Prospects for Peace on the Korean Peninsula and Biblical Prophecy

Will the Peace in Korea Last? Maybe, or Maybe Not

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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There can be no question that the news of an impending peace agreement on the Korean peninsula is very exciting – no, make that electrifying – news. We have already seen the highly publicized 'love feast' between the North and South Korean leaders, their wives, and probably each other's security details and entourages. What we have yet to see is a signed agreement, which is apparently being readied for formalization when president Trump visits North Korea next month. Let's also keep in mind that this is timed with the formalization of the relocation of the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Although I am no big fan of Donald Trump's, if he succeeds in getting both agreements signed in the same month – and that appears to be a high probability at this point – he will have scored a major foreign affairs coup that will silence all but his most virulent critics.

This led me to wonder if the Bible, which is the Word of God and a reliable predictor of the future, has anything to say about this. Although I can find no specific mention of either of the Korea's anywhere in the Bible – and I've been a student of it for over 25 years – the Word speaks about many episodes of war, peace and turmoil. One of the most famous passages is a quote from Christ himself. “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these things are the beginnings of birth pains.” (Matthew 24, verses 6-8) 

 

The entire world is currently having to endure these very things, which is why I maintain that these words have prophesied our 'here and now'. Moreover, we have as a people all been dragged through the muck of war for generations – WW1 ended 100 years ago this coming November – and the overwhelming majority of the world's population has had a belly full of warfare and killing. That is, the ones who have survived it. Since the end of World War 2, wars have not been waged by nations and peoples so much as by well-monetized special interests. These special interests with virtually unlimited funding include the Pentagon and its covert ops branches known as the NSA and the CIA, the City of London and its attack dog known as MI5, the international bankers such as the World Bank and the IMF, the Rothschild banking empire, the US Federal Reserve (which in actuality is none of the above) and the Vatican. Seriously. The Vatican. You can find out more about this topic from my Web acquaintance and fellow author Dean Henderson from his book page.

The probability of impending peace between the Korea's of north and south does not guarantee that this will snowball into a global love fest. In fact, this could have exactly the opposite effect, like a cease-fire in wartime that doesn't last. I sincerely hope not, of course, but peace in Korea and Israel could usher in such a momentous event, even if it is only temporary, as the apostle Paul predicted nearly 2,000 years ago: “Now brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'Peace and safety', destruction will come upon them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like the others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.” (1^st Thessalonians 5, verses 1-6)

The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica that, first and foremost, they should not become concerned over the “times and dates”. This has been a sticking point for Christianity's entire history, and this includes the upcoming 70^th anniversary of the formal founding of the nation of Israel by the United Nations (May 14^th, 1948). Many pastors and religious 'teachers' are now saying that Jesus will come back on May 14^th, 2018, which is only 16 days away as I write this. This is simply not possible, based on the same Bible from which they are basing their claims of Christ's impending return. Those who see Christ's 2^nd coming as being imminent are misled because their suppositions are based on denominational 'teachings' instead of what the Bible actually says. 

 

“....for you know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, 'Peace and safety', destruction will come upon them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” "The Day of the Lord" is a biblical term and theme used in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, as in "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come" (Joel 2:31, also cited in Acts 2:20). But Paul's admonishment to the Thessalonian church was an echo of the words of Christ, who further remarked, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Mathew 24, verses 42-44)

So to come full circle the entire planet has, hopefully, within its collective grasp the ability to have a lasting peace, or at least it will seem that way for at least a short while. But I decline to speculate on any dates or times except to say that all indications are we are living in the authentic 'last days' or 'end times', take your pick. One thing is for sure; the chances of nuclear war on the Korean peninsula involving South Korea, the US and Japan, which would bring in China to North Korea's defense, is far, far less today. (The situation in the South China Sea between mainland China, the Philippines, Vietnam and the US is completely separate from the Korean peace initiative, but it has an equal chance at future volatility.) What underscores this past week's Korean peace agreement between North and South Korea is its timing to coincide with the relocation of the American embassy to Jerusalem. Will this dedication of America's new embassy in Jerusalem be coming in tandem with another peace agreement on the Korean peninsula as well? If it does, it could usher in the era Jesus talked about with his apostles, “While people are saying, 'Peace and safety', destruction will come upon them suddenly....because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” Let's all be very watchful, because just when you think things are going really well, that's when the whole ball of wax could blow up in our faces.

This week's ongoing Bible study will be Acts chapter 6

The Delegation of Duties and the Arrest of St. Steven

[Acts chapter 6]

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Last week when we concluded our study and analysis of part 3 of Acts chapter 5, we closed out with the apostles as they left the Sanhedrin after being released from custody for preaching and teaching in the Name of the Son of God. They were rejoicing after having been flogged, and for spending the night in jail for proclaiming that Jesus Christ had died and then rose again in order to save humanity. This week as we move on to chapter 6, we will find it is actually a segue into the inspiring story of Stephen, an early Church leader who achieved martyrdom without even trying. So let's begin our study of this week's lesson starting at verse 1, and I quote:

“In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, 'It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word.' This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procuras, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented the men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the Word of God spread. The number of disciples increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6, verses 1-7)

A lack of maturity among a sizable portion of humanity is nothing new, and the same goes for church gatherings of all types. The early Church was no exception, as we can see from this first verse of the above passage. But the complaints of the Greek and Israeli Jews against one another are, to me, a side issue compared to what else is mentioned in that same verse – daily food distribution. As I pointed out back in Acts chapter 4, the early Church operated like a social democracy. When people were converted to Christianity as it was originally intended, those who owned property or other riches sold them and brought the proceeds to the apostles on a voluntary basis. That money was used to provide food, clothing and as a referral for shelter arrangements to anyone who had a legitimate need. Remember too, this was back in the day before government usurped this responsibility so public welfare could be introduced. There was no unemployment or disability available either. Since the need was so great, there was also a complete lack of discrimination to this unconditional help, and so occasionally disagreements would break out.

