Worldwide Government

It’s a scary-looking world we are entering into. Can you see how this present worldwide disturbance is being used (and will continue to be used) to implement a new way for the whole world to operate? It’s like Nine Eleven all over again, except this time it isn’t just changing how we go through airports — it’s changing how we go to the grocery store or go to church; it’s even locking us in our homes. But it won’t end there. The goal includes collapsing our whole economic system to implement worldwide economic “equality.”

Really, as positive as that sounds, that “equality” just means that no matter what kind of job you have and no matter how many hours you put in, everybody gets the same pay. Of course, this is good for people who just want free stuff, but it’s bad for people who want to work hard.

Yet, this “equality” and “peace” comes at a price — the sovereignty of our country being just one thing to go. The plan includes all nations submitting to a worldwide government. This will come under the guise of peace but will ultimately be nothing but a heavy-handed rule of pain and suffering and death.

I have to tell you, though, our country isn’t the only thing at stake… We’re coming soon upon the days when we will have to decide between trusting the Lord God All-Powerful (the only and truest Eternal God and His Son, Jesus, the Anointed King) or trusting in the government.

We’ll have to face some very real questions:

“Who’s going to provide for my needs?”
“How am I going to live?”

We will be forced to make a choice — submit to the system, or be excluded from the privileges of modern society. You will either “bow the knee” to Lucifer — Satan, the devil — in his worldwide conquest, or you will bow the knee to Jesus Christ. There is no alternative.

If you decide to agree with this new system that is coming soon upon the world, you will be provided for. You will have money. You will have food. You will be safe from the worldwide crises. But, you will lose your eternal soul.

If you decide not to submit to the system, you will be unable to buy your necessities. You will be unable to engage in ordinary business endeavors. You will excluded and shunned and mocked and hated. But, if in your denial of this world system you find yourself loving the God who created you and submitting to His Son, Jesus, the true King and rightful Ruler, your eternal soul will be at peace.

Not only that, but those people who really trust and submit to Jesus are adopted into God’s family as His children — and God has promised to take care of His children: /He/ takes care of our needs.

Yes, some of us who believe in Jesus will be tortured.
Some of us will be killed.
And some of us will endure all the way through and make it to the end of that Big Trouble.

But for all of us who are faithful to Jesus (even unto the death, if necessary), there will be given to us a crown of life — true and lasting life, with inexpressible joy and peace — peace that the world tries to imitate but can never truly give us like Jesus does.

But for those who say, “Ryan, this is crazy talk! You’re a cuckoo conspiracy nut!”, let me give you some proof from the Bible that these things (or things very much like them) are truly coming and are even upon us…

King David, who was a prophet, said this:

“Why do the nations plan rebellion?
Why do people make their useless plots?

Their kings revolt,
their rulers plot together against the Lord
and against the king he chose.
‘Let us free ourselves from their rule,’ they say;
‘let us throw off their control.'”
— Psalm 2:1-3

People nowadays say, “How could the leaders of all sorts of different countries and nations be uniting together in conspiracy?” Well, if you don’t believe it, just consider what the Word of God says above: “the _nations_ plan rebellion” … “their _kings_ revolt!” Different nations and different world-leaders are all plotting together! Thus says the Holy Bible. And why do they “plot together”? They are joining up in order to rebel “against the Lord!” and “against the king he chose,” which is Jesus Christ.

But it’s not just against the Lord God and against His anointed King, Jesus, that this worldwide conglomerate will fight — it’s also against the Lord’s people, the true followers of Jesus Christ.

The prophet Daniel records this message:

“‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the _whole_ earth, trampling it down and crushing it. …Another king will arise, different from the earlier ones… He will speak against the Most High and /oppress his holy people/ and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be /delivered into his hands/ for a time, times and half a time.'”
— Daniel 7:23-25

This beast — this kingdom and its king — will not only speak against the Most High God but also oppress God’s people, who will be delivered into his hands for “a time, times and half a time” — that is, “a year, two years and a half a year” or 3 1/2 years.

This is confirmed in the book of Revelation:

“The beast was allowed to make proud claims which were insulting to God, and it was permitted to have authority for forty-two months [again, this adds up to 3 1/2 years]. It began to curse God, his name, the place where he lives, and all those who live in heaven. It was allowed to /fight against God’s people/ and to _defeat_ them, and it was given authority over _every tribe, nation, language, and race_. All people living on earth will worship it, except those whose names were written before the creation of the world in the book of the living which belongs to the Lamb that was killed.” [the Lamb is Jesus, who died like an innocent lamb in order to cancel the debt of our sins]
— Revelation 13:5-8

Do you see this? “All people living on earth” will worship this beast — they’ll worship this kingdom and its king. This kingdom has authority over “every tribe, nation, language, and race.” Can you see? It is a worldwide “kingdom” — a government that is not localized to a particular nation or a particular people group — it is a government that is worldwide in scale.

And this worldwide government has power to “fight against God’s people and to defeat them.” We who are Christians are going to be openly opposed because we do not submit to the worldwide government — we submit to Jesus who is our King (indeed, He is the King of all kings!).

Why can Christians not submit to the worldwide government? Because to do so is to honor an inferior ‘god’; to do so is worship someone other than the one True God. Our God requires our full allegiance — He doesn’t share His glory with anyone. But there will be another “beast” who comes along and demands people to worship that first beast.

