THE CHOICES OF SAFETY OR DEPARTING FROM IT

KEY VERSES: Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. (Jer 17:5) Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. (Jer 17:7) Nor will (he) cease from yielding fruit. (Jer 17:8f) The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. (Jer 17:8-9)

Compare the key verses to the New Testament:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. (Ephes 2:8) Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. (2 Tim 2:9)

  According to 2 Timothy 2:9, grace was always God’s purpose for mankind. In other words, it’s not what we do (works) but what God gives (Ephes 2:8). Grace is the outcome of faith. Is faith the “gift” or is it salvation? Jesus, throughout the gospels said things as “Your faith has made you whole,” “He saw their faith,” “great is your faith,” etc. I always thought that faith is the gift, but apparently salvation is! “According to your faith let it be to you” (Mat 9:29). Therefore, people’s faith belongs to them and that determines their safety or perishing.
  It is imperative to know just what is “faith.” Scripture answers that question: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). What is the unseen? God in Heaven. What is the hope of Christians? Seeing God in Heaven and living there for eternity. Substance is reality. Faith is the certainty that God and Heaven are real!
  “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Heb 11:3). Faith is believing in the creation by “the Word of God.” We know from John that “the Word” is God in the flesh called “Jesus.” Faith means that there are two worlds of two different substances. One world is material, and the other invisible substances. In my book, On the Origin of Man and the Universe, I submitted that what science calls “matter” and “antimatter” are the two worlds. Both worlds have substance, dimensions, and time. They are of different charges making one seen and the other unseen. Heaven is not antimatter, but the invisible. Science had to call it something.
  The word “world” has many meanings, but the ones pertaining to this commentary are, “The earthly state of human existence,” and “life after death.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Scripture indicates that the two worlds were created simultaneously, at least their substances (Gen 1:1). Hebrews 1:3 above perhaps confirms that. There seems to be two worlds of different substances, occupying the same volume, with a gulf of some type between the two. Obviously, the “gulf” would be the charge of the substances – the ability to be translated between the two worlds. Death is gain, according to Paul. Death allows crossing over from one world to another. Hence, Webster refers to the “afterlife.” Not so; death is an ability obtained by grace. The “gift” is safely moving from the seen to the unseen. Faith is the transporting “medium” – “according to your faith, let it be to you!”
  In one of Jeremiah’s passages it says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord.” The word “blessed” means “blissed.”  That’s the “gain” to which Paul referred. Translation from turmoil in this world to joy in the next is blissful. Trust in the Lord (faith) allows Christians, upon death, to be translated from a world with time and material, to another invisible world where there is no time consumption. The invisible world has no sun, moon, or stars at the end of time, because only God’s Light will be required to illuminate.
  Grace is receiving something which is not deserved. Sinners deserve to die because they deny their Creator, and assign creation to another object of power. Those with false knowledge create existence through evolution. God (The Existence) is offended when people make themselves out to be the gods who determine the order of things. It is imperative to believe in the creation of both worlds. If a doubter does not believe the Earth was created, how could they believe that Heaven was? When they die, there would be no place to which God could transport them for safety!
  All have sinned and deserve to die. Jesus redeemed our sinful flesh by sacrificing his own on our behalf. That is redemption. Jesus paid the price on the behalf of all mankind. He didn’t have to but he did! None of us shed our own blood for eternal life, and none of us died to save ourselves. As the song goes, “Jesus paid it all!” That was God’s gift to mankind and was not of our own doing. What is it that we do? Have faith. We must believe in God, and that He did what a god would do – Create. We must believe that He has the Power to save, and a place for safety. Therefore, Christians trust that there is an invisible God and that He is visible in Heaven where He still Exists. The visible God is not us, but Jesus – God in the Flesh.
  Christians, by their own reasoning, trust in the Lord. He is their only hope, so to deny the Lord is foolishness. Jeremiah says that the righteous heart will not cease from yielding fruit. The fruits of the Spirit are twelve. The best fruit is love, and the remaining eleven are ways to love. Love is the Greatest Fruit, and by bearing the fruit of love is the evidence of a new creature in Christ, whose death will be their gain, if indeed, enduring to the end with that “good fruit.”
  Hence, eternal life is the graceful gift, but is dependent on the attitude of the person. In a key verse the Lord says, ““Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.” Departure from the Lord is denying God after once believing in Him. That is called apostasy. God does not forsake us, but men have the free will to forsake God. To not be free would be bondage. God does not keep Christians safe by binding them in chains, but breaking the chains of bondage. The obligation of those who have faith in the Lord’s sacrifice of Himself on their behalf is to love their Creator with all their hearts, minds, souls, and strength. If they do not, then they are vain. Loving others is the physical way of loving the invisible God, and showing Jesus from afar that we love his precepts.
  The heart – our attitudes – is deceitful. The propensity to believe deception was implanted in mankind with the original sin. Men are wicked because Satan has cunningly deceived, saying that there is no death. In other words, this is all there is… there is no afterlife, no Heaven, and no hope; then do whatever you will!
  Only the Lord knows our minds. He said that. The Lord searches our attitude to see what our will desires to do. The mind is the controller of our attitudes toward God and others. The Lord know our minds; nothing is invisible to Him! God’s test of where our will lies is in our way and doings. Our way is whether we are willing to please God or not, and our doings are the outcome of the decision processes. Hence, the eternal destiny of all men depends on their will – what they are willing to do in gratitude for God’s grace. God never reverses his grace, but it is dependent on our wills.
  Dr. David Jeremiah said that God loves us and respects nothing in return. That misconception is contrary to all scripture. God loves everyone, but he expects our love in return. It’s not what He sees us do, but what He knows that we willing to do. The epitome of that was Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only remaining son (Ishmael had been emancipated prior to that). It’s not the sins that are damning, but the choice of choosing a life of sin without regard to what God wants for us. God has a plan for everyone, and the only person who can usurp that plan is ourselves. God, with His foreknowledge, knows who will willingly follow His plan and who will not!
  The battle is always present. Satan endeavors by trickery to kidnap our wills. God tests our love for Him allowing Satan to kidnap His children, and whether we submit to the Stockholm Syndrome, wherein sinners fall in live with their Kidnapper and serve him! Rather than being a psychological attraction to the Kidnapper, it is a spiritual one. Those who fall away from their Father, prefer the iniquity of their Kidnapper.
  In summary, we do nothing for our own salvation, but to remain safe, we must do and believe things. Satan endeavors to steal us away, but by living the Word, we can endure to the end, and rather than safety in the physical world, we will be saved in the Invisible World! A Christian cannot be unsaved, but he or she can be unsafe!

