Worst of the Worst (Poem)

'The tough get going when the going gets tough’, so we’ve heard.

But here is a notion that deeply in my heart is stirred:

When times get tough, I mean really tough,

The weak succumb to those who are rough!

If to this notion you might agree,

Come, imagine this picture with me.

In the promised, coming great tribulation,

The poor and weak may face quick termination!

To pare down the human race, significantly,

Is what God promises to do, punitively. ¹

So if quickly from life the poor and weak are dismissed, 

It’s ‘the worst of the worst’ that the world then will consist!

The worst of the worse! That’s whom I figure,

Those who will be cursed, and who will feature, 

As brute folks who’ll do their best to dodge,

The Lord’s tribulation plagues barrage.

In their frantic escapes, migratory, 

More griefs in another territory. 

Many will perish, others horrified,

When they’ll try, but won’t die by suicide! ²

It’s ‘the worst of the worst’ in the aftermath,

Who’ll still be standing when The Lord ends His wrath.

To these worst folks who will have rejected His saving Grace,

He’ll extend MORE GRACE to sow seeds to a new human race!!!

Imagine that!!!

Having ‘weeded out’ folks who were weak and obstinate,

Earth will be left with those who are the most obdurate,

Still branded with 'the mark of the beast', bona fide,

Some bearing signs of their attempted suicide.

It’s over these worst folks, glorified saints will rule,

Under the ambit of Jesus Christ’s iron rod tool.

A mad and rough bunch they will surely be, 

Having survived God’s worst in history!

Exhausted from years of harsh, punitive blows, 

Will they submit, or continue to oppose?

With invitations to God’s tabernacle feasts,

In Grace, He will offer some ‘tabernacle suites.’ ³ 

Imagine the children they may have later on,

Asking them about the strange body marks they own.

Will their kids blame them for Christ’s tough iron rod rule?

By their descendants, will they be ridiculed? 

As you ponder how these folks will someday transition,

To the Millennial Reign from the tribulation,

What other aspects of their lives would you envision, 

And how would you draw this poem to its conclusion??

Friends,

Within you, what emotions may now be stirring?

What prayers for these folks you should be praying?

Across the world, some parents somewhere are right now raising,

Either these folks or their descendants -- their family string.

What if you, in a step of faith, could plant a tiny seed,

From which The Lord would grow fruits, somebody,

someday to lead,

To escape the awful, hellish experience,

Of His promised great tribulation turbulence?

Would you?

---------- 

¹ By just three plagues, a third of mankind will be killed. (Revelation 9:18) Other plagues will directly and indirectly kill many people across the world, including ALL soldiers from 5 nations who will fight in 1st War of Gog and Magog. (Ezekiel 38) So imagine the small proportion of humanity who will survive the global  Armageddon War, and who will transition into The Millennial Reign. My guess: Enough to sire and birth new generations of humans during The Millennial Reign. (See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel)  and also Humans, Rare on the Earth (Series))

² In those days, men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them. (Revelation 9:6)

³ See: A Forced Reconciliation (Poem), Ezekiel 38:5 - 6 and Zechariah 10:10

While it is not clear who might participate in The Lord's annual Feast of Tabernacles, it is clear that representatives of all surviving/remnant families in nations that fought against Israel, presumably in the 1st War of Gog and Magog, will be commanded to attend these annual feasts. (Zechariah 12:9, 14:16-19 and Ezekiel 38:5 - 6) Irrespective of the size and scale of these annual feasts, folks must stay somewhere, right?!

Voting the Lesser of Two Evils (Q&A)

See the Q&A Series here

Q: In our grossly politically-divided nation and world, what should be the response of Christian believers who are expected to vote for ‘the lesser of two evils’. I don’t vote since ‘both sides of the coin’ are evil in my view. I wish I could put Jesus on the ballot!

A. Thank you for this probing question and piercing comment. No doubt, you have lots of company, including a friend who reportedly did write-in Jesus as a presidential candidate! I believe there are relatively clear answers as well as lessons to be learned from how other believers have addressed these issues, but first let’s review some basics to clarify the context in which we Christ-believers are to operate in our politicized world. (Apologies in advance for a lengthy response to your short question.)

