Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study

The Depths of Romans 11

God’s Ultimate Plan

Romans 11 is one of the most important eschatological passages in all of scripture. Eschatology is the study of the end times. One’s understanding of scripture, identity, and worldview, along with any impetus toward ministry, is ultimately driven by our view of the end. For example, those holding to a pretribulation rapture view may be provoked to evangelize but they are unlikely to be driven to prepare to endure to the end. Mat 24:13 The expectation is an escape from suffering. Those with a Postmillennial view or what some call Victorious Eschatolgy work frantically to transform society according to some version of The Seven Mountains Mandate in preparation for Jesus’s return. The expectation is increasing influence and prosperity for the Body of Christ. On the other hand, those with a post-tribulation view of the Harpazo, 1 Thess 4:17 will hear the

Call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

Rev 13:10

The expectation is that we will endure persecution and suffering. Things will get harder before the perfect comes. One thing is certain. Our view of the end times will become more or less coherent as time goes on.

As Bereans, we endeavor to follow the method of the earliest church fathers like Polycarp who was discipled by John. Hence, we assume the most literal interpretation of scripture leads to truth. We allow scripture to interpret scripture instead of our imagination. We apply the laws of coherence and noncontradiction and assume that Jesus meant exactly what He said in the Olivet Discourse.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Mathew 24:29-31

What is the ultimate purpose of the call to endurance and faith? I contend that it is the same purpose given by Paul in Ephesians 1:3-10 and Romans 11.

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 

Romans 11:13-14

Many gentile Christians, whom Paul describes as wild olive branches, errantly view themselves as superior to the cultivated ones (The chosen Jews) because the Jews rejected their savior and demanded His crucifixion. Some believe the church has replaced the Jews. But the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. Rom 11:29 Paul makes clear that we Gentiles would never have had the opportunity to be saved were it not for the transgression of His chosen people. Hence we are warned

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

Some Historical Background

The geographical nation of Israel begins In approximately 1250 BC at the end of the 40-year Jewish Exodus from Egypt when Joshua took the nation of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land. Joshua 1-24 At that time it was occupied by Canaanites, the descendants of Cain who murdered Able. Genesis 4 Wars and turmoil continued as the Israelites gradually gained more control over the land. Ezekiel 48 explains that the total area God gave Abraham includes Lebanon, part of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

The nation of Israel has yet to occupy all of it.

The Israelites’ history has been an ongoing and repeated cycle of receiving a blessing from God, followed by disobedience and entitlement, resulting in God’s discipline. God’s discipline produced repentance, which led to restoration, and renewed blessing. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jewish people is not based upon their being better than the rest of the world. Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:1-20 Rather as we are learning in our study of Romans chapters nine through eleven, it is based on the irrevocable calling of God and His purpose of election.

God chose Jacob over Esau

though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls

Romans 9:11

Interestingly, Muslims today refer to Jesus as Esau. At the end of the day we must keep in mind that God does what He does, and chooses whom He chooses based on who He is, not who we are.

Fast forward…

Jesus was born and rejected by a majority of His people, the Jews. He was crucified, and resurrected, thereby conquering sin and death. The Gospel of Salvation was fulfilled. This is the foundation, not the completion of God’s redemptive plan. (See all four Gospels).  Jesus ascends to the Father, the Holy Spirit is given and the Christian church is born. Acts 1-2.

The Origins of Palestine

The name Palestine is derived from Roman Emperor Hadrian changing the name of Judea to Syria-Palestinia following the 132-135 AD Bar Kokhba revolt. Simon Barcoba was a Jewish Zealot, a leader in a political movement that attempted to overthrow the Roman rule over Israel and make Israel great again. After Bar Koba was defeated, Hadrian wanted to eliminate any trace of a Jewish presence in Judah. The geographical area known as Gaza, Palestine today is the original home of the Philistines. The first mention of the Philistines is found in Genesis 20 in 1897 BC. Abimelech was king of Gerar in the plain of Philistia.

The first battle between the nation of Israel and the Philistines is mentioned in Judges 3:31 and occurred sometime between 1400 and 1000 BC. Joshua conquered Jerricho Judges 6 in 1405 BC and began taking the land that became the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel continued until 70 AD when the Roman Emperor Titus sacked Jerusalem, the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people were dispersed around the globe as Jesus prophesied in Mathew 24:2.

Israel did not exist as a nation again until “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” by the UN on May 14, 1948. This was prophetically alluded to by Jesus in Mathew 24:32-33. The people displaced by the UN charter in 1948 are contemporary Palestinians. These are a melting pot of Arabic people, and Roma (gypsies).

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:1-12

The current geographical boundaries that included Israeli control of Jerusalem were established during the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967.

Muslims believe Israel and especially Jerusalem belong to the descendants of Ishmael. If you are Jewish or Christian, then there is no disputing that the land of Israel is Jacob, over whom Jesus reigns. It belongs to God’s chosen people, the Jews, into whom we Christians are grafted. Of course, many Jews and some Christians, do not realize this…

yet…

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 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 11:17-18

As for Hamas and the rest of Ishmael’s descendants, they have never validated the existence of Israel, and in their own words, they never will.

There is an ever-growing pressure in the world to align with Esau and Ishmael against Jacob and Issac. Therefore, all Christians should carefully read and understand Romans chapter 11 regarding God’s plan for Israel and Israel’s relationship with the church. Or should I say the church’s relationship with Israel? As I will show, it includes a dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age.

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. Romans 11:22-23

The people known as Hamas today are, in fact, Nazis and are supported by those who have sought the eradication of the Jewish people since Hamann in the book of Esther Chapter 3. Both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have the same roots.

What should we do?

We must destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God 2 Cor 10:5-6 We must take captive any thought that would dare turn anything in God’s word into a pejorative. Zionism is once again becoming a pejorative. Zion has everything to do with both Judaism and Christianity. Zion was first mentioned when David captured Mount Zion 2 Samuel 5:7 in the 10th century BC. Zion is the City of David from which Jews know their Messiah will rule. Christians already know that the Messiah is Jesus. Mount Zion is Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Issac, and God provided a sacrifice in a foreshadowing of Jesus. Mount Zion is the site of the 1st-century Jewish Temple. Today it is the site of the Alasque mosque commonly known as the Dome of the Rock. It is the most contentious piece of real estate in the world over which and upon which the most significant end times events will play out.

