TIME FOR A RESURRECTED ADVENT

 

By James Wilson

 

            About eighty per cent of the two billion+ Christians in our world observe the four weeks before Christmas as a season called Advent.  The 2014 season begins Sunday, November 30, and the word itself means beginning – much like Genesis.  It is a solemn season in which caring for the poor and lonely are stressed and readings from Scripture focus on John the Baptist.  John breaks into history sometime before the Lord goes public.  His story is presented – especially in Mark – as part of the seamless garment of the Gospel of abundant life in the Kingdom of God. 

 

            Mark begins with, “The beginning of the Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  The next two verses quote Isaiah saying God will send a messenger ahead of Messiah who will – in effect – prepare His way like paving a highway in the desert for the coming of the King.  (Citizens in ancient times paved a new highway when their king approached.)  The next verse depicts John preaching a baptism of repentance. 

 

            It cannot be plainer than it is.  Repentance is turning about to face in a new direction.  For those who already know the Lord it is about re-focus of our attention on the One we once adored; for others it is about gaining that focus for the first time.  Other Gospels share the things John calls his listeners to do – as the necessary demonstration of that re-focus – forgiving each other; feeding the hungry and clothing the naked; carrying others’ burdens an extra mile.  But Jesus Himself makes it clear that repentance is itself the beginning of the Good News – the privilege of repentance – when He makes His first public statement.  “Repent,” He says, “for the Kingdom of God is near.”  The Greek we translate as “near” actually means “in pursuit.”  The Kingdom and its King are pursuing us; the privilege of repentance is the privilege of turning to be captured by Him.

 

            As a Christian steeped in the recurring seasons of the Church year I used to correct my evangelical brethren when they celebrated the Christmas season throughout December and let it die on New Year’s Day.  “No,” I would say.  Advent is December – the time of preparation – and Christmas-the-season begins on Christmas and runs through Epiphany on January 6.  But in light of John’s announcement of the privilege of repentance my friends seem onto something.

 

            On the other hand, there is a lot to be said about the traditional view of Advent as a time of visible repentance-preparation – visible in the sense that we find ourselves doing good works perhaps neglected earlier in the year as – in this season – Lord creates a heart of flesh in what has been a heart of stone.  This is what the Baptist said.  The idea is that throwing a few coins – or even bills – in the Salvation Army kettle is a good thing; calling friends, relatives, and even a needy family our church sponsors is as good or better.  But these things can be done as add-ons, without a change of heart.  When we take seriously the notion of a time or season for re-focus on God we begin to worship Him in times and places new to us.  He sends our hearts in directions of caring we had not thought of on our own.  We find ourselves caring more lavishly, and more as a result of His re-shaping our hearts.  The horse retakes its rightful place in front of the cart and we are on more than a moment of generosity; we are on a journey of becoming the persons we are called to be and everyone we come across benefits as we do.

 

            This is not some spiritual sleight of hand as opposed to a pragmatic seeking of peace and plenty for those who have little of either.  It is a simple recognition that the One who creates, redeems, and resurrects our humanity wants and understands authentic peace and plenty better than we do.  In the wilderness temptation episode Jesus is tempted to feed the hungry, secure His authority, and right the world’s wrongs outside relationship to His Father.  He knows such an approach never ends well.  His idea is identical to the traditional sense of the Advent season – a time of seeking relationship with God and expecting the abundant-life-fruit-for-all-concerned to follow the seeking.

 

            Even an Old Testament grouch like Jeremiah (29:12-14) knows that when we seek Him we cannot fail to find Him.  What if readers of this blog dedicated the weeks preceding Christmas to that radical seeking?  In this world, as it is today, what have we got to lose?       

 

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

I Walk the Line

You've got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can't hide
For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide
Because you're mine, I walk the line

~Johnny Cash

There is a mistaken notion, especially among the grace, grace, grace crowd, that serving in the Kingdom is akin to a wide open space to roam---sort of like going on a safari in the wild plains of the Serengeti. 

This is an inaccurate analogy.  If we study Bible scripture we see that the closer and closer we get to God, the way becomes narrower and narrower…tighter, more constraining. 

Now, at first glance, this concept can seem almost creepy...Sort of like being in the grip of a Boa Constrictor.  I recently viewed a YouTube video of an Anaconda wrapped around a dog.  Each time the dog exhaled a breath, the snake got tighter and tighter, literally squeezing the life out of him.  The dog was surprisingly calm realizing that struggling would only make the situation worse.  Thankfully the owner came upon the situation, scared off the snake, and the dog survived no worse for wear.  So why would we want to envision an image of constrainment in our Christian lives? 

