On the stage of human history

New article this evening and in meantime here's message from last year's Soldiers' Training conference in Chicago:

Philemon is really sort of a little vignette at the end of Paul’s epistles that shows what it’s like in a local church to have the life of Christ, the mind of Christ, functioning.

We’re not simply advocating for the truth; we’re designed to be the embodiment of that truth for it to live, putting it on display.

People are always talking about how “you need works.” Listen, you’re not going to commend yourself to God by your works. It’s not of works. We’re HIS workmanship.

It’s not going to be YOU; it’s going to be HIM working THROUGH you. That takes you out from under that, “I got to perform; I got to do, or my life is worthless.” The value is in what Christ is doing and who He is.

*****

The Catholics say the Protestant church is “just a glorified Bible study; they don’t have God in their midst because they don’t have the Eucharist.” We’ve got folks in our church who will tell you, “Yeah, that’s what they taught us.”

It’s, “We got God up here in the box, we get Him out, move Him around, we consecrate Him and there’s the living presence of Jesus Christ in our midst.”

When they say we’re just a glorified Bible study, I say, “Yeah, that’s right except we’ve got God in our midst IN US.” They’ve got a false god in a box that they bring out.

We’re the manifestation of the life of God on the stage of human history—if you’re going to have an influence on the culture, you’ve got to have that and that’s how you have it; through that influence in the spiritual battle that’s out there.

*****

You ever hear that song “He Lives”? It goes, “He lives! He lives! Salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart.”

Talk to someone about their Bahai faith and they say, “I know it’s true because I can feel it in my heart.”

That’s just a totally subjective opinion that says it’s up to you. We changed that song lyric to, “He lives because the Bible tells me so.”

You know how I know He lives? That Book tells me so. That Book tells me there were eyewitnesses. One time there were 500 who saw Him. You don’t fool a bunch like that. You’ve got historically documented evidence because the Bible tells you.

It’s got nothing to do with my heart. There’s some days in my heart I don’t feel like He lives. You say, “Oh, Brother Rick.” I say, “Phooey, the same’s on you,” and you know that. But you know what. He lives. It doesn’t matter how you feel about it.

You have to take the objective truth of what God’s Word says and say, “That’s what’s true no matter how I feel.”

*****

Paul makes the point in Acts 17 that God’s "made of one blood all nations of men"; there’s one humanity. That’s a strike at the heart of the basis of Athenian philosophy, which says, “We’re special.” He’s digging them.

[24] God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
[25] Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
[26] And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;

Then Paul says, “Even some of your guys understand that what I’m saying is true and what I’m saying is different from what you’re saying.”

[28] For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Go to verses 30-31: [30] And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
[31] Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Paul doesn’t get away from the resurrection. Some mocked him and some said, “Go away, go away; don’t bother us”: [32] And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter.

My point is, at the heart of what Paul’s doing he’s trying to engage them about the truth and you can’t shy away from that. Paul never shied away from the clarity of the gospel.

*****

When Paul goes out on that first journey, he sets a pattern for his ministry and what he’s going to do, and the pattern he sets is one that he follows all the way through.

You’ll see it repeated over and over throughout the Book of Acts in various contexts. He had a goal: Establishing those local churches that can then be reproduced.

The whole strategy is very simply that he’s going to establish a multiplicity of local assemblies capable of reproducing themselves and preaching the gospel all through the regions where they are and then around the world. Here, there and everywhere.

Acts 14: [19] And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

If people want to stone you and they think you’re dead, chances are you’re probably dead. But whether he was or he wasn’t, the next verse says: [20] Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

When you get beat up, you don’t just jump up. So, there’s a miracle that takes place and Paul came into the city.

Wait a minute! He went right back to where they just tried to bump him off! That’s playing the man.

[21] And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
[22] Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

We call that evangelism. Evangelism is a campaign that Paul has in his ministry that’s at the heart of what he does.

Now, he doesn’t go to the hinterlands; he goes to strategic population centers. In missionary efforts in the 1800s, when missions got going, the strategy was, “Go to the countryside, win some people and eventually penetrate the cities.” That’s the opposite of the way Paul did it.

A Bad Don (Abaddon)?

Newswire story from April 1: “President Donald Trump sparked controversy during an Easter lunch speech in Washington, where he likened himself to a 'king' and invoked the suffering of Jesus.

“During his prepared remarks, Trump recalled the biblical account of Palm Sunday, saying, 'They call me king now. Do you believe it?' He went on to reference Jesus' crucifixion, stating, 'We know the feeling. Many of the people in this room know the feeling. Many of the people went through h---.'

“Trump's spiritual adviser, Paula White-Cain, delivered an emotionally charged tribute tying the Easter story directly to Trump's political fortunes, claiming he had 'paid the price' and was 'betrayed and arrested and falsely accused' in a 'familiar pattern' to Jesus.”

Quote from White-Cain: "Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial and resurrection. He showed us great leadership, great transformation, requires great sacrifice. And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life."

She continued: "You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. But it didn’t end there for Him, and it didn’t end there for you. God always had a plan: On the third day, He rose, He defeated evil, He conquered death, h--- and the grave. And because He rose, we all know that we can rise. And sir, because of His resurrection, you rose up."

*****

From NPR’s newswire this evening (April 11): “President Trump on Friday unveiled official architectural renderings for the triumphal arch he plans to add to the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

“The proposed monument would stand at one end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge next to the Arlington National Cemetery.

“The proposed arch bears a striking resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris — though would stand almost 100 feet taller — and is topped with two golden eagles and a winged, crowned figure reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty (which was gifted to the U.S. by France in 1884.) On one side, the words ‘One nation under God’ appear, with the phrase ‘Liberty and justice for all’ on the other.

" ‘The Triumphal Arch in Memorial Circle is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world,’ said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle in an email to NPR . . .

“When asked by CBS political correspondent Ed O'Keefe whom the monument was intended to honor after Trump initially unveiled his plans in October, Trump responded: ‘Me.’ The exchange was captured in a social media video.

