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The Truth and the Trump Assassination Attempt
Hello reader. Just a note before you and I begin this post. I’m right now in the middle of several series at one time. Who knows which one I’ll continue next? I’m writing this to tell you that I am preparing, Lord-willing, to keep working until I finish all those. Here they are, part one of each, hopefully in reverse order.
Zero Social Gospel in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Part One), If You Want to Lose Men in and from a Church (Part One), and The Greek Text Underlying the NKJV Is Different Than the KJV (Part One). Part two of these series will come in the next few months. I’ve started these series and I want to finish them. Stay tuned.
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The Assassination Attempt
At 6:11pm on July 13, 2024 in Butler County, Pennsylvania, a twenty year old young man, Thomas Matthew Crooks, attempted to assassinate the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. Corey Comperatore, a firefighter, died that night from a head wound sustained during the same shooting, attempting to shield his daughters and wife from the attack. Others received injuries. Crooks missed Trump and the bullets flew into the crowd behind him.
The events of July 13, 2024 kept moving. The circumstances began to manifest themselves. Now we know a lot of detail. The young man, this assassin, climbed the building with his rifle on to the closest building (outside the perimeter) to the stage where the former President would give his speech. Several people saw him. They even reported it more than once.
The building used by this wannabe sniper stood 160 yards from his target. He laid down on a slightly sloped roof top and alone there pointed that rifle toward the former President and began pulling the trigger. He fired eight rounds before counter-snipers shot back and killed him.
The Oddities
Apparently the Secret Service, who the nation charges to protect Presidents and former Presidents, sets up a perimeter. This idea of a perimeter sounds familiar. They don’t allow any weapons inside it. On the outside, they look for favorable places for a shooter with a long gun. They occupy those or shut them down. Several questions arise.
Why wasn’t the roof of the building cleared or kept clear?
Why was there no drone to watch the high points outside of the perimeter, ones preferred by snipers?
Shouldn’t the police officer who confronted the shooter have relayed that information to the counter snipers?
With a clear vantage point to the roof top, why didn’t the counter snipers right away shoot a man with a rifle upon seeing him?
Many, many more questions exist. I think it is odd what happened. Others I’ve read said that it was either extreme negligence or malice. Malice means these weren’t mistakes made. Someone on the inside wanted him shot. People purposefully allowed or caused this event to occur. It’s so odd, that I would call it at least, very fishy. The circumstances around this shooting are so strange, that they beg the kind of questions I and others are asking.
A Question of Negligence or Malice
To be clear, I’m not saying it was malice. I don’t mind holding off with mere negligence. It is very suspicious though. Very. It is highly implausible that the Secret Service could allow this to occur, considering all the circumstances.
In the past, I’ve concealed my own bad behavior. In many, many cases through my life, I’ve seen others hide or obscure something they did wrong. Decades ago, our church treasurer stole money for months without detection. I’ve too witnessed many covertly hide an evil act to evade apprehension. This all happens very often. Many crimes are committed across the country every day. These are motivated in many different ways. The assailant is dead, so we can’t ask him.
The Discussion
I was watching a panel discussion in which the moderator or host said that the circumstances of the assassination attempt were very odd. When he did, two very vocal leftist panelists both called him a “conspiracy theorist.” They also took three standard, different directions with name calling. One, the host was a crazy loon. Two, he was divisive and slanderous. These two contradict one another, but they’re both still used in a scorched earth method. This serves to deter further questions or investigation.
Finally, third, the two leftist panelists admonished that no one really knows what happened. If you weren’t there, you can’t speculate. All speculation counts as misinformation. Only a caste of experts, and there are experts, can tell you.
All three varied protestations came with the appropriate condemnatory tone. They attempt to shame the interrogator. This corresponds to an identical spirit that permeates everything and every institution. Anything declared by anyone other than an elite person in an approved position is misinformation or disinformation.
One segment of our country expects us not to see anything unusual with the assassination attempt. Someone might say, “Don’t believe your lying eyes.” What they mean is, “Disregard the obvious truth.”
Detecting False Prophets by Fruit
In Matthew 7:15, Jesus commanded, “Beware of false prophets.” These are the people directing victims down the broad road that leads to destruction (Matthew 7:13-14). Jesus explains how that you know if someone is a false teacher. You know him by his fruits.
I point out to you an orange tree. You see it, and it’s an orange tree. This you know by its fruit. Yet, I call it an apple tree. You know that’s not true. Someone can surely judge that. It’s obvious. You would say, “No, it’s not an apple tree; those are oranges on that tree.”
So many oddities exist in the assassination attempt of former President Trump, that I don’t know how someone could not think something malicious occurred. By the fruits of this event, you can know this. It rises above the level of merely negligence. If it is negligence, that’s scary or frightening too. But this seems like something different.
Disregard the Obvious
Our present world expects people to disregard the obviousness like that of fruit on a tree. This is seen in the acceptance of many different false teachings. Even if teaching or preaching contradicts, this contradiction is to be disregarded. Move along, nothing there. Doctrine just doesn’t matter. Many obvious false teachings are accepted today. The ones in trouble are those who notice and point out the contradiction or error.