Like Bob Dylan so aptly sang: 

You’re gonna have to serve somebody

It may be the devil or it may be the Lord

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody. 

The problem arises when we mistakenly think we are “free”…a term in our Western culture definition which usually translates to “Doing my own thing.”  We are deceived.  Seriously practicing Christians embrace the concept that we are bond-servants to Christ.  The scripture tells us that the only thing we have control over is our will or our right to choose.  That’s it.  Despite what secular culture and all the commercials tell you…you don’t get a vast array of choices...Just two:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.

~Deuteronomy 30:19

We can’t say:  “I choose not to choose.”  Go back and re-read the underscore.  You must make a choice.  Like the boa-wrapped dog, you can’t “wriggle out” of it unless your Master comes and chases the snake away.  

I imagine after this harrowing snake incident, the owner proceeded to keep the dog on a short leash when walking through dangerous territory.  I think the dog was more than happy to be close to his owners heels and was cautious about running unrestrained through wild terrain again…Just stay close to the Master’s feet and obey.  Whew…close call.   

Interestingly, the concept for this blog caused me to deeply study the origins and etymology of the word “Serengeti.”   It’s fascinating to find the shaded meanings embedded in one single word.  Names have both a clear meaning and an obscure hidden interpretation.  On the surface, Serengeti means: 

Seren = Serene endless view

Geti = Plains

But it ALSO means:

Seren = Siren Song

Geti = Rift Valley

The ancient Greek definition of “geti” has additional shades of meaning which indicate cattle being prodded by a spear through a gate.  The devil, while seemingly giving us a vast array of delicious options, is really “cattle-driving” those who listen to his “Siren song” with a pitchfork to their destruction.  You may foolishly think, like the Fleetwood Mac song, “you can go your own way,” but instead you are really tromping to the slaughterhouse. 

The Equator is one big imaginary line encircling the Earth.  Geographic locations on the Equator experience the fastest sunrises and sunsets.  It’s truly the line where dark and light are closest together.  The ultimate example is the equatorial location where the upper edge of the Serengeti passes through Lake Victoria in Africa.  The Rift Valley there runs from Israel’s Jordan Rift Valley to Kenya’s Great Rift Valley.  Great political symbolism here if you meditate on it.

Right now, there’s a “rending” going on in the spiritual world.  During Jewish mourning, known as “sitting Shiva”, funeral-goers rip a piece of their outer garment off.  Some wear a black ribbon. The Hebrew meaning for ribband is:  “Line.”  The torn garment or ribband symbolizes and expresses the mourner’s sorrow.  This is a spiritual concept of the Remnant…those who will sit and mourn with God while the Earth is wracked with spiritual and physical grief.  “Sitting Shiva” goes on for seven days.  The Remnant will mourn for seven years. 

He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

~Daniel 9:27

The Great Rift is coming.  It will be evidenced in both physical and spiritual struggles globally.  Those who are closely wrapped up in Christ will stoically face the coming constrictions as the earth labors and travails like one in childbirth.  We will know, like the patient, trapped dog, He is coming soon to set us free.  Those roaming the plains recklessly will weep and wail in loud pain and torment.
 

Only if you are walking the line with the Lion of Judah will you truly be… 

Born Free

Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.

~Song of Solomon 2:8

Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down,
Darkness be over me, my rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I'd be nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee! 

~the last song purported to have been played on the Titanic before it sank

___________________________________________________

~by Debra R. Monterosso

Posted with permission by Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly

Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration 

–Both are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website: www.dayofrepentance.org

or by emailing him at

jdalylaw@aol.com

A EUCHARISTIC HEART MAKES THANKSGIVING MORE THAN A DAY

 by James Wilson

            Last December my wife and I were as close to burnout as we have ever been.  Leading a parachurch ministry is always edgy; we had not seen a paycheck in two-plus years.  Yet by God’s grace we gave thanks for all we had and for all needs being met.  Then we were shock-surprise-gifted with a fabulous two week vacation in Hawaii.  The airfare was fruit of bonus miles from ministry trips; the condo from the unexpected generosity of an old friend.  While there we received one surprise gift after another – from five days’ swimming with sea turtles off a beach where I had never seen them before – to finding parking places much later in the day than they are ever available, to bringing home my favorite Aloha shirt, bought at a street stand discovered after a wrong turn.

            All of these things are unquestionably gifts from God.  But the cultivation of a mindset that believes and appreciates in advance as much as after the fact is what I call seeking a Eucharistic heart.

