John 1: 14 (MSG) Jesus is the incarnate God who put on skin and moved into the neighborhood.
Standing on Saddam’s palace in 2006, it was night. Half a mile away on the other side of the fences, lights, and security patrols, we observed two high rise apartment buildings. Built in parallel, they once housed the workers and families who maintained Saddam’s palaces that surrounded us. Shortly after the sun went down, gunfire and tracers erupted between the two buildings. Intel guys told us that the group in one building were former soldiers and Baathists in Saddam’s Army. The other building contained multiple Jihadi terror groups. It was deadly, sad irony that they should be working together to restore their nation. Yet, nobody ever said common sense prevails in a gun fight. That takes a lot of training.
I eventually left the roof and made my way to the containers where my unit resided. Those firefights went on all night. Every night. In the morning, there would be body bags and bodies wrapped in sheets lying next to the road that went by the buildings. Even from a distance with binoculars, we could tell that many of the bodies in bags, or wrapped in sheets, belonged to children.
Arriving home after my tour in Iraq, it was a huge relief to kiss my bride, hug our kids, and go to church. Mortars and rockets were not dropping on us every three days, and the images of fire fights between two buildings, bodies laid in neat rows the next morning, slowly faded into my memories. It took a while to learn how to sleep through the night. Sometimes I would jerk awake, thinking I heard a rocket explode, and reach for my body armor. Usually, it was just thunder from a storm, Jan slept next to me, it was quiet, and still night. For me, that is the difference between Combat and Shalom – War and Peace.
Could that kind of national disaster come to my city, my church, and my family? I’m not a prophecy – conspiracy dude, but I used to find it humorous to study them. Here we are in 2023 with the next scamdemmic, attempts at masks again, hyperinflation on the horizon, Politicians scrambling to survive elections in November of 2024, mandatory vaccinations, perhaps a repeat attempt to keep the faithful from worship, Critical Race Theory (CRT) rampant in our schools…
Studying conspiracy theories is not fun anymore. That question is back. As a retired Army officer, I’m watching rapid changes in the military. They range from relaxing run and pushup standards on the PT test to Marxist culturalism / CRT being taught at West Point and the Air Force Academy. Add in all the collectivist mantras and divisions that are as old and failed as Nazi Germany, Russia, China… Back to Athens and even Babylon.
Throughout this Fall’s class at EmpowerU at The Road @ Chapel Hills, we are examining the Old Testament in Revelation. This will not be a plain sidewalk stroll through the Old Testament and Revelation. One of my tasks will be to examine this convergence through four frameworks.
Neb’s statue and interpretation in Daniel 2 detailing the Times of the Gentiles - Written in Aramaic, the Audience is the Gentile Nations
70 Weeks prophecy in Daniel 9 - Audience is Israel
Ezekiel laying on his side 40 days in Ezekiel 4 - Audience is Israel in captivity, framed by the Times of the Gentiles
Seven Genesis Days in Genesis 1 - Peter said a day unto God is as a 1,000 years and a 1,000 yeas as a day
There are scarry bits but as Denis Praeger said with great joy and a big smile several nights ago, “Do not Despair because despair is a sin.”
On a personal note… Check out my website at: Cave Man’s Mancave - Faith, Politics, running for public office, Pictures, grandkids, and BLOG
Jay
A beautiful Saturday Morning after walking with my bride of 41 years and now in my Mancave smoking a cigar.