EXPENSIVE GRACE

  Before I quote the prophet Jeremiah, his credibility must be presented. Here is Jeremiah’s testimony:

KEY VERSE: O Lord, You induced me, and I was persuaded; You are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I am in derision daily; everyone mocks me. (Jer 20:7; NKJV)

   Consider Jeremiah’s words using the truth of Jesus:


  (1) The Lord “induced” Jeremiah. What did Jesus say?  “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44), “…that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim 2:2-4). To “induce,” the Lord draws people to hearken unto His Word, then reveals the truth!

  (2) The next activity was that Jeremiah was persuaded; not accepting partial truth, but all the truth. He looked at God’s Word and considered it, and was persuaded that it was truthful. Jesus said, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). That was in reference to the rich man in Hell who wanted to save his brothers from perishing. Jesus used his own death and resurrection as a means of persuasion. King Agrippa told Paul, ““You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28).
  “Almost” is not sufficient; to be a Christian means fully persuaded that Jesus is the promised Messiah and that he died for the sins of all mankind, and then was raised from the dead. “And he (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:14). Paul didn’t use emotion but reason and logic. People have both the knowledge of good and evil, and Paul used good knowledge to reason against their evil knowledge. “Persuasion” is knowing the truth, and becoming free from deception. (John 8:32).

  (3) Jeremiah said to God: “You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.” What was the sin of Adam? Seeing himself “as God” Is (Gen 3:5). What did Jesus say about self-esteem? “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself” (Mat 16:4b).
  Jeremiah was humbled. He became as Paul years later who was changed from questioning to humbled. Jeremiah did what Jesus said to do: admit that the Lord is stronger than himself! He came to understand that he was nothing in comparison to God, and with that, trusted the Lord for resurrection, realizing that he had not that power!
  God must prevail. That is clear with the first sin. God was still God, but Adam became a poor image of God after being made in His image!
  Let’s examine God: Forever-Existing, Almighty, All-knowing, everywhere present, full of grace, loving, merciful, kind, patient, having a divine will, and much more.  Adam was created with a degree of those characteristics: He had a knowledge of good only, his power was dependent on God’s will, he was confined to his body and the Garden, had a limited existence, he had grace for the other kinds of creatures, he was reverent to God, was somewhat kind, and perhaps having some patience, but not much. Furthermore, the thing Adam had of utmost importance was his own will. God’s Will was the rule, but Adam was allowed to exercise his limited weak will. With original sin, mankind competed with God in a battle of the wills. Which “god” is more powerful? The One True God, and that was neither Adam nor Jeremiah!
  How can one tell if they have been persuaded of truth? They relent… God is strong but I am weak. He IS God and I merely want TO BE as God. That the root of “sin” is TO BE makes much sense because the will of sinners prevail over God’s Will. Jeremiah denied himself, and certainly bore Jesus’s cross in that he was persecuted and died on behalf of God’s Word – The Son of God Jesus (John 1-3,14).

  (4) Jeremiah’s assurance of his faith was in the outcome. He was “shapen in iniquity” just as David was (Psalm 51:5). He had a propensity to sin, but rather than that, he submitted his will to God, and honored God’s reign. After Jeremiah submitted what little power he had to God, God made him strong with the imbuement of His Holy Spirit. Jeremiah lived and spoke the truth; what others did not want to hear, be it commoner, king, or cleric. He was against all three-estates of Judah!
  With that, the will of Jeremiah was tested. He said that he could have remained silent, but was forced to scream out to all who would listen. With all that truth, the anger of the mob was aroused: “I am in derision daily; everyone mocks me.” What does the New Testament say? “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—  always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor 4:8-10).

  How can we tell if we are truly servants to the Lord? We will speak truth and exhibit love. Truth is “toughlove” in that few want to hear the truth and will be provoked to anger. The angry mob killed Jesus, and the angry mob will persecute those who carry the “body” of Christ in their “temple.” As a Christian, if you are not ridiculed and mocked, perhaps you speak little truth or even seldom speak of the truth of God’s Word.
  Jeremiah had been “born again.” He endured in his faith to the end, and was saved just as Jesus promised: “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved” (Mat 10:22). Rebirth is easy grace. Endurance through persecution is tough grace. Some take the cheap grace, are born again, and then remain silent about their reprieve. Grace is expensive. The cost was born by Jesus’s own life. It must be treated, not as “cheap grace” as Dietrich Bonnhoeffer called it, but expensive grace with the cost born by God Himself who redeemed us all with His own flesh and lifeblood.
  If you have not been derided and mocked for Jesus’s Name, then perhaps you have yet to be fully persuaded. There is no such thing as a “silent Christian” because with full persuasion, Christians must speak out!