By this time, the Church was going through growing pains, and its rate of expansion was outrunning the abilities of the Twelve to keep up with things. So here, then, we have the first instance of the delegation of authority among the greater Church, like the first division of a single cell into two. Today, that same Greater Church has well over 2 ½ billion members! But to get back to today's lesson, the delegation of authority was given to seven men, starting with Steven, who we will get to shortly. So they chose “seven men from among (them) who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word.” Food is important, everyone has to eat, but taking care of this had become a distraction instead of a ministry. Still, since the need was so critical back then, with the overwhelming majority of people being trapped in poverty, the most trustworthy men were appointed to oversee this task. Evidently no women were chosen out of security concerns, not because of what we would call gender bias. And now let's move on to part 2 of today's lesson, beginning at verse 8.

“Now Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called) – Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia. These men began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke. Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, 'We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.' So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, 'This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say this Jesus of Nazereth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.' All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw his face was like the face of an angel.” (Acts 6, verses 8-15)

Who in verses 8 and 9 are the Synagogue of Freedmen? This is what eventually became the Freemasons, although it went through quite a few changes along the way. Today Freemasonry is generally associated with the Occult, which is the polar opposite of Christianity and everything Jesus stood for. Some well-meaning Christians have been misled into believing the Masons are a Christian organization, but they are Christian in name only. For these reasons, I advise against joining them, and I would advise Christians who are currently Freemasons to strongly reconsider their membership. As for myself, it's Jesus and him alone for me. I don't need to belong to the Masons to prove my loyalty for Christ, and neither should you!

Stephen's passion for Christ was so evident that these men from the 'Synagogue of Freedmen' became very irritated with him to the point of being verbally abusive – at first. But as our text says, Stephen was simply too smart for his opposition. So they set him up to take a fall – a permanent one. “Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, 'We have heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.' So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law.” So what we have here is a 1^st century equivalent to a combination propaganda and smear campaign, and it was all aimed at Stephen! As we read in the above passage of scripture, this ultimately became a lynch mob. “They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses....” The prosecution of Stephen before the Sanhedrin – the same Sanhedrin that handed Jesus over to Pilate and who had flogged the apostles twice (so far) for teaching that Jesus was in fact the Messiah – was going to go in much the same fashion as before, except that Stephen vigorously defended himself and his faith, and he did so brilliantly, as we will see.

“For we have heard him say this Jesus of Nazereth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.” As the late attorney general and assassinated presidential candidate Robert Kennedy once observed, “Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator, and change has its enemies.” Things were much the same way during the time of the early Church, and Stephen was a prime example. The followers of Christ, from the Twelve on down to the lowliest orphan, were the polar opposite of the way the world was and is, as opposed to the way Jesus said things should be. The Roman Empire ruled from the top down in a hierarchical – that is, predatory – management arrangement. Bully authority ruled the day back then, and things are much the same today. It's just that today they have much better weapons, and it's all been computerized.

But besides an entirely new way of organization, which bears some similarities to the “sharing economy” that's just starting to get rolling along in the present day, there was another thing about Christ that threatened the Sanhedrin's influence. Jesus exposed the extreme corruption of the high priests, scribes and teachers of the Law. You will recall when we studied Luke's gospel from some time ago, how Jesus threw the money changers out of the Temple and overturned all their table and chairs? The reason was because of the requisite sacrifices that had to be made as specified by what was then called the Law of Moses, or the Old Testament as we know it today. These sacrifices were live animals, primarily sheep, oxen or goats. But when the livestock was brought to the temple, the ruling elites would oftentimes force the unlucky faithful to buy a sacrificial animal in place of their own, rejecting their animals for frivolous reasons. As a result, the temple was converted into a very profitable enterprise, to the complete consternation of Christ, as you all know, not to mention all his followers. It's a good thing Jesus did away with all that by making himself the sacrifice at Calvary. In modern times, the animal rights activists would be completely up in arms at such a spectacle!

“All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw his face was like the face of an angel.” At this point, Stephen is being accused of crimes that carried the death penalty. His very life is at stake as he finds himself dragged before a kangaroo court with an angry mob for his accusers. Most of us would be angry, humiliated and probably feeling pretty defensive too. Yet Steven is standing there before the court, undoubtedly in chains and surrounded by people who want to kill him, and he is in total ecstasy! He doesn't care that he's going on trial for what amounts to heresy and blasphemy in the eyes of his Jewish captors. The fact that Steven was himself of Jewish heritage was actually working against him. But the one thing that was working against him the most was his unwavering faith in Christ. And next week, we will take up where we left off as we start on part 1 of Acts chapter 7, where the inspiring story of Steven continues in dramatic fashion, as a 2,000 year old courtroom scene plays out for all posterity to see. Until then, pray every day as often as you can. The more prayers, the more results. Shalom....

The Republican "Tax Plan" Just Passed by President Trump & Co. is Contrary to Scripture

Fair Warning to All Rich Oppressors;

Not From Myself, But From God

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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I am finding myself witnessing once again what amounts to the enforced liquidation of America's middle class, coming in the form of president Trump's new tax bill. This recently-passed piece of legislation cuts funding for the poorest, most vulnerable of Americans and gives it all to the richest 10% of US taxpayers. These funds will be distributed in the form of various tax breaks for individuals and corporations who don't need them because they already pay too little – with the bulk of the tax burden shouldered by America's middle and working classes. Even though our tax refunds will be bigger next year, so will the tax rate for the bottom 50% of all Americans. This week I want to share with you all a quotation from the Bible that ties in with this topic very well.

“Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice for my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches? Nothing will remain except to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand still upraised.” (Isaiah chapter 10, verses 1-4)

What's a modern example of what the prophet Isaiah wrote about here, which was roughly 2,700 years ago? The pathetic state of wages, globally speaking, is the first thing that comes to my mind. If any one of you has ever had to take a minimum wage job – and I would define anything under $12.00 per hour to be a 'minimal wage' – then you know exactly what I mean. Here in Atlanta, Ga. the minimum is still set at a paltry $7.25 per hour. There are lots of homeless shelters in and near downtown Atlanta, and they all stay full, and with 'waiting lists' to boot. Georgia's ultra-low minimum wage is the reason why. Do the math and it's easy to see why these hapless individuals can't rent apartments.

