+1/2/12 Monday
2012 is finally here. What do we expect for this coming new year? While most people like to talk about all the good things that they want to happen, or expect to happen, I prefer to live in reality. Do I want to sound a trumpet of positive things? Certainly I do, but I see the handwriting on the wall in so many ways that I can’t honestly do so. We hear this phrase “The handwriting on the wall” many times, but do you know where it came from? It is found in the book of Daniel, chapter 5.
It was in Babylon, that great city which is no more but is talked much about in biblical prophecy, so will, or perhaps already has, come again. Anyway, Belshazzar was now king after his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had died. He was having a great party and all were drinking and having a grand time, when a hand appeared out of nowhere and began writing on the wall. No one could interpret what the handwriting said so Daniel, the man of God, was summoned. The king promised gold, silver, and one third of the kingdom. Daniel told the king he could keep his gold and rewards, “Give them to someone else” he said. Then Daniel explained to the king what the writing said. "This is the interpretation of the message : 'MENE '-God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. 27 " 'TEKEL '-you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. 28 " 'PERES '-your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians."
And so it was. Now I don’t see a ghostly hand writing on a wall, I see the whole world teetering on an edge, with lots of people anxious to push it over, ready to take advantage of all the instability. There are many who have designs to accomplish various goals in this day and age. Some are socialist, some anarchist, communist, and then the religious groups, mostly various versions of Islamist. Many desire to see the United States come to ruin, for this nation, with it’s powerful military, has traditionally been a guardian of morality. Sadly though that morality has been eroded and changed, so that what was right is now seen as wrong, and what once was considered wrong is promoted as right and any who don’t see it that way are branded as intolerant.
With the decline of moral standards comes a cancer of wanton decay. And in the process the one true God is being driven out of any form of influence. Now I know that one true God, having met Him just a few years ago, and I know that He has had plans long foretold for these last days. True to those prophesies of old we find many who hold to a form of Godliness but deny it’s power. They have created their God in a box who lets them do what they want without fear. That lack of fear, no comprehension of accountability, a sense and false doctrine that they can do anything they want and it’s all forgiven, leads many who wear that “Christian” label to do the very things God despises, and call it good.
Jesus said that there are two commandment we must keep. Love the Lord with all our hearts, soul, and strength. And the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. But we see so many who are busy backbiting and gossiping, busy tearing down and causing division, looking down their noses at others, all the while saying “Look at me. I’m so spiritual and right”. Jesus also said that the way we treat the LEAST of His little ones is the way He feels we treat Him. The LEAST??? That would be the ones we think less of, the ones who are poor, ragged, caught up in various sins, who are hard to love. We know a lot of people who sure do love themselves a lot. They are proud of all they have done and anxious for everyone to know it, they are proud of all the money and success they have, and make sure you respect them for it. Now if we could only get them to love others as much as they love themselves it would be a very different world.
I see the handwriting of the world’s finances written on the walls too. That bubble will burst, come crashing down, and it won’t be pretty. But our leaders seem blind to the obvious. We, the United States, sent ten million dollars to China as part of a government program. Where did the ten million come from? We borrowed it from China, who has purchased much of our debt. Social Security has turned into a giant Ponzi scheme and anyone who can do simple math can clearly see that the money coming in is far less than the money promised to go out. On top of that our government has long been raiding Social Security coffers and thus stealing the money for use in other areas of Government.
It’s not just us. All of Europe, the European Union, and their currency, the Euro, is in shambles. We are bailing out country after country and despite publicly stating otherwise we are supporting the Euro through financial shenanigans. There is Greece, Great Briton, Scotland, and the list goes on of countries that are spending more than they bring in, the head of that list goes to the United States of America. None of us, as individuals, can spend consistently more than we make, can borrow more money than we know we can pay back, without understanding that there is a consequence. Yet that is what the whole world is doing.
And there are so many hair triggers out there in the world, so many little things that can precipitate crisis. Right now Iran is holding out the threat of blocking oil flow through the strait of Hormuz, where 40% of our oil comes from. There is a new dictator of North Korea, Organized crime has long controlled the Russian government, and in these along with many other cases there are nuclear missiles and bombs waiting to be unleashed.
Here at home there is so much that most of Americans seem to choose not to be aware of. There have been laws enacted that our government has put into place to deal with any potential economic or social crisis. Detention centers have been built, designed to house and imprison hundreds of thousands of people. Just on new year’s eve president Obama signed into law a bill giving our military unlimited powers to detain, and even kill, any who are deemed as domestic terrorists, and the law at the same time dismantles our constitutional bill of rights. Thus anyone deemed as an “Enemy combatant”, despite being a born American citizen, no longer has the right to a trial or even to be represented by an attorney. I’m not making this up. It’s all out there publicly available to see, but no one is looking, or at least not many. Those that do make an outcry find their voices muted. Our mainstream media only prints and broadcasts the company line, ie what our government wants us to know. The government is working fast to control the internet too, that last bastion of free speech left.
There is so much more I see. Food and the ability to obtain it will become a vital concern, and one that new laws have been put into place to control. But what about the positive things? God knew this was going to be, and talked about it through His prophets thousands of years ago. The descriptions of those last days are so horrendous that many Christians have developed a doctrine that says we will all escape it. But that doctrine is false and doesn’t hold up to a close study of what the bible says. What it does say is that we will be hated by all men for Christ’s sake, we will be persecuted and even killed for our faith. Then Christ will return as a conquering messiah, and put an end to all this terrible pain, for just a thousand years. After that the devil will be released again and things will once again become ugly. Why? Why? Because in the end God is interested in those who will stay true, who pass the test so to speak. It is not going to be easy folks, but when all is said and done the reward is great, eternal life in heaven.
Jesus said that the way is broad and easy that leads to destruction, but the way is hard that leads to eternal life and there are few who find it. So prepare yourself for the days to come. My desire is that all make it to eternal life but the reality is all won’t. So I sound the trumpet of warning. Make straight the way of the Lord, strengthen your selves and put on the full armor of God in preparation for the fight to come. Don’t take the easy way for that leads to destruction.
Meantime I finally got the plow to work. Took lots of trial and error. I welded and found I didn’t weld good so I welded again. Went and got another tank of oxygen so I could try to gas weld the plow, but that didn’t work good either. Then I turned that little miniature arc welder up full blast and that seemed to work better.
Going out with the plow and tractor I discover that I have much to learn. It kept bogging down the tractor so I had to keep adjusting things. Then one side would dig in so I made a block that helps keep the plow centered. That seems to work better now. Today, after I charge the battery up again, I will go try again.
So what do I do after I get this plowed? I really don’t have a clue. We do not own a seeder device that can put seeds in the ground so it will all have to be done by hand. What will I plant? Don’t know that either. We have some blackeyed peas left to plant. However there is the question of drought. We’ve been in drought for 2 years now. Will this year be better? Who knows. I certainly don’t. So I will proceed in faith, as I always do. I know plowing is important to farming because all the other farmers plow their field. If nothing else it helps the land not blow away as fast. We will put in the drip irrigation as planned but not sure what to do with this new five acre area. Sure would be nice if I had a relationship with some of the local farmers, but they don’t seem too anxious to be real friendly. Oh, they say Hi and stuff but no real conversation about farming or my plans.
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