Tag Archives: army

Guard Against the Enemy’s Flanking Maneuver

The flanking maneuver is a time-tested technique on the battlefield. It has been successfully employed in many battles and if properly executed with ample surprise, is very effective in warfare. The surprise and deception of such a maneuver contributes immensely to its effectiveness. When an enemy is focused on an aspect of the battle, especially caught up in a head-on battlefront, he can be susceptible to defeat by surprise from unexpected directions and/or from undefended areas such as the flanks, or ends, of his columns. We can get so caught up in our abhorrence of in-your-face evil, we can get distracted from unexpected tactics, and our tendency to allow our anger to become hate is one that leaves us open to an insidious defeat if we aren’t careful.

The enemy has been around for a long, long time. He is wiser than us, but not wiser than our Master. Those who do not know or care to know the Creator, are destined to be a type of pawn of the enemy, even though they may consider themselves to be good, upright people. The enemy knows well that if people reject Jesus Christ that he already has a certain amount of control over them, it’s just a matter of how much of a toll he wants to exact on them in the meanwhile and creating situations that foment hatred in decent people is just one of the many ways he does battle. As far as Christians are concerned, one of our less defended areas may be our control, or lack thereof, of our anger.

For instance, we all see what’s going on in Gaza, and most of us rightfully are disgusted by the murder of innocent people. Now the kind of people who support the genocide going on over there are already in Satan’s firm control, so that’s a whole nuther issue, but this post addresses folks who are repulsed by it. The problem comes in for us when we allow ourselves to hate these people doing the murder who are so completely under the control of the enemy. That’s his plan – to use his servants to perform evil, but equally as important, to invoke hatred from onlookers, because even though we are totally against what they are doing, we fall into his trap by hating them for it. When that happens, he wins on both sides of the battle, he controls those who commit murder, and when otherwise good people see the gross injustice and unmerciful treatment and allow hatred into their hearts, he has them where he wants them as well. That’s why Jesus admonishes us to love our enemies, to prevent us from falling victim to Satan by allowing hatred into our hearts. This may well be one of the most difficult things to avoid, even for good people.

Satan has complete control of many very wealthy people here in our country, who in turn have gained control of the leadership through bribery and extortion with the riches Satan has entrusted to them. These “elite” servants of Satan are the same ones who own all of our media organizations. They also own Hollywood and have tremendous influence over the content of entertainment, thus are able to influence many who are unaware of the power that entertainment has over their world views. When people see filth and violence, they tend to believe that because so many people are entertained by such, it must be ok. Of course, the wealthy do not see themselves as such, but in the grand scheme, they are no more than simple pawns for Satan to use as he sees fit – and destroy when the time is right. Animosity towards them is growing steadily as more and more citizens come to realize the degree to which they are manipulated and propagandized. For now, suffice it to say, the wealthy elites mentioned here generally support the genocide of the Palestinians, so their influence over our politicians tends to make them support what’s going on as well.

These same wealthy people completely own all but a precious and exemplary few members of our government and its institutions, especially including the military. They decide who gets to run for president, and it’s well known by now that no one can become president of the United States without showing proper fealty to them. There are required demonstrations of obeisance for a presidential candidate in the US nowadays and we’ve seen them. The same fealty demonstrated through various other rituals, is to be expected from legislators and from the benches of this country as well.

It looks as though Satan’s plan is to allow some light to shine on these individuals so that everyone sees who’s behind the evil that is apace in our country and the world. A lot of this has been practiced behind the curtain up to now, but normal citizens, including Christians who let their guard down, are starting to see who’s behind the rampant evil. That in itself is a good thing, but the enemy intends to use that knowledge to our destruction by causing us to hate these people. His wealthy servants? Sure, they don’t give it any thought, but he’ll drop them like a hot potato when it suits his purpose even though they are smug for now in the deception of their master’s loyalty. A perfect example is the French revolution and what happened to the elites of that day. The revolution itself may have been successful, but the devil won out when Louis and Marie were executed, because that resulted from the hatred he fomented and the ensuing sinful violence it caused among the French peasantry.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that as Christians we have to be careful to stay above the fray and not allow ourselves to be sucked into the maelstrom of hatred and violence that is bound to happen as the servants of evil are revealed. When we do that, we unintentionally do the bidding of the evil one and allow him to win a carefully conceived battle he planned out long ago and is once again setting up right now. We can certainly – and have a Christian duty to – disapprove of the evil that is going on, but we have to do it without falling into the trap of allowing hatred into our hearts, because when that happens, he wins both ways. Even though I firmly believe that Heaven will be an expansive place, nevertheless, there won’t be any room for hatred there.

