Wednesday, November 30, 2016

The Primary End Times Prophecy, The Regathering Of Israel, in 1948

I became a Christian at age 12, in a Revival meeting and have tried to serve our Lord ever since. Prophecy was a common subject in those days, especially by evangelists. All Fundamental, Bible believing preachers spoke often of the Second Coming of Christ and the prophecies of things which would precede His Return, the Rapture, Tribulation Period and Millennial Kingdom. The prophecy they quoted which seemed, at the time, to be an impossibility, was the Regathering of the Jews and Reestablishment of a Jewish nation of Israel, where it had once been, in the midst of their worst enemies. Most Christians believed it, but could not conceive of it happening. Everyone knew of the dispersion of the Jews by the Roman Empire soon after Jesus was crucified, and the end of the Jewish nation. It had been given to the Philistines by the Roman Emperor. Then there had been no Jewish nation for nearly 2000 years and they had been persecuted and scattered into every nation on earth. However, they had maintained their Jewish blood line by a strict adherence to their faith and custom of marrying only Jewish men and women. Miraculously the Jewish people, while  scattered into every nation, remained separate from Gentiles as a pure nationality without a nation. What possible miracle could God produce which would force the world, especially the Muslim world, to relent to a new nation of Israel being carved out of lands the Philistines had occupied for almost 2000 years? And, how could the first returning Jews survive there long enough to build a nation? The answer is, the Nazi Holocaust and the Muslims having sided with Germany and Italy in World War 2. When the world saw what the Nazis had done to 6 million Jews in the ovens of the Holocaust, at that moment in time, a temporary sympathy, by the world, for the Jews thought justice required the Jews be given a new homeland where it once had been. That could not have happened at any other moment in history, before or after. The world would not have agreed to it before that moment and the Muslims, growing stronger and richer due to the discovery of oil, would not have allowed it after that moment. It happened May 14,1948. I was a 17 year old Marine in Boot Camp on that date. Israel again had a homeland.

Why did their dispersion end and a restored Israel begin? Obviously God had fulfilled his judgment upon his people, ending with the Nazi Holocaust. The Jews had been without a nation 2000 years, since God's  removal of them from the land He had given them in Genesis 12:1-7. They had occupied the land for 2000 years and then had lost it for another 2000 years because of their denial of their Messiah, Christ and demand that he be crucified by the Romans. This also had been prophesied.....  
"... The assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." Psm. 22:16

The Jews' continual disobedience of the Lord's commands and their rejection of their prophesied Messiah, brought about God's scattering them, by the hand of Rome, "into all the kingdoms of earth." 
"...I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." Jer.34:17. 

This same prophet also prophesied that after a long dispersion into all the earth, the scattering would end and God would regather them to Jerusalem and and restore their nation.....

"And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive." Jer. 29:14. 

To confirm what I said earlier about this prophecy being preached many years before its fulfillment in May of 1948, I will use a book entitled Bible Readings For The Home Circle copyrighted in 1914, 34 years before its fulfillment in 1948. In a section of the book titled, The Gathering Of Israel, the above verse is referenced. 

That section is also introduced with this verse... 

Isa.11:11-12. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth."

So the Jews now have their restored nation, They are home and the balance of history will unfold in and around that nation after the fulfillment of The Church age (Rev.3:22), and the Rapture (Rev.4:1), and then the Tribulation (Rev.4:5) through the rest of the book of The Revelation, all of which is called "Jacob's trouble" in....

Jer.30:7 "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jabob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it."

Yes, the Jews will "be saved" during the Tribulation, almost as a nation, or all that is left of it, after seven years of persecution and death under the Antichrist. The Tribulation is "Jabob's trouble", to draw them to Christ .... not Christian's punishment... Not Christian's trouble. We will be gone, raptured.

