The Jasmine Revolt

Ever hear of that before? Most of the western media is not giving it much airplay and most Americans are not paying much attention to it. The “Jasmine revolt” is not a long-ago historical event that has little impact on us today… (e.g. the “Whiskey rebellion of 1790” - Google it)… rather, the Jasmine revolt is a current event happening right now in the North African country of Tunisia, (ancient Carthage) that may, in fact, have a great impact on all of us in the near future! This month, the long-oppressed Tunisian people rose up and ousted their president, Ben-Ali, a corrupt power monger who had remained in office for decades on the backs of his people. (Not unlike many before him!) Something woke-up in me and I began to think back to 1989. .... Remember before the Berlin wall came down and the breakup of the Soviet Union? It all started with the Romanians overthrowing dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu in a week long riot. The resulting domino effect rippled across all the eastern-European Soviet satellites. Within weeks, the wall came down and over a period of months things happened that most of us thought were flat-out impossible: the fall of the iron curtain and the dissolving of the Soviet empire. What if this Tunisian revolt is the beginning of a similar shake-up in the Muslim political world?

Remember the Iranian revolution of 1979? The Islamic hardliners overthrew the corrupt (and staunch American ally) Shah of Iran resulting in the Islamic Republic of Iran ruled by the Ayatollahs and bringing us to the present apocalyptic death-cult leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad! Could what started then be expanding now? Well, it appears that the dominoes may be starting to fall across the 10-40 window. Since Tunisia, surprising demonstrations and revolts have erupted in Yemen, Algeria, and Egypt. (Although none have produced a Tunisian-like overthrow of their seemingly securely entrenched tribal / royal / aristocratic potentates ….. yet.)

History teaches us that when any oppressed people begins to imagine that they might actually be able to throw off the yoke of their oppressors…it is only a mater of time till they do! One might think that overthrowing oppressive dictators would be a good thing. It would be, if what followed was freedom. But what is waiting in the wings for these poor people is not freedom but an even harsher taskmaster: a Sharia law-driven Islamic Caliphate. If Ahmadinejad gets his way, all the Muslim nations of the world will throw off their secular governors to prepare the way for the Caliphate and the Mahdi. In the mean time, what will result will be anarchy and chaos, like what now reigns in places like Somalia, and Darfur. After a while people will be so sick of it they will flock to a charismatic leader who promises peace. Does that ring a bell?

If I am right these revolts and demonstrations will spread both in scope depth of violence. Right now, these relatively small demonstrations have some very well known people shaking in their boots - some who are enemies of America like Libya’s Khadafy, and some who are our “friends” like the King of Saudi Arabia. In the end, the 10-horned beast will utterly destroy the prostitute who rides it. (Rev. 1715-18) Consider the possibility that the “beast” is the religion of Islam, who in the final days will be led by the Mahdi Anti-Christ, and that the woman who rides it, ripe for a fall, is none other that the House of Saud. These kings have been riding on the backs of Islam for generations and certainly fit the descriptions of corruption given in Rev. 17-18.

There once was a woman from Niger, who smiled while riding a tiger…she went for a ride… and came back inside… with the smile on the face of the tiger!

The View From ……. THERE?

Since my last posted “View,” we have had a geographic change. Over the first four days of this new year, we traveled almost 1400 miles westward over mountains and plains and have now arrived at our very own “little house on the prairie” Honestly, along the way, we felt a real kinship with our pioneer ancestors who made the same journey generations ago in Quaker bonnets and covered wagons. Our sturdy Conestoga was of the U-haul variety, and it only took us 3 ½ days instead of 3 ½ months, but we felt like wagon-train settlers just the same!

The title of my column/blog has always been, “The View From Here.” Several of my Virginia friends have teased that I will now have to change it to “The View From There!” But another good friend of mine taught me a saying over the years that certainly applies now: “Wherever you are… be there!” That seems kinda obvious, right? But obvious or not, many people live in the past, dwelling in the regretful land of coulda- shoulda-woulda, while others are constantly worried about what’s coming up next. Many of us flip-flop between the two, never landing on “today.” Often I find I am not really enjoying the experience of the “right now” because I am not “being where I am? Does that make sense? Have you ever heard a coach being interviewed after a big win? Usually the coach fails to celebrate the team’s great victory even for a moment. Instead he immediately begins to talk about his next game; all the future problems and obstacles to be overcome, and all the past mistakes they made during the last game. It’s hard to live in the present – to be where you are!

