Reflections of warning: Jeremiah 2

Wed. May 17, 2017:
From Jeremiah 2:

21.   “Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

22.   For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God.”

Now I’m not at all into “Replacement Theology” according to which YHVH has rejected Israel as His “Chosen People” due to their rejection of Yeshua as their Moshiach (Christ), and has replaced them as a Nation with the Christian Church.

I am open to the alternative theory of “Reflective Theology” (I don’t think they teach that in Seminary) by which as European and later American societies which were founded and dedicated to the premise of divine authority under YHVH became branches or a reflection of Israel, to kind of pick up where Israel left off after the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua.

By no means has the God of Israel totally abandoned or forsaken His original People or His Nation.

What they may lack in terms of the ancient Covenant and acceptance of the Messianic Prophecies, I believe they will make up for in the fullness of time.

(Zech. 12:10 ~ “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”)

If we here in the US are a “reflection” of Israel, does that imply that we are subject to the same expectations which our Founders assumed in dedication, and will we be similarly held accountable for our transgressions of the essential Covenant?

Do the Scriptural warnings and admonitions such as those found here in Jeremiah, and the consequences for transgressions that the Prophet warns us about still apply to us as much as they do to the Nation of Israel, which after 2000 years of exile has recently become a Nation again?

Rabbi Jonathan CAHN seems to speculate as much in his best selling book “The Harbinger”, in which he warns that we are being warned, and about to be judged, every bit as much as ancient Israel had been.

If you have not read it I would strongly recommend it.

When former President Obama proclaimed publicly the America was no longer a “Christian Nation”, I’m afraid that he was right.

How can any nation proclaim itself as “Christian” or “Jewish” for that matter when it not only embraces but celebrates abomination before YHVH – such as “legalized” prenatal infanticide (more popularly known as “a woman’s right to choose”) and the sale of butchered baby parts (the left denies the humanity of the pre born, just like they denied the humanity of the Slaves, and much of Islam still denies the humanity of the “Kuffir” or non-Muslims – particularly Christians and Jews)?

How can we assume the continued provision and protection of a divine providence when we have perverted the holy sacrament of “Marriage” by imposing “laws” to establish homosexual unions (which YHVH clearly abhors) – and viciously persecuting those who due to their Faith and traditional values are reluctant to accept or support the legitimacy of such “gay” marriages, and the political re defining of “Family” to include them?

I’m praying for Revival – a return to a saving relationship with our Creator and at least His absolute moral standards – here in America, in Israel, and around the World.

It might not happen until a severe and catastrophic “Tribulation”, during which the hammer of Divine judgment will come down hard on all Humanity – but as some point I expect the survivors (and there might not be all that many of us at that point) to wake up, repent, and return to our spiritual roots.

The times Jeremiah spoke of have already happened to some extent at limited times and to specific people groups. I opine that those partial fulfillments, as harsh as they were, served as warnings; a preview of what humanity should expect If we don’t get our collective acts together.

Thus far, most of us don’t seem to be taking the hint, are we?

We can be Nineveh, to which Jonah reluctantly ministered and inspired a saving revival…

…Or we can be Sodom and Gomorrah – and most of us remember what happened to them.

Choose wisely.

Eat, Drink and be Merry! (?)

Shabbat, April 22, 2017:

Alas; I’ve missed a couple of my regular morning Scripture studies.

Attention span is about that of a gerbil… if that. I get distracted and away down a rabbit hole I scamper, tantalized by shiny objects or interesting postings on Facebook.

Well, this morning after posting about a fire call here in town, which blessedly did not amount to much, it occurred to me that before I got lost in perusing the latest news and You Tubes about prophecy, conspiracy theories and such I ought to open up “Bible Time” and see what the Lord has to say.

It opened up to the Second Chapter of the Book of Wisdom; you won’t find that in contemporary editions of the Protestant Bible, but the Deutercanonical Books or “Apocrypha” may still be found in the Roman Catholic Bible and in antique editions of Scripture, such as the Old Geneva or early KJV back from it’s introduction in 1611 up through the 18^th and part of the 19^th Century.

Even if you don’t accept these books as legitimate canon, they do make pretty interesting reading IMHO.

I hope all Bible Students get around to perusing them at some point, at least as relevant Biblical literature.

As I read the 2^nd Chapter, I am reminded of how the “Lawless” / unbelievers tend to regard and treat People of the covenant, be they Jews or Christians. In this chapter in human history, I think that applies clearly to Islam… and essentially has for the past 1400 years or so, but is in no way exclusive to that tradition.

