Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you (2 Corinthians 13:11). I had many things to write, but I will not with ink and pen write unto thee (3 John 1:13).
Hasta luego isn’t “goodbye;” it means “until later” or “until next time.” I have decided to throttle back on my writing efforts in order to concentrate on other activities that I reserved for my retirement: reading the many books in my library, relearning my guitar and piano, and being more dedicated to physical exercise. I plan to continue writing, but not regularly. Instead of posting weekly, I will be more sporadic with my posts reserving my writing for special bouts of inspiration.
I first posted on this site on June 4, 2012. Since then, I have posted at least one article per week for a total of approximately 624 articles. On paper, my articles average three pages of single-spaced text and more than 1200 words. By this time, I could have written at least one good-sized book.
I have written on many topics which the reader can find under my list of “Categories.” Most of the articles fall into more than one category which allows the reader to study a specific category from different perspectives.
I also have two in-depth studies for the serious student of the Bible in the tabs at the top of this page. “Jesus’ 7’s” is a collection of articles on the Gospel of John focusing on the seven “I AM” statements of Jesus, the seven signs, and the seven discourses recorded in the Gospel of John. “Revelation” is a collection of articles on end-times prophecy based mostly on the Book of Revelation.
For the reader who wants to know how to obtain eternal life with God in heaven, I have written what I hope is a clear explanation of the Gospel message in the tab entitled “Securing Eternal Life.” And for anyone who would like to know what heaven might be like, there is the tab entitled “Heaven.”
My prayer is that God will continue to use the work I have produced, and that it will be a blessing to the reader. As I said, I am not stopping altogether, but I will be writing much less as God leads. So, ¡Hasta luego!
For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. (Zechariah 2:8)
For anyone paying even the least amount of attention to current events, it should be obvious that our country, the United States of America, is in serious trouble. Our wide-open borders allow thousands of illegal, undocumented, foreign invaders to enter our country every day. We err in thinking that these border crossers come only from Mexico. Indeed, they come from countries around the globe: China, Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, several South American countries, and many other places. Many of these countries hate America. Of greater concern, a large majority of these invaders are young, single, military-age men – men who have no allegiance or affinity toward American values or loyalty to our Constitution. These same invaders break our laws, murder, rape, and demand sustenance from our government. They do not come to contribute, but to take all they can get.
Due to their “woke” policies, our military cannot meet its recruitment goals, so to fill the gap, they offer instant citizenship to these invaders.[1] Think of how these recruits would respond if the military turned against American citizens.
The illegal immigrant problem further contributes to the economic decline of our nation. However, that is not the only thing eating away at our economy. Our leaders have virtually stopped the production of fossil fuels in lieu of “green energy” – solar and wind power generation whose efficiency is questionable. Solar power takes up acres of land better suited to raising crops to feed a hungry world. Wind turbines are designed to last about 20 years, however, “The average age of wind turbines in the United States in 2020 is 7 years with an estimated 11 years by 2025.”[2] Wind turbines cause unintentional environmental damage by killing birds that attempt to fly through the spinning blades. A conclusion of three studies estimates that wind turbines kill approximately 366,000 birds every year. So much for environmental concerns. Other factors play into the declining economy much of which is self-induced, but for the sake of brevity, I will stop here.
America’s trouble also manifests in its moral decline. An excellent example of this came last week, on Easter Sunday when President Joe Biden declared the day as “Transgender Day of Visibility” – this from a supposedly good Catholic President.[3] The “in-your-face” gender confusion agenda seems to dominate every area of our society. Violence has increased exponentially in just the last few years since the COVID-19 pandemic. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone who takes the Bible seriously. Paul warned that these days would come.
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:1-7)
The passage above clearly describes the state of this country. America is in trouble. However, that is not the worst of it. Our current administration has placed our nation directly in the crosshairs of God’s wrath with its shameful treatment of Israel. On October 7, 2023, the “Palestinian” terrorist organization Hamas executed an unprovoked attack on Israel. From Gaza, they invaded the kibbutzim along the southern border of Israel. They brutally murdered innocent civilians, raped women, and baked babies alive in ovens. Over 1200 Israelis and foreigners were murdered and over 240 hostages were carried off into Gaza. Israel was completely caught off-guard due to a standing “cease fire” even though Hamas continued sporadic rock attacks from Gaza. Since that day, Israel rightly determined to enter Gaza with the goal of completely destroying Hamas. To date, Israel goes to great lengths to ensure that “Palestinian” civilians are kept out of the line of fire. (In any war, there will be collateral damage and innocents may be hurt, but Israel is careful to minimize harm to civilians).
At first, the U.S. completely backed Israel. However, within a couple of weeks, America started pressuring Israel to give in to Hamas’ demands to cease fire and return hundreds of captured Hamas terrorists in return for a handful of Israeli hostages. Israel tried this for a few days, but Hamas continued to fire rockets into Israel. They lie. They cannot be trusted. So, Israel has forsaken any attempt to make peace with Hamas. It cannot be done. Now the U.S. has increased pressure on Israel to end the war – without achieving their stated goal to destroy Hamas completely. The demand includes the threat of withholding the much-needed weaponry that Israel needs to successfully prosecute the war. Recently on March 25, 2024, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding that Israel end its war against Hamas.[4] The U.S. has veto power in the council, but rather than veto the resolution, our UN ambassador abstained signaling that, while the U.S. was not in favor, neither would it stand against the resolution. Some friend of Israel!
Not only is Israel fighting a war in the south with Hamas, but it battles Hezbollah on its northern border. Both Hamas and Hezbollah are proxies of Iran that has as its goal to eliminate Israel from existence. Just a few days ago, Israel launched an aerial strike on the Iranian embassy in Damascus killing several high-ranking Iranian military officers. For that act, Iran threatened to retaliate directly, not through proxies, on Israel. To that, Joe Biden, gave the green light to Iran stating that the United States would not intervene. It is interesting that shortly after that declaration, New Jersey experienced a rare 4.8 magnitude earthquake that was felt as far away as Philadelphia. Could that have been a warning from God?
America is in trouble. In His Word, God repeatedly and unequivocally states that He will bless those who bless Israel and curse whoever curses Israel. By turning her back on Israel, America is cursing Israel and is poking the “apple of God’s eye.” “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you [Israel]: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye” (Zechariah 2:8).
Ernie's Musings 