The Crux of the Matter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5C9FfVA-OI

https://rgonce.blogspot.com/2019/09/radical-agenda.html

https://rgonce.blogspot.com/2015/02/faith-get-real.html

What is at the heart of the division in our nation, and in the world?  What is the crux of the matter, when it comes to making a decision about how to vote come November?

For me, it is a simple matter.  We are in a pitched battle between good and evil, so we need to decide which side we are on, good or evil? 

And then we need to decide which side in the upcoming election, Democrat or Republican, represents the greater good, or greater evil, for our nation.  Everyone can see that we are at a crisis, and we have never before seen such confusion among our people.  Families are divided, churches are divided, communities are divided, as we search for a way forward.

Part of the problem is that too much information, both true and untrue, is easily available.   Just go to google search, put in some words, and hundreds of thousands of responses pop up.  What is useful and what is rubbish?

The Crux of the Matter

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crux of the matter. Also, heart of the matter. The basic, central or critical point of an issue. For example, In this trial the bloodstains represent the crux of the matter, or We think the second clause is the heart of the matter.

The crux of the matter is that we do not know what to believe, unless we have a background of information about what we are searching.  Those of us who are trained in Bible study have a background of information that has braved the test of time and trouble. That standard of informed thinking is considered old fashioned by the leftist.  The Marxist has rejected faith in God and the Bible, and will turn their anger against believers as they have opportunity.  

The Marxist rejects the old ways, and destroys its components, so as to institute new ways informed by the elite thinkers who have jumped on board the revolution.  Soon the elite are in charge, and arrange things to their own liking, and make themselves kings. And they destroy whatever they perceive to be in their way.  We have seen it at work in Portland and Seattle.  When will we ever learn?  

I copied the article below from the Facebook page of Df. Doc Carter.  You are welcome to get acquainted with her. 

Df Doc Carter
5d ·

THE DAY THE POLICE WERE NO LONGER NEEDED

August 19, 1966 - Chinese students launched a fight for social justice to fight for the rights of the oppressed in China. It was widely believed that the 'patriarchal system' in China had been created by the 1% and held down women, minorities, and the working class. The students cried out for a revolution and change, and consequentially launched the infamous Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Students put a red band around their arm to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and called for a change on old ideas that they called the FOUR OLDS. The Four Olds were: Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.

The movement was supported by the Chinese media.

Mass demonstrations and looting by the students ensued.

Statues were torn down.

Chinese architecture was destroyed.

Classical literature and Chinese paintings were torn apart and burned.

Temples were desecrated.

The Cemetery of Confucius was attacked.

The corpse of the 76th-generation Duke Yansheng was removed from its grave and hung from a tree.
Wealthy homes were attacked and destroyed.
Many families' long-kept genealogy books were burned to ashes.

All of history, in short, was to be removed and replaced. This was the central meaning of Cultural Revolution: That China was going to destroy every trace of its bourgeois (privileged) past and replace it with a new culture built on the principles of Maoism and Marxism.

Communist leaders like President Liu Shaoqi were taken out of power and replaced with men Mao believed were not critical of his reign.

Public leaders who were considered to be oppressive were tried by angry mobs and vigilantes.

Three days later, August 22, 1966, a central directive was issued to stop police intervention. The police were disbanded in the city and the students formed a community solution called the RED GUARD. The RED GUARDS policed the communities and punished anyone who did not agree with their ideas. Even people that supported the movement, but had bad thoughts ("wrong think") could be punished.

Though many Christians supported the movement in the beginning, they quickly became the number one target of the RED GUARDS and public trials were held to condemn them to death.

Many of those that were on board with the cause of the rebellion, in the beginning, saw that it was not really what they had signed up for, but by then it was too late. The power that the Red Guard wanted had already been given.

More people died during the cultural revolution in China than any war, famine, or natural disaster in the history of man. An estimated 20 to 30 million people were killed.

Are you listening America?

Yes, the crux of the matter is a choice between God and mankind.  There is a way that seems right to mankind, but the end of that way is the way of death.  

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life for those who put their trust in Jesus Christ.  His cross is the crux of the matter. 

The Divide

A skillful observation may be one trained by years of following Jesus and trusting His power. 80 years helps.  (As Oran would say, "Maybe".)

A friend who has a wonderful way with words commented on my response on facebook, where I had mentioned that I only see one political party who is supporting riots and lawless demonstrations, 

https://www.facebook.com/rob.woodfin.3/posts/10220378839013304

by saying that "Observation is a skill. Accusation requires none."

I responded that I had made a skillful observation.  

I have friends on both sides of the divide, and need encouragement from my wife and others to be kind.  But love demands speaking the truth.  

