Summary of Bible references on the Rapture

1Samuel 19 -- Behold the three ring circus

This is a very encouraging development. Watchman Nee once shared that if possible the enemy will attack us secretly but if that is ineffective the attacks will become open for all to see. In my own experience this has happened as well. Our gospel work on the campus ran into a lot of opposition, but when none of it slowed us down the opposition became blatant and out in the open. It even became “official”. I have heard repeatedly from people that they have been “warned about speaking with me”, etc. There have also been direct attacks fired my way that missed and there have been people that have given me the inside scoop to warn me. So what you are seeing here is not that different from what any believer could and should experience.

That said I think the comparison to what is happening in our country right now is obvious. Four years ago people claiming that the media was “fake news” or that there was a deep state conspiracy sounded like conspiracy nuts. But all of that is now out in the open. Time magazine did a cover story where they boasted of their deep state conspiracy playing the pivotal role in the election. Things that conservative talk shows had been claiming for years were laid bare and out in the open for all to see. They actually portray themselves as being heroic for “rigging” the election. This is what happens when they try to “prophesy”.

Now in this chapter the situation has become a three ring circus. There is the entire palace intrigue going on between Saul’s faction and David. There is also the war with the Philistines and then in the third ring you see Jonathan and Michal behaving in a way to save David even though Saul is interpreting it as being treasonous. So let’s begin with them. Psalms says that “deep calleth unto deep”. If you walk by the Spirit and speak the word of God it will call from your spirit to their spirit. It is important to understand that in any administration there will be people who have a conscience and to whom God will speak to. So even though Saul is king and has all the troops and all the resources at his command, the truth is God has all the people with a conscience at His command. In my experience if you need to get a warning God will always give you that warning, the question is “are you spending time with Him and listening to Him”. So in this particular situation a man named Dana Coverstone had a dream Feb 6th (the Bunker dream). In this dream the lights are turned off in the Whitehouse and the phone is ringing and no one is answering the phone. This to me is a very clear warning from God, for the first time the Whitehouse does not have anyone who will answer this call from the Lord. We have been warned that there is no Jonathan and no Michal. He also saw that all the clocks were stopped. Now there is only one time that the Bible records time standing still and that was so that Joshua could have time to completely destroy the enemy before the sun went down. Right now many things are coming to light, many things are being exposed and there is an urgency to deal with these things before the sun goes down and darkness covers the land.

This of course brings us to the next ring in this circus which is the war with the Philistines. We know that the pandemic came from the Wuhan lab in China. This has been confirmed by several experts in the field of bioweapons, it was confirmed by the US State department before Trump left office, and there is significant physical evidence to make this conclusion all but a certainty. However, the WHO just went and examined the lab and said it didn’t originate there. The lead scientist in charge of the investigation has been working with the CCP and even with the Wuhan lab for over ten years. It is the most obvious cover up from someone who is completely compromised and biased. Therefore I feel that is one more piece of evidence that supports the conclusion that the pandemic was an act of war. We also know that the election was rigged (Peter Navarro Report and Mike Lindell movie “Absolute Proof”). We were told by the Time cover story that Big Tech and mainstream media colluded together with deep state bureaucrats to pull this off. We also know that the voting machines are closely connected to the Chinese. This election was a choice between America and Globalists. Just like the battle David and Saul were fighting was between Israel and Philistines. The globalists are supported by multinational corporations. To them the US is only a very small share of the global market and they see one world government as a help to them to get a bigger market share, even a monopoly. One thing that is essential to this is to have one currency that the entire world uses and the only way to get that is to get rid of the US dollar as the defacto currency. The steps being taken to destroy the dollar are plain for anyone to see who understands global finance. They want to replace this currency with a digital currency that would use an RFID chip, not in a credit card, but that is injected into your body. This would be extremely beneficial to this one world government giving them much greater power in eliminating fraud, collecting taxes, and controlling the population.

Finally the third ring in this circus is what we saw in the impeachment hearings. No longer can we distinguish between Democrats and RINO’s (Republicans in Name Only). So instead I would characterize this kangaroo trial as being between the globalists and the MAGA (Make America Grreat Again) faction. We saw that the prosecution doctored evidence to intentionally make it sound that Trump said things that he didn’t say. In any real trial the judge would rule that if the prosecutor lied about one piece of evidence then they would lie about all evidence and the trial would be tossed out. Yet even when this was for all to see they had no shame.

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Many saints will quote the verse that we do not know the day or the hour. Yet here the author of Hebrews says that we will be able to see "the day approaching". This is what the Lord means by telling us to watch. He isn't going to tell us the day and the hour, anyone who thinks they have discerned this from various prophecies, logic, and tea leaves is mistaken. However, if we are watching we will see the day approaching.

Galatians 4:1-5 -- Neither slave nor free, male or female -- an audacious goal.

This goal: “neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female” is an incredibly audacious goal. Equal rights for women has yet to be achieved worldwide, and this is 2,000 years after Paul stated this goal. Paul was in the middle East, if you make this suggestion today you could get thrown into prison. Likewise with “neither slave nor free”. According to the Bible a “slave” is equated to an employee, whereas “free” refers to the owner of the business. Likewise with the “neither Jew nor Gentile”. Some people think the US is terrible with our racial biases. One person from Australia ridicules the US for this on a Christian forum I frequent. So, I checked. Australia has less than 0.1% of their population is black, and 0.4% of their population is hispanic. The US is the only country on this planet that is legitimately struggling with having a country in which there is “no Jew nor Gentile, no slave nor free, no Greeks or Scythians, etc” Paul knows his goal is audacious, that is why it is a goal. If you look at human history over the last 2,000 years you will see very little change in social justice in the first 1900 years and then a dramatic change after the industrial revolution. These last few revolutions (industrial, technological, and internet) have had a huge impact on society. We are now at the very beginning of the Artificial Intelligence revolution. When you are on the internet using some of these tools there truly is no “slave or free, no Jew nor Gentile, no male or female”.

We are the heir, we are children of God destined to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. We were subject to “guardians and trustees” for four thousand years. That is the function of the law. The law appointed priests according to Aaron and also a levitical priesthood. We were in slavery under these principals. Do not equate Paul’s use of “slavery” to the Southern States in the US, rather equate it to the Old Testament definition (an adult has entered into a contract to sell his labor). If you are an employee of someone else and are told by them what to do and what not to do, then you are a slave according to the Biblical definition.

This term adoption does not refer to what many think of as adoption, where a couple raises a child that is not theirs by birth as their own child. This term refers to the owner of a great business, like John Rockefeller. His son, John Jr., was his son from birth, but he doesn’t take over the company until he is ready. When he becomes the CEO of the company that is what “adoption of sonship” means. You could have several sons, but one may not be suitable to run the company and never does receive the “adoption of sonship”. In Genesis Reuben was the oldest son of Jacob, but he was disqualified and did not receive the “adoption of sonship”. Paul has set forth an audacious goal in chapter 3 and now he is laying out the short concrete steps we need to take to receive the adoption of sonship. Jesus, is our forerunner. He was born under law just like us, He was born of a woman, He was born into a poor, weak situation where He was not the “ruler” but was no different than a slave. If you want to get out of slavery you need to be redeemed, and this is what Jesus came to do. This is our goal and the day of redemption refers to the day that we receive the adoption of sonship.

Galatians 4:6-14 Can you see the messengers of Jesus Christ?

This was a striking difference between Jesus and all the other leaders of the Jews. Jesus called God His Father. When Jesus began His ministry God testified of Him “this is my beloved Son, hear Him”. It is not enough to search the scriptures, we need to press on to the “hearing of faith”, that is how we receive the Spirit. If you do, you will receive the Spirit of His Son which cries out “Abba Father”. These are concrete steps. Ultimately being a Jew or Gentile will be trivial compared to being a son of God, calling Abba, Father. We will all be one because we all have the same God and Father. It won’t matter, slave or free, neither will it matter male or female. What will matter is that God is our Father. We are all in the same family. God gave Israel the land that He had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that was the inheritance in the Old Covenant. Keeping the law was not why God gave them the land, the law was given so they would know how to walk in the land before God. In the same way the Old Covenant has been given to us so that we know how to walk in faith. Paul is demonstrating in the book of Galatians how he uses the Old Testament as a map to walk in faith in this good land.

