by Steve McCranie | May 19, 2017
Today, I am amazed at how Proverbs 18 shines a light on the current situation in this country. Just turn on the news and you’ll find the truth of Proverbs 18:2 splattered all over your screen. Does this sound familiar?
Proverbs 18:2 – A fool (dull, stupid, arrogant) has no delight (pleasure, desire) in understanding, but in expressing (venting, revealing, disclosing) his own heart.
We watch these pundits shoot their mouth off about any and everything that comes into their minds as if it dropped from the lips of God. As if they, and they alone, had the keys to all truth. They consider themselves wise in this age because of the platform we’ve given them. That’s right, we’ve elevated them to where they are by giving heed and importance to the words that come out of their mouth. We, by our continued involvement in watching them vent the foolish bile that flows from their heart, have given credence and credibility to what they say. If we watch and listen to them, their platform inevitably grows. And if we turn away from their foolishness, they will soon be gone. We hold the power to their influence in our lives, not them. Maybe it’s time we began to use it.
This proverb sums up their life and motivation quite well. Their delight is not in understanding the issues of today or the truth of those issues. Their delight and pleasure come from venting what they think or feel or what seems right in their own eyes. They tirelessly promote their agenda and twist the facts to support their talking points. They assume that they alone are the standards of truth and we are too simple to understand the facts ourselves. We obviously need them to tell us what to think and what to do. Yet we forget the Proverbs call these type of people fools— dull, stupid, and arrogant.
As Forest Gump would say, “Stupid is as stupid does.” But is he talking about us? Or them?
Toxic Verbal Waste
The words that come out of a fool’s mouth are designed to stir up fights and foster controversy. There’s no value in speaking truth unless it pushes forward the agenda. Consider the following:
Proverbs 18:6 – A fool’s lips enter into (to go in, to bring) contention (strife, controversy, quarrels, disputes), and his mouth calls for blows (strikes, or a slap to correct insolent behavior).
That’s exactly what happens with the media today. They pour out the anger and hatefulness in their heart, criticizing everyone and everybody who does not think like they do, and create contention for the sake of stirring up controversy. But, as the Proverbs say, what they need is a punch in the mouth, a fist in their face, a belt in the chops. A classic John Wayne moment.
But maybe we need the same thing. Maybe we need a slap in the face for listening to the dribble that comes out of their mouth. Maybe we need a wake-up call. Maybe we need someone to slap us back to reality. Maybe we’ve become just as arrogant and stupid as they are by listening to the arrogant and stupid things that come out of their mouth. Maybe we also delight in contention, quarrels, and strife.
Maybe we’re no better than they are. Maybe we’ve got blood on our own hands.
Our Addiction to Gossip
Those who spend their life speaking ill of another become addicted to the sin of building themselves up by tearing someone else down. Proverbs 18 speaks to this also.
Proverbs 18:7 – A fool’s mouth is his destruction (ruin, terror, downfall), and his lips are the snare (bait, trap, lure) of his soul.
The more a man verbally tears down another, the more his entire being become enslaved to the sin of gossip. Having a bitter and quarrelsome attitude becomes part of their DNA. Words of praise and adoration are foreign to them. But mocking words of sarcasm and condemnation become second nature. They take over their being. They are now the fruit of their hearts. They possess their soul.
Do you know why a steady diet of gossip turns into an eating disorder? The Proverbs do.
Proverbs 18:8 – The words of a talebearer (liar, gossip, slanderer, one who murmurs and whispers about others to attack them verbally) are like tasty trifles (to gulp, swallow greedily), they go down into the inmost body.
Those who are honored and exalted by their ability to gossip and slander another, much like the media today, become addicted to that sin. They are in the limelight only because of their ability to verbally attack another, with false innuendos and half-truths. They gulp and swallow greedily for another tasty trifle, some shared falsehood, about someone else. And they hunger for some unsubstantiated rumor they can use to malign their character and murmur behind their back.
Welcome to Western Media in 2017
Come on, aren’t you tired of it? Haven’t you had enough?
Then no longer go to these fools for the facts. There are hundreds of alternative news sources that report truth, and not agenda. The problem is that they are not as well known and CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX, and the others. You may actually have to do some digging on your own and then practice biblical discernment. You may have to work for a change and not fall back on what is easy and spoon fed to you from your sofa. You may have to pay a price to know truth, and not the politically correct agenda that our culture is being indoctrinated with.