Hate the sin but love the sinner. Pray for them – all of them, the oppressed, but just as importantly, the oppressors. It’s hard to do, but we have to give it our best shot, and with Jesus’ help we can prevail.

May God’s blessings find and keep us all in these trying times.

MK

The Final Day When Paupers Become Kings

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Today is Saturday, August 3, in the year of our Lord 2024 and things are shaping up to get really ugly in the Middle East – likely the whole world – as I write this post. The status of the world, though shocking to many, does not come as a surprise to Christians. We’ve long read about world events that are to come upon us in our Bibles. We know about most of the things that will take place because we believe the God-given prophecies of guys like Daniel, Ezekiel, and John, and if you haven’t read up on the things that are predicted, you should so you can get ready – it’s going to be quite the ride!

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When you decide to start checking into the events that are happening and are yet to happen you will undoubtedly encounter the undercurrent of it all which is the ongoing battle between the forces of good and evil – between God the Creator and His enemy Satan. There are way too many aspects of this enigmatic confrontation for any human still in the flesh to be able to comprehend. We cannot begin to enumerate nor understand all of the issues and their effects even though a lot of people, especially the charlatans that try to pass themselves off as preachers, would have you to believe they are able to. Suffice it to say there is an incomprehensible spiritual battle happening and like it or not, all of us – even those on this side of the void – are involved. We have to choose a side, and unfortunately most of humanity has already done so although many do not even realize they have. That’s where studying your Bible comes in.

Ignoring the words and the person of Jesus Christ is the same as opposing Him. Jesus Christ is the only Way we have out of this mess that the servants of evil have made of the world. There are many who claim to know how to confront Satan and his minions, but Jesus said that He is the ONLY way we can succeed, [John 14:6] “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.” There are many people who try to reach God, but if we believe Jesus is truthful, we must recognize His authority as the Son of God and follow Him to get where we need to go. Once we submit our hope to Him, we begin a journey that will lead us to an unimaginably joyful and indescribable victory. It will be the ultimate victory over the evil that today plagues this world, and in the end all of those servants of evil who seem to be so invincible now will actually be the servants of Jesus’ followers. According to this doctrine, Netanyahu, Dick Cheney, Jacob Rothschild and all of the evil figures who have seemed to be so untouchable, will be bowed at the feet of those who are for now, humble and innocent travelers, those who trust Jesus to bring justice upon all who practice iniquity today, for the servants of Jesus will inherit kingship in the reign of Christ.

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Imagine the shock and disappointment of those who would control the world today when they discover their whole earthly existences were no more than that of the grass of the field, and when they get to the Great Day of God’s judgement and see their master groveling before the True King. Those who wield the great swords of war, the dark and powerful weaponry that destroys nations, will be struck with fear and awe at the inimitable power of the real King when He appears in His unimaginable glory. In that moment they will realize the futility of their former allegiance to Satan, his wealth, his earthly control. If they had the mind to do so, they could look through those powerful telescopes and see great stars exploding, destroying everything in the millions of miles of space all around – that’s only a sample of the kind of power the Lord has. Their servitude to the evil one will all mean nothing, but those of us who have been faithful to our Lord Jesus will attain kingship and share His inheritance of all things.

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Just in case you haven’t noticed the world powers coalescing around the middle east and the open and unabashed slaughter of all those innocent people in Palestine, the warships congregating, and all the other portents of destruction and annihilation gathering like some dark cloud, you might want to open your eyes before it’s too late. It’s going to get really ugly, but when it’s all over, those who will be left standing will be our King Jesus Christ and His followers – and ONLY them. Everything He said would happen has either already happened or is happening now – that should be all the evidence we need to understand the Truth of what He says. Get on the right side of things before it’s too late. The clouds are rapidly closing in…

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God bless all.

