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Reveration Blog

5/28/2025 1 Comment

Empty Speculations

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Here are five of the most common myths about Christianity: 
1.   Christianity is anti-science and anti-intellectual. 
2.   The Bible is full of errors and contradictions. 
3.   A good person can get into heaven. 
4.   Christianity is merely a set of rules and regulations. 
5.   All Christians are hypocrites and the same. 

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1 Comment

1/28/2025 0 Comments

Shooting from the Shadows

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​When I asked West Point classmate Greg, if he had ever been shot from the shadows, he wrote:
I was thinking back to a time in a position of supervisory responsibility for 50 federal employees in eight different locations, enabling almost 5,000 other federal employees. We were working hard to meet tasks and missions professionally. We even received an award for excellence at the Executive Building next to the White House.

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6/23/2024 2 Comments

Bad Company

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​Judas Iscariot had a great life going.  Selected by Jesus, the world’s only perfect leader, he joined a team of eleven others to follow God’s Son. We don’t know much about Judas, but John 12:4-6 is revealing.
Then one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Him), said, “Why wasn’t this fragrant oil sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor?” He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money-bag and would steal part of what was put in it.
Was Judas a rebellious, immoral man?  Or was he a confused follower who occasionally stole money for his pursuits? Why would he betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver when he could have prolonged their time together and continued his successful pilfering?

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2 Comments

4/21/2024 1 Comment

Swerving

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Driving today requires more situational awareness and alertness than ever before. Too often, I am behind a truck or a car and notice it crossing into adjacent lanes—sometimes even going off the road onto the shoulder.  Virtually every time I pass the veering vehicle, the driver is texting or engaged on their phone and not paying attention to their surroundings.  For this reason, I no longer bicycle on roads, even if they have designated lanes—it’s simply too dangerous. ​

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1 Comment

3/10/2024 3 Comments

Are You Prepared?

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After hearing Jesus speak about the destruction of the temple buildings, His disciples asked Him what would be the sign of His coming and the end of the age (Matthew 24:3). He shared with them the signs of the end times and what it would be like before His arrival.
           
​An undeniable unsettledness grips the hearts of entire populations concerning these days. One must hardly look to see that all is not well on Earth. But rather than mope or cast blame, why not cope within a different frame—the frame of preparation? Zach Clinton, author of 
Even If, asked thousands of men attending the Ignite Men’s Impact Weekend at Thomas Road Baptist Church two questions. “Can you sleep through the storm because you have prepared?  Are you training for the trial you are not in?” 

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3 Comments

11/30/2023 0 Comments

Taking Blows

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Fragile. Thin-skinned. Does it increasingly seem that we live in an age when many Christians cannot take criticism or rebuke of any sort without getting defensive and angry? Try confronting a believer over sin and see how that goes. Observe someone’s attitude or comment on questionable conduct, and be prepared to be attacked or shunned. Myles Munroe wrote in Waiting and Dating, “Being open to correction means making ourselves vulnerable, and many people are not willing to do that.”

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7/26/2023 1 Comment

Dried Up

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​The earth is tilting? What? 
Pumping groundwater appears to have a greater consequence than ever previously thought. But now—thanks to a new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters--we can see that, in less than two decades, Earth has tilted 31.5 inches as a result of pumping groundwater. This equates to .24 inches of sea level rise.[1]
I’m unsure of the science of tying the earth’s tilt to pumping groundwater, but I know God is sometimes the primary cause of disasters and climate change.

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1 Comment

7/3/2023 1 Comment

"The Sparkle Creed"

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​Edina Community Lutheran Church, an ELCA congregation in Edina, Minnesota, celebrated Pride Sunday led by their female pastor in reciting the sparkle creed whose words state:
I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural. I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a       fabulous tunic and had two dads, and who saw everyone as a sibling child of God. I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.[1]
This creed is a gross perversion of theology. It represents the misguided attempts of a congregation to fit God into their inclusive agenda that will spare no expense to accommodate a world fully intent on making sexual sin something to celebrate and force upon all those who take God’s warnings seriously and strive to obey Him.  ​

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10/10/2022 0 Comments

Trees and Fungi

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Suzanne Simard is the tree professor at the University of British Columbia.[1] She discovered through her research that yew trees communicate chemically through fungi with their neighboring trees for mutual defense. Trees are connected below ground through a fungi network that resembles the human brain’s neural networks. For example, Simard observed a Douglas fir injured by insects that seemingly passed chemical warning messages to a nearby ponderosa. The pine tree produced defense enzymes that protected it against insects. Similarly, birch trees protected fir from Armillaria root disease. When trees are dying, they pass off as much as 40% of their carbon to their neighboring trees.

