Whole circuit of interplay with life

In II Timothy, the last epistle Paul wrote, he laments, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica."

“Imagine, a guy’s got his name positively mentioned at the end of the Book of Philemon and then at the very end of Paul’s ministry he forsook Paul," says Richard Jordan. "You read down through that list in II Timothy and you don’t expect to find him there. It’s like, ‘What’s he doing there?!’

“You know what, folks, Demas is a warning. You might get all the way up there, but it’s a walk of faith; a daily application of faith to apply God’s Word to your life.

*****

“Two times in Paul’s epistles he warns against ‘enticing words.’ In I Corinthians 2:4, he says, ‘And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.’

“In Colossians 2:4, he says, ‘And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.’

“That idea of enticing words—it’s w-o-r-d-s that are really enticements, where you’re trying to entice somebody into doing something for some other reason than what the REAL issue is.

“Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:17, ‘For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.’

“That ‘wisdom of words’; that’s talking about making your own way, giving your own explanation. It’s human viewpoint, and what it does is ‘make the gospel of none effect.’

“That doesn’t mean you don’t believe the gospel; it just means it doesn’t have its impact. It doesn’t mean you don’t know the Bible, or read and study it; it just means the Bible doesn’t have the impact on your life God’s designed it to have.

“When Paul talks about ‘fleshly wisdom,’ he’s talking about making a religious show. Galatians 6:12 says, ‘As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.’

“This thing about ‘constraining you to be circumcised’; it’s not really an issue of stopping sin because the people trying to get you to do the religious operation—they don’t keep the law either. They don’t perform to perfection either.

“They’ve got something they’re promoting and it gets to be this big fleshly operation. Paul talks in II Corinthians 11 about the Corinthians ‘being corrupted from the simplicity that’s in Christ.’

“He starts out in the chapter by saying, ‘For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.’

“He’s saying, ‘It’s been with simplicity; that’s how I’ve held my conversation with you. My manner of life has been such that it’s just been who God has made me in Christ that’s the issue; not a bunch of human viewpoint.’

***** 

“Sometimes you hear that word conversation, and oftentimes it’s chaffed at because it’s an Old English word that has more meanings to it than what we generally talk about.

“We usually mean our speech. You know, sit around and have a conversation, discussing things with people. But a conversation is more than just a conversational chat; it’s an entering into an interplay.

“I Peter 3 says, ‘Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.’

“Now, notice that’s the wife’s conversation; it doesn’t say that they may hear  your conversation. If the word conversation was only meant to refer to something you’re saying, they would say ‘when they hear your conversation.’

“But what does it say they’re going to do to your conversation? Behold it. Your conversation is not simply something that you hear with your ear; it’s something you can see with your eye. It’s more than just words. It’s something literally that you can see in someone. It’s the way they converse with life; it’s the way they interplay with life.

“Somebody said conversation means ‘a manner of life.’ It’s more than that, though; it’s literally life itself and it’s something that can be held.

"I say that so you understand the translators of the King James Bible, when they used that word, they did not use it simply to refer to words, because you cannot behold words. It has to do with who you are and the whole circuit; the WHOLE of what your life is about.

******

“Paul writes to Timothy in II Timothy 3:10, ‘But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience.’

“He’s saying, ‘You’ve known the things I taught you and you know the way I live--my purpose, my faith, my longsuffering, my charity, my patience, my persecutions and afflictions.’

“Timothy knew all about Paul and it mattered to Paul that Timothy knew more than just the doctrine. He wanted him to know how the doctrine lived in his life and how he ministered that to others.

“Paul says in Philippians 1:29-30, ‘For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.’

“That’s his conversation: ‘What you see in me, what you hear to be in me’; his manner of life. And Paul says to the Corinthians, ‘When you looked at my life, you know the way I’ve lived with you, and it’s been in simplicity. It’s not been a duplicitous life. I haven’t been one way over here and another way there. And it’s been in godly sincerity.’

“He writes in II Corinthians 4:1-2, ‘But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.’

“I think that’s one of the greatest verses in the Bible to give to a preacher or a Believer—anybody who does the Lord’s work—on HOW to do it.

“We’re just going to teach the truth and if teaching the truth will commend itself to your conscience, then your conscience and my conscience are at one.”

Taking the club out of their hands

(new article Tuesday evening)

Paul writes in Romans 8:34, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”

“Somebody going to come along and condemn you?” says Richard Jordan. “Hey, by the way, you condemn yourself better than they would do. When somebody says something about you and you get all proud and huffy, if you’d just sit down for a minute and realize that you can think about yourself a lot worse things than they’re saying about you.

“You can, and in fact, you do at times. That’s what makes you so aggravated when other people do it because you know it’s true.

“Winston Churchill said it: ‘There’s nothing more exhilarating than being shot at and missed.’ Maybe what they’re saying about you isn’t exactly true, but if they knew all the stuff you know about you, you’d be mute. So who is he that condemneth? Who really has the ability to condemn you?

“Romans 14:4 says, ‘Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.’

“Paul said in Romans 2 about some people trying to get around responsibility:  ‘Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.’

“So who is it really who’s going to condemn you? It doesn’t help to say, ‘Well, you did it, too,’ does it? Because that’s really not an excuse.

