​For far too long too many Americans on both sides of the political divide have tried to take a nuanced position on abortion.  In the minds of many, abortion was a necessary evil, a procedure that should be “safe, legal, and rare”.  As the years following the landmark Roe v. Wade decision flowed by, the fruits of the sexual revolution ripened into a society that increasingly demanded consequence-free sex. The Democrat Party identified and then exploited a constituency of female voters who wanted the freedom to explore their sexuality without the fear that a chance encounter might result in a pregnancy that could take them off their career path.  The Republican Party found in this development an opportunity to form a loyal voter base by crafting a platform promising to appoint Supreme Court Justices who would one day overturn Roe.
 
 
While there is a core group of Americans who believe that abortion is an abomination and should be outlawed, the sad truth is, far too many Americans want abortion to be legal.  The Republicans might have finally achieved their promise of overturning Roe, but what was supposed to be the ultimate triumph in the war against abortion is turning out to be a hollow victory, perhaps what might one day be seen as the last battle won in a war that was lost.
 
 
Roe has allowed states to determine their own laws on abortion.  Democrat “Blue” states are taking the opportunity to fortify abortion rights.  And while some Republican “Red” states are passing laws of varying degrees to outlaw or restrict abortion, other Red states are codifying abortion rights in their state constitutions.  Just last year 57% of Ohio voters passed a ballot measure to change the Ohio constitution to guarantee abortion rights.  Similar ballot measures will soon find their way to other Red states.  Such is the tenacity of the pro-abortion movement and the lethargy (some might say fear or embarrassment) of the Republican Party on this issue that one by one Red states (aside from perhaps a few hold-outs) will follow a path similar to Ohio, and what was once a highly-contested decision by a court of 9 justices will become enshrined law in state constitutions with the votes of the majority of each state’s citizens.
 
 
How can it be that Republicans have managed to snatch defeat out of the jaws of a seeming victory on abortion?  It is because the Republicans were never unified on the issue of abortion and the Democrats are in complete solidarity on the issue.  The Democrats purged their party of any politicians who would dare to call themselves Pro-life.  The Republicans not only have pro-abortion politicians in their ranks, but far too many of their Pro-life candidates are weak-kneed on the issue, always choosing their words carefully so as not to offend women voters and never passing up an opportunity to water-down any legislation that might advance the Pro-life cause.  The truth is, the Republican Party is Pro-life only to the extent that it is politically expedient and will seek every opportunity to run away from the issue when it is not.  Democrats view abortion as a sacrament and Republicans view it as an awkward political tool that they are willing to drop the minute that it becomes too heavy to lift.
 
 
But the greater truth is this: too many Republican politicians and their voters want the same thing that Democrat politicians and their voters want: the escape route that abortion provides for an unwanted pregnancy.  And this is where we get to the heart of the matter.  Abortion is not about women’s health decisions.  Abortion is not some difficult philosophical question about when life begins.  Abortion is all about a society that is in decay.  It is about a people that have prioritized pleasure over honor, so much so that they are willing to go to any length to drown out the voice of their consciences to justify the horrors they are willing to accept to navigate this moral wasteland they have convinced themselves is a Utopia.
 
 
Every thinking adult knows what abortion is.  They know what is living inside a woman’s womb.  Abortion is the taking of a human life.  But even that statement, bold as it is, does not frame this abomination properly.  Abortion is human sacrifice, plain and simple.  It is no different than the act of pagan societies of old throwing their children into the fires of Molech to win the blessings of a good harvest.  Abortion usually starts with a man unwilling to sacrifice his freedom to pledge himself to the woman he impregnated so he sacrifices his child instead.  Abortion is a woman unwilling to sacrifice her career path to raise an unplanned for child, so she sacrifices her child instead.  In rare cases, abortion can be a family unwilling to deal with the emotional trauma of a child created through rape or incest, so they sacrifice the child instead.  In each of these cases a human is being sacrificed for the “good” of the person doing or encouraging the act of murder. And then you have the unabashed greed and utter immorality of “health care providers” who serve as the high priests and priestesses of this barbaric ritual, leading mothers to their bloodstained altars.  No matter how many times you call it “women’s reproductive rights” or “choice” it does not change the fact that this is an act of a human child sacrifice.
 
