Patriot Cop TELLS NEW WORLD ORDER THAT HE WILL RESIST Gun Confiscation

This week's Bible study will be the 2nd half of Luke chapter four

Jesus Rejected In His Home Town

[Luke chapter 4, verses 22-44]

Taking up where we left off at the conclusion of last week's Bible study, today we will be analyzing the second half of chapter four of the gospel of the apostle Luke. You will recall Jesus had gone up to the synagogue in his home town of Nazareth on the morning of the Sabbath. It was his turn to read, and Jesus unrolled the scroll from the prophet Isaiah and read the first two verses of chapter 61. Those readers who are unsure of what I mean should read that passage in their Bibles. If you have none, please refer to last week's Bible study on this blog. He then concluded by saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. So Jesus had just told the assembly that he was “anointed to preach good news to the poor”, “sent to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and sight for the blind”, and “to release the oppressed” and “proclaim the year of the Lord's favor”. So, as I wrote last week, Jesus was telling that morning's Sabbath gathering that he himself was who Isaiah was writing about nearly 1,000 years prior to that. For some, he was well-received, but not always as we will see, beginning at verse 22:

“All spoke well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. 'Isn't this Joseph's son?', they asked. Jesus said to them, 'Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard you did in Capernaum'. 'I tell you the truth', he continued, 'No prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel during Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy at the time of Elijah the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed – only Naaman the Syrian.' All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.” (Luke 4: 22-30)

If we read in between the lines here, it is evident that what Jesus was actually telling his fair-weather friends, “You tell me how approving you are as you fawn all over me, but you don't really mean it”. Moreover, he was telling them the Gentiles would be blessed along with the Hebrew nations when he mentioned the region of Sidon (near the Mediterranean coast south of modern-day Haifa) and Syria, a natural enemy of Israel's. It is here that Jesus prophesies the inclusion of Jew and Gentile into God's kingdom, which frankly insulted the Jews in the synagogue at Nazareth. They thought the non-Jews could not ever have an after-life, but that only the 12 Hebrew tribes could. But that was under the Old Law, what we now call the Old Testament.

Jesus' statement that there would be equality between Jews and Gentiles was regarded as insulting by those present in the synagogue. So enraged were they that they herded Jesus to the edge of a precipice on the outskirts of town, intending to throw him over the edge and down a tall cliff. But once again Jesus, exemplifying his divinity, simply walked right back through the crowd and went on his way. Nobody tried to stop him. This brings us to the middle part of this study, beginning at verse 31:

“Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 'Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God!' 'Be quiet!', Jesus said sternly. 'Come out of him!' Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, 'What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!' And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.” (Luke 4: 31-37)

As you have just read, Jesus spoke with an authority that was absent in the religious leadership of that time. The people were hungry and thirsty for that kind of strong moral leadership, and they found it nowhere else but in Jesus. Much the same is still true today. We don't find that kind of moral authority today in any capacity with the probable exception of organized religion. Even there there's much left to be desired. Television preachers insist on 10% of every viewers income so they can spend it lavishly on themselves and their immediate families. Corporate CEO's earn tens of millions of dollars annually while their workers scrape by on 10 or 12 dollars per hour, even less for most restaurant chains. On any given night in America there are scores of homeless families living on the streets, and the same goes for military veterans. So there is dire need for moral authority, and I continue to maintain that it can only be found in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God! To become a problem solver, simply follow Him!

Notice that the demons residing within the man who was possessed already knew who Jesus was. So now you can see that demons have precognitive powers that are, to we humans, both spiritual and paranormal in nature. So here you can also plainly see that foreknowledge and the paranormal come from evil spirits. They are demonic in nature. So whenever you encounter someone such as an astrologer or a fortune teller, get away from those people because they use demonic powers as their stock in trade! Jesus, on the other hand, was using the power of the Holy Spirit when he healed the demon-possessed man. Now that you know how to tell the difference, let's conclude today's study starting at verse 38.

“Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them. When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, 'You are the Son of God!'. But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ. At daybreak Jesus went to a solitary place. The people were looking for him, and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them, 'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.” (Luke 4: 38-44)

First, to clear up any confusion, this particular Simon was not the same one that carried the cross of Jesus up the hill at Golgotha. That was Simon from Cyrene from Luke chapter 23, which we will get to in a few weeks. But Jesus stayed at Simon's house for an unspecified period of time, and during that time he healed a lot of people. But in so doing, he was also making a statement to the religious leadership of that day, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, or ruling council. Jesus was exercising some 'leadership by example' over the religious establishment of his day. While the Hebrew priests were at the synagogue busying themselves with religiosity and all the pomp and circumstance thereof, Jesus was out healing people, driving out demons, and rebuking all kids of illnesses. He was taking care of business while the Pharisees stayed in their synagogues.

But there was something even greater than that occurring as Jesus began his ministry, as he was healing people's bodies, hearts and minds. In days of old, it is written in the Old Law (see the Book of Leviticus starting around chapter four), certain animal sacrifices had to be made because the shedding of blood was necessary for the forgiveness of sins. The thing people did not yet understand at this early point in Jesus' ministry was that he was the new sacrifice, one that would have to be made only once, and that it would be Jesus himself who would shed his blood for all our sins. Of course, this would not occur for approximately 3 more years. But, Jesus statement of his purpose for being here, as he put it, was obviously done prophetically, confirming once again that he truly was the Son of God! He is our blessed and most sacred Kinsman Redeemer and the Savior of the world!

“'I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent.' And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.” Jesus was a very industrious man, he ministered on a daily basis as far as I can tell here. Jesus was relentless in preaching the “good news to the poor”. He never gave up, and we should be following his example in our own lives. Set a goal, make it an honorable one, and then take whatever steps are necessary to achieve that goal. If we conduct our lives like Jesus conducted his ministry, we will have all done well! So go for it, change your life for the better! Until next time, then, think about these words, and be blessed I Jesus' name!

END TIMES SIGNS: LATEST EVENTS (NOV 28, 2016)

Let's Make 'Less Is More' the Norm This Holiday Season

Making Do With Less In A Season of Excess

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

To view this on my website, click this link

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone as the Christmas holidays approach, it is time for all of us to change our focus from the acquisition of material wealth to that of intangible enrichment, such as our health, well being, peace of mind and contentment. Everywhere we go we find ourselves surrounded by a bombardment of mass media, mass marketing and corporate sponsorship. The average American gets knocked over with endless commercials from the time they get up until they lay back down at night, especially our children. The existence of a near-constant stream of subliminal messaging through the mass media is common knowledge, and all of it is to our detriment! All the while, it costs a fortune to buy anything these days, even groceries! In contrast, I grew up in a 1,200 square feet house that cost $18,000.00 when it was built in 1954. Today we are surrounded – hemmed in is more like it – by opulence and wealth on a magnitude never before seen in the history of human civilization, even to the point that many of us have begun to take it all for granted. It makes me wonder if losing some of this excess wealth might do some of us a lot of good.