*****

“You look at all this stuff going on down in Ferguson, Missouri, and it’s who gets the best press. The kid or cop. Everybody’s just looking for a way to condemn the other guy and excuse themselves.

“Pointing your finger at someone else for doing something bad to excuse yourself is the height of absurdity. Either you’re guilty or you aren’t guilty; it doesn’t make any difference what anybody else did. And, by the way, you’re probably guilty.

“That’s why that verse 34 in Romans 8 is so important. Somebody comes along and wants to condemn you; it’s Christ who died . . . Two thousand years ago God knew everything I was going to do and He died for all of it; none of it caught Him by surprise.

“Someone called me the other day and said, ‘My husband’s an unbeliever and every now and then I’ll mess up and he’ll  get mad and look at me and say, ‘If those people at the church knew about you and knew how you acted here at home, they wouldn’t let you open the door!’

“She asked, ‘What should I do?!’ I said, ‘You need to look at him and say, ‘You know, sugar, you’re absolutely right.’

“You know what you just did? You took the club out of his hands. Because he is right but you can acknowledge the fact you made a mistake and did wrong.

“One of the most powerful things you’ll ever do in relationships with other people is you look at them and say, and I deal with this in marriage and inter-personal conflicts all of the time, ‘They’re 95 % wrong and I’m 5% wrong.’

“Let’s say that’s true. If you say to them, ‘You know, friend, I’ve been wrong and I’m sorry,’ you may only be confessing 5% of it in your mind, and they’re guilty of the rest, but that’s them and this is you and you know what, that is such a powerful thing in relationships.

“You say, ‘How can I do that?’ ‘Who is he that condemneth? It’s Christ that died.’ If He doesn’t condemn you, what matters if anybody else does? Can I say to you God is for you.

“In verse 26 Paul says, ‘Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.’

“An infirmity is somewhere where you have a weakness. In my mind, the weakness in this verse is defined for you. ‘Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought.’

“The ultimate weakness you have in life, especially in your prayer life, is you really don’t know how you ought to pray.

“When it comes to taking what God says and applying it to the circumstances of your life, you often throw up your hands and say, ‘I’m not really sure,’ because there are more places where He doesn’t tell you what to do directly.

“He never says buy that car, marry that person. He’ll say, ‘Don’t marry that one,’ but He never says, ‘Marry that one.’ Isn’t that interesting? God expects you to make some of those choices. He expects you to work with Him. Take His word, let it work in you and make some choices and some decisions.

*****

 “I was raised in a religious system where every time you did anything you were happy about you figured it was your flesh because you couldn’t be happy. That’s flesh.

"I remember reading that verse in I Timothy 6 about how ‘God’s given us all things richly to enjoy,’ and I used to puzzle over that and think, ‘If He’s given us all things richly to enjoy, then why do I have to be miserable all of the time to be pleasing to Him?’

“Then it dawned on me one day that I didn’t have to be. I could have some joy that had nothing to do with it being attached to my flesh.

“The Spirit of God takes His Word and makes intercession. He’s for you. You’re not left abandoned. God’s for you.”

Mary to Gabriel: 'I get who I am'

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the nimbus, or radiant circle of light used to depict the head of the Roman Madonna and her child Jesus, was “avoided in Early Christian art” because it symbolized paganism’s Sun-divinity, but then “became customary in the 6^th century for the Virgin Mary and other saints.”

As Scottish theologian Alexander Hislop argues in his monumental book exposing Catholicism, “The Two Babylons,” first published in 1853, “Let any one compare the nimbus around the head of Circe (Pompeii’s “daughter of the Sun”), with that around the head of the Popish Virgin, and he will see how exactly they correspond. Now, could anyone possibly believe that all this coincidence could be accidental.

“ . . . When it is evident that the goddess enshrined in the Papal Church for the supreme worship of its votaries, is that very Babylonian queen who set up Nimrod, or Ninus ‘the Son,’ as the rival of Christ, and who in her own person was the incarnation of every kind of licentiousness, how dark a character does that stamp on the Roman idolatry.

“. . . What will it avail to mitigate the heinous character of that idolatry, to say that the child she holds forth to adoration is called by the name of Jesus? When she was worshipped with her child in Babylon of old, that child was called by a name as peculiar to Christ, as distinctive of His glorious character, as the name of Jesus. He was called ‘Zoro-ashta,’ ‘the seed of the woman.’

“If these things be true (and gainsay them who can), who will venture now to plead for Papal Rome, or to call her a Christian Church? Is there one, who fears God, and who reads these lines, who would not admit that Paganism alone could ever have inspired such a doctrine as that avowed by the Melchites at the Nicene Council, that the Holy Trinity consisted of ‘the Father, the Virgin Mary, and the Messiah their Son’?

“Is there one who would not shrink with horror from such a thought? What, then, would the reader say of a Church that teaches its children to adore such a Trinity as that contained in the following lines?—

“Heart of Jesus I adore thee; Heart of Mary, I implore thee; Heart of Joseph, pure and just; 'IN THESE THREE HEARTS I PUT MY TRUST.’

“If this is not Paganism, what is there that can be called by such a name?”