Here’s commentary from a YouTuber:

“If you don’t know, in history these arches have always, always, always been known as a gateway between their gods and the physical realm we live in.

“So what could inspire mankind to put this arch right there in our nation’s capital?

“We look at the Middle East and we find there are all sorts of portals there; all sorts of weird spiritual phenomenon happening and it drives you to wonder.

“Now, all of a sudden, we’re creating this Triumphal Arch with a very peculiar god on the top of it.

“Right on this arch it says: ‘One nation under God.’ But who is the god these people in D.C. are talking about?

“Look nowhere else but right above it where we see this figure with these spines coming from his head and he has a bright torch in his hand, almost like the light-bringer.

“This, my friend, is no other than Apollo, Abaddon, Apollyon, Lucifer himself. His alter-egos he’s used to possess the spirits of mankind to cause destruction on the people of God for eons and eons.

“The emperor named Nero is shown on the money from 50 A.D. to 68 A.D. and through this time you can see something very curious happen on the head of Nero. That’s right, you’re seeing none other than those spines just like you see on the Statue of Liberty.

"Growing spines on his head just like Apollo, Abaddon, the fallen angel over the bottomless pit that we see in Revelation 9:11. That’s no accident either.

Revelation 9: [11] And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Interior decorator: 'Nations are as a drop of a bucket'

(sorry for delay--new article this evening for certain. in meantime:)

In his appearance with Donald Trump to watch the UFC fight inside Madison Square Garden last week, Elon Musk could be seen wearing a necklace pendant with an Omega symbol and the “all-seeing third eye” inside it.

A Christian expert in the occult explains, “If you’ve never heard of it before, the ‘Omega Point’ theory was coined by a Jesuit priest; this same guy, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, is dubbed the ‘Father of Transhumanism.' His philosophies appear to be very influential in the agendas we see unfolding today.

“The idea that mankind could reach a so-called ‘next stage’ in human evolution, which is, of course, quite central to the doctrine of transhumanism. De Chardin taught ‘singularity,’ that mankind reaches this point in human history through technology.

“These are the same ideas seemingly being put forward by Elon Musk’s companies. This idea that we can use technology to flourish, to reach this point of one consciousness of humankind, like this humanistic utopia where we reap the benefits of technology and can cheat disease and death as we play God and basically replicate the Garden of Eden, taking that bite of the fruit again and taking the mark of the beast, rising up in defiance of God and building our own human Tower of Babel.

“The idea of these brain chips and everything—you can see the huge investments being put in by investors. Billions and billions and billions of dollars for the future of this brain-chip technology.”

*****

Isaiah 40: [21] Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?
[22] It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
[23] That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

They have understood. They literally could examine—God says, “Look at the way you know things are structured and they all tell you the same thing,” says Richard Jordan.

In other words, God is the one who sits in control over things. The inhabitants of the earth, people—we think we’re the big shots. We think everything focuses on us. We’re as grasshoppers.

You see in verse 10 how it says, [15] Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

Verse 17: [17] All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

We’re not the issue. His will, not ours, is the issue. He’s the one who stretched out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.

The idea here is He placed the heavenly planets, the galaxies, the nebula, the stars and so forth—He placed them in a certain way.

Job 26: [6] Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
[7] He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

That’s the first book in the Bible ever written and He says the earth is hung upon nothing. That’s one of the greatest scientific statements about the science of the heavens that you could ever know that man didn’t know anything about until recent years.

One of the things you do with a curtain is you hide things. He’s got some things up there in the universe that keep you from being able to see beyond them.

[11] The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.
[12] He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
[13] By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

A pillar is a support that holds the levels of the building together. Job talks about the ordinances of heaven. There is a structure to the universe, and when you talk about the pillars of heaven, that’s using construction terminology to describe the universe.

Notice how Satan is connected with outer space. He’s connected with the way God structured the heaven and the earth that we live in today. In connection with the way God put the pillars of the heaven, the structures that hold the universe together—there are all kind of laws that hold the universe together that make it function.

It says He garnished the heavens. When God stretched the heavens out like a curtain, He garnished them; He’s decorating it. He’s making the thing beautiful. He has a tremendous eye.

You ever watched an interior decorator? Some people have an eye for the way things look and there’s a symmetry to it. Well, that’s the way the Lord—He was creating the heavens in a way that was reflecting.

You look at how intriguing creation is. You look at the different creatures in creation. We were sitting on the beach the other day in Alabama (during winter) and I told the girls, “You know, if we sit here and be still for five minutes, watch what happens.” We sat there real still and all of a sudden there was all kind of life that just came up out of the sand, and all kind of sea life everywhere you looked. You look at it and examine it and you say, “Wow, who ever had the idea?!” God did.

You look at people and you think how creative He was with just a nose and eyes. I’ve got a good friend that says, “I like to study people’s feet.” He says to notice all the different sizes and shapes. It’s just five toes and an ankle but the creativity in creation. If you ever wondered if God had a sense of humor, look in the mirror and you decide He does.

All in the genealogy

(new article tomorrow)

Abraham’s descendants are surrounded by nations of people who are, to one degree or another, relatives that hate them with a perpetual hatred that goes all the way back to the Book of Genesis.

"It’s really a family feud; jealously over the fact God selected Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the 12 tribes and that that’s the seed line," explains Richard Jordan.

"Abraham first had Ismael, then Isaac. After Sarah died he got married again and had a bunch more kids. A lot of folks forget that.

“Well, God said it’s not going to Ismael and that other clan; it’s going to be Isaac. He narrowed it down again. Isaac has two kids, Esau and Jacob. God said, 'Of those two it will only be Jacob’s.' Then Jacob has 12 tribes that come out of him, and God said, 'Of those 12 it’s only going to be the tribe of Judah.'

“But even out of that tribe of Judah, it’s not going to be just anybody. Isaiah 11:1 says, ‘And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.’

“It’s going to have to be somebody who descends from the family of Jesse. Jesse had a whole bunch of boys and it was only David who got chosen. That’s why Matthew 1:1 says, ‘The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.’

“Psalm 132:11 says, ‘The LORD hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne.’