            The word is Greek for thanksgiving; it traditionally names the Holy Communion.  When we choose to receive whatever comes as gift even before it comes we come to see things through the eyes of the God Who gives them.  Perspective broadens and the ability to respond to opportunities grows.  A Eucharistic heart embodies Jesus’ promise we’ll be taught what we need to know in the very hour we need to know it.  This promise is important enough to repeat in three Gospels.  But such a heart cannot be grown through human effort.  It comes as a gift asked repeatedly.

            Truth is we are so steeped in our survival-of-the-fittest worldview we rarely think to thank.  We are (too) busily tilting at the next windmill, like nine of the ten lepers Jesus heals in Luke 17:11-19.  He tells the one who turned, “Your faith has made you well,” though all were cleansed.  This because all lost their leprosy while one gained a newly authentic life.

            Jesus Himself gives thanks for having a few loaves and fish to feed thousands, for Lazarus in the tomb four days, and while dining with disciples hours before his death.  He sees opportunity where others see disaster – not because He is committed to looking on the bright side, but committed to referring Himself to His Father through thanksgiving – He can then see the world through the Father’s eyes and respond through the Father’s heart.  We are not called to achieve a new perspective, but to forge a new habit that will take a lifetime of asking and practicing to establish.  This is an act of progressive repentance that goes way beyond sorrow for sin.  It shows and draws us toward new life.

            The Pilgrims of Plymouth practiced this heart.  Their numbers cut in half by disease and starvation, they kept choosing to give thanks for the life God had given.  They kept asking Him to give grace to thank and praise Him.  When local tribes taught them to grow food and provided much of their first harvest feast it was natural to share and give thanks despite the dangers that still lay ahead.  But it was natural only because they had been practicing simple obedience to the scriptural command.  Part of the new perspective they gained was conviction to treat the tribal people as children of God.  The Pilgrims were rare colonists in that they respected and appreciated their neighbors.

            Last September my radio sponsor base was so depleted by the ongoing recession that cancellation was imminent.  Forced to cancel a family trip by illness, we gave thanks – and gained three new sponsors.  

            Some say, “But what about people starving and dying of disease?  Aren’t they as worthy as you?  Don’t they give thanks?”  Some thank and some don’t; I’m not to judge.  But we are worthy to know of Jews who covered their heads to pray while awaiting death in Auschwitz.  A Eucharistic heart gives thanks for their witness and for the conviction that it must never happen again, whatever I might have to do to stop it.

I don’t understand how God acts from situation to situation.  As a Christian I try to serve those in need and pray that all needs will be met, not just mine.  But I do know that when I operate out of a Eucharistic heart not only am I better able to see the wonders God performs in my life; I am better able to serve Him in the lives of others.  Have a blessed Thanksgiving.  May it be not a day but a developing lifestyle.

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

PRESIDENT CONCEDES WHAT HE DOES NOT OWN

By James Wilson

            In the eruption over the president’s usurpation of power over immigration an earlier travesty is forgotten.  Last August the Administration acted on requiring corporations holding a faith-based objection to Obamacare.  With great fanfare they permitted religious non-profits to opt out of providing contraceptive and abortion benefits in employee health insurance.  This “concession” comes after the Supreme Court found for Wheaton College, exempting them from the requirement.  They announced a similar waiver for closely held for-profit enterprises.  This second “concession” follows an earlier Supreme Court ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Products.

            Companies and organizations choosing to opt out need not inform their employees they are standing on their faith.  If they just notify the government the latter will quietly arrange for either government funding of these benefits or order insurers to provide them at no cost.  The cans of worms opened by this brazen action are legion.

            First, the president is doing nothing but seeking to end-around the Supreme Court rulings.  The Court forbade him to require these companies to provide reproductive services to employees against their faith-based convictions.  The president now says, “Well, you still have to provide them; but you won’t be the one paying for them.”  The elephant in the room is these companies’ objections are under all circumstances.  Their position is – inasmuch as these things are legal – employees are free to buy them.  But the employers cannot conscientiously supply them, at their own expense or at the expense of somebody else.  And the Court said they needn’t.

            Second, the president promises either the taxpayers or insurers themselves will pay for these services.  The taxpayers are not wild about adding to the deficit in this way, and this is especially problematic when the issue is abortion and studies show 80% of taxpayers oppose government funding of abortion.  (A mere 58% majority would like to see abortion ended altogether.)  Requiring insurer finding is confiscation of property/wealth without due process, which raises a few Fourteenth Amendment issues.  On the other hand, maybe this promise is no more truthful than, “You can keep your doctor,” in which case everything is under control and no worries.

