aka Yusuf Islam

aka Yusuf Islam

By Richard P. Joseph

11/5/2019

   

   

    One of my favorite musicians of all time is Cat Stevens.   Cat Stevens boomed on the scene in the late 1960s and became a mega star during the 1970s.  His songs were not the run of the mill “get the girl in bed” types such that most of Rock & Roll is made of.  Actually Cat Stevens is more of a folk singer and his songs were deeply reflective and meaningful. It was obvious that he had a serious side to him.   

    That serious side pushed him on a mission to go “on the road to find out”.  It sounds like something similar that I went through during the last two years of my college career.  God began convicting me in a deep and meaningful way. People were praying for me and the messages I was receiving from Jesus Christ were vivid and compelling.  God was calling me and I finally answered in the affirmative and my life has never been the same since. I became a new creation and the old things were quickly dropped.  Stevens seemed to go another path. According to some of his interviews that I watched, “he” began a spiritual search which led him to study various “religions” including Eastern Mysticism, Buddhism, etc.  He finally found the one that suited him; Islam.  

    This reminds me of a high school social studies textbook which lays out the world religions on a platter like hors d'oeuvres in such a manner that you can choose the one that fits your taste buds the best.  None are any better than the others necessarily. The text books make it appear that Jesus is the founder of yet just another world religion. So it appears that Stevens actually found what he was searching for: “RELIGION”.  

    The difference between him and I is this.  God called me but Stevens called god. A man does not have the ability to find the true God.  I could have never found the true God on my own ability, he called me and I said yes once I saw him.  I did not go searching for a god. When man searches for a god he ultimately finds religion. Christianity is not a religion, it is the truth.  There is no religious organization on earth that has a corner on Jesus Christ. Jesus calls out people from the world and they can only respond but no man can find Jesus by his own volition.  Once a person is truly saved by the power of the Holy Spirit his life becomes more productive and useful. On the contrary, once someone finds religion, they become even more of an enemy of God than they were before and things begin to degrade and become unfruitful.  

That is exactly what happened to Cat Stevens.  He may have gotten the break he needed from his fast paced hectic life and I am sure he has a lovely family but he soon became completely unfruitful.  He gave up his talent for music and he drifted off into obscurity. He has finally crawled out of his hell hole to take the stage again hoping he can do what all Rock Stars do; create world peace!  Apparently he learned nothing. So, what would his life have been like if he embraced Jesus Christ instead of a man made religion? 

If he had responded to Jesus Christ he would have become a new and vibrant creation.  His talent for music would have been put to good use and millions of fans would have been able to enjoy the gift that God gave him.  He would have been evangelizing the world over and would have become a positive force in the world but instead he joined a religion that has violence, hatred, oppression, selfishness and war as its pillars.  He became useless. The same thing happened to Cassius Clay; God shut his mouth at the very time he would have been using it to spread his vile religion.  

Recently Kanye West became a born again Christian.  The first thing he did was produce a Christian album.  He didn’t run and hide. He didn’t need to find a religion.  He didn’t need to become an invalid. He became more productive.  He also is attempting to make an impact on others in his community by spreading the gospel and working with Donald Trump to make positive changes in society.  Maybe Stevens tried that but nothing will ever come of it.  

John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

    We can only produce real fruit if we are in Jesus Christ.  Try as you may but your own personal efforts are actually an affront to God.  It is not us that does good things, it is Christ through us. In the end, I pray for Cat Stevens that God calls him to the true and everlasting God.  I pray that he responds and leaves his man made religion and comes into the light for Jesus alone is the way the truth and the life.  

    In the end, I am glad to see him singing again.  I only share this article for one reason and that is to point out that Jesus gives life to all things that are his.  When one comes into a covenant with the living God, they become vibrant and productive bearing much fruit. On the contrary, when one succumbs to religion, they end up stifled in life, giving way to oppression and suppression.  Satan is the master of death. Only through Jesus Christ is one freed from the bondage of sin to become fruitful and productive.

  

No More Tears

No More Tears

By Richard P. Joseph

11/1/2019

😥

    Rev 21:4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[a] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

    The book of Revelation gives a vivid prediction of the soon to occur last days of Judaism and the temple.  In chapter 21 John now sees a new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. I, and probably everyone else, really don’t have all of this figured out.  There are many different points of view but one thing is for certain, this “new” Jerusalem was created in heaven, not on earth. The earthly temples were made by men from brick, mortar, wood and gold.  This new temple is made by God himself and can never be destroyed. This New Jerusalem is the new covenant that Jesus established with his blood. Then a voice tells John that the tears in their eyes will be wiped away and that there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.   As a Christian I certainly have avoided many tears that others have but by no means do I have no tears or pain. So when will the time come when every tear will be wiped away?