“When Messiah sits upon the throne it’s going to be the fruit of David’s body that He sits in. That’s why He’s called ‘the lion of the tribe of Judah,’ because that’s what David is.

*****

“You read down through the genealogy in Matthew 1 and there are four women in the first six verses. When a Jew would read that he would go, ‘Whoa! Wait a minute! What’s going on here?!’

"You just don’t expect those women to show up that way in the genealogy of the Messiah and so the question comes up, ‘Why in the world?!’ and notice who they are.

“Of all the women in Israel’s history—great women—Sarah, Rachel or Deborah could have been chosen to be put here, but these women . . . Just the mention of the name Tamar brings a horrendous memory of wickedness.

“When you read her story in Genesis 38 you won’t want to say she’s a lady. Over and over in Scripture Rahab is called ‘Rahab the harlot.’

"Then you see Ruth, a sterling picture of virtue, but there’s a problem—she was a Moabitess. You know what the law said about Moabites? They couldn’t enter into the land ‘til the tenth generation.’

“Ruth is a Gentile. Rahab is a Gentile. Tamar is a fallen Israeli. They don’t even put down Bathsheba’s name in the genealogy; they just remind you of who she was (the wife of Uriah). 

"So the question is why are they there? Why would they be put so startling in their appearance at the beginning of the genealogy? How is it these women, two of them Gentiles, demonstrate Jesus Christ is the son of David, the son of Abraham?

*****

“Tamar is not somebody you hear too much about in Sunday School. She’s not an example of who we try to tell the children about. I was reading an article the other day from Germany about a court case recently where they were trying to ban the Bible from public places because it’s full of pornography, violence, illicit sex, stuff like that.

“Well, the Bible’s a record of human activities and there are some real crude things like that that show up, demonstrating that the Bible records the truth about even its heroes. And in Genesis 38 there’s an account like that with this lady Tamar.

“Your remember Hebrews 7 says that ‘our Lord sprang out of Judah.’ Here’s the tribe Christ is born from. He’s 'the lion of the tribe of Judah.'

“Judah’s firstborn was wicked in the sight of the Lord. and Onan gets messed up and God kills him and so Judah takes this woman and says, ‘Now, when my youngest boy gets big enough, I’ll let you marry him.’

“If you went and found a wife for your son, and when they got married God killed him, so you took her and married her to your next son and then God killed him, how quick are you going to marry her to the last one?!

"It’s sort of guilt-by-association, but you get the idea that maybe you shouldn’t marry the next boy off to her: 'He’s the last one I got!'

“So it finally dawned on her that the youngest is grown now, and she realized she was never going to get this last boy to be her husband. In verse 15, when Judah saw her, what happens is Tamar, realizing that, goes out and sees Judah come and she literally plays the part of a harlot and seduces her father-in-law by making out like she’s the town harlot. She seduces Judah into sin with her and then goes home.

“It’s one of these commercial endeavors. She says, ‘How much you going to pay me?’ and he says, ‘Are you a cop?’ and she says, ‘No, I just work for a living.’ And he says, ‘Well, I’ll give you one of my best vehicles,’ and she says, ‘Where’s it at?’ and he says, ‘I don’t have it here but I’ll give you my signet ring as a down payment.’

“So she takes the ring, makes the deal, he goes home, sends the payment back and they can’t find her. A few months later he finds that his daughter-in-law . . . he didn’t recognize her, by the way. She had painted herself all up and changed her appearance.

“A few months later he finds out she’s pregnant. ‘What’s going on now? Where’ve you been? Here’s my sweet little daughter-in-law and she’s been steppin’ out!’

“You know, it’s always that way. Those guys took that woman in John 8 in the very act of adultery and bring her to Christ. You notice they didn’t bring the man? How would you go find somebody committing adultery in the very act? You’d at least have to know where they were.

“Now, if you’re a righteous Pharisee how come you even know where they are? There was stuff going on there that wasn’t exactly kosher (on the level). And they’re condemning something . . . it’s that old thing, ‘Thou protesteth too much.’ You know too much about this.

“And Judah gets all indignant about his daughter-in-law’s sin and says, ‘You just tell me who it is and I’ll wipe him out. I’ll smush him like a bug.’ And she takes Judah’s signet ring and says, ‘The man that belongs to these. They’re his.’ And he says to her, ‘You’re more righteous than I,’ and she was.

“The baby that Tamar had (actually it was twins) as a result of an adulterous affair with her father-in-law; that’s the rest of the story. That’s who Tamar is. And that shameful history of her sin, full of evil deeds of the flesh, that’s why she’s in the genealogy in Matthew 1.

“Had she not committed adultery with her father-in-law she’d have never been the mother of Pharez and Zara (which means ‘dawn’) and it was being the mother of Zara, there’s the lineage that goes to the Messiah.

*****

“It reminds you she’s there because of her willful, chosen sin and that without her sin, she would have never been able to get into the lineage of the Messiah. Now Israel needed to learn that. Jesus told Israel, ‘I am not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.'

"When the leaders of Israel saw the Lord Jesus Christ over here with the Publicans and sinners they get His disciples to the side and they say, ‘What’s the matter with your master? Doesn’t he know those are sinners?!’

“Luke 15 says they tried to smear Him by saying He’s the friend of sinners. They thought that was a bad thing because they thought they were righteous and He wasn’t and they needed to be reminded that their Messiah came to be a friend of sinners. He wasn’t coming to call the righteous to repentance.

“Genesis 38:28. Notice she tied the scarlet thread on the second one to be born. You read about that scarlet thread through the Bible. You know what it represents in history and the line of the Redeemer and the place of redemption? Not that which is born first but that which is born second. The first is of the earth earthy; the second is of the Lord from heaven.

"Matthew 1:5. Rahab is in Joshua 2 and the question about her is over and over she’s called ‘Rahab the harlot.’ She’s a Canaanite. They were dismissed from the presence of God’s people. In fact, Israel was told to exterminate them. They were unclean. They were outcasts. Here Rahab is known over and over as a woman of ill-repute; a woman who had the stain of a wicked career tattooed on her reputation.

