What Time Is It?

Sound Familiar? Power, signs and false wonders, deception, wickedness – to deceive those who do not receive the love of the truth. (It’ a “heart condition.”) Do you think “he who now restrains” is being taken out of the way, so that even “virtual” or “augmented reality” will be on the loose to bring in great deception? This is the time of revealing, which is the meaning of “apocalypse”.

 

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”

2 Thessalonians 2:7-12.

Christ Alone!

“They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has been my stronghold, and my God is my rock of my refuge. He will bring upon them their own iniquity and destroy them for their wickedness. The LORD our God will destroy them.” Psalm 94:21-23

Times do not change. Degree of magnitude of difficulty (as in global versus regional in past) may be the only thing that is new under the sun. But the Lord Jesus Christ never changes. We call upon Him alone. We can fully trust in Him to bring us through the clouds, great darkness, and tempests in this life. There is no other! He asks us to follow Him and to trust in Him. And so the psalmists (their authors were more than just David) spoke, expressing their faith and prayers, that oppressors will not be allowed to continue their rebellion against the Lord, nor to continue their assault on those whom He has chosen to follow Him. We can follow the psalmists’ examples in praying and even singing these great affirmations of God’s love and authority.

“The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” Psalm 9:9

“The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:2

“I will keep watch for You, O my strength; for You, O God, are my fortress.” Psalm 59:9

“From the ends of the earth I call out to You whenever my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2

To pray and sing the psalms in a reflective, contemplative way is a very ancient practice. As we do so, it is also an effective way to confess the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and to learn the ways of God as He guides us through life’s challenges. There is something about doing this that teaches us from the inner being, and wraps itself indelibly upon our consciousness. Then we are taught by experience that He is wholly reliable and loves us beyond imagining.

Personally I find it helpful to make art with these themes as well. Then it becomes prayer that can be shared.

Pause

 

This evening I went for a ride into a nearby ordinarily bustling tourist town. Yes, in the rain. It looked like a ghost town. Odd even for this time of year. Or maybe it just resembled the town after 5pm the way it used to look back in the 1950s, 60s (when it was normal that folks were actually home, having dinner together, kids doing homework, cleaning up, getting to bed at a decent time, and not staying up half the night isolated in your room – locked into, addicted to, mind bending computerized games).

 

No one even thought about “going to the store” just to have something to do in the evening. I recall Dad watching the news, reading the papers, or working in his vegetable garden in the summer. And Mom loved to read Reader’s Digest Condensed Books after dinner (probably nobody now even knows what those were). She delighted in flowers and plants too, indoor and outdoor. ALL were gathered as family in the living room after supper, not off “doing your own thing.” I loved to do art and practice my music, after finishing homework – done at the dining room table adjacent to the living room (piano was in the dining room too, guitar next to it). No arms had to be twisted, nor was it resented. That’s just how it went. Because there was love there.

 

Occasionally there were some after school activities, but it was not an ongoing string of exhausting competitive events, night after night. People lived simple and lightly disciplined lives, and it was frankly a very pleasant way to be. We lived in a time where the world shut down on regular hours and days. Many businesses closed around noon on Saturday, in honor of getting ready for Sunday as the Lord’s Day. There may have been a few places open for Sunday dinners, but not many – the exception, not the rule. It was only for special occasions that we got to eat out.

 

Picnics and pot lucks were often held at the homes of relatives. Most extended family gathered together for dinner on Sundays at someone’s house. It was a rare treat to go out to one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday. There were special times of gathering too, usually Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

There were “breathers” in life, where toil and work STOPPED. And I wonder if this “strangeness” that has entered our reality isn’t a time for us to take stock, to re-evaluate the crazy pace at which most of us live, to slow down, to pause, to actually THINK, to reset. Instead now we must have classes on how to breathe to relax, with a hefty price tag attached. What?

 

Riddle me this. Where did this simple goodness go?