It isn’t just circumcision. It is now observing special days. I hope this is very difficult to understand since in another place Paul says that some regard one day above another and to others every day is the same, and indicates these are minor differences. So what he is saying here is not exactly the same. Romans 14:5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. In Romans Paul is saying that each person must be fully convinced in their mind that they are doing what they do unto the Lord. There is no requirement that we all must have the same opinion on what to eat and how to celebrate the Lord’s day. So in Romans Paul is talking about each one of us being a servant to the Lord and if we stand or fall it is up to the Lord. Galatians is different. Here the church is observing special days, months and years. For example, the Seventh day adventists teach that you have to keep the Sabbath, and that Saturday is the Sabbath, so you must keep the Old Testament laws concerning the Sabbath on Saturday. Christmas and Easter would be special days. Lent is a period of forty days that the Catholics observe. What happens when you subscribe to the teaching that you must keep the Sabbath? You become enslaved by those weak and beggarly forces. What happens when you keep “Christmas”? Do you buy a tree? Do you get all your Christmas gifts? You are becoming enslaved to those weak and beggarly forces that have “commercialized Christmas”. If you celebrate the Lord’s birth that is wonderful, but you do know that He was not born in December. You also know that the wise men giving gifts to the Lord in the manger was to pay for Him to flee to Egypt and in no way can be compared to buying your son a PlayStation. If we celebrated the Lord’s birth in the Spring time by giving to the poor and homeless I could see that as being aligned to pure religion. But the way in which Christmas is celebrated is simply being enslaved by these weak and miserable forces. They are weak because there is no Biblical basis at all to celebrate Christmas, they are miserable because instead of caring for widows and orphans they are concerned with making merchandise of you. You are being enslaved by the worldly economy. The same thing is true of Lent. Mardi Gra is a festival in New Orleans to mark the end of Lent. There is no resemblance to pure religion, rather it reeks of this evil age. These are not concrete steps towards the church being the Kingdom on Earth.

Can you imagine the loss to the church, to human history, if they had treated Paul with scorn and contempt? He had an illness, he had his weaknesses, but he also was a gifted member that “completed the word of God”. This is contrary to the whole “survival of the fittest” psychology. Celebrating Christmas, Easter, Lent, and Mardi Gra are the same as treating Paul with scorn and contempt. The world is trying to mold us to their image, survival of the fittest is a way to justify violating the golden rule to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Celebrating Christmas is a way to mold you to where eventually it is Xmas. Circumcision is a way to blot out the cross of Christ as being the proof of our covenant with God. When you do these things you treat the Bible with scorn and contempt, you treat Paul with scorn and contempt. You are treating your inheritance with scorn and contempt.

Isn’t this what we are taught? If the church is the Body of Christ, aren’t the members of the Body “Christ Jesus Himself”? Who really laid hands on Paul so he could receive his sight, was it Ananias, or was it Jesus Christ? When we look at the members we can see weaknesses, shortcomings, and issues, or we can see messengers of God, even Christ Jesus Himself. When you give the least of these members a glass of water in the Lord’s name you are giving it to the Lord. When you see the members of the Body of Christ as messengers of God then we truly will have no slave or free, no male or female.

Galatians 4:15-20 Why people prefer to be under the law

This is the light switch. I suspect that the reason they viewed Paul as an angel of God is because he told them the truth and yet now when he tells them the truth about their keeping these special days they treat him like an enemy. What happened?

If I am going to make merchandise of you, I must alienate you from Paul. For example, Witness Lee’s ministry put a lot of effort into alienating the members from the rest of Christians. Witness Lee taught that there had not been any books published by Christians with any spiritual value in the last fifty years. The leaders taught that if you take the Lord’s table with any other Christian group other than them you will be drinking and eating judgement to yourself because all these other Christian groups are meeting in a divisive way. Witness Lee taught that all denominations were divisions, abominations in the sight of God. Only he had the “vision of the age” and all the other groups were “degraded Christianity”. Members were taught they were the “recovery”, those that had been called out to rebuild the temple, whereas all the other Christians had been carried off to Babylon. They were also taught that the only way we could help people in this age was to build up his ministry. That is how they justified not giving to the poor. In the same way people are told the best thing for the economy is to buy stuff for Christmas. These holidays are all about making merchandise of you and have nothing to do with pure religion. Now compare that to what we are seeing today in the US, same game plan. Divide and conquer. Four years ago people heard that Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election. People were outraged, they gave Mueller $30 million to get to the bottom of this. After two and a half years of investigation the truth came out. It was Hillary Clinton's campaign that had colluded with Russia, Obama had used NSA to spy on Trump's campaign, Joe Biden and many other of the top officials in Obama's administration had made tens of millions of dollars from the Russians. So then where is the outrage? Why are those who are now telling you the truth your enemy?

The members of Witness Lee’s group were zealous, at least in the 70s and 80s. That was not their error, but sadly too many of them were zealous to build Witness Lee’s ministry to the exclusion of all else. The US also has a history of being zealous. Some were zealous for “liberty for all”, that was a good purpose, but what are we zealous for now? There are people who are zealous to create black lists, to "deprogram" the children of Republicans, to censor conservative Christians, to destroy books from anyone who does not agree with a radical left agenda.

Yes, it is true, you can be a child of God and yet be involved in this error. The civil rights movement has been episodes where again, and again we are in the “pains of childbirth”. The Civil war, separate but equal, dealing with Jim Crow laws, equal rights amendment for women, etc. To be a slave or a free person has been a major battle for thousands of years, ever since the Jews left Egypt. To treat everyone equally, whether male or female, has really only become an issue in the last hundred years. These issues are absolutely central to the gospel. The gospel gives way to the millennial reign of Christ, you can be sure during the reign of Christ this goal will be realized.

This is a puzzle. Think of all the puzzle pieces that have had to be put into place to get to where we are today from the days of Paul. Why would they want to be under the law? It is easier than walking by faith. One thing that Witness Lee’s sect did was require members to share testimonies after each message. That is a hard thing, it requires you to experience Christ in your daily life. Ed Marks discovered an easier way, just quote Witness Lee. Regardless of what the message was he could quote Witness Lee. It is easier. He taught the members to use Witness Lee’s footnotes, that was super easy, all you had to do was buy his Bible version. This is how he advanced in that sect, he sold Witness Lee’s bibles. Is that what you think the gospel is? Is that what it means to be “rescued from this evil age”? Why is it that people who were so zealous to get to the truth in 2016 concerning Russian collusion don't care that we have Hunter Biden's laptop, evidence of his collusion on behalf of Joe Biden with Russia? It is easier to let someone else tell you what to think.

Galatians 4:21-27 What makes Tom Brady so successful, what does he know that the rest of us don't?

Who do you want to be, Isaac or Ishmael? One was born as the result of Abraham trying to help God fulfill the promise he had been given with his flesh, whereas the other was born according to God’s promise. The promise may seem incredible, impossible, something only God can fulfill, but that is the point of faith. That is the point of the hearing of faith. That is what makes the hearing of faith so difficult, you have to trust God to do the impossible. It is so much easier to just trust your flesh, but what is the result? Paul is asking us, “is that who you want to be”? Do you really want to be Ishmael, the son of the slave woman, in this story? Isn’t it ironic that those who thought they wanted to be under the law didn’t even know what the law said?

