The first statement II Peter makes regarding the finality of history 3:3-7: unbelievers in every age deny it. An easy decision since they reject the Biblical concept of catastrophism—God’s violent interruption of history in Noah’s Flood. The various flood legends recorded in world cultures do not rival the historic flood of Noah. It records the loss of all but 8 humans kept alive in an ocean-liner sized Ark. It also serves as a symbol of God’s greater destruction of the entire cosmos by FIRE!
The second statement 3:8. God’s delay in finalizing history reminds us that he is as timeless as we are time-bound. He gave us a time frame for historical records, providing the days, months, years and centuries that make history so boring to some and, to others who tolerate the dates to study their significance, so essential. What it all means is that God makes decisions by a different perspective: the sin that ripens society for judgment Genesis 15:16. Which leads to the third statement 3:9. History—HIS STORY—concerns itself with God working out his will in human lives, the purpose that Paul revealed in II Corinthians 5:1-10. Whatever our career-choice, our life-purpose remains singular: to live eternally in the new body Christ modeled, Revelation 1:12-18, and we inherit. Thus, history is really all about God telling us:
Jesus Returns as Judge.
ETERNAL LIFE in Christ bequeaths a full life of discipleship NOW and HOPE of a dramatic, inimitable life THEN. Fini
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The First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics leave no doubt that desolation remains the ultimate outcome for our planetary system. It’s the principle of diminished capacity: energy expended diminishes as it’s used. It’s also the basic explanation why we age. Our bodily systems wear down as used until they wear out. My brother Dick felt he had reached that point a few days before death. He told his doctor he was “worn out.” Some take longer to reach the end of the energy-capacity, but no one has ever defied the ultimate result of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
The evolutionist conjectures that earth and sky, planets and stars, will simply twinkle out of existence: there one instant, then…pfft…gone the next. The Bible-believer knows better. As God out of nothing created the heavens and earth in six 24-hour days; as he destroyed the world in Noah’s flood; as he has in history raised up and humbled nation after nation, he has now assigned the entire universe to BURNING by humanity disgracing, corrupting and depraving all creation by our willful sins and refusal to repent! Peter 3 discusses that finality in three statements. End Part I Friends, an abbreviated Blog for this Thursday, February 24, 2022. If we want to know history's Response to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, change the "t" in his name to a "k", and add DOG. If you want to know how history responds to Joe Biden's cowardly response to the invasion, cast back to 1938 and you'll find the master appeaser—Neville Chamberlain.
My perspective, understand. Personal note: back to blogging after having a severe reaction to a Covid booster shot. No more vaccinations in tandem.
Personal reminiscence: this blog reminded me of the first ship-launching our family had witnessed. There we were, September 1974, newly-arrived in Chula Vista, CA from a 6 ½ year ministry in Las Vegas. Having seen many entertainment spectaculars there, we didn't know what to expect. Realization exceeded expectation; for something majestic occurred as the monster ship slid on her WAYS, as if by enchantment, into San Diego Bay, tipping to what seemed a dangerous degree before righting itself. In a related WWII incident, the Queen Mary passenger ship transported 20-25 thousand servicemen to Europe in 1942. Hit by a 70 foot high rogue wave, it came within 1-2 degrees of capsizing. It terrified those who knew the danger and merely thrilled those unaware. In 2015 the NASSCO shipyard launched sister ships Isla Bella and TOTE 2, both over 760 feet long and powered by natural gas. Interesting point: the builders prepared for the launch before starting construction. They first applied 4800 pounds of wax to two permanent, parallel wooden ramps comprising the ground anchors of the Ways. They then added 5000 pounds of grease. They then placed the "slider" on the mixture. It served as a pair of huge skis or wooden sleds that carried the ships into the water. San Diego UT, 8/28/15 Consider the spiritual application: God sees all that happens in history before it begins. He saw its conclusion before authoring its origin. That's why Jesus is called both "author and perfecter" of faith Hebrews 12:1. Never surprised at historic events as we are, he KNEW them all before a single one occurred. His perfect knowledge gave what we call prophecy his flawless announcements of Kingdom promises thousands of years before fulfillment, the earliest an example of all the rest: Genesis 3:15—Matthew 1:23, Galatians 4:4-5a. Note: I interrupt my series on Discipleship—too noisy to hear God—to address disturbing changes in American life following the 2020 election. Back tomorrow with SUBSTANTIAL material.
A strange similarity exists between the physical assault of Trump’s followers on the Capitol and the black activists removing Confederate statues in the South. Both feel the need to remove symbols they feel keep them chained: the blacks in slavery, the disaffected Republicans in political defeat. In a previous blog I said blacks should prove the slave-holders wrong by getting educations and succeeding far more completely than slavers considered possible. To do that meant they accepted responsibility for their own success without looking to government handouts. Nevertheless, falling easy prey to unscrupulous politicians, who trade welfare support for votes, many blacks have become a permanent underclass. In the run-off in Georgia, Democrats rushed to recruit black voters. But as I wrote years ago, any candidate that must depend on a voting block to be elected SHOULDN’T BE! Even well-intentioned politicians, with the Power of Federal government behind them, can’t eliminate poverty in groups. In 1964 President Johnson declared unconditional war on poverty in America. Yet here we are, 57 years later, with food banks pleading for more help than the government already generously gives, to “feed the poor”. Whatever happened to the “unconditional war” to eliminate poverty in the 1960’s? Let those who think politicians have the answers carefully consider that anomaly between what they promise and deliver. Trump wanted to be as successful a statesman as he was, and will continue to be, an entrepreneur. Even Democrat Diane Feinstein admitted he could be a good President. Yet, while not discounting the legislative victories of the past quadrennial, he forfeited any claim to statesmanship when he refused to accept defeat in 2020. Even understanding that fraud could have existed in some states—Democrats are notorious for stealing elections—Richard Nixon, cheated out of the Presidency in 1960, refused to order a recount in Chicago, that hot-bed of Democratic fraud. To be a statesman, not a politician, Trump should have accepted the 2020 vote and let God, who does after all RULE the nations, take whatever remedial or punitive action he would against those who cheat to gain a temporal advantage. It’s very true that the Left always gave Trump the Shaft, not the Mine. Nevertheless, when he could have proved how wrong they were by responding with superior attitudes, acts and behaviors to their childish political tricks, he instead determined to prove them right. He continued to be a boorish street fighter. As a result, he LOST the 2020 election far more than Biden WON it. A closing thought. Removing Confederate symbols won’t change the history that created slavery. It will make iconoclasts of blacks who think that destroying the symbols makes them better people. When all it proves is that they possess a violence shown in every riot they precipitate. Indeed, a violence endemic to humanity, mindlessly destroying without a corresponding genius for creating something better. Black parents must stop prepping their children to be pro athletes, which may provide a financially lucrative career, but only for a short time. They must instead challenge their sons and daughters to be competent in the arts and sciences as even-handed historians, doctors, teachers and preachers. The successful model established by Asians coming to America should be their guide, not the failed model set by Democratic politicians who offer welfare dependency for votes to keep the financial spigot open. All this is my view, based on an understanding of the Bible. If you have a different view, what is your authority? |
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