taken as true without weighing and testing.
Relatively early on in the 2016 election season, I believe I got a word from God from the Book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk’s story is of crying out to God about how awful the Babylonians are, and God not only agrees, he says they’re even worse than Habakkuk knows – oh, and God is using them to bring judgement to Israel. It’s definitely not the answer that Habakkuk is expecting from God. Coming back to now, the word I got wasn’t so much about destruction as much as change – God was very much actively at work in the world and going to shake things up quite a bit. And watching the 2016 election season and the early years of the Trump presidency, there are events and aspects of what I saw that I very much believe was God at work. Please understand, I’m NOT saying anything about whether Trump and his policies were good or bad, but that God had decided to put Trump in place precisely as a foil to expose issues and elements of our society to deal with. This seemed especially apparent with things like the #MeToo movement getting created specifically to try and take out Trump, and ending up exposing a whole bunch of people close to the creation of the movement. Interestingly, one of my pastors a few years later admitted that he got a very similar word of God regarding Trump during the 2016 election.
In this direction, I think the biggest way that God used this entire period is almost like that old Latin saying, “Whom the Gods would destroy they first make mad.” I see this as somewhat true on both sides of the political aisle, but especially most apparent with the incredible insanity of how far from reality many with Trump Derangement Syndrome have gotten. Certainly not everyone who opposes Trump has TDS, but his very presence somehow broke many of his opponents (although I would say it also broke some of his more fervent supporters, too). On top of that, he caused such polarization that the Democrat party has pushed to its extreme and radical fringes. The previous big-tent party that could have disagreement on issues is gone, and has kicked out almost everyone with a moderate voice (such as Tulsi Gabbard). What is left are the politicians who embrace the policies on the left (and yes, there are policies on the right that would meet this criteria as well, but they’re not in power right now) that are the most evil and demonic. Dismissal and disdain of God, late-term (or even post birth!) abortion, freeing felons from prisons (while locking up people for failing for follow COVID protocols) and removing punishment and penalties from theft and rioting, the wink-and-nod that causes floods of illegal immigration, or the blatant embrace of false narratives that deliberately seeks to divide people, specifically as a bid for political power. There are a lot of policies and positions on all sides that I’m perfectly willing to debate what’s best, what’s moral, etc…but the policies leading the way with Democrats right now are demonstrating just how malicious and evil they (the policies) are by the absolute human misery they’re causing in the real world, right now: Incredible crime spikes in our cities, and rape, misery, and death at the border up almost 10x. And here’s where I see God: those evil, fringe positions are now front and center. And here’s the other place I see God: everywhere I look, Christians are now realizing they need to step up in society. They can’t try and live a quiet Christian life on their own, but need to engage in their communities, at all levels. Finally, the last year has upset so many things in our world – I can’t help but see that, just from the opportunities for change available, God’s hand is everywhere.
The Mind-Blowing Magnificent Brilliance Of Jesus
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:1-5
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:1-4
I’ve pretty much always associated the “Let there be light” moment as an incredibly apt and poetic description of the big bang – an immense explosion of light, so much light that it coalesces into all of the matter of the universe. Incredible. Also, as a side note, almost directly observable – our telescopes can pick up what the universe looked like starting from about 30 minutes after the big bang. Only pretty recently have I started to associate Jesus as “the Word of God” with God’s words, “Let there be light”, and this has been kind of blowing my mind recently – Jesus as the created light so good and brilliant that indeed all things were made through and of it.
Random Thought About Bearing Arms In Luke 22…
When Jesus is talking to his disciples at the last sword and he tells them to prepare themselves by buying swords and such…one could interpret that as what they did when they then have two swords. But I think instead it’s telling us a little bit about society back in the day: a reasonable number of people went armed for self-defense, such that several of the disciples already had swords. This would line up with a lot of what the rest of history has looked like with respect to people defending themselves.
A further interesting and amusing question about this chapter in Luke is regarding when the swords get used a bit further, and Jesus then heals the ear that was cut off…did they just leave an ear on the ground for someone to discover the next day?
The Things Of This World Are Less Real Than The Next
I’ve talked a bit about cosmology and simulation theory, and this has some interesting ramifications for how we think about our current world: everything in this world is LESS real than the next. The purpose of this world is, in some ways, to be training wheels for the next – and God loves to teach by analogy, metaphor, simile, and the like. There’s a lot to think about here, but a few of the things that I think about most in this direction:
- God loves the physical-ness of this world, and called it good. Heaven will not be some ethereal ghostly environment, but real, substantial, and physical.
- Most of our desires in this world, even the more carnal ones, are reflections on some aspect of what we’re truly desiring in the world beyond. God has built those into us for many reasons, but one of those is to whet our appetite for what’s to come.
Living In Fear Is Sin
The bible’s most repeated command is “do not be afraid”.
This has been a crazy year. And in the first few weeks when everything was in a fog-of-war situation there was a lot more justification for being cautious about…just about everything. But it pretty quickly became obvious that this entire pandemic was being sensationalized, and politicized. And unfortunately I’ve seen all too many people – and many of them Christians – who are absolutely terrified, and living as if they could be stricken down at any time. Even if that were true with this disease – and unless you’re in a few very specific demographics and have multiple comorbidities (not just asthma) it’s simply not – you should not be afraid. God is in control. That doesn’t mean be reckless for no reason, but throughout history Christians have often done things that the world considers reckless. To be a Christian is to understand that death is not to be feared.
Christian Musings 