God Rail-less (Part 1)

See the series here

Russia’s president recently assured the world that the objective of his war in Ukraine is not for territorial expansion. Rather, he said it is a major step toward pushing for a new international order, one based on the principle that no nation has the right to tell ‘another nation’ how to operate .……uh, perhaps except Russia, itself, e.g., against Ukraine! Imagine that. Hey, wasn’t this the rationale for the USSR, the collapse of which he called ‘the greatest geopolitical catastrophe’?? His way around his obvious historical and current-day conundrum is simply …not recognize Ukraine as ‘an independent nation’, therefore worth invading and controlling! How manipulatively clever…

 

The practice he was 'railing against' is called ‘hegemony’. Within this context, hegemony is defined as:

…the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence

exerted by a dominant nation over smaller, weaker, dependent nation(s), 

usually based on the threats of, or actual military conquests

of smaller, weaker or dependent nations.  

 

So let’s take some time to examine this concept in context of Bible history and prophecies. The Bible is The Lord God’s definitive multi-millennial strategic plan for humanity, comprising 7 clear, distinct ages of human history. It is also the closest thing we have to ‘The Mind of Christ’, His inspired perspectives about, and for humanity, touching on each of the 7 ages He pre-determined for humanity. Though you won’t find the word, hegemony, in The Bible, trust me, it has a LOT to say about this critical concept… one The Lord, Himself, conceived, created, composed, claimed, characterized, etc. Here’s why I can say than emphatically: 

In Jesus  Christ, ALL the treasures

of wisdom and knowledge are hidden…. 

In Him dwells ALL the fullness of the Godhead, bodily… 

(Colossians 2:2-3 & 9)

 

In light of this, it is safe to conclude ALL knowledge and wisdom that mankind accumulated over the ages, has come from Him, by His Grace, including hegemony, in accordance with the principle He revealed to the prophet, Isaiah:

Precept upon precept. 

Line upon line.
Here a little, there a little.

(Isaiah 28:10 & 13)

 

The Birth of Nations

Have you noticed there is no mention in The Bible, of the words, ‘nation’ and ‘country’, before the global flood that ended the 1^st age of human history, the pre-flood age?? It appears there were only cities during that age. The Bible does not reveal whether some pre-flood cities exercised hegemony over others. Since there is no Bible history of wars during this golden age, it is safe to presume there was no need for hegemony. Thus, it is safe to conclude nations and countries only began to develop after the Tower of Babel experience, when The Lord created diverse languages. That’s when peoples ‘separated into their lands and nations, everyone according to his language, according to their families’. (Genesis 10:5) 

 

The global flood was The Lord’s strategic decision to ‘hit the reset button’ for life on Earth. Although the prime reason for sending a flood was mankind’s mounting sinfulness during the 1^st age of our history, there is no Bible evidence that He had judged sinfulness during that age (apart from His banishment judgment on Cain for killing his brother, Abel). Recall, that time was during The Lord's ‘7^th day, post-creation rest, and it may be safe to conclude it was likely …‘a millennial rest’. Noah was born very early in mankind’s second millennium on Earth. As a middle-aged adult (~400 - 500 years!), he received The Lord’s warning and plan for the flood. Right after the flood, The Lord promised Noah never again to judge sinfulness via a global flood. (Genesis 9:8-17) Interestingly, there is no Biblical indication whether Noah might have asked The Lord what I might have asked:

 

So Lord, other than ‘a life, for a life’ (Genesis 9:5-6, the judgment for murder),

how will You judge overall sinfulness from now on??

 

We learned the answer to that question from Moses, in Deuteronomy 32 and Leviticus 26, as he led the freed Hebrew slaves during their 40-year sojourn in the wilderness. Much later, to Ezekiel, a Judean captive in Babylon, The Lord succinctly summarized His post-flood judgment instruments or tactics against persistent sinfulness in any land:

 

1. Drought/famine,

2. Warfare,

3. Pestilence, and

4. Wild beast attacks.

 

Searching The Bible (any versions), you will only find these and related words appearing FIRST early in the 2^nd age of human history! Undoubtedly, these judgment instruments have been and remain prominent, and very effectively applied throughout the 2^nd and current 3^rd ages of history! Moreover, these are the same, exact types of judgments The Lord promises to apply in the pending apocalypse, at the end of the 4^th age of our history - the tribulation age. So let's give Him 'A+++' for His consistency and persistency in wanting to get us on His 'righteous track', though we all resist. Why 'righteous track'?? Righteousness is the last (3rd) point in The Lord's declared overarching strategy in dealing with humanity: 

(1) Loving-kindness (long-term Grace to individuals, families, societies, and nations),

(2) Judgment (after Grace has expired without repentance), and

(3) Righteousness (more Righteous lifestyles among judgment remnant groups) 

 

(Caveat! Now you know, and should understand the undeniable, deep-rooted, spiritual reason for such judgments, and how they fit into The Lord's multi-millennial strategy. Denial of such won’t change a thing.)