As it is written in the book of Revelation:

“Then I saw another beast, which came up out of the earth. … It forced the earth and all who live on it to worship the first beast… And it deceived all the people living on earth… The beast told them to build an image in honor of the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived. The second beast was allowed to breathe life into the image of the first beast, so that the image could talk and put to death all those who would not worship it. The beast forced all the people, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free, to have a mark placed on their right hands or on their foreheads. No one could buy or sell without this mark, that is, the beast’s name or the number that stands for the name.”
— Revelation 13:11-17

Our worship will be directed either to the Lord Most High or to this wicked beast. We will have to choose. “_All_ the people, small and great, rich and poor, slave and free” — everybody! — will be “forced” to “have a mark placed on [or ‘in’] their right hands or on [or ‘in’] their foreheads.” What happens if you don’t take the mark? What happens if you don’t submit? “No one could buy or sell without this mark.” If you don’t submit to the worldwide government and this mark — essentially pledging your allegiance to this “beast” — then you will be denied the necessary privileges of society.

But the most blessed truth of all is that these nations conspiring together don’t get the last laugh:

“From his throne in heaven the Lord laughs
and mocks their feeble plans.
Then he warns them in anger
and terrifies them with his fury.
‘On Zion, my sacred hill,’ he says,
‘I have installed my king.'”
— Psalm 2:4-6

Jesus is God’s chosen King! Yes, these nations will set up a worldwide government. Yes, they will oppose themselves against God, and against His anointed King, and against His people, but that’s not how it all ends:

“As I watched, this horn [or ‘king’] was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.”
— Daniel 7:21-22

And,

“The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time. But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.”
— Daniel 7:26-27

The Kingdom will ultimately belong to God, and to the Lord Jesus, and to God’s people. Jesus will conquer all the other kingdoms of this world. There is true salvation found in no one else! “There is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

So,

“Let us be thankful, then, because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and awe; because ‘our God is indeed a destroying fire.'”
— Hebrews 12:28-29

But for the rulers of this world, this word is spoken:

“Now listen to this warning, you kings;
learn this lesson, you rulers of the world:
Serve the Lord with fear;
tremble and bow down to him;
or else his anger will be quickly aroused,
and you will suddenly die.
Happy are all who go to him for protection.”
— Psalm 2:10-12

One day every knee will bow before Jesus, and one day every tongue will confess that He is truly the Lord (Philippians 2:10-11) — the Master, the Ruler, the King! — but, how much better it will be for those who submit to Him now!

Get on your knees before Jesus, the King of kings, now, before it’s too late. Listen to this warning. The world will grow darker and darker — and we need to be ready! — but God is still on the throne and He will conquer this wicked kingdom that is rising up. God is the one who gives us the strength to stand firm in these dark times. So seek Him with all your heart. He will make you shine like a light in this dark world (Philippians 2:14-15); He will give you His peace (John 14:27).

“See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.”
— Isaiah 60:2

The Election and God’s chosen King

In the midst of the election craziness, it’s a blessing to know that God’s chosen King has come — Jesus. And he didn’t come just to make a political stand on certain hot-button issues of His day (although He certainly did speak and act bluntly and powerfully during His time on this earth, and it upset a lot of people), but He came to deal decisively with the deep-seated issue inside each one of our hearts that we would have preferred to pretend wasn’t there — our slavery to sin and evil, our bondage to the Enemy’s kingdom.

You see, Jesus didn’t like to hang out with the people who had their lives all put together — because most of those people were just putting on a show for others to see and applaud them, meanwhile their hearts were still full of all kinds of evil. No, Jesus liked to hang out with the prostitutes and the tax collectors, the people who had realized, “I can’t live the right way on my own!” — the kind of people who prayed, “Lord, have mercy on me! I’m a sinner.”

Jesus knew that we were incapable of living up to God’s standard of right-living. We were trapped in sin; our hearts had all been tainted. So Jesus was obedient to God, His Father, and died on behalf of your sins.

You see, our sins — our violation of God’s rule over us as King — had earned us a death-penalty. We had committed high treason — desiring to be kings of our own lives, doing things “my way,” instead of submitting to God’s Kingship.

But Jesus died the death you were meant to die. He died in your place, so you could be forgiven of your crimes — your sins against God. Then God raised Jesus up from death, defeating that nasty Enemy who had the power of death.

After all this, Jesus went back up to Heaven to sit at the right side of God, His Father. Then He sent His Holy Spirit to us, to give us the power we need to live this life. We were incapable of living up to God’s standards before — we were incapable of submitting to Jesus as our King — but now, when we come to Jesus humbly, trusting Him as our Rescuer from our sin, He gives us His power — His Spirit comes and makes us new inside. He cleans up our nasty old heart and makes us pure.

So if you find yourself in a similar boat to those tax collectors and prostitutes, feeling like, “I just can’t live right! I’m a hopeless failure!,” look to Jesus. You’ll find that He is the perfect King. He didn’t just set a bunch of rules in place and say, “Good luck!” No, He died and rose again and sent His Spirit in order to forgive you and cleanse you and give you everything you need to have a true transformation of your life on the inside — to write His laws on your heart, so that you /want/ to follow Him; so that you actually come to /love/ serving Him as your King.

And He doesn’t just welcome you into the Kingdom as /subjects/, but as brothers and sisters — siblings of the King, Jesus, and sons and daughters of God Most High. How incredible! So on that day when Jesus returns to this earth to set up a physical Kingdom, where right-living flourishes and evil is banished, we who have trusted Him as our Rescuer will reign /with Him/ on the earth, because if we are sons and daughters of God — the King — we are all royal heirs together! What a thought!

So in the meantime, while Jesus is in Heaven and we await the fullness of His Kingdom to be established, we pray,

“Our Father in Heaven, help everyone to treat You, and Your name, with reverent honor and respect.