    Well, the futurists believe it is when Jesus establishes his 1000 year reign on earth.  That ain’t gonna happen. It isn’t right now on earth either. The only time it can happen to an individual is in heaven.  But, is that really what the scripture is talking about? I am not sure. However, if I attempt to place myself in first century Jerusalem, I might imagine what a Jew would think. 

    The Jews would immediately think back when King Nebuchadnezzar once destroyed their temple by way of the Babylonian army.  When Jerusalem was sacked in 586 BC, Jeremiah the prophet wrote an entire book lamenting the disaster.  

Lamentations 1:2  

Bitterly she weeps at night,

    tears are on her cheeks.

Among all her lovers

    there is no one to comfort her.

All her friends have betrayed her;

    they have become her enemies.

After the temple was destroyed and the people carried away there was great weeping and lamentation as there should be.  But what strikes me funny is that after Herod’s temple was destroyed and Jerusalem laid waste, God is telling us that there would be “No more tears!”  Maybe, just maybe, God is telling us that these tears are for Jerusalem. And since this time the true temple and Judaic economy of sacrifices will never be established again, it should not bring any tears.  No more death for those under the law.  

Revelation 21:5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

There is a new day that dawned.  No one will ever cry over the old covenant, because a new covenant is now established by the blood of the lamb.  Even the temple is judged differently now.

 In Lamentations 2:8 we read that there was a line of judgement measured against the faltering people of Zion.

The Lord determined to tear down

    the wall around Daughter Zion.

He stretched out a measuring line

    and did not withhold his hand from destroying.

He made ramparts and walls lament;

    together they wasted away.

However, the new city, which had no temple, seemed to be laid plumb and sound. The Temple was God himself.

Revelation 21:15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide….

 This new city and it’s new temple (God) will never need to be wept over.  The city was square and solid and decorated with every kind of precious stone.  The kingdom of Jesus Christ cannot be destroyed and therefore no need to ever weep over it.  We may weep over the world which is trying so hard to destroy it but the gates of hell will not prevail.  God’s mercies are new every morning. Let us rejoice and be glad when we come to the house of the LORD.  

What the Hell!

What the Hell!

By Richard P. Joseph

10/8/2019

    What the Hell!  Well, maybe I shouldn’t say that because you just might not believe in it.  In fact, you might not believe that there is a heaven either for that matter.  So what has Preterism really become for many people? Apparently it has become a Pandora's box of man’s mixed bag of candy.   It seems like it has become a playground for every bored soul out there. But that is not why I am in it. What did it mean to me when I became a preterist?

    When I became a preterist I found out that the bible is reliable and historically true.  It gave me even more confidence in scripture than I previously had (which was already absolute).  Now, when a preacher says something dumb like “Jesus made a mistake” when he predicted the end times, I can refute it with boldness.  But this isn’t the case for many preterists out there. For most preterists that are not of the “Individual Body Rapture View” , if a preacher says something about heaven or hell, the confused preterist jumps up and yells “Hey, there isn’t any heaven or hell!”  In fact, they might even get on a roll and start on a tirade and give ‘em the whole bit; “There ain’t no heaven, hell, creation, devil, or a resurrection of individuals.”  Then he will cap it off by saying “the earth is flat”!   

    Unfortunately, what I have been experiencing is that, as more and more people become familiar with the basic idea of fulfilled theology, they take it upon themselves to, not only correct the timing of events, but to correct the entire biblical narrative.  Although, there are some things that do need reforming, just be careful or you will do what many have already done; they reformed themselves right out of Christendom. I am not going to explain all of the ridiculous things out there but if you find yourself falling off the edge of the earth, you may have gone too far (pardon the pun).  I would laugh but somebody out there might get offended. If “I” do not get to experience God when I get to a real heavenly realm, then why would I even believe in Him? If nobody gets punished for their unbelief and vile life then what’s the point of following Christ? If we just evolved and then God, all of a sudden, made a covenant with an ape then Genesis is a lie.    If the earth isn’t round then God only forgot our sins for a limited distance.  

