It’s raining, and very cool for August, only 65 degrees. I am watching a Japanese movie called Jiro Dreams of Sushi, and the cool weather has allowed me to make my first cup of hot tea for the season.
Rainy Saturday
Crisis of Masculinity: "hapless fellas trying to figure out how to project authority in homes and relationships thoroughly dominated by their female partners"
The first generation of men who are the victims of feminism have now lived fully as men. That group are in their 70’s, and their sons, the second generation, are now fathers of the third generation of men who have lived in a culture (in the West) where men are not supposed to be men. They don’t know how to be men anymore. NY Magazine calls this state of things a “crisis of masculinity.” I call it the natural result of generations of feminism.
Initially called the “Women’s Liberation Movement” the cultural emasculation of men began in the 1960s along with the other movements of the day, civil rights and sexual revolution, and continued through the mid-1980s. This movement was actually the second wave of feminism and as such, it had a different focus. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, first wave feminism “focused mainly on suffrage and overturning legal obstacles to legal gender equality, (i.e., voting rights , property rights ), second-wave feminism broadened the debate to a wide range of issues: sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities, and official legal inequalities.”
The latter part of the twentieth century indeed was a hotbed of change. Longstanding cultural norms were up-ended. As a result, the complementarian aspect of male-female marriages and opposite sex relationships suffered.
So often, the media is the mirror of our culture, being reflected back to us. The current spate of television shows which are going to open this ‘fall season’ are full of leading males who are depicted as emasculated, and they wonder why. They are perplexed as to where it all went. These shows present ‘comedy’ in the men’s efforts to try and find their way back.
Here is one example:
She-Runners – An encouraging wave of chick-created comedies.
“In a perfect aftershock to the success of Bridesmaids (not to mention the ascendancy of Poehler and Fey), there’s a major uptick this fall in sitcoms about young single women, and, even better, several of these shows were created by female writers. It’s an encouraging phenomenon—as well as a weird analogue to the networks’ slate of emasculated-dude comedies (from Work It to Man Up), which look far less … winning.”
The Men of the New Fall Sitcoms Would Hate the Women of the New Fall Sitcoms
“One of the biggest, and certainly one of the most attention-getting, trends of the new fall TV season has been the bevy of smart, sexually assured, twenty-something lady sitcoms, with each network bringing a contender to the schedule: CBS has 2 Broke Girls with Kat Dennings (premiering tonight); Fox has New Girl with Zooey Deschanel (premiering tomorrow); NBC has Whitney with Whitney Cummings (premiering Thursday); and there are more on the way for mid-season.”
…
A related trend, but one that has been getting less attention for the obvious reasons — the shows are not as good, and their stars don’t look as good — are the bitter-man comedies: Tim Allen’s Home Improvement follow-up, Last Man Standing; ABC’s Man Up, which could be called How to Be a Father; CBS’s How to Be a Gentleman, in which Kevin Dillon advises a polite, spineless fellow on how to be b-utch and, come mid-season, ABC’s magnificently wretched cross-dressing comedy Work It. These Sad Man Sitcoms are about how confusing, difficult, and often emasculating it is to be a man in the days of the mancession. The guys in the second batch of shows are in crisis because they have found themselves living in a world that belongs to the women in the first batch of shows — and they don’t like it one bit.
…
In Last Man Standing (October 11, ABC), Tim Allen plays Mike, the father of three daughters. His career taking photographs for a wilderness catalogue is in jeopardy because young men aren’t as interested in crossbows as they used to be. Meanwhile, his wife’s career as a business executive is thriving. Mike rants in his vlog, Howard Beale–style, “What happened to men!” as he complains that guys these days can’t survive in the wilderness, catch big fish, or change tires. The fellas in Man Up … and How to be a Gentleman … sure can’t do these things.
Man Up is, more or less, a show about three Phil Dunphys: well-meaning, often hapless fellas trying to figure out how to project authority in homes and relationships thoroughly dominated by their female partners. In How to Be a Gentleman, an effete magazine writer named Andrew is chastised by Kevin Dillon’s muscle-head character Burt, “You know everything about being a gentleman, and nothing about being a man,” before beginning to inaugurate him into, more or less, the Tim Allen school of manliness.
…
But the difference is still palpable: Last Man Standing, Man Up, and How to Be a Gentleman are all coming from a place of fear and bitterness. They are predicated on the idea that once, not so long ago, there was a code, a way to be a man that everyone understood, and now that code is gone, leaving Y chromosomes isolated and flailing in a tech-savvy world dominated by women. … Whether it’s true or false, both sets of shows seem to agree that it’s way more fun to be a woman than a man right now. Certainly, after watching all these sitcoms, you’d think they have a point.”
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A terrible double standard exists for men today: society says be a man, but if men assert themselves as men, they are accused of being misogynist. They are warned not to be effete, but when they assert their masculinity, they are accused of being “homophobic.” If you read the article above in its entirety, you will see both those double-standards brought up.
