PSALM 34:11-19

 

PSALM 34:11-19 New Living Translation Come, my children, and listen to me, and I will teach you to fear the LORD. Does anyone want to live a life that is long and prosperous? Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies! Turn away from evil and do good. Search for peace, and work to maintain it. The eyes of the LORD watch over those who do right; his ears are open to their cries for help. But the LORD turns his face against those who do evil; he will erase their memory from the earth. The LORD hears his people when they call to him for help. He rescues them from all their troubles. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. The righteous person faces many troubles, but the LORD comes to the rescue each time.

 

ANGEL ON LAND & SEA

 

ANGEL ON LAND & SEA Revelation Study Continued REVELATION 10.1 I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 10.2 He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land. 10.3 He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. 10.5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, 10.6 and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay, 10.7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets. -WEB Bible. The Book of Revelation has been mostly linear up to this point: describing the events of the Tribulation one after another. And, the story is nearly finished: the triumphant return of Jesus Christ is imminent. However, Revelation switches gears from here on, and departs from the linear timeline. There are side stories to tell, and strange characters to introduce. We need to realize that the Tribulation is not just for mankind. Ever since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, God has mentioned judgment on the fallen angels as well. Revelation will describe some of these wicked personalities, and how they meet with their destruction. The Bible tells us in EPHESIANS 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." -NAS This vision in Revelation 10 describes a massive Angel. The impressive size suggests incredible strength and power. The beasts that will be described later are puny when compared with this Angel who introduces John to a series of demonic beings and monsters. Who can be afraid while such a guardian stands by your side? The end of the Tribulation is complex. When the 7th and final Trumpet sounds, God's moment of vengeance will be sudden, violent, complete and far-ranging. The impacts are on a massive, global scale. We understand (with astonishment) how incredibly patient God has been, holding back his power and fury until this brief but utterly devastating moment. The evil characters that will be described in the remaining chapters of Revelation are destroyed in rapid succession! However, it requires one-third of the book of Revelation to explain it all. This study of Revelation continues on Thursdays. IMAGE CREDIT: Image of the Mighty Angel on Land and Sea, generated by SeaArt.ai and edited by C.A. Stevens.

 

A Christian Overview Of The Present Conflicts

 

A Christian Overview Of The Present Conflicts By Frank Mceleny In this present conflict, as in most things in our divided world, the temptation is to take sides. For Christians this can be a dangerous place to stand. We cannot serve two masters, for too often the master we serve is simply our own opinion. Self wears many disguises. One of its most common forms is a kind of indulgent self-righteousness in which we lash out at those who do not agree with us. In that moment we become the accuser. That is by design, but it is not the Lord’s design. We can measure how much the Lord truly occupies our thoughts by the peace that rests in our hearts. If our hearts resemble the turmoil of the world around us, we will find ourselves living in the same storm. Peace is our measure. Joshua faced a moment like this... And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, ”No ... but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped , and said unto him, “What does my Lord say unto his servant?”  Joshua 5:13–14 The instruction to Joshua was to remove his shoes, for he was standing on holy ground. It echoes the moment when Moses encountered the Lord at the burning bush. We can say with confidence that Joshua was speaking to the Lord Himself. No angel in Scripture accepts the worship of a man. Jericho was about to fall. Yet the Lord declared Himself to be on neither side. The real question was not whether the Lord was on Joshua’s side, but whether Joshua was on the Lord’s side. Justice was about to come upon Jericho, but that was the Lord’s business. He is the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of heaven’s armies. The sword was in His hand. God does not join our side in a conflict, nor has He ever done so. We do not summon Him to our cause. He summons us to His. And as long as we remain near Him, as long as our hearts remain right before Him, as long as our shoes are removed because we know we stand on holy ground, then we stand in a safe place. Peace is the evidence that we stand on Holy ground, all other ground is sinking sand. Used with permission of Frank Mceleny on Facebook CLICK HERE This is one Christian's overview of the conflicts in this world: his thoughts can apply to many situations. When we realize that God does not choose sides, but calls us to HIS side, our priorities shift. When we come near to Jesus, we are that much closer to authentic Truth. The world wants us to choose: Left or Right, Liberal or Conservative. But there are so many lies flowing from all directions that none of them are something I want to align with fully. Not that we should be fence-sitters: we need to stand for something. We need to have convictions. But we don’t need to join the circus.

