Biblical knowledge, Biblical discernment, understanding within the soul, the mind, the heart, and the spirit of the word of God is essential to life. As essential as air, water, food. Even more so because the word of God is eternal and air, water and food keep the temporal body in this realm functioning (in heaven though we will have spiritual bodies yet also eat and drink, for Passover will be observed, this is part of the Biblical knowledge, discernment and understanding within the heart, mind, and soul I now write).

The study of the Book of Daniel is a crucial and most important Bible study for any true believer. A deep study. Coming to a deep understanding. From faithful prayer to the Holy Spirit to reveal and open up understanding no finite human worldly mind is capable of on its own.

I mention the Book of Daniel and am writing this after reading the fine article below written by Mr. Abraham Hamilton III.

I’m also writing this because far too many people in America think, or believe in great error, delusion that America is the Promised Land. The perfect land. The best place ever. And America is somehow set aside and special in the eyes of God.

Israel is set aside and special in the eyes of God. America, folks, is among “the nations” written of in the word of God. Not separate. Not above others not respected more by God than others.

Oh, do not misunderstand. America was in my belief created by Divine Providence. I’ve studied enough American History in-depth to come to the clear belief that the hand of God was instrumental in the creation of this nation that is great in many human definitions. But do not get caught up in those if you are a true believer, a true disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, a true child of God rather than a child of disobedience and this corrupt and perverse world.

America is not the Promised Land.

America is the continuation of Babylon. As is the world at large.

Do not fall prey to the lies and deceptions of the world, of Satan and his cunning. Babylon was not some ancient city that rose up, existed for a time, and then fell and is no more. Babylon, as it may have been known by its physical city limits and rulers as mentioned in the Bible and in history books, may no longer be found if exploring and desiring to find it (although ruins of the ancient city can be found in Iraq, near the current time town of Hilla, on the Eastern Bank of the Euphrates River).

But we are Babylon. The world at large is Babylon. Babylon, the ancient city may have fallen into disrepair and ruin physically, but just as sin was carried out throughout the world in every person from Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, the evil, the ways of Babylon have been spread and carried throughout the world in the migration of people to every place on earth.

The idol worship. The paganism (now rebranded, repackaged, and cleaned up for the masses and called New Age and all its myriad offshoots), the worship of self, the indulgences, the immorality, the perversions, the turning from the One True God to countless false gods and idols.

We are no different. Only technology has changed. We the people, what is inside of us, our innate lusts, proclivity to sin and rebel from God, to deny God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to deny the inerrant infallible living and active word of God — it’s all here, all there, everywhere just as it has been through the ages.

If you do not believe this, if you doubt this, refuse to accept this, if you are lacking in Biblical fluency, Biblical knowledge, Biblical discernment, and understanding — this is why I began as I did — I implore you to get ahold of a Bible. Today. And to search the Scriptures for what I am writing of. And pray upon it. Learn it. Take it to your spirit, your soul, your mind, and your heart and into your life. And keep it there. Do not forget it or begin to redefine things as the world does, fall prey to the teachings and ways of the world.

We are to be a separate and peculiar people while also being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The light of God’s truth, Jesus’ truth, the Holy Spirit’s truth, the Bible’s truth in a dark, dark, dark and deep in sin, perversions, corruptions, delusions, and lies world.

Search the Scriptures like a Berean.

And I will give you some starting places if unfamiliar so you can learn on your own I do not write this because it’s something I imagined or thought up, but rather because it’s in the word of God and I believe every word within the word of God. I add nothing. I omit nothing. I do not doubt or discount anything.

Search, read on. Dive deep into the living waters of the word. Immerse yourself. And remain unpolluted by the toxic, perverse, corrupt ways, definitions, understandings of this wicked and lost world which in truth is lacking understanding, refusing the truth, refusing any light in the darkness.

