Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Rants from the Fig Tree

God Bless Israel?


Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus,  to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored..The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Mark 3:1-6

As we are about to step into the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths, or Sukkot), the last of the Lord’s Feasts known as Seasons (Mowed), meaning divine appointment with God in Gen 1:14.  These Appointments were further clarified by God to Moses in Leviticus 23 as Holy Convocations (Miqrah). These prophetic dress rehearsals foreshadowed God’s redemptive plan before God created man.

Jesus fulfilled four of the seven feasts.  Passover – When He died on the cross. Unleavened Bread in the tomb. First Fruits – in His resurrection. And finally, Pentecost. The first Pentecost was the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was fulfilled by the giving of the Holy Spirit in the upper room.

Now Trumpets– Jesus’s return, Atonement– judgement, Tabernacles– millennial rest remain. That Jesus fulfilled the first four gives us assurance that He will fulfilled the remaining three.

For those Christians who question the role of Israel and the Jews in God’s redemptive plan, Romans 11 makes it clear that God has in no way rejected them. We gentile believers are grafted in.

do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 

Romans 11:18

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Romans 11:25

As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:28-29

If Israel has accepted their messiah when He came, there would have been no opportunity for gentiles like me to be saved. Hence, God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

In the meantime, I am supposed to provoke the Jews to jealousy so that they might know their Messiah and be saved. Sounds like a great plan. 

However, enemies of the Gospel translates to

“They want me dead.”

They want me dead, just like they wanted Jesus dead in Mark 3.

Even more confusing is the prophetic conclusion of Isaiah 19.

In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Isaiah 19:24:25

If Israel is God’s chosen people, then why does He call them the third?

When I read the Sermon on the Mount or John 3, it seems to me that God wants to reconcile Abraham’s broken, dysfunctional family. That means Issac and Ishmael, not just Isaac. Wasn’t it Abraham to whom God said, ‘He would bless those who bless Him and curse those who curse Him’ in Genesis 12?

And who exactly was Jesus referring to as the least of His brethren at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount in Mathew 25? Do we really believe He was thinking of addicts and inmates? Or was He referring to the Jews who were about to demand His crucifixion and eventually the death of His followers?

As we enter into the dress rehearsal of God’s coming rest, I am struggling. I am struggling with the political propaganda consumed by Western Christians who conflate the utter atrocities being committed by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon. Granted, most of their opinions are shaped by internet algorithms. Still, it’s not hard to find videos of young Israelis and Israeli soldiers mocking children they have killed because even babies are Hamas. There is a new film, not yet available in the US, made by Israeli whistleblowers regarding the genocide in Gaza and now in Lebanon.

Does that mean I am on the side of Hamas or Iran? No! I can’t make sense of how or why anyone would think that the political nation of Israel is any better. As Christians, do we really think that God is pleased with all the killing?

There’s another thing that I find confusing.

When we were in Israel for Purim in 2018, I was so excited to visit as an American friend of Israel. We stayed in a hotel full of Orthodox Jews celebrating God’s saving hand in the Book of Ester. Imagine my surprise when I found them to be the rudest and meanest people I encountered in Israel. Ironically, the Muslims and Palestinians we met were the friendliest. For the record, I hadn’t yet studied Romans 11 in depth, and I was truly taken aback.

To date, approximately fifty thousand of the seventy-three thousand deaths in Gaza have been civilians. In Lebanon, approximately one thousand of the four thousand deaths are civilians. And yet I see here Christian pastors justifying and even celebrating the actions of the state of Israel because God is on their side. Was God on the side of Ahab and Jezebel simply because they were Israeli?

Really?!

Can you please cite a scripture in the New Testament, The Gospel of the Kingdom whose founder and King said,

My Kingdom is not of this world. If it where my followers would fight for me.

John 18:36

As for those who quote Jesus in telling the disciples to bring a sword to the Garden of Gethsemane, He rebuked Peter for using it, Luke 22:52, Mathew 26:53.

“No more of this!” Meant exactly that!

