Watching the Weather, Discerning the Times

Most believers agree we are living in the "latter days." Not everyone agrees on exactly what that means though.

We are encouraged in scripture to be discerners of the times in which we live; this means we ought to be able to see the hand of God at work in the world around us, and we ought to be able to understand, based on scripture, the prophets, and the writings of the apostles, where God is headed and what He is doing.

As I endeavor to be faithful to discern the times in which I live, I am fascinated by what is going on far from the limelight, away from the media and popular culture. For example:

• Jews and non-Jewish believers coming together in ways not imagined a generation ago.
• Muslims coming to faith in Yeshua (Jesus) in record numbers.
• False religions, including many false "christian" religions, showing their true colors and rising up against the nation of Israel and Jewish people, while embracing every abomination that God has said He hates.
• The dramatic resurgence of anti-semitism (more properly called "anti-israelism" or "anti-Judaism" since nearly all of the Arab nations are also semitic.)
• The rapid and very liquid rearrangement of the geopolitical powers in the world.

I am not converting to Judaism, but I AM learning a lot about the history of both Judaism and Christianity, and I am learning a lot about what really pleases God, what He says about Himself and our relation to Him, and what will come to pass in these "latter days."

I am challenged by these verses from the Bible:

• "Do not be arrogant toward the branches" (Rom. 11:18)
• "Thus says the Lord of Hosts 'In those days ten men from the nations of every language will grasp the garment of a Jew saying ' ' let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' ' " (Zech. 8:23)
• "This people draw near to me with their words, and honor me with lip service; but they remove their hearts far from me." (Isaiah 29:13)
• "In vain do they worship Me, teaching the precepts of men as if they were the commandments of God." (Matt. 15:9)

As I consider all of these things, and consider my place in the world and in the body of true believers, the conclusion I come to is that God is doing a supernatural work, in our day, to bring His house into order, to reconcile the covenant people (Jew and non-Jew) and to prepare the bride of Yeshua.

I have to confess that, even as I see these great and glorious things happening, I am also seeing dark things. The enemy of God's people is also on the move.

• Demonic activity is accelerating (or at least becoming more evident and less hidden.)
• People are openly celebrating and "enjoying" every imaginable type of perversion, and even government entities are openly persecuting those who hold to godly morality and ethics.
• At the same time, "mental illness" is dramatically increasing; people are feeling lost and hopeless, and fear is gripping their hearts: fear of death, loss, economic uncertainty, etc.
• I even find, in my own life, spiritual and physical attacks are increasing against me and my loved ones.

So, seeing that these things be so, how then ought we to live? I believe the verses I quoted earlier in this post give some clues:

We need to STOP teaching the precepts (doctrines) of men as if they are the commandments of God. We need to get back to the pure Word of God, and stop depending on men to interpret the Word to us. We need to get into the Word for ourselves, and let the Holy Spirit open it up to us. (This does not mean we cannot have teachers and mentors, but we need to choose them very carefully and prayerfully.)

We need to acknowledge the value and position of Jews within the covenant family of Yehovah, and allow them, even ENCOURAGE them, to fulfill their God-given role.

We need to be more open in acknowledging the value of good works - not as an end in themselves, and not as a way of "earning" salvation; rather, good works are a weapon in our arsenal for spiritual warfare, and we need to use good works as tools to push back the darkness and bring light (Hebrew: owr) to our world - our sphere of influence.

We need to be sacrificial in our giving, both of our resources AND of our time. We need to be willing to actively invest in the lives of others so that they can see our good works and glorify God.

These things are not technically difficult, but they DO require a paradigm shift in how we view and approach God, what we perceive as "pleasing" to God, and how we talk about spiritual things.

One of the things I have to be mindful of is, what are we talking about when we discuss spiritual things? For example, if you and I have a conversation about "God", who are we discussing? The God of traditional Christianity? The God of traditional Judaism? The God of Islam? They are NOT all the same.

Similarly, if we are discussing the Messiah, are we discussing the traditional Christian image of Jesus Christ in the Greco-Roman tradition? Are we discussing the concept of Meshiach as embodied in traditional Jewish thought and teaching? Are we discussing the "white Imam" of Islam? Again, these concepts of a messiah are NOT all equal.

These questions are forcing me to change my vocabulary; but as I do so I must be sensitive, I must be careful not to "lose my audience." I have to find a space where I can communicate on these issues with people who perhaps have never considered the topics before, or never had the tools or knowledge to consider the topics critically and correctly.

That's a tall order; but as we move forward in these latter days people, especially believers and those who are truly seeking the Truth, need to understand what is going on in the world and where God, Adonai, El-Elyon, is headed. The battle is going to get more heated as time goes on, the darkness will appear, for a time, to be getting darker, and human institutions are going to begin to fail. All this will happen as the One True God prepares His people, and His creation, for His eminent return. There will only be two choices - line up with God and His Word, and submit to His authority, or be lost in the darkness. Pat answers and religious cliche's aren't going to save anyone; many will say in that day "did we not cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead in Your name? And He will say to them "depart from Me; I never knew you."