Maybe we should begin to ask ourselves some basic questions about our lives and how we are living them, while we're engaging in fisticuffs for that new microwave-toaster-oven-walk-in-freezer we've been saving our pennies for. For example, why would any of us want a newer car when there is probably nothing mechanically wrong with the one we drive now? And why would any of us want a bigger house when the one we are currently living in is fine? The answer in both cases is that American society is, for lack of a better word, programmed to be upwardly mobile. This happens partly due to social pressure on the part of our peers as well as economic pressure from corporate America, with the accompanying least common denominator being pure greed. Our society here in the US, from our current and terrible medical care system to the dangerously overextended banking system, to the well-established debt-based capitalist economic system that keeps us all enslaved, is based on greed for the accumulation of material goods and the hoarding of cash and assets for “investment” or “retirement” purposes, two euphemisms for “I've got more than you have”.

Owing to the fact that there are 2.5 billion people, or roughly a third of the earth's population, who live on less than $2.00 per day, it has been getting clearer to watchful eyes from everywhere that the hoarding of wealth by the developed and established countries is increasingly happening at the expense of other less fortunate third-world countries. The unending influx of economic refugees from Mexico and Central America to the US is only one example of dozens globally. The more recent mass migrations from Syria and Iraq are another. Increasingly larger amounts of money are being hoarded by an ever smaller minority of elitists worldwide. Some people in this group are for the most part engaged in legitimate enterprises, while others are either drug cartels or just flat-out organized criminals. Capitalism's holy grail, the quest for never-ending profit, has devolved into a monster – composed of endless debt and infinite compounded interest – that is consuming itself, that is unsustainable, and that is therefore ultimately self-destructive. Its impending self-destruction also means that it is harmful to the rest of us when it implodes or otherwise collapses, constituting a real and present threat to us all.

As a result of growing hunger on the part of many of us who are disillusioned with the old school, debt-driven, for-profit business and government, people are beginning to explore other ways of living and to develop new values for a less growth-oriented community. I myself am a part of this movement, having moved from the suburbs to the inner city here in Atlanta where I live, and relying mostly on public transit to get around. Although I'm disabled and don't own a car any more, the lifestyle changes I have made over the last few years have transformed my life. First of all, I'm no longer stuck in Atlanta traffic, and so I seldom get stressed out over much of anything. The buses and trains go at a gentler pace, and I find this rejuvenating. I leave whenever I feel like it, and come back home the same way. But the most practical part of using public transit is that not owning a vehicle saves me at least $10,000 dollars annually by the time I include insurance and maintenance, and that's for an entry-level car. It also gives me a very small carbon footprint so I can set a good example for others to follow.

Besides, in Genesis chapter one it says that God created man to “subdue the earth”, which includes caring for it. In that regard, mankind has done an atrocious job of taking care of the planet that God gave us to live on, a planet that God created specifically for us. Mankind has the collective responsibility to care for and nurture this planet we live on! Whenever we pollute our environment, and especially when whole countries threaten one another with nuclear annihilation, we show utter contempt for God's creations! Those who pollute the earth are spitting in the face of God, and they will be held accountable!! In the interim, one of the best ways to begin to repair the earth's damaged environment would be to move to the city and rent, sell or park our cars, and take public transit, ride bikes, or walk. In other words, doing this would be a way that we can all honor God. Add to this the fact that walking or bike riding is very good for our health, and we have sufficient motivation to begin working toward this goal. As you have guessed, I do a fair amount of walking myself, and I'm better off because of it!

Others are exploring additional ways to simplify their lifestyles and to get by on less stuff than they were formerly accustomed and still be contented. The Bible tells us “to be content whatever the circumstances” (Phil. 4:11). The apostle Paul wrote that he “has learned the secret to be contented” (Phil. 4:12), and that “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1st Tim. 6:6). Many people are opting for smaller, more practical living quarters. One acquaintance of mine from the church I attend and serve as a musician has done something similar to that. When the family car reached the end of its life and they didn't have enough money to replace it with a newer model, they moved out of their suburban apartment into a dwelling where the bus stop is 100 feet away. It's a slightly smaller house than where they had been living, but it gave them the added benefit of becoming a closer family — both literally and figuratively. By moving to a smaller house, this family of four was forced to be around each other more often, which they discovered they actually enjoyed. They essentially traded excess space that they really didn't need for togetherness and inter-connectivity. Everybody should want that deal!

At the heart of this story lies a deeper critique of the American obsession with consumption and the “bigger is better” mantra. Many Americans shun the word “sacrifice,” but studies find that trading stuff for time with people quite often makes us happier, healthier, and more sustainable. I can cite one of my favorite scientific findings: When we act altruistically (volunteer, donate to charity, etc.), we get the same neurological high in our brains that food and sex impart. Being good really does feel good. Welcome to conscious consumption: It’s not just about what we buy (even if it is fair-trade, organic, local), it’s also about being intentional with what we already own and cutting out the excess. On a related note, because of the recent recession, Americans are buying less, but doing more. The Department of Labor, keeping tabs on how people spend their time, found that Americans were cooking at home or participating in “organizational, civic and religious activities” 30% more in 2015 than in 2010.

So what can we do immediately to begin a cooperative movement to begin to rejuvenate the earth? Cook at home more and eat out less. Get involved in politics. Going green in every possible way, up to and including doing without a car? Definitely! Let's replace our antiquated power grid with one that is low voltage and wireless. Those are some hopeful and meaningful signs of progress toward sustainable, climate-friendly cities in a totally green future. Can my crusade for unconditional equality, and for social and economic equity encourage a bigger shift toward conscious consumption and green living? I certainly hope so.