 

Personally I never liked living like a machine, or being treated like one. All it does it create hypertension, anxiety, depression, dysfunction, and even disease – which comes from dis-ease. Sometimes I wonder if we know how to be anything but a list of our diagnoses, disorders, and disabilities. And that is truly the saddest commentary when that becomes chief part of one’s identity.

 

Even while we’re crippled and wounded, we’re still prodded to “dream big,” be all you can be, achieve, and push ourselves to the next pasture where we think the grass will be greener. We think that is the cure, when it’s a symptom of the disease of chasing the world!

 

“Motivationalism” is the foremost pop religion, the god at whose altar so many bow (race, compete, and jockey?). Push, push, push! And much of it sadly is done in the name of the Prince of PEACE. You remember – the One Who makes us to lie down in green pastures, leads us beside still waters, and restores our soul, Whose yoke is easy and Whose burden is light. Yes, that Guy. The One Who said to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the things necessary will be yours.

 

Perhaps this strange pause might give us a chance to find out what our real identity is, as dear children created in the Image and Likeness of our Creator Father. And then once we capture the “vision,” of that, to take back who we really are. It will require pulling away long enough to reflect, to pray, and to LISTEN, so we can hear Him Who says, “Be still, and KNOW that I am God.”

Perspectives

Warning: This is not an easy “word.” So if you don’t like heat, then leave the kitchen now. Justice is being enacted on every level. It has to come about as a kind of reset. It may be in fact the end of things as we have known them, enjoyed them, and taken life as it is for granted.

The perception of this commenter is that the USA, in fact the entire world, is undergoing the judgment of God. We need to look beyond the circumstances, far beyond. What we see we may not like to even consider. There have been fairly localized events throughout history. This is global. But the patterns are here and clearly revealed in Scripture.

Go read the Old Testament. Search history. The pattern doesn’t change. God’s hand in the affairs of men did not stop with the maps section in your Bible right after the Revelation. And seldom does He use the “nice guys” to execute certain aspects of His plan, when it’s time to go out back behind the cosmic woodshed.

Everything is being shaken. 3000 unborn children a day cannot be murdered (USA alone) without the Lord hearing their innocent blood cry out from the earth! That’s only one matter. There are many more, including rampant occultism. And we’re worried about a head cold with an attitude, while this holocaust has gone on for the last nearly 50 years? We should feel threatened. What goes around comes around.

“Babylon” must fall and we have too long been content with her ways. Including her Babylonian-ized religions with Christian facades which utter not a sound of warning, but are often compromised and complicit, and in fact in bed with her. Some of that goes back a long way. Some of it is “new.” So it’s comeuppance time for all.

You can “name it, claim it, and frame it in Jesus’ name” all you want, but you’re not going to manipulate Him Who must come as righteous judge. Nor is there going to be any escape. “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives. Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.” Hebrews 12:6-8. 

Take that to heart. Seldom is it taught or preached, this tough side of God’s love.

Where must our sights be set, then, who call on the name of the Lord?

“At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.’ The words, ‘Once more,’ signify the removal of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that the unshakable may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God ACCEPTABLY with REVERENCE and AWE.” Hebrews 12:26-28.

By the way, What ever happened to REVERENCE and AWE in worship? Too many “worship settings” are more like rock concerts with people walking in with their water bottles, drinks, and even snacks, spilling, dropping, chattering and chatting away, ready to be “uplifted” by bootie shaking hit tunes. Where’s the fear of the Lord – which is the beginning of wisdom – in THAT?! Where’s the heart prepared to receive the King of Kings? Maybe it’s time to meet Jesus with the whip, Who turns the tables on everything, instead of the feel good “entertain me and gimme what I want” Jesus!

As the old song says, “There’s a whole lot of shaking going on…” Pretty soon it’s going to be His shaking, and no one will be spared.

“After this I saw another angel descending from heaven with great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory. And he cried out in a mighty voice: ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast. All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.’” Revelation 18:1-3.

