Exchanging Your Reality…the Son of God in You

In my life, I have thought more highly of myself than I ought. (Romans 12:3)

These days, I am finding that as I really pay attention to certain Bible message recordings and LET those seeds sink in, I can see how…far short I fell.

This statement is not meant to heap guilt on myself, or anyone else reading this who can relate! I think it’s just a matter of growth…which God gives in the appointed time. But seeing what’s there, into which we can enter & have our being, compared to how I was…and which I thought was the right place but now I see, was just on the way to the right place! is like turning over a new leaf.

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It may be a case of accepting a new reality. We come to Christ while being engaged in living in the world system, and knowing what we experience as natural life, with all its involvements & entanglements. We have no spiritual discernment, as a rule, it seems.

Then, one day, there is a moment, there is an encounter, and we meet up with Jesus. If we choose him (or rather, agree? with His choosing us, perhaps is a better way to phrase it )(John 15:16), then we are translated into the kingdom of Light. After years or decades of not living in that kingdom, we find ourselves transplanted & beginning a learning and changing process. Everyone’s rate of growth & learning curve is unique to them, but I think for most of us, when all is said & done, it does take some time to come into full bloom. (Or as full a bloom as we can, according to God’s good pleasure.)(Hebrews 13:21)

I am at a place where I am beginning to see the more full extent of the exchange of my mindset for His.

And I think it has more to do with ingesting His Word than it does with any ‘effort’ on our part. To really believe a Scripture may challenge your reality more than you realize. But it’s where the rubber meets the road, and the point of origin of freedom in Christ. It is daring & it is bold, but there comes a point when you cannot back away from it. In a way, it is a form of laying down your ‘life’ in that moment & choosing His reality. It is centering. In those moments, you can feel old things fall away. You can sense your new garment.

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Especially clarifying for me is seeing how damaging to life and liberty in Christ is the application of a confrontive & maybe even angry ‘contending for the faith’. We would see Jesus, and it is good to show Jesus to others, not incite hostility. You may need to look to yourself & your motives, and most especially see Jesus & learn of Him before you launch a campaign against something or someone.

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∗∗(If any of what I’ve just written resonates with you, you may want to listen to the messages that triggered off these realizations for me:   “Freedom from Condemning Other People’s Beliefs” & “Healing through the Character of God”, available at http://www.lovinggrace.org.)

 

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The Redemption of Washington, DC

I had never really thought about cities – how they come into being, why, what is represented by them. Except for an excursion into the origins of Sydney, Australia, urban life & habitation hasn’t been on my radar.

…and I definitely never invested any thought into the origins of Washington, DC…

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From the perspective of 21^st century America, we know that those thirteen colonies were destined to prevail in the Revolutionary battle for independence. It is easy to make the assumption that somehow, they also knew that. I had unconsciously carried that kind of thinking in my mind, and so did some of my early-days blogging companions. It may not be a natural response today, to sense the risk, the uncertainty & probably immobilizing fear that would have waged its own war against the thrilling expectations, the glorious hope of & faith in ultimate victory. Especially as the years of war dragged on…

Similarly, from my 21^st century America viewpoint, I always just assumed that Washington, DC, as the final capital city of the United States of America, had been a done deal. A slam dunk. Everyone wanted that, and the city/district was created, along with the Capitol building & White House, without a hitch.

Washington DC , 1800 – US Capitol

(Have I ever met people? In what universe was I living?)

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“Washington, DC remained a slatternly miserable village throughout much of the nineteenth century, hardly endurable…” according to Stanley Elkins & Eric McKitrick, authors of The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788-1800.

That was an unexpected revelation!

Fast-forwarding to today, and considering the hostile, accusative & bitter environment so often seen in Washington, DC as the seat of our government, I have to wonder: has an element of its former tarnish, its spoiled & soiled soul, remained? Threading its way through the years, its people & its activities?

If so, why?

