12/18/2010 Saturday, about 3 PM. U.S. Senate Passes the Repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'.
Today the USA did a pretty amazing thing. I think it's a lot more important than we might guess. They repealed 'don't ask, don't tell', which was the policy by which the US military dealt with homosexual members of its ranks. If gay military personnel didn't say they were gay, the military wouldn't ask if they were gay. But if they admitted they were gay, they got out processed. President Obama still has to sign the repeal. Gee, do you think there's any possibility he will?
The time that this vote took place doesn't seem like a propitious one. There are some oddities about it anyway. Numbers and allegories don't always mean anything at all, but there seem to be some here. I'm only leaving this first part posted for as long as it takes to see what develops between now and the New Year. If nothing happens, I'll count it as a case of seeing things that weren't meant to be seen or aren't really there, and I'll depost it. But as for some of the odd Bible correlations, consider these for instance:
The number of the beast is 666 (Yes, I have seen the 'Arabic symbol' thing about the Mark of the Beast, also, and it may well be true!) But, according to the existing translations, Revelation 13:18 says: "Wisdom is needed here; one who understands can calculate the number of the beast, for it is a number that stands for a person. His number is six hundred and sixty-six." Hence 666
The dates of this vote contain a lot of 6's.
12/18 12+18=30 30 = 6+6+6+6+6
2010 A.D. 20 and 10 A.D. 20+10=30 30= 6+6+6+6+6
30 was Jesus's approximate age, per scripture, when His 3 1/2-year ministry began. Joseph was about 30 when he began his work for Pharoah, as I recall. King David had his 30 great soldiers. Those are just things I'm mentioning, I'm not sure how they might relate, if anything relates in the first place.
Saturday = the Sabbath = the 6th day. The vote took place on the Sabbath. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, in His own words.
Now consider how the church will be the bride of Christ but is also the body of Christ on Earth. Look how many Biblical correlations there are between the day Jesus was crucified and this time period here in Dec 18 - 21, 2010. It makes me wonder if it's a Biblically significant time period.
3 PM Luke 23:44 - 47 - It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit"; and when he had said this he breathed his last. The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, "This man was innocent beyond doubt."
Three days after the vote, on the night of December 20,21, 2010, there will be an eclipse of the moon happening to correspond with the winter solstice occurring on the same date. There are several days around the 21st of December upon which the actual winter solstice can occur, but this year it's on the 21st of December. The solstice is the shortest day, and therefore has the least sunlight. And this year there is an eclipse on top of it all. It will be the darkest day (least total light, I suppose) in over 456 years they say. Jesus was in the tomb for 3 days after being crucified. Then He rose up. That's about the same length of time as there is between the solstice and the vote.
Centurion= Leaders of Roman Military soldiers. Roman military units (Legions) carried Eagles as their banner (like the United States has the bald eagle for its banner. The name or word Centurion is associated with leading 100 soldiers, though the actual number of soldiers that centurions led could vary. The United States Senate represents 50 states, and so has 100 state representing members. A 'century' of such members.
Jesus did not teach his followers to make war. But God told Jesus "Sit at my right hand while I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."
For whatever reason, war still exists. And when Americans go to war, the soldiers call on the help of God. They call on the name of God to protect them and grant them victory.
So, for instance, let's say that you pray to a God that is highly outspoken in His objection to homosexuality (Like the Holy Father, God Almighty, Creator of All), and you also pray to that same God to grant you victory each time you go to war against an enemy.
Knowing those two things, should your military openly condone homosexuality among the very soldiers that are praying to God (who hates homosexuality) for safety, for victory, and for success in protecting their nation and loved ones from foreign threats?
Isn't that similar to asking for something like this? Let's consider a hypothetical example of something remotely similar:
Let's say you meet a girl that is single because her former fiancé became more and more of an alcoholic as the day of their wedding approached, and then he actually beat the girl, in an alcoholic rage, just before the wedding. So, she called it off and left him and went to live with her family.