Another example of a modern-day “unjust law” is most definitely the Drug War, which is actually a massive race-based roundup of the poor. These are mostly people of color, mainly Black and Latino(a), and it is no coincidence that they are the ones who can least afford to hire a lawyer. Moreover, as I proved conclusively in my 2016 book, “Cannabis Legalization and the Bible: Compatible or Not?”, the Marijuana plant was made by God on the third day of Creation (see Genesis 1: 11). Cigarettes are legal, they kill over 50,000 people annually, and everybody's just fine with that, particularly law enforcement (“You will smoke these and you will like them”). But marijuana, which is classified as a dangerous drug when it is not, remains illegal. This is a whole series of laws designed to prosecute those who use a substance that can't be taxed. The Drug War is all about the money, including the huge profits being “earned” by the private prison industry. It has nothing to do with justice whatsoever!

What's an example of an “oppressive decree”? One example would be the federal income tax, which was passed in 1919 so America could pay her debts incurred by the First World War. This was a law passed at 3AM and signed by only a handful of people. By the time Congress found out about it when they convened around the first of the following week, and since news traveled so slowly back then, there was nothing they could do even though a lot of lawmakers were very upset at that time. Another example of an “oppressive decree” would be the Patriot Act, which has been renewed 3 times since 2001 even though it is being used against American citizens as well as foreign nationals. In this respect, the Patriot Act as it is currently written and being implemented is unconstitutional!

“What will you do on the day of reckoning, when disaster comes from afar? To whom will you run for help? Where will you leave your riches?” I have already shown that the prophet was referring to the End Times, or Last Days, which I have clearly depicted in previous weekly commentary's. I have also proven conclusively that the United States is Mystery Babylon in Ezekiel chapter 7, Zechariah chapter 12, and Revelation chapter18. I fully realize that what I'm about to write here is not a popular topic, but the Bible clearly states that the USA is going to endure a nuclear attack at some point in the not-too-distant future. Whether this attack comes in the form of a lone terrorist bomb or from a nuclear tactical first strike from Russia and China combined, I can't say. I do not have access to any such information except that which God gives me, or that He helps me deduce on my own. So the conclusion here in verse 3 is that the “day of reckoning” is a day in the fairly near future when the Nuclear Age, which was started by the USA with the twin nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, will soon come back and bite America in the backside. This 'blow-back' from 73 years ago will be absolutely devastating to America! Personally, I have become concerned enough about my country's future that I just went and got myself a passport!

“Nothing will remain except to cringe among the captives or fall among the slain. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand still upraised.” As I mentioned before, there are still a lot of people who get infuriated when I write or tell them that this verse and others like it throughout the Bible are talking about the United States. But it's true! Just look around you. America's military is stretched dangerously thin in a number of places around the globe. America now has over 750 military bases scattered around the world in about 160 countries at last count. It takes lots and lots of people to man those bases. Many of them are costly and simply unneeded. 

 

But before any of them can be shut down, the Deep State itself must first be shut down. But is it moral for Christians to participate in such seditious activities? Not normally, but in cases where the government is corrupt to the core, and in cases where the government threatens the livelihood and personal safety of its citizens, then yes – it is not only OK, but such activities should be encouraged whether in or out of church. There are a number of nonviolent ways this can be accomplished, like hack attacks on their computer infrastructure or ransomware attacks, to name 2 examples. Similar attacks on its 'players' would be still another. I'm sure you can think of more, and then implement them. But by all means, do something! Because if we don't, what little is left of civil liberties in America, like the freedom of speech that makes my writing this Web posting possible, will be gone forever.

This week's ongoing Bible study will be part 3 of Acts chapter 5

The Unbreakable Spirit of the Apostles

[Acts chapter 5, verses 29-42]

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Last week as we left off at verse 28 of Acts chapter 5, we found Peter, Luke and the other apostles back in trouble again with the rulers of Jerusalem, which was (and still is) the Sanhedrin. They had been found preaching and teaching the Gospel, this time after healing many, which made the temple authorities furious. So they were carried off to jail for disturbing the peace and contempt of court, only to be let out in the middle of the night by an “angel of the Lord” (see chapter 5 verse 19). At daybreak the apostles came to the temple and – once again – began to preach and teach about the Good News of Christ Jesus. There was nothing on earth, nor in heaven or hell, that could stop the apostles from spreading the Gospel!

This week as we take up where we left off, the Sanhedrin has once again been convened in order to put the apostles on trial. Having been found shortly thereafter preaching at the temple, the apostles have been brought back before an enraged Jewish ruling council. It is only after getting a severe dressing down by the head of the council (who at this time was Caiaphas, the same high priest that had handed Jesus over to Pontius Pilate) that the apostles are given a chance to respond. So let's begin our study of part 3 of Acts chapter 5, beginning at verse 29.

“Peter and the other apostles replied: 'We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead – whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, who God has given to those who obey him.' When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while.” Acts 5, verses 29-34

“We must obey God rather than men!” Peter and the other apostles time-honored retort is a Biblical example of speaking truth to power! We have a modern word for people who do this – they're called 'whistle-blowers'. Peter and the other apostles were blowing the whistle on the Sanhedrin, that they had in fact taken the Son of God, the promised Hebrew Messiah from the Scriptures, and had put him to death. And so Peter is still identifying who Jesus actually was. “God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, who God has given to those who obey him.” Peter was telling the disbelieving Pharisees that the reason they knew Jesus was “the Christ”, or the anointed One, from the very Scriptures from which they taught was because of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Peter was stating, that same Spirit lived within the hearts and minds of all who believed ever since Pentecost, which at this time had only been several weeks prior. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law found the teachings of the apostles to be very offensive.

