Leadership Infantility

The Bible repeatedly demonstrates Jesus, The Lord God, is active in the management of human affairs—especially at the level of nations and their leaders. Post-Bible history affirms this point. His apparent objective is to assure people get the leaders they deserve, in accordance with His revealed management pattern: 

•  Long-term Grace and Mercy (times of testing), and 

•  Eventual short, intense Judgments for the sake of Justice and Righteousness 

    (Jeremiah 9:23-24) 

His claim and His ancient and current history in doing exactly this, are neither believed or perceived by the majority of us. As a result, we have all suffered great harms for not connecting what we experience, to His dots. Moreover, The Bible attests He won’t change His modus operandi throughout the remaining 3, promised ages of our history on this current version of Earth. Yet we generally pride ourselves as more wise than our distant and recent ancestors. 

Ezekiel’s Prophetic ‘Quadfecta’ (Part 2)

Chapter 37

 

1 Kings 11:1-13 records The Lord’s decision to divide the nation of Israel into two nations—His judgment for the noted sins of King Solomon. The Old Testament records several predictions that The Lord would, one day, reverse this division, and rejoin the 12 tribes of Jacob (Israel) as one unified nation. The most vivid of these predictions is in Ezekiel 37. In it, The Lord metaphorically depicts His plan via a vision of a valley of scattered, dry bones that represent Jacob’s scattered diaspora. Obeying The Lord’s progressive commands, the prophet spoke to the bones. They rattled, connected to form complete human skeletons, took on flesh and skin, and finally, received breath. The Lord calls them an exceedingly great army—the whole house of Israel.

 

There are various interpretations of this vision, including it refers to:

 

•  The re-birth of Israel as a nation on May 14, 1948,

•  Israel’s modern army—the Israel Defense Forces (IDF),

•  All deceased Jews who will be resurrected when The Messiah is revealed,

•  Only ‘righteous’ Jews, or

•  All Jews who will inhabit the greatly expanded Israel in the 5th age—the Millennial Reign age.

 

The Sin→War Connection (Poem)

Across the world, we HATE war, but LOVE sin!

Yet we refuse to learn why wars upend!

Between those two, Heaven draws a straight line.

Yet its ‘dot-connecting Word’, we malign.

We seek higher education levels,

To achieve career success and laurels. 

Yet choose to not learn what really matters—

Those things on which our Creator majors.

Why May 1948? (Part 1)

See the series here

 

Have you wondered why The Lord allowed the re-establishment of Israel in 1948, long before His promised Millennial Reign? He had allowed the land, iteratively, ‘to vomit out’ (i.e., exile) Jacob’s descendants, just as He had instructed Moses to warn, if they fell into persistent sinfulness. They largely did, wanting to be, not special, but ‘just like everybody else’. Thus, out of their lands, they were vomited, iteratively. ¹

-then-the World Exile (2,670 years)

About 390 years after ancient Israel had been split into 2 nations (Israel--10 northern tribes; and Judah--2 southern tribes), The Lord severely judged the northern nation for their persistent, gross sinfulness. He dispatched Assyria to attack it repeatedly, and finally, to conquer and enslave its people. For millennia, they became ‘the 10 lost tribes of Israel’, scattered across the world. This was the longest of all the exiles experienced by Jacob’s descendants. What might that spiritually signify to you?

Why May 1948? (Part 2)

See the series here

 

In Missed Insights about Genesis 12:3 (Series), I note the majority of The Lord’s MASSIVE land grant to Abram and his descendants, has since been occupied, not by Jacob’s descendants, but by the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s first son. Jacob’s descendants were only able to capture a sliver of that massive land grant. Moreover, because of their lifestyles, The Lord allowed even that sliver of land to ‘vomit’ them out, iteratively, into protracted periods of exile. Rather than being His special, separated (i.e,, holy) people, they wanted to ‘be with, and just like everybody else’. Thus, The Lord allowed them to live their dream. Biblical and secular history attest their ’fall from His Grace’, created patterned opportunities for satan’s crew to persecute and oppress them via the reactions they would receive from people whom they wanted to be among and alike.

