There are some verses pertaining to Babylon as it enters into a time of judgment that are seen in the world today. There is a modern Babylon in the end times scenario, many say it refers to the US, but none know for sure. Here are the bible quotes:

Jer 51:30

30 The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting,

They have remained in their strongholds;

Their might has failed,

They became like women ;

NKJV

Isa 13:7-8

7 Therefore all hands will be limp,

Every man's heart will melt,

8 And they will be afraid.

NKJV

Here is an article by Helen Smith:

So I took a look at a book entitled The New Feminized Majority this week that purports to show how the values of American voters are dramatically shifting. How? According to the literature accompanying the book, there is a new feminized majority made up of both women and men that is:

“...emerging as the pivotal force in American politics. Emerging trends show these values are broadly progressive and address not just the needs of women but the general interests of society. They are held by women substantially more than by men but have become the values held by a majority of all voters, including millions of men.

Like earlier eras in American history, such as the New Deal, the rise of the feminized majority today presents an opportunity for the Democrats to become the governing party for decades to come.”

She goes on in the article to associate Obama’s feminized message with very normal socialism.

We have done a great job as a society in promoting the feminization of men and it will come back to bite us – it is an indicator of a judgment to come.

I came across this interesting trailer via www.smartchristian.com . I was able to preach at our international conference in Prescott in 2003. I quoted a wired magazine article by Gilder in which he said talked of the questioning of Darwin as one of the societal changing events in this new century. In making my business calls, I was reminded by one pastor of what I said and how it hasn’t happened yet. I still see it as a potential issue that can be brought up to intelligently point people to God and Christ the savior of the world (not Obama, but Jesus).

Working with Tom Cunningham we completed our web page for the Tembo film. The address is: www.jamestembo.com It took a while, but this was part of my pledge to the folks in Zambia who worked on the film. Please feel free to pass the web page around.

Coming home as an evangelist is always a lot of fun. On my return from Canada I found my wife slightly distraught. Her mom is visiting us which adds some different dimensions to life. One of those dimensions was my wife losing her keys. Losing her keys wouldn’t have been so bad except losing things was a part of her life growing up. She looked upon it as something she inherited and she has done her best to not let that be a constant part of her life. Our daughters were taught to always know where their personal hairbrushes were, something they always did. In Joan’s house growing up with 9 brothers and sisters missing personal items was a way of life. So losing something as important as her keys while her mother was here was difficult.

I got home late Monday, so I tried to get her to retrace her steps, remember when she last saw them and the normal detective questions. I took care of business of life that had accumulated while I was gone and let her know that as soon as I got things together I would put on my James Tembo overcoat and try and find the keys. So that Tuesday while she was working on her school I began to search the house. She had already visited all of the stores and places that she thought she might have left them and had come up empty. So I began the search. All along I had been looking in drawers and on table tops hoping to spot them, but now it was time to do a thorough search. I started in our bedroom. Keys on bedside tables: no. On the desk: no. On the bed: no. On the chief’s bed at the foot of the bed: no. Under the bed: no. In between the chief’s bed and our bed there was a small pan for soaking feet. I kicked it. I heard a jingle. I had found the keys within 5 minutes of my search. I placed the keys around her neck like a necklace. Was I a hero or what? Nice to be appreciated.

Here is a different take on Israeli-Arabs and their attitudes towards Israel. I just finished reading The Birth of Israel 1945-1949 by Joseph Heller (the author of Catch 22). It does a good job of describing how Ben Gurion was able to persevere and unite the left and the right with his centrist party to establish the nation of Israel. The left wanted a federated state in which the Arabs and the Jews shared power. The right wanted a more messianic state of Israel that called for a much larger nation. In the end Gurion, working with all parties in the aftermath of WWII and the beginning of the cold war was able to take advantage of Russian favor, (the arms used in the war of independence came from Czechoslovakia)  avoid an all out war with Britain (forcing Menachem Begin to cease hostilities and join with him), court American support and only in 1946 begin to seriously prepare for the unavoidable war with the Arab nations surrounding Israel.

Linking to my first sentence was the idea that Gurion knew that there must be some kind of population shift besides immigration for Israel to survive. They all believed that there were precedents of forced population movements undertaken for the future stability of a given region. They always assumed that the Arabs that would be transferred rather than displaced as in the examples of Turkey/Greece 1922, Poland/Russian 1945 and India/Pakistan 1947. When the transfer ideas did not take root and the war broke out the assumption was that the displaced Arabs would be taken in by the neighboring Arab states with financial aid from the UN and the wealthy Arab nations. The idea that they would be left as homeless and nationless just wasn’t in their future thinking. Yet, that is exactly what happened and has been an unhealed wound to this day.