            Third – and this is a whopper on so many levels – news accounts and the government keep promoting the fiction that this was ever about contraception.  Although Roman Catholic teaching opposes artificial birth control of all kinds – and they are entitled to enforce that teaching in their institutions under the First Amendment – the vast majority of Americans have no problem with contraception.  Abortion is another matter entirely – again with the 58% opposed and 80% opposing government funding.  Before we can even have a serious conversation about Obamacare and the mandate one side needs to start telling the truth about the nature of the issue.  It is not about birth control and it is not about access to birth control.  The pills and other aids are available in any drug store – for purchase by the parties wishing to use them.

           

            Fourth and finally – because this is the biggest issue for the greatest number of Americans – Christian or no – the president and his people are again re-writing federal law.  (This makes twenty-seven times, I think, on this law alone.)  The president’s function is to enforce the law; he has the right to recommend legislation.  He has no right, and no responsibility, to make laws.  That is the job of Congress and the state legislatures.  Yet here he goes again, armed with no authority other than his own supreme confidence that he is somehow making things better.  And – given the disaster of biblical proportions that has been Obamacare – we can only stare in slack-jawed wonder at such ignorance fueled arrogance.

            Speaking of the Bible, Jesus famously calls on us to render to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and to render to God what is God’s.  We can debate the fine points of what belongs to Ceasar – whether we wish to let Ceasar define our faith and the behavior that stems from it – if we wish.  But Jesus says in that same Chapter 10 of Matthew that we will be brought before rulers who have power but no real authority.  He promises we will be taught in that very hour how to deal with the predicament, and that if we acknowledge Him before men He will acknowledge us before God the Father.  His promises are never ever broken – in heaven or on earth.

            I strive always to finish a posting with a blessing.  The president is conceding what he does not own.  Those who stand against this abortion mandate are owning what can never be taken from us.      

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

PROPOSITION 8 IS BACK ON THE TABLE

            The Federal Sixth Court of Appeals went against the grain of recent appellate court decisions the other day when it upheld traditional marriage laws in four states.  The Supreme Court must now decide the constitutionality of state laws declaring marriage is between one man and one woman – an issue that was never an issue in the twenty centuries of Western Civilization preceding this one…or in any civilization in any century.

            The Court’s ruling – whatever it is – will bring closure to marriage validity across the country.  It will be a one-size-fits-all decision.  And the marriage laws found unconstitutional in thirty-two states – no vote of the people has ever accepted same sex marriage – will all once again be on the table.  That includes California’s Proposition 8.

            Why is it so important?  It’s about compassion, the Constitution, and God.

            The Word of God commands authentic compassion for all.  In Matthew 25:31-40, Jesus says when we show compassion for “the least of these” we show it for Him.  Just as clear is the prohibition against condemning (judging) in 1 Corinthians 6, placed alongside a strong prohibition against homosexual behavior, for “that is what some of you were.”  But the operant term is “authentic” compassion. 

“In 2012 men who have sex with men (MSM) accounted for 75% of…syphilis cases in the United States,” according to the Federal Centers for Disease Control.  Gays lead in every other category of STD; their rates of addiction, suicide, and domestic violence are equally disproportionate for less than 2% of the population.  Gays have been sold the lie that marriage will solve their health disasters; this is such a farce that they sued the Canadian government because the very opposite was so clearly the case after Canada legalized gay marriage.  Authentic compassion begins with speaking the truth.

            The Tenth Amendment reserves all powers not explicitly granted the Federal Government to the States and the people.  That means states are entitled and expected to order their culture as seems best to them.  “But,” say the supporters of so-called marriage equality, “the courts have overturned many laws that compromise the equal protection guarantees in the Fourteenth Amendment, laws the Civil Rights Movement fought for decades.  This is why we must overturn traditional marriage laws.”  The difference is that slavery, voter rights, and racial discrimination were controversial issues from America’s birth.  In every racial issue before the Supreme Court justices returned to the original intent of the Founders for freedom.  In affirmative action cases the justices have increasingly found they actually cause more discrimination and – as such – are outside original intent.  Again, all the civil rights issues of previous years were alive and controversial from the birth of our nation.  Re-defining marriage was beyond imagination to the Founders, and so never an outgrowth of the freedom for which they fought.  The Fourteenth Amendment is not in play here, but the Tenth can and should govern these decisions.  Authentic interpretation of the Constitution requires it.

            And what about God?  He speaks clearly in Mark 10:6-8.  “But at the beginning of creation God made them male and female.  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and the two will become one flesh.  So they are no longer two but one.”  The defenders of gay marriage are right when they say Jesus never condemned gay marriage.  He is a Lord of creation and resurrection, not of condemnation.  He speaks the only model for marriage that works to bring peace and wholeness to humankind; He needn’t speak of what does not work and never has.  God does not condemn; He commends the only model consistent with His greatest creation.

