Glad to find Michael Reed McGowan !

Actually, my wife last week ran across facebook posts (from his TikTok account, it appears) by Michael Reed McGowan.

I'd long ago put facebook 'WAY on my back-burner.  O.K. maybe for short quips and memes ...but no format for long-form, thoughtful interaction: especially anything of Spiritual import.

I further discounted facebook's value after Mark Zuckerberg announced (just before Trump's inauguration) that facebook would no longer use third-party fact-checkers to keep harmful misinformation off his platform.  To me, that indicates facebook puts no value whatever on THE TRUTH (John 14:6).

But then my wife ran across MRM's posts: short and direct videos that contrast scripture's teachings with those of today's American "Christianity."

They may not be strictly theological "Christian values," or charismata, per se: but I have to think God is the Author of  "commonsense" and "honesty"...and is pleased when we give or receive such wisdom.

There is so little of either in American Christians' current discourse, and we are overwhelmed with the contrary kind.  So I highly recommend Michael Reed McGowan's facebook posts.

https://www.facebook.com/mikemcgowannyc

Gaza

 

Before the Battle of Mons Graupius in northern Scotland in 83 A.D., the Roman historian Tacitus attributed to the Caledonian chief Calgacus a speech in which he famously said Roman armies "make a desert and call it peace."

The above is a photo of Gaza, taken in February this year, months before Israel's current "final push" to wipe out Hamas, which Israel's leaders say is the only way to secure peace.

Not quite desert yet...but getting there.

But Gaza makes me remember most of all Jesus' lament over Jerusalem as He went to death at the hands of its leaders, Roman and Jewish:

"If you had known...the things which make for peace !  But now they have been hidden from your eyes" (Luke 19:42).

The many photos of Gaza also remind me of Jesus' characterization of the enemy, that "...the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy..." (John 10:10).

Does today's Israeli campaign in Gaza mirror Calgacus' words about the actions of Rome's armies ?  Of Jesus' words about satan's actions ?

End-Times Revival ?

I always heard in my Baptist upbringing that there will be a "great revival" in the last days.  But the scriptures saying so are mostly prophecies that the Jews will at that time come to faith in Christ.

For the wider Church, it may be self-delusion to look for a "Great End-Times Revival."  There are many definite scriptures otherwise.

In Jesus' prophecy to the disciples of the "end of the age," He says that "...many will fall away and will betray one another and will hate one another" (Matthew 24:10, my emphasis).  It's worth noting that in Jesus' context, much of the persecution suffered by those who cleave to Him in the last days will come from "Christians" who have "fallen away."

 

I Timothy 4 also tells us that "...the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith..."  And II Thessalonians 2:3 likewise says that Jesus will not return "...until the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed" (both my emphasis).

 

Contrary the standard "Evangelical" model of the Church, it seems scripture repeatedly affirms that in the last days many will "fall away" from the faith; and that the numbers of those who follow Christ will dwindle, not increase.

 

It's in that prophetic context we must understand Jesus' rejecting the "workers of lawless" (undoubtedly followers of "the man of lawlessness") who plead their great works done in His name (Matthew 7:21-23).  No doubt they were among those whom Jesus said would, in their "falling away," persecute His steadfast believers.

 

It's likewise undoubtedly in terms of the "falling away" He prophesies that we must understand Jesus' sobering question, if at His return He will "...find faith on the earth ?" (Luke 18:8).

The Spirit's explicit warning in I Timothy 4 is that those who "fall away" do so by "...paying heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience..." (vv.1,2; my emphasis).  As Jesus' return approaches, then, it is imperative...a literal matter of life and death...that we be hyper-vigilant to test our every thought and belief by the One Who IS "The Truth."

 

In our country, in this day, many self-identified "Evangelicals" are followers of politicians whose every word is lies, and hatred, and lawlessness.  This is certainly behavior that scripture calls "falling away:" but God Alone knows if it is the final "falling away" that scripture prophesies.

 

In any case, we should pray for those who've fallen prey to "the father of lies," knowing that in every time and circumstance, "...God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

 

May it be so of today's many fallen away !  Amen !! 

 

 

Jesus' Prophecy for Today

It's not God's solution for sin to "vote in" righteousness: and when men believe so, they enact their own idea of what is "righteousness."  All the better if deceivers, seeking Christians' votes, can present them a political "issue" severed from God's word.

Voting is not God's way of enacting righteousness: yet politics is a Spiritual battlefield, where Christians show who they choose to follow.

So I'm remindng friends of Matthew 24:5, where Jesus warns His people that in the last days "...many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many."

Seeing His prophecy fulfilled in this time, we know these are the last days, and that only He is our Safety in them.

    (at 0.48  in this news-video, note the significant glance and gesture toward heaven:)

    https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-49429661

and

     https://www.timesofisrael.com/trump-tweets-claim-israelis-love-him-like-he-is-the-second-coming-of-god/

I'm reminding friends that scripture promises blessing to "...he who does not condemn himself in what he approves."

AMEN !!

"If It's Just a Symbol..."

Looking at something else, I happened on a Youtube of Jonathan Roumie, the actor who portrays Jesus in "The Chosen," addressing the Catholic National Eucharistic Conference.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7iZEOxAWoE

 

I bookmarked the video to watch later, but what struck me was that he was wearing a tee-shirt

with a quote from Flannery O'Connor about the Eucharist: "If it's just a symbol, then to hell with it."

 

Googling to find out more about her quote, I ran across an article in the National Catholic Register which suggested the same might be said of baptism.

 

     https://www.ncregister.com/commentaries/flannery-o-connor-s-to-hell-with-it-applies-to-baptism-too

 

But I was totally gobsmacked to read there that (my emphasis)

 

     "We have an obligation to baptize because Jesus told us to.

      And we have an obligation in obedience and love to baptize

      correctly.  Given that the non-Catholic media does not

      believe in sin or in the divine authority of Jesus, it is

      no wonder they are befuddled."

 

Not to charge Catholics with brain-dead insularity.  The Register seems to be some kind of hyper-"Conservative Catholic" publication; and not to be confused at all with the National Catholic Reporter out of Kansas City, which is respected (even among the Church' hierarchy, of which it's independent) for honest, penetrating, coverage of Catholic news and issues.

 

In contrast, the Register's writer seems to think no one can be considered honest except those who believe exactly as he does.  Jesus IS "The Truth," he evidently reasons, so obviously no unbeliever (including, in his view, "non-Catholic media") can possibly tell the truth.

 

That self-blinding attitude is hardly unique to Catholics.  It's the same prideful solipsism that underlies "Evangelicals' " contempt for "the liberal media," science, historians, etc., etc.  And at root it is, itself, unbelief; denial that "The Truth," Jesus, in actuality rules anywhere except in our self-chosen little group.