Dome of the Rock 2018

There is a lot of left-leaning and supersessionist propaganda that has changed the definition of Zionist to mean secular and political Jews who want to dominate the world. True Zionists are those who rejoice that Jesus will eventually rule from Zion. One thing is certain. At some future point, Jesus will descend upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to set up His millennial Kingdom. Zechariah 14, Revelation 20. This is also declared in Psalm 2 written in 1044 BC.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree… Psalm 2:1-7

So where are we on the time line?

For starters, it looks like what Zephaniah prophesied in 620 BC is taking place in Gaza now.

For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. Zeph 2:4-5

If that is the case then Islamists, Antisemites, and confused supersessionists can take a deep breath. Contemporary political Israel is not the same Israel from which Jesus will reign. Those in Israel and all other nations (people groups) who continue to reject Jesus as savior are not off the hook. If my interpretation of scripture is correct, God’s judgment falls on them next.

Or should I say, “falls on us”?

“Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord,
 “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.
For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger;
for in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed.”

Zephaniah 3:8

My exegetical analysis of scripture leads me to the Ezekiel 38-39 war. Barring a rise in American antisemitism that turns the USA from Israel entirely, it seems to me that NATO must become so tied up with its own crises e.g. wars, that it is unable or unwìlling to come to Israel’s aid.

God began returning the Jews to Israel in 1948 in fulfillment of His promise declared in Ezekiel 36. Not because Israel deserved it. They did not. God did it for the sake of His Holy name.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

Ezekiel 36:22

The valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37 is none other than the restored Nation of Israel that we see today.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

Ezekiel 37:11-14

Still, Israel is anything but righteous. Hence, we see the greatest chastisement of the Jewish people coming in Ezekiel 38. The map above shows the nations or elements from within nations that will descend upon Israel.

“Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are dwelling securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the uttermost parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great host, a mighty army. You will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.

Ezekiel 38:14-16

Yet Israel will prevail. Not because of their army or the Iron Dome, etc., but because God will intervene on Israel’s behalf with an earthquake, torrential rains, fire and sulfur…

So I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 38:23

Having observed the shifting Arab geopolitical alignments since the AL Aqsa Flood on October 7th, 2023. One thing seems certain: those who believe righteousness is rooted in Esau, not Jacob and Ishmael, not Issac, will never back down. Those who hold the reverse to be true will also never back down. Neither side is correct regarding righteousness apart from Jesus. Hence these wars that were foreknown rather than caused by God must take place because they are the trajectory of original sin that will only be rectified by surrender to Christ Jesus.

I continue to watch the lead-up to Ezekiel 38 in real time as Israel continues to prepare for an all-out war with Iran. Meanwhile, the entire Arab world just united over Palestine on November 11th in a Resolution of the Extraordinary Arab and Islamic Summit, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

On November 11, an urgent Arab-Islamic summit was held in Riyadh, addressing the issue of Palestine. This was an extremely significant event. Noteworthy was the simultaneous participation of Assad and Erdogan, a convergence that would have been impossible until recently. Additionally, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke not only about Palestine but also about the need to support Iran and Hezbollah — a sensational shift, as Saudi Arabia and Iran have traditionally been considered adversaries. The same applies to Hezbollah...Muslims can only unite through a common war against a common enemy.
It is at the doorstep.

Alexander Dugin

Among other things, this conglomeration of Arab / Islamist states that includes every territory named in Ezekiel 38 and more, agreed that Jerusalem, what Islamists call East Al-Quds, is the Palestinian capital.

Recently Turkey, who is a NATO member, severed all diplomatic ties with Israel. Previous to that Russia and Iran signed a mutual defense treaty. Does this mean the prophesied conflict is imminent? Not necessarily.

We need a catalyst that kicks the whole thing off.

An oracle concerning Damascus.Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.

Isaiah 17:1

Damascus, Syria, is the oldest, most consistently populated city on earth. It has never been destroyed. For quite some time, I have felt that the fulfillment of this prophecy would be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back and unleashes the fury of the Arab world against Israel. Again, this is my interpretation of scripture. I am a Watchman, not a prophet. Recently, Israel said, that they are going to deal with Syria when they finish with Hezbollah. Previously Damascus and Aleppo, Syria, were the primary venues through which Iran supplied its proxies with weapons. Now Assad’s pro-Shia government in Syria has been overthrown by Sunni Al Queda and ISIS. Some are breathing a sigh of relief. However, these Western and Turkish-backed rebels are claiming they will take Al Quds.

Stay tuned…

After God, not Israel, subdues Israel’s Ezekiel 38 assailants; I will be looking for a man or an entity of peace to come on the scene, resulting in the return of the Jewish worship on Mount Moriah, including the restoration of daily sacrifice. The contemporary Sanhedrin had a portable altar ready when we were in Israel in 2018. I am told they now have a tabernacle ready to be assembled within days. That said,

While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

1 Thess 5:3

At some point after that the daily sacrifice will be taken away and the abomination that causes desolation will be set up. Mat 24:15, Dan 12:11 This will be followed by 3.5 years or 1290 days or 42 months Revelation 13:5 of tribulation.

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be

Mat 24:21

The great tribulation is the wrath of the dragon who knows his time is short Rev 12:12, not the wrath of God. I am noting this because pretribulation rapture proponents quote 1 Thess 5:9 God has not destined us for wrath, as proof that the Church will not be here. While I will be happy if I am wrong, I believe the church will be here and God will preserve it as he preserved Israel in the wilderness during Exodus.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

Revelation 12:6

Jesus (the son of man) will return the way he left Acts 1:9-11, and was prophesied in Dan 7:13-14, and finally confirmed by The Son of Man Himself in Mat 24:29-31. No one knows the day or the hour, but we do know the season. It will mark the fulfillment of the Feast of Trumpets followed by the Feast of Atonement and The Feast of Tabernacles.