The requirement to believe everything is fine in the face of obvious evidence otherwise is the new normal. This is everywhere now. Good is called evil and evil is called good, just like prophecy of Isaiah 5:20. A famous metaphor for this is “the emperor wearing no clothes.” Apparently his subjects walk around like and say that he is wearing clothes, when in fact he isn’t.
The Requirement to Judge the Obvious
I know as a pastor that people expect me to ignore many things people in the church do that violate scripture. No one needs to be too serious about what scripture says. It really doesn’t matter if someone actually does what is preached.
Why would Jesus need to tell someone to inspect and judge fruit? Don’t people just do that? Probably not any more, speaking of Jesus’ day. False prophets abound because people stopped doing that. They don’t make obvious judgments. People let them go, perhaps because they don’t want to face the reaction of making those kinds of judgments.
Upholding the truth requires judging fruit. The illustration of Jesus says, judge the obvious. Fruit is obvious. It’s right there in front of your face. Don’t let people stop you from judging fruit.
“Judge Not”: What’s It Saying?
The Context of Matthew 7:1
Matthew chapter seven starts with a very short, memorable command in the midst of a long sermon by Jesus: “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” How does that fit into His message? People turn it into a statement against judgment or judgmentalism. But that is not what He was saying.
Jesus exposes His addressed audience, that it falls short of the glory of God. And the glory of God is their standard according to Jesus. “Be ye perfect as the Father is perfect,” He says (Matthew 5:48).
The crowd for Jesus thinks it’s okay because it hasn’t murdered anybody, but it really has murdered in the heart through its contempt for others. It is proud of its giving, its prayer, and its fasting, even though it does these to be seen of men. Its worry or anxiety about what it will eat or what it will wear means it does not seek first the kingdom of God. Without the requisite poverty of spirit, it will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
How Judgment Fits the Context
Comparison
How could the crowd think it was so good? How? It compared itself to other men, that’s how. But Jesus then debunked its false, self-righteous judgment of other men. Even if His audience were held to an identical standard to which it judged others, it would still fall short. It would still find itself failing before God’s holy judgment. Evaluation of one’s self based upon the standard of other men doesn’t change God’s standard of judgment, just shows how self-deceived it is.
People’s own judgment very often becomes their standard of judgment. That’s why they think they’re good. I see this again and again in my evangelism. Most people think they are good. It doesn’t take long in comparing people to God for them to find they don’t stand up to Him.
Contrast
In the next verse, verse two, Jesus says:
For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
Jesus expands on verse one. The Apostle Paul later makes a similar point in Romans 2:1-2:
1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Jesus Recommends Judgment
Jesus wasn’t saying, “don’t judge at all.” That’s easy to see. That’s not even what He was talking about. Even to make a righteous judgment of others, you can’t be or doing worse than the person you’re judging. All of this exposes the hypocrisy of pseudo-judgment intended to signal virtue and vindicate self. “I’m not as bad as the other guy, so there!”
When Jesus lays out judgment of any person upon any other person, it is for helping that other person. He’s got a moat or a splinter in his eye and you can help him get it out. If he’s beyond help, which we might assume starts with evangelism, Jesus gives an illustration for that. Don’t give something holy to dogs and don’t cast pearls before swine.
In other words, Jesus recommends judgment. He gives two priorities for judgment. One, remove impediments of judgment before you start judging. Two, don’t waste time and energy judging someone whom won’t listen to or use your wise judgment. Good reasons exist for judgment. Using the comparison with other men for self-vindication is not one of them.
Paul Stands Against Peter and the Subject of Authority (Part Four)
God Uses Human Intervention
Take a moment with me to participate in a thought experiment. Paul stood against Peter to the face. Why would Paul stand against Peter if God predetermined or just determined everything in life? As a free agent, Peter chose not to eat with Gentiles, with whom before he had eaten. He chose wrong because he could. Paul wanted him to change course on that action. The Apostle Paul expressed limitation, temperance of Peter’s actions. God uses men to do this.
Scripture shows direct human-to-human interaction necessary for particular God-ordained change. God intervenes using human intervention. According to the plan of God, He uses men to change men. Galatians 2 is a tale of God’s authority to intervene. Someone goes his own sweet way and someone else stands against him to stop that path of harm. It’s not a violent interchange. It is peaceful. Paul uses truth in arguments to persuade. Peter changes. Happy ending.
Grace Dominated Obedience
God Gets the Credit
God doesn’t force anyone to do everything just like He wants. Pastors can try, but it won’t work that way. If they imitate God, they don’t force it. Grace dominates the believer’s life. This allows for effective pastoral authority. Regenerate men can obey because of God’s grace and true pastors function within that grace for those men to conform to Christ’s image. God of course then gets the credit for it, like the Apostle Paul mentions at the end of 1 Corinthians 1.
Christ the Master
Go back to Romans 14. Paul makes this point in Romans 14:4:
Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth.
