DECIPHERING THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS

Every year when the Feast of Trumpets (a.k.a. Rosh Hashanah), rolls around, prophecy watchers go into what I call, "high alert" in anticipation for the Rapture of the Church.  I, myself, am one of those watchmen and this year there seems to be extra cause for excitement.

As many people may know, there are several similarities and parallels with the traditional aspects of the Feast of Trumpets compared to the Rapture, especially when viewed from the Jewish perspective.  I recently came across a list of all the different Jewish names for the Feast of Trumpets and their meanings. I'd like to list them here with their meanings and their parallels to the characteristics of the Rapture of the Church and their possible relevance to this year!  But first, please understand that I am not date setting, but rather discerning the times as our Lord calls us to do!

Names Associated with the Feast of Trumpets:

Rosh Hashanah - means "head of the year" and is the New Year on the Jewish calendar (Tishri 1), and is designated by the New Moon.  The last new moon we had was during a solar eclipse over America.  Traditionally a solar eclipse was recognized as a sign of coming judgment.

As I am writing this America is experiencing severe devastation on the west coast with the largest wild fire ever recorded in Los Angeles causing mass evacuations. The gulf coast is recovering from the ravages of Hurricane Harvey and a potential record breaking size hurricane is threatening to possibly strike the east coast sometime very soon.

 Teshuvah - signifies repentance.  The Hebrew month prior to Tishri is Elul and it is designated as the month of repentance. It is customary to blow the shofar every day (except on Shabbat), leading up to the Feast of Trumpets.

Many have talked about the "Sign of Jonah" when the solar eclipse occurred last month and that it happened on the first day of Elul.  Exactly 40 days later is the Day of Atonement and the number 40 in the Bible represents a time of testing or trial.  The Lord instructed Jonah to give the wicked city of Nineveh 40 days to repent before He would judge the wickedness of that city with destruction. Nineveh repented and was spared God's judgment. Could the last eclipse be a sign that America and/or the rest of the world have 40 days left to repent before Judgment comes?

Yom Teruah - designated as the "Day of Shouting" accompanied by the "Awakening Blast" to call those that are sleeping in the dust to come to life.

At the Rapture the Lord will come with a "shout" and a "trumpet" when He first resurrects those that sleep in Christ and then translates us Christians who are alive to join them!

"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)

Yom HaDin - means "The Day of Judgment".   The "Judgment Seat of Christ" will likely occur immediately after the Rapture where all believers in Christ are judged for their works and given the crowns that they earned. (see Romans 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:13-15; and 2 Corinthians 5:10)

For those that don't go in the Rapture, it will certainly be a day of judgment for them as they will have to face the 21 sets of divine judgments that are outlined in Revelation chapters 6 through 18.  It is important to note that the church is not mentioned once in any of those chapters.

Yom HaMelech - relates to the Lord being recognized as King of the universe. The coronation of kings traditionally occurred on this day and we can surmise that the coronation of the King Messiah will occur on a future Feast of Trumpets, perhaps at the Second Coming.

It is interesting to note that Stephen was the first martyr of the Church Age and that the "crown of life" that Jesus offers to the church of Smyrna in Revelation 2:10 is called the "stephanos" in the Greek, likely named after Stephen. This makes Stephen the first member of the "bride of Christ" to enter heaven.

When Stephen was about to die he saw Christ "standing" from His seat next to the Father to welcome him home.  When the Rapture occurs Christ will once again leave from His seat next to the Father to come and get the last remaining members of the bride of Christ.  There are some theologians that believe Stephen was martyred on the Feast of Trumpets, possibly even as early as the same year that Christ was crucified.

Chevlai shel Mashiach - is a Hebrew phrase meaning "birth pangs of the Messiah" and is recognized as "the time of Jacob's Trouble."  Jacob's name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with God (Genesis 32:28).

When Jesus was asked by the disciples about the end of the age, He told them that those days would be the beginning of "sorrows" (Matthew 24:8). The Greek word for sorrows is "odin" and it means "birth pangs." The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the birth pangs of the Messiah in Jeremiah 30:6-7:

"Ask now and see,

Whether a man is ever in labor with child?

So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins

Like a woman in labor,

And all faces turned pale?

Alas! For the day is great,

So that none is like it;

And it is the time of Jacob's trouble,

But he shall be saved out of it."

