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VIDEO John F. Kennedy shot. What did he and others warn about Deep State Socialist Globalism?

November 09, 2022

John F. Kennedy stated in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 28, 1961:

“The Pilgrims, after a year of hardship and peril, humbly and reverently set aside a special day upon which to give thanks to God …

I ask the head of each family to recount to his children the story of the first New England Thanksgiving,

thus to impress upon future generations the heritage of this nation born in toil, in danger, in purpose,

and in the conviction that right and justice and freedom can through man’s efforts persevere and come to fruition with the blessing of God.”

Download as PDF …

The Treacherous World of the 16th Century and How the Pilgrims Escaped It: The Prequel to America’s Freedom

While vising the home state of his Vice-President Lyndon Baines Johnson, November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas.

The youngest President ever elected, being 43 years old, he was also the youngest to die, barely serving 1,000 days.

Kennedy was on his way to the Dallas Trade Mart to deliver a speech, in which he had prepared to say:

“We in this country, in this generation, are – by destiny rather than choice – the watchmen on the walls of world freedom.”

“Watchman on the walls” referenced a well-known Bible passage out of the Book of Ezekiel 33:7-9:

“If the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned … his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand …

O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore … warn them …

When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked … thou hast delivered thy soul …

But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.”

Kennedy continued:

We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint,

and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men (Luke 2:14) …

That must always be our goal – and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength.

For as was written long ago, ‘Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.'” (Psalm 127:1)

Warning of the deep state, John F. Kennedy candidly addressed the American Newspaper Publishers Association at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, April 27, 1961:

“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society;

and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings …

We are opposed around the world by a … ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence – on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day.

… It is a system which has conscripted vast human and material resources into the building of a tightly knit, highly efficient machine that combines military, diplomatic, intelligence, economic, scientific and political operations.

Its preparations are concealed, not published.

Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Its dissenters are silenced, not praised.

No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.”

Three days before Kennedy was inaugurated, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his final address, January 17, 1961, warning of “a military industrial complex” and “a scientific technological elite,” similar to today’s global big tech and pharma industries:

“We face a hostile ideology — global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method … of indefinite duration …

Whether foreign or domestic … there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties … development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research … suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel.

But each proposal must be weighed in the light of … the need to maintain balance … between the private and the public economy … balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual …”

Eisenhower continued:

“But threats, new in kind or degree, constantly arise ……

Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction …

But now … we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions …

The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government … We must not fail to comprehend its grave implications.

Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex.

The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted.

Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.

Eisenhower warned of the tech industry:

“Akin to … sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.

In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.

Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields.

In the same fashion, the free university … has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity.

For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.

The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded …

We must also be alert to the … danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific technological elite.

It is the task of statesmanship … to balance …, new and old, within the principles of our democratic system — ever aiming toward the supreme goals of our free society …”

Eisenhower concluded:

“You and I, and our government — must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow.

We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow …

This world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect …

You and I — my fellow citizens — need to be strong in our faith that all nations, under God, will reach the goal of peace with justice.”

Endangered Speeches – How the IRS, ACLU and LBJ Threaten Extinction of Free Speech

Another person addressing the threat to freedom was Lutheran minister Richard Wurmbrand.

In 1948, he was arrested by Socialist Republic of Romania and was tortured 14 years in prison. His wife, Sabina, was sent to labor camp.

After years of persecution and international pressure, the Wurmbrands received amnesty. In 1965, he testified before the U.S. Senate’s Internal Security Subcommittee.

In 1967, Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand formed Jesus To The Communist World, renamed Voice of the Martyrs.

Richard Wurmbrand wrote:

“Every freedom-loving man has two fatherlands; his own and America … America is the hope of every enslaved man, because it is the last bastion of freedom in the world.

Only America has the power and spiritual resources to stand as a barrier between militant Communism and the people of the world.

It is the last “dike” holding back the rampaging floodwaters of militant Communism. If it crumples, there is no other dike, no other dam; no other line of defense to fall back upon.

America is the last hope of millions of enslaved peoples …

I have seen fellow-prisoners in Communist prisons beaten, tortured, with 50 pounds of chains on their legs – praying for America … that the dike will not crumple; that it will remain free.”

In the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Alexander Solzhenitsyn was imprisoned, from 1945 to 1953.

After intense international pressure, he was released and traveled to Washington, D.C., where he stated June 30, 1975:

“At the height of Stalin’s terror in 1937-38 … more than 40,000 persons shot per month! …

It is precisely because I am the friend of the United States … that I have come to tell you …

Over there people are groaning and dying and in psychiatric hospitals. Doctors are making their evening rounds, for the third time injecting people with drugs which destroy their brain cells …

I would like to call upon America to be more careful with its trust and prevent those … using the struggle … for social justice to lead you down a false road …

They are trying to weaken you; the are trying to disarm your strong and magnificent country in the face of this fearful threat-one that has never been seen before in the history of the world.

I call upon … ordinary working men of America … do not let yourselves become weak.”

Dutch politician Geert Wilders was born the year John F. Kennedy was shot.

