Why Is The "Christian" The One That Has To Compromise All The Time?

I am really disturbed how so call "Christians" are able to tolerate this kind of sick stuff going on in our society, and letting the courts do what they are doing with our rights as citizens of this country. This article should be a wake-up-call to every Christian. And if this doesn't get you blood boiling, you need to take the word "Christian" off your name. I would be ashamed to profess the name of Christ and put my head in the sand. It is going too far, now! Why is it that the "Christians" have to do all the compromising.

The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment does not protect the owners of a photography studio who refused, because of their Christians beliefs, to serve a lesbian couple.

Jon and Elaine Hugunin of Albuquerque, the court said, “can no more turn away customers on the basis of sexual orientation – photographing a same-sex marriage ceremony – than they could refuse to photograph African-Americans or Muslims.”

The stunning verdict came in a case brought by lesbians against Elane Photography. The lesbians wanted the photographer to document their “wedding,” and the studio declined, claiming it would violate the Christian faith of the owners.

Tough luck, said judges Edward Chavez, Petra Jimenez Maes, Charles Daniels, Barbara Vigil and Richard Bosson.

They make clear the company has the option of going out of business.

New Mexico’s anti-discrimination law, which provides special protections for homosexuals, “does not even require Elane Photography to take photographs,” the ruling argues.

“The NMHRA only mandates that if Elane Photography operates a business as a public accommodation, it cannot discriminate against potential clients based on their sexual orientation,” the court said.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence, whose organization worked on the case, said government-coerced expression “is a feature of dictatorships that has no place in a free country.”

“This decision is a blow to our client and every American’s right to live free,” he said.

Lorence said decisions “like this undermine the constitutionally protected freedoms of expression and conscience that we have all taken for granted.”

“America was founded on the fundamental freedom of every citizen to live and work according to their beliefs and not to be compelled by the government to express ideas and messages they decline to support,” he said.

“We are considering our next steps, including asking the U.S. Supreme Court to right this wrong.”

The judges stated:
"At its heart, this case teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others. A multicultural, pluralistic society, one of our nation’s strengths, demands no less. The Huguenins are free to think, to say, to believe, as they wish; they may pray to the God of their choice and follow those commandments in their personal lives wherever they lead. The Constitution protects the Huguenins in that respect and much more. But there is a price, one that we all have to pay somewhere in our civic life.”

In the smaller, more focused world of the marketplace, of commerce, of public accommodation, the Huguenins have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different. That compromise is part of the glue that holds us together as a nation, the tolerance that lubricates the varied moving parts of us as a people. That sense of respect we owe others, whether or not we believe as they do, illuminates this country, setting it apart from the discord that afflicts much of the rest of the world. In short, I would say to the Huguenins, with the utmost respect: it is the price of citizenship.

As WND reported, Judge Tim L. Garcia in the New Mexico Court of Appeals earlier said that states can demand Christians violate their faith.

The case erupted in 2006 after Vanessa Willock asked Elaine Huguenin to photograph a “commitment ceremony” that Willock and another woman wanted to hold in Taos.

Elaine Huguenin declined, because of her Christian beliefs, and the woman found someone else.

Willock then took the complaint to the Human Rights Commission, which held a one-day trial and ordered in 2008 that the photographer pay more than $6,600 in attorneys’ fees to Willock.

The lower court explained in a 45-page opinion that a photographer is a “public accommodation” and must comply with “sexual orientation” nondiscrimination laws.

“The owners of Elane Photography must accept the reasonable regulations and restrictions imposed upon the conduct of their commercial enterprise despite their personal religious beliefs that may conflict with these governmental interests,” the lower court wrote.

The district court decision came from Alan M. Malott.

This article should be a wake-up-call to every Christian. And if this doesn't get you blood boiling, you need to take "Christian" off your name.

The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment does not protect the owners of a photography studio who refused, because of their Christians beliefs, to serve a lesbian couple.

Jon and Elaine Hugunin of Albuquerque, the court said, “can no more turn away customers on the basis of sexual orientation – photographing a same-sex marriage ceremony – than they could refuse to photograph African-Americans or Muslims.”

The stunning verdict came in a case brought by lesbians against Elane Photography. The lesbians wanted the photographer to document their “wedding,” and the studio declined, claiming it would violate the Christian faith of the owners.

Tough luck, said judges Edward Chavez, Petra Jimenez Maes, Charles Daniels, Barbara Vigil and Richard Bosson.

They make clear the company has the option of going out of business.

New Mexico’s anti-discrimination law, which provides special protections for homosexuals, “does not even require Elane Photography to take photographs,” the ruling argues.

“The NMHRA only mandates that if Elane Photography operates a business as a public accommodation, it cannot discriminate against potential clients based on their sexual orientation,” the court said.

Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence, whose organization worked on the case, said government-coerced expression “is a feature of dictatorships that has no place in a free country.”

“This decision is a blow to our client and every American’s right to live free,” he said.

Lorence said decisions “like this undermine the constitutionally protected freedoms of expression and conscience that we have all taken for granted.”

“America was founded on the fundamental freedom of every citizen to live and work according to their beliefs and not to be compelled by the government to express ideas and messages they decline to support,” he said.

“We are considering our next steps, including asking the U.S. Supreme Court to right this wrong.”

The judges stated:

At its heart, this case teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if only a little, to accommodate the contrasting values of others. A multicultural, pluralistic society, one of our nation’s strengths, demands no less. The Huguenins are free to think, to say, to believe, as they wish; they may pray to the God of their choice and follow those commandments in their personal lives wherever they lead. The Constitution protects the Huguenins in that respect and much more. But there is a price, one that we all have to pay somewhere in our civic life.”

In the smaller, more focused world of the marketplace, of commerce, of public accommodation, the Huguenins have to channel their conduct, not their beliefs, so as to leave space for other Americans who believe something different. That compromise is part of the glue that holds us together as a nation, the tolerance that lubricates the varied moving parts of us as a people. That sense of respect we owe others, whether or not we believe as they do, illuminates this country, setting it apart from the discord that afflicts much of the rest of the world. In short, I would say to the Huguenins, with the utmost respect: it is the price of citizenship.

As WND reported, Judge Tim L. Garcia in the New Mexico Court of Appeals earlier said that states can demand Christians violate their faith.

The case erupted in 2006 after Vanessa Willock asked Elaine Huguenin to photograph a “commitment ceremony” that Willock and another woman wanted to hold in Taos.

Elaine Huguenin declined, because of her Christian beliefs, and the woman found someone else.

Willock then took the complaint to the Human Rights Commission, which held a one-day trial and ordered in 2008 that the photographer pay more than $6,600 in attorneys’ fees to Willock.

The lower court explained in a 45-page opinion that a photographer is a “public accommodation” and must comply with “sexual orientation” nondiscrimination laws.

“The owners of Elane Photography must accept the reasonable regulations and restrictions imposed upon the conduct of their commercial enterprise despite their personal religious beliefs that may conflict with these governmental interests,” the lower court wrote.

The district court decision came from Alan M. Malott.

Malott ruled the Christian owners were compelled to photograph the ceremony for Willock and Misty Pascottini because of the state’s interest in preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

He pointed out that the photographers could not decline to photograph lesbians but could decline to photograph other subjects, because of the state’s rules.

“Once one offers a service publicly, they must do so without impermissible exception,” the judge originally on the case wrote. “Therefore, plaintiff could refuse to photograph animals or even small children, just as an architect could design only commercial buildings and not private residences. Neither animals, nor small children, nor private residences are protected classes,” the judge said.

