Tag Jews

Thanking God For Fleas

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

The barracks where Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsy were kept in the Nazi concentration camp Ravensbruck were terribly overcrowded and flea-infested.

They had been able to miraculously smuggle a Bible into the camp, and in that Bible they had read that in all things there were to give thanks, and that God can use anything for good. Corrie’s sister Betsy decided that this meant thanking God for the fleas. This was too much for Corrie, who said she could do no such thing. Betsy insisted, so Corrie gave in and prayed to God, thanking Him even for the fleas.

Over the next several months a wonderful, but curious, thing happened. They found that the guards never entered their barracks. This meant that women were not assaulted. It also meant that they were able to do the unthinkable, which was to hold open Bible studies and prayer meetings in the heart of a Nazi concentration camp. Through this, countless numbers of women came to faith in Christ.

Only at the end did they discover why the guards had left them alone and would not enter into their barracks. It was because of the fleas.

We give thanks to God for every good and perfect gift (James 1:17), but also thank Him for how He will use all things for good in the lives of those who trust Him (Romans 8:28). In this time of declining home values and rising unemployment; in a time when many are facing physical and emotional challenges; there can be little doubt that such a trusting prayer of gratitude will be challenging to consider. But when you feel that challenge, take a moment, and remember the fleas of Ravensbruck. And thank God anyway

The Golden Rule: Getting a little dull from lack of use

Allen Frederick Leave a comment

Treat others the way you want to be treated.
This is the golden rule. The core message of nearly every significant spiritual text. The foundation upon which political ideologies and laws are built.

It’s very simple in theory. If everyone followed it, laws would be unnecessary. Quality of life would skyrocket for everyone. We can all objectively agree that the more people who follow this philosophy, the better our civil society becomes.

Although almost universally held as the standard in interpersonal relationships why is it so few actually practice what they preach?

It is almost becoming commonplace to hear yet another story where one group expects others to accommodate them and their personal specific beliefs while at the same time these same folks do not show any tolerance for the beliefs of others or even attempt to accommodate others’ views.

Members of a Jewish sect is expecting others to meet their weird requirements to avoid the scandal of alleged religious discrimination. The Plain Truth about the Ultra-Orthodox Jews: Washington Post Commentary

We see the world is pretty much going insane over attempts to define and prevent “religious discrimination.” On the one hand, Christians are being forced to publicly renounce the Bible for the sake of homosexual “marriages” or else be driven into bankruptcy for the crime of “discrimination.” On the other hand, Muslims expect the Navy to change their dress code to accommodate their belief they must grow out their beards.

Now we have another instance of people invoking “discrimination” to get their way. The U.K.’s The Independent reports, “Groups of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men keep delaying flights by refusing to sit next to women.”

A flight from New York to Tel Aviv was delayed by half an hour last week after a group of male ultra-Orthodox Jewish passengers refused to sit next to women, the third such incident in recent months.
 
The cabin crew on the Delta flight out of John F. Kennedy Airport tried to find seats for the men, but were met with refusal by other passengers, some of whom took a dim view of the reasoning behind the request.
 
The incident took place on Delta flight 468 on 20 December, the Israeli publication The Times of Israel reports. An American passenger ultimately switched seats with the men.
 
This is the third widely reported incident in the last few months in which ultra-Orthodox Jewish men have delayed a flight by asking to be segregated from women.
 
On the eve of the Jewish festival Rosh Hashana in October, a flight, also between New York and Tel Aviv, was delayed by an hour after a group of Haredim refused to sit next to women.
 
In this case, passengers ultimately left the plane before take-off.
 
A month earlier in September an El Al flight descended into an “11-hour long nightmare” after a group of Haredi Jewish passengers refused to sit next to women.
 

