This Articles page is proud to serve up links to the house specialties that were on offer at Chez ALS back in the year 2015.
Each entry below contains a "hook" that suggests what the article deals with (an hors d'oeuvre), the first several paragraphs (an appetizer), plus a link to the full article (the main course). If you just want to scan over a list of the titles of all the articles on this site, you can save time by grabbin' a burger at the Article Index page. Bon appétit!
If you want to look for a specific topic, use the search function in the sidebar. Use the menu below to go to similar pages for previous years.
JAN '15: The Reason for the Season?
Elves who make toys, a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, and a man in a red suit who brings presents down the chimney. Oh, and a baby in a manger.
The Reason for the Season?
So, another Christmas has come and gone, and I sincerely hope yours was a merry one. While I'm at it, I suppose a hearty "Happy New Year!" is in order as well—and if I don't get on the stick, I may have to add "Happy Valentine's Day" to the list. Although the holiday season may be over (for Westerners maybe, but not here in Taiwan), what motivated me to write a somewhat belated article on the subject of Christmas was something that happened to me last month on Christmas Eve. But more on that later.
Without a doubt, Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year in the West, and it is a time for families to get together and exchange gifts, have parties, enjoy festive meals, etc. It is also the traditional day to celebrate the birth of Christ, so in spite of the crass commercialism and maudlin sentimentality, it has strong religious overtones. At least it does for some people.
FEB '15: Next Stop: Heaven
Christian bookstores today are filled with bestsellers by people who claim they had a near-death experience and visited heaven...but did they?
Next Stop: Heaven
Unless you've actually been living there for the past decade, you have no doubt taken notice of the avalanche of best-selling books written by people who claim to have visited heaven (and/or hell) and are anxious to share enthralling accounts of their experiences with the world. Walk into any Christian bookstore today and what you will see prominently displayed are books featuring spine-tingling tales of celestial excursions (round-trip, of course) authored by people ranging from church pastors to airline pilots, from school teachers to neurosurgeons—with some accounts coming from children as young as four.
I'm not aware of any stories featuring package tours, but hey...the genre is still young.
MAR '15: Dragged Across the Rubicon
A recent report says Benjamin Netanyahu now opposes the two-state solution. Did he just cross the Rubicon...or was he dragged across it?
Dragged Across the Rubicon
On a winter's day in 49 BC, Julius Caesar and his men crossed a shallow, muddy river in northeastern Italy that formed part of the northern border of the Roman Republic: the Rubicon. After the four-year civil war that ensued, his fateful decision to cross that river would culminate in the establishment of the Roman Empire.
Under Roman law, a general entering the Roman Republic from the province in which he held authority automatically forfeited his imperium, or the right to command his troops. The Senate had recently ordered Julius to step down from his command and return to Rome following his success in the Gallic Wars, and the normal protocol would have been for him to essentially disband his army before doing so. Failure to obey this law, and thus act in a manner toward the Republic that could be deemed threatening or aggressive was a capital offense—not only for the general, but for his men as well.
APR '14: The Great One-Trick Pony
Satan is so good at this one slick trick that he scarcely needs any others to blind men to the truth of the gospel and steer them away from the cross.
The Great One-Trick Pony
In nineteenth-century America, there were many small circuses that traveled around the country to bring some measure of entertainment to folks in small towns and communities all over America, and it was common for these troupes to have animal acts as part of the show. These productions were not always of the highest caliber, however, and by today's standards the entertainment might be considered a tad on the pedestrian side.
Stunts involving horses were common, often featuring someone skilled in trick riding. Another typical act featured a dog and a pony, with the pony trotting around in circles while the dog jumped on its back to ride it. Sometimes there were several dogs and ponies for a little extra razzle-dazzle. Oooh...
Thank goodness for cable TV.
MAY '15: The Gang's All Here
Early in the book of Revelation, just before the Tribulation starts, a group called the 24 elders appears in heaven. Gosh, I wonder who they could be...
The Gang's All Here
"Hail, Hail, the Gang's All Here" is a rousing little refrain written by Theodora Morse that was first published in 1917, and which borrows its tune from the comic opera The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan. It's a song that is typically sung by a gathering of friends or associates who are enjoying the boisterous camaraderie of the moment:
"Hail, hail, the gang's all here
What the heck do we care
What the heck do we care
Hail, hail, the gang's all here
What the heck do we care now!"