When the district judge’s decision arrived, it seemed to substantiate the concerns of opponents of a federal “hate crimes” bill signed into law by President Obama during his first year in office that gives homosexuals special rights. Attorney General Eric Holder admitted in a congressional hearing that under the measure, an attack on a homosexual would be dealt with differently than one on another citizen.

Benjamin Bull, chief counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, noted at that time, “Homosexuals got exactly what they wanted. In the marketplace of ideas, one side has now been censored. This [situation] is exactly what homosexual activists have in mind.”

A subsequent poll revealed that almost half of Americans believe Christians in the United States are being persecuted by same-sex marriage advocates who take legal action against them over their religious beliefs. Almost one in three Democrats believes such persecution is “necessary,” according to the poll.

The results are from a WND/WENZEL Poll conducted for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies.

It found that 49.2 percent of all respondents consider the legal activism against Christians and their beliefs regarding homosexuality to be “persecution.”

The question was: “There is a trend developing in which gay activists are filing lawsuits against people who refuse to do business with them on moral/religious grounds – such as when a New Mexico photographer was sued by a lesbian couple for refusing to photograph their wedding. Knowing this, which of the following statements most closely represents what you think about this?”

More than two of three Republicans called it “persecution of Christians,” along with 45 percent of independents. Even 33.1 percent of Democrats had the same answer.

But 31 percent of Democrats, as well as 12 percent of Republicans and 24 percent of independents, said, “Such tactics are necessary.” ruled the Christian owners were compelled to photograph the ceremony for Willock and Misty Pascottini because of the state’s interest in preventing discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Sexual Impurity And The Corruption Of Our Nation’s Soul

I am one of those who lived through the years of the "60's."

There has never been a decade quite like the sixties; the diversity, conflicts, hope, anger, the music, the dance crazes and the fun that characterized these years. The 60s decade was a decade of change. Not only were those changes evident in fashions but world events, music of the 60s, automobiles, toys, and individual self expression as displayed during the largest outdoor rock concert ever performed, Woodstock. The television shows of the fifties and sixties depicted the morals and values of our society. The simplicity of our lifestyle were so evident at that time. The westerns on the televisions series were about the good guys always winning.

Music and events of the day interacted with one another as we progressed through one of the most turbulent decades in modern history. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential hopeful Bobby Kennedy illustrated the turbulent and restless society. Lance Morrow said "The real 1960s began on the afternoon of November 22, 1963. It came to seem that Kennedy's murder opened some malign trap door in American culture, and the wild bats flapped out."

In contrast to what I said above, the sixties decade has been described by historians as the decade that resulted in the most significant changes in our history. 

• In 1969 the race to space was won by the U.S. by putting a man on the moon. This one event caught more press and attention second to only the Vietnam War. 
• The 1960s were also time of turmoil, probably described as such for the racial unrest during this period, social injustice and because of our involvement in the war in Vietnam. 
• The magnitude of violence in the streets of U.S. cities as well as on college campuses in protest of the War in Vietnam was unprecedented in our history. 
• The burning of the flag and draft cards were widely used as tools for protest.

Even though the 60s had its periods of unrest and violence, it was a great decade to have grown up in. If you don't believe it just ask anybody who was a baby boomer. (Anybody who was born from 1946-1964.) [I was born in 1946] 

Here is "what was."

• The fashions and ideals of today were shaped by baby boomers. 
• The "60's" were a time when life seemed so much more carefree and slower. 
• The music was clean and fun and we actually understood the lyrics. 
• We knew all our neighbors on the street where we lived. 
• Innocent fun was the game not violence against our fellow man.

The school dances with the crazy dance steps of the popular dances at the time were fond memories. We invented steps to add to the ridiculous steps these had. We were having fun just as the sixties were meant to be.

The 1960’s games Ouija and Twister were all the rage, and this was the precedent to "satanic" worship, still prevalent today. The bingo halls were frequented often, a pastime which has since been in a steady decline, along with other pastimes have also gone out of fashion.

Stumbling through the 60s you will recall the famous and not so famous written and spoken words that were so much part of the 60s culture. Margot Kidder said, "It was a wonderful time to be young. The 1960s didn't end until about 1976. We all believed in Make Love, Not War. We were idealistic innocents, despite the drugs and sex." And John Lennon said "The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It wasn't the answer. It just gave us a glimpse of the possibility." As I look back, I can see why the 60's had so much impact on today.

When I was living in those days of the 60's, I thought they were a time of fun and innocence. But when I Think Back Over Those Days, I Wonder How Did We Survive?

Things would never be the same!!!

Someone has said that we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

I remember that we had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because......WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Pay-stations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays,

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Little League had try outs and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

The past 50 or so years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! 

OR DID WE?

Anyone who lived through the ‘60s knew our country would never be the same. Not only did the sexual revolution shake our national innocence, but that era produced many congressmen, governors and state legislators who are adulterous, sexually corrupt, or just plain deviant. Although former Congressman Anthony Weiner and San Diego Mayor Bob Filner are the latest examples, who can forget Bill Clinton, who disgraced the highest office in the land?

Unfortunately, morally challenged leaders aren’t the worst product of that revolution. When our culture rejected sexual restraint, it laid the foundation for two sources of national shame: abortion, and the normalizing of deviant sexual behavior.

What’s the common root to this slide into moral relativism? The loss of an age-old virtue known as sexual purity.

For generations our nation upheld a thin veneer of sexual propriety in the public realm. Though artificial in many respects, it reflected a legacy of Christian modesty inherited from our nation’s beginnings. But that restraint was virtually abandoned over this last generation.

Consider what’s now commonplace: 

• gratuitous sex in movies; 
• infantile potty and sexual “humor” in most TV SITCOMs; 
• advertisements delivering soft porn; 
• songs and video games glorifying self-gratification, sexual indulgence and voyeurism; 
• the evening news searching for stories having sexual details; 
• young women’s clothing catering to exhibitionism; 
• and the Internet providing unspeakably vile content to anyone who wants it.

Should any of this be a surprise?

Sexual impurity and societal decay have been commonplace (though generally condemned) ever since the fall of mankind. Whether it is:

• polygamy (Genesis 4:19), 
• adultery (2 Samuel 11), 
• rape (Genesis 34:1-7) 
• or outright perversion (Genesis 18:1-19:29), 

nothing is really new under the sun. 

But as prior nations have learned, there’s an unavoidable cost when society openly glorifies sexual exploitation. An increasingly rotting legacy is passed to the next generation as they’re sexualized at ever younger ages and never taught the virtue of sexual self-control, or, as Hebrews 13:4 so aptly puts it, how to keep the marriage bed pure.

Obviously, there are consequences to casual sex: STDs; broken marriages; physical and emotional abuse; sexual harassment; public leaders living double lives; and yes, even personal regret and shame. Read what Romans 2:13-15 says about this:

• 13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 
• 14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 
• 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

But it gets worse. Lack of sexual responsibility feeds an irrational attitude toward a consequence of sex: pregnancy. Clearly, God intended children to be a blessing (Psalm 127:3-5) 

• 3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 
• 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
• 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

God instituted marriage as the best way to bring them into the world. But when sexual conquest becomes culture’s highest aspiration, abortion becomes the quick fix to an unwanted nuisance. This nuisance, however, is a life created in the image of God just like his parents (Genesis 1:27).

