This Articles page is proud to serve up links to the house specialties that were on offer at Chez ALS back in the year 2020.
Each entry below contains a "hook" that suggests what the article deals with (an hors-d'œuvre), 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 '20: Delusion Redux
This is a more detailed look at the strong delusion: exactly when God sends it, exactly who He sends it to, and exactly why He sends it to them.
Delusion Redux
A couple of months ago, I wrote an article about how I had changed my mind about the ethnicity of the Antichrist, and the fact that I am now convinced he must be a Gentile, not a Jew. In that article, I mentioned the strong delusion that God says He will send upon a Christ-rejecting world during the Tribulation, and I discussed how I am convinced that this strong delusion will be aimed primarily at unbelieving Jews, and will be unleashed on them at the abomination of desolation in order to delude them into doing the unthinkable: finally accepting this conspicuously non-Jewish leader who has brought them (false) peace and security and facilitated the building of the Third Temple as their long-awaited Mashiach.
My argument basically amounted to the simple fact that if the Antichrist were in fact Jewish, the Jews would have been hailing him as the Mashiach from day one, and no such strong delusion would be necessary.
I also indicated that there was more to it than that, but that it really warranted a separate article.
This is that article.
FEB '20: Thistles in Thessalonians
There are a number of thorny issues in 2 Thessalonians 2 that many grapple with, and I decided to lay out my views of five of them in one article.
Thistles in Thessalonians
Last month, I wrote an article about the strong delusion that Paul mentions in 2 Thessalonians 2:11, and how I am convinced that God will send this delusion after the abomination of desolation for the explicit purpose of deluding the unbelieving majority of Jews into finally receiving a Gentile Antichrist as their Messiah after rejecting him as such for the first three and a half years of the Tribulation—just as the Jews rejected Christ during His earthly ministry two thousand years ago. Along the way, I brought out the point that I believe the official "revealing" of the Antichrist occurs at the mid-point of the Tribulation, following the abomination of desolation.
Shortly after posting that article, my friend Jerry over at A New Name emailed me with a question. In my article, I referred to a couple of points in 2 Thessalonians 2, and his timing-related question concerned verses 7–8, where Paul basically tells us that the Holy Spirit will restrain the Antichrist until He is taken out of the way (via the Rapture), and then the Antichrist ("the lawless one") will be revealed.
MAR '20: To Live Is Christ
With the coronavirus sweeping the world, the Lord led me to five nuggets buried in a two-verse passage of Philippians that blew my hair back.
To Live Is Christ
Needless to say, what has happened in the world over the last couple of months is nothing short of surreal. Who would have guessed back in December or even January that the world was about to be plunged into a global health crisis that threatens to kill millions and bring life as we know it to a screeching halt?
I'm not going to bother to quote a bunch of statistics, since by the time you read this they would be dwarfed by current figures. Besides, there is no need for me to sit here and tell you how bad it is or how bad it may get because by now you are certainly aware of two fundamental realities:
1. It's bad.
2. It's likely to get worse before it gets better.
Which it will...that's how viruses work. It's just a question of how long it will take and how much damage it will leave behind.
APR '20: Signs of His Coming
Many people are convinced that the current coronavirus is one of the signs Jesus mentions in the Olivet Discourse in regard to birth pains. But is it?
Signs of His Coming
In my last article, I wrote about the current coronavirus pandemic and how such events can strengthen our spiritual lives and deepen our walk with the Lord if we approach things the way God intends us to. To that end, I keyed on the apostle Paul's thunderbolt "To live is Christ, to die is gain" in the book of Philippians, and delved into how Paul could make such an amazing statement. It was a bit more of a reflective, touchy-feely look at things, and I mentioned that I intended to return to the issue of the coronavirus and look at it from an eschatological angle at some point in the future.
Well, the future is now.
First off, a confession. I was really tempted to write this last month. I mean I was champing at the proverbial bit, ready to dive into the deep end of the end-time pool about the birth pains and all that, but...I just couldn't pull the trigger. Now, that's not an unfamiliar feeling for me—I know from experience that it means the Holy Spirit has a few more things to show me before I tackle a given topic. Not all the horses are in the barn, you might say.
MAY '20: The Lift Hill
With the advent of the coronavirus, something changed. The world felt a jerk, as if something had just kicked into motion...but what was it?