Bible study this week will be the first half of Luke chapter four

The Temptation of Jesus

[Luke chapter 4, verses 1-21]

For this week's Bible study, we'll be moving on to Luke chapter four. Since there is so much in here for us to digest, I will be breaking up chapter four into two parts. This is a very well-known passage of Scripture, so all you more seasoned Christians bear with me for the sake of the newer believers. Besides, something tells me that for many, they will be seeing a fresh point of view relating to this story of Jesus' temptation in the desert. So let's begin at verse one.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was very hungry. The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'Man does not live on bread alone'.” (Luke 4: 1-4)

Could anyone possibly picture themselves in this situation? Jesus went out into the desert after being baptized in the Jordan river. This was near Bethlehem, the place of his birth, but roughly northwest of there in the desert area in what would be southeastern Israel today. The high temperature in that desert would be about 90 degrees in the winter, and much hotter in the summer. So here we have ample proof that Jesus was the Son of God, because a normal human would not be able to survive alone out in that desert heat without food for forty days. Presumably Jesus had a little rain water to drink, but the apostle Luke does not specify about that one way or the other.

So the devil, or Satan or the 'Tempter', was attacking Jesus right from the very start of his ministry. Besides having to deal with hunger and exposure to the elements in a harsh environment, Jesus has his arch-enemy taunting, teasing and belittling him at every turn. Testing him, verbally abusing him, and pushing Jesus' patience well beyond human limitations is what Satan did for forty days straight! Satan was unrelenting in his attacks on our Lord, though he was undoubtedly not allowed to harm Jesus physically. If Satan was unrelenting in his attacks on the Son of God, then how much more is this true for ourselves? The quote, “Man does not live on bread alone” is taken from Deuteronomy 8: 3, which in its full context reads, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”. So Jesus was saying to Satan, “You can keep your bread and your stone. I am in need of neither of them. I have my Father, and he supplies me with everything.” We should all take a lesson here from our Lord to do the same! Let's pick up now at verse 5.

“The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you will worship me, it will all be yours.' Jesus answered, 'It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'” (Luke 4: 5-8)

So we can clearly see here that Satan showed Jesus every kingdom, empire, and government in existence at that time, plus all the empires of the past and into the future, simultaneously. This is significant because it proves Satan can travel back and forth in time, but by extension so can the Lord! Moreover, since God and Satan are spirits and not physical beings, they are trans-dimensional as well, and the above Scripture proves that to my satisfaction. Hopefully it is to yours as well. But if not, try praying for more faith! Remember, God answers all prayers having to do with faith, that's a given. Also, as you have observed, Jesus turned down Satan's offer, but that's just what's on the surface. If we go deeper, we find Jesus rejected all the corruption that is inherent in every government. As we know, traditional hierarchical governance and corruption go hand in hand. It is up to us to do something about that, but that's a Sunday sermon for another time.

“The devil then led him to Jerusalem and set him up on the highest point on the Temple. 'If you are the Son of God,' he said, 'throw yourself down from here, for it is written: He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone'. Jesus said, 'It says: Do not put the Lord your God to the test'. When the devil had finished all his tempting, he left him until an opportune time.” (Luke 4: 9-13)

I see two things here that I think bear considerable emphasis. First, Satan knows the Bible as well as Christ Jesus does, which is sufficient warning for the rest of us not to ever underestimate Satan. He is evil personified, the source of every kind of depravity and immorality, of every murder and deceit, and the ultimate starter of all the wars ever fought in humanity's history. This brings me to the second thing, “he left him until an opportune time.” Satan is relentless, he never gives up, he is obsessed with our destruction, and he's determined to never stop until he either achieves his objective or gets destroyed in the process. Satan is not only evil, he is fanatical about it. It is for this exact reason that we are to be equally fanatical while we continuously resist him! The devil never stops trying, and neither should we! The Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4: 7). Never stop resisting Satan and the wrong temptations he brings! Otherwise, the devil can and will consume you. Bearing this in mind, let's wrap up the remainder of this week's study, taking up where we left off.

“Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.' Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened upon him, and he began by saying to them, 'Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'” (Luke 4:14-21)

So here's the scene – Jesus has gone into the synagogue at Nazareth on the morning of the Sabbath (the Jewish Sabbath goes from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday by our calendars today). It is his turn to read on this particular morning, so he reads a quote from Isaiah chapter 61, verses 1-2. First, Jesus proclaims 'good news to the poor'. Contrary to popular belief within much of Christendom, particularly here in the US, this verse does not tell us that Jesus wants us all to be rich! On the contrary, it foretells a day when we won't need money any more, because a time is coming when that entire capitalist economic system will soon be destroyed. This is not an idle threat, it is a fact and if Jesus said it will occur through one of the prophets of his Father, then it surely will!

Jesus, through the prophet Isaiah, then proclaims 'freedom for the prisoners' and 'recovery of sight for the blind'. This does not mean Jesus wants to let all the convicts out of jail, but that he wants to set their spirit free and so to redeem their souls from the fires of hell. He wants to give sight, not just to those who are physically blind, but to all those individuals who are blinded by the deception of Satan and his minions, so that they may see the light of truth, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus also wants to free the oppressed! Show me a dictator and I'll show you someone who is the polar opposite of Christ, just like Satan. So it's safe to say here that all dictators are demonic people, without exception.

Finally, Jesus proclaimed in the middle of a church service that it was “the year of the Lord's favor”. This 'year of the Lord's favor' refers to a Jubilee year, which is a mutual canceling of debts (see Leviticus 25, verses 8-17 for a detailed explanation of a Jubilee year). As it is with many, so it shall be with property – this entire economy of excessive profit at the expense of numerous others is unjust, and it will come to an end. So hang in there, the era of indebtedness is coming to a cataclysmic end. But, be watchful, because it is likely that it will do so quite suddenly, catching many people unawares. Don't let that day sneak up on you – get prepared now! Stock up on nonperishable food, and get bottled water by the gallon to make sure you have enough. You will need 1-2 gallons per day per person in the event of a national emergency. Get your money out of Wall Street or you will lose it all! Yes, I know, the Dow just hit 19,000 the week this was written, but anyone who thinks it will continue to up indefinitely is only fooling themselves.

In closing, Jesus finished by saying, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” So he was telling the entire congregation, which probably was relatively small, that he was here to finish the job Isaiah started. He was telling them that he was the Jewish Messiah, yet not in so many words. What did the rest of the men in the congregation think? Did they believe Jesus or not, and did the rest of the town believe along with them? The answer to that question comes next week, when we will (God willing) finish up Luke chapter four. Until then, take good care, and keep Jesus in your heart!

