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The New Rising Hatred Against Israel in the United States
Jews are a relatively small group of people compared to the whole world. Israel is a tiny, little nation. They are a couple of gnats landing on a large person. Proportionally the Jews and Israel receive a very big, gigantic reaction from the rest of the world.
Admittedly, I notice the Jews every day even though almost all of my days now I speak to none, not a single Jew. I don’t have to go out of my way to ignore Jews. None live where I am.
On the other hand, during my time in California, on average Jews were more hostile to me than any other people. When I came to a door and saw a mezuzah shema (mezuzah means “doorposts”) on the doorpost, that meant a tough, very difficult situation was coming about 100 percent of the time. I want to have a good conversation with a Jewish person and it is very disappointing that most Jews treat someone like myself, who loves them, worse than anybody.
Even with the very poor treatment, I support Jews and Israel. My wife and I go out of our way to befriend Jewish people. I even understand their hostility. It isn’t merited, but it is understandable.
Why Israel and the Jews?
Maybe you have a hard time comprehending why so many people, especially young ones, right now are opposing Israel and the Jews. These are harsh and even dangerous times. It is widespread and many times violent. Maybe even stranger, Jews themselves are part of the opposition. Quite often the stories or the narratives contradict. The two or more sides or factions tell clashing stories.
My main point of writing this post is to answer why so much hatred for the Jews and for Israel, What could this be? What causes this? Here it is and not necessarily in this order: The most prevalent reasons, I think, I will present at and toward the end, not the beginning.
Contrasting Theologies
Supercessionism
One, differing and contradictory theological positions cause the hatred. Many Jews don’t participate in the theology that brings the incendiary treatment of them. They don’t believe anything, but it doesn’t make any difference. This as a section could be a very long explanation and discussion, almost an entire book.
I don’t think theology figures the degree of hatred that explains the present reaction to Israel and the Jews. Those who see Israel replaced by the church, called supercessionists, don’t hate Israel because of that usually. They aren’t still blaming the Jews for crucifying Jesus. Some Jews may think this engenders hot passion, but most people, even if they’re supercessionists, don’t care about this. They aren’t going to do what we see happening, just because of this theology. These people haven’t even heard of supercessionism.
Supercessionism could describe a theological position that forms a premise for violent activity against the Jews, but it doesn’t provide the main impetus for hostile activity against them. It can provide a kind of positional justification, but not the reason. I remember getting slapped in the face by a Sophomore, when I was a Freshman in high school, while on a field trip, looking at leaves for Biology class. When I asked him why, he said, “Because I wanted to.” Several reasons contributed to the slap I took from him.
Allegorization
The supercessionist allegorizes scripture. He can twist scripture by not taking it literally. Dozens or hundreds of positions arise from spiritualizing what God’s Words say.
A moderated form of supercessionism exists that supports Israel and the Jews. Those who take the attenuated position will support Israel, despite their Roman Catholic or Protestant ecclesiology. If someone is going to allegorize scripture, then he can take the direction of supporting Israel, despite thinking that God replaced Israel with the church.
Envy
Two, many unbelievers are flat-out envious of the Jews. They see Jews and Israel as a privileged caste. They’re jealous. On average they’re rich and successful by the world’s standard. Jealousy likes people losing what they have. Few to none are jealous of the Palestinians.
Satan’s Hate
Three, Satan hates Israel. This hatred manifests itself in Genesis 3 with the serpent bruising the seed of the woman. Sure, the seed is Jesus, but one cannot separate Jesus from the descendants of the woman and of Abraham. Satan gladly attempts sticking his thumb in God’s eye with the crushing of Israel and the Jews.
End Times
Four, we’re getting closer to the end. Let’s say that the future time when enemy nations surround Israel is December. The rising hatred of nations against the Jews is August. You’ve got to get to August to get to December. I’m not saying actual August and December, but a metaphor, like Thanksgiving coming before Christmas.
God’s Judgment
Five, God will bring more judgment on Israel. This goes back to Daniel 11-12. Israel didn’t want to go back to the land to rebuild the temple and the walls. They felt comfortable staying in captivity Yes, those people cried for the blame for Jesus’ death. The rest of history would give regular chastisement to Israel and the Jews. It would never be easy.
God is working His plan.with Israel to get the nation to the place where the enemies surround them. Now supportive nations like the United States hold back natural and supernatural world rejection of the Jews and Israel. More of that protection disappears, emboldening the opposition.