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Elkins & McKitrick posit that cities are not created – rather, they ‘germinate’ and then grow. Beneficial growth requires planning & supervision, based on ‘clearly recognized needs’. And not needs only, but the values resident in what/who may already exist in the area.

Commerce also – even & perhaps especially an element as simple as the local market – had proven, through its presence & activity in the towns & cities of medieval Europe, crucial to urban expansion & success. Burgeoning commerce and its attendant developments & accommodations gave rise to a ‘culture strikingly distinct from that of the peasant countryside’. (John Mundy & Peter Reisenberg, The Medieval Town) Distinct from the peasant countryside also, would be the medieval universities that chose cities instead as their habitation.

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The complex social existence that developed in these places forged ties & loyalties whose strengths depended on a healthy corporate functioning; citizens knew there were advantages to be had, benefits & security found only in their belonging to a civic body.

The idea is presented in The Age of Federalism that the men who attempted the planning of Washington, DC had no concept of these actualities. They were men who “had no feeling for cities at all, little sense of what a city was, and little experience of what urban life meant.”

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…well…I’m just laying some of the backstory. The explanations for the fiasco of raising up Washington, DC are more complicated than I’m presenting here today.

A long & bloody war had not that recently been concluded. An entire new nation was being formed & nurtured, and “…there was little room in the American imagination for the idea of a metropolis…” Healing, survival & prosperity don’t happen overnight. Mix all that up with the passions & oft-misguided desires of men and you can see how it might be difficult to…well, see clearly or have had the needed background to know how to plan & build the nation’s official Federal city.

Additionally, the American experience with the metropolis/city was London – I will take the liberty of calling it the colonists’ ‘nemesis city’, corrupt and “where all the schemes for abridging colonial liberties had been hatched.” A Founding decision was made not to allow any such presence in America. But inherent in that decision was also the denial of a place where political authority, commerce & money, and art & intellect could converge. The American people did not have a clear model for their capital city. Looking to a capital where the avenues of civic, social & economic activities could interact, citizens might have had more of a sense of national character & culture within which they could engage.

But, as Elkins & McKitrick state “the anti-urban, anti-metropolitan component of the Revolutionary mentality” proved most persistent.

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…but I’m wondering if there were other forces at play that hindered the desired success of this venture, and whose dark poisons linger still.

If so, what can be done about it?

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I think it’s interesting that the land on which the District of Columbia was raised up, was originally partly marshland. (Some say entirely ‘swamp’…but a little investigation disproves that.) I think it’s interesting because marshy areas bring to my mind Genesis 1:2, “and the earth was without form, and void…”. I wonder, just as God brought forth from that formlessness, that which He finally declared “very good” (v.31), were His intentions for the capital city of the United States of America the same? And just as the serpent slinked his way into the perfect scenario of Paradise, destroying its beauty by poisoning its very existence with his corrupted motives…did that happen to & during the creation of our early capital city?

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One of my theories, based on these readings, is that a city is where the nature of a thing/place comes to a focal point, and is manifested. Elkins & McKitrick conclude that the focal points of Washington, DC were the edifices & monuments that are the visible symbols of majesty and authority, and that the city was primarily designed for the “requirements and convenience of the nobility.”

Pennsylvania Ave – Washington DC 19th.Century

In fact, in designer Pierre L’Enfant’s original plans, references to “grand avenues”, “grand edifices” and “grand fountains” are frequently made, with not much mention of provision for everyday life & commerce. (Lewis Mumford, The Culture of Cities) The first few decades of the 19^th century produced “a total absence of all sights, sounds or smells of commerce” (James S. Young, Washington Community).

The impression is given that the very elements which forced the founding fathers & colonists to severely break from their mother country – monarchical majesty? – were once again taking root?

Was DC launched with wrong motive?

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Jesus told us that when we ask and don’t receive our request, it is because we asked with wrong motive.

At least in more recent history, we hear so much about the fat cats in Washington, the wealthy **global elite running the show (or trying to) for their own selfish purposes and perhaps – in the extreme – unholy agendas, while the bread & butter, the muscle & heart of this great country – the people – are often disregarded, used & hoodwinked, if possible. Does it appear that bad seeds – if I may mix metaphors – came home to roost?