In Christian culture, the situation is even worse. The young men of today have been raised in this culture and if they become saved at a later time in life, chances are they will have been raised by a feminist mother and a ‘hapless’ father. They have to learn not only how to be a Christian, but how to be a man. Christian men are expected to lead their families, and so many of the young men of today simply don’t know how to do that.
In many of the liberal Youth Ministries, younger men are taught a soft, romantic, effete Jesus who is sentimental love at all times. Never is wrath, hardness, fighting for the faith, or stalwart soldiering brought up.
Sample lyrics from the popular Christian band Jesus Culture exemplify this. The song excerpt below was written in 2012 and it is called Be My Love. You would not know it is a Christian song if you heard it until toward the end when God is mentioned. The only tell-tale in the written form is the capital Y on the word You until you read toward the end that the song is about God. Event he promotional shots show effete men with long hair and earrings, wearing androgynous clothing and looking like the female lead singer.
Where there is no love
will You be my love
Yeah, yeah
[CHORUS:]
I can’t find anyone like You
That satisfies quite like You do
And my heart is burning for You
Yes, my heart is burning for You
Here is another Jesus Culture song written in 2012 called I Belong to You, giving God permission to love us or something.
“I Belong To You”
[VERSE 1:]
You can be the One that steals my heart
With just a simple thought of who You are
Let Your light shine in the darkest parts
Let Your love fill the world
[VERSE 2:]
You can be the fire down in my soul
That I can’t contain, that I can’t control
Would You fill me up to overflow
Let Your love fill the world
[CHORUS:]
And I belong to You
Forever, I belong to You
[VERSE 3:]
Let Your Words be like a burning flame
Come in close to touch my heart again
The whole earth trembles at the sound of Your name
Let Your love fill the world
[VERSE 4:]
All I want is more of You
Your breath is life, Your word is truth
Your glory here is bursting through
Let Your love fill the world
[BRIDGE:]
And You have set my heart on fire
My love and my desire
Only for You
And as Your glory fills this place
Your love we will embrace
Only for You, for You
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| Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari, Bosom Buddies, 1980 |
It’s sentimental drivel that means nothing.
Is it any wonder where the young men of today are emasculated in society and softened in church, that when they create a family they do not know how to lead? Media today doesn’t help. Men are either superheroes with powers (Spiderman or Terminator), or they are effete Tootsies or Bosom Buddies. In the latter two, men dressed up as women in order to get an apartment or to get employment, and if you think those are simply culturally irrelevant references because Tootsie the movie and Bosom Buddies the tv show came out decades ago, the 2012 ABC television show “Work It” featured as character development, starting in the first episode, men who dress as women to attain employment learning how to be more “sensitive”. The message is, the only way to be successful is to be a women.
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| Ben Koldyke & Amaury Nolasco, Work It, 2012 |
A study referred to in the Guardian UK article, ‘Masculinity crisis’ leads to family murder, according to new study conducted by Birmingham City University criminologists has linked today’s crisis of masculinity to fathers murdering their own children, or family annihilationists. Quoted in the Guardian, project leader Professor David Wilson said, “some men are unable to come to terms with different and developing notions of the institution of the family, where women increasingly play a much more dynamic role than they had in the past”.
Aaron D. Wolf wrote in 2005: “Every definition of masculinity into which our Lord Jesus Christ does not fit belongs in the rubbish heap. Indeed, there could be no greater example of a man than He. Contrary to modern portrayals, Jesus was neither a sensitive metrosexual nor a macho-macho man. The tenderness that He displayed toward those whom He loved (including His enemies) was paternal and sacrificial, focused not on self-gratification or expression but on the real needs of those He came to save.”
“These familiar strains from the popular hymn “In the Garden” represent the modern American imagination of the essence of Christianity: a romantic fantasy in which a chivalric Jesus rescues me from my own loneliness and despair and fills all of my emotional needs. This effeminate picture of the Christian life, from the dramatic conversion experience to the long walks in the garden alone with “Jesus,” has produced generations of effeminate Christian men who either allow themselves to be consumed by their imaginary “walks with Jesus” or else drift away from church altogether, knowing that their best efforts at spiritual courtship will fall well short of those of the women who now, more than ever, fill the pews of America’s churches.”
Fathers and Mothers, raise up your boys to be boys and the girls to be girls. Jesus set out roles for us. Elder men and women have roles. Widows have roles. Husbands and wives have roles. Children have roles. Church members have roles. The bible is our life guide, not the movies and not television.
“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.” (1 Peter 3:7)
“That the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:17)
“He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive,” (1 Timothy 3:4)
“For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.” (Ephesians 5:23)
“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13)
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Further reading-
What does the bible say about being a man?
