“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” 1 Peter 1:3-5
What a wonderful declaration of the state of the Christian’s position with God, which God Himself has purposed. Through His abundant mercy, we who believe have been born again. And we have been born into a living hope of an unspeakable inheritance; and it is reserved in heaven for us; and we are being kept by the power of God. These truths alone ought to be enough to encourage a child of God to rejoice always.
These words were expressly written for that very purpose; to encourage Christians who were experiencing bitter persecution. And so the apostle Peter continues with these words:
“In this you greatly rejoice, be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
I am confident that Peter had a particular Bible event in mind when he speaks of fiery trials and gold.
There was a day, roughly 2500 years ago when these very things came into view. It was the day when three young Hebrew men, being held captive in a foreign land, were confronted by an angry king. The king had made a gold statue 90 feet tall and nine feet wide. The king had commanded all the people to assemble before the statue, and bow down to it when the musicians sounded their instruments. The citizens of that country were heathen idolaters, but the Hebrews were worshippers of the Lord God Almighty.
When the musicians sounded, the idolaters immediately bowed down to the golden image. But the Hebrews didn’t because if they did, they would be breaking the first commandment of God’s law given to Moses. When the king saw they weren’t bowing, he warned them that if they refused to bow down, he would have them thrown into a fiery furnace. Right here, they’re faith in God was tested by the threat of fire. They’re in a foreign country, if they choose to bow down, who could blame them, who would know?
To them, it wasn’t a question of circumstances or who would know; it was honoring the Lord God whom they served from their hearts, regardless. Their answer to the angry king reveals their hearts:“We do not need to defend ourselves in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us from your hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image.”
The three young men were tied up and thrown into the furnace. But, instead of burning, the Lord showed up with them, and the flames didn’t touch them; they exited the furnace without even the smell of smoke on them. Daniel 3:1-30.
If you’re a believer in Jesus, God has given you a measure of faith. One way or another, your faith is going to be tested by trials and tribulations. Here’s what a man said who experienced more trials and temptations than we ever will:“…
What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory God will reveal to us later.” Romans 8:18 Tested by fire for a moment; glory forever!Brother Bill is a Bible teacher and can be contacted at bboldham@sbcglobal.net
Constitution doesn’t give Aurora Regino the rights over her daughter she claims, Bush nominee says. Kids’ genital surgeries full of unknowns, surgeon admits in since-hidden video.
The Constitution does not require public schools to notify parents when their children adopt a gender identity at odds with their sex or receive parental consent “before using alternative names and pronouns” for their children, according to a federal court in California.
U.S. District Judge John Mendez said he was observing judicial restraint by dismissing Aurora Regino’s lawsuit alleging Chico Unified School District actively hide from Regino her fifth-grade daughter’s stated identification as a boy.
The district said it was bound by state law that gives students the sole choice to disclose.California may soon pose a new threat to parents who don’t affirm their children’s gender identity under a bill approaching the governor’s desk.
Under “rational basis” review, a lower tier of judicial scrutiny, the district has shown a “legitimate state interest in creating a zone of protection for transgender students and those questioning their gender identity from adverse hostile reactions” such as domestic abuse and bullying, Mendez wrote. He refused to let Regino amend and refile.
The ruling comes amid nationwide battles at the state level over in-school transitions, which often precede the “gender affirming care” of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgical removals of genitals and breasts for gender-transition youth.
More than a thousand school districts have policies that “openly state” school personnel “can or should” not disclose to parents the gender identity of their child when it’s at odds with their sex at birth, according to a running tally by Parents Defending Education, updated July 7. It commissioned a poll that found three-in-four voters support requiring parental consent.
These states are following the lead of Europe, in which several countries have sharply pulled back treatment for children and medical researchers acknowledge the weak evidence base for interventions. A British Medical Journal investigation this year said the American consensus was ahead of the evidence.A YouTube channel recently hid its year-old interview with a Portland physician who performs genital surgeries on minors after critics including conservative activist Chris Rufo publicized it. The purported full interview is on Twitter.