The other interesting insight was their attitude towards war with the Arab nations. When they made the decision to prepare for war they didn’t have the weapons to carry out the war. While the US and the world assumed they would be slaughtered by the Arab nations and were preparing to save them from an even greater holocaust, Ben Gurion and the Jews were very confident that they could defeat the Arabs and they concealed their confidence from the world.

I followed this up with a book given to me by Dale Ramsey from North Battleford: 90 Minutes at Entebbe . A great read for an all day journey from Edmonton to Phoenix via Seattle. The UN debate at the end is worth its weight in gold. It filled in some of the details that my driver in Uganda was trying to explain to me.

I traveled from 80 degrees in Indio California to minus 30 Celsius in North Battleford Saskatchewan. Now I am in Lloydminster finishing up this trip with Don Petrokowski. Preaching for Don and Dale Ramsey is a bit of old home week for me. I have known Dale and Hope, and Don and Meagan for 20 years now. I met them both when Joan and I came out to Seattle from Wickenburg in 1988. Dale’s church was a true United Nations experience. His church had people from the Canadian Indian tribes, India, Nigeria, Columbia, Mexico, Korea and the Urkraine. He had shared a sermon he preached at the Canadian conference about ministering to immigrants. I watched Dale in action when he confronted a local land speculator about taking advantage of some of the immigrants in his church. Dale’s church member apologized for Dale having to get entangled in the mess, but then thanked him for his action and mentioned how well the speculator was treating her after the encounter.  In one of my sermons I talk about the Indian cooking I enjoyed in Zambia, this must have hit a nerve because we had a Nigerian meal with Johnson and his family (his wife is from Nigerian royalty) (his oldest son is a tall 14 year old basketball player) (his youngest is a good natured young man) and an Indian meal from Adam and Mercy, two Indians with from Christian families in India. They shared their wedding pictures. I asked them if it was an arranged marriage. They said yes, but it was arranged at the behest of Adam.

I put together a combination Dating/Marriage sermon while here since I was preaching the day before Valentine’s at Dale’s and on Valentine’s at Don’s. I have never done that before, but I found the transition worked in ministering to the singles as well as the married couples. I was fun to trot out the 10 rules of dating story. Don’s church was full of young people. The timing of my revival coincides with their departure to South Africa. Don’s family and their church’s band will be traveling, ministering in several churches, a parade and schools. I think the combination of events, a revival with someone who has been to Africa, their trip to Africa will serve to motivate and bring the church together as the snow melts up here.

Frank Amado treated me real good in Indio. Had some great Mexican food. Frank facilitated my trip to Guatemala. Frank is a Prescott Disciple which means a lot to me. One of the transitions our churches have had to make is how to run Saturday music scenes. In prior days music could attract people. But, many of our churches found these scenes to be unproductive and a real drag on the church. We all tried different things to rather spice it up or alternative programs. Personal outreach tended to lead to a Christian life of just regular services. Frank has a once a month theme night. They were getting ready for the “Roaring 20’s” while I was there. They spend time decorating the church, they dress to the theme, their dramas match the theme and the church has a potluck and he gets visitors every time.

My wife just called me and let me know that Pastor Mitchell took ill this last week. He is currently in the hospital recovering. Greg told the congregation to send flowers and candy but to not go and visit him. His comment to his father was that maybe your liver needs some time to figure out what time zone it is in. I’m sure there will be many prayers offered up to God this week.

I am enjoying Obama’s run on Hillary. It will be tough to run against him in the actual election because his skin color will not allow any real debate on the issues. John McCain will be attacked and portrayed as a white hooded racist if he says anything about Obama that has any bite. It would be much easier to run against Hillary. Really, it was only Bill and Hillary that gave republicans the dominance in politics that they had for the 12 years ending in 2006. Here is an article reminding me how Bill and Hillary operate as a team.  Sorry for not calling Bill Clinton President Clinton, after reading this article I purposely chose not to.