Woke Philosophy
Six, a woke philosophy dominates the education system. It’s a kind of zero sum game. Israel grabs and gets, and because it does, these other nations starve and diminish. It’s got a racial component to the darker skinned Palestinians. And there is a class warfare piece to it. Israel is upper class, getting favored status.
The idea too is that an international money cabal, led by the Jews, money grubbing and hungry, leaves other people without the privilege. The university types see themselves as with some revelatory enlightenment. They see through the deceit into the Jews. Jewish people join these in this, feeling ashamed to be a Jew. This is the main narrative being pushed to result in the widespread Jew and Israel hating.
A religious component enters from the Palestinian or Hamas, that accompanies the class envy. What they think is a true religion, Islam, Judaism discredits it. Their anger becomes its own self-fulfilling prophecy. And yet it hasn’t worked. Powerful nations try to annihilate the Jews and yet they go down in flames.
God Still Has a Plan for Israel
The Abraham and Davidic Covenants are still intact. They are operational. God still has a plan for Israel. Those who attack Israel do so against a warning from God. These nations haven’t been blessed and won’t, because they won’t accept these promises God made. They should favor God with favor for Israel, even if they don’t like what Israel believes and does.
Israel is not a threat to the world. Overall Israel provides great blessing to the world. I’m not saying Israel is saved. They will be. God will save Israel. In the meantime, we should hope Israel thrives.
The Real Dovetailing of Future Antichrist Agenda and World Power Now
PART FOUR
Separation of Powers
Whom we call the founding fathers of the United States designed into the government checks and balances and separation of powers. They also formed a system of federalism that divided power between the states and the federal government. Their understanding of man’s sin nature grounded their desire to limit the concentration of power in one entity. James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, in Federalist 51 wrote:
If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.
The states could impede the nation and one branch could obstruct another in the tendency of consolidating power. Even within the legislative branch, the Senate could thwart the House of Representatives and vice versa.
Private Property Ownership
God founded private property ownership. Even though He owns everything, He designed the concept of ownership itself. When Israel entered the land, God divided up the property among twelve tribes. Then among the tribes, families received their own pieces. God also established with laws rights of private property.
Dividing land by boundaries could separate and check evil. You can see this in the concept of landmarks in the Old Testament. Proverbs 22:28 says:
Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.
Fathers set these landmarks, which is a smaller governing unit. Under fathers were sons and grandsons. Bigger than fathers were clans and larger than clans were tribes.
You probably notice how that globalists attack the family unit. When Hillary Clinton said, “It takes a village,” she sees the elimination of basic separation. Heavy taxation inclines toward government ownership of property. You hear this in a statement, like President Obama famously said, “You didn’t build that.” The government has ownership of what it contributed toward building.
Globalist Agenda
Public Education
The fathers of public education, Horace Mann and John Dewey, saw educational reform an efficient mechanism for social control. Public education standardized curricula and centralized the disbursement of funds. It restricted competition. Public schools seized on the influence of making children wards of the state. Education then became a department of the executive branch of the federal government.
Common Language
Nations have languages. God confused the languages at Babel to cause separation. The United States is an English speaking country. Requiring English represses globalism.
Obscure Sex or Gender
In a rudimentary way, obscuring differences in gender eliminates a significant substructure of separation. On the way to one world is one sex or gender. Each sex has a role and eradicating those roles also erases a God-ordained boundary.
Common Currency and Free Trade
On a larger scale than federalism and the separation of powers, nationalism checks globalism. The elimination of borders portends the loss of God-designed natural separation. Even if it is not physical boundaries like the line between the United States and Mexico, it is economic ones like separate currencies and cultural ones like unique ways of life based on founding principles.
Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:21), “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Globalists pour their efforts into a life of physical things. They are materialists who prioritize the natural universe and the planet. Most of them don’t care about national boundaries. They don’t want separation of powers.
National boundaries prevent greater wealth. Globalists don’t want trade protectionism and economic isolationism. They want unfettered ability to have and take. Free trade means buying and selling across borders with little to no intervention or inhibition. Worldwide companies grow more powerful making it more difficult for solely national, state, and local businesses to compete. Fewer companies control more until only a few men can control everything, like an Antichrist and his handpicked, loyal subordinates.
To gain more power and stay in power, globalists gladly offer limited security to the masses. They market protection and a very basic quality of life. Adherents trade freedom and opportunity for safety. Greedy globalists also play on greed by offering a certain stipend and free education and healthcare. Without compliance, occupants or residents lose privileges and finally life.