When you get married you enter into a covenant. The marriage vows are a covenant. So it is not a big leap for Paul to say these two women represent two different covenants. God says that when a man is joined to a woman the two become one flesh. If you are joined to Hagar you become one flesh with Hagar. If you buy into Ed Marks approach to being a Christian you become one flesh with that. One covenant bears children who are to be slaves, they are told what to do. You don’t even own your testimony. This is what the law is, it tells you what to do.

“Corresponds”, “correlates”, analogous to, these terms all indicate there is a pattern. Math and science are all about spotting patterns. If I can spot a pattern that I can apply I might be able to interpolate and extrapolate, glean more information about a situation than I personally measured and predict the future based on the past events. I am not personally familiar with Jerusalem at the time of Paul or even Mount Sinai in Arabia. However, in my experience with Witness Lee’s sect I can definitely see how we were in slavery. We were told what to do, what to read, what not to read, how to spend our time, and what to say. To me now this was very clearly a slave mentality. I came into this group in Houston the same year as Ed Marks. My prayer since the day I had first prayed to the Lord a few years earlier was to be able to read the Bible. I had a vision that all the treasures of knowledge and wisdom were hidden in this word. I wanted to be able to find them. Watchman Nee’s ministry helped me to do that, but Witness Lee’s ministry didn’t, so I focused on reading Watchman Nee’s books. But Ed Marks' goal was different. He wanted to major in “Witness Lee”. When he spoke he would quote from Witness Lee’s ministry and he became very adept at this. He could pull a quote from Witness Lee on any verse in the Bible. I could never understand that. Instead of getting God’s word for himself he was allowing Witness Lee to do it for him. As a result he advanced in the group and became a leading elder nationwide. But he is in slavery. If you ask him a question that Witness Lee has never answered he has nothing to say. Once Witness Lee died these “leading ones” began giving messages which were simply rehashed Witness Lee messages. They were like the Japanese soldiers still fighting the war twenty years after Japan had surrendered. But here Paul is answering a question no Rabbi ever answered, because if they had they would have realized they were slaves and that they were not in the New Covenant.

Paul used the story of Abraham to correlate with his own experience and then he found a word in the prophet Isaiah to help connect the dots. This is like an artist painting a masterpiece. The focus of this painting is that Jesus Christ was portrayed crucified in great detail. The Old Testament types and figures help bring out this picture, but this isn’t where it began. His focus is that the gospel is that Jesus Christ’s death rescues us from this evil age. That correlates quite well with the Old Testament, and he can now find wonderful illustrations like Balaam beating his donkey to help illustrate this slavery. Only with so many pieces of the puzzle in place does he expand on God’s covenant with Abraham to also include the relationship with Hagar and then compare the two geographic locations of Jerusalem and Mount Sinai. This is a masterful exposition of the Bible, the gospel, and the Old and New Testaments. Think about it, by embracing Witness Lee’s ministry and selling his bibles Ed had “a husband”. By comparison I was barren. But today I shout for joy because the Lord has answered my prayer. I can read the Bible. If I have a question about Black Lives Matter, or the Mortgage Crisis, of the Pandemic, I can read the Bible and see what God says.

Here is a question that Witness Lee never answered. What makes Tom Brady so successful at quarterback? Ed Marks cannot answer this but I can because the answer is right here in Galatians. Tom Brady does not have a great arm, there are a number of excellent quarterbacks who could throw better. He is very accurate and he can make every throw so it is fair to say he has an elite arm. But Bledsoe, Marino and Favre all had more impressive arms. Tom Brady is slow, the slowest person on any team. There have been a good number of quarterbacks who were much more fleet of foot than Brady. Because of these two failings one would assume that Brady would, at best, be a back up quarterback in the NFL, not an elite quarterback, surely not someone with the ridiculous success he has had. What killed me for years is that he would win and yet it seemed it was someone else who made the key play. Seattle
would have won the Super Bowl had it not been for an interception in the end zone by a rookie cornerback. But now I understand what he has and none of the other elite quarterbacks had. He can see that there is no slave or free, or in this case no superstar and no chump. Everyone on an NFL football team is an elite athlete and if you embrace the talents of each one, even if you are a bunch of one and two talented members together you will have a hundred talents, whereas the teams with two or three five talented members are depending on those fifteen or twenty talents to win the game.

Galatians 4:28-31 What does it mean to be a child of God?

And yet, wonderful exposition of the Bible was not the point. Too many preachers of the word stop with verse 28. The point is that spotting these patterns helps Paul to figure out this puzzle, to see what is happening to us now, today. Do those in the BLM realize that what is happening now is that those who are born according to the flesh are persecuting those who are born according to the promise? I suspect that some feel they need to help God fulfill these promises with their flesh. They are choosing to act, not like owners, not like the heirs, but rather like employees. The people who “told them what to do” didn’t have their best interests at heart so they are rebelling. But instead of realizing the issue is the slave mentality of wanting someone else to tell you what to do, they think the solution is to just change one tyrant for another.

If you convince the world that you are being abused by those who are telling you what to do there is no way we will agree to switch one abusive tyrant for another. We rejected King George, we weren’t about to replace him with another King George. That decision by Washington is one of the main reasons he is held in such high esteem. Where in history did we see someone willing to pay such a great price that we could be free?

That is what it is to be born again and receive Jesus Christ by faith. The free woman is the woman who is walking by faith. Now imagine what would have happened if Joseph had scorned Mary and treated her with contempt. She is poor, does not seem to have any inheritance, according to the flesh it seems easy to do. Think of the blessing that would have been lost to Joseph and all of his descendants. Did Joseph walk according to the hearing of faith or the works of the law? Jesus Christ cannot be clearly portrayed as crucified unless He is also clearly portrayed as incarnated as a man. His genealogy clearly portrays that all those responsible for ultimately bringing Jesus to us were walking by faith, not by the works of the law. All of this is our mental map of what it means to be a child of God with Jesus as our big brother. I use the Old Testament like a map to see where I am and where I want to go, it helps me in this way. However, it is my servant, I am not its servant. I am a child of God, an heir, and these things belong to me, not me to them.

1Samuel 20 -- This is how the pros do it.

We have already seen that Jonathan is an expert in discerning “dogs that bark” type of bullies and David was an expert in dealing with “dogs that bite” type of bullies. Now we see that both David and Jonathan are working together as a team to deal with snakes in the grass, the deceitful workers that lay snares and traps. David’s point where he will not show up to the feast and wants to hear from Jonathan how Saul reacts reminds me of football where players will go into motion. The reason they motion a player is because the quarterback can immediately determine what kind of defense it is, whether they are playing zone or man. One reason that Tom Brady is still very effective at 43 is because he is an expert at reading defenses. He can read the defense, know the weakness, know the play to run and then capitalize on that. He can do all of this in about 30 seconds. This is a huge advantage to an offense. We are getting an inside view of how military strategy is done as well as tactics used to force your opponent to show his hand. We also see that Jonathan has been taken by surprise. He thought he was his father’s most trusted advisor. This is called the fog of war. This is why two are better than one and three are a strong cord (Michal is the one that had the inside scoop that her father was going to kill David). Women have been famous throughout human history for being very good listeners. George Washington used a network of women as spies during the revolutionary war. Janitors, women, and many others who have been of little regard like Paul’s nephew, have been instrumental in human history.

So there it is. Many times it is bewildering, why am I being attacked? You are doing good, there is no crime, but they are incensed to kill you. Why? This began when people were singing about David killing his ten thousands and Saul killing his thousands. With every success David had against the Philistines his reputation grew. Saul could realize that David would replace him and his family as king. The two bogus impeachments of Trump illustrate this. 75 million people voted for him, that is 6 million more than voted for Obama. He would have 5 rallies in a day each of which was packed with tens of thousands of people. By comparison these other politicians would be lucky to get 1,000 people. It is envy.

Speaking in code, even with only a boy to hear. This again is a good example. Very few people get such lessons on palace intrigue and what it is truly like to rule. You should look on this paragraph as a great blessing, God is training and teaching David.