Our new president, the Bible, and racism in America

President Trump, Racism in America, and the Bible

by Pastor Paul J. Bern

Lately I have received a little negative feedback from some of my Christian readers saying that I should not be trying to blend religion and politics because it causes too much controversy. Interestingly enough, I'm not hearing any of that from my secular readers on this blog, nor on my other one, the 99% Blog (on Wordpress.com or Blogspot.com). Same thing goes for my website, if you're not already there. I have thought about this issue with considerable deliberation, and I have gone back and re-read some of what my Bible has to say about that. I use three different versions to study from, too, just to make sure I get things as close to being right as I can. Let me sum up my conclusion to this issue in just this one sentence: The two primary reasons Jesus was put to death on the cross was because he preached against organized government and organized religion. For what other reason did he say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”?

You may say to yourself, “That's all fine, but what does this have to do with mixing religion and politics”? Well, in a way, my above quote covers the religious aspect of this. For a quote from the Bible about the political side of this, with religion blended in, let's go over to Matthew's gospel chapter 23, verses 2-4, and I quote: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on man's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” Isn't that what's been happening today? Religious leaders demand ten percent of people's incomes so they can afford to buy jet fuel for their planes and remodel their 50,000 square foot mansions. Police officers enforce the law on one hand while shooting unarmed people for committing minor traffic violations with the other. Our governments make the laws and administer our country, state and local governments, yet government corruption is well known, especially at the federal level. Jesus blended religion with politics, and there are many more examples besides this one. If Jesus did it then I as his follower, messenger and ambassador will do the same. 

 

Which brings me to the topic of this week – our newly installed government. One of Donald Trump's first appointees has been one Steve Bannon, the editor-in-chief of Breitbart.com, a right wing fringe website that can be so radical at times that it makes Alex Jones and Infowars.com look like child's play. On CNN's website Saturday morning, they had this to say, “Steve Bannon has no regrets. The ex-Breitbart executive, who serves as Trump's chief strategist for the new administration, told The Hollywood Reporter that "darkness is good." "Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That's power. It only helps us when they (liberals) get it wrong. When they're blind to who we are and what we're doing," he said in an interview published Friday, his first outside of Breitbart since the election.

Darkness is good? Satan equals power? Just as bad, this man idolizes Darth Vader and regards former vice president Dick Cheney as a role model?? I don't know about you, but I am deeply concerned about Mr Bannon being in charge of anything in America's government. What does the Bible say about this, and about people like Steve Bannon (and there's plenty of them)? “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness instead of the light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done he has done through God.” (John 3: 19-21) Need more proof? You got it, and again I quote: “This is the message we have heard from him that we declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1^st John 1: 5-7)

Now, let me tie all this together with one more quote from Scripture, this time from the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament: “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” (Isaiah 5: 20-21) Although I have the greatest respect for Donald Trump, I have serious misgivings about his choice of Steve Bannon for his Chief of Staff, a man who is apparently quite proud of his ties to the so-called “White Nationalist Movement” and other right-wing extremist groups. The White Nationalists are basically the KKK with a fresh 21^st century style makeover, and their political leanings are decidedly Nazi in nature. Many of these people openly admire Adolf Hitler, which tells us everything we need to know about all these people.

Steve Bannon is a demonic racist, pure and simple. Donald Trump knows that, or he certainly should, and evidently that does not bother him. Well, it bothers me a whole lot! The last thing America needs is a throwback to the bad old days of Jim Crow, the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan. President Trump's nomination of former senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general is nearly as bad. I grant you that Mr. Sessions is no neo-Nazi, but he's still a redneck from Alabama who has little or no regard for people of color. The Bible has more than a few things to say about racism, and it's all bad. Let me give you a couple examples: “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded him”. (1^st John 2: 9-11)

 

OK, now that we have seen what the apostle John wrote about hateful people – and especially those who normalize that hatred and who try to make it seem acceptable – let's see what Jesus himself had to say about it: “But I say if you are angry with someone you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the high council. But if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.” (Matt. 5: 22) So what Jesus was saying was these three things:

[1] Whatever level of anger we show towards our brothers and sisters, God will show right back to us.

[2] In whatever way we are abusive towards others whom we perceive to be inferior to ourselves, the ruling authorities will punish us accordingly in the same way, and deservedly so!

[3] When we curse others, we ultimately curse ourselves because the same God created us all in his image and likeness. Showing contempt for God's creations is equally contemptuous in God's sight.

In closing, I will confidently predict this one thing – if the new Trump administration starts showing contempt towards or begins to mistreat minorities and people of color, or if any attempt is made to begin massive deportations of undocumented aliens back to their home countries, there is going to be major civil unrest the likes of which have not been seen in over a generation. If fact, these protests will rival, and probably surpass, the antiwar protests of the 1960's and early 1970's. So if the new administration doesn't get its act together and stops staffing our federal government with a bunch of nasty haters, and if the minimum wage is not raised substantially, there may well be political unrest all across the country soon. People are hungry and thirsty for change, and they're all tired of government corruption and ineptitude! The main positive thing I can truly say about the incoming Trump administration is his pledge to normalize US-Russian relations, a process that has already begun. As a result, America and Russia are both breathing a sigh of relief, and I suspect the Lord is too. But there must not be even the appearance of racism and favoritism in our incoming presidential administration, or president Trump will have to answer to the people for it!

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This week's Bible study will be the second half of Luke chapter three

John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus

[Luke chapter 3, verses 15-37]

This week we will be studying the 2^nd half of chapter 3 of the apostle Luke's gospel, which will include a minor detour into the gospel of Matthew. I am adding this to today's Biblical teaching because I think it's necessary in order to better understand why John the Baptist became the last Old Testament prophet and the very first martyr for Christ in the New Testament all at once. I will explain more about this as we go along, so hang in there while we enter into the remainder of Luke chapter three. We'll begin at verse 15.

