Welcome back to Bud Hancock with our condolences for the recent loss of his Sister in Law. Today Bud examines the History of the Jewish people, so misunderstood by so many. Thank you, and God Bless you Richly Bud.

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

The Consequences of Questioning God’s Decisions

By Bud Hancock

At one time, the United States was the place where being a Christian, and expressing that status freely, was very popular, easy and comfortable. Little was demanded of Christians except to show up to church regularly on Sunday morning, with their checkbook at the ready. Many considered their regular attendance “at church” a symbol of their Christianity, but the days are coming and are nearly here when more than just regular church attendance will be required in order for others to know whether your Christianity is real or only a facade.

Those days will bring much anguish to the casual Christian who has long floundered about, not truly knowing what it meant to “be Christian”. I am beginning to reach the conclusion that many of those now floundering only dipped their toes into the pool of Christianity as a means to an end, whether cultural, political or commercial. The practice of “cultural/commercial religion” is now a multi-billion dollar business, as the opulent lifestyles of so many “megachurch” leaders testify. But the words of Jesus and later, His disciples (especially Paul) will, if heard and heeded, open the human mind to what it really means to be Christian.

There appear to still be many Christians, or people who CALL themselves Christians, especially in the United States, who question the need to hear, understand and obey the words of the person for whom Christianity is named, and whom it is supposed to emulate: Jesus Christ; Hint: Being a Christian is more than just attending a church (even regularly), and paying a tithe to the pastor…oops, I mean to the Church. It involves a complete submission to the Head of the Church, the Body of Christ on this earth, and no, I am NOT speaking of the pope in Rome. The true (and ONLY) Head of the Church is Jesus Himself (Colossians 1:18). If the words spoken by Him and recorded by His loyal and faithful disciples are not worthy of our attention and obedience, then we are no more than empty, pathetic vessels who are only pretending to be Christians.

If today’s Christians were to be compared to the Early Christians who knew that due to their claims to be Christ-followers, they could be apprehended and tried for treason against the authorities, and executed for that crime at any time, the biggest finding in the comparison would be the shame of those current Christians who have no idea what being Christian truly is.

The Really BIG Battle Now raging (Nope, It’s NOT Ukraine and Russia)

The entire World is now embroiled in the greatest battle in the history of the World, and still so few seem to realize what is being fought about, or even whom the combatants are. This is the ages-old battle between good and evil, and recently, some events around the world indicate the outcome may be, as yet, unpredictable. Every person on this planet is a current, or potential combatant in this war, yet many are so deceived by the lies of their enemies they are not even aware of the war that is close to consuming every living being on Earth. They go about their daily lives as though they have not a care in the World.

As Sun Tsu, the Chinese warlord, military strategist and author of “The Art of War” once wrote: “All war is based on deception”. That true statement has never been more pertinent to the success or failure of the human life than it is now. Unfortunately, few Christians realize the most important facts about deception. It may enter in through your mind, but its target is your spirit and thus the writer of Proverbs stated, “Keep (or guard) thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”. Your most important decisions in life are made, not with your brain, but with your heart (spirit).

Jesus spoke of the need to “be not deceived” (Luke 21:8); Paul and John also cautioned believers to avoid deception (1 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Ephesians 5:6, 2 Thessalonians 2:3). Deception is more than just being given information that may have a causal effect on the person making seriously bad decisions based on that information; the full effect of deception demands that a person actually accept the information and act on it as though it were true. When answering to our Lord for the deeds done in this body, a Chrisitan who may be accused of being deceived will be made to realize that, actions based on receiving false information, and allowing the information to influence and/or control one’s life, will at that time understand the true dangers of deception.

When a Christian is confronted by any means of deception, he should immediately realize that he is at that time, embroiled in the ages-old war between good and evil. With deception being the main weapon against the believer in this war, one must possess some discernment as to what is good information and what is the lie, then actively refuse the lie.

Even though it seems that the “globalists” are the main drivers, at least those who can be seen with the eyes, behind the combatants in this war, the more astute believer will understand that the real strings are being pulled by Satan and his army of fallen angels. The strategies involving deception are being implemented by the very source of evil who has always been a master of deception; and as the centuries have passed, he has become more clever, more cunning and much more adept at “sneaking into the minds” of unwitting Christians.

So Many Against So Few

NEVER IN THE HISTORY OF HUMAN CONFLICT WAS SO MUCH OWED BY SO MANY TO SO FEW

I have wondered for several years now why so many seemingly intelligent people, including many who claim to be Christian, around the World would publicly, and seemingly proudly, stand behind the actions of evil globalists, Satan’s minions, who marshal the totality of all their evil into this one action: the destruction of Israel. True avid readers and students of God’s word are not, or at least should not, be oblivious to the nature of Satan’s lies about and against Israel. Those, both Christians and Gentiles, who are wise will reject the deception of Satan regarding God’s choice of the Jewish people, and embrace the truth of God’s word.