The times call for repentance, humility, and surrender of heart, mind, soul, and body to the Almighty. All of life in fact! He didn’t create us, redeem us, and recreate us in Christ, after we rebelled and fell, to have us live to ourselves. It’s time to grow up in our understanding. 

We may do well to seize the opportunity that has been oddly presented us, in the form of a shut down of everything, for all our wheel spinning and time wasting to be better directed into prayer and meditation on the Word of God, and living according to it. “But He said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.” Like 11:28.

I Have A Theory

I have a theory. Some folks have dreams; I have theories.

 

The more robo calls you get on your cellphone, the more gullible you are perceived to be by the gods of cyberspace. Here’s how I think it works. Everything you post or do online reveals whether you can be had, hacked, or sales pitched to, if you’re a “sucka” in other words. (Did she say that? 🤭 Why, yes she did.)

 

The whole info-thing, internet of things (of which you are nothing more than a thing among many things to be dispatched and hacked, and harassed as deemed necessary) is connected and the data about you analyzed by “possible very likely” (was that an oxymoron?) artificial intelligence. So if you’re a sucka, by their analysis, they got your number, baby, so it’s ring, ring, ring all day.😂

 

Why else did you think that when you go “window shopping” for shoes on the internet, every site you go to thereafter (usually the tabloid sorta sleazy commentary sites), there are adds floating by of the very items you were shopping for. The PTWB just want you to know they can see everything you do on online…

 

So, my thought is, make it interesting, unpredictable, creative, and completely nuts. More fun than a barrel of Darwin’s monkeys and less robo calls for all.

🙉🙊🐵 Disrupt their algorithms in other words. We can do this! Just because we can.

Attention Hoarders of Hand Sanitizer and Other Suspects:

Good old fashioned soap and running water are far more effective than hand sanitizers, which should be used ONLY when soap and water are not available. Even the antimicrobial hand soaps are overkill. (As we used to say when I worked in the O.R. for many years, “the solution to pollution is dilution.”) So this gives me a chance to vent. (Imagine that.)

Personally I find it unacceptable that, when needing the services of a health provider, that they choose to squirt on chemical hand sanitizers rather than walking over to the sink and do a decent hand wash before examining me. IF THEY EVEN BOTHER DOING THAT! Excuse me, you can’t take 20 recommended seconds to actually WASH your hands before you begin an exam, and then you reach for that nasty, unsanitary stethoscope that hangs around your neck, that’s touched 50 other people before it gets used on me??? And the oximeter. And the thermometer. I gag every time I need these services, as I observe all the breaks in technique. Why? Because everyone’s in a hurry!

It also takes 30 seconds for hand sanitizer to be effective and the effect may last 2 minutes. But does anyone wait that long before they come at you? This stuff has replaced good hand washing techniques, sadly. Even decent “scrubbing” in the O.R. where the body becomes more vulnerable than in just about any situation. Hey, your insides get filleted and you’re wide open to whatever’s there! Just sayin’.

Hand sanitizers build up goo on your skin, and can hide a lot of microbes. What’s needed is to wash them away with soap and running water. (One reason I actually like hand washing my dishes and do not own a dishwasher. My hands get at least one good dunky splish splash in hot soapy water a day!) Then feel free to don your exam gloves (which may or may not contain tiny holes.)

Whoever started this hand sanitizer fad is making a killing. And I’m not sure it also hasn’t contributed to nosocomial infections and outright deaths in hospitals or other settings. I’ve actually asked med techs and nurses to wash their hands after using those likewise unsanitary computer keyboards. And I am also not shy about asking physicians, PAs and nurse practitioners to go and do likewise. Imagine that.

Wake up, caregivers on all levels!

And kudos to those of you who do it right. Remind your co-workers will you?

Safety?