Why does this matter? Because countless people are rejecting Jesus because of the words and actions of ill-informed Christians who have conflated the earthly behavior of the Israeli government with the will of Jesus. They look at the church and see the justification, if not the celebration, of genocide. Political influences mock people like me as rejected by God because I reject the behavior of politicians and soldiers

I don’t hate Israel, Jews, Palestinians, Iranians, Chinese, or any other person on earth. Not because I am loving. But because God is loving. I endeavor to obey God because I fear Him.

As the Feast of Tabernacles begins tomorrow, September 25th, I am stepping out of any temptation to pick a side in any earthly conflict. I will not celebrate the death of any Muslim or Arab—Palestinian, Hezbollah, or Jew or any other human being on earth. I will not root for any side in a conflict against another. I will not be a hackable animal programmed by a sewer-stream media psyop.

Chew on that!

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Rap Sheet to Resume, Tennessee

Fragmentation versus Integration


“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.”

-Gustave Flaubert-

I couldn’t agree more. Discovering what you believe is the first step to discovering who you are.

Writing is the study tool I learn best with. When I wrote Rap Sheet to Resume Finding Blessing in Brokenness, I began with a bunch of partially assembled puzzle pieces that came together to form a picture of the Father’s heart reflected in my own heart.

Unfortunately, social media is flooded with fragmented image managers. People copy and paste others’ words and experiences and claim them as their own. Or embellish testimony and persona with histrionics to gain fame and notoriety. It seems that everyone wants to be an influencer. 

If I copy and paste someone else’s thoughts, or story, or testimony and attribute it to myself, even if by omission, I am guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism is lying. God hates lying. Proverbs 6:17.

While lying by assuming credit for something I did not do is bad enough, I am actually sinning against myself. I am robbing myself by assuming an identity that is not my own and can never be.

Jesus said obedience was love—John 14:15. We cannot claim to love God and lie.

As I wrote in my book, a large part of what keeps addicts stuck in recurring patterns of relapse is called fragmentation
.
“Who do I need to be to get what I need from you?, is the rule.

If our drug use began as teenagers, then we never had the opportunity to discover who we are. “Fake” becomes our norm. We learn to change personas as easily as we change clothes.

Unfortunately, fake is all too acceptable in society today.

We might be looking for drugs or accolades from man. It doesn’t really matter which. At the end of the day, Dopamine is what we are after. 

Healing begins when the fragmented pieces of ourselves start to become integrated.

Integration is the root of integrity. 

Back in my using days, I was one person at work, another person at home, another with friends, and another when I was alone with my drug of choice. 

Today, I am the same person at work with my supervisors and those I supervise and serve, the same person in church, in the grocery store, alone at home or with my wife, or anywhere else I go. Granted, not everyone likes what they see, but what they see is what they get.

This matters because only people of integrity can know themselves. Many call this “identity”. It follows that only people of integrity can hope to fulfill the second greatest commandment: to love their neighbors as themselves.

My book positively impacted my son, my grandson, one person I work with, and 36 others on Amazon. Cathy says I should mention inmates at KCCC on Kauai. I say, praise God! It is a “mission accomplished” for me even if no one else is helped.  

Still, I would like to get it into more hands to help more people. So I’ll post tidbits and reflections on subjects covered in my book.

Bottom Line…

“Don’t fake it till you make it. ” Be real till you heal.”

-Captain Kike- former chief of security, Kauai Community Correctional Center

Featured image by ChatGPT.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Dear Unbeliever

A Letter to China

My grandmother, Francis Gray, was a missionary in China from 1929 to 1934. Since then, I have had the pleasure of meeting several Chinese underground church pastors. Each time, I can’t help wondering how much, if any, of my grandmother’s efforts contributed to the current wave of Christian revival in China.

While I realize many younger Americans praise China for its apparently superior infrastructure, food, and medical security. China is in many ways technologically superior to the USA. I only wish I could purchase sodium-ion batteries and their electric cars. China is, in many ways, economically superior to the USA in terms of its ability to care for its people, provided they do not disagree with the leadership or subscribe to any religious beliefs, especially Christianity.

