Author: Marcus Walker Van Every

Recapturing the Wonder of the Real Noah’s Ark

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“Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits.”

[Genesis 6:14-15]
Ark Encounter – Northern Kentucky

We have all seen it. The classic Noah’s ark motif on the nursery wall. The storybook animations of Noah and the animals happily floating along in a tiny toy boat.

No one is saying that these children’s representations are intentionally designed to mislead, but in an unbelieving culture indoctrinated by the lies of evolution, these storybook depictions only reinforce the atheistic assertion that Noah’s ark and the flood are ridiculous absurdities and religious fairytales.

Children are taught to mock the Biblical account of creation and the flood at a very young age. “Pure religious fantasy,” they are told. “Smart people only believe science,” they are told. While public schools push millions of years of mindless evolution as “science,” the church has done little to disciple the next generation in the foundational Biblical truths found in the first 11 chapters of Genesis. Even worse, many Christians have completely compromised and abandoned the Word of God and now agree that science is the voice of authority in our world.

Think about it. How many of our Sunday school classes, VBS themes, and children’s Bibles accurately depict the flood and Noah’s ark? By providing our children with innocuous and inaccurate drawings of the ark, we are failing to stimulate the impressionable imaginations of our children and open their minds to the wonder and power and glory of Almighty God!

The global flood and the salvation of mankind through Noah’s ark is one of the most fascinating and foundational true stories in human history. Jesus Christ Himself spoke of the Genesis account of creation and the flood of Noah’s day on multiple occasions as real, historical events. In other words, Jesus believed in a literal 6-day creation and global flood.

And that’s just my point. Many of our children are growing up in hostile environments and their faith is being challenged at every turn. One of the first objections our children inevitably will face in this secular culture will involve Biblical creation and the global flood. If the enemy can get us to doubt the historical truth of Genesis, then he can get us to doubt the rest of the gospel story. And that is precisely why so many of our teens and young adults are leaving the faith in mass.

“You should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

[2 Peter 3:2-7]

“How do you know Noah was even a real person?”

“How did Noah fit millions of animal species on the ark?”

“How could only 8 people feed and care for those animals for a year?”

“What about the dinosaurs? Where do they fit in the story?”

These are legitimate questions that we as followers of Jesus Christ must be prepared to answer. And thankfully, there are good and logical answers, but if we don’t begin training our children to defend their faith today, we will lose them to the world of tomorrow.

I am so thankful for ministries like Answers in Genesis that have invested significant time, energy and resources into teaching the true Biblical account of creation and the flood and expanding the minds of believers and skeptics alike to consider the reasonableness of our faith.

The Ark Encounter in northern Kentucky and the Creation Museum are making a huge impact on the culture war against Biblical authority. Just the economic impacts alone are staggering. But the spiritual implications are even more amazing!

In a day and age when scoffers continue to mock the Bible of God and the God of the Bible, it is imperative that we equip the saints to always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks us for the reason of the hope that we have. And it is even more important that we teach our children the truth and train them up in righteousness before sending them out into a hostile world.

There is so much Innocent Blood on our Hands

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“They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;
they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.”

[Psalm 106:37-38]

How did we ever fall this far?

Our nation has allowed 60 million innocent children to be murdered in cold blood since 1973. Let that sink in.

60 Million.

The most vulnerable and innocent citizens in our nation are being brutally and ruthlessly murdered in sanctioned death clinics before they even have the chance to take their first breath. We have legalized the systematic murder of our own children and called it the right to choose.

How long, O LORD? How long will You withhold Your righteous judgment on our wicked nation?

The reality I am faced with this morning is that we are all complicit. Expecting mothers are complicit. Abortion doctors and nurses are complicit. Dirtbag boyfriends are complicit. Knowing parents are complicit. Politicians and lawmakers are complicit.

I am complicit.

Millions of babies have been murdered on my watch. On our watch.

We have so much innocent blood on our hands. And we will have to answer to God for standing idly by, turning a blind eye, and failing to protect the most vulnerable in our society.

May God have mercy on us. For we deserve His wrath.

I believe the LORD feels about us the same way He felt about His people Israel when they too were sacrificing their children to the demon gods of Baal and Molech.

“Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people,
and he abhorred his heritage;
he gave them into the hand of the nations,
so that those who hated them ruled over them.”

[Pslam 106:40-41]

It’s only a matter of time before God turns us over to our enemies and judges our once-great nation. He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

We are guilty. There is so much innocent blood on our hands.

Actions Speak Louder than Words

I have grown so disillusioned and disgusted with politics and the empty promises of our elected officials. The Republican Party, which stands on a pro-life platform, has done little to nothing in 40 years to criminalize abortion in our nation. All talk and no action from spineless politicians who live duplicitous lives of compromise and self-service.

If anything, the “conservatives” in Washington are worse than the liberals because they don’t have the courage to truly fight for what they claim to believe. For as long as I can remember, the Republican Party has been all talk and no action. This is why I despise politics and politicians in general. They tell you what you want to hear and then do what they want to do.