    So what is my point?  This article is a warning to all who are just doing this to be rebellious.  If you find that you are now questioning everything in the bible then you are probably going in the wrong direction.  I have experienced the complete opposite. I now believe the bible more than ever. Yes, there are some “ideas” that need reforming but I really do expect to actually go to heaven and see Jesus Christ and be busy there doing God’s will.  If someone told you that you are just part of a resurrected Israel on earth and that you really won’t individually experience God in heaven then I feel sorry for you. In fact, I suggest you don’t even bother doing this “religious” stuff.  Why waste your time? Or better yet, come and join the conservative believers who actually trust scripture and want to actually experience it.   

The Bathroom and the Voting Booth

The Bathroom and the Voting Booth

By Richard P. Joseph

7/22/2019

    Walk into any public bathroom and what do you see?  You get a vivid display of what is in the common man’s heart.  It’s almost like reading Mark 7:20-22 

20 And he said -- `That which is coming out from the man, that doth defile the man;

21 for from within, out of the heart of men, the evil reasonings do come forth, adulteries, whoredoms, murders,

22 thefts, covetous desires, wickedness, deceit, arrogance, an evil eye, evil speaking, pride, foolishness;

I have seen all manner of filth including pictures, jokes, phone numbers, feces, slanders and bad advice all scribbled or smeared on the walls.  Every evil thing in a man’s decrepit minds somehow makes its way to the bathroom walls. So why is that?  

    Men somehow become brave when nobody's looking.  These men are otherwise cowards but by some magical trick they suddenly become brave when nobody can see them.  No wonder why Revelation 21:8 starts out with the “cowardly”:

 8 But the cowardly, [e]unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have 

their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”  

There is something about being in the dark and unseen that brings out the real side of someone.  

    It is not unreasonable then to see why people also become brave in the confines of a “dark” voting booth.  People who may never engage in public discourse about politics and religion all of the sudden become emboldened when they shut the curtain of the voting booth.  They are now in a position to express their deepest spiritual disposition. Some timid people use this opportunity for good but the cowardly for bad. It is sad to watch many church goers walk into a voting booth and vote for; infanticide, sexual immorality, perverted marriage, to eliminate Jesus Christ from schools, court rooms, cemeteries and society in general, racism, pornography, drugs etc. and then walk out of the voting booth with a big smile on their face and say “Hi I’m a Christian”.  I see this scenario over and over again. I have challenged many who did this and asked them to give me a logical explanation of how they did all that above by voting Democratic and still think that they are a Christian and I have yet to get a logical answer. This is the very reason Jesus said to do your “good” works in the day where they are visible. This had nothing to do with showing off, he is just simply saying that good people do good deeds and are not ashamed of what they are doing. They do not need to hide in a bathroom or a voting booth or in the dark to do their good deeds.  People are actually embarrassed to admit that they are evil at heart so they hide like cowards and vote for it in the dark.  

    I am writing all this to remind Christians that we are children of the light, not of the darkness.  You are a Christian because you have been transformed from darkness to the marvelous light of Jesus Christ.  If you still live in the darkness then you are simply not a Christian. There is no such thing as a Christian Democrat.  When you walked into that voting booth and declared your manifest (Mark 7:20-22), you have just declared your soul. It is not me judging you, it’s you judging yourself.  You walked into that dark voting booth and made known what is hidden in your heart and you are found wanting. My hope is to open people’s eyes to what they really are. I hope all will examine themselves deep down and find out what kind of person they really want to be.  Do you want to be a child of God or a son of perdition. You can learn much when you walk into a bathroom; or a voting booth.

Proof of Creation

Proof of Creation

By Richard P. Joseph

6/20/2019

ttps://youtu.be/plVk4NVIUh8

    First watch the propaganda video above put out, apparently, by the Harvard School of Liberalism.  What you see in the video is the basis of the trash that is being taught in all of our school textbooks.  For all of you that believed your teachers and professors, I have good news for you; they lied and I am here to set you free with the truth.

The video above shows a square agar plate in which bacteria grow well on.   This agar plate is divided up in gradients with each gradient having a larger amount of antibiotic in it (they don’t tell which one they used).  They inoculate the first field (that has no antibiotic in it) with Escherichia coli. The bacteria grows well until it hits the lowest gradient of antibiotic and slows down until it forms a resistant population that can withstand the low amount of antibiotic then spreads on to the successive fields containing more antibiotic until the E. coli can finally survive even in a field of heavy antibiotic concentration.  Their goal in showing this video is to hoodwink young uneducated minds into believing that this is the basis of evolution since the E. coli “evolved” into a more resistant strain therefore proving that evolution has occurred. The only problem with this scheme is that it actually proves that evolution does not occur.