Censorship
To keep safety and security means control of communication. Censorship becomes the rule with few exceptions. Censorship says “no” to preaching the gospel. Jesus said the truth shall set you free indeed. The Antichrist will round up and destroy those speaking the truth.
Antichrist Versus Christ
The human leader of a future one world government is the Antichrist. He’s called the Antichrist (1 John 2:18). In that way, he has something in common with Christ. Christ will rule the world. The Antichrist wants this just as the power behind him, Satan, wants this. Globalism fails because of sin.
On the other hand, Christ saves from sin. He brings world peace. Everyone lives in harmony one with another with safety and security. However, the kingdom of Jesus Christ on earth comes only through Christ, not the Antichrist. Until Jesus sets up His kingdom on the earth, all globalism rebels against His plan.
The Real Dovetailing of Future Antichrist Agenda and World Power Now
PART TWO
Globalism and God’s Opposition
As you open to the first chapter of the Bible and then read it to its last book, you see God’s opposition to globalism. On the other hand, Satan’s plan as the prince of this world is bringing the world system into a cohesive, homogenous whole. These two ideas combat each other in the Bible and so world history as part of the conflict of the ages between God and Satan.
Early, Satan could think he’s got all of mankind against God. Adam and Eve take his bait in the garden. God says in essence, Not so fast. But everything is ruined by Genesis 3. It was two people, a small group, but Satan angled for their alignment with him against God.
Biblical, Historical Markers
Some simple historical markers against globalism are (1) the confusion of languages at the tower of Babel. Before the global flood (Genesis 6-9), mankind banded together and only eight people stood against that. On the other side of the flood, the same situation began to repeat at the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), so God confused the languages. In line with this outcome is the statement in Genesis 10:25, “And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided.”
Another perhaps less considered aspect of God ordained division on the earth is (2) the reality and history of plate tectonics. Biblical evidence shows that all the land was once connected (Genesis 1:9). Both secular and Christian geologists agree that what are several continents look to fit like a jig-saw puzzle. At one time these several continents were one big continent. These divisions of land provide natural separations that long time impeded globalism.
Acts 17:26 reveals that (3) God founded nations on the earth:
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Rise, Fall of Nations and Boundaries
God determined the rise and fall of nations and the boundaries where they would live. After man’s fall, God intended boundaries that separated men from one another. Genesis 10 records the first ever table of nations that chronicles the fulfillment of God having done this. Genesis 10:5 says:
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
God also started the separate nation Israel (2 Samuel 7:23):
And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?
Genesis 18:18 says:
Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
Each nation functions under the following axiomatic truth expressed by God in Psalm 33:12:
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.
Globalism Ends the World
First World and the Next
Just like the first world ended with globalism, the next world will end with globalism. The Book of Revelation calls the Antichrist, the final one world leader in opposition to God, “the Beast.” Revelation 13:3 says about that world:
And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
He will draw the whole world together around him and his and Satan’s plan. Revelation 13:8 continues:
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Satan Wants Globalism
Concerning Satan’s part in this, Revelation 12:9 says:
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
He will deceive the whole world.
The hunger and thirst for globalism dovetails with the purpose of Satan and the future Antichrist. One of the ways the Antichrist can succeed at this complete cohesion and convergence of the whole world is by controlling everything economic. Revelation 13:17 says:
And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Eliminating Boundaries to Globalism
This requires a common currency, probably a digital one in a cashless society. Anyone who will not succumb to globalism under the Antichrist will not buy or sell. More than ever economy exists across national boundaries. Whatever you may say about the United States relationship with China, much of what you buy probably still comes from there.
The globalists oppose nationalism. They continue to strive to break down the boundaries and barriers. This occurs through the media, communication, and finance. The state schools teach this globalist agenda.
Social media eliminates boundaries and crisscrosses the world. Companies are worldwide. Just three companies, Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta, control half of the advertising market and revenue for the whole world. Five Big Tech companies dominate business, adding to the previous three, Apple and Microsoft. The five account for 25% of the entire S & P 500. Like Big Tech dominates, just three companies dominate investment banking: Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J. P. Morgan.
Almost every religious denomination now reduces doctrine and practice to its lowest common denominator, endeavoring to diminish the differences that divide. Whatever does differentiate is minimized. Agree to disagree.