Think of the popular culture; the “Party People”, and most inhabitants of our institutions of “higher learning” – colleges and universities for example. The “Antifa” and similar militant leftist thugs who are raising so much hell lately might provide excellent examples of the “ungodly” described in this Chapter – a few excerpts of which include:

1. “ For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave.

(Bear in mind this was written prior to Yeshua Messiah – not that they would have believed him either)

2. For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart:

(Did they know about the electrical element in cardiac functioning back then?)

3. Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,

4. And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with the heat thereof.

5. For our time is a very shadow that passeth away; and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again.

6. Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth.

7. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us:

8. Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:…”

______________________________________.

This reminds me of that old 1960s folk song “Today”. It’s a pretty ditty, and I rather liked it back in the day.

How many people do you know who subscribe to the “Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow you shall die” philosophy of life?

https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/luk/12/19/s_985019

Those who recognize no ultimate accountability to a supreme Creator deity are inclined to do whatever brings them pleasure as much as they can, as long as they think they can get away with it. Often they have little regard for the pain or suffering of others who get in their way or have to clean up the messes and repair the destruction they leave behind.

The predatory, narcissistic or sociopathic personality types, among others, seem to fit into that category.

If they want something you have, they will kill you for it without a twinge of guilt or remorse. If they were born with a sense of empathy, it got erased along with a moral conscience somewhere along the way.

Is it my imagination or is the population of these soul – berift Zombies metastasizing all around us?

Could this be another “sign of the times” warning us that the dispensation of Grace for the Human Race is quickly coming to an end and a day of eternal reckoning is drawing near?

We are living in interesting, but perilous times, when faith and personal integrity are being tested.

What is transpiring in the bloody Middle East may well arrive on our doorsteps any day now. It is already showing up in our streets and I don’t expect a major outbreak of peace this Summer.

Stay tuned, Beloved; and stay close to our blessed Shepherd and Savior Yeshua H’Moshiach (that’s “Jesus Christ” to normal people)!

Mara Natha!

Don’t Be Tophet!

Jeremiah 18:12

“Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as Tophet:
13. And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of Tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.”

The Prophet seems to have been using “Tophet” as an example – a warning – to the reprobate Hebrew population of his day.

So – what and where was this “Tophet”?

Apparently YHVH had an issue with it and inflicted some kind of judgement on it, along the lines of Sodom and Gomorrah I assume.
We certainly don’t hear much about Tophet in the news today, do we?

It seems as though the Prophet was warning the ancient Tribes of Israel; “Don’t be Tophet!”.

Could his warning yet echo through the catacombs of the ages to the United States of America?

Wherever this Tophet is, I don’t think we really want to go there.

Where the Eagles are Gathered…

This Morning’s Bible Meditation:

 

Luke 17:26 .. .“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.”

27 . “They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”

28 . “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;”

29. “But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.”

30. “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

 

[Notice how those saved were given multiple warnings, yet when the critical time arrived they availed themselves of the escape provided for them of their own free will. No one came along and grabbed them, put them in handcuffs and dragged them aboard the Ark or hustled them off over the hill – although they might have been “strongly encouraged” by divine intermediaries. Attending to and obeying the warning was a voluntary option, as was ignoring it.

When crunch time is upon us, will there be Angels in our midst strongly encouraging us to listen up and get our proverbial lamps re fueled? Look around – are they here already?]

31. “In that day, ….

 

[As many times as I’ve read this portion, this hit me for the first time;

Some of the Master’s metaphors refer to “day” while others “night”. So which is it going to be when the prophetic shofar sounds to gather up the quick and the dead?

The “hunch” I’m getting is that it’s both.

We know not the day or the hour, but when it happens it will be instantaneous. It won’t be at 3 in the morning in Jerusalem or 6 at night in Siberia. If it’s noon in Jerusalem we won’t have to wait for mid day to work it’s way around the planet in order to “rapture” all the Children of the Covenant off. It won’t be a process so much as an event, and it will go down simultaneously all over the planet.]

 

…he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back.”

 

[I don’t see any suggestion as to where those people are supposed to go after they abandon their homes, possessions and locations. Do they run to take refuge in the caves of Petra? Should we duck and cover… or jump up in the air, not expecting to come back down?]

 

32. “Remember Lot’s wife.”