Remember the truth. Remember where the truth can be found. And cling, like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood, to the truth. The only truth.
Proverbs 18:10 – The name of the LORD is a strong tower (an elevated place of strength and truth); The righteous run to it and are safe (inaccessible high).
Do you realize the elevated place of strength where the name of the Lord is proclaimed and the righteous run to for safety, may be the pulpit? For the pulpit is to proclaim the truth, God’s truth, and cannot fall prey to the trappings and changing opinions of this world. And those who run to it are safe. Why? Because God’s truth never changes and never fails. And from the pulpit, God has ordained His truth to be proclaimed and His name magnified.
Something to think about, isn’t it?
by Steve McCranie | Jul 2, 2015
In continuing from yesterday’s post, let me reassert my belief that we, as Christians in America today, are in the same place the Jews found themselves in 1935 in Nazi Germany. We now see vicious hatred for anything that speaks of Biblical truth and the rule of law in this country. Why? Because judicial integrity has been greatly compromised.
In essence, the Republic we’ve all come to love and respect and call home is no more.
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
And Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel also said, almost prophetically, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
Let that not be said of the church today.
For the next couple of days I will post the timeline of events in Nazi Germany beginning in 1933 until the start of WWII. That’s just six short years. Look at how quickly the Nazis consolidated power and enacted laws that first marginalized, and then systematically tried to destroy the Jews. And see if you, like me, can find shocking parallels of the same agenda being carried out today against the church and Christianity in our own country.
Read these timelines and take heart. Learn from history. Glean wisdom and understanding from the mistakes and failures of those who have gone before.
And remember, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Let’s pray that cannot be said of the church.
Timeline of Events in Nazi Germany in 1934
January 1st – Jewish holidays were removed from the German calendar.
January 20th – A law was introduced “for the ordering of national labour.” Decisions made in the workplace were weighted in favour of the management and against the workers.
January 24th – Alfred Rosenberg was appointed ideological supervisor of the Nazi Party. Jews were banned from the German Labor Front.
January 26th – A German-Polish 10 year non-aggression pact was signed.
January 30th – The independence of the state government was abolished. The “Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich” was passed. Hitler publicly insisted that Germany will not be deterred from its program of rearmament.
March 21st – The “Battle for Work” started.
April 1st – Heinrich Himmler appointed head of the SS.
April 11th – Pact of the Deutschland: Hitler persuaded the top officials of the army and navy to back his bid to succeed Hindenburg as president, by promising to “diminish” the three-million-man plus SA and greatly expand the regular Army and Navy.
April 20th – Himmler was made Acting Chief of the Prussian Gestapo.
April 24th – A People’s Court was established to deal with treasonable offences. There is no trial by jury and no right to appeal.
April 25th – Germany passed law restricting college enrollment of Jews.
May 1st – Julius Streicher’s Nazi periodical, Der Stürmer, one of Germany’s most popular periodicals and a favorite of Hitler, reminded its readers that during the Middle Ages, the Jews were accused of committing ritual murder of Christian children and of using their blood for religious ritual purposes.
May 16th – German officer corps endorsed Hitler to succeed the ailing President Hindenburg.
May 17th – Jews were no longer allowed to participate in national health insurance.
June 17th – Von Papen, Vice-Chancellor, denounced what the Nazi Party had introduced into Germany.
June 20th – The SS was made independent from the SA and put in the hands of Himmler who was appointed Reichsfűhrer of the SS.
June 25th – Austrian Nazis murdered Austrian President Engelbert Dollfuss in the hope that the Austrian Nazi Party could take control of the country.
June 26th – Von Papen was appointed German envoy to Austria.
June 30th – The Night of the Long Knives. On pretext of suppressing an alleged SA putsch, much of the brownshirt leadership were arrested and executed. Schleicher and other political enemies were murdered. Papen briefly imprisoned; between 150 and 200 were killed. The SS, formerly part of the SA, now comes to the forefront.
July 4th – An Inspectorate of Concentration Camps was established, headed by Theodor Eicke.
July 13th – Defending the purge, Hitler declared that to defend Germany he has the right to act unilaterally as “supreme judge” without resort to courts.
July 22nd – Jews are prohibited from getting legal qualifications.
July 31st – In Germany, 30,000 are now interned.