MK

The Insanity of Warriors and False Prophets

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courtesy bnn-news.com

I guess the whole world has to be destroyed.  People don’t seem to care about it anymore, and that’s a shame.  God created something wonderful here, and people only think of it in terms of how they can profit from it – or destroy it.  It looks like Satan’s plan is to completely eradicate everything God made, and by using greedy and immoral people to do his bidding, it looks like he’s getting it done.  

I cannot tell whether or not the ongoing demise of things natural are a result of abuse or neglect by mankind, but I suspect it is, at least to some degree; certainly, the shredded forests on the Ukrainian battlefields testify to the extent to which they are able that mankind’s aggressive behavior tends to create havoc for the environment.  It’s a sad thing to see, those big old innocent trees with all their leaves and branches blown off and gnarled, sad boughs looking like some kind of perverted chipping machine ripped through them.  Did you ever wonder how many birds and squirrels die from bomb and artillery blasts?  How about fish and sea creatures when a big underwater explosion happens?  I didn’t think so.  They call it collateral damage, but it’s sad – and totally avoidable, nevertheless.  There are vast swathes of the planet that are polluted with depleted uranium, poisons from defoliants, and radiation.  The burning brush land of Galilee is especially heart-wrenching to me because Jesus Himself lived in that part of the world, and now we watch – and He watches – as the countryside of what was once His earthly home is ravaged by fires of war.  All these losses are unnecessary, but the human beings that are slaughtered by such malign offenses are the saddest of all.

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Fire in Galilee
courtesy jta.org

When the hell that is war visits a city, or a nation, everything that transpires until it is over can rightfully be seen as tribute being paid to Satan.  He is at the pinnacle of his power when human beings, once created in the image of God, are killing each other in mass numbers.  The Bible tells us his time here on earth is short, so he creates as much havoc as he possibly can for the short time in which he has control, and I believe war is one of his primary objectives among men.  Of course, his main focus is the destruction of the true Church of Jesus Christ, for when believers come to be without hope, without love, he wins.

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courtesy lapcoc.org

For some ridiculously inexplicable reason, there are people, many people, who are able to convince themselves that there is some imaginary limit to the evil that can be perpetrated, but don’t believe that for a second.  For instance, when discussing the possible involvement of the government in the 9/11 debacle, some folks argue that our government wouldn’t do something that malevolent – the event was just too evil.  A lot of these same people seem to recognize that Satan holds the reins of power of our government, so how evil is too evil for them?  Nothing, no sin or evil deed that could be committed or even imagined in all of creation is too evil for Satan.  Whether or not the government was involved in 9/11 will one day be determined, but if it turns out that they were not (which I highly doubt), it won’t be because it was too evil of a deed for them. Once leaders of nations have signed on to serve the devil, nothing is too evil for them.  It is preposterous to believe otherwise.

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WTC on 9/11
courtesy catholic.org

It’s a horrible sin to kill people, especially innocent people, a sin of which many world leaders are guilty, and one aspect of that, the ramifications of which do not seem to occur to a lot of folks is that when someone throws a war, innocent people always die.  That happens because wars are designed by Satan, and he always goes after the innocent.  In the Nuremburg tribunal at the conclusion of WWII, the concept was established that whenever a country engages in a war of aggression, the leader(s) of that country are guilty of all of the war crimes that are committed in that war, including the deaths of civilians, and to a reasonable person that would seem to be a fair judgement.  If God uses that measure, then there are a lot of past and present leaders – especially in the 20th and 21st century west – who will have much for which to answer.

An extremely important aspect of all of this – at least for believers who profess to be Christians, is the involvement and/or the support of the “church” in the malign activities of some world governments.  I just read a post that expressed how many “Christian Zionists” are at large in this country, and the number is staggering – in the tens, possibly hundreds of millions.  This fact alone proves without question what Jesus said about the gate being wide that leads to destruction.  It also proves that very few of these “Christians” read their Bibles.  These people are the ones who are making the slaughter of innocent people in Gaza possible.  If the mega-churches in the United States were to stop supporting the evil – certainly unChristian – mass-murder of innocent women and children and publicly proclaim that position, it would stop quickly.  You see, the politicians in DC support the Zionist regime because of the vast number of voters who support it (not to mention the vast sums of money that come their way).  A big chunk of those voters are avowed Zionists who haunt the mega-churches, so the occupation regime gets unlimited support – mostly in the form of weapons and money.  In turn, the church leaders get millions of shekels and dollars, so what’s not to like?  Incredibly, these folks seem to actually believe there is even such a thing as a Christian Zionist, or Judeo Christian.  There ain’t.  But then, Judas sold Jesus out too, for 30 pieces of silver which must have been a handsome reward for the greatest treason in human history which, by the adherence of mega-churches to these irresponsible doctrines, is reappearing in spades.