 

As global populations began to explode during the 2^nd age (the post-flood/pre-cross age), The Lord strategically ordained and supported hegemony among the family of evolving nations. The first major/huge hegemon nation or ‘city-state’ recorded in The Bible appears to have been Babylon, that was initially led by Nimrod (Genesis 10:10-12), and much later led by the King Nebuchadnezzar, who dramatically expanded the Babylonian Empire through many successful conquests of other nations and city-states across the northern hemisphere. 

Several years after he had conquered Judah and destroyed Jerusalem and the first Jewish temple, The Lord claimed responsibility for this king’s successful conquests. He did it through Daniel, one of the Judean wiseman the king had captured in Judah. (See: Daniel 2:27-38) The remnants of Babylon are in current-day Iraq.

 

So why would The Lord ordain, authorize and support

what we today might consider as ‘bully nations’??

 

Part 2 addresses this probing question, and reviews the miraculous manner in which The Lord made the above claim of responsibility for hegemony.

Preparing Priestly People (Poem)

See the Israel series here 

Listen to Siri audio version here

Ask the average person, whether Jew or Gentile,

This question: Why was Israel established?

Likely answers might be, ‘To end the Jews’ long exile,’

Or ‘It’s because the holocaust astonished!’

Other likely answers might be, ’Because The Lord chose it.’

Or, ‘The Lord wanted a people through whom to reveal Himself.’

Why to Israel, nation status He chose to commit??

That’s a pertinent question you really should ponder …yourself.

Ask Christians, Why are Jews re-gathering to Palestine?

And they might reply, ‘Because The Lord promised to do so.’

Ask, What is His strategic rationale for doing so?

And they might likely be stumped, with eyes glazed, for quite a time.

In both groups, would anyone imagine, or connect the dots,

To why The Lord sent Moses to free Hebrews from Egypt’s grip?

Or why they selected a lamb, free of defects or bad spots,

And under the protection of its blood, they all fellowshipped? ¹

Ponder this…

Slaughtering a lamb to use its blood, ceremonially,

Is, without a doubt, a ‘priestly function’, conventionally!

Until Christ died for our sins, such acts served, temporarily,

Instituting The Lord’s Passover, commemoratively!! ²

 

This one, pre-exodus act of faith by Egypt’s Hebrews slaves,

Signaled The Lord’s purpose for all ‘righteous’ Jews, eternally.

In their wilderness sojourn, He affirmed this to the ex-slaves,

Singled, from other people groups, as His priests, nationally. ³

With this important point settled, definitively,

Let’s ponder it in light of history, contextually,

So we can perceive The Lord’s plan, strategically,

So Jews across the world can ‘get on board’ with it, hopefully.

 

Though He has untold numbers of angels who minister to Him,

The Lord desired ‘a special treasure’ above all peoples,

A people, treasured, anointed, and appointed by and for Him.

Through whom He would be born as a man. People, not angels!! ⁴

 

But rather than acting like His ‘special treasure’, sacrosanct,

Down through the ages, Jews desired to be …just regular folks.

Thus, they acted accordingly, and attracted The Lord’s angst!

So He ‘sowed’ them among the thorns -- among the world’s sinful folks!!

Nevertheless, His desire and intention for them remained.

So, as He promised to do, and is doing among Gentiles,

He’s marking those who, as His treasure, will and will not be named!

In the last resurrection, the latter group, He might revile!! ⁵

All righteous Jews who, as The Lord’s special treasure will be marked,

Will be that nation who will serve Him as priests on two Earths:

In New Jerusalem, seat of the Millennial Monarch,

Then in His ‘cubed Jerusalem’ on the eternal Earth. ⁶

Apostle John referred to The Lord’s saints as ‘kings and priests’.

These have always been, and might always be …separate roles.