"And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." Zech.12:10.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

There Will Come A Dying Time When We Are All Alone

"Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea!" 
The Ancient Mariner

There comes a time in everyone's life when they are all alone, though they be surrounded by people who may love them and want to help them. David, a strong and healthy man, came to that point in his life while he was quite young,
when he cried out in dispair, "I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul." Psm.142:4. He had arrived at the place where, I believe, God wants us all to come to, when no man, woman, child doctor or lawyer can answer out deepest need for healing, peace, hope, faith, security or life itself. It is the Valley of Decision...."Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 3:14. Everyone eventually comes to that lonely place where there is nowhere to turn and no one who can help us. But we must and will turn to someone or something which cannot help us ... or to our Creator God ... who can. Many who come to that crossroads of destiny turn to alcohol or anger or atheism or self pity or suicide, but those choices were not God's intent in letting us come to that dilemma... in the Valley of Decision. Actually, when many people are faced with great fear, hardship or suffering, they turn away from the Lord instead of to Him. "From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." John 6:66-68. When that time of decision came, and Jesus asked His 12 Apostles if they too would "go away". Simon Peter answered for the others, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" He knew that there was no other person or place to turn to in great crisis, though he too later, turned briefly away from Jesus, when his faith was challenged. But he came back to His Lord when, like the prodigal son, he "came to himself" and turned back to his father.

Even Jesus came to that moment in life and was all alone on the cross of crisis and death, and His suffering flesh cried out  "...My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt.27:46. That was not Christ, His Spirit crying out but the crucified body of flesh, Jesus, who was born of Mary, crying out. Later, Jesus totally yielded His dying body to death and His spirit totally into the hands of His Father, God. "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." Luke 23:46. When Jesus' human body of flesh died, His Spirit, Christ, the Holy "ghost" left the fleshly body but resurrected it three days later.

I believe it is God's highest purpose for all of us that we come to the place, in this life, when we are all alone and there is no one who can help us and no other right and holy place to go but to our Lord, God, and that we give ourselves completely to Him whether in life or in death.... just me and God ... just you and God. "... Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." Phil.1:20.

To what or whom will I turn when it is my turn to die? God knows, but I must not presumptuously predict how I will respond to death. But I do know how I should respond. I should say, with Jesus, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit". "It is finished".

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Pope Says He Prays For Castro's "Eternal Heavenly Rest"

My comments in blue.

From Reuters News Service
Pope Francis grieves, prays for atheist revolutionary Castro

Reuters November 26, 2016 VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said the death of Cuba's revolutionary leader Fidel Castro was "sad news" and that he was grieving and praying for his repose. (Is the Pope "grieving" that the Atheist dictator, Fidel, is no longer with us to hold the Cuban people in Communist bondage, or that the Atheist is now, himself, in the bondage of hell? The latter can't be true because the Pope confesses to "praying for his repose". Webster's Dictionary defines the word "repose" thusly: "A state of resting  after exertion or strain; especially : rest in sleep or Eternal heavenly rest." (Either way, it is a bit late to successfully pray Fidel out of hell or into heaven. He is where he is. RB)
Pope Francis expressed his condolences in a Spanish-language message to Fidel's brother, President Raul Castro on Saturday. 

The pope, who met Fidel Castro when he visited Cuba last year, said he had received the "sad news" and added: "I express to you my sentiments of grief." 

Fidel Castro, who was a professed atheist, was baptized as a Catholic and educated in schools run by the Jesuits, the religious order of which the pope is a member. ( It is interesting that Castro was "baptized as a Catholic and educated in the Pope's Jesuit Catholic schools". I am curious at the Pope's admiration for an Atheist Fidel Castro. It appears the Pope feels the Jesuit schools matriculated a commendable Fidel Castro. He certainly wasn't admired by those Cubans whose businesses and property he confiscated and whose fathers and sons were put to the firing squads. The regime he overthrew was not as bad as he. President Batista was corrupt, but at least he wasn't a Communist and didn't slaughter thousands of Cuban people as did Castro. RB)

Jesus said, "But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." Luke 12:9.

Fidel Castro’s firing squads in Cuba

 Fidel Castro is often portrayed as the “benevolent” dictator of Cuba, such portrayals are unarguably wrong. The evidence of his bloodthirsty and murderous nature is unequivocal and available for anyone who wants to know the truth. Unfortunately such evidence is rarely discussed by the news media and at schools. There’s perhaps no more grizzly atrocity committed by Fidel Castro than the firing squads which he implemented. Beginning as a rebel, before he would eventually take power in Cuba, Fidel Castro used firing squad executions to enforce discipline, punish followers deemed disloyal or intimidate potential opposition. At the beginning of the Castro regime there was a reign of terror typical of revolutions in which the firing squad was used prominently but the executions continued for decades. 

The Cuba Archive which documents deaths and disappearances resulting from Fidel Castro’s Cuban revolution has documented 3,615 firing squad executions conducted by the Cuban state since Castro took over on January 1, 1959. 