• 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

Unfortunately, government is not a bystander in this destruction of life; it’s an accomplice. First, it makes abortion a legal right to be protected at all costs. Second, it treats students in public school as little more than animals with no control over their sexual appetites, providing explicit sex education, and then offering free condoms and trips to abortion clinics. It’s no wonder teenagers choose to follow their baser instincts.

If the death of innocent, unborn children provides little restraint to sexual promiscuity, it follows that deviant sexual appetites won’t have any restraints either.

Once sex is governed by a consumer mentality, any aberration can and will be quickly normalized. It’s not surprising that the sexual revolution opened the way for homosexuals to aggressively engage the public mind, the entertainment media, and the legal realm. Homosexuality violates the obvious compatibility of the male-female biological design created by God (Genesis 2:24)

• And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Again, our Lord set the agenda for a man and woman in Matthew 19:4-6

• 4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 
• 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 
• 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Homosexuality has devastating health and emotional consequences, but, irregardless,  homosexuals have successfully convinced much of our nation that it’s normal, healthy, and above criticism.

When healthy sexual norms are discarded and homosexuality is mainstreamed, any manner of sexual perversion and deviancy will seek legitimacy. Look around. Gender selection and confusion, bisexuality, transexuality, and even man-boy love relationships are all being promoted as normal and healthy.

As a result, our nation is reaping what it has been sowing: heartache, pain, disease, confusion and self-destructive behaviors that no amount of government spending will ever be able to correct (Galatians 6:7-8).

• ⁷ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 
• ⁸ For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 

In contrast, sexual purity and self-control, abstinence before marriage, and fidelity within traditional marriage are openly ridiculed as naive and treated as religious fanaticism. Scripture is right in characterizing this worldly attitude as foolishness. Here is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14; 3:18-20:

1 Corinthians 2:14

• But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

1 Corinthians 3:18-20

• 18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 
• 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. 
• 20 And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 

In fact, common sense, reason and research have always shown that societal stability is best served when sexual desires are kept within clear, respectful bounds and cherished within marriage.

If our sexualized society continues to pursue this immoral path, our country is doomed. If God’s standards continue to be ignored and denigrated, inevitably our nation’s vitality will be dissipated and its moral conscience hardened against anything God has intended for our good.

Can this slippery slope be stopped? 

Only if the next generation can objectively see the rotting fruit that comes from embracing sexual impurity and decides to return to behaviors that God has declared as good and beneficial.

The Prophecy Of Isaiah 17: Destruction of Damascus

In the last days, the Bible tells us of a horrible series of events that will take place in the lands of Israel and Syria. One of these events is the disappearance of Damascus as one of the premiere cities in the world. The oldest continuously inhabited city on the planet, Damascus has witnessed at least 5,000 years of human history, and some historians believe the city actually dates back to the seventh millennium BC. In fact, Paul was on the road to Damascus when Christ first appeared to Him, an event that transformed not only his life, but the course of human history.

In the very near future, Damascus will once again play a major role in human events. The prophet Isaiah provides us with God’s commentary on a future conflict between Damascus and Israel, and in so doing, he reveals certain prophecies which have been partially fulfilled in the past. However, the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 17 remains in the future. The current existence of Damascus, which will one day cease to be a city, as well as the historical absence of the coalition of nations prophesied to attack Israel and be destroyed by God, is proof that Isaiah 17 prophesies events yet future.

This is what God revealed to the prophet Isaiah:

• "The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, saith the LORD of hosts." Isaiah 17:1-3 (KJV)

These opening verses paint a bleak picture. The city of Damascus will become a heap of ruins, utterly destroyed. Few, if any, buildings will be left standing. The once great city will be devoid of human life and will become home to all manner of wildlife in the absence of humans to chase them away.

According to these verses, the cities of Aroer, which are located on the northern bank of the Arnon River just east of the Dead Sea, will also be deserted. However, the passage doesn’t say they will be destroyed in the same manner as Damascus, just that they will be deserted. It may be that people simply flee these cities out of fear.

In addition, many of the fortified cities in northern Israel will also be destroyed. Those few who remain in Aram, 38 miles south southeast of Damascus, will share the fate of these northern Israeli cities.

• "And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean. And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn, and reapeth the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim. Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, saith the LORD God of Israel." Isaiah 17:4-6 (KJV)

The breadth and scope of destruction is clearly illustrated as God describes the Israeli landscape as stripped bare of people. Only a small fraction of people either choose to stay in the land or else survive what is a massive holocaust, leaving only a few inhabitants who struggle in poverty.

• “At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.” Isaiah 17:7-8 (KJV)

As a result of this event, the people of Israel will once again turn to God Almighty. Currently, the nation of Israel is predominantly secular in nature. Other biblical passages infer that this will change as the prophesied rebuilding of the Temple in the last days indicates a spiritual resurgence among the Jews of Israel. Nevertheless, this passage clearly indicates the people of Israel will turn away from all false idols and gods.

Knowing that this will happen, we must ask: why does it happen? The answer is found in the verses that follow:

• “In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation. Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips: In the day shalt thou make thy plant to grow, and in the morning shalt thou make thy seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.” Isaiah 17:9-11 (KJV)

The devastation that overshadows Israel will come about because Israel has “turned from the God who can save them.” All the hard work performed prior to this event will be lost. Those who have been distracted by the things of this world will be disappointed, for they have forgotten God, and by putting faith in the things of this world, they will ultimately be disappointed. Their only harvest will be “a load of grief and incurable pain.” This grief will be brought to a climax when, in the midst of their suffering, the nation of Israel faces an imminent invasion:

• “Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.” Isaiah 17:12-14 (KJV)

While Syria and Israel lie in ruin, the enemies of Israel will view her suffering as an opportunity to invade, their ultimate goal to destroy her forever. However, God has a different plan in mind, and He will destroy these invaders Himself.

A more in depth illustration of this attack is foreseen in Psalm 83:

• “O God, don’t sit idly by, silent and inactive! Don’t you hear the tumult of your enemies? Don’t you see what your arrogant enemies are doing? They devise crafty schemes against your people, laying plans against your precious ones. ‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence.’ This was their unanimous decision. They signed a treaty as allies against you – these Edomites and Ishmaelites, Moabites and Hagrites, Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites, and people from Philistia and Tyre. Assyria has joined them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. Do to them as you did to the Midianites or as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River. They were destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses fertilized the soil. Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die like Zebah and Zalmunna, for they said, ‘Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!’ O my God, blow them away like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind! As a fire roars through a forest and as a flame sets mountains ablaze, chase them with your fierce storms; terrify them with your tempests. Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. Make them failures in everything they do, until they learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you alone are the Most High, supreme over all the earth.” Psalm 83 (NLT)

So how do we know that Psalm 83 describes the same scene envisioned in Isaiah 17? Let’s compare the two. Here’s how the intentions of Israel’s enemies are described:

Plunder & Destruction-

• “This is the just reward of those who plunder and destroy the people of God.” Isaiah 17:14 (NLT)

Destruction-

• “They devise crafty schemes against your people, laying plans against your precious ones. ‘Come,’ they say, ‘let us wipe out Israel as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its existence.’ This was their unanimous decision.” Psalm 83:3-5 (NLT)

Plunder-

• “for they said, ‘Let us seize for our own use these pasturelands of God!” Psalm 83:12 (NLT)

Here’s how the fate of Israel’s enemies are described:

• “They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind or like dust whirling before a storm.” Isaiah 17:13 (NLT)
• “O my God, blow them away like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind!” Psalm 83:13 (NLT)

From the description of their fate alone, it is reasonable to conclude that the armies of Isaiah 17:12 are the same nations who sign a treaty against the Lord in Psalm 83:5-8. Below is a list of those nations and their modern geographical equivalents:

• Edomites = Jordan / Parts of the West Bank

• Ishmaelites = The Arab people

• Moabites = Jordan / Parts of the West Bank

• Hagrites = Jordan / The Arab people

• Gebalites = Lebanon

• Ammonites = Jordan

• Amalekites = Southern Israel / Gaza

• Philistia = Gaza

• Tyre = Lebanon

• Assyria = Syria / Parts of Turkey and Iraq

• The Descendants of Lot = Jordan

By studying the geographical history of these ancient people and places, we can uncover which nations they currently compose. According to Psalm 83, in the aftermath of the destruction of northern Israel and Damascus, Israel will be invaded by armies from Jordan, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. All of these locations are heavily populated by the enemies of Israel today.