 
This is the uncomfortable truth we must face. I have long believed that the true victory in the war against abortion would come when we changed the debate to become one centered on the premise that human life and therefore all human rights begin at conception.  But I am no longer convinced that if we could agree that human life began at conception that this would bring an end to abortion. I think there is ample evidence to suggest that we are a nation that has grown comfortable with human sacrifice on a horrific scale, and we are dangerously close to removing all pretenses and “celebrating” it like the pagans of old.  I shudder to think of the judgement that awaits such wickedness.

There is no political path to ending abortion.  Only when Americans turn back to God and away from the selfishness and sexual immorality that are the root cause of the horror of child sacrifice will this national nightmare come to an end.

We live in an age of increasing spiritual darkness.  America has become a post-Christian society, despite statistics that show the majority of its citizens still claim some form of Christian affiliation.  Look deeper at those polls and you will see a steady decline in Christianity across generations.  This cultural shift in belief can be observed in the growing distain and hostility society now shows for those who hold uncompromised Christian beliefs. 

How is a devout Christian to navigate such a society?  If you are my age or older, you grew up in a world where Christian norms dominated culture, though the seeds that would ultimately blossom into the poisonous blooms that now corrupt us were present then.  We are left feeling like strangers in a strange land.  Every day is a battle between the human desire to “fit in” and the persistent conviction of the Holy Spirit to hold true to God’s will.  Prevailing in this persistent battle requires the following: 
 
Do Not Place Your View of Morality Above God’s 
There is a tendency in all humans to create moral justifications for actions that run counter to God’s will.  This is the original sin committed by Adam and Eve and it unleashed all other sins upon creation.  Eve allowed herself to believe that there was knowledge God was keeping from her and that her right to that knowledge was a higher moral imperative than her obligation to obey God. 

Our current society is rife with these perversions of morality designed to entice Christians into disobedience to God.  We have created the “higher” moralities of sexual and gender identity.  Any Biblical doctrines that contradict these invented superior human moralities must be either reinterpreted to affirm these new moralities or discarded.  As such, it has become fashionable among modern Christians to either discard the Old Testament of their Bibles where much of the substance of God’s moral laws are contained or to use Jesus as some kind of spiritual umbrella under which they can shelter all of their pet sins. 

The first step in standing strong in this age of evil is to have a firm understanding of the Word of God and its infallibility and to understand your own fallen nature.  Do not allow your mind to turn the siren song of sin into a moral call to arms to justify something that contradicts Christian doctrine.  Instead, trust in the spiritual compass of the Holy Spirit and let it guide you, even if that means you will have to struggle against the current of changing societal norms. 
 
Do Not Become an Ally to Evil 
The term “ally” has become a badge of honor for those who do not necessarily engage in a particular sinful lifestyle but want to reap the societal rewards for supporting it.  For many who invoke this term it is used as a shield to protect them from the increasing wrath of a culture that now calls evil good and good evil.  Many a Christian has been seduced into joining this alliance with evil through a perversion of the Christian doctrine to love thy neighbor.  We have gone from “love the sinner, hate the sin” to “love is love”.  This shift accepts both the sinner and the sin, for our modern society tells us that the sin is part of an individual’s identity and that to denounce the sin is an act of hate toward the individual.  The twisted logic then follows that the Christian must embrace sin, because love is the highest virtue. 

Do not allow yourself to fall prey to this trap.  In his famous encounter with the adulteress who was about to be stoned to death, Jesus told the woman’s accusers “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.  But to the woman he said, “go and sin no more”.  Jesus did not proclaim himself as an “ally” of all adulteresses.  He asserted the Biblical doctrine that adultery is a sin, but he showed compassion for the sinner.  This is the model we should follow as Christians. 
 
Be Bold in Your Faith 
The first two steps were about preventing you from joining the ranks of the evil that is permeating our culture.  But it is not enough to merely not engage in evil.  If you cower in your house as the barbarians storm your village, eventually they will set your house on fire.  But if you stand and fight, and encourage others to do so, you can mount a proper defense against the adversary. 

Our society has fallen into this woeful state because Christians became lethargic in their faith.  We have been reduced to cowering in our churches. We hide our cross necklaces under our shirts as we go to school or work.  We put on forced smiles and remain silent as those around us celebrate sin for fear that we might be marked for “cancellation”. 