Even though the war has been raging for millennia, it increased in tempo when God decided to select Abraham to be the father of the Jewish people from whom would come the Messiah. Satan was aware of the promises made to Adam and Eve, and then to the Jewish people and he knew that he must destroy the source of the Messiah’s appearing. His attempts to stop the arrival of Jesus Christ all failed and his strategy then shifted to the use of his worldly empires to destroy the Jewish nation and all its people.

As evil as most of the empires of the past have been, besieging and eventually destroying nation after nation, kingdom after kingdom, as evil as empirical and dictatorial leaders and complete tyrants have been throughout history, with the power of their evil empires used to destroy their hated enemies, either due to clashing ideologies or simply to increase their empires’ sizes, their victims relegated to the ashes of history, no people or nation seems to have fallen into such disrepute as the lowly Jewish people and the tiny state of Israel, a middle Eastern nation about the size of New Jersey, locked between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Every day, the actions of many of the nations of the world fully prove their hatred for Jews and Israel.

Throughout history, evil empires and rogue nations have called on the names of their personal gods to help them exterminate the Jews, but, the Jews are still here. While the moves to destroy Israel have been occurring for centuries, remarkably, Israel is still in existence. The question all these people, and especially Christians, should be asking themselves is: WHY? If Israel and the Jewish people are as inherently evil as these nations claim, why and how do they still exist? After all, the God who decided mankind was hopelessly evil and therefore irredeemable, and who then destroyed all the human beings on Earth, save eight souls, using the “Flood of Noah”, could as easily have destroyed a people who much of the World believes is totally evil. If, as so many claim, the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel are also evil, would not God have destroyed them also by now? Could it be that that Israel’s God made His decision based on His knowledge of Israel and the Jews, and His eternal covenant with them, and NOT on the opinions of mere humans?

Even though their words and actions scream their hatred for Israel, supposedly a hatred based on what they now claim is a genocidal attempt to wipe out the Palestinians, truly a non-entity, and Hamas, a known terrorist group, I submit that their hatred, even though it is outwardly expressed as being against Israel, is much, much worse than that. Please allow me to explain.

A Little History

The Jewish people have been a favorite punching bag for the nations of the World for many centuries. Why would that be? What makes the Jewish people, and their “new” Jewish state of Israel a favorite target for the nations of the World? Are they so different from other ethnic peoples around the world, and if so, in what ways are they different?

We must go back to the time of Abraham to get answers to these and other important questions.

Jehovah, the God of the Jewish people and Christians around the World is NOT like any other god anyone can name. He Himself claims His power (omnipotence), His knowledge (omniscience), and His presence (omnipresence), and clearly states that He is not a human, His is a much higher existence than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). His wisdom, unlike human wisdom, is without depth, unsearchable. So, it can sometimes be difficult to try to ascertain the thoughts and the plans of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but let us still make that effort.

When God’s ultimate creation failed after being given everything, perfect and in abundance, God had already planned His actions to redeem man and give him back all that was lost due to Adam’s rebellion. That plan included a promise to the serpent, recorded in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel”.

The Reason the the REAL War

As is plainly seen from history, enmity, a deep-seated, often mutual hatred, has existed from that very moment, seemingly seething just below to surface of humanity, but is becoming more and more overt now. Satan obviously hated God before the creation of man, and his hatred has only grown exponentially due to the many blessings and authority God gave to His man. Conversely, God also hates Satan/Lucifer and his hatred began when Lucifer rebelled and tried to overthrow God’s kingdom and become god in His place. Satan, who is evil completely (there is no good found in him) only has one option left: continue to try to undo every good thing that God has done, and he will continue to do so until the day he is thrown into the lake of fire.

God’s righteous judgment demands blood to be shed as a sacrifice to remove the sins committed by man. Since the failure of humanity came through a man, Adam, who was perfect until he disobeyed God and relinquished his God-given authority over God’s creation to a fallen angel represented by the serpent, God’s plan, in order to be fulfilled, was to have a man, a perfect man, the SECOND Adam, become the sacrifice that would satisfy God’s demand for justice and therefore redeem man back from the curse pronounced on him as a result of his treason. In order for God’s plan to become reality, God had to have a man who would allow God to use him to complete that plan, and in Abraham, he found the man he was looking for.

