Man says, 'Makes no difference'

“Saved or lost, religion is the most dangerous battle you’ll ever face. This is where the real big game is, says Richard Jordan. "People like to argue about politics and all the rest of the stuff, but this is the BIG stuff.

“You can worry about the politics and what they’re doing in Washington and the economy and all these other things, but the real battle today in the Dispensation of Grace is in the area of spiritual issues. 

“Religion is simply a way for man to put confidence in himself, in his own flesh.

“Paul says in Philippians 3 he counted his religious self-righteousness as dung. He’s saying, ‘I thoroughly understand what it is to have confidence in your flesh—I had religious flesh.’ And he said, ‘What I found is it’s worthless!’

*****

“Notice Paul calls Satan the ‘god of the world.’ He didn’t say the king of the world, the political leader of the world, the economic force of the world.

“Satan has a religion and he seeks to propagate it. And the great battle today is not fighting the social battles and the cultural wars; it’s fighting the religious front. Until you understand that, you’re not going to be in the real battle.

“I’m not saying the other battles aren’t important; I’m saying the real battle, when you want to get down to what the core source of the real issues are, it’s the issue about a person’s relationship with his Creator or lack thereof. Religion is designed to substitute confidence in your flesh for trust in Christ.

“When Paul says ‘have no confidence in the flesh,’ your flesh is a way the Bible, especially with the Apostle Paul, describes you, yourself and your self-life independent of God.

“Romans 7:18 says, ‘For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.’

“Our resources are not God’s resources; our identity is not the identity and purpose He gives us. Paul’s talking about trusting and valuing and treasuring who he is in himself and his ability to perform; he’s talking about pride and self-satisfaction in yourself.

“Proverbs says, ‘Every man does that which is right in his own eyes.’ Can you relate to that? We do what WE think is right. It says, ‘There’s a way that seemeth right to a man; the end thereof is death.’

“Man says, ‘Makes no difference, I’m doin’ what’s right in my mind…’ and there’s a pride in that! There’s a self-satisfaction in that and that’s what religion is all about."

*****

“Paul says in Philippians 3:7, ‘But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.’ All these things in verses 4-6 he says were valuable to him.

“Gain is the idea of wealth, treasure. Notice he says, ‘I wasted it and profited in the Jews’ religion above many mine equals in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of traditions of my fathers.’

“You see he profited? Paul’s saying, ‘Those things that brought profit to me in my thinking. Those things I treasured and adored and thought were the most wonderful, solid, enriching things in my life.’

“What were they? There are a number of things but they divide into two categories. He’s going to list some ethnic and racial things—some pride of race and pride of place kinds of things. And then he’s going to list some religious things. Distinctions. Some performance things.

*****

“Can I tell you those are the two things most people . . . those are the two things your flesh wants to glory in. It wants to glory in your race, which is another way of saying the place that you have, and then it wants to glory in religion—the performance; the achievements that it can make.

“And flesh has a tendency toward good and evil. By the way, with the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, both were bad. Your flesh has a tendency toward the lascivious, the earthy; the lust and the pull to be run by the desires that drag you downward into the earth.

“But you also have a bent toward aestheticism, toward the human good; toward the ability to pride yourself and satisfy yourself in doing what’s right.

“It’s to do good and feel good about doing it. Your flesh is such a deceiver. ‘The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.’

 "And the moment you think you’ve done something good, and the moment you sit in relaxation and your satisfaction about what you’ve performed, ‘Let him who thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall.’ ”

How darkness took over

Romans 1:18: [18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

"How do you hold the truth in unrighteousness? People read that verse and say that word 'hold' means to 'suppress and to hold down' and they want to retranslate the verse," says Richard Jordan.

"When you hear somebody say that that's somebody who hasn't thought about the passage; they're just telling you what they've heard other preachers say. It's what I call 'campfire theology,' where you just pass the stuff along because everybody has said it.

"Paul is going to tell you what it means in the passage itself. They don't suppress the truth; they hold it in a certain way. [19] Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

"Instead of letting the truth be what it is, you change it. As Paul says, [21] Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. [22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Verse 25: [25] Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

"You can take the truth of reality and turn it into a lie. You look at creation and it tells you there's a Creator. That's reality.

"There was a time for centuries when 'realism' was the basis of people's worldview. Realism says truth corresponds to reality.

"Then people moved into rationalism; that's modernism. It says, 'That coat hanger over there really isn't a coat hanger.' They decide, 'We're going to rationalize it and give it a meaning; take the reality of an objective thing and interpret it into some meaning.'

"That's exactly what they did--they changed reality into vain imaginations. Then you move into 'post-modernism' where you're using imagination completely. Whatever you want it to be--no absolutes.

"I was raised in a world where you would say, 'I may disagree with you, but I'll defend to death your right to say it.' That used to be the American mantra. Today, if you say something that offends, the person wants to rid the earth of you; you're a scourge.