*****

The Bible passage Roman Catholicism has loved to twist for its pagan-goddess initiative probably more than any other is Luke 1: 42-48:

“And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
[43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
[44] For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
[45] And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
[46] And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
[47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
[48] For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

“When it reads, ‘from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed,’ she’s not authorizing, you know, the Catholic Confession: ‘Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed art thou among women; blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus,' " explains Richard Jordan.

“That’s not the idea where everybody’s going to call ME blessed. She’s not identifying just herself, but she’s seeing embodied in herself what’s going on here in God’s plan and purpose for the nation Israel.

“You’re probably familiar with the corresponding passage in Malachi 3 because of verse 10, or maybe verse 8, where the prophet talks about being robbed ‘in tithes and offerings,’ and being ‘cursed with a curse for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.’

“Now, in the next verse, is God’s corrective to Israel about her failure: ‘Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

[11] And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.’

“All of that’s talking about the Fifth Course of Judgment Israel’s under, where the land isn’t going to bring forth its fruit, and they’re going to be cast out among the nations, and the devourers are going to come and take of them. And He says, ‘If you’ll obey me, if you’ll honor me—if you’ll be faithful, believing remnant—I will restore you.’

“When Malachi 3:12 says, ‘And all nations shall call you blessed,’ that’s exactly what Mary’s talking about over here. She’s quoting Malachi, applying the passage about when God’s going to redeem Israel and set them in their kingdom.

“She’s applying that to her, not because she thinks she’s the issue, and that she ought to be held up personally, but she understands that she is representing all of what her nation is designed to be; she is who Israel is called and chosen to be. And she has an understanding of what’s going on in the birth of Christ as the Messiah.”

*****

Mary’s statement in Luke 1 that “he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,” refers back to verses 26-38 where head angel Gabriel comes to Mary and first tells her she’s going to be the mother of the Messiah.

The passage reads, “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
[27] To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
[28] And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
[29] And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
[30] And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
[31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.”

“When he says, ‘Blessed art thou among women,’ Mary understands from what Gabriel communicates to her that she’s going to be the mother of the Messiah. She got that.

"When she says she’s the ‘handmaiden of the Lord,’ she says, in other words, ‘I understand who I am.’

“Look at Psalm 116:16 and notice this term: ‘O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.’

“You’ll discover that the context of these psalms right in here, over and over, will be exactly the context of the Messiah and Him being the Deliverer and Redeemer in Israel.

“The writer here, and speaking as the Messiah, identifies Himself as ‘the son of thine handmaid.’ That term ‘handmaiden’ was someone who was going to be the mother of the Deliverer in Israel, and so when Mary picks up these terms, she’s not just saying, ‘Well, I’m your servant,” but she understands something about who she is.

"She understands that the ‘seed of the woman’ became the seed of Abraham, became the seed of David, and now there’s going to be the ‘seed of the woman’ through Mary.

“In other words, she’s the mother of the seed line, and she’s got that. She understands that she’s fulfilling prophecy, and when she says, ‘For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden,’ she’s recognizing that the nation Israel is under that Fifth Course and is in a lowly estate.

"They are the ‘tail of the nations, not the head,’ because of their failure and their unbelief, and yet now the Redeemer of Israel is here.

“Notice that salvation for Israel was not just holiness and righteousness before Him, but it was also delivery from their enemies to be established in their kingdom.

"It was the whole panoply of what God promised Israel and Mary understands, ‘I’m gonna be that vehicle—the one who is the INDIVIDUAL who does ultimately what God chose the NATION to be, and that is to be the one who brings the Messiah and the Redeemer into the world!’

“She’s got a handle on who she is and she’s thrilled about the privilege and doesn’t exalt herself but magnifies the Lord and rejoices in ‘God my Savior.’

"By the way, she knew she needed a Savior. There’s none of this ‘Immaculate Conception of Mary without a sin nature,’ and all that kind of stuff that that pagan religion tries to impute to her.”

France celebrates full-on Baal parade with Emmanuel present!

At the end of November, a government-sponsored and taxpayer-funded "Gate of Darkness" parade was held for Baal in Toulouse, France.

"This was no street festival. This was a public occult invocation dressed as art –and Brigitte Macron was in the VIP section wearing a custom black-and-crimson gown embroidered with the same serpentine Lilith sigil that adorned the main float," reports a Christian news site.

"The towering biomechanical hybrids were straight out of Genesis 6 Nephilim imagery, while the Minotaur float re-enacted offerings to the child-eating god Ba’al/Moloch. The centerpiece: a red-eyed 'Lilith' figure worshipped by black-robed performers (dancers in Baphomet-style horned headdresses) chanting reversed Latin."

Put on by France’s Ministry of Culture, the “Gate of Darkness” parade included:
• A 15-foot horned Minotaur resembling Ba’al/Moloch
• Upside-down crosses and pentagram structures
• A mock “sacrificial labyrinth” featuring a goat-masked priest offering a child mannequin to the giant bull-headed mechanical float

“French media outlets, including Le Parisien, reported that Brigitte Macron was present in the VIP section wearing designer attire inspired by the Lilith motif, confirming official involvement at the highest levels,” reports a Christian watchdog website.