SAUL REBORN AS PAUL

KEY VERSE: Marvel not; ye must be born again. (John 3:7)

  Saul was a Pharisee. As such, he knew the Law of God quite well. However, he had little love in his heart. That is known because he hunted down, persecuted, and killed the Jews, at least under his authority. The first thing to always examine in scripture is what names mean. Saul means “Questioning.” 

  What did Saul question? Whether Jesus is God in the flesh. Of course, his questioning was quickly answered; Jesus was not God in his viewpoint. As such, he could kill Christians with impunity because to him he saw heretics. God selected Saul for a reason, and surely it was because Saul was a zealot – a religious fanatic. He was a fan of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but not a fan for the Lord of all!

  Jesus used a method he had used before, only partially opposite. Bartimaeus could see Jesus because he was blind, likely from birth. [1] Bartimaeus saw Jesus as the patriarchs saw him which was with his mind’s eye. He didn’t need to actually see Jesus to believe. He saw the unseen! Bartimaeus did not need to see Jesus’ flesh to know Jesus. On the other hand, Saul saw Jesus but didn’t recognize him. What did Jesus do? Make Saul like blind Bartimaeus for a few days:

And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. (Acts 19:11)

  Why was Bartimaeus given his sight? To better follow Jesus. Why was Saul blinded? So Jesus could lead him! The blind man, in John’s account, gave a reason for sight being given: 

Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. (John 9:25-28)

  The crowd around the blind man gave a distinction; the man was a disciple of Christ, but they were disciples of Moses. Perhaps as disciples of Moses they were under the leadership of Saul. Saul was a disciple of Moses but not one of Jesus. Saul needed to be blind to see Jesus in the Mosaic Laws. (He came to fulfil the Law.) 

  Bartimaeus, when he saw, responded as such:

Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. And he (Bartimaeus), casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. (Mark 10:49b-50)

  On the other hand, blinded Saul did not come to Jesus, but was led to Jesus by Ananias, albeit willingly led because he was blind for three days. There is no record of Saul being taught the truth. It can be assumed that truth was revealed to him by Jesus himself in those three days. What Saul saw was that the God of Moses is Jesus Christ. That was a hard thing to concede because Jews considered that heretical. They had learned their lesson about false gods, and they believed Jesus to be no more than a false prophet as they had experienced many before and even in Jesus’s day. 

  The way God works is to turn darkness into Light. Saul questioned the claim of Jesus. After he saw the Light in darkness, Saul was born-again. 

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. (John 3:19-21)

  Saul was in the dark because he didn’t understand the truth. He was comfortable in the darkness, failing to recognize the truth when he heard it (that is Jesus’s “Ghost” speaking with him.) It can be assumed that although Jesus was not there in the flesh, that Saul saw his flesh when he was blinded. His deeds (persecutions) were reproved, and when he saw Jesus from his mental tomb, his bad deeds were shown to him. His persecutions were agitated in his mind because he finally understood God.

Surely, Saul came to understand what Numbers 21 was all about. Jesus used that situation to explain what born again means (John 3:14). Saul understood that he had been focusing on himself – killing all the “snakes” who followed Jesus. He came to understand that the brazen serpent was the Serpent dead in his tree (Judas Iscariot who Satan entered), and understood that the blood of Jesus was propitiated for the Serpent to die!

  With that understanding and trust in Jesus for safety, Saul was born again. That implies change. He went from trusting Moses to trusting Jesus, remembering that the Hebrews generally cried out to Moses who interceded with God on their behalf. Usually when the Hebrews cried out to God, it was in condemnation of their predicaments. The saved Hebrews finally understood that it was not Moses who slew the Serpent, but God Himself by shedding His own blood on their behalf. That finally occurred to Saul, and he was safe from the evil one, although he then would be persecuted for God’s Name sake!

  Saul thereafter followed Jesus, not Jesus in bodily form, but in Spirit. The Holy Ghost revealed to him the meaning of life and the Way of Giver of life. It didn’t stop there; Saul walked as Jesus walked. Saul changed. No longer did God see him as “questioning,” but convinced. Brilliant Saul who knew all the Law of God, so he thought, was humbled. Jesus renamed him “Paul” because of his humility.

  Hence, “born again” is humbled. The meek shall inherit God’s Kingdom in heaven and in earth. Saul knew that he could not save himself from persecution by powers, principalities, and the Serpent; but God could. When he recognized his weakness, he was humbled. His total dependence was focused on Jesus and what happened in Jesus’s three days of darkness where his Holy Ghost deposited all the sins of mankind of all ages, Saul’s inclusive, and deposited them on the shoulders of Judas’s “ghost” in Hell. 

  Saul to Paul – questioning God to humbled by him. Saul changed. All disciples of Christ must change after being born again. Just as a baby is born with crowning from the darkness, those born again are crowned with a new purpose and a new Christian name. Just as babies mature into adult people, those born again mature from babes in Christ to zealots for Jesus! The new life is all about Jesus, as Paul’s was. Like Job before him, Satan and his demons persecuted Paul for Jesus’s Name sake. The desire of Satan was for Paul to be Saul again, and love the spiritual darkness in which he had walked before. Just as Job, Paul was not remolded back to Saul because of his enduring faith through it all. 

  Jesus foretold Paul’s death. Humble Paul lived up to his name. History indicates that Paul requested to be crucified upside down so as not to dishonor Jesus who was crucified right side up. 

  Paul’s death was gain. He said that! He lived in Christ, and to die was gain for him. (Phil 1:21). Why was that? For he inherited God’s Kingdom as an adopted brother of Jesus - Rom 8:15, wherein Paul indicates that the Father adopted him and His Son gave him a new name corresponding to his new attitude! What’s your attitude? Do you still depend on yourself, or do you trust Jesus to protect you from perishing? It’s your choice. How blind will you be? 

