The Scourge Of Racism
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As the Lord leads, I write on this twelfth day of February, Black History Month and the birthday of Abraham Lincoln to first acknowledge in the positive that leaders can and should lead their nations into God’s blessing through obeying and trusting in Him (1 Kings 9:1-9; Psalm 33:16-22)! Mr. Lincoln is just such an example of a leader when as a professed Christian white American, man of character and President of the then, divided States of America, he courageously set my slave forefathers free with the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. This act subsequently helped bring the Civil War over slavery between Northern and seceded Southern States to an end and reunite the nation.
At a time when both sides in the war were praying for God to bless them with success, He showed as Lincoln also acknowledged who was actually on His side as the just One!1 Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ came to Israel at first on a mission “to set at liberty those who are oppressed,” (Luke 4:18, NKJV). When He returns to rule the earth as King, the Lord will deliver the remnant of Jacob from “the fury of the oppressor,” (Isaiah 51:9-16, NKJV). This is fully consistent with the Lord’s attitude toward oppression elsewhere written in His Word accessible to any that will objectively read and take it to heart (Exodus 2:23-3:9; Psalm 10:12-18; Lamentations 3:34-36; Acts 10:34-43).
Leaders can get their nations in trouble of the worst kind when they operate in the sinful flesh and blatantly disobey God’s Word. I wrote about king David’s fiasco (1 Chronicles 21:1-17) as an example in a December 2022 post.2 Another of many Bible illustrations is found in 2 Chronicles 21. King Jehoram had married into the family of wicked king Ahab and followed after their ways. He also murdered his own brothers to eliminate them as rivals. God responded in judgment that brought trouble on the land of Judah and the king personally; sending him a memo in the only recorded letter written by the prophet Elijah. Jehoram died as Elijah foretold and was buried without honor.
It was leaders north and south among the thirteen colonies who passed up the opportunity to do the right thing at the end of the Revolutionary War for “liberty” and extend it to all that incited the Lord’s anger. Having sent awakenings before and after that war along with raising up abolitionists as prophets who cried out against slavery and were rejected, He brought judgment and His will to bear in the Civil War (2 Samuel 2-3:1).3 As I have written in other posts, my forefathers were only supposed to be enslaved with hard labor a little while not perpetually for sin in their native land and to humble their hearts before God as was also the case with Judah (Psalm 107:10-12; Zechariah 1:1-6, 12-17).4
The Lord’s good intent is seen in His entrusting slaves brought to the New World to people as masters who largely professed to be Christians, supposedly feared Him and obeyed His Word (Colossians 4:1). But the many guilty leaders flagrantly chose not to heed His Word and no amount of denial about or dressing them up can alter the historical facts. For in an effort to deflect the tarnish of a heritage filled with the sinful and racially bigoted abuses of their colonial and after forefathers, many conservative white Christians today are rightly targeting the deceit embodied in progressivism’s liberal Critical Race Theory, but wrongly denying the hard truths still preserved in the historical facts.5
This approach finds no favor with God since it too, is deceitful and foils the humble repentance He requires to receive His forgiveness taught in Scripture as not only Daniel demonstrated in the Blog cited in the foregoing footnote, but others as well (Nehemiah 9:1-37; Psalms 32:1-5, 51:1-17; Isaiah 59:1-15, 66:1-2; Jeremiah 3:21-25, 14:17-22; 2 Corinthians 7:8-11). God punished the whole nation for the wicked decision of its leaders to deny freedom to all as He also answered the cry for it by humbled Christian slaves, their ostensible brethren (Psalms 103:6-14, 107:13-16, 39-43; Philemon 8-21). Therefore, let the guilty leaders of a now, divided America repent; carefully considering that only those fully obeying His Word as it is written and trusting in Him are on God’s side (Luke 11:14-28)!6
1 Read the President’s exact quote regarding someone’s assertion God was on the side of the Union North.
2 See the December 11, 2022 post, Christ Persecuted To His Birth, under the category, Instruction.
3 All Israel in the cited Scripture knew God had anointed David king of the nation instead of Saul (1 Samuel 16:1-13) and should have rallied to him after Saul’s death. Howe- ver, they resisted His will. In the same way God’s will for men to enjoy freedom was well known to the nation’s founders who gave it to themselves and those that were white skinned, but not all despite declaring and enshrining in their founding document “that all men are created equal” by God, “their Creator!”
4 Read the two-part post that begins February 21, 2021, Willful Ignorance Destroys, under the category, Black History and particularly the second part that addresses God’s purposes behind slavery.
5 See the two-part post that begins January 16, 2022, Arriving At These Times, under the categories Bible Prophecy and Call To Repent. With relatively few exceptions, pro- fessed Christian white America’s form of slavery was openly over the top violently brutal, oppressive and sexually exploitive in rebellion against, transgression and perver- sion of all the spiritual principles, morality and ethics found in God’s Word. This not universally confessed and repented of evil has contributed to the rejection of Christian- ity by untold negatively impacted, demoralized and embittered black males to this very day!