"That whole process is nothing but Romans 1 and what it leads to is darkness. That is, the complete lack of understanding. The ability to look at something and not be able to see what's right there because you've become vain in your imaginations and your foolish heart is darkened. You've got all this stuff going on. Your worldview has become so distorted that you're not able to relate to what's real about you.

"The whole purpose of that is to make yourself God: 'I am who I say I am. I'm not who I see myself to be in the mirror. I'm not who God says I am. I'm who I want to be.' When you get on that slippery slope you wind up where Romans 1 says.

"The culture you see in Romans 1:28 to the end of the chapter is what happens when you do this. That's darkness. We live in a world filled with darkness.

Psalm 119:130: [130] The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

"That's what's called a parallelism. You say something, then you say it again, but when you repeat it, you use different words to amplify what you just said.

"So when he says the 'entrance of thy words giveth light,' he's telling you light is the issue of understanding, knowledge. But where did it come from? You see how he says words plural? Then he says 'it' and that's singular.

"The Book is singular but it's made up of 66 books. There's a book in a book. The Book is made up of words. This is just a casual statement; there's no theological dissertation in this verse. David's just saying it, but he understands immediately that THE Word is made up of w-o-r-d-s and it takes those words to make THE Book.

"It's not simply the message that the words convey; it's the words that convey the message that is the Word of God. When you come with that fundamental approach to the Scripture . . .  all the stuff about the Bible versions controversy is based upon, 'Is the Bible the Word of God or does the Bible simply contain the Word of God?'

"Around the turn of the century into the 1900s, there was the great German modern movement of the rationalism that came out of Europe and infected American institutions, and there was developed a theology called 'neo-orthodoxy.'

"They began to get into that rationalism where the idea was the Bible isn't the Word of God; it simply contains the Word of God. That is, it's the message that's God's Word. 

"The fundamentalists back then who fought the modernists suddenly bought into all that and the result is that now you don't have any real authority. It's just 'the message.'

"The largest Protestant denomination in the world today, the Southern Baptists, believes that the 'living Word,' the Lord Jesus Christ, is the absolute final authority, not the written word.

"They say, 'You can't go by the letter because the letter kills; the spirit gives life,' which is a total bogus use of that verse in II Corinthians 3 ([6] Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life). That's their common thought pattern in that whole denomination."

(another article this evening)

Where's the fire?

"The Chinese New Year arrives on February 17, 2026, bringing powerful Fire Horse energy," reports an article on MSN's news feed. "This rare celestial event occurs only once every 60 years. Though most zodiac signs present a mixture of light and darkness, the Fire Horse is remembered only for one thing: the total and absolute Chaos . . . 

"The Fire and Horse elements combined create a 'double flame', which makes it even more fiery and hot-tempered. In ancient societies, people refrained from major life events during this year, considering the energy so volatile that stability would be impossible. Well, the same energy is now getting revived again. The 60-year cycle is being reshaped, and the 'Ghost of 1966' is gradually manifesting itself in the modern-day systems."

******

Here's a study by Richard Jordan on fire and will have a new article Friday evening:

Lucifer said, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." Clouds have to do with hiding the glory of God from His creatures.

Isaiah 6: [1] In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

Verses 4-5: [4] And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

Where does smoke come from? Fire. Verses 6-7: [6] Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:[7] And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Here's the fire that's going to come out of the throne's altar. Lucifer, says, "I'm going to ascend up above the clouds to where God lives above those clouds and I'm going to have them worship me like they worship Him."

This thing about the heights of the clouds . . . Did you ever notice all through your Bible in Baal worship they're always looking for the high places? It's not just for the purpose of getting some kind of tactical advantage.

What did they do in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel? It's top is going to reach to heaven. They're going there up in the high places and they're going to offer some sacrifices that are going to gain them authority to be heaven; to take God's heaven, take God's place, take God's rule. 

II Kings 15, talking in the reign of Uzziah, [3] And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done; [4] Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.

He did everything except remove the worship centers, the churches of Baal worship. What are people doing in the high places? "The people sacrificed and burnt incense."

Notice the description Jeremiah uses. Jeremiah 13:15.[15] Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the LORD hath spoken. [16] Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.

The dark mountains were the high places where they're worshipping Baal. He's not talking about physical darkness; he's talking about spiritual darkness. This is the condition Israel was in when the Lord Jesus Christ showed up.

Look at John 1: [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.[4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men.[5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

Now what kind of darkness is it that when the light shines it doesn't go away? It's not physical darkness. Chapter 3 says men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. The dark mountains were the places of spiritual darkness.

Remember in Jeremiah 44, he talks about them worshipping the queen of heaven and all the accoutrements that go with that. Israel was in complete satanic captivity and the dark doctrines of the Baal worship had completely captured the nation Israel and held them captive.

So Israel is in that condition of being completely engrossed and captured by Satan, and when he talks about fire, when you burn something, it's sadistic to do that.