Paul uses an illustration. Another man has a servant or slave in that day. Would you get away with holding his slave accountable to you? You expect him to obey you, when his Master is his judge. John Gill writes concerning these words:
[O]ne man has nothing to do with another man’s servant; he has no power over him, nor any right to call him to an account for his actions; nor has he any business to censure or condemn him for them, or concern himself about them. . . . [H]e is another’s servant, he is the servant of God: he is chosen by God the Father for his service, as well as unto salvation; he is bought with the price of Christ’s blood, and therefore not his own, nor another’s, but Christ’s.
About the second part of the above quote from Romans 14:4, Gill writes:
[T]he meaning of which is, either if he “stands”, that is, if he serves his Lord and master, of which “standing” is expressive; and continues in the service of him, whose servant he professes to be; this is to his master’s advantage and profit, and not to another’s: and if he “falls”, that is, from his obedience to him, as such who profess to be the servants of God may.
We Live Unto the Lord
Paul expands on this truth in verse 8:
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
We live unto the Lord, not unto any man. Whether we live, a positive outcome, or we die, a negative one, either way, we are the Lord’s, not someone else’s. This also relates to judgment and even the judgment seat, which is after this lifetime.
The Judgment Seat of Christ
Paul writes in verse 10:
But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
The slave or servant will stand before His Master, Christ, for judgment by Him. A pastor should want not to impede or prevent a direct rapport of the Lord Jesus Christ with His servants. He can do this though by inserting himself in life matters in a judgmental manner. By judgmental, I mean in condemnatory treatment, which is manipulative.
Servants of Christ Serving Christ
Of course, pastors must step in. They must feed and protect. However, a pastor can make it more difficult for servants of Christ to serve Christ, because they inject themselves into judgment so extensively and vehemently. They don’t stand behind scripture as much as they stand behind force of personality and methodology. I’m not saying they won’t use the Bible, but their authority becomes the indispensable force of change.
I’ve been under a leader (in this case not a pastor) so severe that it seemed impossible to serve the Lord, because he made it so palpable that I was serving him. Someone doesn’t have to act in an identical way as him to operate in his manner. He blew his top. He threatened. It also meant hearing that he talked to others in a form of divide and conquer. I wasn’t his enemy — I supported him — but my popularity seemed a threat to him, so he tried to undermine it. In doing so, he really was hurting himself. I knew I could never stay under him as a leader because I wanted to serve Jesus Christ, not him.
Be assured, a church member might use some scheming tactic on a pastor too, to rule him from the below or under side. I fully acknowledge that. I’ve had that happen too. Scripture, including from the Apostle Paul, addresses both good and bad treatment of a pastor. Hebrews 13:17 says these members might cause a pastor to fulfill his office with grief, not with joy.
Treating Men with Respect
Especially Men of Good Will
I’ve read others use the terminology “good will” to describe a trait of a man who overall wants to do right. This man showed a long-time pattern of pursuing a right direction. He followed and continues in a favorable trajectory. He maintained good behavior toward God and others with some exceptions.
A basic human need God created in men is respect. Treating a man like a man means respecting him. One man in authority should approach another man with respect if he wants respect in return. This especially acknowledges past good will, not starting without good will in the exercise of authority. For a man of good will in need of course correction, a pastor should demonstrate respect of him while doing so.
Honor Due to All Men
If you are in authority, and you don’t think a man deserves your respect, you can still give it. You have a much better opportunity to restore someone if you go ahead and exhibit it. You can argue for showing respect. The Apostle Paul in Romans 13:7 says, “honour to whom honour.” Gill says about this:
[T]here is an honour due to all men, according to their respective rank and station, and the relation they stand in to each other.
Here is a common scenario. A pastor starts a confrontation of a man in a disrespectful manner. He renders dishonor to him. How do you think that’s going to turn out? The man responds poorly, maybe with some obvious irritation or worse. The reaction yields more disrespect from the leader. Everything goes down from there, because now both men feel disrespected. From there, interactions turn acerbic. It didn’t have to be that way.
Such a sequence of events one might call a cycle. These types of cycles do occur between people all the time. For the cycle to stop, both parties must admit at least the cycle occurred. It can’t be one or both sides assigning all the blame to the other. The cycle includes alternating wrongdoing that increases in intensity, until it comes to an abrupt ending.
When one retraces the steps, where did the decline begin? Someone may say, “When a man did something wrong, that necessitated confrontation from a pastor. If he never did anything wrong, it would have stopped right there.” Maybe. Everyone does things wrong. However, a genuine trial of wrongdoing follows due process. Without it, genuine God-ordained authority did not occur.
Why We’re Here
As a pastor, many times people didn’t and don’t do what I want. These people are not there to facilitate a successful career for me. The things they didn’t do might relate to their submission to Jesus Christ. What do I do? Do I blow a gasket at them, do I insult them, condemn them, say harsh things to them, or do I threaten them? I hope not. I should try to help them. That’s why I’m there. It’s not about me. They are servants of Christ for which He died.