But for the first time in my 20+ years of being a registered voter, I can honestly say that we may be seeing some real progress in government action against abortion.

First of all, after Republicans have utterly failed to do anything of substance for the pro-life movement and the protection of the unborn, it took a New York tycoon and anti-establishment President to take action for the first time since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973.

President Donald Trump’s very first executive order was to reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits the tax-payer funding of overseas abortions. Since then, Trump has established the most conservative pro-life record of any standing U.S. president in history. Trump’s pro-life policies and appointments can be read about here.

Secondly, there is a grass roots movement taking place within many of our state legislatures to defund and criminalize abortions. While on one hand, states like New York are legalizing infanticide, allowing postpartum abortions, other states like Georgia, Ohio and Alabama have introduced heartbeat bills that will save the lives of thousands of precious children and give them a chance at life.

Alabama’s pro-life bill is drawing special scrutiny from blood-thirsty liberals because it is seen as a direct challenge to the sacred cow of infanticide — Roe v. Wade. Alabama Congressman Rich Wingo, who is one of the architects of the bill, believes that overturning Roe v. Wade is in sight.

“It goes after Roe directly,” Wingo said. “We’re going in the front door and we’re saying to the supreme court, please explain to us how this isn’t a person. With modern technology, with everything that we know, this child needs to be protected under the US constitution.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/14/it-goes-after-roe-directly-alabamas-abortion-bill-set-to-go-before-state-senate

Finally, I thank God for the work of people like Ray Comfort, Abby Johnson and the founders of Pure Flix — https://www.pureflix.com — as they are using powerful forms of media and movies for pro-life advocacy, education, and social interaction and calls for legislative action.

Comfort made a huge impact several years ago with his controversial YouTube movie 180 — which you can watch here and more recently with a followup 7 Reasons — which I recommend you watch below.

Johnson also has made huge waves in the media recently with her political action and her movie Unplanned, which is creating a ground swell of pro-life advocacy throughout the nation. You can find out how to watch this life-changing film and discover free resources by visiting the Unplanned promotional site here.

My prayer is that our generation will be the generation to end abortion in America. It starts with me. May I refuse to stand idly by while thousands of innocent children are murdered today on my watch.

I confess my sin of passivity and cowardice, O LORD. Thank you for the shed blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanses me from all unrighteousness. Have mercy on me, O God. Have mercy on our nation. And empower your people to affect true and lasting change to protect the unborn and to fight for life, no matter the cost.

Jesus Christ — Truth Personified

Marcus Walker Van Every2 Comments

Pontius Pilate, first century Roman prefect of Judea, once asked a penetrating question. 

When confronted with the social, religious, and political implications of whether or not to release Jesus of Nazareth or to have him delivered over to be crucified, Pilate asked Jesus … 

“What is truth?” (John 18:38)

Pilate, apparently experiencing some crises of the soul, was torn between the decision to stand alone in doing what he knew was right and the pressure to appease a blood-thirsty mob and maintain his position of power.

I am one who is convinced of the necessity of absolute truth and who affirms that such objective truth can be discovered. I can, in at least some sense, identify with Pilate. Our culture both champions moral relativism and despises moral absolutes (at least ideologically) at the same time.

To be a man who stands alone on the foundation of absolute truth is to be a target of the contemporary mob mentality – where healthy debate and reason are drowned out by the relentless shouts… “Crucify him.” How often logic and reason are lost in ad hominem attacks and strategic diversions that avoid the glaring reality staring us all in the face.

I contend that the motivation behind Pilate’s question is not of primary importance. I believe that Pilate was asking the wrong question altogether. Instead of asking, “What is truth,” we must first ask a more foundational question, “Who is truth?” 

After all, we can only expect to get to the bottom of the truth when we ask the correct question. 

If any of us is serious about discovering absolute truth, we must be able to find its source. To define beauty or morality or love, we must go to the source — the One who gives meaning to such virtues. In seeking the Source, we understand we are seeking for a person, not the virtues themselves. 

If we can find the person – the Source – then we will find the virtue and its meaning. 

So what is of more importance is the claim that Yeshua made just prior to Pilate’s question – a claim so serious it that must be considered and weighed. 

“Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”

(John 18:37 ESV)

The exclusive claim of Yeshua leaves no room for neutrality. The sheer laws of logic force an examination and evaluation of His words. Either Jesus is the personification and originator of truth, or He is a liar. He does not allow for anything less. He draws the line and forces us to choose sides. There is no neutrality to the claims of Christ.

The claim of Yeshua is that everyone who is of the the truth – who is on the side of truth – listens to His voice. He is saying that everyone who wants to know the truth must be willing to listen to Him – implying that He is the source and true expression of THE TRUTH – not just a truth or some truth – but of Absolute Truth. 