When you focus on drowning people, that's sadistic too. But there's a difference between being sadistic and being masochistic. One is you torment yourself and you get pleasure out of that, and the other is you get pleasure out of tormenting others. And the fire and the water represent those two extremes Satan has gone to.

He starts here in the courts of God and he winds up . . . listen, what sin produces and where sin takes you . . .  I Kings 8, when Elijah takes the prophets of Baal up on Mount Carmel and they cry out for Baal to light the fire, manifest himself, and he doesn't, they go and cut themselves. They flog themselves. That's the sadistic kind of torture that you get pleasure out of serving.

There's a place where sin takes you, where Satan takes a person. In Revelation 2 it's called "the depths of Satan." Where you're not just torturing yourself, you get pleasure in torturing others.

Romans 1:28 says, [28] And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

A worthless, useless mind seeking only its own ways, seeking only to deify the creature; worship and serve the creature to do those things that are not convenient.

Then he lists the things in 29-32: [29] Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

[30] Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
[31] Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

[32] Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

That's what happens in a culture. When you see that in a culture, that's how it got there. They not only rejoice in seeing people damned, they have pleasure; they get their jollies out of it. They don't just enjoy doing it; they enjoy seeing people damned in doing it with them.

Now, that's exactly the attitude of the Adversary. That's the depths to which sin takes a person. It will take you there if you mess with it. You go around with a reprobate mind, that's where you'll wind up.

Ezekiel 31, talking about Satan, says, [2] Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? [3] Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.

Here's Pharaoh but he's called the Assyrian. Pharaoh's an Egyptian. How did he become an Assyrian? In Isaiah 51 he talks about the Pharaoh in Egypt being the Assyrian. In other words, he had become a captive of the Adversary. That's why Exodus says there arose a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph. He's now a part of the satanic program.

By the way, the Assyrian turns out to be the description, the title of the Antichrist. It's that spiritual whore who rules over the kings of the earth goes all the way over to Revelation 17 and the Antichrist rides it to power.

The chapter goes on, [16] I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.

[17] They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
[18] To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

What are they being comforted over? Come to Ezekiel 32:31: [31] Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

What's his multitude? All these people God had destroyed. He's going to look out at all those people who've just been damned to hell and destroyed and he's going to be comforted over that multitude back in verse 27-29: [27] And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.

[28] Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
[29] There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

Even Pharaoh and all his army shall be slain by the sword. Now, that's the depths of Satan. That's what had spiritually captured God's nation. That's a terrible totality of destruction.

Satan is fascinated by the fire and the water because that was his original goal; it was to possess the position of judgment and authority of God's throne; to be the one they worship and answer to. "I'm your judge; you answer to me. I'm God; you worship me."

It turned out that sin destroyed all that. The fire turned into hell and the water--look at Psalm 18:

[8] There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
[9] He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
[10] And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
[11] He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
[12] At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
[13] The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
[14] Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
[15] Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

Fire and water are Second Advent phenomenon connected with the destruction of Satan and his program. That's why that devil there in Mark 9, when Jesus said, "This kind comes out only by prayer and fasting. Only by understanding that I've got to go to the Cross."

The passage reads, [28] And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

[29] And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
[30] And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.
[31] For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
[32] But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.

He means this total, complete control over the nation Israel through that satanic program that held Him captive. "That kind comes out with nothing but what I as the Redeemer will do." 

Conscious of conscience

"A conscience without God is like a court without a judge."--French poet Alphonse de Lamartine (1790-1869)

From an article online: "As a compass can be skewed by local magnetic fields, our conscience can be distorted by negative influences. A good conscience requires maintenance."

Paul begins II Corinthians 4 with: [1] Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;

[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’ve learned for years that the truth will commend itself to a man’s conscience that wants the truth, and when it doesn’t commend itself to someone, you know why it isn’t? Because what they’re looking for is something different," says Richard Jordan.

"The conscience either 'accuses or excuses,' and people who continuously violate their system of norms and standards learn to excuse sin. The thinking becomes, 'Well, everybody else is doing it, so what difference does it make?'

Paul writes in Titus 1:15-16, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
[16] They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.”

Southern California preacher John Verstegen explains, “Because individuals are unsaved and operate in the ‘vanity of their mind’ on the basis of false doctrine—the satanic doctrine of this world—what happens over time is they then change that system in their inner man and their conscience goes along with it.

“Sometimes you ask the question how a person could do such a heinous sin and so forth. It’s because, over time, they have been taught that those things are acceptable and they justify it. That’s what Paul says in Romans 2.

“Why would someone do such a thing as murder someone? Well, because they’ve been taught that in certain circumstances it’s okay to murder and that they’re doing it for their god who approves of that type of thing, etc. 

“So they adjust and change that system of norms and standards they were born with and replace it with a wrong system. Even though their conscience initially questioned, ‘Well, is this right?’ it’s now said to be defiled.

