Tag: Bible

Why Abortion is Hard to Talk About

With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, abortion is on everybody’s minds.  While those on the left fret that there will now be a plague of babies across the land, many on the right celebrate that our nation’s greatest evil has ended.  Neither, of course, is what the Supreme Court decided.  The decision simply says that the Constitution does not guarantee the right to an abortion, which is obviously correct.  That does not, however, outlaw abortion.  What it does is allows the states to decide their own rules on abortion.  This means that open discussion and persuading people actually matters again.  The question now is, how do we do that?

To many pro-life people, it seems so simple and obviously wrong that they forget to look at the discussion from a pro-abortion person’s worldview.  It is very difficult not to be disgusted and angry with people who think it is alright to murder a baby, but pro-lifers have to remind themselves that without God, murder is not wrong.  People who are pro-abortion do not share biblical values, and without God, those people are logical to think the way that they do.  Trying to convince them is futile because they do not believe there is a God to tell them that murder is wrong.  They do not believe there is a God who will judge them for their murders in the future.  Murder is a perfectly logical thing for them to do if they think it will make their lives better.  If a baby seems like it would be inconvenient, killing the baby makes perfect sense.  In fact, if a neighbor plays their stereo too loud at night, murdering that neighbor makes perfect sense.  If someone is competing for a job you want, murdering that person is logical.  If you find yourself in a love triangle, murdering your romantic competition is rational. 

Without God, people are just animals.  Many on the left will openly push this idea.  You see PETA equating animals with people all the time.  They have equated KFC cooking chickens to the Nazis murdering Jews in the Holocaust.  With that in mind, is it wrong if a lion kills an antelope?  Of course not.  That is just a lion trying to improve its life.  If there is no God, a human killing to improve their life is no different from a lion killing to improve theirs.  Without the shared viewpoint that human life is intrinsically more valuable than an animal’s, attempts to persuade non-believers that abortion is wrong will likely be futile.

Does this mean that we should give up on persuading people that abortion is wrong?  Not at all!  It just means that we must start with the deeper issue of what makes something right or wrong in the first place.  The first chapter of my book, The God Bet, goes into this very issue in depth.  It makes the point that if we do not start from the same foundation of morality, it is very unlikely that we will ever agree on much more than that ice cream is delicious.  There is little chance of convincing someone that abortion is wrong because it is murder if that person has no basis for believing that murder is wrong.  For this reason, the most important and effective way to convince people that abortion is wrong is if we first convince them that God is real and that He created people in His image, with a purpose higher than their own personal pleasure.

Our top priority should be showing God’s love to people so that they want to follow Him, too.  If we successfully do that, we could alleviate most of the problems in our country.  It is obvious to anybody who is honest.  I would wager that weekly church attendees are underrepresented in our criminal population.  When we hear about a string of 7-11 robberies and murders like those that happened here in Southern California last month, a deacon from the local church is probably not the most likely suspect.

This does not, of course, mean that people who believe in God are perfect.  They certainly still do bad things, because by nature everyone wants to do what they feel like doing.  The difference is that people who believe in God have a reason to try to not give in to those urges.  Without God, there is not even a reason to hold back.

This is why when the topic of abortion comes up, we should not automatically jump into the immorality of the practice.  They will see it as pushing our religion on them.  They do not realize that laws against rape, theft, perjury, slander, and murder outside the womb, among others, are also pushing religious values on them.  In fact, this is why we see all these things increasing.  Without the base of our values, God, people have started to decide their own right and wrong.  For example, the rise in violence across the country is not because of guns.  It is due to the weakening of religious values in America.

We need to persuade two groups that abortion is wrong.  The first is the general public, which is necessary to get laws changed to protect the unborn.  For that, I honestly believe that religious revival is the only way to do it.  Arguing that something is wrong with people who decide their own right from wrong is a waste of time. 

Since abortion will still be legal in many places, like where I live, in California, the other group that we need to persuade is women who are pregnant and considering abortion.  This is more immediate because it can directly save lives in the moment, even if it is only one at a time.  Obviously, the best way is again to point that woman to God, but because of the urgency in the situation, where a life is on the line right then, we may have to persuade someone who does not yet believe in God.  Without that belief in God, there is only one other possible way to convince people of something.  You have to appeal to their own self-interest.  I truly believe that God tells us right from wrong not to control us, but because He loves us and doing what He says is ultimately in our own self-interest.  It will make our lives better whether we can see how or not.  Therefore, to convince somebody, we must figure out how making the correct moral decision will also be better for them intrinsically.  When looking at pregnancy, this is easy to see.  I asked on social media if any woman out there regretted their decision not to have an abortion.  Of the over 500 comments, not a single woman regretted having their baby.  So, leaving out the morality issue, we can pretty much guarantee that a woman who has a baby will be glad she did, even on a selfish level.