6 As I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, professed Christian men as husbands, fathers, pastors, elders and ministry leaders are to set an example of obedience as Christ did with His help. When we do not give heed to “the whole counsel of God,” just like leaders of nations we can be sure His judgment will catch up to us too (Acts 20:26-27; James 3:1, NKJV). Pick up a copy of my book at your favorite internet bookseller or brick and mortar bookstore, the Strong Man Store and the FSTVEP Resource Store on The From Slavery To Victory Education Web Site I urge you to visit to get more of a biblical worldview of black history as part of American his- tory.
The Lord’s call to passionately return to the work He originally commanded His disciples as one of the major outcomes of repentance and revival is to guilty Christian leaders too so they can get out in front and lead the way! For it has been the failure to faithfully lead God’s people by biblical precept and example that has brought them, the churches and the nation to the present crisis.1 Passivity on the one hand and the pursuit of selfish ambitions on the other in satanic captivity to religion has caused these leaders to stubbornly resist God’s longsuffering call to repentance and revival until now as I have seen and is historically displayed by ancient Israel’s leaders in His Word.
Generally speaking, intense enthusiasm or passion for a cause is a common trait among men from ancient times and certainly the majority of godly men in the Bible to include, of course, Jesus Christ, the Strong Man of God they unknowingly or knowingly sought to emulate (John 2:13-17)! To lack zeal for the Lord’s cause is one of those clear indicators of being devoid of the Holy Spirit in either never having had His indwelling presence or in quenching His fire through unbelief and disobedience (John 3:1-8; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). Both cases exist among professing American Christian leaders because the Holy Spirit is largely irrelevant to the existence and activity of manmade Christianity the religion.
As I have witnessed and found validated by research, the typical American church is led and attended by men that can only be described as passive. Passionless leaders routinely go through the motions of conducting services and presiding over the traditional annual whatever activities mostly women enjoy, while the relatively few men that attend or participate mimic their disposition. David Murrow calls the situation a “leadership crisis” and cites a 2002 George Barna survey that showed that while 92% of 2,400 Protestant pastors called themselves leaders, a specific definition of leading and having spiritual gifts tied to it or a vision dropped the percentage down to the single digits.2
I have also witnessed and read the statistics many times over of Christian pastors that are filled with energetic passion to fulfill their visions of achievement and greatness in raw selfish ambition. Not souls for the Kingdom, but warm bodies to fill seats and offering plates to enable these men to realize their definition of success (which is typically to gain recognition and a brick and mortar legacy by exceeding the congregation size and empire expanse of another pastor) is their priority. Never mind there is no divine mandate whatsoever for pastors to do this in the New Testament, though this sinful ego pride of leaders is portrayed in Scripture (1 Samuel 15:10-12; 2 Samuel 18:18).
Both passive dispassionate and energetic selfishly ambitious pastors have equally resisted the Lord’s call to repentance and revival through me because many say, “the Lord has not said anything to me.” Of course, historically, the prophet comes mostly after God cannot get through to the people and their leadership because they have resisted Him first (Ezekiel 2:1-5, 3:4-7)! The leaders do offer guidance that is supposed to help me gain their ear such as abandon the Lord’s futile calling and carry on as they do to have success. But if I do that, would I not foolishly become guilty of the very things the Lord sent me to cry out against and warn about the consequences (1 Kings 13:1-32)?3
Indeed, it is for the Lord today among church leaders that are guilty as it was in days of old among Israel’s flesh driven religious leaders. Those weak and passive leaders too caused the people “to err” (you consider it a good thing that women rule over men, but the Almighty regards this as utter weakness--Isaiah 3:12, 9:13-17, NKJV) and looked upon their service to God with contempt (Malachi 1:6-14). The selfishly ambitious back then as well were always seeking for a way to fulfill their desires for success and wealth by laying out self serving visions and protecting evil rulers in their sin to be king makers and for gain. They also schemed to bilk the people and profaned God and His service as though He was unable to see any of them (Psalm 94:4-9; Ezekiel 13:1-7, 22:23-29).
The failure to lead as Holy Ghost gifted and called visionary leaders with ambition to fulfill the divine cause in the churches is truly a long standing crisis that has now brought the whole nation to the brink of sudden, catastrophic judgment! Therefore, professing Christian church leaders that are guilty must lead the way in all heartfelt repentance and plea for revival (Joel 2:12-14). Those that do not will suffer with all and endure complete humiliation in their experience of God’s wrath when it falls upon the nation (Ezekiel 13:8-16). You were given the opportunity to “stand in the gap” when God called, but you refused bringing not rapture, but wrath to yourselves (Ezekiel 22:30-31, NKJV). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See the September 20-November 1, 2015 blog posts addressing pastors, other church and wider leaders.
