THE FACTS OF CURRENT EVENTS & How They Relate to Biblical Principles

Dec 17, 2022

I am a 60+ year old Christian man. My race is white, I’m heterosexual and married over 30 years to the same woman. I am also conservative. In today speak, I guess you could say “I identify as” and then all of that above. It’s an odd world I find myself living in these days. I am hated by many different groups of people because of each of these identifiers. They believe I am closed minded, racist, bigot, xenophobic, hateful, judgmental, etc. I don’t agree with any of this, I am NOT that. I’m a regular imperfect person that make mistakes (i.e., sins) and hurts God and people with these sins, and I’m no different from every single human currently alive on this planet in that regard. I’m forgiven by God because I’ve accepted the gift from Him of His son Jesus Christ who took the penalty for my mistakes and I do my best to live a better life loving God and people. That is what makes me a Christian. I know that my beliefs and the way I choose to live my life, are very contrary to the norm now. For folks to better understand why I believe the way I do about current events, on this section of the website I’m going to document the “real truth” and the “real facts” from the Bible, which my faith and beliefs are based on, and relate this to current events of the world. Hopefully it will help you to understand why I take the stands that I take.

First, it’s important to understand that the Bible is the most important book in my life. I completely believe what it says, that it is the Word of God, that is, words DIRECTLY from God. I base this belief on the following facts from the Bible itself: God says many times in this book, that the words contained within it are directly from Him and they are trustworthy. He has proven hundreds of times over, that these words are true because events that were prophesied actually came to pass at later times. He wants me to hear His words, and through His Spirit in me, He helps me to understand His words. These words of His are powerful and they have the power to change me. They guide me and help me to understand how He wants me to live. He had many different men participate in the writing but He was inspiring them to write His words down. Here’s a few of my favorite scriptures that sums this paragraph up:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Because of my makeup which includes being an Engineer I question and examine things, and I did this with the Bible and God. I believe the evidence we have supports that God’s word has come down to us from Him through the ages unchanged. This book has survived through thousands of years, and when you compare text in it now to text from thousands of years ago, there is complete accuracy. There are portions of the New Testament on paper from only 30 years or so after Jesus’ death and resurrection. This is proof that there was written scripture about Jesus, while those who were alive when Jesus was alive, were still alive. There are more complete copies of this book from very early on than any other historical book. It has survived and been passed down to us thoroughly intact which further supports my belief that this book is from God and should be taken seriously. There are numerous archaeological finds that prove the lives and times spoken of in the Bible. Finally, there are multiple non-religious historians from Jesus’ time, who attest to the fact about the life of Jesus. Jesus was real. He was here on Earth speaking the word of God and He was the word of God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1}

At this point, if you are interested in digging into the historical proof of the Bible and Jesus Christ, I highly recommend you read the books written by Lee Strobel. Lee was a popular investigative reporter for a major Chicago newspaper and was an avowed atheist. After his wife became a Christian, Lee decided to “investigate” the claims of Christianity to prove her beliefs were wrong. He documented the entire process and in the end realized the claims about God, Jesus and Christianity were true and he became a Christian himself. He has written several books about this including two of the most important to me: The Case for Christ, and The Case for Faith. I highly recommend all of his books. Here’s links to these two on Amazon:

“The Case for Christ”:
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Christ-Journalists-Personal-Investigation/dp/0310345863/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+case+for+christ+by+lee+strobel&qid=1655588556&sprefix=the+case+for+%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-1

“The Case for Faith”:
https://www.amazon.com/Case-Faith-Journalist-Investigates-Christianity/dp/0310234697/ref=asc_df_0310234697/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=533440480310&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17405855694336690589&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9022906&hvtargid=pla-763708706391&psc=1

Okay… It’s important to start with the book which is the foundation for everything in my life. Now to move on to the current events and how this book helps me to understand them.

The times we find ourselves in today are crazy. We’ve had the Covid-19 pandemic and everything that went along with that. Then there were the 2020 BLM riots, and so much violence and lawlessness since then. Right after this we had the 2020 election, which ten’s of millions of people believe was stolen, and due to this the January 6thevent. Now we’ve now got the Roe-vs-Wade abortion ruling by the Supreme Court being overturned and so many people angry at the thought of not being able to freely kill babies in the womb (and even out of the womb). We’ve also got homosexuals, transsexuals and other sexual non-norms big time in the news, and being forced upon us and especially our kids. And not to mention the wars, rumors of wars, and the severe economic hardships that are building on us.

Since the fall of man in the garden of Eden, the world has always been filled with evil, violence and immorality. But these days it does seem to be coming to head – so much of an increase in it all and so widespread and easily seen around the world all at once. When I see this craziness, I remember that God has warned us about this. Here are a couple of those warning scriptures from God that fit our times well, I’m underlining points made in these scriptures that are actually happening big time in the world today:

Godlessness in the Last Days:
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. (2 Timothy 3:3-17)

God’s Wrath Against Sinful Humanity:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18-32)

Each of the underlined points above could have a story written about it regarding how we are seeing this in the events unfolding in our world today. We’ve always had this evil stuff going on, but it’s so pronounced and widespread and being forced on us for everyone to see. At this point I’m going to dive into each of the current events mentioned above, explain my position on it including scripture and other facts.