 

[Disobedience has consequences. ‘Nuff said.]

 

33. “Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”

 

[One of those divine enigmas our Lord was famous for…]

 

34. “I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed;

 

[Now here we have people in bed… at night, when you’d expect to find most folk in bed – while others are out working their fields or processing grain, which you’d normally do when the sun shines. So depending where you are on the surface of the planet, it could happen at any time of the day or night.]

 

… the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.”

35. “Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

36. “Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.”

37. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~

 

This Chapter is frequently referred to in regards to the eschatological phenomenon widely known as “The Rapture” or the in-gathering of the Church at the advent of Yeshua at the “end of days”.

[I don’t see any suggestion as to where those people are supposed to go after they abandon their homes, possessions and locations. Do they run to take refuge in the caves of Petra? Should we duck and cover… or jump up in the air, not expecting to come back down?]

 

The popular “Left Behind” theory suggests that those not taken up in the Rapture are stuck here on Earth to endure, if not perish in, the Tribulation period. Not everyone, or even a majority of people, I gather, are expected to survive it. Some are expected to “get saved” and become “Tribulation Saints” during this Hell on Earth 7 year period under the tyrannical rule of Antechrist, or the counterfeit Messiah.

 

In conversations with some Seventh Day Advent Friends and reading some of their literature recently, I discovered that they don’t share that eschatological perspective – I know that not everyone does.

They seem to fall into the “Post Trib” category, and back it up with plenty of Scriptural references – one of which is this Chapter of Luke.

 

Every Rapture theorist (to whom it’s not a theory at all, but a fact… no matter which one it is) can make a pretty compelling argument to confirm their position based on the Bible.

If their understanding of it isn’t true, then Jesus must be a liar.

How are ye gonna argue with that?

 

In the instance of two of the Biblical examples Yeshua uses – Noah and Lot – whoever did not avail themselves of the escape option provided didn’t survive very long after the window of opportunity finally closed.

 

According to the Adventist, there isn’t going to be any “Left Behind” population to have a “second chance” to “get saved”. You’re either saved or you’re dead; badda bing, badda boom!

 

The term “eagles” in Greek (Strongs: G105) v. 37b may well refer to a large avian scavenger and carrion eater similar to our vulture or buzzard, indigenous to the Middle East.

Immediately after the “rapture” or whatever you want to call it there is apparently going to be plenty of dead corpses lying around for the buzzards to feast on.

When you see a flock of buzzards circling around, chances are you’ll find something dying or dead on the ground underneath them.

So if all the Saints are in Heaven with Jesus, why are all these dead people lying around?

 

Ain’t No Grave…

DM and I were discussing our “final arrangements” the other day; where we want to be buried and such.

She wants to go with her family in Yarmouth… Nice cemetery down there where her Parents and Brother lie waiting for her.

I really don’t care.

Had wanted to be laid to rest in my old home town of Randolph NH up in the mountains I loved to roam as a lad, but I don’t really know anyone up that way any more other than my Brother who lives in Gorham.

I wish we kept in touch more than we do…

She thinks we ought to be cremated; the Christian tradition seems to favor burial of the whole body and that’s what I’d intended; just wrap me up in a canvas tarp and plow me under.

Alas; the law won’t allow such simple solutions it seems, and traditional burial with a cement vault and all is pretty expensive.

We don’t own enough land for a legal family plot up here on Norris Hill.

It terms of the resurrection, Pastor J.D. Farag opines that we go “from dust to dust and ashes to ashes” so cremation just accelerates the natural decomposition process.

A lot of the Christian Martyrs were burned at the stake and their ashes fed to the river to be swept out to sea; yet surely YHVH can find an atom of their mortal coil somewhere and raise them up incorruptible at the last trump.

When the time comes to lay this burned out old body down and submit my soul to whatever disposition my Heavenly Father determines right and just, they might as well reduce it to ashes and turn it into the compost barrel, or better yet plant those ashes next to my two sweet little yorkie-poo puppies who lie in sublime repose under the pair of white birches out in the back yard.

Some day perhaps my beloved foolish poodle who snoozes in my lap while I try to type this on the arm of the chair can join us there.

Come resurrection mornin’, I sure hope the Lord will let me take my dogs along.

Sweet, loyal, gentle, affectionate little creatures…..