“The parade’s towering biomechanical giants closely resembled traditional depictions of the Nephilim hybrid creatures described in both Scripture and early Jewish writings. The inclusion of Lilith—a figure associated with spiritual rebellion, forbidden unions, and demonic offspring—intensified concerns.

From another Christian website: “The Minotaur float, complete with a sacrificial labyrinth stage where performers in goat masks symbolically offered a child mannequin to the bull-headed god, was a direct nod to Ba’al and Moloch worship, the very deities the ancient Israelites were warned never to tolerate.

"And leading the esoteric charge? None other than a towering depiction of Lilith – Adam’s apocryphal first wife turned mother of demons – paraded as a 'liberated goddess' while flanked by transgender-coded dancers in Baphomet-style horned headdresses.

"Which brings us to the Macrons, who were in attendance at the mega-ritual funded by Emmanuel’s government.”

*****

Just this past Wednesday night we were reminded in the evening Bible study at my church that “the chief enemy we face isn’t all this stuff the politicians or Christian nationalists talk about. The chief enemy in that Bible is MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT.”

From the study:

Isaiah 13: [18] Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.
[19] And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

The people who come in and destroy Babylon are going to give back to them just what they’ve been given. You can look at what the social religious cultural attitude of Sodom was and know Babylon is going to be destroyed exactly the same way.

[20] It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

Note, it’s never going to be inhabited by humans again. But look what will happen:

[21] But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.
[22] And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

What’s going to inhabit that territory after the destruction—it’s going to become a place occupied by Revelation 18:2:

[2] And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

He’s talking about the city and it’s 'become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit.'

She’s going to be a 'glory of kingdoms' and then judgment comes and she turns into a zoo for demonic creatures.

We know there are places in the millennium that will be a zoo of demonic spirits. There’s going to be memorials to the destruction of the satanic policy of evil and Babylon’s going to have a place in that.

Here’s the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters:

[3] So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
[4] And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
[5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

(new article this evening. I had a spectacularly busy day at work yesterday with people making Christmas purchases galore, but have today off fortunately--my feet couldn't take another day)

'Yes, Virginia, Satan, er, Santa is an obvious counterfeit'

(new article tomorrow)

"Point is, there's not a single fictional character whose reputation is greater or spread more widely. Quite simply, Santa Claus is a legendary figure, and I couldn't imagine a better role model for all the kids around the world"--Top Ten Most Influential Fictional Characters In History

*****

"Someone asked me, 'Where's Santy Claus in the Bible?' " relays Richard Jordan. "Well, look at Zechariah 2:6. It reads, 'Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.'

"This is God calling Israel back to Jerusalem (for Jesus Christ's return to set up His kingdom), and when He does, He says, 'Ho, ho.' He's excited about regathering Israel and putting them back into their land."

Santa (anagram for Satan) Claus is a false Christ who matches the true Christ in many of his features. In fact, his image is like that of Jesus Christ at the Second Coming.

"In what specific ways does Santa counterfeit the Lord Jesus Christ?" says David Reid. "Santa visits every house in the world on the same night. In order to do that, you have to essentially be omnipresent. Speaking about God, Psalm 139 says, [7] Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?[8] If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

"Santa sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good. He's essentially omniscient. He knows all those things. Proverbs 15:3 says about the Lord: [3] The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

"What does Santa do? He gives gifts. What does Matthew 7:11 say about what God does? [11] If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

"Santa has little children come unto him. What happened in Matthew 19? Jesus Christ says, 'Suffer the little children to come unto me.'

"Santa is a jolly old--he's always described as old. You know why he's always described as an old elf? Because God is the ancient of days. The Lord was before Abraham and thus He was old.

*****

"In Revelation 1:14, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, it says, 'His head and his hairs were white like wool.' So what kind of hair does this guy have?" asks Jordan.

"Verse 15 says, 'And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.' So when this guy comes to your house, what does he come down? The chimney. Did you ever look up the word 'chimney' in the dictionary? It means 'a furnace of fire.'

"Come with me to Isaiah 63:2. This is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ coming. It says, 'Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel.' What color clothes does he wear?

"Look at what Deuteronomy 33:26 says about the Lord Jesus Christ when He comes back to establish His kingdom.

"And, by the way, if you notice verse 24, it says, 'And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren.' Asher is the name of the boy Leah had back in Genesis when she said, 'Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed.' Asher means 'happy.'

"So when the happy God comes to accomplish His purpose, verse 26 says, 'There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.'

"You know how He comes back? He's riding in the sky. 

"In Matthew 7:7, when Jesus Christ's speaking to the 'little flock' in Israel, talking about when He comes to say 'Ho, ho, ho' to the nation Israel—when He comes with that white hair and red garment, riding in the heavens to establish His kingdom—He says to that kingdom group of saints, 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.'

"You take your kids down to the mall and what do you tell them  to tell this other guy in a red suit and white hair? You say, 'Tell him what you want.' Because whatever you want, he'll give it to you.

"In Genesis 18, the question's asked, 'Is anything impossible with God?' Whatever you want, this dude will get you.

"In Matthew 28, Jesus said, 'All power in heaven and earth is given to me.' This other guy over here, we say, 'Well, he knows everything. He knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows when you're bad, he knows when you're good. He's making a list and checking it twice.'