This fear and silence must end.  The disciples of Jesus had the courage to speak out even as the consequences they faced were imprisonment, torture, and death.  Surely, we as Christians can endure the wrath of a Twitter mob.  That is not to make light of those who have had to endure the loss of reputation and livelihood for pushing against the strengthening tide of modern persecution.  But their suffering is a result of our silence, for the number of Christians in our society is still substantial enough to make any form of Christian persecution politically, socially, and economically untenable if only Christians would stand up for their beliefs. 
​
The time to stand is now.  Speak your faith boldly.  Do not be coerced or cowed by evil.  Let your courage inspire others.  The discomforts you experience as a Christian today will escalate into a reality of true persecution for your children if you do not take your place on the wall at this pivotal hour. ​

​In a free society there exists a perpetual battlefield of beliefs.  And as long as a society remains free, no belief system that ascends to a position of cultural predominance should presume its position is secure.  This is the dire miscalculation that Christians have made in America.
 
Whether it is a mistaken understanding of the separation of church and state, fear of appearing “uncool”, or simple laziness, Christians have spent the past few decades withdrawing from the field of cultural warfare.  They assumed the ground won by previous generations was so well-fortified that it could never be taken by an opposing faction.  Christian America was akin to Rome at the time of Christ.  An arrogant empire that had come to take belief in its ideals for granted and unable to recognize the seeds of its ultimate demise as they were being sown.
 
Christ trained his disciples in his revolutionary ideas and taught them to train other disciples.  He tasked his followers with one objective, what we know of as the Great Commission: spread his gospel to the ends of the earth.  It was the birth of Christian Evangelism.
 
Early Christians risked social isolation, imprisonment, torture, and death as they spread the message of Christ throughout the Roman Empire.  They were fearless and persistent.  Theirs was the work of generations.  As the years passed, Christianity went from the belief system of a persecuted minority living in the shadows to the official religion of the Roman Empire.
 
There are new evangelists at work in the American Empire.  Theirs is not the symbol of the cross.  They don the colors of the rainbow.  They preach a gospel of hyper-sexuality and gender confusion.
 
They are the disciples of college professors whose radical philosophies were either ignored or lampooned a generation ago.  Their radical beliefs took shape in the shadows of academia and on the fringes of society.  Their early preachers and practitioners endured various forms of public scorn and ostracization.  But they were fearless and persistent.
 
And now you see their evangelists everywhere.  They are in the classrooms in middle America teaching Christian children queer theory as they nurture a new belief system in direct conflict to that of the children’s parents.  They are in the executive suites and boardrooms of the nation’s most powerful businesses, shaping corporate policies to funnel resources to the promotion of their new gospel. They are in the writers’ rooms and network executive offices that churn out increasingly uniform and overt forms of entertainment that serve as devotionals to their new religion.  From the trendy micro-brewery in a sleepy suburb that hosts an all-ages drag show, to the NHL’s LGBTQ+ pride campaign, the new system of belief has become a ubiquitous force in our culture. 
​
Two news stories within days of each illustrate the power of the new evangelists and the transition of belief in America.  The first is that of a man who was told by security at the Mall of America to remove a shirt bearing a Christian message or leave the mall.  He was told that he must do so because other shoppers were offended by his shirt.  The second story is that of professional hockey player Ivan Provorov who refused to wear a jersey celebrating LGBTQ+ pride because of his Christian beliefs.  Provorov was roundly denounced by many in the media for his decision.
 
The stories above illustrate what happens when a battle between beliefs goes uncontested.  The adherents to the old belief system become increasingly isolated and ostracized.  Unless Christians re-engage in the work of evangelism, America will continue its transition in belief systems.  The longer it takes Christians to return to the field of cultural battle, the more difficult it will be to regain the ground that has been lost.

​The prophet Isaiah issued the following warning: “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight!” – Isaiah 5:20-20
 
Many Christians have rightfully invoked this passage to describe the peril and madness of what is unfolding in our current culture.  Indeed, Isaiah’s words can be viewed as a timeless message that is very relevant for our time.  But I believe it also points to the human condition and more specifically, the actions of Adam and Eve that precipitated the Fall.
 