God proclaimed His name to Moses as “I AM”. Not “I was” or “I will be,” although both those things are true…. as we perceive time anyway. God is outside of time, He lives as the constant “I Am” - the forever present. He is always “being where He is” and He is omnipresent! (Ever-and-everywhere-present) So what’s the application? Well, it would be easy for me to try to hang on to the past right now and perhaps just as tempting to fret about the future. God calls us to neither. He asks us to give Him the past and trust him for the future. He wants us to just be where we are, and where we are is …. in Him. So whether from my new office overlooking the grasslands of central Kansas or from wherever my “View” originates, it will always be from “here.” My goal for now is to work on simply “being where I am”…. want to join me in that?

PS. This will be the last “View” posted on the Hanover Friends website. “Being where you are” means embracing the present and you can’t wholeheartedly do that until you let go of the past. So to that end, no more “View” at friendlychurch.org. You can however, keep following my musings at www.davidacrisp.blogspot.com. If you’d like to continue receiving the “view” via e-mail, send me an e-mail at davidndes@gmail.com with that request and…. eventually…. I’ll make it happen. Blessings!

Thanks for the Memories

Almost eleven years ago, you and I began meeting here in this space craftily hidden somewhere inside the Mechanicsville Local. Now, over a decade (and 502 columns) later, we come to our final visit together via this medium. A lot has happened over those years! When we started this column, the world was different place. It was January of 2000, twenty-one months before the terrible attacks of 9-11, Bill Clinton was finishing his final days as our President and I was just 39 years old! A lot has changed! Together we have looked at current events, natural disasters, Biblical prophecies, “off-the-wall” thoughts that came to my mind and various funny scenarios that I got myself into, but each time I wrote with a “view” towards allowing the Holy Spirit to bring conviction, comfort, insight and motivation from His Word through it all. In my very first column I stated my goal: “My pledge to you is to endeavor to always come back to the central truth that will set you free – the gospel of Jesus Christ!” I hope that I have been able to do just that, and if I have, then it’s been worth every minute of my time and every dime that Hanover Friends Church has spent over these years to give me this sacred privilege. Thanks for allowing me to share my view with you!

So what’s next? Well, Des and I will be moving to a new pastorate at Rose Hill Friends Church. It’s a smaller congregation, in a country church just a mile or so outside Rose Hill, Kansas. If you’re so inclined, you can see the church here: www.rhfc.org . I will try to keep up with my writing of the “View” and I’d like to say I am firmly committed to it, but without a newspaper “deadline,” I know I will find it hard to be as regular with my in-print musings! However, if you still want to read along, there are a couple of ways you can make that happen. You can follow “The View From Here” on my blog, www.davidacrisp.blogspot.com. On my blog site, you can become a “follower” and receive notification of new posts on your Google or Yahoo e-mail accounts or on Twitter, or subscribe to receive it through a “reader.” Believe me, I don’t understand all that lingo either! For the next few months at least you will be able to view and print any “View From Here” articles I have written over the past few years by going to: www.friendlychurch.org and clicking on the button titled: “The View From Here,” and then accessing the archive on the left hand side of the page. Hanover Friends Church will be suspending their contract with the Local for the time being until they get a new full-time Sr. Pastor, and the new pastor may or may not decide to continue this avenue of outreach. Please be praying for our church as they go through this transition. Make it a habit to pray for all our Mechanicsville churches! (Every time you drive by this or any church, shoot up a quick prayer for that house of worship and their pastor!)