Politics is all about the processes of discerning, sifting, sorting, proposing, negotiating, deciding, formulating, legislating, monitoring, assessing and modifying governing policies for a society. Applying this in a democratic framework is boisterous and messy, and is especially so in America where there are only two political parties. Your reference to sides of a coin are somewhat relevant. However, I prefer to perceive politics and governing policies as stretching along a lengthy spectrum. Media across our nation continually report, on most major issues, the majority of Americans tend to cluster around the middle of this political spectrum, and only relatively small fringes cluster around the extreme ends. Keep this in mind.

Divisive, devilish spirits have long worked to separate and divide humans, first from God Almighty, then from each other, whether by race, gender, age, income, wealth, religion, role in the family, etc. Politically, they accentuate the extremities, and work to tag each ‘side of the political divide’ with the traits of their relevant, but small extreme clusters. These spirits easily tempt and manipulate both politicians and citizens alike to join in the fray. The end result is magnification of the extremes and diminishing of the HUGE, bi-partisan middle! Go figure! Christians on both sides of the middle get caught in this trap, and then begin falsely to tag believers ‘on the other side’ with the traits of their associated extreme. I have also been so tagged several times. So your question is very relevant: How should we respond? 

We have been graciously saved ‘out of the world’, then commissioned (sent) ‘into the world’ to support preaching of God’s Gospel of salvation in Jesus as Christ, and to live ‘salty lives’ before an on-looking, God-rejecting world. Imagine a large slab of raw, unrefrigerated meat that can only be preserved with a generous amount of salt. Even so, no amount of salt will keep it from eventually rotting. From God’s spiritual perspective, our sinful world is like this meat, and saved Christ-believers are His salt to help retard the decaying process. Salt does not, and cannot force any part of the meat, itself, to become preserving salt! But that seems to be what may be happening in our political sphere!

To my knowledge, God has only called and ordained ONE nation ever to be a theocracy – ancient Israel. All other nations, including the modern state of Israel, have been and currently are secular nations. America was founded based on clear separation of church-and-state. This infers segregation of God’s moral laws, and the codes of civil laws that govern secular states. While all civil laws are in various ways derived from God’s moral laws, they are not and should never be intended to achieve a quasi-theocracy. Any attempts to do this will meet with growing popular resistance, and will eventually fail, keeping in mind the rotting meat metaphor. The notion that America was or is ‘a Christian nation’ is a fallacy. It has always been a nation of people from vastly different backgrounds, beliefs, cultures, etc., and though The Constitution references The Almighty, the lives of ‘we, the people’ since its inception have been woefully ungodly. These are undisputed facts, not simply opinions. As such, there are clear, critical roles and lessons to be learned for Christian believers in a secular nation and world, roles and lessons that stop short of pushing for a quasi-theocracy. God’s own predicted theocracy will be here soon enough, and it won’t in any way resemble any of the past authoritarian or democratic governance systems of the past, or those in our day. It will be an iron-rod monarchy, and that says a LOT! Until it arrives, our critical roles are to be good, salty Christian citizens who:

    

--Support the spread of The Gospel of Jesus Christ

--Are patient for the Kingdom to arrive, physically

--Rejoice in hope and knowledge that It has already arrived within us, spiritually

--Let our salty lifestyles be an en-LIGHT-enment to the onlooking, God-rejecting world

--Find ways and means to encourage and admonish each other in this patient hope

--Become and remain adequately informed of the socio-cultural issues of our day in light of the many scriptural predictions about our decaying world

--Perform our personal roles as informed, salty citizens, the least of which is to vote

--As The Spirit leads, help others (Christians and non-Christians alike) to perceive issues and opportunities around which citizens might be able to coalesce and, therefore, help to tamp down the ire on both sides of the political extremities

--Resist temptations to push ‘the decaying meat’ to become ‘God’s spiritual salt’

This, I believe, is Godly wisdom, and it definitely demands God’s GRACE to engage. But wherever GRACE abounds, demons show up to counteract it, even and especially among Christians, the supposed salt.