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10/3/2022 1 Comment

When the Sea Rages

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Hurricane Ian unleashed its rain and winds upon Florida, and conservative estimates think the cost of damages could exceed $55 billion.[1]  That is a horrific blow to the lives of all affected. Ian did not catch Florida by surprise because sophisticated satellite tracking and imaging allowed meteorologists to be pretty accurate in tracking the storm’s course and speed. That is a good thing because it allowed people to prepare for the storm and, if necessary, escape to safety. But imagine if you were on a boat with your smartphone and a mobile weather app that called for clear skies and warm weather when suddenly a furious squall came out of nowhere and threatened everyone’s lives?  That is what happened to Jonah (except none of them had smartphones).

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1 Comment

5/7/2022 0 Comments

Buried Like a Donkey

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Meditation
Jeremiah 22:18,19--Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, my brother!” or “Woe, my sister!” They will not mourn for him, saying, “Woe, lord! Woe, his majesty!” He will be buried like a donkey, dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem

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4/13/2022 1 Comment

Protecting Boundaries

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Jed, Samantha, and Rob work for a nonprofit organization that helps military veterans.  They mostly love what they do, but they struggle immensely with the poor manner in which their organization is run. Their leader flips from one project to the next, often pulling them to work on a new requirement with no advance notice. They feel jerked around by the tyranny of what is most urgent—a reoccurring pattern that is not well thought through. Decisions are sometimes made for them in areas where they are subject matter experts without seeking their input or advice. They feel unheard and underappreciated. They are emotionally and physically exhausted because there are no work boundaries or protected times for them to rest and relax.

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1 Comment

12/31/2021 0 Comments

Finding Stasis

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​Meditation
Daniel 5:26-28--This is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. TEKEL means that you have been weighed in the balance and found deficient.PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.

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12/16/2021 0 Comments

Nahum--Pronouncing God's Vengeance

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Nahum, the only person with that name in the Old Testament, prophesied against the nation of Assyria particularly against its capital city Nineveh—located about 220 miles north of modern Baghdad in Iraq.[1] But unlike when Jonah brought God’s warnings against Nineveh and the city repented, Nahum’s audience was proud and perversely wicked—completely unwilling to listen to God and therefore destined to experience His wrath. 

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9/20/2021 0 Comments

Woe

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We know from Genesis 5 that Enoch was the seventh generation from Adam, and he is the supposed writer of The Book of Enoch considered an apocryphal book and part of the Pseudepigrapha.  Enoch 100:8 states: 
“Woe to you, ye obstinate of heart, 
Who watch in order to devise wickedness;
Therefore shall fear come upon you  
And there shall be none to help you.” 


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7/29/2021 1 Comment

Nebulous

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I have a theory for which I would love to get your feedback. Earth’s inhabitants all spoke the same language when they were created.  That ability to easily communicate fed their pride and they decided not to spread over the earth in obedience to God’s command (Genesis 1:28). They preferred to build a prodigious city with a colossal tower where they could make a name for themselves or, in essence, do whatever they felt like doing (Gen. 11:1-4). Because of their pride and idolatrous hearts God came down to their city, called Babylon, and decisively acted.

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1 Comment

4/14/2021 1 Comment

Degraded

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When the leaders of the military set as their highest priority rooting out right-wing extremists and ensuring transgender Americans can serve in the force we can be sure that our readiness is woefully compromised. Who feeds the Commander-in-Chief his information? If it is people from the Palm Center the United States is in big trouble. This organization focuses its attention on America’s LBGT population and they say focusing on transgender issues is an urgent priority for military readiness.[1]  Supposedly “recruitment, reputation, retention, unit cohesion, morale, medical care, and good order and discipline” are compromised by banning transgender Americans from serving.  But they do not back up their statements with evidence outside their small population group. As someone who served in the military for 36 years I can tell you from my experience that their findings are absurd.

