The Abomination

According to an article in Israel National News (link at bottom), the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) warned about what it described as intentions by “settlers" (Jews) to carry out the commandment of the Passover sacrifice on the Temple Mount during the upcoming Passover.

Interesting . . .and scary.

[FYI - the 2026 Passover begins April 1 and ends April 9]

There is a group of Jewish people that want to reinstitute the temple sacrifice. Their only problem is there is currently no temple. Or is there? 🤔

Let's go back and look at Daniel for a moment. The angel Gabriel was talking to Daniel in verse 27 about The End Times.

"And he (The Antichrist) will confirm a covenant with many for one week (the seven year tribulation), but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.” - Daniel 9:27

So, there WILL be sacrifices happening during the first half of the tribulation, according to Gabriel anyway. But my question is, why are there sacrifices taking  place at all? Speaking of Jesus, Paul wrote . . .

"For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God." - Romans 6:10

The problem here is that the Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. They believe that the Messiah has not come yet.

Can you see the problem here? The present day Jewish leaders want to start sacrificing animals to God. But God already sacrificed His one and only Son. God already put an end to sacrifices. Jesus died once, for all.

Do you think God might get a little angry? Do you think God might remove all of those who follow Jesus and begin the seven year tribulation period? I would say that is a VERY REAL possibility.

If we think that these wars going on right now are horrible, wait and see what the Tribulation period looks like. Of course, we who follow Jesus woll mot be here, but talk about "weeping and gnashing of teeth!"

If you have not done so, trust in Jesus today! Repent of your sins, submit to His authoriry, and pray.

PLO Warns Against Temple Sacrifice - INN

The Sign of The Cross

I am reading through the Book of Exodus this morning. Chapter 12 specifically. God lays out His plan to Moses for the liberation of the Israelites (God's people) from Egypt.

"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household." - Exodus 12:3

God is instructing Moses about the very first Passover. God "passed over" His people and did not put to death any first born in the families of those who had blood on their door frames. Remember the word "lamb."

In the new testament we read this:

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." - John 1:29

That was John the Baptist talking about Jesus.

Now, back to Egypt. Look at God's instruction for where they are to place the blood of the lamb on Passover.

"Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight." - Exodus 12:6

Then this . . .

"Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs." - Exodus 12:7

Take a look at the nearest door in your house. Trace the length of the jamb on the side of the door. You just made a vertical line in the air. Now do the same for the lintel above the door. A horizontal line.

Where have you seen the two motions you just made before? Didn't you just make the sign of the cross? And now God wants His people, "the community," to place the blood of a spotless lamb on it. Interesting.

Why the door? Why not a window? Or the wall? Or the roof? Because doors are where we 'enter in.' In order to "enter in" to God's kingdom we must enter into it through the blood-stained cross. Stained with the blood of a spotless lamb - Jesus. Wow.

"I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved." - John 10:9

Stories of Jesus like this one are found throughout the Old Testament. More on that next time. For now though, let us praise God for His amazing plan, which He set in motion before the creation of the world.

[Editor's note: I wrote a story on Monday but chose not to share it on Facebook. If you would like to read it you can find it here.]

Good Thursday?

Our pastor said something on Sunday that got my attention. He said that he believed that Jesus was actually crucified on a Thursday and NOT on a Friday. Really? Could it be true?

When someone tells us something like that, we should be "good Bereans" and do our research in God's Word.

"Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." - Acts 17:11

GotQuestions.org, my usual go-to place for Bible questions, actually said there are three beliefs for days of the crucifixion - Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Going into this examination my default belief was Friday. It's Good Friday, not Good Thursday or Wednesday, right?

The GotQuestions.org answer (link below) provided scripture for each position. One verse got my attention, however. Matthew 28:1. Most Bible translations read similar to this:

"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb." - Matthew 28:1

But some other translations, like the Berean Literal Translation for example, had the same verse translated this way:

"And after the Sabbaths, it being dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb." - Matthew 28:1

'Sabbaths' is plural!?! So, I kept digging and found an article called The Case for A Thursday Crucifixion (link below). Interesting read.

The picture above is from a Greek/English Interlinear On-Line Bible. Note the word "Sabbaths" that I underlined. It's plural, meaning more than one sabbath.

The key to all of this is knowing that there are TWO kinds of Sabbath days. There is a weekly day Sabbath, which occurs every Saturday, and then there is a HIGH day or special holy day, like Passover, which occurs on different days of the week but always on Nissan 10 according to scripture.

"The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month (Nisan) of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household." - Exodus 12:1-3

Jesus came into town riding on a donkey. On Palm Sunday. The Passover.

Read the article. Perhaps your Good Friday will turn into a Good THURSDAY as a result.

On What Day Was Jesus Crucified?

The Case for A Thursday Crucifixion

Food

My wife and I love our furry and feathery backyard buddies. We have lots of birds that visit our feeder. We also have lots of deer that feed on my wife's plants. She hates the deer eating her plants but she loves the deer in the backyard. Ironic.

We use black sunflower seeds in our bird feeder. That brings in chickadees, nuthatches, cardinals, blue-jays. Even and occasional deer! We also have a block of suit for for our long-billed buddies - woodpeckers and flickers. The nuthatches like suit too. They're not very picky eaters.