Echoing Kennedy’s admonition, that Americans are “watchmen on the walls of world freedom,” Geert Wilders gave a speech in New York, September 25, 2008, titled “America the Last Man Standing”:

“The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe …

Europe … is changing … by Muslim mass-migration … with mosques on many street corners … controlled by religious fanatics …

Muslim neighborhoods … are mushrooming in every city across Europe.

These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city …

Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden …”

Wilders continued:

“In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim.

Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities … In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims.

Non-Muslim women routinely hear ‘whore, whore’ … In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims … The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity …”

Geert Wilders stated further:

“In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves …

Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II …

A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe … 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now …

The numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate … Half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France.

One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks … One-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate …

They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar al-Islam …”

Wilders added:

“Much of this street violence … is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries …

Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored. Mohammed’s … behavior is an example to all Muslims …

If Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem …

Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza …

Islam means ‘submission.’ Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia.

If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies …”

Geert Wilders concluded:

“There is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing 

With an Islamic Europe, it would be UP TO AMERICA ALONE to preserve the heritage of ROME, ATHENS and JERUSALEM.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a Christian nationalist, proclaiming on Labor Day, September 1,1941:

“PRESERVATION OF THESE RIGHTS is vitally important now, not only to us who enjoy them–but to the whole future of Christian civilization.”

FDR stated May 27, 1941:

“THE WHOLE WORLD is divided between pagan brutality and the Christian ideal. We choose human freedom which is the Christian ideal.” 

FDR stated Nov. 1, 1940:

“THOSE FORCES HATE democracy and Christianity as two phases of the same civilization …

They oppose democracy because it is Christian. They oppose Christianity because it preaches democracy.”

Winston Churchill addressed Britain’s House of Commons, June 18, 1940:

“Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization …

If we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”

Though John F. Kennedy was the youngest person “elected” President, it was actually Theodore Roosevelt who was the youngest person to become President.

Roosevelt was 42 years old as Vice-President when President McKinley was assassinated in 1901.

Roosevelt stated in 1909:

“The thought of modern industry in the hands of Christian charity is a dream worth dreaming.

The thought of industry in the hands of paganism is a nightmare beyond imagining. The choice between the two is upon us.”

Theodore Roosevelt addressed the American Sociological Congress (Fear God and Take Your Own Part, 1916, p. 70):

“The civilization of Europe, America and Australia exists today at all only because of the victories of civilized man over the enemies of civilization …

victories stretching through the centuries from Charles Martel in the eighth century and those of John Sobieski in the seventeenth century …

There are such ‘social values’ today in Europe, America and Australia only because during those thousand years the Christians of Europe possessed the warlike power to do what the Christians of Asia and Africa had failed to do – that is, to beat back the Moslem invader.”

Theodore Roosevelt stated in his Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 24, 1903:

“In NO OTHER PLACE and at NO OTHER TIME has the experiment of government OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people, been tried on so vast a scale as here in our own country …

Failure would not only be a dreadful thing for us, but a dreadful thing for all mankind … It would mean loss of hope for all who believe in the power and the righteousness of liberty.

Therefore, in thanking God for the mercies extended to us in the past, WE BESEECH HIM that He MAY NOT WITHHOLD THEM IN THE FUTURE.”

On February 9, 1961, President Kennedy remarked at a Breakfast for International Christian Leadership:

“Every President of the United States has placed special reliance upon his faith in God …

The guiding principle and prayer of this Nation has been, is now, and shall ever be ‘IN GOD WE TRUST.'”

A profound message to pastors is that the most important thing is to bring people to Christ; but the second most important thing is to preserve the freedom to do the most important thing.

President John F. Kennedy worded it this way, February 9, 1961:

“This country was dedicated to … two propositions.

… The Puritans and the Pilgrims of my own section of New England, the Quakers of Pennsylvania, the Catholics of Maryland, the Presbyterians of North Carolina, the Methodists and Baptists who came later,

all shared these two great traditions which, like silver threads, have run through the warp and the woof of American History …

First, a strong religious conviction, and secondly, a recognition that this conviction could flourish only under a system of freedom.”

Download as PDF … John F. Kennedy shot. What did he & others warn about the Deep State Socialist threat?

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Red Voice Media Published November 22, 2022


Related

‘I Worked Harder’

RECOVERING THE CHRISTIAN WORK ETHIC

Article by Robert Yarbrough Professor, Covenant Theological Seminary

ABSTRACT: “I worked harder than any of them.” Few figures in Scripture labor with the manifest industry of the apostle Paul. Where did such a prodigious work ethic come from? As one steeped in the Old Testament, Paul would have known and loved the many passages in Proverbs commending diligent, skillful labor and warning of idleness. The teaching of Proverbs, together with the mighty working of God’s grace, produced an energy and effort that challenges the trend toward leisure in society today.

For our ongoing series of feature articles for pastors, leaders, and teachers, we asked Robert Yarbrough, professor of New Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary, to profile the work ethic of the apostle Paul.

We all know about COVID and its worldwide spread. Much attention focuses on the number of deaths, and not without justification. But the numbers do grow wearisome — numbers deceased, numbers testing positive, numbers in ICUs, numbers on ventilators, and now numbers vaccinated (or not). Such numbers are a sign of fundamental matters (like human health) amiss.