Here's the interview w/ Dr. Blair Peters, in full. He & his interviewer admit–quite openly–how little gender docs know about the outcomes for medically-transitioned minors
"We'll know more in 5-10 years." It will be "fascinating" to see how these young people fare. pic.twitter.com/yZlUd4Oe6H
Oregon Health and Science University’s Blair Peters admitted “no one’s published” research on genital operations on “pubertally suppressed adolescents,” which are especially challenging on young males because they have too little penile tissue to construct a vagina. He uses a “robot” to harvest skin from elsewhere.
Peters also discussed the thorny consent issues around removing sexual function in children who haven’t experienced sexual pleasure. “There’s going to be a huge role for therapy” during the surgery process, he said, and this is “definitely something that we’re going to learn a lot more about in the next five to 10 years as we’re doing just increasing numbers of these cases.”
In an interview one year ago, Dr. Blair Peters of @queersurgeon provides proof that what he and his team are doing at @OHSUsurgery to adolescents in the name of ‘Gender Affirming Care’ IS experimental.
Regino’s lawsuit was unusual for the short duration of her daughter’s gender confusion, only several weeks, which the mother learned because the girl told her grandmother.
The girl “wanted to talk to her mom” but school counselor Mandi Robertson “manipulated her into keeping her mom in the dark,” according to the case page at the Center for American Liberty, which was founded by Republican super-lawyer Harmeet Dhillon and also is representing de-transitioners Kayla Lovdahl and Chloe Cole in lawsuits against Kaiser Permanente.
Robertson visited the girl’s class regularly to ask students whether they thought their gender identity aligned with their sex, prompting the girl to start wondering if her “new feelings of anxiety and depression” were due to gender dysphoria, the suit alleges.
Within “minutes” of the girl telling Robertson she “felt like a boy,” the counselor was asking for her new name and pronouns rather than discussing her psychological issues. The girl “felt pressured” to go along, and Robertson took her back to class and instructed her teacher – and subsequently all personnel – how to address her, Regino claims.No one in the district purportedly suggested the girl see a mental health professional, give her permission to “socially transition back” or tell her the “risks associated with graduated affirmative care,” which often follows social transition. Regino says her daughter’s now in counseling for the issues the district ignored.
Aurora Regino is a caring mom. This week, a federal court dismissed her case, ruling that parents don’t have a constitutional right to know whether their child’s elementary school guidance counselor is socially transitioning the child’s gender at school!! https://t.co/oevXNlPuKS
Judge Mendez, who repeatedly misidentified Robertson as “Robinson,” claimed the Supreme Court tied his hands with its high bar for 14th Amendment substantive due process challenges like Regino’s asserting her rights as a parent. The George W. Bush nominee repeatedly cited her alleged failure to show “controlling authority.”
None of her precedents “opine on whether the state has an affirmative duty” to notify parents or receive consent to treat their children as the opposite sex, including a similar case that turned on religious beliefs rather than parental rights, the judge said. Regino’s claim that in-school social transitions are “medical treatment” is “conclusory.”
She cited no cases suggesting a policy like the school district’s “constitutes unwarranted interference in the parent-child relationship,” Mendez wrote. It actually “refrains from interfering with the established parent-child relationship” by putting children’s wishes first. In that sense the policy is “reactive,” he said, noting the counselor suggested the girl share her identity with “other family members first.” The issue is not whether Regino’s demands are a “good idea” but whether the “Constitution mandates such parental authority,” Mendez wrote. source
Brethren, when will people begin to understand that ‘transitioning’ is just another page in the depopulation play book?? I do hope that other believers are seeing this clearly.