Chapter 3 of Genesis describes Eve’s encounter with the serpent, where rather than rebuke and turn from the lies being spoken by the blasphemous beast, she ponders, and ultimately embraces them.  Upon considering this exchange, one cannot help but think of Paul’s later warning to the early Church: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-4
 
God had provided Adam and Eve with sound doctrine, which Eve even quotes back to the serpent: “God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” – Genesis 3:3
 
The serpent counters with a lie and a truth framed in such a way as to entice Eve: “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:4-5
 
What follows is Eve’s rejection of the truth of God and her embrace of the lies of the serpent.  God said she would die.  The serpent said she would live.  Why would she take the words of a serpent, a creature of lower standing than her, over the words of her creator?  She did it because the serpent affirmed her desire. She wanted to know good and evil. She wanted to be like God. Her itching ears had found the teacher she sought.
 
And deep down that is what every human wants.  We want to make our own rules. We will go to great lengths to justify our actions, impulses, and desires. That is why the actions of two people condemned the entire human race – because we are no different than them.  We would have done the same thing in their place.
 
The critical moment for Eve (and subsequently for all of us) came next: “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” – Genesis 3:6
 
Conventional doctrine teaches that sin entered the world the moment she ate the fruit.  However, I would submit that the sin occurred when “the woman saw that the tree was good for food”.  The tree was not good for food.  God plainly said so.  The tree was an instrument of death and was a symbol of rebellion against God.  But Eve had decided to call what God had declared evil good.  In doing so she was also justifying her evil act of rebelling against God and calling it good, because in her mind she had a right to the knowledge the tree provided.  Lastly, she was placing God under her own moral judgment, declaring his truth not only invalid, but harmful to her own self-actualization. In short, she had created her own reality where God was evil and she was good.
 
In this analysis you can see how deep the roots of our modern culture war go.  The transgender teacher trying to brainwash your children is no different than Eve. The teacher has created his/her own reality.  Their own definition of good and evil.
 
Adam’s sin was even greater than Eve’s.  Adam had been given stewardship of God’s creation.  One might say it was Adam’s duty to maintain and protect the reality created by God.  But when God confronts Adam and Eve, Adam blames God by saying “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” – Genesis 3:12
 
Adam had been derelict in his duty as steward of creation.  He had not been watching over Eve.  He was not there to protect her from the lies of the serpent and more importantly, from her own destructive thoughts.  He had failed to reinforce in her mind the truth of God.
 
But rather than admit his failure, he joined Eve in her sin.  He decided he would also create his own truth.  It was all God’s fault.  God had placed a flawed creature under his care.  How could he be expected to protect creation when the helper God gave him was treacherous?
 
The modern Church has become Adam.  The Church has been derelict in its duty as steward of the truth of God.  We have abandoned the institutions created to help us manage our society (government, schools, etc.) and they have fallen under the influence of the serpent.  Now these institutions are redefining reality and denying the truth of God.
 
And just like Adam, a portion of the Church is joining them in their sin by ignoring or redefining doctrine to affirm these new “truths”.  Others in the Church are in essence blaming God as they hide from their duty of standing for truth, justifying their laziness and cowardice by proclaiming that we are nearing the End Times and this turning from truth is all part of God’s plan. 
 
We might indeed be nearing the End Times, but that does not excuse us from our duty of standing for truth.  Indeed, it makes our mission to proclaim the truth of God all the more urgent.  Those who remain silent when evil is called good and good is called evil will not be held blameless in the eyes of God.

A dangerous doctrine has emerged among some Christians whereby they have come to believe they can sin with impunity because once they are saved, they are saved forever, no matter what they do. While it is true that Christ’s act of sacrifice for the atonement of sins is final and complete for all who believe in him, one’s personal salvation hinges on one’s acknowledgement that salvation is necessary in the first place. To live in perpetual sin, without expressing any repentance, is to deny the need for a savior. It is this sort of reckless way of living among those who profess to be Christians yet remain comfortable in their sin that Jesus is addressing when he said: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21.
 