May Your Kingdom come, and may Your will be done (help us to do what /You/ want!), on the earth just like it is in Heaven!
Yes, may this earth be transformed, one heart at a time, to look more and more like how Your rule is so perfectly established in Heaven.
Help us to be Your loyal subjects, and thank You for making us not only that, but also Your sons and daughters.

Give us the food we need to eat today,
and forgive us for our sins;
help us to forgive the people who sin against us.

Deliver us from the evil one and his nasty kingdom of darkness,
because, after all,
Yours is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever!

Amen! Truly it is and truly it will be! Let it be so in each one of our hearts.”

The Good News about King Jesus

My friends, King Jesus will be coming back! And He will be setting up His Kingdom. He is the one who will be judging our actions, whether they are good or bad — and He will judge rightly. He doesn’t look at the sorts of things people look at — if we are rich or have a good job, if we are well-respected by other people, if we have a nice car or a big house, if we are handsome or beautiful, or if we went to church or said long prayers… No, He looks at what truly is in our hearts.

Unfortunately, each one of us has given into our own evil desires. We’ve lied to others, we’ve stolen things, we’ve cheated in order to get ahead, we’ve wrongly desired women or men who weren’t our spouses, we’ve hated other people (who are made in God’s image), we’ve held onto bitterness against others instead of forgiving them… All of these things (and more) have made us lawbreakers against God and have brought us into imprisonment in our sin. We have been taken captive by the devil, and we go around doing his sick and twisted will — and we enjoy doing it, because it feeds into our own pleasures.

But Jesus came to this earth (from heaven) 2000 years ago to free us from our sin; to loose us from this captivity; to break our chains of bondage in the kingdom of evil in order to bring us into the Kingdom of light — the Kingdom ruled by the Lord Jesus the anointed King. He bought us out of that kingdom of darkness through the ransom price of His own blood — like an innocent lamb being slaughtered. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but He decided to bear the weight of our sins for us, so we could become good and right and holy like He is.

So we each need to realize we’ve been walking the wrong road. We need to change our minds, deciding to leave behind the evil way we’ve lived and turn to God. Believe this message I’m telling you. Realize that Jesus died /for you/ when He was nailed to that cross.
But Jesus did not remain dead after He was crucified and laid in a tomb — three days later God raised Him from the dead! God proved to the world that Jesus was His dear Son, the one He had appointed as King. Jesus publicly humiliated all the powers of darkness when He conquered death. He was the first to be resurrected to a new life, and now He offers the hope of this same resurrection to each one of us! We, too, can live a new life!

So entrust your life to Jesus the King — make Him the Lord of your life. Realize that it was God’s incredible love for you that sent Jesus here to this earth. He didn’t have to send Jesus; He didn’t have to buy you out of your sin — He could have left you there, wallowing in your shame, on the road to everlasting destruction; but He didn’t! God wanted /you/ in His family; He wanted you to live in fellowship with Him.

So when you turn away from your old life and place your faith in Jesus as your Lord, believing that God raised Him from the dead, God does something wonderful in you — He gives you a new heart. You start to have new desires; your conscience wakes up.
Then you bury your old life by being immersed in water to unite yourself with Jesus’ death and resurrection. Not only has /Jesus/ died — /you/ have now died /with/ Jesus. The old life is gone and the new life is here!

Then another believer who has God’s Holy Spirit will place his hands on you and pray for you so that you, too, will receive the Holy Spirit. Jesus said (while He was on earth) that He had to go back up to Heaven so that He could send us the Holy Spirit. So that’s what Jesus did — He ascended to Heaven and sat down next to God (at the right hand of power), and He sent the Holy Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit gives us power to live this new life. He gives us comfort in hard times and speaks to us to teach us things we need to know.

The Bible calls this process of being united with Jesus’ death & resurrection and receiving His Spirit as being “born /again/.” We were all born once without our own conscious effort or thought, but now we can choose to be born a second time — born into God’s family. God literally adopts us as His children; His Spirit inside of us makes us His children, so that we can look up and say, “Daddy!”

What great love! What mercy! What undeserved kindness!

God took us out of our muck and mire and did so at the expense of the life of His dear Son! He so wanted to purchase us out of darkness and evil that He gave up His perfect, innocent Son. Wow!

So now, if we accept this, we are brought into Jesus’ Kingdom, announcing to everyone that the King is coming back! He will return from Heaven to bring judgment. He will establish His Kingdom on this earth and true justice will reign. Evil will be punished and goodness will flourish.

So turn away from your wickedness now while you have the opportunity! God has given you time to change your mind about the life you’ve been living! He has appointed a Savior, Jesus the King. There is no one else that God has chosen who can rescue you! Buddha can’t save you, your own good deeds can’t save you, Mohammed can’t save you, attending church can’t save you, being involved in the new age can’t save you — only Jesus can save you from your sins and from certain death and rescue you from this evil world. Come to Jesus and be rescued!

Then, when Jesus comes, we won’t have to fear Him — we won’t have to hide our faces because of our sin. Instead, as God’s children, we can welcome Jesus with shouts of joy, as our conquering Brother, as the one who has gone before us to rescue us, our Lord and Savior! “All hail, King Jesus! All hail the Savior of the world!” And when He comes, God will transform our lowly bodies so that they become resurrected, everlasting bodies just like Jesus’ body. No longer will we grow sick and die; we will live on forever. And we will rule and reign /with Christ/ in His Kingdom! Amazing!

What an incredible message! What a glorious Savior! Come, Lord Jesus!

My friends, step out of the darkness and into the light while you still have the chance to do so. Today is the day to be rescued! Do not delay. The King is coming!

