It seems that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was well-liked by most people—even Republicans. He is known for his weekly fireside radio chats, and he made a good show of it. Many I suppose couldn’t wait to hear him. But there were things that he never talked about—that he kept secret. And these secret things I think would qualify him as being one of the worst Presidents.
But why am I telling you this? Why should we dig up negative stuff now? Well because I think history is important for our overall understanding of the world—especially in Presidents. And I think, because he was so well liked, this President had a lot to do with setting the standard for Presidents, especially Presidents of the democratic party.
Overall, the basic criticism of FDR was that he was very controlling; he sought to control the government and the Democratic party; many thought he was headed toward a dictatorship by attempting to pack the Supreme court (And this is what we are doing now); and, he was the only president to run a third term—though the last term was shortened by his death.
Here are five more criticisms of FDR:
1. Many of his allies, after a time, rejected him.
His Vice President, John Garner, was not pleased with many of his policies, though we don’t know why.
Raymond Moley became a bitter opponent of his New Deal and caused him to turn conservative.
Ambassador Joseph Kennedy (John Kennedy’s dad) had an uneasy relationship with him.
Journalist Walter Lippmann thought he was unqualified to be President.
Publisher William Hearst was highly critical of his New Deal.
Al Smith, Gov. of N.Y. also opposed his New Deal.
2. Many were critical of his New Deal.
This New Deal was an extensive government intervention. In this New Deal FDR dramatically expanded the welfare state; he believed in an equal distribution of wealth.
3. Many said FDR was a communist and a fascist.
And many came out and blatantly said that he was anti-God.
4. He was racist for the following reasons:
He sent 120,000 Japanese and American citizens of Japanese ancestry to internment camps after WW2.
In the 1936 Olympics only white athletes were invited to meet Roosevelt. Even Jesse Owens who won four gold medals was not invited.
He did not support making lynching a federal crime.
FDR nominated Hugo Black to the Supreme Court, knowing that he had been an active member of the KKK in the 1920’s.
5. He was anti-Jewish.
He did not try to prevent the Holocaust.
In 1939, 936 Jewish refugees were denied asylum and not allowed into the U.S.
FDR knew that Jews were being killed but did nothing!
FDR failed to issue any public statements of the killing of Jews in any of his 998 press conferences. No wonder so many people in the U.S. knew nothing about the six million Jews that were killed. Why did FDR keep this a secret? And why did he not at least try to prevent the Holocaust?
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost.
To Bring Judgment on All Unbelievers and Unbelieving Nations
This second purpose falls close behind in rank to the first; for all of the Tribulation is full of the judgments of God. We will look at a few key passages that describe God’s judgment, with a few comments (bold text for emphasis).
Deuteronomy 30:7
And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
Here we see a very early promise of judgment on unbelievers, but more specifically on Israel’s enemies.
Isaiah 13:9-12
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light.
11 Thus I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud,
And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
12 I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold,
And mankind than the gold of Ophir.
In this passage God shows us how he will judge the unbelieving and proud sinners. He will first terrify them with earthquakes and cosmic disturbances. Then he will exterminate most of them; he will make them scarcer than pure gold.
Isaiah 24:19-22
19 The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard,
And it totters like a shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of heaven, on high,
And the kings of the earth, on earth.
22 And they will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
Here we have revealed to us judgment on the earth, and also judgement on the evil angels and on humans. Verse twenty-two describes the judgment of angels and humans. I believe the gathering together “like prisoners in the dungeon” is what happens after death. They (evil angels and humans) will be held in a place of holding until the final judgment, called the Great White throne judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). This place of holding I believe is described for us in Luke 16:19-31, where we have the story of the rich man and Lazarus. So, it appears that the holding place is full of torments, and they will be tormented even before they come to the final and eternal judgment of hell.
Jeremiah 25:32-33
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Behold, evil is going forth
From nation to nation,
And a great storm is being stirred up
From the remotest parts of the earth.
33 “And those slain by the Lord on that day shall be from one end of the earth to the other. They shall not be lamented, gathered, or buried; they shall be like dung on the face of the ground.