Remember that we Christians are not of this world.  We do have to live in it.  When we live in a pagan society, we have to keep in mind that other people do not share our values.  When the apostle Paul lived, the society was worse than it is now.  He did not conform to it, but he also did not give up on it.  He did not simply address the symptoms of sin, although he did not shy away from those topics.  He focused on sharing Jesus, because that is how the other problems can be fixed. We should try not to get overly upset with pro-abortion people, because they don’t know any better.  They decide their own right and wrong.  We are on a higher level than them, so expecting them to live at our level is unrealistic.  By all means, keep trying to change the laws, because lives are at stake.  The way to do it is by showing that we have a God who loves us.  Once more people realize that, the rest can be more easily remedied.

We cannot bring people to God by fixing our nation’s problems.  We must fix our nation’s problems by bringing people to God.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

When politicians, activists, and the media try to scare people with theories of the end of the world caused by climate change, you should ignore them.  There are many reasons why.  For one, they have been consistently wrong.  Fifty years ago, they said that global cooling would cause a new ice age.  When that didn’t happen, they said that global warming would flood the planet and drown us all.  When that didn’t happen, they started to blame any bad weather on the very broad label of climate change.  If it snows; climate change.  If it’s hot; climate change.  If there’s a hurricane; climate change.  At least they learned not to go out on a limb. 

Another reason is that, like with Covid, their solutions are far more likely to make people want to die than to stop anybody from actually dying.  Their fix for Covid was lockdowns and mandates, which did not work.  The results were to make people lonely, depressed, fat, suicidal, alcoholic, and jobless.  They also destroyed people’s businesses that they had worked a lifetime to build and ruined a booming economy.  Similarly, their ideas to combat climate change are to take away more liberty and force regulations on us that will destroy our economy and raise energy costs for families everywhere.

If the first two are not good enough for you, the most important reason to ignore these alarmists is that we already know what will eventually happen.  Global warming flooding the planet is guaranteed not to happen because God literally made a promise not to do exactly that.  Genesis 9:11 says, “Thus I establish My covenant with you:  Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”  What’s more, God gives us some details of how the end will happen.  Parts of it are vague or hard to interpret prophecies, but some are pretty specific.  We know, for example, that Jesus will take up His church in the Rapture and this event will lead to a seven-year tribulation period where God will pour out His wrath on the earth for rejecting Him.  This period will include famine, pestilence, disease, death, and other supernatural events, culminating with the Battle of Armageddon.  If you are truly concerned about the end of the world there is only one way to delay it.  Turn to Jesus and repent from sin.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

As the situation in Ukraine heated up, my mind kept turning to a phrase from the Bible; “wars and rumors of wars,” which are supposed to run wild as we near the return of Jesus and the tribulation period.  Could this be a part of that prophecy?  I decided to look into it and was astonished at how so many of the signs of the end match what is happening in the world today.  The passage is found in Matthew 24:3-12.  Listen to this:

3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 

I am starting to think there is a very good chance I will not die of natural causes and will instead make it to the Rapture.  If those verses don’t describe our time, I don’t know what does.  “Wars and rumors of wars” is not just seen with Russia and Ukraine, but with China and Taiwan, North Korea and South Korea, and Iran and Israel among others.  Joe Biden’s weak response and the current lack of American leadership on the world stage only makes global instability and conflict more likely.  Verse 9 talks about Christians being persecuted and hated for being Christians, which is happening as we speak.  “Many will be offended.” (Verse 10) What better describes our culture right now than that?  “Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.” (Verse 11) Could that be talking about the media?  How many people does CNN deceive?  “Lawlessness will abound.” (Verse 12) Crime is on the rise in many of our cities, and some district attorneys like George Gascon in Los Angeles, allow it to go unchecked.  It’s almost as if Jesus knew what was going to happen. 