“The people were all waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. John answered them all, 'I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire'. And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.” (Luke 3: 15-18)

The phrase “the Christ” is a Greek word for “messiah”, which translates into Hebrew as 'salvation' (the Hebrew pronunciation is “Yeshua”). I find it noteworthy that John could have told the people he was the Messiah and could have profited greatly. Yet he chose not to do so. It apparently made a deep impression with those who came to see him and be baptized by him, and that positive indication of his character and integrity reverberates throughout Christianity to this day. But then John mentions two different baptisms, which is explained in the gospel of John chapter 3, where Jesus was responding to Nicodemus, and I quote: “...'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.' 'How can a man be born again when he is old?', Nicodemus asked. 'Surely a man cannot enter his mother's womb a second time to be born!' Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth ,no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of the water and of the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.'” (John 3: 3-6)

Further down in this same chapter, Jesus clarifies what he was trying to explain to Nicodemus, who held a high-ranking position as a religious leader of that day. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in God's one and only Son.” (John 3: 17-18) I see no way this passage of Scripture could be misunderstood! If you truly and sincerely believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, you will be saved, or more explicitly your soul will be redeemed, when your physical or temporal life is over. Anyone who refuses to believe, or who places their faith in something other than Jesus Christ for their soul's salvation, will be condemned at the end of their physical or temporal lives. Period, end of story, and there will be no exceptions! So, everyone who reads this has been warned! Belief in Jesus, combined with the practicing of our faith, is very serious business!

In the same way John warned all the people, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” John was talking about the conversation I mentioned between Jesus and Nicodemus, who was a Jewish rabbi. The only thing is, that conversation had not yet taken place. Talk about being spot-on with prophecy! This is one way we can tell that John the Baptist was an authentic prophet. There was nothing phony about him! John baptized with water, but Jesus baptized with fire on the day of Pentecost, which is not mentioned in the Bible until much later in Acts chapter two. John prophesied this more than 3 decades before the fact!

But what did he mean by “the thongs of his sandals”? Someone reading the Bible from beginning to end would not have that question answered until that individual gets to the story of the Last Supper, where Jesus washed the feet of his apostles as an act of humility, and to set a good example for all generations to come. Back then people wore sandals because there were no shoes like we have today. That technology had not been invented yet as far as I know. So people's feet got really dirty, and foot washing was a sign of being welcoming and accommodating for visitors. This was work that was usually done by slaves, a clear indication of John's awareness that Jesus, the one to follow him in prophecy, was the true Messiah. It is also further evidence of John's humility and of his reverence for his cousin, Jesus Christ.

“'His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire'. And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.” A winnowing fork is similar to a pitch fork except it's shaped a little different, and it was used for wheat rather than for straw, although it may have been used for both. 'Chaff', of course, is the byproduct of wheat processing as we would call it today. John describes the chaff being burned up with 'unquenchable fire', which is a metaphor for those who are condemned like Jesus mentioned in John chapter three. “And with many other words John exhorted the people and preached the good news to them.” John exhorted and encouraged those he baptized to live their lives as those who were being saved by the Messiah, like a good coach, while warning them of the consequences if they did not. Bearing that in mind, let's move on to the second part of today's lesson.

“But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodius, his brother' wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He had John locked up in prison. When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased.' Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, or so it was thought, of Joseph....” (Luke 3: 19-37)

What was the apostle Luke referring to here? As I explained back in chapter one, Herod the tetrarch was the ruler of what was then called Judea, which is in the general area of Israel's West Bank territory today. Herod has an affair with Herodius, his sister-in-law, as it is documented further in Matthew's gospel chapter 14, verses 1 through 12, and I quote: “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus, and he said to his attendants, 'This is John the baptist; he has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.' Now Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodius, his brother Philip's wife, for John had been saying to him: 'It is not lawful for you to have her'. Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people, because they considered him a prophet. On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodius danced for them and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give him whatever she asked. Prompted by her mother, she said, 'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist'. The king was distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that his request be granted and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl, who carried it to her mother. John's disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus.”

As you can see by reading in between the lines, this was a really sick and despicable bunch of people who were in charge of ruling Judea. When king Herod heard about Jesus, he thought people were seeing John the Baptist, and that he had risen from the dead. Why did Herod think this? He had a guilty conscience because he had John beheaded. Like any good prophet, John had pointed out the evil that Herod was engaged in, which was his affair with his sister-in-law. This ultimately cost John his life. One night while John was languishing in prison, king Herod had a birthday party. I can only speculate on how much everyone had had to drink, but you can be sure it was quite a bit, and Herodius' teenage daughter evidently had helped herself to no small portion of the wine. At some point she apparently performed the equivalent of a table dance for the king, except the king soon found out there was a very high price tag that went along with her dance that Herod apparently loved so much.

As you read, when Herod told Herodius' daughter to name whatever gift she wanted for the lewd dance she had performed for king Herod, the price was the head of John the Baptist on a platter. As you have similarly seen, this was a really twisted group of people. The prophet John gets his head cut off, and the severed head is delivered to Herodius' daughter, who gives it to her mother (“mommy, here's the severed human head you wanted”). So there is the background for this story within a story in Scripture, and this is how John became a martyr for Christ. I also say that there is a time coming, which for some has already arrived, when some of us may have to pay the ultimate price for our own faith. But don't be discouraged, because that ultimate price is immediately followed by the ultimate payoff for that investment, which is eternal life with Jesus our Lord and Savior. The true scope of that payoff is so great as to be beyond our wildest dreams or our most elaborate imagination!

“When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: 'You are my Son whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” There is no avoiding the symbolism here! The water baptism and Spirit baptism of Jesus occurred all at once. This can happen with new believers too, I have met a few of them, although this was not my own experience. My experience was that there was a 16 year gap between my water baptism and my Holy Spirit baptism. I can truthfully say here that I don't know why this was what it was, but God works in different ways with all who believe so that he can achieve his perfection through those who become one with him in Spirit!

From here onward, Luke chapter 3 devotes itself to tracing the genealogy of Jesus from his earthly father Joseph (“He was the son, or so it was thought, of Joseph....”) all the way back to Adam, and so back to God. Since this is rather lengthy, let me just ask the reader to give these last 13 verses of Luke chapter 3 a quick read on your own time for the sake of brevity. Along the way, certain people are mentioned who are prominent in the Old Testament (or the Law of Moses if you're Jewish), such as the fact that Jesus claims King David, his son Solomon, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from before that, all the way back to God the Father, as his direct ancestors. The point Luke is making here is that Jesus is unquestionably and without a doubt the Son of God. This is an indisputable fact that the Bible proves right here, right now. And we can all take heart in that fact, that our worship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God will never be in vain. On that note, I think we've reached a comfortable place to close, and next week we'll move on to chapter four.

Did America just avoid disaster? Only time will tell.

Did We Just Avert World War Three?