Some philosophers would say before one can begin to debate whether or not the truth claims of Yeshua are valid … one must first at least ask if truth can be known in a real sense. This crosses over into philosophical realm of epistemology and can be handled in turn at another time. 

But for now, let us just consider the testimony of Yeshua. 

I AM the TRUTH

Jesus of Nazareth never technically wrote down his own words for self-promotion or self-preservation. His contemporaries, on the other hand, had much to say about His life and teachings. The eye witnesses that carefully examined the life of Yeshua for years give us the most accurate and reliable historical record of any figure in antiquity. 

For Yeshua to be the Source of all truth, absolute truth, then we would expect Him to meet certain criteria.

First, Yeshua would be the One and Only Supreme God by nature and necessity. So how did His contemporaries describe Him? For Jesus to be Truth Personified He would have to be God Personified — the Word become flesh.

“He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” 

(Colossians 1:15-17 ESV)

“Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

(2 Peter 1:1)

Yeshua also would have to be perfect in word and in deed. What is the testimony?

“He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”

(1 Peter 2:22)

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

(Hebrews 4:15)

Yeshua would have claimed to be truth personified because anything less would have disqualified him necessarily. What did He say?

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

(John 14:6)

So the irony is that when Pilate stared directly into the eyes of this seemingly weak, Jewish Rabbi, he wasn’t simply philosophically wrestling with the truth, he was in the presence of Truth Himself. Yeshua, God the Son, is The Truth and therefore defines all truth. If we want to know truth in its purest form, we must know Jesus Christ. To Know Christ — His word, His character, His nature, His heart, His will — is to Know Truth.

Next time someone asks, “What is truth,” you can confidently answer, “Truth is a Person, and that Person is Jesus Christ.” 

Why Does Islam Get a Free Pass?

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“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.”

[Matthew 7:15-20]

Hate Speech. Terrorist Attacks. Honor Killings. Female Circumcision. Gang Rapes. Jew Hatred. Oppression. Fear. Perversion. Deception. Darkness. False Teachings.

This is the fruit of Islam — perhaps the most satanic and demonic ideology ever devised in human history.

Jesus Christ warned us that false prophets will come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly will be ravenous wolves. He also told us that ultimately we will be able to recognize the fruit of false prophets. If anyone has ever qualified as a false prophet according to Jesus Christ and His standard … it is Mohammed — the founding prophet of Islam.

The Quran and the other sacred writings of Islam provide the historical profile of Mohammed, and it’s not pretty. Mohammed first received his “revelation” by have a series of demonic episodes in a desert cave. He told his family that he was terrified for his life and that this demon was choking him into submission until he was willing to spread this new message. His family thought he was having epileptic fits or was possessed by a demon.

Once Mohammed began teaching his new religious beliefs and gained a significant following, he and his followers have left nothing but a path of terrorism, death and oppression. The earliest Muslims were terrorists and raiders who would rob desert caravans and launch ambush attacks on unsuspecting villages. Once Mohammed became strong enough militarily to exert his will, he taught his followers to conquer territory by the sword and by forcing infidels to submit to indentured servitude.

Mohammed had up to nine wives at one time [although he commanded his followers to have only 2 or 3], plus he would keep an ample supply of sex slaves handy to abuse at will. Mohammed was a pedophile by definition, marrying his most cherished child bride, Aisha, at the age of 6, while he was in his 50s.

That’s right. You heard me. Mohammed married a 6 year hold little girl.

Oh, but the Muslim apologists will say that he didn’t actually consummate the marriage until she was 9 years old. What virtue from your disgusting pedophile leader!

The list could go on and on about Mohammed’s exploits of perversion, terrorism, and deception. He often encouraged lying — aka Taqiyya — in order to gain advantages as a minority in a particular society. This of course is only until Muslims can become powerful enough to usurp control, put infidels to death and introduce Shariah law.

Sound familiar? How about Europe? As Muslims flooded Europe by the millions and began outpacing the growth of Europeans, they strategically have used political correctness and media propaganda to create social sympathy to their favor, and now Europe is in its own cultural crises because they are being forced to submit to Sharia law in their own countries.

Now the United States is following suit, as we are seeing the very same effects by giving Islam a free pass, treating Islamic ideology like any other, condemning the critics of Islam, submitting to the political correctness police, and even allowing radical Muslims to infiltrate our government.

And like Europe, we too are beginning to face a cultural crisis. When you add mass immigration on top of that, our nation will likely begin to crumble under the weight of liberal lunacy.

It’s enough to have to listen to the anti-Semitic rhetoric and pro-terrorist hate speech fuming from Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar, but just this week House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stood in approval as radical Imam Omar Suleiman was invited to give the opening prayer for the session of Congress. Suleiman has been known for his hatred of the Jewish people and his unapologetic promotion of jihad around the world.

Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar
radical Imam Omar Suleiman

To make matters worse, a video was released just last week, showing how young children were being taught to recite creeds and make pledges of death to Allah in Philadelphia mosque. Right here in the United States. Right here under our noses. They aren’t even trying to hide it anymore because they have won the PR war and conditioned the world to believe that criticism is fair game until it comes to Muslims.