I‘d like to thank the wonderful staff at the Mechanicsville Local who have been so cooperative, especially Sarah Oswald and Cindy Grant. It has truly been a joy to serve this community for our nearly 18 year tenure here. I love the fact that a whole generation of Mechanicsville kids grew up with me at Friendly Care Day School and I still get greeted all around town with hugs and “Hey, Pastor David!” from kids 3 to 21. This is a great place to be. It was a wonderful place to raise our family and we have loved our church, this town and its people.

I suppose the thing that God keeps speaking to my heart through this big life-change is this: “This world is not out home! We are just passing through on our way to our real home: heaven!” There, we will never say good-bye again! What wonderful reunions there! Let me leave you with a few final exhortations, one from God’s Word and one from me: “The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power forever and ever!” (1 Peter 4:7-11) “You can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd, but you can be happy, if you've a mind to!”

David A. Crisp, Pastor, Hanover Friends Church, Dec. 22, 2010

Wednesday Evening Bible Study 12-08-10

A continued look at some of the more “obscure” parts of the “Christmas” narratives:
Last week- thoughts on the two genealogies form Matt. and Luke and how they related to a “curse” in Jer. 22:30!

Tonight, let’s do a little thinking about the Magi …(wise men).

According to the Bible, how many were there that came to Judea?        (trick question!)
How many gifts?        What were they?              What special purpose(s) did they have?
(side-note about swaddling clothes)

Did the Magi come to the stable in Bethlehem?      How do we know? Matt. 2:11, 16
Conflict! (again with the conflict?!) Okay, this time it’s not in the Bible… but dueling Christmas carols:
The First Noel: “They look-ed up and saa-aw a star shining in the ________ beyond them far…
We Three Kings: “Star of wonder , star of light, star of royal beauty bright, _____-ward leading, still proceeding…..”     SO… which is it?     Clue : (or maybe not?) Matt. 2:2,     then    2:9

Question: Where did they come from? How did they know when to look for a star and how did they know what the star meant?  No prophecy in Hebrew scripture instructs about a coming star...
But  a “wise” man could know from scripture when to look up! Daniel 9:25 is an amazing prophecy which predicts exactly when Jesus would be born!  How does this relate to 9:24?   So 483 years (7 x 69) after the decree was issued by Cyrus the Mede to re-build Jerusalem the Messiah (King of the Jews) was to come.
How did Daniel know this decree would come? Dan. 9:1-2  What was he reading?  Jer. 25:12,
 Isa. 44:24-45:7 (application?)

So Daniel understands the "when"  from Jeremiah and the "who" from Isa.

Now what do you know about the position that Daniel held in the kingdoms of Babylon, and Medo-Persia?

In Daniel 1, Daniel and his three buddies write the first veggie-tale: Then what happened? 1:18-21

In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream…then what? 2;2, 10-13, 17, 24, 27-28, 48

So. putting this all together….How did Persian Gentile Magi “wise men” know what it meant when a “new” star, or some sort of heavenly sign appeared in the constellations?
They knew because a Hebrew prophet named Daniel who was in charge of all the “wise men” of Persia 500 years earlier had written that the Jewish Messiah would appear that year. (Which he got from and angel and from other prophecies written generations before him!) So when the star appeared the wise headed out to Jerusalem since they were looking for the “king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2) They did not “follow” the star until after they left Jerusalem and it “led” them to (probably) north Nazareth in Galilee, not Bethlehem. (Even though Herod's scholars had told them Bethleham.) Makes sense huh! Why would they need the star to "lead" them if they were going to Bethlehem when they already had directions from Herod!
So what does this do for you?

Predictions for 2011

Once again I take pen in hand, or at least mouse under hand, to make my prognostications for the coming year. I do not purport these as prophetic, they are just my opinions based on my “view from here!” We’ll see how many come true, but either way it’s interesting and hopefully motivational for us to, as the Boy Scouts say, “Be Prepared” and as Jesus put it, “Watch and pray! Look up for your redemption draws near!” Someone asked me last week about my predictions for 2011 and I answered with three ominous letters… W… A… R.