Like I told my Grand Daughter through the tears as I laid my beloved little “Baer” down into his last beddie-beddie under the birches, when she asked me if he was going to Heaven…

…They deserve Paradise a lot more than I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU9BObi1GVw

Signs of the Times

December 27, 2016

  If stuff is starting to weird you out and make you nervous lately, then you might want to study up on your Eschatology, folks – that’s the study of the end times in Biblical Prophecy.

A lot of it  has already been fulfilled in the context of history, far beyond any reasonable chance of it being coincidence, and now global factors in the natural and political realms are rapidly converging towards something of Biblical, if not apocalyptical proportions.

Have you noticed the steadily increasing frequency and intensity of all the earthquakes and volcanoes around the planet lately?
How long has it been since there hasn’t been a significant war going on somewhere?
How many people are warning of a catastrophic WW-III and a potential 95% global depopulation being iminent?

Mattew 24:7

Are these phenomenon “signs of the times”?

A lot of us are beginning to think that they very well might be.

 There are a few decent Eschatologist on You Tube whom I consider to be reasonably credible and try to keep tabs on;  

Steven Ben Nun

“J.D.” FARAG

Amir Tsfarti

John HALLER

“Scottie” CLARKE

…among others.

You will probably relate to some of them better than others.

Then there are a plethora of  “You Tube Prophets” who can be entertaining -but I don’t take them all that seriously.

Some things have been and are currently going down which we’ve been expecting for some time now – but those who have not been reading the WORD and paying attention to what’s developing around us in the spiritual  as well as physical World are going to be in for some major and probably very unpleasant surprises any day now – and are likley to be utterly terrified when it happens.

The Prophets predicted that men will be literally dropping dead from the sheer horror of what we fully expect to iminently manifest:

Luke 21:26

If you aren’t prepared for the terminal terrification and don’t want to be among the lamentable victims, then I would suggest that you’ve got some Holy Spirit led catching up to do on Eschatology 101 – and most critically make sure that you are securely in a saving relationship with Father YHVH (God) through His Son Yeshua HaMoshiach (“Jesus Christ” to normal people)!

John 14:6

We may not have much time left to put on the armor of God and get on board the proverbial Ark.

Mara Natha my Beloved; Behold; Our LORD and Savior; the King of Kings – is coming soon!

Joel OSTEEN; Minister of Light, or Doctor of Deception??

See this discussion on Free Republic:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3200457/posts

I’m not real familiar with him, but he’s all over the TV and seems to have a cult following of millions.

Reputedly he hardly ever mentions the Name of Christ, or the Blood, or Sin, but is all about our “internal power”, self actualization, the prosperity gospel and that sort of thing.
Like many of his ilk, he is apparently obscenely wealthy.

He sports a big phony looking plastic – perfect grin, almost like a pasted on smirk, and squints a lot like something that lives underground and is really uncomfortable emerging into any kind of light.

http://img.allvoices.com/thumbs/event/609/480/65999447-joel-osteen.jpg

The guy gives me the creeps.

There are other vastly popular religious leaders running around of dubious spiritual credibility, but he’s the first one that comes to mind.

Women seem to be particularly vulnerable to “Wolves in sheep’s clothing”, false Shepherds, or whatever you want to call them for some reason.
I know that’s sexist as hell but so is the Bible, so deal with it.

Along with the image of a creepy preacher comes a portion of Scripture, to wit:

2 Thessalonians 2:11 ~ “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:…”

IMHO the vast majority of society today, along with the better part of the “Church” is under a major curse of delusion.

Orthodox “Christianity” has been by and large significantly compromised and corrupted by doctrinal delusion since about 225 AD when Emperor Constantine among others injected a big dose of Greaeco-Roman paganism into it, which was preserved pretty much intact over the so called “Reformation” in the 1500s.

The nearly total divorce of Christianity from it’s spiritual roots in the traditional Hebraic Faith and culture was one crippling compromise that prevails to this day.

I’m not saying we should go back to thinking that we have to keep strict adherence to the Torah (OT Law) for our salvation, but we needn’t pour contempt on our Hebraic ancestry by observing pagan rites and festivals like Saturnalia (“Christmas”) Estrus (“Easter”, pagan Babylonian fertility rite) and Halloween – you should know what that’s all about – while totally ignoring the divinely ordained Moadim or High Holy Days.
What did you do for Yom Terruah (Feast of Trumpets) or Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles, when Yeshua – His real Name – was probably actually born, not on December 25)?