  It is to be noted that partially blind Bartimaeus during the miracle saw "Men as trees walking" (Mark 8:24), and Saul saw Jesus as the Tree of Life talking!

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[1] There are stories of Jesus healing a blind man in all the gospels, The assumption is that each account of versions of the same story. The stories differ in many ways. Perhaps Jesus healed several blind men. The account in John indicates that that blind man was blind from birth.

SOCIALISM SEEMS GOOD

  Christianity, to some, does not seem to be desirable. In a psychological sense, pleasure is “sensual gratification or frivolous amusement” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary.) Another meaning is “gratification.” Whichever - pleasure is self-indulgence rather than indulging others. Self-indulgence is mankind’s problem. The Greatest Precept is to love God and others, and as such, the greatest sin is self-love.
  People are shallow; self-love is indulging oneself with pleasure. Scripture lists three types of pleasure: sensuality, coveting, and pride: “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).
  Coveting is beholding what is not yours but others. It could be beauty, prestige, property, or wealth among other things. The only things that Christians should covet is God’s love and protection. There is a covenant for that. Abraham signed an agreement with God that he would do God’s Will in exchange for God’s grace.
  Grace is receiving an undeserved reward. People deserve to die but God offers reprieve because He loves His creatures. Essentially, the Abrahamic Covenant was a quid pro quo: God loves us and in return we are to love God. He has the power to save, and Christians seek salvation! “Pleasure” is loving oneself more than God, and is a violation of the First Commandment. People love themselves in God’s face. Since God’s “face” is Jesus, people love themselves more than Jesus.
  Pleasure seems good because it is sensed. Before original sin, God’s love was sensed. Afterwards because of the pleasure principle, God’s love is overwhelmed by pleasure. The flesh is the receptor of pleasure. Think of the flesh as how pleasure is sensed, and that is by the five senses. The flesh is fairly well the antenna for reception of pleasure broadcast by the world. As such, most people are arrogant; they desire all the pleasure available, and fail to look at the cost of pleasure. 
  “Pleasure has a cost?” you ask. Sin is the enjoyment of sensual pleasure above and beyond contentment with God’s love. Yes, people can still pleasure, but not at the cost of displeasing God. Sin is things offensive to God. Ultimately, the thing most offensive to God is for His creatures to be “as God/gods” (Gen 3:5). Sin is for people TO BE as God when God IS God! In effect, self-indulgence precludes serving God. Most people want to do what is right in their own eyes without an authority over them (Jud 17:6). Therefore, sinners reject authority, and essentially seek emancipation of any institution which hinders their desires. Karl Marx addressed that craving. He understood religion, and saw it as a handicap rather than a hope. Marxism is merely a religion of self-indulgence, and socialism the fantasy which indulgences the masses of individual gods and goddesses.
  Socialism is a fantasy because even Marx realized that sooner or later some people would discover it to be fantastical. Socialism cannot provide the lusts of the people because there is no wealth created by socialism. That ideology merely takes from capitalism and redistributes it: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” In practice, Marx knew that the truth was something else: From each who use their abilities, to each according to their lusts!  Marx knew that those who use their ability would reject that motto, and had Plan B in reserve. Knowing men’s lusts and their rebelliousness, Marx knew that force would be required, and communism was born.
  Socialism receiving the hearts’ desires. The socialist dream is a Utopia wherein everyone has, no one works, everybody does what they want to do, and there is no government nor divine authority to suppress individualism. Image the chaos if everyone could do what is right in their own eyes with impunity! Would that not be chaotic? Well, God created magnificent order, and disorder is from the Devil. The modus operandi of Satan is chaos. His plan is division – away from order and hatred is the result of division.
  The fantasy of socialism is individualism without allegiance to any authority. Everyone doing their own will is the dream of socialism. However, because all men sin and offend God, likewise, all men sin and offend others. Socialism can never work in the physical realm because all of mankind have the propensity to subjugate others. Ironically, socialism, as Christianity, is based on serving others, but with their motto it is clear that they desire to serve their own wants. Socialism is organized self-indulgence.
  They think they have no king, but they have many. With socialism, all are royalty. However, as with any house of royalty, there are intrigues. Marxism includes survival of the fittest. The lesser surely need less, and get less. By the time socialists come to understand that they are now communists, it’s too late to rebel. All they can then do is sacrifice for their so-called “comrades” who have become the fittest and the cruelest.
  Socialism is a scam. It’s a get wealth quick scheme where the first to enter get rich off the contributions of the late-comers. In other words, socialism is a grandiose pyramid scheme with a new anti-religion wherein the gods are the individuals… or so they think! They are cunningly serving the will of Satan, thinking they are doing what us best for them. They pay tribute to their nobility, and have in essence, returned to the servitude of peasants. Rather than pleasant, they are peasant!
  Socialism is the ideal Ponzi Scheme, and it works this way: “[1] is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors.[2] The scheme leads victims to believe that profits are coming from product sales or other means, and they remain unaware that other investors are the source of funds. A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as long as new investors contribute new funds, and as long as most of the investors do not demand full repayment and still believe in the non-existent assets they are purported to own” (Wikipedia).
  With socialism, Satan’s Scheme is (1) defrauds people who think their existence will improve over capitalism, and (2) are unaware that their increase is not from socialism but from capitalism. With those two misconceptions, socialists are like dogs who bite the hands that feed them for they hate capitalism with a passion, although it is the source of their wealth!
  The truth is that socialism is a global scam and all those who are scammed end up losing their freedom and prosperity. The outcome of socialism is communism, and pure communism was seen in the cruel world of Russia and Germany (Yes, fascism is another way to practice communism).
  Does not socialism and communism seem much like the original scam? The cunning Serpent offered better sustenance, pleasure, and wisdom to two naïve people, and what did they end up with? As farmers who were merely trying to eek out an existence on poor non-productive land. Adam and Eve went from a Utopia wherein they already lived well to an austere manual-labor drive existence in the wilderness. The Serpent promised socialism and the outcome was the most communistic society ever in existence! The Jew, Karl Marx, learned well from Satan’s techniques.
  The Serpent used the colossal lie: Eat this free stuff and you will prosper. What happened? They ate just one bite of free stuff, and then were sent to a gulag outside Utopia. Ponzi as well as Marx used Satan’s cunning scheme, and naïve people still fall for more of their wants rather than the sustenance already in hand.
  Socialism admits: They depend on the stupidity of the people. (Jonathan Gruber paraphrased). What did the Serpent depend on? The lack of knowledge of two gullible people. Socialism focuses on gullible people who actually believe in free things because throughout life they are treated as if they deserve more than what they strive for!
  Imagine this: God provided nourishment (herbs) in the Garden of Eden but the Serpent promised rich foods, works of art, and prestige. What resulted from Satan’s scam? Hard work by the sweat of their face on arid and thorny land! Socialism promises much but delivers little. Are socialist societies better off than capitalist societies? Just compare how many fences are built to keep socialists enslaved in their country, and how few fences are made to keep people in capitalistic societies.
  Did Russia build the Berlin Wall to keep people out or in? It was built to keep disgruntled socialists in bondage to an unfair system. Is the U.S. wall at Mexico to keep people out of socialist countries or keep duped people from fleeing socialism? I marvel at the stupidity of the American people who lust after socialism even in the face of wise millennials in Hong Kong praising the freedom that we have in America… and Donald Trump, the epitome of anti-socialism. Why? Because they have experienced socialism for over twenty years and yearn for the freedom they had before stupid people sold out their nation to socialism!
  Democrat politicians – cunning crooks. Democrat voters – naïve people. Progressive/socialism – a grand Ponzi scheme to empower the rich socialists who laugh at their naivete!