“I mean, if Tamar got in because of her sin, why would Rahab be in the genealogy? The answer’s in Hebrews 11:31. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believe not when she had received the spies with peace.

“I don’t believe Rahab is called the harlot as an accusation. It’s there as a reminder of who she was and where she came from. Go with me to Joshua 2 and I think I can show you that Rahab, when the spies came there, was already a woman of faith. In fact, she had become what Proverbs 31 calls a virtuous woman but she carries that harlot tag as a reminder of why she’s there.

“It’s in James 2 that her faith is set in contrast with the faith of Abraham the friend of God. And then there’s Rahab the harlot. Both justified in James 2 and used as illustrations of Israel’s justification program before God. And she’s called the harlot, not as an accusation, because her life had been completely transformed and changed.

“In Joshua 2 Rahab represents Gentiles who hear God’s word and believe God’s word and who help and assist Israel. And because of their faith in the God of Israel, and their assistance to the nation Israel and participation in God’s program with Israel, they are brought into the blessings that God has promised through Israel.

“Rahab enters into what we would call civil disobedience. The authorities say turn him over and she says, ‘That’s an unjust law. That goes against the laws of God. I’m not going to do it.’ She disobeys the authorities because it’s more important to obey God than man. Verse 9.

“That’s a reference to a business proposition. She was a lady with a home business. I guess we could call her the first home-based entrepreneur. She had her Herbalife business—her flax business. She’s got the product drying on the roof. If she was still making her living as a harlot she wouldn’t be on the roof doing that!

“Something changed in Rahab’s life. She said, ‘Forty years ago we heard what you did when you came out of Egypt!’ Exodus 15. The Song of Moses.

“Joshua 2:11. This wasn’t something the spies were telling her about. They heard this 40 years before and she believed it! Oh, man! That’s better faith than you’re going to find in Israel!

“You remember the Lord would look at His disciples and say, ‘Oh ye of little faith.’ He would look at a woman and say, ‘I’ve not found such faith; no not in Israel.’ And Rahab is an example of a Gentile that just understood the God of Israel was God! She understood the Abrahamic covenant. She said, ‘He’s God! Your God is the God of gods in heaven above and the earth beneath! I got it! You’re His people! I’m going to bless you because I believe in your God.’ She’s not just concerned about herself but she’s concerned about others.

“I love verse 19. ‘Whosoever’ is the special word of Paul’s revelation. Rahab had entered into an understanding where God’s heart was in all of this. She wasn’t like Israel in Christ’s day, or our day, where it was an exclusive thing where you had to perform. She understood that God’s heart was to provide ransom for all.

“It’s fascinating the token they give her. Verse 17: ‘Whoever’s in the house where the scarlet cord is. You take it, you bind it in the window and you let it down outside.’ Again, let me say to you, the scarlet thread didn’t lie on the floor in Rahab’s house; it hung out the window for people outside of her house to see.

“Just like the blood was on the door post outside so when the death angel came by the blood was outside for him to see and people in the house were saved because the blood was on the door post. People in Rahab’s house were saved because the scarlet cord was on the window.

“My friend, your assurance is not an experience you’re having inside your living room; it’s the blood on the door post. It’s the cord hanging out the window. The issue isn’t . . . My assurance is not in what I’m doing; it’s in the objective standard of what He’s done.

“You notice where Rahab’s heart is in verse 13? She says, ‘I want you to save the lives of my father and mother and my brethren and my sisters and all they have and deliver our lives from death.’

“ When you get over to chapter 6, the sisters aren’t there and that tells you it was a ‘whosoever will.’ Just because you were part of Rahab’s family didn’t mean you were going to get delivered; you had to go down there and get in the house. You had to make the choice to be there.

“Salvation isn’t yours because you were born in a family. When you’re raised in a Christian home you don’t sometimes even remember when you made the choice to trust Christ initially. You just know that you do. What a wonderful joy that is. But she had to make the choice or it would never be hers.

“You understand? You can pass on hymn books, pass on tapes, pass on conversation and ideas but nobody can make the heartfelt choice that you have to make in your heart: ‘With the heart man believes unto righteousness.’ "

Goofy, nutty ignorance on Abrahamic Covenant

"I’m fascinated by the current discussion about the nation Israel and how biblically unintelligized so many people are about things like the Abrahamic Covenant," said Richard Jordan in his Bible study this evening.

"Tucker Carlson, for one, is constantly talking about how, 'Well, the Abrahamic Covenant doesn’t mean that God’s going to bless the nation Israel; it just means He’s going to bless Abraham.'

"Listen, maybe he fell out of a tree and landed on his head and was kind of goofy for awhile, but if you don’t know more about the Abrahamic Covenant than that you need to keep your mouth shut and get a Bible and read it.

"God made a covenant with Abraham and His SEED after him. He promised them a piece of physical real estate in the Middle East. Put the dimensions of it in Genesis 12 and 15.

"Then He took that covenant and confirmed it with Isaac. Then He confirmed it with Jacob. Then He confirmed it with the whole nation, so it’s not something that was just Abraham; it’s all of his seed.

"Here’s the blessing. Genesis 27: [28] Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
[29] Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one that curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee.

"The cursing and the blessing have to do with serving the nation Israel. It’s not just saying, 'God bless you.' The nations are to serve Israel. Why? Because He made them the head of the nations."

*****

From an old study:

In Genesis 15, when God gave Abraham the perimeters of the land designed for Israel, it was from the river Nile all the way over to the Euphrates.

“If you fail to 'rightly divide' God’s Word, you’re going to wind up in the Christian camp that says God is through with Israel. I have an article written by R.C. Sproul where he says all the promises God made to Abraham about possessing the Promised Land were fulfilled under Joshua in the Book of Joshua.

“Now this guy’s a brilliant man, educated. You listen to him, he just wows you with all the stuff he knows. I read that and I say, ‘This guy’s nuttier than a fruitcake!’