I don't want to be in that group.

I'm watching the weather, and I see storm clouds on the horizon; I think it's time to decide where we are going to find our shelter.

Searching for the "Real" Americans

In a recent article for Salon, David Masciotra believes he has identified what "rural Americans" define as "elitist." According to David, what we are really against is not the "elite" but the "intellectual mind." In other words, common, "rural" America hates people who think.

David supports his hypothesis with several observations and assumptions that I, as one of those "anti-elitist" rural Americans, would like to examine and respond to.

First David opines that the "anti-elitists" selected, and then elected, an "elitist" - a billionaire real estate tycoon who happens to live in a coastal city.

While this is true on the surface, David's overly simplistic evaluation of the irony fails to consider several glaringly obvious facts:

"We" did not select Donald Trump; not directly. The fact of the matter is      that our primary process is somewhat lacking in finesse. There were a number of candidates for the Republican nomination, and the vote was split several different ways. The fact that Trump received the nomination does not indicate he was the majority choice.

Once Trump had the nomination, other factors come into play, most significantly our "two party" system. While it is technically true there were other candidates on the ballot, and a write in is always a possibility, we "anti-intellectuals" were smart enough to figure out that if we didn't pull together, Clinton was going to win. So we chose to take a risk on Trump, rather than allow Clinton to gain the White House. This is the primary thing, I think, that the left cannot fathom: that Hillary was so loathesome to most of heartland America that we were willing to vote for ANYONE else to be the next POTUS.

Next David introduces the term "coastal elite" - a term referring to the liberal leaning strongholds found primarily along both coasts of the United States, and concentrated in the major metropolitan areas. David self identifies as an "elitist" which, according to him, refers to "anyone who demonstrates expertise or excellence in analytical intelligence." David includes himself in this group because he has a college degree (and is therefore presumed to be "intellectual") and he actually teaches at the university level (a career that seems to lend itself to both left-leaning political persuasions, and "elitism".) David attempts to present himself as an "everyman", however, by explaining that he pays a mortgage, goes to work, and has a family, just like many of "the rest of us."

That fact is, however, that David's definition is not too far out of sync with reality, it's just his interpretations that are slightly prejudiced.

I also have a college education; but I find it interesting that most of the panic, angst, destructive behavior, and anti-american fervor that has gripped the left in the wake of their astonishing and resounding defeat, is centered on college campuses. This is NOT because those who are intellectual understand what it really means to be an American; on the contrary, much like the coastal cities David references, college campuses have become virtual hotbeds of anti-constitutional, anti-american indoctrination. THAT is what "the rest of America" opposes, and David practically admits that it is what he and his peers aspire to.

David references our "Democracy." I grow so very weary of trying to explain to my lefward leaning acquaintences that we do not have a Democracy, we have a REPUBLIC - and that is what the "rest of America" is defending.

I'm sorry that David believes that anyone who can't see the virtues of socialism is "anti-intellectual" but the fact is, I like free markets, I like living in a Republic, I believe in personal freedom, and I value our Constitution.

David did make two statements in his article that I can agree with:
"It has become painful to participate in political discourse, because rather than arguing over different interpretations of historical fact and statistical data, the disputes revolve around the denial of truth." I agree with this statement, but of course, David believes that he and his elitist peers have the very definition of truth, and they are the ones who have the right to define "truth." If the "intellectual minds" don't agree with it, then it must not be truth. This assumption ignores many subtle forces that come into play here as well, including the incredible pressure on scientists, researchers, educators, and other members of the "elite" to conform or face professional excommunication. Just because a majority of the "educated" espouse a particular view does NOT necessarily make it so.

The other statement in David's article, the one that really gets to the heart of the election issue, is this: "The "real America" knew that Hillary Clinton was Lucifer's mistress seeking to transform America into the pit of hell." That really was the glaring possibility that drove most of us, with no joy and with grave misgivings, to cast our lot with Donald Trump.

David implies that we poor, rural, un-intelligent conservatives are simply not enlightened enough to understand why it would be in our own best interest to give up our freedoms, lay down our arms, rip up the Constitution, and just go with the flow of socialism.  He also implies that he has great sympathy for the flag stomping and burning, sit through the national anthem, rioting and looting crowd because, after all, they have the "intellectual minds" that the  rest of us despise.

Please. I guess I'll just go on loving God, loving my country, defending the Constitution against all threats, foreign and domestic, and holding on to my personal liberties. If that makes me "anti-intellectual" David and his kind will just have to deal with it. It is a Republic, not a Democracy, and the difference is that the mob doesn't always get its way.