What brought this song to my mind was a topic from the book of Revelation that I've considered writing about for a long time, but it never quite pushed its way to the forefront. Although it is a fascinating subject, it was only recently during the course of my own study that I noticed a couple of things in Scripture that I had never thought about before, and that finally motivated me to sit down and take the plunge.
JUN '15: Square Peg, Round Hole
When Jesus gave His disciples an in-depth briefing about His future return, He said He would "gather His elect." Well, that's gotta be the Church, right?
Square Peg, Round Hole
I've touched on this topic several times in the past, but it is an issue that continues to rear its bellicose head with increasing frequency and vitriol these days, especially on the Internet, and I just felt the urge to address it in an especially focused manner.
That topic is the timing of the Rapture. That's right, sports fans: It's the old pre-trib vs post-trib debate.
The donnybrook that never dies.
This debate has long been a rancorous one, and it seems to bring out the worst in Christians who have an interest in end-time prophecy. And if the comment sections on a lot of YouTube videos are any indication, it's getting more antagonistic all the time as a large and ever growing cadre of bitter, militant individuals roam the Internet, seeking to browbeat and confuzzle unsuspecting believers with Scripture twisted out of context and flawed, fleshly arguments that leave said believers sucked dry of the blessed hope that the Rapture was intended to be.
JUL '15: Love Wins
The Supreme Court recently made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states, prompting the president to tweet "Love wins!" But is this the love that wins?
Love Wins
On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled in a controversial 5-4 decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states across the country. Naturally, pro-gay groups and the LGBT community at large were delirious, hailing the momentous decision as a great victory and a huge step toward the freedom and equality they seek.
Although it has been my firm conviction for several years now that same-sex marriage would become the law of the land before President Obama left office, I admit that the decision caught me off guard. Not the decision itself, mind you, but just the speed at which it occurred, as what appeared to be shaping up as a long, drawn-out struggle seemingly happened overnight.
AUG '15: Try to Remember
Everybody is buzzing about a convergence of events in September 2015. But before you get swept away, there are a few things you should remember.
Try to Remember
"Try to Remember" is a classic song from the popular 1960 Broadway musical The Fantasticks, and its dreamy opening line goes:
"Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow."
Although many people my age consider it an oldie-but-goodie, for me it's more of an "oldie-but-zzzzz." Musical tastes aside, however, this song has been running through my mind on a regular basis over the last few months, and it has to do with the month mentioned in the lyrics.
Once in a while, there is an article I simply have to write. It doesn't happen often, but occasionally there is something going on that cannot wait—I feel such a sense of urgency in getting my thoughts on paper, so to speak, that any other idea I have just has to wait for another day.
This is one of those articles.
SEP '15: Painted Into a Corner
Messiah fever is sweeping Israel, but could the Jews' expectations of what their "Messiah" will do be painting them into a corner?
Painted Into a Corner
Try this: Go to any major city in Israel today and stand on a busy street corner. Then pick up a pebble, close your eyes, and give it a fling. Chances are that you will hit a rabbi who is predicting the Messiah will come in the Jewish year 5776. Such is the current climate among many religious Jews in Israel, and this messianic fever is growing and intensifying like gangbusters.
FYI: The Jewish year of 5776 runs from sundown on September 13, 2015 to sundown on October 2, 2016.
So, here we are. The most revered rabbis in all of Israel are getting it from Bible codes found in the Torah. They are getting it from signs and visions. They are getting it from their own interpretation of the interplay between Old Testament Scripture and current events. And they are shouting it from the rooftops, and urging Jews throughout the world to make aliyah, or to return to Israel. They are telling all Jews to repent and spit shine their moral behavior in order to hasten the Messiah's arrival and prepare for this earth-shattering event—an event every observant Jew prays for three times a day:
"I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and though he may delay, nevertheless I wait for his coming every day."
OCT '15: Hating God
It always amazes me how some people can so confidently assert that God doesn't even exist, and yet hate God so intensely...