First day of school
The first day of school 2013-2014 is here and I had a fantastic day! The kids were adorable as usual. Everything went smoothly. For the first time in years, it wasn’t hot. The temps today were only about 72 degrees for a high, which is thirty degrees lower than last year’s start of the year on the first day. Last year was monstrously hot. The buses don’t have air conditioning and after sitting in the lot all day they were so hot you could grow jungle orchids in there. We passed out water to the kids getting on and were advising them to sip slowly during the ride. Man, it was hot.
Anyway, today for the first time it wasn’t only cool, but it rained. The veteran teachers local to the area said that they can’t remember the last time it rained on the first day. I didn’t mind it, though I was sad the kids could not go out and play, but usually it is too hot for that anyway on the first day. The cool air and rainy, dark landscape made for a relaxing, quiet time.
It was sweet to see the first graders in the lunch room. I work in kindergarten all day but I have a midday duty that monitors 1st graders. Anyway when they sat down at the tables with their class and then looked up and around, they spotted their former classmates scattered around the cafeteria eating with their new classmates. They raised their hand and asked to go hug that one, or speak to this one, and their little reunions were totally charming. One guy who was popular last year in kindergarten but moved away, has come back. When his former classmates saw him, the news spread like wildfire around all the tables. “He’s back, look!” they all said, and many hugs were exchanged. They might have short attention spans and can’t remember a lot, but they do make heart-felt friends who mean a great deal to them. Even if it is short term, they love deeply.
My ole car performed like a champ all summer. On the day before the first day and on the first day with kids, of course it broke down. I hate that. I really, really hate that. There is only one place I have to be in my whole life, and it is school. I can walk or bike to church, to the PO and to the grocery store. They are all within half a mile. The school is a must-get-to destination, and of course that is the place it decides to strand me. I hate that. I can’t tell you how much.
So Saturday is another Bountiful Baskets pick up. I am so thrilled with the produce from this co-op. For a vegetarian like me, that basket is like a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Quality produce at affordable prices, it is heaven! I can’t wait to see what is in my basket. I still have half a cantaloupe left over and half a cabbage.It does take me a good two weeks to eat it all.
A friend had given me a bag of green beans, and I’m going to make green bean pate with some and green bean casserole with the rest. And then I’ll wait to see what is in my basket for this week to plan the rest.
I was looking at my Italy photos over the weekend. The last time I went was 1998, fifteen years ago. It seems like a lifetime ago. My sister and family is in France now. My France trip was even longer ago than Italy. Back then, I was consumed with where the next place I was going to go, so as to experience the bigness of life. Now I’m consumed with the minutiae of life- groceries, work, vehicle, church, writing, and my cats. Back then I saw God’s plan in the vastness of His creation. From the towering Alps, to the Amazon valleys, to the blue Mediterranean to the hills of Scotland, from the icebergs at Labrador to the crystal Bahamian sea, it was vast in scope but empty of importance, because I was not in Jesus.
Now I see God in the details of my life instead of the vastness. My life is about minutiae but it’s not minute. It’s small but not trifling. It’s where He planted me to do kingdom work, so therefore it is important. Though it is a quiet life, it is a big life- because of the work He gave me to do. And the work is to love, rejoice, and be glad in this day, because He has made it.
Angry Islamic fundamentalists taking frustrations out on Christians
Here is some news, which made me think of Revelation 12. First the news–
Egypt ‘s Churches Aflame as Brotherhood Targets Christians
“Prominent among the “collateral damage” victims of the ongoing violence in Egypt are the country’s Coptic Christians. Living on the tentative goodwill of the Muslim majority even during the best of times, the community has been the subject of attacks and persecution over the past year, since the fall of Hosni Mubarak, and the subsequent fall of Mohammed Morsi. Now, with the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood members by the Egyptian army, Islamist fanatics are taking out their frustrations on Coptic Christians. In the past few days, there has been a spate of attacks on Christian businesses, homes, and churches. As of Wednesday morning, according to local witnesses, at least 18 churches had been destroyed, and fires and riots were continuing to spread in Christian areas, the witnesses said.“
When I read this, I was reminded of the scene in Revelation 12. In that book, Satan is finally thrown bodily out of heaven. He became a sinner long ago, perhaps even before the foundation of the world, or shortly after. We know he was created holy but was already sinful when he approached Eve in the garden. In the garden he was called serpent so by then, sin had been found in him. (Genesis 3:1, 13, 14).
However, satan still has had access to heaven throughout the ages. (Job 2:1). There will come a point when satan will no longer be given access to even enter that holy domain. It is believed that the moment comes in Revelation 12. Here is the verse:
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:7-9).
I wonder what satan has thought, all this time. Did he think he will win? Did he think that because he still had access to heaven, that maybe God didn’t really mean it? In any case, when he is pushed out of heaven, he and his angels, he becomes furious.
“And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.” (Revelation 12:13)
The woman is Israel and the male child refers to Jesus (Revelation 12:5).