An Expanding War?
But are the nations cited in Psalm 83 the only nations involved in this attack? It’s quite possible that additional conspirators are named in the Book of Ezekiel. Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 might well foreshadow the war of Gog and Magog.

• In Ezekiel 38-39, an enormous coalition of nations, “a vast and awesome horde” – will roll down on Israel “like a storm and cover the land like a cloud” Ezekiel 38:9 (NLT). 
• This prophesied future war in Ezekiel has many similarities to Isaiah 17:12-14. 
• Both prophets foresee a time when enemy armies rush toward Israel while she awaits unprepared. 
• Both prophets foresee God’s instantaneous destruction of Israel’s enemies. 
• And in both scenarios, the marching armies intend to plunder and destroy the people of Israel:

Destruction

• “You will say, ‘Israel is an unprotected land filled with unwalled villages! I will march against her and destroy these people who live in such confidence!” Ezekiel 38:11 (NLT)

Plunder

• “But Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish will ask, ‘Who are you to rob them of silver and gold? Who are you to drive away their cattle and seize their goods and make them poor?" Ezekiel 38:13 (NLT)

Plunder & Destruction

• “This is the just reward of those who plunder and destroy the people of God.” Isaiah 17:14 (NLT)

Could the events predicted in Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 be a catalyst for the war of Gog and Magog prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39? Although it is not a certainty, the possibility can not be completely ruled out.

What About Today’s Headlines?

Looking at today’s geopolitical landscape, it’s not difficult to envision the scenario outlined in Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83. Syria has been adamant in its demand that Israel surrender the Golan Heights, threatening war if Israel fails to comply. Meanwhile, the summer 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah has apparently convinced leaders in Damascus that Syria can be victorious in a conflict with Israel by simply overwhelming the tiny nation with rocket attacks. From a greater perspective, it has convinced the entire Islamic world that Israel isn’t the militarily invincible nation they once thought.

Syria’s rocket technology is far more advanced than that deployed by Hezbollah, and Syria is known to possess chemical weapons, including the highly lethal VX and Sarin gases. If Syria miscalculates and attacks Israel with these weapons, the Israeli response will be swift and devastating. Israel is armed with nuclear weapons, and if its survival is put in question, it will not hesitate to use them.

If this happens, a mortally wounded Israel will become an irresistible target for her enemies. The surrounding Muslim nations will see an opportunity to destroy her, while Russia will see an opportunity to seize the upper hand in the oil rich Middle East.

Today, the most virulent enemies of Israel reside in the very places named in Psalm 83 –

• Hamas in Gaza.
• The Palestinians in the West Bank and Jordan.
• Hezbollah in Lebanon. 
• The Syria leadership and its Axis of Evil partners in the city of Damascus.

As I write this, the conditions are ripe for the fulfillment of Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83, paving the way for the rapture of the church and the beginning of the tribulation. In light of such developments, we should zealously preach the Gospel of Christ to all who will listen. For the hour is late, and the return of Christ is near.

Discerning The End Times

Discerning The End Times Through the Eyes of Peter. [2 Peter 3: 1-12]

From what we understand from historical records, Peter wrote this letter, which by all indication, was his final one, around 65 AD. He was probably in Rome at the time, since he was crucified in 68, though he may have still been in Babylon, where he’d written letter number one five years earlier.

The principal design of this chapter is to demonstrate, in opposition to the objections of scoffers, 

• that the Lord Jesus will return again to this world; 
• that the world will be destroyed by fire, and 
• that there will be a new heaven and a new earth; and to show what effect this should have on the minds of Christians.

From studying God's Word, we know that this present world will be destroyed. Looking forward to that great cataclysm we fix our hope not on anything in this material universe but on the new heaven and earth God that will create. Our vision of the future, and values shaped by the expectation of Christ's return, motivate us to live "holy and godly lives."

I believe that we can see that Peter gives a three-fold purpose in writing: 

• to stimulate spiritual growth among Christians, 
• to combat the false teaching that was coming into the Church, and 
• to emphasize the certainty of the Lord’s return. 

Here is what Peter says in chapter 3.

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour: Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  [2 Peter 3:1-12]

In the first four verses, Peter talks about our attitude toward the  return of the Lord, and a test of apostates.

This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance.  [2Pet. 3:1]

Simon Peter makes it clear that he is the writer of both epistles. "I stir up your pure minds" -- "pure" is not the best translation. Our minds are not pure minds, and the word Peter uses means "sincere" rather than pure. He is addressing genuine believers.

He is saying, "I want to stir up your sincere minds by way of remembrance." This is not something new he is going to talk to them about; he just wants to stir up their memories.

Now what is it that he wants them to remember?

That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour.  [2Pet. 3:2]

"The holy prophets" are the Old Testament writers. "And of the commandment of us the apostles." Notice that Simon Peter doesn't put himself in a position of being above the other apostles; he is just one of the boys. Before he finishes this epistle, he will refer to something Paul had written, which means he includes Paul as an apostle also. He is saying that the things he is going to remind them of had been written about by the other apostles and also had been the subject of the Old Testament prophets.

Now notice the subject -- Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts.  [2Pet. 3:3]

This was something they were to know first of all. In the last days, I believe, are the days in which you and I live, and they will continue on into the Great Tribulation period after the rapture of the Church.

"Scoffers" will be the apostates whom he described so vividly back in chapter two. These scoffers evidently will be members of churches, and many of them pastors, who will be "walking after their own lusts," their own desires, not attempting to follow the Word of God. You see, it is this type of person who attacks the truths of the Bible. If a man is willing to forsake his sins and is willing to receive Christ, God will make His Word real to him. 

Paul, writing in 2 Corinthians 3, said that a veil is over their minds; but if their hearts will turn to God, the veil will be removed. Their problem is not intellectual; their problem is heart trouble. 

So now these "scoffers" put forward a false argument saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. [2Pet. 3:4]

In other words, they will say something like this, "Some of you premillennial folk have been saying for years that the Lord Jesus is going to come back and take the church out of the world, and then after a seven-year period of tribulation, He will come to the earth to establish His Kingdom. Well, where is He? Why hasn't He come?" They are going to scoff at it. The second coming of Christ will be denied -- not only by the atheist  standing out yonder on a soap box, but it will also be denied by those who stand in the pulpits of the churches and profess to be believers.

Now what did the Old Testament prophets write about? They wrote about the coming of Christ to the earth to establish His Kingdom. What did the New Testament apostles write about? They wrote about Christ's coming to take the church out of the world and then, after the Great Tribulation, about His coming to the earth to establish His Kingdom. Notice that the Old Testament prophets did not write about the church -- not one of them did. They wrote only about His coming to earth to establish His Kingdom.