Let me clarify that I am not suggesting that Christian’s should rest their hope of salvation in following the Laws of God over trusting in Grace. No human, save for the mortal incarnation of Jesus, is capable of perfectly following the Law. We have all sinned and we will all continue to stumble and fall into sin over the course of our lives, even after we are saved.
 
This brings me to another point of clarification – just because you continue to struggle with sin does not mean you lose your salvation. The key is that you are “struggling” with sin and not surrendering to it without a fight or worse yet, embracing it.
 
What one must remember about sin is that sin is not simply a breaking of a rule that has been established by God. Sin is separation from God. By sinning you are actively separating yourself from God. This is because at its core, sin is defiance against the very truth of God. And what is the truth of God? It is that God is the author of all creation and the definer of reality.
 
A life of sin is a life devoted to a lie. The rules God made for us are not arbitrary. They were put in place to protect us from harming ourselves or harming others. One can pretend that these rules do not exist or protest that they are unfair, but the result is the same – if you break the rules, you will suffer the consequences. You will do so not because God is angry or vengeful (although there are instances where the offenses of sin are so great that it does incur the wrath of God), but because God's laws are based on the unchanging truth of the reality he has defined as creator of the universe and all that is in it.  If I build a stove and tell you not to touch a hot burner, yet you do it anyway, you get burned, not because I am angry at you for disobeying me, but because it is the inevitable consequence of touching something that is hot.
 
God’s laws expose the tragic folly that led to the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden and the fall of humanity. Adam and Eve chose sin over God. They chose to believe the lie that they could define their own reality in place of God’s reality. They chose to replace God’s truth with what they wanted to be true.
 
When a Christian lives in sin without repentance, that Christian is in danger of following in the footsteps of Adam and Eve. Sin without repentance leads to defiance. It begins by defying reality. You ignore or rationalize away the harm it is doing to you or to others. You silence the voice of your conscience, which for Christians, is the Holy Spirit attempting to guide you. Once cut off from the Holy Spirit, you transition from surrendering to sin to embracing it. Your sin becomes a defining aspect of your identity. As such, any criticism of that sin becomes a criticism of you. You begin to challenge and even despise anyone who would state or even imply that your sin is somehow wrong. You begin to call the evil of your sin good and the good intentions of those who would point out the truth of your sin evil. You might even attempt to convince other Christians that your sin really is not sin and that they too should embrace it. In the end, you reject the salvation of Christ because accepting it would mean that your sin is wrong and that is something that you refuse to admit.
 
A life without repentance leads to an eternity of separation from God. This is why repentance is so important. Repentance is an acknowledgement that you have lost a battle with sin, but you are committed to continuing to fight against it, trusting that the final victory has already been won by Christ.

​There has been a lot of talk about the right to choose in the wake of the recent landmark Supreme Court decision regarding abortion. The right to choose has existed from the moment God created men and women. He made us all with free will, including choosing whether to follow him or not.
 
            “I call heaven and earth as witness today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live.”  - Deuteronomy 30:19
 
While those who support abortion rights seek to obfuscate the moral aspect of their position with philosophical arguments of when life begins, whether a victim of rape/incest should be compelled to carry a child, or whether a child with profound birth defects should be brought into the world, the nature of the choice in question remains unchanged. It is a choice between life and death.
 
Over the past few years, we have been told to “trust the science.” What science tells us is that a unique human DNA code is created at the moment of conception. Perform a DNA test on the fetus removed from a woman’s womb and you will find that it is not part of her body. It is a new body within her body.
 
We can perhaps choose to decide when a human has rights, including the right to life, but we cannot choose to decide when a human is a human. Strip away all religious and philosophical arguments and you are left with the answer to when life begins. It begins with the creation of a new human genetic code.  Abortion is the destruction of that unique human being.
 
I grieve to see the reaction among women who lament the prospect of the loss of their ability to choose death. What has become of our society where so many of our sisters and daughters have come to believe that the only two paths they can follow after an unplanned pregnancy are to either surrender all the hopes and dreams they had for their future or sacrifice the life of the child growing in their womb?
 
I submit to you that women deserve better choices. While society should not promote the irresponsible personal decisions that lead to an unwanted pregnancy, it should not abandon those who stumble and fall. We are a society that believes in second chances for its convicted criminals. We re-elect politicians whose corruptions are exposed in scandals. We forgive the sins of our ministers and priests.
 
