Shabbat Sabbath

Everyone dies, to this point in history. You are going to die unless certain interventions occur. Those you love are going to die, with the same caveat. Each person who has ever lived has died or will die, with the exception of two people I know of in the past and millions of others in the future.

Besides the claims that humans are interacting with extraterrestrials, there are many otherworldly episodes that people claim they undergo. The seeming reality of the experience often has a transforming effect, even to the extent that the experience itself becomes a new kind of worldview filter. For example, if an interdimensional (as in, it looks as if it suddenly emerged out of nowhere) entity suddenly appears at the foot of someone’s bed in the middle of the night and claims that it is from the Pleiades cluster, then on most occasions the person will believe that its claims are true. The belief in the experience often changes their views about the big picture issues of life, such as “Where did we come from?” and “Where are we going when we die?”

The other contributing entries in this series have addressed some very real and specific areas of deceit that surround us and our youth every single day. With vampires romancing our women and girls, “ghost hunters” promoting the communication with the dead, and liars, murderers, witches, false prophets, and other dark role models driving an ever-present, evil, and invisible nail in the coffins of biblical doubt for so many, one could easily begin to feel defeated and overwhelmed. Yet, the weapon against such things is not as hidden or hard-to-find as many tend to think. A deep, sincere, and dedicated faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is one key to marching against these powerful foes with confidence. The other key is knowledge. Know your enemy, and know what weapons and combat tactics your enemy will bring to the battleground.

Opening our presentation of this epistle to the Ephesians, we saw Paul of Tarsus begin to describe the purpose of the will of Yahweh God in relation to His plan for the ages: that He has had a particular people who were chosen from the “foundation of the society” who were preordained for the position of sons of God. Because of that predestination, in Christ these particular people have redemption and the dismissal of their transgressions.

Is it possible to have a normal conversation about a woman who claims she is haunted by “sexual” demons “AKA” ghosts? Well, The View certainly couldn’t do it, and they tried their best on this morning’s episode. While discussing a news story about a North Texas woman who says her home is occupied by dirty-talking spirits, The View couldn’t keep from laughing, talking about sex toys, and debating the ethics of a Succubus hookup. Behar’s co-host Sunny Hostin was more intrigued, wondering what the “ghosts” look like. Behar joked that the spirits are George Clooney doppelgängers, but Sara Haines took the convo one step further, asking, “If you have sex with a ghost, do you get pregnant?”

How close is the rapture of the church? I think we can get a good idea based on recent surveys of self-identified Christians in the United States.

Recently, The Christian Post reported, “Over a third of senior pastors believe ‘good people’ can earn their way to heaven.” This was the conclusion of a survey conducted by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University. The survey polled around 1,000 Christian pastors, examining dozens of beliefs they hold, and found only 37% hold a biblical worldview.

A recent interview on Israeli radio featured prominent rabbis explaining that the Messiah is just about to reveal himself.

Rabbi Yaakov Zisholtz told religious broadcaster Radio 2000 that Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky (who passed away earlier this year) had told him that he (Kanievsky) was already in direct contact with the Messiah.

To understand why religious Jews are taking this seriously, it’s important to know that Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky was considered one of the two or three top rabbis of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Israel.