Okay correct me if I am wrong here but it would seem that these Jewish men knew that there was a good chance that they would meet members of the opposite sex while traveling on a commercial airline. In fact they bought their tickets in advance. I do not know if they made any effort when booking their flight to make the airline aware of their special needs. I contend that it is up to these men to make advance arrangements to accommodate their specific unique needs and not force the entire traveling public to have to adjust their lives to accommodate these men.

 

The airline is not responsible for special accommodations if they are not made aware of them in advance.

“Although everyone had tickets with seat numbers that they purchased in advance, they asked us to trade seats with them, and even offered to pay money, since they cannot sit next to a woman. It was obvious that the plane won’t take off as long as they’re standing in the aisles.”

These men could have bought seats next to each other or at the very least requested that they not be seated next to a female passenger when they purchased their tickets. Now I am all for following your beliefs and standing up for what you believe but I have a hard time understanding how riding in a plane with female passengers is okay as long as you do not sit next to one. Or what about being waited on by female flight attendants, doesn’t that violate your strongly held religious beliefs?

Are their beliefs a bit extreme, perhaps, but again I want to repeat it is not the responsibility of the  public to accommodate the specific beliefs of these men when they are utilizing public transportation. If they did not wish to encounter any female passengers they could have chartered a private flight.

Whether it is the homosexual groups demanding that businesses accommodate their specific beliefs or the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect demanding the public accommodate them, or the Muslim groups who demand special privileges in public places or special consideration in the military, these groups are not walking in love toward their neighbor because they insist on having their way without any consideration for the needs or accommodations of others.

4Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. http://biblehub.com/nlt/1_corinthians/13.htm

We live in a culture of entitlements and of people more interested in protecting their own interests than in working out solutions to difficult situations.  This kind of attitude paralyzes governments, polarize relationships and destroys families, and the civil society.  If my part of a conversation or a relationship is focused on what I get out of it or on protecting my rights, it is not a relationship that I can call agape (love). This is not loving our neighbors as ourselves. This is certainly not the intent of the golden rule to treat others as you would have them treat you. The motto today seems to be to browbeat others into treating you like you want to be treated. All this is disguised in the robe of tolerance, and equality. This behavior is neither tolerate nor equal and at its core it is not very civil.

The civil society is under assault in America and it all hinges on whether we believe the golden rule or not. America is one of the most tolerate and civil societies on the planet and yet there are those malcontents who insist on tearing at the very fabric of our civil society, the respect of human life. This respect for all life was codified in our society by both the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. These manuscripts reflect the founders belief in a divine authority and that the ‘rule of law’ should be the guiding principles of our society. And that law was based on the Mosaic Decalogue which includes the ‘Golden Rule.’

That’s the way I see it. What say you?

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A Violent Purge

Allen Frederick

1 John 4:3 (AMP)
3  And every spirit which does not acknowledge and confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh [but would annul, destroy, sever, disunite Him] is not of God [does not proceed from Him]. This [nonconfession] is the [spirit] of the antichrist, [of] which you heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world.

persecutedThe recent violence in Gaza has drawn attention away from the continuing extreme actions by ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Having conquered much of northern Iraq, ISIS is busy persecuting Chaldean Christians in the area. The city of Mosul, for example, has been purged of Christians, perhaps numbering 100,000. As one commentator observed, “Our worst nightmare is confirmed. Christianity in Mosul is dead, and a Christian holocaust is in our midst.” The goal of the radicals is to create an Islamic state with no room for dissenters. Christians are being forced to convert to Islam, face death, pay a fine or leave.

What many do not know is that Islam was the driving force behind the original Jewish Holocaust that brought about WWII. Hitler was urged to purge the Jews by Islamic leaders of the day. Nazism and Islamic extremism are blood brothers.

The battle in Israel is the same battle being waged around the world. China removes crosses from churches, Obama covers-up crosses when he gives a speech at a religious building. The ACLU and Freedom from Religion organizations are suing cities and towns across the country to remove roadside crosses. Recently there was a lawsuit to keep the ground zero cross out of the ground zero museum, where the court recently ruled that the cross could be included and indeed should be.

