I’ve been thinking more about a previous post where I explain why I think the picture of a recent Portland, Oregon, riot that reveals a Bible along with an American flag on a burn pile is so representative of this summer of Marxist muscle-flexing in the United States.
I explain why I think photos of that event might one day show up in history texts as a symbol of the prelude to a totalitarian takeover of the United States unless the massive, awakening majority of Americans take a definitive stand and push back not only in the upcoming election but also in days, months, and years hence in all the institutions the Marxists have infiltrated.
As I reflect, I keep coming back to this quote because in a sense it includes the seed of our salvation, though likely unbeknownst to the speaker:
“Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community — they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.” –Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, 1/17
Because the thing is, God (the God of the Bible) owns Sunday.
You might say.
In the hubris that often plagues the race, we may think and believe we have unending power, knowledge, and capability to do whatever we want–including figuring out how to live forever in the flesh, especially now with a little help from our AI friends (once we figure out how to program them for that).
But hubris is a hard-hearted hombre–also blinding.
One whose righteousness relies on self (or intelligence communities up to no good) can stare for hours straight into the face of evil, for example, and call it good and even believe the lie, no matter how big it is.
But truth and the search for it among sincere and the honest people is something that even the great power of the most sophisticated of psychological operations still cannot, in the end, best.
We see evidence of this today where despite the cleverest of media wordsmiths plying their trade 24/7, there’s still plenty of critical thinkers who can identify a naked emperor as such when they see one.
It can be difficult, however, as our real enemy (Deceiver of deceivers) wielding the firepower of terror and intimidation behind the scenes can still set the world in a spin and the streets on fire to distract, disorient, and destroy.
For a season, anyway.
This is why my encouragement for all of us today is to take a a few moments to quiet our understandably disquieted minds, emotions, and hearts to put things in perspective; to look up and around; to step away from the narrowing, choking fray for a spell and breath deep of the knowledge of the vastly greater power behind truth and goodness.
In the midst of the dark power desperate to keep us busy with bad news which binds the mind and stifles resistance, it is both encouraging and healing to take the long view, the eternal one, to ponder that greater power that has not only survived but yet thrives against the pricks and jabs of momentary adversity.
Until our shoulders start easing down from our ears and we realize, “Oh yes, I almost forgot…”
The source of this eternal respite?
He Who “owns Sunday”.
Here are a few reminders of HIS power put in His own words to the beleaguered Job of Old Testament fame who, for a season, was caught up in not only his own multiple miseries but also in the presumptions and accusations of self-righteous locals:
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? [said God]
Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone 7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings* shouted for joy?
8 ‘Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb?— 9 when I made the clouds its garment,
and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10 and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors, 11 and said, “Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped”?
12 ‘Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place, 13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it? 14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
and it is dyed* like a garment. 15 Light is withheld from the wicked,
and their uplifted arm is broken.
16 ‘Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.
Now that’s power!
Figurative, literal, and real.
And Job, mind and heart settled, recovered–and once again thrived.*
Below is another of my favorite illustrations of God’s power that puts the puny dark forces into correct perspective.
(I mean, really, Senator, not to mention all you Marxist Bible-burners, you think you can come against THIS for long?)
~~~~
*Here are two more reflections on the messages in the book of Job:
For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. (Luke 8:17, NIV)
The Kraken
In literature, mythology, and folklore, the “Kraken” is a powerful, many-tentacled sea monster (a giant squid) of Scandinavian origin, supposedly capable of “dragging entire ships down to its dwelling place in the deepest reaches of the ocean”(source). The stories serve as a warning to seafarers.
But to my post today, the Kraken in the poem of the same name by Alfred Lord Tennyson represents the dangerous and powerful creature as evil metamorphosed. Continue reading →
Below are two excellent presentations regarding today’s topics.
In my view, anybody who has seen images such as the above depicting the burning of a Bible together with an American flag at one of this summer’s criminal riots in the city of Portland, Oregon, realized in the photos iconic representations of a watershed moment in this summer’s arsons, looting, physical assaults, and murders, where the rubber finally met the road, i.e., where evidence finally surfaced that the real war is both ancient and ongoing: man verse God, totalitarianism versus freedom, evil versus good.