*****

"Because a newly saved person’s conscience is said to be 'weak,' needing to be fortified through a steady diet of biblical truth, as Paul tells us in I Corinthians 8, it can be in a mixed state of confusion.

“On the one hand, it’s recognizing, ‘Hey, this is right and that’s wrong,’ but like this guy (in I Corinthians 8), he still thinks an idol is something real.

“So because his conscience previously bore witness to that thing and sacrificed to idols, now that he’s a Believer—and has a little bit of sound doctrine in his inner man—his conscience is kind of thinking, ‘Wait a minute, I belong to Christ now so this idol is nothing.’

“Now, what’s interesting is that a weak conscience can become defiled again. It can go back to what it was before the guy got saved. That’s the real issue here."

*****

"The other thing that is true for an errant Believer is that his conscience can become 'seared with a hot iron,' as Paul writes in I Timothy 2:4.

“You ever burnt yourself? When you sear something, it’s lost its sensitivity to pain because you’ve actually burned the nerve endings and that’s why you can’t feel it anymore. You actually fried it.

"It’s a conscience that has been so affected it doesn’t bear proper witness anymore because it’s totally lost its sensitivity to bear proper witness to what’s right and wrong.

“In the context in I Timothy, this actually is talking about a Believer; somebody who was in the truth but then departed from the faith and their conscience has become seared.”

Far beyond this vale of tears

(new article this evening. I tried writing an "intro" for my book the night before last but decided it was super-yucko and deleted it so will try again soon. I am steadily working now on wrapping it all up.)

From my experience, one of the worst feelings ever has to be when you feel you've disappointed the person who means the most to you in life and don't know how to fix it. It's almost like you have trouble breathing for the fear that, God forbid, the person won't think of you in the same way.

My favorite sentimental hymn from childhood, What a Friend we Have in Jesus, includes the lyrics, 

1. Are we weak and heavy-laden,
   Cumbered with a load of care?
   Precious Savior, still our refuge—
   Take it to the Lord in prayer.
   
   In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
   Thou wilt find a solace there.
2. Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
   Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
3. *****

4. Another old hymn, Oh, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus, includes the lyrics, “O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free! Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me! Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love. Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!"

5. This song from 1875 was Samuel Trevor Francis’ (1834-1925) most widely circulated hymn, one he lived long enough to hear sung by congregations around the world, sometimes in different languages. Another hymn of his, I Am Waiting for the Dawning, begins,

6. 1 I am waiting for the dawning
   Of that bright and glorious day,
   When the darksome night of sorrow
   Shall have vanished far away;
   When forever with the Saviour,
   Far beyond this vale of tears,
   I shall swell the hymn of worship
   Thru the everlasting years.
7. *****
8. Paul writes in Colossians 3: [12] Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
9. "When people hear ‘bowels and mercies’ they say, ‘What’s that?! Go back to chapter 1 and Paul’s already told you. He writes in verse 8, ‘For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.’
10. "Obviously he’s using a figure of speech or a metaphor," explains Richard Jordan. "You can easily find another place it’s used that will explain it to you. The bowels of something is the innermost recesses. Bowels of the cave; bowels of a ship.

    
    

    “Isaiah 16:11 says, ‘Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.’ He’s talking about, ‘I’m going to have some groaning way down in the depths of my inner man; my inward parts,’ and he’s not just talking about his physical anatomy; he’s talking about his soul.

    
    

    “I John 3:17 is another place that helps you. ‘But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’

    
    

    “He’s talking about the innermost part of a person’s soul. The inward part. By the way, the issue about 'the bowels of compassion'—that’s where compassion comes from.

    
    

    “If there’s something that can go right down into the depths of your soul where life really comes from . . . is there any of that? It’s all in Christ.
11. *****
12. Here are the lyrics to another all-time favorite hymn of mine, Abide With Me, that I grew up hearing on the record player and singing in church:
13. 1. Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
       The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
       When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
       Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
    2. Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
       Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
       Change and decay in all around I see—
       O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
    3. I need Thy presence every passing hour;
       What but Thy grace can foil the tempter’s pow’r?
       Who, like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
       Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.
    4. I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless;
       Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
       Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory?
       I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.
    5. Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
       Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
       Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
       In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Emergence of 'beast system'

The “reshaping of the world order” was the top issue addressed at the Davos 2026 summit that just ended in Switzerland.

“German chancellor Friedrich Merz warned that the rise of ‘great powers’ is shaking the foundations of the old world order, unravelling it at a ‘breathtaking pace,’ ” reported the British Guardian newspaper.

“This new world of great powers is being built on power, on strength and when it comes to it, on force. It is not a cozy place,” Merz said, urging leaders at Davos not to accept this new reality and to “shape the future” instead.

Commentary from a YouTuber:

“It’s just ironic. You have all these video clips now where leaders are openly proclaiming the New World Order, but you still have Wikipedia tags calling it a ‘conspiratorial totalitarian one-world government.’ Well, it is. Here it is. It’s not coming anymore; it’s here.”

