I was supposed to go salmon fishing on the Alsea River with a friend today, but we decided it would be too stormy, so then I decided to go duck hunting with another friend; we lasted about an hour in the wind and rain and called it a day. I wasn’t going to do anything but fish today so I am now sitting in my nice warm room, in my nice warm house, in my nice warm and comfortable recliner, writing this blog. I will probably write a couple of extra blogs to use on days when I am extra busy fishing or hunting. I am not reading the news or Facebook today so life is good as I sit in my recliner with my dog Roscoe on my lap with a whole thermos of coffee that I made to take hunting on the floor next to my chair. Did I already say that life is good, even if I didn’t get to go fishing?

Storms like what we are having today often change our schedules, but we usually just hunker down in a comfortable place and wait until it passes, and it always does.

In life we have storms that are not weather related, they usually have to do with other people in our life, our health, our jobs, our finances, even politics, some trial that messes with our life and our schedule. Often the best thing to do is just hunker down and wait it out because they always pass, sooner or later. Many people make a lot of bad choices during a storm, and then when the storm passes there is a whole new storm created by the bad choices. The bad choices are usually made in an attempt to hurry the storm along, or in anger or frustration because of the storm. It usually is best just to hunker down, be patient, and say, ”this too will pass.”

When I wrote my goals about a month ago I decided not I do a bicycle trip this year for a variety of reasons most of them because I am getting wimpy. So, I decided a couple of days ago that I wasn’t going to get wimpy, or act wimpy so I planned a bicycle trip. It is a three-week trip covering 1300 miles. We will leave Jefferson and head East to Bend, then go North to Mt Ranier, then West for a bit and then back North go the Olympic Peninsula, then South down the Washington coast into Oregon and when we get to Newport we will head East back to Jefferson. We will camp most nights in campgrounds carrying everything on our bikes unless we get a support vehicle to go. We will average about 70 miles a day and see some beautiful country. Now that I have the route all planned I am checking out all the roads using Google earth. It is fun traveling the roads via the wonders of modern photography and electronics.

Now that I have made the decision to do this trip I am getting all excited about it. Even though I have done a long distance bicycle trip for the last seven summers this is still a very big goal in the sense of difficulty in accomplishing for me. Thinking about the struggle that I had on the last two trips is what prompted me to skip it this year. I am getting excited about doing it, the challenge of it, the scenery, the camping, and the time alone on my bike eight hours a day to think, create, reflect, and ponder. But I am also getting nervous about the pain, the exhaustion, and the struggle every morning to get out of my sleeping bag and get on that stupid bicycle.

I know that the benefits of the trip on my health are very high, but I also know that the benefits to my character are even more significant—that is why I am doing it.

I am having a ton of fun doing my prophecy class. It isn’t so much the teaching but the study that I am doing in preparation for the class that I am enjoying so much. I do a fair amount of reading in books and commentaries on prophecy anyway, but in teaching there is a whole new level of motivation for me to study, read, and write. There isn’t much that I enjoy as much as learning truth from the Bible, and then getting to teach it is the cherry on the Sunday. The verse that I think about all the time now is Proverbs 25:2, ”It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” God hides things to see if we are really interested in learning and discovering the truth, and if we demonstrate to Him that we are, He guides and leads us in discovering what He has hidden.

There probably isn’t a topic in the Bible with as many different views and opinions as prophecy. The reason is that the language of prophecy is metaphor and typology and requires a much more careful study to arrive at the right interpretation.

Arriving at the one correct interpretation is undoubtedly my goal but it isn’t required to get into heaven. So why study prophecy then? A key benefit of studying prophecy diligently is the great security it gives, and the peace in the midst of all the craziness going on that comes from knowing that God is God, He is sovereign, He planned everything out, and it truly looks like things are coming to an end quickly. I am so ready to get my new body and to be done with this life.

I am at that point in life where I run out of gas before I get everything done in a day and a week that I want to get done. It is terribly frustrating to recognize the reduction in my performance in the last year, especially the last couple of months. I used to write my daily ”todo” list randomly, with no particular order in the list of things I wanted to do because I almost always got everything done on my list. Now there are quite a few things still on the list at the end of the day, so now I write the list with the most important things first and least important last. I am starting to write shorter lists, but it makes me feel so lazy when I do that.