2 David Murrow, Why Men Hate Going To Church, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), p. 71.
3 Related snares set out by these leaders include the counsel to “get to know” each one personally so that supposedly they can discern my authenticity (which in the
end, does not seem to matter since they still refuse to repent or support the Ministry) and using the old adage, “you catch more flies with honey than you do with
vinegar.” To both the Lord’s Word shows neither He nor any of His faithful prophets in any generation ever sought the approval of men for the privilege of communi-
cating the divine message or softened it for the sake of acceptance. Truly, their harshest words were reserved for Israel’s religious leaders (Matthew 3:1-10, 23:27-
33). God validates His sent ones and with His Word, confirms their message to be either accepted or rejected! Yes, I painfully know this means a hard road for
the faithful prophet to the shame and condemnation of unrepentant, professing Christian religionists and their leaders.
From my 1977 Resurrection Sunday birth into the faith until now, I have encountered a steady parade of pastors, elders and leaders in the churches that without shame or thought of repentance ambitiously pursue the earthly rewards of authority, recognition, money and success. No doubt, a few have even approached God the Father with tearful prayers as the young man in Christ’s parable to ask for those things as their share in the family inheritance. They go to any number of schools eager to help them get the credentials needed to realize their dreams. In His all knowing, wisdom and permissive will, God has allowed a great number of these men to have their way (Luke 15:11-12). Mind you, the biblically taught motives for serving the Lord are love, pleasing Him in doing His will and eternal rewards as Christ, the Strong Man of God gave us example (John 8:29, 14:31; Hebrews 12:1-2). In accord with His requirement to be His disciple and example, we do not come to Jesus in order to have God fulfill our dreams, but to line up behind the Lord to do His will to the point of death if called upon (Luke 9:23). Now, it just so happens as aspiring strong men in the image of Christ have discovered, God equips us with spiritual gifts, a corresponding calling and ministry that in satisfaction far exceeds any dream we may have had for ourselves though great suffering attend it. It is to the praise of God that the divine will to any extent is able to still be accomplished through any of us as redeemed sinners, but especially those sons as pastors, elders and leaders that operate out of their own selfish motives and agenda. Many men that realize God has gifted and called them into the ministry of teaching and preaching as pastors, elders and leaders quickly shed their biblically taught motives and instead, embrace the worldly rooted motives for authority, recognition, money and success they see are displayed in their role models and peers. These carnal motives in their leaders are widely accepted by and entrenched in the culture of the churches today. Ministry with carnal motives leads quickly to the “far country” of compromise and corruption of God’s Word, rebellion against the divine will in arrogant self-exaltation, pride and sinful living whether publically seen or not (Luke 15:13, NKJV). Such men clamor after titles--to be called “Bishop” for example, which was corrupted historically by manmade Christianity the religion, but in the New Testament continues to simply refer to one that is an elder or pastor of a local church--and insist on sitting in the chief seats to exercise authority and be recognized contrary to our Lord’s instruction (Matthew 20:20-28, 23:1-12). They turn men away from following Christ to themselves (Acts 20:30). These men under pastors, elders and leaders in the far country are used not to build up God’s Kingdom, but theirs. This is another great reason men in large numbers are missing from the churches. They recognize that for all of the religious talk, the bottom line is the leadership wants to use them for their own purposes not the Lord’s. For the record, sir, saved men do not belong to you nor does God send them to you to help fulfill your visions of grandeur. They belong to Christ who died for them and gifts and calls them to do the Kingdom work of building His Church (Matthew 4:18-22, 16:13-20, 28:19-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Ephesians 4:7-16), not yours! If in the far country--to include Preachers In LA--you realize all of the worldly and selfish motives of your heart for serving and never repent, then the Lord declares that you with all other outwardly religious folk have your reward and inheritance in full (Matthew 6:1-6). If however, at the end of your dreams fulfilled in the far country you wake up in the pig pen of emptiness, disillusionment and despair, the Lord longsuffering, gracious and merciful awaits your return to Him in repentance with forgiveness, a warm welcome home and rejoicing (Luke 15:14-24). You have rightly understood your pig pen as the Lord’s chastening and responded accordingly (Psalm 32:1-5, 86:15; Ezekiel 18:30-32; 1 Corinthians 11:31-32). Rather than being jealous and envious of you that have come to your senses and returned to God, Christ and we with Him as the other, faithful son of the Father’s house in the Lord’s parable celebrate (Luke 15:25-32)! Truly, sent by God out of His love to warn of His fiery judgment near at hand (1 Corinthians 3:5-17; Revelation 18:1-8), I have longed with His heart for the repentance of my fellow pastors, elders and leaders in the churches that from impure motives and sin have gone off to the far country. Are you not also among the men our God seeks to restore through our strong man of God cause and message? Therefore, I exhort the guilty to repent now returning home to faithfully serve God with proper motives and await His full, glorious eternal reward and inheritance in Christ!