You can watch this troubling video here

As Christians we are called to love Muslims and share the hope of the gospel with them, but we also have a responsibility to stand and speak out against cultural and political agendas that are a threat to our freedom, our future, and our very nation.

The fruit of Islam speaks for itself. It is rotten to the core. And if we don’t act now, we all will be forced to eat the poisonous fruit of this satanic system of hate and oppression right here in the land of the free and home of the brave.

Censorship, Surveillance, & the Growing Threat of Big-Tech

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“Big Brother is Watching You.” 
― George Orwell, 1984

One major question that I have been asking myself lately is this.

Why am I paying big tech companies hundreds of dollars every month so that they can invade my privacy, track my whereabouts at all times, listen in on my private conversations, and even potentially watch my every move?

The Orwellian dystopia of 1984 has become more reality than fiction, and in my estimation, we are going to be forced to make difficult decisions in the very near future concerning the dangerous influence of big tech.

Facebook Co-Founder, Chris Hughes, published an op-ed piece in the New York Times this week, sounding the alarm on the unrestrained power and control of Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, saying that it’s time to break up the giant tech platform, which is now worth half a trillion dollars. What started as the dream of two friends in a Harvard dorm room has turned into one of the most powerful, influential companies in the world.

Hughes, who left the company over a decade ago, is very concerned with the path Zuckerberg has taken. He said that Facebook “commands, by my estimate, more than 80 percent of the world’s social networking revenue. It is a powerful monopoly, eclipsing all of its rivals and erasing competition from the social networking category.”

Such comments coming from the Facebook co-founder should certainly be heeded. Hughes recognizes that those who control information, control the culture.

“Mark’s influence is staggering, far beyond that of anyone else in the private sector or in government. He controls three core communications platforms — Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — that billions of people use every day. Facebook’s board works more like an advisory committee than an overseer, because Mark controls around 60 percent of voting shares. Mark alone can decide how to configure Facebook’s algorithms to determine what people see in their News Feeds, what privacy settings they can use and even which messages get delivered. He sets the rules for how to distinguish violent and incendiary speech from the merely offensive, and he can choose to shut down a competitor by acquiring, blocking or copying it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/09/opinion/sunday/chris-hughes-facebook-zuckerberg.html

If you haven’t been paying attention to the news, you should start. Consider the following troubling headlines.

How Freaked Out Should You Be About The Apple FaceTime Eavesdropping Bug?

Amazon reportedly employs thousands of people to listen to your Alexa conversations

Facebook Doesn’t Need To Listen Through Your Microphone To Serve You Creepy Ads

Just last month, Senate conservatives, led by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, renewed claims that the big tech giants of Facebook, Google, and Twitter have been censoring conservative free speech on their platforms.

“By almost any measure the giant tech companies today are larger, and more powerful, than Standard Oil was when it was broken up,” Cruz said. “And if we have tech companies using the powers of monopoly to censor political speech, I think that raises real antitrust issues.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/04/10/facebook-google-twitter-under-fire-senate-republicans-censoring-conservatives-online/?utm_term=.3312f885122e

It is no secret that Zuckerberg, Bezos and the majority of big tech bosses in Silicon Valley espouse extreme liberal ideology and contribute millions of dollars each year to radical liberal agendas. In other words, they are committed to agendas that are antithetical and diametrically opposed to the gospel and Christian worldview.

As Christians and committed followers of Christ, we must truly begin to have conversations with God and each other about the potential threat of big tech companies and their ability to censor, surveil, influence, and disseminate information. The more we grow dependent on technology, the more susceptible we become to big tech manipulation and deception.

Will there every be a point where Christians must cut themselves off completely from the technological mainstream in order to maintain a clear and clean conscience? I personally believe it will reach that point.

As I have said before and will say again, God’s people must rely upon the power, wisdom and presence of the Holy Spirit like never before if we are to navigate the challenges coming in these last days.

I leave you with the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

[John 16:13]

Blurring the Lines between Science and Magic

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“The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.”

[2 Thessalonians 2:9-10]

It has been said that seeing is believing, but is that really true? Obviously God has given us senses to test and touch and taste and observe reality for ourselves. But it has been proven time and time again that even our basic senses can mislead us.

We can’t always trust that what we “see” is real. Illusionists and magicians have proven this for centuries, using deception and distraction to play tricks on the human mind. What the illusionist does with his magic is not far from the scientist is doing today with his technology — blurring the lines of reality and fantasy.

C.S. Lewis understood this, writing in Abolition of Man.

“The serious magical endeavor and the serious scientific endeavor are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they were twins. They were born of the same impulse … For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men.”