Some Modesty Thoughts

I find that modesty is a somewhat neglected (or at least misunderstood) topic, at least as compared to what the early Christians and the Bible have to say.

It is easy enough to know (although we would be wise to continue to know) that a man ought not to lust after a woman (Matthew 5:27-28). So we avoid pornography and strip clubs, and the like, and we have learned techniques of “darting the eyes” (thanks to such books as “Every Man’s Battle”). Yet I’m sure we are mostly all aware (when in our right minds) that this temptation is not one-sided.

As an early Christian, Clement of Alexandria, wrote:

“And much more must we keep pure from shameful deeds: on the one hand, from exhibiting and exposing parts of the body which we ought not; and on the other, from beholding what is forbidden.”
— Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195)
Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.251

So the battle is not only to stop ourselves from looking where we ought not to look, but also to keep from exposing our bodies to give people a reason to look.

Because of this, I am thankful that among believing sisters in the Lord, there is at least a conscious awareness that we ought to “be modest.”

But what exactly constitutes modesty?

Sometimes I have the unfortunate necessity of having to turn my eyes away from my dear sisters in the Lord because of the way they are clothed (or unclothed, as the case may sometimes be). And even more unfortunately, sometimes these sisters are the very same ones who talk about modesty.

It seems we may have a problem in rightly thinking about what modesty is!

What then constitutes modesty?

First of all, let’s see what the Bible says:

“Also, the women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense, not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel, but with good works, as is proper for women who profess to worship God.”
— the apostle Paul
(1 Timothy 2:9-10)

“Do not let your adornment be outward—arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel— rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.”
— the apostle Peter
(1 Peter 3:3-4)

Both the apostle Paul and the apostle Peter were in agreement that women’s beauty should not come from their clothing, but from their hearts. It is their good works (and their gentle and quiet spirit) that make them look attractive — not fancy hairdos, expensive clothes, or jewelry.

Great. Somehow I think we all agree up to this point.

Yet, why then do we have an issue?

Unfortunately, on the one hand, our cultural standard seems to have declined (and with it, regrettably, so has the church’s standard); and on the other hand, it seems that we hear in Paul and Peter only what we want to hear and do not take their words with as much weight as the early Christians did.

So how did the early Christians live? What did they teach?

Here is a quote from Clement of Alexandria, whom I quoted above also. He was a Christian living in the 2nd century A.D. He said:

“Luxurious clothing, which cannot conceal the shape of the body, is no more a covering. For such clothing, falling close to the body, takes its form more easily, and adhering as it were to the flesh, receives its shape, and marks out the woman’s figure, so that the whole make of the body is visible to spectators, though not seeing the body itself.”
— Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195)
Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.2 pg.265

Wow! So, the purpose of clothing is to “conceal the shape of the body.” Therefore, tight-fitting clothing no longer serves this purpose, because the shape of the body is “visible to spectators.” Quite a point.

I have to say, working at Biggby, I am greatly irked inside every time “Teenage Dream” comes on the radio. This song really accentuates the fact that tight-fitting clothing is not much better than no clothing. Here are some of the words:

“I’ma get your heart racing
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
Let you put your hands on me
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight”

This is exactly opposite of how a Christian ought to think or conduct themselves. This is not even close to modesty. We shouldn’t be trying to get other people’s “hearts racing.” As Paul wrote, “It is good for a man /not/ to touch a woman” (1 Corinthians 7:1). This is very much contrary to letting a man put his hands on you.

Let’s listen now to another 2nd century Christian, Tertullian:

“Most women… have the audacity so to walk as if modesty consisted only in the (bare) integrity of the flesh, and in turning away from (actual) fornication…wearing in their gait [i.e. their walk] the self-same appearance as the women of the nations, from whom the sense of true modesty is absent…How many a one, in short, is there who does not earnestly desire even to look pleasing to strangers? Who does not on that very account take care to have herself painted out, and denies that she has (ever) been an object of (carnal) appetite?”
— Tertullian (A.D. 198)
Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4 pg. 18-19

Tertullian makes the point that modesty is a lot more than merely avoiding sexual sin itself, but rather, modesty should govern how we behave. He seems to say that we shouldn’t even walk like an unbeliever. We shouldn’t be the kind of people who put on various makeup to look attractive to strangers, and then proceed to say, “I wasn’t trying to seek attention.”

Tertullian elsewhere went so far as to say:

“Those women sin against God when they rub their skin with ointments, stain their cheeks with rouge, and make their eyes prominent with antimony. To them, I suppose, the artistic skill of God is displeasing.”
— Tertullian
Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4, book II, chapter V

Ouch!

Cyprian said likewise:

“Both sexes alike should be admonished that the work of God and His fashioning and formation should in no manner be adulterated – either with application of yellow color, black dust, rouge, or with any kind of cosmetic…God says, ‘Let us make man in our image and likeness.’ Does anyone dare to alter and change what God has made? They are laying hands on God when they try to re-form that which He formed, and to transfigure it, not knowing that everything that comes into being is God’s work; everything that is changed is the devil’s.”
— Cyprian
Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 5
The Treatises of Cyprian, Tr. II, section 15

Double-ouch!

Now, I’m not necessarily saying, “Throw out the make-up!” But I am saying that we seriously ought to consider the habit of our behavior and say, “Why am I doing this?” If we do not think that what God made is good enough, perhaps we ought to search our hearts, and search the Scriptures, and see that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14), even when we are bare-faced.