In last week’s post, I announced this Ministry’s evangelistic outreach with the Gospel to Generations Y and Z through our latest Online Rally.1 The preaching of the Gospel and witnessing of Christ to make disciples has been and will remain the starting place of our restoration work among men and all mankind until God’s end! This priority is consistent with and clearly signals our continuing obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ who gave it as the Great Commission to His followers (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-49). Search high and low in the New Testament and you will not find a directive from the Lord to seek to save any nation, no, not even Israel, but souls from among them!
As a concerned, voting citizen of this nation with family and progeny here, I empathize with those calling themselves conservative Christians and patriots that want to fight to save it from its very obvious downward spiral to collapse. But this is not the priority Christ has given His followers. We may use every legal, biblically righteous and praiseworthy means to stand against the evil destroying America as our secondary labor, but the first task authentic believers in Jesus Christ have been given following His example is taking the Gospel to the lost or did He not know Israel was occupied and oppressed by pagan Rome (Matthew 4:12-17; Luke 13:1-3, 15:1-10, 19:1-10, 20:20-26)?
It is actually the Lord’s assignment to preach the Gospel and witness Him making disciples with revival among those already claiming to be in the fold as positive outcomes that hold out the best chance of at least bringing about a temporary slowdown to our nation’s self-destruction as I similarly wrote previously.2 Otherwise, fighting as a priority to forcibly impose biblical morality through political and legal processes on a nation in the majority that does not want it hastens the day of its collapse! The angry response to the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade is Exhibit A for the open hostility in the nation toward plain biblical morality and righteousness (Exodus 20:13).
Indeed, the Supreme Court decision taking away the ungodly legal sanction of murder has awakened virulent hostility toward Christians like no other time in our nation’s history.3 The reaction is comparable to taking away an addict’s stash without consent. Expecting the deprived addict to be calmly accepting of this is absurd! Only salvation with Holy Spirit wrought true conversion and biblical instruction can cause anti-Christians enraged by the Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade to be “renewed” in their thinking (Ephesians 4:17-24, NKJV). Hence, the wise focus in obedience to Christ on saving souls as a first priority is the best hope for prolonging the nation past a sooner downfall.4
Even so, there is no biblical guarantee the sovereign God will allow America to stand any longer than necessary to harvest from it the balance of souls He has foreknown from eternity will answer His call to repentance and faith in the Gospel of His Son. Working through The Acts Of The Apostles in my personal Bible study, I have been amazed yet again at their faithful evangelistic labor focusing on saving souls, not nations. After the Lord checked them on their anticipation of immediate national restoration and set their priority work on witnessing Him, His twelve apostles maintained their hope for Israel’s future restoration as they obeyed Him (Acts 1:4-8, 15-2:41, 3:11-26, 10:24-48).
The Jewish apostle Christ sent to us Gentiles, Saul of Tarsus also called Paul, was of the same mind (Acts 13:13-49; Romans 11). He made several missionary trips making many disciples from Syria, the Mediterranean Islands, Western Asia, the provinces of Greece and finally Rome itself. Never once did he speak of preserving even his home town or the Jewish homeland. Instead, he concurred with the Lord’s prophecy of wrath coming upon his fellow Jews which it did in 70 AD (Luke 21:20-24; 1 Thessalonians 2:13-16). While Jerusalem as the birthplace of Christianity was destroyed and the Jews scattered from the land first, Syrian Antioch and most of the other great cities and territories Paul in Acts preached the Gospel eventually came to ruin also.
Only standing at this hour (with a few other locales where Christianity once took hold in the first century whose final humiliation is in God’s foretold plans) after over nineteen hundred years of ruin because Jerusalem is still destined for its greatest days (Zechariah 14:16-21), the Gospel is being preached anew in it. The point being history clearly shows God as affirmed in His Word has been more concerned about the Gospel being preached for the salvation of souls than the preservation of nations! Those that believe our nation is so exceptional God would not allow its collapse need to sober up in the face of this reality.5 To be about our Lord’s business is to be zealously preaching the Gospel to make disciples as His priority, not fighting to preserve a nation He is judging (Psalm 2)!
1 Read the July 31, 2022 post, God’s Message Of Reconciliation Proclaimed, under the category, The Cause.
2 See the two-part post beginning September 11, 2016, American Culture’s Religion, under the category, Call To Repent. Our nation is in trouble not only because many do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, but also due to the fact a large number that profess to know Him including among conservatives who want all to honor certain moral prin- ciples from the Bible are hypocritically not obeying His Word as it is written themselves and refuse to repent!