The "time of Jacob's trouble" is synonymous with "Daniel's 70th Week" and the seven year Tribulation period. After the Rapture of the Church, the Lord's attention will return to Israel as she suffers through the afflictions of the Tribulation period.

Kiddushin / Nesu'in - is the wedding ceremony and implies that the wedding of the Messiah will take place on the Feast of Trumpets.  When the Rapture occurs, Christ the Bridegroom will come to receive His bride and take her to His Father's house. (John 14:1-4)

All of the similarities and parallels between the ancient Jewish wedding traditions and the Rapture of the Church are too extensive, to go into all of the details here. I highly encourage you to do a study of it on your own and you will be sure to be blessed!

Natzal -  or "the day of the natzal" and also refers to the resurrection of the dead.  Natzal in the Hebrew (Strong's H5337), means "deliverance, to deliver, to snatch away,  take away, to rescue."  Basically, "natzal" is the Hebrew correspondence to the Greek "harpazo" which means "rapture"!

Shofar HaGadol - refers to the "last trump." The last trump blown after a series of trumpet blasts on the Feast of Trumpets is a long bellowing blast.  Paul referred to the "last trump" when he described the Rapture in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52.

"Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed-in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)

Yom Hakeseh - means "the hidden day". Isaiah 26:19-21 mentions God's people "hiding themselves" after the dead are raised and the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

Psalm 27:5 also reminds us:

"For in the time of trouble

He shall hide me in His pavilion;

In the secret place of His tabernacle

He shall hide me;

He shall set me high upon a rock."

Rosh Hashanah has also been referred to as the "hidden day" because it is the only Feast of the Lord's seven Feasts given in Leviticus 23 that begins on a New Moon.  The start of the Feast can't be determined until the first sliver of the moon reappears, after it has come out of "hiding", and is seen by two witnesses. Because of this there is a two day window when the Feast can begin, so no one knows the day or the hour!

Lastly, the Feast of Trumpets has also been termed as "The Day of the Opening of the Gates."  In Jewish tradition the gates of heaven would open up on Rosh Hashanah allowing the sinner to repent before God and have his name written in the Book of Life that would then be sealed on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

During this time the High Priest would go into a chamber in the Temple and "hide himself" from the people (Israel), until the Day of Atonement when he would then come out and determine whether Israel had been forgiven of sin or whether Israel would suffer judgment.

Currently our High Priest, Christ Jesus, is in heaven making intercession for the saints (Hebrews 4:14), and will soon be coming out of His place to judge the world for their iniquity (Isaiah 26:21).

In Revelation 4:1 the apostle John is raptured up to heaven to be shown the things that must come afterward, meaning after the Church Age that was outlined in the previous chapters 2 and 3.  When John is taken up it mentions that "a door was opened in heaven."

Jesus said of Himself:

"I am the door, if anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and go in and out and find pasture." (John 10:9)

If the Feast of Trumpets is known as the "opening of the gates", then it certainly could apply to the Rapture of the Church where the Lord descends and the church ascends in and out of heaven!

With all of these parallels and similarities between the multiple meanings of the Feast of Trumpets and the Rapture of the Church followed by the Tribulation period, is it any wonder why prophecy watchers get excited when Rosh Hashanah comes around!

Jesus' words in Revelation 3:3 clearly imply that the church IS supposed to be watching and knowing the "hour" of His return.

"Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you." (Revelation 3:3)

All of the seven letters to the churches end with the admonition:

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Notice churches is plural.  So that message about watching and knowing the hour of His return applies to the entire Church Age. What we never want to do is be dogmatic about any certain date, but there is nothing wrong with being on high alert on one of the Lord's feast days that He has ordained to be  His appointments.

"And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching."  (Hebrews 10:24-25)

HOW JESUS HOLDS US ACCOUNTABLE FOR BIBLE PROPHECY

By Bill Perkins

 

Some background on the Roman world at the time of Jesus:

 

At the time Jesus began His ministry on earth, only the Jews were looking for a future Messiah. Only the Jews had written prophecies from God foretelling of a time that their Messiah would come and rule the world in righteousness.