The Lift Hill
There are many people in the world who suffer to varying degrees from the fear of heights (acrophobia), but I confess I am not one of them. In fact, I occasionally joke with students in my adult English classes that I invented a new word just for myself: acrophilia—the love of heights.
As far as I'm concerned, there is no more exhilarating feeling in the world than to be high up—the higher the better—so I can look down and enjoy the view below. Now, don't get me wrong—I always seek to ensure my safety. My DNA is devoid of the daredevil gene, but the fact remains: I absolutely love heights.
But daredevil gene or no, as a certified acrophile, I suppose it should come as no great surprise that I enjoy a good roller coaster ride—and again, the higher the better. Recently, however, as I have been contemplating the current world situation, the Lord has repeatedly brought to my mind the image of just that: a roller coaster.
At least one specific part of one.
JUN '20: The Ins and Outs of Imminence
The doctrine of imminence just means the Rapture could happen at any time, yet some people struggle with it...and others come at it with guns blazing.
The Ins and Outs of Imminence
I had a strange experience recently. I received an email from a young gentlemen (whom I will refer to as J), and in it he asked me a question. I replied, and he emailed me back with his opinion on a point or two and asked my opinion on a point or two. I replied again, and we ended up exchanging several emails.
In the course of our exchange, J revealed the fact that he had begun to seriously question the doctrine of imminence, or the doctrine that the Rapture has always been a signless event that could occur at any time because there are no events in Scripture that must necessarily precede it. I could tell that J was a strong believer, held to a pre-trib view of the Rapture, and took the Revelation 12 sign of 9/23/17 quite seriously, which is one reason I took his concerns to heart.
I mean, I was thinking This is one of the good guys. If J had been a post-tribber or someone with an equally aberrant view of the Rapture and only wanted to argue about that, or someone who dismissed the REV12 sign as overly hyped rubbish, I would have passed. I would have just said:
Well, I certainly respect your opinion, but I beg to differ. So, you have yourself a lovely afternoon.
JUL '20: The Return
A high-profile minister is calling for a national day of prayer in Washington, D.C., and is basing it on 2 Chronicles 7:14. So...what's the problem?
The Return
Jonathan Cahn is a messianic Jewish pastor who gained national prominence with the publication of The Harbinger (FrontLine, 2012), a book that details how some of the events revolving around the terrorist attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001 mirrored events that occurred in ancient Israel when Isaiah prophesied Israel's defeat at the hands of the Assyrians for their sin and prideful rejection of God.
In The Harbinger, much is made of the following passage of Scripture:
10The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores [or sycamores] are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
(Isaiah 9:10 AKJV / [comments] added)
Although this verse is actually describing Israel's arrogant refusal to repent and acknowledge their sin against God and their pride-filled intention of pressing on in their own power and ability despite God's warnings of judgment, in the days following 9/11 this verse was ignorantly tossed around as a rallying cry to rebuild following the attacks on the Twin Towers. Point by point, Cahn builds the case that America, just like Israel 2,700 years ago, is shaking their fist in the face of God and arrogantly refusing to repent and respond to God's clear warnings of impending judgment. The book was a New York Times Best Seller for over 100 weeks and sold over two million copies.
AUG '20: Keys to the Kingdom
Dominionism is on the rise, teaching the Church must build Christ's kingdom. Scripture, however, locks this error up and throws away the key.
Keys to the Kingdom
There are a number of major groups and denominations within Christianity that deny the fulfillment of the Bible's prophecies concerning a literal end-time kingdom on earth ruled by Christ, and these groups are typically lumped together under the general heading of amillennialism (i.e. no Millennial Kingdom). These would include the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglicans, the Methodists, the Lutherans, and a number of others. These groups tend to believe the "kingdom" spoken of in the New Testament amounts to nothing more than Christ "ruling" in the hearts of believers in the present age, or something along that line.
In the minds of such people, it borders on heresy to take the Bible as literally as common sense and context allow and brazenly assume that God actually says what He means and means what He says. As a result, all things eschatological tend to be safely allegorized into a palatable purée that is guaranteed to neither frighten nor offend, and life goes on as normal without all the end-time lunacy those pretribulational premillennial dispensationalists wallow in (and with a label like that, who can blame them for looking askance at such folks).
SEP '20: 22 Skidoo
Has the drive that will eventually culminate in the treaty that will launch the Tribulation officially begun?
