Category Archives: Critical Issues

Critical issues that I am concerned about.

Monday News: Why believers are being booted from Military

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This article is a few days late but it’s contents is still valid. Everything in the government is now woke, including those in charge of the military. And you can believe that they don’t want Christians in the military. Read the article below for the full report.

Here’s why believers are being booted from military: Bauer

Chad Groening, Jody Brown

Jan 03, 2023

Conservative activist Gary Bauer has a theory about why leftists who now control the U.S. military want to purge Christians from the ranks.

The new Republican-controlled House has many things on the agenda as it begins its work. Perhaps the most high-profile issue of immediate concern is determining who will assume the position of Speaker of the House, which Democrat Nancy Pelosi has held for the last four years. Today the House is slated to begin voting for that post – and it’s unclear whether California’s Kevin McCarthy, who held the House Minority Leader position in the previous congressional session, will ascend to that position.

But also of concern to some in Congress – and to evangelical Christians as well – is a campaign threatening the religious rights of those in America’s military. For example, an amendment passed as part of the recent National Defense Authorization Act put an end to vaccine mandates in the military. However, no provision was made to reinstate the thousands and thousands of former service members who have had their careers destroyed for refusing – because of religious concerns – to comply with the vaccine.

Read article

Monday News Day: Putin invites Xi to Moscow

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I have a great idea for this New Year! I am assigning Monday as News Day. It will be U.S. and World News—but mainly World News. I intend to gather all the news that pertains to how the world is progressing toward globalism and toward an antichrist government. I think this will be an encouragement for Christians—because we will be able to more clearly see that our Lord’s coming is near.

I have already set up a new page on my blog so you are welcome to look at all the news articles that I will gather from various sources. I think I will probably post up to three articles from the previous week on Sunday afternoon, and then I will pick out one of them to comment on for Monday’s news. I am excited about it! Today I am thinking about the December 30th article, “Putin invites Xi to Moscow to ramp up military cooperation.”

Putin invites Xi to Moscow to ramp up military cooperation

Russian leader Vladimir Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday he was keen to ramp up military cooperation and hailed the two countries’ efforts to counter Western influence.

The relationship between Russia and China, which the two sides have hailed as a “no limits” partnership, took on great significance since Moscow sent its armed forces into Ukraine some 10 months ago. Though Western countries imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, China has refrained from condemning Moscow’s military campaign, instead stressing the need for peace.

The Russian leader said he expected Xi to visit Moscow in the spring.

Putin said military cooperation has a “special place” in the relationship between their countries. He said the Kremlin aimed to “strengthen the cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China.”

Anytime bad countries—Communist countries—get together for “military cooperation” I immediately perk up my ears, because I know they are up to no good, especially since they intend to counter Western influence.

In Revelation 16:12-16, we read that in the end (during the Great Tribulation) demons will convince the world leaders to gather to a place called Har-Magedon (or Armageddon). That will turn out to be the end of the world as we know it.

But after that, God will bring in His new kingdom and His Son will rule over the earth for one-thousand years of peace. We should all look forward to that!

The Glorious Evidence of Freedom

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I have just read The Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass. It is the story of his slavery–from his young years to the time he escaped to freedom (I think he was about 19 or twenty). He went through the usual treatment, being whipped often and regarded as an animal and as the property of the slaveholder-the master. But at the same time he secretly educated himself–leaned to read and write. I have not read any more of his life than this narrative, but I have read that he came to be a very great leader and brilliant. In fact I read that Lincoln sought his advice on a few matters.

Anyway, I was so struck with what happened shortly after he escaped to freedom in the north, in New Bedford. What he experienced was not what he expected. He all along thought that free states would be full of poor people and without comforts and wealth. I will quotes some of the lines in his book.

I had very strangely supposed, while in slavery, that few of the comforts, and scarcely any of the luxuries of life were enjoyed at the north, compared with what were enjoyed by the slaveholders of the south. I probably came to this conclusion from the fact that northern people owned no slaves… I had somehow imbibed the opinion that, in the absence of slaves, there could be no wealth, and very little refinement.

Anyway, Douglass went on and on describing his surprise at what he saw. He wrote,

I found myself surrounded with the strongest proofs of wealth.