Here is described for us the tremendous evil on the earth in that day; it will spread from nation to nation. And the Lord’s anger and judgment will come quickly in response, and there will not be any time to lament them, gather them or bury them. They will lie there to rot, and the rotting bodies will be as dung spread over the earth.
Zechariah 13:2
“And it will come about in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
Here we have the prophecy that all idols, false prophets and unclean spirits will be removed from the earth. This will happen during the fires of the Tribulation; all evil will be removed and cleaned off the earth to make room for the coming kingdom of Messiah Jesus.
Matthew 25:31-46
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 “Then they themselves also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
This passage describes the judgment of those who are alive immediately after He returns and before His millennial kingdom. It is often called the judgment of the nations. I would say that the judgment here is the sentence, where He says, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” But I don’t believe they go directly to the Lake of Fire. I think they will go to that holding place where the rich man is. Then after the millennial kingdom is over, they will appear at the Great White Throne judgment seat and be sentenced again and cast into the Lake of fire for eternity.
Revelation 3:10
‘Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.
The “hour of testing” is referring to the Tribulation, the 7-year period when God’s divine wrath is expressed as seals, trumpets, and bowls.
This is our thirty-fourth study. Please click HERE for an introduction to this study.
John 8:3-11
3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Observations
The Pharisees knew that Jesus was merciful to such women, and so they tried to trap Him into doing something contrary to the law. But Jesus turned the tables on them. He appealed to their conscience, to their own sin. He got them to look at their own sin. Suddenly, they had no interest in condemning her.
Application
Jesus here by taking away her witnesses automatically frees her from the law (since the law says that in order to condemn someone there must be at least two witnesses). He forgives her and sets her on a new life without sin.
The following article is an excerpt from this book.
If you really want to share Christ with people and see them come to Christ you must have a plan. I suggest that you do these four things: first, prepare your heart with prayer; second, make a list of those you want to witness to; third, make for yourself the opportunity to witness; and fourth, pray regularly for those you have on your list.
KEEP YOURSELF PREPARED
I suppose the best strategy for evangelism is to keep yourself prepared. A good way to start is to regularly pray for yourself.
Ask God to make you aware of the harvest, to make you a willing worker, and to send you out into His harvest field.
Ask God to help you see the certainty of eternity and the horrors of hell.
There are three great purposes for the Tribulation: 1) to prepare Israel for her Messiah; 2) to bring judgment on all unbelievers and unbelieving nations; and 3) to bring salvation to the repentant lost. In this post we will deal with the first purpose.
To prepare Israel for her Messiah
This is probably the most primary purpose—that God would use His wrath to prepare Israel by tribulation, and thus to cause them to repent of their rebellion against Him. And I suppose the most well-known passage that declares by decree how Israel will come to repentance is Daniel 9:24.
According to this six-point decree and prophecy through the angel Gabriel, “Seven weeks [or 490 years] have been decreed for your people and your holy city…” The first two promises by decree are…”to finish the transgression [and]; to make an end of sin…” we will stop there because, out of the six, these two have most to do with how God brings Israel to repentance.
The first decree, “to finish the transgression,” is focused on some specific transgression. What would that be? Down through the years Israel has committed many sins, as we all have; but the transgression inferred here is obviously their sin of the rejection of Christ as their Messiah. All that will come to an end. Miraculously, God will break them during the Tribulation. They all at once will repent and turn to Him.
We don’t know in detail how it will happen, but we do know that two-thirds of the Jews will die during the horrors of the Tribulation (Zech. 13:8-9); and then, when Jesus comes, and they see Him, they will recognize Him as their Messiah and turn to Him (Zech. 12:10).
The second decree, “to make an end of sin,” will be all on God’s part, but it will nonetheless be the result of the bitterness of the Tribulation. Hence, as Ezekiel 36:25-29 describes it, He will cleanse Israel from all their filthiness and their idols; and He will give them a new heart and a new spirit.
In addition to this decree in Daniel, there are several other Old Testament prophecies of how God will prepare Israel for her Messiah. Here are three of the more prominent ones, with a few comments.