Quite contrary to accentuating our beauty, as culture would have us do, Tertullian advises this way:

“Let a holy woman, if naturally beautiful, give none so great occasion (for carnal appetite). Certainly, if even she be so, she ought not to set off (her beauty), but even to obscure it… ‘You are bound to please your husbands only.’ But you will please them in proportion as you take no care to please others.”
— Tertullian (A.D. 198)
Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4 pg. 20

If a woman is naturally beautiful, she shouldn’t show off or flaunt her beauty; instead, she should “obscure” her beauty. For what reason? So that the woman pleases her husband only (the only person to whom it really matters whether she is beautiful or not), rather than being beautiful to every stranger that glances her way (and therefore attract undue attention and lust).

Perhaps, with all of this, we can see a glimpse into what Paul and Peter were talking about when they said that the woman’s adorning shouldn’t be outward but inward. It shouldn’t be our appearance that catches people’s attention — it should be our godliness: “the lasting beauty of a gentle and tranquil spirit” (1 Peter 3:4), which stands in stark contrast with the loud and defiant adulterous woman of Proverbs 7:10-11 (and context).

Now, take from everything I’ve said and quoted whatever you’d like. There is more that could be said, and some other things which the early Christians said that go beyond even my own standards of modesty. Scripture is the final authority, and God is the ultimate judge. I just thought that in combating our tendencies to live with freedom (without thinking about how it affects the lusts of those around us), it could do us all some good to hear some of the Scriptures and some of the early Christians, to see what these devout men of God had to say about how we ought to conduct ourselves.

Let us then consider one another and how our actions affect them, remembering:

“None of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
…
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Therefore, let us no longer judge one another. Instead decide never to put a stumbling block or pitfall in the way of your brother or sister.”
— the apostle Paul
(Romans 14:7-8,12-13)

Why the Beard?

Hi friends, 🙂

This may sound like a silly thing to make a post about, but some of you may have wondered why I grew out a beard… There’s actually more significance to it than may at first be obvious.

Here’s the story:

I had been clean-shaven since November of 2016. I shaved my long goatee at the same time that I cut my long hair for the third (and final) time. All of this I did when the LORD revealed to me that I had been dishonoring my parents, because they didn’t like my long hair or my long goatee.

So for 3 years I was perfectly content to have a clean-shaven face, especially since I had linked being clean-shaven, in my mind, with my decision to honor my parents.

That was until September 24, 2019 (just a few months ago). I was sitting down, reading my Bible, and I was in the book of Titus, I believe, where Paul talks about how he wants the older men to be serious and the younger men likewise to be sober-minded (Titus 2:2,6 and the surrounding text). And I asked God — “God, how can I be more of a man? How can I be more firm, serious, and godly?”

As I was thinking about this, it felt as though I heard the LORD, in my spirit (in not very many words), say: “beard.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I receive a word like this, at once it strikes me in two ways. On the one hand, it makes me think, “Huh, really? I never thought of that as being important.” And on the other hand, it makes me think, “Hmm… I think there’s something to this.”

Of course, I know I shouldn’t merely listen to a voice in my head, assume it’s the LORD, and do whatever that voice tells me to do — each one of us has to “test the spirits, to see whether they are of God” (1 John 4:4). So that’s what I went about to begin to do.

It was at this time that I had been researching what the early Christians believed — the writings of the Christians that lived just after the apostles. So, naturally, I looked into if they had anything to say about beards… And, believe it or not, they did!

Clement of Alexandria, for instance, living c. 150 – c. 215 AD, wrote these words:

“But for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, to arrange his hair at the looking-glass [the mirror], to shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, and smooth them, how womanly!…For God wished women to be smooth, and rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane; but has adorned man, like the lions, with a beard…

This, then, the mark of the man, the beard, by which he is seen to be a man, is older than Eve…In this God deemed it right that he should excel, and dispersed hair over man’s whole body…It is therefore impious to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness. But the embellishment of smoothing (for I am warned by the Word), if it is to attract men, is the act of an effeminate person,—if to attract women, is the act of an adulterer; and both must be driven as far as possible from our society. ‘But the very hairs of your head are all numbered,’ says the Lord; those on the chin, too, are numbered, and those on the whole body. There must be therefore no plucking out, contrary to God’s appointment, which has counted them in according to His will…”
( http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02093.htm )

Or Lactantius, another early Christian, living c. 250 – c. 325 AD, wrote:

“The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness and strength.”
( http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0704.htm )

The early Christians believed that the beard was a God-given distinguishing mark to separate men from women, as well as separate men from boys. Those who shaved their beards were seen as effeminate, doing what is contrary to nature and against God’s design (for who made the beard and gave it to men but God Himself?).

Now, upon finding these thoughts, my perspective was certainly changing! Why should I challenge the natural course of things, which God had established, by every day shaving what God had put there to grow?

And if these thoughts were not sufficient, I also found the Scriptures themselves in agreement that the beard was very suitable and desirable for a man.

For instance, when King David sent men to Hanun, the king of Ammon, to comfort him because his father had died, the people of the land of Ammon thought these men were sent as spies, so they “shaved off half of their beards, cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away.”
(2 Samuel 10:4)

Now what was their response?

“When they told David, he sent to meet them, because the men were /greatly ashamed/. And the king said, ‘Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.'”
(2 Samuel 10:5)

I don’t know about you, but if I had my garments cut off in the middle, at the buttocks, I would be ashamed, too! But that’s not what King David comments on — he mentions, instead, their beards! He says, in essence, “Stay away from home until your beards grow back.” This could have been months that they were to stay away from, presumably, their wives and kids, because it would have been a shame for them to appear in public without their beards.

Now, if this same scenario happened today, we might have told King David’s men, “Just shave off the other half of the beard, and come back home!” But this was not an option in the mind of King David. He would rather have had his men wait until their beards had grown back rather than have them shamefully appear without their beards.