MEN AS TREES – Part 3 of 3

KEY VERSE: Within the oracle he (Solomon) made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high. (1 Kings 6:23)

  The “oracle” in Solomon’s Temple was the Holy of Holies, and is the place of God’s Word. Hence, God’s Word is the Oracle and since the “Word” is Jesus (John 1:1-2,14), then the Oracle is the domicile of pre-incarnate Jesus. This passage typifies Jesus in the Tree of Life which was surely an olive tree.
  Previously, it was demonstrated that the Tree of Knowledge was likely a fig tree. The two trees, one for life and the other for death, were surely the long enduring olive tree and the sweet fig tree, respectively.
  Green olives are bitter, but Jeremiah called the Green Olive Tree “goodly” (Jer 11:16). In the story of the Exodus 12:8 at the last supper of the Hebrews, they ate their meal and were told, “with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” Of course, the Exodus represents salvation, the door posts on which blood was brushed represented the Cross, and the lamb, of course, Jesus Christ. Bitter herbs were akin to the gall which Jesus drank in the vinegar before his crucifixion. (Mat 27:34). Of course, the entire exodus out of Egypt and from the hands of Pharaoh of the Hebrews represents the escape of some from Hell and the Devil. The Exodus is a picture of things to come, most notably Judah’s emancipation from Babylon and our own escape from Hell and the evil one!
  The bitter olive fruit is a foreshadowing of the gall which represents God’s sacrifice of Himself on the behalf of all mankind. The olive tree’s branch represents peace. Jesus Christ represents Peace in earth, good will toward men. Surely, of all the trees, the olive tree is the best candidate for the Tree of Life. Adam and Eve could have tasted the bland fruit of the ripe olive, but chose instead sweet figs. That was the choice they made. Olives were substantial fruit, but figs sweet but temporal. We all have that same choice to make; shall it be olives or figs, so to speak? The inclination of mankind has always been for figs because green olives seem to be bitter fruit. They require a special taste to be good.
  Two cherubim guarded the gate to the Garden of Eden – God’s residence in earth. Two cherubim guarded the Word in Solomon’s Temple. The Name of God is the Name that saves. The chief priest had to recognize the Word as Jesus to enter into the Holy of Holies as God’s throne between the cherubim was the seat where Jesus sat and spoke to the priest. That the priest knew the Word is Jesus is speculative, but the validation that he did, was that if he did not, he would die!
  Because the cherubim were of olive wood and hovered over the Oracle has great significance. Oracles are revealed truth. Inside the Oracle, God revealed truth to the chief priest. What “truth” do you suppose was revealed to the priest? The gospel truth. That indicates further that the drab olive tree represents the Doctrine of Christ: “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son” (2 John 1:9). The chief priest, like Adam and Eve before, was presented with two doctrines – the doctrine of men (the law of sin), and the Doctrine of Christ (the Law of God), as is written. Hence, the olive tree represents the Holy Trinity. The root - God the Father, the living water which watered it - the Holy Spirit, and the Tree itself - Jesus Christ!
  I see trees as men who are inanimate, but shortly Adam and Eve by reproduction animated the Garden of souls, and they were made into living souls. With that process completed, I also see men as trees walking just as blind Bartimaeus!
  In the midst of the Garden were two trees. Not by coincidence, in Jerusalem, which I believe was the central place of the Garden, there were two trees. Jesus Christ hanging from his tree and Judas hanging from his. Surrounding the Tree of Life on Calvary were two other trees: the malefactor’s who went to Paradise that day and the one who did not. They were two of the living souls which Adam-kind was to dress and keep (serve and preserve). One was and one was not preserved! The Judas Tree and the Holy Cross represented the same choice as the olive and fig way back in the Garden of Eden.
  It would seem that the Holy Cross would be of olive wood, but it was not. I have written before that the Holy Cross was surely made of four woods, none of which were olive. Why would that be? The four woods would represent all mankind – yellow, red, black, and white – since Jesus died for them all! Who was the Olive Tree? Perhaps Jesus himself! Look at the man who killed to make himself king. I’m referring to Abimelech:

The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees? Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow: and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. (Jud 9:8-15)

  By the olive tree God and man is honored. God is represented in His triune Existence by the Tree of Life. That passage is further validation that the olive was the Tree of Life. Furthermore, to honor “man” as well. Men are not to be honored, but served. It seems obvious that the specific “Man” to which that refers is the Son of God, not Adam! The olive is God’s and his Man’s Tree according to Jotham’s parable about Abimelech.
  The fig tree was sweet and had good fruit. That’s similar to the very words about the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil: “That the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Gen 3:6). It is apparent that indeed the Tree of Knowledge was the fig tree. It’s promotion over the other trees is what Adam and Eve did to the Tree of Knowledge.
  The Serpent climbed the Tree of Knowledge; envision the Serpent wrapped as a vine around its trunk as we often see with modern symbols. Although not specified in the Book of  Genesis, imagine a vine wrapped around the Tree of Life. As the Serpent represented the Devil and the doctrine of sin, the vine represents Jesus Christ’s message and it branching out into the Garden to cover all the other trees.

I (Jesus) am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. (John 15:1-5). 

  Job had a hedge about him (Job 1). I always thought that was a hedge representing a thorn-hedge about the Garden whose gate the cherubim guarded. Perhaps though, God’s “hedge” about the Garden was the grape vine, protecting the Doctrine of God. That makes sense since the Vine’s branch that abides in Jesus is the Password for the cherubim for entry back into the Garden and is the Password to abide with him obviously in the heavenly Paradise.
  The “vine” represents Doctrine more than the image of God - Jesus - the visible Tree, especially since we are to walk the Way of Jesus, and that is his Doctrine. The branches of the vine have two choices – to abide in Jesus or not. Those who do have much fruit, and those who don’t bear nothing and will wither, be cut off, and burned (John 15:6).
  The Vine was in the Tree of Life but hovered over the Tree of Knowledge. Adam chose the branch which would wither and die, except the Husbandman came and kept him safe with a coat of skins.
  The bramble bushes are those with thorns such as the blackberry bush. Its fruit is sweet but often goes unpicked because of the thorns. The bramble bush is more a prison than a hedge of safety as it retains what is inside as well as out. Obviously, the “bramble” represents Satan and his angels just as in Job 1.
  Abimelech used treachery to be king. He was the “bramble” and was a representative of Satan just as Judas was. The people made Abimelech king, and did not chose a godly man. That’s the same deed done by Adam and Eve when they chose the Tree of Knowledge and the unrepentant thief who effectually chose Judas and his hanging from a tree.
  It was likely that the Judas Tree is more realistically the fig tree as I wrote previously; not the cercis siliquastrum.
  Jesus said, “I m the vine, ye are the branches.” As the “Vine” was on the “Tree” of the Holy Cross, it makes sense that the “Vine’s” branches covered the other trees at Calvary: the scribes, Pharisees, Pontius Pilate, the Jews, the Centurions and Judas himself. Most of those “trees” withered and died, and were prepared for casting into Hell with Judas who had Satan inside.
  The Vine didn’t wither and die that day. He merely quit spreading for parts of three days. As Jesus slept, the sins of all the dead and living souls (trees) were cast into Hell below for burning. At that point, only the Doctrine of Sin and Satan were defeated, but in the end, the Judas Tree will be cast into the fiery pit!
  What about the crown of thorns which they placed on Jesus’s head? That was typical of Abimelech’s bramble thorns. That crown belonged on Judas’s head, because as Abimelech who made himself king, Judas made himself king of the Jews when he was seditious against the true King – Jesus. Jesus was mocked with the crown of Abimelech. Judas was not mocked, although the same spirit Abimelech ha was the evil spirit in Judas.
  On the other hand, some of the withered branches of the vine still accept Judas as the true King. Islam’s Isa is their “Jesus” who will die for them… not then but when the Antichrist is destroyed.
   I could go further with the tree-typology, but leave that to the reader. I am satisfied that seeing men as trees walking was God’s intent for blind Bartimaeus and for those with special insight.

MEN AS TREES – Part 2 of 3

KEY VERSES: Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. (Jer 17:7-8)

  In part one of “Men as Trees” I contended that as Bartimaeus saw, “men as trees walking,” I see in the Garden, men as trees, perhaps as trees standing inanimate since they had yet to be animated by God breathing life unto them as he had Adam. Where were they standing? On the River of God in the Garden. I believe that one of the four rivers was the Naral Ha Yarden, “the river of the Garden” (the Jordan River). Which one, I don’t know, but perhaps it was the head river from which the four rivers flowed:

And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. (Gen 2:9-10)

  Hardly noticed is that there were not four rivers, but only four named. The River of God went unnamed, but it was God’s River of the Garden. The psalmist wrote of that great river: “Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it. (Psalm 65:9), and the apostle John reinforced that hypothesis when he wrote:

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. (Rev 2:7) In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev 2:2) Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Rev 22:14)