Hating God
If you've read very many of my articles, you probably know I spend a lot of time on YouTube. (OK, maybe too much time.) But I do manage to get involved in some interesting exchanges with different kinds of people, ranging from other sincere born-again believers who interpret certain biblical teachings differently than I do to hardcore unbelievers who refuse to so much as acknowledge the existence of God and who consider it their mission in life to mock and spew venom at those who do.
I got into another one of those last types of exchanges in the comment section of a YouTube video recently with a brash young man who is representative of a growing number of people who hate God so intensely that they viciously rip believers to shreds and arrogantly challenge them to defend their belief in God and the Bible.
NOV '15: Boiling Water
When Christians go a little nuts looking forward to the Rapture, I often imagine Jesus thinking, "What part of 'wait' is confusing to you?"
Boiling Water
I have written on the topic of the Rapture several times in the past, but there is one aspect of this doctrine that seems to be affecting an increasing number of Christians these days, especially those who, like me, hold to a pre-tribulational view of its timing. A fairly trivial event sparked something in my spirit not long ago, and it finally compelled me to address this issue.
A few months ago I was reading a Christian blog that I visit occasionally, and the author had posted a short piece about something of prophetic significance that had occurred a few days prior. I don't remember what the event was, but I do recall that it wasn't something terribly earth shattering. Noteworthy, yes. Earth shattering, no. I mean, it wasn't as if the Israelis had just bulldozed the Dome of the Rock or something. It was just some prophetic trend that had advanced a step, and so it was just another in a seemingly endless torrent of events that serve to remind prophetically knowledgeable believers that we are indeed getting close to the Rapture. Frankly, however, it's getting to the point where such things happen on a weekly—if not daily—basis.
DEC '15: Kingdom Not Now
Two-thirds of the Christian world thinks that the Church should be busy taking over the world for Christ. So...what's wrong with that?
Kingdom Not Now
If you remember Harold Camping, the radio evangelist who spearheaded a massive campaign promoting May 21, 2011 as the day of the Rapture and the beginning of God's apocalyptic judgments upon the earth, then you also remember that it was an epic fail. After an uneventful 21st of May came and went, the world howled with laughter and mercilessly mocked a contrite Camping and his befuddled followers, and one of the monikers that came to be attached to the whole fiasco recalled the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now:
Apocalypse Not Now.
Although Mr. Camping's humiliating debacle brought great reproach on the name of Christ and made the Church an object of derision, luckily his delusions private interpretations of Scripture only directly impacted a relatively small number of people—at most a few tens of thousands of individuals who were gullible enough to listen to him and take him seriously—and cash in their kids' college funds to finance the marketing blitz that preceded the "Apocalapse."
There is another doctrinal deception prevalent within the Church, however, and it has been around far longer, is far better established, has deceived a far greater number of people, and is far more dangerous and damaging to the Church than anything one single deluded individual like Harold Camping could ever do.
1. Adapted from Sunset Over Grass Field © AOosthuizen at Can Stock Photo
2. Butler With Tray © NewAfrica at Depositphotos
3. Adapted from Nativity Scene in Vienna Shop © zatletic at Adobe Stock
4. Adapted from 4a–4b:
4a. Girl Flying in the Sky © Tierney at Adobe Stock
4b. Heaven's Gates in the Clouds © alswart at Adobe Stock
5. Adapted from 5a–5b:
5a. People Pulling a Rope © sergojpg at Adobe Stock
5b. Flag of Israel and Palestine © Barry Barnes at Adobe Stock
6. Adapted from Cirque © myosotisrock at Adobe Stock
7. People Finding Faith © Digital Storm at Adobe Stock
8. Adapted from You Can't Fit a Square Peg in a Round Hole © barneyboogles at Adobe Stock
9. Celebrating a new America – lovewins 58242 (18588276403) © tedeytan (cropped, resized) [CC BY-SA 2.0]
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10. Red Bow on Finger © Nikolai Sorokin at Adobe Stock
11. Got a Problem © tiero at Adobe Stock
12. Screaming, Stressed Student © nickshot at Adobe Stock
13. Adapted from Stovetop Whistling Kettle © Nikolai Sorokin at Adobe Stock
14. Adapted from Tsar's Throne © Photobank at Adobe Stock
Scripture Quotations:
All Scripture is taken from the World English Bible, unless specifically annotated as the King James Version (KJV) or the American King James Version (AKJV).