This significance of men having beards is further drawn out by the fact that in the Scriptures, one sign of the judgment of the LORD upon a nation, in the book of Jeremiah, involved the /shaving/ of beards:

“For every head shall be bald, and /every beard clipped/. On all the hands shall be cuttings, and on the loins sackcloth. On all the housetops of Moab, and in its streets, there is weeping for all. For I have broken Moab like a vessel in which is no pleasure, says the LORD.”
(Jeremiah 48:37-38)

In the Bible, it is the assumed norm that a man has a beard. It was only in unusual cases, like judgment or mourning or public shame, that the beard was cut or disfigured.

Back in the book of Leviticus, it was even part of the law for the people of Israel that they were not allowed to cut off the edges of their beards (effectively making a goatee):

“You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard.”
(Leviticus 19:27)

All these things being the case, it seems every godly man in the Bible had a beard. Some we know for sure:

*Ezekiel the prophet (Ezekiel 5:1, where Ezekiel is instructed to cut off his beard to represent the coming judgment)

*King David (1 Samuel 21:13, where David let his spit dribble down onto his beard in order to appear insane — and thus not be killed)

*Amasa, one of King David’s fighters (2 Samuel 20:9, where Joab kindly took hold of his beard to kiss him, but in an insincere, deceptive way, in order to kill him — much akin to Judas betraying Jesus with a kiss)

*Aaron the high priest, Moses’ brother (Psalm 133:2, in which the psalmist describes the blessedness of friends in unity, comparing it to oil descending on Aaron’s beard)

*Even Jesus our Savior (Isaiah 50:6, wherein Isaiah prophesies about Jesus that He would let himself be beaten by others who would also pluck out His beard — which means that Jesus’ beard was long enough to be pulled)

And I’m sure I could say more, but the point suffices that as I studied this out, I found that God had truly given me a succinct and true answer when I asked Him, “What can I do to be more of a man?” and He replied merely, “beard.”

Now, would this be the answer He would give every man? Not necessarily. After all, there is a lot more to being a man than simply growing a beard. Being a godly man involves other things like good character, sober-mindedness, strong faith, gentle love, self-control, etc. But growing a beard is, as Charles Spurgeon said, “a habit most natural, scriptural, manly, and beneficial.”
( Charles Spurgeon’s “Lectures To My Students” https://www.mat.univie.ac.at/…/scian…/spurgeon/spurgeon1.pdf )

For more info about the beard, in regards to the Scriptures, etc., I found this article very good:
http://miskawilhelmsson.com/beardology/

In finishing, I do not at all say this is such an important issue that I would condemn anybody who is clean-shaven. No, not at all! I just wanted to put forth why I grew my beard, in order for others to see some of what the Scriptures and the early Christians have to say about the matter — that the beard is quite natural (indeed, God-given), as a distinction between men and boys, and between men and women.

In our culture that is increasingly gender-confused, I even more greatly desired (and continue to desire) to do things the way God originally intended and make it as evident as possible that I am certainly a man, and a man of God. Praise the LORD!

The Firma-what?

Friends, have you noticed this?

As part of God’s creation of the world in the book of Genesis, we read,

“And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.”
Genesis 1:6‭-‬8 KJV

And again, in one more translation,

“God said, ‘Let there be a dome in the middle of the water; let it divide the water from the water.’ God made the dome and divided the water under the dome from the water above the dome; that is how it was, and God called the dome Sky. So there was evening, and there was morning, a second day.”
Genesis 1:6‭-‬8 CJB

Huh. What is this “firmament”/”dome” that separates waters below it and above it?

That word in the Bible translated ‘firmament’ in the KJV version of the Bible or ‘dome’ in the CJB and CEV versions is the word ‘raqiya’ in the original Greek: https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexico…/hebrew/…/raqiya.html

That word ‘raqiya’ means a solid extended surface, as if beaten out into a particular shape. It was used to describe the “visible arch of the /sky/” — “considered by Hebrews as /solid/ and supporting ‘waters’ above” (as the lexicon definition says in the link I provided above).

Some Bible translations have translated the word ‘raqiya’ as ‘expanse.’ In my opinion, this is only partially accurate. Yes, the raqiya is an expanse, but it’s a /solid/ expanse, as if God were to beat out sheets of metal into a particular shape (see the original root word raqa’ and its definition: https://www.biblestudytools.com/lexico…/hebrew/nas/raqa.html ).

To say the raqiya (firmament/dome) is simply an ‘expanse’ seems to me to be akin to translating the Spanish word ‘perro’ as ‘animal.’ Yes, a perro (dog) is an animal — that’s true — but it’s not as /accurate/ as it could be; to be completely accurate and precise, it is a /’dog’/, not merely an ‘animal.’

In the same way, the word raqiya describes a /solid/ structure, not merely a gaseous expanse.

The Jews believed (and I believe the Scriptures also record) that this solid, crystalline, glass-like structure called the firmament is stretched out over the earth like a big tent (Isaiah 40:22, Psalm 19:4, Job 37:18, Proverbs 8:27-29, Ezekiel 1:22-28,10:1-2, Psalm 104:2, Revelation 4:6,15:2, etc.).

The Jews believed that on top of this structure there is water, as God tells us in Genesis 1:6-8 (above) and as David reaffirms in Psalm 148:4. Here’s a quote from Jewish historian Josephus, describing God making the world:

“He also placed a cristalline [firmament] round it; and put it together in a manner agreeable to the earth; and fitted it for giving moisture and rain, and for affording the advantage of dews.”
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/ant-1.html

This was also believed by people like the 2nd century Christian, Theophilus, saying things such as (while he was commenting on the 6-Day Creation account in Genesis):

“the creation of the heavens first of all took place, as a kind of /roof/”

“the heaven which God made covering the waters and the earth like a /lid/”

and

“the heaven, therefore, being like a /dome-shaped covering/”

https://st-takla.org/books/en/ecf/002/0020111.html

Incredible!