            That the Supreme Court must take up the issue – not of what constitutes marriage but of who gets to decide it for a state or for all the states – is good news for the heterosexual community.  Many of this more than 98% of the population are disenfranchised by the high handed tactics of multiple federal courts.  Freedom of speech and faith have been abused in every state these courts have impacted.  And the jury is in; all studies show that wherever traditional marriage is stripped of cultural authority heterosexual marriages become less frequent and less enduring. But the homosexual community suffers the most damage.  The gay lifestyle is inherently deadly to those who practice it.  Turning back the lie that permitting gays to marry will somehow save lives is the first step to healing the whole culture – gay or straight.  And it just might stimulate Christians to discover what it really means to reject sin and dysfunction while embracing those trapped in its tentacles.

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

I am an American.  Let me begin this blog with an honest assessment of my own country and some humble admissions.  If there was a global contest, we would hold the world corner on sinful abominations.  If recent reports are correct, I believe that America is currently the PRIMARY creator and importer/exporter of the following depravities worldwide:  child sex-trafficking, funding for abortions, proliferation and encouragement of drug cartels (including supplying them with guns), pornography, Hollywood violence & filth, international geo-political promotion of the LGBT philosophy, and the final abomination:  Betrayal of our ally Israel.  In all of these categories, we are the “winners” by far. 

So with that disclaimer and qualitative assertion being stated first…this commentary in no way reflects the attitude that America or Americans are sailing along just fine.  We are on the Titanic and it has already hit the iceberg.  Our present government is the textbook definition of tyrannical social and moral evil.  

  

But for today, let’s discuss the Christian country of Australia which has a rich Christian heritage.  In 1606, Portuguese Captain Pedro Fernandez de Quiroz Australia to be “La Australia del Espiritu Santo” or “The Southern Land of the Holy Spirit.” 

Interestingly, Australia is also known as “The Land of Oz.”  It has both a secular and Biblical prophetic meaning.  On a secular level it is simply a play on the term “Aus.”  However in Strong’s Concordance, the Hebrew word “Oz” means:  “Strength” or “Might.”  

   

Therefore, I find it rather spiritually significant that this week’s G20 Summit met in Brisbane, Australia.  Brisbane, by the way, means "bone-breaker."  The derivation is from the ancient words "brise" meaning a break, and "ban" - meaning bone.  Brisbane was also the recent location of a Muslim terrorist public beheading plot.  There is some disturbing imagery going on here.

Prime Minister Tony Abbot recently confronted Putin at the APEC Leader’s Summit in Beijing about the downing of Flight #MH17 and the killing of the 38 Australians who were on board.  While no official acknowledgement from Russia was ever forthcoming as to their involvement in supplying the weapon to the pro-Russian rebels, it is widely accepted that the plane was accidentally shot down while mistaking it for another target.  The surface-to-air missile attack was meant to incite aggression in the Ukraine/Russian conflict. 

Savvy political commentators would easily recognize the “Bear” as a symbol of Russia.  However, I think fewer would realize that China is often symbolized as a crouching Tiger and Persians are symbolized by the Leopard.  In antiquity, a leopard was believed to be a hybrid of a lion and a panther. 

With Turkey (Persians), China and Russia meeting at the G20 summit, truly…Lions and Tigers and Bears were meeting in Brisbane.  Oh my!

Rewind the tape to Abbott’s position on abortion.  Many conservative Christian Australians were initially very excited by the election of Tony Abbott.  As a professing Roman Catholic, they believed that Abbott would finally be someone “in their corner” on this vitally important issue.  That initial enthusiasm has given way to resigned dismay as he has simply allowed the abominations of his predecessor to continue. 

Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth. ~ 1 Kings 13:33-34

Therefore, the question remains:  In the spiritual world, is Tony Abbot confronting Putin in aiding and abetting the spilling of innocent Australian blood with “righteous indignation?”  Or is Putin simply behaving exactly like Tony Abbott...unwilling to confront his country's evil radical fringe intent on committing mass murder unopposed?  Is Abbott's refusal to confront the Pro-Death crowd in Australia the moral equivalent to Putin's simply "supplying the weapon" for innocent mass murder?

It is pretty much safe to say that Tony Abbott has stimulated little change on Australia’s abortion laws and has not actively campaigned for any reform on this issue besides maintaining the status quo. See news link below:

Abbott "No Deals" on Abortion

Like Obama, he made his positions clear when he was running for office.  He openly stated that he would not change abortion law if elected and that abortion should remain “safe, legal and rare.”  These are Clinton liberal “talking points.”  However, most Christians still voted for him anyway.