By Rev. Paul J. Bern

With the 2016 election new receding into America's and the world's rear view mirror, I find myself taking stock of the current political situation so I can get my bearings straight. We have just been through a tumultuous election that has changed the course of the entire globe. Two things remain certain – Donald Trump shocked everybody when he won the presidential election, and like him or not, he is determined to change the course of America. And, a change of course is not only what America needed, it has been long overdue. Having said that, let me quickly add that I was no Trump supporter. I was initially for Bernie Sanders, and when that didn't pan out, I ended up casting a protest vote for Trump. I was going to vote for Jill Stein, but she wasn't on the ballot here in Georgia. As far as I was concerned, she was the only remaining choice, and that's all I care to say about that. Debating who should have won the election is not this week's topic.

Although Barack Obama got a lot of good things accomplished during his 8 years in office, there were three things he did that I didn't like. The first was 'Obama-care'. It was not necessary to reinvent health care in America in order to have national health insurance. All we have to do is put the whole country on Medicare. Then let's take every citizen on Medicaid, Obama-care and VA Health Care and roll them over into Medicare. Once that is completed, we should simply defund all three of the latter, saving the country a total of about $3.5 trillion annually, give or take. Last but not least, as a budget-cutting measure, the people working in those bureaucracies will, for the most part, have to be let go. When all those government workers object to that, and they surely will, let's remind them that when they stand back and allow corporate America to export all the good middle class jobs overseas, they ultimately eliminate their own jobs.

The second thing president Obama did that I didn't like was his treatment of, and his relationship with, Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Obama treated Putin like they were still on the streets of Chicago, like a feud between gang leaders. Sorry to have to point this out to all the Obama fans, but it looks to me like Vladimir Putin is pretty much out of Obama's league. US troops on the ground in Syria, a ring of US military bases in eastern Europe near Russia's western border, adding US missile bases in Poland and Romania, and US naval incursions in the Baltic sea and elsewhere, are not the way to improve relations between America and Russia! This is one of the ways president Obama has taken the world closer to a world war. President-elect Trump has stated that he will renew and reinvigorate US relations with Russia. I am nervously watching to see if Donald Trump follows through on that promise. I sure hope he does.

The third thing I disliked about the Obama administration was his open dislike for Israel. By handling US-Israeli relations as poorly as he did, he isolates Israel, which is God's chosen land and people. This will undoubtedly escalate tensions in the Middle East that can result in World War Three as prophesied about in the Bible (see Revelation chapter 18, Jeremiah chapter 51 and other places for the actual prophecies). This has been reckless conduct on his part, which could tarnish his legacy as president after he leaves office. Only time will tell, but on these points, president Obama's apparent attempts to intimidate Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu have blown up in his face at the end of his presidency. As before, this could diminish his legacy as president after he leaves office.

But at the end of the day, America has elected an outsider, a troubleshooter from the business world and a successful businessman in his own right, to start running things in Washington. Being out of the political mainstream gives Donald Trump and America an opportunity for passing some badly needed reforms, a chance to reboot the country, and to do something about our economy, which is not in nearly as good a shape as the media portrays it. Barack Obama promised us “change you can believe in”. We got change all right, but not like the American people envisioned at all. Hopefully Donald Trump will take the opportunity God has given him to institute some real change for the better.

What kind of real change, you may ask? Trump has already named a few things that sound promising. Replacing Obama-care while keeping some of the best parts, congressional term limits, tight new regulations for the lobbyist 'industry' in Washington, vastly improved relations between Russia and America, ditto for Israel, labeling Red China a “currency manipulator”, and many others. By doing all these things, president Trump seems to be getting his new administration off on the right foot. But if he does this correctly, he can avert an all-out war between the US and Russia, which would be disastrous for the entire world. It's not hard to see why. If the US and Russia were to go to war, Red China would come in on Russia's side. That's because China and Russia signed a mutual defense and trade treaty just last year in the summer of 2015. If Russia and China were to attack the US simultaneously, America's survival would be in doubt. The only thing for certain in that case would be the world's population being cut just about in half, and the same goes for all the wildlife.

If Trump succeeds in normalizing relations with Russia like he has stated, he can reverse the course America is on with respect to its relations with Russia. He can turn Vladimir Putin from a suspicious rival into a friend and trading partner. In so doing, he would largely negate the threat Red China poses to America. In short, he would avert what was shaping up to be world war three. He could transform himself from a brash capitalist to a peacemaker. Jesus talked about that in his 'Sermon on the Mount': “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the 'sons of God'.” (Matt. 5: 7) Let's hope these words from our Lord and Savior can be fulfilled in a Trump presidency.

This week's Bible study will be the 1st half of Luke chapter three

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

[Luke chapter 3, verses 1-14]

In this week's ongoing study of the gospel of Luke, we'll be moving on to chapter three. Here is where we find ourselves introduced to a now-full-grown John the Baptist, whose birth is foretold in chapter one. As chapter three opens, we find ourselves moved forward in time, to the time of the calling of John the Baptist into his ministry, a calling that would ultimately culminate in his death. So let's proceed with today's study beginning at verse one.

“In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar – when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip the tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene – during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: 'A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill laid low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind shall see salvation.' John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'. For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children of Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.' 'What should we do then?', the crowd asked. John answered, 'The man with two tunics should share with the man who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.' Tax collectors also came to be baptized. 'Teacher', they asked, 'what should we do?' 'Don't collect any more than you are required to', he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, 'What should we do?' He replied, 'Don't extort money, and don't accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.'” (Luke 3, verses 1-14)

The word of God came to John in the desert. Now understand, John the Baptist had no Internet, no phone or any other portable electronic device, not even a carrier pigeon! He didn't even have a Bible, because there were no Bibles in those days. So how did John know to meet the Lord in the desert? We will find the answer by going back to chapter 1 and verse 67, which says, “His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied....” 'Prophesy' simply means to proclaim, extol and uphold the Word of God. Well, like Zechariah's son John, his father was Spirit filled, meaning they can discern and interpret the sayings, truths, and other things of God without any input from other people, and without the text of the Torah (the Hebrew version of our Old Testament). To prophesy is a form of direct communication with God. Zechariah the priest had it, so did his wife Elizabeth, and they passed that on to their son John. “…. preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Here we have the introduction of water baptism and repentance. Repentance is defined here as a renouncement of old ways of living, or the breaking of bad habits. Repentance towards God is the first step towards forgiveness by God.

