Author Archives: Stephen Nielsen

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About Stephen Nielsen

I'm an author, a self publisher, and a painting contractor. I live in beautiful Minnesota, USA . Welcome to my blog site.

Why do more and more Nations want peace with Israel?

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In the last few years nations have been more interested in establishing peace with Israel; more want to be a part of the Abraham peace accord. And now even Saudi Arabia is interested in peace.

What is happening? Surely, these nations are not turning their back on their own Muslim religion in favor of the Jewish religion. They still hate Israel. Yet they want peace. They are tired of war. And they surely don’t want war with Israel.  

Also, what is happening is the confirming of biblical prophecy. It is all coming together. According to Ezekiel 38, Israel will soon, and more and more, be a nation where the people are secure, living in safety and a land that has recovered from war, and also a very prosperous and fruitful land (vv. 8, 11,12,14).

And so it is interesting that, as prophesied, the nations closest to and all around Israel are now more peaceful to Israel. But the nations further out from Israel will soon war with Israel. These nations in particular are Russia (or Gog), Iran, Turkey, and a few others. The leader of this group will be Russia. And the reason they will want to go to war with Israel is found in Ezekiel 38:12-13. They will be looking to plunder and steal her land and wealth.

I don’t think I will see all this happen in my life time. I think this (the war of Gog and Magog) will happen sometime after the Rapture. But isn’t it exciting to see things all come together—to see Israel become more secure than ever before; to see the popularity of the Abraham accord—even now with Saudi Arabia.

Christian, our time of Rapture is just around the corner. Keep looking up!

Update: It’s update time

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I’ve been struggling again with my perfection thing. Lately it’s been with my latest book publishing project—with getting the book cover perfect, centered. Now I’m trying decide whether I will just leave it, or send it back to the printer and try again. I will take another day or two to make my decision. But I just hate to be delayed again. This is why I hate publishing—delay, delay, delay. My painting is somewhat the same. I mean, I am a perfectionist on that too. I don’t want to see any mistakes. Oh, I long for my perfect, redeemed body when I shall see Him face to face and be like Him.

It’s Monday—new beginnings. A day when I like to read the comic Garfield. A day to be lazy and need my coffee. Laughing helps. I also have found some help this morning reading an article in the sports section of the newspaper about how my baseball team did. I enjoy reading how our newest pitcher, Keuchel, did—so encouraging to hear his positive words as to how he went about his pitching.

I’ve been reading the book Mayflower, by Nathaniel Philbrick. There is so much in this book that I didn’t know about how or country got started. There was so much tragedy and death that I had no idea about. And most people know hardly anything about what is called King Philip’s war in 1675-1676. This war, the English against the Indians, was so very brutal—even worse than the Civil War, but thank God it was short. This was all before the better things happened—like the writing of the Constitution, etc. But overall, our country still was born of much blood and strife and prayer.

And now it seems that our country is on the edge of great disaster and ruin. Much prayer is needed. We need to turn to 2 Chron. 7:14, to find the promise of God if we will pray. We who are Christians need to pray.

Things to stay away from:

  • All new age rainbow stuff.
  • AI-Jesus. If asked about this, point them to the true Jesus in the Gospels.
  • AI-bible. It is false.

Perfection

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Been thinking about perfection. I always try to be perfect at my job—house painting. And at my publishing—getting things just right. But at other things like house cleaning, I know I am not too perfect at. My driving could use some improvement too.

I’m going through a real tragedy right now. The title of my new book is not perfectly centered. It’s driving me up the wall. And if I want to fix it, it will take two or three weeks for the approval process to go through. Should I fix it or just leave it be imperfect? Will anybody really notice—or care? Probably not, except me. Funny, that’s the same with my painting. If I make a small mistake nobody will notice except me—unless I point it out.

Some people are so meticulous at house cleaning and at the way they look. Everything looks perfect. But those same people might not be so perfect in their thoughts—in their moral purity. For them it’s all a matter of what people see. I think this is true for me too. People will see my book covers and my paint job, but they can’t see my heart. But God sees my heart and He is very concerned about what I think. All my sins are against Him. And that is the greatest tragedy!

How will I clean up my heart, make my heart more perfect? That was the concern and the prayer David had. He knew he had sinned against God and he knew his heart was unclean. So, he prayed for a clean heart (Ps 51).

Only God can clean our heart and make us more perfect, because he is perfect. He is absolutely perfect in every way. And some day—after daily washings—we will be so clean and perfect just like Him. No worries then. All will be right. Perfect.

Update: Working and Publishing

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I haven’t been blogging lately because I have a job going–getting out early and too tired to do anything after work. And the days have been hot and humid. But I don’t want to complain. It’s good to be working, making money. But today, Saturday, I have free and back again.

I have a new book coming out soon–probably in September. The title is THE TRIBULATION. I’m going through the publication process now. I self-publish all my books (with the help of Lulu.com). Please look for it; and also please pray for the process of publishing to go smoothly.

That’s all for now.

Inspired By The Things That I Relate To

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I usually get a newspaper everyday before I go to breakfast. There isn’t much that I am interested in—except the comics and sports. For comics, Garfield is good—I can relate to his attitude, especially on Mondays. There is usually always something I like in the sports pages. It is so inspiring to read about players who are on the mend from an injury or from a slump. Today I read an article on the wrestler Gable Stevenson—how good he is doing. I can relate to him because I was a wrestler in high school, and I know what it takes to be a good wrestler. Then I also read about the Minnesota Twins baseball player Max Kepler, how he is coming back from a slump and about some very positive things Byron Buxton said about him.

Baseball it seems is mostly a mental game and thinking positively about ourselves. And it’s about the little things, like seeing the ball and hitting the ball…See the ball, hit the ball!

In many ways that’s life. It’s all about whether we see the ball of life clearly. If we don’t we will strike out every time. Life is also about picking ourselves up when we are down, and having the positive attitude and vision that we are going to get back in the game and do well.

And I love to see how all the players are doing better because they have been talking to each other and encouraging each other. And that is so necessary for all of us. No one is an island. We all need each other.