From another YouTuber on the state of things:

I don’t know how many times they have to show the world openly that they are summoning other-worldly entities.

Elon Musk: “With Artificial Intelligence we are summoning the demon.”

They are poised to give them free reign through the 6^th and 7^th generation terahertz communication networks. They use that term “networks” because the Net works to essentially capture the souls of men.

Think about this whole “6-7” thing. It still is a madly popular trend since last year. It was even made “word of the year” on Dictionary.com.

The trend is popular almost exclusively with Gen Z and Gen Alpha. I believe this is an exercise, or a ritual, targeting these ages specifically and it’s not like a Hula-Hoop or an ice bucket challenge.

We all know the music industry targets the young people overtly. But this “6-7” goes into another level because the young are being molded by an electronic digital AI influence; the digital false reality.

Gen Z is the last letter. It’s also the 26^th letter in our alphabet. 2026, you know.

Gen Alpha, the first, the beginning, or genesis. This is a mocking of God, the Alpha and Omega. Another inversion to say this is the devil’s new beginning. It’s the new age; it has arrived.

They are working on these two generations to basically wipe their minds in a way and prepare them for the beast New World Order.

The 6^th and 7^th generation technology just happens to roll out at the exact same time as the “6-7” trend goes mega-viral and all of this can be directly connected to Genesis 6 where the fallen angels rebel against God and we’re witnessing this manifesting again in plain sight. The beast is emerging.

Psalmist: 'I came to the end of myself'

The snow is really coming down here as the morning light arrives. I am someone who LOVES snow and hardly ever gets to enjoy it since moving to southern Ohio during Covid in 2020. We might get a foot or more by the time it's over!

A story I love to remember is how I couldn't imagine what Lake Shore Drive looked like CLOSED for a blizzard and my curiosity got the best of me. Unbelievably, I got it in my head to go over to LSD during the storm and see for myself!! I was living on Briar Place at the time and so I was very near the roadway but still. It was a pretty wild slow-trudge in my snow boots in the whipping wind and high snow and I was the ONLY one out there as you could imagine!

I will have new article for sure this evening and sorry for delay.

"Performance-ism is just another word for legalism. It’s the mindset (by you and/or others) that directly equates your identity and value to your performance and accomplishments. 

"This is the way the vast majority of people (saved and unsaved) do life, getting their sense of value, meaning, validation and purpose out of what they’ve done and how they're performing," says Richard Jordan. "We find out we’re not performing well enough when we get the cold shoulder, snubbed, written off.

"We say to ourselves, 'Well, I’ll try harder and maybe then I will be accepted.' That’s just performance-based acceptance.

"Paul says in Galatians 2: [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

[21] I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit is not performance-ism. It’s not, 'I’ll perform and therefore get there.' Your value, your identity in Christ does not come from that. 

"Paul says, [20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.

"The realization to make is, 'I’m here in His place, doing what He’d be doing if He was here. In fact, He is here in me, living His life out through me.'

"That’s why we’re called the Body of Christ. We’re the vehicle through whom He lives and works today. That’s why Paul says, 'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.'

"We’re not talking about religion; we’re talking about a RELATIONSHIP with the God of heaven and earth, the Creator. The one who made you originally.

"Your self-will has taken you off in a different direction. Paul says, 'I’m dead to that.' How? 'Through Christ. I died with Him. But I didn’t just die with Him; when He put away my sin, He gave me His life.'

"Paul says, 'A spiritual transaction took place on a supernatural level inside of me, where I received His life, and so that the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God. I have His life and it’s Him living in me.'

"The Lord Jesus Christ, my friend, is most magnified, most exalted, when we’re satisfied in life with Him and He’s enough. All the other stuff, even if we lose everything else, we’ve got Him and we’re still ahead.

"Paul said, 'For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.' To live is to know Christ and to die is gain because now I just get more intimacy with Him. I’ve heard that word defined 'in-to-me-see.' That’s really what it is.

"More and more there’s the ability to see into Him, and Him to see into me, the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. In your life, when He is preferred above everything else, that’s how He’s cherished and demonstrated to be the treasure.

"When we’re satisfied with Christ, when we’re prizing Him, cherishing Him, treasuring Him as a prize, and His gain is our heart’s delight above all else, that’s what Paul means in Philippians 3:

[9] And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
[10] That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

"You notice how 'and be found in him,' that’s a passive voice? I’ve come to love the passives. The essence of life is not DOING! The essence of the Christian life is BEING, not doing! It’s who you are, not what you do.

"It’s who God has made you in His Son, and when that becomes the focus of your life, and you learn to just relax and enjoy life in the identity God has given you in Christ, rather than trying to do things and look over your shoulders and see if God’s happy with you, you’ll find yourself doing plenty.