The true purpose of God’s plan is to reconcile all the children of Abraham. It is spelled out in verses like Zephania 3:9-20, Isaiah 19:16-24 and Romans 11. So often man makes divisions that God does not see. Can we fully comprehend God’s plan in the context of our limited human cognition? Probably not. Hence Isaiah 55:8-9, and Paul’s similar conclusion to Romans 11.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

But don’t take my word for it. I’m just a guy with a Bible. Be a Berean and search the scriptures yourself to see if what I am saying is true. Even if I am wrong regarding exactly how end-time events play out God’s ultimate plan of reconciliation is the goal. 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Passages like Romans 11 foster greater depths of reverence and awe.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Paul’s warning regarding the broken branches which are the Jewish people, is connected to a more dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age. As you may know, Mathew 24-25, the Olivet Discourse, contains an outline regarding events leading up to the end of the age and Jesus’ return. Verses 3-31 tell us in near bullet point form what we will see taking place and what may happen to us if we are alive at the time. Verses 32-52 are allegorical descriptions of what those days will be like. Mathew 25 contains instructions on how believers should respond. Mat 25:31-46 is the final judgment marked by the all-familiar parable of the sheep and the goats. Verse 40 is the most oft-quoted.

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

While Jesus loves the poor and downtrodden, the least of His brothers is not the starving child in a third-world dump. In fact, He said these are the greatest. Mat 18:1-5. Consider that Jesus was a Jewish Messiah who came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. The least of Jesus’ brethren when He spoke to His Jewsish disciples, were the Jews who rejected Him and were about to have him tortured and crucified. Given the legal right under a Sanhedrin their descendants would persecute and kill His followers today. Hence Paul wrote,

As regards the gospel, they (The Jews) are enemies of the gospel 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.
 Rom 11:28-29

Be careful. Arrogance toward the broken branches, a.k.a. “Zionists” could result in your hearing,

‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. May 25:41

Righteousness will only be found in Jesus. A righteous government and society will not exist until He returns to rule from Mount Zion.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Acts 10:34-35

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary, Rants from the Fig Tree, Red Pill Diaries

Israel and Palestine

What do you prefer?

While secularism exists on a continuum from hardcore Marxist Ideology on the extreme left to hardcore Fascist Ideology on the extreme right, all secular worldviews are Godless. Here in the West, they despise Christianity more than anything because it opposes secular idols like abortion and the ever-growing alphabet of gender. Secularism on all sides is ripe with conspiracy theories and propaganda. See Those Dern Zionists for a few examples. At the end of the day, the only point upon which radical secularists agree is that God does not exist – at least not the Judeo-Christian God. Quite often they are more than happy to leverage any offense that might advance their worldview. We see this quite clearly in the ongoing controversy in Israel versus Palestine.

US Police brutally attack peaceful protesters at UCLA. Several arrests reported. الشرطة الأمريكية تعتدي بوحشية على الطلاب المعتصمين في جامعة كاليفورنيا للمطالبة بوقف حرب الإبادة الجماعية في قطاع غزة

I wonder if the world would be protesting as strongly if the roles were reversed. What if Israel killed over a thousand Palestinians and kidnapped hundreds more? Would students protest Palestine bombing Israel to dust?

I think not…

Make no mistake. The extreme left and the right have always hated the Jews.  

Incidentally, that includes the current synagogue of Satan.

Jews, and are not, but do lie

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Rev 3:9

While the number of dead Israelis on Oct 7th is beginning to pale in comparison with the number of dead Palestinians, I have yet to hear a single anti-Zionist explain what Israel should do differently. When pressed they only say what they would not do.

Others assume that because I am for Israel that I am by default for the genocide of Palestinians. When someone asks me if my preferred solution to the war between Israel and Hamas is to bomb innocents in Gaza my answer is this.

Just Stop!

As a Christian, my personal preference would be that no one be harmed anywhere- ever. PERIOD!  I would prefer that the spirit of Haman, (see the book of Esther) the same spirit that is operative in Israel’s enemies today never arose in 760 BC.

I would have preferred that Hamas never launched rockets from hospitals and schoolyards into Israel for years. I would have preferred not to have slept in a bomb shelter when we visited the Negev because of the constant threat of missile attacks.

I would prefer that the genocide of six million Jews during the Nazi Holocaust did not simply represent the 20th-century peak in 2700 years of extermination.

For the record; the population of Jews compared with those murdered during the Holocaust:

Lithuania 150,000
murdered: 135,000

Estonia 5,000
murdered: 4,500

Latvia 95,000
murdered: 85,000

Poland 3,500,000
murdered: 3,000,000

Czechoslovakia 355,000
murdered: 300,000

Germany 210,000
murdered: 170,000

Greece 75,000
murdered: 60,000

Holland 150,000
murdered: 105,000

Yugoslavia 80,000
murdered: 55,000

Soviet Union 2,100,000
murdered: 1,400,000 (in territories occupied by the Nazis)

Austria 60,000
murdered: 40,000

Romania 850,000
murdered :425,000

Hungary 404,000
murdered: 204,000

Belgium 90,000
murdered: 40,000

France 210,000
murdered: 90,000

Italy 57,000
murdered: 15,000

Bulgaria 50,000
murdered: 7,000

*Pre-war total about 8,546,000 Jews of which about 6,140,500 were murdered*

I would prefer that no one in Palestine, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Algeria, Libya Qatar, etc. ever called for the genocide of contemporary Jews today. I would prefer that generational trauma from the Holocaust wasn’t real and that Jews everywhere had no reason to take today’s calls for their extermination seriously. 

I would prefer that there was no history of collaboration between Palestinians and Hitler in WWII.

The Fuhrer would carry on the battle to the total destruction of the Judeo-Communist empire in Europe. The German armies would eventually reach the southern exit from Caucasia. At that point, the Fuhrer would give the Arab world the assurance that its hour of liberation had arrived. Germany’s sole objective would then be the destruction of the Jewish element residing in the Arab sphere under the protection of British power. In that hour, the Mufti would be the most authoritative spokesman for the Arab world. It would be his responsibility to set off the Arab operations, which he had secretly prepared.

I would prefer that modern-day Palestinians never aligned with that same Nazi Ideology today.

I would prefer that American university student ingrates weren’t so easily hacked and made pawns by a radical and antisemitic left.

I would prefer that Hamas, several of whom worked for Main Stream Media and UNRWA never tortured, raped, and murdered Jewish innocents on Oct 7.

I would prefer that Palestinians didn’t radicalize elementary school children to aspire to grow up to kill Jews.

Palestinian children are being encouraged to kill Jews.

I would prefer that Hamas did not use Palestinian people as human shields and embellished casualty counts as a weapon.

Sadly now there is war. Total war. While Israel is taking unprecedented measures to prevent the deaths of innocents, the unfortunate truth is that innocents die in every war.

Israeli victims on Oct 7
Gaza victims today.