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It would not seem that God is against cities, or at least the idea of a city, as Scripture speaks of Abraham looking for a city whose builder & maker is God (Hebrews 11:10), and “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” in chapter 12, v.22. While the term ‘city’ used in each of these verses may be a spiritual metaphor, nonetheless the actual definition does read ‘a town (properly with walls)’ in the Greek dictionary of Strong’s Concordance.

So I guess the problem might be with the nature of the substance of a city, and accordingly, what kind of fruit is produced?

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While reading my source material for this article, the thought of Jericho, the Biblical ‘cursed city’ came to mind. I remembered something I’d read in an old Bible study manual, regarding that curse on Jericho (Joshua 6:17), and on the one who would rebuild it (v.26) (after Joshua invaded & destroyed it). On the face of it, one gets the impression of doom…but this particular Bible preacher had pointed out a completely opposite result.

I could not locate my old Bible study manual, so I did some online research. I did find the same type of outcome stated in this online study of Jericho.

(I am not in 100% agreement with some other conclusions drawn in this study – for instance, I myself don’t know anywhere Scripture indicates that believers reclaim this Earth in battle…I am omitting that part…otherwise, the gist of the conclusion made here does seem accurate to me.) I am posting some final parts of the study:

“In the Battle of Jericho we see that after Jericho is purged with fire, Joshua son of Nun sets the cost {places the curse} of rebuilding the Kingdom at the expense of the owners “firstborn son” and “youngest son”. We know from the Bible that the cost of redeeming this planet back to YHVH and the Remnant back to YHVH came at the expense of YHVH’s firstborn son {Jesus}. And it is with the purchased lives of the eldest to the youngest of the sons of God {believers in Christ}that this Earth will be governed, rebuilt, re-established, after the Earth is purged by fire and everything in it destroyed.”

**“…Today as we witness the Global Elite make their move to control this planet, we see them destroying the Earth. They are poisoning our atmosphere with chemicals, poisoning our water supplies, playing with our weather, and they are playing with the genetics to attempt to achieve eternal life (trans-humanism). In the end, they will neither govern this Earth nor will they achieve Eternal Life…” (Summary)

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…my intention in including the Jericho example/study is as more of an overview than showing many & specific details. I have not read the entire study. But it does seem like Jericho may represent an ultimately redeemed city/state/earth. If such is true, why cannot Washington DC know redemption as well?

Are you a citizen of the United States of America? Do you know Jesus? Then BE BOLD FOR YOUR COUNTRY in His Name! TODAY pray through history & declare the redemption of Washington DC to righteousness.

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HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY !

 

“…at that dramatic moment in the summer of 1776 when the Declaration was passed, the ageles tyranny of despotic rule was, at one blow, formally denounced and broken. The echo of that blow will surely ring down through the ages.”

(The Book of Great American Documents, Vincent Wilson, ed. – his Introduction to the Declaration of Independence)

 

God Bless America

Re-visiting Francis Marion, the ‘Swamp Fox’: Whatever It Took

“Marion deserves to be remembered as one of the heroes of the War for Independence.”

(Sean Busick, introduction to Wm. Gilmore Simms, The Life of Francis Marion.)

 

In April, 2014 I wrote a piece about the character of Benjamin Martin, portrayed by Mel Gibson in the stunning Revolutionary War movie ‘The Patriot’. At that time, if memory serves, I wasn’t able to find much information about Francis Marion, the real-life patriot on whom Gibson’s character was based.

Also at that time, I remember vague wisps of memory seeming to indicate a television series that I had watched as a child or teenager, a series about the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion…it seemed I rather had a crush on this swash-buckling renegade…but the memory was barely there. I figured I was imagining it. Or maybe it was an entirely different show…time can certainly fade memories!

Well, I wasn’t imagining it!

And I’ve recently learned considerably more about Francis Marion, the ‘Swamp Fox’ of Revolutionary American legend & lure.