Satan hates God and he hates anyone God loves. Therefore satan hates the Jewish people. Prime example: the German Holocaust. Back to Revelation 12, Satan’s future pursuit of the descendants of Jesus across the desert will be foiled.
“But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.”
Just as we can’t really conceive of how great and deep of a love Jesus has for us, we can’t really conceive of how great and deep of a hatred satan has for us. Satan’s fury is incomprehensible, illogical, and irrational. But it is very real. When his attempts to render his fury on the Jews fleeing across the desert are foiled, the fallback position is, take it out on the Christians. Look what satan does next:
“Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea. (Revelation 12:14-16).
“Make war with.” This is the point in time when the Great Tribulation begins, satan indwells the antichrist, and the beheadings begin.
Now turn your attention back to Egypt. In the article it stated, “Islamist fanatics are taking out their frustrations on Coptic Christians.”
Logically, being angry at Christians makes no sense. We are kind, helpful, quiet, and forgiving. Having a bunch of Christians around is a good thing. In a situation of chaos and upset like exists in Egypt now, it is more logical to take your anger out on the neighbor who owes you money, or perhaps to ignite long-simmering tribal feuds. But no, the fundamentalist Islamic folks look for a Christian to take their frustrations out on. Just as it always has been and just as it will continue to be according to Revelation 12.
When the Prince of Peace comes and stops the persecution, then it will finally end. (Isaiah 9:6). There will be peace in the valley. Until then, please pray for the Christians who are hunted and persecuted.
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Further reading
What is Coptic Christianity, and what do Coptic Christians believe?
Egypt is in violence and upset now, but the future holds blessing for His people Egypt!
In December 2012 I’d posted a blog entry about what was happening in Egypt, and took a look at prophecy, which says that God has a plan for Egypt. This plan is past, present and future, and as a matter of fact is one of only three nations mentioned in the Millennium Kingdom. That future prophecy is in Isaiah 19.
From Isaiah 1-15 the future looks very dim for Egypt and her people. She will fall under a cruel leader. (No one is positive if this means a sub-antichrist, or if the ‘cruel leader’ refers to THE antichrist). She will have economic devastation as the Nile dries up. Despairing of wisdom, they will turn to wizards and sorcerers, and no one will have any helpful information to give, anywhere. Isaiah 19:14 gets pretty graphic: “The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.”
On 24 June 2012, after a period of chaos and upset, Mohammad Morsi was elected President of Egypt. Many people wondered as the shaos went on and Morsi- a well-known strict Muslim Brotherhood member, was the cruel master spoken of in prophecy. Most people said to wait and see.
Things calmed down- for a while. As the one-year anniversary of his election approached, protests began again. This time, they rose until Morsi was ousted in a coup.
Which leader will be next? Will this next one be the “cruel leader’ predicted? Is this the beginning of the prophesied terrible times for Egypt?
It’s one thing to read about prophecy and speculate on its fulfillment, but it is quite anther to see it. The anguish of Egypt is just killing me to watch. The despair, the death, the uncertainty, and so many, MANY Egyptians are without God, so they don’t even have hope!
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| A protester comforts a wounded colleague after Egyptian security forces began to clear a sit-in by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo Wednesday. Source |
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| A woman tried to stop a military bulldozer from hurting a wounded man during clashes near Raba’a al Adiwiya mosque in eastern Cairo. Source |
Egypt’s Interim Vice President ElBaradei resigns while clashes across Egypt leave more than 270 dead
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| Aug. 14, 2013: A police vehicle is pushed off of the 6th of October bridge by protesters close to the largest sit-in by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt. Source |
These scenes are devastating. Imagine of they were happening on your street! Violence is terrible. Military uprisings are frightening. Grief over loved ones is paralyzing. But in verse 16 it starts to look up for Egypt. Our Holy God has a blessed plan for this nation which sheltered His Son! Let’s read it in its entirety-
When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
23In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, 25whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
If that doesn’t make you just weep with joy, then what will?! He delivers them, and they worship Him. They worship the One true God! And He blesses them and calls them His people. Oh, what a day. Hang on, true Christians in Egypt! He will bring your nation to His bosom! No more bloodshed. No more idolatry. No more blasphemy. A blessed day.
Unsaved Egyptians! The LORD has a plan for your nation. Seek Him now, before the spirit of confusion comes (if it hasn’t already). He will bless you and then you can watch the blessing of the nation when the Kingdom comes!
Magnitude 6.6 quake at Columbia today, an earthquake’s lessons
After a seeming period of quiet there have suddenly been a spate of major earthquakes. USGS lists a quake as major if it exceeds 6.0 magnitude or those others with a red background have been identified as “significant”, based on a combination of magnitude, PAGER alert level, and the number of Did You Feel It? responses. Here is the list of quakes in the last week the USGS deems significant.