• I have been predicting for 2 years now that Israel will strike Iran to prevent the Iranians from making their nuclear arsenal operational. While I was a little “off” on my timing, I still see this as the next “big thing” to happen in the Middle East. Look for a strike in the first 90 days of 2011 followed by global condemnation of Israel, chaos, and a regional war. This war could turn out to be the “hook in the jaw” that pulls the “Chief Prince” from the far north to attempt an invasion Israel expanding the regional war to where it will engulf many nations. (Ez. 38:4-13)

• The US will stay out of direct military involvement in this regional war but will offer weapons, aid and logistical support to Israel. Iran will call for suicide bombers to attack the US in retaliation and we will see some terrorist attacks on US soil.

• As a result of this war, global fuel prices will rise dramatically deepening the economic crisis here and around the world.

• North Korea will provoke a real “shootin’ war” on the Korean peninsula, dragging the U.S. into this decade’s old conflict, and proving once again the old axiom that any “unfinished” war has to be fought again. The only way wars are ended is with the complete victory or defeat of one side or the other. Read your history books. Any war that ever ended temporarily (even for decades) in a truce or cease-fire, eventually flared up again. The reason for that is that the underlying cause for the war was not dealt with. This holds true for spiritual warfare too! (Chew on that for a while.)

• Pakistan and India will move closer to war as Pakistan becomes very unstable.

• Vladimir Putin will strengthen his grip on a resurgent Russia.

• In Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will go through several attempts at his removal both violent and political but he will emerge stronger and more "Hitleresque" than ever.

• Here at home, look for Hillary Clinton to resign as Sec. of State sometime this fall in preparation for a primary run against Barrack Obama for the 2012 Democratic nomination.

• Palin, Huckabee and Romney will fade. Chris Christie of N.J. and Rick Santorum of PA will be the front runners for the Republicans going into 2012.

• “True Grit” will win “Best Picture” at the Oscars, and a “surprise” team will win the Super Bowl!

Some of these things MIGHT come true…. But here’s what we KNOW FOR SURE: “Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.”

A Son of Issachar

For several months now I have been expecting Israel to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iranian nuclear sites to keep the apocalyptic death-cult followers who run that country from perpetrating a second holocaust – not millions of Jews dying in Nazi death camps over torturous years but millions perishing in an instant from a death-rain of Iranian warheads. A few weeks ago I shared my view as to why it had not yet happened: covert operations over the summer involving a computer worm known as “Stuxtnet” had slowed the Iranian march towards the bomb giving Israel more time before a strike was necessary. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no shrinking violet when it comes to making tough decisions, but he is waiting till the last possible moment to make this one. And who could blame him! If he takes military action and launches a first strike on Iran, the international reaction and condemnation of Israel will be overwhelming! The whole world will be down their throats and on their backs!

The Bible, in Ezekiel 36:24-38 predicted the re-creation of Israel - God would bring them home from the many lands and nations to which they were exiled for nearly 2000 years. This prophecy was partially fulfilled in 1948, and then completely fulfilled by victories in the ‘67 and ‘72 wars! In the following chapter, (Ez. 37) Ezekiel sees a valley of dry, disconnected bones coming together and coming to life. This is a word picture of these 20th century events! Then, in the very next chapter, Ezekiel predicts that many nations will gather against Israel led by “Persia” …none other than modern-day Iran! (Ezekiel 38:5) Could this next chapter be about ready to unfold?

The world-wide media machine continually spews out anti-Semitic and anti-Israel propaganda. Israel is hounded as an “occupier” and branded as an illegitimate interloper in very the land that God Himself gave to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by an everlasting covenant over 3,000 years ago. Recently, the Obama administration once again pressured Israel to stop settlements in certain areas of east Jerusalem that were not under Israeli control prior to the 1967 six-day war. Netanyahu’s cabinet is right now discussing a 90-day moratorium on such construction. I was shocked to learn that they might be bowing to such pressure…until I heard what the U.S. was offering in return: 20 new F-35 fighter jets, and perhaps just as powerful, an extended security agreement between the U.S. and Israel which included promises from the U.S. to oppose in the United Nations Security Council any proposed resolutions that may come forward in the near future seeking to de-legitimize the sovereignty of Israel.

