The Fingerprints of God

        I know that history is the last thing that comes to mind as something that’s important to your life. You are running to and fro with vacations and trips to distant lands and their cultures and lives. Some may find the places glorious with history like Paris, France, Rome, Italy, Athens, Greece, or even Jerusalem, Israel. History is everywhere; you can’t escape from it. But, is it useful for life? What’s the purpose of diving into the pass for nuggets of the human experience? What’s the point of learning about dead men and women or how a cathedral like Notre Dame took 100 years to build in the 13^th century? Why learn about the great wars of the past and the effects of them that led fathers and mothers to fight or flee with courage? Why learn about the French and Indian War or the American Revolution or the War of 1812, the Mexican-American war, or even the Civil War that changed American life until the 1960s? Wars just one nugget of history: what about the peace?

        Why does the past matter? Isaiah 44:21 says this: “Let them bring them forth and show us what shall happen; let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them; or declare us things to come.” Former things show us the cause of something: the cause and effect of something from the past. How Ahab never truly returned to God after he humbled himself before Elijah. He had prophets all around him that told him to go out to Ramoth-Gilead, but only one of those prophets told him the truth. Ahab didn’t believe the one prophet from God, and was killed in battle because he didn’t learn from his own history of having prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth all around him telling him what he wanted to hear. History tells us the cause and effect of something. Like how a small assassination of the archduke of Ferdinand could cause the war to end all wars, or the invasion of Poland in 1939 could spark the start of World War II and the final solution against the Jews in Europe. George Washington never thought that he going to fort necessity would spark a seven year war in America and Europe, but it did.

        History shows us the character of men and women, and how they lived their lives. David was the greatest king of Israel facing down Goliath and other Philistine warriors as well as getting two hundred foreskins to get Saul’s daughter’s hand in marriage. History showed us his bravery and his heart of God, and it also showed his sins by sleeping with Beersheba and killing her husband. Alexander the Great became the best military commander in the history of the world never losing a battle and raised the Greeks to glory with a vast empire, but died in the prime of his life leaving the land to his four generals as prophesied in Daniel. The Roman Empire became a power to be reckoned with during the reign of Julius Caesar, but he was betrayed by the senator Brutus which started a civil war to make Octavian to be Emperor Augustus at about the born of Christ. In 325 A.D. when Christianity was well known across the Roman world, the bishop of Rome and Constantine the Emperor decided to make Christianity the state religion, and sponsored the counsel of Nicaea to change the Sabbath to Sunday and the Passover to Easter and made God out to be a trinity. These were only a few examples of people’s characters over the years, and they’re written down for our admonition as Paul said in I Corthinians 10.

        These were some reasons to learn about history, but the most important thing to learn about history is the providence and character of God. Providence to the reader that doesn’t know the writing of the Declaration of Independence is the divine guidance and direction of God. Esther and Mordecai were guided and directed by God behind the scenes to save the Jews from their enemies, and start the celebration of Purim. God guided Alexander the Great to destroy the Medes and Persians, and a High Priest told him about the prophesy in Daniel that he would do this when the king went to Jerusalem. That was according to Josephus. When Alexander died, it fulfilled the prophesy in Ezekiel when he laid on his side for Israel for 365 days (a day for a year). That prophesy ended at the death of Alexander the Great, and the children of Israel rose to power again in the form of the Parthian Empire in what’s now called Iran. This same Parthian Empire sent magi to Jerusalem to see the baby Jesus. This same empire fell by the Persians after a mass war with Rome around the beginning of the 3^rd century A.D. Israelites traveled to Europe and eventually to the British Isles creating the greatest empire in the world that had about 25 percent of the world’s land mass at once time in its history, and I am talking about the British Empire. All this by the fingerprint of God. Even the founding fathers of America believed that the Constitution of America was a product of the finger of God.

        The purpose of history is to show these three great things to man. There are other reasons for history, but to me, these are the fingerprints of God because He is the author of all history. History matters and I don’t care what the historians that don’t believe in God have to say about these three things. You cannot deny the truth of God’s existence just because you wish it. God is everywhere, and it’s about time we search and find Him. History helps in that search.

Honest Labor

        I was reading about the founding fathers of America. Men like Roger Sherman and Samuel Huntington and Stephen Hopkins were all self-taught men who labored industriously. Stephen Hopkins was known for his honest, industrious labor, and the rewards from that labor. He was a farmer and a mercantilist, and even came into the governorship of the colony of Rhode Island. He learned mathematics, astronomy, Roman and Greek history as well as literature from Milton and other English writers. All this he did from books without a formal education. He was also a signer of the declaration of Independence. He enjoyed the fruit of his honest labor, and even helped free slaves he had as well as stopped the slave trade in Rhode Island. We Americans don’t know very much about this imperfect Christian because it’s not being taught in schools. We are taught that we are entitled to jobs and retirement and cars and big houses because we’re Americans, and labor not for it.