Deuteronomy 4:27-31
And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
Here we see that Israel’s suffering through trails began quite early (with their dispersion, beginning in 722 B.C.); and so, He was working on them very early, preparing their heart. And then, much later, during the bitter days of the Tribulation, He will cause them to return to the Lord and to listen to Him.
Jeremiah 30:7-11
‘Alas! for that day is great,
There is none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s distress,
But he will be saved from it.
8 ‘And it shall come about on that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. 9 ‘But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
10 ‘And fear not, O Jacob My servant,’ declares the Lord,
‘And do not be dismayed, O Israel;
For behold, I will save you from afar,
And your offspring from the land of their captivity.
And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
And no one shall make him afraid.
11 ‘For I am with you,’ declares the Lord,
‘to save you;
For I will destroy completely all the nations where I have scattered you,
Only I will not destroy you completely.
But I will chasten you justly,
And will by no means leave you unpunished.’
The day of Tribulation is called the day of Jacob’s distress (or trouble), referring to Israel. In this future time God will bring them through terrible distress in order to discipline them and to save them. In the end they will serve the Lord their God and Jesus Christ their king during His millennial kingdom (the reference of David here is a reference to Christ who is in the line of David).
Zechariah 13:8-9
“And it will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“That two parts in it will be cut off and perish;
But the third will be left in it.
9 “And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.'”
During the terrible Tribulation, two-thirds of Israel will die, but one-third will survive. And God will bring them through the fire of the Tribulation in order to make them pure just as gold and silver is refined and purified by fire.
This is our thirty-third study. Please click HERE for an introduction to this study.
John 7:45-49
45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”
46 “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.
47 “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted. 48 “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law — there is a curse on them.”
Observations
The temple guards were sent out by the Pharisees to arrest Jesus. But they did not arrest Him because His words struck at their heart. The temple guards were religiously trained Levites and so they were impressed with Jesus words, and they probably struck them as full of truth. But in contrast, the Pharisees were not impressed and hated Jesus for His words. But in truth they were deeply jealous of Him and so labelled Him as a deceiver.
Application
Sometimes the most powerful religious leaders are the most dangerous. The Pharisees were so jealous of Jesus that they exchanged the truth for lies and deception.
Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” This verse suggests three levels of intensity in prayer: asking, seeking, and knocking.
The first level,asking, is where prayer begins. Anyone can ask—even a small child. In fact, children tend to ask for things in prayer more than adults. But God wants us all to ask, and often. Jesus told His disciples to ask for things in prayer so that their joy would be full—that is, so that they would receive joy in seeing God answer their prayers (Jn. 16:24). Likewise, the book of James (Ja. 4:2-3) suggests that we ask for things whenever we desire them, as long as our requests are according to His will.
A second level of earnestness is seeking. According to Wesley Duewel, “[This level] searches to…
Nancy Pelosi is the great instigator against Donald Trump; but she is the one who failed to order the National Guard. We really should demand a full investigation of her. It would be just like her to plan much of the chaos on January 6th and lay the blame on Trump. As soon as Republicans get more power in both houses and the Senate, a full investigation of Pelosi should be done—for justice’s sake.
But until that time we the people can do things. We can demand an explanation. We can demand to know why. She needs to be put on the hot seat. And we the people need to know why she did not call the National Guard, and why she is leading the charge against Trump. So far, almost nothing is said about it. So far, people think she is in the clear, that she in innocent. But she is not! She continually says that she is a good Christian and that she prays for all people. But she is a fraud and a phony! She is false through and through, a hypocrite of the worst kind. She is a child of the devil (John 8:44; Acts 13:10) and all she does is for an evil purpose. She needs to be exposed for who she is. People, lift up your voices to expose her! Let her not do more evil deeds. Let her be tried and found guilty. Let all people see the truth about her. And let them speak up.
We dare not be quite about her. Let the trial begin now. Who will speak the truth about her? Enough of her lies. She must be proved to be guilty.
What can we do? Let the bloggers blog. Let the tweeters tweet. Let articles be written. Let books be written. Let the senators and congress speak out. Let them not be silent. The truth needs to be told—now!
Stephen Nielsen 