If You Had to Choose   

   We Americans like our Constitutional rights, and millions of us like our Bibles as well. 

   Which would you select if you had to choose one or the other? Worse, what if we lost the Constitution in a leftist takeover - followed by severe persecution of believers? 

   It's not out of the question. It is the norm in much of this dark world. 

   Our view by the sea is clear. Only the Bible addresses the two irreconcilable destinations of after-life. Once we are of age, our destination is already assigned. It is all downhill from there...forever. Infant baptism is not biblical and does not save. 

   The good news: we can choose a most wonderful destination with a little information and a lot of faith.       

   We will spend a couple days here reviewing the "greatest question ever asked," followed by the Bible's teaching for those who correctly answer the question. If you never read another blog, don't miss this four-part series!   

   Our helpers are my pastor, and commentary by the late Donald Stamps, a missionary, and eight associates with lots of letters (degrees). Their work is found in the New International Version, The Full Life Study Bible. 

The Greatest Question  

   In Matthew 16:13-19, Jesus asked his disciples Who do people say the Son of Man is? Not that he didn't already know. They tossed out some names.

   Then Jesus got to the point: Who do you say I am? 

   We don't know if the men discussed this, but Peter who often spoke up answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 

   Blessed are you, Jesus answered, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 

Next: Rocks, churches, gates, keys

            

They Came from Afar  

   It is the hot and potentially rainy season in Florida. Still, they came.

   They came from Pennsylvania and Virginia. They came from Georgia,

New York and Washington. 

   No, they weren't fleeing politicly-blue states. Or vacationers looking for beaches.  

   Although there was a beach. It's called Treasure Island. 

   Close to 100 of us would gather in one small area on one very broad beach. 

   None of us were in bathing suits. We all waited in air conditioning until the last minute. The sun was bright as we followed the trail to our seats. 

   It was 5:30 pm. 

   Along came the best man and the maid of honor. The groomsmen and bridesmaids. Mother of the bide and parents of the groom. And the groom.

   We stood to watch the bride process with her father.   

   The Vow &  Ring Ceremony. Blessing & Kiss. Pronouncement. 

   Holly and Joshua became one. Under God. A treasure.

   On Treasure Island.

           Uncle Jimmy

           

 Jude, Bluntly Speaking  

   Author of the last letter in the New Testament before Revelation, Jude identifies himself as brother of James. The only two brothers by those names in the NT were half-brothers of Jesus.

   After urging his "friends" to contend for the faith, Jude reminds them of those who "suffer the punishment of eternal fire. Godless men who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ..." 

   He mentions the angels who did not keep their positions of authority...Sodom and Gomorrah...dreamers who pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings." 

   "Woe to them!" he exclaims. "These men who speak abusively against whatever they do not understand. They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion." 

   Jude reminds them - "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men. See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 

   Then he looks to the future - "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires. These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit." 

   Warnings delivered, Jude ends his short letter - "Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear..."

  

There is Credit, as in Praise 

                  And Credit, as in Debt  

   Total outstanding credit card debt for Americans was $753 billion as of April. This is a 14.5 percent drop, year to year, due to stimulus checks and reduced spending during the pandemic. 

   However, other outstanding debt has increased.

   Total outstanding consumer debt in 2020 was $14.9 trillion, says Experian.

   Total student loan debt in the first quarter was $1.7 trillion says the Federal Reserve.

   Total mortgage debt in 2020 was $10.3 trillion, up 7 percent. 

   Total consumer debt for an average American in 2020 was $92,000. 

   Does this concern anyone?

Quotables

   "God gave us these children." A Malian man, whose wife, 25, gave birth to nine babies on May 4. All nine survived. 

   "We cannot legislate hate out of our people's hearts and minds." An Asian representative, about an Asian hate crimes bill the U.S. House passed in May.  

   "When I arrived, he was at the morgue and his internal organs were taken out." The wife of a Burmese poet, taken into custody for questioning. His writing had inspired resistance to the military, which took control of Myanmar in February.

