This Articles page is proud to serve up links to the house specialties that were on offer at Chez ALS back in the year 2021.
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 '21: A Persecution Primer
From the way the political winds are blowing, it appears increased levels of persecution are in store for conservatives...which includes the Church.
A Persecution Primer
Well, heaven forbid that I be the one to say it, but it's painfully clear at this point. As I wrote to one of my readers recently, as far as the 2020 election is concerned, it looks as if all the conspiracy theories and half-baked prophecies were just that: conspiracy theories and half-baked prophecies.
For nearly two months, a cauldron of theories bubbled and boiled about how Trump was going to find a way to expose the undeniable voter fraud to the nation, have the election results overturned and righted in his favor, and claim his legitimate, hard-earned win in the election by January 20, 2021. And one bold, self-proclaimed prophet after another boldly proclaimed that God told them Trump would begin his second term on January 20, 2021.
And on January 20, 2021, they all evaporated.
FEB '21: Be More
After a Super Bowl ad for a crackpot cult like Scientology got a rather surprising response from people, it got me thinking about why.
Be More
I enjoy watching NFL Football as much as the next red-blooded American male, and as usual I was able to catch at least some of the recent Super Bowl featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on television here in Taiwan on Super Sunday.
Er, make that Super Monday Morning.
Being a native Chicago Bears fan and a transplanted Seattle Seahawks fan, I admit I didn't have a dog in this fight. But since I have always been a quasi-fan of Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady (I may not always approve of his behavior, but at least I respect and appreciate his *Christian testimony), I caught myself pulling for the Bucs.
(*I hadn't heard about the witchcraft thing...I swear!)
As far as the game itself is concerned, I was aware that the Kansas City Chiefs were the clear favorites. So, as the Bucs cruised to a 31–9 victory, I—along with many Kansas City fans, no doubt—couldn't help but wonder...
Who are these snakebitten bozos that showed up in place of the Chiefs?
MAR '21: Magnolias in Antarctica
In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus says "one will be taken and one will be left." But what many struggle with is the who and the where.
Magnolias in Antarctica
I am fond of referring to the Olivet Discourse as the Gettysburg of the Gospels, and the reason is obvious enough: Few passages of Scripture have seen more interpretive blood spilled over them than Jesus' definitive discussion with His disciples of what would occur in the end times, prior to and immediately following His physical return to establish His kingdom.
Certainly one of the most bitterly contested skirmishes centers on Matthew 24:29–31 (Immediately after the tribulation of those days...they shall gather together his elect...), and the fight is over whether Jesus is referring to the Rapture or the Second Coming. But there are a number of other skirmishes that arise in the Olivet Discourse, and one I had never dealt with in any depth came across my path recently—and it comes just a few verses later:
40Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and one will be left; 41two women grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left.
(Matthew 24:40–41 / emphasis added)
The conflict I'm referring to arises over the interpretation of verses 40–41, and focuses on the same issue—whether Jesus is talking about the Rapture or the Second Coming. And in the ensuing brouhaha, one must sort out just who is "taken" and "left" and where they are "taken" and "left."
APR '21: A Horse of a Most Peculiar Color
As COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out, some fear the potential long-term effects. But could they also be connected to the fourth seal judgment?
A Horse of a Most Peculiar Color
As you know, several different COVID-19 vaccines have been rolled out around the world, and many countries are aggressively carrying out plans to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible.
In response to some panicky overreactions on the part of some people, I wrote an article back in December about how I was convinced the COVID-19 vaccine was not the infamous mark of the beast—at least not in its current form. In that article, I brashly stated that I would be happy to take the vaccine.
For the record, I don't feel that way anymore.
I have since added a note to that article to indicate as much. Mind you, I still don't believe the current vaccine is the mark of the beast per se, but it is certainly something that is pushing the world in that general direction.
The simple truth, however, is that as more information has come out pertaining to the coronavirus and the associated vaccines, an increasingly grim, sinister picture is emerging from the cauldron of lies and propaganda from Big Pharma, Big Tech, the globalist elites, and clueless government officials, aided by their obedient lapdogs in the social media and the mainstream media.
MAY '21: The Finish Line
As my adopted country (yeah, country) of Taiwan deals with a COVID-19 surge, my thoughts turn to the Rapture and the state of those who go before.
The Finish Line
I guess it was inevitable. I have mentioned before how Taiwan handled the coronavirus in an exemplary fashion, and as a result we have been lucky enough to avoid the harsh measures many other countries around the world have taken. Well...
That was then. This is now.
In mid-May, Taiwan finally got a taste of what most other countries have been experiencing to various degrees over the past 14 or so months. We saw our number of COVID-19 cases suddenly shoot up from almost nil to several hundred in the space of a couple of days, and virtually overnight we were neck deep in a pandemic that most people here had come to casually associate with the world outside of Taiwan.