 

"And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one."(Zech. 14:9)

 

"You will judge the peoples with uprightness and guide the nations on the earth." (Psalm 67:4)

 

But Israel's Redeemer had yet to come, and the cruel Roman rule was detested by all of Israel as they waited for their Messiah.

 

The Jewish hierarchy, mostly Pharisees and Sadducees, controlled the theocratic Israeli government and worked with the Roman officials to stay in power. They promised Rome there would be no problems if they allowed the Jews to worship in their temple, celebrate their feasts, make their sacrifices This partnership kept the Jewish hierarchy in power and prestige. But even though Israel managed to have some autonomy, Rome still had ultimate rule...and it was a vicious rule.

 

The glory of the pro-Israel days of King Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC, was fading fast. After Herod's death, his son Archelaus ruled over Jerusalem, Jaffa and Caesarea for nine years,  4 B.C. to 6 A.D. He acted like a pompous king wearing all white and sitting on a golden throne. Archelaus made pagan changes to the outside of the Jewish Temple by force. Trying to keep peace, he had his army kill 3,000 Jews. He even cancelled an entire Passover!

 

Obviously, he was loathed by the Jews.  With the tax receipts from Jerusalem to Rome dropping and his inability to keep peace and rule effectively, Archelaus was eventually replaced by an appointed Prefect by Roman government. Pontius Pilate, who was ruling at the time of Jesus' ministry, was the third in a series of these appointed Prefects to exercise an iron-clad rule over the Jews in Jerusalem. King Herod built many new buildings in Israel, including expanding the Temple Mount and rebuilding the Temple from the foundation up.

 

However, not all the Jews were willing to wait for the Messiah. Between 20 A.D. and Jesus' death in 33 A.D., there were some 60 Jewish insurrections put down by Rome. The biggest rip-your-robe and throw-dirt-in-the-air of the Roman rules was that they made the Jews use Roman coins-forbidding Israel from minting and using its time-honored shekel. And adding to the Jewish misery, most Roman coins had a physical image inscribed on the coins. The Jews thought this was blasphemous due to the second of the Ten Commandments:

 

"You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth." (Exodus 20:4)

 

And using a coin with Caesar's picture on it to pay for the mandatory 1/2 shekel Temple tax was detestable.

 

"'Show Me the coin used for the poll-tax.' And they brought Him a [Roman] denarius. And He said to them, 'Whose likeness and inscription is this?' They said to Him, 'Caesar's." (Matthew 22:19-21)

 

So by 30 AD the Roman taxes were sky-high and the tension between Rome and Israel was at a fever-pitch. The people in Israel prayed daily for relief as they waited for their Messiah to come, defeat Rome and set up His prophesied kingdom.

 

Messianic Expectations:

 

This was the life and times of the Jews into which Jesus was born. He began His ministry in this tense environment, and to local Jewish observers the miracles He performed made Him look, sound and act like He could be the prophesied Messiah. This is why Jesus was asked so many times, by a wide range of people, whether He was the Messiah, the King of the Jews. Was He the Messiah? Had He come to set up His Kingdom?

 

So, expectations of a coming Messiah were quite rampant in Israel when Jesus came on the scene. King Herod mentions the future Messiah when the wise men came to Jerusalem looking for the King Who had just been born:

 

"Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, [Herod] inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet.'" (Matthew 2:4-5)

 

The Samaritan woman at the well mentions the Messiah:

 

"The woman said to Him, 'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ)." (John 4:25)

 

Prior to Jesus' arrest, the Pharisees ask about the Messiah:

 

"Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, 'The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed.'" (Luke 17:20)

 

Pontius Pilate quizzed Him...

 

"Pilate questioned Him, 'Are You the King of the Jews?'" (Mark 15:2)

 

The two thieves on the cross both mentioned it:

 

"One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, 'Are You not the Christ [Redeemer]? Save Yourself and us!'" (Luke 23:39)

 

"And he was saying, 'Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!'" (Luke 23:42)

 

Even after Jesus' resurrection, His somewhat still-confused disciples asked Him if He was now going to set up His "kingdom."

 

"So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?'" (Acts 1:6)

 

It was in this climate that Jesus spent 3.5 years healing myriads of sick and lame people all over Israel. He did so much in those few short years that John wrote:

 

"And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." (John 21:25)

 

In 3.5 years Jesus crisscrossed the Holy Land at a dizzying pace, drawing HUGE crowds everywhere He went.