We can worship God any day of the week we want to, but why not the 7th Day (Shabbat) as God commanded His People to do in stead of a day set aside by pagan sun worshippers. Which Pope was it who was smarter and had more authority than YHVH God to change it?

God can still save people in the Anglicized Greek name of “Jesus” on Sunday Morning and frequently does, but why can’t we use His real Name that literally means, in Hebrew, “YHVH (God) Is Salvation”?

Yeshua HaMoshiach   יֵשׁוּעַ
“The NAME that is above all names…”

That’s why YHVH through Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) has drawn me to a place best described as “Messianic”.

Now a lot of Messianics don’t get along with each other and quite a few might qualify as “Judeaizers” as they keep strict Tora, Kosher, and all that sort of thing which Old Apostle Shaul (St. Paul) didn’t think Gentile Believers necessarily have to do as long as we keep the Spirit of the Law, which essentially is Love.
That would be the I Corinthians 13 http://bibleontheweb.com/bible/KJV/1%20Corinthians-13?highlight_verse=1#1 variety of Love, BTW; in the Koine Greek, “Agape’ ” 

ἀγάπη .

So at the moment I don’t go to Church any more at all and don’t have anyone to fellowship with.
I don’t fit in nor do I feel welcome in either Church or Synagog.

My family has little use for religion in general or for Yeshua HaMoshiach in particular.

When I pray or worship, or sound the Shofar on the Holy Days or the Shabbat – which both Wife and poodle find annoying – I do it alone.

Spiritually and emotionally I’m going through a real “wilderness experience”.

It happens.

Are the Marines Ready to “Flip” on the Tyrants?

Monday, Sept. 22, 2014:

Could this be why Caliph Obeyme wants to destroy the US Military and replace it with a mercenary 3rd World foreign “Domestic Security Force” or a UN Army of Occupation?

Is The United States Constitution and the Republic still alive, but only in the hearts and minds of American Patriots?

Will the Commuslamic totalitarian regime usurping Constitutional governance over us now destroy the loyal, patriotic, oath-keeping elements of our great Military, or will the courageous American Warriors who have protected us from foreign tyranny and genocide since 1775 “flip” on the corrupt domestic oppressors currently ruling over us and holding the border gates open for foreign enemies like Hamas and ISIL to invade, loot, plunder, rape, enslave and slaughter us?

The future of a Nation hangs in the balance; the status quo is IMHO unsustainable, and “something’s gotta give” pretty soon.

I got this video from one of my alternative intel sources that I consider to be fairly “tin-foilish” and typically take with a grain of salt, but it represents the sentiments of one small element of what has been developing as a National resistance movement – the “Oath Keepers”.

They may not be particularly well organized or tactically formidable, but they are by no means alone.

This representative of the group (which we can be sure is on the DHS’s “domestic terrorist” watch list) is mincing no words in this warning to our Ruling Elite.

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2014/09/epic-u-s-marines-will-flip-on-feds-oathkeepers-founder-stewart-rhodes-3032098.html?utm_source=direct-b4in.info&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=verticalresponse&utm_content=beforeit39snews-verticalresponse&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fb4in.info%2FtgQJ

The Burden of Babylon

Monday, Sept. 15, 2014:

This Morning’s Scripture Contemplation: ISAIAH 13.

We have been closely examining a number of potentially “End Times” prophecies lately, and marveling at how some of them seem to be particularly relevant in the context of current geopolitical developments around the World, particularly in the Middle East. Several of them, if we keep track of developing trends, strongly suggest that their fulfillment may be imminent if not already unfolding before our wondering eyes.

The video from Pastor J.D. Farag:

Mid-East Prophecy Update – September 14th, 2014

reviews a couple of the more poignant chapters regarding what may be the imminent fate of Syria (IS 17) and Egypt (IS 19) as well as what might be surmised by militant Islam’s obsession with conquest and domination of the “Levant”.
It may be argued, and many Eschatologists do, that much if not most of Bible prophecy has already been fulfilled and is no longer applicable to our time or the future. Others suggest the “prophetic echo” phenomenon, whereby a prophecy may be fulfilled multiple times over the course of history, with eerie similarities every time it is.

Some passages in the Book of Isaiah and Jeremiah alluded to by Rabbi Jonathan CAHN in his “Harbinger” series and subsequent works and presentations provide prime examples of that, and according to Cahn, America may be in imminent peril of experiencing a re-run of YHVH’s judgement upon His People when they become apostate, reject Him and turn to false gods.