On Saturday the 15th, during an actual class, my students and I were informed by one of the secretaries that all in-person classes would be closing down for the next two weeks (a measure that has since been extended for another two weeks...you get the picture). Although the rate of increase of new cases seems to be easing slightly, raising hopes we might get through this with only a few weeks of less stringent measures, many fear this is just a down payment on what could blossom into lengthier, harsher measures to stem the outbreak.
Don't you hate it when that happens?
JUN '21: A Giant in the End Times
An Irish company has designed a moving, speaking, 10-story statue called the Giant, and it has people buzzing about the image of the beast.
A Giant in the End Times
A reader named Laura sent me a link to something that struck both of us as a bit creepy, and it concerns a bizarre idea conceived by Irish entrepreneur Paddy Dunning and currently supported by Irish economic development agency Enterprise Ireland and American commercial real estate company CBRE. And it's sure to turn the thoughts of prophetically savvy believers toward the future antics of the Antichrist.
Meet the Giant: a programmable statue that's 112 feet tall and can move, speak, sing, dance, and—thanks to millions of LED pixels—take on the form and appearance of anyone from Madonna to Mahatma Gandhi. Billed as the visitor attraction of the twenty-first century, plans are currently underway to build a Giant in a total of 21 metropolitan areas, and so who knows...
A Giant could be coming soon to a city near you.
A number of people in the prophecy community are buzzing about the fact that this is clearly an eerie foreshadowing of the image of the beast referred to in Revelation 13, and at Laura's prompting I read a few more things about the Giant and reviewed a few pertinent passages of Scripture. As I did so, I began to sense the Holy Spirit's prompting to toss in my two shekels.
JUL '21: The Last Roundup
Do people continue repenting and getting saved throughout the entire Tribulation, or is there one last roundup and that's it?
The Last Roundup
Countless works have been written on the book of Revelation, and those written by people who see the Rapture as preceding the official launch of the seven-year Tribulation also see multitudes of people coming to faith in Christ during that seven-year period. These people are not part of the Church, and are often referred to as Tribulation saints.
Two of the clearest references to these people in John's vision in the book of Revelation would be (a) the martyred believers who start showing up in heaven during the fifth seal judgment (Rev. 6:9–11), and (b) those who are saved as a result of the evangelistic efforts of the 144,000 Jewish apostle Pauls that God unleashes on the post-Rapture world between the sixth and seventh seal judgments (Rev. 7:9–12).
Some commentators, however, see people continuing to be saved up until the bloody end of the Tribulation—all through the trumpet and bowl judgments and all the way up to the grand finale at Armageddon. These commentators have God continuing to pour out His mercy on people and draw them into the kingdom up until the final days of the Tribulation, since He is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:4). In other words, they see no end to God's efforts to bring men to repentance, and they have a comparatively rosy view of God's grace and mercy in drawing people to Him all throughout the Tribulation.
I've been spending time recently in the book of Revelation, however, and I have come to see things differently...and the way I have come to see things is not quite so rosy.
AUG '21: Render Unto Caesar
The pressure to get vaccinated to do anything is getting ramped up dramatically. Things like, say, feeding your family.
Render Unto Caesar
In the 1941 biographical film Sergeant York, Gary Cooper stars as Alvin York, a young man scraping by as a dirt-poor farmer in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee near the Kentucky border who has a reputation for being a hard drinker with a bad temper.
After a local man reneges on a deal to sell him a piece of land and instead sells it to a man trying to woo the same girl that York has fallen for, York gets drunk one rainy night and is on his way to get revenge on his romantic rival. Along the way, however, he is knocked off his horse by a bolt of lightning, and it splits his rifle in half. Stunned and sensing divine intervention, York staggers toward the sound of singing coming from a small nearby church as if drawn by a higher power.
As York timidly enters the church, the small congregation begins singing "Old Time Religion," and as they sing York is gently urged forward by people in the congregation until he is face to face with the preacher at the altar, where he has a dramatic conversion experience.
SEP '21: Render Redux
After some of the responses I got to my last article, I felt I had no choice but to take a closer scriptural look at some of the vax-related rhetoric out there.
Render Redux
Last month, I wrote an article entitled "Render unto Caesar," and it dealt with the fact that although I dislike and distrust the vaccines and do not support them, I don't see getting vaccinated as a sin, unlike a number of other believers. My basic point was simply that someone who is caught between taking the vaccine and providing for their family shouldn't be made to feel as though they were absolutely forbidden from getting a vaccine, or were committing an abominable sin by doing so. They have a biblical mandate to provide for their family—so if it comes down to a forced choice between a vaccine and their family's welfare, their family's welfare wins that one.
