I've not spent enough time in my writing to the Lord's benefit this past week - between assignments for my Australian account and simply being worn out, I've not done what I should. I'll do what I can to get back into the regular posts again as quickly as feasible. Thanks for your patience.
In the meantime, here are some pieces that went straight to the Act II Facebook page these past few days...
My White Christmas list for the Australian football fan - you'll probably get most of these in context, but I'll gladly expound upon request...
The AFL has come to an agreement with its players association regarding the salary pool et al for the next six years. As an American, it has several curious points - a 28% margin for the players' salary pool seems very low, and the lack of contentiousness that went on in negotiations (and then 99% of the players signed off on the agreement, so it's obviously satisfactory!).
I've been teaching for 34 years now. (OK, 33 - this is year 34 I'm starting this summer.) And never has the profession been so subjected to difficulty on all sides. It's no wonder that enrollment in teaching programs at colleges is down 35%! Who would WANT to be a teacher in this environment?
Monday, June 19, 2017
Friday, June 16, 2017
250 posts down...how many left to go?
I noticed this week I happened to have hit the 250 mark on Wednesday with my extension piece on the Reverend Hagee, and while there's not a lot to get melancholy about in reference to this blog (except perhaps the early death of the woman whose influence brought it about in the first place), it did start me thinking about a passage from the book of James.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, came to believe in the deity of the Man he grew up with upon His death and resurrection, as we were meant to. Christ said, on many occasions, that the proof of His deity would come when on the third day the Lord would indeed rise from the grave and be seen by many (as of course He was). It was at that point when James not only became a Believer but also its chief disciple within the city of Jerusalem as the twelve chosen apostles traveled near and far to spread the Word throughout the Jewish and, eventually, Gentile lands.
In this epistle, speaking to his spread-out followers in and about Jerusalem, James warns the people about their long-term plans. Do not demand that your plans come true, he told them; God might have something else in mind for you (reference Isaiah and Jeremiah for more on this):
Would I like to write another 250 posts for you? Of course! AND YET....
Would I rather that the Lord return and bring us home before that happens? OH, PLEASE, LORD, YES!!!
The truth of the matter is that we are definitely in the Last Days of the Church on earth. The Bible spells out in meticulous detail what conditions will exist at the moment that the Rapture happens, and those conditions exist right now. I am literally at a loss to name a single thing that still needs to be prepared before that happens. (In a post in the very near future - "IF the Lord wills!" - I will spell out the few things that may or may not be an issue.) The only reason that God would delay at this point is because being a merciful God, He is going to give everyone every chance He CAN to find salvation before He comes back and shuts down the avenue of escape before the Great Tribulation.
The truth of the matter is that if I'm to write another 250 posts, then I'd better plan to write fast.
This version of the Act II Ministries blog started on October first, eight and one half months ago. Another 8 1/2 months puts us at the end of February 2018. I give that a 70-30 shot of happening. It's the following 8 1/2 months that I believe are the most likely to be the beginning of the End, for reasons long ago touched upon and soon to be related again.
Until then I love you all, with an agape love that I wish was identical to Christ's. But I'm doing my best, with the Spirit's help.
James, the half-brother of Jesus, came to believe in the deity of the Man he grew up with upon His death and resurrection, as we were meant to. Christ said, on many occasions, that the proof of His deity would come when on the third day the Lord would indeed rise from the grave and be seen by many (as of course He was). It was at that point when James not only became a Believer but also its chief disciple within the city of Jerusalem as the twelve chosen apostles traveled near and far to spread the Word throughout the Jewish and, eventually, Gentile lands.
In this epistle, speaking to his spread-out followers in and about Jerusalem, James warns the people about their long-term plans. Do not demand that your plans come true, he told them; God might have something else in mind for you (reference Isaiah and Jeremiah for more on this):
Boasting About Tomorrow
13 Come
now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a
town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
14 yet
you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you
are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.Would I like to write another 250 posts for you? Of course! AND YET....
Would I rather that the Lord return and bring us home before that happens? OH, PLEASE, LORD, YES!!!
The truth of the matter is that we are definitely in the Last Days of the Church on earth. The Bible spells out in meticulous detail what conditions will exist at the moment that the Rapture happens, and those conditions exist right now. I am literally at a loss to name a single thing that still needs to be prepared before that happens. (In a post in the very near future - "IF the Lord wills!" - I will spell out the few things that may or may not be an issue.) The only reason that God would delay at this point is because being a merciful God, He is going to give everyone every chance He CAN to find salvation before He comes back and shuts down the avenue of escape before the Great Tribulation.