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True to his fictional counterpart, Francis Marion was himself a South Carolina plantation owner before the war began. Having had previous combat experience fighting the Cherokee in 1761, as a lieutenant in a light-infantry company, Marion was already positioned to be made a cavalry captain by his former commanding officer when the war for independence began. A lieutenant colonel by 1779, “it was largely Marion who kept the pressure on the British with incessant hit-and-run guerilla tactics” after the defeat of American General Horatio Gates at Camden, SC in the late summer of 1780.

(Sidebar: Interestingly enough, General Gates may not have been defeated if he had adjusted his attitude towards the lieutenant colonel {my thought}.

General Gates

 Allegedly Gates had a ‘low opinion’ of Marion & thus sent him on an intelligence-gathering mission, rather than retain his fighting skills & knowledge of strategy in the battle. Though the Americans greatly out-gunned & out-manned the British, their defeat was staggering. General Gates never held a field command again.) Yet that very same month, Marion’s men rescued 150 captured Continental soldiers; soon after, with just 50 men, Marion ambushed 250 Tory militia, overran a Tory outpost, and again waged a battle against more Tories the following month.

The man derided by the humiliated General Gates was promoted to general.

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General Horatio Gates was succeeded by an officer with an entirely different approach to Francis Marion: General Nathanael Greene.

General Greene has been labeled “Washington’s most trusted general” though oddly not for reasons of military successes. In March of 1777, Washington wrote to Congress that Greene “deserves the greatest respect, and much regard is due to his opinions.”

Generals George Washington & Nathanael Greene

Being so highly esteemed then, General Greene’s endorsement of Marion perhaps more than made up for Gates’ disparaging of the man. Upon relieving Gates of command in December, 1780, General Greene immediately contacted Marion with conciliatory orders showing empathy, encouragement & validation.

My overviews of General Nathanael Greene & Francis Marion seem to show certain alignments of disposition & style; even physical characteristics! which perhaps gave rise to the rapport that seems to have developed between them.

Nathanael Greene was often ill, asthmatic & with a bad leg that caused him to limp; Francis Marion, rather short & thin, had badly-formed knees & ankles since his youth, with similar results: he limped. Neither gave an impressive, soldier-like appearance.

No one appears to have given either of them Best Personality awards. Greene has been described by some (not the enemy!) in very unflattering terms: “belittling & sneering…undignified & petulant”, unpopular with his army; while neither surly nor rude, Marion was described by the son of a Continental officer as having a visage “not pleasing” and manners “not captivating”, being “reserved and silent.” Neither officer was concerned with political correctness! Thank God!

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Both men experienced facing dire odds with but few men:

When Charleston, SC fell to the British, General Washington made Nathanael Green commander-in-chief of the Southern Department, sending him to the now British-controlled backcountry and its surrounding areas. When Greene arrived, he was met with a most disheartening situation. He wrote in a letter that he was in search of the Army he was supposed to have met there, “having found nothing but a few half-starved soldiers, who are remarkable for nothing but poverty & distress.” Eventually, though, General Knox offered high praise for Greene’s accomplishments in such circumstances: “Without an army, without means, without anything, he has performed wonders.”

After this and two other Continental army losses in that area, Marion organized a small band consisting of between 20-70 men, which at that time was the only force opposing the British Army in the state. “Marion & his followers played the role of David to the British Goliath.”(Busick) ‘Marion’s Men’ served without pay, supplying their own horses, arms & often food. (Gray, Jefferson {Autumn 2011} MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History. 24 [1] 56-65.) “Though often out-numbered, Marion’s militia would continue to use guerilla tactics to surprise enemy regiments, with great success.” (Smithsonian Magazine)

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Marion & Greene each generated unease & frustration in their adversaries: of Marion, Lieutenant Banastre Tarleton declared that “the devil himself could not catch him.” Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis said that Marion “has so wrought the minds of the people, partly by the terror of his threats and cruelty of his punishments and partly by the promise of plunder…” that most all the area inhabitants were in arms against them; of Greene, Cornwallis declared him “as dangerous as Washington…with but little hope of gaining any advantage over him, I never feel secure when encamped in his neighborhood.”