22 Skidoo
Charles Dickens' 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities is set during the French Revolution, and at the end of the novel protagonist Sydney Carton is prepared to go to the guillotine in place of the husband of the woman he loves. In the novel, prisoners are being executed in groups of 100 and are called to their deaths one by one in sequential order. In the powerful closing scene, Carton is number 23 among a group awaiting execution, and number 22 has gone. As the novel ends, Carton responds to the call of "23!" and meets his fate with the full satisfaction that "it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
Following a successful run in London, a stage version of the novel called The Only Way opened in New York City in September of 1899, and it has been documented that within a couple of months a peculiar slang expression began popping up on the streets of the Big Apple:
"23!"
OCT '20: A Fresh Look at Shavuot
I believe the Rapture is the final fulfillment of the Feast of Pentecost, or Shavuot. I also believe the Rapture is imminent. Uhm...is that a problem?
A Fresh Look at Shavuot
As I'm sure many of you know, the Feast of Trumpets recently passed, and with it another round of failed Rapture-date speculation. Wait, don't hit that close button just yet...I have no intention of pontificating in regard to those who engage in date speculation as I have been known to do in the past. I've made my private peace with it, and my feelings toward it can be summed up rather succinctly:
I don't need that.
Trust me...anyone who knows me knows that's not self-horn-tootage—that's exactly how I feel. I know the Rapture can occur at any time, I know it's coming very soon because I know what the Bible teaches about the end-time scenario, and I set about the task of living my life accordingly. Every day should be a high-watch date because the last time I checked, that was the type of attitude we were commanded to have in the New Testament. But as I have stated in the past, I still don't think there's anything inherently wrong with scripturally based speculation in regard to the Rapture—I'm just content to give such speculation a pass.
That's not why I am writing this article.
NOV '20: A Lion That Roars
As America loses its mind over the 2020 presidential election, the Holy Spirit reminded of a relevant point from the book of Ezekiel.
A Lion That Roars
Confession time: I had an entirely different article on the front burner when the Holy Spirit hit me with this, so I'm just going to be obedient and hit you with it as best I can.
I was a bit reluctant to write anything about the ongoing controversies swirling around the 2020 presidential election, and the reason is simple enough: There are so many lies and so much misinformation and so many conflicting theories and accusations and counter-accusations and denials flying around that it's hard to know what to believe right now, and the mainstream media (MSM) has attempted to take over the narrative and spin everything in favor of Joe Biden, and simply not report anything that might be negative for him.
And things change on an hourly basis.
DEC '20: The Mark
A COVID-19 vaccine is out, but many are unwilling to take it for various reasons. Some believe it could be the mark of the beast. Could it?
The Mark
Just like last month, this is not actually the article I originally had in mind to write. It is intended more as a timely response to an issue that was brought to my attention recently and that I felt led to address in a scriptural manner and flesh out in a modest degree of depth.
As I'm sure you know, a COVID-19 vaccine has recently been rolled out amid no small amount of fanfare, and is in the process of being made available in the United States as well as other countries. But just like everything else in the United States these days, there has been no small amount of politics surrounding it. Although the vaccine in the U.S. is largely the result of President Trump's Operation Warp Speed, Joe Biden is waiting in the wings, eager to soak up the glory for it.
1. Adapted from Sunset Over Grass Field © AOosthuizen at Can Stock Photo
2. Butler With Tray © NewAfrica at Depositphotos
3. Adapted from Young Hasidic Jewish Man © master1305 at Fotosearch
4. Thistle © dpurday at Fotosearch
5. Adapted from 5a–5b:
5a. Hands Reaching for the Sky © stillfx at Fotosearch
5b. Jesus © bernardojbp at Adobe Stock
6. Adapted from Next Exit Freeway Sign © trekandphoto at Adobe Stock
7. Adapted from Yankee Cannonball 2 © Jeremy Thompson (cropped) [CC BY 2.0]
8. Silhouette of Man and Sunshine © rozum at Fotosearch
9. Adapted from Jonathan Cahn 2015 (121218077) © Benny Hinn Ministries, (cropped, resized) [CC BY-SA 3.0]
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10. Old Keys with Old Book on Wooden Table © Nitr at Can Stock Photo
11. Adapted from 23skidoo by Jonathunder, marked as public domain [PD], more details on Wikimedia Commons
12. Adapted from Magnifying Glass Illustration © smarques27 at Adobe Stock
13. Close-Up of Roaring Lion © Nejron at Can Stock Photo
14. Adapted from Nurse Using a Syringe © diego_cervo 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).