Centuries ago in America, only a tiny caste of people (white, educated, landed, slave-owning, so-called ‘gentlemen’) could vote. All others were deemed incompetent and unworthy to engage in the affairs of state, including voting. Though that picture has flipped considerably, many in our nation remain disengaged politically because they only see hopelessness, despair and defeat. Thus they ‘effectively vote’ to return to the old days in which only those in a small caste can vote. Or some Christians vote based on a few key theological issues, side-stepping or ignoring the truckload of other civic issues crucial to national governance. Perhaps they may not be, or may not care enough to become informed, and through the study of God’s Word and prayer, seek His wisdom to develop personal, informed positions. If so, I believe that is a serious failure of our Godly citizenship duties, and is a lesson from which we could learn. When citizens are motivated to vote based on a single or very few issues, they make it easy for shrewd politicians to tailor their bait to get folks hooked. A broadly-informed, educated electorate will not easily fall into such traps, but will demand much more of those contending for votes.

For sure, citizenship responsibility of formulating balanced opinions on principal civic issues is real work, and Godly citizenship responsibility adds EXTRA work on top of that. That said, I believe in a clear separation of church-and-state, and between moral and civil laws. A key lesson is that major problems arise when Christians think they should push to conflate ‘personal’ Christian beliefs and practices with ‘public’ governance laws and practices. Rather, God intends His requirements to be personally and willingly embraced, not to be forced on everybody else, especially folks who don’t believe He even exists! He will not judge us based on how ‘Christian’ we made a secular government, but on our personal walk with Him, a walk that ‘speaks volumes’ to the on-looking, unbelieving world. Recall what happened when He tried, unsuccessfully, to legislate moral behavior. He never intended the Church to legislate or to use other civic machinations to prod or force Godly morality across rotting, secular societies, but only to enhance our spiritual saltiness, and be His grains of salt in our personal lives, demonstrating Godly morality to a sinful nation, and thus, in small ways, retarding the rot, as His Spirit wills. Sadly, too many Christians have gotten this ALL WRONG.  Now the world scrutinizes our gross hypocrisy as we zero-in on a few sins we ‘really hate’ that other people practice, while ignoring the truckloads of other sins we, ourselves engage in and benefit from, including sins that negatively impact so many others, especially non-Christians. It is krazy. As a result, our salty light has diminished considerably across the American society, the testimony of Godly people is increasingly shunned, and Christians largely stay in their own echo chambers, having less and less effect in a dying world. This is what Jesus calls a loss of our saltiness or salt’s effectiveness. I don’t know which is worse, a loss of saltiness that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5:13 , or lukewarmness that He spoke of in Revelation 3:24-22.  I perceive both are now occurring, and I wonder whether they may be related. 

Life, both spiritual and civic, is really all about the gradual unfolding to the multi-millennial, strategic plan of God for humanity, stitched together like a patchwork quilt across the pages and ages of The Bible. Only by deep, Spirit-guided study, prayer and meditation can we piece it together and discern where we are, and what our roles and responsibilities are in its forward march.

Again, thanks for this pivotal question!

Mark of the Beast (Q&A) - UPDATED!

See the Q&A Series here

Q: What is or will be the ‘mark of the beast’ that is referenced 6 times in The Bible?

A: My, oh my! This is a very complex issue on which there are a myriad of interpretations. Please research and review some of the most popular interpretations to put mine in the broader context. Bottom line, no one knows the answer to this question, but a review of the context is warranted.

Who/what is the beast?

In Daniel 2, God gave King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon an incredible dream that mapped the sequence of all subsequent hegemon nations (Persia, Greece, Rome, and 10 primary remnants of the Roman Empire). ‘In the days of these (10) kings’, the Kingdom of Christ will be established forever. (Daniel 2:44) All of these nations in the dream were portrayed as wild beasts, perhaps referring to their barbaric/beastly natures. 2 Thessalonians 2 and Revelation 3 ‘edit’ this prediction, noting the final beastly hegemon government will be led by a man who will be fully possessed by satan – satan’s man in-charge of world governance during the tribulation period, typically referred to as the final anti-Christ.