My Morning Scripture perusal led me to stumble on to another one of the “Burden” prophecies in Isaiah, which we seemed to have overlooked as of late;

ISAIAH Chapter 13;

http://bibleontheweb.com/bible/KJV/Isaiah-13?highlight_verse=1#1

The burden of Babylon.

Since we have been focusing our attention on Egypt, which since the “Arab Spring” and subsequent ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood fanatics by the Egyptian Military seems to have settled down to a relatively civilized state of affairs – at least by Middle East standards – and Syria, which after years of civil war and hundreds of thousands of casualties appears to remain poised on the brink of destruction per IS 17, we seem to have taken our eyes off of Iraq, site of Ancient Babylon.

As of a couple of weeks ago, however, that complacency has been shattered by hordes of battle hardened and well trained fanatic Muslims sweeping in from Syria and rolling up Iraq’s American trained and equipped military like a cheap rug, capturing heavy weapons of war and transforming themselves into a formidable army casting fear into the whole region, including Israel.

The “Islamic State” or “ISIL” as they are occasionally known, is openly boasting about their ambitions to sweep the Middle East and form it into an Islamic Empire or “Caliphate” under strict Sharia Law, and in the process “Wipe Israel off the map” (Psalm 83).
In the long term (by 2020 according to their game plan) they intend to expand their Caliphate of conquest to the entire planet, and the entire Human Race is to be subject to Islam or exterminated.

It seems as though what passes for a government in Iraq is at the moment fighting for it’s very life. Will Iraq / Babylon survive as an autonomous civilization, or will it fall to the barbarian hordes and be transformed into another agent of global Sharia conquest?
What might we suppose will happen to Iraq should long range missiles armed with WMD be launched into Israel, as they most certainly would be after ISIL seizes them?

Something similar might befall Syria after it falls into the hands of conquering fanatics, we might suppose (IS 17 – The Burden of Damascus).

Where does Russia (A key player in the Ezekiel 38-9 “Gog / Magog” prophetic battle) fit in to all of this? They have expressed their support for the Assad regime in Syria, and when Damascus is reduced to an uninhabitable pile of rubble may want to do something about it.

Here we have 3 examples of “end time” prophecy which could not have already been fulfilled;

Damascus, we are told, is the oldest continuously inhabited city known to human history. Never in recorded history has it ever been completely destroyed (reduced to a heap of rubble) nor rendered uninhabitable by human beings, as IS 17 foretells.
In modern times, however, a nuclear strike would certainly bring about both of those conditions in one hell of a hurry.
When ISIL or some other band of Islamic homicidal psychopaths start launching WMD into Israel, Saudi Arabia, Europe or some other nuclear capable target, it’s entirely conceivable that retaliation in kind might be expected.

Although most of ancient Babylon has been relegated to an archeological dig, surrounding areas, particularly the nearby city of Baghdad seem to have been continuously inhabited for a long time.
Some Eschatologists consider Biblical references to “Babylon” as allegorical to a later global super power – perhaps the United States of America.

Are Isaiah’s dire warnings of Babylon’s end time downfall really directed towards US?

While geographical Babylon or Iraq faces an existential threat of invasion from without, America is under Islamic siege both from without, as the open border “immigration” and “refugee” invasion indicates, as well as from within, as Islamic supremacists camouflaged as “Peaceful / Moderate” Muslims immigrate in mass, 85infiltrate and compromise our infrastructure, military and government from within.

America has been allegorically compared to both ancient Israel and Babylon.
Are Isaiah and Jeremiah suggesting that the distinction may be essentially moot?;
Unless we repent and turn from our apostasy and sin, and become one Nation under YHVH (Not Allah) again, then the prophesied judgement and destruction may be circling over our heads and coming down fast.

As Pastor J.D. advises, it might be a wise idea to observe what is going down around us, what is going on within us, and prepare for what prophecy strongly warns may well be imminently ahead.
The “Signs of the times” are, IMHO, getting pretty obvious; the prudent will prepare, materially as well as spiritually.

Anyone who is not on speaking terms with Father YHVH here and now is likely setting themselves up for some major angst and regret once the prophetic point of no return is passed… and by the looks of things all around us in and on the Earth, in the Heavens, and in the pages of Holy writ, it could be any day now.

Mara Natha.