        Americans aren’t entitled to anything in this world. Americans have always proven themselves to be honest laborers and Industrious. Look at Walt Disney and George Washington Carver and even John F. Kennedy: these men in their respective fields did well and prospered with honest, diligent labor. Walt Disney was an Animator that started the classic Mickey Mouse. George Washington Carver was the man who worked diligently, with the help of God, to find out how many ways people can use the peanut as a crop instead of cotton. He was a black man in the south at the time of reconstruction, and went before congress because of his accomplishments. John F Kennedy was a representative and a senator before he became president of the United States in 1961. He had problems with Addison’s disease, but still managed after a near death situation to write a book called Profiles in Courage. Kennedy was a Harvard graduate and a student of history as well as economics. But, he still managed to accomplish a lot for his honest labor. What have you done with your life? Do you feel like your labor is in vain? Other people don’t work as much and they get all the benefits, right?

        Well, I am struggling with the fact that an honest, industrious labor gets rewarded. I work hard to get where I am, and it feels like I’m going nowhere. But, God doesn’t want us to feel that way. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 3:12-13: “I know that there is nothing better for men than to rejoice and do good while they live, 13and also that every man should eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his labor— this is the gift of God.” Men in America have the satisfaction of enjoying the good of their labor because of the freedoms and the system that we have in this country. Not everyone in the world can say that. They try their best to imitate our system like in China after Mao died. God has blessed this nation with industrious, honest laborers. That’s how we had the technology to go to the moon, or the engineering skills to build the Hoover Dam, or the construction abilities to make buildings like the Empire State Building in New York or the tower in Seattle, Washington.

        There should be a reward for an honest day’s work. But, there are those in congress that don’t want Americans to enjoy the fruits of their labor. This Green New Deal takes away the joy of working with honesty and industry to go from rags to riches with diligence. America was founded on rags to riches stories, and I hope that will never change. Abraham Lincoln was a self-taught lawyer who became one of the best presidents of the United States. Not enough people are willing to step up with a work ethic, and embrace responsibility with joy. John F Kennedy said that he didn’t shiver from responsibility, but welcomed it. He also said in the same speech: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. There are too many people today who ask what the country can do for them and not enough people to serve the country with diligence. We are shrinking from our responsibilities as the sole provider of liberty and freedom in the world—mostly because we have forgotten God who gave us that liberty.

        The truth is: there is a reward for your honest, industrious labor—even when you don’t see it immediately. I have to see this for myself, and hope to God that He’ll reward me according to my honest, good works as will He do for you.

A House Divided

        I have been reading about the life of Abraham Lincoln, and the situation that occurred before the civil war. Abraham Lincoln said it best when he said in his famous house divided against itself speech that America at the time were divided into two parties: one party believed that slavery was wrong, and the other that believed that it was not wrong. The newly formed republicans believed that slavery was wrong, and the democrats at the time believed that slavery was not wrong—some radicals believed that slavery was right. The issue of slavery sharply divided the country into two extremes: half slave and half free. Lincoln said that the house divided against itself cannot stand referring to the division about slavery. He witnessed this reality when there was a civil war in the founding of the Kansas constitution when it became a state. The Free-Soilers went into the state to make it a free state, and the southern slave power responded by going in themselves. The proslavery faction won because slavery was put into the constitution by popular sovereignty—so the slave powers said.

        But, this tension in Kansas sparked a war within the state. The proslavery faction won, but the constitution was given to the people of the state to vote for it, and it was rejected because of the slavery clause in it. This civil war in Kansas was a sign of a future war between the states, and Lincoln knew it. America would be all free or all slave, and this tension in Kansas helped form his belief that slavery shouldn’t be expanding to the territories. He ran his senator debates with this idea in mind in 1858, and the presidential campaign of 1860. The War Between the States was inevitable because of what Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. Although the issues are not the same today, the same division that threatens civil war in Lincoln’s day is happening to America today. I fear that war is inevitable if we don’t humble ourselves and repent of our deeds.