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…I point out these similarities between the two leaders to show how a way seems to have been prepared for Francis Marion to step into favor. The Scriptures tell us of how God makes a way when there is no way, and I would like to suggest that He was doing this, in 1780, with Francis Marion.

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A couple of other incidents along these lines caught my attention, as well.

As previously noted, Marion had weakened knees & ankles. He limped. Yet Francis Marion so excelled in close combat guerrilla tactics that he is considered one of its fathers, and as having provided the prototype for future Army Ranger technique. “With God all things are possible.”

At this time in history, it was a colonial custom when hosting a dinner party, to lock the doors during the after-dinner toast to the Revolutionary cause. Attending one such event in March of 1780, in Charleston, SC, Marion found himself therefore trapped in the host’s home, which proved too frustrating for him to endure. He was not a drinking man! So he jumped out a second story window. The result was a broken ankle.

Marion’s damaged ankle, besides not ultimately hindering his physical skill in combat, served to save his freedom & possibly his life. Recuperation necessitated Marion’s removal to the country, with the result that he was not in the city of Charleston when it was taken by the British that May. What some intended for harm, God meant for good.

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One of my final observations: When General Greene first encountered Francis Marion & his men, he considered the lot of them “unimpressive.” He described “wretchedness of…attire…miserably equipped”, their number not exceeding twenty. I get the impression he had to try to restrain his own men from laughing. (Wm. Johnson, Sketches of the Life & Correspondence of Nathanael Greene). Quite the rag-tag bunch. Reading this, I was put in mind of the twelve disciples of Jesus. Small in number, traipsing around dusty roads & hauling stinking fish in boats…an itinerant preacher…a despised tax collector…you get my drift…to be sure, none of them were on anybody’s Best Dressed List, either…but they over-turned the known world at that time, and their impact – because of their Leader – has powerfully affected the world since.

And Marion’s runty band? “Marion’s cunning, resourcefulness & determination helped keep the cause of American independence alive in the South.” (Smithsonian Magazine)

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I had already known a little bit about Marion the plantation owner, Marion the guerilla fighter & Marion the patriot officer & General. But I did NOT know what is possibly the most astounding fact of all, and convinces me more than ever that God was with him, for the sake of the American cause in which we live, move & have our being today. After the war, Francis Marion returned to his plantation life, marrying at age 54 & serving in the South Carolina Assembly where he opposed punishing Americans who had remained loyal to the British during the war, championing amnesty ((Smithsonian Magazine). I hope I am not pushing the envelope here when I say that I see shades of the Savior-Father who paid a hard price to procure our freedom, made a Way to abolish enmity and is faithful to forgive.

 

 

Bronze statue of Brigadier General Francis Marion – Johnsonville, SC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source material:

Besides the noted books & articles, much of my information was found in After Yorktown: the Final Struggle for American Independence, by Don Glickstein.

 

 

 

 

God…in Real-Time…Bringing about History

The living nature of the Scriptures may be something that some of us haven’t quite experienced yet.

I think a person has to be made ready for that. I also think that when & how this happens is up to God. But when it does, and a person begins to be in that flow…whether but for a few verses, a Bible study session or for most of the time, that flow becomes peace like a river.

Because the Lord changes not, and His Word endures forever, if He said it in ages & times past, isn’t He still saying it today? I don’t point this out to tout Old Testament law in any way, but rather to emphasize the real-time element to the words of the Lord. If you can apprehend that GOD is saying this NOW, as you read it, those words will beckon you like never before. The hardness of the letter, that sealed up the Life, dissolves completely in that moment. In that moment, everything else fades into the background. It is thrilling. You realize that Jesus is reaching out & touching you.