Even Martin Luther commented on the subject, saying:

“We Christians must be different from the philosophers [i.e. scientists] in the way we think about the causes of these things. And if some are beyond our comprehension (like those before us concerning /the waters above the heavens/), we must believe them and admit our lack of knowledge rather than either wickedly deny them or presumptuously interpret them in conformity with our understanding.”
-Martin Luther, Luther’s Works. Vol 1. Lectures on Genesis, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1958), 30
https://www.philipstallings.com/…/the-biblical-flat-earth-e…

I’m wondering, have you noticed this dome-like, crystalline structure, which holds waters above it, in your reading of the creation account in Genesis (or in reading elsewhere in the Bible)? It certainly is fascinating and seems rather distinct from our modern perception of a vapor atmosphere surrounding earth which gradually disappears into a spacious vacuum. Where then is the dome-like ceiling that the Scriptures speak of? Where then are the waters above that firmament?

By the way, I’m not at all trying to be argumentative as I say these things. I hope it doesn’t come across that way. I am simply bringing the Scriptures and some historic Jewish and Christian thought in front of your mind, to stimulate thought. You neither have to agree with me nor hear what I am saying.

I am curious, though, what you think about all of this. It certainly has been fascinating to me!

A Testimony Of God’s Salvation

God is so good, friends! 🙌 It’s funny to word it this way, but the LORD really saved me yesterday! He delivered me in a mighty way!

I had been walking in bondage for a few days (or even longer) — increasingly bitter bondage, to the point that life was becoming very bleak.

It was bondage that started with truth. But then I took the truths I was learning too far to the point that I was making constricting rules for myself over and above what the Word of God requires, and I was judging others for not being as “holy” as I was trying to be.

In other words, I was being just like those 1st century Pharisees who opposed Jesus — cleaning up their exterior, while inside they were full of filth, and judging others for not being like them. The Lord Jesus called them Hypocrites! Fakers! Actors!

That was me.

I normally am filled with the joy of the LORD, but I was bleak and black inside. I didn’t want to talk to people or celebrate their success. I wasn’t genuinely interested in other people. Nor was I happy about life. I was just stuck, obsessed, confused, addicted to learning more about a “holy life” — which was really just me “rejecting the righteousness of God and seeking to establish my own righteousness” (Romans 10:3).

Again, it all started off with good truths — it is good to be holy before the Lord! He commands us to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16)! But we can’t add to or subtract from what He says or make up our own requirements — we need to follow His way — no more and no less.

Being in this state of increasing bleakness for many days, I knew that I was not right — not right in myself, not right with the LORD, not right with other people — and eventually I got so desperate that I knew I needed to fall on my face before the LORD and repent and seek Him.

So that’s what I did!

I went to my room and shut the door, as Jesus advised in the Gospels (Matthew 6:6), and cried out to my Father. I told him all the awful (sometimes seemingly-“holy”) addictions I’d plunged into and all my woe, and (observing the Fruit Of The Spirit poster on the back of the bed) told God I wanted Him to produce love and joy and peace (and so on) in my life — ’cause right then I had next to none of those fruits in my life.

Finally, as I was confessing my sins and repenting, telling the LORD I didn’t have to have things my own way but that I was willing to do things His way, I eventually told the LORD I was sorry that I had made one of my obsessions my “God” — and as soon as I said that, my whole world became lighter.

A weight lifted off of me.

I could breathe again.

I could see again.

Joy returned to me.

And I thanked the LORD for being so kind to me and saving me! 🙌

I have not been the same since! I now feel like it is my choice whether I use my phone or not (before it was like an awful addiction). Now I have joy in my life and can have fun again. 😊

Now I can do simple things like ask people what they’re doing for Halloween, without feeling like I need to judge them right there and then for participating in the holiday.

(No, I don’t believe it’s a good holiday, but there’s a time and a place to say something about it — there was no need for me to be so critical that I couldn’t be happy for someone else who doesn’t know any better enjoying dressing up as a cow and getting candy.)

Suffice it to say (and this may come across as a strange statement), I am SO thankful that the LORD makes life so terribly miserable for us when we are going astray!

Can you imagine… What if your body never alerted you with pain when you touched a hot stove, or when you hit your head on the underside of a table, or when you got your hand caught in the door? If there was no physical sign of the damage we were causing to ourselves, we would just go on and on hurting our bodies, completely oblivious to the destruction we’d eventually incur.

In the same way, I am thankful that the LORD is kind enough to warn us when we’re going astray — even when we’re going astray under the guise of holiness!

The devil is very sneaky… Just as the LORD can use evil things for good, so can the devil use good things for evil — taking us just a little too far down the rabbit hole so that real, simple truths get bogged down with tag-along half-truths that make the whole package a self-righteous perversion.

So I am glad that the LORD makes us miserable in sin. He’ll do whatever He can to “discipline” those He loves so that we’ll turn back to Him and His good way.

As Jesus said,

“Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline.
Be zealous, therefore, and repent!”
(Revelation 3:19)

Thank You, God, for Your incredibly wise and gracious kindness that gives us every opportunity to get out of the pit! — Indeed, thank You for stretching out Your very own hand and pulling us up when we but acknowledge our sin and turn from it in Your presence!

Thank You for saving me in such a real way, yet again, according to Your wonderful mercy!