If you have met the girl, like her, and want permission from her father to date her, should you get drunk before you go to ask him? You know he hates drunkenness. You know he considers it damaging, and you know he is practically laying a curse on his daughter if he tells you that it's fine if you date her. How could you ask him for his blessing when you are going up to him drunk when you ask? He hates drunkenness. And you know he hates drunkenness. He has seen the damage it can do to his well-loved daughter.
I doubt that we want to give the official thumbs-up to homosexuality in the US military if we are going to continue asking for God's help when we go to war. And that applies equally to asking for His help if someone invades our nation. Invades our nation? Unthinkable? Hardly. If God is against us Lithuania could defeat us without effort. Lichtenstein could trounce our whole nation. There is no defense whatsoever against God. There is no safety whatsoever for the nation grown wicked which God decides to abandon to their enemies. Or maybe God will even punish that wicked nation His own self.
We have a lot of troops around the world who are in harm's way right now; we're in not just the Middle East, but a lot of other places. It's not a time to remove God's protection from our troops if that is what this ends up doing. They're out there, risking it all. We're back here, angering the God that protects them. Does that sound like supporting the people in your armed forces? There is a difference between having sin (being a sinner) and nationally promoting sin as an all-right thing to base your lifestyle on.
Also, you are not exactly raising the fear factor in your enemy's army if you let it be widely known that your army has a lot of gays that they will have to contend with in any fight that might come up. So many gays that you had to make special provisions for them.
Be aware...the scriptures really do make it plain that God warns us strongly against being homosexual. He speaks against homosexuality in the Old Testament, Jesus spoke against it, and the letters to the churches seek against it. So, we have therefore heard it from the Father (Old Testament), the Son (the Gospels), and the Holy Spirit (The Spirit spoke to the writers of the letters to the churches.) Concerning sex, God made the woman for the man. That's God's words to us, and we are all created by God.
God made the woman to be the man's suitable helper in life, but the woman is God's too. God made the man to obey and worship God, God made the man to love and protect the woman as one protects a greatly loved weaker vessel (God's words) and He made mankind to be His well-loved children. He wants us all to serve Him with joy. A good type of service, joyfully given, and enjoyed in its own right as a satisfying activity.
But how the woman is to be towards the man is also a 'type' of how the church should be towards Jesus. Eve came from Adam's side just as the Christians of Jesus's church are made clean and acceptable by Jesus's blood, and the Living water of the Holy Spirit (blood and water) which are the very two things that came from Jesus's side when he was stabbed with the spear of the Roman soldier. Eve came from Adam's side, while Adam was 'asleep'. The Church came from that which issued from Jesus's side when Jesus was 'asleep' on the cross. Same same. It's a type, it's an allegory. It's also true history.
But what about the United States military having an openly 'homosexual friendly' atmosphere? What if you are brave and patriotic and yet homosexual? Shouldn't you be able to be a soldier?
My thought is that there are probably a great many soldiers with serious 'sins' that they continue in, and that homosexuality is merely one of a fair number of these. Which other military sinner should be officially sanctioned as desirable, or at least acceptable, pertaining specifically to their sin? None, right? It seems that gays are asking for a special place among other sinners. Imagine the thief or the rapist asking for official acceptance......in fact, how about the thief? Shouldn't thieves be allowed to sleep among the other people in their unit (and their personal affects)? And if they are caught stealing, they could just say "Hey, I told you I was a thief. This is what thieves do!" And rapists? Could the military be sued if the avowed military rapist goes into town and rapes of few local daughters and wives in the local host town? That ought to go over fine, right? And yet there are both thieves and rapists in the military. Statistically, there basically has to be. There are over a million people in the military.
Will openly gay army recruiters be sent to high schools to try to lure our sons into the military? Will Christian tax dollars go to support gay military housing? Will lesbians host a three-day mock boot camp so our young daughters can see how they might like the camping lifestyle of the army? Can gay company commanders walk among our sons as they take their shower in boot camp? Lots of possibilities for troubles will come from this.