So what do we make of this? Should we conclude that the current administration has undergone a change of heart towards Israel? I don’t think so. If that were the case, the U.S. would simply offer the planes and the UN support without any strings. It seems that the Obama administration wants to look like it’s getting “tough” on Israel while at the same time doing some things that the President wouldn’t normally do to help Israel. Why? Of course, I don’t know…but my view is that last week when Netanyahu was in Washington he gave them the strike timetable. On Aug. 22, the Russians, after many years of trumped-up delays, finally delivered on their promise to provide nuclear fuel to Iran. It’s now loaded up into their reactor. On Nov. 3, the top Israeli general in charge of military intelligence reported to the Israeli parliament his evaluation is that Iran can now build at least one bomb and will soon have two. Without some unforeseen miraculous intervention, Mr. Netanyahu will very soon be caught between the devil and the deep blue sea - strike Iran and unleash a firestorm, including perhaps a large scale multi-front conventional war of retaliation, or see his nation obliterated by a nuclear missile. We should all be praying that Netanyahu will be like one of the son’s of Issachar described in the Old Testament – a man who understands the times and knows what Israel should do (1 Chronicles 12:32) – and that every believer in Jesus Christ would understand who we are and what we should be doing: praying for the peace of Jerusalem, living holy and godly lives, looking forward to the day of God and speeding its coming! (2Peter3:12)

If I Could Turn Back Time…

Go ahead, sing a few bars! I know you want to! I guess I was thinking about that ‘89 Cher standard (kinda weird to mention Cher, 1989, and “standard” in the same sentence, huh!) since last Saturday night we did just that: we turned back time. Of course, the hour we gained moving from daylight savings time back to standard time will be lost again next spring when we turn our clocks forward, but for one fleeting moment anyway, we got to do what many of us often wish we could, we got to turn back time. Unlike Frank Sinatra, whose regrets were “too few to mention,” most of us have plenty of them: missed chances, blown opportunities and words we shouldn’t have said. Many spend their lives playing the “coulda, woulda, shoulda, if-only” game.

What should we do with our regrets? We can’t really “turn back time” in the sense that we can change the past. Is it “water over the dam” or “water under the bridge? I don’t know, but either way, you get the picture, what’s done is done! … Or is it? The answer is….yes!.... and no!

The Apostle Paul was a fellow who had lots of past mistakes: stoning Stephen, persecuting the church, denying Christ, to name a few! In fact Paul calls himself, “the worst of sinners!” But Paul did not let his past sins keep him from Christ’s service. Instead, he loudly proclaims his sinful unworthiness as an example of God’s mighty saving grace! “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (1Tim. 1:14-15) Paul could have let his regrets eat him alive, but instead he sees and receives the grace, mercy and forgiveness of the cross that actually has the power to “turn back time”- making us justified: “just-as-if-I’d never sinned! (Rom 5:1-2) Paul refuses the devil’s condemnation and he exhorts us to not allow the devil to pummel us with our past either! “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death!” (Rom 8:1-2)

The blood of Jesus can, in a spiritual sense, “turn back time” removing all the guilt, shame and punishment which we deserve because of our sin! We must confess our sins to God and repent of them and by faith put our trust in Jesus’ finished work on the cross, and when we do He removes all the negative spiritual consequences of our past sins. However, the earthly consequences remain. Stephen was still dead. (Remember, I said the answer was both yes!... and no!) Sometimes our sins do have painful earthly consequences that God doesn’t remove. He wants us and others to see and remember that when we live according to our own desires, not doing things His way, (i.e. sin,) that those sinful actions bring pain and death. If it didn’t hurt when we touched a hot stove, we’d do it over and over. Pain has a purpose! But regrets…. not so much.

God does not want us to wallow in our past sin, failures or missed opportunities, rather He wants us to “let the dead bury the dead” and follow Him! Paul, puts it this way, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Why not use this seasonal clock change as a reminder to do more than just exchange the batteries in your smoke detector. Exchange your sinful past for a forgiven future, condemnation for freedom, regrets for motivation. Give Him your sin, guilt, shame and punishment, and receive righteousness, peace and joy!