Mag 6.6 102km WSW of Mutis, Colombia
Mag 6.1 90km WSW of Paita, Peru
Mag 6.0 112km NW of L’Esperance Rock, New Zealand
Mag 6.0 189km WNW of Saumlaki, Indonesia
Significant: 4.9 9km SSW of Volcano, Hawaii
The Guardian UK reported on today’s 6.6 quake in Columbia
“According the U.S. Geological Survey, a severe earthquake has occurred in the Pacific Ocean near Columbia. The earthquake is 6.7 magnitudes and hit about 10:43, local time, this morning. It landed approximately 59 miles west southwest of Mutis, Colombia. No immediate reports of damage and according to the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, no tsunami warning was issued.”
God has used earthquakes to speak to His people in the past and will again in the future. In Acts 16:26, He used a quake to release Paul from prison. When Jesus died on the cross, a quake occurred, recorded in Matthew 27:54, “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, “Surely he was the Son of God!” The quake was God speaking to humans … and they understood. A few days later as Jesus rose from the grave there was another earthquake. Matthew 28:2 records it. “There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.” In Ezekiel 38:19 God promises to show Himself through an earthquake (among other things). “In My zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.”
During the Tribulation, an earthquake will occur in Jerusalem as described in Rev 11:13 where 7000 people will be killed. Later, in Rev 16:18, “Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.” Every mountain will crumble and every island will flee away.
Earthquakes are important events. After a major quake in CA in 1994, John MacArthur preached this:
“My sixth point is this: God uses calamity to call people to repentance. I believe this is intended by God to warn people of what is coming when he destroys the earth. I believe it is to call people to repentance.
And then one last point. Time is limited to heed the warning. Time is limited to heed the warning. Jesus tells a story in verse 6. “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, came looking for fruit on it and didn’t find it. Said to the vineyard keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I came looking for fruit.” By the way, three years was the limit. That’s how long they let a fig tree go before they cut it down because it would show its fruit by the third year.
“‘I waited three years, I come looking for fruit on the tree, don’t find any. Cut it down. Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir. For this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, cut it down.'”
What does that say? God is patient, but his patience has a limit, right? Give it another year. No fruit, cut it down. The LORD is compassionate, gracious slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, but he will not always strive with man.
Sinners live on borrowed time. Sinners have a temporary reprieve. What a profound teacher is an earthquake. Life is fragile, there are limits to self-protection, death is inevitable, the world is cursed, temporal disasters are only previews of what is coming, God uses these frightening calamities to call people to repentance, and you better repent because time is limited.
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Further reading
Greatest earthquakes of the bible
Earthquake verses in the bible
Why does God allow natural disasters, i.e. earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis?
The thought police are alive and well in San Antonio
Christians who speak of sin and exhort non-believers to repent is called hate speech by the secular world. And it is hate speech. The secular world hates it and wants to stop us from speaking it. Here are two current examples. This first one is from March of 2012 but is representative of how the media treats any Christian today:
Ann Curry: Your religious beliefs represent hate speech!
“Make no mistake about it, this is all about going after the Christian Church. Same-sex marriage, GLAAD’s fascist rampages, and all of this Orwellian political correctness is part of long-term goal — and that’s to make Christian beliefs a form of bigotry and to force a left-wing agenda on the church all under a Trojan horse labelled “discrimination.”
“In many respects, Obama forcing the Catholic Church to violate its conscience with respect to providing birth control and abortion drugs through their social service institutions, is a dry run for this. The left wants to know if they can persuade the American people that a non-existent right (in this case, free birth control) trumps a First Amendment that declaratively restricts the government from impeding on the free exercise of religion.”
“The obvious next step will be to attempt an end-run around the First Amendment by declaring as bigoted the Church’s refusal to marry same-sex couples. They will also attempt to declare as hate speech any belief held by the church that in any way angers GLAAD.”
And they have done just exactly that. In San Antonio, this week Hal Lindsey reported there is a new kind of ‘thought police’–
Unprecedented ordinance bans Christians from serving on city council
“We hear a lot about the positive things happening in that great bastion of conservatism known as Texas, but even there we are occasionally reminded that the disease of progressivism is present. The latest example of the liberal precept that government is greater than the individual can be found in San Antonio, where city leaders believe true equality is just an ordinance away.”
The city is looking to update its anti-discrimination policies by adding sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories, and plans to punish those who speak out against homosexuality. According to a draft of the revised policy, One News Now reports, no one who has spoken out against homosexuality or the transgender lifestyle can run for city council or be appointed to a city board.
Or, in other words, Christians need not apply. The exact language as proposed:
“No person shall be appointed to a position if the City Council finds that such person has, prior to such proposed appointment, engaged in discrimination or demonstrated a bias, by word or deed, against any person, group or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, or disability.”
“The ordinance also says that if you have at any point demonstrated a bias – without defining what a bias is or who will determine whether or not one has been exercised – that you cannot get a city contract,” pastor Charles Flowers told One News Now.