Luke then quotes the prophet Isaiah chapter 40, verses 3-5, “A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, and every mountain and hill laid low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind shall see salvation.” As you can see, this is clearly a prophecy of the coming of John the Baptist that was made approximately 800 years before it occurred. As you can also see, when it comes to prophecy that originates from God, it's either 100% accurate or it's not real prophecy. There is no 'in between' when it comes to prophecy. Notice too, it doesn't say 'all mankind will be saved', because salvation comes through Jesus Christ. John the Baptist's role was to prepare the way for the ministry of Christ, which had still not occurred yet. Through him, wrote Isaiah, all humankind would see salvation, but not by him. The text of chapter 3 explains why in a few more verses, as you will see.

I find it interesting that, in the very next verse, John called the crowds that were coming out to be baptized a family of poisonous snakes (“you brood of vipers”). One thing we can take away from this is that it's a waste of time to worry about what others may think of you. John clearly didn't care about his own popularity, otherwise he would not have made such inflammatory statements to those who had presumably walked a long way to see him. “I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children of Abraham.” I find this encouraging, because it says here that God could make followers out of whatever he wanted, even the stones in the quarry. But instead He chose us and made us special and set apart, choosing to make worshipers into living and interactive beings that could freely choose to make him their God, and to make themselves his people, like one giant family!

“...every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.' 'What should we do then?', the crowd asked. John answered, 'The man with two tunics should share with the man who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” This was a prophecy in every sense of the word. Either be a fruitful producer in the sight of God, or be “cut down and thrown into the fire”! What fire, you ask? The fires of hell, that's what! I realize I could lose some readers here by writing this, but hell is a real place. It's not imaginary, nor mythological, not is it transcendental or trans-dimensional. It's a real place where people go if they reject the free salvation of the shed blood of Christ, or if they refuse to believe or acknowledge that Jesus is the one and only Son of God. This is not a joke, nor is it a threat. It's reality, which is just the way it is.

But then the apostle Luke goes deeper when he quotes John the Baptist's response to the question, “what should we do?”. He responds, “The man with two tunics should share with the man who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” This was a foreshadowing of what Jesus said when he was rebuking the Pharisees in Matthew's gospel chapter 12 and verse 7: “Go and learn the meaning of this, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice'”. As you have learned from previous lessons, Jesus was referring to the requisite animal sacrifices that were commanded by the Old Law. Today we call this the first 5 books of the Old Testament but, as I wrote further above, there were no Bibles in existence when this was first written. Jesus was telling the religious leaders of his day to de-emphasize religious sacrifices and start substituting some personal sacrifices for the people they were supposed to be ministering to. Moreover, back when this was written the world was a very harsh and unforgiving place. Wealth and education were only for a tiny minority at the top, while everyone else was desperately impoverished and pathetically uneducated. The religious leadership of that day did nothing for these people. They kept all the meat from the animal sacrifices that they could eat, while everyone else ate barley bread. So John the Baptist was telling those who came to him to be baptized, “As I baptize you, you can make your baptism authentic by helping others who are less fortunate. Otherwise, you are wasting your time and mine.”

“Tax collectors also came to be baptized. 'Teacher', they asked, 'what should we do?' 'Don't collect any more than you are required to', he told them. Then some soldiers asked him, 'What should we do?' He replied, 'Don't extort money, and don't accuse people falsely – be content with your pay.'” Does this look familiar to anyone? It should, because the same things are still happening today! Far, far more taxes are collected here in the US to fund the American Empire's global war machine than need be. While our military goes on excursions abroad – excursions of questionable necessity and dubious legality – America's infrastructure continues to crumble, higher education and health care remain ridiculously expensive, and America's power grid continues to be desperately in need of replacement. America's top 1% continue to keep all the excess tax revenue and profit for themselves while 25% of the population is forced to rely on government subsidies so they can eat and feed their kids! 

 

And then there's law enforcement and the court system. The US has more people locked up than any other nation by far, making the Soviet gulags of the Cold War look tame in comparison. Prisoners on death row are now routinely exonerated and set free thanks to DNA testing, the technology for which didn't exist until just recently. Over 54% of all US prisoners are serving time for simple drug possession. They are basically serving time for committing a crime against themselves. To call that 'faulty logic' would be a colossal understatement! 

 

All the things that were going on during the time of John the Baptist are still going on today. Except, as you're probably already thinking, things have gotten much worse. Corruption has become more widespread because big government has gotten that much bigger over the centuries. But not only that, since government is bigger there are more people involved in it than ever before, and the population has increased greatly as well. So the things John was warning them about have gotten much worse since the apostle Luke first wrote those words. The phrase “don't extort money” means far more than a 'mob racket'. It means don't overcharge the people with excessive taxation like the federal income tax, as well as hidden taxes like inflation, inequality, exorbitant traffic fines and “Obama-care”.

With the presidential election that has just transpired, I'm hoping it will be a catalyst for change in the way things are being run in Washington. But, of course, that is a topic for a much different discussion to be undertaken separately at a later time. But for now, I will close today's lesson by reminding you once again, all my dear readers, that standing against greed and corruption, as well as economic inequality, go hand in hand with being a practicing Christian and a Jesus follower. If John the Baptist did it, and if Jesus preached it, then I'm going to preach it too. And next week, we'll conclude the third chapter of Luke's gospel. Be blessed in Jesus' mighty name!

America really treats its citizens very poorly. Here's what the Bible says about that.

Seven Grievous Sins America's Leaders Commit Against Their Own People, and What the Bible Says About That

by Rev. Paul J. Bern

As the 2016 presidential race mercifully winds down, they are some things that need to be said about those in charge, and why every incumbent candidate or political party deserves to be voted out of office. The US is in such a state of disarray as I write this that we, the voters, need to start all over again on a clean sheet of paper. I can think of lots of things I'd like to see happen. Get the corporate and lobbyist money out of politics and outlaw the greed by overturning Citizens United and imposing Congressional term limits. Call off all the endless wars, close the bases and bring our troops home. The American people will soon need them to protect us from the government anyway. Cut the need for welfare and food assistance programs by doubling the minimum wage to a realistic level and offering free higher education without qualification. Offer low cost single payer health care by putting the whole country on Medicare, including those on Medicaid and Obama-care, and then abolish the latter two. It's really not difficult to figure out what's needed, all that's required is some implementation on the part of Congress and our incoming president. If, that is, these crooks would get out of the office of their 'lobbyist dujour' long enough to go to the House or Senate floor and vote on something once in a while!