3 The Supreme Court’s decision will be looked back on as a trigger event for the coming violent persecution of Christians in America virulent hostility morphs into the Lord has been leading me to warn about (see the two-part post that begins May 17, 2020, Persecution, Hatred And Betrayal, under the category, Bible Prophecy). Their vio- lent persecution explodes on all the saints because of the persistent, forceful acts by conservative, mostly religionist professed Christians through political and legal means from the court’s decision to continue rolling back more of what the unsaved and rebels consider social “progress.”
4 Lack of the transforming power of God in the Gospel at work is the reason anti and those professing to be Christians out of alignment with Christ and His priority of making disciples are so bewildered about why their worldly based efforts to bring peace and order to their lawless communities are not working. I can understand this of unbeliev- ers, but professed Christian pastors and churches--seriously?
5 Some conservative white professed Christians on Christian television of late have been attempting to rebuke biblical conservatives from all hues for not supporting their idolatrous fervor for saving America. On the sly, they have even used blacks that share their view of American history and exceptionalism in an attempt to negate biblically conservative black voices like mine. Shame on the guilty for falling back on this old, well worn tactic of using either unsuspecting or outright complicit blacks to attempt to nullify the righteous truth spoken by those with whom they disagree. Shame too, on the guilty blacks for being complicit out of a desire for their support. Let all repent! For yet another time I cry out in the Lord: biblical conservatism is not the equivalent of political and social conservatism though, the latter selectively borrows from the for- mer! Biblical conservatives in the image of Christ present and stand on God’s Word as it is written (Luke 4:1-21). They as it suits them with their opposition substantiate their claims by the clever and corrupt twisting of Scripture.
I took my stand at the outset of 2017 as commanded by the Lord and empowered by the Holy Spirit to “wage war against and pull down strongholds of deceit” in arguments raised up to redefine and marginalize men.1 After this, I held up Jesus, Son of Man and declared the value of men.2 Continuing now in steadfast resistance to deceitful, worldly feminism and compromising churches attempting to placate and accommodate it, I again hold up Jesus Christ and show the value of men at this moment in 2018. Beginning with this edited 2011 Commentary and posts to follow leading up to Resurrection Sunday, I declare with clueless Pilate: ‘“Behold, the Man,”’ (John 19:5, NKJV)!
None of this is about marginalizing women as some mistakenly surmise. But in the face of a world defying and many in the churches corrupting and even wickedly rewriting Scripture to sustain deceitful feminism, God Almighty seeks to fully portray the truth of His salvation and restoration that is both corporate for His creature “man” as well as individual among mankind that are willing to embrace them through faith in Jesus, Son of Man! Because of what man the creature by divine design is embodied in the first and second Adams, delightfully known to Satan, but unforeseen to human rebels are the many ruinous consequences of marginalizing men in the wrap up to this present age.
Originally Published November 2011
The rebellious attempt by radical feminist besieged Western cultures to eradicate gender distinctives in mankind is leading to a severe, unintended consequence. Short of this severe consequence is the unfolding lack of employment for men in jobs that capitalize on their divine design to envision and boldly embark on the risky venture to construct or accomplish what they saw in their minds. Such men sit on the sidelines while what jobs are available in the service sector, for example, go to women in the name of a twisted, worldly brand of equality. Without a change of some kind soon, distraught unemployed family men that understand their responsibility to provide will revolt.
The phrase in Genesis 1:26a is brief, but thoroughly pregnant with instruction: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness,'" (NKJV). God, Creator of the heavens, earth and all they contain, on purpose made only one creature specifically named to be man in the image and likeness of God. Among the many transmittable attributes of deity man was to enjoy from the stated intent of God is the visionary leadership of his Creator. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a visionary is one marked by foresight and has visions. His visions are of fantasy and dreams; existing only in the imagination and not very practical or I might add, always doable.
How do we know God is a visionary leader? From cover to cover the Bible declares the visionary leadership of God! For example, Isaiah the prophet writes, "For thus says the Lord Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: 'I am the Lord, and there is no other,'" (Isaiah 45:18, NKJV). When and where did God envision His creation along with His purposes for it? From eternity where He dwells and in His own mind which He has gladly revealed to His sons in Christ (Psalm 90:2, 93:2; Isaiah 57:15a, 64:4; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16).
Genesis 1:1 is the declarative statement of God acting to bring His creative vision to fulfillment. For while men may have many great visions and dream fantastic dreams, only God can and has brought all of His to pass. Even so, God has willed to impart His visionary leadership ability to man and particularly in this age, men. As I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, men and women are different by divine design with men made to prominently display God’s ruling function.3 Men are wired in every part of their existence right down to hormones to fulfill this function. This important ruling function in the image and likeness of God includes visionary leadership.