The doctrinal divide over eternal security and the possibility of forfeiting salvation through backsliding has spilled into my life. I really enjoyed G H Lang’s book “Chaos”. At one point he showed me free will colors in discussing predestination. When I read another of his books, “Firstborn Sons” I found him talking to those who believe in eternal security. He was taking all of the scriptures that I would use as evidence of the possibility of losing salvation and chastising those from his camp in that they ignore these scriptures or falsely attribute them to warning to the unbeliever and not the believer. His conclusion is that all of the scriptures that warn believers of judgment for sinfulness are not warnings about losing salvation but warnings about losing a higher degree of reward in the Millennial Kingdom and heaven. He operates from the premise that once you become a son you cannot not be a son. You may lose your inheritance but you will always be a son.

I have a saying: Baptist preachers spend every Sunday convincing people who aren’t saved that they are and Pentecostal preachers spend every Sunday convincing people who are saved that they are not. This controversy about doctrine has spilled over into Audra’s life in Las Vegas. She was told that she always looks condemned and miserable when she comes from church. She has brought her college friends to church and they stand on their beliefs that will bring them to heaven. One of her friends has tried to explain to her that once you are saved you are always saved. Its one thing to have this doctrine believed by someone who is wholeheartedly pursuing the things of God, but quite another to be believed by a young person tottering upon infatuation with the world with no outward sign of being involved with the things of God.

In my state I took to reading the short epistles real slow to see if I could deduce the plain meaning of scripture without any wrestling or twisting. So here is one from Colossians.

Col 1:21-23

21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled 22 in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight —  23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. NKJV

This seems straightforward to me. You have been reconciled through Christ and will be presented holy, blameless and above reproach If indeed you continue in the faith and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel.

There are no surprises in the Greek definitions. Once again I understand the logic of eternal security based upon God’s choice. I see Lang’s logic in assuming that sonship is forever. But, this verse and many others leave me with just what it says.  I know and preach that God “will never leave and forsake us”. We might wish it to say that Christ has redeemed us and now that we are redeemed it is a settled issue but that is not what that verse says.

I don’t want to go overboard with this. I think this is why the bible says “work out you own salvation with fear and trembling” (free will) followed by “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure”.

As I told Audra, it is like marriage, you know if you are married or not. Marriage is not just a piece of paper that unites to estranged people legally. Marriage is a union of total commitment to each other, just as salvation should be between us and God.

I had one of those rare substitute days. The teacher actually wanted me to cover a short overview on their next chapter on the Roman Empire. I know enough to teach the 6^th graders something. I had them open their books and turn the pages with me as we discussed the chapter headings and the yellow highlighted words. Virgil changed the names of the Greek Gods. It is a republic like America. Caesar won the civil war (like the one America fought). Talked about gladiators and got them to realize who the modern American gladiators are. Jesus is in the text book. He taught by parables (one of the highlighted words). A description of the good Samaritan is in the text book. Christians are persecuted and then Christianity becomes the religion of the empire. I had two young men object to talking about Jesus letting me know that it was against the law. I just had them turn to the page (like they should have been) and realize that it is in their text book. We examined a map and I asked them to identify the modern names of countries that were part of the Roman Empire including Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) . We talked about aqueducts. Spanish word for water and ducts bringing heat into the room. I really enjoyed this quick overview that lasted about 15 minutes in 6 different classes. There assignment was to write down two things about the Roman Empire and two things about the Roman Empire that they would like to know more about. I noticed several students wanted to know more about Jesus. I found the whole experience exhilarating. Then we watched the second half of Hercules.

This was the second day in a row that I covered for the same teacher. The last period is one of the most out of control classes I have had to date. Yesterday at the end of the last period, I found myself helping one girl call her mother. The students had overturned the trash can as they left the room and there was a big pile of trash left in the door way that all of the students had to cross over in order to leave. At this point I asked the two remaining young men to help me clean up the papers. One was the loudest and most out of control student of the day and his quieter enabler. They, without complaint, helped me clean up the mess. So I bought some candy bars and after we went through the review (noisy but fun) I talked about the new placement of the trash can. As they all began to tattle I asked for quiet and asked if the person who knocked the can over wanted to come and take responsibility for the action. (I was going to have the person pick up the papers on the floor and give him a candy bar). No one came forward. I then publicly thanked the two boys for helping me clean the mess and gave them each a candy bar. We went onto the movie but this class is just so loud that I had to take action. I got them quiet by turning off the film and turning the lights back on. I began to explain to them that they were out of control and that I would be sending anyone who made a sound to the office. I let them know they could read or write but I wanted no talking and no moving. I let them know we were starting right now – and sure enough I was challenged not by the loudest kid, my helper, but by the second loudest. I told him to go to the office. It was 25 minutes of pure silence in the wildest class I have had up to date. I think they were even amazed.