"But it won’t be to gain something from others; it’ll just be because that’s who you ARE and that’s who people who ARE this--that’s the way they live.

"When I had cancer several years ago, someone sent me an email saying, 'You’ll never know if Christ is all you need until He’s all that you have, and when He’s all that you have, then and only then do you discover that Jesus is really all that you need.'

"If you don’t count all that you can do 'but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ' . . .  if you’ve never come to that point in your life, and you’re still trusting something of yourself, can I tell you that’s a dead-end road?

"Maybe you haven’t learned that yet, but when you do learn it, can I tell you it’s a dead-end road, and when you really do do what the Psalmist said ('I came to the end of myself'), can I tell you there’s one standing there at the end of your rope who is the answer.

"You go bloody your nose to learn, 'It ain’t me.' Whatever it is you hope to rely upon, whatever it is you hope to cling to, whether it’s in yourself or with others, if you’d be honest enough in your own self to know you can’t trust yourself . . . 

"We put the bravado on, but in your heart of hearts you know yourself. We kick at the slats; we don’t like to believe that, but the grace of God is only available when all of our resources are gone. You’ll never do it until you come to the end of yourself.

"Compared to everything else, He is the one who really is the treasure of your life. God help us to let that be the reality. Instead of screaming and hollering, 'But I’m going to lose it all,' just say, 'You know what, I’m really FINDING the real source of life.'

"Paul said, 'For me, Christ is gain. I just want to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness.' That old song says, 'Oh, how I love Jesus because He first loved me.' "

The Mother of all storms

Guess who’s just come out with a “deeply personal film series entitled 'Mother Nature'; a poignant reflection on nature's healing powers, inspired by her own battle with cancer over the past year,” according to British news outlets?

None other than the royal princess herself, Kate Middleton. In the film, Kate narrates the “profound impact of nature on my healing journey.”

In celebrating her 44^th birthday the other week, she shared a voice clip over social media, saying: “I find myself reflecting on how deeply grateful I am. For the rivers within us flow with ease, fears washed away, cleanse and purify.

“Come to peace with our tears and discover what it means to be alive. To be at one with nature, a quiet teacher and a soft voice that guides. In memory. Helping us to heal.”

From a Deseret News article: “As a personal note alongside the clip, Kate said she has found there is power in ‘nature and creativity in collective healing.’ She added that in her experience, taking lessons from Mother Nature can help ‘build a happier, healthier world.’ ”

*****

Of course, news articles acknowledging Mother Nature abound as always.

“Mother Nature seems to be sending us urgent messages, and frankly, she’s not using her indoor voice,” began an article online at Yahoo just the other day.

A fresh article at MSN begins, “Sometimes Mother Nature is in a good mood and sometimes she's in a bad mood. And other times, she gives you those mixed emotions you can't quite figure out. It's almost as if she's angry and happy at the same time.”

“Sun is shining, birds are chirping, and the living is easy. We’d like to think of nature this way. But it moves in mysterious ways and it’s called Mother Nature for a reason.”

*****

Here is a previous post and will have a new article this evening before midnight (weather permitting):

Why Mother Nature? Because this so-called Mother is at the center of pagan worship, including the invention of the Virgin Mary.

In the earliest days of Christianity, while the Apostle Paul was going about establishing history’s first independent, grace-oriented local assemblies of Believers, there was an organized worldwide church—the Church of Diana. She was called the “Queen of Heaven” (the same title Catholicism gives Mary!).

As Bible expert Gail Riplinger writes in her 1993 book, New Age Bible Versions, “God in his foreknowledge focused 18 scripture verses on Diana and inroads her image had made into Ephesus and ‘the world’ (Acts 19:24-41). ‘New International’ versions have dropped Diana, just as she is being picked up by a new international generation in need of undisguised truth.”

Riplinger quotes The Oxford Classical Dictionary’s info on Diana: “The Greek colonists identified her (the Ephesian goddess) with their own Artemis, because she was goddess of the moon and power of nature. . . But unlike Artemis, she was not regarded as a virgin, but as a mother.”

Just look at these references to Diana in the chapter 19 of the Book of Acts:

[24] For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;

[27] So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

[28] And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

[34] But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

[35] And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

*****

Now look at Riplinger’s great summary of the cult of Diana (hint: think Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code) that thrives today:

“The New Age movement has served as fairy godmother for Diana. As the goddess of nature, she has been adopted by its ‘back-to-nature’ wing; as goddess of the moon, she is worshipped by witches. Los Angeles Times writer Russell Chandler dispatches:

The great majority of people who call themselves witches . . . follow the nature-oriented polytheistic worship of the Great Mother Goddess whose names include Diana. . .