  The Garden of God - later the City of God because there are more than two citizens therein - are for those who “have a right to the tree of life.” Who have the right? “To him that overcometh… they that  do his commandments.” What are God’s commandments? To love God with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength and others as well (Mark 12:29-31)! “Love,” therefore, is the right to the Tree of Life and the key to eternal prosperity… so forget socialism – the doctrine of men!
  The point, however, is that the Tree of Life which stood in the midst of the Garden Paradise still stands in the heavenly Paradise. “The river” in Revelation 22:2 above is certainly the Naral Ha Yarden – The River of the Garden! Trees mean things in the Bible. Usually they are symbolic of people. Adam was to “dress and keep” the Garden (Gen 2:5). At that time, there were no other figurative trees, but only vacant souls of those citizens who were soon to be filled with the breath of life. Adam was the “serve and preserve” those souls, obviously by speaking the Doctrine of the Tree of Life.
  Be clear; Jesus is the “tree” representative of the Tree of Life, and the Holy Cross is a wooden representation of that Tree. Luke wrote that Jesus “hanged on a tree” (Acts 10:39). Trees mean things for those with special insight!
  Note that in the first key verse that it reads, “blessed is the man” and in Revelation 22:14, “Blessed are they.” In the first case, the condition for blessedness is trusting in the Lord. In the latter verse, “blessed” are “they that do His commandments.” It seems that “blessedness” is trusting the Lord by DOING His commandments. My regular readers should know that “commandments” can be interpreted “prescriptions” as well, and prescriptions are more doctrinal that commands. The Ten Commandments are more of an itemization of God’s Will for us as prescriptions for eternal healing!
  “Blessed” is blissed. “Bliss” is joy, perfection, and well-being in heaven.
  Jews don’t call them commandments, but “the Ten Words.” It is known from John 1 that Jesus Christ is the Word of God. Hence, the Ten Commandments are the Ten Words of Jesus. He is the One who said them! “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Mat 5:17). Jesus wrote the Ten Words, and he came to fulfill them. How did he do that? “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Gal 5:14).
  The Greatest Commandment is to love God. The Jews thought they were doing that, but failed to love others as themselves. (They were hateful to others and full of pride in themselves.)
  The Law was fulfilled when loving others became part of loving God. Jesus’s part in that task was demonstrating the love for us (John 3:16) that we are to love others by the same metric. We fear eternally perishing for ourselves; we must find as reprehensible the eternal death for others. The “key” to the right to enter the gate to Paradise which is still guarded by cherubim (Gen 3:29; not Saint Christopher), is love, and that said in the Name of the Lord – Jesus! “Green Olive Trees” can get back into the Garden through that one gate. The olive tree represents peace, and more significantly peace with God. Sin is warring with God as sinners make themselves out to be “as God” (Gen 3:5). They want TO BE God but the Lord IS God!
  People look for “peace in earth, goodwill toward men, “but that Peace exists only in Heaven. In the earth, Jesus brought dissension (Mat 10:34). Peace will come, not in the paradise of Israel, but Paradise in heaven. I specifically used small letters for earth and heaven because they seem to be one and the same place. Jesus said to pray for God’s Will in earth as in heaven (Mat 6:10). That seems to indicate that the Lord meant in the seen as in the unseen or in the present as well as the hereafter when Paradise comes to the world (Rev 21).  I contend that the trees in the Garden are representative of Green Olive Trees in Heaven; they stand in the same Garden, but are characterized with different features.
  They were Green Olive Trees in Paradise, and alive peaceful souls that will live in Heaven! Moses wrote of Paradise in Heaven. The Jews thought he was speaking of the Paradise of the Kingdom of David:

And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full. (Deut 6:10-11)

  Just as in the Garden wherein God supplied all “good” things for each process in the creation (Gen 1), God promised the same good things to the “goodly cities” specifically in New Jerusalem after it is purged clean and the City of God returns to its foundation… Jerusalem, “the foundation of Peace.”
  The Garden of Eden was a Garden full of olive trees and vines with their fruit. It was likely a lush vineyard intertwined with olive trees. Perhaps there was only one fig tree in the Garden, but that kind of tree is not mentioned in heavenly Paradise because it has evil fruit as well as good fruit. Heaven is very good!
  Tomorrow, I will continue with the meanings of vines and olive trees, and even through in the bramble bush.

ON CENSORSHIP AND PROPAGANDA

  Before I proceed with the second installment of “Men As Trees,” the Lord interrupted me; I shall write of “Censorship.” The doctrine of men is under one tree, and the Doctrine of God under the other. The Doctrine of God must be censored at all costs. The Tree of Life can either be cut down or burned. The doctrine of men is represented by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – “the Philosophy Tree.” It symbolizes both good and evil and is the Devil’s Tree.
  Why is the forbidden tree not the “Tree of Death” then? Because it represents both good and evil. If you’ll remember, the Serpent was the most cunning of all the creatures that God had created. It was not because the snake was created evil, for it too was “very good” (Gen 1:31). The snake was imbued with evil; in other words, Satan entered into the Serpent and made it cunning. The Serpent, just as the “beast,” Judas and the “Beast,” the antichrist, are instruments of Satan’s deception. In all cases, Satan endeavors to deceive God’s people with his cunningness. Censorship and propaganda are the primary techniques!
  Satan had no power to burn the Tree of Life so he could merely try to cut it down. The entire Bible is about Satan’s attempt to cut down the Tree of Life. To do so, he uses deception which is finely crafted from goodness with just as smidgeon of evil. Satan represents evil as good in all cases! That is deception.
  The “Tree of Death” is not the tree itself but its poisonous fruit. In Galatians 5 the fruits of the Tree of Life which leads to death are enumerated: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance (contrariness), emulations (rivalry), wrath (anger), strife, seditions (resistance to regulation), heresies (adherence to other gods), envyings (jealousy), murders, drunkenness, revellings (carefree pleasure), and such like.
  Of all those fruits of the forbidden tree, Satan’s aim is sedition:

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. (Isa 14:12-14). 