In Matthew 16:2-3, Jesus admonished us to discern the times. That means pay attention to what’s going on. Study and apply God’s word. And pray about everything. Today, we see signs of distress all over the world. We can see in real-time things the Bible long ago told us about. And it’s not pretty. Lawlessness, moral confusion, slander, deception, hedonism, uncontrolled rage, and cruelty fill our sightlines. These things are no longer theoretical events to be analyzed from a distance. They’re happening all around us, and it can be scary.
Jesus told us to watch the signs many times (Matt. 24:42-43; Mark 13:33-37; Luke 21:36; Rev. 3:3), but those that are not watching do not know or do not care.
Pay attention because “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (II Cor. 5:10).
The world needs to know what is going on, and it is the responsibility of the Church to speak out.
Here are some events that got my attention in recent days:
One, concerning the decline of America and world government: on July 4, 2023, highly respected World Net Daily (WND) journalist, Bob Unruh, wrote an article about Justin Haskins’ warning that America could lose its independence before the 2024 election.
Haskins is the director of the Socialism Research Center at The Heartland Institute, and his article was posted on a conservative web magazine called the Federalist.
According to Unruh, Haskins said:
A proposal to give the UN great power to deal with “emergencies” could cause the U.S. as we know it to cease to exist.
During an emergency (a natural disaster, a pandemic, whatever), the UN wants the authority to call an emergency and be given power over most of the world.
The UN will be authorized to determine what is an emergency, when it begins, when it ends, and retain power over most of the world for as long as it wants.
Instead of defending America’s independence and sovereignty, the Biden administration has already expressed support for this UN power grab.
(Note: It is difficult to keep all the meetings, —UN, WHO, WEF, IMF —meeting dates, and agendas straight. Haskins wrote about what the UN is trying to do that will destroy the U.S. before the next election. There will be other meetings that could destroy the U.S. The thing to remember about all these groups and meetings is that world leaders are very close to establishing a world government.)
Here are some things I have written about in the past two months:
The World Health Organization (WHO) wants:
A Global Code of Conduct.
A Global Digital Passport.
A Global Digital Currency.
A Global Digital Health Record.
A Global Digital Health Certification Network (GDHCN).
The World Economic Forum (WEF) wants:
Holy Books written by AI.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants:
A Global Digital Currency and Transaction Data.
The United Nations (UN) wants:
A Global Digital ID linked to everyone’s bank account.
A seven-year covenant with many to bring in a world government.
Emmanuel Macron wants:
A Global Tax
Unless God intervenes, the world is on the brink of a world government and the Tribulation Period.
People need to pay attention because where we spend eternity could be at stake.
The Church is running out of time to be salt and light.
(Personal note: Many times, I have said, “The day might come when things start happening so fast that it is impossible to keep up with them.” There are times when I think that day has arrived, and only part of what happens gets reported.)
Two, concerning the decline of America and a possible global economic collapse: on July 7, 2023, it was reported that Russia confirmed that the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) intend to start trading in a new currency backed by gold, and the official announcement will be made at the BRICS Summit in August.
Some officials predict that this will cause the value of the Dollar to plunge, cause a major surge in inflation in the U.S., eventually be seen as the beginning of the end of the Dollar, and send America’s superpower status on a downhill slide from which it will never recover.
I am not an economic expert, but it seems to me that there is no way for this to not have a negative impact on the global economy.
(Note: Several other nations are seeking to join the BRICS nations.)
Three, concerning the turmoil in Israel and its impact on Israel’s future: since January of 2023, there have been major riots and demonstrations in Israel over an upcoming vote on a bill to change Israel’s judiciary.
Israel’s top judges are appointed by other judges.
Liberal judges have taken over the judiciary.
They appoint liberal judges to always ensure a liberal majority on the court, and the liberal majority they appoint always votes to keep Israel a secular nation.
There are conservative Jews that want to worship on the Temple Mount, religious Jews that want to go back under the Mosaic Law (the first five books of the Bible, called the Torah or the Pentateuch), Jews that want to rebuild the Temple, resume the animal sacrifices, etc. But even if those conservative and religious Jews get the Israeli Knesset to pass a bill to do these things, the liberal judges can declare the bill illegal and kill it.