There is a middle ground to be found between celebrating those whose irresponsibility leads them to an unwanted pregnancy and shaming them into killing their child. We can divert all the resources that have been expended to end so many lives through abortion and direct them to helping mothers raise their children without sacrificing all their dreams. We can demand that men step up and properly support the women they impregnate and do so from the moment of conception.
 
But that does not mean that we fool ourselves and the women who find themselves in such circumstances into thinking that no sacrifice is necessary. There are consequences for the actions we all take. We can help each other to mitigate those consequences, but they cannot be entirely avoided. However, any sacrifice required in bringing a human life into the world is better than the sacrifice of ending a human life that the choice of abortion demands.

A Victory, a Promise, and a Prophecy
 
The decision of Lot to dwell in the land of Sodom proved to be an ill-fated one.  The nephew of Abram found himself swept up in a war between mighty kings.  Abram came to the rescue of Lot and through the divine protection of God was able to defeat the kings.  God restates his promise to Abram and offers a prophecy that foretells the Jews’ captivity and exodus from Egypt.  Once you have read Genesis 14:1 through 15:21 you are ready to consider the three questions:
 
1.   What does it reveal about God?

• God brings victory and protection.  This passage describes a war in which four kings defeat five kings.  Yet it is Abram, under the protection of God, who defeats the four kings and recovers not only Lot, but all the prisoners and possessions that the four kings had taken from the land.  Melchizedek makes God’s role in the event clear as he proclaims, “And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Genesis 14:20. If this statement were not enough, God speaks directly to Abram and says the following: “I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Genesis 15:1.

 
2. What does it reveal about us?

• If we trust in God, we can accomplish anything.  By trusting in God, Abram was able to accomplish what a combined force of five kings could not.

 
3. What does it reveal about God’s relationship with us?

• God does not forget his promises to us.  Abram laments the fact that he is without children, but God reassures him that not only will he fulfill his promise to provide Abram with a son, but his descendants will be as numerous as the stars.

 
Key Passage

“Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.  And he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’  And he gave him a tithe of all.”  - Genesis 14:18-20

I know I mentioned part of this passage earlier, but it is significant in its totality.  This is not the last time we will hear about Melchizedek.  Take a moment to read Psalm 110.  This Psalm was written by King David and it refers to Christ.  He opens the Psalm with “The Lord said to my Lord”, which we can interpret as “God said to Jesus Christ”.   David goes on to quote God: “The Lord has sworn and will not relent, ‘You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” – Psalm 110:4.

 The writer of the book of Hebrews speaks of Melchizedek in describing Jesus:
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”  - Hebrews 6:19-20
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This passages occurs as part of a wider discussion in Hebrews in which the writer (most likely Paul) firmly establishes what is known as the “New Covenant”.  We are getting a bit ahead of ourselves here, as we have not yet reached the point in the story where the Mosaic Law and the Levitical priesthood have been established.  The Mosaic Law and Levitical priesthood comprise what we know as the Jewish religion.  But what the writer of Hebrews explains is that the Levitical priesthood never had the ability to bring about the fulfillment of salvation.  It only points to the path of true salvation and that is Jesus Christ.

Some have gone so far as to say that Melchizedek was actually an earlier physical appearance of Jesus.  I hold to the view that Melchizedek was a foreshadowing of Jesus, which I believe is the point the writer of Hebrews is making.  He was both a king and priest, as Jesus is.  He ruled from Jerusalem, as Jesus will.  He comes bearing bread and wine, which signify the elements of Communion that Jesus instituted.

So in this passage we see a depiction what I would call the “True Covenant”, which is the promise of salvation that God made before Adam, Eve, and the Serpent.  Melchizedek stands as a picture of the savior Jesus Christ and Abram stands as the faithful believer who is saved.
 
Other Notable Points

There is another key passage in this section: 

“Then He said to Abram: ‘Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years.  And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” – Genesis 15:13-14
 
This is another prophecy directly from God.  He is describing future events that will be revealed in the book of Exodus, in which God delivers Abram’s descendants from slavery in Egypt.
 