I have assembled a list of every gut-wrenching, visceral injustice currently being committed by the very people that have been entrusted with the responsible and prudent leadership of what used to be the greatest country in the world, the USA., with a few interjections along the way from the Word of God regarding these matters. It has been my observation for some time now that the underpaid US workers that do have jobs, combined with the unemployed and sometimes even homeless American population, none of whom are able to find any work at all, are a ticking time bomb hidden in plain sight across America. The following is a listing of the abuses being heaped upon us, when in fact we deserve no such thing! The list doesn't include our most grievous offenses, those of military and economic warfare against the rest of the world. Sinful enough is our own behavior at home because too many people aren't holding their legislators – and the president – accountable enough. Let's go over a few examples:

1. Sins against children

“Jesus said to his disciples, 'Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for them to cause one of these little ones to sin. So watch yourselves'.” (Luke 17: 1-3) Perhaps "sanctity of life" ends at birth. According to Census Bureau figures, one out of every five American children lives in poverty. For blacks and Hispanics, it's one out of every three. UNICEF has reported that the U.S. has a higher child poverty rate than every industrialized country except Romania. We are near the bottom in all measures of inequality that affect our children, including material well-being, health, and education. One more fact before I move on: 1 out of every 4 American school children will rely on food stamps at some point while they're growing up for their sustenance and nutrition. In communities of color, this figure jumps to a truly shocking – and outrageous – 1 out of 2.

2. Sins against the poor

“Now listen, all you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days! Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have flattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men who were not opposing you.” (James 5: 1-6) The U.S. poverty rate grew from 11.3% to 15.0%, a 30% jump, in just the last 11 years. The impact was felt primarily by minorities and women. The median wealth for single black and Hispanic women is shockingly low, at just over $1000.00 (compared to $41,500 for single white women). Even more shocking – For every dollar of non-home wealth owned by white families, people of color have only one cent. Despite the continued economic assault on already-poor Americans, the number of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) cases has dropped by 60 percent over the last 16 years.

3. Sins against students

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6: 4) Students at all levels have been losing their nation's support. States reduced their education budgets by $12.7 billion in 2012, and here in 2016 the majority of states will be cutting spending even more. At higher educational levels, Americans are paying much more than students in other countries. Only 38% of college expenses come from public funding, compared to 70% in other wealthier “first world” countries. While other nations continue to offer free tuition, with the recognition that education leads to long-term prosperity, the U.S. system has become more incorporated, to the point that expensive programs like nursing, engineering, and computer science have been eliminated to cut costs. The profit motive has blocked the path to academic excellence. But the worst part of America's treatment of its students has been the greed-driven debacle of over $1 trillion in predatory student loan debts, much of which can never be repaid. The same graduates who are obligated to repay those debts are the ones who can't find jobs, or who wind up working at jobs for which they are grossly overqualified. When you enrage a nation's youth, the seeds of insurrection have already been sown. All it will take is one good storm to make those seeds sprout, and the 2^nd American Revolution will be underway. And yes, it is coming, you can be sure of that.

4. Sins against the middle class

“Do not mistreat an alien or oppress him, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. Do not take advantage of a widow or an orphan. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. If you lend money to one of my people who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, for the cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear him, for I am compassionate.” (Exodus 20: 21-27) The middle class, to say the least, is shrinking. In fact, America's middle class is slowly being liquidated. In 2011, according to a Pew Research analysis, 51% of the nation's households earned from two-thirds to double the national median income. In the 1970s it was 61%. One-quarter of America's workers are now making less than $22,000 a year, the poverty line for a family of four as of 2012. Thirty million Americans are making between $7.25 (minimum wage) and $10.00 per hour. With the transition of middle-class workers to low-income status, entrepreneurship is disappearing. Innovation doesn't come from the upper class. A recent study found that less than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs came from very rich or very poor backgrounds. Small business creators come from the hard-working, risk-taking, nothing-to-lose middle of America, but their entrepreneurial numbers are down – over 50% since 1977.

5. Sins against the common good

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are a people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1^st Peter 2: 9-10) A recent Tax Justice Network report placed total hidden offshore assets at somewhere between $21 trillion and $32 trillion. With about 40% of the world's most mega-rich individuals in the U.S., up to $12.8 trillion of untaxed revenue sits overseas. Based on a historical 6% rate of return, this is a tax loss of up to $300 billion per year, money that should be paying for the public needs of education and infrastructure. Tax avoidance is so appealing that 1,700 Americans renounced their citizenship last year. The American Thinker Blog argued that "the U.S. tax code is so oppressive that smart and successful people are compelled to renounce their citizenship in order to keep more of their own hard-earned wages." Hard-earned, in truth, by the thousands of contributors to their financial success.

6. Sins against nature

“Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it. Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the Lord, dwell among the Israelites.” (Numbers 35: 33-34) Has it ever occurred to anyone that God lives on the land he creates? What we're doing to the land, the water and the air, we do to God. A number of studies show that investment in renewable energy will create many more jobs than the fossil fuel industry. And the investment will certainly pay off over the coming decades. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory analysis determined that "renewable electricity generation from technologies that are commercially available today... are more than adequate to supply 80% of total U.S. electricity generation in 2050." But now the prospect of cheap natural gas is leading us back to a dirty form of energy independence, with a continuing reliance on fossil fuels, and on the “fracking” technology that despoils our land and pollutes our water and air. The national commitment and political will needed for the long-term health of our nation is more elusive than ever.

7. Sins against common sense

“Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights along the way, where the paths meet she takes her stand; beside the gates leading into the city, at the entrances, she cries aloud: To you, oh men, I cry out. I raise my voice to all mankind; you who are simple, gain prudence, you who are foolish, gain understanding. Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right. My mouth speaks what is true, for my lips detest wickedness. All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning, all of them are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge. Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge more than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” (Proverbs 8: 1-11) The economic deception began, at least in the modern age, with Milton Friedman, who said “The free market system distributes the fruits of economic progress among all people... He moves fastest who moves alone." This unflagging adherence to egocentric free enterprise individualism is consistent with Social Darwinism, the belief that survival of the fittest (richest) will somehow benefit society, and that the millions of people suffering from financial malfeasance are simply lacking the motivation to help themselves. Social Darwinism is a feel-good delusion for those at the top. Or, as described by John Kenneth Galbraith, a continuing "search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." A mainstay of the Progressive Movement is that a strong society will create opportunities for a greater number of people, thereby leading to more instances of individual success. This is the common sense attitude that has been suppressed by conservatives for over 30 years. I'm hoping this election year will change that paradigm. But if not, open revolt will be the American people's only remaining option.