In my leadership classes, I teach goal setting, time management, the importance of ”to do” lists, passion and motivation, dreams, diligence, being a self-starter, bearing much fruit for God, and always wanting more to do for Him. Today I didn’t even write a ”todo” list. I figured it was short enough; I could just remember it.

I am still faithful on my exercise every day, I work hard at not allowing any negative thoughts to stay in my head, I rarely eat any sugar or anything else that is unhealthy, I am sleeping more in a day than I used to, I have plenty of hobbies, I ask God for strength everyday for sure, I read my Bible faithfully, and I confess all know sin everyday. It seems like I should be boiling over with energy. I am hoping that I am just in some kind of phase in my life, and any day now I will pop out of it, but my suspicion is that it is permanent, and probably going to get worse.

A huge plus I have as I deal with this decline in energy is that most of the high energy things I do aren’t required to continue serving well as a Pastor. Reading, writing, praying, listening to podcasts, and talking to people are all ”sit down” jobs that require very little physical energy. Preaching and teaching require a lot of emotional energy, but I am doing well in that area of my life. Another big plus is that my mental capacity seems as strong as ever as I study and write sermons, blogs, and lessons.

So, I guess, the bottom line is I am doing great. I will just not do as many projects that I had made goals to do. I will take out three rows of apple trees, not plant the blueberries I had made a goal to do, I will cross off doing a 10k and a half marathon, and restore one car instead of three. I am still going to fish, and hunt. I am still going to climb Mt Adams this summer. And I am still going to go on a thousand-mile bicycle trip. So now that I have processed my frustration that I experienced today by writing about it in this blog I feel guilty even letting anybody read this. Thank You, Lord, for my life, my history, my upbringing by such great parents, my family, my church, and thank You for my great health.

King David in the Bible had many enemies, and he prayed for them, here is one such prayer in Psalms 109:9-12;

Let his children be fatherless
And his wife a widow.
Let his children wander about and beg;
And let them seek sustenance far from their ruined homes.
Let the creditor seize all that he has,
And let strangers plunder the product of his labor.
Let there be none to extend lovingkindness to him,
Nor any to be gracious to his fatherless children.

I have prayed that prayer a lot lately. I Dont really expect God is going to answer it, but it sure makes me feel good.

Many years ago the wicked king of Israel was trying to capture Elijah in 2 Kings 1:9-12 in the Old Testament in the Bible.

Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’” Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. So he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, “O man of God, thus says the king, ‘Come down quickly.’” Elijah replied to them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

Sometimes I visualize in my wild imagination that God gives me the power of Elijah, and I go back to Washington DC and I clean the place up.

But God takes care of things for me in the end.

Revelation 19:20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

I love stories with good endings.

2 Timothy 3:1-4 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

Matthew 24:10 & 12 At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. . . Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.

I want things to get better and better, but it isn’t going to happen. Things are going to get worse and worse, and the speed at which things deteriorate is going to accelerate faster and faster. The first words in 2 Timothy 3 above are ”realize this, ” this is the way it is going to be by God’s design, His plan, so get used to it, and stop fussing.

I am not suggesting a nonchalant passivity or apathy. I do everything that I can to change the world that I live in. I pray a lot for people I know, for people I don’t know, for our government leaders, for justice at every sign of injustice, and for wisdom to see any and every opportunity that God would give me to make a difference. I preach and teach the Bible often so as to teach people the importance of living life righteously and making a difference, of being salt and light in our perverse world. My sermons are available on the internet, and again I pray that God would cause my teaching of His Word to go all over the world. My sermons are broadcast twice a day on the radio. I write a daily blog attempting to communicate truth and wisdom praying again that God will prompt people to read it and that He will give me the insight and wisdom to write well. I write tons of letters to government officials, especially to the governor of Oregon voicing my opinion and concern, and I voted. I try very hard with God’s strength to live my life in a way that will be an example and an encouragement to others to do the same. I know many others are doing that much and more, and still ”the world is going to hell in a hand basket.”

So I focus on Philippians 3:20-21 ”For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

1 Kings 21:1-16. Now it came about after these things that a man named Naboth had a vineyard which was beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, “Give me your vineyard, that I may have it for a vegetable garden because it is close beside my house, and I will give you a better vineyard than it in its place; if you like, I will give you the price of it in money.” But Naboth said to Ahab, “The Lord forbid me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers. . . .So Jezebel (Ahab’s wife) wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and sent letters to the elders and to the nobles who were living with Naboth in his city. Now she wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a feast and seat Naboth at the head of the people; and seat two worthless men before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death. . . . . When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is dead.” When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth to take possession of it.