       Jimmy 

Inflation Up 4.2 Percent 

   Maybe the president needs to authorize another stimulus or relief plan. (See yesterday's Views.) Inflation is up 4.2 percent since a year ago. How about a New Deal that actually works? 

   We feel the effects at the gas pump, the used car lot, the home improvement store and in the housing market. Blame the pandemic, which led to exorbitant government relief spending, shutdowns, supply chain disruptions and stay-home orders. 

   An economist says, "We have too much money because we've printed it like mad to finance government extravagance." 

   Also in the mix was the Suez Canal blockage, the power blackout in Texas, and the cyberattack on Colonial Pipeline. 

   While normalcy went bye bye last year, sawmills cut staff and production. But homeowners unable to travel chose to renovate their homes, driving lumber prices up 124 percent. Decisions in 2020 by rental car companies resulted in shortages of used cars, and after people started traveling again, prices rose 21 percent.

   The price of food is up 3.8 percent. Would-be workers took advantage of government handouts, resulting in "Help Wanted" signs galore. When companies raise wages to attract employees, the costs pass along to customers. 

   Will the Fed continue to pump money into circulation and drive inflation? The economist said, "Trump spent and borrowed a lot. The sense is Biden is going to do that even worse."  

   A professor predicts that if inflation continues upward, it will be more difficult for Biden to promote other pricey legislation. 

   Government solving economic problems? We're right back in the 1930s - without the depression. 

        Jimmy 

 Mysterious Money    

   My fellow American: Maybe you received the letter.

I am pleased to inform you that because of the American Rescue Plan, a direct payment of $2,800 was issued to you by direct deposit. 

   The letter mentioned other benefits - "aid for small businesses, an expanded child tax credit for families, and resources to reopen our schools safely. Also the Plan extends unemployment insurance and helps reduce health care premiums through the Affordable Care Act." 

   You know who signed the letter: President Joseph R. Biden Jr. 

   Okay. Some people needed help. Others were not financially affected by the pandemic. No matter. Get used to depending on the Federal Government and its printing press, until rivers flow uphill and elephants fly. 

   Joel Belz of WORLD magazine considers the Rescue Plan "the real crime or ethical breach. The scam that we may live with the longest," he writes, "is the transfer of hundreds of billions of dollars from a virtually unknown source into the bank accounts of accepting citizens." 

   "With our massive level of national debt ($28 trillion) where do those dollars come from?" he asks. 

   "This started last year when former President Donald Trump authorized the first two 'stimulus' packages - the $2.2 trillion CARES Act and its $900 billion follow up. The effort accelerated when President Biden added his support to the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan." 

   Belz wants to know, "Who's going to say, 'Stop!' You can't put that money in my account. It's phony money!"

             Jimmy

Outnumbered in Prison 

   Following is part of what Petr Jasek, Voice of the Martyrs, 

wrote after spending 445 days in a Sudanese prison with six ISIS men: 

   "During each call for prayer, as my cellmates washed themselves, I systematically praised God with words from Revelation 4:8: The four living creatures ... day and night they never ceased to say, 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!'     

   "If those four creatures could say the words 'holy, holy, holy' throughout eternity, then I knew I could manage to say them for one minute, for five minutes, or for an hour. I began repeating that verse over and over in my mind.

   "Those words made me think of God's specific attributes - His holiness, His purity, His ability to heal. 'Holy, holy, holy is God who sets the captives free.' I prayed for Christians in Eritrea, some of whom had been imprisoned for over a decade. 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,' I repeated to myself over and over again. I knew I couldn't sing my hymns aloud or speak the words of Scripture, but I could surely sing and say them in my heart.

   "When I began to focus more on the holiness and power of God and less on the horrors of my own situation, the dynamics in my prison cell began to change for the worse. My ISIS cellmates did not know that I had begun silently repeating these worshipful words, but during the first week of February, the more I sang to God and exalted His name, the more harshly they treated me."

Are Christians and Jews

going to face persecution in America?