Opponents of the death penalty should be horrified at the amount of death Fidel Castro and his accomplices have directly caused. It’s important to note that in Revolutionary Cuba there are none of the due process guarantees found in a western-style democracy. Most of Castro’s firing squad victims were afforded only a perfunctory show trial the outcome of which was predetermined, some didn’t even get that. Ernesto “Ché” Guevara is a popular culture icon, his face adorns posters and t-shirts around the globe. Most people don’t realize that he was Fidel Castro’s chief enforcer and had a personal hand in at least 100 firing squad executions, often delivering the coup de grace personally. In response to questions about Castro’s firing squads Guevara once said, “To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary. These procedures are an archaic bourgeois detail. This is a revolution. And a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate.”
________________________________

Miami Herald Headline

Crowds gather outside of Versailles restaurant in Miami to celebrate the death of Fidel Castro

A large crowd gathered out of Versailles restaurant in Miami to celebrate the death of Fidel Castro on Nov. 26, 2016.
Al Diaz Miami Herald
__________________________________________
Celebration, either for his life or death, is inappropriate. 
The eternal implications of his life and death are not good. RB

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article117201053.html#storylink=cpC

Friday, November 25, 2016

Abortion, Though Sinful, Is Forgivable... But Only By The Creator

This week the Pope, presuming to speak as an "Apostle", has, according to him, given "powers to his Priests to forgive abortion". First, he is not an Apostle; there were only 12 of them and their names will be written on the 12 foundations of heaven (Rev.21:14). Others who claim they are Apostles are liars (Rev.2:2). Secondly, even if he was an Apostle, he could neither forgive abortion nor give others the power to forgive it. Only God can forgive abortion and He doesn't do it through popes, priests, or preachers. God deals directly with sinners of all kinds and always forgives sincerely repentant ones of whatever sin they have committed.  But not before they commit the sin, nor afterward if they do the sin presumptuously planning to ask forgiveness after the fact. That is not a true spirit of repentance. It is doing "despite unto the Spirit of grace." Heb.10:29. However, if we sincerely confess and repent, to God, our sins, He will forgive us no matter how bad those sins might be, including abortion, one of the most heinous. If you killed your child, your other children, parents and friends might say they forgive you, but abortion is not a sin against them, it is a sin against the child, and God who gave it. No Pope, Priest, Preacher or church can forgive abortion. Even if everyone else forgives you, the sin is primarily against God "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.

Pope Francis extends Catholic priests' right to forgive abortion

(CNN) Pope Francis has extended the powers of Catholic priests to forgive abortions, making the announcement in an apostolic letter released Monday. It continues a special dispensation granted last year for the duration of the Year of Mercy, which finished Sunday.
    "I wish to restate as firmly as I can that abortion is a grave sin, since it puts an end to an innocent life. In the same way, however, I can and must state that there is no sin that God's mercy cannot reach and wipe away when it finds a repentant heart seeking to be reconciled with the Father," the letter states.
    "May every priest, therefore, be a guide, support and comfort to penitents on this journey of special reconciliation," the letter continues.
    "I henceforth grant to all priests, in virtue of their ministry, the faculty to absolve those who have committed the sin of procured abortion."
    The Catholic Church has long held that abortion is a grave "moral evil," with the Church's strong position on the issue driving many Catholic pro-life groups.
    The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that every human life "from the moment of conception until death is sacred" -- and that any Catholic who procures an abortion incurs automatic excommunication, a penalty that often only a bishop can lift.
    But Pope Francis announced a shift last year when he said that priests around the world would be authorized to forgive the "sin of abortion" for the duration of the Church's Year of Mercy, which ran from December 8, 2015 to November 20, 2016.
    "The forgiveness of God cannot be denied to one who has repented," he said at the time, expressing sympathy for women who had been through the "agonizing and painful" decision to terminate their pregnancy.
    In some regions, such as in the US, many priests already had the power to forgive abortion. Vatican officials described the announcement last year as "a widening of the church's mercy."
    ______________________________
    Forgiving abortion, or any other sin, is not a matter of "widening the (Catholic) church's Mercy". It is a matter of Jehovah God's all sufficient grace through Jesus Christ's death on the cross for our sins, and our repentance to Him, not any man. RB

    Sunday, November 20, 2016

    The Most Contradictory, Delusional Assumption Possible

    The most contradictory, delusional assumption the human mind has ever conceived is, "No Creator God". The second to it is "self righteousness", which springs from the "No Creator God" fantasy which thinks ... "I am god". The obvious, undeniable fact of a holy, Creator God, contrasted by the obvious, undeniable fact of sinful human unrighteousness, are all too visible to honestly imagine otherwise. The sole remedy for these two self-centered delusions is sincere repentance to God, by these truth violators, which atheists seldom do. Sincere repentance of sin to the one true God, is the only entrance into God's saving grace through faith in His Son Jesus Christ.