We've been on the lookout for a new backyard visitor lately. One we didn't even know we had in our area - a black bear. My wife came home one night last week and said the sheriff's department (my wife works at the county courthouse) had reported a bear had been hit on Highway 54 just west of the county line. Gee. That's where WE live. The DNR was called and it was discovered that the bear that had been hit and killed was a mama bear, and she had been nursing. So, they searched the area and found a den with two cubs and a papa bear inside. The DNR took the cubs so they could be nursed (and survive) and left daddy bear by his lonesome in the den. Oh, and that den just so happens to be at the bottom of the hill leading into our subdivision. Comforting.

The woods can be a beautiful place to spend time with God. I did that a lot last year. But it is a very good idea to know what you might run into. What we know or what we do not know could save your life.

When Paul visited the church in Corinth he couldn't believe what he was seeing. His brothers and sisters in the faith, who he had been instructed in the ways of the Lord, had fallen away from their faith all together. They had been overrun by the sin and corruption that plagued the city, when they should have grown in their faith and been an example to their community. Paul had given them the basics of the faith (milk he calls it) and not the weightier details of what it means to be a Christian.

"Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere humans?" - 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Though you and I might profess to be Christians, do we act like we are? If we were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict us? Are we living a life worthy of our calling? Or have we backslidden to where we resemble the unsaved?

When I was walking past the big blackberry bush at the bottom of the hill last summer I never gave much thought to the fact that bears LOVE blackberries or that a bear family might have a den in the area. But now I AM aware and I can take guard against any possible physical encounters with a hungry papa bear (who just recently lost his entire family . . . at the hands of man). I can be prepared.

Here's a question. How do we know we are sinning if no one has ever told us? If "the whole world is doing it" how can it be wrong?

"11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." - Hebrews 5:11-14

First and foremost, people just simply need to know Jesus. No if's, and's or but's. They not only need to KNOW Him, they need to obey Him. People need to surrender their lives, the lives they are screwing up SO badly by themselves, to a God who can help them straighten their lives out by offering more than what this world has to offer. But to get that, people need to surrender. They need to recognize their fallen nature, they need to repent of that and change their ways. Then they need to start following Christ. Instead of living with just a knowledge of Him, they need to live FOR Him and for His kingdom. Only then can we eat of the "meat" in what we believe.

The Last Supper from Jesus of Nazareth

Chapter

How long ago was it? Hmm. Well, let's see. My wife and I had a water bed . . . It must have been in the late 80's or early 90's. The bed had these little lamps in the headboard and we had our clock radio/alarm clock right between them. And we listened. We listened as someone read us . . . a book.

I was working at an architectural firm in downtown Appleton. The owner of the firm loved to play Public Radio and the cavernous office building was always filled with classical music throughout the day. That was okay for this then 30-something guy but a little rock and roll once in a while would have been nice.

At lunch time though I got a break from the strings and operatic voices. WPNE, the local Public Radio station, had a news program at noon and then after that they had a half-hour long program called Chapter A Day. Someone at the radio station would read a chapter out of a current novel each day. No sound effects, no musical score, just the spoken word. I began to look forward to hearing the next chapter each and every day as I ate my lunch. I enjoyed hearing the readers voice as his or her words filled my ears . . . and my heart.

Then they announced that each days chapter would be replayed at 10 o'clock each night. Sweet! So I got my wife to listen and me and my wife would lay in bed, our little reading lamps on, waiting in anticipation of the next chapter. We only listened to the reading of one book but we both remember that book, Michael Crichton's Sphere, and we both remember that program, fondly, and the joy we both received through doing something together.

Since those golden days of radio my wife and I have continued the "Chapter a Day" practice in our own way. My wife likes to take hot baths during the winter months. At least once a year one of us purchases a novel and I read a chapter or two to my wife every time she takes a bath.

We just finished a murder mystery featuring one of her favorite TV characters. We've also finished an entire truck load of water softener salt! (not really . . . but close!). Now it's MY turn to pick a book. I was thinking about the Book of Romans. She probably wouldn't go for that but I think that would be an awesome thing for a married couple, or ANY couple, to do. Take turns reading a chapter a day out of the Bible to someone you love.

So, my challenge for you and for me during the month of March is to pick someone in your life and ask them if they would like to read a book of the Bible to one another. Do it over coffee at your favorite cafe. Discuss what God is trying to tell us. Examine your lives to see if the lessons God teaches us through His Word can have an impact our lives. My guess is that they certainly can.

So find someone that God has placed in your life this week. Someone out of the ordinary perhaps and ask them. The worse they can do is say no and you will have to find someone else. But the person you asked will know that YOU cared enough to ask THEM. Let God's Holy Spirit use that thought in their heads for God's Glory.

Here's something I discovered this week. It actually came to me this morning while lying in bed. Check these verses out. See if you can find the hidden connection.

"18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth." - Deuteronomy 11:18-21

And now read this one . . .

"7 Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the door frames of the houses where they eat the lambs.

12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." - Exodus 12:7,12-13

So we are to take God's Word and the blood of The Lamb and place it on our doorposts (the sides of our doors) and we will be passed over . . . we will be saved.

Now check out these verses from the first chapter of John

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" - John 1:1-5, 14, 29

Jesus was the Word and the Word became flesh. We are you place The Blood of the Lamb (Jesus) on our door frames - the door we walk in and out of on our way to work or school, the door we walk through into the world. By walking through Jesus everyday and as we walk through the world, we will be a sign to the world who we are and WHOSE we are. And our lives will be a sign unto God. He will pass over us and we will be saved (Exodus 12:13.

Any questions? :)

Jefferson Bethke: Why Don't We Read the Bible More?