But that does not mean we join them, surrender to the world and its ways, nor that we cease standing strong in the faith, boldly to be a light unto the world, the salt of the earth, and to carry the gospel not only in our hearts and lives — but to the hearts and lives of others. To those in the darkness. To those, all of us living in Babylon but not having to worship and bow to Babylon…which is THE WORLD SYSTEM AND ALL THAT ENTAILS AND MEANS…

Further reference;

Daniel 9 —https://biblehub.com/esv/daniel/9.htm

Jeremiah 7:18 —https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/7-18.htm

Jeremiah 51:41 — https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/51-41.htm

1 John 4:3 — https://biblehub.com/1_john/4-3.htm

2 John 1:7 — https://biblehub.com/2_john/1-7.htm

2 Thessalonians 2:3 — https://biblehub.com/2_thessalonians/2-3.htm

Revelation 12 — https://biblehub.com/esv/revelation/12.htm

Revelation 17 — https://biblehub.com/esv/revelation/17.htm

Revelation 18 — https://biblehub.com/esv/revelation/18.htm

Revelation 19 — https://biblehub.com/esv/revelation/19.htm

The above references and links are here only as a help, a starting point. Do not stop here or there. Get ahold of a physical Bible. A good concordance. And take time to come to know and understand. To see. To know. To really know. And hold within your heart and spirit.

Also, for an online help go to: Blue Letter Bible — https://www.blueletterbible.org/?articleID=187

But none of these ought to replace a good study Bible. A good concordance. And the necessary time spent within and throughout the word of God. Praying for discernment prior to reading, as you read, and upon finishing any reading or study undertaken.

Do not shy away from the Book of Revelation if you have done so to this point, or do so. Pray to God for understanding. Ask God for wisdom (see James 1:5). And slowly, faithfully read the chapters in Revelation mentioned above.

The whore of Babylon is the WORLD SYSTEM. Of which America has a large role in. We are NOT the Promised Land. And the president we admire, vote for, and think is the answer? He is NOT the answer. No matter who, no matter when.

And it’s high time if we profess to be “Christians” we truly repent and come to know what it means to truly follow Christ, to truly be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, to truly be a child of God — because while God is involved in all creation not everyone is His child. The overwhelming majority in fact are children of disobedience, children of Satan for they rebel and refuse the truth, refuse the word, refuse Jesus, refuse to allow themselves to be transformed by the Holy Spirit, born anew to live Biblical based lives.

So, it’s high time we begin actually living as Christians if we profess to be one. And to be a peculiar people. Unafraid of the world’s judgment and in awe and fear of the Lord’s judgment.

To live according to the word of God. All of it. And that doesn’t mean according to what a pastor says, or some fictional book, or someone else — it means spending time in the word of God to know what it is exactly God expects of us, how we are to conduct ourselves and live. Not to be misinterpreted as being legalistic — but to be mindful and known as being obedient.

And when of sound doctrine, and more fluent in the word, of more Biblical knowledge, Biblical understanding, and discernment, rightly dividing the word it is also vital to teach and raise any and all children in the instruction of the Lord and His word.

Now as much as ever.

Now more than ever.

Because now we are closer to the return of the Lord than we were yesterday, or ever before.

Ken Pullen

Tuesday, July 20th, 2021

ACP — A Crooked Path

Adjusted Expectation

Monday, July 19, 2021

By Abraham Hamilton III

Reprinted from American Family Association

In his book “The Church in Babylon: Heeding the Call to Be Light in Darkness,” Erwin Lutzer, Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, IL, provided a clarion call for the church to make a mid-course correction contrary to the culture of the twenty-first century. Pastor Lutzer confronted the notion that many American Christ-followers inaccurately view our nation as if it is now the Promised Land when in actuality it is much more akin to Babylon as described in the Hebrew Scriptures. He then points to Daniel and the accounts of Daniel’s friends in the prophetic text that bears his name as examples for contemporary believers to follow as we strive towards Christ-centered biblical faithfulness in this modern-day Babylon.

In Daniel 1:1-8, the door is opened to us to peer into biblical history and there we find a treasure trove of valuable insight. First, verse 1 gives us a temporal context in which to set the events that follow. We learn that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in the “third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah.” Jerusalem, the capital city of Judah, was home to both the temple and the royal palace. It was the seat of spiritual and political life in Judah.