        There are two extremes in America today: one that believes that abortion is wrong and the other believing that abortion is not wrong. These same extremes believe that socialism is wrong and that socialism is not wrong, or in fact right for America. This divide threatens a clash of civilizations among ourselves because we have forsaken God and turned to worshipping the works of our own hands. We sing God bless America and 60 million babies are murdered in the womb. We scream threats because of climate change, but not the threat of invasion by foreign powers like the Muslim Brotherhood or countries in Central America. We preach that the statue of liberty is the standard of all legal immigration policy, but try to enforce illegal immigration in states like California and New York with cities protecting them. We are doing exactly the same principles as we did before the civil war: forcing two extremes toward each other. Apparently, we haven’t learned from history.

        We are truly a house divided against itself, and we can only be all pro-life or all pro-choice. We can be all freedom of religion in biblical Christianity with the Constitution as the standard of our lives in America—it being the oath to God—or we’ll be all socialism with government being our god. I fear that trump is only delaying the inevitable fall of this country—if we don’t turn back to God in humble repentance. We need a moderate in the white house like Abraham Lincoln who’s humble and willing to do what it takes to save the Union. Lincoln ended slavery in the south with the Emancipation Proclamation, and ended slavery throughout the whole union with the 13^th Amendment. It’s surely possible to end abortion with a constitutional amendment enforcing the inalienable right of life written in the declaration of Independence, but we need today’s moderates to step up and take the lead in a house divided.

Deliver us!

        I know that it’s not the Passover season; for it’s the beginning of winter and the end of fall. It’s almost time for Thanksgiving, and Christmas—who’s thinking about Passover and the days of unleavened bread this early? Well, I am for a reason. You see, the children of Israel were in Egypt since Joseph and Jacob’s family went down there to stay for a while. 70 people from Israel’s family went down, and they stayed in Goshen because the Pharaoh was a good king and loved Joseph, and wanted his family to stay in the best of the land, so they did. The story of Joseph is an interesting bible study: how he was sold into slavery and went into prison and became the second in command of Egypt. It’s a cool story to tell any youth about always having hope and belief in God, and most importantly, how to forgive. Joseph was treated like crap by so many people, and he still had the strength to forgive—how amazing a character. The Egyptians and their king took notice of this man, and Israel grew and multiplied.

        Well, Joseph and his brothers died, and eventually a king of the land was raised up by God to not know the good character and the lessons of Joseph. This pharaoh saw that the children of Israel—who were about 3 million strong at the time—were mightier than the Egyptians, so to make sure that they never escaped or fought against the Egyptians in battle, the king ordered the Israelites to be slaves and set taskmasters over them. The bible doesn’t go into very much detail about how hard the treatment of the Israelites were at the time—except when Moses and Aaron tried to convince the pharaoh to let them go and he wouldn’t. The king made the work more difficult for Israel by not giving them straw for bricks, and they couldn’t downgrade from their daily quota. Israel was scattered throughout the land to find materials for bricks. That’s the only incident recorded of how bad their slavery was. If you want to know the harshness of slavery, America has a good history of it before the civil war. I would recommend reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.

        One of the things that happened during Israel’s slavery was the fact that no matter how hard they were being treated, they always had families to come home too, and they got comfort and love from their wives. Israel was getting more and more children even with the bondage; this was a problem for the Egyptians. So, Pharaoh commanded the midwives to kill the male children and leave the girls alive, but they didn’t obey and made an excuse about why they didn’t do it. God gave them a reward for obeying Him. But, this didn’t stop pharaoh, he told all the Egyptians to kill the Israelite male children by throwing them in the river to die. This was a cruel time for Israel: hard bondage, children being murdered, and an evil king fighting against them to oppress them—all this before Israel even knew about the Passover. They needed a deliverer, and they got one. Moses was born at this time, and was hidden by his mother for three months. When she couldn’t hide him anymore, she made something to make sure he floated n the river. She did what the king wanted to do.

        If you know the story of Moses, he was found by the daughter of Pharaoh and was adopted by her. He became great in the king’s court, yet knew about his Israelite heritage. He rescued a Hebrew man from an Egyptian by killing the Egyptian, but it was known by the king and he ran away to Median in Arabia today. God chose Moses to save Israel from their bondage, and bring them to the promise land. The movie “The Prince of Egypt” showed an animated version of this classic story. God acknowledged Israel, and saw their worth even though they never could see it themselves. God did the same acknowledgement to the Black men and women in bondage before the civil war. God brought about the war between the states because of that cruel bondage that was destroying America. God raised up a deliverer in Abraham Lincoln to save the Union and get rid of Slavery—which he did through the 13^th amendment to the constitution. That war killed about 600,000 to 800,000 men—which was the most of any American war.