 

A Christian Overview Of The Present Conflict With Iran pt 2

 

A Christian Overview Of The Present Conflict With Iran By Frank Mceleny, Part 2 Many speak as though the exercise of power were itself the great evil, yet history teaches that the absence of ordered power often produces something darker still. Idealistic visions detached from reality offer little comfort to those who must live under tyranny. The world will not be governed by dreams but by forces strong enough to impose their will. The Christian perspective is neither naïve nor despairing. Believers understand that they are in the world but not of it. They are called to see clearly and to judge soberly. Scripture does not promise that the present age will culminate in peace among nations. Rather, it teaches that the world will continue in conflict until the final kingdom of God is revealed. Consider one final example. George S. Patton was by many accounts a flawed man; proud, ambitious, and often harsh. Yet when his Third Army broke through German lines during the Battle of the Bulge and relieved the surrounded soldiers at Bastogne, the men who had endured the siege did not pause to examine his character or analyze his motives. They cared that relief had come. So it is in the affairs of nations. Men act from mixed motives, ambition, necessity, calculation, and sometimes principle. The purposes behind intervention in places such as Iran may be complex and imperfect. Yet if the day comes when ordinary people find themselves delivered from the rule of harsh clerical tyranny, it is unlikely that they will trouble themselves greatly with the philosophical purity of those who brought about that change. Christians therefore must learn to think with steady minds. This world will never be redeemed by political power, yet neither will it be preserved from evil by wishful thinking. We are called to live as strangers and pilgrims, seeing clearly the broken order around us while fixing our hope on a kingdom not made by human hands. Used with permission of Frank Mceleny on Facebook CLICK HERE

 

A Christian Overview Of The Present Conflict With Iran

 

A Christian Overview Of The Present Conflict With Iran By Frank Mceleny, Part 1 War is not an interruption of history but one of its permanent features. Scripture teaches that we live in a fallen world, and history confirms the testimony. Nations rise and nations fall. Borders shift. Peoples displace peoples. From the ancient empires of the East to the kingdoms of Europe, from Rome’s conquest of Britain to the Angles and Saxons, the Viking invasions, and the Norman conquest, the same pattern appears again and again. History is written in the language of struggle. The American continent bears the same mark. The Cheyenne yielded the Black Hills to the Lakota through conflict, and the Lakota in turn lost that same territory to the expanding United States. This is not an exception but an illustration. War and power have always been instruments by which the political order of the world is formed. The world, as it exists, is not a garden but a wilderness, and it has been so since the fall of man. Christians must begin here if they are to think clearly. This present order is not our home in any moral sense. We belong to another kingdom. Yet we are required to live in this one, and we are commanded to see it as it truly is. Sentimentality is no substitute for truth. When tyrannies collapse and iron curtains fall, there is reason to rejoice for those who are freed from oppression. Such rejoicing does not sanctify the instruments by which that freedom comes, nor does it purify the motives of those who wield power. It simply acknowledges that relief has come to those who suffered under despotism. Imperfect instruments may still bring real deliverance. Christians are called neither to blind nationalism nor to naïve idealism. The Scriptures command us to seek peace, yet they also acknowledge that rulers exist to restrain evil in a violent world. Power vacuums do not remain empty. If one nation withdraws, another will advance. The question is never whether power will shape the world, but whose power it will be. Would the world be safer under the dominance of Russia? Or China? Or India? Or North Korea? Perhaps even Iran? Power will rule in this fallen world; the only question is which power, and to what end. CONTINUES WITH PART 2 ON TUESDAY! Used with permission of Frank Mceleny on Facebook CLICK HERE