ABORTION

I am writing this on Sunday 6/26/2022, two days after the monumental decision by the Supreme Court to overturn the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision. I strongly support their decision for overturning it. I strongly support the protection of innocent life – the protection of innocent babies in and out of their mothers wombs. Every fiber of my being tells me that the killing of these innocent lives through elective abortion is wrong. I believe that when a sperm enters the egg, a new life with its very own unique DNA has been formed. Based upon one of my very favorite chapters in scripture, Psalm 139, I strongly believe that God is “knitting” together this growing baby in it’s mothers womb:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:13-16)

This scripture is huge for me in my belief about the baby being alive and a separate life from its mother, and a life that should be protected and not murdered. God inspired the writer of this Psalm to see that God himself was knitting each human life into being inside a mother. I see in this scripture that God was lovingly and intimately knitting the person together. God see’s the baby as He is knitting it. This is a wonderful thing that is happening, and something that we should humbly respect and not interfere with. This person writing it is describing it as himself being knit together – he is a person, totally unique from the mother. How can we possibly want to intervene and stop this beautiful thing that God is doing here? This scripture is relevant to every single human being that walks the earth now or forever in the past. Isn’t it wonderful to think about God “knitting” each of us together when we were growing inside our mothers? I think that is a beautiful picture of each of our lives beginning.

Here are some other scriptures showing how God is intimately involved in forming a baby in the womb:

In this Jeremiah 1:5 verse, God is talking to the prophet Jeremiah, but here again we see that God is the one that forms a baby in the womb, and he has plans for the baby.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

In this verse we hear the Prophet Isaiah saying how God recognized him by name before he was born and still in his mother’s womb. He was a separate person in the womb!

Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the Lord called me; from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name. (Isaiah 49:1)

And here’s other verses…

Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers? (Job 31:15)

Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. (Psalm 22:9-10)

Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. (Job 10:8-12)

Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. (Psalm 127:3)

And then there are God’s words against killing and murder:

In Exodus 20:13, there is the murder commandment, God says:

You shall not murder.

Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty. (Exodus 23:7)

“If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life (Exodus 21:22-23)

Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person. (Deuteronomy 27:25)

Now with this said, I do think it’s important that you know that I don’t judge a woman that gets an abortion. God tells me to love my neighbor as myself, and there are no conditions on that love. Do I agree with the decision to get the abortion? NO. Will I do everything in my power to keep abortions from being legal and available? YES. Bottom line, we have to love everyone.

The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:31)

I believe Jesus showed this separation of the act of the sin, from the love and forgiveness available to the person who sinned when He told the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery. Here’s the story:

John 8:1-11
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

This is a beautiful illustration of how all of us are guilty of sin, how Jesus will forgive us for our sin, and how we should then leave that life of sin behind us, and instead walk with God.

Finally I know many will still believe that I am judgmental and that I’m using the Word of God has a hammer against people. I am not judgmental, read the above again! And also, God’s Word tells me that I can use it to rebuke and correct people, to help them know what the truth is. I need to this in a loving way, but I need to do it, I’m compelled for people to hear and understand God’s truth…

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

******

11/20/2022: Addendum on the abortion topic...

Two weeks ago, a good friend told me his granddaughter who lived in Missouri was looking for an OB/GYN in Illinois because she was worried that if she got pregnant and the baby died within her, doctors in Missouri would not be to remove the dead baby from her womb, due to the strict Missouri laws now in place against abortion. Satan is the father of lies, and therefore he is that root of this lie as well. I told him this is a common lie told by the pro-abortion folks to scare people, and I told him I would find the truth for him. Here's a great article that shows that this is a lie (and exposes the other lies the abortionists spout):

Here are 11 Pro-Abortion Lies and Why They’re Totally False
https://www.lifenews.com/2022/11/18/here-are-11-pro-abortion-lies-and-why-theyre-totally-false/
-
LIE#8: Pro-life laws make treatment for miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies difficult or impossible, and women will die.
A state-by-state analysis of laws governing miscarriage and ectopic pregnancies shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that in every state women will not be investigated or prosecuted in states that prohibit abortion, and will receive the medical care they need.
-state-by-state analysis:
How Every State Pro-Life Law Handles Ectopic Pregnancy and Miscarriage
https://lifeissues.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/DeSanctic-Article-on-Ectopic-Preg.-and-Miscarriages.pdf

***

This document is a work in progress. I wanted to post it early before I’m totally done with it due to the abortion ruling. In the future, I’ll be expanding on this as I continue sharing where I’m coming from with other current events.

Thanks for reading.

Jim Watkins

6/27/2022

The Facts of Current Events

THE FACTS OF CURRENT EVENTS & How They Relate to Biblical Principles

Recommended Reading