His priests are personal fonctionnaires, who’re close to His ‘seat’.

His kings will be in nations, to achieve appointed goals. ⁷

All Jews who’ll survive the apocalypse, per The Bible script,

Will know and embrace Jesus as The Messiah,

As Jacob’s family knew and embraced Joseph in Egypt.

First, they’ll mourn and grieve. Then that’ll turn to …eureka!!! ⁸

~~~~~~~

Help spread this word concerning 

The Lord's on-going

'Priests Preparation Plan'

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¹ This is the climax of the epic exodus from Egypt – institution of The Passover. See: Exodus 12.

² Before His crucifixion, Jesus affirmed The Passover ritual was all about Him, as the spotless (i.e., sinless), sacrificial lamb, whose shed blood on Calvary’s cross would pay the price for the sins of Israel, and of anyone who would, by faith, personally embrace His sacrificial death as ‘for me and my sins’.  Have you…?? (See: Prayer of Salvation (Poem)). 

³ See: Exodus 19:3-6 and also Revelation 1:4-6.

⁴ Do you know humans, unlike angels, are in the ‘god class’?? For sure, satan and every devil KNOWS this. If you don’t know it, they have a major advantage over you, to deceive you at will. See: Ye Are gods (Series) and also Lost Angels Not for Like-Angels. How can this Bible insight impact …your lifestyle choices??

⁵ Please/please see and study: Ezekiel 8 and 9, and Revelation 20:7-15. See also: For You, Which Resurrection? (Poem). I believe Jews in the Great White Throne Judgment might receive, and will have earned The Lord’s special focus attention, having persistently rejected the incredible offer to be ‘His special treasure’. Form your own opinion on this point.

⁶ See: Earth’s Next Versions (Series). What the shape of this eternal site might be is a very controversial issue. I hope to address this in a separate post. Also, see The Bride of Christ series, another highly controversial topic. 

⁷ In The Millennial Reign, we immortal Gentile saints will very likely be The Lord’s ‘vassal kings’ over every level of governance in gentile nations that will survive the apocalypse. We will initially be His ‘iron rod’ fonctionnaires in governing roles, over mortal survivors of the apocalypse – people who will have received the ‘mark of the beast’, and who, in the last resurrection, will be among those damned in the Great White Throne judgment. As time progresses, we will rule over their descendants. To them, we will be powerful, glowing, alien beings! See my exhaustive Millennial Reign series, and especially what I imagine could possibly be our job description in these roles.

Ponder this: Depending upon the timing of the next rapture, you could possibly be in the group over which The Lord’s saints will rule! Here’s why: This scene is predicted to begin ~7 years after the next resurrection/rapture event! See: Bible Raptures (Q&A)).

In the eternal Earth, The Bible only affirms we (likely all non-Jewish saints) will be ‘in nations’. No clear insights are given regarding our roles. Curious??

⁸ Their initial reactions will be deep-seated mourning and grief! See: Zechariah 12:10-14.

The War in Gaza

See the Israel series here

Listen to Siri audio version here

Here’s my contextual overview of the war in Gaza. 

During such globally intensive times, 

it is easy to lose our perspective

of the much bigger, unfolding picture.

Let’s continue praying for peace, 

knowing full well, it will only be fully achieved

When The Prince of Peace arrives on Earth. 

In Zechariah 12:1-4, Jesus, The Lord God, promised to make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to surrounding nations, and a heavy stone to all nations. While there may be differences of opinion as to when this prophecy occurred, or will occur, in many respects, this appears to be exactly what has been happening since May 1948, not only in Jerusalem, but all across the land of Israel. Moreover, predictions are that these conditions will increasingly apply once the final anti-Christ man is revealed. Anyone who has been following developments in Israel since its November 2022 election, and who has insights into the history of ancient Israel, will no doubt perceive both strong and weak correlations to how The Lord responded in the past to her deepening acts of unrighteousness. (See any of the prophetic books of The Old Testament)

I was led to write a Letter to 3rd Age Christians, prompted by seeing so many totally un-balanced, Christian responses to recent events across Israel, notably the violent incursions into Palestine territories to steal lands, and even kill Palestinians, so ‘settlers’ could take over. These incursions were encouraged and supported by Israel’s new, extreme right-wing government, and they were backed by its army. Now, following the invasion by Hamas, questions abound about why so much of the army was ...so mis-deployed! 