Proverbs 1 -- The beginning of Wisdom

There is a great misconception about what “wisdom” is. For example, some will think that a guy like Bernie Madoff who was head of Nasdaq and ran a billion dollar fund and was “highly successful” had wisdom. That is a mistake, looking at “success” and equating it to wisdom is foolish. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. When Bernie Madoff appears before the judgement seat of Christ how will his “success” look then? When it turns out the work of his hands was built upon a foundation of lies and deceit, what then? It would have been much better for him if he had been a struggling employee his whole life scraping to get by. The foundation, the rock we stand on, the first step in any plan of “wisdom” is a fear of the Lord. How will this play out when I stand before the Lord? Ultimately this is what the rapture is all about. Every person has chosen their path, perhaps their focus is on money, or fame, or power or enjoyment, or some other pursuit. But in the grand scheme of things the real goal has to be that the Lord will say unto you "well done good and faithful servant". At the time of Noah there were probably many people all pursuing goals they thought were important, only eight people thought that listening to God and obeying Him to build that boat had to be first and foremost.

Second, notice how Solomon combines this first concept with the contrasting concept of “fools despise wisdom and instruction”. Throughout your life you will hear plans and schemes from people, and often you are unsure. So ask them, “how will this look when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ?” If they are fools they will despise that question and they will despise you for asking. That is all you need to know to realize they are fools you want nothing to do with them or their plans. Listening and obeying God by faith will always play well when you appear before His thron On the other hand suppose you knew Orville and Wilbur Wright, two bicycle repair men and their plans to build an airplane. Maybe some are ridiculing them saying they have guys who have Phd’s in engineering and large government grants working on this, who are you? Others would mock and say “if God meant man to fly He would have given us wings”. But first question, how will it look at the judgement seat of Christ if these guys work on a plan to build an airplane? I don’t see how that could be a problem, and who knows, if they are successful God may commend them. Second question, OK, what is your strategy for designing an airplane? They tell you they are studying birds and are going to imitate their aerodynamic shape. OK, Bible says to be imitators of God, that sounds good to me. Next question, why is everyone else unsuccessful, what is it that you are doing differently? Everyone else is focused on increasing power so the plane flies, we see the main issue as developing the ability to steer the plane and maneuver it during takeoff, landing and flight. OK, makes sense, how are you going to test this? We found that Kitty Hawk has the strongest winds, we’ll do research and development on that beach. This appears prudent, well thought out, with a plan that is not contrary to God. According to the Bible it only takes a little faith to move mountains. So wisdom would not have a problem with supporting these two. Besides, trusting in Phd’s and money is no different from trusting in idols and man. To fear God means to respect the power of faith.

The Bible is a garland of grace for your head and a chain to adorn your neck. The wisdom is there and the faith to do great works is there as well. James said if any of you lack wisdom ask of God who gives liberally and upbraideth not. God is not going to upbraid the Wright brothers for being audacious. Pray for wisdom and He will give it to you liberally just as He did to them. In Colossians Paul said that “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him”. Jesus Christ is the incarnated word. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in that word.

Here is the next lesson. You don’t need to grow up with Ted Bundy to know psychopaths and sociopaths. No doubt during your lifetime you will bump into and meet quite a few. They may not be serial killers, but the principle is the same. They lie in wait for an innocent blood, they ambush some harmless soul. They have a reptilian brain like a snake. They have no hesitation about doing evil. They have no qualms about stealing or even killing. Think of them as serpents in human clothing. You will know them because they “entice you”. You think they are your friend, but in reality they are using you. Don’t give in, let your no be no.

Look at Bernie Madoff, look at Ted Bundy. In their day these were two of the most successful psychopaths. Yet their schemes and crimes took away their own blood. At the judgement seat of Christ they will be ambushed. Yes they both got “caught” before that, but that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. If we live for eternity 30 years, 80 years, it is trivial compared to eternity. To God a thousand years is as a day, based on that 50 years is as an hour. At best these crooks operate for an hour before they are ambushed.

That is the difference between wisdom and foolishness. The fools whisper in secret, come up with their “secret” plans and schemes. They creep around in the shadows. Wisdom is out there in the sunlight, in the broad daylight, crying out. Nothing is in secret, you get to live your life in the light. Also, “repent at my rebuke!” Consider 9/11, this was a rebuke of God. He took away our hedge of protection. Why? Because we removed God from the US. The proper response is to repent at His rebuke. Isaiah 9:8 The Lord has sent a message against Jacob; it will fall on Israel. 9 All the people will know it— Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—who say with pride and arrogance of heart, 10 “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.” We saw this with 9/11. That attack was a message sent to the US. Your hedge of protection has been breached, enemies are now within the country. The whole world saw this. But, what was their response? Instead of repentance it was defiance. The governor of NY said “Today we take twenty tons of Adirondack granite, the bedrock of our state, and place it as the foundation, the bedrock of a new symbol of American strength and confidence.” He also said “Today, we the heirs of that revolutionary spirit of defiance, lay this cornerstone...” There was no repentance, only pride and arrogance of the heart. They proclaimed that the bricks have fallen down but they would rebuild with quarried stones.

2020, numerous news accounts were describing this year as “apocalyptic” and “the end of the world” until it became so old they started calling it “the year like no other”. How do we respond, what would wisdom advise? First, fear the Lord. Whatever you do or have done, how will that look when you appear before the Judgement seat of Christ? Understand that all things are of God and there is nothing that has taken place that He does not allow. So turn to God. Second, repent at His rebuke. Listen and obey to what He says. This is obviously a rebuke, find out from His word, what the rebuke is for and repent.

There is still some confusion about why Tom Brady illustrates what Paul is talking about in Galatians where he says there is no bond or free, etc.

So let's discuss this in much greater detail. Tom Brady was not a very talented quarterback. Based on his natural talents he was chosen 199th in the draft and it is hard to believe that we would change that. If today we had another candidate with his resume in the draft, even knowing what we know about Brady, he would still be a very low draft pick. So, Tom is an example of a 1 talented member who did everything in his power to develop his skills. No doubt this is not the first time, there have been many players who through hard work were able to be very successful despite lacking great natural talent.

However, these players can be a great example to everyone else on the team. They can influence everyone else on the team to strive to be better as well. You cannot explain Brady going to ten Super Bowls simply by his striving to be the best he can be. Football is a team sport with 40 or 50 players on the roster. No one player, not even the quarterback has that big an influence. But if you influence every other player to be a little better that can have a huge cumulative effect. We know that Brady understands this because when he went to Tampa he asked for the phone numbers of every player. He didn't just contact his receivers, or his offensive line, he talked to every player.

One very big reason that teams lose is because of mistakes. An interception, a fumble, one big mistake can be the difference between winning and losing. Often these mistakes are a result of someone trying to do too much. instead of just focusing on your job and doing what you need to do they are trying to be the hero and win the game. This is because they don't trust their teammates. This is the superstar mentality, it is the "bond and free" mentality. "As the superstar I am responsible for the win". Brady was not the superstar in college or when he entered the pros. He wasn't the guy with the hundred million dollar contract. He never had this mentality. Instead he was one of the players on the team and realized that each and every player could play. People who win games also lose games. If you can simply do your job, be someone that everyone can trust to do your job, then that is helpful. If he can remove the mistakes that lose games then that will be very helpful. On the other hand if he will play to the very last second, trusting in his teammates then that also can go a long way to winning games.

This is what we see in Brady and what all the other players and coaches tell you. He works harder than anyone else on the team to perfect his craft. He inspires and motivates others to be the best they can be. They can trust that he will always be there to do his job, all the way to the last second of the game. He doesn't have an elitist attitude. He works with whatever players you give him. As a result average players look like pro bowlers when they are on his team.

We need to stop seeing some members of the body as stronger and others as weaker, (no males or females), instead realize that every member is necessary, has a critical function, and then you can get a revelation of the Lord's inheritance in His body.

Galatians 5:1-6 Why the mixed messages?