In the words of Sun Tzu, 

“Better never begin. Once begin, better finish”. 

Once begun, the only solution in any war is to win. Those who think differently are naive, dumb, or both. What I find ironic is that the US nuked Japan and killed over 200,000 people in minutes. No one in America protested or accused the US government of genocide. But then this is not really about genocide. This is about Hackable Animals being used as pawns to advance the extermination of Jews.

As the saying goes,

“No Jews, No news!”

We have friends in both Israel and Palestine and pray for all sides of Abraham’s dysfunctional feuding family. Still, I know that Israel, a piece of land the size of New Jersey belongs to the Jews for as long as the stars and planets exist. Jer 31:35-36  God loves His chosen albeit rebellious people. I pray for the peace of Jerusalem because the Bible upon which my worldview is based, tells me to do so. I bless Israel. Yet I do so filled with a hope of reconciliation, the ministry that Jesus assigned all believers. 2 Cor 5:16-25  Not because I align with one side over the other and pray that one side triumphs in war. I do so out of love for, and obedience to God. While I will not be engaging in violence toward anyone, and instead pray for everyone I will never accept an alternative presupposition that is contrary to God’s word. I am for Israel because God’s word requires it. I know this age-old battle between Israel and her enemies will continue till the end of time when Jesus has His great reset. His plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on earth Eph 1:1-10 At the end of the day, the Apostle Paul summed up the reality of God and His plan,

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Cor 5:14-15

As for those who continue to ask “How could a loving God____?” My answer is found in the conclusion of one of the most beautiful, hope-inspiring, albeit confusing chapters in the entire bible.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?”
 “Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Rom 11:33-36

What do I prefer? I Prefer Jesus. I prefer peace. I prefer that every knee bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. I prefer the lion and lamb to lie down together. I prefer on earth as it is in heaven.

Maranatha!

Jesus has come. Jesus is coming.

Brian and Cathy Gray Red Pill Diaries

Those Dern Zionists

Do you have friends and family who are confused about Israel and the events that have taken place since October 7, 2023? Are you confused yourself? Do you feel torn and conflicted at times and battle the temptation to take sides in the war? Do arguments that favor Palestine seem increasingly viable? Are you tempted to curse Israel or praise their success in the war? Does the spirit of vengeance rise up in you when you see and hear testimonies of the horrors that took place on October 7th? Or maybe you understand the truth in your spirit but struggle with answering those who parrot social media narratives. One thing is certain. There is a growing move by the enemy to justify the rejection of God and His people. In the words of Hamas. “We begin with the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.” Here are some 1 Peter 3:15-16 apologetic

Points to Ponder

As the war between Israel and Hamas continues, the vain babblings of the masses are getting louder. There are conspiratorial rumblings that the barbaric attack by Hamas on October 7 was a false flag. The assumption is that there is no way that the IDF could not have known about the attack beforehand. Hence they must have intentionally provoked it and or stood down while at least 1400 innocent people were killed in cold blood. It is all too easy to forget the human tendency toward complacency rooted in normalcy bias and pride. The very real possibility of a cyber attack that overrode motion sensors, alarms, and security cameras is lost in the imaginations of people programmed by YouTube and Netflix. That young millennial and Gen Z soldiers raised on social media might have been sleeping or perhaps more concened with selfies than security never enters the minds of armchair intelligence analysts.

Anyone who has served in a combat arms role knows the temptations that accompany the mind-numbing boredom of guard duty. Mindlessly staring at nothing in the desert distance for eight to twelve hours at a time plays all sorts of tricks on the mind. The potential for sheer boredom to produce hallucinations is usually dismissed until it happens to you. Complacency and normalcy bias are multiplied every time a hallucination is proven to be just another “nothing burger”. Not only that but it is common for enemy scouts and reconnaissance patrols to probe enemy positions by throwing things like pebbles in the dark. They taunt guards to shoot at nothing and expose their weakness. The result if no one ever attacks is further desensitization and complacency. Complacency may be amplified by heckling and laughter from fellow soldiers. Do I know for certain that this is what led to the Oct 7 attack? Certainly not. But I’d wager it’s a more viable argument than Jews killing Jews so they can kill Palestinians.

Turkish guard caught sleeping on duty. This happens with all armies all the time. Quite often, people die as a result.

I have repeatedly heard the claim that “Zionists” created and funded Hamas to one day justify Israel’s taking of all the Palestinian territories. Some supersessionists on the right surmise that Benjamin Netanyahu allowed the attack because it ultimately targeted leftist Jews who were sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and opposed his conservative government. In their minds, it explains why they moved the venue of the music festival. Once again, the supporting presupposition is that the IDF is so professionally infallible that the only explanation for bad decisions and failure is that they wanted fourteen hundred of their own people to be brutally tortured, raped, and murdered and hundreds more to be taken hostage.

Yeah…maybe not.

Many are attempting to reframe Zionism and differentiate Zionists from the rest of the Jews by claiming Zionism is exclusively secular. Reframing language is a textbook strategy employed by neo-Marxist Critical Theorists and post-modern deconstructionists. If that is confusing then consider the current reframed definitions of a man, woman, marriage, and the rainbow in America. Incidentally, many Critical Theorists were and are of Jewish descent. Reframing the definition of “Jew” is the current Neo-Marxist agenda. Every day we see a professing Christian minority misrepresented as the majority by the media in support of perversions like abortion, transgendersism, and gay marriage. The same strategy is being employed using anti-Zionist Jews represented as the only true Jews. Still, many contemporary Zionists are secular and therefore politically motivated. Yet as I will show, this is not the point. Especially for Christians. Other conspiracies claim that the alleged persecution of Palestinians by Israel is the handiwork of the Kazarian Mafia. Some Christians equate this with the synagogue of Satan mentioned in Revelation 2:9. Yet discerning Jews who are not Jews does not require us to unravel a Kazarian conspiracy. There are multitudes of professing secular Jews who reject the Torah and the God of Abraham while maintaining their Jewish ethnicity.

That being said, there were a group of Turks known as Khazars that converted to Judaism in the 8th or 9th Century B.C. Were some of them scammers and criminals? Of course. In fact they were some of the first identity thieves. But then, what people group was ever devoid of miscreants?