There is, though, another set of numbers that had become commonplace long before COVID in most locations in the United States, and to an extent worldwide. They too point to something amiss. I’m talking about lottery numbers, featured on various media outlets in most locales. The money squandered on these games of chance is staggering. While this is not the place to debate the wisdom, morality, or possible pros and cons of this form of gambling, I do believe that the popularity of lotteries alerts us to an emerging idol that Christians need to nip in the bud, if they have not already fallen to its worship.

That idol is the love of being idle when it comes to gainful employment, like a job. (You play the lottery so you’ll never have to work again, right?) Or when it comes to labor for the good of others, like being a parent who tends a household and rears children. Or like pastoral ministry, which is typically heavy on self-sacrificial labor for the sake of others.

The idol I am envisioning is the love of leisure when the kingdom of God calls for engaged subjects: douloi (servants, slaves) joyfully (at least much of the time) doing the King’s bidding. It is the love of money for the sake of making habitual downtime and idle enjoyment possible. It is the love of self-indulgence and the exploitation of creation’s goods for personal pleasure rather than for the fulfillment of God’s creation mandate and Christ’s call to discipleship. It is the love of being served rather than of serving. Think cruise-ship getaway.

In remarks below, I want to remind us of key insights from contemporary discussion, from Scripture, and especially from the apostle Paul that will help us maintain a healthy relationship to our work in life rather than skepticism or antagonism toward that work that leads to a harmful gravitation toward idle pursuits that God is unlikely to deem productive or redemptive.

The Worth of Work, with a Warning

Work in the sense of human toil to earn a living has received abundant attention from Christian writers in recent years. A book by my colleague Daniel M. Doriani serves as an example: Work: Its Purpose, Dignity, and Transformation.1 On the back cover, D.A. Carson comments, “The last few years have witnessed a flurry of books that treat a Christian view of work. This is the best of them.” A few years back, Christianity Today carried a story on “reclaiming the honor of manual labor.”2 The article argued for the virtue and indeed necessity of more people learning trades rather than eschewing manual labor and avoiding jobs that demand arduous physical exertion.

Of course, there is barren overwork, a bane to be avoided. Kevin DeYoung has written about it in Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem.3 If you’re too busy to get hold of the book(!), some main points were recently summarized online.4 DeYoung notes that busyness can empty life of joy, impoverish our hearts, and conceal and contribute to a bankrupt soul. When hard work (along with all of life’s other demands) shades over into obsessive hyperactivity, when we pour all our energy and devotion into gainful labor with no time or energy for anything else, we have idolized work, the benefits we plan to receive from it, or both. We need the psalmist’s reminder:

It is in vain that you rise up early
     and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
     for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm 127:2)5

Yet while Scripture warns against work overload, it also models an appeal for God to bless our daily labors, not to rescue us from the need to perform them. The wonderful conclusion to Moses’s sole contribution to the Psalter runs,

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
     and establish the work of our hands upon us;
     yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:17)

Duly warned of vesting work with devotion that belongs to God alone, we can still call on him to bless our licit labors. And we are wise to ask, What is work’s value, in God’s eyes?

“Warned of vesting work with devotion that belongs to God alone, we can still call on him to bless our licit labors.”

A considerable literature addresses this from various points of the world-Christian perspective. Esther O. Ayandokun draws on the Bible (along with other resources, both academic and religious) to argue for a work ethic without which the acute problem of poverty will only worsen in her location (Nigeria), where it is already severe.6 She argues that “when working hard is embraced by members of the society, the society will be free of corruption, thuggery, armed robbery, cultism, and other social vices.”7 More broadly, she concludes her survey of what Scripture says on the subject with this observation:

[The] human race can fight poverty as they engage meaningfully in one job, or the other, depending on age, gender, skills, knowledge, and exposure. What is important is that no one should be idle, to the extent that such will only depend on the sweat of others perpetually. Everyone, who is old enough to work, must be employed gainfully. Efficient labour as established in the Scriptures, is a panacea for poverty alleviation; where each person (at work) does his/her best, to enhance production of quality goods, and services rendered.8

While panacea might not be quite the right word, that quotation lines up well with the wisdom on work that Proverbs offers, a wisdom that echoes in Paul’s life and letters.

Work in Paul from Proverbs’ Perspective

The apostle Paul, like other New Testament authors and Jesus himself, affirmed what we call the Old Testament as inspired by God and authoritative. While it is worthwhile to keep in mind views of work prevalent in Greco-Roman spheres or Judaism in the New Testament era,9 the New Testament often draws on the Old Testament to lay a foundation and to push back against the deficient understandings and practices of its day. The grass and flowers of the times wither and fade away, but God’s word endures (1 Peter 1:24–25Isaiah 40:68).

A survey of references to work or labor in Proverbs (using the ESV) reveals principles that play out in Paul’s view of his own apostolic, missionary, and pastoral activities. They are surely worth pondering for our own outlook and practice.

1. God is a worker, and his people labor with and for him.

The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work,
     the first of his acts of old. (Proverbs 8:22)

Here divine wisdom is personified, depicting the Lord as the Creator who works. That God is a worker, and that people made in his image are designed to work too, is widely accepted in the literature. This statement is typical: “Paul would have had a full understanding of God as worker, humankind as created for work, work properly done as glorifying God, but work also corruptible by the fall.”10

Accordingly, Paul viewed himself and others as coworkers (ESV “fellow workers,” synergos) with God (1 Corinthians 3:9). Nearly a dozen times, Paul mentions fellow workers; he views this fraternity of work as not merely human-with-human but also people laboring with God alongside, as when he calls Timothy “our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ” (1 Thessalonians 3:2). Paul viewed himself and his wide circle of accomplices as “fellow workers for the kingdom of God” (Colossians 4:11).