Alliance Defending Freedom has taken a look at the ordinance. “They said they’ve never seen this kind of language in any other ordinance in any other city that they’ve dealt with,”
There are many ways to try and quiet the Christians. In Egypt, for example, they just shoot them outright as they walk home from bible class. In America, they cleverly formulate laws and ordinances that quietly squeeze Christians from public life, and where they have a voice and influence. Where the Christian blogging world was shocked by street preacher Tony Miano’s arrest off the street corner outside Wimbledon last month for preaching sexual purity, that kind overt and deliberate squelching is here in America too, just disguised under the misnomer of political correctness or the more current phrase ‘tolerance’.
In my opinion, this means two things. The rapidity with which we have seen an erosion of free speech under the US Constitution is gaining speed each day. This kind of hatred of Christians expressed in no uncertain terms in the public square has gone from quiet mumbling in back rooms just ten years ago to blatant discrimination and muzzling today. Each day it gets worse. Like compounding interest, expect each day from her on forward to get that much more overt and constricting.
That means we should pray for a proportional amount of increase in courage and boldness. It means we should know our bible and be ready to proclaim Him. It means that we should actively and daily think about what we can do in our own spheres to maximize our influence. It means ever increasing reliance on the Lord.
Secondly, it means the time is growing nearer. As the world moves toward the time when the word of Jesus will be fulfilled, “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith upon the earth?”
That verse is the last line in the short parable of the Persistent Widow. Jesus tells the disciples about the coming of the Kingdom and the Tribulation of those days in Luke 17. He concludes with the parable as a lesson to always pray and not lose heart. Here is it is in full–
1And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
This is a persistent prayer for the Lord’s return. The widow was grieved by the injustice in the world and the failure of earthly courts to rectify it. She hated the corruptness and cried out for someone to fix it. The complete indifference of the Judge to the suffering of this defrauded, needy and destitute woman, the fact that he didn’t fear God or man, and his unwillingness to take up the case of a woman who was so alone that she didn’t even a man to come to court for her is representative of the world today (and back then). The world was this woman’s enemy, and it had abused her.
Jesus gave two commands and comforts. He said to always pray. And He said to not lose heart. Even in the midst of the time when the widow was persisting in obtaining justice and it didn’t look like anything was ever going to happen, she kept on.
Eventually, there will be justice.
The Parable of the Persistent Widow as explained by John MacArthur-
“It says at the end of verse 8, “However, when the Son of Man comes will He find faith on the earth?” Will He find this kind of persevering faith? Will He find this kind of persevering prayer? Will He find this kind of enduring confidence? This is definitely eschatological praying. No one of us knows the time of the Rapture. We don’t know when the events that are the Second Coming will be launched. We don’t know when the day of the Lord is going to come, but two thousand years have passed by, believers have been waiting and waiting, and suffering at the hand of sinners. Sin escalates, evil men grow worse and worse and worse. We see the pollution inside and outside Christendom. False teachers abound everywhere.
We’re endeavoring to endure true and faithful, trusting in the Word of God. We have been promised that He will come. We believe that He will come. And here He says, “Keep praying for that event.” He will come but part of the means of that coming is our prayer life. Prayer moves God to accomplish His work and therefore having accomplished His work, bringing it to its great culmination in His Second Coming. He will come. He promises He will come. He will be faithful to His elect. He will bring judgment to the ungodly. He will vindicate the saints. He will exalt Himself. He will establish His throne on earth. He will reign in a Kingdom on earth and He will establish the new heaven and the new earth. And that is what we are to pray for relentlessly.“
There is a movement outside of Christianity but also inside Christianity to muzzle Christians from speaking these things. Just as the secular world tries in all ways to squelch the potent word of the boldly proclaiming Christian, so some Christians dismiss the eschatological prayer and speech of the boldly proclaiming end times-minded brother and sister. Don’t let them do it. Point to the persistent widow, and say, “She didn’t give up. Jesus told us to pray always and not lose heart.”
Speaking of His coming and the justice that will be rendered for His name’s sake is one of the greatest comforts of all. Some ‘brothers’ sneer at our fervency, saying we are cowards wanting to be gone from this world. Some ‘sisters’ mock when we speak of His soon return, saying that we are so heavenly minded we are no earthly good.
Well, the widow persistently called for justice, and Jesus commended her for it. I side with Jesus, not the mockers and sneerers.
Being with Him is something that we look forward to with all that we’ve got and all that we are. Who wouldn’t want to cling to these hopes and future promises? Who wouldn’t want to take the commands of Jesus to heart, and pray always for His return and to not lose heart?
Ultimately we who pray for His return and we who speak of it, and we who see the signs of the dying world, know that what we pray for is from a heart that mourns in seeing the sins pile up against Him. We see the blots and blasphemies against His pure name, and we hate it. We see a young Egyptian girl shot dead simply because she was holding a bible, and we fall to our knees in grief. We see child after child neglected because their parents have succumbed to drugs, and we are horrified. We see the hatred of an evil world against all that is holy and pure, and we weep. We see children dying, martyrs killed, and we cry out. We see the Holy Spirit grieved and we lament. We keep ‘coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ Who wouldn’t want that to all end?