The history of mankind cannot be revised on this score. It is the visionary leadership of men from Adam to this hour that has conquered lands, built civilizations, dared to walk on the moon and pushes the boundaries of cyberspace. This historical reality is so in spite of the presence of sin in men. Rather than limiting a man's desire to dream and bring to reality, sin with the help of Satan has only corrupted and deceitfully influenced his imagination. As a result, God has stepped in at times to judge the vision inspired works of men and redirect their efforts such as at the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).
The point is that while in general women by divine design are excellent managers of what exists, men have been the historical practitioners of visionary leadership that dreams and brings what does not exist into reality. Properly informed by the Holy Spirit an aspiring strong man of God in the image of Christ exercises his visionary leadership first in the home, then the local church and beyond. What is the "Great Commission" of Jesus Christ first given to 1st century men but the continuing fulfillment of God's vision to finally have saved mankind dwell with Him forever (Matthew 28:16-20; Revelation 21:1-8)? Truly, wired for visionary leadership mostly men from that time until now have bought into and risked their lives to fulfill God's vision to the ends of the earth!4
Certainly to unemployed men the truth of God given visionary leadership should inspire a turning to Him for an entrepreneurial vision that will enable you to support your family. But soberly, this truth is also a warning to our rebelling nation: stop the evil experiment of redefining men and women! Not only is this leading to an eventual revolt by beleaguered men, but the severe, unintended consequence of our nation's economic ruin in the shadow of God's coming wrath (Proverbs 29:18; Isaiah 3:12, 24:1-13; Revelation 6:5-6). Professed Christians and their churches that have supported this feminist led rebellion against God will not escape (1 Peter 4:17-18). The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 See the January 22, 2017 Blog, In God’s Revival Men Are Restored, Pt. 3, under the category, The Cause.
2 Read these series of posts under The Cause category January 29-February 12, 2017 and June 4-25, 2017 respectively.
3 The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics is available through all major internet booksellers, by order from your favorite brick and mortar bookstore and in the Strong Man
Store.
4 Such a man in modern times was Dr. Billy Graham who departed home to the Lord this past February 21, 2018. Read my November 4, 2016 post honoring him.
Patriotism is found among individuals in all of the nations on earth! It becomes idolatry when the love for and devotion given to one’s nation including service and gifts exceeds that which is given to “the only true God,” (John 17:3, NKJV). This prescription for idolatry also applies to anyone or thing that we may become devoted to beyond our nation. For the first commandment of ten proclaimed by God to and written for Israel that also embodies the uppermost of His eternal transcendent spiritual principles is ‘“You shall have no other gods before Me,’” (Exodus 20:3, NKJV).1 Excessive devotion to a nation in idolatry is as precarious and detrimental as it is with any other god of this age!
Adam at the beginning and all mankind thereafter in whatever ethnic and/or national groupings were supposed to exclusively bow to and worship the God of the Bible as our Creator and sovereign Ruler (Genesis 2:7-9, 15-17; Acts 17:22-28). However, Satan, that fallen angel, worked to turn the first man’s heart from God by successfully enticing his wife, then he, to disobey Him (Genesis 3:1-11). Later, God did what He had never done or would do again. He purposely formed a nation through the elect men Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Personally acted to bring them out of bondage to another nation to be His own people, Israel (Exodus 2:23-25; Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Romans 3:1-2, 9:1-5).2
It is in the context of making a covenant with Israel that God gave them His Law contained in Ten Commandments He audibly spoke to them then, along with Moses wrote them and related ordinances, statutes and judgments (Deuteronomy 5:1-22, 9:9-11, 31:24-29; Psalm 147:20). I opened this post quoting the first commandment. The second is related. It prohibited the making of and bowing to an image of anything in the sky, earth or water. In it God transparently declared He is “a jealous God” as the reason (Deuteronomy 5:8-10, NKJV). Not the nation as a first priority, but God was to be the primary object of loving devotion by every individual Jew and the nation as a whole.