  Lucifer whose self-acclaimed royal title is “Satan” was cut down from heaven. God already cut down Lucifer’s “tree” – in this case his soul, and will have no need to cut down the Serpent’s Tree. The Beast and the doctrine of sin from the Tree of the Cunningness will be burned, along with the Beast in the bottomless pit.  Lucifer wants exaltation even above the stars (angels) of God. Who is God’s Star Angel? Jesus Christ. Lucifer intends to have a coup to undermine the King of the Jews and Gentiles, and him take Jesus’s seat in the face of God on God’s throne. The First Commandment can also be written, “Thou shalt not have other gods in God’s face.” God’s “face” is Jesus Christ. Satan endeavors to be the face of God. To convince people that he is god, Satan uses cunningness. His main two techniques are propaganda and censorship of the truth.
  Do not take truth too lightly. The truth is what sets people free from the wiles of Satan (John 8:32). Therefore, Satan must suppress truth to achieve his high goals. In order to achieve his goal, most people must believe the lie. I have discussed before the “colossal lie.” That is the lie which brings down the extant institutions in the quickest manner: the Doctrine of God, the Church, the family, real prosperity (capitalism), the educational system, individual freedom, and the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of contentment. Socialism achieves all Satan’s aims in one basket. Those who fall for the colossal lie of socialism are the “basket of deplorables” in reality about whom Hillary Clinton should have spoken! Socialism is the destruction of all those institutions and the doctrine of sin has been enumerated in the Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Frederick Engles.  Just like Satan, their main tools are propaganda and censorship. They propagate the colossal lie, and censor the absolute truth!
  Propaganda is merely spreading the narrative through all the various avenues. The narrative is whatever “colossal lie” that people will believe. It must be absurd enough that the masses could not possibly believe that it is a lie. Satan’s colossal lie is, “Eat; you will not die.” “Eating of the forbidden tree is accepting deception as the truth. Satan even countered God’s warning with his own promise: “Ye will be as gods.”
  The following are today’s key verses about censorship:

KEY VERSES: Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the Lord: Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth (36:4-6). It came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he (King Jehoiakim) cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. (36:23)

  That book burning was a case of God being censored by another king who was seditious to God. Jehoiakim was a type of Lucifer in that he wanted to have authority over God just as Lucifer before him in the beginning of sedition.
  Juhudi was reading God’s Word, spoken by Jeremiah, and transcribed by Baruch – the very thoughts of God and what was spoken to Jeremiah by Jesus himself. He placed himself greater than the messenger. His sin was Lucifer’s sin!
  Jehoiakim, not only did not want to hear the truth, but he wanted the truth destroyed. Like many autocrats who came after him, Jehoiakim was a book burner. The truth would have drained Jehoiakim’s “swamp” so to speak. He paid tribute, not to God, but any foreign dictator he feared. He paid tribute to Necho II of Egypt and then to Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. As such, the Lord revealed to Jeremiah that the Deep State of Judah would be destroyed and Jehoiakim along with it. What did the king do to endeavor to change the course of events? He burned the truth. He censored God! Then his own propaganda machine began to operate – Ye surely won’t die! His narrative was that they were safe and secure, but they were soon to be utterly destroyed. The king won for a short time, then it all came to an abrupt end! It did not happen that instant, but God’s justice prevailed. Nebuchadnezzar sacked Jerusalem and the Temple. A later king – Zedekiah – suffered the consequences for covering up the truth.
  Note that Jeremiah did not present a version (perversion) of the truth, but the whole truth. Autocrats always resort to partial truth. They create fallacies which stupid subjects take as truth. How could the majority of Germans be converted to Nazism? By propaganda and censorship. They promised prosperity but got destruction. They destroyed the Church and replaced it with partial truth; namely Positive Christianity wherein the entire old Testament was censored, as well as that Jesus was a Jew! Jesus must be, to achieve or maintain power; either twisted, censored, or totally destroyed, People are stupid, but are seldom stupid enough to accept colossal lies unless they are tempered with some truth.

Just as the Serpent said, “Ye shall not die,” and they did, Germany said they would win the war but like Judah before them, when they turned to deception, their “king” and country was destroyed.  Socialism does seem good. Utopia seems ideal, but it will never happen on Earth until done under the auspices of King Jesus. Socialism will always fail because it is based on sedition against God’s authority. Like any autocracy, socialism is about who would be king. Note that it is never Jesus, but a bunch of Narcissists who think they are cleverer and superior to the masses of people. They depend on stupid people accepting colossal lies, and the propaganda spreads those lies, and truth is censored.

Why do secularists not want God’s Word in the schools and other public arenas? Like Jehoiakim long ago, they believe in censorship. They do not want the people to hear the truth for fear they will believe it, and do something about it! If people believe in God and what he prescribes, then their covert ploys will not be accepted!
  True Christians always tell the truth. You can tell who they are just by listening. In America at the present there is a deep state much like Johoiakim’s. They are no longer in power, but tried to retain it like Jehoiakim by burning the evidence. Jehoiakom, in modern times, are the stooges Obama and Hillary Clinton. For a time, America is safe because the truth is slowly being revealed. Hillary burned much of the truth (30,000 emails) but much truth survived. The modus operandi of the left at the present is to distort the truth to retain power.
  Hillary and company censored the truth but enough remained to maintain suspicion. Adam Schiff’s and Gerald Nadler’s modus operandi are to shade the truth by deception as socialist-minded people are wont to do. Their “colossal lie” is that Donald Trump is the one seditious and not the Bidens, Clintons, and Obamas. If only they can get enough people to believe the lie before election time, then their deception will be safe and a continued useful tool to retain power!