Final Thoughts

• There are many Christians who want to ignore the Old Testament and focus only on the New Testament.  But in doing so, one loses valuable insights and fails to appreciate the full scope of God’s plan for salvation.  Just in this simple portion of scripture alone we see how the books of Genesis, Psalms, and Hebrews are all related and how each provides essential information in describing God’s plan for salvation through Jesus Christ.

 

​“So God created man in His own image; male and female He created them.”  Genesis 1:27
 
                This sentence is the “go to” verse for Christians who seek to push back against the radical gender philosophies in our current culture.  It is a sound and concise piece of scripture.  First and foremost, we are made in the image of God.  This separates us from all other creatures on earth.  We are more than our basic biological urges.  We are made to fulfill a higher purpose.
                To say that we are made in the image of God does not mean we are exact physical replicas of him.  A child is an image of his or her parents.  And while children typically bear a physical resemblance to their parents, they are not identical copies.  But children do possess the attributes of their parents and these attributes go beyond the mere physical.  They include mental, emotional, and spiritual capacities.
                Society’s current hyper-focus on sexual preferences and gender identity has created a great contradiction.  In the name of self-affirmation, humans are actually unleashing a plague of self-degradation.  In its wake are psyches marred by depression, bodies scarred by gender reassignment surgeries and souls that are empty because they have sought fulfillment apart from the will of God.
                We are free to live out our “truths” but we are not free to escape the consequences when they turn out to be nothing more than vain self-delusions.  Humanity has a long tragic history of tossing aside the map of life provided by God and choosing its own ill-fated path.  The result has been millennia filled with suffering, pain, and death.
                God’s plan for humans was founded on two genders.  The book of Genesis provides greater detail beyond the verse quoted at the beginning of this post.  In chapter 2 we learn that Adam, the male, was made first.  However God quickly realized that his creation required further refinement.
                “And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’.”  Genesis 2:18
                “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.  Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.”  Genesis 2:21-22
                “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”  Genesis 2:24
                God knew that Adam required companionship to be the completely fulfilled being that he wanted him to be.  Notice that God did not make another male to be Adam’s companion.  God was seeking to provide Adam with a companion that complemented and completed the attributes he already possessed.  In order to do this, God created another gender – the female gender.  The description of removing a rib is likely the ancient writer’s best effort to describe what was likely an advanced scientific procedure to use Adam’s DNA to create Eve.
                In this we see God’s plan for balance when creating the foundation of human civilization.  The male gender was incomplete.  Even if it could be reproduced through cloning, this single gender was incapable of building a thriving civilization.  The female gender was required to complete the recipe for a successful civilization.
                Whether it is same-sex marriage or transgenderism, the common theme is the same – the destruction of the foundation upon which human civilization was built.  These movements have been successfully marketed (and I use that term intentionally because there has been a deliberate and concerted effort to mainstream these ideologies) under such banners as “love is love”, but in truth this is nothing more than a Satanic propaganda effort to corrupt the image of God and prevent its reproduction.  Those words might sound harsh, but how else can one characterize such an aggressive effort to undermine the will of God?
                But this article is not intended to cast judgment on individuals who engage in such behavior.  We all rebel against God’s will in our own ways.  No one is without sin and it is for that reason that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead to redeem us and give us the hope of eternal life.  The point of this article is to help clarify this controversial topic from a Christian point of view, so that fellow Christians can understand its theological and societal implications.  When behavior that opposes and undermines the will of God becomes normalized and celebrated within a nation, the foundations of that nation will crumble and its fall will not be far off.

          ​As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine unfolds, one can find possible prophetic implications.  The first that comes to mind comes from Jesus’s famous discourse regarding signs of the end of the age in chapter 24 of the book of Matthew:
 
                “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars…” – Matthew 24:6
 
        We are currently seeing war unfold in Ukraine.  But beyond that we are hearing reports speculating on how this conflict could escalate and spread (rumors of war).  Here are a few headlines:

Baltic states fear encirclement as Russia security threat rises – Financial Times
Russia threatens 'military and political consequences' if Finland, Sweden try joining NATO – The Hill
Taiwan fears China could take leaf out of Russia’s playbook after invasion of Ukraine – Independent
How war in Ukraine increases Iran’s threat to Israel – The Jerusalem Post
Will war in Ukraine lead to a wider cyber-conflict? – The Economist
 
      Granted, there have been numerous wars since Jesus spoke his words in Matthew.  What potentially makes this situation different is how it could light the fuse for so many other potential conflicts and how our modern social media enables open and widespread discussion of rumors of war.  Also, this is taking place at a time when other end times prophecies appear to be unfolding and converging (the rebirth of Israel, a move toward a one world government, and advances in technology that make the Mark of the Beast system feasible, to name a few).
 