When he visited the warehouses and places of work, he wrote,

I heard no deep oaths of horrid curses on the laborer. I saw no whipping of men; but all seemed to go smoothly on. Every man went at his work with a sense of his own dignity as a man.

Then when he strolled around the town he wrote,

[He] gazing with wonder and admiration at the splendid churches, beautiful dwellings, and finely cultivated gardens; evincing an amount of wealth, comfort, taste, and refinement, such as I had never seen in any part of slaveholding Maryland.

He went on to say,

Everything looked clean, new, and beautiful. I saw few or no dilatated houses, with poverty-stricken inmates; no half-naked children and barefooted women…the people looked more able, stronger, healthier, and happier…

Well, I can’t help but think of what slavery does to people. And Fredrick was deceived in thinking that the slaveholders were not also slaves–to to their evil wretchedness, how they continually whipped the salves every day without thinking anything of it, and how many of them cursed at the slaves and at the same time thought themselves to be good Christians. The slaveholders I think were in the worst bondage, the worst slavery–the slavery of their sins of prejudice.

As Fredrick Douglass saw, where he came to in New Bedford, that town of freedom without slavery was glorious, and wealthy. The freedom we have in Christ is the most free, the most glorious. As I read how Fredrick described the surroundings as clean, new and beautiful, so I also recall how things looked directly after I prayed to receive Christ. All things looked brighter and new and so wonderful. Even the air was fresher. I invite you to always be vigilant to confess your sins every day. Don’t let sin take a hold of you. The devil and sin is out to make you their slave–to put you in deep bondage. There is no freedom or comfort in sin. Be free of sin and you will be free indeed.

All eyes on Georgia and Nevada

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My eyes are closely on these election races to keep Republicans in power. We need both the Senate and the House. It is so close. Down to the end. We can pray, but we have to leave it up to God. His plans are final. The nations may fall, but each person is accountable for himself. We do whatever we can and leave the rest to God. We pray for those in power as God wills it. And we pray for peace in the world and for our own holiness. We live in this world and do all things without grumbling so that we may prove to be blameless children of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse world; and we live to appear as light in the world, always doing good (from Phil. 2:14). We are so thankful that He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins (from Col. 1:13-14).

So we pray for our country, do what we can, mourn for the lost, and live joyously for Him without grumbling and with thankfulness to God for all He gives us.

Rooting for the Underdog

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Booker T. Washington

I previously wrote an article on African American slavery, and some of the topics I am planning to blog on. This is a topic that I have been quite interested in lately—I’m not sure why. But I feel that God is calling me into it. The more I read and think about it, the more I feel called. I guess I just like to root for the underdog. And the African American, esp. those who came out of slavery were that. Lately, in my reading, I have seen how they have made great advances as they came out of slavery, even though treated very badly: with lynching, segregation (in the Jim Crow era), being treated so badly by whites, poor working conditions; etc.

And there were a few that were heroes like Ida B. Wells, who dedicated herself to an anti-lynching crusade and made a big difference. I am especially intrigued by Booker T. Washington; a great leader of his time. He rose up out of slavery and became a great educator and encouraged all struggling-colored people to get educated and learn a craft. Many African Americans own their lives to him. Some African Americans have great success stories: how they worked their way to the top, started a business and became rich. It’s so inspiring to read about it. I can’t help but to root for anyone who overcomes such great odds. Recently I found two books by two great African Americans who were slaves but became great leaders: Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. The fact that I found those books so effortlessly is evidence to me that God has given me an open door to continue my study on this subject.  

Update: Been thinking about …

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I have been thinking lately about the subject of African American Slavery. What an evil thing it is to enslave another person and to treat them so badly. It’s hard to understand. For a while now I’ve been thinking about reading and writing on the subject–just mainly to try to understand it, how it was. I found a textbook entitled, The African American Experience: A History. It’s quite informative and I’m learning a lot. I’m planning on blogging through it. So far I have these ten topics:

  1. Slavery in Africa.
  2. European involvement in slavery.
  3. Slavery moves to America. Why?
  4. Slave ships
  5. Why black slave were preferred over others
  6. What was the white man’s attitude toward black slaves? Racism.
  7. The process of slave trading.
  8. How were the slaves generally treated?
  9. Why was there such a great demand for slaves in America, especially in the south?
  10. Slaves fight back.