"Revelation 20:12 says men are going to stand before God and the books are going to be opened, and they're going to be judged out of the things written in the books. God's got a list.

"Gets kind of spooky, doesn't it? Think somebody's trying to counterfeit something along the way here?"

*****

Reid continues, "What is Santa's profession? He makes toys, right? Santa is in his woodworking shop making wooden toys. Do you know any famous carpenters? I know one. It's not a coincidence that Santa makes wooden toys, don't kid yourself.

"Where does Santa live? Why is he at the North Pole and not the South Pole? The reason why is in Isaiah 14, where there's a description of what is said to Satan when he's cast into hell and mocked by people. Verses 12-13: [12] 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!

[13] 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:

"The universe has to come to a point where it can't go farther north, almost like the earth has a northernmost point and that's where Santa supposedly lives. He lives in the North Pole just as God sits in the sides of the north. 

*****

"Santa is known as 'Father Christmas.' Jesus Christ is specially called the 'everlasting Father,' isn't He? You can see it in Isaiah 9:6: [6] For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

"What is Santa's other name? Kris Kringle. What does the word 'Kris' mean? It's an abbreviation of Christopher, a name that means 'bearing Christ inside.' It's a derivation of Christ. In other words, Santa, by his very name, is a false Christ!

*****

"Santa Claus is a counterfeit of the Lord Jesus Christ specifically with regard to the Second Coming. Everyone knows the tune, 'Santa Claus is coming to town.' The issue with Santa Claus is his coming! You look forward to it, you wait, you set out cookies so the fat man can steal one. You're anticipating he's going to be there, just as the world waits for the return of Jesus Christ, doesn't it? 'Behold, I come quickly.'

"Santa's always pictured with white hair and a beard. Did Christ have a beard? He apparently did, according to Isaiah 50:6. [6] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

"Revelation tells you something about what Christ's going to look like when He returns. His head and His hairs were white like wool. Isn't that what Santa Claus looks like? See, he masquerades as what the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be at the Second Coming.

"What does Santa wear? He dresses in red and white. What does Jesus Christ wear, according to Revelation 19, which describes the Second Coming?

"Verses 13-14 :[13] And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. [14] And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

"Guess what color it will be--it's going to white and red. It's going to be blood-stained. You would think about Santa differently if you thought that what he was wearing was a blood-stained garment.

"You know what Santa does? He comes surreptitiously, suddenly, unannounced in the middle of the night. You know good and well who that is. I Thessalonians 5:2: [2] For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

"In Revelation 3:3 is Jesus Christ speaking: 'I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.'

"Revelation 16:15: [15] Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

"But there's more. Santa makes a list, doesn't he? What I would suggest to you is that in Revelation 20 the Lord Jesus Christ has a list as well. Because the Lord keeps both the books of the works that men have performed and what does He also keep? The Book of Life.

"Santa checks his list twice. If you read Revelation 20, it seems to me that what happens is before anyone is cast into 'the lake of fire,' just to be safe, the Book of Life is opened and it's confirmed that their name is not in there.

"By the way, does God know who's saved and lost? Of course He does, but He sort of double-checks. He confirms that they're not in the Book of Life before they're cast into the lake of fire. That's Santa checking his list.

*****

"Is Santa designed to be a counterfeit of the Lord Jesus Christ at the Second Coming? This is Satan's deception: Just as it is childish and foolish to believe in Santa when you're grownup, it's childish and foolish to believe in the Second Coming. Doesn't even II Peter say, 'Where is the promise of his coming?'

"You've been told you should teach your children this deliberate lie, that there's this Santa Claus character, and then what happens is someone at school or otherwise tells the kid that it's fake. So they learn that the whole Santa thing is a joke; it's not real, it's just a game children play.

"I believe it's a way to teach people not to believe in the Second Coming. What Satan wants to do is condition people to outgrow their faith in Christ and outgrow their faith in His return.

"The world gets excited when Santa's coming because Santa's bringing toys: 'Isn't this going to be great, we're all going to have a jolly Christmas.' What actually happens at the Second Coming?

"Revelation 6: [15] And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

[16] And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

"There's men who are crying out that they want rocks to fall on them because they're looking up into heaven--they see the sign of the Son of man coming in heaven and think, 'I'd rather be crushed by a large rock because otherwise He's going to come get me.'

"They're not looking for toys; they're in abject fear. Verse 17: [17] For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

"Of course, among the lost, the answer is no one." 

All the world's being staged

You hear commentators refer to it as "disinformation warfare." Either way, the hints are being dropped and the stage is being set for World War III.

"It isn't just your neighbors; it’s the principalities and powers in heavenly places,” says Richard Jordan.

“Satan's angels are all watching us (Bible-believing Christians) and seeing the manifestation of the ‘manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose He purposed in Christ Jesus.’

You're just destroying the ‘wisdom’ of the Adversary. How do you think that makes them feel?!

*****

When Bach wrote Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, he incorrectly assumed the “desire of all nations” from Haggai 2:7 was a reference to Jesus Christ.

The passage from Haggai reads: [5] According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not.
[6] For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
[7] And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts.