2. Hard work is virtuous, and slothfulness is a vice.

From the fruit of his mouth a man is satisfied with good,
     and the work of a man’s hand comes back to him. (Proverbs 12:14)

The hand of the diligent will rule,
     while the slothful will be put to forced labor. (Proverbs 12:24)

Both of the passages above commend work by using hand to signify hard, competent, and gainful effort. “The work of a man’s hand” is how Paul described his ministry: “We labor, working with our own hands” (1 Corinthians 4:12). He counseled new converts at Thessalonica “to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you” (1 Thessalonians 4:11). For someone in the church wrestling with the temptation to steal, Paul commanded, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28).

“The epitaph of many a failed ministry and minister could be summed up with Proverbs’ words: ‘His hands refused to labor.’”

The point is not that only manual or trade work is of value. It is rather that every believer’s life should be centered on God’s service for the promotion of God’s glory. Since in Paul’s day (as when Proverbs was written centuries earlier) most livelihoods required what we would consider hard physical work, Paul’s word to all believers in all situations was, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23; see also 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31). Even allowing for changes over the ages, that is still perfectly understandable and highly applicable whatever our station in life today.

“The slothful will be put to forced labor” expresses the conviction that the lazy run the risk of being commandeered by forces they could have escaped if they had gone to work for God and the good on their own. In Pauline terms, one thinks of his warning that we become slaves to sin if we reject faith in and service for Christ (Romans 6:16).

3. God guides the life direction and outcome of the person who works to honor God.

Commit your work to the Lord,
     and your plans will be established. (Proverbs 16:3)

This statement taps into the common canonical conviction of God’s benevolent and personally attuned sovereignty. Those who trust in him will find that he has gone before them; their efforts and labors will prove to have purpose, meaning, and value, because God has overseen and directed their way.

A related conviction is stated a few verses later: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Those who labor in fellowship with the Lord and in accordance with his purposes can be assured of God’s support, assistance, and ultimate vindication, even if one’s assignment ends in seeming disaster (like John the Baptist’s beheading, or Christ’s cross).

Paul’s work was certainly committed “to the Lord.” This is epitomized in the statement “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul can exhort the Philippians to practice what Paul taught and modeled, assuring them that “the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).11 Their lives, the plans by which they live them, and the ends to which they strive “will be established,” as Proverbs 16:3 puts it.

When Paul labored in Ephesus, he frankly acknowledged, “There are many adversaries” (1 Corinthians 16:9). But he purposes in the very same verse not to flee but to exploit “a wide door for effective work,” as “the Lord permits” (1 Corinthians 16:7). Ministry often proceeds under ominous auspices. But that may be precisely when God’s upholding hand is most vigorously at work.

Sometimes fears are realized and calamity occurs — as Paul and Silas experienced in founding the Philippian congregation: “The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison” (Acts 16:22–23).

This doesn’t sound like a successful church-planting event. But Paul and Silas stood firm in trusting the God they served in Christ’s name. God used their poise and praise (Acts 16:25) to convert the jailer and his household and to establish a congregation. Paul’s unswerving resolve illustrates what it means to minister under the conviction that “your plans will be established.”

4. Idleness is destructive of those who languish in it.

Whoever is slack in his work
     is a brother to him who destroys. (Proverbs 18:9)

The desire of the sluggard kills him,
     for his hands refuse to labor. (Proverbs 21:25)

From different angles, both of these verses warn of the destructive effect of idleness. The person “slack in his work” can probably rationalize it a dozen ways: “It’s Monday; I’m worn out from the weekend” (often a true statement for pastors!). “It’s Friday; I’m gearing up for the weekend” (maybe a prelude to skipping out of work for the golf course, or laying weekend plans to skip church . . . again).

“Half-hearted effort, or doing much less than is possible, is the norm for many, whatever their occupation.”

Half-hearted effort, or doing much less than is possible, is the norm for many, whatever their occupation. I think I see this attitude often in big-box home improvement stores when I need help in hardware or plumbing. It can be impossible to catch the eye of the attendant who is paid to help you. You might have to sprint to catch those who sense you want their help, as they suddenly feel the urge to flee to a distant aisle.

Paul urged churches to “admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14). The examples of Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy served as a public demonstration of how Christians should comport themselves: “You yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you” (2 Thessalonians 3:7).

“Slack in his work” and “the sluggard” describe an “idleness” Paul decried:

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. (2 Thessalonians 3:6)

For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. (2 Thessalonians 3:11)

The epitaph of many a failed ministry and minister could be summed up with Proverbs’ words above: “His hands refused to labor.” Failure to expend full effort can be justified in all kinds of ways, from self-care to self-love to a demonstration of the conviction that we’re not saved by works — so we’ll perform works sparingly and sporadically, since they aren’t really required for salvation.