Morning Scripture, : Ecclesiastes 5:8

Sunday August 31, 2014:

Morning Scripture: Ecclesiastes 5:8 ~

“If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for he that is higher than the highest regardeth; and there be higher than they.”
http://bibleontheweb.com/bible/KJV/Ecclesiastes-5?highlight_verse=8#8

It seems that many of the sentiments being expressed here on Facebook, if not on much of the public social media, comes in the form of complaint and lamentation about how certain subjugated or subservient cultural groups (which most of us identify or at least sympathize with) are being set upon, exploited, abused, victimized if not enslaved by individuals, groups, or institutions in positions of power over us.

Exactly who these subjugated groups and who the oppressive entities are and the manner of said oppression vary according to the complainant’s perspective and perception of reality, but I find it interesting as to how the nuclear grievance of these complaints seems to display a remarkable similarity regardless of which ideological construct or cultural referent group the plaintiff hails from.

To the so called “Liberal” among us the oppressed are, as the Scripture implies, “The Poor” – although exactly who qualifies as “poor” seems to be a matter of conjecture, and liberal definitions can be somewhat challenging for us to follow and keep up with as they “evolve”.
They usually include the “Worker”, although a diminishing percentage of the left’s core constituency seems to actually work for a living.
“Women and Minorities” also qualify for perpetual victimhood status, and special legislation has been afforded them in order to compensate them for perceived persecution, real or imaginary.
“Affirmative Action” and “Restitution” as a guilt – offering for ancestral slavery provided by government to “African Americans” might serve as examples of such palliative gestures, despite historical evidence that not all Slaves were Black, nor were all Slave Owners White.

As to the villain identified and constantly railed against by the left as the perennial oppressor, as near as I can tell he is personified by some leader they choose (or are told to identify) they don’t agree with or like; “George Bush” or the Koch Brothers seem to be the boogeymen du jour these days, and contempt regularly poured upon them bears a remarkable resemblance to sheer, primal hatred.

These despised figures, however, are emblematic of more nebulous groups, movements or interests; the “Tea Party”, “Republicans”, the “Religious (particularly Evangelical / Pro-Life Christian) Right” or the NRA seem to be particularly popular targets of leftist contempt.
It so happens that I fail to see whom or how those groups are substantially “oppressing” anybody, but those arrayed in opposition to them certainly do.

Another source of “oppression” seems to be the nebulous “Corporate State”, motivated by an insatiable lust for “profit” above any concern for those who actually produce the goods and services that generate said profit.

Now I don’t see anything inherently evil about “profit” in a free market capitalist environment, but agree with the liberal in the ethical premise that there is something wrong in the exploitation of the vulnerable by the powerful in order to amass unlimited, obscene material wealth and capricious power over others.
Capitalism tends to get a bad rap because of those who exploit and abuse it – and Lord knows there are plenty of them.

About the same can be said of any ideological or economic “ism”; Communism looks pretty good on paper and in theory, but it’s practical application over the past century or so has led to the violent demise of tens of millions of human beings and untold suffering and misery.

There is little, if anything on this Earth which is immune from corruption, no matter how noble, worthy, or laudable is started out to be.

The victims of “oppression” are by no means limited to the Human race; Animals and the “Environment” obviously suffer all too much and often than most of us would care to see, although the “left” seems to have usurped the mantle of champions of advocacy for them.
I know very few conservatives who really want to intentionally destroy the natural environment or cause animals to suffer, but we all seem to wear the collective social stigma of just such an implied and assumed guilt.

As much as those who embrace liberalism (which I tend to identify as Socialism if not Communism, much to their angst) regularly annoy if not exasperate me, I try to convince myself that to their credit, their hearts – their core moral compass – is in the right place; they certainly have compassion for the oppressed and unfortunate, and I can’t criticize that too much, nor do I suppose that my God holds it against them either.
It’s just that their moral compass seems to be working in a radically different magnetic field than that which “we” inhabit.