Since the time of Eden Satan has waged a war against God and anything that resembles God on earth, thus this purging of Christians and Christian symbolism along with the constant attack on the Jewish people, are all symptoms of the same spirit, the spirit of the Antichrist.

 

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The Super Bowl: The battle that decides it all

Allen Frederick 2 Comments

Super Bowl MetroCards

Super Bowl MetroCards (Photo credit: MTAPhotos)

Today most of America, and perhaps much of the world will be focused on a great playing field in which two opposing teams battle it out to see who is the best. This annual event is perhaps the biggest sporting event in history and draws 10’s of millions of viewers. Large sums of money are spent each year on super bowl advertising to capture the attention of the viewing audience, with the hopes of raking in huge profits off the popularity of the game.

As all eyes are focused on MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey where the Seattle Seahawks will battle the Denver Broncos for the chance to be crowned Super Bowl Champions, I would like us to look further east to another battle field where the champion of the world is to be crowned.

Who are the contestants of this great battle? A common reply would be “Russia, Syria, or Iran against Israel.” As the Middle East simmers toward a boiling point, and as U.S., British, and Israeli intelligence watch closely Iran’s quest for a nuclear bomb which might even be used against America. Millions of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and even secularists are pondering, “Is the Battle of Armageddon at hand?”

The word “Armageddon” only occurs in Revelation 16:16,

“Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.”

This speaks of the kings who are loyal to the Antichrist gathering together for a final assault on Israel. At Armageddon “the cup filled with the wine of the fury of [God’s] wrath” (Revelation 16:19) will be delivered, and the Antichrist and his followers will be overthrown and defeated.

Interestingly, no place on earth actually bears the name Armageddon, and the above passage is the only mention of it in scripture and hence it is assumed that this is what scripture refers to but is it? The Greek is most commonly thought to be a transliteration of the Hebrew har megiddo, literally, “mountain of Megiddo.”

The Mount of Megiddo is in the plain of Esdraelon or Jezreel, a valley fourteen by twenty miles in size located to the southwest of Nazareth. Here, it is thought by many, that the great last battle of Armageddon will be fought at the end of time.

There will be a multitude of people engaged in the battle of Armageddon, as all the nations gather together to fight against Christ.

The scene: History’s last “Super Bowl. Final contestants: The Powers of Evil vs. the Power of God. Nature of conflict: Military. Epicenter: A small valley northwest of Jerusalem where all the armies of the world will converge for the battle of the ages.

In Old Testament days, Cyrus came from “the east” to conquer Babylon (Isaiah 44:26-28; 46:11). The word, “east,” means “sun rising,” and the name, “Cyrus,” means, “sun.” Cyrus came not to attack the Jews, but as their Deliverer, and again, Cyrus was a type of Jesus Christ, the “Sun of righteousness” Malachi 4:2.

In Revelation, God’s angels come from the east (7:2), and Jesus Himself said,

“As the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” Matthew 24:27.

Therefore just as Cyrus came from the east to deliver literal Israel from the clutches of literal Babylon, even so will King Jesus descend from the eastern skies with “the armies which were in heaven” (19:14) to conquer spiritual Babylon and to deliver “the Israel of God” (spiritual Israel) at the battle of Armageddon!

The so-called “battle of Armageddon” represents the apex, the climax, the last battle in Revelation.

Throughout Revelation we’ve seen Middle East terms like the “seven golden candlesticks,” (1:20), “Jezebel” (2:20), “Mount Zion,” (14:1), “Jerusalem,” (3:12), “the temple” (11:19), “Sodom and Egypt” (11:8), “Euphrates” (16:12) and “Babylon” (17:5) used in a Christ centered, heavenly, spiritual sense.