Paul’s example runs the opposite direction. Comparing himself with the other apostles, he speaks of God’s grace toward him, the former persecutor, and avers that this grace “was not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:10). What proof does he point to? “I worked harder than any of” the other apostles, though Paul knows “it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” Because of that very grace, Paul toiled prodigiously, and not for a season or a year but over decades.

5. God is pleased by those who develop and apply the ability to work hard and skillfully.

Do you see a man skillful in his work?
     He will stand before kings;
     he will not stand before obscure men. (Proverbs 22:29)

This is one of my favorite verses in Proverbs. I grew up under a grandfather and father who did tree work — for Davey Tree Expert Company — and as a young man I devoted over six years to full-time tree climbing and timber felling, first for Davey, and then for lumber mills in western Montana and Idaho. For the first quarter-century of my life, I watched workmen come and go — attrition in this trade is high for understandable reasons. Men (at that time I knew of no women who climbed trees or felled timber) who had high standards for their work were rare. Theft of company equipment was common. Avoiding the hard or dangerous roles was the norm. Bosses knew they had to keep a sharp eye out for workers cutting corners or turning in work they did not perform.

In those same years, I observed certain older men who stood out. They were kept on the payroll when others were laid off. The quality of their work set them apart. They were “skillful” (see the Proverbs verse above) in their attitude and execution. Years later, some owned their own companies or had moved to positions of oversight.

Jesus taught, “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much” (Luke 16:10). In line with this, Paul taught Timothy and Titus to pay close attention to those whom their social settings regarded as less important people, like women and children and slaves. Paul spends more verses instructing Timothy on widows (1 Timothy 5:3–16) than on any other people group — including overseers! It was vital that Timothy’s care for the flock extend to what Jesus called “the least of these,” rather than majoring on the mighty and the wealthy, who easily attract church leaders’ fullest attention.

Paul knew that church leaders who failed in the pastoral care of the seemingly less significant were unlikely to withstand the pressures and blandishments that come with duties that attract higher public visibility.

In college, a young man training for the ministry was the envy of his classmates. He seemed to have a photographic memory. While others were beating Greek into their heads, not always with success, he would glance at the textbook right before quizzes and ace them all. But after graduation, despite his ability and intelligence, his level of ministry effectiveness fell below potential. Did this go back to being clever and gifted but not “skillful in his work”? Had he perhaps not really learned to work?

In contrast, in that same college there was a fellow student who proved “skillful in his work.” He applied himself with the humor and energetic daily output that he had brought with him from his rural upbringing. He went on to be a highly published Old Testament scholar, professor, and speaker who has built up thousands of students, readers, and pastors in the faith over many decades.

“He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men” was actually fulfilled in the apostle Paul’s life, as God transformed a man zealous to oppress into a man eager “to carry [Christ’s] name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Paul’s consistent, all-out attention to more modest tasks the Lord set before him from the start — like in Damascus immediately proclaiming “Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God’” (Acts 9:20) at great peril to himself — led to a witness that spoke all the way up to kings (Acts 26:2–29).

Paul’s message has continued to challenge people and peoples everywhere, from common folk to global elites, down to this hour. But what about his ethos of unstinting hard work to get that message out?12

Recovering the Pauline Work Ethic

An old saying from previous generations was “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” Today there are desires for leisure like never before and often the technological means to indulge those desires. COVID lockdowns and confinements have likely exacerbated temptations to idleness. It is not easy to find either the will or the means to busy ourselves in ways that sanctify and harness our inner restiveness so that the main thrust of our lives furthers divine ends rather than worldly trivialities.

How many hours weekly do many in the church, including ministers, squander in online activities that are excessive or even illicit? Then there are, for some, still more hours of TV or movies or sports — all justifiable in theory, but in many lives amounting to a replacement of what should consume us: God, the furtherance of his kingdom, and labors that promote his holy and redemptive aims for us. Yes, God grants rest and leisure and recreation in their appropriate place. But many believers at some point wake up to how worthy Christ is of their devotion, not merely sentimentally or “spiritually” but in the expenditure of time and physical energy in ways that social media, ESPN, CNN, FOX, Internet browsing, and other black holes for time wastage cannot monetize. In many cases, we are not only idolizing indolence but paying for the privilege.

“In many cases, we are not only idolizing indolence but paying for the privilege.”

And the higher household income becomes, the more temptation there is for extravagant pursuits to dominate our horizon and make us forget that we are supposed to be “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). As church members, we are under the oversight of those charged with equipping us “for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). The percentage of church members, in most cases, whose notion of equipping goes beyond reasonably regular church attendance is probably impressive — mainly in the sense of appalling.

So what are most Christians doing with most of their discretionary time? And what motivates them as they perform their daily labors? Are we mainly working for the weekend? Do we disappear for hours daily into cyberspace or other fantasy worlds in which we are serving, God knows, neither him nor people?