“ ‘Diana was chiefly worshipped by women,’ and consequently has become the ‘patron saint’ of the feminist and lesbian arm of the New Age movement. They call her the ‘living symbol of God’—just as the apparition in Belgium, who called for a mark, called herself ‘the Sign of the Living God.’ The New Age dictum reads:

She is the Queen. . . the chaste Diana. . .[T]he last initiated Father of the church [Origen] died, carrying with him into his grave the secrets of the Pagan temples. . . Diana, the One Mother of God having her place in heaven. . . [H]er occult aspects and powers are numberless.

*****

From my Barnes & Noble general educational book on Greek & Roman myth, Titans and Olympians (2003), it says Diana’s main temple at Ephesus was considered one the seven wonders of the ancient world!

“It remained an important religious site for centuries: in the first century AD Paul of Tarsus caused a riot in Ephesus by trying to preach the Christian faith there,” the authors of Titans write. “The statue of her in this temple showed her with many breasts and with other symbols connected with fertility goddesses.

“More usually, however, she was represented as young and tall, wearing a short, practical tunic, carrying a bow and arrow (Editor’s Note: We know from Revelation that this is the Antichrist’s calling card and explains the popular hand signals today either giving the “Peace Sign”  straight up or horizontally) and accompanied by her hounds.

“Occasionally she drove a chariot drawn by two heifers or horses, each a different colour. In rural areas, her statue was sometimes set up at crossroads: this acknowledged her connection with Hecate, because in popular superstition crossroads were often considered to be haunted. As a result of this she came to be known during the Roman period as Diana Trivia—trivia being the Latin word for crossroads.”

In another passage that smacks of Catholicism and replicates what the Bible says about the Antichrist’s upcoming “Queen of Heaven,” it informs, “A complex ritual developed at Delphi (the important sacred site in Greece). Anyone who wanted to know their destiny made offerings of a sacred cake and a goat or a sheep, before consulting the Pythia, the priestess of the shrine.

“After careful purification she sat on a tripod, a bowl of three legs, and fell into a trance-like state in which she received answers from Apollo (the top God for whom the Greeks dedicated the complex). When she spoke, her words were copied down by a group of priests who then interpreted them and delivered the results to the supplicant.” 

*****

About the pagan worship conditions that surrounded early Christianity, my pastor, Richard Jordan, explains, “The world of Paul’s day is known from a divine perspective as the Greco-Roman world. That’s what we call the culture of Paul’s day. Politically it was Roman, but Greek philosophy and Greek religion also ran the thinking process of the Roman Empire. The Gentile pagans had their material gods and immaterial gods. They had temples, the priesthood and priestcraft. They had a fully developed religious system.

“You’ve got to understand that the Dispensation of Grace began in the nighttime spiritually. It was a (global ‘winter period’) for spiritual understanding and Bible truth.

“The only nation in the earth God held relationships with was the nation Israel and they were fallen. They had joined hands with the Gentiles to crucify their Messiah. The Jews weren’t exactly the repository for great wisdom and spiritual insight. So the Dispensation of Grace was introduced to a world that sat in darkness. Israel was scattered and dispersed and after about 135 AD, there weren’t anymore Jews living in Palestine.”

Here’s another great summary passage from Riplinger’s book:

“The Ephesians remained undaunted in their zeal for the ‘Mother of God.’ Four hundred years after Paul’s rebuke these citizens declared ‘Mary’ the ‘Mother of God’ and the Council of Ephesus. They were led by: 1) Cyril of Alexandria, Egypt, a follower of ‘Sophia’ the Mother of God and 2) Egyptian Christians who believed the Trinity consisted of the Father, the Virgin, and the Son. Jesus Christ, speaking to the church at Ephesus, refers to men such as these saying, ‘[T]hou has tried them which say they are apostles and are not and hast found them liars.’ "

Talking the same vocabulary

The so-called Apostle’s Creed says Jesus died, was buried, descended into hell and then rose again the third day.

“In Roman theology, Jesus Christ didn’t finish the work at the Cross; all of His suffering wasn’t over yet,” explains Richard Jordan. “They say He descended into hell and had to continue suffering after the Cross. In fact, they teach that He’s suffering even today.

“That’s why you have the Mass continuously done. Their brag is that somewhere on the earth at every moment of every day (with the Mass) the suffering of Christ continues. Listen, all the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ was over when He said, ‘It’s finished.’

“Christ said to the thief on the Cross, ‘Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.’ Hell in time past had two compartments—torment and paradise, or Abraham’s bosom side—and Jesus Himself says He went to the Abraham’s bosom side, and if you know better than what He knew, you can deal with Him about that; I’ll just go by what He said. When King David writes in the psalms, ‘Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell,’ he was talking about the paradise side of hell.

*****

“God says in Deuteronomy 32:22, [22] For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

“Notice there are levels of descent in hell. In Ephesians, Paul talks about descending into ‘the lower parts of the earth.’ That means there’s more than one strata, one layer, one compartment. There are levels of the structure in the heart of the earth where the dead go in hell.

In Psalm 63:8, David pens to God, [7] Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
[8] My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
[9] But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
[10] They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
[11] But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall glory: but the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped.