“According to one conspiracy theory, the so-called Khazar Jews practice the Talmudic “Babylonian” law and were able to penetrate European and American societies and assume almost ultimate power through the banking system, the media, academia, and the entertainment business. Another leitmotif of these theories is that Ashkenazi Jews are not authentic Jews and that only Sephardim are of “real Jewish stock.” –The Jerusalem Post–

There are secular Jews some of whom are proven criminals. Yet the correlation between Jewish ancestry and criminality is a false dichotomy and decidedly racist. The same faulty reasoning is employed in Arabic countries regarding Christians. America is a Christian nation represented by a clearly Satanic media and Holywood. Therefore Christians worship Satan.

What I find most terrifying is the fact that conspiracies like this were the basis for the book The Protocols of the Elders of Zion published in 1903 by “Author Unknown”. In addition to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, it became the philosophical underpinning of, and justification for the Jewish Holocaust, 1933-45.

Christians understand that everyone is a criminal apart from Christ Jesus.  Eph 2:1-10 Unfortunately the arguments that resulted in Christian collaboration with Nazis in the first Jewish Holocaust threaten to be repeated today.

The Origins of Palestine

The name Palestine is derived from Roman Emperor Hadrian changing the name of Judea to Syria-Palestinia following the 132-135 AD Bar Kokhba revolt. Simon Barcoba was a Jewish Zealot, a leader in a political movement that attempted to overthrow the Roman rule over Israel. Hadrian wanted to eliminate any trace of a Jewish presence in Judah. The geographical area known as Gaza Palestine today is the original home of the Philistines. The first mention of the Philistines is found in Genesis 20 in 1897 BC. Abimelech was king of Gerar in the plain of Philistia.

The first battle between the nation of Israel and the Philistines is mentioned in Judges 3:31 sometime between 1400 and 1000 BC. Joshua conquered Jerricho Judges 6 in 1405 BC and began taking the land that became the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel continued until 70 AD when the Roman Emperor Titus sacked Jerusalem. The Jewish people were dispersed around the globe until the nation of Israel was reborn in 1948 AD. In 457 BC God via a decree by Artaxerxes sent Nehemiah to restore Israel for the first time following the Babylonian Captivity. 1948 was the second time Israel was restored to the land as prophesied by Isaiah.

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Isaiah 11:1-12

The current geographical boundaries that included Israeli control of Jerusalem were established during the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967.

If you are Jewish or Christian then there is no disputing that the land of Israel belongs to the God’s chosen people the Jews into whom we Christians are grafted. Of course orthodox Jews and many Christians do not realize this…yet.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 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 11:17-18

As for Hamas and the rest of the Palestinian Authority, they have never validated the existence of Israel and in their own words, they never will.

All Christians should carefully read and understand Romans chapter 11 regarding God’s plan for Israel and Israel’s relationship to the church. As I will show, it includes a dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age.

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. Romans 11:22-23

The assertion made by neo-Marxists in the West and Arab Nazis is that Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. Recently more than a few have gone so far as to correlate Zionism with Nazism. I recently heard one woman on social media assert that Hitler’s Jewish Holocaust was facilitated by Zionists to generate support for the re-establishment of the nation of Israel. Her argument almost sounded reasonable had I been more ignorant of history. The people who call themselves Palestinians today are Nazis and are supported by those who have sought the eradication of the Jewish people since Hamon in the book of Esther Chapter 3.

We must destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God 2 Cor 10:5-6 We must take captive any thought that would dare turn anything in God’s word into a pejorative. Zion has everything to do with both Judaism and Christianity. Zion was first mentioned when David captured Mount Zion 2 Samuel 5:7 in the 10th century BC. Zion is the City of David from which Jews know their Messiah will rule. Christians already know that the Messiah is Jesus. Mount Zion is Mount Moriah where Abraham brought Issac. It is the site of the 1st-century Jewish Temple. It is the site of the Alasque mosque known as the Dome of the Rock today. It is the most contentious piece of real estate in the world over which and upon which the most significant end times events will play out.

Dome of the Rock 2018

Psalm 2 is a prophecy of Christ’s kingdom written in 1044 BC. If Zionists are those who rejoice that Jesus will eventually rule from Zion, then call me a Zionist.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree… Psalm 2:1-7

Even so, as Christians, we do not rejoice in the suffering and death of anyone. That means Jews and Palestinians and all Arabic people in the region.

As the saying goes, “No Jews – No news.”

Pro-Palestinian protesters have been wreaking havoc on college campuses since I first published this post. Sides are being chosen in yet another Hegelian dialectical ruse. The Hegelian dialectic was a formative precursor to Marxist conflict theory. You can get the basic gist of it in Expose What.

That said, those recoiling over the alleged genocide of Palestinians have ignored the true genocide of Arabic people by other Arabic people for milliena. Their media-generated offense and argument against is Israel is a disingenuous strawman at best. But then strawman arguments are another hallmark of emotion-driven, cognitively deficient “useful idiot” reprobates.

All anti-Semitic propaganda aside, we pray that Jesus visits Hamas and the myriad arms of Islamic Jihad at least as much as we desire to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Rom 11:14 A lot of Christians struggle with the idea that all of this conflict is part of God’s ultimate plan to redeem Israel. Yet apart from a complete reversal on the battlefield, it looks like what Zephaniah prophesied in 620 BC is taking place in Gaza now.

For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted. Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast, you nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, O Canaan, land of the Philistines; and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. Zeph 2:4-5

If that is the case then God-haters, neo-Marxists, and confused supersessionists can rejoice. Israel and other nations (people groups) who continue to reject Jesus as savior are not off the hook. If my interpretation of scripture is correct, God’s judgment falls on them next in Zephaniah 3:1-8.

Or should I say, “falls on you”?

“Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord,
 “for the day when I rise up to seize the prey.
For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all my burning anger;
for in the fire of my jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed.” Zeph 3:8

But don’t stop there. The true purpose of God’s plan to reconcile all the children of Abraham is spelled out in Zephania 3:9-20 and Isaiah 19:16-24. Does it make sense in the context of our limited human cognition? Probably not. Hence Isaiah 55:8-9. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours.

But don’t take my word for it. Be a Berean and search the scripture yourself to see if what I am saying is true. Please tell me if I am wrong.