[C.S. Lewis – Abolition of Men, pg. 87-88]

The same concern that Lewis observed in the pursuit of science is now being realized in our generation. Artificial intelligence and virtual reality are posing new challenges to what we understand to be reality. The sophistication of artificial intelligence has reached a point that pushes the boundaries of human perception. Images and human voices produced by AI are no longer discernible from real images. The lines between the virtual and the real have been dissolved.

Just watch the 45 second clip below to see how AI is able to create images that cannot be distinguished from reality.

https://youtu.be/8siezzLXbNo

This begs the question… If the human eye and mind can be deceived with artificial images and voices, then how do we know we aren’t already being deceived? Who is in control of this technology and the dissemination of information? The potential applications of this technology, frankly, are terrifying. Sabotage. Blackmail. False Accusations. Witch Hunts. Criminal Framing. Political Corruption.

Just because we “see” an image on the screen doesn’t mean that it is real anymore. The church must wake up and realize that our only hope of surviving the mass deception coming in these last days is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and grounded in the word of God.

Even the devil himself masquerades as an angel of light. Even the Antichrist is coming with all kinds of lying wonders and miraculous signs that will deceive the whole world. These powerful, fantastical wonders could very possibly be connected to Artificial Intelligence and its ability to create images undiscerning to the human eye.

Only the word of God is true. Believers must be grounded in the Scriptures so as not to be deceived. If we are not firmly rooted in the Word of God in these last days, we will be in danger in being swept away and deceived by the satanic black magic of the evil one, who is using the power of technology to play a deadly trick on the whole world.

I leave you with the words of Jesus Christ, who reminds all of His disciples to remain grounded in the Word of God so that we can endure through the times of difficulty and deception coming on the whole world.

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

[John 17:14-19]

Jerusalem — a Cup of Staggering and a Heavy Stone

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“Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.”

[Zechariah 12:2-3]

Once again conflict in Israel escalated this week, as Islamic Jihadist fired over 700 rockets into Israel, forcing Israeli military retaliation in the Gaza Strip. Although there is a temporary cease fire, both sides have suffered significant casualties and tensions remain high in the land.

The world has witnessed conflict in Israel from its modern inception in 1948. Time and time again, the Muslim majority nations surrounding Israel are fueled with and everlasting contempt for the Jewish people and the land. This should come as no surprise from a prophetic standpoint, because the word of God clearly says that there will be conflict in Israel until the return of King Jesus to utterly destroy the enemies of Israel.

Jerusalem herself is called a cup of staggering and a heavy stone for all the surrounding nations, as they remain drunk on the irrational hatred of the Jewish people and obsesses with wiping Israel off the map, while claiming the Holy Land in what the Muslims consider holy war — or jihad.

The terrorist organization, Hamas, is behind this most recent assault on the Israeli people. Hamas is the proxy military arm of Iran in the Gaza Strip. While Hamas invokes terror and breathes murderous threats toward Israel, tensions in the region have also increased between Iran and the United States.

As tensions mount, it is important to be reminded of what God’s word says about His covenant with Israel and why the Promised Land to Israel has become such a stumbling stone for the surrounding Muslim nations.

The LORD made Covenant with Isaac, Not Ishmael

Both Jews and Arabs claim Abraham as their patriarch of faith and therefore claim the covenant promises that God made to Abraham. But the Bible clearly distinguishes His relationship between Abraham’s two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. The Arab people are descended from Ishmael and Esau (Edom), while the Jewish people are descended from Isaac and Jacob (Israel). Consider what the LORD said to Abraham when establishing His everlasting covenant with him and his descendants.

“And God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’ 17Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?’ 18And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before you!’ 19God said, ‘No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.’”

[Genesis 17:15-21]

The LORD made Covenant with Jacob, not Esau

If that wasn’t clear enough, the LORD made sure He reaffirmed His everlasting covenant with Isaac’s younger son, Jacob, not his twin brother Esau. Esau’s descendants became the Edomites, who have remained bitter enemies of Israel to this day. Jacob’s descendants are the people of Israel — the Jewish people. God’s covenant promises primarily involved blessing, protection, the land of Canaan (see Genesis 15) and the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.

“And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. 14Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

“And God said to him (Jacob), “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”

[Genesis 28:13-14, 35:11-12]

According the Bible, this bitter dispute over the Holy Land of Israel will never cease until the end of this age, when Jerusalem will be surrounded once again by her enemies, the people of Israel will be under great distress and in perilous trouble, and the Messiah — King Jesus — will return a second time in glory to deliver and save Israel out of her worst moment.

The everlasting contempt that the Muslim majority nations have for Israel will not go away. It must run its course. There will never be peace in the Middle East until the Prince of Peace returns to establish His kingdom once and for all.

All Israel will be Saved

The escalating tensions and hostility in Israel are but labor pains, reminding us of what it coming. There may be great distress coming for God’s people, like a woman giving birth, but the joy of the child will remove all memory of the pain to be endured.

The Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 11:25-26, that once the fullness of the Gentiles have come in, all Israel will be saved in the end, when Jesus comes in power and great glory.