It was the Lord Jesus Himself who first revealed that He would be coming for His own. He said, as recorded in John, "...I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself..." (John 14:2-3). The place He was going to prepare was not down here. It was not on the other side of the Mount of Olives -- if you doubt that, go look at it; it is a desolate place. Our Lord went back to heaven, and that is where He is preparing a place for us. And He promised to come back for us. In 1Thessalonians 4:17, we are told that we will meet Him in the air.

Let me repeat: The prophecy in the Old Testament of Christ's coming was to establish His Kingdom upon the earth; the prophecy in the New Testament of His coming was first to take His church out of the world and then to come to establish His Kingdom upon the earth.

"For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." This is the "proof" which the scoffers will offer, and, by the way, it is the most prevalent argument given in our day. "The fathers" would refer all the way back to father Adam.

The scoffers adopt the doctrine of laissez faire or let's continue with the status quo. Nothing unusual has happened in the past. Things have just progressed along. Man has evolved, and things have come along gently and nicely in the past. Peter is going to say, "That's where you are absolutely wrong. If you think nothing has happened in the past, let me tell you about it!"

Now Peter is going to talk about three worlds in one. That is not something strange to us. Older folk will remember using two-in-one shoe polish. Then there was a sewing machine company that put out three-in-one oil. Well, you and I live in a three-in-one world.

We have been hearing a great deal about one world, and certainly the world is moving toward the day when a world dictator will take over. I don't think there is any question about that in the minds of thoughtful men. Great thinkers of this century have taken the position that we have come to a crisis and to the end of man on the earth.

So Peter starts off talking about three worlds. Here in verses 5 and 6, he talks about the world that was.

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.  [2Pet. 3:5-6]

There are two ideas concerning this passage.

The first is that there was a judgment in the pre-Adamic world, before man was put here. We have a suggestion of what took place in Isaiah 14:12-14 

• "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." 

Satan's desire was never to be unlike God. He wanted to take God's place. And there are a great many human beings who want to be little gods down here. Any man who is working on his own salvation, whose theory is that he is good enough for heaven, ignores the fact that he is dealing with the holy God. He does not seem to realize that man is a sinner, that man is lost, and that God has provided a way of redemption for him. The Lord Jesus said, "...no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Remember that it was the God-man who said that! Now, if you think you can go to the Father on your own, what you are saying is this: "Move over, God. I'm coming up to sit beside you because I am a god also." That, you see, was Satan's desire, and it occasioned a judgment which evidently took out of heaven a great company of angels who had joined forces with Satan, Lucifer, son of the morning.

The second possibility is that Peter is speaking about the water judgment that took place in Noah's day. Many outstanding Bible teachers hold to the idea that this refers to the Flood of Noah's day. 

I personally hold to this suggestion here.

The antediluvian civilization was destroyed with a flood, and there is abundant evidence for this. The great shaft which was put down at the site of ancient Ur of the Chaldees shows that there were several civilizations destroyed. In the excavation, the archaeologists came to a great deal of sand and silt with quite a bit of sediment which was deposited there by a flood. Then beneath all this, they found the remains of a very high civilization. Personally, I believe that Peter refers directly to the Flood of Noah's day, and surely this earth bears abundant evidence of such a flood.

Now, whether Peter was referring to the pre-Adamic judgment or to the judgment in Noah's day is a matter of conjecture. It makes no difference at all which view you hold as to when the world was "overflowed with water, [and] perished." The important thing is that it did occur at some point in the past. There is abundant evidence that some great cataclysm did take place and that all things have not continued as they were from the beginning of the creation.

Now Peter comes to the world that is. This is the world you and I are living in, now.

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men [2Pet. 3:7].

This says that this earth has been stored up for fire. This is a very interesting expression, by the way, and it not only means stored up for fire but also stored up with fire (that could easily be the translation of it). The suggestion is that there are resident forces present in the world which could destroy it. It is not that God is going to rain fire down from heaven but that this earth carries its own judgment. How well we know this today! You and I are living on a powder keg -- or, more literally, on an atom bomb. There will never be another flood to destroy the world. That judgment is past; water destroyed the world that was. Now the world that is is reserved for another judgment, the judgment of fire. In other words, this present order of things in this world is temporary. It is moving toward another judgment, and Peter will give us more details in verse 10.

"Kept in store" is the same Greek word that the Lord Jesus used when He told of the man who was laying up treasure. Well, God had been laying up this secret of how He made this universe, and it seems that man has broken into God's secret treasure house. It seems that man has opened a veritable Pandora's box. There are many people, today, who are saying that we are living in "perilous" times; but I want to go back a few years to some who have said what they thought.

• Dr. Urey from the University of Chicago, who worked on the atomic bomb, began an article several years ago in Collier's magazine by saying, "I am a frightened man, and I want to frighten you."
• Winston Churchill said, "Time is short."
• Mr. Luce, the owner of Life, Time, and Fortune magazines, addressed a group of missionaries who were the first to return to their fields after World War II. Speaking in San Francisco, he made the statement that when he was a boy, the son of a Presbyterian missionary in China, he and his father often discussed the premillennial coming of Christ, and he thought that all missionaries who believed in that teaching were inclined to be fanatical. And then Mr. Luce said, "I wonder if there wasn't something to that position after all."
• Dr. Charles Beard, the American historian, says, "All over the world the thinkers and searchers who scan the horizon of the future are attempting to assess the values of civilization and speculating about its destiny."
• Dr. William Yogt, in the Road to Civilization, said, "The handwriting on the wall of five continents now tells us that the Day of Judgment is at hand."
• Dr. Raymond B. Fosdick, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, said, "To many ears comes the sound of the tramp of doom. Time is short."
• H. G. Wells declared before he died, "This world is at the end of its tether. The end of everything we call life is close at hand."
• General Douglas MacArthur said, "We have had our last chance."
• Former President Dwight Eisenhower said, "Without a moral regeneration throughout the world there is no hope for us as we are going to disappear one day in the dust of an Atomic Explosion."
• And Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, ex-president of Columbia University, said, "The end cannot be far distant."

If men from all walks of life are speaking in this manner, certainly you and I, who have believed the Bible and who have had through all these years such a clear statement concerning the judgment that is coming upon this world and the way in which it is to be destroyed, should be alert. Do not misunderstand me, I do not know what will be God's method for the destruction of this world. I am merely saying that man at last has found out that this passage in 2 Peter makes good sense. This is a way that is not only logical but is scientific by which God can destroy this universe.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day [2Pet. 3:8].

Now it is obvious that the destruction of the earth and heavens will take place during the Day of the Lord, which is an extended period of time including the seven years of tribulation and the one thousand years of the millennial Kingdom. When the Lord Jesus returns to the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation period and establishes His Kingdom here, He is going to renovate this earth -- but that will not be a permanent renovation. Not until after the Tribulation and after the Millennium will the dissolution of the earth and the heavens (of which Peter speaks) occur. So you see, even if the Rapture should take place tomorrow, it still would be a thousand and seven years before this destruction.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance [2Pet. 3:9].

God is long-suffering; He is patient; He is not rushing things. After all, He has eternity behind Him and eternity ahead of Him. He doesn't need to worry about time! To Him a thousand years is as one day and one day is as a thousand years. But the point is that the final judgment, the dissolution of the earth and the heavens, is coming. In the meantime, He is giving men everywhere a further opportunity to repent and turn to Himself. This is the reason you and I need to get the Word of God out. It is the only thing that can change hearts and lives. It is by the Word of God that folk are born again -- as Peter said in his first epistle, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1Pet. 1:23).