        Why am I telling you all this? Well, a cry for deliverance is being heard by God once again. It’s not the bondage of slavery in America, but the blood of the unborn. The cry of the unborn since Roe vs. Wade has come to Heaven, and like the Egyptians in the past, we’ll have to pay a price for this—if we don’t stop it. God gave blood to the Egyptians to drink because of the blood of the Hebrew male children in the river that died, and it was just—how much more to us in America for our decision to murder the unborn since 1973. The biggest issue with Brent Kavanaugh’s nomination was the fact that he was the swing vote in the Supreme Court to overturn Roe Vs Wade, and that angered the democrats and the left who wanted to continue murdering babies in the name of women’s right to prochoice. This abomination can’t go on forever, and God hears the cries of the unborn like He heard the cries of Hebrew boys in the Nile. Will a Moses of today’s generation rise up to face the Pharaoh’s of our modern day? We need one now.

History can repeat itself—if we let it.

        I was watching a history of the tsars of Russia on Netflix, and I was watching the reign of Nicholas II. He was the last Tsar before the Bolshevik revolution that began the Soviet Union. Nicholas was a family man and a deeply spiritual man believing in the divine right of kings to rule, but he was a medieval person ruling a modern timed country. His grandfather just freed the serfs of Russia during his reign, which ended a long standing tradition. Peasants were becoming land owners or working in modern factories to make a living. Although Nicholas’ grandfather’s reforms didn’t give the serfs true liberty because the nobles of the time took most of the good land, it did give them a will to act in Russian affairs. Radical terrorists called the peoples will killed Nicholas’ grandfather in a attempt to overthrow the government. They thought that this act would change Russia forever, but it only made his son more tyrannical against the terrorists of his day in order to stabilize Russian society. Nicholas’ father thought that the western enlightenment worldviews in Russia were the cause of his father’s death, and wanted to return to a more traditional Russian worldview.

        This was against his ancestor’s view of modernizing Russia: reformers like Peter the Great and Catherine the Great made Russia a world empire. The people didn’t settle down when Nicholas took the throne, and his father’s view of Russia overwhelmed him by making him more religious and filled with piety than his ancestors. More churches rose up during his reign then those before him, but it didn’t stop the people from revolting through communist rule. The tsars just recently freed the serfs, but the serfs were still in a lot of debt due to not having good land to make a living. Russia had no constitution because the tsars ruled, and Nicholas’ wanted it that way. The rise of Marxism in Russia during the late 19^th century and early 20^th century should be something that we American’s should be listening too. History is repeating itself here in America.

        America is under a cloud of debt that we can’t truly repay under president trump who is a devout Christian who’s a family man, and we are living with the most division in America since the civil war. Even now, there’s a great divide between Republicans and Democrats over a man who has the power in the Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs Wade. Democrat Marxists don’t want abortion to be illegal again, and did what they could to destroy this man’s name. The left ruled by Marxists are no different than the Marxists in Russia during Nicholas’ reign. They wanted a cultural revolution like the Marxists in America. We are repeating history today. What caused the fall of Nicholas was his involvement in World War I for he personally led the war in Europe, but because he was away in Europe there was no one to take care of Russia domestically. Because peasants were fighting in the war and not farming or working to feed the people, they were under a famine. We in America have a lot of corporate farms with little people actually working them. There are more foreigners working on our farms than actual Americans. This should be scary to think about.

        We are going through a repeat of history for people like Barak Obama and his socialist friends that run the deep state in government are trying to collapse the economy making this nation into a communist country like the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. This revolution and the great depression in America in the 1930s cause the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. I fear that we are repeating history, and the rise of Europe as a world power will come because of our collapse. Is there a way to stop it? Well, if it’s possible to have a spiritual revival like after 9/11 when every American went into the churches, than it’s possible to return to God and restore America’s constitutional rights under biblical Christianity, but Nicholas was a spiritual man and was very medieval in his thinking. It’s possible to return to God with a righteous president who can speak compassion and love for the people and be with the times.

        It’s possible that God placed Trump in power to delay the inevitable fall of this nation, but is it the will of God for this nation to fall? I fear that it is, but it’s not the will of God that any of His people should perish. America is almost in a time of revolution, and unless God interviews to save us, tyrants will rule. But, America had fought a revolution before, and by the grace of God’s divine providence, we had prevailed. If we have good people rise up and face the darkness in our greatest time of need, and by the grace of God and His divine providence, we will prevail again in the last war before Christ’s return. May we be there when we see Christ save His people.