While I was thinking about this, Dr. Alveda King appeared on the news and said that we need God's Power to solve our divide.  I say Amen!

There are good people on both sides of the divide, but none of us is good by our own merit.  The divide is between those who are willing to trust in God through Jesus Christ, and those who want to trust in human solutions.  Those trusting human solutions can be identified by constant references to science and medical experts, as if our trusting our experts is the solution to our dilemma.  

The fear of death has been exploited as a political tool.   As bad as Covid-19 is or may be, it is no reason to stop living our lives.  I am in that class of people, 80 yrs old with heart condition, who will likely die if I am infected with the dread virus.  

But God has blessed me abundantly.  He has sufficiently revealed His presence in the universe, in history, and in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I am blessed to be His child through faith, and look forward to the resurrection and eternal life with Jesus.   How can I fear death?  It is a passing over the Jordan River to the Promised Land. 

And I am blessed to have experienced the joys and blessings, along with the trials, of nuclear family, one man married to one woman for life.  Such a blessing!!   God gives us direction to a blessed life.  He has revealed His wisdom in the Bible, a collection of writings that were guided and protected by God's Power, the Holy Spirit, and whose instruction is able to make us wise unto salvation. 


Godlessness in the Last Days

2 Tim 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. 8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. 9 But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.
All Scripture Is Breathed Out by God
13 while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom[a] you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[b] may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Yes, we need God's Power to solve our divide.  And God's Power does not encourage lawlessness and slander.  The moral character of a person is of concern, but the law demands legal process for accusations, and dumping floods of obvious slander is not helpful.

Dan Rather, the New York Times, and the Washington Post are not tools of God's Power.  This is my skillful observation.  They are serving a lower dominion.  They are serving the power of the human collective, the idea that people can work together by ignoring the rule of law, and demanding mob rule.

You can use your power of skillful observation to see which political party is more supportive of God's Power.  If you need expert help, please contact Dr. Alveda King.  

Seven Prompts for Faith

https://rgonce.blogspot.com/2013/03/pictures-of-salvation.html

Last week I was contacted by an 80yr old physicist, an inventor who had seen www.deadseapower.com and wanted to tell me about his invention of a pipeline that could move water very economically, suggesting it should replace the tunnel in the proposed project.  

I told him about Ezekiel's vision in chapter 47, and said I would stick with the tunnel design.  
http://ezekielproject.org/history.shtml

Turns out he is an avowed atheist, and had stopped having religious discussions sixty years ago.  He commanded me to stop talking with him about religion.  After a few more exchanges, I asked him to explain to me how gravity works.  He called me on the phone, and we had a ten minute discussion about politics in the Middle East, and various connections.  

Highly educated atheists are a real challenge to those of us who want to share our faith in Jesus.  My experience has been the reception of rabid insults in response to suggesting study about YHWH and Yeshua.  I tell them that I just want to examine factual information, including science and history.  But atheists seem to be afraid to open themselves to inquiry about faith in God, having decided to reject faith, and having no desire to revisit their decision. 

The Bible is a remarkable book.  It has stood the challenge of endless critique, and mindless affronts.  Those of us who believe should not be thin skinned about our faith.  We should be ready to suffer insults, and still be kind and gracious.  But I will not stop talking about Jesus.  

The challenge is to identify information that is factual and supported by science and history.  For example, when I visited the coast of Israel at Palmachim, I noticed that the stones jutting through the surf looked familiar.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmachim

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurkar

The calcarious sandstone at Palmachim is very similar to the calcarious sandstone boulders that have rolled down the mountain at my house.  Our ancient stone wall was built of such stones, and from my childhood I had wondered at the sea shells embedded in the stones.  Turns out that this stone is formed in the surf of a sandy beach, of sea shells mixed with sand and cemented with the calcium from sea creatures. I am very familiar with this stone as I used it to build the foundation wall of the cabin where we live.  

https://rgonce.blogspot.com/2012/12/from-peaceful-visa-of-front-porch-of.html

Yes, the mountain behind my house was once a sea coast, and the sea shells in my foundation stones speak of Psalms 104, 

He set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved.
6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At your rebuke they fled;
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
    to the place that you appointed for them.
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.


What are some of the narratives of the Bible that have historical and factual support, and which can help us develop faith in YHWH, the great I Am?

1. In the beginning, the story of creation
2. The Flood
3. Abraham
4. David
5. Birth of Jesus
6. Miracles of Jesus
7. Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus

Why is faith so important?  Because it gives us the hope of eternal glory, of one day sharing the eternal existence of God.  

Hebrews 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.