 

"Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. Large crowds followed Him from Galilee and the Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan." (Matthew 4:23-25)

 

But His incredible miracles were not welcomed by everyone in the land. The Jewish ruling authorities were at their wits' end. They feared He had grown so well known that if they allowed Him to continue, the populace would inaugurate Him as King and they would lose their power.

 

"Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, 'What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.'" (John 11:47-48)

 

Trying to catch and kill Jesus So after 3.5 years, we find Jesus and His disciples walking up the road from Jericho to Jerusalem for the required attendance of the Passover celebration.

 

"Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD." (Exodus 23:17)

 

But Jesus stopped short of Jerusalem by a mile or so to spend the night with Lazarus in Bethany. One week earlier Jesus had raised Lazarus back to life. It was His biggest miracle yet and was performed right under the noses of those who wished to kill Him. Lazarus had been dead for four days-the corpse was even beginning to rot and smell. So there was no doubt to anyone that he was quite dead. The Roman historian Tacitus said 2,700,000 Jews came for the Passover celebration each year.

 

Since only 350,000 or so could cram inside the walls of Jerusalem, the rest would have to camp in side-by-side tents and makeshift shelters easily stretching as far as Bethany.  Therefore, when Jesus raised stinky Lazarus from the dead, everyone in town heard about it. Raising Lazurus from the dead was the talk of the town for the millions arriving for Passover. Jesus, knowing the purpose for which He had come to earth, was simply stoking the fires of the Pharisees.

 

They had given the order that if anyone knew where He was, they were to report it so Jesus could be seized. After raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus left for one last week, sort of a goodbye trip to friends and family, and performing his last miracles in Galilee and the Jordan Valley.

 

His last stop was in Jericho, where He healed two blind men and spent the night with Zaccheus, a rich tax-gatherer who got saved by believing Jesus was the Messiah. The next day Jesus departs Jericho on the road to Jerusalem, a day's journey by foot, weaving 23 miles up a total elevation of 3,000 feet through the Judean Desert.

 

"As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him." (Matthew 20:29 )

 

Jesus arrived at Lazarus' house just before dark on Friday evening as the whole city shut down at dusk for Shabbat. But when Shabbat was over, the crowds came to Lazarus' house... to see both of them!

 

"The large crowd of the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead." ( John 12:9)

 

By this time the chief priests had seen enough. The entire town, 2 to 3 million people, was talking about Jesus. Was He the Messiah? Would He come to Passover so they could see Him?

 

"So they were seeking for Jesus, and were saying to one another as they stood in the temple, 'What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?'" (John 11:56)

 

So in their fearful state of mind, the Chief Priests somehow determined that killing both Jesus AND Lazarus would solve the problem!

 

"But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus." (John 12:10-11)

 

"So the Pharisees said to one another, 'You see that you are not doing any good; look, the world has gone after Him.'" (John 12:19)

 

So the day after Shabbat, Sunday, with the Pharisees seeking to kill Him, Jesus did the unthinkable. He sent two of His disciples to get a colt in nearby Bethphage so He could PUBLICLY ride it about a quarter-mile to the top of the Mount of Olives.

 

"When they had approached Jerusalem and had come to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, 'Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied there and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to Me.'" ( Matthew 21:1-2)

 

This was a special day. Christians refer to it as Palm Sunday, because the throngs of people lining the narrow street threw their coats down in front of Jesus riding the colt while waving palm branches.

 

"Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, 'Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!'" (Matthew 21:8-9)

 

This must have been some sight. If they hadn't seen Jesus healing people in their hometown, they certainly had heard about Him. The crowd would have been in the thousands...which means thousands of coats and palm branches would have been spread over the road. And with people deliriously screaming "Jesus is the Messiah!"

 

It must have been a celebration atmosphere beyond description. The Jews DO know how to party! But there were also Pharisees in the crowd watching all this take place. Again, fearing they were losing their power and influence, they demanded Jesus stop being called "King

 

"Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, 'Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.' But Jesus answered, 'I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!'" (Luke 19:39-40)

 

Jesus made the profound statement that the crowd had to proclaim Him Messiah or the rocks would have to speak out that truth! This sets up the most incredible fulfillment of Bible prophecy to date. For 3.5 years Jesus had discouraged any talk about Him being the Messiah. In Caesarea-Philippi, when Peter made his famous "You are the Christ" statement, and Jesus said "Yes," He was the Messiah, but not to tell anyone.