Rather than have biblical doctrine guide people, it’s instead a common experience. Church growth depends more on relationships and shared activities.
More to Come
The Real Dovetailing of Future Antichrist Agenda and World Power Now
Satan
Maybe people don’t know that Satan is the “prince of this world” (John 12:31, 14:36, 16:11). Jesus uses this title of him. He is a usurper as a monarch over this world, taking the place of man and specifically, the God-man, Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, Satan holds sway over the world.
As a result, “the world” in the Bible, most often does not speak of the earth, the planet within a solar system. No, it s “the world system.” “The world system” means the entire Satanic organization functioning in the world of men against the plan of God.
Subjection Unto Angels
In Genesis 1:28, upon the creation of man, God mandated him to subdue and have dominion over the earth. Hebrews 2:8 says, “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.” “His” refers to “man.” That’s the purpose of God. God will fulfill that purpose through His Son, Jesus Christ, when Jesus comes back and sets up a kingdom on the earth. Men will reign with Jesus Christ and complete that God-ordained task.
Later in the same verse in Hebrews, the author writes: “But now we see not yet all things put under him.” Okay, so if man is not in charge, then who is? An earlier verse in the chapter, Hebrews 2:5, gives a clue:
For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
So the angels won’t be in charge of the world to come. What’s the deal with that? The present world, the one in which we live, is under the subjection of angels. See above with Satan. Even though this is clear in the Bible, I would say a vast majority of people do not know this. They should consider with every imagination of the world and the world specifically around them, that Satan is in charge of it. That’s a big reason it is the way that it is. This significant truth is rarely mentioned, only sometimes in preaching, but seldom. This truth that angels rule over the present world fits with what Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12:
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
You can read there “the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
“Conspiracy Theory”
What I’m writing about the world and Satan and his angels, demons, some might call a conspiracy theory. I’m saying the overall direction of this world, it’s in Satan’s plan. However, the way he accomplishes his rule is through men, who work for him. That is where the “conspiracy theory” really comes into play.
What I’m writing is not taught in schools. No one mentions Satan as a significant feature of worldly existence. No. The only acceptable worldly position is that we’re here alone, trying to troop through on our own, us men, or people. This itself is part of a Satanic conspiracy, that Satan will work unrecognized, like he is completely camouflaged in this world. Don’t look behind that door — nothing to see there.
“Conspiracy theory” as a terminology is mainly used today as communicating that someone is telling a crazed lie. It would be like saying that Jesus is God. That thought does not belong to polite society, except hovelled away in very private religious places.
The Antichrist
The human personification of Satan in the Bible is the character, the Antichrist. There have been antichrists, who are types of the future antichrist. They are antichrist, but they are not The Antichrist. When I talk about the Antichrist, I believe that it is easy to see the agenda of the Antichrist in this present world. Why wouldn’t we see a parallel agenda, since Satan will also hold sway the antichrist, even as he does his underlings today?
While Bible believing and practicing people like myself go our sweet way, doing evangelism and discipleship with results coming at a glacial pace, the path toward the fulfillment of Satan and the Antichrist’s agenda keeps moving along much more quickly. I’m all for the former. Even though I do believe it is the answer, that does not mean that the latter isn’t also occurring. It also does not mean that someone should not say something or do something to expose the present agenda of the Antichrist.
The Antichrist in the future will do his thing, as we can read in Revelation and related passages. It will occur and he will lose. What he and Satan want now is against what true believers do. Many powerful people today though are working with and toward the agenda of the Antichrist. It is a globalist agenda, a one-world-order. You hear this language today and it is easy to see how many policies pushed by the most powerful institutions glove fit with the Antichrist.
Tools of Control of the World
When the Antichrist finally takes charge, he will inculcate many of the same instrumentation or tools to control everyone and send them in a path roughshod against God. That path already exists. It is a globalist super high way pushing an agenda that accords with Satan.
If anything, one of the most important means of Satan and the Antichrist is shutting down voices that damage their agenda, that do the most to impede their goals. They want to give you the impression that you possess a suitable voice for your message, as long as you don’t stop the treads of their machinery from operating at their highest speed. Keep your little audience. Barely make a noise that will interrupt the march toward the final form of Satan’s rule over the world through the Antichrist.