"God told Abraham, ‘I’m going to give you that land forever.’ You know how long forever is? Well, if it happened in the life of Joshua, it was 110 years because that’s how long Joshua lived.

“So now you know forever is 110 years. People argue, ‘Well, He didn’t really mean that! Forever is just a metaphor.’ Does that make any sense to you? See, that's how you become an unbeliever. You profess to be a Believer but you don’t believe the Book you get your profession out of.

“If forever doesn’t mean forever, when God says, ‘I give you the gift of eternal life,’ how long is that? I mean, if God couldn’t figure out what forever was for Abraham, maybe He couldn’t figure out what it is for you either!

"Okay, you can’t trust one place, how come all of a sudden you can trust another place?! You don’t know you can. Maximum confusion.

“Besides that, you go back in the Book of Moses; Moses predicted that when Israel goes into the land they’re going to rebel. God’s going to judge them, put them out of the land and regather them. None of that happened in the Book of Joshua.

Using Revelation as their script?

I found this brief commentary on YouTube that, if nothing else, was engaging:

“People say it’s the Jews who are subverting the world but it’s not them; it’s these men who belong to the ancient 'mystery schools,' who meet in secret to decide the fate of the world.

“These men belong to all different races and all different nationalities and all different religions, at least to the public point of view. But in secret, it’s a different story.

“The fate of billions rest in the hands of a small group of people and their strategy is simple: keep us watching the circus so we never look behind the curtain.

“At the highest level of all countries, they all belong to the same club and we the people sit back and we watch this grand drama which is being played out for OUR benefit, not theirs.

“Anyone who’s ever read George Orwell’s “1984” knows that that’s what’s coming. Orwell understood control doesn’t happen overnight.

“First, you distract, and then you divide, and then you rewrite the rules so people don’t even know they’re being controlled. Orwell’s book showed us the final destination; a world where nothing is true . . .

“These elite men are following the Book of Revelation just like a plan. They bring the 'prophecies' to pass to manipulate and control those who believe in those prophecies; to neutralize them, so to speak:

“There really is a God and what He said is going to come to pass really is coming to pass.”

“Look at the pale horse from Revelation 6: [8] And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

“The Greek word for pale is 'chloros,' meaning greenish; the color of death. The black horse is about famine, collapse. Inflated prices, scarcity.

“Revelation 13 describes a world where no one can buy or sell without a mark. Today, central bank digital currencies are rolling out globally. The technology being described is being built.

“Commanders quote Revelation. Leaders invoke Scripture. They’re following a script.

“Why is it that we can realize something this important and still forget it by tomorrow? Maybe we don’t want to believe it; maybe we’re scared. I think it’s something else. We’re numb. Life grinds us down. We’re distracted; the endless scroll.

“We turn on the news hoping to understand, but instead we get distortion and confusion and that numbness becomes a habit; a survival mechanism.

“But what if that’s exactly what some are counting on? All the media in this country—radio, television, print—is owned by five corporations.

“All journalists know there are some things you don’t write about and you don’t talk about, because you’ll lose your job and that’s where the control is . . .

“It’s the Roman circus. What does the emperor do when the people become restless and they begin asking questions; when the people don’t like the policies of the emperor?

“He creates a circus; he fills a giant coliseum where he begins to throw the Christians to the lions and he has great chariot races and football and basketball games.

“All to keep the people preoccupied with things that don’t mean anything in the scheme of the world. That’s why they pay a player of a football team or baseball team millions of dollars.”

******

Here’s a Bible study on the four horsemen of Revelation:

Revelation 6:4: [4] And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

"Red represents blood and the second tactic is international unrest outside of the nation of Israel. He's a man of war and he's going to fight . . . We saw in the Book of Daniel, the north is involved and the south is involved, Egypt, and then you have the ships of Chittim, the West gets involved and he's going to repel that naval attack. The Navy's involved, the Air Force is involved.

"There's a lot of fighting going on, but in the meantime there's this sense of security because Israel, for the first time, they're going to enjoy something they didn't really enjoy before. That is, a charismatic leader who actually provides military protection for that apostate nation," explains Alex Kurz.

[5] And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
[6] And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

"The third tactic is represented by a black horse and the famine in the land that results in starvation isn't due to natural causes; it's the result of war. You're going to see members of the 'little flock' starving; there's going to be food rationing and so forth while the oppressor is enjoying the wine and the oil.

"Obviously the economic effect will benefit the unbeliever, but the result is the persecution of God's little flock; remember the Lord Jesus Christ said, 'Blessed are they that persecute you.'

[7] And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

"The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one who's worthy; He pops those seals. Again, it's the Lord Jesus Christ who commences these events through the instrumentality of this man of sin, the rod and staff of God's indignation against a hypocritical nation.

[8] And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

"When somebody's pale that indicates lack of blood flow. We have in this fourth horse a religious policy that the Antichrist is launching at the start of the 70th Week. Paleness represents lack of blood and you understand animal sacrifices in the history of Israel's religious life. You know how an animal was offered; the blood was drawn.

"Remember you have this individual who is riding and controlling these horses. One individual representing four interesting aspects of his policy of evil. How many representations of the Lord Jesus Christ do we have of His earthly ministry? Four. We're talking about this great impostor and we're going to see almost under every rock how this guy mimics the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The Lord Jesus Christ is represented in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. There are four specific aspects that correlate with who He is in His person: the king, the man, the servant and God. Well, you have this imposter, the Antichrist, who has four representations of his tactics and policy of evil.

"When we look at these verses, Death and Hell (with capitals because they're both personified) is a representation of the religious system. He's a religious man and the apostate nation of Israel, they're going to love him.

"If you're not a participant in this religious system you'll be persecuted with sword, death, famine and beast. There are consequences in rejecting the religious system.

"Remember Daniel? He was a scientist who participated in that Babylonian kingdom UNTIL he was ordered to bow down and worship the false god.

"What makes this religious system so deceptive is it's nothing but a reheated version of the law of Moses and the temple worship and the animal sacrifices that are all biblical.