“Death is the last station on the road to freedom” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). Christ has made us free by His death. To stand fast in “that liberty” is to stand fast in His death. A “yoke of bondage” is very specific, it is the kind of bondage we give to oxen. They are in bondage to us to plow our fields. This is the goal of every false prophet, to entangle you in a yoke of bondage. For example, a governor of the state needs to stand fast and not be entangled. It is expensive to run for office, every large donor is trying to entangle the politician in a yoke of bondage. This has become quite obvious during this pandemic. Why the mixed messages? In Florida the governor decided based on the information presented to him to reopen the state and the schools. In NY Governor Cuomo was held up as the "Gold Standard" on how to respond to the pandemic and won an Emmy for his daily briefings. However, we have learned that Cuomo's mandate to send contagious people back into nursing homes and homes for the disabled led to thousands dying whereas Florida has done well compared to NY. “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets. Jeremiah 2:26 The governor of New York is disgraced. He needs to be held accountable for all of his actions. Is he representing the people, or the business interests? Was he motivated to cause as much death as possible to justify a nationwide lockdown and help Biden get elected?

Circumcision is only an example of how that would work. It signifies that you have “cut off your flesh” and it marks you as belonging to a “gang” or “clique” or “sect”. But it does not in any way indicate that you belong to Christ. It is also what we refer to as “party politics”. During this pandemic the mixed messages are a result of party politics. But I said, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.’” Jeremiah 14:13. Five states mandated that the sick return to nursing homes, these are the five states with the highest death rates among seniors. They played party politics rather than protect the people of their state. Governor Cuomo, Governor Whitmer and Governor Newsom need to all be removed.

If you get a gang sign tattooed to your body then you belong to that gang. You become a debtor to do everything the gang does. Were these governors compelled by the Democratic party to do what they did to help Biden get reelected? For some strange reason the only people not calling for Cuomo to resign are the three senior members of the Democratic party (Biden, Pelosi and Schumer). Just like circumcision meant you belonged to the Jewish sect and now needed to keep every single law. Keeping the law does not make you righteous, rather it is when you don’t keep the law that you are unrighteous. So then, circumcision is a pledge to keep the entire law. We belong to the Lord, we don't need to be marked as belonging to any other party or sect other than Jesus.

“He who honors Me I will honor”. If you attempt to be justified apart from Christ you are not honoring Christ. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. Jeremiah 23:16 They said it would go away in July just like the flu. That was a false hope. They said this only hits the elderly, that was a false hope. They said that children didn't get sick, that was a false hope. They said they had it under control. One false hope after the next. Clearly those who are speaking this are estranged from the truth, they are estranged from the word of God, and they are estranged from Christ. It would have required faith to take the necessary steps to contain this in January. Shutting down the borders, monitoring temperatures, quarantining, tracing the contacts of people. It would have taken courage to listen to the Lord at that time. Likewise to impose nationwide standards for everyone to abide by would have been very unpopular. But, six to nine months later it would have been apparent that you were walking by faith and one with the Lord.
“Faith working through love”. That is how we walk the narrow path that leads to life, the path that few people find.

Galatians 5:7-11 Did Hitler hinder people from obeying the truth?

This would be a great topic for a book. For example, did Hitler hinder people from obeying the truth? He didn’t hinder Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he didn’t hinder Ann Franke, he didn’t hinder Oscar Schindler. If you stand fast in the death of Christ no one can hinder you. Why did the Germans become entangled with a yoke of bondage? They felt they needed a “strong leader”. But Bonhoeffer exposed the lie, he pointed out all authority is from God. You cannot be a “strong” leader if you are not under the authority of God. Second, a leader must have a servant mentality. Leaders are not kings, they are servants. It is up to you to choose to be under the authority of God and to serve others, if you do, then no one will be able to hinder you from obeying the truth.

Look at Jesus. No one was able to hinder Him from obeying the truth. They could crucify Him, that is true, they could bring false charges and have a monkey trial, that is true, but through it all He was able to obey the truth. Witness Lee was a master at leavening the whole lump with a little leaven. If you read his books, and his writings are truly extensive, you would be hard pressed to find any leaven. He never published the lie about Watchman Nee being excommunicated because his “mother” was living with him. No, you had to hear him speak, and ten thousand people in the US did hear this, but when the books came out it wasn’t there. The only leaven I can find in print would be His exposition on the ground of the church. It is a master class on how to entangle others in a yoke of bondage. That teaching is 90-95% Biblical and true. It just takes a “little leaven” to leaven the whole lump.

“No other mind” refers to “faith working through love”. If you don’t have this confidence you would get angry, very angry. Many of those that protest for Black Lives Matter have expressed the feeling that people are not bearing their own judgement. For me, I can see a lot of progress in the last 50-60 years. I have also seen that the Lord is faithful, whatever a man sows that shall he reap. So I do have this confidence. 50 years ago when a politician spoke it wasn’t uploaded to Youtube where you could easily find it.

We are all familiar with this phenomenon. People are accusing the Black Lives Matter movement of supporting rioting and looting. There is a debate over face masks, one month they tell us they aren’t necessary, the next month they are. Here Paul is preaching against circumcision, but didn’t he circumcise Timothy? Paul’s message was very consistent that salvation depends solely on faith in Jesus Christ’s redemptive work. There is no suggestion anywhere in his writings that circumcision was necessary for salvation, or for any Christian. His circumcision of Timothy was about “not offending others with my liberty”. Not that different from Hudson Taylor dressing the same way as the Chinese, or of any gospel preacher preaching the gospel in the native language of those they are sent to. Besides it doesn’t make any sense. The Judaizers are claiming you can’t know what Paul teaches, because one day he is for circumcision the next day he isn’t. If that were true then why are they persecuting him for teaching you don’t need to be circumcised? Initially the word on masks was that they won’t prevent you from getting infected. That is true and no one has changed that. Then they promoted them because they would limit the spread of the disease, meaning the person who wears the mask is less likely to infect others. Since then there have been studies done that show that although masks don’t prevent the infection from spreading it does slow it down, and it does cause the severity of the infection to decrease.

Galatians 5:12-21 Making yourself an enemy of God

Well, thank you Paul! Just when you think these apostles were too spiritual he goes and says something that I also would say. How often when debating with some clown on the internet about whether or not masks violate your constitutional rights, or watching a video of some Karen trying to use white privilege to get her way have I thought “I wish those who trouble you would even cut themselves off”. This isn’t just Paul’s word, it is also the word of God! Ha! There is still hope for me yet. Oops. OK, what he then said is that if I cut that person off it would be an opportunity for the flesh. So when he wished they would cut themselves off, he was prohibiting himself from taking that action. It is OK to be the angry prophet like Jonah. It is OK to hate the things Nineveh and the King of Nineveh are doing. It is OK to wish they would cut themselves off. But, even so, we have been called to serve them in love. Jonah in the Old Testament really struggled with that. It seems he was more concerned about the animals and the trees than about his neighbor. To be fair to him he did go to Nineveh, he did preach and they did repent. But, even at the very end God was still working on him over this last point, “to love your neighbor as yourself”. He was angry that the tree had died and now he had to suffer in the blasting heat without any shade, yet at the same time he is sitting there hoping God will rain fire on Nineveh to destroy them. That is not the same mind as Christ, the mind to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. Many people do not know what to think about Donald Trump. I think that this four years has been characterized by him “biting and devouring” many, many people. He insults a man who was a POW in the Vietnam war even though he himself dodged the draft. He insults the family of a man killed in the war. You could go on, and on, and on. Well, now, four years later we see him being consumed by books from Bolton who he fired and called an idiot and from his niece. He is being mocked on the internet. One person is lip synching his words, a comedian called Sarah Cohen, she does this on Tik Tok, and her mockery of him is consuming him. To me these last four years are a cautionary tale warning that if you bite and devour one another you need to beware lest you be consumed by one another. It seems he has no filter. He says whatever is on his mind. Even though you walk in the Spirit you may also have similar thoughts, the difference is that you won’t fulfill them. Paul wished that those who were troubling you would cut themselves off, he had very similar thoughts to Trump. The difference is that Trump “cuts off” those who he thinks are troubling him, whereas Paul didn’t fulfill that lust. The more we walk by the Spirit the stronger our filter becomes, so that we don’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.