A Hot Thing Today in Evangelical Hermeneutics Is Now To See Social Justice All Over the Minor Prophets
Was God angry with Israel for its lack of social justice? No doubt God was angry with Israel and through His prophets He warned them. The Bible, including the Minor Prophets, doesn’t mention “social justice.” It mentions just “justice.” Those who point out social justice in the Minor Prophets, or “The Prophets” as the Hebrews referred to it, say that God punished Israel for its social injustice. What they most often don’t say is that social justice itself is injustice according to its definition:
Social justice refers to a fair and equitable division of resources, opportunities, and privileges in society. Originally a religious concept, it has come to be conceptualized more loosely as the just organization of social institutions that deliver access to economic benefits.
Many different factors change the economic and social outcome of individuals. Scripture and, therefore, God doesn’t guarantee equality of resources or privileges. God doesn’t ensure equal opportunity. Bringing social justice into the Minor Prophets alters the meaning of justice, reads something corrupt into scripture.
When I say, “justice,” I’m speaking of the Hebrew word mishpot, found 421 times in the Old Testament. Translators translate mishpot both “justice” and “judgment.”
Evangelical social justice warriors use a prophet like Amos, where in 5:7 he says,
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth.
“Righteousness” (tsidaqa) in the second half relates to “judgment” (mishpot) in the first half. A warning occurs later in verse 15:
Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
“Establish judgment” (mishpot) and the “LORD God of hosts will be gracious.” Same chapter, verse 25, was a common refrain from civil rights leaders, used according to what became called “liberation theology,” which spiritualizes these Old Testament passages with a form of amillennialism.
But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Social justice advocates now use these verses in a wide ranging manner, that is hardly justice. The “judgment,” that is mishpot, is the judgment of God. How does God judge what occurs? Israel doesn’t follow God’s laws, which are His righteousness. Israel falls short of the glory of God.
Micah is another prophet who confronts the same theme as Amos in such verses like 3:9:
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
“Equity” at the very end isn’t a contemporary understanding. The Hebrew word means “straight, right, level, or pleasing,” as in pleasing to God. Israel was making crooked what was straight. That’s injustice.
When some people get away with lawbreaking because they’re rich, that is injustice. It’s not judging like God does. When that occurs, the straight becomes crooked. It’s also allowing people to get away with such activity.
Today the social justice warriors are championed by the rich, who get off the hook for their injustice. They cover for criminal evidence on a laptop of the President’s son. They tear up public property in Seattle and Portland without arrest. Illegals flow across the border. A homeless man urinates on the street without justice. Yet, all of this is “social justice.”
A verse in Micah equal in fame to Amos 5:25 is Micah 6:8:
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
People “do justly” or they don’t. In other words, they characteristically do what pleases God or they don’t. Justice relates to God. Doing justice means no one gets away with unrighteousness, which is what God says it is. If he does break God’s law, he repents. When a boy dresses like a girl or a girl dresses like a boy, that’s not mishpot. Abortion violates mishpot too. I can keep going a long time with such examples of the transgression of God’s law.
Calling the contents of the preaching of the Minor Prophets “social justice” perverts the point and meaning of the Minor Prophets. It sounds like impressive exegesis to a woke audience. It panders to that group. However, it corrupts justice. It makes the straight crooked in contradiction to Micah 3:9. It promotes redistribution of wealth, taking from those who earned it and giving it to those who didn’t, a form of thievery. This corresponds to a now famous statement by President Obama when he ran for reelection in 2012, speaking of small business owners, “You didn’t build it.”
The prophets preach repentance too. Amos 5:4 says, “Seek ye me, and ye shall live.” 5:6, “Seek the LORD, and ye shall live.” 5:9, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion.” 5:14, “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.” The road to justice starts with personal repentance, seeking the LORD and, therefore, His ways.
Perhaps the greatest abuse of justice is idolatry, elevating man’s lust above God. False worship. Rather than loving God, loving your self. None of this is mishpot. This isn’t justice. This isn’t seeking after God.
The Judgmental Church: Apostolic, New Testament, and Seeker-Friendly?
The Judgmental Church!
Everyone knows that being judgmental is one of the greatest sins that a person can possibly commit. The sin of being “judgmental” is mentioned and condemned in the following verses in the Bible:
The sin of being judgmental is regularly mentioned in 1st and 2nd Opinions, books which most people are much more committed to living by than they are, say, the Pauline epistles and the Gospels.
While being “judgmental” is not mentioned in the canonical New Testament, only in the pseudepigraphical 1st and 2nd Opinions, and the passage in the Sermon on the Mount that people misuse to prove this position actually commands one to help one’s brother remove even a speck or smaller sin from his eye (that is, Christ commands one to judge) as long as one does not hypocritically have a beam in one’s own eye (Matthew 7:1ff.), there are plenty of memes and commonly supported cultural images for it, which, in the eyes of many, should be a sufficient substitute for the total lack of support in the inspired text of Scripture.
Were the New Testament Churches Judgmental?