The truth of the matter is that if I'm to write another 250 posts, then I'd better plan to write fast.
This version of the Act II Ministries blog started on October first, eight and one half months ago. Another 8 1/2 months puts us at the end of February 2018. I give that a 70-30 shot of happening. It's the following 8 1/2 months that I believe are the most likely to be the beginning of the End, for reasons long ago touched upon and soon to be related again.
Until then I love you all, with an agape love that I wish was identical to Christ's. But I'm doing my best, with the Spirit's help.
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
A follow-up to my post on Rev. Hagee...
Since writing my post on Sunday about Vice-President Pence meeting with the controversial Reverend John Hagee, I've read several things about his beliefs that make me think twice about him.
The most relevant for my particular field of interest, eschatology, is his belief that there are multiple ways to salvation, in particular for the Jews.
His belief that while Christians need to come through Jesus Christ to be saved (true - "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me," John 14:6), those of Jewish heritage are already God's chosen people and should come to God through their own practices (false - "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me," John 14:6).
The implication of this is that when there are exceptions to the rule, there may be others as well, and it seems logical to assume that the "spiritual buffet" is in order in Rev. Hagee's mega-church: write your own ticket to Heaven! Believe what you want to believe, and God will take you in!
Let us be clear about this, friends:
There is only one group of people allowed into Heaven, and that group consists of people who have accepted the boarding pass who is Jesus Christ. He IS "the way, the truth, and the life," and "NO ONE comes to the Father" in Heaven except by accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Heaven is NOT for "good" people, any more than Hell is for "bad" ones. Heaven is simply for those who have chosen to accept a loving and obedient relationship with the Trinity that is God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit that lives within every Believer. You might be the nicest person in the world - without a relationship with God, you would probably hate Heaven. (Not as much as you'll hate Hell, but that's another issue.) And nobody bound for Heaven can claim to get there because of their own upstanding citizenry on earth - we ALL sin, every day, and no human being (save Jesus) can be sinless enough (that is, PERFECT enough) to meet God's exacting standards. We are invited to go to Heaven through the grace of God given to those who serve Him.
So, I don't expect to see Reverend Hagee in Heaven when I get there, frankly, because it sounds like he's not clear on the whole concept of Christianity. Being a Christian is NOT a buffet - you only get one God, and that is Yahweh, Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel. You only get one route to God, and that is through the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, Who is called the Christ, the Son of Man.
Sorry. That's just how it is.
The most relevant for my particular field of interest, eschatology, is his belief that there are multiple ways to salvation, in particular for the Jews.
His belief that while Christians need to come through Jesus Christ to be saved (true - "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me," John 14:6), those of Jewish heritage are already God's chosen people and should come to God through their own practices (false - "Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me," John 14:6).
The implication of this is that when there are exceptions to the rule, there may be others as well, and it seems logical to assume that the "spiritual buffet" is in order in Rev. Hagee's mega-church: write your own ticket to Heaven! Believe what you want to believe, and God will take you in!
Let us be clear about this, friends:
There is only one group of people allowed into Heaven, and that group consists of people who have accepted the boarding pass who is Jesus Christ. He IS "the way, the truth, and the life," and "NO ONE comes to the Father" in Heaven except by accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Heaven is NOT for "good" people, any more than Hell is for "bad" ones. Heaven is simply for those who have chosen to accept a loving and obedient relationship with the Trinity that is God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit that lives within every Believer. You might be the nicest person in the world - without a relationship with God, you would probably hate Heaven. (Not as much as you'll hate Hell, but that's another issue.) And nobody bound for Heaven can claim to get there because of their own upstanding citizenry on earth - we ALL sin, every day, and no human being (save Jesus) can be sinless enough (that is, PERFECT enough) to meet God's exacting standards. We are invited to go to Heaven through the grace of God given to those who serve Him.
So, I don't expect to see Reverend Hagee in Heaven when I get there, frankly, because it sounds like he's not clear on the whole concept of Christianity. Being a Christian is NOT a buffet - you only get one God, and that is Yahweh, Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel. You only get one route to God, and that is through the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, Who is called the Christ, the Son of Man.
Sorry. That's just how it is.
My Weekly Footy Wanderings
Here's the post from this week's edition of my "weekly wanderings" in the Australian sports magazine, The Roar, dated today, the 14th of June, 2017. (I'm always curiously satisfied by my editor's corrections of my "American" spellings. The word "defense" became "defence" here.)