Ezekiel 38 and 39 provide more insight into the events leading up to the end, and we can see everything lining up in ways that could start the dominos falling.  There we find out that Israel will eventually be attacked “from the far north.” (Ezek. 39:2) Russia surely could fit that bill.  We also know that this attack will involve a coalition of enemies that includes Persia (modern day Iran), Ethiopia, and Libya.  (Ezek. 38:5) These countries are already in the camp that shouts “Death to Israel!”  The pieces are in position on the chess board.

The last two years have also changed the way our world is run.  Using the guise of Covid, the United States allowed around 70 million unverified mail-in ballots to decide who our president is instead of the people of our country.  Even some of my more naïve conservative friends have called me a conspiracy theorist because “Covid is worldwide so this can’t just be about stealing the U.S. election.”  They are right, of course, that this is bigger than just power in the United States (although that is part of it).  This is a worldwide power grab.  Worldwide problems need to be created to take away sovereignty from individual countries and consolidate power into a global system.  This is the same reason for the climate change alarmism, and is all part of what is being called The Great Reset.  It is an attempt to centralize power into a one world government.  That might sound familiar to you if you grew up in church.  Prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation suggest that in the end times, power will be consolidated under the antichrist and a one world government. 

Speaking of prophecies from Revelation, almost everybody has heard of the mark of the beast.  “He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (Rev. 13:16-17) Three years ago that would have sounded highly unlikely.  However, for the last two years many of us have been barred from working certain jobs, entering stores and restaurants, traveling on planes or trains, or attending concerts, movies, or sporting events without wearing a mask or showing proof of vaccination.  They are not the actual mark of the beast because they are easy to get around, and the true mark of the beast will not be easily circumvented.  They are also not on our hands or foreheads.  So, while I do not believe that the current mask or vaccine requirements are the mark of the beast, I 100% believe that they are test runs for it and that people are being conditioned to go along with it.  Declining to wear a mask or show proof of vaccination is our moral duty and should help people to decline the mark of the beast in the near future.

Another end times prophecy that I see gaining steam comes early in the tribulation period and is found in Revelation 6:5-6.  It talks about the price of a quart of wheat or three quarts of barley being the equivalent of a full day’s wages.  That sounds to me like out-of-control inflation.  Sound familiar?  With governments creating massive inflation by handing out trillions of dollars and artificially raising minimum wages, our money is now worth less and less.  I won’t be around for the final fulfillment of this prophecy, but our currency is definitely going in the wrong direction.

Some of you might feel anxious and stressed out to be living at this time in world events, but personally, I think it is exciting!  Fortunately, Jesus gives some good news in Matthew 24:14-15. “But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  We are here at this time for a reason; to be a witness to all nations.  We should not be silent.  We should not conform.  Now is the time to courageously stand up to the world and tell the truth.  In fact, I have noticed that people are more receptive to hearing about Jesus right now.  Non-religious friends who I have known for years have started to see the light and turn to God.  Others are asking questions.  Through the events of the last few years, wise people are realizing that something is off and that the Bible has the answers.  If you haven’t yet, now is the time to get your ducks in a row and turn to Jesus.  It may not be long before His return, and you do not want to be on the wrong side at the end.

Why Romans 13 Is Inapplicable to What Is Happening Now

In the Best Picture winning film from 1965, The Sound of Music, the von Trapp family lives in Austria when it is annexed by Germany during World War II.  The main conflict arises when the father, Captain von Trapp, is ordered to accept a commission in the German Navy.  Did he quietly comply because the powers that be gave him a command?  Should he have?  No!  He concocted a plan to disobey the rulers and flee the country.  What a different film it would have been if he had done what so many of our churches have done and obeyed his orders.

Ever since the California government terminated our liberty last year, I have been disappointed that so many churches quietly complied.  This past week I received an email from a local church, once again saying that they were going to keep their doors shut until we are endowed by our government with some liberty.  (That sounds wrong, doesn’t it?)  The reason given has been inappropriately used since the beginning of the lockdowns to justify compliance with tyrannical edicts… Romans 13: 1-7.  It says this:

1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. 5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.

Let me be clear.  I believe the Bible completely, from Genesis to Revelation, including Romans 13.  In fact, I talk about the importance of Romans 13 multiple times in my book, The God Bet.  There is, however, a big problem with hiding behind these verses to justify weakly complying during this fight between good and evil.  While we are not supposed to “resist the authority,” our government DOES NOT HAVE the authority to do what it is doing.  There are two main reasons for this.  The first is found in our founding documents.  The Declaration of Independence acknowledges that liberty is endowed not by the government, but by our Creator, and is unalienable.  That means that the government does not have the authority to take away our freedom on a whim. 