I will leave you with Zechariah’s prophecy, which speaks of this coming day of divine deliverance and final judgment of the enemies of God’s people.

“And the LORD will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. 9And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

[Zechariah 12:7-10]

The God who Spoke It All to Be

Marcus Walker Van EveryLeave a comment

“By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.”

[Psalm 33:6,8-9]

The more we learn about quantum mechanics and the foundational properties of matter and energy, we are faced with more questions than answers. No matter how deep we are able to peer into the sub-atomic world or how far we are able to see across the vast expanse of the universe, there will always be a point where our limited knowledge and understanding ends and the infinite knowledge of our Creator begins.

One of the greatest confirmations of the validity and reliability of the Bible is that it provides concepts that only could have originated from the mind of an Infinite Creator. For example, the Scriptures repeatedly suggest that the universe and everything in it was created by the spoken word of God.

Now, we may take such a concept for granted living in the “modern scientific” era, but as for the Biblical authors and their audiences, they were oblivious to the concepts of molecular physics and quantum mechanics. When Moses received the revelation from God to write the book of Genesis, for example, he could not have possibly understood the infinite complexity and stunning intricacy of universe.

But if God’s word is indeed true and the God of the Bible is indeed the One True Creator and Lord over all the universe, then we would expect His divine revelation — though written several thousand years ago — to confirm and conform to the reality around us. In other words, as we are able to understand more and more about our universe, our discoveries should lead us closer to God and His revealed Word.

And what do we find? Interestingly, instead of rendering the Bible obsolete and archaic, scientific discoveries only continue to validate the divine nature of God’s word and verify the God of the Bible as the True Creator of the universe.

Time, Energy, Space and Matter

The theory of general relativity, as proposed by Einstein in the early 20th century, provided irrefutable evidence that the very fabric of the space-time continuum is interdependent and interconnected. So if the universe had a beginning, then that would mean that time, matter, space and energy all began to exist simultaneously.

Ironically, God knew that it would take “modern” mankind centuries to rediscover this foundational truth, so in His infinite wisdom He decided to reveal this to us in the very first verse of the Bible.

  1. In the beginning – time
  2. God created – energy
  3. The heavens – space
  4. The earth – matter

So God provided the principles of general relatively in the very first very of the Bible! And in order to explain the cause of the universe, one rationally must look to an Intelligent, Eternal Being who exists outside of space and time and who is not contingent upon the material universe. Sounds like the God of the Bible to me.

Kent Hovind provides a wonderful 3-minute explanation of this here.

The Foundational Nature of Vibrations

I am certainly not a physicist nor an expert on quantum mechanics, but as I read and study the subject, I have found out that scientists are somewhat perplexed by the wave-particle duality that exists at the sub-atomic level. Although it was once believed that energy substances such as light were made of electromagnetic waves, and matter was made of molecular particles, quantum mechanics have provided new insights into the sub-atomic world that challenge classical theories.

To keep it simple, I would like to provide a over-simplified definition of wave-particle duality from Science Daily.

“In physics and chemistry, wave-particle duality holds that light and matter exhibit properties of both waves and of particles … Through the work of Albert Einstein, Louis de Broglie and many others, it is now established that all objects have both wave and particle nature (though this phenomenon is only detectable on small scales, such as with atoms), and that a suitable interpretation of quantum mechanics provides the over-arching theory resolving this ostensible paradox.”

https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/wave-particle_duality.htm

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of quantum mechanics is the notion that everything in the material universe ultimately consists of waves, or vibrations. All matter, even a solid rock, when observed at the sub-atomic level, is made of vibrating particles in perpetual motion. One author explained it like this.

“The force that holds quarks together is known as the strong nuclear force. As quarks oscillate and spin within the nucleus of an atom, they generate waves of space that bind them together. These highly energetic motions are nuclear waves.”

https://quantumwavetheory.wordpress.com/tag/quarks/

I realize that it is somewhat counterintuitive to think of a stationary rock as actually oscillating and vibrating, but that is precisely how matter behaves at the sub-atomic level. All of creation, from the vast galaxies of space to the microscopic components of matter consist of vibrations.

Interestingly enough, that is precisely what we would expect to discover if we believe the word of God and the God of the word. As the psalmist says in Psalm 33 above, “He spoke and it came to be.”

Jesus Christ is the Word, and as the Creator of the universe, everything leapt into existence at the command of His voice!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

[John 1:1-3]

And then God SAID, Let there be …

Of course all of the universe consists of vibrations because the heavens and the earth came into being at the mighty reverberations of God’s Voice. God spoke and everything appeared as He willed. Jesus commanded and the universe was created. Jesus is the Supreme Creator of all things, both visible and invisible — spiritual and physical. Christ created the angels and all beings of the spiritual realm to be witnesses to the creation of the material universe. As God was creating, the angels were singing — glorifying God for His infinite wisdom, power, beauty and love.

““Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?“

[Job 38:4-7]

And what’s more, the very same voice and command of God that initiated the universe is also the same reverberating force that is holding everything together. The Lord Jesus Christ is presently, actively, purposefully keeping everything in the cosmos from immediate disintegration and total destruction.

“In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

[Hebrews 1:2-3]

All of creation is singing out at this very moment, praising the Creator and ascribing the glory due to Him alone. If only God’s greatest creation, mankind, would offer Him the same glory and honor He so rightfully deserves.

Next time you look at the stars or study the complex inner workings of the cell, may you break out into praise with all of creation and worship the God who spoke and it came to be.

“You are the LORD, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”

[Nehemiah 9:6]

Ready for the Real ‘End Game’

Marcus Walker Van EveryLeave a comment

“Then comes the end, when he (Christ) delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”

[1 Corinthians 15:24-25]

The numbers are in and Marvel’s latest blockbuster film — Avengers End Game — has shattered all previous box office records, grossing well over $1 billion in it’s opening weekend alone. [https://www.cnet.com/news/avengers-endgame-breaks-global-box-office-record-for-biggest-opening-ever/]

Wooing the crowds with state-of-the-art special effects, epic battle scenes, and an overall lovable cast of characters, End Game magnifies everything about the human condition.

We all identify with the perpetual struggle between good and evil, and we inevitably cheer when good prevails in the end. We all possess the desire to be great — superhuman — and we secretly hope that we can live forever in the end. We all dream of a day when there is true peace on earth and goodwill toward men, and we wonder if any of us will live to see it before we meet the end.

The reason movies like End Game are so great is simply because the best movies tell the best story, and the best story is the story of God, who has provided a Savior for all mankind — a Savior who alone has come to conquer evil, provide everlasting life, and establish peace on earth once and for all. The reason we cheer for virtual heroes and lose ourselves in a virtual universe is because our Creator made us in His own image and has placed eternity within our hearts.

We know there must be something more — a real Hero, a true destiny — but think of how many lost souls walk away from the theaters empty and wanting in the end. The greatest productions and machinations that man could ever deliver will never come close to the real thing … the real End Game.

The Bible speaks of the real ongoing struggle around us — that which is beyond flesh and blood — between the spiritual forces of light and darkness. Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, came to reveal Himself to mankind and to redeem for Himself people for His own possession.

“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

[Colossians 1:13-14]

The Bible speaks of the One True Hero of the world and Savior of mankind, Jesus Christ, who has proven His supremacy above all other gods and who is now seated at the highest place of authority in the universe.

“That he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

[Ephesians 1:20-21]

The Bible speaks of the One and Only Giver of Eternal Life, the resurrected Son of God, who died and is alive forevermore, and who alone is able to give life to our mortal bodies.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”

[John 11:25-26]

And the Bible also speaks about the REAL END GAME, when Jesus Christ returns to destroy His enemies, crush the forces of darkness, judge the living and the dead, and establish His rule and reign as the King of kings and Prince of peace.

“He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”

[Revelation 19:13-16]

“Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

[Isaiah 9:7]

God has promised to bring all things to an end and place everything under the feet of Jesus when He comes. This is not a game. This is real life. This is real destiny. This is for all eternity.

And there is only one thing that will matter in the end …. is Jesus Christ returning as your Savior or as your Judge?

Is your soul ready for the Real “End Game?”

5G, IoT, and the Mark of the Beast

Marcus Walker Van Every1 Comment

“Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

[Revelation 13:16-17]

I have a love-hate relationship with technology. Some days I am grateful to be able to FaceTime my family, respond to an important email, update my blog, access driving directions, research a topic, listen to my favorite music etc… all at the convenience of my iPhone.

Other days I feel the unsettling urge to throw my phone into the bottom of the Mississippi River and get off the grid forever.

Like any neutral tool or device, our smart phones and computers can be used for significant good and at the same time can become a stumbling block in our lives. The Lord knows that most of us have become more tethered to our wireless devices than ever before.

But we haven’t seen anything yet. The next phase in technological evolution is the revealing of 5G wireless networking and the Internet of Things (IoT).

WHAT is 5G?

The term 5G simply refers to the 5th generation wireless network being installed and implemented as we speak. Like all technological upgrades, 5G will be bigger, better, badder than ever. It will access and download data at least 20x faster than the present 4G capacities and will merge with all LTE (long-term evolution) technologies. All the major telecommunication networks have made significant investments in upgrading and have already begun building the hardware infrastructure, so in short, 5G is the future of global communication.

WHAT ARE the RISKS with 5G?

For every person that is stoked about the super fast applications of 5G, there is another that is concerned about the excessive amounts of radiation that will be emitted worldwide through the 5G network. Because 5G will require higher frequency radio waves at nearly every interval of life, most forecasters expect radiation exposure levels to increase exponentially. Many scientists believe that the health risks of 5G technology could be catastrophic to all organic life on the planet — potentially giving rise to cancer, sterilization, and many other chronic health problems.