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1 Comment

2/26/2021 1 Comment

Read Only

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Monday, I received a message from my antivirus program telling me that a Microsoft Word App was trying to access my protected files.  I checked the block to prevent that access.  The next day all my Word documents were Read Only which meant I could not edit them and anything I copied and pasted also reverted to a Read Only status.  In essence I was shut down from working.  Microsoft user support spent half the day trying to help me without success.  The next day, the antivirus company sent me a fix and I was able to get my documents running again.  Until the following day when suddenly everything was again Read Only!  Talk about being frustrated—this was just not right! Once again, I contacted Microsoft and again a technician worked with me after I gave her permission to access my computer remotely.  This time she was successful in solving the problem. What a relief to be able to type in new additions and to make needed changes.

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1 Comment

1/14/2021 0 Comments

Spiritual Warfare

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The first evidence of physical battle dates sometime between 4000 and 3500 B.C. from the ancient city of Hamoukar located in modern northeastern Syria.  Historians believe the Uruks of southern Mesopotamia invaded the region.[1]Battles around the world have been fought for a long time and their spreading evil caused God regret for even creating man (Genesis 6:6). 
 



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8/8/2020 0 Comments

Understanding History

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Mike Courts purchased two books and sent them to me, The Book That Made Your World and This Book Changed Everything, both by Vishal Mangalwadi.  I’m more than half-way through the first book and am thrilled by the research, clear logic and superb writing by Vishal in establishing how the Bible created the soul of western civilization.   It is a potent testimony to why it is critical that we accurately understand history.  Furthermore, it gives a warning shout to what is happening today by liberals and radicals engaged in a concerted effort to revise and rewrite history to their own liking and agenda so as to undermine our nation’s constitution and way of governance founded on Biblical principles.   ​

Meditation
Ezra 4:19,20--I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition.  Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. (NIV)
 
The word history, used in both Ezra 4:15 and 4:19, is translated by the combination of three Hebrew words, yôm, min, and ālam which when combined mean long history. The people who inhabited Israel during Judah’s time of exile, were not happy with the resettling of Jews and their rebuilding Jerusalem.  Therefore they sent a letter to King Artaxerxes from the “region west of the Euphrates River” (4:11), warning him of Jerusalem’s history of sedition hoping that he would issue a cease and desist order.  The king decreed that a search be conducted and, after hearing the city’s history, ordered that the rebuilding should stop until he issued a further decree.  It was a discouraging blow to the Jews that fortunately was overturned later by King Darius (6:8-12).

I cite this passage to show that even those who resist God understand the value of understanding history and to their credit at least were honest in applying it.  If we don’t know our true past or the role of the Bible in shaping who we are today and teach it to our children, we are doomed to fall to the ideology of those who reshape education and define values.  It would seem that very few people invest the time to truly research and understand history as Mr. Mangalwadi does.  Ironically, his book is dedicated to the “Honourable Arun Shourie, member of Parliament and Former Minister to the Government of India for his criticisms of the Bible which prompted Mangalwadi’s search for truth and the writing of his book.  

If history matters, clearly understanding history really matters!  Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day for not knowing and for not correctly understanding Scripture (Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:24) as it related historically to Him and to God’s plan.  Our challenge is to know God’s Word and to understand it’s power yesterday and relevance today.  If we fail in this we lose the ability to shape tomorrow.  May we say with the Psalmist, “I consider days of old, years long past” (Psalm 77:5).  The Apostle Paul advised, “For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures” (Romans 15:4).
 
Inspiration
The people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty. History, by apprising them of the past, will enable them to judge of the future. It will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men.—Thomas Jefferson
 
©2020 Daniel York ARR.  Reveration is the weekly devotional ministry of First Cause.  If you would like to receive these devotionals go to www.firstcause.org and click on the “Click here to receive weekly devotionals” box.  Unlimited permission to copy this devotional without altering text or profiteering is allowed subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.      
 
Ecclesiastes 12:10-The Teacher sought to find delightful sayings and to accurately write words of truth.  (Holman CSB)

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