Granted, China has a state-run church with its own altered version of the Bible in direct contradiction to Galatians 1-8-9.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

For example the Chinese state Bible has Jesus stoning the woman caught in adultery John chapter 8 to death because he was the only one without sin, and justice must be carried out.

Still, I don’t understand the Chinese Communist aversion to Christianity because, of all the religions in the world, we Christians are commanded to “obey the Laws of the Land.” By definition, we are model citizens anywhere we go. 

The only real exception is found in Acts 5:29, when Peter declared, “We must obey God rather than men.” But this only applies to the preaching of the gospel. Think about it China.

What are you so afraid of?

Even more, 1 Peter 2 Peter exhorts believers under Nero who blamed them for burning Rome and subsequently mounted them on poles and burned them to light his streets and gardens to

“Honor the King!”

What are you so afraid of, President Xi Jinping? Genuine Christians only want to pray for you.

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:1-4

For the record, I know my Chinese readers are not native Chinese speakers. Rather, they are agents tasked with surveilling the Western Internet. How silly of you to be the least bit concerned with anything I say.

It’s pure speculation, of course, but I suspect China might be following me because I once passed through Shanghai on my way home from a mission trip in Thailand. Shanghai Airport was perhaps the spookiest place I have ever been. And I have been all over the world, including the Amazon, where I was surrounded by spear-wielding Shuar headhunters. Shanghai Airport felt more menacing.

No one was allowed to talk as we passed through security. Menacing Chinese police were everywhere. I remember imagining, “This is what entry into the death camps will feel like.” I was told that I had to sign a promise not to proselytize or speak against socialism to access the internet because they knew I was a missionary. 

How silly to be so afraid of those who truly only seek your salvation and greater good.

For the record, Pete Hegseth is not a Christian anymore, nor is your politicized  Chinese Bible the word of God. Please don’t allow the politicized version of Western Christianity to be misconstrued as representative of the God whose Kingdom is not of this world.

Anyway, I’d like to tell my Chinese readers that I love you and pray for you and your leaders. I want you to know that you can not stop me. You can not stop me from loving you, praying for you, and for the health and good of you and your families.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

The Straight that Matters

And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

Mark 1:38

I am sitting in the airport in Atlanta awaiting the final leg of our flight back to Greenville from Kauai where I officiated our son’s wedding.

Mr. and Mrs. Austin Ferris

A hurricane had just hit the Big Island and two were bearing down on the Islands when we departed for Kauai.

“Oh no! Please don’t get stuck there,” My supervisor said.

Given that being a watchman is hard-wired into my DNA, I also kept myself abreast of the evolving escalation in the Straight of Hormuz. At least 93% of Hawaii’s jet fuel comes from the Straight of Hormuz and is refined in South Korea. At this point, it is not a question of if we run out of jet fuel, but when.

Donald Trump is caught in what Professor Robert Pape calls an Escalation Trap with Iran. At the end of the day, Trump faces two choices. Continue the war with Iran and potentially be responsible for millions or even billions of deaths worldwide via war and famine. Or fall on his proverbial sword and abide by the MOU, which amounts to a US surrender to Iran.

Zelensky in Ukraine is in a similar trap. Ukraine cannot defeat Russia on its own. The best outcome for Ukrainians would be to cut their losses and accept a peace deal with Russia. However, that would mean a radical loss of wealth, power, and even life for Ukrainian oligarchs. Hence Zelensky’s otherwise insane missile and drone attacks on Russian girls’ schools and infrastructure with NATO weapons and technology. The only logical, albeit diabolical, reason would be to provoke Russia into attacking a NATO nation, thereby invoking an Article 5 response from all the others.

On September 3, 2026, Denmark’s intelligence service warned that Russian intelligence services are actively preparing sabotage operations targeting companies in Denmark’s defense industry. The same day, NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum publicly said it is closely tracking Russia’s expanding and modernizing nuclear-powered submarine force, including long-range strike-capable vessels operating from the Kola Peninsula.