I personally don’t think Tony Abbott is a bad man.  However, it brings to mind this quote: 

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

  ~Edmund Burke

Recently, Christians in Australia invited Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten to give the KEYNOTE address to the Australian Christian Lobby.  With the consent of Director Lyle Shelton, Shorten publicly announced his support of the LGBT pro-gay marriage stance while the “Christian” audience clapped in support.  Even if this applause was just due to tepid politeness,--they clapped nonetheless for someone who just announced he was going to begin promoting Biblical abomination.  (Yay?). 

God is watching all of this closely. 

It seems few have the Courage to stand up to the LGBT movement or the Pro-Death movement in Australia…Neither the current ruling party nor many of the Christian groups.  There are some notable exceptions…but they are just that…exceptions.  Most are like “scared crows” walking along the yellow-bellied path.  

With Bears on their coastline, Muslim Lions threatening their public safety and a Chinese Tiger crouching in the background to “pave the way” for this new Axis of Evil, the Land of Oz needs to live up to it's "strength" and "might" heritage.  

Otherwise, I can almost hear the strains of….

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

~ Proverbs 3: 5-6

~Posted by permission of Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly

Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration 

–Both are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website: www.dayofrepentance.org

or by emailing him at

jdalylaw@aol.com

INTERSTELLAR: HOW TO DISCONNECT FROM REALITY

            When I was an undergrad at San Diego State my roommate and I went for a walk one evening.  A strikingly beautiful woman approached us; she passed within a foot or two of us and only then did we realize she was actually a man – a female impersonator.  My roomie stared at his passing and intoned, “Well, it’s quite an accomplishment…but nothing to be proud of.”

            He could have meant the recently released film, Interstellar.

        Lavishly photographed; well written, acted, directed and produced, and with special effects creating a spectacle and simultaneous microcosm of the universe beyond anything I have seen before, this epic is an incredible achievement.  From a cinematic viewpoint it is awe inspiring.  It also features more plot holes than a swiss cheese.  Astronomically gargantuan plot holes gape from the screen.  One depicts a man, protected only by a space suit, successfully transiting a black hole – a celestial phenomenon featuring gravity so intense it crushes stars and even light itself – hence the name.  Another places the man inside a tesseract – a geometric form not found in nature – from which he shares equations that enable intergalactic colonization with his daughter across time so she can teach him when as a young man before leaving earth. Later the tesseract squirts him back to home and his daughter – now fifty years older than he; it just happens.  A movie bursting with such magical thinking is impossible for this cowboy to see as anything but conceptual rubbish.

            But some will say this is all covered by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.  Don’t mention it to Einstein unless you really want to offend him.  Others will cite the new and “innovative” theories of Astrophysicist Kip Thorne as rationale for what the film dramatizes.  This too is rubbish.    

           Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing again and again while expecting a different result.  The producers of Interstellar – and especially Executive Producer – the very same – Kip Thorne should take note.  His theories are about as new as propeller driven aircraft.  They are a rehash of a sub theory of evolution that says if there are enough universes or dimensions or timelines – take your pick – the mathematical impossibilities in the notion of creation by random chance are eliminated. The theory stubs its toes against first causation, as do all its brother and sister theories.  The Big Bang doesn’t help; it implies a Big Banger and we know Who that is.  But if Thorne and his friends dress it up with enough stirring music and compelling visual presentation they appear to think they can sell what the physics community rejected many decades ago.

            The plot of Interstellar begins with earth in apocalypse – but God is nowhere in it.  An un-named blight destroys a different food crop each year and the dust storms make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s look like a Sunday picnic.  The air is going bad and Mankind will perish within a generation unless we can re-locate to another planet – at least some of us.  Farmer and former astronaut Cooper – who never reached space (Matthew McConaughey) – conveniently stumbles into a top-secret NASA facility just down the road.  He re-connects Brand (Michael Caine), who recruits him to command an expedition for which he has not trained through a newly discovered worm hole – into which astronauts were sent ten years back to discover an earth-like planet in another galaxy.  Brand tells Coop a million people can be saved – including his family – if he goes, although he might never return.  Brand is lying; he doesn’t have the equations to construct the rescue; he can only send thousands of frozen embryos.  He excuses his dishonesty by favoring species over persons.  Coop discovers the deception and attempts to return to Earth, but is caught in the black hole and learns that the ghosts who communicated with his daughter when she was ten are really his own future self signaling from the tesseract.

            What it boils down to – they keep repeating that it is all about evolution – including future anticipated evolution – as Coop eventually discovers we – the collective we – are God.  The film is simply another attempt to evade accountability of any kind to a real God – that is the rub for atheists who, like alcohol addicts, need people to approve and perhaps share their dysfunction.  It’s the warmed over Buddhist, Hindu, and Taoist philosophy – dressed in cinematic splendor – I outgrew as an undergrad.  It is ultimately mega manipulative.  I don’t like manipulation; I do prefer the really real.  His name is Yahweh, His Son is Jesus, and His Spirit is the manifestation of His love on earth.