A rich King murders a poor man to gain more. Very evil and very sad that that kind of evil exists in leaders of countries, but it does, and it will get worse right up to the anti- Christ who will be the worst of them all.

As we hurdle toward the day that the antichrist becomes the king of the world things will get worse and worse, governments will get worse and worse. There will be some like Naboth who get murdered for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, but most of us will have a semblance of a normal life. Our responsibility given to us by God is to live righteously, loving every person God sovereignty brings into our life, no matter how hard they may be to love, and win as many people to faith in Jesus as possible.

I am sitting in my recliner reading my Bible, praying, writing this blog, and checking the election stats. I am rotating between them because I am nervous about the election and variety always seems to help when I get nervous about anything. I am praying diligently for President Trump to win reelection, then I check the stats, then I read a little bit, and then I write on this for awhile until I can’t focus on what I am writing then I go pray some more. Oh yeh, one other thing that I like to do when I am nervous and that is to eat. Sherrie fried up a bunch of chicken, all drumsticks with yummie barbecue sauce on it. Also there is a bunch of prawns to eat, and I am thinking seriously of making a big batch of popcorn with lots of butter on it. I hope this thing doesn’t drag out the whole night or I will probably be sick tomorrow and too sleepy to do much work. Oh bummer, it looks like it is.

I have been praying very hard for this election not that I think that President Trump is wonderful, but because the Democratic Party is so in favor of murdering unborn babies, so anti-Christianity, so prone to control my life like I am a slave, and a dozen other things that I feel strongly about.

One of the things that I teach in my prophecy class is that the devil is going to have more and more control of government around the world including ours until it culminates in a one-world government led by the antichrist. It will happen, you can read all about it in the Bible, so it might as well happen in my life time instead of me hoping things will be nice and comfortable until I die.

I am teaching a class on prophecy on Sunday mornings at 10:15 am at JBC. It is being Live Streamed as well or you can watch it anytime on You Tube after the class is taught. One of the topics that we will be talking about in the days ahead is the ”Rapture” when followers of Jesus rise into the air to meet Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

There are several things to note in these passages; (1) the spirits of those who have already died will be with Jesus when He comes and they will get their glorified bodies just a split second before those who are alive and on the earth will. (2) We will all meet together in one big crowd in the sky at the level that the clouds usually form.(3) There will angels with Jesus along with the spirits of those who have previously died. ( 4) When Jesus descends from heaven He will give out a big shout, which I believe will be, ”COME UP HERE” and those alive will all hear it. (5) An angel will blow a trumpet which seems to be the signal for everyone to get their new bodies.

One of the points that there is discussion about is the timing of this event, when does it happen in regards to the other events that are going to be happening. The main one being the seven-year Tribulation period. I strongly believe that the rapture happens before the Tribulation starts, this is called the pre-tribulational view. Others think it will be in the middle of the Tribulation or a little after the middle, this view is called the Mid-Tribulational view or Pre-wrath view. And then some think it will be at the end of the Tribulation which is called the Post-Tribulational view. There is also the ”partial rapture” view that believes only mature delivers leave with Jesus before the Tribulation and the rest go through the Tribulation to further develop their character. And then there is the ”Preterist” view that teaches that the Tribulation already happened way back in 90 AD.

There are a dozen reasons I believe in the Pre-Trib view, but I will give you just one today.

2 Thessalonians 1:4-10 therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed.

Again some observations; (1) God gives relief to all believers alive when Jesus is revealed from heaven with His angels. That relief would come because we are taken out of the world. (2) Those who do not know God and have not believed the gospel get left behind, separated away from the presence of the Lord to experience the awfulness of the Tribulation and ultimately hell forever. (3)Those who Paul wrote to at the church in Thessalonica were suffering at the time he writes the letter so he certainly was not suggesting that the rescue and relief he was promising was from the Tribulation. (4) Paul is writing this passage to give the saints at Thessalonica hope suggesting that the rapture could be at any moment, the imminent return of Jesus has been a foundational teaching of the church since Paul wrote this letter.

And the final observation for us. Times will get bad and we will experience trials, but we will get rescued and experience relief when we get raptured and then it will get awful here on this planet. Some are fearful of the increasing lawlessness and chaos that seems to be increasing daily, but that is what we get rescued from, so take heart.