When it comes to the “battle of Armageddon,” which is a term depicting the grand finale in the book of Revelation, does it make sense for God’s last book to suddenly shift gears away from its thematic focus by pinpointing a literal, local, high-tech, Middle East-based conflagration involving Russians, Chinese, Syrians, and literal Jews?

We don’t have to guess. The answer is in the context surrounding Revelation 16:16.

  • The battle of Armageddon involves “the kings of the earth and of the whole world” (16:14), which could not possibly fit inside the valley of Megiddo.
  • Revelation’s focus is “the temple of heaven” (16:17), not a supposedly soon to be rebuilt Jewish temple on earth.
  • The effects of the battle of Armageddon are global, far beyond the Middle East (16:18-20).
  • The primary system identified as being destroyed at the battle of Armageddon is spiritual “Babylon” (16:19), not Russia, China or Syria.

In essence, the “battle of Armageddon” the last “Super Bowl” depicts the last battle between King Jesus and His heavenly armies ( Rev 19:11-19) against the worldwide forces of Satan referred to in the Apocalypse as “Mystery Babylon.”

At Jesus’ Second Coming, the devil loses, and his global kingdom comes crashing down. Jesus doesn’t need to nuke His foes, but only to use His “sharp two-edged sword” (Rev 1:16; 19:15) which represents His Word of truth (Ephesians 6:17).

When Christ descends from the east, He will deliver “Israel” from the clutches of “Babylon.” But which Israel will He deliver? According to the thematic genius of the entire book of Revelation, it must be “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16) centered in Jesus Christ whose home and dwelling place is the “New Jerusalem” Revelation 21:10.

In conclusion, the Middle East remains a powder keg and the U.S. struggle against Muslim radicals continues, and there’s no end in sight. In the midst of such a hot-bed of contention, millions of politically active Christians believe God Himself is not only behind modern Israel, but that He will finally annihilate the enemies of the Jewish State at the battle of Armageddon.

In this great “Super Bowl” of all time, the battle to end all battles, the fight is not a battle between Nation states but a battle between righteousness and truth, and the forces of unrighteousness and untruth. You see this great “Super Bowl” will encompass the entirety of humanity in a final showdown of good and evil, truth triumphing over the lies and the deceptions of the evil one.

God will  ultimately judge between right and wrong. His arm will be outstretched to fight against all the enemies of God, who hate his laws, and wage war against his commandments. He will show no favoritism! No denominational ties or affiliations will be able to save you from the wrath of God to be poured out upon all flesh which has partaken of the Harlot’s deceptions. Just like Eve of old, who offered the poisoned fruit to her husband for him to eat, so too has the ‘mother church’ offered the poisoned pill of deception to her children down through the ages. Only those who have refused to partake of this great deception will be spared from the wrath that is to come.

Those who have an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the church!

Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;  Rev 18:4 (NIV)

Image.gifThis is a view from the nest. What say you?

But those who are waiting for the Lord will have new strength; they will get wings like eagles: running, they will not be tired, and walking, they will have no weariness. Isaiah 40:31 (BBE)

Along for the journey

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This has been A View from the Nest. The statements, comments, or opinions expressed are solely that of the author and do not represent the views or opinions of the host of this site or any affiliates thereof. Any questions or comments should be directed to myself and not to the host or hosts of this site.

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A Time for Peace in the Middle East?

Allen Frederick 1 Comment

Christian wallpaper Matthew 5:9
As long as there are people living in the Middle East and elsewhere who are at war with Israel there can be no peace in the Middle East.

Furthermore, at that time the son who was conceived in a natural way (Ishmael) persecuted the son conceived in a spiritual way (Isaac). That’s exactly what’s happening now (Arab and Jews). But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son (Ishmaelites or Islamists), because the son of the slave woman must never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman (Jews or Israel).” Galatians 4:29-30 (GW)

This war will continue until the end of time when Jesus comes back to fight on behalf of His chosen nation.

Now then there is a religion of peace on Earth and good will toward all men, the religion of Christ, Christianity.

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