Verses 2-3 reveal that Nebuchadnezzar carried off some of the temple vessels as well as some of the “sons of Israel” as spoils of war to Babylon. Daniel and his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were “among” the “sons of Judah” who’d been taken captive and exiled to Babylon (vv. 3-6). Nebuchadnezzar was so impressed by them that he indoctrinated them via a full-on Babylonian education with the end goal of them serving as his royal advisors (v. 5).

Verse 7 shows the lengths to which Nebuchadnezzar goes to strip these young men of their identities, their heritage, and their culture by replacing their given Hebrew names with Babylonian names. Daniel, he called Belteshazzar. Hananiah he changed to Shadrach. Mishael was changed to Meshach and Azariah was changed to Abednego (v. 7). This was a dehumanizing effort to compel them to forget all that existed prior to Babylonian conquest and exile and completely embrace their lives and roles as Babylonians.

There is an additional insight, however, tucked away for us in verses 3-4 in the first chapter of the book of Daniel. It says,

Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence in every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge, and who had ability for serving in the king’s court; and [he ordered him] to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans (emphasis added).

Daniel and his friends were “youths.” Some translations specifically refer to them as “children” in verse 4. The reason for this is that the Hebrew word translated into English in verse 4 is “yeled.” The Hebrew word yeled indicates that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were most likely young boys to teenagers. They were somewhere between the ages of twelve and fifteen years old. Also, considering the way they were often listed it seems Daniel may have very well been the oldest of the four.

So, the Scriptures reveal to us that Daniel and his friends were “youths,” transported hundreds of miles away from their homes, parentless. Yet, they were described as “showing intelligence” in “every branch of wisdom.” They were “endowed with understanding” and “discerning knowledge” (or “understanding science”). They were also described as having the “ability” or competency to serve “in the king’s court.” Oh, and before I forget, they were also said to be “good-looking” (so they probably looked like me… okay I’m kidding).

How often do we associate the words “intelligence,” “wisdom,” “understanding” and competence to advise kings with youth today? Could it be, we have bought into an unbiblical expectation of our children based on the prevalent presentations of youthfulness made to us by the world? It seems the Scriptures point us toward an adjusted expectation of our young people. Just because foolishness is present in young people in the world does not mean that is the bar we should set and/or expect from our young people.

When we read the remainder of chapter one in Daniel’s book as well as the chapters that follow we learn that these young men spent the majority of their lives in Babylon and in fact spent more time in Babylon than they ever did in Judah. They were yeled in chapter one, but that is the only chapter in the book where they could be described as boys. When we see them again in chapter three before Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace they are grown men. When we see Daniel in chapter 6 in Darius’ lion’s den, he’d been in Babylon over 60 years (contrary to whatever artist renderings you may have seen depicting a lad in the lion’s den).

They lived the entirety of their adulthood and the bulk of their lifetimes in Babylon, yet Babylon never lived in them. We should likewise strive, as Meeke Addison often says, to “culture-proof” our children in our day. By God’s sovereign grace and divine providence, we live in the United States of America. Yet, we strive to never allow the wicked aspects of a rebellious culture in America to live inside of us. As the Apostle John wrote, we must not “love the world nor the things in the world” (1 John 2:15(a)). Living counter-culturally for the Christ-follower must become as natural to us as breathing. Our King is the one who called us to be peculiar.

But there is another consideration that must be made in light of the treasure revealed to us in Daniel 1:1-8. What type of investment did Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah’s parents make in them that the other parents seem not to have made? Daniel 1:6 says these four yeled were “among” the “sons of Judah” taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar. They weren’t the only ones. Yet, it seems they were the only Jews who were present in chapter 3 who refused to faceplant in worship before Nebuchadnezzar’s golden statue.

The simple point that I hope to get across in this piece is that we shouldn’t passively allow the world’s experiences and commonalities to shape our expectations for our children. Timothy knew the LORD from his youth. Samuel served the LORD from his youth. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah served the LORD as yeled. Our children can know and serve the LORD continuously from their youth on throughout their lifetimes. Similarly, we should also reject the “that’s good enough” or “that’s all they need” parental paradigm that’s common in Christendom in our country.

We can and must have Christ-following, peculiar children. Our children also can and must have Christ-following, peculiar parents. We must adjust our expectations. Adjusted expectations drive adjusted commitment.