What is the mark of the beast and its purpose?

Revelation 13:17 mentions the mark, the name and the number of the name of this leader, referred to as the beast. Colloquially, people summarize these as just the mark of the beast. These will essentially function as a physical code this world leader will insist all people have in their bodies in order to engage in any/all commercial transactions during his reign, including buying groceries! This mark will also signal allegiance to, or worship of this leader and his close colleagues. Verse 18 admonishes the wise who have understanding to, ‘…calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: his number is 666’. What a mystery!

God made humans in His tripartite (3-part) image, namely as eternal spirit and soul, and a physical body. The Bible iteratively indicates the number 7 refers to completion or perfection. In this context, 7-7-7 may refer to God, Who is perfect, and 6-6-6 may refer to humans, who are im-perfect.

While all governments typically impose their own currency and related restrictions, the final anti-Christ will insist on a type of physical branding, possibly in lieu of, or in addition to his own currency. Moreover, his edict will have a deeply sinister objective, namely to reveal and then slaughter any/all post-rapture Christians (e.g., people who come to faith in Jesus as a result of the testimonies of strategically placed Jewish witnesses). Thus, there will be a great slaughter of believers who will have been warned by an angel to reject accepting the seal, less they be marked for eternity in hell. (See: Revelation 14:6-11)

Why a physical mark or branding?

Since commercial transactions are physical, not spiritual, this seal or mark will likewise be physical, but it will have great spiritual significance! 

The Bible reveals satan is a big copycat who mimics what he knows of God’s plans for humanity, the most significant part of which is the plan of salvation in Jesus Christ. When a person sincerely repents of his/her sins and accepts Jesus as Christ (Savior) and Lord, God spiritually seals that person as a citizen of His Kingdom. An excellent pre-Christ example of this is found in Ezekiel 8 and 9. The prophet is given a vivid vision of the pre-incarnate Jesus and His angelic entourage visiting Jerusalem. In the spirit, The Lord shows Ezekiel samples of wicked abominations being practiced by both Jewish elders and common folks. In chapter 9, He instructs an angel to place a [spiritual] mark/seal the foreheads of all righteous people in the city, people who would be spared death during the ensuing third/final assault by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He then instructs another angel to go throughout the city and [spiritually] slay everybody who is not marked. (See: Un-marked (Poem)) Presumably, these were the people who were later physically killed during the final destruction of Jerusalem. King Nebuchadnezzar captured many residents to serve as servants and slaves in Babylon, including Daniel, who was eventually promoted to the position of premiere/prime minister both in Babylon and in Persia after it conquered Babylon.

All Christ believers during the tribulation period who refuse to receive the mark of the beast, and who are slaughtered for their staunch faith receive considerable honorable mention in Revelation 15:2, as their eternal spirits and souls are presented, singing before The Throne of God. This includes a strategically delegated group of 144,000 Jewish witnesses who will be instrumental in converting many Jews and Gentiles to Christ in the tribulation. In Revelation 7:4, these witnesses are spiritually sealed on their foreheads (sounds familiar?) for their ministry; and verse 14 depicts the incredible fruits of their ministry – presumably tribulation believers who will have been slaughtered by the world leader. Endeared to Jesus forever, these witnesses are depicted again in Revelation 14 (7 chapters after their introduction, get it?). Verse 1 reveals their foreheads had been sealed with God’s Name. 

In sum…

The mark of the beast will be satan’s sinister, copycat attempt to strike back strategically at God for upending his worldwide anti-Christ government during the great tribulation (the last half of the tribulation period). Because he can’t harm God, he strikes at God’s people – the Jews and The Church. History iteratively demonstrates this fact, with each strike resulting in God eventually blessing His people, righteous Jews and righteous Christian’s, alike. The Bible specifically predicts three future invasion attacks on/in Israel. 

See. Ezekiel 38 & 39, Zechariah 10 & 14, Matthew 24, Revelation 19 & 20. 