I know.  Some of you are saying, “Wait a minute.  The government does have the authority to take away our liberty in certain situations, like when they put a thief in prison.”  You are absolutely correct.  There are instances where the government can take away our freedom.  That leads us to the second reason this is not one of those instances.  Romans 13 not only tells us that we are subject to the governing authorities, but it also tells us what those authorities are authorized to do.  Verse 3 specifically tells us that “rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil.”  Verse 4 explains that “he (the ruler) is God’s minister to you for good.  But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.”  As you can clearly see, the rulers have the authority to punish you or take away your liberty if you do evil, but NOT for doing good works.  Stealing is evil; thus, the government is authorized to execute wrath on that thief.  Opening the doors of your church, on the other hand, is a good work.  If a church quietly closes its doors and cites the government as the reason, they are implying that a father who wants to take his family to church and sit inside is doing evil.  Any thinking person can see that the rulers who are putting these crazy dictates on churches are being a terror to good works and Romans 13 does not authorize them to do that. 

Why does it matter since California Governor Gavin Newsom is going to allow churches to open on the magical date of June 15?  It matters because these lockdowns and regulations were just the first major battle in the fight to remain a free country.  It was a test to see how many of us would stand up for each other’s liberty.  Unfortunately, the answer was, “not enough.” 

To those of you who are on the side of good, you may be tempted to write off the churches and Christians who sat on the sidelines during this battle and say, “you’re dead to us.”  I urge you not to do that.  We must be forgiving of churches or individuals who were complicit in our loss of rights when they realize what their complacency is leading to.  It is better that they are late to the party than miss it altogether.  Things will get worse and we need more churches to see the light and speak up before it is too late.  We need to pray for these churches to come around, and when they do, we need to welcome them to the fight with open arms.  They need to loudly declare that they will never again remain silent when the government acts as a terror against good works, which is against what Romans 13 says.  Never again will they close the doors of our churches, or limit who or how people can attend.  Our founding documents do not allow it, and the Bible does not allow it.  

My Rapture Will

“The world is getting really bad.  I think the rapture will happen within the next 12 years.”  I was dating a girl who made that prediction to me, and that was about 10 years ago.  For those of you who are not familiar, the rapture is the term used to describe when the Lord takes believers out of the world before the seven-year tribulation period prophesied about in the Bible. 

At the time she said that I was pretty skeptical for two reasons.  First, the Bible is clear “that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2) and “…that day and hour no one knows.” (Mark 13:32)  That guarantees that the only time we can rule out for the rapture is any specific time when somebody says it will happen.  In her defense, though, she was not predicting a specific day and hour.  She was just guessing a general time frame. 

The other reason was that I looked back at the other times in history where God gave up on us turning it around and realized that He is very patient.  Think about it.  The first time he brought large-scale judgment down on people was the flood.  He waited until Noah and his family were the only ones left worth saving in the entire world.  That is patience!  The other example is when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.  In that instance, He told Abraham that He was going to destroy those cities and Abraham negotiated with him.  Abraham asked if God would destroy the city if there were 50 good people there.  God said no.  Then he lowered it to 45.  God said no.  Abraham kept haggling all the way down to 10 good people and God said He would spare the cities for the sake of 10.  In the end, as we know, God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because 10 could not be found, and Lot and his daughters were the only ones who survived.  Again, God is patient!

All this being said, I am starting to think that she might not be as far off as I assumed at the time.  It is hard to deny that end-time prophesies are starting to line up so well that it’s hard to believe that anybody can doubt the Bible anymore.  There are even groups who are trying to push for the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, which we know will be there during the tribulation.  With dominos falling like they are it would not surprise me if her 12-year guess was close.  Then again, it could be 100 years away still.  The only certainty is that it’s closer now than ever before, and we should be prepared.

This is what gave me the idea for a rapture will.  I’ve thought about writing a normal will before but put it off because I’m still young, healthy, and extremely attractive. I also think it is a big decision who to leave my money to.  I’m single and have no kids so at this point I do not have a responsibility to take care of anybody.  I used to think about who would have the most fun with it.  As shallow as that sounds, it still matters to me.  I would not want it to be wasted on somebody who follows the lockdown rules and sits inside hiding.  I want it to be enjoyed.  On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to leave it all to someone who would blow through it all on frivolous stuff like caviar and spider monkeys.  One spider monkey, fine, but definitely not plural.  Ultimately, what I really want is to leave my money to people who will use it for the most important purpose there is, to bring people to God so that they end up in Heaven.  This makes the obvious heirs to my inheritance have one necessary quality.  They must be good Christians. 