To put it in a flurry of Pauline declarations and commendations that point to the all-out effort that the gospel spawned in the early church:

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. (Romans 12:10–11)

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Romans 12:13)

Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. (Romans 16:6)

Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. (Romans 16:12)

We labor, working with our own hands. (1 Corinthians 4:12)

Always [abound] in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. (1 Corinthians 16:16)

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. (Philippians 1:22)

It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13)

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me. (Colossians 1:29)

Pray without ceasing. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)13

Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. (Titus 3:14)

Such references are the tip of an iceberg of the industriousness that characterized those first mobilized by Christ and his gospel. Is this not a dynamic worth upholding now against all countervailing forces? Precisely in our time of unprecedented challenge and peril for Christians worldwide, there is need to reaffirm the conclusion reached in a recent study of Paul’s (high) regard for work:

Failure to work — sloth — represents faithlessness toward God and our neighbor. There is no rank among Christians in the work place, as there is dignity and equality between all who labor and no task for the kingdom that is of lesser importance than any other. As Christians, our work is to sustain and support others and to relieve their burdens, as Paul’s work did, as we work for Christ’s kingdom. Hard work is the norm for the Christian, as it was for Paul, whether manual labor or otherwise, as it is a witness to others of our faith. To be that witness our work should follow the self-giving example of Christ, focused on Him and on others and not ourselves, marked by agape love.14

May God’s gospel grace move many more of us in this direction, smashing all idols of opposition to God’s work through our hands.


  1. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2019. 
  2. Jeff Haanen and Chris Horst, “The Handcrafted Gospel,” Christianity Today, July/August 2014, 66–71. 
  3. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013. 
  4. Kevin DeYoung, “3 Dangers of Busyness,” Crossway (blog), December 9, 2020, https://www.crossway.org/articles/3-dangers-of-busyness/. 
  5. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture references are from the ESV. 
  6. “The imperative of dignity of labour as a panacea for poverty alleviation in Nigeria,” Practical Theology (Baptist College of Theology, Lagos) 7 (2014): 84–110. See also Jude Lulenga Chisanga, “Christian Spirituality of Work: A Survey of Workers in Ndola City, Zambia,” African Ecclesial Review 60, nos. 1/2 (2018): 10–24. 
  7. Ayandokun, “The imperative of dignity of labour,” 100. 
  8. Ayandokun, “The imperative of dignity of labour,” 88–89. 
  9. For this background, see, e.g., Christoph vom Brocke, “Work in the New Testament and in Greco-Roman Antiquity,” in Dignity of Work — Theological and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, ed. Kenneth Mtata, Documentation 56 (Minneapolis, MN: Lutheran University Press, 2011), 25–28. Accessible at https://www.lutheranworld.org/sites/default/files/Doc-56-Dignity_of_Work-EN-low.pdf. 
  10. Alexander Whitaker, “Paul’s Theology of Work,” Puritan Reformed Journal 12, no. 2 (July 2020): 32. 
  11. Annang Asumang, “Perfection of God’s Good Work: The Literary and Pastoral Function of the Theme of ‘Work’ in Philippians,” Conspectus 23, no. 1 (January 2017): 1–55, helpfully unpacks the theme of God’s work in that epistle, along with “not just the inward spiritual transformation of the Philippians, but also its social consequence and the Philippians’ synergistic active participation in” God’s work (42). But stress is laid on God’s provision and enabling, not the work ethic from the human side needed to embody God’s outpoured energies. 
  12. See Akinyemi O. Alawode, “Paul’s biblical patterns of church planting: An effective method to achieve the Great Commission,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 76, no. 1 (2020): a5579, https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v76i1.5579. This study describes concepts, patterns, models, and strategies. But there is no direct mention of the hard effort required for any of this to have worked for Paul or to work today. 
  13. Those who obey this command assiduously know that while it has its joyful aspects, it is nevertheless work. 
  14. Whitaker, “Paul’s Theology of Work,” 41. 

Robert Yarbrough is professor of New Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. Author, co-author, or translator of numerous books and articles, he preaches regularly and has also taught extensively on four other continents.

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/i-worked-harder

Warnings can be a Blessing in Disguise

Given a choice, what would you avoid.

Silly mistakes or major destruction.

Personally, I would prefer to stay alert and enjoy success and not loss.

I remember my first job ever.

I was supposed to learn a bit of accounting, but I did not take it too seriously. To facilitate my on-boarding the company arranged an experienced Chartered Accountant, a friend of the business owner from another city and sent him to train me to manage the accounts.

Youthful, with no prior experience I did not realise this individual’s expertise nor willingness to coach an inexperienced new employee and treated the incident with a matter-of-fact approach.

After the first lesson, I did not get what he explained because I obviously did not immerse myself into what was shared.

So, the expert tore the page from the accounting book on which he had done the explanation. He then went ahead to repeat the explanation, a little more slowly and deliberately this time.

I didn’t’ get it the second time either.

So, he tore out the page again, crumpled it and threw it aside.

The third time, before he began, he looked straight into my eyes and said sternly ‘If you don’t get it right this time I am not interested in wasting another page or my time. I am out of here.’

The warning woke me up.

It made me realise that there was a definite lack of intent from my side, a slothful spirit, a carelessness to realise the importance of what was being imparted and by who it was being done and this negligence was going to cost me big time.

As I pondered in those few moments, I deliberated the consequences of the outcome.


What if the trainer left in anger?


I would be left feeling humiliated. I would be termed unintelligent and dumb. I would be reprimanded that I could not get what an expert had taken the trouble and time to teach. And worse still, the incident threatened to destroy my confidence, my reputation and could make me lose a good job as well.

The warning needed attention if I did not wish anything negative to happen.