"You know why the little flock better rightly divide the truth during the 70th Week? You have those religious people saying it's back to Moses, back to Deuteronomy, and they're doing everything that that Old Testament teaches. If they fail to rightly divide the word of truth they're going to be victimized.

"If the little flock says, 'Oh wait a minute, Genesis through Malachi, it's all Scripture, right?'  . . . And here you have this temple rebuilt in Jerusalem. If you don't rightly divide the word of truth it could lead to your eternal destruction. So right division is going to save a lot of lives during that tribulation period."

Moving mountains

(ready to roll now that I've had two really good nights of sleep thanks to an over-the-counter allergy medicine recommended by a co-worker. this is the first year I've ever really had significant allergy problems so I've had it good. feel bad as usual about not coming through as "advertised" last night but will be sure to post this evening. in meantime:)

Matthew 17: [18] And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.

[19] Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
[20] And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

"Removing a mountain is a cataclysmic event; it denotes the world being torn apart. It denotes chaos, an un-creation, and I use that word deliberately because the Lord uses that language in the Old Testament," says Alex Kurz.

"He says, 'Remove.' Why would you want to remove a mountain? I mean, that's a cataclysmic event. It's something abnormal that God doesn't intend to do but God is going to have to do it.

"There are seven prominent mountains in the Book of Matthew. Why does Matthew make a big deal about mountains? Because it's in keeping with the theme, which is the king and His kingdom.

"Numbers of times in the Bible mountains represent kingdoms, nations and peoples. If Jesus talks about a seed of mustard, He's already taught the disciples that the seed is the Word of God. Jesus uses language that is intended to provoke thinking and God does say things about mountains. There are good mountains and bad mountains in the Bible.

Psalms 48: [1] Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.

[2] Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.

"That mountain is the city of God.

Verse 8: [8] As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.

Verses 11-12: [11] Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of thy judgments.

[12] Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.

"The idea is you conduct measurements. Verse 13: [13] Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.

"God has a city that's called the mountain of the Lord, the mountain of the king. That's a good mountain.

"By the way, in Ezekiel 28, when Lucifer is that anointed cherub that covereth, it says that that creature was on the mountain of God and that was in Edom.

"Let me say this personally, I believe that mountain was on Planet Earth and God removed that mountain and relocated it to the third heaven. God removed it in an act of judgment.

"Jesus is telling these guys in Matthew, "You guys are going to have the authority to pronounce judgment that results in removing a mountain."

Isaiah 66:20: [20] And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.

Jerusalem is described as the holy mountain. 

"In Daniel 2 we're familiar with Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and in this dream there is this stone cut without hands that is going to destroy all of the Gentile systems of governance on earth.

"Daniel 2 describes how God is going to destroy and break in pieces: [44] And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

[45] Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
[46] Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him.

"There's a good mountain in Daniel 9:16: [16] O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.

"There's a bad mountain in Jeremiah 51 where God's judgment is being pronounced on Babylon: [24] And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the LORD.

[25] Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.
[26] And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD.

"Does that sound like He's removing a mountain? He's going to roll the rocks. The Lord, in judgment, is going to uproot this system. The mountain represents the Babylonian system which is a shadow-type and it prefigures the ultimate battle in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 17: [9] And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

[10] And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
[11] And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
[12] And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
[13] These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

"The five fallen would be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia and Greece. That represents the five empires historically who exercised dominion over God's people, the nation of Israel. They're described as five mountains.

"There's a reason why God is threatening the destruction of mountains, but Jesus is telling the disciples, "You guys are going to have the authority to do this."

"Remember, the Lord Jesus is being rejected and He's now concentrating on tribulation events, Second Coming events, and He's ultimately going to provide some information regarding His righteous rule on earth.

"These disciples are going to participate in the dismantling, in the shake-up of the existing world kingdoms when the Lord Jesus returns with a rod of iron. He's trying to tell these guys they are one day going to remove mountains. They're going to dismantle these Gentile systems of governance, and in its place will be the Lord's kingdom." 

Appearings, visions, revelations

(new article this evening before midnight)

The Apostle Paul tells us in II Timothy 1 about how God revealed to him “his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ."

“Notice there’s an appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ that’s not future from Paul; it’s PAST,” says Richard Jordan. “That’s the appearing of Christ to Paul to make him ‘a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.’ That’s the appearing of Christ when He revealed to Paul the truth of the Body of Christ; the truth of the mystery, the truth of the OTHER program.

“He appears to Paul on the Road to Damascus and later says to him, ‘I’ve appeared to thee for this purpose and I will appear to thee AGAIN!’

“In II Corinthians, Paul says, ‘I’ve come to visions and revelations of the Lord.’ The Lord Himself appeared to Paul and gave him information over a period of time, revealing the truth that Paul writes down in his epistles. That’s the appearing that BEGINS the dispensation of grace. Without that appearing you wouldn’t know about the appearing that ENDS the dispensation of grace.

“So when Paul says, ‘To those who love His appearing,’ which one is it? Well, it’s both. How could it be otherwise? You wouldn’t know about the Rapture if it weren’t for the appearing of Christ to Paul.

“If you know the appearing of Christ to Paul is separate, then you know you have to have a distinct conclusion to the dispensation of grace. If the Body of Christ is a separate entity, then it has to have a special conclusion just like it had a special beginning.

*****

“Have you ever noticed how all the Bible up to Romans, you can teach stories? Romans isn’t stories; it’s doctrinal information. It’s instructions; it’s thinking processes.

“Each of Paul’s epistles contains an introduction, body and conclusion--just like you’d find in a letter, but his introductions have a very special purpose in that they introduce the particular issue the epistle’s going to address.

“In Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, for example, he starts out by reminding them, ‘But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.’

“Paul’s saying his apostleship, unlike that of the others, did not come by human instrumentality. He was commissioned as an apostle different from every other apostle before him in the Bible.

*****

“In the gospels, Jesus Christ chose 12 apostles and told them their function was to sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of the nation Israel in that future kingdom in the regeneration of the Son of man when Christ sits on the throne in Jerusalem and they’re His earthly apostles.

“After Judas dies in response to his betrayal of the Lord, there’s only 11 apostles, but before Pentecost, Matthias is made the 12^th guy by Peter.