August 2nd – President Hindenburg died. Hitler declared himself both Chancellor and President. The armed forces in response to the Night of the Long Knives swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Hjalmar Schacht was appointed Minister of Economics. Hitler now becomes Fuhrer.
August 19th – Hitler received a 90 percent “Yes” vote from German voters approving his new powers.
October 1st – Hitler secretly ordered expansion of the army, navy and the creation of the air force, breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
October 8th – A Winter Relief scheme was established.
Next: 1935 in Nazi Germany
Previous: 1933 in Nazi Germany
by Steve McCranie | Jul 1, 2015
I know many of you may reject what I’m about to say, but I see us as Christians in America in the same place the Jews found themselves in 1935 in Nazi Germany. Yes, you heard me right. I see us as living in Germany in 1935. The parallels are striking.
Just this last week, we discovered the Rule of Law in America is dead. The Supreme Court now changes law to push its own agenda and has become, like the Executive and Legislative branch of our government, compromised and untrustworthy. In essence, the Republic we’ve all come to love and respect is no more. It has been replaced by those who will twist and manipulate the Law and media to fit their own desired end. Widespread corruption, habitual lying, and dishonesty in the highest places, in all three branches of our government, leave us distressed as citizens of this great country.
But the same thing happened to the citizens of Germany in the early 30’s. They also saw their sacred institutions, the church, the school, the family, and the government, hijacked and taken over by unscrupulous, evil men who would stop at nothing to achieve their selfish ends.
And what was the result of those ends? World War II. Over 60 million people dead, which was over 3% of the earth’s population in 1940. And the atrocities against the Jews? Utterly unthinkable. That is until we discovered the ovens of Dachau, Auschwitz and Ravensbruck.
“But, that could never happen to us in America.”
“But, that could never happen to us in America,” you say. Why? Because we’re better or more loving or more tolerant than the good citizens of Germany? Open your eyes and look around. Read the headlines. Do you see a sense of civility and tolerance towards the church today? Have you read the vile and vicious comments made by the good citizens of this country to those who hold, for example, a Biblical view of marriage? Do you trust your President to do what is honorable and right according to the Law? Or have you forgotten Benghazi, the IRS targeting of conservative groups, the ATF and “Fast and Furious” scheme, among countless others. And, of course, there are the cover ups and almost criminal delays in trying to get the Government to honor subpoenas by the Congress or Freedom of Information requests from others to try to get to the bottom of all these scandals.
Don’t be naive or deceived. We are living in Nazi Germany in 1935. And for the church, we’d do well to remember what that means.
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Edmund Burke once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
And Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel also said, almost prophetically, “The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
Let that not be said of the church today.
For the next couple of days I will post the timeline of events in Nazi Germany beginning in 1933 until the start of WWII. That’s just six short years. Look at how quickly the Nazi’s consolidated power and enacted laws that first marginalized, and then systematically tried to destroy the Jews. And see if you, like me, can find shocking parallels of the same agenda being carried out today against the church and Christianity in our own country.
Read these timelines and take heart. Learn from history. Glean wisdom and understanding from the mistakes and failures of those who have gone before.
And remember, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Let’s pray that cannot be said of the church.
Timeline of Events in Nazi Germany in 1933
January 4th – Franz von Papen (Chancellor of Germany in 1932 and replaced by General Kurt von Schleicher) secretly meets Hitler at the home of German banker Kurt von Schroeder.
January 15th – An election in the state of Lippe saw the Nazi Party win 38,000 votes out of a possible 90,000 – 39.6%.
January 22nd – Oskar Hindenburg, son of the President, and Otto Meissner, Chief of the Presidential Office, met Hitler.
January 28th – Schleicher resigned as Chancellor when German President Paul von Hindenburg refused to grant him another dissolution of the Reichstag (Parliament).
January 30th – Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany. The Jewish population was 566,000.
February 1st – Hitler announced his “Proclamation to the German People” and promised new elections for March 5th. Hindenburg dissolved the Reichstag.
February 2nd – Hitler meets with top military leaders, describes his plans to rearm Germany.
February 4th – A decree “For the Protection of the German People” gave Hitler the power to ban political meetings and the newspapers of his political rivals.
February 17th – Hermann Goering issued a decree that ordered the police to make “good relations” with nationalists associations (SA + SS) but to make free use of their weapons against the Left.