Did the apostolic, New Testament churches judge? In addition to Matthew 7:1ff., Christ commanded: “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment (John 7:24). So Christ commanded people to judge–it was not only not a sin, but it is a sin to fail to judge. Did the New Testament churches follow Christ’s command to judge? Consider 1 Corinthians 14:23-25:
23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that ye are mad? 24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: 25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
Wow! Not only did this New Testament church fail to recognize the (alleged) sin of judging, but Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wanted every member of the congregation to be judging. In fact, if a new visitor comes to a church service, “all” are supposed to judge him, with the truth of Scripture, and by this means he will not be turned off by their being so “judgmental,” but on the contrary, he will fall down on his face and will worship God, recognizing that God is in them of a truth.
Consider also Isaiah 1:21:
How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
It was good for God’s people to be “full of judgment.” That was being “faithful,” and was characteristic of “righteousness.” When that stopped it was unfaithfulness, spiritual harlotry.
The second greatest commmand is to love your neighbor as yourself–the only greater command is to love God with your whole being. What is involved in loving your neighbor? Note Leviticus 19:17-18:
17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. 18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Rebuking others is showing your neighbor love–just like not hating him, not avenging, and not bearing grudges. Sin is the greatest evil, so rebuking your neighbor, so that he does not sin, is one of the kindest and most loving things you can possibly do.
The Apostolic, New Testament Way to Be Seeker-Friendly
Do you want visitors to your church to come to true conversion? Do you want your church to glorify God and follow the New Testament? Then start having lots of judging of others go on, so visitors can fall on their faces and confess God is in you of a truth. Exercise lots and lots of God-glorifying, loving, non-hypocritical, but Biblically accurate judgment. That is part of loving your neighbor as yourself. Reject the Satanic advice of the world, the flesh, and the devil that you are not supposed to judge anyone or anything. As in so many other situations, this idea is exactly the opposite of what the Bible actually says.
John 7:24; 1 Corinthians 14:23-25; Isaiah 1:21, and Leviticus 19:17-18 should be carefully expounded in every evangelical “church growth” book that actually cares about what God says about the church and that wants genuine growth, not cancerous pseudo-growth. So should the fact that “come as you are” is a lie-the Biblical advice is “sanctify yourselves.” But I’m not holding my breath–I suspect that, in the minds of many, the sin of being judgmental, as condemned in 1st and 2nd Opinions, will continue to greatly outweigh the evidence to the contrary from Christ, the apostle Paul, Moses, and Isaiah.
“You mean I am wrong in saying being ‘judgmental’ is a sin condemned in the Bible? How DARE you judge me about that!”
–TDR
My Vaccine, Etc. Take
This is my take on the Covid-19 vaccine, etc.
In 2020-21 Brother Ross has written everything on vaccines and conspiracies on his day on Fridays. I wish they weren’t controversial, but I knew they would be and I know they are. I allowed all of them. I’m fine with the position he takes. He’s never explained, but I think I know why he wants to write on this subject so much. I’ve supported him. So, I haven’t written on the subject. I don’t want to write on it. But I’m going to write about it now. I think I should.
I understand why people won’t take the vaccine. There are several reasons for it in no necessary order. As I write these, I’m not looking up anything in research. These are off the top of my head. Each of these, I believe, is a reason.
One, the vaccine isn’t like anything else produced. It’s a new technology. How can we be sure about this particular technology?
Two, the vaccine was rushed through without the usual testing.
Three, the government has been lying from the start. When I say, government, I want you to understand that I don’t mean all of the government, mainly the unelected bureaucracy with cooperation of the media. All things have not been the same as it relates to the government, but the swamp is large.
The government wasn’t honest about China. It wasn’t honest about masks. It wasn’t a pandemic. The fear of a “pandemic” helped botch the 2020 election and made it easier to cheat. With total respect for those who died and those who knew people who died, people died at a lesser rate by definition than a true pandemic. Yet it was called a pandemic. The media has pushed the lies of the government. The government still lies on a daily basis.
The government used the pandemic to shut down and threaten churches. It’s still doing it in countries less free and without a Constitution like ours. The vaccine has been a political hard ball. It’s tossed all over the place to cause political damage in a dishonest way. When people were dying in the last administration, fast balls thrown at the head every minute at the President. Now when it’s spreading like wildfire and this President makes multiple errors, the media is silent. He wears the mask like a chin strap in public, coughs all over people, coughs into his hand, breaks every one of his own rules.
By the way, if you can’t understand why people don’t trust their government and in a big way, then please read Victor David Hansen’s recent column at American Greatness, entitled, “The Truths We Dared Not Speak in 2021.” This government is a clown car, trying to force people to put something in their body that they don’t want, except it’s not a fun clown car but one that is weaving all over the road with two wheels hanging over a cliff. Think about a clown and then think of President Biden and then Jen Psaki. It’s not a difficult reach. Put her hair on his head. It’s difficult to parody, (1) because it is its own parody without changing anything, and (2) it’s a nervous laugh because they are dangerous.
Four, the vaccine has the worst side effects I’ve ever seen. I admit that I haven’t taken many prescription drugs in my lifetime, but these are some weird reactions.
Five, President Biden opposed the vaccine until he became president and now he wants everyone vaccinated. He is willing to mandate it for anyone that he can.