James A. Wilson is the author of Living As Ambassadors of Relationships and The Holy Spirit and the End Times – available at local bookstores or by e-mailing him at

praynorthstate@charter.net

A New Foundation--Will America Survive the Coming Earthquake?

In the book “Amateur”, there is a story about President Obama calling for a meeting with all the top historians in the country.  With just 5 months experience in the Oval Office, he wanted their advice on what to call his Presidential legacy.  Lyndon Johnson had “The Great Society.”  FDR had “The New Deal.”  He floated the idea of:  “A New Foundation."  How eerily prescient this name becomes now that we have a better understanding of his new brand of liberalism.  He is truly the Pontificator-in-Chief for the Human Secular movement.  At the beginning of his Presidency, he sensed that the U.S was ripe to move off the foundational Biblical underpinnings our country was securely built on.  It actually appeared quite reasonable for the President to attempt to identify “a new foundation”.  Lord knows, (or Obama knows, depending on your perspective), you simply cannot have NO foundation—everyone would agree that this is patently ludicrous.  It would be complete lawlessness.  Or perhaps that is the underlying objective here. 

In architectural engineering, it is not necessarily just the building strength that survives an earthquake but the integrity of the foundation.  For instance, scientists have studied why some similar structures immediately collapse while others come out virtually unscathed during a major quake.  They found the underlying problem to be improper foundations that are constructed on sandy soil.  When the earthquake strikes, the rocking back and forth literally LIQUEFIES the sandy foundation whereas the firm foundation moves along with the building acting as a strong footing or support.  As a nation we have already moved off the gold standard for our currency, now we are about to move off the “gold” standard of the Bible for our foundational principles.  Will our “new foundation” survive the next political or economic earthquake?  Let’s take a look at the frightening new American foundation proposed by the President:

Just as there are 7 Deadly Sins in Judeo-Christian Theology, The New Foundation movement has its own 7 Deadly “Sins.”

1)      The sin of Racism (Played as the “Race Card”)

2)      The sin of Sexism (promoted as the “War on Women”)

3)      The sin of Environmental or Animal Neglect (Green Party/PETA Support)

4)      The sin of Economic Inequality (Entitlement Philosophy/Gov’t Nanny State)

5)      The sin of Corporate Greed (as protested by the Occupy Movement)

6)      The sin of Intolerance (Social Change Support:  Abortion/Marriage Redefinition)

7)      The sin of Worshiping any god other than Self:
          or best known as The Religion of Human Secularism.  The greatest commandment is:

“To Thine Own Self Be True."

On their face, some of these may actually look commendable.  It is upon closer examination of these “trespasses” that we see the deeper problem.  It is the underlying foundational source of these concepts that need to be examined.  If these principles generate from an unsound footing, they will produce instability.  So, just what is the basis of these new foundational values?  Let’s take a look:

The Sin of Racism:  I think all good people can agree that racism is evil.  However, our current obsession with this “sin” comes from fostering hatred between classes.  We see blacks pitted against whites, Immigrants stirred up against Nationalists.  We have all heard the term “Divide and Conquer.”  Guess what?  An America that is divided is very easy to conquer.   

The War on Women: Today “Women’s Rights” now means the freedom to be enslaved.  Have women REALLY advanced in society over the last 4 or 5 decades?  Men expect (and freely receive) sex with no commitments.  Marriage and fidelity are no longer fashionable.  Our children are growing up in broken families with no fathers as we do double duty as single mothers.  Pornography has exploded and we are now told that the womanly ideal is to be immodestly dressed, scandalously unclothed or a 90 pound waif. Let’s face it:  modern day woman is now stripped down, naked and skeletal.  I envision someone in a death camp.  We also get to “enjoy” the “freedom” to dismember our children right out of our womb and toss them in the trash.   Sex selection is the norm in Planned Parenthoods across the country.  Guess who is getting “selected?”  Yes, that’s right—little GIRL babies.  American women have embraced the grim reaper specter of death.  This is the REAL “War on Women.”

 

Mankind against nature:  Ironically, as I write this the United States is on fire—literally.  For all our good intentions towards “Mother Nature” (whomever or whatever that is)—the forces of nature seem to be combating us.  Maybe we need to realize, it is not Mother Nature that we need to reconcile with, but Father God.