“Notice it says they ‘fall by the sword.’ When they’re killed, what happens to them? They go into the lower parts of the earth. The idea there is they’re going to go to the grave.

*****

“If you read through that psalm, you’ll discover there are a number of allusions. When David ‘talks,’ he does what we do a lot of the time; he will make allusions to the Scripture. It’s sort of like it’s in his vocabulary.

“We do that. We talk Bible all the time. A lot of times you don’t even know you’re talking Bible. You say, ‘I missed getting run over by the skin of my teeth.’ Did you know you were quoting the Book of Job when you said that?

“Jesus said, ‘That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.’ Some guy says, ‘I don’t believe the Bible,’ and I think, ‘Why do you quote it so often then?’ ‘Well, I didn’t know I was quoting it.’ Well, that’s just because you’re dumb. Ignorance is bliss for folks who are ignorant.

“When David talks about going into the lower parts of the earth, that’s an allusion back to Numbers 16 when the sons of Korah were fighting with Moses about who was the big dog in Israel and God tells Moses what’s going to happen to them.

“Starting in verse 31, it says, [31] And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them:
[32] And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
[33] They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
[34] And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.

*****

“Every action, everything you see out in the world, comes from a spiritual source. The Bible says ‘out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.’ Jesus said it’s out of the heart that come the things that defile a man, and then He lists all kind of perverted activity, but they come from within.

“Even with creation—in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and how did He create it? Genesis 1:3 says, [3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

“You see, the physical creation is the physical manifestation of the spiritual life and worth that God spoke. Jesus said, ‘The words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life.’

"By the way, that’s why there are two realms--heaven and earth. That’s why there’s the natural and the spiritual. That’s why there’s Israel and the Body of Christ. It takes the two things to make the whole.

“Genesis 1:2 says, ‘[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

“It had no shape. If something has a shape, it has a purpose. The earth didn’t have any functionality. And it was void, meaning it was vain; it was empty.

"It was total chaos and darkness; the absence of anything God has to say; the judgment of God for sin—‘darkness upon the face of the deep.’

“By the way, you know the sun isn’t created until the fourth day. Sometime people argue, ‘Well, see there, how could you have light when you don’t have the sun?!’ Well, you know, a three-year-old knows that all light doesn’t come from the sun. We got lights all over the room here.

“We have all kind of different lights. What God’s doing on the first day is making sure you understand there’s a distinction between light and darkness and that distinction is so important that that’s all you read about in this text on the first day.

*****

“All Moses is doing in that first part of Genesis 1 is trying to show them God says, ‘Look, first thing you need to know about creation is there’s light and there’s darkness. There’s my presence, my purpose, my wisdom, knowledge and understanding in my creation, and there’s the judgment that comes about when I’m not there. And when I’m not there, and my wisdom, knowledge and understanding is not in my creation, you’ve got DARKNESS!’

“What we’re talking about is, if that physical darkness comes about because of the judgment of God, well then there’s a spiritual thing that’s BEHIND all of that. So light and darkness . . .

“We’re not talking about the false duality of paganism. They have this thing called ‘dualism’ where you have to have equal and opposite forces in order to produce this esoteric balance of the universe. You have to have the yin and the yang and all that stuff. That’s not what this is.

“You don’t have two opposite forces; you have the presence of God and His knowledge, and you have the absence of God and the result of that. It’s really God’s judgment on rebellion and Satan seeks to rule the world without God.

*****

“Satan has no power to create. You, as a human, don’t have the power to create anything. You just use what’s there. You utilize what God already created. You act on it, you rearrange it, you distort it, you pervert it, but you don’t create it.

“Satan seeks to be his own god and steal stuff—that’s called rebellion! In that darkness, the extent of that rebellion is more than just man because it began before man—it began with Satan.

“Satan told Eve that God didn’t want her to eat of the tree ‘lest you be as the gods.’ The reason that word ‘gods’ is plural is because it’s equally available to Adam and Eve.

“When people are always talking about egalitarianism, or how everything’s equal, that comes out of Genesis 3:5: [5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

“Satan’s saying, ‘You can be as, you can have the character of God. You can have it, Adam can have it,’ and we have all these little gods out here that all think they’re God and they worship and serve the creature—themselves—more than the Creator. Eve could look out and see all those gods, the fallen angels, creatures in the angelic realm.

“Why would you want to stop and be like them when they were already made in the image and likeness of God?!

"You see, they ALREADY had the image of God because that’s how they were made. They didn’t need to become something. That’s the difference between law and grace. It goes all the way back to the very beginning.

“Job 15 says, [11] Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?

[12] Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
[13] That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
[14] What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

[15] Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
[16] How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water.”

“Mankind is not clean but, look, the heavens aren’t clean either! There are creatures in the heaven that are fallen and are as filthy and vile as you and I are. The kingdom of darkness extends all the way out through the creation.”