This is like rat poop, if you see rat poop you know there is a rat around. You might have a hard time discerning a false prophet. But, if you see any of these things you know there is a false prophet. Our current political situation is filled with hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, and heresies. 4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:1-3) There was a teacher selling candy and soda to raise money for a trip to Europe at my son’s school. The items she was selling were prohibited by the Chancellor. I brought the regulation to the attention of the principal because my son was eating this stuff and I could see the impact all the sugar had on him. The teacher was angry she couldn’t get what she wanted and the principal let it slip that this was because of me. That is hypocrisy, it was because of the Chancellor’s regulations which the principal and teacher had chosen to ignore. I would gladly give money for them not to sell anything, it is very disruptive to have kids skipping class every week to sell candy and soda. If they were clear where the money was going I suspect all the teachers would give them the money rather than have them selling junk food. They don’t have because they don’t ask and when they do ask they don’t receive because their motive is to spend it on their own pleasure. The same is true in politics. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4:4) The authorities that exist are from God. If the chancellor’s regulation prohibits certain foods to be sold because they cause obesity and diabetes, well that is from God. These women have made themselves enemies of God.

Galatians 5:22-26 Warfare is about balance

Once I was hiking in the adirondack mountains. I wasn’t following a trail just enjoying the woods. I found an animal trail and followed it. I found some scat and realized it was from a big cat, a mountain lion. That night in my campsite this same mountain lion showed up and strongly expressed its displeasure at me following the trail. My point is we can “track” the Spirit. If you spot love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, or any of these you know you have found someone who is walking according to the Spirit. Someone who is Christ’s. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? (James 4:5a) Jealously! Brothers and sisters are flirting with the world? How shameful! Have a backbone. The Spirit God gave us does not make us timid. We have a promise Do not be afraid; you will not be put to shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. (James 4:5b) So stop allowing the enemies of God to push you around. What did God say to Job? 9 Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Yes! The Spirit God has caused to dwell in us does have an arm like God, it does have a voice that can thunder like God. The church is that arm, the church is that voice! We are the Body of Christ! God longs that the spirit He has caused to dwell in us would be revealed, pulling down strongholds and everything that exalts itself against the name of God. 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (James 4:6) There are snipers on all the rooftops looking for pride and arrogance. We need God’s grace and we won’t get it if we are proud, or self righteous.
Satan takes on the appearance of an angel of light. So if you see the works of the flesh, you know it is a fleshly person who won’t inherit the kingdom. If you see the works of the Spirit you know it is a spiritual person who belongs to Christ. But, what if you see both? Then you know it is a deceitful person, like Satan, attempting to appear as an angel of light. 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7) Many times when we are under attack we want to rebel. On the other hand if we do not respond we feel we are being subservient to the devil. The key is to “submit yourself to God” first. Whatever happens, take it as coming from the Lord. Submit to it, receive it as from the Lord. Then, if the Lord says to “resist the devil” do so. Church is not someplace we go Sunday morning, it is who we are all week. Many people enjoy the church service because it is like pumping them full of air, they “live in the Spirit”. Well if that is the case, you need to also walk in the Spirit all week long. If that means standing up to Hitler, then do that. Stand fast, all week long, in the death of Christ. They tried to destroy Mike Lindell's business but he stood strong, the trust in him now is far higher than it was a year ago and his business is not suffering. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. (James 4:8) If you are going to resist the devil there is one thing you have to do, nothing else is even remotely as important. Make sure you are standing with God. Think of yourself as the little lion cub and the Lord is the Lion. I hear the drums of war, where is God, let me get as close to Him as I can. Becoming conceited is like milk becoming sour. Provoking one another and envying one another is the smell. Some have recently called for tearing down monuments to George Washington, the father of this nation. That is a provocative statement. Another person said that July 4th is a celebration of white supremacy. That is an envious statement. You have to be extremely conceited to make such statements. This is not faith working in love. You will become “sour” or bitter if you do not have the assurance of faith that these ones will bear their own judgement. The gospel message includes the call to repentance from sins. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:8b-9) Secondly, you may be rescuing a lamb from the wolves. But even if that is true don’t be self righteous. You are a sinner saved by grace. 11 Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. 12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor? (James 4:11-12) One knee jerk reaction is to slander those who are giving you trouble. Jesus is Lord, not you. If you act as a judge you are usurping the Lord, the one who can save and destroy. Warfare is about balance, if you are usurping the Lord you are unbalanced.

1Samuel 21 -- The leader of the deplorables

This is a very strange story, not so much that a guy on the run stops at the church for something to eat, but because the Lord referenced this in the gospels as evidence that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. First, “why are you alone?” David’s answer, according to most expositors “is a lie”. If that is the case it makes the Lord’s reference to it even stranger. So I don’t think that is really an accurate exposition. I am reminded of a story called “The Whistleblower” about an executive in the cigarette companies who was fired and then testified about their crimes resulting in a massive judgement against the cigarette companies. He is called to testify in this trial in Mississippi yet a judge in Kentucky had issued a gag order on him because he had signed a non disclosure agreement with the company. The gag order does not apply in Mississippi but he can be arrested and imprisoned when he returns to Kentucky for contempt. What do you do? Who do you serve? The Lord said you cannot serve God and Mammon because if you do you will love the one and hate the other. This man realized if he served God he needed to speak the truth because these companies were knowingly killing people and lying about it. They knew full well that cigarettes acted as a drug that addicted people and they were working to enhance the effect of that drug. Since that was the case cigarettes should be regulated like other dangerous drugs, but they lied about it saying they didn’t know if it acted as a drug. So let’s go back to David. Saul did not send him on a special mission, that is true, but David’s word is only a lie if his reference to the “king” is a reference to Saul. David was anointed of God to be king by Samuel. If David realizes that it is God who is Lord and that it is God who has “sent him on this mission” then he is serving God and not mammon. I believe this is what Jesus is saying. He is Lord of the Sabbath, He sent David to the priest to get food and eat food that is not lawful for them to eat and He can do it because He is Lord of the Sabbath. If you want to become a king there will be a time where you must decide, who do you serve? You will be tested on this repeatedly until like David you realize your “fall from grace” and your “fleeing for your life” is actually the Lord sending you on a special mission, a secret mission, an urgent mission. If we were there at the time you might think David was delusional, but hindsight is 20/20, and the Lord’s word concerning this proves he truly was on a special mission.

We saw in the last chapter how Jonathan and David would speak in code in front of the boy fetching their arrows so you can be sure that David in front of Saul’s “chief shepherd” will do the same.

David had fled by being let down from the window by his wife. As a result he had been unable to bring a sword or armor. I suspect this is the principle reason he had to go to the high priest. He needed bread, but what he really needed and couldn’t get anywhere else was a sword. This story reminds me of the experiences that Saul had where he met people going to worship that had sacred bread and that gave him some. David is not a beggar, he is not a thief, he is not a liar, he is a child of God. This is God’s house and as a child he has a standing to ask for something to eat and for the sword. If he is truly on a special mission for God, an urgent mission where he was sent out the window in haste by God, then surely God will provide. The fact that the priest gives him the bread and the sword is proof that this is true just as the people giving Saul some of the sacred bread was proof to him.