    A sociopath is the embodiment of that "No Creator God/I am god" delusion. Most of the Roman Caesars were sociopaths, of whom Caligula was the worst. We seem to have a majority of potential Caligula's in Congress and in the President's Cabinet surrounding a full blown Caligula on his Oval Office throne. That is the primary reason our nation is in this horrendous mess. So who put them there? We did, either by vote or indifference. Maybe now we have someone who at least is partial to Evangelical, Bible believing Christians and is sympathetic toward Israel. Pray for Trump as he seeks to clean up the mess in Washington and get America back on track. He needs God's help more than even he knows.

    It has been my experience that professing believers in "a God" are easier to win to Christ, be they Catholic, Jew, or even Muslims, than an outright Atheist. Many times on evangelistic journeys with our Missionaries into the isolated mountains of Mexico, where almost everybody believes in Jehovah God and even know about the virgin Mary, Jesus Christ and believe in the Bible, but just don't know how it all fit together until they hear the gospel of salvation by grace through faith, not of works. I have seen hundreds of those poor Mexicans saved. Nobody had ever told them exactly how to be saved but much about how to be religious. For that reason Mexico is one of the ripest harvest fields in the world. I have many memories of those wonderful mission experiences of many years ago. We would drive as far into the back mountains as we could and then walk to an isolated village where even no Catholic priest had ever visited. We would hand out gospel tracts and spread the word that there would be a Christian service that night, in the village. The villagers would invite us to sleep in their little one room hovels after the service, which we, of course, would not accept because they would have to sleep outside. As darkness closed in, we would see tiny spots of flame flowing down the mountain sides in long lines. These were short pieces of candles which the Mexicans, who lived up in the hills above the village, would stick to the top of their big toe nail so they could see the rocky trail coming down to the service. Few of them even had a pair of home-made sandals. We didn't start the service until all those little lights arrived and there would be as many as two or three hundred, all standing, for the service. Literally... most of them would make a profession of faith in Christ, for the first time, and they had been Catholic all their lives, since birth, but were unsaved. Even Jews have a foundational belief in the one true God and are very often open to hearing what the Old Testament says about their "Messiah" which is the O.T. Hebrew word for the New Testament word "Christ". They will listen to you reading Isaiah 53, from the Old Testament, to them, and that chapter is obviously speaking of Jesus Christ. The point is.... they already believe in the O.T. and in Jehovah and a coming Messiah.... just not Jesus and are one step from being saved.

    I think the reason Atheists and long lost church members are hardest to reach is that they are denying the very obvious, and often heard message of God as Creator or Christ as Savior, and have become hardened and are inexcusable.

    "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." Rom.1:20.



    Friday, November 11, 2016

    Cubs' World Series MVP Ben Zobrist: "We All Need Christ"

    Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest. Ecc.9:10. Raising a family, holding a job, political action, Christian service and even playing sports. Do it with all your might. RB

    This from One News Now

    Cubs' World Series MVP: 'We all need Christ'