Six, people are getting fired for not getting the vaccine. People are having their positions threatened. Some see themselves as marked people because they aren’t cooperating.
Seven, the vaccine sets a pattern of government control that reminds people of passages in Revelation where the Antichrist takes over. It isn’t the Antichrist and it isn’t the mark of the beast, but the Antichrist won’t allow those to buy or sell without the mark, and the present government has pushed a vaccine passport. When I was in San Francisco, held over there trying to get to a funeral, a coffee shop asked to see my vaccination card or I couldn’t get a coffee there.
This government locked everything down and would monetary fine those who broke their arbitrary, non-representative rules, and then the main executives of the rules broke them themselves with total hypocrisy. They also allowed leftist protestors to break them without interdiction or discouragement. Now they let people illegally into the country, who are breaking their Covid rules. They don’t really care about stopping the disease, not with the conviction of someone who really believed it was serious.
Eight, I’ve thought that a health crisis would be the basis for breaking down the boundaries and distinctions between governments. It was Rahm Emmanuel, Chief of Staff for President Obama, who said, “Don’t let a crisis go to waste.” Some seem to revel in the crisis. It creates great situations to pass a biggest spending bill for all of history.
Nine, the government says the vaccination works and then requires masks and social distancing as if the vaccination doesn’t work.
Ten, Israel does a study saying natural immunity is better than a vaccination and our government gives no equal favor to natural immunity. It is essentially silent on natural immunity. This itself is a sort of lie.
Eleven, politicians by nature make money from Pharmaceutical lobbyists, which seem to be involved. The more vaccinations, the more money to corrupt lobbyists. The cost is spread over everyone who pays taxes. What a boon! The give-away system itself is corrupt. This is a form of corporatism.
Twelve, cheap drugs that could help Covid patients aren’t allowed those drugs. They are safe, legal, and inexpensive, so why aren’t they allowed? Why are they being attacked in the media? Many testify to being helped by them and yet in many cases, the medical community doesn’t have them when they are needed. These are the same people saying to get a vaccine.
Thirteen, the wrong people are putting unreasonable pressure on people to take the vaccine.
Fourteen, other ideas besides the vaccine are not easily accessible. When someone has a criticism, it’s being censored in social media and on the mainstream media. Why is that?
Fifteen, more people look to the government for help, adding just a little bit or even a lot more dependency on big government.
Sixteen, just one more booster, no one more, just a second, you’ll just need one more.
Seventeen, this works at 95%, sorry to tell you now it’s at just 25% efficacy. They really didn’t know how long the efficacy would last. It looks like they’re trying the vaccine out on us.
Eighteen, people aren’t sure if aborted baby materials weren’t used in experimentation to create the vaccine.
I’m going to stop at eighteen. I could write thirty or more. What I wanted you to know was that I understand your concerns. If you didn’t get the vaccine, you’ve got reasons. I think especially cumulatively, people see what I’m writing. They know it. Even if they trust the vaccine, they don’t want to support this.
With this list of eighteen, if you want to get the vaccine, you should be at liberty to get it. I don’t agree with writing that calls it genocide and a death shot. Good people support getting the vaccine. I got the vaccine and a booster. My parents got the vaccine and the booster. I didn’t push the vaccine at all, but if someone asked me, I told them why I got it. No pressure.
I had my reasons for getting the vaccination, that I believe are legitimate reasons for getting it. I’m not ashamed for getting it. It wasn’t so that I could travel, like someone lied. I didn’t need it to travel. I don’t think people should be shamed for getting the vaccination. It’s a liberty issue. Because it is a liberty issue, I believe Brother Thomas can write about it with liberty. It’s obviously not a liberty issue for some. You should think about the principles in his conspiracy series. He cares about scripture more than most people I know.
I thought the reward outweighed the risk. I thought the vaccination was a risk. Not getting the vaccination, I believed, was a greater risk. To me, getting it was a greater reward. It should not be causing division in churches. For sure, it should not be a church discipline issue. I know several unaffiliated Baptist churches where a majority of the people received the vaccination.
When I list of the worst things happening in 2021, I think those on the list should be taken into consideration. With my eighteen reasons people could legitimately use for not getting vaccinated, that doesn’t mean I think the vaccination issue gets into the top five or even the top ten. That doesn’t mean the vaccination issue and others like it aren’t important at all. I’ve never written that. I did not make that point at all. However, if you don’t think my top five were important or even true, be my guest for making the case that there are bigger issues than the five I wrote. Feel free to argue the vaccination into the top five. Do not rehash what has already been written under other posts.
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You can comment, but I’ll shut it down if I think it’s uncivil. On this post, I have the right to delete any comment without giving you a reason.
Justification In Job, pt. 2
Justification by faith is both an Old Testament and a New Testament doctrine. It reads like a major theme in the book of Job, the oldest Old Testament book. Job’s friends speak to him about justification and Job answers about justification. Is Job justified?