Those readers familiar with my weekly wonderings and wanderings are probably also familiar with my tracking of the ‘meta-Brownlow’.
It’s tallied by compiling the votes from a plethora of different sources following each round, including game-day best and fairest, team-of-the-round declarations, and as many of the 3-2-1 style post-game player evaluations as I can find.
The goal is to simulate the consensus of the various player of the year awards: not just the Charlie but like the articles in vogue here at mid-season, the mid-season All Australian projected team.
(As if that matters as much as a single sock with an extra hole in it. But it’s amusing, and I play along.)
Except that, being American, I prefer to present them not as top 22s or 25s, but as we do our All American teams: a first team of 18 starters, and a second team of 18 on the imaginary depth chart.
So, using only the point totals from the first half of the season as the defining criteria, here are my first and second teams of the just-over-half-a-season:
First team Defence: Rory Laird (180 points), Alex Rance (165), Jason Johanissen (123), Sam Docherty (111), Dylan Roberton (110), and Shaun Burgoyne (103).
Midfield: Dustin Martin (323 points), Rory Sloane (311), Patrick Dangerfield (304), Joel Selwood (273), Scott Pendlebury (246), and Elliot Yeo (221).
Ruck: Brodie Grundy (119).
Forwards: Lance Franklin (184), Toby Greene (148), Joe Daniher (140), Charlie Dixon (139), and Jeremy Cameron (137).
Second team Defence: Zac Williams (102), Jeremy Howe (100), Zach Tuohy (97), Michael Hurley (97), Michael Hibbard (96), and Robbie Tarrant (94).
Midfield: Josh Kelly (203), Zach Merrett (171), Ollie Wines (181), Marcus Bontempelli (174), Gary Ablett Jr (171).
Ruck: Sam Jacobs (112).
Forwards: Josh Kennedy (135), Eddie Betts (126), Jack Riewoldt (125), Tom Lynch (119), Shaun Higgins (117), Taylor Walker (105).
(Since rucks can either be midfield or forward, but rarely defence, I chose to take the ruck spots one from each category – 11 mids, 11 forwards, two rucks.)
Some observations:
**Blondes have more fun, and midfielders get all the votes. As much as I try to balance my scoring system to counteract this tendency, it’s hard to imagine a forward winning an MVP award without kicking a century or more. And it’s hard to imagine a defenceman doing so without bribing everyone doing the voting.
**I’m so glad I wasn’t doing this from a place of personal preference. It was so tempting to fudge numbers to move players I like into place, but that’s not the point (the best example: I would take Kelly and Betts on my team in a heartbeat, and figure out who to cut later. But that’s not what the numbers say).
**I did pro-rate point totals to even out the teams that have and have not had their bye yet, however (Jeremy McGovern of the Eagles was the only player who lost his spot because he was passed by someone with more points-per-game).
**There are only two teams not represented here: Brisbane (sure), and Fremantle (hmmm, well…). I found it incredible to realise that not a single member of a 6-6 team is in our top 36 players. But the Dockers are about as soft a .500 team as you’ll see, carrying the fourth-worst percentage in the contest at 78 per cent; this is pretty indicative of that.
**Greater Western Sydney has two first teamers and two ‘first off the bench’ in the second team, but Adelaide is the only team with five representatives in total. Given those two teams’ dominance in 2017, that seems apros pos.
**After a blazing start, Sloane has now been passed by Dusty the Tiger for the lead in the meta-Brownlow race. It’s the first lead of the season for Martin, and the first time Rory hasn’t led since his fourth consecutive dominant performance, after Round 6.
**Since I mentioned dominant performances, or games where a player is recognised as outstanding by at least 90 per cent of the sources I monitor, now’s a good time to mention that Sloane still leads that count, with five dominants plus one ‘prominent’ (80-plus per cent recognition). Dangerfield has four dominants and two prominents; Martin and Selwood both have four and one. Yeo and Pendlebury are the only other men with three dominant performances in the first half of the season.