This works when deciding on my normal will, but a big problem arises when it comes to a rapture will.  All of the other good Christians will have been whooshed away with me.  I can’t leave it to my parents because they will also be gone.  Any Christian friends will have also disappeared.  It would be pointless to leave it to my church because any true believers there will be with me.  Unfortunately, I do have family members who may not believe and will still be around, but I do not want to give my money to someone who will not use it to spread the truth about what is going on and how to be saved.  It sounds like I may as well just burn the money, doesn’t it?  Wrong!  I figured out a way to at least make an educated guess as to who to leave my inheritance to. 

To do this we have to look at what we do know about the seven-year tribulation period after the rapture.  We know that although Christians will have been removed from the world and the antichrist will be ruling, many people will realize that they missed the boat and will turn to God.  Further, Revelation 7:1-8 tells us that 144,000 people will be sealed as servants of God during that time; 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel.  So, we know for a fact that 144,000 Jews will realize that Jesus is the Messiah and will become witnesses who bring others to Him during this time. 

Now that we have this information to go on, I can narrow down who to set as my beneficiary.  Since it has to be somebody who will be left behind, and I want the biggest probability that my inheritance is used to further the Kingdom of God, I will leave my money to a Jewish person who is both smart and preferably someone who has influence.  My mind instantly went to my favorite radio personality and founder of Prager University, Dennis Prager, and another great mind and founder of The Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro. 

I have to admit, this was supposed to be the end of the article.  Then I noticed Revelation 14:4, which says of the 144,000, “These are the ones who were not defiled by women, for they are virgins.”  That throws off my plan since both Prager and Shapiro have children.  They will not be part of the “sealed” group mentioned in Revelation.  Fortunately, this does not mean they will not be saved.  Revelation 14:9-17 tells us that a “great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues,” will be saved during the tribulation. 

Knowing all of this, here is what I have decided for my rapture will.  If at any time I go missing, and so do many other Christians including my parents, my sister Amber, and some Christian public figures like Pastor Jack Hibbs, Vice President Mike Pence, and Tim Tebow, then my money should be split evenly between Dennis Prager and Ben Shapiro.  Since I have no way of knowing who are virgins, I have to take a chance that Prager and Shapiro will be part of the “great multitude” of converts.  I know that they are both wise men who study the Torah (the Old Testament to Christians) and I think that makes them a better bet than most.  However, if you see Ben Shapiro at the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem with a spider monkey on each shoulder, you know I made an incorrect choice.

Is President Trump Our King Josiah?

As President Trump leaves the White House I have been contemplating his similarities with another great leader who challenged the status quo and “drained the swamp.”  The biblical king, Josiah, was the last good king of Israel’s southern kingdom of Judah before they were defeated by the Babylonians and taken into captivity. 

Both the United States and Judah had gone downhill quite a ways after some downright bad leaders who “did evil in the sight of the Lord.”  Don’t get me wrong, both nations also had some good leaders, except that they failed to roll back all of the evil policies of the bad rulers.  When reading through the books of Kings and Chronicles you begin to notice a pattern arise where the good kings usually had one fatal flaw mentioned.  It seemed to always be described like it was here with King Jotham:

And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done.  However the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. – 2 Kings 15:34-35

These high places were generally set up in Israel by the bad kings and were used for pagan worship and idolatry.  Even the few kings who “did what was right in the sight of the Lord” failed to remove the high places, with two exceptions:  King Hezekiah and his great-grandson King Josiah. 

It made me wonder why the other good kings allowed the high places even though it was obviously wrong.  Then it struck me.  It’s for the same reason that our good presidents have not reversed the immoral policies of our bad presidents.  They knew that many people would not like it and they lacked the political courage to follow through.  There was probably a lot of political pressure by the people who worshipped and sacrificed at the high places, and even the good kings bowed to that pressure. 