“When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside.” So here we have the same Sanhedrin, led by the same high priest who had handed Jesus over to be crucified, prosecuting the apostles. Like before with Jesus Christ on Golgotha hill, the ruling council were ready to kill the apostles, only this time without enlisting the aid of their Roman captors. At this time steps forward a man who does something to get his name mentioned in the Bible – a rare honor indeed. Gamaliel, who was our equivalent to a seminary professor, stood up in the middle of the uproar and appealed for calm. Since this was evidently a gentleman of good repute who had earned everyone's respect, everybody listened to him.

“Then he addressed them: 'Men of Israel, consider carefully what you do with these men. Some time ago, Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all of his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all of his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.'” (Acts 5, verses 35-39)

I'm seeing a couple of different aspects to Gamaliel's speech. First of all, Gamaliel was evidently the only person in the room who suspected that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah, meaning he was probably the smartest one of the entire bunch. From time to time there had been people who tried to reestablish the kingdom of Israel in the tradition of King David. All had been Jews, and all had met with violent deaths. 'We crucified this 'Jesus' dude', Gamaliel was saying to his peers, 'but the Movement he represented has lived on and become widespread.' He also pointed out that the followers of the apostles numbered in the thousands, and so if the apostles and their teaching were from God, they should dare not oppose Him. Revolutions and uprisings of various kinds are bound to crop up from time to time, Gamaliel was saying, but if what we now call Christianity was from God – and it most certainly was and is – then the combined forces of the entire Sanhedrin would not be able to stop it. And he was absolutely right.

“His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and they let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been found worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the news that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5, verses 40-42)

In the sometimes-mean old world in which we live, we take solace in the fact that truth and justice will win out in the end. It sure did in this case! “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been found worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Like a resounding verdict at the climax of a courtroom drama, the wisdom of Gamaliel won the day. The apostles were called in and ordered to be flogged, and you can all be sure those floggings were hard and mean. Then they were told, mostly for the record since the Sanhedrin must have known the apostles would disobey it, never to speak in Christ's holy and most revered name ever again. And then came the joyous verdict – after the flogging and our equivalent to a court order; an immediate release!

Did the apostles throw a party to celebrate their victory? No, they went and discharged their duties as ministers and apostles of Christ. “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the news that Jesus is the Christ.” At the very end of each of the gospels there is what we call, “the great commission”, where Jesus, just before he ascended into heaven told the Eleven (Matthias had not yet joined them) to preach the Gospel, “to the very ends of the earth”. This is exactly what the apostles had set out to do, and they were letting nothing stop them from accomplishing their mission. Notice, too, how quickly they put their episode with the Sanhedrin behind them. They didn't let being jailed, or being beaten bloody with whips, or the threat of death itself stop them from their appointed duties. Not as master teachers who had spent three and a half years with the Lord, although they could have legitimately claimed that right. No, the apostles saw themselves as mere servants as they imitated Christ, who washed their feet as the lowliest of servants on the night of the Last Supper. So, if we want to be like Jesus, we must acquire a servant's heart. Let's all spend the remainder of this week working out ways to do that in our own minds that would be pleasing to God. And next week we'll start on chapter 6.

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There's a lot of different things we can devote ourselves to, but only One of them is real

The Only God That's Real

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

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Like nearly everyone else, with the exception of the 'war hawks' in the Pentagon who obey without questioning, I too am appalled by the fighting in the Middle East and northeastern Africa over natural resources, politics and religion. The missile strike ordered by president Trump this past Friday night, although probably justified, does nothing at all to improve the situation there. Moreover, I find all the bickering between the peaceful 90%, which is us, and the war hawks (the top 10%) to be little more than a sideshow considering what's at stake. I am equally put off by all the sniping and infighting here in North America between religious denominations over man-made dogma and traditions steeped in pomp and circumstance while they remind everyone constantly to “support our troops”. They are all in favor of combating and killing Muslims while calling themselves “pro-life”.

I will use the Scriptures to prove that the one true God is above and beyond all wars, churches and organized religions, in keeping with the theme of this website. The first thing that I want to remind you of is that there are many false gods in the modern world. The most egregious example that comes to mind is the worship of money and material goods and all the evils that come with them. In the apostle Paul's first letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”. That means money in and of itself is not always evil, but greed and the insatiable lust for money most definitely are. Jesus said in the four Gospels, “No one can serve two masters. He/she will either love one and reject the other, or cling to the latter while despising the former. You cannot serve both God and materialism.” (Luke 16: 13) I think this would apply to, among other things, the sales of military armaments.

The “love of money” appears in many forms. Let's ask ourselves these questions – do we sometimes find ourselves in automotive dealerships every time a new model comes out? Do we shop for new clothes, electronics, mobile or “smart” phones, the latest computers, and new decor for our homes whether we need them or not, just because they're “on sale”? Do we sometimes find ourselves shopping for a new house whether we need one or not? Are any of us in debt up to our eyeballs (not counting student loans) because we owe too much on our credit cards and everything else? If anyone answered “yes” to any of these questions, and particularly if you prioritize these things at the expense of your Spiritual lives, then you are worshiping a false god(s). It is Jesus Christ and he alone that must be at the top of our priorities. Anything else takes a back seat to Jesus in the order of our lives. Most of the things I just mentioned (excluding greed) are not evil in and of themselves. But false and futile worship of anything other than God, while bypassing or not including Jesus Christ as our Savior, amounts to idol worship. A similar line of questioning was presented to the apostle Paul nearly 2,000 years ago, and it is well documented in the book of Acts in the New Testament. I will begin with a quote from chapter 17, beginning at verse 16.