The Lord Jesus Christ affirmed the foregoing when He quoted from the written Law answering a question about the chief commandment saying, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength,” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Mark 12:28-30, NKJV). Clearly, the Lord also applied His answer to Himself as the Son of God (Luke 14:25-26). Despite this, many professed Christians revere and exalt our nation to such an extent as to easily be idolaters and offensive to Heaven. Some even attempt to justify their excessive devotion by asserting America is “a Christian nation” and imply God established it as He did Israel.3
If in fact America is a Christian nation it has apostatized and will suffer fully as Israel over the millennia, but with no hope for a future recovery through deliverance by Christ since the nation now, willfully rejects Him they once all believed in (Hebrews 6:4-6, 10:26-31)!4 And as it concerns the good intentions of the professed Christian founders of the nation to anchor it to the Bible’s morality, the guilty began the slide to where we are today by retaining slavery. Others even corrupted the Bible by ripping out pages to take the hope of freedom away from slaves.5 Besides this, a Christian nation apart from all being born again Christians precludes submitting to God’s moral Law (Romans 8:6-9).6
In a prophetic context that announces the time near at hand when God in majestic greatness will show up in Person to “comfort” His doubly punished people, Israel, with all of the accompanying upheaval on the earth and in the universe, He makes known in no uncertain terms what He thinks of the Gentile nations formed by men (Isaiah 40:1-14, NKJV). The prophet declares, “Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and counted as the small dust on the scales…All nations before Him are as nothing, and they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless,” (Isaiah 40:15-17, NKJV). The normal meaning of “all” here would have to include our nation too. In His sovereign will and for His temporal purposes, “He makes nations great, and destroys them,” (Job 12:23a, NKJV).7
“To whom” or what can God be compared to? Surely, nothing in creation or made by men in idolatry will do which is another reason God forbids making images of anyone or thing and worshiping them; nation worship being no exception since you insult the only living God (Isaiah 40:18-20, 44:6-8; Romans 1:18-23, NKJV)! He looks down from Heaven on the earth and “its inhabitants” in the midst of the universe He in wisdom and power created (Isaiah 40:21-26, NKJV). He rules the nations as He raises them and their rulers up and brings them down (Psalm 22:27-28; Daniel 2:20-21).8 “Blessed” indeed, “is the nation whose God is the LORD,” (Psalm 33:10-12, NKJV)! Yet, God is also gracious to rebel nations; giving them opportunity and time to repent if they will (Jeremiah 18:7-12).9
1 Faithfulness to God is one of several eternal character traits of Christ He forges in the hearts of His aspiring strong men and great women in His Son’s image I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. I invite you to pick up a Hard or Soft Cover or E-Book Edition of the book as well as the companion Strong Man Of God Men’s Group Study and Great Woman Of God Women’s Group Study in the Strong Man Store, among internet booksellers and brick and mortar bookstores.
2 Read the July 2, 2023 post, Christians Are To Fulfill God’s Written Law, under the category, Instruction. Continuing His original intent with Israel under the New Covenant still to be fully realized by them at Christ’s return, God has included Gentiles at present in fulfilling His creation of a “holy nation,” (Matthew 22:1-14; 1 Peter 2:4-10, NKJV).
3 I have already asserted directly from Scripture why such a thing could not be the case in the second paragraph of this post and others previously. See for example, part two of the two-part post that begins August 2, 2020, Flavorless Salt Is Worthless, under the category, Call To Repent.
4 An apostatized America is preposterous! Read footnote 8 of the above cited post.
5 See and learn more about The Slave Bible on this Ministry’s The From Slavery To Victory Education Project Web Site.
6 Here is absolute truth from apostolic instruction that cannot be brushed aside without seriously corrupting the faith. The Lord recently led me to warn that the attempt to force obedience to His moral law upon our secular nation through legal means will be disastrous. Read the August 7, 2022 post, Saving Souls Not Nations, under the cate- gory, The Cause.
7 In the eyes of God, America is not exceptional or too big (important) to fail! Rather than the arrogant stance of exceptionalism, professed Christians holding to this belief should be humbled and petitioning God not to righteously destroy our nation for its wickedness while repenting from their sins displeasing Him beginning with arrogance as well as those of the nation’s fathers with it idolatrously venerated! Watch the Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube Channel and consider this from His Word along with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
8 God is not being capricious, but is working all things toward His predetermined end in Christ (Daniel 2:44; Ephesians 1:7-10)! See the January 10, 2021 post, Praying At Cross-Purposes With God, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
9 Israel is the poster child for the nation both blessed of God and punished for rejecting His call to repentance from sinning against Him (Jeremiah 18:13-17; Ezekiel 36:16-38).
This blog post is an edited and expanded version of supplemental articles the Lord led me to write in the June 2012 and 2013 Strong Man Of God Monthly Newsletter that immediately followed “Man As God Designed Him” and “Raised To Immortal Glory, Pt. 3” when those Commentaries were respectively published in the same publication. Clearly, the glorious immortal destiny of the saints of God is infinitely greater than those that choose to reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the mercies of God, I cry out to the reader outside of Christ by any means including as a professing Christian impostor or spiritually dead religionist to repent now and turn to Him while you have the opportunity!