Economic Inequality:  Rich against poor.  We now promote laziness and lack of personal responsibility as a virtue.  Ironically, our nation has achieved the absolute highest standard of living EVER RECORDED on planet Earth.  So…WHY are we so angry with successful people?  The only answer I can seem to come up with is plain and simple ENVY.  There is also a complete lack of thankfulness and gratitude for the many and multiple blessings that we enjoy as Americans.  We are not only seeing the glass as half empty—we are petulantly throwing the other half in the face of our fellow Americans.  

Corporate Greed:  This pits companies against individuals.  Remember the statement--“Corporations are people too?”  Mitt Romney got slaughtered in the press for this comment.  However, it happens to be the plain truth.  Take note of how corporations are doing very poorly in Obama’s economy.  Unfortunately, for the “little guy” this also translates into lack of employment opportunities, loss of pension funds and declines in their stock market portfolio.  The suffering is widespread.  While I am certainly not defending grievous actions such as Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scam, suggesting that we discard our historically successful Capitalistic society and exchange it for Socialism does not advance the cause of the middle class.    

Intolerance:  This sets social “progressives” against people of faith.  Suddenly you are a “homophobe” or at “war against women” because you refuse to sanction a particular behavior.  Why is it OK to ask a person to abandon their FAITH but not OK to ask a person to abandon their harmful LIFESTYLE?  Very strange reasoning.  The only intolerance I see today is intolerance towards people who won’t adopt the human secularist position lock, stock and barrel.  Almost ANYTHING or ANY type of behavior is tolerated today EXCEPT—God forbid—saying something is a SIN  (ssshhhhhhh!).  That simply will not be tolerated.  You will be tarred and feathered and run out of town.  The Scarlet Letter we brand today is not “A” for adultery, but “A” for Anti-American if you don’t acquiesce to the human secularism standard.  Our 1st Amendment right to freedom of religion should at least afford us the protection of not having to endorse something we find morally objectionable.  It is no longer an issue of “tolerance”.  It is complete and total intolerance to any other position other than the new one being promoted by human secularists.  You will either comply, or they will MAKE YOU comply.  The HHS mandate forcing the Catholic Church to pay for aborti-facients is a clear example of this.  This is not about birth control.  Birth control has been readily accessible and easily obtained by every single person in America that can walk into a drug store.  This is about complying with the new religion of Human Secularism.  Even if it violates the most closely held tenet of your own faith—such as “Thou Shalt Not Murder."  All the arguments pretending that these are not equivalent are patently false.  It is the same arguments given by the German people during the execution of 6 million Jews.  “Well, I didn’t put the Jews in the gas chamber.  My only function was to cut the lawn at Dachau.  I really had no clue what was going on there.  What smoke?  What chimney?  I don’t know why people went in but never came out.  I just minded my own business”.  Before you know it, you are promoted to Director in Charge of putting the people in the oven.  The really, really, evil guy is the one who actually turns on the gas.  You had nothing to do with it.  Go home and have dinner with your family while you assuage your conscience.

This is the same justification of paying for abortifacients.  You say:  “Well—I didn’t make the women take them.”  No, you just supplied the murder weapon.  If this was a court of law, you would be getting a hefty sentence as an accomplice.  According to the Obama administration, all we need is a little “accommodation” to shut us up.  Unfortunately, the “accommodation” is an adjustment of your morality and conscience.

And then the ultimate:

Humanism:  Man against God.  As we slowly and insidiously remove any mention of God from our public sector, we can almost feel the blanket of darkness descending upon our nation.  The light recedes and the darkness advances.  Ironically, we call this “enlightenment”.  The atheist movement now calls themselves “the Brights.”  I have a scripture for them:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.
~Isaiah 5:20

So…if Americans want to embrace more tension, strife, class warfare, weather related disasters, economic failure, global chaos or simply enjoy seeing Maletov cocktails thrown at innocent businesses by the Occupy movement,--we should immediately adopt these new principles.  Anarchy is the net result of the doctrines of Human Secularism.  If the Judeo-Christian ethic is replaced by these new Presidential ideals, they will become the cracked and shaky foundation for our next Brave New World.

The next “earthquake” is coming.  What will our foundation be?  Pray for the U.S.

On Christ the solid Rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

~Words: Edward Mote cir­ca 1834; first ap­peared in Mote’s Hymns of Praise, 1836.

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?

~Psalm 11:3

__________________________________________________________

~Reprint of Blog Posted on June 30, 2012

~Posted by permission of Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly

Pastor Jeffrey N. Daly is the author of Repentance—God’s Strategy to Bless a Nation and Zeal to Repent!—A Key to Personal and National Restoration 

–Both are available for FREE at The National Day of Repentance website: www.dayofrepentance.org

or by emailing him at

jdalylaw@aol.com