In the flesh, when someone speaks to you, some kind of response is elicited from you. It may be a non-response, in that you don’t see a reason to answer or to take an action. But that is still a response. And/or the information imparted to you can change your perspective and maybe your decisions.

So when this kind of living dialogue is shared with you by the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father God who loves you…wow…

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Old Testament figures come alive. You become privy to His conversations with or about them as though you were/are present. In a sense you are. The Ancient of Days becomes God Right Now. The integrity & faithfulness expressed by the Lord then, pertains to you today. Apprehend that.

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I write about this today, because I have been having this kind of real-time experience lately.  In an unexpected time of refreshing, this Word came alive to me:

“Thus saith the LORD…that frustrateth the tokens of the liars…”

Amen.

“Thus saith the LORD…that confirmeth the word of His servant…”

Amen.

“Thus saith the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus…to subdue nations before him…”

Amen.

“Thus saith the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus…I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.”

Amen.  (Isaiah 44: 25,26 & 45: 1,2)

AMEN to all these things, by the word of the Lord, unto our President, unto the eternal purposes of God, His kingdom and the drawing of all men unto our incomparable Lord Jesus.

The Wisdom Of God in His Gift to America: George Washington, General & President

One of my most visited posts is “George Washington & Political Parties”. I don’t know if the thoughts expressed therein ever helped anyone, but I was reading it today and was certainly given pause.

George Washington, as Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary War forces & our first President, continues to only earn more of my great & deep respect and admiration. With every new article, statement, or description relating to this man, I am profoundly impressed. It does not seem possible that what God hath wrought through our first & foremost Founding Father, could show itself yet more magnificent – but it does.

We learn not only about Washington, we also learn about God. We can learn about His heart for America, in seeing His hand in young George’s life, in the young Lieutenant Washington’s exploits, in George’s meeting of Martha, his wife-to-be…in oh so close! brushes with death, miracles in battle…and especially so in General Washington’s dauntless perseverance against all odds. If you aren’t a person who is interested in learning about Revolutionary War battles in more detail, you wouldn’t know about the unrelenting obstacles & setbacks, cruel deprivations & deep discouragements, disappointments & betrayals. Sufferings about which we are blessed to not know the details, perhaps…those of us who have not served in active combat, nor will, are so protected by those who have. Washington & his men stood against the darkness, and with the Almighty’s Hand, prevailed.

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…so I thought I would re-post here some of our first President’s warnings concerning political parties.

“One of the expedients of party to acquire influence…is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.”

You don’t have to look too far to see this principle thriving in today’s political climate!

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Washington warned that such ‘misrepresentations’ “…tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection.” Causing instead division in these United States.

He foresaw “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men {being} enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government…”  Wolves in sheep’s clothing?

{Quotes taken from George Washington’s Farewell Address (1796)}

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From my original post George Washington & Political Parties, I reproduce here my own wording:

“…with insight as piercing as the quickened & powerful word of God, discerning the thoughts & intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12), Washington lays bare the ‘spirit of party’, which he saw as being deeply rooted in human nature & passion, and aggravated by resentments. He understood “that love of power, and proneness to abuse it” found in human hearts, and believed the pitting of one faction against another could produce over time enough revenge, misery and ‘disorders’, as to impel the populace back towards monarchy.”

We should be alarmed at the mere thought of such a possibility. You need to know that God Himself did not want His people to be under any earthly monarchical ruler. (1 Samuel 8:7) He still does not want that. It’s not His style!! When you see any kind of movement trending – even inching! – in that direction, be concerned. Be concerned because there is a power behind it, that does not have your good at heart. There is a power behind it that ultimately desires to usurp the throne of the King of kings.

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Related posts:

Returning to Monarchy

the World Wide Web & and Two Arks…

 

I wrapped up my last post ‘Hmmm…the World Wide ‘Web’ ??‘ with the following question: “What if, ages & eons back in time, with the most malevolent of intentions, the fallen Lucifer installed a monstrous Super Computer/AI somewhere in the universe, or on our planet?”