Somewhere in the world, there is a chorus of widows. Keep it up, my brethren. Call for the Righteous Judge to render justice. Take heart, He hears you and He is coming.
India has unveiled its first home-built aircraft carrier
Indian-built aircraft carrier INS Vikrant launched
India has unveiled its first home-built aircraft carrier from a shipyard in southern Kerala state.
The 37,500 tonne INS Vikrant is expected to go for extensive trials in 2016 before being inducted into the navy by 2018, reports say. With this, India joins a select group of countries capable of building such a vessel. Other countries capable of building a similar ship are the US, the UK, Russia and France. Monday’s launch of INS Vikrant marks the end of the first phase of its construction. The INS Vikrant was launched amid chanting from ancient Hindu scriptures at the Kochi shipyard in the southern state of Kerala.”
Remember, India is a nuclear power. Also remember that in the final days of world history, the Kings from the East will march against Jerusalem. (Revelation 16:12). India is East of the Euphrates.
India’s increasing military capability at this juncture is interesting to note, particular in the area of having their own aircraft carrier. In any case, this news is indicative of the fact that Jesus said there will wars and rumors of wars during the Tribulation. Life on earth will not get any better, it is always on a downward slide till the end. India, having the toy, they will want to use it. It is only a matter of time.
More Mary Mischief: image of Mary on cross atop Providence church?
I was born in Providence RI and grew up in the suburbs outside the city. Providence is a wonderful state, quirky, beautiful, and small. It is populated by Italians, Portuguese, and Irish, most of whom are Catholic. (demographic: 64%). Wikipedia further explains, “Rhode Island has one of the highest percentage of Roman Catholics in the nation mainly due to large Irish, Italian, and French Canadian immigration in the past; recently, significant Portuguese and various Hispanic communities have also been established in the state. … Additionally, Rhode Island and Utah are the only two states in which a majority of the population are members of a single religious body.”
I still occasionally read the Providence Journal, nowadays more often to see who died. I guess that is part of the human life cycle as you get older, interest in obits. One of the headlines on Saturday was the following:
Faithful see image of Virgin Mary on cross atop North Providence church
NORTH PROVIDENCE — A steady stream of people gathered Friday in the rain at the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to witness what some believe is an image of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus. “It’s her. It’s amazing,” said Zumma Canedo, of North Providence.
Canedo, a native of Bolivia, said she had prayed the rosary while standing in the rain outside the church on Mineral Spring Avenue. “She’s saying something,” Canedo said. A darker profile, interpreted by believers as that of the Virgin Mary, can be seen against the gray copper cross atop the church. Bystanders remarked that the profile did not fade despite the pouring rain.
Traffic backed up on the busy road, disrupting a funeral procession that was leaving the church at 11:30 a.m. Carolyn Andreozzi, also of North Providence, said she was having her nails done around the corner when she heard of the sighting on the church steeple and decided to walk over. Asked if she believed it was Mary as she headed to the church, Andreozzi said: “We need a miracle the way this country is going, the turmoil that we are in. Absolutely, I believe.”
“On her return, through the Walgreens parking lot a block up across the street, Andreozzi said: “I would have liked a more definite (sign), but I believe she is there.” Shortly after noon, a crowd lined up by a Channel 12 cameraman, waiting to look through the camera after he finished his report.”
“Brian Dowling, associate director at The Steel Yard, a nonprofit community arts program in Providence, said the discoloration is probably a chemical reaction.” “Like patina,” Dowling said referring to the tarnish that forms on copper from oxidation and other chemical reactions. Copper, Dowling said, yields a wide spectrum of colors, from greens to browns to reds. Parish officials had no immediate comment.”
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There are so many things to comment on…and I’m so sad over the whole thing. First, the comment from the lady who said, “We need a miracle the way this country is going, the turmoil that we are in. Absolutely, I believe.” Catholics who adhere to the false doctrines of the Catholic Church are not saved. They are believing the doctrines of demons, not the Gospel as delivered by Jesus Christ. For those who are not saved, they yearn for something to believe in, and they long to fill the spiritual ache in their hearts. Yet they believe in idols. (Isaiah 40:19). They want to and need to believe, but their faith is misplaced.
Then this same lady who had moments before stated, “absolutely, I believe,” then said, “I would have liked a more definite (sign)”…
Let Us Reason Ministries says, “Scripture and history prove that signs and wonders do not instill faith, just the opposite, lack of faith prompts ones desire to see signs and wonders. John 12:37 But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him. John 4:48 Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” Jesus was disappointed that it took the miraculous for people to listen to his teachings or follow.” (source)
Third, look up at the photo of the man looking through the camera lens, then to the lady holding the striped umbrella behind him. Look at her face. It is the face of someone in spiritual ecstasy. It is the face of spiritual tragedy.