Case of Alistair Begg
Counsel to a Grandmother
Consider the pressure that even professing preachers feel. A mini-explosive event occurred the last several days in evangelicalism. A fairly conservative evangelical, albeit already compromising preacher, Alistair Begg, got in trouble with prominent figures for publically encouraging a grandmother to go to her grandson’s transgender wedding. The idea here with Begg was compassion and not condemnation. In Begg’s assessment, compassion would be going to the wedding, condemnation was not going.
When Begg started getting kickback for his counsel, he did what many called, double downed. He did not retract. He would not repent of his counsel. Many podcasters went after him. Others defended him. Public leaders stood on either side of his decision.
The Pressure
What’s the pressure on a Begg to answer a public question with a weak, unscriptural answer? He lives under that pressure. The Antichrist will have pressure during the Tribulation Period to control men. He will wield many different means of coercion. Someone summed up the issue with this paragraph:
From the accounts I have seen, we are not exactly sure what we are dealing with, but it is bent however you look at it. Either the grandson was marrying a woman who pretends to be a man, in which case the marriage itself is an actual marriage, and the homosexual delusion (pretending you are marrying a man) is still a sick delusion, or he is marrying a man who thinks he is a woman, and so you have both actual sodomy and quite a different delusion, just as broken. But for our purposes here, it doesn’t really matter. The issue is the lawfulness of a Christian’s celebratory participation at an event that is truly dark.
Why would a godly leader not tell the grandmother not to go? The grandson will feel the sting of her rejection. He would not experience suitable affirmation. Begg knows this too. But it really isn’t that. It is that the present world, the one so against God, requires approval.
Approval of the Counsel or Activity
Who was for the counsel by Begg? The world and its groups that support transgender ideology. They would not throw him much of a biscuit, but they would look maybe somewhat admiringly. Who would be against? Godly people. People against the world system. There is very strong pressure to please the former at the risk of the latter. Just say you’re sorry to your people and they’ll understand. Some Christians will applaud, because they also want approval from the acceptable, appropriate people in the culture of the world.
The Antichrist will ask for full approval from everyone in the world. His forms of coercion will surpass whatever kind Begg presently feels to impel him to give the kind of counsel he did. It still follows that this is what Satan and the Antichrist want to become irrelevant, something that is an abomination to God. They gladly accept the capitulation in the present. The trajectory of such counsel is the future total domination of the Antichrist agenda.
More to Come
Fried Preacher
Early Personal Considerations
When I was a child, growing up in an independent Baptist church, I thought God dropped pastors down from heaven, at least something like that. Even when I was in high school and college, I regarded these men with reverence. God was infinitely higher and greater to me, of course, but they topped everyone else. As I became a pastor myself, despite still highly regarding the office, I held lower estimation of the men in the office.
For one, when I became a pastor, I knew for sure pastors weren’t dropped from heaven. I knew I wasn’t. Then spending more time with several other pastors in closer relations, I had to reevaluate my lofty estimation. I don’t write this to engender any disrespect for the man or his office. I still love pastors and have a better understanding how difficult the job. Many pastors are friends.
Pastor As Sunday Afternoon Meal
The idea of fried preacher relates to a Sunday afternoon meal. In the spirit of fried chicken, a church family after church instead serves up a delectable main entre of “fried preacher.” I read someone explain: “My mother would always say we were having fried preacher for dinner.”
If you grew up in church, maybe you fried your preacher sometimes for Sunday afternoon dinner. My parents never did. I never heard one foul word about a preacher in my home from my parents. It amazes me, because my parents had negative things to say about people. Their preacher was never one of them. It happens though.
The Apostle Paul himself became fried preacher by the Athenians in Acts 17:18:
Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.
They called Paul a “babbler.” This portends a great pastime of criticizing a preacher and his preaching. I don’t think Paul was bad. Maybe no better preacher ever existed.
Pastors Say and Do Wrong Things
Prove All Things Preached
People might say true things about a preacher and his preaching. They are sometimes right about him. He did things and said things wrong. Preachers also sin.
When someone hears preaching, he should consider whether it is true. To do that, he judges it. Paul commands this practice in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22:
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
What To Do with Error
When someone tests or proves the preaching and finds something bad, what does he do next? Does he criticize the preaching to others, maybe at home at Sunday dinner? No. Scripture reveals a certain way to deal with the error of someone else. The goal is restoration or reconciliation (Galatians 6:1). You help someone get it right, when he’s wrong. That’s God’s will.
If bad preaching becomes the pattern, this necessitates a stronger reaction. The deficient preaching should be obvious. Very bad preaching occurs all over today. Probably more bad preaching exists than good. When I say good, I’m talking about when in general the preaching is good with a small minority of duds or awful preaching mixed in.