-Euro News-

The UK has also summoned Russia’s chargé d’affaires over Germany’s alleged attempted explosive-drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport, calling it part of a broader Russian effort to undermine the collective security of Ukraine’s allies. Russia denied responsibility and warned of a “proportionate and calibrated” response.

-Reuters-

Vladimir Putin, who is dovish compared with many of his peers in the Kremlin, has made it abundantly clear that a world without Russia is not worth having. An existential threat to Russia’s existence will be met with a preemptive Nuclear strike.

Surrender or loss are not options because Ultra-conservative groups, a.k.a. Nazis in Ukraine, would likely kill him.

Three hurricanes ranging from Category 2 to 4 are bearing down on the islands now as I write. 

All of these situations, and more, were on my mind throughout the trip. Not in a fearful way. But rather in a sober way.

Sober –nḗphō – calm and collected in spirit, temperate, dispassionate, circumspect.

Cathy and I took a long bike ride and visited some poignant landmarks while we were on Kauai.

We ate a Mermaids, the place where we courted.

For the first time in 25 years, I stood in the spot where I camped while homeless with my ex-wife Jaime and two children. Jaime later died from Heroin use.

Kealia Beach

We had fled New York after I came home from work to find her, naked, bound, and gagged, tied to a radiator in our apartment. It was the beginning of the end of my old life apart from Jesus.

We visited Lydgate Beach, where I started my new life with Cathy 21 years ago. Austin took our wedding photos.

February 5 2005
September 1 2026
Lydgate Beach

A homeless man was sleeping under the picnic table where we had served sushi and water after our wedding ceremony. I thought I heard the Lord tell me to give him twenty dollars. But I usually don’t give homeless people cash. I’d rather buy food or other necessities. I decided to wait for confirmation.

Cathy and I had just started to peddle away when Cathy said,

“Wait!” Do you think we should give that guy twenty dollars?”

“That’s all I needed to hear.”

We approached him together, woke him up, and explained that the Lord had told us to give him twenty bucks. His name was Jerimiah. He was emaciated, with torn clothing. A cross was tattooed on his arm, and a red plastic “Jesus loves you” bracelet sat on his wrist. He kept his face hidden as we spoke and shared the gospel he’d probably heard a thousand times. I wondered if he was ashamed or had warrants, and I looked like a cop. He began citing Bible verses out of context to justify his use of everything from Marijuana and Alcohol to Kratom, to meth, all in moderation, of course. I explained why that was a lie and that the devil owned the fence called “indecision” that he was sitting on.
Meanwhile, “One is too many and ten thousand is not enough.” And substance abuse is Pharmakia, which is sorcery. He stopped talking and shook his head in affirmation. We stopped talking too.

“Our bikes are rented. We have to return them soon.”

Oversharing is a common mistake when sharing the gospel. 

We may be tempted to think that if we talk enough and share enough, the person will have a revelation. I have found thst it’s better to speak one truth and be sure that truth is the final word so that God can bring the increase.

The same principle applies to our children and grandchildren. We might be dead and gone before they receive the revelation of Jesus and His kingdom. In the meantime, our job is to remain faithful like Jesus was faithful. Faithful means being sober, vigilant, and obedient as we walk the straight path that matters. The straight and narrow path that Jesus walked.

Jesus had been healing and casting out demons in Capernaum and Galilee when he declared His purpose in Mark 1:38.

And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Mark 1:39

By the end of the chapter, we see Jesus healing a leper,

and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

Mark 1:44-45

Jesus fulfilled His mission and purpose amidst tremendous conflict, pain, suffering, and joy. He was aware of it all. Yet He was never consumed by any of it. He set His face like flint upon His mission and purpose, which were and are the eternal gospel of the Kingdom.

In the meantime, “Occupy (do business) till I come” remains our mandate. Our business is His business. We must do it fearlessly and in peace amidst the paradox of joy and suffering in the world, with the full understanding that neither is our end.

Stay on the straight and narrow path.

Maranatha