“Haggai is not talking about Believers! Think about it, what nation has there ever been that desired Him?! Look at John 5:43 to see what the nations desire:  [43] I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

“Jesus Christ’s saying, ‘I came in my Father’s name, you didn’t want me. Another is going to come in his own name and you know who that is? The Antichrist.’

“You know who the nations really desire? They desire the Lie, not the truth. And when the personification of the Lie, the Antichrist, the 'man of sin,' the 'son of perdition,' shows up as that ‘Wicked,’ what do they do? They receive a lie because they didn’t have a love for the truth. So, what the world does is they receive the Antichrist, believing and trusting in him.

“There’s never been a time in human history, in all the world, that the nations of this world have desired the God of the Bible. They desire ‘the god of this world.’

*****

“Today, the internal strength of character necessary to be who we have been as a nation is GONE. It still exists somewhat in the older generations, but the younger generations, for the most part, while you find little nests of people around, when you go out there in the culture . . . 

"All the things God puts in a culture to de-savage and discipline it and give people the capacity to be strong, Isaiah 14 says what Satan does is he weakens the nations by taking those things out. That’s what’s going on in Haggai; it’s already happened.

“In the 1960s there was a national radio guy, Carl MacIntire, who had The Twentieth Century Reformation Hour, and he used to say, ‘Remember, the Communists want peace--a piece of this, a piece of that, until they have it all.’ I used to think, ‘That’s a great saying. They want peace, but they spell it different. When they have it all, then there’s p-e-a-c-e.’ Well, that’s what this crafty guy wants.

*****

“What you’re seeing going on will really happen when the Antichrist arises.

"The Antichrist's going to come in and stop war, have the answer for peace, and flatter everybody into thinking, ‘He's the guy!’

“Daniel 11:21-22: [21] And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries.
[22] And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.

“He’s going to come in, deliver Israel, make them rich and gain their loyalty. Verse 25: [25] And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.

“The Antichrist's going to go out and there’s going to be another big war and verse 27 says: [27] And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.

“You look at that and you think, ‘That just sounds like modern American politics,’ but what goes on in America goes on everywhere else. Listen, every country is the same way to one extent or another.

“Now in the middle of all of that mess, verse 31 says: [31] And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

“You see there the daily sacrifice and the sanctuary? He has reestablished Judaism. One of the things the Antichrist does is rebuilds Israel’s temple and lets them have back their Mosaic system.

“Verse 32: [32] And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

“There are going to be some people who understand what’s going on. Verse 35: [35] And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.

“So there’s going to be some wisdom among some people and they’re going to have an awareness. Where are they going to get the awareness? Out of these books (of the Prophets) that we’re reading!

“And Hosea says, ‘Who is wise? He’s going to understand. Who’s prudent? He’s going to know.’ The way they know it is because God gave it to them in a Book. These books!

*****

“You see that thing, ‘Who is wise?’ Isaiah says, ‘Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.’

“How they’re going to know is they’re going to get it out of God’s Word. The Book of Hosea is the 28^th book in the Bible. There’s a strange thing about the Book of Isaiah.

“How many books are in the Bible? 66. How many chapters in Isaiah? 66. Isaiah begins, ‘Earth, earth, earth, hear the word.’ The Bible begins in Genesis with, ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’

“Isaiah 66 ends with a new heaven and a new earth and the lake of fire. The last book in the Bible, Revelation, concludes with a new heaven and a new earth and the lake of fire.

“How many books are in the Old Testament? 39. The first book in the New Testament, the Book of Matthew, quotes Isaiah 40 with, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness.’ John the Baptist shows up in Isaiah 40 just like he shows up in Matthew. Strange thing. If you read Isaiah, you’ll discover that each chapter in Isaiah, the thought patterns match that chapter of the Bible.

*****

“It is true of the people who see Israel’s religion re-established, and who’s going to establish that? The Antichrist is. That’s what the book of Hebrews is all about.

“When you see that sacrificial Mosaic system and the temple rebuilt and somebody sitting in that temple professing themselves to be God, run! That’s not God; that’s the enemy!

“One of the first things he does, it won’t take but 220 days after he signs that covenant with Israel that their temple worship will be restored.

“It’s going to be a fast-moving thing. When they see that happen, instead of saying, ‘Wow, he’s the Messiah,’ it’s going to be, ‘Ooh, he’s the Wicked one we’re going to have to run from!’ "

Crossing the great divide

Here are the lyrics to the old hymn "It Will Be Worth It All" by Esther Kerr Rusthoi:

Oft times the day seems long, our trials hard to bear,
We're tempted to complain, to murmur and despair;
But Christ will soon appear to catch His Bride away,
All tears forever over in God's eternal day.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.

Sometimes the sky looks dark with not a ray of light,
We're tossed and driven on, no human help in sight;
But there is one in heav'n who knows our deepest care,
Let Jesus solve your problem – just go to Him in pray'r.

Life's day will soon be o'er, all storms forever past,
We'll cross the great divide, to glory, safe at last;
And we'll all share the joys of heav'n – a harp, a home, a crown,
The tempter will be banished, we'll lay our burden down.

