CERTAIN OR UNCERTAIN?

If you’ve been watching world events changing our landscape each and every second you’ve no doubt have a great amount of thoughts going through your mind…..like what can I be certain about and what not.   

We all like certainty in our lives.  It helps provide some sort of direction.  Like things are all planned out.  But, look around you again.  Just when you think you have it all figured out, anything can happen.  And often times it does.   We could lose our job, a pet could get run over, a parent could suffer a heart attack, the furnace could quit working or your husband or wife could leave and take the children with them.  Now, that’s a pretty ugly way to look at some facts of life that could occur.  But hey, they do.  

Matthew Henry might have summed it up best on his “Complete Commentary on the Bible”.  “In this age of theory and ‘we can not know for sure about anything’, it is wonderful to have a belief system concerning which we may ‘know with certainty.’  Henry comments about a surefire direction in Luke 1:4.  “It was intended that he should know the certainty of those things, should understand them more clearly and believe more firmly.  There is a certainty in the gospel of Christ, there is that therein which we may build upon; and those who have been well instructed in the things of God when they were young should afterwards give diligence to know the certainty of those things, to know not only why we believe,  but why we believe it, that we may be able to give a reason of the hope that is in us.”    

These are not easy times.  More than ever before our faith will be put to the test.    That I'm certain of.  With many apparent signs, it should be obvious that the LORD'S return could be soon.  That I'm certain of too.  

A message from Focus on the Family in 2011 spelled things out a little more succinctly.  "Let's assume for a moment that these are the end times.  What then?  How should a Christian respond?  Fortunately, the apostle Peter gives us straightforward answer to this question.  Writing specifically with reference to the end of the age, when "the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat, and both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up, "Peter does not suggest that believers head for the hills, adopt a 'fortress mentality' and start stockpiling food and weapons.  Instead, he ask "since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat?"  (II Peter 3 10-12). 

As Peter sees it, end-time Christians are called to do one thing:  they are to practice holiness and do good to others wherever and whenever they can.  They are supposed to work the works of God 'while it is day' (John 9:4)           

Hopefully this will help easy some worries you might have.  God is near and loving and he is coming.  That we can all be certain of.  Now the question is, are you ready?

YGG,

John  

IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER

Last week President Donald Trump pulled U.S. Troops out of Syria.  To say the least, a firestorm ensued.  Members from both Republican and Democratic parties have voiced their opposition.  That's not really unexpected.  So have a number of religious leaders.  That is a little surprising.

Conservative Christians have stood by President Trump on nearly all of his decisions and in spite of  raunchy accusations thrown at him.  The New York Times offered thoughts on the breaking of the ranks.  "Some of Mr. Trump's top evangelical supporters broke rank to raise alarms over this move to withdraw troops from Syria, which prompted Turkish forces to launch a ground an air assault against Kurdish-led militia that has been a crucial ally in the American fight against ISIS.  As Turkish warplanes began to bomb Syrian towns on Wednesday, the prominent Franklin Graham called for Mr. Trump to reconsider his decision and worried that the Kurds-and Christian minorities in the region they have defended-could be annihilated.  Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Broadcasting Network, said he was appalled by the Presidents decision, and added that the President of  the United States is in great danger of losing the mandate of heaven if he permits this to happen.  Senator Lindsey Graham, who rarely breaks with the President, said it could be the biggest mistake of his Presidency." 
 

Turkey begins invasion of Northern Syria 

This really shouldn't be a surprise y'all.  If you look back on Trump's campaign promises he listed the Middle East as a "total and complete mess" and wished the government had spent the trillions of dollars in the U.S. instead.  He has long called for us to leave the Middle East.   In February of this year he threatened to pull troops but backed off on the withdrawal.   This time there will be no looking back.   

How did Israel take the news?  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasn't offered any public response to the United States.  In fact, he became appreciably stronger in his stance of what the future holds.  "We very much appreciate the important U.S. backing, which has only increased greatly in recent years (but) we always remember and apply the basic rule that guides us:  Israel will defend itself, by itself, against any threat,"  Netanyahu announced.  BTW, let's mention here that in the end times, let's remember, Israel goes it alone...and they do it with a great amount of confidence that they can handle any and all comers.     

So let's get down to the truth.  That is, if you can handle that.  It doesn't really matter what I think, what you think, what any political expert believes or any religious leaders espouses.  There's only ONE that knows what matters.   And that is God.  Read Ezekiel 35-39 and it will become a clearer.

From my perspective, things are matching up so well.  Perhaps they're happening a little quicker than anyone could have predicted.   But isn't that the case.  To use a sports analogy.  Momentum, momentum, momentum.   

YGG,

John

P.S. "I will make known my holy name among my people Israel.  I will no longer let my holy named by profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel.  It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord.  This is the day I have spoken of.- Ezekiel 39-7-8 

 

      



         

DO YOU SEE WHAT I SEE?

I'm not a political activist.  I'm not a fortune teller.  Nor am I Bible Scholar.  What I am though, is someone that has his eyes open far and wide to what is going on in the world today.  I hope you are too.  If not, in a few words....you need to be.

Monday, President Trump decided to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria's border flanking Turkey.  Many members on each side of the Congressional aisle are not in favor of such a move calling the decision one that could threaten Turkish invasion and lead to the slaughter of U.S. Allies in the region.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C), said in an interview that it was "an impulsive decision that has long-term ramifications" and "cuts against sound military and geopolitical advice."     

Here's where things get a little confusing.  CNN usually sides against the President.  Not so much this time.   CNN analyst Jeffrey Toobin offered thoughts that a majority of voters favor less military involvement in the Middle East and that more people are with Trump than the politicians.   And then it becomes, who knows better?

If you're watching world events and relating that to Ezekiel 35-39 than your warning signals have to working overtime.  Things appear to be lining up all over the place.  Russia President Vladimir Putin and Iran are clearly warming up towards each other.  Makes one think that Turkey, Russian and Iran are sitting together making a big plan for Syria.  It could very well lead to the United States falling to the wayside and it becoming a major threat for Israel.  What might happen next?

"The honest answer is that the Bible does not say",  Joel Rosenberg wrote on his blog last June.  "But to Motherjones.com in Rosenberg's 'Twelfth Iman' series, he postulates that the emergence of the Mahdi, the Muslim messiah, leads to the rise of a new Islamic caliphate in the Middle East that prepares to decapitate Israel by launching nuclear warheads from Damascus.  As the top-rated Amazon review for the final book in the series, "Damascus Countdown" puts it....this is a great read for anyone interested not only in the prophetical future of Israel but for Iran and Syria as well.  It makes one want to keep his or her eyes wide open on the current day Middle East events and see if they line up to eschatological Old Testament passages."

Rockets will signal the war of all Wars 

Whatever you do, don't put your head in the sand and think nothing is at hand.  We are getting closer day by day, hour by hour and minute by minute.  You need to be ready.  Are you?  Is your family?  Are your friends? 

Let me put it a little more understandable way.  "There will be terrible times in the last days.  People  will be lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God"- (2Timothy 3:1-4)

See a pattern. 

YGG,

John