As I said previously, Paul’s warning regarding the broken branches which is the Jewish people, is connected to a more dire warning concerning God’s judgment at the end of the age. As you may know, Mathew 24-25 also known as the Olivet Discourse contains an outline regarding events leading up to the end of the age and Jesus’ return. Verses 3-31 tell us in near bullet point form what we will see taking place and what may happen to us if we are alive. Verses 32-52 are allegorical descriptions of what those days will be like. Mathew 25 contains instructions on how believers should respond. Mat 25:31-46 is the final judgment marked by the all-familiar parable of the sheep and the goats. Verse 40 is the most oft-quoted verse.

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

While Jesus loves the poor and downtrodden the least of His brothers is not the starving child in a third-world dump. In fact, He said these are the greatest. Mat 18:1-5. Consider that Jesus was a Jewish Messiah who came first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. The least of Jesus’ brethren when He spoke were the Jews who rejected Him and were about to have him tortured and crucified. Given the legal right and opportunity, many of their descendants would persecute and kill His followers today. I expect that day will come. Hence Paul wrote,

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.
 Rom 11:28-29

Be careful. Arrogance toward the broken branches, a.k.a. the “Zionists” could result in hearing,

‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. May 25:41

Always remember, that good arguments can always be made for bad presuppositions. Hence the validity of an argument is determined by the validity of its underlying presupposition. The Christian presupposition is that Jesus is the only way. God’s word, the Bible is inerrant and infallible. There’s really no point in arguing with committed neo-Marxists and other God-denying reprobates because you are arguing from opposing world views. Believers must not be drawn into secular media narratives that twist God’s truth and demonize His chosen people on the global stage. Are atrocities taking place in Gaza? Most assuredly. Only the naive would ever believe that organized mass murder otherwise known as warfare has ever been or ever will be humane. Innocent civilians always make for the bulk of casualties in every war. That’s not a justification for razing Gaza or supporting Israel because they are good people. They are not. The truth is that apart from denying self, picking up our cross, and following Jesus, no one is righteous, not one. Romans 3:9-18 Now more than ever we must maintain an eschatological and prophetic perspective of events on earth and an eternal perspective of God’s ultimate purpose for the followers of Jesus. We support and bless Israel and pray for the peace of Jerusalem out of obedience to God alone, Num 24:9, Gen 49:9, Gen 12:3 not a natural preference for people.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. Acts 10:34-35

Righteousness will only be found in Jesus. A righteous government will not exist until He returns to rule from Mount Zion.

Don’t be poisoned by hype. Mat 24:4

Be sure you are viewing the world through a biblical lens.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Rants from the Fig Tree

Hackable Animals Reloaded

A Rant

How ironic that the segment of people who embraced one radical ideology and labeled anyone who disagreed with them as an opposing ideology in 2020 are now aligning with the very ideology they previously opposed. These ignore one massacre to oppose another. They remain blind to the fact that the very group they support now will be obliged to kill them if they come to power.

Meanwhile, the people labeled as “not human” and  “animals” who were saved from genocide 78 years ago are now celebrated for their necessary eradication of “evil animals” who are “not human” today. These justify one massacre in opposition to another. Elsewhere in the world, those who fought to free the first group being opposed by the very group they liberated.

Meanwhile, back in the land of prosperity, and entitlement, those who oppose the alleged systematic oppression of one minority people group, demand the right to murder their children in the name of the human rights and health of another allegedly oppressed minority group. This is further justified by the claim that people in the womb are not human.

Perhaps you have noticed the absurdity is clarified by the absence of labels and names.

How did we get here?

Many people do not have a point of reference beyond themselves. Hence truth is defined as whatever they experience or perceive. Furthermore, we have sacrificed the ability and right to think critically on the altar of consensus rooted in, and driven by emotion. Our hackers easily direct our individual and collective discontent toward whatever fragment of imperfect humanity they deem most likely to inflame our emotions. Once in this state, we confuse “awfulizing” a problem and choosing a side, with contributing to its solution never realizing that “we”, not “they” are our real problem. All are dead men walking – appointed to the very wrath we would assign to others. Our condition is further confirmed and reinforced by our self-righteous hatred for whichever side our hackers have assigned us to oppose.

We are double-minded.

The root of our confusion and hypocrisy is twofold.

On one hand, we have the attempted negation of absolute truth and with it the denial of a source. Truth becomes a personal affair. Within this paradigm, consensus is love and disagreement hate. All hate must be killed so that love can thrive. 

On the other hand, we have consensus-based affirmation that absolute truth does exist. Yet there is little to no understanding of what that TRUTH is. In its place, we have emotionally contrived, stump speeches and celebrity pulpits labeled as absolute truth as the preferred influencers imagine it.

It would seem that one man surmised correctly in 1871. People in both groups will kill one another and themselves until only a controllable few are left. Those that remain will be so demoralized that they will gladly accept the chief hacker as king.

Still, there remains one way to be unhackable. One truth, that leads to our origin, true freedom, true life, and the reconciliation of the family to which we all belong. It is a narrow way.

Only a remnant will find it.

As in the story Pinnochio, the wider, easier way is filled with comfort and pleasure. This broad beautiful road will remain more attractive, more interesting for a season as those who traverse it are conformed to the image of proverbial donkeys. Thinking themselves wise they inevitably become fools and all that they have permitted themselves to hate.

They are without excuse.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Why Israel?

The only way to understand the ongoing conflict in Israel is through a Biblical understanding of Israel’s history.

OTHERWISE, IT IS JUST ANOTHER POWER STRUGGLE AND ATROCITY THAT HAS NO LIMITS.

Here is a very brief albeit condensed outline.

God gave Abraham the land that would become Israel. Genesis 12. Abraham had two sons Issac and Ismael. Genesis 16:1–16, Gen 17:18–26, Gen 21:1–21 Issac is the child of the promise because Sara gave birth as God promised despite the natural impossibility of giving birth at such an old age. Issac was the father of Jacob who became Israel. Genesis 32:22-32 Ishmael is the child of the flesh due to the impatience of Abraham’s wife Sara who convinced Abraham to step out of faith and sleep with her servant Hagar. Thirteen years later Ishmael and his mother Hagar are banished to the desert. Ishmael becomes the father of the Arab nations. Islam believes Ishmael is the child of the promise and lists him as a prophet and one who, according to Muslims helped Abraham build the Kabba in Mecca.

The biblical history of Israel is the story of an estranged family.

They are estranged from their father and from each other.