That is right; unelected liberal judges can overrule a majority vote of the elected officials, and they have angered many of the elected officials with their liberal votes.
The latest Netanyahu government is conservative.
It has the support of several religious parties.
Netanyahu’s government wants to pass a bill (called the Reasonableness Standard Bill) to take the power to appoint judges away from the liberal judges and empower the government to appoint judges.
In addition to that, if the Israeli Knesset passes a bill (after three readings and three votes) and the unelected judges declare it illegal, the Knesset wants the power to review the Judge’s decision and perhaps vote to overturn it or part of it, etc.
As I understand it, the ongoing riots and demonstrations in Israel are about two things:
One, who makes the laws in Israel (the people’s elected representatives in the Knesset or a group of unelected liberal judges).
Two, what kind of nation will Israel be in the future, a secular nation or a religious nation?
According to the Bible, Israel will go back under the Mosaic Law (the laws that God gave to Moses), they will rebuild the Temple, and they will resume the animal sacrifices.
(Note: Some orthodox Jews believe the Messiah will give them permission to rebuild the Temple. Based on John 5:43, some prophecy teachers believe the Jews will accept the Antichrist as the Messiah. They believe the covenant that is confirmed (strengthened) by the Antichrist will give the Jews permission to rebuild the Temple, and it will be rebuilt very early in the Tribulation Period. That will be after the Rapture, and Israel may be taking a turn in that direction now.)
Are you paying attention?
In addition to the riots and demonstrations being about whether Israel will be a secular nation or a religious nation in the future, here are two more events that I have written about in recent weeks.
The Jews may soon have the ashes of a red heifer that will permit them to rebuild the Temple.
A member of Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party has submitted a bill to divide the Temple Mount between Muslims and Jews so the Temple can be rebuilt.
The effort to rebuild the Temple appears to be slowly advancing.
(Update: On July 11, 2023, the Reasonableness Standard Bill passed in the Knesset by a vote of 64 to 56. If it passes a second and then a third vote, hopefully before the end of this month, it will become law in Israel. In that case, Israel will soon become more religious and less secular.)
Four, concerning persecution and the coming one-world religion: on July 10, 2023, the New American posted an article that said a UN-authorized report urges “governments to threaten and punish religious leaders and organizations that don’t go along with the LGBTQ orthodoxy.”
Right now, this appears to be just a recommendation, but the Bible teaches that extreme persecution and death await those that do not follow the anti-Christian globalist agenda during the Tribulation Period.
The U.S. pays 22% of the UN budget.
(More: A different article said the UN report condemns the anti-gay interpretation of Judeo-Christian scriptures, it celebrates religious groups that promote gay and transgender values, it says medical workers and institutions should be forced to perform abortions, transgender treatments, surgeries, etc.).
(My opinion: The LGBTQ agenda should not be considered superior to religious beliefs. Freedom of religion will not exist when people are forced to abandon the Scriptures and go along with the LGBTQ agenda. Authorizing the UN to tell people what they can and cannot believe in the Bible, Koran, on any other book is the same as establishing a new global religion. Forcing healthcare workers to perform abortions and mutilate the bodies of children is satanic.)
FYI: God does not send anyone to Hell (all of us are born with a sin nature and destined to go to Hell because we sin), but God has provided a way (Jesus) for everyone to go to Heaven (and He is the only way to get there; John 14:6).
Finally, are you Rapture Ready?
If you want to be rapture ready and go to heaven, you must be born again (John 3:3). God loves you, and if you have not done so, sincerely admit that you are a sinner; believe that Jesus is the virgin-born, sinless Son of God who died for the sins of the world, was buried, and raised from the dead; ask Him to your sins, cleanse you, come into your heart and be your Saviour; then tell someone that you have done this.