“While Paul was in Athens.... he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. A group of..... philosophers began to dispute with him. Some of them asked, 'What is this babbler trying to say?' Others remarked, 'He seems to be advocating foreign Gods.' They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus (which was basically a temple for idol worship and a town meeting place), where they said to him, 'May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean'.... Then Paul stood up at the meeting of the Areopagus and said, 'Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives life and breath and everything else. From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth.... God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps to reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us.... as some of your own poets have said, “we are his offspring”. Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone – an image made by man's design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now He commands all people everywhere to repent....when they heard about [Jesus] resurrection from the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “we want to hear from you again on this subject”. (Acts 17, verses 16-32)

This passage is just one of numerous examples of the apostle Paul's teaching about the one true God. I especially appreciate that Paul made two distinct points about God. The first is that God is above and beyond all nationalities, races and religions because he preached the same message equally to Jews, Greeks and other Gentiles. The one true God is also above and beyond all the material possessions money can buy. These things were considered to be radical teachings at the time because all these groups believed that their version of God was the correct one to the exclusion of everything and everybody else. This very mistake continues to be made today by certain church denominations who I will decline to name. Nobody has the exclusive path to God. No one has the right to claim that they are any closer to God than anyone else. It's just not true and it never was. Moreover, nobody has the right to condemn another person's religion, so long as their beliefs don't hurt or restrict the freedom of anyone else. And we can't buy our way into heaven either.

The second point that catches the human eye and captures my imagination is what Paul said about where God lives. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And He is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives life and breath and everything else.” What an awesome statement! Think about how many religions there are in the world. There are over 4000 Protestant denominations alone, and that's just in the USA. All are called churches or houses of worship regardless of which religion they represent. And yet God doesn't live in any of them. Instead, for the true believer God lives in the minds and hearts of all individual believers. Never mind all the spiritual sophistry that's being “taught” in some modern churches, because it's largely based on money.

God doesn't care who you are, where you live, what you have done (or not), what country you are from or what church you are connected with (or not). He doesn't care where you have been, and He doesn't care about what is in your past. Unlike many men and women who attend church regularly, God doesn't care what you look like, or how much money you give to your church or to charities, or what your social or economic status is. God couldn't care less what church you go to, or even if you go at all. The one true God doesn't even live in church, although a lot of phony religious leaders and related clergy will no doubt insist that He does. Instead, God wants to live and breathe in our hearts and minds. He wants you to become a church in and of yourself, a church that walks and talks. Not only does God want to live inside you, He wants us all to pay that forward by unconditionally sharing our faith with others. That means that He wants us all to have a sound conscience and to learn how to use it most effectively. Also, to quote the apostle Paul, God wants us to “continue to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling before the Lord” (Philippians 2: 12).

In closing, let me add that there is absolutely nothing wrong with going to church no matter what religion you identify with. If you currently attend, I'm certain that God wants you to continue to go so long as you keep hearing messages from the pulpit that are encouraging, uplifting and positive, and most importantly based on Scripture. I don't want this message to be a reason for those who are attending church to stop going. God forbid! On the other hand, please keep in mind that the church is just a building and nothing more. I acknowledge that churches are built as meeting places for like-minded believers and that they should remain so. But now that you have read today's message I hope I have given everyone a better perspective, whether in church or out. You can look at organized religion with skepticism as I do, but do not let that compromise your most deeply held beliefs. The one true God is greater that all the religions in the world combined. He is truly above and beyond it all. 

 

Let me bring up one more thing before I go, and I really wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point this out. If we are going to have God living inside of each of us then we should be living and acting as if He did. Watch what you say and how you say it. Clean up your life and the language that you use. Be mindful of anything that you are doing to excess because this is the root of all addictive behavior. Live your life as if God is watching what you do and listening to everything you say because He really is. Until next time, then, be a believer that walks and talks the good example of Christ for others to follow, especially those who look up to you. And the almost incomprehensible peace that is the very embodiment of Jesus Christ – the Savior of the world – will remain with you all permanently. Amen.

This week's ongoing Biblical study will be part 2 of Acts chapter 5

The Apostles Are Jailed by Men, Freed by God

[Acts chapter 5, verses 17-28]

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Last week when we left off off at verse 16 of Acts chapter 5, the apostles and all the others with them had been released from jail and had promptly gone on a marathon of healing and ministry as far as their feet would carry them. Moreover, the exponential growth of Christianity in the first century A.D. had enraged the local government officials as well as the Sanhedrin, the governing religious body of that time period. And so this week, as we continue our ongoing study of the writings of the apostle Luke, we'll be moving on to part 2 of Acts 5, where we will shortly find that there was a downright visceral reaction from the authorities I mentioned when they saw the dizzying success of early Christianity. So let's take up where we left off last week, beginning at verse 17.

“Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducee's, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in a public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 'Go, stand in the Temple courts', he said, 'and tell the people the full message of this new life.' At daybreak they entered the Temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. When the high priests and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin – the full assembly of the elders of Israel – and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, 'We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.' On hearing this report, the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.” (Acts 5, verses 17-24)

The apostles healed people just by casting a shadow of themselves upon them! The sheer power of the Holy Spirit of the Risen Savior was upon them all, and it showed. This threw the Sadducee's, who were all accessories to the murder of Christ, into a jealous rage. The apostles soon found themselves jailed for the second time, having only recently been released from the captivity we studied in part one of chapter four (you can find that particular study here), only to be released by an angel (a secret operative in the Spirit) during the night. And the angel said to them all, “Go, stand in the Temple courts'.... and tell the people the full message of this new life.” Not 'this new religion', mind you all, nor 'this new church' nor 'this new denomination', nor any other such spiritual sophistry as any of that. This is the part of the message of Christ that has been lost in the translation on too many occasions! Christianity is not just a special type of faith, nor is it merely a creed of beliefs that mandates adherence to a set of rules. It certainly can't be defined as an ideology! No – Christianity is an entirely different way of life, and if you will take the time to study the 4 gospels and the Book of Acts, you will find this to be true – and in a life-changing way!

“At daybreak they entered the Temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.” Is it any wonder the apostles were so filled with zeal that they arrived at the Temple courts at daybreak? If I had just been released from jail by an angel from heaven, I'd be excited too! Another factor in play here is that of discovery – discovery that there was a much better way of life than that which they were living. In spite of the centuries that have slipped by since then, nothing much has changed except for the advent of digital technology. Life is still a dog-eat-dog existence for the majority of the world's population. In wealthier countries as well as poor, one must continually work at an occupation to earn enough money to buy the things we all need. But as we saw 2 weeks ago, the early Church had a communal living arrangement that worked perfectly (see Acts 4, verses 32-37). Instead of every man for himself, there is more than enough for everyone if we all agreed to share. Christianity, when practiced as it was originally intended, is the only effective way to accomplish this.