I have been working in a clinical microbiology lab my entire life.  Which I would like to point out, I have had only one life all this time.  It takes quite a while for humans to go through a generation and propagate but that isn’t true for bacteria.  I grow E. coli every day in the lab and it doesn’t take years for a generation of bacteria to propagate new forms, in fact it divides about every 20 minutes under proper conditions.  A bacterium may have upwards of thousands of generations in one days time. They would have trillions each month and an unnamed amount in years. I have been growing bacteria in the lab for 30 years and have never seen even one in all of those gazillions of generations ever change into something different.  They are trying to tell you that humans with relatively few generations have evolved from a single celled organism into what we are today in that period of time. So what is really happening on that agar field in the video?

What is really happening is that when the bacteria comes into contact with the harsh environment (antibiotic field)  it “adapts” by way of an internal mechanism that is already programmed into its DNA. There is nothing new that happens, it is already programmed that way for survival purposes.  This mechanism is in place exactly so that the organism can maintain its identity. In other words, it doesn’t want to be wiped out and it never changes into something else, it wants to stay what it is!  Therefore it protects itself. In other words “adaptation” is not a precursor to or a prerequisite of evolution, it is the exact opposite. Adaptation is a mechanism whereby an organism maintains its original identity.  It never ever evolves into something else. Adaptation proves evolution wrong, period.

I have grown and have worked with bacteria for 35 years now and have grown gazillions of generations and have never witnessed anything that would even suggest that something as ridiculous as evolution occurred.  In fact one day I jided my coworkers with a scenario that left them puzzled. I was examining a specimen under the microscope one day and there was an organism that wasn’t very clear so I suggested that I report it out to the doctor as an “intermediary form” that is evolving from a bacteria to a yeast.  They looked at me with deep concern and said that I would get fired if I did that. I said “wait a minute. We have been taught evolution since grade school all the way through college and all of you believe it; why can’t I use it”? They were speechless. The reason I can’t use it is because it is a non-functioning political slogan that unthinking minds have grasped onto in their quest to destroy the biblical view of life.    Their hatred for Jesus Christ has pushed them into a reprobate mind believing any and all silly notions such as evolution and global warming all without one shred of evidence. There is, in fact, not one such thing as an intermediary form between any two species ever discovered anywhere. Yet they teach it as fact. And worse of all, the masses believe it. Every once in awhile you need to stop and examine what you have been led to believe and more often than not, it is a lie.      

2,000 Years; Squandered

2,000 Years; Squandered

By Richard P. Joseph

6/10/2019

When God created Adam and Eve, they enjoyed.
dominion over the earth for maybe seven years
or so; then they sinned.  Man wandered on the
face of the earth at which time evil gripped the
very soul of man to the point that God wiped
the earth clean of all mankind.  Through Noah,
the earth was replenished once again and man
quickly once again fell into a degraded state of
corruption. Some goodness resurfaced with a
few people like Abraham at which time God
made a covenant with him and his seed to be
the people of the true and eternal God on
earth.  God sent Moses to establish that people
as a holy nation unto God. But again it was
squandered. The people were empowered like
no other nation to do good but they constantly
fell into sin and idolatry. So God finally sent his
son to the rescue but they mocked him, beat
him, rejected him and finally murdered
him.  So Jesus sent his apostles into the world
to establish a new priesthood that would then
become his holy nation on the earth and would
take it away from those that squandered it in
the first place. He kept that promise and in AD
66-70 he returned and destroyed the old
system and brought forth a new nation, a holy
priesthood that has the power to rule the world
with love, strength and justice.  

It has been 2,000 years now since the
Christian Nation has been given this
power and once again it has been mostly
squandered.  It is clear that the Christian
nations have led the world in advancements
in every way including quality of life. The
Christian nations are the champions of freedom
and equity for their people and have blessed all
other nations on earth but this can all change if
the status quo does not change.  I can see the
world starting to go into a “mocking” mode
concerning the return of Christ and they have
every right to do so. People are getting weary
of being promised something that is never
going to happen. By preaching faulty doctrine,
this just gives the opponents of Christianity
more fodder to bash us with.  This is why true
conservative preterism must advance and
replace the futurist doctrine that is
preached in nearly all churches today.