It is not God's will that you should perish. Maybe, the reasons that you are reading this article is simply because God does not want you to come into judgment; He wants you to pass from death unto life. And you can do that -- you can turn to Him and receive the wonderful salvation that He has for you.

Do you know that you cannot keep God from loving you? You can reject His love, but you cannot keep Him from loving you. Neither can you keep it from raining, but you can raise an umbrella to keep the rain from falling on you. Also, you can raise the umbrella of indifference or the umbrella of sin or the umbrella of rebellion so that you won't experience God's love, but you cannot keep Him from loving you.

You can slap God in the face; you can turn your back on Him; you can blaspheme Him, but you cannot keep Him from wanting to save you. You cannot keep Him from loving you, for He provided a Savior, His own Son, to die in your place. The Lord Jesus will save you if you will receive the salvation He offers. But, things are not going to continue as they are now. You and I are living in a world which is moving toward judgment.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up [2Pet. 3:10].

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." There is some argument as to whether this takes place at the coming of Christ to establish His Kingdom or at the end of the millennial Kingdom. I am convinced that the Day of the Lord is an extended period of time which opens with the Tribulation, followed by the thousand-year reign of Christ, the brief rebellion led by Satan, and the judgment of the Great White Throne. Then, as we find in the Book of Revelation, the new heavens and the new earth come into view.

"As a thief in the night," the same expression which Paul uses in 1Thessalonians 5:2, indicates that it will begin unexpectedly.

"In the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise." The Greek word used here for "noise" is rhoizedon. It is the word used for the swish of an arrow, the rush of wings, the splash of water, the hiss of a serpent.

"And the elements shall melt with fervent heat." You see, matter is not eternal as was once believed; you can get rid of matter -- that is, it can be converted into energy. Peter speaks here of "the elements," the little building blocks of the universe, the stoicheia as it is in the Greek. Stoicheion is a better word than our word atom which comes from a Greek word meaning something you cannot cut, because we have found that an atom can be cut and it can be taken apart.

"Melt" employs one of the simplest Greek words, the verb luo, which simply means "to untie or to unloose." When God destroys this earth someday, it is going to be a tremendous thing. I think that it will be just like a great atomic explosion, and the earth will go into nothing. I have always felt that the Lord will probably turn the little atoms wrong side out and use the other side of them for a while. When He does that, man will never be able to untie them again.

"The earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." This will certainly include the tremendous amount of water that is on the earth -- it will be burned up. We know today that water is made up of two elements, hydrogen and oxygen, and both of them are gases that are inflammable and can be very explosive. There are certain kinds of fire which, when water is put on them, are only helped along by it. Firefighters have to use certain kinds of chemicals to put out such fires. "The works that are therein shall be burned up."

Peter is saying that God will judge in the future just as He has in the past. At the beginning of this chapter, Peter says that the scoffers will say, "All things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (v. 4). The scoffer's great fallacy is in not knowing the past.

The Day of the Lord will include judgment also. The "day of the Lord" is a familiar term in Scripture. The prophets used it, the Lord Jesus used it, and many of the New Testament writers used it. It is a technical term. The Day of the Lord begins in darkness, as the Old Testament prophets said -- it begins with tribulation. It ends with this great explosion, this great judgment of the earth by its being dissolved by fire. Between these two great events is the period of the seven years of tribulation, the coming of Christ to the earth to establish His Kingdom, the millennial Kingdom, the brief release of Satan and the rebellion of those who rally to him, Satan's final confinement, and the Great White Throne judgment of the lost. Then after the judgment of the earth, which Peter is describing, the new heaven and the new earth come into view.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness [2Pet. 3:11].

Now Peter says that, in view of the fact of what has happened and what God is going to do in the future, you and I ought not to be standing on the sidelines, twiddling our thumbs, and indulging in criticism. Christians find it so easy to criticize others, but specifically, what are you doing today to get out the Word of God? That is the important question in this hour for every Christian, every church, every pastor. Every person sitting in the pew needs to say to himself: "I am not here to sit in judgment on the preacher; I'm not here to judge other Christians; I am here to get out the Word of God, to do something positive. The question is: What am I doing to that end?"

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? [2Pet. 3:12].

"Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God." Peter is writing to the Diaspora, the Jews scattered abroad, and he says that the day of God is coming.

"Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved." After the dissolution of the present heavens, the day of God, which is eternity, as we see in Revelation 21:1, will come.

"Wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" This is one of the most remarkable statements you could possibly have coming from a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. I don't imagine that Peter figured out how the water, that sea where he fished, would burn. He didn't know how all this could be dissolved and melted. But the elements, that which we call atoms, the building blocks of the universe, are to be absolutely melted. However, this time Peter uses a different Greek word for "melt" than he used in verse 10. It is tekomai, a word that means actually "wasting away, the wasting away of nature." 

This could possibly suggest the effects of radioactivity when an atomic bomb goes off.

Time Magazine Promotes A Childless Lifestyle As The Path To The Good Life For U.S. Couples

Our nation is rapidly changing, and not for the better.

There is a relentless assault on the family in America today unlike anything that we have ever seen before. For decades, the entertainment industry and the mainstream media have been portraying marriage as the time “when your fun is over” and they have been encouraging young adults to put off marriage for as long as possible. So now the marriage rate in the United States is at a record low and the average age for a first marriage is at a record high. Meanwhile, the entertainment industry and the mainstream media have been heavily promoting the philosophy that having fewer children is better, and they have been teaching our young people that abortion is a really good option if an unwanted pregnancy comes along. The whole idea is that children are going to keep you from enjoying the kind of life that you really deserve to have.

This philosophy is taken even further in a new Time Magazine article. The article is entitled “The Childfree Life: When having it all means not having children“, and it openly promotes a “childless lifestyle” as the path to the good life for young U.S. couples. The following is how the article begins…

• One evening when she was 14 years old, Laura Scott was washing dishes in the kitchen with her mother when she decided she didn’t want to have a child. At 26, Scott got married and waited for her mind to change. “It never happened,” she says. “And I realized I was going to be fine.” Now 50, Scott is more than fine: she’s fulfilled. And she’s not alone. The birthrate in the U.S. is the lowest in recorded American history. From 2007 to 2011, the most recent year for which there’s data, the fertility rate declined 9%. A 2010 Pew Research report showed that childlessness has risen across all racial and ethnic groups, adding up to about 1 in 5 American women who end their childbearing years maternity-free, compared with 1 in 10 in the 1970s.

The article goes on to point out that the average cost of raising a child born in 2011 to adulthood will be approximately $234,900, and it suggests that women should think long and hard before making such a commitment.

Well, what is a woman to do if she gets pregnant and she decides that raising that child will ruin her life? According to the entertainment industry and the mainstream media, abortion is a very simple answer to that problem.

In America today, the vast majority of abortions are done for the sake of convenience. Abortion is essentially a human sacrifice to our own selfishness, and there are millions upon millions of Americans that will go to any lengths to justify the murder of their own children.

In fact, it has gotten so bad that now many liberal thinkers are even postulating that life may not even begin at birth unless parents decide that it does.

Yes, that sounds absolutely insane, but that is apparently what MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry believes…Perry thinks she has the answer to the ages old question of just when life begins. Her answer: life begins whenever parents “decide” it does.