Do you want to become a king? You need to deal with your ego. If you were a child and thinking like a child you would love this song. You are famous. But David clearly hates this song. In this chapter David takes on the appearance of a beggar, and not just any beggar but a beggar who is mad. It is the only explanation of why a man of his renown would be wandering around Gath that would not cause Gath to be worried. Jesus was the Lord and yet He took upon himself the form of a man who is lower than the angels. He ate with the sinners. David is taking upon himself the form of the lowest people in our society. These are the “deplorables”. When a king is corrupt and abusive there will be many people who suffer that abuse. They will be deemed “deplorable”. Ultimately the society will become divided between the ruling class of elites and “the unwashed masses”, the “deplorables”. Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, has sent his anointed on a special mission to become the leader of the “deplorables”.

Proverbs 2 -- The path of the meek

They don’t understand the fear of the Lord, they don’t have the knowledge of God, they don’t possess this revelation like a hidden treasure. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. The wicked don’t see how a broken tail light or a parking ticket will bring them down. The unfaithful will not see when the Lord appears suddenly. For the wicked and unfaithful His return will be like a thief in the night, they will be destroyed suddenly. They will be ashamed at His coming. There will be no shield and no protection for them.

When you first learn karate they don’t teach you to punch, they teach you how to stand. They train you how to move so that you always have a solid footing, a righteous stand. At any moment your standing is prepared if you are attacked. Little kids think karate is about learning how to punch and break boards. In reality it is about how to protect yourself and guard yourself from attacks. It is also about identifying wicked men. You will be alerted to them because their words are perverse. This will often be in the form of a “joke”. They don’t walk in the straight paths you were taught in elementary school. They seem to have “wisdom and insight” because they have dark ways. Maybe they know some secrets? But they delight in doing wrong, that should be a major warning to you. Consider Brionna Taylor and her death. From all accounts she was innocent of the drug trade and should not have been shot dead in her apartment by the cops. So why were the police there? They had seen a convicted drug dealer coming to her apartment to pick up packages, they had seen her car drive to the drug dealer's house, and this drug dealer was recorded on the phone saying she was holding $8,000 for him. Apparently the police are well aware that drug dealers walk in dark ways, their paths are crooked and devious. Her connection to this man was what caused her to be killed. That was the one thing she could control. She couldn’t control what he did, she couldn’t control what the cops surveilling him did, but she could control her own behavior. Her relationship to this drug dealer got her killed. As terrible and horrible a mistake it was for the police the fact is that gangs that sell drugs in our communities kill and destroy many people and society demands that the police put a stop to it.

16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, 17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.

Your word is your bond. Once you are seen to be unfaithful your name will be worthless. Brionna Taylor died because she didn't realize how the relationship with the drug dealer could cause her to die. Others make the mistake of not appreciating the long term effect that being unfaithful will have on them.

The Lord is talking about the church. There are churches that have “married the world”, they have been unfaithful to the Lord. When He returns they will have weeping and gnashing of teeth. There are others who preach a “social justice” gospel that is a mix of hatred and self righteousness. They condemn others for something that happened 150 years ago while justifying themselves for something they are doing today. For example, the NBA is silent about the abuses of China where modern day slavery is taking place because they are profiting from this market. On the other hand they are very vocal in the Black Lives Matter movement claiming that there are systemic abuses that date back to when slavery was legal. They are condemning the police for Brionna Taylor’s death. The Police are trying to stop drug gangs from killing and destroying lives in the inner city. For every Brionna Taylor there are 100 kids in the inner city whose lives are destroyed by these gangs. So the NBA wants to take a stand for righteousness but is silent about the abuse in China and in the inner city drug gangs? They strain out a gnat yet swallow the camel. That is why they can’t attain to the paths of life.

20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Proverbs 3 -- Is it really “white privilege”?

What does Proverbs have to do with the Rapture? We have seen that the prophets refer to those who are left behind as "rejected silver", so this book of Proverbs teaches us about fine silver and gold. If those who are left behind are called "rejected silver" then it stands to reason those who are taken are "fine silver".

Recently we have heard this term “white privilege” indicating that the color of someone’s skin confers a significant advantage or disadvantage to a person. I would argue that it is the teachings and commands of the Bible that confers a significant advantage on people. God’s word confers long life, peace and prosperity. Every person on this planet can appreciate love and faithfulness. In contrast many things that people desire are not appreciated by others like being clever, wise, slick, cunning, crafty, etc. Of these hateful and unfaithful are two of the worst. This is what the whole “white privilege” argument misses. Do you think you are born with a “good name” simply because of the color of your skin? If a person is loving and faithful they might not be too bright, but you can trust them and you will appreciate them much more than the slick, cunning scam artist, the one who is smarter than everyone else.

When my daughter was a senior in high school I was pushing her to take all the AP classes she could. One argument she had against that was that these advanced classes would bring her gpa down. I told her that we went to school to get an education. A high gpa was the reward, not the goal. As it turned out the AP classes helped her GPA because they added ten points to the grade. Since all her grades were in the 90s it pushed all those grades above 100. She was in the running for Valedictorian but told me she would never get it because the girl who was in front of her cheated. Her strategy was to always be absent on test days and then talk to kids in the class who took the test before taking the makeup. I told her that if she knew this so did everyone else and that girl would not want to be the valedictorian, she’ll do whatever it takes to get out of that. Sure enough she graduated a semester early to avoid the graduation.

This is the secret to being wealthy, and I don’t mean what the “prosperity gospel” preachers preach. There is inflow and there is outflow. If you tithe to the Lord it will cause you to be very careful with your outflow, the money you spend. Ten percent represented all of the money I had for entertainment. So my time in the church is where I spent my free time, my entertainment. In the world they are parasites. There is no limit to how much they will suck out of you for entertainment. If you make sporting events your entertainment there will always be more that you can spend and the reality is they do absolutely nothing for you. Las Vegas switched up from calling their casinos industry “gambling” to “gaming”. Games are much more family friendly and acceptable. Football used to be on Sunday, then they added Monday night, and then Thursday night, and then they also play games on Saturday. It used to be all you did was watch the game, now you have fantasy football and online “leagues” where people can spend every waking minute on this vanity. Idol worship will infect you with parasites. It will turn you into a spectator. Their goal is to make merchandise of you. We need to do something with our free time, dedicate it to the Lord and all of sudden you could be a maid who winds up with a million dollars in the bank she leaves as an inheritance. Let me share my own personal experience. I was at my absolute lowest situation financially. I would go up to the offering box and drop in $1 and that was literally a tithe for the week. But I was so happy. Where else could I go and give $1 for a week and feel like a full fledged member? I had a place to go three times a week. If it hadn’t been for this what would I have done?

So let’s talk about “white privilege”. I am white, grew up in a very wealthy suburb, my dad was an executive for the NY Times, and I went to the same High school as Norman Rockwell. It doesn’t get any “whiter” than that. When I was in the Boy Scouts one year my Dad was going to be the Scoutmaster, my best friend was senior patrol leader, and I was a patrol leader. Someone complained to my dad that this was unfair, the entire Troop was biased in my favor (every year there is a competition for the “premier patrol”. I had won it the two years previously, and both years I had won this I had also had the “premier scout” in my patrol). Now with my dad as Scoutmaster it seemed obviously biased in my favor. So, my dad called a meeting of the four patrol leaders prior to the start of the year. He had a pad of paper with the eight members of each of our patrols written down. He went to the first kid, name two kids in your patrol you don’t want. Did that to the second and did that to the third. He now had six names. He then asked each of those three to choose two kids from my patrol that they wanted. I was left with the eight kids that none of them wanted. At the end of the year those eight kids I had won the award for “premier patrol” and one of them won the award for “premier scout”. Every one of those kids who had been complaining had been put to an open shame. People who complain about “white privilege” are making excuses, despising the Lord’s discipline and His rebuke.

If you are a foolish poker player you complain about the cards you have been dealt, if you are a wise poker player you know that success in poker is about how you play the cards, not about what cards you have been dealt. What more do you want: blessings, honor, riches and peace? Stop making excuses, stop blaming others for your failures and shortcomings. Ask yourself a few honest questions. Did you forget the Lord’s teachings or did you keep His commandments? Did you fill your free time with the church and fellowship with the Lord, or did you dive into the world’s enticing scam? When the Lord did rebuke and discipline you did you see that as a blessing that God was treating you as a father treats His son, or did you despise it?