A related aspect to justification is a common Old Testament Hebrew word, mishpot, translated “judgment.” Forms of mishpot occur 23 times in Job. “Judgment” and “righteousness” both have been assessed as the theme of the entire Bible. I can’t disagree with either assessment. Over ten years ago I read a book by James Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology, which proposed judgment as the subject of all of scripture. Men are judged by God as to whether they are righteous. He judges a man righteous, who is justified. Men also judge other men as to their justification, which is what Job’s friends were doing.
Judgment, mishpot, by God is based upon His righteous nature and standard or law. A popular recent, contemporary concept is “authenticity” or “authentic.” Job was authentic, and the normal or plain understanding of authentic has been based upon an objective standard, so outside of one’s own self. Self-authenticity is a kind of oxymoron. Just because you’re consistent with your own understanding of who you are doesn’t make you authentic. Naugahyde couldn’t be said to be authentic. Leather is. And one can judge leather by an objective standard. It was at one time the outer layer or skin of an animal.
Was Job justified? Was he an authentic righteous man? He, his friends, and finally God have this discussion. Satan said he wasn’t. God said he was. So what is it?
One of Job’s friends, Zophar, starts his speech in chapter 11, asking and using the ninth of twenty-eight usages of a form of the Hebrew verb form tsadek (v. 2):
Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?
Zophar insinuates overt loquaciousness of Job, implying Job’s justification of himself with his words. Zophar is suggesting that rather than the words of Job justifying him, it be the consequences of his actions. In other words, someone facing the hardship of Job couldn’t be righteous. In weighing Job’s talk against the gravity of his situation, Zophar infers that the latter condemns him. However, Job’s guilt or righteousness could not be judged by the circumstances of his life. Job has been arguing against the false conclusion that his trials evidenced unrighteousness.
In a second chapter of Job’s answer to Zophar in Job 13:18, he says:
Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
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 (tsadek)? 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?
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous (tsadek)? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman? 5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. 6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
Alas! and did my Savior bleed?And did my Sov’reign die?Would He devote that sacred headFor such a worm as I?
5 God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me. 6 My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
I put on righteousness (tsadek), and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem.
Let me be weighed in an even (tsadek) balance, that God may know mine integrity.
Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified (tsadek) himself rather than God.
12 Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. . . . . 32 If thou hast any thing to say, answer me: speak, for I desire to justify thee.
For Job hath said, I am righteous (tsadek): and God hath taken away my judgment.
2 Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness (tsadek) is more than God’s? . . . . 7 If thou be righteous (tsadek), what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?
I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness (tsadek) to my Maker.
Wilt thou also disannul my judgment (mishpot)? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous (tsadek)?
And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
What Formed Crater Lake?
Certain questions, like the title of this post, seem rather remote and disconnected from every day life. Like I like to put it to people, “It seems like an island that has nothing to do with the mainland, so why paddle out to that.” The world, however, takes great note of these questions and their answers. We should have the true answer and be able to state it — not to every such question, but to such questions. We introduce the world to the real world. They are stuck in their alternative reality and we are responsible to deliver them from it. I know that today people state it as taking the red pill, but if this is a pill, it’s probably not red or blue, but the concept itself is valid.
After about a year in Oregon, a friend and member of our church in California came up to visit on the weekend, we went door-to-door evangelizing Friday and Saturday, had Sunday services, and yesterday, we drove up to Crater Lake, which is also a national park about an hour and a half drive from where we live. Crater Lake is beautiful. It is essentially the top of a mountain that has been hollowed out with no outlet and water has accumulated there through various means over a long period of time. It looks like a crater filled with the brightest blue, almost transparent water. In the lake is another old volcano that also has a crater, a mini-island within the crater, a mountain within a mountain. It was hazy, when we visited Crater Lake on Monday, because of wind blowing smoke up from fires in California. Nevertheless, the views, as we drove all the way around and hiked to two locations and got out of the car at least ten times to look, were awe inspiring (if you click on the pictures, they get bigger and better).
Requisite now for national parks, which are very often very beautiful, are historical and apparent scientific explanations. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and it is the ninth deepest lake in the world. At many of the scenic overlooks were placards and displays that talked about the formation.
The explanation for Crater Lake is that it was Mount Mazama, which became an active volcanoe, which erupted 6,000 to 8,000 years ago which blew out twelve cubit miles worth of material to form a cadera, the gigantic crater. That bowl filled up with water from huge snows and the melting of the snow pack in the winter. Since there are no inlets or outlets, it is very pure water, some of the purest of the world, and it is estimated the water completely changes every 250 years through the exchange of evaporation and precipitation.
If you read the descriptions on any of the placards or displays, there is no mention of God. God does not enter into the explanation. He should. Crater Lake formed by means of a universal flood over the entire earth from which the original water also came. Yes, it has since been replenished in the way described, but was a lake at the time of the great flood, revealed in Genesis 6-9 in the Bible.
God was angry with mankind and so He revealed to a righteous man, named Noah, that rain and a flood and destruction were coming, because of man’s sin. Man was sinning and unrepentant of it. Violating the moral law of God brings consequences. God doesn’t allow man to interminably get away with sin. He reacts with righteous indignation and true justice.