“It was through Paul’s preaching that God the Holy Spirit communicated the message of grace to the apostles. They came to understand it through Paul’s direct revelation from God.

“In the first two chapters of Galatians are 14 separate things he says about why his ministry and message is separate and distinct from the 12.

“He writes, ‘But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen.’

“Paul understood there were things about Jesus Christ that God wanted revealed solely through him; that he was to be the one and only through whom that information would be revealed.”

MEANING of Cross is where the power's at

“It was to Paul that the glorified Lord first revealed all that the Cross had accomplished,” Bible writes Bible scholar C.R. Stam in his 1963 book The Controversy. “If our opponents could see this, their appreciation of our Lord’s redemptive work would be greatly increased. . . They would see clearly their completeness in Christ in the heavenlies and could truly say with Paul: ‘But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.’ (Galatians 6:14)

In what is regarded as an extremely important principle to understand, 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.
[18] For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
[19] For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

“The 'preaching of the Cross' is an expression that describes sort of a title for Paul’s ministry and his message,” says Richard Jordan. “What Jesus Christ did at Calvary when He died and was raised again the third day is the very heart and essence of what grace is all about. Folks, you ought to be fascinated by that.

“When Paul talks about the ‘preaching of the cross,’ he’s talking about much more than the events that took place at Calvary; he’s talking about the MEANING God assigned to those events.

“In I Corinthians 2 is an amazing passage that can revolutionize you’re thinking about what happened at Calvary. Paul writes, [6] Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
[7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
[8] Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

“Paul’s saying, ‘We’re speaking wisdom, but it’s not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world. It’s not the wisdom of human viewpoint and it’s not the wisdom of the satanic policy of evil, designed by the devil, which runs the world system.

“Had the princes of this world understood this wisdom Paul’s preaching they wouldn’t have crucified the Lord of glory. It’s an amazing thing to me, that God Himself, in order to bring to naught the wisdom of the Adversary . . .

*****

“Folks, Satan knows more about that Bible . . . we used to say he’s forgotten more about it than you’ll ever know. He knows more about human nature, how people react to things . . . 

"He’s had 6,000 years of dealing with the likes of you and me and he’s learned how to do it and he’s pretty good at it, and he’s got a policy and a plan and he touts his wisdom before the Creation.

“Yet, all God had to do to take the wise in his own boastfulness--all God had to do to destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent was keep a secret.

“If all I’ve got to do is not tell you about my ace in the hole over here and I can beat you, well, you weren’t all that smart to start with, you know that?

"If you couldn’t figure out what I was doing . . . I mean, the whole thing about craftiness and wisdom to start with is to outfox the other guy.

“When you’re out here outfoxing the other guy and you wind up outfoxing yourself, well, people are going to give you the old ‘hee-haw’ and that’s just what God does.

*****

“Through the Cross, God kept a realm of knowledge and understanding about what He was going to accomplish through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; He kept the MEANING of those events secret.

“He didn’t keep the events secret. They’re clearly prophesied in the Old Testament. He didn’t keep secret the fact He was going to wage a war with Satan and win that war against the Adversary. It’s clearly revealed in the Old Testament scripture. 

“When He revealed that secret truth and purpose in the Cross to the Apostle Paul, it was as much a shock to Satan as anyone else in all the universe. In fact, J.C. O’Hare used to say the most shocked creature in all the universe when Christ revealed the mystery to Paul was Satan because it forms the basis of all of his undoing.

“Satan reached the climax of his career of deception when he literally deceived himself at Calvary and did the very thing for God that produced his own undoing.

*****

“Now, the ‘preaching of the cross’ is about taking that hidden wisdom God bound up in the Crosswork of the Lord Jesus Christ and explaining and detailing it. In other words, expounding the fullness of the meaning of Calvary. The issue is to talk about what God has accomplished BY and THROUGH it.

“Paul says this preaching of the cross, explaining and expounding all the wonderful things God accomplished, is to them that perish foolishness but to us who are saved it is the POWER of God.

"The unsaved look at it and reason, ‘You guys are talking about some old dead Jew hanging on a cross somewhere and that’s supposed to make some difference to anybody?!’

“He wasn’t just a dead Jew hanging; He’s God who lived in human flesh and He was dying. That’s mystery enough, isn’t it?! God dying? Wow! And then what was He dying for? He was dying for your sins, but not just that, He was dying AS you. That’s you dying there. That’s you dying, identified one with Him and His death, burial and resurrection.

“All of a sudden, you get interested in that and go to studying it and people say, ‘Well, Ash Wednesday’s here; are we going to go down and get the . . .’ You say, ‘No, I’m too busy, I’ve got to study this stuff over here.’

"They say, ‘Whatcha giving up for Lent?’ You say, ‘Well, I don’t have time to worry about that right now; I’m trying to learn this stuff.' They come back with, ‘Well, what you going to wear on Easter?’

“Religion comes along and says that's foolishness; just nuts: ‘You don’t have any ceremonies? Well, what do you all do anyway?’ Not much, we just get in the Bible and go, ‘Have you ever seen this stuff over here?!’

“It’s foolishness because they don’t appreciate what it is, but to us who are saved, it’s the POWER of God. 

*****

 “Paul writes in I Corinthians 1: 22-24: [22] For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

[23] But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
[24] But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

“The ‘preaching of the cross’ is what Paul’s epistles do and that’s the explanation. The Book of Romans is the foundation book, and that’s the reason it stands at the head of Paul’s epistles.

“Romans explains the Cross doctrinally and lays out an edification process; the four basic principles of grace and the way the Cross of Christ has equipped you and me as members of the Body of Christ to live right here on Planet Earth as members of the Body for God’s glory.

"It tells us how He’s equipped us to function in every avenue and area of life on a daily basis and orient us more and more to God’s grace to us through Calvary.

“The Book of Ephesians extolls the glory of what was accomplished through the Cross, not just for us, and not just our identification with Him and His with us, but what God is going to do for Himself through the Church the Body of Christ.