It will be worth it all when we see Jesus,
Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ;
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase,
So bravely run the race till we see Christ.
Till we see Christ

“Life’s a lot tougher in its reality than most evangelicals and the Charismatics want you to believe it is. If you think you’re just going to thank God for all the (troublesome) things in your life, you’re nuts. I’m sorry. God never told you to be grateful for all those things that come into your life. He says in them, in all things, give thanks. How do you do that? You look away from yourself to who God’s made you in Christ.

“Whatever you depend on to give you purpose and meaning and life, that’s what’s going to control you.

“Really the only real sin that you constantly have to deal with is the sin of unbelief. The sin of not trusting the sufficiency God has given you in Christ.

"All the other things—all the sins of the flesh Paul names— adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings—all of those are really symptoms of your lack of faith in the sufficiency of who God’s made you in Christ.

“The way you cure depression is not by focusing on the symptoms, it’s focusing on the source. The battle’s in your mind, first and foremost.

“Imaginations are designed to be programmed by our conscious mind and it’s the things in our imagination that effect our emotions.

“The devil doesn’t program them, you program them. Or you allow them to be programmed by the intake your mind is having. They can be re-programmed, re-directed by your conscious thinking. So you cast down all this uncontrolled involuntary thinking that comes into your mind. Cast it down, ‘bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’

“The way you re-program your imagination is through the conscious application of sound doctrine. That’s the objective of sound doctrine. And that’s the only way you’re going to control what Paul calls our ‘vain imagination.’ ‘Vain’ means empty, useless thinking. Not based on truth, but based on error.”

*****

“The radio has FM and AM dial and we can choose which band we’re going to listen to:

“The one band is error, and it says, ‘Worry and worry early.’ God says, ‘Be careful for nothing.’ Don’t be anxious or worried about anything. Which station do you listen to? Truth or error? 

“God says He’s perfected forever all those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus. How are you going to get any better than that? You’re complete in Christ, ‘blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places.’ This is who God’s made you.

“Which are you going to believe? You say, ‘But look at what I’ve done,’ and God says, ‘Yeah, I know, look at what I did.’

“Where are you looking? What station are you listening to? He says, ‘Reckon yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God.’ ”

“Bottom line, godliness with contentment is where it’s at. As Paul says, ‘I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.’

“You can’t worry and trust God at the same time. So when you’re worrying, you’re not trusting God. It’s impossible to be depressed and thankful at the same time. All you need to get out of depression is to be thankful.

“Understand that neither height, nor depth, or anything can separate you from the love of God and say, ‘I’m going to be thankful to God, in whatever happens, for who I am in Him.’ You bring those thoughts into captivity to the reality of truth, and that’s a depression-buster. The path to freedom is first you decide you want to be free.”

*****

Here’s an inspirational story of a blind teen-aged girl’s testimony at a Bible youth camp:

“She’d been blind from birth. Had never seen the light of day. She’d heard the gospel and gotten saved. The last day of youth camp, we were having a camp fire, and all the teens were giving testimony for what they thanked God for.

“One was thanking Him for the trees, and for getting him up that morning, and all that stuff, and somebody was thanking God for this and that, and this young girl got up and said, ‘You know, I want to thank God.’

“Everybody was looking at her, thinking, ‘What could this blind girl be thanking God for? Blind from birth and has to live all of life blind to all around her.’

“She said, ‘I’ve been listening all week, and I’ve learned about how much God loves me. I’ve learned what He’s done for me in Christ, and what a wonderful future He’s assured me, and how He’s equipped me right now to live a resurrected life in its details.’

“She added, ‘You know, I thank God I was born blind. Because that means I have virgin eyes. The first thing I’ll ever see is the one who loved me and gave Himself for me.’

“When I heard that story, I thought, ‘You know, there’s a girl who’s got it!’ She’s so filled with the love and grace of God that self-pity is turned to thanksgiving, turned to joy unto a ‘peace that passeth all understanding.’ That’s how you have victory every single day.”

Patience will sustain me; 'In Jesus for peace I abide'

I have to admit I have been struggling with anxiety/depression for the last week or so, brought on mostly by the return of feet problems and being told I have plantar fasciitis in my other foot—the one that was my “good foot” when I wore a medical boot on the other foot for five straight months last year. In fact, it was mid-December 2024 when I finally got out of it!

The “mental” conditions have taken a toll on me physically where I have to fight off tears and have even had several “anxiety attacks” at work where it’s hard to breathe and I have a rush of heat over my body even though the surrounding temperatures don’t warrant it. In these unsettling spells I find myself fighting to “stay in the game” with all the things that are being asked of me in a demanding retail job just ahead of Christmas.

The bottom line is if I didn’t have my full-time job, which requires constant physical labor on a cement floor, my foot problems would most likely go away almost overnight.

Tonight, in my sadness that I have a worsening, painful corn on my second-to-last toe on the new “bad foot,” I got out an old cassette tape of my dad’s that he regarded as a favorite in his last years.

Roger Williams is at the piano along with an orchestra and a full-blown church choir singing old-fashioned hymns, including my personal favorites of “Abide with Me” and “Fairest Lord Jesus.”