If you are any sort of sinner in the military and end up in a dangerous situation, it is very, very great to have God's undeserved protection on the day you desperately need it. It is protection given for the sake of His name, and for the sake of those among you that invoke that name when they go to face their dangerous military day. And for whichever other reasons God has - I know I don't know His full mind, nor could I ever begin to.
Read the 'Thundering Legion' account in Deeds of God. See what happened in that ancient battle when a trapped Roman army called on the Christians in its ranks to pray. Same concept.
Maybe God is even protecting some of the sinners of the various types that we all are because one day He foresees that some of us will come to see things differently and repent in some cases.
And God has shown mercy to a very great many for the sake of a very small few who live among them. Go to the Book of Genesis and read how Abraham prayed that God would have mercy for Sodom and Gomorrah if only a few obedient people could be found. But not even that small number was found, so God saved Abraham's nephew Lot, Lot's wife, and Lot's two daughters only, instructing His angels to rush them out of harm's way. Lot and his family had apparently lived their lives nearly as God intended, though they lived among a people that did not. Sodom and Gomorrah He destroyed.... utterly. Lot and Lot's family He saved. But when Lot's wife turned back to look upon the inflicted punishment, she became a pillar of salt, a casualty of that punishment that fell upon Sodom and Gomorrah. God had specifically warned all of Lot's family not to look back as they fled!
****In the Old Testament, a 'pillar' was sometimes erected to commemorate a 'covenant'. And 'salt' is of course the mineral we use in cooking, but it is also a treaty (covenant) controlling the possession and use of nuclear weapons (the 'salt treaties'), a treaty in force in our present time. So, when Lot's wife becomes a pillar of salt that can't move, I wonder if she is also figurative of a helper of God's chosen (women are 'suitable helpers', and 'Lot' as in 'draw lots to determine something' relates to being 'chosen') who becomes unable to move (bound) in association of a treaty she has made. Will a 'helper' of 'the chosen' find herself bound and thus be unable to be saved because of her actions pertaining to a salt treaty? Just conjecture. ****
Other nations may say that their army allows people that are gay to openly serve, and nothing bad happened to them. Well, wait until the United States military becomes a military that God is no longer able to bless because it celebrates what He calls an abhorrent sin. Wait until we make it official that in our military we couldn't care less if we openly embrace the gay life for those who choose it, in open and unapologetic opposition to God's expressed requirements for His people. Wait until we express our open rebellion - officially and in writing - towards God's ideas about homosexuality.
On this date, 12 Dec 2010 the USA passed the repeal of don't ask, don't tell in the senate. Now it goes to President Obama to be signed. There is almost no chance that he will pass up a chance to drive this spear into the heart of America. My guess is that it's 'goodbye America' from this very point. I personally doubt that our nation will ever know peace or security again. This will probably be Samson's final haircut. Uncle Sam's sons' haircut. Whether or not the ax will fall immediately, I don't know. But how can it not fall if God means the things he says? And we know that He always means the things He says.
War, military conflict, battle....these are all terrible things that occur where Christian love has failed. It's wrong to glamorize them. They are ugly things. God makes people, then people kill people.... of course, that's not how it was supposed to be.
Christian's are told to recognize that this world is very wrong.... fundamentally wrong. We are told to separate ourselves from its wrongness. We're supposed to share the good way that Jesus taught us, not engage in the wrong way that has been afoot since the days of Cain killing Abel. Even longer.
But.....if you are going to be in the military and go to war, you are probably going to pray for God's protection. And God can protect whoever He wishes. The Bible tells of great battles between the Israelites and their enemies where the enemy deaths ran far into the many thousands, yet not even one single Israelite soldier died. It's not fairy tale. It's real history, from the time of Moses and Joshua.