See also: Revelation - Future attacks in Israel, and Millennial Parallelisms (#5). These attacks will literally ‘sandwich’ the Millennial Reign of Jesus on Earth! 

Final point: satan is also a student of Bible, better than we can ever be! Thus, the anti-Christ’s mark of the beast may simply mimic what is predicted …in Revelation 22:4.

Tribulation Age Journalists (Poem, Part 1)

See the Tribulation Age Journalists series here

See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel

Re: The 1st War of Gog and Magog

In today’s wars, journalists are now embedded,

With soldiers who into armed conflicts are headed.

On any conflict, at best, they give a one-sided slice, 

And for all involved, greatly increase risks and sacrifice.

Imagine… 

So many journalists! See them packing their bags,

To ship out with soldiers under 5 nations’ flags,

Coalition that by Russia and Iran is led. ¹

Imagine the thoughts swimming in a journalist’s head!

After nearly 3 years of massive global destructions,

Most that defy any kind of logical descriptions,

A promise land invasion was recently ordered,

By a global leader of nations by God clobbered. ²

Though coming from different nations by plagues bludgeoned,

These soldiers and journalists have one thing in common:

Each has a ‘commerce credential mark’, maybe numeric,

Enabling them to buy and sell in the world chaotic. ³

As the war begins, the journalists see up close,

The successful attacks against their Jewish foes!

On all battle fields, soldiers meet little resistance, ⁴

Thus, for a quick invasion, they have great confidence. 

Day one of the invasion, this army is quite widely spread,

Across Israel's mountains where, in the past,

much blood was shed.

The difficult mountainous terrain makes progress very slow.

Journalists chronicle their 'plunder logistics' network flow.

These soldiers and journalists, in astonishment,

Can hardly believe the pristine environment!

They wonder, ‘How on Earth was this land so well protected?!’

They see why, for invasion, Israel was selected. ⁵

For more see: Armageddon! (Series), especially Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel.

---------- 

¹ See: Ezekiel 38:5.

² The final anti-Christ world government’s order to invade Israel near the end of the 3½ year global, great tribulation. This 1st War of Gog and Magog, will be triggered by Gog, a chief demon, then assigned over the territory in the far north of Israel, currently Russia. He will manipulate the then global leader, the anti-Christ man, to invade Israel when the world realizes that, from tribulation plagues, Israel was protected. Desperate for food and wealth, this invasion will be launched.

³ The predicted ‘mark of the beast’.  See: Revelation 13

⁴ Ezekiel 38 predicts Israel in that day will largely be a nation of un-walled people. Here’s a likely reason why: A People Un-Walled (Series)

⁵ The plunder or booty of this war is described in Ezekiel 38:12-13. Much broader contextual insights on the significance of this plunder is unveiled in the fascinating Booty, Pre/Post Millennial Reign (Series)

Dear Armageddon Soldier (Poem, Letter)

See the Letters series here

See: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel

[Written for a future reader....]

Dear Armageddon Soldier:

Please, please DON’T GO! Hear this, my heart’s plea to you.

Resist orders that from hate-filled leaders spew!

Mutiny, or just go A-W-O-L!

In any and every way, just rebel!!!

This letter I write to you in 2020,

Not knowing how much longer your day will tarry,

Hoping one day you’ll see this before having obeyed,

Any and all orders Israel to invade.

As you read this, please try my heart to perceive,

As I share what’s predicted, and what I believe.

It’s all based on haunting details in The Holy Bible,

About the fate of soldiers in Armageddon’s battle.

By the time you read this, consider your predicament.

By then, of the predictions, you’ll be very cognizant,

About how, years after all true Christians were raptured,

All hell began to break loose, and all life was censured.

As economies collapsed, many governments have faltered. 

Calls for global solidarity are no longer fractured.

An attractive, wise leader has stepped in to fill the void.  

To restore some sense of normality folks once enjoyed.