Kings Hezekiah and Josiah did not.  They both had the backbone to stand up for what was right and removed the high places from the land.  In the United States, conservatives have been frustrated because even when we elect good leaders they have lacked the courage to do what is right.  Like Hezekiah and Josiah, President Trump has not.  Here are some of his landmark accomplishments:

  • The first wicked king of Judah was Solomon’s son Reheboam.  When he became king the people came to him and said, “Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put on us, and we will serve you.” (1 Kings 12:4)  In other words, regulations.  The government was forcing them to do too much and interfering with their lives.  Reheboam took the bad advice of his friends and responded, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!” (1 Kings 12:14)  Our bad presidents have greatly increased the bone crushing regulatory burden on the people.  Our good presidents, like George W. Bush and his father, said they were for smaller government but did not actually lessen regulations.  President Trump did.  He made a guideline that for every new regulation, two had to be removed.  This led to a booming economy and record low unemployment.
  • Both good and bad presidents have said that we should recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move our embassy there.  None of them had the guts to actually do it.  President Trump did.
  • Speaking of Israel, President Obama greatly damaged our relationship with God’s chosen people and our greatest ally.  He treated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with contempt.  His administration chastised Israel for defending themselves.  He backstabbed them and allowed them to be attacked in the United Nations.  Most notably, he put Israel in grave danger by appeasing Iran and making a deal to remove sanctions against them and give them billions of dollars without even forcing them to end their nuclear program.  President Trump was the most pro-Israel president of my lifetime and maybe ever.  He defended Israel in the United Nations, acknowledged their sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and ended the appeasement of Iran by pulling out of the dangerous Iran Nuclear Deal.  He was even able to broker peace deals between Israel and Bahrain, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.
  • About ten years ago my health insurance started to rise precipitously in price.  President Obama had forced through the government monstrosity now known as Obamacare, which also took away our freedom with regards to our healthcare decisions.  President Trump eliminated the individual mandate, taking the teeth out of Obamacare and giving individuals back more control of their healthcare.
  • After years of weak defense of our nation’s borders, President Trump was able to get over 400 miles of wall built.
  • There is one rule that is repeated in each of the first five books of the Bible; that murderers should be put to death.  The federal government has failed in this responsibility, as only 3 murderers had been executed between 1963 and 2020.  President Trump has enforced the death penalty for murderers again, with 13 federal executions being carried out in the last year.
  • Good presidents and candidates have been lied about and vilified by our biased and corrupt media for decades, frustrating millions of Americans because previous presidents just took the abuse.  President Trump fought back and constantly called out the media for their unfairness and propaganda.
  • One of the great reforms of King Josiah is found in 2 Kings 23:10.  “And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech.”  To make your child pass through the fire meant to sacrifice them to the Moabite god Molech.  This evil practice was not only allowed to happen in Israel by the wicked kings, but kings Ahaz and Manasseh actually sacrificed their own sons.  The United States has a similar practice that is protected by the wicked presidents:  abortion.  Unfortunately, even our good presidents have been inept at curtailing this evil act.  President Trump has stepped up to the plate and defended babies.  He was the first president to attend the March for Life.  He has found a way to block funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country.  Most importantly, he has appointed three pro-life Supreme Court Justices.

You may be wondering why I chose Josiah to compare President Trump to instead of Hezekiah since they both stood up against the status quo and removed the high places, and I have two reasons.  First, Hezekiah came earlier and that leads me to compare him to another great president who upset the apple cart, President Reagan.  Second, Josiah was only 8 years old when he became king, and President Trump does tend to speak without much tact like a kid might.  It is disappointing that too many people couldn’t get past that lack of tact, because like King Josiah, he may be the last great president we ever have.  Thank you, President Trump, for making us great again.

Will Our Country Be Ancient Israel or Nineveh?

And there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which it may be said, "See, this is new"?
It has already been in ancient times before us. - Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

One of the great things about the Bible is that it gives us guidance for the future by showing us the past.  As we begin 2021 we find ourselves at a crossroads as Americans.  Both of the possible paths we can take have been tried before so we know what fate will await us depending on which we choose.

The first option is to choose a path that was taken by ancient Israel in the Old Testament.  Israel started as a great nation given prominence by God under the leadership of Kings David and Solomon.  They then fell into idolatry and wickedness, were split in two, and throughout their history were rebuked and given warnings by God through His prophets such as this one by Jeremiah:

‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord; I will not cause My anger to fall on you.  For I am merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not remain angry forever.  Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the Lord your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord. – Jer. 3:12-13

The Israelites did not heed the warnings of the prophets and continued to rebel against God.  The consequences were harsh.  God removed his hand of protection from them and allowed the Babylonians to conquer the nation, destroy the temple in Jerusalem, and carry the people off into captivity. 