“You see, first you understand how He’s made us members of the Body, and what that means in our identification with Him, and then He takes you over and says, ‘Now let me show you why I formed the Body and what I’m going to do with it and where you’re going to be out through the ages to come.’

"In Ephesians the air gets real rarified and you get all excited and it’s thrilling and, all of a sudden, your viewpoint just completely changes.”

Sun goes dark, stands still--'No prob'

When Jesus Christ was on the Cross, Luke 23 reports that about the sixth hour “there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour,” meaning the sun was darkened.

When Israel battled the Amorites, Joshua prayed to God to make the sun stand still and, as Joshua 10 testifies, “The sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.
[14] And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.”

“Joshua’s saying to God, ‘We need more time to kill everybody, so stop the time and let us go get them,’ ” explains Richard Jordan. “When you read the account in Joshua 10, that’s what it sounds like, but people don’t like that so they say, ‘How in the world do you do that?!’

*****

In Jeremiah 33, God, through Jeremiah, says, “If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season;
[21] Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers.’

“God says, ‘If you can break the covenant I have with creation, then my integrity is at stake,’ and when He says, ‘That there should not be day and night in their season,’ He’s saying, 'The way they’re supposed to happen, if you can break that . . .'

“So people reason, ‘If God extended the day back here, making it stand still so it didn’t work like it’s supposed to normally work, then God’s integrity is at stake.'

"If that’s the case, and I personally don’t think it is, what would it mean that the sun stood still? Well, if you tell a kid, ‘Stand still, boy!’ what do you mean by that? ‘STOP!’

“What does the sun do? The sun shines. So when He said that the sun would stop, He’s telling the sun to stop shining; stop doing what it does. Well, how would you stop the sun from shining?

When it says Joshua spake to the Lord, the implication is if you’re going to talk to God, you have to have some revelation from God to do it. Joshua would have had to have had some reason to believe this was something God would or could do and be consistent with Himself.

“Elihu says in Job 36, ‘Suffer me a little, and I will shew thee that I have yet to speak on God's behalf.
[3] I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
[4] For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.’

*****

“Remember when God made darkness fall upon Egypt for three days? Exodus 10:22-23 says, “And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
[23] They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.”

“In Acts 27, when Paul writes, ‘Neither sun nor stars in many days appeared,’ it doesn’t mean the sun wasn’t there. It means God put a thick canopy between it so the light couldn’t get through.

“In Ezekiel 32, you’ll notice that in the tribulation period, when it talks about the sun being darkened and the moon turning into blood, that’s the mechanics of how He’s going to do that.

“Deuteronomy 31:15 says ‘the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.’ How’s He going to do it? He’s going to do it with a cloud cover.

“When Job 9:6 talks about what God can do, it says, ‘Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.
[7] Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth up the stars.’

“That’s past tense. Job says this is something God has done in the past. Joshua would have understood that God could do these things from the Book of Job; he understood  God could put a cloud cover over the sun and stop the sunshine.

“Why would that be what he’d want? Joshua 10 says 'the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.’ If you’re in the midst of something, you’re in the middle of it. It’s high noon and high noon is hot. His troops marched all night, they fought all morning; now you’re in the heat of the day and he’s saying, ‘Give us some relief from the heat of the day so we can finish killing everybody.’

"Now, that’s the idea when people say it wasn’t a miracle that Joshua was asking for; it was that God would give them relief from the sun.

“If you want to believe that you’re welcome to, and I know a lot of good people who believe that, but the verse doesn’t say the sun quit shining. If the Bible had wanted to say, ‘Sun, don’t shine,’ it could have said it when it says, ‘Sun, stand thou still,’ and it says to the moon, ‘Be stayed.’ Well, the moon doesn’t shine. What relief would the moon staying where it was be?

*****

“The interesting thing Joshua says is, ‘Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.’ The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia has a long article about this passage where they’ve actually identified this day, through the charts of the planets and the rotation and the planetary movements, as July 22 because that’s when the sun would be overhead and the moon would be rising over here on the horizon.

“I read that and I think, ‘You know, as soon as you start that, then what else isn’t real?’ And so for me, I prefer just to leave it as it is. I know that people misunderstand these things often.

“There’s another one of these with Hezekiah when the sun dial went back 10 degrees. Well, it was the shadow that went back, not the sun. It was the sunlight; the sun wasn’t rolling around on the dial there. The passage isn’t saying the sun went back; it’s saying the shadow on the dial went back. It was a miracle that happened in the land of Israel to tell something to Hezekiah.

“The ordinances of heaven that operate the universe, God established them. He can control them, and in Revelation 8, He shortens a day. You say, ‘Well, that isn’t real!’ But if that isn’t real, what else isn’t real?

*****

“I don’t feel the compulsion that some people feel to try to defend the Scripture against things that I don’t understand. Folks, miracles are miracles. A miracle is supernatural, not natural. I know it couldn’t naturally happen, but supernaturally is what a miracle is, and the point of this passage (about ‘the great slaughter’ in Joshua 10) is it’s a picture of what happens at the battle of Armageddon.

“He goes out and gets these five kings; they go and hide in a cave (down in verses 16-18) like the kings of the earth do in Revelation 6. He goes and takes them, has them brought before Him and then He destroys them as they will be destroyed. Some of His people escape just like some of the nations are going to get into the kingdom, so there’s a tremendous picture going on down through here of what’s going to happen in those last days.

“You need to study this history back here thinking about how it fits as a rehearsal; as a speaking again of the things in prophecy. None of this stuff is superfluous. There’s not one story in the Bible, not one account in the Scripture, there for no reason.

“Isaiah 28:21 says, ‘For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.’

“He’s talking about His coming to destroy the Antichrist (verses 16-18). Now that’s II Samuel 5, when David hears the goings in the tops of the mulberry trees. There’s some aerial stuff going on over his head. ‘As in the valley of Gibeon.’ That’s what we’re reading in Joshua 10 where he fights with the hailstones; the phenomena with the sun and the moon and ‘the great slaughter’ against the kings of the earth, that He may do His strange work.”