Jesus brought and assigned believers the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

The geographical nation of Israel begins In approximately 1250 BC at the end of the 40-year Jewish Exodus from Egypt when Joshua took the nation of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land. Joshua 1-24 At that time it was occupied by Canaanites, the descendants of Cain who murdered Able. Genesis 4 Wars and turmoil continued as the Israelites gained more control over the land. Ezekiel 48 explains that the total area God gave Abraham includes Lebanon, part of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The nation of Israel has yet to occupy all of it.

The Israelites’ history has been an ongoing and repeated cycle of receiving a blessing from God, followed by disobedience and entitlement, God’s discipline, repentance, restoration, and blessing again. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jewish people is not based upon their being better than the rest of the world. Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:1-20 It is based on the choice and unbreakable covenant God made that will culminate with their eventual acceptance of Jesus as their King. Romans 11

Fast forward…

Jesus was born, and rejected by a majority of His people the Jews. He was crucified, resurrected therbye conquering sin and death. The Gospel of Salvation was fulfilled. This is the foundation of God’s redemptive plan. (See all four Gospels).  Jesus ascends to the Father, the Holy Spirit is given and the Christian church is born. Acts 1-2.

In 70 AD the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Israel ceased to be a nation and most of the Jewish population was dispersed to the nations of the world as Jesus prophesied in Mathew 24:2.

In 130 AD a Jewish Zealot named Simon Barcoba led a rebellion against the Roman Empire. They were crushed by the Romans.

In the year 135 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea (Southern Israel) “Palestinia” in an attempt to stamp out any remaining trace of the Jewish people. Israel did not exist as a nation again until “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” by the UN on May 14, 1948. This was prophetically alluded to by Jesus in Mathew 24:32-33. The people displaced in 1948 are known as Palestinians today.

At some future point, Jesus will return and descend upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to set up His millennial Kingdom. Zechariah 14, Revelation 20.

Certain prophetic benchmarks must be met before that happens.

Damascus, the oldest and most consistently populated city in the world will be destroyed. Isaiah 17:1. People from the geographic areas currently known as Russia, Kajikistan Iraq, Syria, Turkey Iran, Morroco, Algeria, Libya, and Sudan will attack Israel. Ezekiel 38-39. The man of Perdition a.k.a. the anti-Christ will emerge. The Jewish daily sacrifice will be restored on the temple mount in Jerusalem. Then it will be abruptly taken away. The abomination that causes desolation (whatever that is) will take place. Mat 24:15. The three-and-a-half-year tribulation will then commence. Daniel 12, Revelation 13, Mathew 24:21 Then Jesus will return, Daniel 7:13-14, Acts 1, Mathew 24:29-31. This will be the fulfillment of the three remaining  Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. As bad as things are, and will be, it is important to remember that Jesus framed what is coming in the context of “birth pains” Mathew 24. Consider this; if a woman went into labor and didn’t know she was pregnant she would think she was dying. The hardest time on earth is likened to a woman in labor. Labor is hard and painful. The pain ends as abruptly as it started as soon as the baby is born. A woman endures labor for the coming joy that is her child. Hence Jesus exhorts us to endure Mathew 24:13 and when these things happen we are to, look up as our redemption draws near. Luke 21:28 This is the second part of God’s redemptive plan.

It will be the fulfillment of the Gospel of The Kingdom.

“But the Bible is just a fairy tale”, you say.

Fine. You can’t prove that. In all fairness neither can believers prove you are wrong. Both arguments, both sides, are rooted in a presupposition otherwise known as a statement of faith. Arguing presupposition against presupposition, worldview versus worldview is futile.

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Mathew 7:13

On the other hand, if I am wrong and the Bible is a fairytale,

then like you I will live out the remainder of my days as a dirtbag in meaningless futility until my dirtbag returns to dust. Apart from the subjective opinions of man, there is no right or wrong. Self-preservation is the supreme spiritual law. I live for me. You live for you. Your life is only valid to the extent that it helps or at least does not interfere with mine.  As in the case of the existentialist philosopher Albert Camus, everyone will eventually be faced with the question,

“Why not suicide?”

Apart from Jesus, there is no good answer especially when life seems unbearable.

On the other hand, if I am right and every word in the Bible is God-breathed, 2 Timothy 3 then those who believe will spend eternity with Jesus. Those who reject God’s redemptive plan will die in their sin and spend eternity in hell. This is offensive to secular humanists. However, as Blaise Pascal realized, the risk versus reward alone behooves us all to examine the resentment, narcissism, pride, and rebellion that allows us to be blinded. 2 Corinthians 4:1-4

“But what kind of God allows so much suffering?” you ask.

Why doesn’t He just end it all now? 

God is not a covenant breaker like humankind. He meant what He said and He can not lie.

“Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

In the end, God will accomplish all that He started. Isaiah 55:11. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord. Philippians 2:10-11 Israel and the Gentile Church will be saved. Romans 11. So will the radical descendant tribes of Ishmael. Isaiah 19:16-25. Only those who refuse to believe and be baptized

will not. Mark 16:16 

Consider that the persistent anxiety, rage and depression with which so many struggle might not be their flesh crying out for the right feel-good medication. Rather their spirit man, the part of them that will live for eternity somewhere is crying out for salvation. Deny it all you want. Deep down everyone knows that they are among the walking dead, trapped in their sin. All of us are by nature children appointed to the wrath that we deserve known as hell. Ephesians 2:1-3

Do we fail at times? Of course. Just get up and try again. Proverbs 24:16, 1 John 1:9 At the end of the day we are clothed in His righteousness not our own. Isaiah 61:10

But God!

God in His grace made a way for all to be saved. There is nothing we can do to earn or be worthy of it. It is a gift that we accept or reject Ephesians 2:4-10 God wants to save us because of who He is.

Not because of who we are or anything we do. Titus 3:5

What a relief!

All that is required is that we believe and be baptized. Just know that believing is more than merely agreeing.  Believing means learning about Jesus and His ways – trusting and obeying Him to the best of our ability.  Baptism is an outward expression of an internal commitment and change. It is the death of the old man and the birth of the new. We are submerged as a representation of death. We are raised as new creations. 2 Corinthians 5:16-20, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 4:22-24, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Romans 6:3-4, Romans 8:1.

Jesus is knocking at your door. It’s up to you to let Him in. Revelation 3:20

God appointed and or foreknew everything you see playing out in Israel and the world today. Evil is not the fault of God. It is the inevitable expression of man’s total depravity amidst God’s plan to save us despite us.