      Perhaps a more precise prophetic fulfillment lies in how the current conflict in Ukraine could lead to Ezekiel’s prophecy of the Gog-Magog invasion of Israel in the Last Days.  This prophecy spans chapters 37, 38, and 39 of the Book of Ezekiel.  In these passages Ezekiel describes how the nation of Israel will return to its territory and be reborn as a nation in the Last Days.  He speaks of a coalition of nations that will align to attack and attempt to destroy Israel.  Many Bible scholars have interpreted the countries listed to include Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya, and Sudan.  Russia is described as leading the coalition.
 
          In recent years we have seen this coalition come into shape.  Here are a few headlines:

Iran, Russia, and Turkey signal growing alliance – The Jerusalem Post
Turkey and Russia's deepening roles in Libya complicate peace efforts – The Guardian
Sudan Deepens Ties with Russia After Militia Leader Meets Lavrov – Bloomberg
 
        So we can see that the coalition of nations described by Ezekiel is clearly forming before our eyes.  But what would prompt Russia to lead them in a war against Israel?  This is where the conflict in Ukraine comes into play.  Russia’s main source of revenue comes from oil sales (of which China is a major buyer) and the natural gas they sell to Western Europe.  Key gas pipelines run through Ukraine.  However, in 2021, President Biden reversed President Trump’s sanctions against the recently completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline which runs from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany.  One might conclude that greenlighting Nord Stream 2 paved the way for Russia to invade Ukraine because Russia could risk damage to the pipelines that run through Ukraine knowing that they had Nord Stream 2 to continue to send gas into Europe.  However, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Germany has suspended certification of Nord Stream 2.  But the fact remains that it is winter in Europe and Western Europe needs natural gas from Russia for heating, so if in fact the pipeline through Ukraine did become unusable, the sanctions on Nord Stream 2 would likely be short-lived.
 
     I explain this background to point to how Israel enters the equation.  Israel, Greece, and Cyprus are currently working on the EastMed pipeline project to transport natural gas from Israel into Europe.  It is estimated to be completed in 2025 and when complete, it will serve to undermine Russia’s energy stranglehold on Western Europe.  This makes Israel a direct rival to Russia.
 
    Keep in mind that Russia has an active military presence in Syria, a nation that borders Israel.  Up until now, Russia has tolerated Israel airstrikes of Iranian positions within Syria.  However, it would not be terribly difficult for Russia to create a situation whereby Israel finds itself accused of killing Russian soldiers in such a strike, thereby creating the pretext for Russia to lead an attack against Israel.
 
       What the conflict in Ukraine has done is it forced Western Europe to realize that they cannot be beholden to Putin’s Russia as their key supplier of energy.  This opens the door for Israel to emerge as a rival to Russia.  As we have seen, Putin is aggressive when it comes to acting in his interests and securing his position as the source of natural gas for Western Europe would be at the top of his priorities.  This puts Israel in a perilous position.  Ezekiel describes that God will put hooks in the jaw of “Gog” (the leader of the coalition that attacks Israel) and draw him into war with Israel.  One can see how the emergence of Israel as an energy rival will cause Putin to pivot from Ukraine and draw his focus to Israel.  We will likely soon see a build-up of the Russian military and proxy forces from Iran, Libya, and Sudan in Syria.  It is unlikely that Putin will wait until the projected EastMed completion in 2025 to act.  He will want to quickly disabuse Western Europe of any notion that there is an alternative to him when it comes to obtaining natural gas.
 
         When one considers the converging of other prophetic events, the conflict in Ukraine could potentially have end times prophetic implications.  This makes the duty of sharing the gospel all the more important.  If we truly are seeing end times events unfold, that means time is short to help guide others to salvation through Christ.  We as Christians must redouble our efforts to bring light to this ever-darkening world.