It’s always about our “safety”, isn’t it? The patriot act for our safety. TSA for our safety. The war on terror for our safety. Surveillance cameras on every corner for our safety. The war on drugs for our safety. Name the crisis… it’s for our safety. Many schools are now closed for our safety. Vaccines with God knows what in them are pushed for our safety. Guns removed from responsible citizens for our safety. People cannot visit their loved ones in assisted living for our safety. Troops patrolling the streets where local cops used to be, right there in Yourtown, USA for our safety. What? Not yet? Watch for it. Churches cannot meet for our safety. Or if it’s allowed, any rituals where we come into contact with one another physically are being “discouraged” at this point.

(Question is, when will the “discouraging” stop and the mandating begin?) Inch by inch… Researcher David Icke calls this the “Totalitarian Two Step”. But remember, folks, it’s all for our safety.

Do you see what’s happening to our freedoms? Have any of the things we’re having a “war on” gotten better? We’ve been living under intense, shall we say, “informational obfuscation” since “9-11”. The scary scenarios are perpetuated in our minds by government puppet media, and “lies, damn lies, and statistics” (Mark Twain) skewed and promoted as “proof”. Each “threat” is piled ad nauseam on top of the last one. And the draconian psychic /emotional/ mental load gets heavier and heavier and heavier.

And it does effect our physical wellbeing, this chipping away.

Wake up. If you can.

Is this the biggest human experiment in history, or what?

Or is this the upshot of it – how it all looks when Babylon finally goes down? Prophecies of old are repeated in the Revelation. These are patterns – on a more or less “local” scale. But this is GLOBAL. Or so we are led to believe by the media mouthpieces.

Who knows what can be believed from which info sources that isn’t INFO SORCERY?

Isaiah 21:9 – “Look, here come the riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one answered, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon! All the images of her gods lie shattered on the ground.’” Revelation 14:8 – “Then a second angel followed, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.'” Revelation 18:2 – “And he cried out in a mighty voice: ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.'”

Where to from here? Who knows? The winds are blowing hard. So I have to keep my tinfoil hat securely in place underneath my thinking cap.

Steady as she goes, as we sail into the maelstrom.

On Psalm 91:2

Psalm 91: 2 (AMPC) “I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust!”

It is helpful to picture this dwelling place – as revealed in verse 1 – as a refuge or a fortress. Think about the pictures you have seen of ancient castles, hewn from the very mountain in which they are set. These to be sure can be called strongholds! Often on one side is a sheer cliff that drops hundreds of feet straight into the ocean. The sea crashes against this “wall” in all its great force and fury relentlessly, but in futility, for it cannot penetrate what is on the other side of that wall. Nor can any invading force arriving by ship even hope to enter and overtake. Those who arrive to attack will likely not survive their own efforts.

Huge walls surround this fortress on its other sides, which themselves are surrounded by craggy mountains and beast filled forests that threaten anyone who might be so audacious as to attempt to storm such a refuge.

A drawbridge is its front door – the only way in. Only those with the King’s permission can enter, coming and going, doing his bidding. Only one path leads to this entrance, a circuitous and narrow way. It is well protected by heavily armed and well trained guards, vigilant day and night as they patrol this path and surveil from its towers. One look at them would make anyone approaching think twice about his reasons for doing so! Unless of course his intention is to surrender himself in full to the King, to once and for all throw himself down before the mercies of the throne.

Spiritually speaking, King and Fortress and Refuge are one for such souls. The WAY to the fortress is through Jesus Christ alone, for any in need of God’s mercy, protection, and healing. Everything necessary is inside, for those who have greatly realized their need, having been assaulted by thieves and robbers (false teachers, the devil, the world system, and the flesh, and more – all adversaries of this fortress and those who seek refuge in Him).

Those who seek asylum in this refuge will never be turned away, for here we have Jesus’ own promise to such souls: “All whom the Father has given (entrusted) to Me will come to Me; and him who comes to Me I will most certainly not cast out – I will never, no never, reject one of them who comes to Me.” (John 6:37 AMPC)

Life may not seem like such a dwelling place. Even our churches – because of the culture which has assaulted and penetrated all too many of them – may no longer seem like places where it is conducive to finding a spiritual refuge, a place of quiet and reverence, where there is any sort of genuine sense of being “en-fortressed” by the Almighty.