Dealing with Bad Behavior
Every preacher will also behave badly. Hopefully that’s not normal for him. 1 Corinthians 13:7 says love “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things.” You hope the best. The goal isn’t to let a preacher get away with doing something wrong, but it is to believe the best about him. That approach doesn’t tend toward frying the preacher. Fried preacher doesn’t sound like love, does it?
It is hard to talk to certain pastors. Like many other men, they don’t take it very well. They could go further than that and say it’s mutiny, worthy of church discipline, heresy, or dishonor. Some might try to destroy the critic, like Diotrephes, cast him out of the church, even without any due process.
Preachers Frying Preachers
Conference Cuisine
Preachers are also notorious for fried preacher. No one can fry a preacher like another preacher. Maybe the experience of frying prepares him to fry so well. Preachers conferences can provide a kind of industrial sized instrument of frying.
I know another preacher who in recent days attended a preaching conference. When he returned, he reported to another preacher friend of mine that the conference was a major and constant frying session of a non-attending man. It was long, high temperature frying of this third party. They disintegrated him — “for the Lord.”‘ This kind of gang-style muckraking, one could even call, ganging up on someone. Fifteen to twenty on one pouncing on him in a dark alley.
In Absentia
The crispified pastor wasn’t there to enjoy the benefits of this “helpful” criticism. It was all out of his presence. His critic preachers sat at meals doing so, identifying him by name. It was all very fun and entertaining. Sinful, but at the same time, in public they gave the impression they were in special alignment with God.
The conference attendees didn’t say anything to the preacher. I know the preacher they fried. He had no opportunity for self-defense. He wasn’t there. Fried preacher only occurs with the preacher gone. Every preacher knows that.
The Prayer Request
In the fried preacher recipe book, the best chefs call fried preacher a prayer request. Pray for preacher so and so, because he’s blah-blah-blah-blah-blah. “Help me with my prayers. What else can you say about him?” Nothing to see here, they’re just praying for the guy. Nothing to smell like fried foods. You can smell that aroma from three blocks away.
Getting Caught
Fried preacher is a whole lot of fun in a conference setting. The closer proximity brings a bonding among the participants, what some call a benefit. If you can’t find doctrinal or practical unity, you could find a common enemy to bring everyone together. It take just one person to report in order to cool the fry temperature. Everything just turns soggy then. Maybe you try to find out who reported to make the subject of your next gathering.
Accuser of the Brethren
One might wonder if anyone needed to say anything negative about someone who wasn’t present. Scripture says a lot about the habit of this. Everyone does it at some point. Sometimes, people need to talk about a problem with another person. When it spreads to an all-out gossip convention, this requires a commercial kitchen for such a fry fest. This cannot, is not right. Ever. It requires at least a food service license in most states.
Revelation 12:10 says:
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven,, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
Who is the “accuser of our brethren”? God doesn’t need any “help” from the accuser. This is Satan obviously. Satan is the master chef of fried preachers. To mix my metaphors, nothing is gained by backing up the dumpster and practicing demo-day on an absent fellow brother, stripping him down to the studs.
What Is Fried Preacher?
What is “fried preacher”? About one hundred percent of this cuisine is personal aggrandizement. It accomplishes lowering of the one fried and the supposed elevation of the fry chef. Psalm 52:4 says, “Thou lovest all devouring words.” Words are the oil in which a fried preacher fries.
The nature of the flesh, it loves hearing the scoop about someone when he isn’t there. The flesh of someone loves gossip, except when it’s about him. Then it’s something insidious or evil.
Is it ever wrong to say anything critical or negative about a preacher? People must say the truth at times in a certain setting and in a particular way. It usually starts with trying to help the man with whatever they think worthy of frying him. Warning of the danger of a man or his teaching could come if a man is dangerous. He should have heard about the kind of danger he is, first, at least from someone.
Men can expose false teaching in a public presentation. They review the material and point out the error. So then it becomes two people with public positions, who both interacted in public. Both are now open for review, which includes criticism. No one is anonymous. This isn’t fried preacher.
For talk to be gossip, it must be without the target of the gossip present. If he’s there, then it isn’t gossip. That would be something akin to admonishment or exhortation. Also, saying nice things about someone isn’t gossip. Only disparaging comments about a missing person fit into the definition, even if they’re true. That’s Fried Preacher.