As I read on, there will be more topics such as freedom and threats to freedom, the civil war, etc. I don’t know what the topics will be. It’s hard to understand why some people treat others so badly. There is also the sad topic of the mistreatment and slavery of the Jews and also Christians. That to me is more understandable because it was and is the nature of evil–to hate what is good, to hate God and Christ. But why the African American, and why the Native American? I guess evil is all about who you can take advantage of, how you can profit. It’s all about ones own gain–loving yourself in disregard of others.

Trends Toward Corruption and Self-Love

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Paul, in 2 Timothy 3:13, alerts us that in the last days “evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse.” Crime and murder rates in this world are accelerating; and the porn industry has gone out of control. Here are two reasons for our present moral and spiritual corruption.

1. A rejection of God and the love of self. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, Paul begins his list of evils with the main one: that people are lovers of self.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. (bold for emphasis)

Many people, even Christians, think that God wants us to love ourselves, that we can’t love others unless we love ourselves. But that is not true. When the bible tells us to love others as ourselves, it is assumed that we naturally love ourselves. But we can’t leave it there. That natural love of self must be checked—or it will get out of control. The love of self will soon turn fleshly—to impurity and to all the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21). And in the end self-love will prevent us from loving God.

2. A rejection of truth. Once people have rejected God by focusing on self, they will have no interest in truth. Why? Because they get so caught up in what pleases them, and that’s all they want.

Yes, self-love is very dangerous. It…

  • Causes us to rationalize sin—because we want to satisfy a sexual urge.
  • Causes us to redefine sin. We tell ourselves it’s not so bad. We are too proud to admit we are wrong.

More on Self-Love

I think self-love is very deceptive. It is hiding everywhere, lurking on every corner. It is the basis of worldliness. We can’t get away from it, especially if we watch TV, go to movies, read the newspaper, etc. The world constantly is telling us how to love ourselves and that self-love is good. But the bible says the opposite (2 Tm. 3:2).

Self-love is selfishness. And we know that that is bad. But we don’t think of self-love that way. We think of it as being a good thing. That is why it is so deceptive. And it is also deceptive because what feels good to us isn’t always good for us in the long run. Food that tastes good may be very bad for us. Okay, good fresh fruit and vegetables are good for us to a point. But overeating anything, even healthy food can be bad. One apple is good; but three or four will give you a belly ache and may damage your stomach.

Do you have favorite TV shows or favorite movies? I don’t think anything is wrong with that; but when you sit and watch TV all day long on your days off, that is too much. You are feeding your flesh. It is the self-love talked about in 2 Timothy 3:2. If you really care about your physical and spiritual health you may want to think about denying yourself—which may involve some suffering. I think fasting—with suffering—may be good for you and good for the kingdom of God.

God has called us to love others, to reach out and care for others as much as we naturally care for ourselves.

Now that I think about it, I spend far too much time thinking about, planning for, and doing for myself. I ought to think more about doing for others and praying for others—being a servant as Christ was (Phil. 2:3-7).

Application

Will you join me and do what you need to do to break your trend of self-love?

  • Begin a new habit of thinking and praying for others.
  • Begin a new habit of denying yourself something that you crave.
  • For myself, I love watching cooking shows. But you may notice, as I do, that the cook always emphasizes bring out the good flavors, about what tastes good to the senses. You may also notice that most of the cooks are over-weight—sorry! My point here is that these TV shows are compelling us to love ourselves, to treat ourselves. In effect, I think the devil is using these shows to put me in a sort of self-love-spell, so that I will eat not to keep me strong, but to please my flesh and to keep me in a state of euphoria by tasty food. Oh, the devil and the world are out to get me. I will be more aware of what I watch on TV and what I eat.

Source: Foreshadows, By Steve Miller

3 Trends Leading to A One-World Economy

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These notes are taken from the book, Foreshadows:12 Megaclues that Jesus’ Return Is Nearer Than Ever, by Steve Miller.

1. We are closing the gap between developed and underdeveloped nations. China recently invested $400 billion on infrastructure projects in the Middle Eastern nation of Iran in exchange for an ongoing supply of heavily discounted oil. But this is a debt-trap for them. Apparently, China is giving them a loan to do the infrastructure and they have to pay it back with interest. And you know that China—as seemingly is being generous—is mainly interested in political or a military control over a nation and eventually the world. Yes, they are interested in world control.