 

"Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ." (Matthew 16:20).

 

But on this day, things had changed. On this day Jesus allowed, even encouraged, the multitudes to welcome Him as their Messiah. What was different? Why did Jesus say it was now OK to call Him Messiah and/or King? The reason is simple. This was a prophesied day that the Jews should have recognized. The "seventy weeks" (490 years) prophecy given by Daniel had begun to count down 173,880 days earlier.

 

"Seventy weeks (weeks of years, 490 years total) have been decreed for your people and your holy city..." (Daniel 9:24a)

 

"Then after the sixty-two weeks (483 years from the beginning of the prophecy, 173,880 total days), the Messiah will be cut off [executed]." (Daniel 9:26 )

 

When Jesus got to the top of the Mount of Olives, seeing the Temple in the distance, He dismounted the donkey and cried. The Greek word actually means "sobbed."

 

"When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! 'But now they have been hidden from your eyes.'" (Luke 19:41)

 

The Daniel 9:24-27 prophecy was being fulfilled right before the Pharisees eyes. Daniel gave the exact day the Messiah would arrive. This was that day! And, despite the prophecy in Daniel, the ruling Jewish hierarchy totally missed it! Instead of watching for and welcoming the Messiah, they instead crucified Him.

 

But the main point is that Jesus was holding the Pharisees accountable for knowing, understanding and applying Bible prophecy. Interestingly, the Daniel 9 prophecy wasn't even in the first five books of the Bible (the Torah) that were read completely through once a year on Shabbat (each Saturday). You had to dig a little to find this scriptural nugget...and think a lot to understand it.

 

So we should learn a great lesson: Jesus believes Bible prophecy is important! He expects us to know, understand and apply latter-day prophecies. It's important to include it in our overall biblical studies. Too many churches today are moving away from teaching prophecy, usually saying it's too divisive. Well, Jesus sure thinks it's important. And it broke His heart when the Jews missed His arrival.

 

Therefore, we can safely and boldly say that Jesus wants us to know all about the Rapture and His Second Coming. And, as you're probably fully aware, Jesus is coming again! And with some 28 percent of the Bible actually being prophetically oriented, most Christians should be doing more, not less, study of Bible prophecy. Most importantly, Bible prophecy is an incredible witnessing tool as it gives hope to a hurting world! Jesus is coming as a just and righteous King of the world.

 

When the Church is raptured, the more people left behind who understand what just happened (even though they didn't believe it at the time), the more likely they'll make decisions that count for eternity. For example, "Refuse the mark!" So, since we're living in the last of the last days, it's incumbent to us to have a working knowledge of what's ahead. We're to be ready to make a defense of what we believe.

 

"...but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15)

GOD AND AMERICA

Is America being punished by God? I hear it every time there is a tornado or earthquake or hurricane. Muslim Imams are quick to blame our decadence. Not sure who they blamed for the Indonesia tsunami since it was mostly 240,000 Muslims that were killed. 

 

Unlike many countries, the God of Abraham played a large part in the establishment of the United States and Canada, from its decrees to its culture of piety and forgiveness, with exceptions.

 

The Pilgrims did not come ashore fighting and conquering. The discoverers of America were quite shocked when they found people already living here, and were even more shocked at the religious beliefs of the New World inhabitants. It all started out fairly friendly.

 

Throughout the Old Testament, God warns Abraham's descendants about false gods, which was a definite no-no according to the very first commandment:

 

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me." Exodus 20:2-3 NKJV

 

"No other" means no other, but that commandment was only fulfilled for brief periods of time. Even King Solomon, with all the gifts God bestowed upon him, could not withstand the temptation to do like the pagans do. I suppose sex orgies and general everyday decadence was fun back then, like today. Seems there's a porn store for every neighborhood. Some things never change. False gods.

 

Remembering that the early Christians, the first Christians, were Jewish folk and not ex-pagans, Jewish law had a great influence in the establishment of Christianity and of the United States, eighteen-hundred years later. This influence was not new, as all of Western Law is founded on the same principles, more or less.