My letter, supported with many Bible Scriptures, linked such behaviors to the exact reasons The Lord allowed the land to ‘vomit’ both ancient Israel and Judah (2 separate nations) out of the small sliver of the massive lands promised to Abraham’s descendants. Recall, ancient Israel refused to conquer ALL of the promised land, the eastern border of which was the Euphrates River! Thus, today, Abraham’s descendants, through Ishmael (Arabs), possess most of the promised land! Yet many American Christians are narrowly, and perhaps unfortunately concerned about one verse in The Book of Joel about ‘dividing The Lord’s land’, while supporting apartheid-type atrocities committed against Palestinian civilians. In recent years, Israel has had a modicum of success in reaching peace deals with a few Arab nations. It is mutually unfortunate, for a series of negative reasons on both sides, that peace within her borders has been impossible to achieve since 1948.

Europeans did to the indigenous Americans and Australians, what Jewish ‘settlers’, on a far smaller scale, have been doing in Palestine. Across human history, such has been happening since time immemorial. And some of it has actually been sanctioned by The Lord, Himself. Recall His ‘genocidal’ commands against the Canaanites, given to Moses shortly after the Exodus. These were folks who, for thousands of years, had deepened their sinfulness, and were 'long past ripe' for The Lord’s promised judgments. So in one way or the other, The Lord’s ‘3 point strategic plan’ outlined in Jeremiah 9:23-24, has been, and remains in play. Sadly, folks don’t take notice ….until He moves from point 1, to point 2 of His strategy. 😢

For reasons known to Him alone, The Lord ‘allowed’ the October 2022 invasion into Israel, just as He undoubtedly ‘allowed’ the holocaust! But please know this: There are dozens of Scriptures in which He promised to do, or allow exactly such things!! Imagine that… Most Christians may be totally unaware (largely ignorant) of such, yet there these Scriptures are, in indelible ink across the pages and ages of The Bible -- The Lord's promised intense judgments against His people, His inheritance, for their increasing, gross, unrepented sinfulness. Moreover, He promises more of such in the coming ages, especially: (1) at the end of the next age, the age of tribulation, and also (2) at the start of the 5th age of history, His long-promised Millennial Reign. So folks, brace yourselves as The Lord’s apparent ongoing ‘shakeout’ continues. 

And to balance things out, please keep in mind Ezekiel 14:12-23, in which The Lord promises the same thing to ANY land in which people practice deepening, un-repented sinfulness, not just Israel!!! Every land, people, and nation, has an equal opportunity to receive His Grace, an equal opportunity to repent of sinfulness and turn toward what He calls righteousness, and an equal opportunity to feel the weight of His judgments. So if we detest what's unfolding in Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, Russia or any other land, best we search ourselves, personally and collectively, to eliminate our own contributions to deepening, unrepented sinfulness in our lands.

Bottom line: In this 3rd age of history, Jesus, The Lord God, still promises long-term Grace to all peoples (not just to Israel), followed by short, intense judgments upon us who refuse to repent and turn toward more righteous living. Trust me, He is extremely persistent in achieving: 

1. His short-term objective, which is to extract from long periods of Grace and short periods of judgments, a more righteous remnant group who will survive His judgments.

2. His long-term objective, which is to extract (reap/harvest) from humanity, a mixed group of peoples whom He deems to be ‘righteous in His sight’. To this group, He will show eternal Grace and Mercy as resurrected, immortal, glowing saints on a brand new, eternal Earth. This will include every aborted baby, and every child who will have died before reaching His ‘age of accountability’, knowing right from wrong. All other humans who will have ever been conceived, and who lived past His age of accountability, will be resurrected, judged, then cast into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone (sulfur), in their promised very sentient, immortal bodies. This confirms EVERY human who will have been conceived (i.e., endowed with spirit), will be resurrected to stand before Jesus, The Lord God, as our Ultimate Judge.

Of course, I recognize, to many readers, it may be quite a challenge to confront these unsettling Bible Truths. As far as I can determine, the earlier, the better. Our ignorance or disbelief of them certainly won't change them, neither will denying and debating... Is Jesus God?

Connecting the dots between Psalm 122:6, Zechariah 12:1-4, and Revelation 22:20, points to praying for The Lord's timely arrival on Earth.

Knowing The Lord’s Truths really matter, eternally! 

Pray for peace, and for the spiritual eyes of folks on both sides

 of this current, and all future conflicts, to be OPENED.