“....they called together the Sanhedrin – the full assembly of the elders of Israel – and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there.” As the following verses go on to say, there was much consternation that morning in the full assembly of the Sanhedrin. These people thought they had put to an end the teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles, and the disciples under them, only to find this Movement mushrooming into something far bigger than it ever had been before. To borrow a phrase from a best-selling novel of a couple of decades ago, the Sanhedrin – and to a lesser extent their Roman overlords – saw Christianity as a “clear and present danger” to their positions of power and authority, and that was something they simply could not tolerate. And so once again, the chief priests and the ruling council moved to cut the head off Christianity, as we move on to part two of our study, picking up at verse 25.

“Then someone came and said, 'Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.' At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared the people would stone them. Having brought the apostles, they had them brought before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 'We gave you strict orders not to speak in this name', he said. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.'” (Acts 5, verses 25-28)

So the apostles, who everyone thought were in jail when the “full assembly of the elders of Israel” (from verse 21) convened – for what we would call a 'joint session of Congress' today – were teaching in the temple in place of the very authorities who had locked them up! One can only imagine the uproar that this must have caused! And there was nothing they could do about it. I mean, how does one person, or a hundred men in the case of this full assembly, oppose God, or oppose those who legitimately represent God? But these Sadducee's were determined to do exactly that. “At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared the people would stone them.” I don't know how much time elapsed from the time of the convening of the Council until the time the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin, but keep in mind that nearly everyone traveled on foot back then. So physically walking from the Council chambers to the temple to arrest the Twelve (including Matthias), and then bringing them all back again, must have taken 30 minutes to an hour or more. This was more than enough time for the word to spread among the believers that the apostles had been arrested again. That's why the guards and officers did not use force, a wise decision on their part since they were vastly outnumbered.

“... they had them brought before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. 'We gave you strict orders not to speak in this name', he said.” Now let's understand the apostles' situation; they were held in contempt of court because they had been previously, and recently, jailed for the same offense. But they were also charged with escape from jail, a very serious offense indeed. To put it concisely, the apostles were in a whole lot of trouble. But more than that, the temple where they had been 'caught' preaching and teaching the Good News of the life, death and resurrection of Christ Jesus was sacred territory as far as the all-Jewish Sanhedrin was concerned. The temple was their place of 'worship', a worshiping in vain as Jesus had called it. And so for anything other than the empty teachings of the Jewish ruling body to be taught in the temple was heresy as far as the Sanhedrin was concerned.

“Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.” To the apostles, at that moment in time, this must have sounded a lot like a complement from the Lord. But more than that, the Sanhedrin obviously still didn't understand, or were in a state of denial, as to the actual identity as the Son of God that Jesus was. Although they were well aware of Christ's crucifixion since they had engineered it, they thought the apostles' eyewitness testimony that Jesus had risen from the dead was the equivalent to a modern-day conspiracy theory. 'How dare you teach this lunacy in our temple!', was how their line of questioning must have seemed to the apostles at the time. The high priest's line of questioning was so accusatory, so inflammatory and so condescending that Peter spoke up in retort to their accusers. But for now, we'll have to be back here at this time next week to find out what Peter's response was. So come on back this time next week for part 3, and we'll see how all this turns out....

Q Anon repeating a message from 1967? Will we listen this time?

Deep Tru^th. Neither CNN or Fox will tell you this.

Putin's re-election, Bible prophecy, and the upcoming Middle Eastern war

Putin's Re-election and Bible Prophecy:

Closing In on Armageddon

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

[Ezekiel chapters 38 & 39, part 3]

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Last week as we finished part 2 of this 3 part series on the Biblical significance of Vladimir Putin's re-election as president of Russia, we left off at Ezekiel chapter 39 and verse 6 (for anyone who missed part one, click here). In the first 6 verses of chapter 39, God declared through his servant Ezekiel that all the military forces that would swoop down from the far north, as well as most of the Islamic nations of the horn of Africa and Libya, will be stopped in their tracks by a series of natural disasters, starting with the troops being pelted by huge hail stones as well as by fire sent from God. The Bible doesn't specify the origin or nature of this fire. It only says in verse 6, “I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coast lands....” This could be anything from being trapped in a wildfire, or series of wildfires, to a huge fire-fight of some kind or another, all the way up to nuclear warfare. There's simply no way to tell for sure, but I would not be surprised at all if this war were to go nuclear.

This week as we move on to the third and final part of this series on current events juxtaposed with Biblical prophecy, we'll be starting at verse 8 of chapter 39. “It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign Lord. This is the day I have spoken of. Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use their weapons for fuel and burn them up – the large and small shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 39, verses 8-10)

This massive war is most assuredly coming, definitely and without question! Although a first-time reader may not believe this, if God says it's going to occur, then it's going to occur; it's only a question of timing. Turkey, Iran, Syria and Iraq, together with mercenaries from the Russian Islamic republics, will attack Israel from the north and the east in a gigantic pincer attack. But they will be driven back, and Russia will have to come and bail them out since Iran and Syria are Russian allies. It is that precise day that the prophet Ezekiel was writing about! When Russia comes to the aid of Syria and Iran, they will fall back to a mutually agreed upon rendezvous point before mounting a huge counterattack on Israel and her people. Again, as before, they will be defeated, but this time by the forces of nature as described in detail in these passages of Scripture.

“Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use their weapons for fuel and burn them up – the large and small shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel.” Now let's understand right here that this is written from the viewpoint of a man who lived at least 2,600 years ago. So he is writing to his contemporaries as well as for posterity and, most of all, out of obedience to God. Ezekiel is describing weapons as he understood them from his own time frame. Shields, bows and arrows and spears were the weapons of his day. Today, everything is motorized and digitized, so it appears the fuel from all the tanks, amphibious assault vehicles and all kinds of trucks of various sizes and purposes will be used instead. Tires will be burned in big piles to enforce road blocks and in small ones for cooking and burning trash. This is a likely scenario that fits with what Ezekiel wrote, as dictated to him by the “Sovereign Lord”, or Almighty God.

“They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign Lord.” In this verse, I'm fairly sure that Ezekiel is referring to the wooden gun stocks on all the rifles the troops from the Russian confederation carried with them into battle. Since the homes of many will have been destroyed by the war, the wooden gun stocks of the Russian, Syrian, Turkish and Iranian troops will be used for campfires, along with the tires and fuel from their vehicles. In this way, the comfort of the Israeli people will be seen to even during this traumatic time to come, because that is what God will do for his people Israel. Their every need will be met, even in the rubble of an earthquake and a military invasion. And now let's move on to part 2 of this week's message, starting at verse 11.

“On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel toward the sea. It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog. For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 39, verses 11-13)

This will be the fate of all the troops from Russia, her allies, and the other countries I mentioned who would presume to attack Israel. “The valley of those who travel towards the sea” is an ancient expression for the Jordan valley that runs between the Sea of Galilee southward towards the Dead Sea. And so according to the Scriptures, this is where the armies of the Gog-Magog War of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be buried. It will take 7 months to bury all the dead because there will be so many of them, and the entire populace will be pressed into service for this arduous task, presumably to expedite things for health reasons. But what is so understated is that the tiny little nation of Israel, a country the size of New Jersey with a population of 8.4 million people, just defeated the combined armies and air forces of Russia, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, and you may as well include Iraq and Jordan in the fray. Their combined military forces will be decimated by Israel and her ally, the Sovereign Lord!

There is one more thing that needs to be said about this, and that is regarding the country of Israel itself, together with her people. There are many individuals who, frankly, despise the nation of Israel and her people. Some say that this is because of the conflict between the Palestinian and Israeli people, but there is more to it than that, and it has a long history. It was the newly created universal church of King Constantine 1st, from which the modern name 'Catholic' originates, that began teaching around the year 300AD that it was the Jews and not the Romans who crucified Christ, when in fact it was the other way around. Nevertheless, this wrong teaching has persisted to this day. While the first reason for hatred of the Jews was religious in origin, the second reason was and still is racial. Antisemitism – the extreme hatred of Jewish people and all things Jewish, including her homeland Israel – is raw racism, pure and simple. But more than that, since Jesus Christ walked the earth as a Jewish man, to express antisemitism is tantamount to having contempt for Jesus Christ. Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany is one of the most glaring examples in human history of what happens when antisemitism is carried to its utmost extreme.

This inevitably brings up the debate about what the fate of the Palestinian people should be. Should they get their own homeland? Of course they should, but so should the Kurdish people just a few hundred miles to the north, but they're not having any luck either. Arbitration is the only fair way to settle both these disputes, that much is certain, and both conflicts must be peacefully resolved. One other thing is certain – the Gog-Magog War of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 (of which I only used select portions for the sake of brevity and focus) will occur. But more than that, the stage is being set even as I write this for this massive and incredibly deadly war. Russia has forward bases in Syria and Iran, plus a critically important naval port in Syria, and has still more troops – many more – just to the north in Georgia and the Ukraine. I think we'll have to see what happens once the American embassy moves from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which coincides with the 70^th anniversary of the founding of the nation of Israel on May 14^th, 1948. I would be quite surprised if this anniversary comes and goes without incident. You know, like a 7-year peace treaty that divides Jerusalem?

Russia, Turkey, and Iran Alliance; is this Gog of Magog?

Free book excerpt # 23 from author and blogger Rev. Paul J. Bern

 

Excerpt from chapter 6 ("Passing the Tipping Point") of 

"The Middle and Working Class Manifesto"

 Copyright (C) 2011 by Paul J. Bern; all rights reserved


Heeding Eisenhower's Warning

Though it fields the most expensive and technologically sophisticated military force on the world stage, the U.S. government has not decisively won any major military conflict since 1945. Understanding these developments is necessary if Americans are to effectively address their nation's economic decline and cultural deterioration. Eisenhower's credibility can hardly be challenged. As FDR's choice for the position of Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe, he was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of France and Germany from the west. FDR had such confidence in him that Eisenhower sometimes worked directly with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to the chagrin of bypassed British leaders. He served as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s first supreme commander in 1951. As president (1953-1961), Eisenhower concluded negotiations with China to end the Korean War, maintained pressure on the Soviet Union, and avoided hostilities during two terms in the nation's highest office, a time of peace. Eisenhower's election as a Republican ended two decades of New Deal Coalition in the White House, but as president he continued New Deal policies, expanding Social Security and signing into law in 1956 the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, then the largest public works project in American history. Though he chose not to publicly criticize Sen. Joseph McCarthy, he helped remove the pathologically partisan Republican demagogue from power. Historians typically rank "Ike" among America's 10 greatest presidents.


"In his farewell address to the American people, broadcast live from the White House on January 17, 1961, Eisenhower focused specifically on and warned against the dangers attendant upon the unprecedented development of a permanent armaments industry and war machine. In part, he said: "Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations....”


"Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society....In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together...."


“Noting that technological developments were, "largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture," Eisenhower warned against the "prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by "the power of money" and the "danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite," saying that, "it is the task of statesmanship to mold, to balance, and to integrate these and other forces, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system - ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society...." It was imperative, Eisenhower declared, that "we - you and I, and our government, avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow. During the long lane of the history yet to be written, America knows that this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we, protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength. That table, though scarred by many past frustrations, cannot be abandoned for the certain agony of the battlefield. Disarmament, with mutual honor and confidence, is a continuing imperative. Together we must learn how to compose differences, not with arms, but with intellect and decent purpose...."