2. We are moving toward a cashless and digital economy. This makes a lot of sense. I am all in favor of it. However, we see it as a sign that the Antichrist system is closer.

3. We are moving closer to a one-world central bank and currency. Once everyone is required to use bank-issued digital currencies, it will become possible for the world to go truly cashless and we will enter an era where totalitarian-style economic surveillance is a reality. Soon all buying and selling will be controlled by the mark of the beast.

I am not so afraid of being cashless; I am almost cashless now. I just don’t like the thought of being controlled. And that’s what it is coming to. However, we all should rest in the thought that God is always with us and is for us. He will not leave us. And He is soon coming for us.

8 Trends Toward A One-World Government

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Here are eight trends that are bringing us closer to the one-world antichrist empire (from the book, Foreshadows:12 Megaclues that Jesus’ Return Is Nearer Than Ever, by Steve Miller).

1. A trend toward rule by power elites. It is interesting and kind of shocking that a majority of citizens disagree with the powerful economic elites. Nonetheless, most policymaking these days is dominated by powerful business organizations and a small number of affluent Americans.

2. A trend toward blind loyalty. We are seeing that people more and more are not thinking for themselves, and they are too lazy to investigate what is true. They are regarding loyalty to their party as more important than what is right and true. We see this esp. on the issue of abortion. It didn’t use to be this way. But today 100% of Democrats are for abortion and 100% of Republicans are for pro-life. This is so sad; in the end times people will blindly obey their government because of loyalty regardless of what is right.

3. A trend toward greater dependance upon government. We see this esp. in the area of universal health care—free health care! And this will pull the people to love and depend on their government—as their god.

4. A trend toward tightening the reins of power. We see that country leaders more and more are wanting to be authoritarians: China, Russia, North Korea, Turkey, Venezuela, Cambodia and more. Even the U. S. seems to be headed in that direction with its many executive orders and wanting to pack the court. Anything to get more control. And in the end the antichrist will be an absolute dictator.

5. A trend toward authoritarian governments advancing their agendas abroad. Today, thanks to globalism and technology, they can readily export their way of doing thing all over the world. China esp. has done this on a colossal scale.

6. A trend toward community identity. In communism and socialism, the state reigns supreme in people’s lives. Children belong to the state not the family; the state becomes the family. This ideology has become a major means of giving people a sense of community.

7. A trend toward expanding authoritarian power through technology. Both China and Russia have been involved in this—to exert their influence worldwide. But they use technology to manipulate information and the media, and to lie.

8. A trend toward silencing freedom of speech. This is a big one! In order for totalitarianism to succeed, freedom of speech (people that hold differing views) must be extinguished.

So what is a Christian to do in this changing world? Here are a few points:

  • Do not rebel under evil authority. Jesus never encouraged that.
  • Work at changing people’s hearts. Only the gospel can do that. Our greatest weapon for bringing about change is the gospel.
  • It is possible for us, as Christians, to live and persevere without freedom of speech.
  • Don’t be discouraged; trust in God.

Four Trends Toward Greater Globalism

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I have been reading the book Foreshadows: 12 Megaclues That Jesus’ Return Is Nearer Than Ever, by Steve Miller. It is quite good. I think it is definitely worth blogging. The first foreshadow he discusses is The Rise of Globalism—so today I will write about that trend.

Four Trends Toward Greater Globalism

1. More advanced Technology. There are now many more connected devices in the world, bringing the world together more than ever before, such as: smartphones, computers, cameras, sensors, smart speakers, etc.

2. More powerful global corporations—that network the world.

3. More global coalitions and groups—that network the world. These would include The World Economic Forum, The United Nations, The G20 (that promotes international collaborations).

4. More emphasis on the world as a global community. This global community has a goal to change the way the world is governed.

  • They are and will deal with global problems
  • They will work as one to bring solutions
  • They will discuss what the Great Reset is, what they intend to do, and how they reimagine the world.

Some of these trends sound not so bad, even good. But if the leaders are not moral people, and don’t believe in God, that spells danger. Here are some of the dangers in globalism:

  • There will be less freedom. We saw this during the Covid-19 pandemic, how they handled it.
  • Government power will expand and be the norm.
  • Globalism leaves out God, rejects God as a solution, and ignores sin as a problem.