 

As Christianity matured and evolved through the Constantinian era, most Jewish law became unimportant to the new Christian church, now occupied largely by converted pagans. Jewish law had been modified or omitted to fit in with the modern beliefs. Emperor Constantine was a converted pagan; and though he became the first Christian Emperor, he changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday out of respect for Ra, the sun god.

 

Is this happening today? Have we so modified our beliefs that wrong is the new right?

 

In many ways, the first Europeans to migrate to the New World were Christian refugees, trying to escape the injustices and prejudices perpetrated by the Church at the time. Christians escaping Christians, much like Muslim Syrian refugees are trying to escape the fanatical Muslims today.

 

I do not know if there was an intention by the Founding Fathers for the United States to be a Christian Nation, but it seems so from written statements. For example:

 

"The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God." John Adams, President and signer of the Declaration of Independence

 

"Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is their duty - as well as privilege and interest - of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." John Jay, First Chief Justice, U.S. Supreme Court

 

This can only make one wonder, why all the intrigue with Islam, a religion that claims to "believe in Jesus" but considers him to be a liar? This they will deny but is true. They claim to believe in Jesus except they do not believe he is the Son of God. They do not believe that Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead.

 

As commentators and documentaries claim that Islam played a fundamental role in early America, that is more embellished news.

 

Judaism had early roots in the New World. In 1763, 13 years before the U.S. Constitution came to be, the Jewish community in Newport, Rhode Island, dedicated the first synagogue in the American colonies, the Touro Synagogue. At that time, all religious institutions were either Jewish (1) or Christian (a whole bunch).

 

In contrast, the first Muslim place of worship in the U.S. was dedicated in Ross, North Dakota in 1929, established by Muslim immigrants from what is now Syria and Lebanon. The oldest mosque still in use was built in 1934. In the meantime, America is now one of the most religiously-diverse countries in the world and of course, religious institutions do not have to pay taxes on the tithes. This includes mainstream churches, synagogues, Wiccans and Satanists, among others.

 

Back to Solomon. God loved Solomon and was so impressed that Solomon prayed for wisdom rather than money, He gave him both. Proverbs is full of bits of wisdom from Solomon. Solomon is the prime example of how one can be the most brilliant of all mankind and still do stupid stuff. As wise as he was, he worshipped other gods, and he paid a price.

 

The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the Lord's command.  So the Lord said to Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates. Nevertheless, for the sake of David your father, I will not do it during your lifetime. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. Yet I will not tear the whole kingdom from him, but will give him one tribe for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen." 1 Kings 11:9-13 NIV

 

And this is exactly what happened. Solomon's kingdom of Israel was given to his son, Rehoboam; and shortly thereafter, torn into two kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south.  

 

When Jesus told the apostles that man could not serve two masters, God and money, is it possible that this advice could also be applied to serving other gods? Like Allah, the Laughing Buddha, Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva? How about the Wiccan Horned god?

 

It is something to think about, because the West certainly tries to serve many masters of many religions and maintain the peace in the community. If we once were a "Christian nation" as John Jay and the Founders claimed, we sure have lost our focus.

 

The modern era church has modified the teachings of God and His Christ to better accommodate fringe groups who hate or disagree with God. The modern church in many cases has become Islamized, teaching that Allah and Yahweh are one and the same. People claim to be Christian but are okay with abortion, gay marriage and pornography, all taboos to God.

 

Are we paying a price for this drift away from God? Maybe.

 

During the eight years of President Obama, at least a part of his legacy will be his leading us down the path of anything-goes debauchery and away from the God of Abraham and to the god of Islam, Allah.

 

George W. Bush had 7 major hurricanes to deal with during his presidency.

 

Barack H. Obama had 0 major hurricanes to deal with during his presidency.

 

President Trump has been in office for 8 months and is getting ready to deal with his 2nd major hurricane (greater than CAT 3).

 

Reminds me a bit of the story of Job and all the natural disasters that Job suffered at the hands of Satan. Of course, God got the blame like so often happens, that He produced the weather disasters; but that was not the case.

 

President Trump overcame all odds to win the election. He not only had to overcome opposition parties, he had to battle his own party. He still is. It is pretty close to a miracle that he won, and I am sure that God had something to do with it.

 

Obama got a free ride from the Evil One. Looks like Trump will not.

 

I hear cries for repentance, but the crowds shout, "For what?"