Answers for Both the Rise and the Threat of Suicide
Between 1999 and 2019, suicide rose 35.2% in the United States. Also according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) WISQARS Leading Causes of Death Reports, in 2019:
- Suicide was the tenth leading cause of death overall in the U.S., claiming 47,500 lives.
- Suicide was the second leading cause of death for those age 10 to 34, and fourth for 35 to 44.
- Suicides (47,511) more than doubled homicides (19,141) in the U.S.
Apparently China has a much higher suicide rate, something like 22 out of 100,000 in China to 16 out of 100,000 in the U.S. The United States is climbing there. It was at 9 in 1999. China hired an evangelical pastor I know to provide a curriculum to prevent suicides. It didn’t have answers in its own worldview. China still won’t allow the Bible, but so helpless to stop the suicides in its young people, it permits a presentation that offers principles without the scripture references.
I talked to a believing Delta airline pilot. He faces great pressure to capitulate to woke philosophy with a threat of cancellation. Co-workers use the woke system to attempt to entrap the non-woke for firing. It reminded him of what occurred as an Air Force officer, when the leadership found itself facing multiplying suicides among officers and enlisted. The top men called bullying the cause and softness the remedy.
People hear more now with the internet, so they know more. They hear more about suicide and those threatening it. Statistics though show the percentages rising. This isn’t just greater information. It’s real. What is happening?
First, contentment and joy come from internal spiritual strength. God gives peace and satisfaction. Jesus said in John 14:27 and 16:33:
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
On the contrary, Isaiah wrote in 48:22 and 57:21:
There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
Likewise, he wrote in 59:8:
The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
The things of the world and superficial pleasures will not fill inner longing. Only God will.
No one can put a bandaid over a spiritual problem and expect it to work. The world offers bandaids. A standing in God’s grace will ward off suicidal ideations. John describes this as overcoming the world. Satan and the world system tend toward death. God gives abundant life, which safeguards against this bad thinking.
With God as his highest value, a believer soaks in satisfaction. He does not look for or need the approval of social media. He finds pleasure in the will of God, not moved by worldly fads and popular notions.
Second, a death culture promulgates suicide. China is a death culture. The United States has become one. A death culture proceeds from at least two related causes. One, untethered from God it devalues His gift of life. The righteousness of God protects the right to live. Abortion manifests the divide from God. Two, taking life strikes at the image of God. A society that values God renders to Him the things that are His. A life is not man’s to take.
Third, the victim mentality justifies suicide. Eve was not a victim, but Satan got her thinking that way. This justified what she did. It brought forth death. God through Ezekiel denounces this mentality in Israel (Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32). The children said their teeth were set on edge because their fathers ate sour grapes.
A rudiment of wokeness is someone else made me a victim. Satan perpetuates this lie, because he wants people to kill themselves. His marks sink down into self-pity under false delusions. Instead of exposing this lie, other professing victims bolster it, reinforcing their victimhood. Among others, this lie feeds the popularity of the left in the United States. The left shrivels and disappears without victim mentality.
Short of suicide, people look for solace in drugs, alcohol, and worldly lust. Not everyone kills themselves, but they still live in a sad, dark existence, attempting to keep their head above water. Solomon said this world is vanity and vexation of spirit, so that the answer is not below the sun, but above it. Find peace in God, His truth and goodness.
I hope for less suicide and the threat of it. Under the temptation, God provides the way of escape. The answer is in Him. Everything else is a placebo for temporal inoculation, but it will not stop the spread of suicide.
Binding and Loosing–What Are They? Matthew 16:19; 18:18; Catholic, Pentecostal, Keswick, and Bible Views
Do you know what it means that the church can bind and loose? The Bible reads:
Matt. 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matt. 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The Roman Catholic Church claims that binding and loosing are associated with an infallible power their religious organization, led by the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra, from the chair of the (alleged) first Pope, Peter, to supposedly infallibly determine doctrine. Pentecostal, charismatic, Word of Faith and Keswick proponents claim to have the authority to bind Satan. What does Scripture teach?
I discussed this question in a Greek class I taught going through William Mounce’s Basics of Biblical Greek, from 5:56-19:23 into the class video. Click here to watch the video on YouTube (and please feel free to subscribe to the KJB1611 YouTube channel, post a comment or “like” the video)
or watch the video embedded below:
Learn what Scripture teaches about binding and loosing!
–TDR
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