God is also merciful, because He instructed Noah to preach to mankind to warn him for 120 years. God also provided for a way to escape the destruction of the flood, an ark. Noah and his family would build the ark to save whoever would repent and believe. No one did, so except for the eight people in Noah’s family, everyone died.
The flood changed the topography of the earth. Water came from beneath the earth’s surface and from above. A feature of the earth before the flood was the firmament, waters which protected the earth from factors that would greatly shorten people’s life spans. Proceeding from God’s power, waters broke forth from beneath the surface of the earth and rained down from above it.
The pressure of the water that covered the earth completely changed the topography of the planet. There was a tremendous upheaval that is responsible for what the earth looks like now. This occurred by the powerful judgment of God and then the natural forces that followed from that. Genesis 10 talks about the division of the earth. It took awhile for the earth to settle. The population was very small and in one location and everywhere else were massive changes from which are repercussions still today.
The forces at work from the worldwide flood caused volcanic eruptions and huge shifts of the earth’s crust, leaving still the consequences of sin in the way of volcanic and seismic activity. The earth still often shakes with the shifting of plates and destroys what’s on the surface, leading to further death. Giant waves form and hit the shore of populated area, destroying life and property. The weather that followed the flood has continued to wreak havoc everywhere and all the time with the far less stable living environment than what existed before the flood. Life changed drastically and it was all because of sin.
God’s judgment of sin formed Crater Lake. It also formed the Rogue Gorge, which is nearby Crater Lake about 45 minutes away.
These formations are beautiful to see. They are powerful. All of them have arisen from the power of God’s destruction of a former world because of its sin. No one mentions that at either location, but it is true and it is the most important story at both Crater Lake and Rogue Gorge.
Further judgment is coming to the world. God has already warned about it. He wants His children, His saints, to preach about it. It’s obviously nearer today than it ever has been. Even the smoke over Crater Lake reminds me of that future fire that will destroy the world. Like Noah and his family could be saved, God offers salvation. Let’s not miss that. A former world was destroyed without repentance. Only those who repent and believe in Jesus Christ will escape the next judgment of God.
Main Reason God Intervenes on Earth in an Obvious Way: That We Know That He Is The Lord
Reading through the Bible twice this year, I just recently finished Ezekiel and I noticed these words as an emphasis in the book: “Ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.” I wondered how many times then it was in Ezekiel so I looked it up, and then I also wondered how many times it was in the Bible. I kept the search to “know that I am the Lord.” The words of that search just in Ezekiel are 63 times. “”Know that I am the Lord” is found 77 times in the whole Old Testament. It has to be an emphasis of the book of Ezekiel found so many times, and it is God Who is saying those words.
Here are some samples.
6:7, And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7:4, And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7:27, The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
11:10, Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
12:15-16, And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
12:20, And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
14:8, And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
15:7, And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.
23:49, And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25:5, 7, And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the LORD. . . . Behold, therefore I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the heathen; and I will cut thee off from the people, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries: I will destroy thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
25:11, And I will execute judgments upon Moab; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
25:17, And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.
29:6, And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
30:8, And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
30:26, And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
33:29, Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.
35:4, I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
35:23, And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
39:6, And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
39:28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
Those aren’t even half of the usages in the book of Ezekiel. I’m guessing that you didn’t read them. You got the gist of them after a few samples and stopped reading. This is typical, but maybe you should go back and read them. What you can see is that God does what is called in scripture “evil things,” which doesn’t mean “sinful,” but things of judgment, like pestilence, famine, war, and death, so that the people will “know that I am the LORD their God.”
I noticed that it isn’t only “evil things,” but also blessed ones such as the following example:
36:11, And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
That is a positive one, but I don’t think I saw another positive one of the 63 usages in Ezekiel. It does mean that God uses blessings or positive things so that we will know that He is the Lord, but He mainly uses negative ones, ones that hurt and deprive. Those get our attention better and we know it. God uses those. What does it produce? In rebels, it produces more anger and rebellion, and then God judges them more, destroys them usually. However, His purpose is that they would know that He was the Lord. That’s what He wants.
The way these above examples read is something I’ve often said and that is that pleasure whispers to us and pain screams at us. I don’t like pain. I don’t want pain. But I know that pain gets my attention more than pleasure. I almost don’t want to say it, because I’m saying something that will come about.
None of us should lose sight of the point though. God wants to be known as the LORD our God. That knowledge is more than just intellectual. It affects our wills. You can read that in these passages too. It’s the kind of knowledge that overcomes us and changes us. Our behavior changes, because when we know that, we act like we know it. This is what God wants from us. We should know it.
The title of this piece is that God intervenes on earth in an obvious way. If God wants us to know something, He shows us. How we see He shows us in Ezekiel is through these difficult circumstances and events. They get our attention. They make us think. We could avoid them if we would just take in the revelation of God through creation, conscience, and through His Word. God is sovereign, but He may not intervene in a noticeable way, but if He wants to be noticed, this is how He wants to be noticed, that He is the Lord our God.
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