I believe in future history books pictures like this will be featured in a similar light just as images of the Nazi’s infamous Kristallnacht represent the prelude to Hitler’s bloody, genocidal regime in Germany in the last century.Continue reading →
Many in the United States who read this can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when the twin World Trade Center towers in New York were hit by terrorists on September 11, 2001. Continue reading →
This is a very good reminder of the consequences of relentless fear–and fear-mongering–not only in the press but also on the streets, in families, in institutions, in one’s mind and heart, and everywhere else. However, we are encouraged:
Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ (Isaiah 41:10, NKJV)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy, 1:7)
Jonathan Cahn’s recently released new book, Harbinger II, the Return also includes yet more significance of the number 19 in Old Testament references as well as prophetic implications of the 19-year span of time since the tragedy of 9/11.
I’m not one much for political signs, bumper stickers, or wearables, but I recently purchased a T-shirt with the slogan, “Make Orwell Fiction Again” because to me the expression is a tribute to the message of one of the most brilliant satirists of the last century whose writing exposed the failed totalitarian experiments that left millions in their collective, murderous wake.
The Orwell alluded to, of course, is George Orwell, author of Nineteen Eighty-Four(published in 1949), the tale of a dystopian futuristic society named Oceania ruled by socialist-styled totalitarians following an anti-capitalist revolution. Continue reading →
Of all the posts on the general topic of survival that include both spiritual and temporal preparation and on-the-ground strategies this is the one that comes most often to mind for such a time as this.
But the Thing Is, Senator, GOD Owns Sunday
Phyllis Beveridge Nissila
I’ve been thinking more about a previous post where I explain why I think the picture of a recent Portland, Oregon, riot that reveals a Bible along with an American flag on a burn pile is so representative of this summer of Marxist muscle-flexing in the United States.
I explain why I think photos of that event might one day show up in history texts as a symbol of the prelude to a totalitarian takeover of the United States unless the massive, awakening majority of Americans take a definitive stand and push back not only in the upcoming election but also in days, months, and years hence in all the institutions the Marxists have infiltrated.
As I reflect, I keep coming back to this quote because in a sense it includes the seed of our salvation, though likely unbeknownst to the speaker:
Because the thing is, God (the God of the Bible) owns Sunday.
You might say.
In the hubris that often plagues the race, we may think and believe we have unending power, knowledge, and capability to do whatever we want–including figuring out how to live forever in the flesh, especially now with a little help from our AI friends (once we figure out how to program them for that).
But hubris is a hard-hearted hombre–also blinding.
One whose righteousness relies on self (or intelligence communities up to no good) can stare for hours straight into the face of evil, for example, and call it good and even believe the lie, no matter how big it is.
But truth and the search for it among sincere and the honest people is something that even the great power of the most sophisticated of psychological operations still cannot, in the end, best.
We see evidence of this today where despite the cleverest of media wordsmiths plying their trade 24/7, there’s still plenty of critical thinkers who can identify a naked emperor as such when they see one.
It can be difficult, however, as our real enemy (Deceiver of deceivers) wielding the firepower of terror and intimidation behind the scenes can still set the world in a spin and the streets on fire to distract, disorient, and destroy.
For a season, anyway.
This is why my encouragement for all of us today is to take a a few moments to quiet our understandably disquieted minds, emotions, and hearts to put things in perspective; to look up and around; to step away from the narrowing, choking fray for a spell and breath deep of the knowledge of the vastly greater power behind truth and goodness.
In the midst of the dark power desperate to keep us busy with bad news which binds the mind and stifles resistance, it is both encouraging and healing to take the long view, the eternal one, to ponder that greater power that has not only survived but yet thrives against the pricks and jabs of momentary adversity.
Until our shoulders start easing down from our ears and we realize, “Oh yes, I almost forgot…”
The source of this eternal respite?
He Who “owns Sunday”.
Here are a few reminders of HIS power put in His own words to the beleaguered Job of Old Testament fame who, for a season, was caught up in not only his own multiple miseries but also in the presumptions and accusations of self-righteous locals:
Now that’s power!
Figurative, literal, and real.
And Job, mind and heart settled, recovered–and once again thrived.*
Below is another of my favorite illustrations of God’s power that puts the puny dark forces into correct perspective.
(I mean, really, Senator, not to mention all you Marxist Bible-burners, you think you can come against THIS for long?)
~~~~
*Here are two more reflections on the messages in the book of Job:
What Job Knew (And It’s Good News–No, Really!)
Another Take on Job as Prophetic and How God Foiled Satan’s Plan and Revealed Grace