The current top vote-getter from each team
Adelaide – Rory Sloane
Brisbane – Dayne Beams
Carlton – Marc Murphy
Collingwood – Scott Pendlebury
Essendon – Zach Merrett
Fremantle – Lachie Neale
Geelong – Paddy Dangerfield
Gold Coast – Gary Ablett Jr
GWS – Josh Kelly
Hawthorn – Tom Mitchell
Melbourne – Clayton Oliver
North Melbourne – Ben Cunnington
Port Adelaide – Ollie Wines
Richmond – Dustin Martin
St Kilda – Jack Steven
Sydney – Lance Franklin
West Coast – Elliot Yeo
Western Bulldogs – Marcus Bontempelli
Team-by-team breakdown of the first and second teams
Adelaide – Laird, Sloane; Betts, Jacobs, Walker
Carlton – Docherty
Collingwood – Grundy, Pendlebury; Howe
Essendon – Daniher; Hurley, Merrett
Geelong – Dangerfield, J.Selwood; Tuohy
Gold Coast – Ablett, Lynch
GWS – Cameron, Greene; Kelly, Williams
Hawthorn – Burgoyne
Melbourne – Hibbard
North – Higgins, Tarrant
Port – Dixon; Wines
Richmond – Martin, Rance; Riewoldt
St Kilda – Roberton
Sydney – Franklin
West Coast – Kennedy, Yeo
Western Bulldogs – Johannisen; Bontempelli
And an off-topic footnote: Using the current betting lines and assuming the favoured team will win every game from here on out (and after Round 12, that’s obviously a terrible assumption!), not only would Sydney make finals, they would be in the eight just three weeks from now!
The eight finalists under these assumptions would be Adelaide, GWS, Geelong, Western, Port, and Sydney, with Richmond and West Coast taking the last two slots over St Kilda on percentage only.
In order behind those nine would be: Essendon, Fremantle, Collingwood, Melbourne, North, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Carlton, and Brisbane, who as of now would be the underdog all 22 times this season.
♫
Those readers familiar with my weekly wonderings and wanderings are probably also familiar with my tracking of the ‘meta-Brownlow’.
It’s tallied by compiling the votes from a plethora of different sources following each round, including game-day best and fairest, team-of-the-round declarations, and as many of the 3-2-1 style post-game player evaluations as I can find.
The goal is to simulate the consensus of the various player of the year awards: not just the Charlie but like the articles in vogue here at mid-season, the mid-season All Australian projected team.
(As if that matters as much as a single sock with an extra hole in it. But it’s amusing, and I play along.)
Except that, being American, I prefer to present them not as top 22s or 25s, but as we do our All American teams: a first team of 18 starters, and a second team of 18 on the imaginary depth chart.
So, using only the point totals from the first half of the season as the defining criteria, here are my first and second teams of the just-over-half-a-season:
First team Defence: Rory Laird (180 points), Alex Rance (165), Jason Johanissen (123), Sam Docherty (111), Dylan Roberton (110), and Shaun Burgoyne (103).
Midfield: Dustin Martin (323 points), Rory Sloane (311), Patrick Dangerfield (304), Joel Selwood (273), Scott Pendlebury (246), and Elliot Yeo (221).
Ruck: Brodie Grundy (119).
Forwards: Lance Franklin (184), Toby Greene (148), Joe Daniher (140), Charlie Dixon (139), and Jeremy Cameron (137).
Second team Defence: Zac Williams (102), Jeremy Howe (100), Zach Tuohy (97), Michael Hurley (97), Michael Hibbard (96), and Robbie Tarrant (94).
Midfield: Josh Kelly (203), Zach Merrett (171), Ollie Wines (181), Marcus Bontempelli (174), Gary Ablett Jr (171).
Ruck: Sam Jacobs (112).
Forwards: Josh Kennedy (135), Eddie Betts (126), Jack Riewoldt (125), Tom Lynch (119), Shaun Higgins (117), Taylor Walker (105).
(Since rucks can either be midfield or forward, but rarely defence, I chose to take the ruck spots one from each category – 11 mids, 11 forwards, two rucks.)
Some observations:
**Blondes have more fun, and midfielders get all the votes. As much as I try to balance my scoring system to counteract this tendency, it’s hard to imagine a forward winning an MVP award without kicking a century or more. And it’s hard to imagine a defenceman doing so without bribing everyone doing the voting.
**I’m so glad I wasn’t doing this from a place of personal preference. It was so tempting to fudge numbers to move players I like into place, but that’s not the point (the best example: I would take Kelly and Betts on my team in a heartbeat, and figure out who to cut later. But that’s not what the numbers say).
**I did pro-rate point totals to even out the teams that have and have not had their bye yet, however (Jeremy McGovern of the Eagles was the only player who lost his spot because he was passed by someone with more points-per-game).
**There are only two teams not represented here: Brisbane (sure), and Fremantle (hmmm, well…). I found it incredible to realise that not a single member of a 6-6 team is in our top 36 players. But the Dockers are about as soft a .500 team as you’ll see, carrying the fourth-worst percentage in the contest at 78 per cent; this is pretty indicative of that.