Why May 1948 (Part 3)

See the series here

 

Land Math

The following table summarizes the ‘yo-yo’ relationship Jacob’s descendants had with the sliver of the massive covenant land they and their ancestors had conquered from antiquity-to-today. 

Jacob’s descendants were only allowed to enjoy living in the land about 20 percent of the time from when Jacob was renamed Israel, to this current year, 2026. They spent about 80 percent of those 5,000+ years in various exiles, AWAY from the land because of their gross sinfulness—rejecting The Lord’s covenant lifestyles requirement. This 80/20 ratio reveals being 'in' the land was historically a rare privilege, presumably reserved for times of testing for new generations. It might also signify the severity of The Lord’s angst over their lifestyle choices.

Grace@Work!

See the Grace So Amazing (Series) here

Amazing Grace, oh, how SWEET the sound,

When God’s Grace abounds to me.
But when to my foes, His Grace abounds,

It is not amazing to me!

 

Does that pretty much summarize how you feel about The Lord’s amazing Grace? If so, don’t feel bad. It’s in our re-programmed DNA. You see, Adam and Eve were created perfectly to understand and appreciate The Lord’s Grace, and to exercise their FREE WILL about it. So were satan and every holy angel who rebelled against The Lord, and became devils and demons on Earth. Using the ‘free will avenue’, they tempted Eve, who nudged Adam to join their rebellion. You know ‘the rest of that story’— sin corrupted both the physical and spiritual nature of Adam and Eve—and all their seed, including us. That’s why the above stanza rhymes so clearly to us. ¹

A Failure to Imagine (Part 3)

See the series here

• Part 1 noted the church may be losing ground, spiritually, with substantial portions of The Lord’s 3rd age harvest already loss, and more may be at risk of loss.
• Part 2 noted that each age has stages and requires strategic adjustment.
• Therefore, the pertinent question is: how should believers think differently in the late-stage of this current age?

Imagine with me: 

 

You have just been given a remarkable, coveted reward for something extremely positive that you personally initiated, with great potential to expand beyond your and others’ wildest imaginations. But before hunkering down for the intense work and glory of the next stage, you decide to take a well-deserved, greatly extended VACATION! You selected a new destination, and have allowed yourself 6+ months to prepare. How would you prepare?

How much time, energy and other resources would you spend on:

IsraRan? (Part 2)

 See the series here

Let’s continue to consider whether the eastern border of the predicted greatly expanded Israel during The Millennial Reign age—the 5th age of our history, might include a substantial portion of Iran. (See: Human History Ages (Series)) Part 1 notes two opinions among Bible scholars on this matter. One view limits the borders to an invisible line up to/stopping at the Euphrates River. Another view incorporates the entire eastern Euphrates River basin, not just the western basin (drainage area). The eastern basin  includes a substantial portion of south-western Iran.

 

Which Lands Affected?

 

It is worth understanding which current-day land areas might be included in such a vast expansion of the millennial Israel. ChatGPT estimates the following:

Nations’ Insurance, Impudence, Imprudence Trap

The Iran war may illustrate this pattern!

 

Like individuals and companies, nations seek and establish various insurance mechanisms against potential losses and dangers. Thus, they organize militaries, building alliances, and devise elaborate governance strategies and tactics intended to guarantee their national security against external and internal attacks on their critical sectors. Such actions are common, and appear prudent to governments. Yet history repeatedly shows darker, flexible patterns, both within and between nations:

  • Nation’s insurance schemes may breed impudence that eventually produces imprudence.
  • Their Impudence may trigger insurance schemes that culminate in imprudent arrangements.

  • Their imprudence may provoke impudence (both internally and externally), that triggers demands for various types of insurance. ¹

The Biblical Pattern