Judging by President Eisenhower's words, although he aspired elegantly to a better world just as we do, that dream has not yet been realized. We still live in a world of too much “fear and hate” when the mutual goal should be “a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect”. This excerpt from the following Internet posting makes my point for me as it warns against the sinister power of the US military-industrial complex. Fifty years after Dwight D. Eisenhower's January 17, 1961 speech on the "military-industrial complex", that threat has morphed into a far more powerful and sinister force than Eisenhower could have imagined. It has become a "Permanent War State", with the power to keep the United States at war continuously for the indefinite future. But despite their seeming invulnerability, the vested interests behind U.S. militarism have been seriously shaken twice in the past four decades by some combination of public revulsion against a major war, opposition to high military spending, serious concern about the budget deficit and a change in perception of the external threat. Today, the Permanent War State faces the first three of those dangers to its power simultaneously -- and in a larger context of the worst economic crisis since the great depression.


The 9/11 attacks were the biggest single boon to the militarist alliance. The Bush administration exploited the climate of fear to railroad the country into a war of aggression against Iraq. The underlying strategy, approved by the military leadership after 9/11, was to use Iraq as a base from which to wage a campaign of regime change in a long list of countries. That fateful decision only spurred recruitment and greater activism by al Qaeda and other jihadist groups, which expanded into Iraq and other countries. Instead of reversing the ill-considered use of military force, however, the same coalition of officials pushed for an even more militarized approach to jihadism. Over the next few years, it too gained unprecedented power over resources and policy at home and further extended its reach abroad. The Special Operations Forces, which operate in almost complete secrecy, obtained extraordinary authority to track down and kill or capture al Qaeda suspects not only in Iraq and Afghanistan, but in many more countries.


The CIA sought and obtained virtually unlimited freedom to carry out drone strikes in secrecy and without any meaningful oversight by Congress. The Pentagon embraced the idea of the "long war", a twenty-year strategy envisioning deployment of U.S. troops in dozens of countries, and the Army adopted the idea of "the era of persistent warfare" as its rationale for more budgetary resources. The military budget doubled from 1998 to 2008 in the biggest explosion of military spending since the early 1950s and now accounts for 56 percent of discretionary federal spending. The military leadership used its political clout to ensure that U.S. forces would continue to fight in Afghanistan indefinitely, even after the premises of its strategy were shown to have been false. The percentage of Americans who believe the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting has now reached 65 percent for the first time. And as the crisis over the federal debt reaches its climax, the swollen defense budget should bear the brunt of deep budget cuts.


As early as 2005, a Pew Research Center survey found that, when respondents were given the opportunity to express a preference for budget cuts by major accounts, they opted to reduce military spending by 31 percent. In another survey by the Pew Center a year ago, 76 percent of respondents, frustrated by the continued failure of the U.S. economy, wanted the United States to put top priority in its domestic problems. The only thing missing from this picture is a grassroots political movement organized specifically to demand an end to the Permanent War State. Such a movement could establish firm legal restraints on the institutions that threaten American Democratic institutions through a massive educational and lobbying effort. This is the right historical moment to harness the latent anti-militarist sentiment in the country to a conscious strategy for political change.


Tragically, the strategy for “political change” has not made itself known. What we have is more of the same – the same wars, the same unemployment, the same hunger, the same crime problems, the same homelessness, the same crushing load of debt, and we are all getting really tired of it all. We want out of the rat race, off of the treadmill, and away from the maze that has us all locked in and enslaved to the richest top 1% US money earners. We want our independence back with freedom to choose whatever profession one desires to undertake, and to make that education free and equal for everyone. To prevent hunger, homelessness and crime simply give every citizen the freedom to go back to school at any time, and it should all be free. We can have the best educated society in one generation if we choose this path. What we have instead is continuous war. Allow me to share with you a few facts regarding our troops activities overseas.

SOME QUICK FACTS ON WARS AND DEFENSE SPENDING

• The National Security Advisor says there are less than 1000 ISIS operatives in Syria and Iraq and we have over 30,000 troops and probably as many mercenaries chasing them.
• Maintaining one American soldier in Afghanistan for one year (yep, we're still there too) costs one million dollars. This expenditure could be for twenty jobs at home with a salary of $50,000 each. Like, say, police officers and teachers,
• There are now over 90,000 battlefield casualties from the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Over 500,000 veterans patients from these two wars have flooded into VA hospitals and clinics. That's one new war casualty walking into a VA medical facility every five minutes of every day---about 9,000 new patients every month with no end in sight.
• The Iraqis still don't have a government and Christians are being ethnically cleansed.
• The combined cost of the Iraq war alone is likely to be more than three trillion dollars. (Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel winning economist)
• 190,000 AK-47s handed out by the US Army to Iraqi security force recruits vanished and wound up in the hands of militants.
• Afghanistan soldiers were shooting our troops at the peak of the US occupation. This was rarely if ever reported by the Lame Stream Media.
• The total DOD budget for the current fiscal year is over $700 billion. It is an amount just under what the entire rest of the world spends for defense and most of them are allies. America's defense budget is about three times the combined budgets of China, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, and Iran.
• The Defense Department spends in a few hours more than al Qaeda spends in an entire year. For this post-World War II high in spending, we get the smallest Army, Navy, and Air Force we have had since 1946. And, our tanks, ships, and aircraft are, on average, older than they have ever been before.$57,077.60. That’s what we’re paying per minute for the American Empire's military activities in the Middle East and North Africa alone. Keep that in mind -- just for a minute or so. It takes an estimated $1 million to send each of them surging into 'wherever' for one year. So a 30,000-person surge will be at least $30 billion, which brings us to that $57,077.60. That’s how much it will cost you, the taxpayer, for one minute of that surge. By the way, add up the yearly salary of a Marine from Camp Lejeune with four years of service, throw in his or her housing allowance, additional pay for dependents, and bonus pay for hazardous duty, imminent danger, and family separation, and you’ll still be many thousands of dollars short of that single minute’s sum. But perhaps this isn’t a time to quibble. After all, a job is a job, especially in the United States, which has lost seven million jobs since December 2007.....

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