A World Adrift......Christmas the lifesaver

     Ever increasing taxes, war, rampant sexual immorality, infanticide,corruption, self absorbed political figures, the poor getting poorer, and the rich living it up..... sounds like the headlines, right? How about first century Jerusalem.  Yup, that was the world that the humble babe, Jesus was born into long ago on that cold Bethlehem night.  He came as a babe, Immanuel, God in the flesh.  If we can truly grasp that, I don't mean to just  acknowledge it as simply some sort of religious-mental theory or paradigm.  Does it change anything?
     If we do own it, it can and does; if we simply agree with it as a form of religious tradition, it bears no weight at all on our current world and life.  The world around us will wax and wane through periods of good times, and abysmal horror.  But through it all, a statement was made, and action was taken, and power was given to truly change things through both the good times and the bad.  It is the message of Christmas.
     Jesus is not simply the babe of  Christmas whose coming was foretold even thousands of years before his physical birth.  He is also the author of salvation, grace, healing, deliverance,freedom, peace, the gate to Heaven, and in years to come the physical ruler of the globe from Jerusalem.  IF, you believe that, then it does change everything....through both good and  bad times.
     He gave power to His followers through the Spirit, to be like scouts, sentries,and advanced tactical forces to establish beachheads, gain territory, create regional and transitional spiritual governments throughout the Earth.  All showing that His love, peace,joy and healing power are humanity's gift to obtain.  The plan fails when we settle and give up the mandate.  When we disregard orders from our commander in chief.  When we just live for ourselves because it just becomes...easier.  He never promised easy.... He promised, victory and eternal life.....never easy!
    So this Christmas, try looking at that humble manger in a whole new light. Look at the world around you, and see if you have laid down your mandate, disregarded orders, and let's be honest...just given up, and given in.  There is a new year coming.  It will be tough, and a lot of unknowns for all of us to encounter.  be we do know that we can reach out to someone who has a plan, and has our backs.  Our Heavenly Father did not risk it all based on a gamble that there was going to be a plan B.  Christmas to be secular, is " not about ribbons, it's not about tags, it's not about packages, boxes or bags!.....perhaps, it's about just alittle bit more?"
    

Under water cities?..Buildings?..Has "climate change happened before??

     I love my Kindle.  It seems that you read a lot more with one than you did before it.  I think that's because it's like having a library or bookstore right at your fingertips.  Instead of having to leave the house or travel, you can access it all right there in the palm of your hands. 
       I met an older lady at Costco the other day who was going through the book tables.  She was writing down all of the titles of the books that she found had peaked her interest.  She told me that she was looking for books to read on her Kindle.  Since she had gotten one as a gift.  The ability to make the typeface larger, the cost of the books, and the Kindles bookstore accessibility made her trips to Costco a time more of title suggestions, than actual book purchases.  Boy, how times change.
     With that being said, this isn't a Kindle commercial.  Though through my own, I came across a very old, and curious scientific book.  In it's day, during Darwin's time; it was well known and was held in great authority due to it's author.  It is called, " Discourse on the Revolutionary Upheavals on the surface of the globe and the changes which they produced in the Animal Kingdom", by George Cuvier.  Boy, that's a mouthful!  You can see why it is not higher up in Google's listings.
     I will not bore you with the details that this influential French naturalist packed into his fascinating book.  But, if you have any scientific curiosity  whatsoever, and thought that Darwin was the only way, I would suggest that you take the time to read Cuvier's work from 1812.

     He espouses the theory of catastrophism.  Simply stated, it is that  the changes on the earth overtime come about by a series of unique general upheavals, rather than by slow, constant processes, or by local disasters.  He also "wishes to demonstrate, equally, conclusively, that the last such catastrophe was fairly recent ( a few thousand years ago at most) and thus that the present forms of human society are not nearly as ancient as many people have been claiming".
    Having been educated in the 60's & 70's, I had never been taught that there was any scientific thought that had even dared to contradict or countermand Darwinism, in any aspect.  Now, I find that there were academians like Mr. Cuvier, and others of his acclaim, contemporaries of Mr. Darwin, yet we don't hear anything about them.

     Yet, as a Christian the work of Mr. Cuvier in part does have a biblical ring to it.  The Word does talk about at least two large scale catastrophes of epic proportions. Both are listed in the book of Genesis ( Gen. 7 & Gen. 10:25). So in a time when, "global warming" and "Climate change" are all the buzz words, and mankind is the purported cause; could in all reality global change have happened before and will it happen again?  The Bible says that it has, and will again.  Science proves that it has happened before, and will more than likely happen again.  I would have to say that the Earth's ecosystem is far bigger,  far more resilient, and  way beyond our complete understanding even with today's wealth of knowledge.  So to state something as a fact pertaining to future events regardless of whether it's biblical based or science theory based, both are based on faith derived from different sources.