Preterism offers a true and unadulterated
view of biblical, and secular history.  
Most of all, it can change the attitude of
Christians from defeatist to champion.
It can embolden us to take our proper position
on this earth.  Jesus Christ is the truth.
Jesus Christ is relevant. Jesus Christ is
productive. Jesus Christ is fruitful. So, why
are the churches teaching their flocks to sit
back and allow all sorts of evil to rule the
world instead of taking charge and advancing
the kingdom of Christ?  It is because they are
teaching the defeatist doctrine of futurism.
They want their flocks to sit around and wait
for the big Jesus to appear in the sky and beat the
bad guys up and then take a physical thrown on
earth and then beat the other bad guys up since
they won’t do it themselves.  
The truth is, is that Jesus already did his part,
he is waiting for us to do ours.
He is with us but we are not with him.
We should be boldly taking control of
this earth and cleaning it up. The time is now
and here, not in some unclear
distant eon that nobody can ever define.
Jesus already defined the time and
completed it, it is our job now to walk the path
that he has cleared for us.  

Daniel 7:22... until the Ancient of Days came,
and a judgment was made in favor
of the saints of the Most High, and the time
came for the saints to possess the
kingdom.

If we possess the kingdom, why are we
squandering it?

The Message of the Baptist

The Message of the Baptist

By Richard P. Joseph

3/13/2019

I love how Rush Limbaugh jokingly calls himself a “lovable, harmless fuzz ball”.  
This jest is to tease the liberals because they realize he is really a ferocious lion
defending the conservative cause.  Unfortunately most Christians see Jesus in
the form of the jest rather than as the “Lion of the tribe of Judah”. So, how was
Jesus actually described?

Since this subject could take volumes, I am only concerned here with a short
description of his basic mission, not necessarily his entire life and meaning.  
John the Baptist was commissioned to introduce the messiah and his was more
of a warning rather than just a lovable, harmless, fuzz ball like most preachers
make him out to be.  John’s message was consistent with what Jesus said as
he began his mission:

Mark 1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God [g]is at
hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus is making it clear that there is going to be a change in the order of things.
 He is telling them that it is the fullness of time for what the Jews have always
expected and that the actual kingdom of God is going to be revealed.  He also
tells them to repent. In other words they were doing something wrong and
needed to turn from their error. John came preaching the exact same thing.  

John freely received those that were coming to him with a repentant heart
and was baptizing them.  However, when he saw the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming he switched from forgiveness mode to judgement
mode.  The first thing he did was call them a brood of vipers. The priests
were those that should have been shepherding the flock and protecting
them but instead they lorded it over the people and spread their
poisonous venom deep into society.  John then asked “Who warned you
to flee from the wrath to come”. This is where the real mission of Jesus
becomes clear. Jesus clearly came to give his life as a ransom for many.
That was the greatest display of love one can possibly give.  And as
Jesus was freeing some from sin and condemnation, he was about to
judge those that were the cause of that sin.

John carried on by demanding the priests show real fruits worthy of
repentance which most of them could not produce.  They could no longer
use their lineage from Abraham as a shield as they would soon find out
would become obsolete as gentiles would soon be infused into the
kingdom putting an end to Israel only as a source of their personal
salvation.  God truly did raise up sons of Abraham from the very stones
that were once caste out as unclean. Then John makes it clear by telling
them that even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree. This is not a
mere trimming of the branches, it is the removal of the very problem
entirely.  And as John said “even now” which means “now” not later.

It now becomes clear that everything Jesus did was in love but it was
also in justice also.  His mission was not to bring in a new philosophy or a
new religion. He is not some religious leader with a plan on how to
prosper or get rich.  He did not come to show us a better way. He came
because he is the way. He paid the price of sin for all that would accept
his gift but he also came to finalize and consummate his plan of
redemption which includes punishment and judgement.  Jesus is a warrior
and a king, a judge and an executioner. He put to death the burden of the
law and raised up a church that could never fail. His job began in AD 30
and was consummated in AD 70. His kingdom has no end. My point
being is that Jesus had a mission that far exceeds what is taught about
him.  There is a magnificent history to be learned and taught about that
brief historical period when Jesus died and rose, and the next forty years
in which he took vengeance on those that rejected the truth. The axe was
laid to the root of the tree and the tree fell with a mighty crash. This took
love and it took war.  It took gentleness and it took might. It took his blood
and the blood of many more. For truly, there is a time for every season;
even a time to die and a time to live, a time of war and a time of peace.

Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly
clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He
will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

This is the part of the story that is seldom told in church.