    After helping the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians 8–7 in Game 7 with a crucial hit driving home the go-ahead run in the last inning, Ben Zobrist was awarded the World Series Most Valuable Player Award and a new Chevrolet Camaro convertible, but he says that his true prize comes through his faith and sharing the love of Jesus Christ.
    Winning a World Series ring for the second year in a row after being traded by the Kansas City Royals, the utility player is no stranger to success in the Major Leagues, yet he knows where his strength and victory in life truly comes from.
    Living testimony
    While a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, where he spent most of his 10-year MLB career since his rookie season in 2006, Zobrist shared about his huge responsibility as a Christian witness on and off the baseball diamond – where all eyes are focused. He says that as a Christian, he is called to be set apart from other players because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for him.
    "We know that as a Christian athlete, people are watching, and so we want to be the best example we can be and show that we are different – that Christ has changed our lives," Zobrist told the sports ministry Fellowship of Christian Athletes during the 2013 season.
    One thing that baseball fans noticed this season that distinguishes him from others is his walk-up song played before each at-bat, which is the up-tempo contemporary Christian tune, “Alive,” sung by his wife, Christian singer Julianna Zobrist.
    The faithful couple share about their careers and faith journeys in the book Playing with Purpose: Inside the Lives and Faith of the Major Leagues’ Top Players, which was published in 2014 by the Christian publisher Broadman & Holman.
    Zobrist says he wants to share with the world that it desperately needs something only God can offer.
    "But at the same time, I want people to know that grace is for everyone,” Zobrist stressed, according to The Christian Examiner. “We all need grace. We all need Christ."
    Work in progress
    Even though Zobrist can boast of playing on the first Chicago Cubs team to win a World Series in more than a century (since 1908), he insists that he is still a work in progress that is being perfected in Christ.
    "The biggest thing is, I'm still learning," Zobrist expressed about his faith.Growing up as a pastor’s son has helped him take a humble approach to his Christian walk.
    His father, Tom Zobrist – who serves as the senior pastor at Liberty Bible Church in Eureka, Illinois, located in the same state as the Cubs’ home, Wrigley Field – also enjoyed America’s pastime while playing college baseball for Dallas Baptist. On his Twitter account, he refers to himself as a devoted “follower of Jesus Christ.”
    The multi-talented baseball player – who has played seven of the nine defensive positions since he debuted as a rookie more than a decade ago – has much to brag about regarding his accomplishments in the Majors, where he has made the All-Star team three times. While on the Cubs roster this year, he has played five positions and was ranked number 13 in the Majors with a .386 on-base percentage, which earned him a starting role in the lineup for each of the seven World Series games against the Indians.
    However, despite Zobrist’s many accomplishments on the field, it has been his off-the field actions that have attracted many fans, and when it comes to his life as a born-again Christian, he contends that God is still teaching him things on a daily basis.

    "The biggest thing is, I'm still learning," Zobrist expressed about his Christian faith. "I still have a lot to learn about what the love of Christ is like – that it's not just knowledge ... but it's allowing the truth to change you – allowing Christ's message of grace and hope and love through the cross, that that message is the message that changes the way we look at everything in our lives."
    ________________________________________
    Our grand daughter Betsy's husband, Trent Hathaway, wrote this about Ben. 

    Ben is a DBU alum, by the way—same college from which Betsy and I graduated.  One of my best friends played second base while Ben played shortstop.  DBU won two championships while Ben was there, so he’s a champion through and through.  Loves Jesus, loves his family, and loves the lost.


    Thursday, November 10, 2016

    Rex Blair Writes To The "Basket Of Deplorables" ... What Now ?

    Rex is our son. He and his twin were born when I was in Korea.

    In case you don't know, Hillary called supporters of Trump a "Basket of deplorables" Rayburn

    ____________________________________________________________

    What Now ? By Rex Blair

    My heart is thankful first and foremost that the God of heaven looked with favor on the "basket of deplorables" and allowed a great miracle to take place.

    We saw tonight that one vote can and will make a difference if we do not sit on the sideline.
    Now, we must pray for healing of our nation and pray mightily that God will direct the paths of our President and the decision makers President Trump surrounds himself with. 

    God has allowed us another chance to restore healing to our nation. May President Trump recognize the opportunity God has handed him and may he be sensitive to this great responsibility and to the people that elected him.

    Our one great responsibility now, is to pray for President Trump like our very lives depended on it.....
    For there may never be another time as this.

    Tuesday, November 8, 2016

    Who Is Mostly At Fault For Our Declining Nation? We Preachers

    More so than anyone else ...

    We pastors are first at blame for letting our country come to its present state. We are charged by God to be "Watchmen on the wall" to sound the alarm against danger, error, wickedness and indifference. It has to be true that pastors, though imperfect, are responsible to speak out against all unright ness. Such things may at once be both a political and a spiritual issue. But just because abortion, gay marriage, lies and political corruption have been confiscated by politicians as solely political issues, they are at their root spiritual issues with plenty of scripture to prove it. We preachers are responsible to God to tell the people what He has to say about those things. If we do not do that job we are useless as ministers of truth. The reason I could preach it for 30 years at Temple Baptist in Florida, was that from the founding of the church I had preached it and those "lost but professing believers" who visited us, and disagreed, didn't stay very long. But the church membership and I believed the same things the Apostles were taught by Jesus. 