The lines I love so much from the latter go:

1    Fairest Lord Jesus, 
ruler of all nature, 
O thou of God and man the Son, 
Thee will I cherish, 
Thee will I honor, 
thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

2    Fair are the meadows, 
fairer still the woodlands, 
robed in the blooming garb of spring: 
Jesus is fairer, 
Jesus is purer 
who makes the woeful heart to sing.

3    Fair is the sunshine, 
fairer still the moonlight, 
and all the twinkling starry host: 
Jesus shines brighter, 
Jesus shines purer 
than all the angels heaven can boast.

4    Beautiful Savior! 
Lord of all the nations! 
Son of God and Son of Man! 
Glory and honor, 
praise, adoration, 
now and forevermore be thine.

*****

The BIG thing I forgot to include in my post about my return to my hometown last week (December 11)  is that my dad always played hymns in his doctor’s office. This is what he was known for along with being a “diet doc,” etc., etc.

Here is a post from 2012 explaining this very thing:

My big Christmas present this year from my mom was an old-fashioned Crosley turntable and speakers in a wooden box. I had been without a working record player since I moved to Alabama and found my expensive Sony system broken inside the 12 ft. Budget truck I had rented.

The first record I wanted to hear upon setting the new machine up on top of my kitchen table was not what I thought I would when I opened the gift on Christmas morning at my mom’s house.

I thought I wanted to hear this bootleg Paul Simon LP I have from when he performed live in L.A. in the late ’70s and did all this incredible guitar and piano instrumental stuff with the live audience in the background.

What I ended up yearning to play most were some of my dad’s old vinyl records that I inherited when he died. What got me was looking at the old LPs and seeing his little stickers he had put on the labels with his handwriting in this red ink pen he bought by the dozens and used on everything from prescriptions to greeting cards.

Seeing the word “ALL” in all caps and underlined made me cry. That was meant for me, as his cassette-tape maker for his doctor’s office, to know I was to use any of the songs on that side of the record for my homemade compilations.

Playing these songs was SO important to him. He was compelled to make them part of the psyche of his children as well as every single patient who spent any time at all in his waiting room or on the examining table, etc.

They were such an integral part of his lifeblood as a family doctor that, before he caught on to making cassette tapes from the music, he would personally stop what he was doing to flip the side over on the LPs when it was time!

By chance, the first record I picked to break-in my new record player was one by Tennessee Ernie Ford, entitled, “Nearer the Cross.” I lifted my brand-new record arm for the first time and the first song on the A-side was, “Sweet Peace the Gift of God’s Love.”

The lyrics began with, “There comes to my heart one sweet strain,

A glad and a joyous refrain,

I sing it again and again,

Sweet peace, the gift of God's love."

The hymn ended with, “In Jesus for peace I abide, And as I keep close to His side,

There's nothing but peace doth betide.

Sweet peace, the gift of God's love"

*****

“The ultimate hope of our heart is not simply forgiveness, or simply justification or even heaven, but it’s really the glory of God. You and I, in Christ, are meant to savor and to experience God’s glory," says Richard Jordan in a study from Romans 12.

"That’s the ultimate thing that will wipe away every tear, rectify every wrong. That’s the ultimate thing that in the end will let you sing that song, ‘It was worth it all.’

He went on, “We sing that song, ‘It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.’ Because it’s the glory of God that makes that possible. 

II Corinthians 4: [17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

[18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

"There’s that affliction. There’s the patience in tribulation. You see, the hope that sustained Paul’s joy in the afflictions--He said, ‘I’m rejoicing in hope; that makes me be patient in tribulation. I can endure because these afflictions are not meaningless. They’re not absurd. They’re not cruel. They’re not pointless.'

"No, it’s working for me an experience of the glory of God that will outweigh every moment in every degree of suffering in this life. They work for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

“Patience is something that sustains you; keeps you there. Paul doesn’t just tolerate tribulation. He says, ‘God takes this tribulation and makes it serve you.’

“That passage in Romans 8 is right down to the level of the things you suffer because He left you here and didn’t take you to be with Him the moment He saved you. Some of that is bodily suffering. Some of it is the calamities of life. Some of it is the assaults of others. Some of it is your own stupidity.

“But what the hope in Christ does is He says He can take even that and, as He promised Israel, ‘give beauty for ashes.’ I can look out there and say, ‘My ace in the hole is in the end it’s just glory!’ And I can rejoice in that hope. Then I can abound, and when you’re abounding, you don’t think so much about hoping. You think, ‘I already got it, man!’ 

*****

“I once asked a guy in the airport if he knew where he was going to spend eternity and he answered, ‘I’m having too much trouble getting through today to worry about eternity.’ But that’s a mistake of thinking that that kind of future orientation, that future thinking process, limits the present usefulness in reality of life.

“Listen, understanding that you rejoice in hope, liberates you right now! If your future is glorious, if your future is sure because of Christ, you don’t have to live for money. You don’t have to live for power. You don’t have to live for fame. You don’t have to grasp and stash and chase for pleasure and for excitements that just slip through your fingers.

"You’re free to live for others. You’re free to serve the Lord by serving others. You’re free to let your love be genuine, let it be radical and sacrificial because of the joy that you have in Him. To let it sustain you, and it’s our prayers that allow us to see and savor the greatness and the preciousness of our hope.”