But in the Maccabean days of Israel, almost two hundred years before Jesus's ministry, there was an instance where the Israelites defeated their enemy, the soldiers of Gorgias of Idumea, resoundingly, yet this time the Israelites did lose a number of soldiers.
But on this occasion, when the Israelites went to gather the bodies of their own dead soldiers, each one of those dead Israelites was found to be wearing an amulet beneath their clothing, representing a certain pagan false god worshipped by the Jamnites (from the city of Jamnea) false gods sometimes worshipped by people in the general area at that time. (2 Maccabees, Chap 12)
Any Catholic Bible retains that account in the Books of the Maccabees. I like to keep a Catholic Bible to read these additional books. And you can find it online also.
Every single dead Israelite soldier found after that battle wore that particular pagan amulet beneath their clothing!! None of the dead Israelite soldiers lacked them.
The Israelite soldiers that found this out praised God, from whom no wrong thing is hidden. They had not known that their cohorts were wearing these. God, of course, knows every hidden thing.
God does not tolerate the worship of false gods. It may seem that He will tolerate it....you may see people get away with it for a time, but it's only for a time. Somewhere, at a time and place of God's choosing, He makes a distinction between the people that worship Him alone (and Jesus, whom He sent), and those who worship many gods or several gods, including false ones.
The 'distinction' can be as severe as He chooses. Even heaven or hell. He is God, and does as He chooses. But He is fair, and lets people know what behaviors He loves, and which He hates.
God never speaks one good word about homosexuality anywhere in the scriptures, but He speaks many strong words against it. Strong like the words He speaks against false gods. Let's not pretend the issue of how God feels towards homosexual behavior is a complex one. Or that He has left His feelings on the matter a mystery. His feelings are not unclear.
He makes his feelings on the matter extremely clear. God is totally opposed to His people engaging in homosexual behavior in all places that He speaks of it. What could be plainer? What warning could be stronger?
America must fall for Satan to succeed. Or, America must come to stand for the things of Satan. He must destroy it from without or from within, or take it captive from without or from within to advance His cause in the world, and this is a life or death fight for Satan. God has already pre-determined the outcome of Satan's struggle....Satan loses. But meanwhile, Satan fights with a vengeance against all that is God's. He was one of the highest of created beings. He is no slouch in a fight. And the soul that dies while rejecting Jesus has no other door by which to enter heaven. That was Jesus's teaching.
Could the law of Moses have sufficed to save a man? Maybe. But the Jews of ancient times sometimes admitted that none of them had been perfect in the eyes of their own law.
Being cleansed and forgiven by the blood of Jesus and the water of the Holy Spirit can make you perfect, however. In the end, on the day of your judgement, it can suffice to wash away that which cannot be allowed into pure and holy Heaven. God the Father has allowed Jesus this ability to cleanse those He chooses. The man on the cross beside Jesus was promised Heaven that very day. Is Jesus a liar? Hardly!
But Jesus is so much higher in authority than Satan that, authority granted by the will of the Holy Father, that the brightness of Jesus's coming.... the brightness alone.... will be sufficient to kill the body of the anti-Christ (which Satan will be inhabiting) at the time of Jesus's return to do battle against Satan.
Jesus is so much higher in authority than Satan that when He ordered demons out of the bodies of the possessed, they promptly left, though they had nowhere else to go. These were servants of the evil one, Satan. Yet even they knew without question who's authority was higher between Jesus and Satan.
So, could any sane nation choose to openly celebrate behavior within it's ranks that God has condemned in very strong terms? Not if they plan to ask for His help in battle....that's for sure.
There is a war going on. A spiritual war. It has been going on for thousands of years. With a change of laws and policies, we could create a United States Armed Forces that God would be hard pressed to support.
We could literally cut our nation's military's tie with the good will of our Maker forever and for all time. We could make ourself too offensive to Him, too offensive to support. Then we would be sending our military sons and daughters directly into the wrath of God, a place from which no army emerges victorious.