Just last year, a group of 26,000 scientists, engineers and environmentalists signed an appeal to the international community to prevent the implementation of 5G, claiming that the potential health and environmental risks have not been responsibly addressed. Since then, another 55,000 people have signed the petition to stop 5G. You can read the appeal here.

The appeal states that “in addition to millions of new 5G base stations on Earth and 20,000 new satellites in space, 200 billion transmitting objects, according to estimates, will be part of the Internet of Things by 2020, and one trillion objects a few years later.” Although some claim that this appeal is an irrational overreaction to the new technology, one must admit that it will be impossible to determine the long-term effects of 5G radiation until it is too late.

“Despite widespread denial, the evidence that radio frequency (RF) radiation is harmful to life is already overwhelming. The accumulated clinical evidence of sick and injured human beings, experimental evidence of damage to DNA, cells and organ systems in a wide variety of plants and animals, and epidemiological evidence that the major diseases of modern civilization—cancer, heart disease and diabetes—are in large part caused by electromagnetic pollution, forms a literature base of well over 10,000 peer-reviewed studies.
If the telecommunications industry’s plans for 5G come to fruition, no person, no animal, no bird, no insect and no plant on Earth will be able to avoid exposure, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to levels of RF radiation that are tens to hundreds of times greater than what exists today, without any possibility of escape anywhere on the planet. These 5G plans threaten to provoke serious, irreversible effects on humans and permanent damage to all of the Earth’s ecosystems.

[International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space]

WHAT is the INTERNET of THINGS (IoT)?

The Internet of Things, or IoT, is directly connected to 5G wireless technology. The IoT is the technological integration of everything on the planet. Imagine your next pair of shoes having the wireless capability to track how many steps you take in a day and provide your with instant updates. Imagine your milk carton containing a microchip that communicates with your grocery checklist to let you know when your milk is out of date. In other words, everything on the planet will be chipped and linked for the global interconnectivity of information 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“Simply put, this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cellphones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of.  This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig. The IoT is a giant network of connected “things” (which also includes people).  The relationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.

[https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2014/05/13/simple-explanation-internet-things-that-anyone-can-understand/#5273b4031d09]

WHAT ARE the BIBLICAL APPLICATIONS?

While I don’t recommend demonizing the latest technology and immediately associating it with the impending mark of the beast, spoken of in the book of Revelation, I can see how many potential applications of 5G technology and the IoT could pose serious threats not only to our health, but also to our freedom.

Students of Bible prophecy have speculated for years about the true nature of this “mark,” described in Revelation 13. We are told to calculate the number of the mark of the beast, which is the number of a man — 666. Granted, the internet provides endless conspiracy theories and sensational claims concerning the mark of the beast, most of which are ludicrous and should be ignored.

Revelation 13:18, however, says that “this calls for wisdom.” In other words, it is imperative that God’s people are filled with the Holy Spirit and dependent upon HIs divine wisdom and understanding in these last days. The coming mark of the beast will be a severe threat that will require a level of discernment that the natural man does not possess [1 Corinthians 2:9-16].

The more I study this enigmatic passage in Revelation 13 and the potential introduction for the mark of the beast, I am more convinced than ever that it involves some type of technological application — much like what we are seeing with 5G and the IoT. Here is why.

  1. The ubiquitous, global reach — the all-pervasive, potential reach of 5G and even more advanced technologies will create a global network of surveillance that will be inescapable. Think “eye-in-the-sky” multiplied by the billions. If 5G and the IoT reach their potential, there will not be anything on the planet that is not connected to this global network — including you and me.
  2. The potential for complete commercial control — Revelation 13:17 says that no one will be able to buy or sell unless he has the mark of the beast. By creating the Internet of Things, it would become feasible to restrict commerce and trade on a global scale. Everyone who wants to participate in the global economy would be forced to receive this mark.
  3. The potential for mind control — If the mark of the Beast is some type of technological application that is implanted or embedded in the human brain, then it is not a very big jump for a satanic, antichrist system to use neurotechnology for mind control or to suppress brain activity. If you think this is too far fetched, just read the headlines like Elon Musk wants to connect computers to your brain so we can keep up with robots
  4. The irrational obsession of the spirit of the age — Revelation 13:8 says that everyone whose name is not written in the Lamb’s book of life will worship the Beast, or Antichrist, because they will be drunk on the intoxicating spirit of the age, which is using technological advancement to offer mankind another way to transcend to a higher phase of enlightenment and evolution. The world is hooked on technology, and the more addicted we become, the more willing we will be to take the next logical step … connecting our minds to the global network of information. The only problem is that the prince of the power of the air is in full command of this information and will use it for his demonic purposes.

Those of us who are in Christ Jesus have received the mind of Christ. All believers must get serious about seeking the LORD in these last days and asking the Holy Spirit to provide divine wisdom and understanding so that we can navigate within a corrupt and perverse generation without going astray. All of us must ask the LORD what He is calling us to do, and then we must be willing to do it.