I have learned NOT to question why God selected Abraham instead of someone else. As stated earlier, it can be difficult to comprehend the mind of God. Perhaps it was because Abraham’s character led him to be obedient to God, almost without question. That is only one possibility, and is only one man’s opinion. In any case, God used him to provide the bloodline that would eventually produce the perfect sacrifice, the man Jesus of Nazareth.

In His perfect timing, Abraham (Abram), the man who would father the tribes of Israel was born from the line of Shem, the second son of Noah. I suspect that Satan’s hatred grew even more as he realized something was different about God’s choice and so he watched Abraham throughout his life to determine what it was that made him different.

As he studied Abraham, and as Satan only exists to steal, kill and destroy, whatever he had in mind for Abraham did NOT involve making his life better. His attempts to destroy Abraham were all futile and the Bible clearly states why. In the Book of James, ther half-brother of Jesus states: “And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” (James 2:23). Because he was quick to believe the words of God and obey them to the best of his ability, God highly favored Abraham and blessed him immensely. Those blessings were carried over to his son Isaac, then on to Jacob and his twelve sons who formed the twelve tribes of Israel. From one of those tribes would proceed the perfect man whom God had promised would crush the head of the serpent.

The character flaws that grew in mankind after the rebellion of Adam only worsened over time to the point that God had to do something or his plan would not ever have been fulfilled. As a result of continued sin and rebellion, He destroyed all living things, save for eight souls and one pair of each of the clean animals in the flood of Noah in order to stop the increase in sin and give His plan time to unfold. It could be asked: “Why did God not just use one of the sons of Noah to be the sacrifice”? For one thing, Noah’s sons were of the seed of Adam, NOT from the “Seed of the Woman” and thus, they failed God’s demand for perfection in the sacrifice. Besides that, it was not yet the right time, and God always acts in perfect time.

God promised great blessings to the offspring of Abraham if they would simply obey and follow Him and he also told them about the cursings that would come upon them if they disobeyed. Throughout their history, they have been blessed at times, and cursed at times, but God has never forsaken them. His purpose for them has always been constant and unchanging, even when they were dispersed throughout the World as a result of their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah.

Was that dispersion only a form of punishment for the rebellious Jewish people? In His statement to Abraham, recorded in Genesis 12:1-3, God also provided the means of blessing to all the Gentile nations who would treat the Jewish people as God demanded of them. Personally, I can see the diaspora of the Jews as a means for God to determine whether there were any nations of Gentiles that would embrace God’s purpose for the Jews and respect them as His chosen Earthly people. Throughout the last nearly 2000 years, God has watched and recorded the actions of those to whom the Jews were sent. The wise of the World accepted the Jews as a blessing to the World and embraced their place in God’s heart and His plan.

Being a Christian means more than just following Christ; it means being LIKE Christ. In His time on this Earth, Jesus constantly expressed His love for His brethren, the Jews. Never once has God stated that He is finished with the Jewish people. Likewise, Jesus, Who was born the King of the Jews, always expressed His desire to see them draw closer to His Father. His heart was always inclined to the Jewish people, to keep them under the care of His Father and to see them inherit all the blessings God promised to their father, Abraham. All who claim to be Christ-like, or followers of Christ, MUST also follow Him in His love of, and care for, the Jewish people and the Nation of Israel.

Unfortunately, many of the Gentile nations have to adopt the attitude of Satan who wanted to kill all the Jews on Earth. We are now at the point in time when the testing of the nations for their attitude toward the Jews is nearly over and the consequences of either passing, or failing, God’s test, will soon be revealed. Those who have questioned God’s choice of the Jews as the Apple of His Eye, and thus treated the Jews with evil will soon realize the error of their ways, while those, both nations and individuals, who embraced God’s choice will rejoice in the days when Jesus Christ returns to set up His righteous kingdom. They will then understand how wise they were in NOT questioning God’s decisions.

Blessings and

Maranatha, Even So Come Lord Jesus

budaroo@twc.com

Born and raised in a small textile town in North Carolina, Bud’s family moved to Michigan in the hope of finding better employment with General Motors.  After graduating from high school, Bud began an apprenticeship with General Motors to become a Metal Modelmaker.  Retiring after a 30 year career, which included an eight year stint as a Metrologist (Science of high precision measurement), he and his wife moved back to North Carolina to be near his elderly parents.  Shortly thereafter, with both of his parents having passed, he began a new career in the bank security/ATM business, advancing from an entry level technician to one of two North Carolina customer service managers for his employer.  Retiring again after 13 years, he and his wife of 51 years relocated to Tennessee where Bud began writing articles emphasizing Biblical teaching and geopolitical issues.  At age 75, he and his wife relocated to South Carolina with their Miniature Schnauzer, Baxter.  Bud continues to study God’s word and write articles on Christian living and geopolitical issues from the Biblical end times  perspective.