**Greater Western Sydney has two first teamers and two ‘first off the bench’ in the second team, but Adelaide is the only team with five representatives in total. Given those two teams’ dominance in 2017, that seems apros pos.
**After a blazing start, Sloane has now been passed by Dusty the Tiger for the lead in the meta-Brownlow race. It’s the first lead of the season for Martin, and the first time Rory hasn’t led since his fourth consecutive dominant performance, after Round 6.
**Since I mentioned dominant performances, or games where a player is recognised as outstanding by at least 90 per cent of the sources I monitor, now’s a good time to mention that Sloane still leads that count, with five dominants plus one ‘prominent’ (80-plus per cent recognition). Dangerfield has four dominants and two prominents; Martin and Selwood both have four and one. Yeo and Pendlebury are the only other men with three dominant performances in the first half of the season.
The current top vote-getter from each team
Adelaide – Rory Sloane
Brisbane – Dayne Beams
Carlton – Marc Murphy
Collingwood – Scott Pendlebury
Essendon – Zach Merrett
Fremantle – Lachie Neale
Geelong – Paddy Dangerfield
Gold Coast – Gary Ablett Jr
GWS – Josh Kelly
Hawthorn – Tom Mitchell
Melbourne – Clayton Oliver
North Melbourne – Ben Cunnington
Port Adelaide – Ollie Wines
Richmond – Dustin Martin
St Kilda – Jack Steven
Sydney – Lance Franklin
West Coast – Elliot Yeo
Western Bulldogs – Marcus Bontempelli
Team-by-team breakdown of the first and second teams
Adelaide – Laird, Sloane; Betts, Jacobs, Walker
Carlton – Docherty
Collingwood – Grundy, Pendlebury; Howe
Essendon – Daniher; Hurley, Merrett
Geelong – Dangerfield, J.Selwood; Tuohy
Gold Coast – Ablett, Lynch
GWS – Cameron, Greene; Kelly, Williams
Hawthorn – Burgoyne
Melbourne – Hibbard
North – Higgins, Tarrant
Port – Dixon; Wines
Richmond – Martin, Rance; Riewoldt
St Kilda – Roberton
Sydney – Franklin
West Coast – Kennedy, Yeo
Western Bulldogs – Johannisen; Bontempelli
And an off-topic footnote: Using the current betting lines and assuming the favoured team will win every game from here on out (and after Round 12, that’s obviously a terrible assumption!), not only would Sydney make finals, they would be in the eight just three weeks from now!
The eight finalists under these assumptions would be Adelaide, GWS, Geelong, Western, Port, and Sydney, with Richmond and West Coast taking the last two slots over St Kilda on percentage only.
In order behind those nine would be: Essendon, Fremantle, Collingwood, Melbourne, North, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Carlton, and Brisbane, who as of now would be the underdog all 22 times this season.
Sunday, June 11, 2017
How real do you have to be about the Bible?
I read an article yesterday about Vice-President Mike Pence meeting with Pastor John Hagee at a gathering of his Christians United for Israel this week, and the majority of outlets writing about their meeting (including the site I've linked) are doing so with the intent of 'alerting the public to what this nutjob believes'.
What he believes, however, is all Biblical. And therein is the issue I want to address.
Hagee has a rather bad reputation in American culture - we are reminded that John McCain had to distance himself from the pastor during his 2008 campaign for President. I didn't recall this detail, but the linked article describes one of the most "offensive" beliefs of his being the one about Hitler being a "hunter of Jews", sent by God to "herd" Jews to re-congregate and repopulate Israel.
I have no idea if that was God's intent or not. What I can say with fair confidence, however, is that the evidence does somewhat support that possibility. The result of Hitler's atrocities did include the movement of a huge number of Jews to the Holy Land, where three years after the war, Biblical prophecy was fulfilled and the nation of Israel was (re) born in a single day: May 14, 1948.
What I don't see in Hagee's writing, but I do believe in my studies of the end times (eschatology), is that the murder of one-fourth of the Hebrew population of the planet - six of the 24 million Jews on Earth - fulfilled the fourth seal of Revelation 6:7-8 →
7When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
As with all prophecies (and everything else) in Scripture, we have to relate everything we read to its audience: Israel. A fourth of their population, not "ours". That's why reading about the invasion from the "north" means north of Israel, "south" means south of Israel, and so forth.