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courtesy Ancient Origins

Folks who have read the Bible understand that there have been times past when people turned away from God and the results were always horrible for them.  In Noah’s day, the world was flooded and only he and his family were saved.  The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were utterly turned to ashes.  The followers of Moses turned away from God and were abandoned by God to die in the wilderness.  We are at another pivotal time in human history in which the vast majority of people have turned away from Him, so what can we expect?  People have become evil, vile, greedy, theft and immorality abound in every form.  There is no love to be found, with the exception of Christian believers who choose the narrow gate to the Kingdom.  What can we expect indeed?

There are passages in the book of Revelation that describe, as well as can be elucidated by a first-century prophet, some awesome things that are about to happen.  They speak of the fearsome wrath of an angry God who hears the prayers of His people seeking deliverance from the evil that permeates this world.  There is no way this writer could begin to describe the horrific fear and dread that will overcome the hearts of all peoples of the earth who have denied the Son of God.  It will be an unimaginable fear that people will feel in their bones, and it will not go away – God will wreak terrible vengeance on all who have shunned and turned away from Him, from His beloved Son who was sacrificed for them.  The heavens will tremble, the earth will shake, horrific fire will come down from the sky, and the much-adored leaders of men, mighty men, generals, celebrities, and all those who have been wealthy in this life – will be trying to find holes in the ground to hide from His face, but that won’t happen.  When all of this happens, the poor, the peacemakers, and all other true followers of Jesus, His sheep, will not be afraid, they will rejoice to see their beloved King and friend – which side of this do you choose to end up on?

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Musing on War and Its Victims – Deceased and Living

Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. [Matt 5:9]

This morning, I stepped out with a cup of coffee and strolled through the dew-soaked grass before the sun peeked over the east rim of the holler. It’s cool out there, I think some sort of front came through last night – we could hear rumbles of distant thunder at dusk, and we got a little bit of rain through the night, so maybe that moisture on the grass was more than just dew. We’ll take any rain we can get this time of the year.

You tend to get lost in your thoughts at my age, and especially with all of the things that are happening in the world. I guess most folks don’t spend as much time fretting over the world’s ills as some of us, and that may be a blessing – or it may be a curse, depending on how you look at it, at any rate I think God’s children should be concerned with the moral trajectory of the world.

This summer has been especially lush and green around these parts, at least so far. For that I’m thankful, not far from here in almost any direction, tornadoes have ravaged the country. Some of our not-so-far-away neighbors have endured some nasty floods, but those things are just what has happened nearby. Further around this old ball of dirt, folks are suffering catastrophic heat that is actually killing people. there have been floods and hailstorms, the likes of which I don’t think the world has ever seen, at least in living memory. We have been blessed here in this old holler.

Under vast clouds of smoke and dust in the Ukraine, the Sahel of Africa, and the Middle East, deadly wars and outright massacres, are being conducted, taking innumerable lives – lives cut short by whatever lunacy of the day prevails in those places. As I wade through the cool, wet carpet of summer grass, my heart gets heavy thinking about all of the children in places like Gaza – actually there are no “places like” Gaza – it’s horror of its own, but those little ones, the very epitome of innocence, are being slaughtered and starved in a mausoleum of horror that no person, let alone a toddler, should ever be forced to endure.

Many moons ago before I realized college wasn’t going to be of much value to me, there was a history course I took, and the thing I remember most about it was that the thoughtful professor assigned us to read a book called “Inside the Vicious Heart”. I don’t know if it’s even still in print, but the basic theme was that all people have it in them to inflict unimaginable cruelty on their fellow human beings, and given the right conditions, i. e., making it legal to kill (war works for this), having superiors who encourage brutality, dehumanizing others to the point that one doesn’t regard them as human anymore, all work to remove natural homo sapiens inhibitions and allow that incredibly evil and apathetic trait of humans to surface. Then we get Wounded Knee, Mi Lai, Gaza, Pol Pot, and uncountable other atrocities. People on people violence and slaughter.