Practically since the beginning of the national abortion debate the most fought over question between the pro-abortion and pro-life sides is just when does life begin? In an attempt to avoid the arbitrary, most try to utilize some sort of scientific reasoning to decide when life is life. The pro-life side says life begins as soon as the egg is fertilized while the pro-abortion side often contends that life isn’t life until it is self-sustaining, meaning a fetus isn’t “life” until it can survive outside the womb.

But here comes extreme left-winger Harris-Perry to offer the most arbitrary criteria of all: whenever anyone feels like life begins, then that is “life.”

“When does life begin? I submit the answer depends an awful lot on the feeling of the parents. A powerful feeling–but not science,” Harris-Perry said on her July 21 MSNBC show.

As a result of our national obsession with selfishness, our population growth has now fallen below replacement rate. The following is from a recent article by Aaron Dykes and Melissa Melton…

• Meanwhile most Western nations are now facing a “baby bust,” with population growth falling well below the replacement rate. The global fertility rate has fallen to 2.42 births in 2011 numbers (with 2.1 needed for statistical replacement, or, an equilibrium of human births). The United States, like other Western nations, has already fallen below replacement rate, with a population growth rate of 0.9% and falling, insufficient for continuity, which in turn affects the possibilities for economic growth.

Today we look around and wonder where we will get the trillions of dollars of retirement benefits that we have promised to the Baby Boomers.

Well, if we had not aborted more than 50 million babies since Roe v. Wade was decided, perhaps we would have enough workers to pay the bills.

And as I mentioned earlier in this article, our obsession with selfishness has also resulted in the U.S. marriage rate dropping to an all-time record low…

• The marriage rate has fluctuated in the past, with dips in the 1930s and 1960s, but it has been in steady decline since the 1970s. Now, researchers report that the marriage rate has dropped to a new low of 31.1, meaning there are about 31 marriages in the U.S. for every 1,000 unmarried women, researchers found. In 1950, that number was 90.2. In 1920, it was 92.3.

In America today, young men and young women are both taught that they need to put off marriage until their educations are done and their careers have started.

So instead of entering into committed relationships at a young age like previous generations did, our young people are being encouraged to embrace “the hookup culture”. The following is an excerpt from a recent article by Mona Charen entitled “The New Brainwashing: Women Like Hookups“…

• Fifty years on, we have this dispatch from the University of Pennsylvania: “Sex on Campus: She Can Play That Game Too,” a New York Times account of the way women at one Ivy League school are supposedly “hooking up” in preference to having relationships. 

It’s not that the sexual revolution actually favored men, the Times reassures its readers, it’s just that women are too focused on careers to make time for men. They pursue sex with “hookup buddies” without a flicker of regret....

• This is the new brainwashing. Women have been sold (and sold and sold) on the notion that happiness and fulfillment are to be found in careers. Marriage and children are items to be calendared after the MBA, J.D., or Ph.D. Sex is recreation. Getting attached to the human being behind the sex organ can limit your internship options.

Cheerleading articles like Hanna Rosin’s 2012 Atlantic piece, “Boys on the Side,” argue that far from enduring the “hook-up culture,” women are enjoying their promiscuous freedom. The New York Times piece is in that mold.

In this type of environment, anyone that embraces the “old ways” is considered to be abnormal.

In fact, MTV plans to do a new “freaks on display” reality show about virgins that they hope will get very high ratings…

• This as-yet-untitled show follows the lives of several abstinent young people (ages 18 to 25) trying to handle their love lives, parental sex talks, sexually active friends, and the pressure to give in to their temptations. Throughout each episode, MTV chronicles v-card-carrying cast members from across the country, all “plagued with the overwhelming question of keeping their virginity… or losing it.”

Sadly, our entire society is rapidly rejecting traditional values regarding marriage, sex and family. If you can believe it, Barack Obama recently even nominated someone for a federal judge position that believes that abstinence education is “unconstitutional“.

Our nation is rapidly changing, and not for the better.

Perilous Times Today

We are definitely living in very perilous times. When you think of what the definition of perilous means, [something that is dangerous or very risky] one might argue with me over the use of the word, here.

Anytime our society treads on the laws of nature, and God, we are in perilous times, my friend; we are in dangerous territory. I am specifically referring to the gay rights agenda.

From the get-go, I have friends [at least I think they are my friends] who are gay. If it's just me, I think I am more tolerant of their life style, than they are of mine. And the word tolerant, may not be the best to use here, because as a Christian and believer in Jesus Christ, we are not to be tolerant of "sin." Again, we are to love the sinner, but hate the sin. The sad part is that a majority on both sides do not know or understand what that means.

My in-box today had several articles, two on which caught my attention.

One concerns California, and the other, the military.

On the same day that the governor of California signed a bill into law mandating that boys who identify as girls be allowed to use girls’ bathrooms and vice versa, a California committee approved legislation which would cause any non-profit organizations that do not embrace homosexuals to lose tax-exempt status.

The Senate Bill referred to is [(SB323], and was first introduced in mid-February by Ricardo Lara, a Democratic state senator from Los Angeles. Lara is himself an open homosexual, as well as a member of the California Legislative LGBT Caucus. According to the bill’s introduction, SB323 would “provide that an organization that is a public charity youth organization that discriminates on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, or religious affiliation is not exempt from [state taxes].”

Here are the organizations are specifically listed as entities that would have to embrace these “gender identity” and “sexual orientation” guidelines, or else lose their tax-exempt standing. Little League, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, Young Men’s Christian Association, Young Women’s Christian Association, Future Farmers of America, Future Homemakers of America, 4-H Clubs, Boys’ Clubs, and Girls’ Clubs are all included.

On Monday afternoon, California’s Committee on Revenue and Taxation held a hearing on SB323, and eventually approved the legislation by a 6-3 vote. Now the bill moves forward to the Committee on Judiciary.

It interesting that you don't see churches, and / or religious organizations listed, not yet.

The irony of the proposed law, is that its blatant use of extortion instills its own form of discrimination by trampling individual and organizational religious beliefs by labeling them ‘outdated practices,’ practices that are protected by the First Amendment. In essence, they are holding nonprofit groups hostages,financially.

Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute, told Christian News Network that the enforcement of AB 1266, the bathroom bill, will lead to instances of “extreme violation of [students’] privacy,” with “horrendous” mental and emotional ramifications.

Dacus further said that both SB323 and AB 1266 are being driven by those who want non-traditional sexual behavior accepted and protected in every arena.

“The common motive,” he explained, “is to inoculate anyone who has any objection to homosexuality or transsexuality, and [both bills are] specifically targeting young people. The goal is to make transsexuality, cross-dressing, and homosexuality a cultural norm—not just as a matter of tolerance, but as a matter of socially-mandated acceptance.”

“It’s a massive demoralizing campaign which is being engaged in at the expense of countless young people who will be unquestionably impacted,” he said.

Then in San Antonio, Texas this week, due to a perceived slight against homosexuality, Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk is in a fight for his career. The Lackland Air Force base first sergeant was told by his commanding officer to clear out his office on Aug. 9. The point of contention reportedly is not about anything Monk said, but what he refused to say. "It's all because he didn't say anything wrong. He thought it."

Monk has served for 19 years. Deployed as a medic, Monk devoted himself to saving the lives of his fellow service men and women, according to his pastor.

At issue is Monk's refusal to reveal his personal views regarding homosexual marriage to his commanding officer. According to a Fox News report, the commander, a lesbian, asked Monk to report on disciplinary proceedings for an Air Force instructor under investigation for making objectionable comments about homosexual marriage during a training session.