Proverbs 3 cont. -- Fine silver versus rejected silver

All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him. Having Jesus on your team is like having MJ, Magic and Bird on your team. If you want to stop losing, get those three off the bench and into the game. Think about Tom Brady, came into the league as someone whose best outcome would be to not be cut and to work as a back up quarterback. However, he worked on improving himself more than any other player and his deficiencies became a blessing from God. Instead of starting on the pinnacle he started at the absolute bottom and slowly climbed the mountain. He learned to appreciate everyone else on the team. Amazingly it didn't seem to matter who they put on offense, he would make the best use of them and they would look like pro bowlers. 5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. This “white privilege” accusation has taken place in every communist revolution. In Russia they attacked, killed, raped and looted the most successful farmers. Since they were “wealthy” they must have been corrupt. This led to a famine in the land. In China they called it the “Cultural Revolution”, again the process was the same and the result was a horrible famine. 9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
If you are blaming "white privilege" for your poverty I would ask did you honor the Lord with your substance? I doubt it.

Some think that observing and discussing the riots, looting, natural disasters, fires, floods, pandemic, and economic collapse is what causes people to be afraid. This is senseless. People who have no fear of sudden disaster, that doesn’t indicate it is because their eyes and ears are closed. Being aware of what is going on is prudent. Wisdom and prudence go together. For example, right now there are snares set, it is called “cancel culture”. If you are aware of this you can behave in a prudent manner and avoid these snares. That is wisdom, that is why you have no fear of sudden disaster and ruin.

27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. 28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”— when you already have it with you. This is especially true today. We should all be aware that the pandemic has created a whole new financial difficulty for people.

29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. 30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason— when they have done you no harm. This sounds like exactly what has happened to Blacks in the US. The KKK did this and corrupt police departments did this. Now they are reaping what they sowed with the "cancel culture".

31 Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways.

This sounds like what BLM, ANTIFA, and the cancel culture are doing. This is what the protestors and looters and rioters are doing. For example a man was driving home from his new job when protestors surrounded his car and began to threaten him. He pulled out a gun to which they also pulled out a gun and waved it at him. The entire scene was filmed by a police helicopter and they brought charges against the protestor who waved a gun at him because she was a felon and it was illegal for her to have a gun in public. So then her lawyer released this man’s name and address to the public so that the protestors could harass and threaten his family. They also “counter sued” him even though he had not violated any laws. Also they bombarded his new job with complaints until they fired him. This chapter gives you the two paths, one that leads to "fine silver" and the other that leads to "rejected silver". This behavior is perverse and detestable. Corrupt cops, the KKK and Antifa are all perverse and detestable. This lawyer and these protestors who are choosing their ways are equally perverse and detestable. If there is a curse on these protestors and rioters and corrupt cops and terrorist organizations know that it is not due to “white privilege” but rather because they are wicked.

34 He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. 35 The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame.

Galatians 6 -- Restore those caught in sin

This book begins with Jesus rescuing us from this evil age and concludes with us being the ones to restore a person caught in sin. Paul was caught in sin when he was Saul of Tarsus and Ananias “restored him gently”. He was riding around the country seizing Christians and turning them over to the Jewish leaders to be tried and even stoned to death. He was blind, thinking he was serving the Lord when he didn’t even know who the Lord was. When the Lord healed him, laying His hands on him, Paul’s sight was restored and he saw the Body of Christ. Salvation comes to Israel when the Lord restores His people. This experience of Paul is similar to Abraham’s experience. Lot was living in Sodom, there was a war between the Kings in Sodom and the four kings led by Chedorlaomer. Lot was taken captive and Abraham pursued the kings and restored Lot and all he had. In this experience Paul would have been Lot, taken captive by these four kings representing this evil age, and Abraham would be represented by the Christians and Ananias. This experience is where we first see Melchizedek. That is, this is where Paul first sees Jesus. Abraham was one that “lived by the Spirit”, he “walked by faith”. If you are a son of Abraham, if you are one that walks by faith, one who lives by the Spirit, then you also should restore those who are caught by sin. That is the goal of the book of Galatians. We see the same thing with Peter. Think about his experience on the mount of transfiguration where he suggested building tabernacles to Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. God was very clear, “this is my beloved Son, hear Him!” That is the message of the book of Galatians. Jesus, as our Melchizedek is greater than Moses and the law. We have a superior covenant with Jesus, why would we want to insult Him by building a tabernacle to Moses? This is where we will be at the end of the age. There will be a people, "son's of Abraham". They will see "Sodom and Gomorrah" having been taken captive by five kings and that means that Lot also has been taken captive. So then, Abraham and those with him, will rescue Lot and Stop the Steal. Recently we saw them ban Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato head because they found them offensive, yet the Grammy's celebrated perversity. I saw a very short clip of that celebration on the news, totally perverse. Everyone should realize that this nation has become Sodom and Gomorrah and within this nation there are many Christians like Lot who have been taken captive with it.

Galatians 6:1b-2 Do not be tempted to riot

James was tempted. He had Paul make a Nazarite vow which included sacrificing a bull. Why would anyone choose to sacrifice a bull when Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been sacrificed for us? The book of James has the same burden as the book of Galatians. He is writing to “the twelve tribes in the dispersion”. Why are they scattered? Is it because they have been carried off by this evil age? James concludes 5:19 My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him; 20 let him know, that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of sins. The book of James is an example of a man who is spiritual, restoring those who have wandered from the truth. He restores them gently and there are several indications that he is fully aware that he also might be tempted James 3:1 Be not many of you teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall receive heavier judgment. How many Christians have missed this point? If someone is caught in a sin our response should be to restore them gently. Nelson Mandela is an excellent example of this. When he became president of South Africa there were many people who had been “caught in a sin”. He restored them “gently”. That response had a big impact on the peaceful transition, the number of people who repented, and the lack of support for any who still favored apartheid. Compare Mandela with the recent protests we have seen with the Black Lives Movement. Both demanded justice, both asked “how long?” But watching the Black Lives Movement is like watching a person who has epilepsy. Luke 9:39 and behold, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth, and it hardly departeth from him, bruising him sorely. One minute they are protesting according to righteousness, the next minute there is rioting and looting. One minute they are making the case that you can’t simply be non racist, you must be anti racist. The next minute some are expressing racist sentiments. This is clearly the offspring of the civil rights movement, but they appear demon possessed. And it bruises them sore. They destroy businesses and people who were the very people they were seeking justice for. Why? Because they are faithless and because they have been influenced by a crooked and perverse generation. Luke 9:41 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,”Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you and put up with you? It takes faith to defeat the four kings that Abraham defeated. Rioting, looting and racists remarks are all a result of a lack of faith and having been corrupted by this perverse generation. The only way to remove the stony hearts and replace it with a heart of flesh is by prayer.

This is the standard by which we will be judged, did we “fulfill the law of Christ”? James refers to this as “the perfect law that gives freedom”. It is the royal law to “love your neighbor as yourself”, if you do that you “are doing right”. James said to “speak and act as those that will be judged by the law that gives freedom”. To carry each other's burdens is to serve one another, this is the example the Lord gave us before He was crucified. Guilt can be like a burden that is too heavy to bear. Paul said he was “less than the least of all saints” yet they welcomed him into the fellowship and gave him the full assurance that he had been forgiven of his sins through the blood of Christ. Peter, Paul and James all were restored from their sins and they then went on to carry our burdens. Paul gave us the vision of the body of Christ, James helped those who had wandered from the truth and become scattered. Luke 9:44 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” 45 But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it. This battle is a relay race. Mandela was imprisoned for many years, he was delivered into the hands of man, and others had to carry the burden during that time. Gandhi was ultimately martyred and others had to carry the burden, Martin Luther King Jr was martyred and others had to carry the burden.