Did Hitler plan to fulfill Biblical prophecy? Of course not; that's not how it works. Do I think that Hitler had the potential to be Satan's "anti-Christ" if Jesus had been moved to return then? Possible, however unlikely. And do I think that God would use even such a heinous madman as Hitler to move His timeline forward? He used Pharaoh to move the Hebrews out of Egypt; why not?
So, back on topic: why is Hagee such a culturally repugnant figure? He's too "upfront" about what the Bible says. I'm not saying that what he's professing is wrong (although I don't know anything else about what he believes than what these articles say), but you can't feed the deep stuff to a public unprepared for anything more than what Paul calls "spiritual milk" in 1st Corinthians 3:1-3 →
1But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
Why would it be a problem to be fed "solid food" - the deep and difficult teachings of the Christ - before you're ready for it? "You are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh....there is jealousy and strife among you." Remember that Paul said in that same letter to Corinth, 1st Cor 1:18,
18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
If you understand what John said in Revelation, you understand what John Hagee means when he refers to the Catholic Church as "the great whore", because the revelation of Jesus Christ told John that the anti-Christ would arise from the church of Rome; once you understand why John could not write "Rome" and used the code word "Babylon" (which God decreed would never be rebuilt) on its "seven hills" (what other city famously has seven hills?), the allusion is inescapable.
But if you are not saved, of course - if you are one of the "perishing" un-believers, to come out and slam the 1.2 billion member Catholic Church, which you wouldn't have any way of understanding is any different from any of the protestant churches which broke away from the church Satan so adeptly corrupted in the Dark Ages, what other reaction would you have?
So, be careful what you say to non-believers. There's nothing in the Bible that you can share that's wrong to share, but just as you don't start a child with Tolstoy to read, you don't start a non-Believer with the last half of John chapter 6 - This bread is My Flesh, this wine is My Blood. That sounds insane, unless you understand the context and His meaning. Read John 6 now, if you're a believer. Christ lost a lot of followers that day, but not the Apostles. WHY? They were experienced with Jesus' teaching. They understood what He meant. They were consuming solid food, spiritually, unlike all of the easily-discouraged acolytes, who could barely tolerate the spiritual milk.
HAVING SAID THAT...
At least some of what Hagee says is demonstrably wrong, and has no Biblical backing.
Nothing Barack Obama did as president caused the Ebola virus. The only possible connection any of those might actually have would be American policies in the Middle East, and even then, I hate to say it, there's not much that America has done or can do that will affect God's plans for Israel or His People. Anything that God does to America is brought on by us, not one leader. And we have only ourselves to blame for whatever abandoning of our nation God might have done.
What he believes, however, is all Biblical. And therein is the issue I want to address.
Hagee has a rather bad reputation in American culture - we are reminded that John McCain had to distance himself from the pastor during his 2008 campaign for President. I didn't recall this detail, but the linked article describes one of the most "offensive" beliefs of his being the one about Hitler being a "hunter of Jews", sent by God to "herd" Jews to re-congregate and repopulate Israel.
I have no idea if that was God's intent or not. What I can say with fair confidence, however, is that the evidence does somewhat support that possibility. The result of Hitler's atrocities did include the movement of a huge number of Jews to the Holy Land, where three years after the war, Biblical prophecy was fulfilled and the nation of Israel was (re) born in a single day: May 14, 1948.
What I don't see in Hagee's writing, but I do believe in my studies of the end times (eschatology), is that the murder of one-fourth of the Hebrew population of the planet - six of the 24 million Jews on Earth - fulfilled the fourth seal of Revelation 6:7-8 →
7When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.
As with all prophecies (and everything else) in Scripture, we have to relate everything we read to its audience: Israel. A fourth of their population, not "ours". That's why reading about the invasion from the "north" means north of Israel, "south" means south of Israel, and so forth.
Did Hitler plan to fulfill Biblical prophecy? Of course not; that's not how it works. Do I think that Hitler had the potential to be Satan's "anti-Christ" if Jesus had been moved to return then? Possible, however unlikely. And do I think that God would use even such a heinous madman as Hitler to move His timeline forward? He used Pharaoh to move the Hebrews out of Egypt; why not?