The second option is from another place talked about in the Old Testament, Nineveh.  You may recognize Nineveh because it is known mostly from the famous Bible story that we heard as children where Jonah is swallowed by a whale.  Many of you probably do not remember the rest of the story.  Here is a refresher.  Jonah was called upon by the Lord to, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.”  (Jonah 1:2)  Instead, Jonah decided to board a ship heading the other direction.  God sent a storm.  Jonah realized that the storm was because of him so he told the sailors to throw him overboard, and God sent a great fish to swallow him.  Jonah prayed and God had the fish vomit him onto the shore.  Jonah finally went to Nineveh and warned the city that they would be overthrown in forty days.  Sounds familiar, right?  Those stories almost always ended with the people rejecting the prophet’s warning and God destroying the city, but the story of Nineveh ends differently.  The people of Nineveh believed God and repented.  Jonah 3:10 explains, “Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.”

As you can see, God is merciful.  Now I am going to put on my prophet hat and shout a warning to the United States.  Thus saith the Lord, our country is heading towards destruction.  You may think I am going to say that our country’s problems are due to bad political decisions giving Democrats too much power, and that is certainly true, but it is ultimately only a symptom of our situation and not the root cause.  The real reason for all of our troubles is the same as it was in the Old Testament; because we have turned from God as a nation.  Electing a great President like Donald Trump who enacts the policies that God wants in place is fantastic, but by itself that is only a temporary speed bump to slow down the decline of the United States. Winning an election is only a short term solution, as we now see.  The only way to really preserve America is for us to repent and turn back to God. 

We need a religious revival.  That is our one chance to avoid national destruction.  If we argue about political issues without having the same values in the first place, our side will struggle to win people over.  We have to first convince people that they need to get closer to God and embrace the values He imparts to us through the Bible.  Once that happens the nation will heal and thrive.  Think about it.  If an overwhelming majority of Americans turned to God and biblical values we would always elect pro-life candidates who value religious freedom, individual liberty, and support for Israel among other things.

Unfortunately, for now we are facing judgment from God.  He didn’t even have to do anything supernatural to punish us.  He is letting us rain down judgment on ourselves by giving Democrats power.  Joe Biden is our punishment.  He will likely cause more suffering than a plague of frogs ever could.   He has already promised to eliminate friendliness and smiles by mandating we cover our faces like we were under Sharia law.  He will almost certainly add crippling regulations to our economy leading to financial hardship for millions, especially small business owners.  In Israel God used attacks by foreign adversaries to judge his people and I fear that Joe Biden’s probable return to policies of appeasement toward terrorist nations like Iran will make it likely that they will achieve nuclear capabilities in the near future.  This could be a very dark time in our country.

We have a choice though.  As God says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  As you can see, we cannot avoid punishment without doing a couple of things.  First, humble ourselves and pray.  Second, we have to turn from our wicked ways.  That entails a lot of things. 

Usually when God spoke about wicked places in the past there were a few main areas that needed work.  One was violence and the spilling of blood.  That means we need to end the rioting and lawlessness that has gone on for a while now in our streets.  We also need to support our police who are trying to clean up the crime in our country.  It also means that we need to end the evil practice of abortion.  How can we expect to continue being blessed by God when over 800,000 babies are murdered every year?

Another major area of disobedience was sexual immorality.  That does not just mean the obvious offenses.  Yes, homosexuality is a sin that has become acceptable, and even cool in today’s culture.  This new trend of choosing your gender is also wrong.  As the line from the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Kindergarten Cop says, “Boys have a penis, girls have a vagina.”  However, sexual immorality also includes far more common things like sex outside of marriage.  In fact, 59% of Americans have cohabitated with a partner and 65% think that cohabitation is a good idea.  All of these things need to become unacceptable again.

There are many other things that are mentioned in the Bible like idolatry (putting other things ahead of God), stealing, dishonesty in business, and slander.  Obviously, in a country as big as ours we cannot completely eliminate these sins, but we can certainly change our outlook towards them and greatly reduce the behaviors.  Remember, God is merciful.  We can choose the path that Nineveh chose and heed my warning.  We cannot continue down the path we are on.  Repent and turn to God!