But what caught me off-guard was the flipside of the denarius, so to speak.
OCT '21: The Window
With Trump out of the way and Islamic jihadists taking over Afghanistan, could the players of Gog Magog be eyeing a window of opportunity?
The Window
The entire world has been buzzing about Joe Biden's poorly planned and chaotically executed withdrawal from Afghanistan and its disastrous aftermath that has left the mighty United States humiliated and looking at best weak and inept...and I'd just as soon not mention the "at worst" part.
At 11:59 p.m. Kabul time on August 30, the last U.S. military plane departed from Hamid Karzai International Airport. Besides ignoring sound advice from military advisers, one mistake Biden made was naively failing to anticipate that the Taliban would advance as rapidly as they did. Biden believed he could meet his August 31 deadline for a complete pullout, but he greatly underestimated both the fighting ability and fierce resolve of the Taliban and the lack thereof of the U.S.-trained government troops tasked with stopping them.
NOV '21: Before and After
Many people are having dreams related to the Rapture these days, but I had never had one...up until recently, that is. And then I had another.
Before and After
Being the steely-eyed, analytical type that I am, I admit that I am one who doesn't tend to put a great deal of stock in dreams. I don't automatically dismiss them out of hand, of course, but neither do I tend to go gaga over them. People have all kinds of dreams, and it strikes me that in the majority of cases, they are just that: dreams.
Not necessarily prophetic visions straight from the throne of God—just dreams.
I know that in the last few years, many people have had dreams pertaining to the Rapture. I've heard a few—some are pretty wild, and some are genuinely captivating.
Case in point: I'm sure some of you are familiar with Carl Gallups, a well-known pastor and author who is perhaps best known for his books The Magic Man in the Sky (2012) and The Rabbi Who Found Messiah (2013). A couple of years ago, he publicly shared a dream he'd had a number of years earlier, and the dream and the amazing story behind it garnered no small amount of attention in Bible prophecy circles. If you haven't seen it, I want to encourage you to watch the YouTube video (28 min.) of Carl sharing the dream and the related story, because it is fascinating and deeply compelling for all those of us who are looking for that blessed hope.
DEC '21: Before or After?
People often discuss whether Gog Magog will occur before or after the Rapture...but what about its timing in relationship to the Tribulation?
Before or After?
Last month I wrote an article entitled "Before and After," and it concerns a pair of Rapture-related dreams I had over the last several months. Don't let the above title throw you, however. This month's article has nothing whatsoever to do with that, so please don't think I'm merely indulging in a bit of tongue-in-cheekery (moi?).
As you will see momentarily, the above just happens to be the quintessential title for this article.
I have written on several occasions about the battle of Ezekiel 38–39 (including as recently as two months ago), and I have discussed different aspects of this overwhelming attack on Israel that is miraculously crushed by God Himself in order to awaken His people and motivate them to rekindle their relationship with Him. For example, I have discussed in some depth why I am convinced the Rapture must at the very latest occur prior to the climax of Gog Magog, since God's thundering intervention on Israel's behalf signals the fact that He has turned His attention back to His Chosen People...and that means He's wrapped things up with the Church.
1. Adapted from Sunset Over Grass Field © AOosthuizen at Can Stock Photo
2. Butler With Tray © NewAfrica at Depositphotos
3. Adapted from People Finding Faith © Digital Storm at Adobe Stock
4. Adapted from Scientology Logo by the Church of Scientology, marked as public domain [PD], more details on Wikimedia Commons
5. Adapted from 5a–5b:
5a. Penguin in Antarctica © Freezingpicture at Fotosearch
5b. Magnolias on Branch © Dole at Fotosearch
6. Death on Horseback © AlienCat at Fotosearch
7. Finish Line Green Road Sign © Feverpitched at Fotosearch
8. Christ the Redeemer © stevenjfrancis at Can Stock Photo
9. Cowboy Sitting on a Horse © BONDARUKDM at Fotosearch
10. Adapted from Emperor Tiberius Denarius—Tribute Penny © DrusMAX (cropped) [CC BY-SA 3.0]
11. Adapted from Emperor Tiberius Denarius—Tribute Penny © DrusMAX (cropped) [CC BY-SA 3.0]
12. Open Window View of the Sky © dbrus at Fotosearch
13. Adapted from 13a–13c:
13a. Scared Man Shouting © dolgachov at Can Stock Photo
13b. Laughing Man © dolgachov at Can Stock Photo
13c. Sunset with Clouds Glowing Red © Gudella at Fotosearch
14. Adapted from 14a–14b:
14a. Business Handshake © PIKSEL at Can Stock Photo
14b. 3D Arrow © GeorgiosArt at Can Stock Photo
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).