According to Fox News, Monk interviewed the instructor and determined his comments were not intentionally provocative. But some trainees complained. Monk suggested that his commander use the incident as a learning tool about tolerance and diversity, but to no avail.

So who is being intolerant here? You must read on.

"Her very first reaction was to say, 'We need to lop off the head of this guy.' The commander took the position that his speech was discrimination," Monk reportedly recounted.The commander began to press Monk about his views on the issue.

According to Fox news, the commander said she needed to know if Monk could, as her first sergeant, see discrimination if somebody says that they don't agree with homosexual marriage.'"

Having witnessed the commander's ire regarding the instructor, Monk declined to answer. He also understood Air Force policy demands silence from homosexual detractors.

The news report said she got angrier and angrier with him, so he got fired for something she thinks he believes.

The action will be a mark on an otherwise spotless record. Monk was said to be a "pure military, a real "do-it-by-the-book" serviceman who also happens to be a strong Christian.

It is a sad day for us, when we get fired from a job because someone thought that we were thinking something that they didn't like.

This is why I say we are "living in perilous times." I believe God's Judgement is soon to fall, if it hasn't already.

Baseball Mentioned In The Bible

When I ask people if they knew that baseball is mentioned in the Bible, they will usually respond and say, "oh yea, where"? And I will respond with Genesis 1:1 - "In the big inning" [beginning]. They will kinda laugh at me as being a silly old man. Then I will say that "Honda' is mentioned in the Bible, and again the question, where? And I will say the disciples went to the upper room in "One Accord" [Honda]. Now, I know that's stretching it a bit.

But when I tell them that just as Bible prophecy foretells future events, it also reveals some interesting circumstances that talk about the modern technology in our world today, they very skeptically look at me and say, "you've got to be kidding. Here are some examples:

1) Increase in Knowledge - 

Daniel 12:4 reads, "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." 

These words were spoken to Daniel when he asked for an explanation of some of the end-time prophecies that had been given to him. In short, he was told that the prophecies would not be understood until the time came for them to be fulfilled. We must be living in that time because the rapid pace of modern scientific discovery is enabling us to understand Daniel's prophecies for the first time.

2) Transportation - 

Again, the context is from Daniel 12:4 concerning the "time of the end." The closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more people will travel faster and farther. Stop and think of how we traveled just a single century ago. We've traded our horses in for automobiles, speedboats, jets, and rockets.

3) Mark of the Beast - 

Revelation 13:16-17 reveals that the Antichrist will control all buying and selling in the Tribulation economy. How does he achieve this? He does so by requiring his name or number to be put physically on each person's forehead or right hand. What kind of technology could enable such a mark? Some have suggested tattoos with magnetic ink and readers, but I personally think that an RFID chip will be implanted in our forehead or hand. And most certainly computer networks, e-commerce and the Internet will play a part.

4) World Evangelism - 

Jesus in Matthew 24:14 declared, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

Technology is playing a big part in evangelism today and will continue to do so during the Tribulation. The whole world will even witness the death and resurrection of the Two Witnesses at the mid-point of the Tribulation. That means mass communication devices such as satellites, cell systems, cameras, television, and the Internet.

5) Image of the Antichrist - 

Revelation 13:13-15 reveals that an image made in the likeness of the Antichrist will be given the appearance of life and be able to cause "fire to come down from heaven."

We live in the only time when this could be done with modern technology, utilizing pyrotechnics or lasers for the fire and robotics or holograms for the "living" image.

6) Population Explosion - 

Revelation 9:16 and 14:20 contain prophecies that at the end of the Tribulation the decimated world population will still be able to produce a two hundred million man army that originates from the East and marches to their slaughter at Armageddon. That is possible only because of the exponential population growth of today. And what has produced that? Medical technology.

7) Nuclear Weapons - 

Nuclear weapons are strongly suggested in horrific descriptions of future calamity such as "their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet" (Zechariah 14:12), "the sky receded like a scroll" (Revelation 6:14-15), and "men will faint from terror... for the heavenly bodies will be shaken" (Luke 21:26).

With tens of thousands of nuclear bombs sitting unused, their time is short until launching. Complex technologies such as heavy metal refinement, nuclear plants, and inter-continental ballistic missiles for deployment are involved.

8) Limits on Technology - 

The events of the Tribulation also give us an indication of just how far technology can be allowed to go, and it's not that much farther. Take, for example, the fact that rare earth metals vital to the construction of today's technologies are quickly running out.

Or consider the fact that future events prophesied in the Bible involve all people, but only people on this earth. That pretty well makes it clear that we will not be colonizing any moons or planets in the near future. Plus, the destruction of infrastructure and power grids along with solar disruption by the end of the Tribulation may reveal why the soldiers at Armageddon are pictured as using horses and primitive weapons. Man's technology, along with most of the earth, will have been decimated.

We live in a time like no other, where dizzying strides in technology make end-time scenarios finally a reality.

Jesus is coming soon!

WE ARE LIVING IN A LAWLESS SOCIETY TODAY-FROM THE PRESIDENT ON DOWN

I have my bags packed, cause I do believe that Ol Pete is ready to "toot" and when he does. I am going to "scoot."

In 2 Timothy, Paul warns of the apostasy that will come in the last days. He also gives us the antidote for that apostasy, which is the Word of God. That is why this chapter is so important and meaningful for us today.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was. [2 Timothy 3:1-9]

It is this antidote, that is being "flushed" down the toilet of many of our churches and government in today's society.

This past week, in a press conference, President Barack Obama said that when Congress won't agree to what he wants, he would act alone. That statement, which he has made before, should send shivers through freedom-loving Americans.

The president was asked where he gets the authority to delay the Affordable Care Act 's employer mandate, even though the law states that the mandate "shall" go into effect Jan. 1, 2014. The Obama administration had announced the delay on July 3, without seeking Congress' help in changing the law.

In response, Obama said that "in a normal political environment, it would have been easier for me to simply call up the Speaker and say, you know what, this is a tweak that doesn't go to the essence of the law ... so let's make a technical change to the law. That would be the normal thing that I would prefer to do."

Obama explained that he took a different route because Republicans control the House of Representatives and ardently oppose Obamacare.

I have said several times that I do not believe we will see another presidential election, because I personally believe that he, Obama, will issue some form of "martial law." If we see another election, it will be by a miracle and the grace of God, ALONE.

But, when you read his statement, you see how disconnected this president is from this nation's history and constitutional principles. Divided government is the norm in the United States. Most modern presidents have had to govern with an uncooperative

Congress or at least one house of Congress controlled by the other major party. With the exception of Richard Nixon, presidents — from Eisenhower to Reagan to Clinton and both Bushes — have not tried to exempt themselves from the Constitution.

Here is the article of law:
Article II, Sec. 3 of the Constitution commands the president to faithfully execute the law.

Courts have consistently ruled that presidents have little discretion about it. President Obama can't pick and choose what parts of the Affordable Care Act he enforces and when.

The framers duplicated the safeguards their English ancestors had fought hard to win against tyrannical monarchs. Most important, the English Bill of Rights of 1689 barred an executive from suspending the law. The tug and pull between the president and an uncooperative Congress is what the framers intended. It's checks and balances in action.

What we are seeing is the "lawlessness" of Obama. He has no patience for this constitutional system. In June 2012, the president announced that he would stop enforcing parts of the nation's immigration laws, because "We can't wait" for Congress to offer relief to young illegal immigrants brought into the country by their parents.

Again, I believe his plan is to do away with the constitution, and set himself up as a dictator. he has more support for this than you can imagine.

My friend, it is not as far fetched as you might think.