I’d like to remind everyone that Jesus grew up. “Mary” isn’t holding “baby Jesus”. Jesus is not a baby any more and He hasn’t been for a long, long time. He appeared post-Resurrection in the flesh to many hundreds, and He was fully grown. (And no need to remind everyone that Mary hasn’t been a virgin for a long, long time, either (Matthew 12:46, Luke 8:19, Mark 3:31, Matthew 13:55, Matthew 13:56).
The photo of the long line of people stopping to get a glimpse, walking over to check it out, the seekers of and believers in false signs, is just heart-breakingly painful to see!
And … has anyone thought of what a blasphemous thing it is for “Mary” to be “appearing” on the cross, the place where Jesus was nailed in agony and pain so as to receive the wrath of God for all mankind’s sins?
On the same page as the news story about the alleged Marian Apparition are these headlines:
–Haitian Catholic charismatics gather in Providence for three-day event
–Pastor Fired for Attending Rick Ross Concert
–Top Grossing Bars and Nightclubs of 2013
Rhode Island is a very dark place, spiritually.
Here is an anecdote from my life. I am of Italian descent. Attracted to all things Italian, I traveled to Italy several times in the 1990s. One of those times a friend and I rented a car and meandered around Tuscany. We always took the small roads and the out of the way places. One day we were headed to the Tuscan coast and we saw a sign for a small town called “Prata.” Of course we immediately swerved onto that road and explored! I had no idea that town with my surname even existed.
It was siesta time and being a very small village, and raining, we found no people about, except an dapper old man walking up a hill with his cane hooked over his wrist. The church door was open so I peeked in and saw several wizened old ladies wearing black dresses and clomping black shoes, busily polishing the altar and dusting the ceramic statues of Mary they had around. There were a lot of Mary statues.
I bought a postcard from the tiny church gift shop, and here it is:
Apparently the ‘patron saint’ of Prata is “Madonna Del Canale.” Mary of the Canal. Here is the story:
The patron saint of Prata is Our Lady of the Assumption, but the protective figure invoked by the entire population is Our Lady of Graces, known as the ‘Madonna del Canale’ and venerated in the oratory located near the Fonte Vecchia, in the Valley of the Carse, approximately half a mile outside the town.
According to legend, the Madonna appeared to shepherds centuries ago, outside the town walls near a canal where water drained off from an old mine, where Fonte Vecchia is now. To mark this miraculous apparition, a shrine was constructed on the spot, hence the strange name of ‘Canale’ (‘canal’) used by Prata’s residents to invoke their Madonna.
Inside the shrine, a fresco depicting the Virgin Mary was painted, which faded over time. It was therefore decided to reproduce the image on a canvas placed on the high altar of the Church of Prata. The name of the artist who painted the canvas in 1680 is unknown to us. However the painting seems to have disappeared from the church twice and miraculously reappeared near Fonte Vecchia, almost as if the Madonna were indicating her preference for being venerated there instead. So the people of Prata built the Oratory near Fonte Vecchia so that the painting of the Virgin Mary could be kept there forever and promised to take her back every three years, in a solemn procession.
The Catholics say that they don’t worship Mary, they venerate her. The parsing is silly, of course, because venerate and worship mean the same thing. And in this iconic photo of the fresco at Prata, Jesus is wearing a crown, and Mary is wearing a crown. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.
Matthew 24:24 says “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.“
Creation grace: Starling murmuration & evening roost
One evening as I was driving home, I spotted a moving black cloud over the fields. I stopped and watched a gathering of starlings come together and dance in aerobatic, soaring beauty over the fields. The flock parted and came together, swooped and climbed heights. The display was inexpressibly beautiful. At the end, the flock settled in the treetops next to the field and the dance was over.
Scientists call this behavior ‘starling murmuration.’ “Starling swarms, an extraordinarily beautiful ballet at dusk that is a pre-roosting phenomenon of nature known as ‘starling murmuration.’” Capturing the flock in motion proved to be too hard a task for me and my camera, my photos mostly came out blurry. I didn’t even think to set it on video, lol, I was so captured by the beauty of this, the dancing birds, pink sky and rising moon. There are some gorgeous pics of the phenomenon for you here.
About Birding says “Small birds sleep perched high in trees, typically close to the trunk of the tree. The trunk holds heat from the daytime to provide better shelter, and the birds will be alerted to any vibrations predators make if they climb the tree looking for prey. Many birds, such as red-winged blackbirds and other gregarious species, form large roost flocks at night. This provides them safety in numbers as they sleep, and several birds on the edges of the flock may remain alert through the night to guard against predators or other threats.”
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Lord, thank You for your endless creativity and intellect.
I feel such joy at being a part of Your creation.
the-end-time.org 