Paradoxically this may have its purpose. Might it be in order for us to better redirect our orientation and intention toward a more prayerful and personal experience of our Lord God as refuge and fortress, in preparation for a time when the outer structures may not be as easily accessible?  Or so that we may be as Mary of Bethany who sat at Jesus’ feet to learn of Him, to comprehend and apprehend Him as refuge and fortress – as the Holy Spirit, through His written Word, makes us increasingly aware that, through Christ alone by grace through faith, we now indwell Him and He indwells us? Could it be so that we become intimately acquainted with the Omnipotent yet personal One Who is not bound by walls made by man?

This is He Who “richly and daily supplies me with everything I need to support this body and life. He shields me from all danger, and guards and protects me from all evil. All this He does out of pure fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.” (Luther’s Small Catechism)

Can it get any better than this?

So we can pray this verse in praise of Him in Whom we live, move, and have our being, You are my refuge! You are my fortress, my God in Whom I trust! All thanks and praise be to You alone for this magnificent reality given to me because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ Who purchased and won me to be Your own! Let me live continually, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, in the awareness of Your life transforming love for me. Amen.

On Psalm 91:1

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand].” (Psalm 91:1 AMPC)

What might it mean to dwell in this “place”, the Presence of the One Who is the Person of God Himself? We can only come into this through our Lord Jesus Christ, as we continually trust in Him. We’re shown here that we remain “stable and fixed,” as we “dwell in” – abide, remain, stay put – through abiding faith / trust / confidence in our Lord!

This entire Psalm is chock full of many promises to those who love God and have been brought to faith in Christ. We should take this to heart, “For as many as are the promises of God, they all find their Yes in Him [Christ]. For this reason we also utter the Amen (so be it) to God through Him [in His Person and by His agency] to the glory of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:20.) Therefore, this is a good Psalm to keep before us in these days of great instability and disinformation and obfuscation, to meditate on it, and to personalize it as a prayer – even commit it to heart.

Remember – We can take the cue from the very beginning – Psalm1:1,2 about where to fix our prayerful thoughts and attention:  “Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night.”

The promise here in Psalm 91:1 is that no foe can withstand the power of Christ (to Whom is given all authority in heaven and on earth, per Matthew 28:18). Often the biggest foe is where we fix our attention. Will it be on this life’s concerns, or riches and wealth, the news, worries, or some other thing? Or instead might we “look up”?! “If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth. For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:1-3) Realize that if your new life is hidden with Christ in God, then you can see that you dwell in that “secret place” spiritually, and these promises are yours!

Isn’t it worth knowing what they are? A daily verse by verse prayerful contemplation of Psalm 91 might be a very fruitful place to start, to make His promises your own, if you can see that you are God’s own in Christ Jesus!

Come Follow Me

Some say that Jesus does not speak to us today. If Jesus were to speak directly to our hearts, I think He would say something like this…

Come, follow Me. My commandments are not burdensome. My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Learn of Me.

Live and walk according to My Holy Spirit, the “Word in the word”, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. I have prayed that you are sanctified in the Truth. My word is truth.

Those who keep My commandments love Me.

Those who are My disciples love one another as I have loved you.

And if you abide in My teaching revealed in My holy Word, then you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

Whom I have made free through My cross is free indeed – from the devil, the world, and the flesh. You died in Me, through My cross, and are no longer bound to darkness and sin. Live from that Resurrection reality by faith, and do not suppress this truth in unrighteous living!

Devote yourself to prayer and to My Word, for you are My temple, My house of prayer where I dwell through My Holy Spirit. Let Me thus lead you in the Way everlasting.

Let no one talk you out of what I have shown you, for the enemy seeks to rob you – through their unbelief – of the joy, power over darkness and deception, and freedom of your salvation. Abide in Me. Whoever abides in Me, the Vine, will bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Against these there is no Law.