There’s something about recognition of this human condition that Satan and his servants in this world do not like to see made public and that’s really odd, but just look at how they twist the atrocities taking place in Palestine to try and make it look like it’s something justified. For crying out loud, look at what they did to Julian Assange for exposing the brutality of the US military. The devil doesn’t like for the evil he imposes on humanity to be exposed. At least not at this point in our history. Wars are always regarded as being over resources or political arguments or land, but the hard and cold fact is wars are conducted because of human susceptibility to the influence of Satan. Wars happen because people can be convinced it’s ok to kill each other, and once they set to it, they do it with vigor.

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Another facet of this, although a bit aside from the main topic is that cruelty and brutality are conducted of more than one style and measure, for instance, what is happening in the Ukraine is war, but what is happening in Gaza is merciless slaughter of innocent people. Before anyone gets their feathers ruffled, I know the Ukraine action is called a Special Military Operation instead of a war, but that’s just a bunch of legalese, it’s a war and we all know it’s a war, but my point is, in both cases, the guys with the guns have been convinced of the righteousness of their cause. The inhumanity they perceive in their crosshairs then proceeds to let that horrible human condition dictate they set their conscience aside and pull the trigger. And their fellow humans die.

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Courtesy publicdomainpictures.net

As the birds woke up and started to put nature’s soundtrack into my musings, I consider the after-effects of the inhuman behavior Satan evokes on those young men and women who have temporarily become convinced it’s ok to kill. Especially the ones who murder the innocent little kids on purpose. Do they wake up in the middle of the night to the screams of terrified little toddlers whose blood they have spilled? Is that why, out of the presence of those almighty superiors, their consciences become so heavy that they kill themselves as the only way to stop the echoing screams of the ghosts of those children? There is a phenomenal rate of military and ex-military suicides going on, and from what we hear, the most of them fought in places like Gaza, Iraq, and even Vietnam, where the “enemy”, or at least the enemy they killed, was defenseless. When they allowed Satan to remove the constraints of conscience and intentionally killed little children, women, and old people it must have become unbearable on the human soul to continue life with such a burden on their hearts. It’s the ones who have participated in such behavior and do not kill themselves that society needs to worry about, for they have the capacity to become brutal murderers off the “battlefield”.

I wonder about how the pilots of the aircraft, or the drone operators placate their consciences when they see pictures of the death and destruction of innocents in places like Raqqa and Gaza City. Was the removal of their sword strokes sufficient to assuage their mortal culpability for atrocities like that picture I saw of the little girl in the debris of Raqqa with only her beautiful little head to be seen with a plaited ponytail her mother had undoubtedly spent part of the morning fixing up. An American pilot dropped that bomb. Did he see the picture? If so, was there any remorse at all in his heart, or was he able to absolve his culpability? Was he merely playing some morbid video game, and felt no more guilt than a kid with a game controller in his hand?

Will the men and women who were players on Satan’s team endure the cost of guilt for the rest of their lives for killing innocents? I knew guys who had fought in WWII, and some of them were seriously damaged in their souls. WWII soldiers fought in a war that might have been justifiable, and those old boys carried some heavy baggage till they died. Just think about soldiers, or pilots, or drone operators, who have mercilessly taken part in murdering thousands of innocent children – their participation was voluntary, nobody made them kill. When these people stand before God on judgement Day, if they haven’t repented for their participation in these atrocities, they will pay the ultimate price. Satan recruited them, trained them, convinced them it was okay to kill their fellow human beings, and when he was through with them, discarded them into the dark noisome dumpsters of their guilty hearts. That’s his way.

The horror won’t be over until we come to understand and accept that wars have to be over, and I’m afraid that’s not going to happen. From what I’ve seen and read in the Bible, I think our Lord is getting fed up with what mankind has done to His creation, and we don’t have a lot of time left here, the best thing we can do is to get right with Jesus and when He winds it all up, we’ll be able to live in peace at last.

Then about the time the crows started waking up and complaining, I decided to take my heavy musings inside and write this heavy post.

God Bless Y’all,

MK