So, back on topic: why is Hagee such a culturally repugnant figure? He's too "upfront" about what the Bible says. I'm not saying that what he's professing is wrong (although I don't know anything else about what he believes than what these articles say), but you can't feed the deep stuff to a public unprepared for anything more than what Paul calls "spiritual milk" in 1st Corinthians 3:1-3 →
1But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
Why would it be a problem to be fed "solid food" - the deep and difficult teachings of the Christ - before you're ready for it? "You are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh....there is jealousy and strife among you." Remember that Paul said in that same letter to Corinth, 1st Cor 1:18,
18For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
If you understand what John said in Revelation, you understand what John Hagee means when he refers to the Catholic Church as "the great whore", because the revelation of Jesus Christ told John that the anti-Christ would arise from the church of Rome; once you understand why John could not write "Rome" and used the code word "Babylon" (which God decreed would never be rebuilt) on its "seven hills" (what other city famously has seven hills?), the allusion is inescapable.
But if you are not saved, of course - if you are one of the "perishing" un-believers, to come out and slam the 1.2 billion member Catholic Church, which you wouldn't have any way of understanding is any different from any of the protestant churches which broke away from the church Satan so adeptly corrupted in the Dark Ages, what other reaction would you have?
So, be careful what you say to non-believers. There's nothing in the Bible that you can share that's wrong to share, but just as you don't start a child with Tolstoy to read, you don't start a non-Believer with the last half of John chapter 6 - This bread is My Flesh, this wine is My Blood. That sounds insane, unless you understand the context and His meaning. Read John 6 now, if you're a believer. Christ lost a lot of followers that day, but not the Apostles. WHY? They were experienced with Jesus' teaching. They understood what He meant. They were consuming solid food, spiritually, unlike all of the easily-discouraged acolytes, who could barely tolerate the spiritual milk.
HAVING SAID THAT...
At least some of what Hagee says is demonstrably wrong, and has no Biblical backing.
Nothing Barack Obama did as president caused the Ebola virus. The only possible connection any of those might actually have would be American policies in the Middle East, and even then, I hate to say it, there's not much that America has done or can do that will affect God's plans for Israel or His People. Anything that God does to America is brought on by us, not one leader. And we have only ourselves to blame for whatever abandoning of our nation God might have done.
Harvest America
If you'd like to watch a GREAT REVIVAL, click on this link to Harvest America, live right now! (I'm writing this at 6 pm Sunday night, June 11th.)
And even if you get this after it ends, you can watch it rebroadcast there or at https://www.harvest.org/, the home site of Pastor Greg Laurie and the Harvest Crusade.
And even if you get this after it ends, you can watch it rebroadcast there or at https://www.harvest.org/, the home site of Pastor Greg Laurie and the Harvest Crusade.
Friday, June 9, 2017
The conversation below is absolutely true. (Except for the parts I made up.)
GOD: Lucifer, what are you doing here? I thought you spent your free time in New Jersey.
Satan: Ah, yes, but today I thought I would come visit you and some of your people here in Idaho. They claim it as "God's country", so I thought I'd see why. And I must grudgingly admit that part of this region are indeed very - rrrr - attractive.
GOD: Indeed. There are many Godly individuals in this state too. For example, do you see that man over there?
Satan: Him? He's barely even a Christian! Why point him out when You have so many less sin-filled examples, even in this relatively barren territory?
GOD: Oh, no particular reason, Lucifer. I just do so because it amuses Me how a person like this Smith can do good for those around him without actually being adept in My Word. You will have a hard time to succeed when I remove all of My Saved, if people like Smith are left behind to battle you!
Satan: Is that so? Permission to prove you wrong, as I once proved with regard to Job!
GOD: Your memory of the outcome of Job's tale is faulty, Lucifer...but, sure, I'll let you take your shot at him.
And so, I was afflicted with a rare disease, called Tubular Aggregate Myopathy. If Satan was looking for the perfect disease to give me, he found one that meshed exactly wrong with my personality: rather than go-go-go, I had to stop-stop-stop. I couldn't recover from marching season, and by 2012 (a year and a half into my marriage to my childhood sweetheart) I had to quit teaching band altogether.
GOD: I see you've been working on My child Smith, Lucifer.
Satan: Ah, ah, ah, Lord! You cannot call him "Your child", remember? He hasn't been saved! That was the whole point of
GOD: Ah, ah, ah, Lucifer! You have not been paying close enough attention. You didn't notice what bringing his high school sweetheart back to him did, did you?
Satan: Well, it was supposed to give him a reason to be distracted from working with the students he was helping survive school... Having the one woman he loved back in his life plus taking away band from his plate should have
GOD: What it should or shouldn't have done is immaterial. What it did was bring a Christian influence into his life, and with the free time he now has now that he's no longer writing marching shows and concert music, he managed to slow himself down enough to hear My Voice and accept Jesus as his Savior. Thank you, Lucifer. You have brought Smith into My flock at last.