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If your first reaction to this possibility is, that’s ridiculous! Computers didn’t even exist back then!, my response to you would be, think again! How do we KNOW that? Especially when one considers Ecclesiastes 1:9-11, which tells us that there is nothing new under the sun, “the thing that hath been, it is that which shall be…” (Beyond this tidbit of explanation, I’ll leave it to you to perhaps read my post to see how I reached this conclusion.)

The idea of a Super Computer existing on our planet, as a controlling agent, was first presented to me in the course of a video detailing one man’s suspicions about the death of Justice Scalia. I’d been exposed to enough far-out topics & theories over the last few years, to not be completely floored by the explanation. It actually seemed plausible.

The plausibility of a God-like techno-relic/structure, in the form of this alleged AI, finds its roots in Lucifer’s “I will be like the Most High…I will ascend…I will be exalted” declarations in Isaiah 14 (my opinion). I don’t believe that this fallen being has ever stopped trying to achieve God-like status. Why not, then, seek it in the form of technology, since nothing else has worked definitively & absolutely so far? The rise & spread of computerization, with all its attendant cyber-technology, has expanded worldwide and beyond. Its growth continues, with no end in sight…or, wait…is there an intended end? A global society, connected at every point, place & level by the internet, and with a deluded “Most High’ running the show in the form of, or through, a Super Computer?

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Scripture does tell us that Satan can disguise himself as an angel of light. His ministers can do likewise, more or less (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). So the concept of ‘counterfeiting’ would apply to the devil’s activities and/or appearances.

I point this out to suggest an attempted parallel.

We know that the Bible tells us about the construction of the Ark of the Covenant. Within the Ark was housed the testimony of God (Exodus 25:16). (Imagine! His testimony to His people! I find that beautiful. The God of the Old Testament, so often portrayed as fiery & vengeful, desired to communicate with his people.) Those articles of His testimony were a pot of manna, the two tables of testimony on which were engraved the ten Commandments, and Aaron’s rod that budded. Bible studies tell us that these three items represent the Word of God, the law, and God’s grace, if I’m remembering correctly. (Further & deeper study would probably open these areas of truth in amazing & powerful ways…but that isn’t my goal today, so I’ll keep moving here…)

…here comes the parallel…

If you look, you will find on the internet mentions, articles & videos concerning the Ark of Gabriel. I would think that many of us, right off the bat, are hit by the similarity of title – how many ‘arks’ does the average person know of?

If reports are to be believed, in September of 2015, a “mysterious ‘device/weapon’ was discovered on 12 September by a 15-man tunnel digging crew” under the Masjid al-Haram Mosque (Grand Mosque) in Saudi Arabia. Allegedly, during this excavation, over 100 people were killed by killed by a massive “plasma emission”…

{Note: this is the ONLY image I found of this event}

Within a few weeks, reports of a Russian Federation naval research vessel departing a Saudi Arabian port “after taking on board a mysterious object described as the “Ark of Gabriel” circulated. This vessel, the Admiral Vladimisky, was embarking on the Federation’s first Antarctica expedition in 30 years.

It has been reported that certain personages of repute traveled to Antarctica after this apparent event. Following a meeting with Pope Francis, in February of 2016 in Cuba, Archbishop Kirill of Moscow showed up on this icy continent. Months later then Vice President John Kerry arrived there. (Kerry had been en route on Election Day, which many found odd, considering that this had been the intensely fought Donald Trump/Hillary Clinton campaign.) Questions arose as to why ‘important’ people were going to Antarctica? The reasons given (visiting the penguins/our troops) didn’t seem to satisfy everyone. I myself remember certain related articles catching my attention back then, and wondering…

For some reason this artifact was moved, quickly & under considerable military escort, to an isolated, frozen land mass. Then, right around this time, persons with power & authority start trekking down to that same location…

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A year or two ago I came across a YouTube video (which now probably cannot be accessed if one does not already have the link to it saved on their hard drive.) This short video laid out a sequence of events possibly explaining the how & why of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, culminating at the Ark of Gabriel in Antarctica. The video’s narrator, a Mr. Cati, suggests that the Ark of Gabriel is in fact a Super Computer. It is likely that this device is from the past. Mr. Cati describes it as a God-like entity, but not God. (I suggest a counterfeit ‘God’.) I am reminded of the television series ‘Person of Interest’, where an extremely advanced technology computed & directed the activities of everyone. I think the similarity here is too eerie to be easily discounted.