Friends, let’s bless the LORD and praise His Name! 🎉 He is good to His people! 😀

The Stars Didn’t Die For You

The early Christian Theophilus who wrote during the 2nd Century of our Lord spoke of how philosophers would come to believe that the things of the earth were made of the substance of heavenly bodies, in order to exclude God from having created the world:

“On the fourth day the luminaries were made; because God, who possesses foreknowledge, knew the follies of the vain philosophers, that they were going to say, that the things which grow on the earth are produced from the heavenly bodies, so as to exclude God. In order, therefore, that the truth might be obvious, the plants and seeds were produced prior to the heavenly bodies, for what is posterior cannot produce that which is prior.”
— Theophilus, “To Autolycus,” Book II, Chapter 15
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02042.htm

This has indeed happened — not only in regard to plants, but even also in regard to the formation of our own bodies. Here is what Lawrence Krauss, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist, who is also a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University, has to say:

“The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust.

You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements — the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution — weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”
— Lawrence Krauss
https://sciencebasedlife.wordpress.com/…/stars-died-so-tha…/

What utter blasphemy! The record of the Holy Scriptures is clear to the contrary:

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
Genesis 2:7 KJV

God is the one who sculpted us from the ground and breathed life into us. And indeed, Jesus /is/ the one who has died (and was buried and rose again) on our behalf — the stars have done no such thing!

But one day, before Jesus makes his grand appearance in these last of days, all of these stars will /fall/ from the sky — not to die on our behalf, but so that in concert with the sun and moon going dark, the “lights” will effectively be “turned out” before the glorious second coming of Jesus to earth:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Matthew 24:29‭-‬30 KJV

It will be a truly “awesome” day. For some, it will be a day of salvation. For others, it will be a day of wrath.

As Jesus said, “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” (Revelation 22:12)

So dear friends, if you are in Jesus, these words are for you:

“My dear friends, we are now God’s children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is. Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.”
1 John 3:2‭-‬3 GNT

And if you, my friend, are not in union with the Lord Jesus, what is keeping you away from Him? Are the things of this world capturing your attention? The pleasures, the fun, the money, the stuff… All of these things will perish — this whole earth will be burned up.

But the Lord does not want you to burn up with the earth. He does not want you to perish. Turn away from the things of this world. Turn instead to God, through the means of His Son, Jesus. He is the one who has died for you — not the stars. He will change your life.

Choose Who You Will Serve

“The Lord created us humans,
and from the very beginning,
he gave us the ability
to choose how we live.

You are able to obey his Law
if you really want to,
and you can please him
by being faithful.

Life and death are as different
as fire and water,
and the Lord will give you
whichever you choose.”
– Sirach 15:14-17 CEV

The passage above really brings out the importance of our free-will /choice/ to love, serve, and obey the LORD. Joshua (Moses’ successor) also talked about our choice to serve the LORD when he confronted the people of Israel:

“‘Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then /choose/ for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.'”
– Joshua 24:14‭-‬15 NIV

So we are all given a choice:
to serve the LORD
or to serve sin (and ultimately the devil).

As Bob Dylan wrote:

“You’re gonna have to serve somebody — it may be the devil, and it may be the Lord — but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

Choose today — who are you going to serve?

The World Hates those who speak God’s Words …and even some Christians do, too

“He who is of God hears the words of God.” – Jesus (John 8:47a WEB)

“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me [Jesus] before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” – Jesus (John 15:18‭-‬19)

“If anyone speaks, let it be as it were the very words of God.” – Peter (1 Peter 4:11a)

Those who speak and act on behalf of God are hated by this world, because the people of this world hate God and hate what He has to say. They would rather live in sin. They would rather live life by their own rules and not be told what they can and cannot do. “Who are you to tell me what to do?”

That is why the world hates us.

Unfortunately, increasingly, it’s not only the world who won’t hear the words of God. More and more, even Christians are less receptive to what God has to say. Yes, even we Christians sometimes become too stubborn in the traditions we’ve been taught so that we become blind to what the Word of God says.

And yet, those who speak on behalf of God have always been hated by God’s people. The prophet Isaiah said this:

“The LORD told me to write down his message for /his people/… They have turned against the LORD… They have refused his teaching and have said to his messengers and prophets:
Don’t tell us what God has shown you and don’t preach the truth. Just say what we want to hear, even if it’s false. Stop telling us what God has said! We don’t want to hear any more about the holy God of Israel.”
(Isaiah 30:8-11)

Oh friends! Let’s not have hard hearts before the LORD. If we are confronted with uncomfortable teaching that doesn’t agree with “what we’ve always heard,” let’s not immediately dismiss it, but let us be noble like the Christians in Berea who “searched the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

In the meantime, let those of us who proclaim the truths of God’s Word do so with boldness and gentleness and love, not being surprised when others attack us:

“Dear friends, don’t be surprised or shocked that you are going through testing that is like walking through fire. Be glad for the chance to suffer as Christ suffered. It will prepare you for even greater happiness when he makes his glorious return.

Count it a blessing when you suffer for being a Christian. This shows that God’s glorious Spirit is with you. Don’t be ashamed to suffer for being a Christian. But you deserve to suffer if you are a murderer, a thief, a crook, or a busybody.

Praise God that you belong to him. God has already begun judging his own people. And if his judgment begins with us, imagine how terrible it will be for those who refuse to obey his message.

The Scriptures say,

‘If good people barely escape,
what will happen to sinners
and to others who don’t respect God?’

If you suffer for obeying God, you must have complete faith in your faithful Creator and keep on doing right.”
1 Peter 4:12‭-‬19 CEV