Who acts for the one who waits for Him?
You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness. Who remembers You in Your ways? You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—In these ways we continue, And we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And no one calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.
Isaiah 64:5-8

At the end of the day violence and suffering continue because people won’t surrender and repent until they reach the end of themselves.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 2 Timothy 3:1-5 

There is a lot of self today.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Hackable Animals

Training for War

Spiritual warfare begins with knowing the wiles of the devil in order to stand. Eph 6:11 In this context Stand is hístēmi to be of a steadfast mind. Ephesians 6 goes on to describe the full armor of God begining with the belt of Truth.

Every warrior knows the very first truth that must be acquired is a clear understanding of one’s own weaknesses. Emotion is always first. Any human being lacking a firm understanding of their own emotions, and the subsequent ability to self-regulate them is what Yuval Noah Harari calls a Hackable Animal. If you have never heard of Harari, he is a Jewish atheist homosexual historian and spokesperson for The World Economic Forum WEF. The WEF wants to put everyone in modern-day ghettos called fifteen-minute smart cities where “you’ll own nothing and be happy”. Among other things, Harari looks forward to the day when AI will rewrite the bible so that we will have a religion that is “more correct.”

But I digress…

Those who primarily rely on emotion to navigate the circumstances of their lives are easily manipulated by how they feel. Any stimulus that produces fear, lust anger, grief, or greed makes them supremely hackable. If you pay close attention you will quickly recognize that nearly all media, especially visual media is designed to hack you. The only way to ensure you aren’t hacked is to turn off what my dad called the idiot box.

This is especially true if you are Christian and a consumer of MainStream (I call it sewer stream) Media. If you think there is a lick of truth on FOX, CNN, NBC, MSNBC, ABC, or CBS, I have bad news for you.

You’ve been hacked! I

In the West, we are often more concerned about offending the sensibilities of others than we are with establishing the truth. This is not the case outside the first world where horrors are a daily experience. Being a spiritual warrior requires we meet the reality of tragedy head-on without being consumed by emotion but also without losing compassion for our fellow image-bearers. Jesus repeatedly modeled this Eg. Mat 12:22-37. Jesus was not moved by the fickleness of human emotion because He knew all men and He knew what was in man. John 2:23-25 In our case walking this way requires an understanding that both sides of a conflict will do anything they can to spark emotion and glean support from the oh-so-hackable public.

This is a photo circulated by Israel allegedly of a burned Israeli baby.
This is alleged to be the original photo. The baby is said to be produced by AI.

All we know for sure is that one of them is fake.

The point here is that everything we know or think we know about this conflict is rooted in confirmation bias that is itself rooted in our own empirically unprovable presuppositions. “God exists.” “God does not exist.” “God’s name is YHVH.” “God’s name is Allah” are examples of presuppositions. Our confirmation bias is supported by what we read, hear, or see in the media. Unless you were there, you have no way of knowing the truth about the images above.

Yet how many will choose a side to hate based on media images?

What took place in Israel and is currently taking place in Gaza is horrific. The pressure to take sides is strong. This is exactly what the devil wants. Israel is so enraged by the unspeakable atrocities committed by Hamas that they are at risk of becoming Hamas themselves.

Many people know that Hamas in Arabic means zeal, strength, or bravery. We call them terrorists because, well…what they do is they do is terrifying. Still, they are fiercely loyal to each other and faithful to their families. Most are very young men with no knowledge of the outside world. They aren’t geopolitical analysts. All they know is that the people on the other side of the wall have been abusing and killing them since the day they were born. Had I been born into a Muslim family in Gaza I almost certainly would have joined them. On the other hand, had I been born an Israeli Jew. I’d have been in the IDF killing Hamas.

Today I follow Jesus. John 18:36

Do you suppose it is a coincidence that the word Violence in Hebrew is Chamac pronounced Hamas? Chamac is violence, wrong, cruelty, injustice, oppressor, and unrighteousness. That the earth was filled with Hamas is one of the reasons that God flooded it. Gen 6:11

For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Mat 24:37

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Tim 2:4

All warriors train according to a specific battle plan. They drill and drill and drill again until every movement becomes a part of who they are. If you are going to be a spiritual warrior you must do the same. You must first know God’s plan by studying it. His Word is His plan. Those familiar with the truth are less likely to be deceived by a counterfeit. Still, studying God’s word is not enough.

You must become it.

As Christians, we should know that God is a God of His word. He hasn’t broken His covenant with Israel even though they and we break ours all the time. The Jews may have been Appointed to disobey. But it wasn’t so they would be rejected and condemned. It was part of God’s plan to save all who would be saved including Israel before the foundations of the earth.

Let’s face it. Many of the things coming our way are pretty terrifying. Hamas has called for global Jihad. As I see it, it’s not so much a question of if it happens but when. God makes the inevitability of suffering as the Gospel of the Kingdom is fulfilled clear throughout His word. Hence soldiers always prepare to endure. 2 Tim 2:3

Once again, we have a choice. Will our hearts fail us from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth. Luke 21:26 Or will we look up and lift up our heads, because our redemption draws near.” Luke 21:28 Our reaction will be largely determined by how well we have mastered the aforementioned disciplines so that we have enough oil. Mat 25:1-13

Finally, I know that many were encouraged by the grandeur and mystery of God’s perfect plan that we discussed in Appointed. But did you know that

it gets even grander?

While the Jews and the Nation of Israel are the offspring of Jacob, the remaining Arabic people are descendants of Ishmael. Ishmael means God will hear. Many have read Genesis 21 and assumed that Ishmael was rejected and scorned. Yet God promised to also make Him a great nation. Gen 21:18 Ishmael is believed to have settled in Mecca and Muhammad is regarded as his descendant. At the end of the day Jews and Christians are contending with their estranged brother.

Just as we learned that God planned to redeem His disobedient, idolatrous, and adulterous bride Israel and the Church before the foundations of the earth, He has a similar plan for Ishmael.

On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing amid 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

I can’t help but wonder.

Could Ishmael be the prodigal son? Luke 15:11-32

Amidst all the insanity, chaos, and horror resulting from the total depravity of all mankind apart from the blood of Jesus, God is in the process of restoring the entire family of Abraham to which we all belong under one head.

That head is Jesus.

Stay focused. Titus 2: 11-15

Be unhackable.

MARANATHA