Originally Published June 2013
Scripture teaches every single human being that has ever lived and died will be raised from the dead by Jesus Christ: some to immortal glory; some to immortal condemnation (Daniel 12:2; John 5:25-29)! In accord with God’s will and purposes as the apostle Paul teaches, the resurrection of all deceased humanity to immortality will be in ordered sequence. Thus, Jesus Christ is the first glorified immortal followed by those that by faith belong to Him at His Second Coming (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). Paul is led by the Holy Spirit to narrowly discuss only the resurrection of the saints directly following Christ’s as the focus of His instruction on the topic to the church at Corinth.
However, the apostle John reveals that between the resurrection of Christ to immortal glory and that of the saints, there will be a select number of persons that are raised to immortality. The next immortals after Christ will be the “Antichrist” (1 John 2:18; Revelation 13:1-10, NKJV), God’s two witnesses (Revelation 11:3-12), the false prophet (Revelation 13:11-18) and as “firstfruits” to God and Christ before the full harvest of all the saints, 144,000 men who had been lifelong celibates in the Lord’s service and now form His new and unique innermost circle as I write in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics (Revelation 14:1-5, NKJV).
Three and one half years after the resurrection to immortality of the Antichrist, all of the Lord’s saints are raised to immortal glory (Revelation 14:14-16, 20:4-6). One thousand years after this, all of the wicked are resurrected to immortality to be judged on the Day of Judgment and immediately condemned to “Hell” or if you will, “the lake of fire” with “Death and Hades” (Matthew 18:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15, NKJV). The two evil human immortals, Antichrist and false prophet, will have actually preceded Satan and his fallen angelic hosts and the main body of wicked immortals as the first to be cast into the lake of fire (Daniel 7:11; Revelation 19:19-20, 20:7-10).
The clear evidence the Antichrist is truly slain and resurrects an immortal (Revelation 13:3) is his single handed take down of the Lord’s supernaturally empowered two witnesses. Until the Antichrist, no human force on earth is able to get near them as they carry out God’s campaign to protect Israel during their reinstated temple worship complete with animal sacrifices and plague assisted call for humanity to turn to God in repentance. “The beast” or Antichrist is described as he “that ascends out of the bottomless pit” (which is another name for Hades, the realm of the dead awaiting judgment) to kill the two witnesses, stop temple sacrifices and launch his God shortened 42 month reign of desolation (Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15-22; Revelation 8:12-13, 11:1-7, NKJV).
Those obsessed with their worldly brand of gender equality are surely stymied and disappointed to know the beast and later the resurrected false prophet along with all of the pre-Second Coming immortals are men and retain a masculine form in their immortal spiritual bodies. Hence, the immortal Antichrist in appearance “greater than his fellows” and “fierce” of face is called the “man of sin” and “son of perdition” since his masculine form indicates this is what he is (Daniel 7:19-20, 8:23; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, NKJV). Consistent then with the immortal spiritual bodies of the saints, the spiritual bodies of the immortal wicked will retain the general frame and form of the natural, mortal human body. Wicked immortals will not marry, procreate or even desire sex either.
Besides transformation from natural to spiritual, the immortal bodies of the wicked as seen in the Antichrist share indestructibility in common with those of the saints. He is able to kill God’s two witnesses because they cannot kill him with their God granted power of fire that destroys mortal flesh. This is perfectly consistent with what our Lord Jesus teaches about Hell’s torment as He stresses that the worm of the wicked immortals there never dies in the fire that is never extinguished (Mark 9:42-48). Unlike God’s glorified immortal sons, wicked immortals in Hell will have the ability to shed tears and experience pain as they forever weep and grind their teeth in agony (Matthew 13:41-42, 47-50, 24:48-51, 25:41-46; Revelation 21:4).
Too, the immortal spiritual bodies of the wicked are stripped down from those of the saints. They have no glory. And while Scripture does not specify whether or not the Antichrist or false prophet are able to fly, appear or disappear, it does declare that Satan and all of his hosts will have been confined to earth at this time precluding any travel in the spiritual realm by anything evil beyond it (Revelation 12:7-12). Save what God grants these two evil immortals to temporarily do by the power of Satan (Revelation 13:11-15), they will not have any supernatural abilities--the glorified immortal saints by contrast, eternally operate in the power of the Holy Spirit! Indeed, all that these two evil immortals do is orchestrated, empowered and overseen by Satan (2 Thessalonians 2:9).
For this reason, the Antichrist will fully honor only the devil as a god above himself--therefore, understand, he will not advocate for any major religion or preside over any form of ecumenicalism as some teach (Daniel 8:24-25, 11:36-39; Revelation 13:4). Truly, as seen in the Antichrist, the wicked are not done at all with evil after death. Returning from his short stay in Hades very bitter knowing his eternal fate--as do all at death, his first major act is to kill men who are plainly God’s servants fully showing no repentance. Conversely, he is eternally hardened into his evil mindset in which God’s just end for him and all that reject Christ is “outer darkness” in Hell forever (Matthew 22:1-14, NKJV)! The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
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