I decided to set myself up for the challenge. I had to tell my mind to get alert. I had to get everything inside to cooperate with me to win and not lose the opportunity that was presented.


No prizes for guessing what happened next. Yes, I got it right the third time around.


I had just avoided a potentially huge impending loss simply by asking my mind to get some sense and stay alert.

I believe we all have that special intuitive sense to respond to a warning and get alert, no matter how difficult the threat.


I learned a valuable lesson that day. Sometimes it is not other people or circumstances but we ourselves who open the door for trouble, often with dumb, ignorant, silly, and careless mistakes we make.


Dumbness, ignorance and carelessness can cost us much.


In the book of Exodus, the Bible mentions about God spending time with Moses to personally write down the ten commandments. These were oracles for His people to live a more successful life. Here was God who had decided to come down on Mount Horeb, lowering down to man’s level, scripting a great destiny with His own Jehovah-Jireh-hands. However, the people were acting dumb. They never seemed to get the point. They were busy grumbling and murmuring against Moses. They were busy creating idols for themselves. Deceiving themselves that a man-made idol that cannot speak that cannot write their destiny that cannot move was going to be their God.


And why was God going out of His way? Not for Himself but for their good, to get them out of a slave mindset.


But what was stopping these folks from receiving a great blessing?


The fact that they cannot get themselves to stop grumbling about their present circumstances. The fact that they are refusing to shift their minds from the I-want-it-right-now mentality. That is what is stopping them from a great testimony that lies ahead.


Their attitude upset God so much that He wanted to finish them off.

Bible Reference:
Exodus 32:1-10

After the people saw that Moses had been on the mountain for a long time, they went to Aaron and said, “Make us an image of a god who will lead and protect us. Moses brought us out of Egypt, but nobody knows what has happened to him.”


Aaron told them, “Bring me the gold earrings that your wives and sons and daughters are wearing.” 3 Everybody took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron, 4 then he melted them and made an idol in the shape of a young bull.


All the people said to one another, “This is the God who brought us out of Egypt!”


The Lord said to Moses: Hurry back down! Those people you led out of Egypt are acting like fools. 8 They have already stopped obeying me and have made themselves an idol in the shape of a young bull. They have bowed down to it, offered sacrifices, and said that it is the god who brought them out of Egypt. 9 Moses, I have seen how stubborn these people are, 10 and I’m angry enough to destroy them, so don’t try to stop me. But I will make your descendants into a great nation.

But being a God of Justice, He decides to warn them first.


God gives them time to gather some sense and make corrections so He could still write a great destiny for them and see them blessed.

How do we apply the lesson from Exodus into our practical life today?

Some people have created idols for themselves. Idols that are placed above God, some literal and some not.

The reason they have gone after things apart from the Living God is to attempt to seek a shortcut to success, on their own.

In the bargain, many have forgotten or have been ignoring the fact that it is God who is more concerned about ensuring man enjoys success in everything pertaining to life and Godliness.

Just imagine!

Is there anything that can be greater than a destiny that is scripted by the very Hand of The Great I Am, the Savior of the World?

https://sophialorenabenjamin.wordpress.com/2021/03/01/warnings-can-be-a-blessing-in-disguise/

Biden would resume Obama’s war on Christianity: Dem memo declares white Christians country’s foremost “national security threat”

January 02, 2021 by: JD Heyes

Image: Biden plans to resume Obama’s war on Christianity: Dem memo declares white Christians country’s foremost “national security threat”

(Natural News) Democrat Joe Biden’s message of wanting to ‘unify our divided country’ suffered another credibility blow in the wake of a newly uncovered Democratic memo that warns two-thirds of our country is a bigger threat than China, Russia, Iran and North Korea combined.

A report prepared especially for the (potentially) incoming Biden administration from the Secular Democrats of America PAC provides guidance to “boldly restore a vision of constitutional secularism and respect in the land for religious and intellectual pluralism.”

And here we thought that after four years of President Donald Trump that his efforts to uphold the right of Christians — and Jews, and Muslims, and whomever else — to practice freely, as outlined in the First Amendment, was him restoring constitutionality. 

In any event, the PAC says it “represents secular Democratic individuals and organizations” while advocating for “secular governance” as well as the promotion of “respect and inclusion of nonreligious Americans,” while mobilizing “nonreligious voters.”

Again, that same First Amendment guaranteeing Americans the right to worship freely also lacks a provision that mandates a religious society or the practice of a certain religion. So — if there can be no forcing of religion on Americans, why does this group think it can force secularism on all of us?

We digress.

Just The News reports that the proposal was formally presented to the Biden team by Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and Jared Huffman, co-chairmen of the Congressional Freethought Caucus; it was also endorsed by Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney.

“We’ve offered the new administration a roadmap to restore our basic constitutional values and protect science, reason and public health in American government,” Raskin and Huffman said in a joint statement. (Related: Why rioters will eventually turn their rage on Christianity if not stopped.)

The outlet notes further: 

The proposal calls for Biden’s team to work with Congress and governors to “advance a secular agenda at all levels of government, taking into account the current makeup of the federal courts and new, unfavorable precedents that your administration will have to contend with.”

In the document, the group argues that Trump has “empowered the religious right in ways no other administration has before, making significant advances in enacting their Christian nationalist agenda.”