     I know that this is a much more weighty, and heady article than usual.  But, I have linked it to some news based articles and pictures that I know that you will enjoy.  They are ALL about long forgotten, long unheard of, long ignored man made structures that lie deep beneath the ocean's and seas around the globe.  The obvious question to be asked is, How did they get there ? and your own answers to that  question may just change your mind about castastrophism, and your interpretation of Genesis 7 & 10:25....maybe?


Underwater discovery of Britain's Atlantis [ Click Here]
Robert Ballard's Black Sea dwellings discovery [ Click here]
Japan"s Ancient Underwater City [Click here]
Ancient Egypt City of Alexandria Underwater [Click here]
Map of Doggerland [CLICK HERE]

On that day.............................. Isaiah 24:21-23

Isaiah 24:21-23

New Century Version (NCV)

 ²¹ At that time the Lord will punish
       the powers in the sky above

       and the rulers on earth below.                                   
 ²² They will be gathered together
       like prisoners thrown into a dungeon;
    they will be shut up in prison.
       After much time they will be punished.
 ²³ The moon will be embarrassed,
       and the sun will be ashamed,
    because the Lord All-Powerful will rule as king
       on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
       Jerusalem's leaders will see his greatness.

     I came across these verses in the Book of Isaiah during my reading and research on further teachings for my series, "The Alternative End Times Scenario".  They do not have anything in particular to deal directly with my thesis that the end of days gathering of nations against Israel, the last days judgement of the earth, the assembling of a conglomeration (caliphate) of Islamic nations, and the long foretold Antichrist arising from within them, is soon.  But, I found these verses really peaked my interest!

     When you read this section of the Prophet Isaiah's book in King James english you can come away a little befuddled.  But there are more contemporary versions that shed some light on this rather striking text.  For teachers and students like myself, you almost get a little giddy at such a find, because within these simple verses, when read with understanding, we find the real backdrop of the End of Days.  

     I will not take the time to go into any real depth as to what God shared with my heart as I read the text.  That is really up to each person to find these truths, and make them both applicable, and active in one's own heart and being.  You may judge them to be old and worthless in our modern 21st Century world.  Or, you may find renewed hope in the coming of that final day when all will be made right in God's sight.

     What I mean for the uninitiated is that what the Word is saying to us here, is what it says continually over, and over again.  That there will come a day when the earth and all of it's inhabitants both human and spiritual will be held accountable and judged.  That a generation will come during a time of great tribulation and the LORD, Jesus, will come to rule the world from Jerusalem.  Just a brief reminder, this was spoken some 500 years before Jesus appeared in earthly form, and some 2500 years from or present time.  

     Now those facts alone, can afford some their own personal attitude of scoffing, at what for others, is truth foretold in advance.  A sort of Missourian mental gymnastics, of "show me, and then I'll believe it!". Whereas logic itself would dictate that faith is believing in something that you cannot yet see...  So there will always be believers, and those who need to see to believe, but when push comes to shove, last minute faith conversions could be either pushing the envelope, or just pointedly, cutting it way too close when it comes down to events of such gargantuan purportions . Either way,  your faith should be the filter in which you see the world and world events on a daily basis.

     The particular aspect of these verses that i would like to point out, is  that when He comes again, it will not be just to judge mankind.  In Isaiah 24:21, it says," and at that time the LORD will punish the powers in the sky above".  This is not the prophet just speaking poetically or in hyberboley.  These words are to be given the same weight, as if you believe that Jesus is coming again to rule from Jerusalem.  And IF you don't accept or believe that, I would humbly suggest that you re-read your bible and examine your faith.

     These verses are like the Cliff Notes for the New Testaments' Book of Revelation by John.  Simple, and compact, they tell us what to expect,  what the outcome of time will be, and what we have to look forward to, if we happen to be alive during those events.  I guess what got me excited the most was the aspect that those heavenly (not God's heaven) powers of the sky will be getting their due in due time.  In the New testament, Paul shares with us, "

Ephesians 6:12

New International Version (NIV)

¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 

     Might I bring this all full circle to today ?  If you are finding yourself in some area that seems to be just too "powerful" to overcome.  Might I suggest that you revisit Ephesians 6:12 ?  That you ask for understanding, and wisdom for your situation, and God's grace and power to be the victor and not the vanquished.     That if so long ago, in Isaiah and in John's revelation, that they saw a day of overall victory over the " powers of the sky above".  That when HE comes again to execute that judgement in total, you will have come to the full knowledge like Paul that we battle both the seen, and the unseen until that day!