February 22nd – Goering united the SA (Storm Troopers or Brownshirts), SS (Secret State Police) and Stahlhelm (Steel Helmet) into one single police force. Over 40,000 SA and SS men are sworn in as auxiliary police.
February 27th – The Reichstag building was burned down. It was officially blamed on the Communist.
February 28th – “The Emergency Decree for the Protection of People and State” was passed, which led to the suspension of civil rights, a ban on the left wing press and the rounding up and arrest of communist and socialist leaders. Over the next five months, the Nazis systematically force all opposition political parties to shut down.
March 5th – Elections to the Reichstag were held. The Nazis gained 288 seats (43.9% of the votes). The German National Party gained 52 seats (8% of the votes). Combined, this gave the Nazis a majority of support in the Reichstag.
March 6th – Communist and Socialist Party headquarters were occupied by the state police as were trade union headquarters. Buildings housing publishing companies associated with the left wing were also occupied.
March 9th – All states that were previously not loyal to the Nazis now had Nazi-loyal state administrations.
March 13th – Joseph Goebbels set up the Reich Propaganda Ministry.
March 15th – The German press received its first directive from Goebbels.
March 16th – Hjalmar Schacht replaced Hans Luther as President of the Reichsbank.
March 20th – Heinrich Himmler announced the establishment of a concentration camp at Dachau.
March 21st – The newly elected Reichstag sat for the first time.
March 22nd – The Interior Ministry set up a racial hygiene department.
March 23rd – The Enabling Act was passed by the Reichstag that gave Hitler the power to enact laws without the involvement of the Reichstag.
March 28th – The first open attacks by the SA against Jewish businesses occurred. Gleichschaltung was introduced – the forcible removal of all known opponent to the Nazis.
April 1st – An official one-day boycott of Jewish shops took place. Literature produced by the Jehovah’s Witnesses was banned.
April 7th – A law for the “Restoration of the Professional Civil Service” was introduced that banned all Jews and non-Germans from public service.
April 26th – The Gestapo (Secret State Police) was established by Hermann Goering. The Nazis took over the local government.
May 1st – Hitler gave his “Day of German Labour” speech. Trade union offices were stormed by SA.
May 2nd – Trade unions were banned.
May 6th – The Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Workers’ Front) was introduced to replace trade unions.
May 10th – Over 25,000 “Un-German” books were publicly burned in an “Action Against the Un-German Spirit” that was encouraged by Joseph Goebbels.
May 19th – The Reich government took on the task of regulating workers contracts.
June 22nd – The Social Democrat Party was officially banned.
July 5th – All political parties other than the Nazi Party were banned.
July 6th – Hitler declares the success of the National Socialist, or Nazi revolution
July 14th – A “Sterilisation Law for the Prevention of Hereditary Diseases” was passed.
July 20th – Hitler agreed a Concordat or Reichskonkordat with the Papacy.
September 22nd – The Reich Chamber of Culture is established with Joseph Goebbels as its figurehead. Jews were not excluded from the Arts.
October 14th – Hitler officially withdraws Nazi Germany out of the League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference.
November 17th – The Nazi Party won 92% of the votes cast in an election.
November 24th – The Nazis pass a Law against Habitual and Dangerous Criminals, which allows beggars, the homeless, alcoholics and the unemployed to be sent to concentration camps.
November 27th – Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) and the Beauty of Labour organizations were introduced.
November 30th – The Gestapo is now given authority through greater Germany, and not just in Prussia.
December 1st – A law was passed that safeguarded the unity of the party and the state.
Next: 1934 in Nazi Germany
by Steve McCranie | Sep 24, 2014
When we go to court and the prosecutor has a key witness ready to testify against us, we basically have only three options of things we can do.
.
One, we can make the witness disappear, much like Don Corleone in the Godfather. Or, two, we can try to discredit the witness by digging up dirt on his past sins that would impugn his testimony and character. In other words, we would put the witness on trial. And if that didn’t work, three, we could hire Madison Avenue lawyers to find a technicality, a loophole, to get us off.
This is exactly the course of action the Pharisees plotted against Jesus, to no avail. Why? Because He was always one step ahead of them.
Want to find out more? Then keep listening.
The following is a study on John 8:12-20.
Download this episode (right click and save)
by Steve McCranie | Jul 22, 2014
This should be required viewing for all in our government and the media.
Now, watch it again.