The proposal outlines recommendations for reversing certain policies and “proactively” implementing new rules that would “restore secularism to federal governance and disentangle entrenched religious interests from federal policy.”

Again, what is inherently wrong with Trump ‘empowering’ people of faith within his administration? Understand that this proposal would not have been given to Team Biden unless these three lawmakers had a problem with the empowerment of religious persons within the Trump White House — none of whom were pushing to mandate Christianity across the country. 

Only people who do not believe in any religion are ‘suitable’ for government, according to this PAC.

But it gets worse: These bozos liken Christians with a threat to America’s “national security.”

“The rise of white Christian nationalism is a national security threat,” read the document. “We recommend you: encourage the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice to dedicate resources to de-radicalization programs aimed at hate groups, including, but not limited to, white nationalists; increase monitoring of such groups, including the online environment, and take action to address increased hate crimes toward minority faith communities; and shift rhetoric to label violent white nationalist extremists as terrorists.”

That is outrageous. If there are any threats to America’s national security that emanate from within the country, they are coming from the insane left: Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and burgeoning anarchist organizations on both the left and right.

But you can see what this is really about.

There is no bigger impediment to authoritarian rule than a belief among the populace in something higher and more divine than ‘big government.’ And what better way to destroy the fundamental right to not only believe in a higher authority but to worship that higher authority than to declare those who do to be our most dangerous threat.

The Marxist Democratic left hates America as it was founded, period. This is just another modicum of proof.

See more reporting like this at BigGovernment.news.

Sources include:

JustTheNews.com

NaturalNews.com

https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-01-02-biden-will-resume-obamas-war-christianity.html

VIDEO Micah

By Chuck Swindoll

 

Who wrote the book?

The prophet Micah identified himself by his hometown, called Moresheth Gath, which sat near the border of Philistia and Judah about twenty-five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Dwelling in a largely agricultural part of the country, Micah lived outside the governmental centers of power in his nation, leading to his strong concern for the lowly and less fortunate of society—the lame, the outcasts, and the afflicted (Micah 4:6). Therefore, Micah directed much of his prophecy toward the powerful leaders of Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of Israel and Judah, respectively (1:1).

Where are we?

As a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea, Micah prophesied during the momentous years surrounding the tragic fall of Israel to the Assyrian Empire (722 BC), an event he also predicted (Micah 1:6). Micah stated in his introduction to the book that he prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah, failing to mention the simultaneous string of dishonorable kings that closed out the northern kingdom of Israel.

During this period, while Israel was imploding from the effects of evil and unfaithful leadership, Judah seemed on a roller-coaster ride—ascending to the heights of its destiny in one generation, only to fall into the doldrums in another. In Judah at this time, good kings and evil kings alternated with each other, a pattern seen in the reigns of Jotham (good, 2 Kings 15:32–34); Ahaz (evil, 2 Kings 16:1–4); and Hezekiah (good, 2 Kings 18:1–7).

Why is Micah so important?

The book of Micah provides one of the most significant prophecies of Jesus Christ’s birth in all the Old Testament, pointing some seven hundred years before Christ’s birth to His birthplace of Bethlehem and to His eternal nature (Micah 5:2).

Surrounding Micah’s prophecy of Jesus’s birth is one of the most lucid pictures of the world’s future under the reign of the Prince of Peace (5:5). This future kingdom, which scholars call the millennial kingdom, will be characterized by the presence of many nations living with one another in peace and security (4:3–4) and coming to Jerusalem to worship the reigning king, that is, Jesus Himself (4:2). Because these events have not yet occurred, we look forward to the millennial kingdom at some undetermined time in the future.

What’s the big idea?

Much of Micah’s book revolves around two significant predictions: one of judgment on Israel and Judah (Micah 1:1–3:12), the other of the restoration of God’s people in the millennial kingdom (4:1–5:15). Judgment and restoration inspire fear and hope, two ideas wrapped up in the final sequence of Micah’s prophecy, a courtroom scene in which God’s people stand trial before their Creator for turning away from Him and from others (6:1–7:20). In this sequence, God reminds the people of His good works on their behalf, how He cared for them while they cared only for themselves. But rather than leave God’s people with the fear and sting of judgment, the book of Micah concludes with the prophet’s call on the Lord as his only source of salvation and mercy (7:7), pointing the people toward an everlasting hope in their everlasting God.

How do I apply this?

Much of Micah’s indictment against Israel and Judah involves these nations’ injustice toward the lowly—unjust business dealings, robbery, mistreatment of women and children, and a government that lived in luxury off the hard work of its nation’s people.

Where does the injustice dwell in your own life? Who are the lowly in your life? Do you need a call toward repentance, like the people of Israel and Judah did?

Micah’s impassioned plea for God’s chosen people to repent will cut many of us to the quick. Most of us don’t decide daily to cut people down or find ways to carry out injustice. Instead, we do it out of habit. Let’s allow the words of Micah to break us out of our apathy about extending justice and kindness to others and press on toward a world that better resembles the harmonious millennial kingdom to come. Let’s determine to live as God desires—“to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).

https://www.insight.org/resources/bible/the-minor-prophets/micah


Overview: Micah


Unlocking the Old Testament Part 52 – Micah


 

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