As to the other end of the ideological field, whereupon those who follow my rantings will expect to find your humble correspondent, we find a few differences of opinion as to who occupies the offices of Predator vs. prey.
As the left attaches the face of their chosen nemesis, be it President Bush or the Koch Brothers, popular effigies at the moment to malfeasance and oppression, so the Right sees President Baraq Hussein Obama as the personification of government excess, abuse, incompetence and corruption.
Numerous postings have been so rash as to actually advocate for not only his impeachment but removal from office by a military coup – or whatever it takes.
Some have opined that they would feel no remorse if he were to fall upon some accident or illness, and I wonder if not a few curses have been invoked towards him.
A few particularly radical (even by conservative standards) and IMHO imprudent firebrands have ventured into that no-man’s land of suggesting assassination, and apparently some of them have subsequently been “visited” by concerned Law Enforcement about it, as might be expected.
The impudence of a few, however, tends to call forth the accusation of implied guilt upon all of us, which is probably why the DHS, at the behest of the Southern Poverty Law Center, has labeled Evangelicals, Veterans, Members of Civil Militia groups, Home Schoolers and those who oppose abortion (among others) as “Domestic Terrorists” (“Enemies of the State” in Soviet terms) ~
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/lexicon.pdf
and, many of us assume, subject to summary arrest, incarceration, and some suspect selective genocide in the event of a “National emergency”.
Our President and the government he presides over apparently gets to determine exactly what that “emergency” is, when that occurs, and what the National response is going to be.
My speculation is, that if no National Emergency spontaneously emerges and the Executive senses a need for one to exploit in order to advance his agenda, it can be conveniently arranged.
Many of us suspect that the recent in pouring of “Immigrants” through our relatively open and unprotected borders coincidental with the sudden uprisal of the barbarically ruthless yet militarily formidable “Islamic State” in the Middle East might be developing components of just such an “arrangement”.

Stay tuned on that one.

Another subject of the Right’s interpretation of “oppression” is what even our alleged icon of conservatism, President Bush, dismissed as a “Religion of Peace”; Islam.
An objective study of History and the Q’ran, it seems, suggests that Islam, at it’s essence, is anything but “Peace”.
In order to understand real Islamic oppression, one might check with a Jew in Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Somalia or some other majority Islamic utopia.
Oh; wait…. good luck finding one.
Apparently they have all been driven out of their homes and communities or brutally slaughtered / exterminated.
How about a Christian in Nigeria, Syria or Iraq?
Better hurry up; they’re going fast.
Now to the festive and compassionate Liberal, those of us who accuse or even suspect Islam (other than “a few radicals”) of oppression, abuse and genocide are despicable “Islamophobes”, and probably to be included on Lord High Executioner’s dreaded little list of “Enemies of the State”, along with “Homophobes” who disagree with the life style and practices of Homosexuals, another popularly admired and pitied victim group.
Our compassion is more directed to the documented and apparently very real victims of Islamic persecution who are routinely raped, tortured, forcibly “converted” to Islam and ritually slaughtered if they dare resist both physical and spiritual enslavement to “Allah” and his Disciples… by the millions over the past 1400 years or so since the “prophet” Muhummett inspired the aggressive and totalitarian cult.

Who else is the “Oppressor” to a Conservative?
Well, our very own government for one.
The burden of ever expanding taxes, regulations, rules and restrictive laws keeps cranking down on the thumb screws of what we perceive as dictatorial stress (oppression) on those of us who identify as the “ME” on the old Gadsden Flag commonly associated with the TEA Party, upon whom the hobnailed jack boots of government tyranny constantly threaten to tread, and upon whom they occasionally kick and stomp.
The question persists; Who are the real culprits and victims of “oppression”?
Obviously they were present and active in the earliest epochs of Human History, and remain very much so.
Most sentient Humans recognize that reality, but differ in opinions of how to appropriately respond to it, or if possible, to ameliorate it.
In Ecclesiastes, King Solomon suggests that as much as we opine, God only knows.
Ultimately, it is the Creator who sees and knows all, and discerns Light from darkness, and will ultimately settle all scores.

We do well, perhaps, to espouse the good and resist evil, as best as we can determine them to be – but we need to let God be the arbiter of which is which rather than depend on our own egotistical understanding. I like to at least try to be open to His divine suggestion as to discernment of moral and spiritual polarity and priorities, and appropriate and obedient responses thereto.

In this Hebraic month of Elul, a season of reflection and repentance is traditionally observed; this might be a good time to examine ourselves for any oppression that contaminates our being, and with HaShem’s help, purge ourselves from it.

In the same season, let’s be sensitive and aware of those among us under oppression, and be open to ways in which we might be supportive of and advocate for them.

Oppression and violence are products of darkness, while compassion and mercy blossom forth from the Light.
Let us then “walk as Children of the Light” (Ephesians 5:8) in the Way set before us by Him who is “higher than the highest” (Ecl. 6:8).

Se’lah; Amain.