    Our national loss of freedom is due to our loss of truth. "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." All those biblical prophets of God spoke out against violations of truth and exalted the will of God as we see revealed in the Bible. But, today, most of the great old preachers are gone and there are few still standing faithfully at their posts on the wall of our American Christian Heritage our Constitution and God's word. We are now living in the last days spoken of by the Apostle Paul as the "falling away"....".... The day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped...." 2 Thess.2:2-4

    What we need today, far more than a Trump or a Hillary and Bill Clinton is some hell fire and brimstone preachers who love people, hate evil, and preach the Bible God gave us containing His will and purpose for for our lives. What we need is a true, spiritual revival among Christians, but it will not come until God's preachers stop preaching tiddledewinks and preach His Word... in the Spirit.

    Sunday, November 6, 2016

    It Is Well With My Soul... Keep Me Safe Till The Storm Passes By

    You may know nothing about prophecy or international politics or world affairs, but if you have eyes and ears and a modicum of intelligence, you cannot overlook the fact that the world is going to hell in a hand-basket. Like baby Moses, we are floating down the Nile bumping past the hungry crocodiles and reptiles. Everything that can go wrong is going wrong, but the vast majority of earth's people are more afraid of a clown showing up with a knife than their eternal souls going to hell.

    "Positive thinking", that all will be well, is painting a happy face on a pack of hyenas. It is obviously true that the majority of Biblical Jews preferred to hear their prophets forecast peace, prosperity and fair weather rather than plague, destruction and the judgement of God upon their sins. But all the true prophets of God prophesied truth not fiction. It was the false prophets who "tickled their ears" and predicted what the people wanted to hear and bought themselves their share of the reality of God's condemnation. Positive thinking in the face of a raging hurricane, with massive destruction in its path, is delusional unless you are at peace with God and prepared to die. Positive thinking served quite well in "normal" times ... which have now passed us by and nothing will ever be the same. But positive thinking is, even now, totally justified if you have Jesus on board your little straw, river basket.... as did Moses. Praise God, we Christians can sing down the river, "It is well with my soul" and pray with certainty, "Keep me safe till the storm passes by".

    It Is Well With My Soul

    When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
    When sorrows like sea billows roll;
    Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
    It is well, it is well, with my soul.
    Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
    Let this blessed assurance control,
    That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
    And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
    My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
    My sin, not in part but the whole,
    Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
    Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
    It is well, with my soul,
    It is well, with my soul,
    It is well, it is well, with my sou
    ‘Til the Storm Passes By
    In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face
    While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place
    'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry
    Keep me safe till the storm passes by
    Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more
    Till the clouds roll forever from the sky
    Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand
    Keep me safe till the storm passes by
    Many times Satan whispered, "There is no need to try
    For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by"
    But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise
    Where the storms never darken the skies
    Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more
    Till the clouds roll forever from the sky
    Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand
    Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

    My friend, what on earth, or in eternity, are you going to do without Jesus to carry you through into an uncertain future? RB

    Thursday, November 3, 2016

    A Kaye Kaye Video Production (Our Youngest Child) See God At Work

    Sometimes the tiniest, of the most common of things, are hugely awe inspiring and even sacred when you break through the brick wall of human blindness into the glorious reality of our Creator God. Oh what a comforting, peaceful blessing that is. How did God put such know how and ability in an ant's brain so tiny you cannot even see it?  Some may say, "It is nothing" but I say it is supremely magnificent. RB


    "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler; Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." Prov. 6:6-8
    Our daughter Kaye sent this email with a very short video of a team of God's tiniest creatures living up to their created purpose. Are we doing as well? 
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    Hey Dad, I'm at lunch at the picnic tables at work. I wanted to share this video I took, I'm feeding these tiny tiny ants pieces of my bread. Makes me think how God feeds us from His word and how He takes care of our needs. These ants are so amazing and to think how awesome God is for creating them. If He cares for them that much just think how wonderful and blessed we are because He cares for us much more, we definitely are in good hands. Love you. Kaye
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    When you click on the download below, and then click on the "try again" on the IMG page, if you don't see the video, keep clicking on the "try again" or the link at the bottom left of your page. But don't give up. It is worth your time. RB
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