Cati believes that this AI/computer is facilitating the New World Order’s arrival.

Because a computer operates in logical sequences & patterns, specific procedures, i.e. rituals must be followed when accessing it. (Compare to the Old Testament ritual sacrifices etc. when approaching or entreating God).

Cati suggests that some overwhelming threat – within the New World Order’s system – prompted an attempt at ‘communication’ with this AI, seeking guidance or clarity. The ritual proscribed offering for this AI/Ark was ashes. (Compare to the Old Testament offerings requiring blood, especially the yearly blood atonement, placed on the mercy seat of the other Ark, the Ark of the Covenant.) Let me also point out that whereas ‘the life is in the blood’ i.e. Godly Old Testament procedures, ashes point to death (Ark of Gabriel/ demonic technology). Again…counterfeit?

Here is where Mr. Cati’s theory goes even more so ‘outside-the-box’:

He suggests that the ashes placed on/within the Ark of Gabriel were encoded using nanotechnology, with a specific request for help, and scanned by this ‘computer’ to decode the message. Cati considers that the ashes were those of Justice Scalia. (Justice Scalia, if you recall, was not autopsied, and allegedly he was cremated within about 24-48 hours after his death. There has been much suspicion & speculation about the Justice’s death, to be sure. I’ve looked into it a lot, even recently. I believe he was murdered. But I cannot seem to find an official, absolute, detailed statement concerning his cremation, only that he was embalmed quickly. I know media coverage showed his casket at the funeral proceedings, but I couldn’t find any pictures where his casket was open, to verify that his body was actually in it.) The reason for Patriarch Kirill’s visit to Antarctica (a few days after Scalia’s death), some think, was to transport those ashes to the Ark.

It is reported that Kirill “…performed an ‘ancient ritual’ over it read from a ‘secret text’ given to him by Pope Francis just days prior in Cuba when these leaders of Christianity’s two top sects met for the first time in nearly 1,000 years.”

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So, some strange goings-on…as a person investigates these things, the details can be overwhelming, not to mention the sensationalism of the whole thing…or, depending on your perspective, ludicrousness.

The ritualistic aspect of this event – assuming it happened as reported – mirrors Old Testament law. New Testament Scripture clearly tells us, though, that this Old Testament ministry, while once glorious in its own right, still brings death in that it condemns (2 Corinthians 3:7-9). So this ‘death’ aspect residing in ritual, coupled with deathly, dried-up ashes, proves to me that the whole Ark of Gabriel thing is NOT of God, and that ‘something/someone’ is orchestrating a copy. Even the ‘plasma emission’ mentioned earlier could be mirroring 2 Samuel 6:6-7, when death resulted from actually touching the Ark of the Covenant.

(I am not saying that there is no power at play here…I’m saying, it’s not God.)

I’m saying, Beware of ever more ‘marvelous’ technology as it encroaches upon our Divinely-given humanity.

Consider the source. Be not ignorant of the wiles of the devil.

Yet, while you’re being meek as doves, be also in a sense ‘wise as serpents’, as Scripture counsels! and use this technology for good. Be that candle, that light in an online comment, or video. On Facebook or Twitter. Maybe start a blog. There are small things we can do, here & there, sowing truth, sowing the good seed of God’s Word, and it doesn’t always have to be an actual specific Scripture. BE VERY CLEAR on the truth that the only Way to safely & legitimately receive that which we want or need, is through Christ. No one needs rituals. God has provided for us in & through His Son, through the New Covenant by the blood of Jesus. So encourage towards that direction when & where you can.

Point the way…to THE Way.