But with many people, land and sea animals now dead,

And destruction of trees, waters, even grasslands widespread,

The world has now realized something that is incredible:

Much of life is normal in the nation of Israel! ¹

You will recall how, when normality became unglued,

Many folks, maybe even you, began to blame the Jews, 

So in haste, to Israel most of them immigrated,

And by that, much racial hate toward them was placated. ²

But with increasing hardships, folks now much more desperate,

To the wise leader, more power they want to delegate.

For control of militaries, he has long salivated.

Now by him, some militaries are ...quickly captivated.

Soldier, you now find yourself under this leader’s command,

And orders have been issued to invade the promise land.

As part of a coalition, led by Iran,

To capture gold, silver and livestock, that’s the plan! ³

If you follow-through as your commanders insist,

‘To calm desperations and hunger that persist’,

Please know this: You’re steeped in Bible predictions,

Trapped in the leader’s anti-Christ’s pretensions.

Years ago, by his mark, you and other folks were branded,

His ‘loyalty price’ from a world in disasters stranded.

Without his mark, it would have been difficult to survive.

When he said, ‘I am GOD!’, evil shifted to over-drive! ⁴

Sounding like Hitler in skillful orations,

He is full of hateful Jewish obsessions.

Ponder what will happen to his soldier instruments,

Who’ll engage in pending Armageddon incidents.

This coalition army will seem, initially,  

To have invaded Israel, quite successfully.

But then by a sudden turnaround it will be confronted, 

With rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone on folks plummeted. 

By an earthquake of incredible magnitude,

The land will be flattened, then a brief interlude. ⁵

In a flash, skies will be lit, Jesus and His allies,

And one word from Him will dissolve your flesh, tongue and eyes. ⁶

And after that vast army He will have destroyed,

He’ll destroy nations from which soldiers were deployed!

In Grace, He may spare a remnant, and might even relent.

Read what He did with Nineveh when Jonah preached, “Repent!”

This event will signal His Millennial Reign,

During which He’ll get all folks into His ‘righteous lane’.

No devils, no wars on Earth for a thousand years. ⁷

But you won’t enjoy it …if dissolved with your peers!

But if you can manage to escape this fate,

And somehow survive Earth’s tribulation state,

By all means, look me up so I can look you in the eyes.

Just ask for me among Jesus’ …resurrected allies! 

                                  ~~o~~

The last thing Armageddon soldiers will likely see and hear will likely be in the skies over Israel, the sight of Jesus, with His hosts of resurrected saints, uttering a word that will dissolve their entire body. It would be exactly like folks who saw the flash from the Hiroshima bomb blast, and then immediately felt their flesh dissolving. (I wonder what that word might be...) But from this incident, no one else or the environment will be negatively affected. Animals and birds of prey will enjoy a feast, and the soil will be richly fertilized with the flesh of humans and horses! Only uniforms, ID tags, boots, weapons, bones and horse riding gear will be left where soldiers and horses fall. This army will be so large that it will take 7 months to find, mark and then bury all the bones, and the (then wooden) weapons used will supply fuel for many across post-tribulation Israel for 7 years. See: Ezekiel 39, Zechariah 14 and Revelation 16. 

For more see: Revelation - Future Attacks in Israel

---------- 

¹ See: A People Un-walled (Series). FYI, grassland ecosystem help sustain, support, and fulfill human life, and are critical for sustaining human well-being. See: Ecosystem Services from National Grasslands

² See: The Coming Lame Blame (Poem). Also see correlations between: Matthew 24:9, Isaiah 49:17 and Zechariah 10:10

³ See: Ezekiel 38

⁴ See: Daniel 12, Matthew 24 and Mark 13. Revelation 13:11- 18 discuss the mark of the beast. 

⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land…’ (Haggai 2:6) ‘Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” (Hebrews 12:26) The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. (Ezekiel 38:20) All the land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be raised up… (Zechariah 14:10)

⁶ And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people [soldiers] who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. (Zechariah 14:12) It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem… Then The Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. (Zechariah 12:9 and 14:3) A remnant group will remain in each. See: A Forced Reconciliation (Poem) 

⁷ See: Revelation 20, Isaiah 2:4, Joel 3:13 and Micah 4:3