Satan: (unrepeatable in a Christian blog setting)
Perhaps this isn't how it went down. I've actually assumed it was God's idea that I should get a condition that slowed me down enough to hear the Holy Spirit at last. Perhaps it went something like this, and in revenge Satan decided to take Melissa away from me. (Which meant that Dana came into my life, and with my help the Holy Spirit brought her to the Lord this last fall. You can't win, Satan - you can't win!)
Or perhaps it just means that the devil's going to be in your face whenever you're doing God's Work. Because Satan's primary purpose on earth right now is to interfere with God's warriors in any way he can. That should be you and me, if we're doing what we should be doing.
So, let me ask you this question.
Is your life going too perfectly right now?
That's a bad sigh, man.
If you're a Christian, that means the devil doesn't fear you at all.
Get back to Work! Get back to God's Work!
Share the gospel! Tell people about Jesus, about His death on the cross and (more importantly) His resurrection and ascension. LIVE your life like you're carrying the Holy Spirit with you wherever you go, guiding your life, so that those without the Lord might be led to ask you what it is that gives you such joy and comfort in your life. And more than anything else, read your Bible, and pray to God regularly so that you learn and know God's will in your life.
The end is coming soon, my friends. Our time to save our family and friends is running short.
Satan: Ah, yes, but today I thought I would come visit you and some of your people here in Idaho. They claim it as "God's country", so I thought I'd see why. And I must grudgingly admit that part of this region are indeed very - rrrr - attractive.
GOD: Indeed. There are many Godly individuals in this state too. For example, do you see that man over there?
Satan: Him? He's barely even a Christian! Why point him out when You have so many less sin-filled examples, even in this relatively barren territory?
GOD: Oh, no particular reason, Lucifer. I just do so because it amuses Me how a person like this Smith can do good for those around him without actually being adept in My Word. You will have a hard time to succeed when I remove all of My Saved, if people like Smith are left behind to battle you!
Satan: Is that so? Permission to prove you wrong, as I once proved with regard to Job!
GOD: Your memory of the outcome of Job's tale is faulty, Lucifer...but, sure, I'll let you take your shot at him.
And so, I was afflicted with a rare disease, called Tubular Aggregate Myopathy. If Satan was looking for the perfect disease to give me, he found one that meshed exactly wrong with my personality: rather than go-go-go, I had to stop-stop-stop. I couldn't recover from marching season, and by 2012 (a year and a half into my marriage to my childhood sweetheart) I had to quit teaching band altogether.
GOD: I see you've been working on My child Smith, Lucifer.
Satan: Ah, ah, ah, Lord! You cannot call him "Your child", remember? He hasn't been saved! That was the whole point of
GOD: Ah, ah, ah, Lucifer! You have not been paying close enough attention. You didn't notice what bringing his high school sweetheart back to him did, did you?
Satan: Well, it was supposed to give him a reason to be distracted from working with the students he was helping survive school... Having the one woman he loved back in his life plus taking away band from his plate should have
GOD: What it should or shouldn't have done is immaterial. What it did was bring a Christian influence into his life, and with the free time he now has now that he's no longer writing marching shows and concert music, he managed to slow himself down enough to hear My Voice and accept Jesus as his Savior. Thank you, Lucifer. You have brought Smith into My flock at last.
Satan: (unrepeatable in a Christian blog setting)
Perhaps this isn't how it went down. I've actually assumed it was God's idea that I should get a condition that slowed me down enough to hear the Holy Spirit at last. Perhaps it went something like this, and in revenge Satan decided to take Melissa away from me. (Which meant that Dana came into my life, and with my help the Holy Spirit brought her to the Lord this last fall. You can't win, Satan - you can't win!)
Or perhaps it just means that the devil's going to be in your face whenever you're doing God's Work. Because Satan's primary purpose on earth right now is to interfere with God's warriors in any way he can. That should be you and me, if we're doing what we should be doing.
So, let me ask you this question.
Is your life going too perfectly right now?
That's a bad sigh, man.
If you're a Christian, that means the devil doesn't fear you at all.
Get back to Work! Get back to God's Work!
Share the gospel! Tell people about Jesus, about His death on the cross and (more importantly) His resurrection and ascension. LIVE your life like you're carrying the Holy Spirit with you wherever you go, guiding your life, so that those without the Lord might be led to ask you what it is that gives you such joy and comfort in your life. And more than anything else, read your Bible, and pray to God regularly so that you learn and know God's will in your life.
The end is coming soon, my friends. Our time to save our family and friends is running short.
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