“The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.” – Proverbs 21:16

It’s a fearful thing to observe; it’s heartbreaking. Those that hear the Gospel and don’t respond, the truth of God’s mercy falling on dead ears, God’s message of love and hope to all men being shrugged off as though it were just another tall tale. Having never understood and never responded, you remain in the world of death and darkness.

Worse still by far are those having tasted of the promise for a little season of joy in the Lord but wander back into the realm of the dead, choked by the things of this world, trodden underfoot, the way of understanding falling on stone that the seed of the Word of God could gain no purchase their heart. You wouldn’t come to the table to fill your soul to bursting with the love and peace of God.

Is the light not glorious enough? Are God’s miracles not enough? How do you stand satisfied with a little and not seek after much more; you must not like the light of the blessing of first hearing from the Almighty and the sweet taste of salvation. You walked away again, returning as the dog to his vomit. Worse yet, and as tragic as the grace of God is glorious in abundance, are those poor souls that let the seedling of the knowledge of Christ germinate and don’t with great eagerness seek of God that He would nurture and grow you to a mighty fruit-bearing Christian soldier.

Those poor souls heard personally from the Almighty and left it. It’s shocking and confounding; how, why? What could they be thinking in wandering away? Truth be told, the Churches are full of them. They joined the club but rejected God’s joyous elating fearful, terrifying presence in their conscience. Perhaps they saw the change and liked the damnation of the things they know, strange as that may seem.

“There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” – Romans 3:11

There is none that understand; nobody seeks the total transformation of God, oh you might seek religion, but you are out of the way living among the dead, damned into outer darkness.

But you know your sin and know the depths to which you have plunged, now hear of the grace of God to come by our Lord Jesus Christ who would save your soul bringing you unto the knowledge of the truth, God can acquit you.

Seek after Him, call after Him, hunger after Him, for God spits out the lukewarm as the unconverted having tasted and rejected salvation. You too, who tasted His grace in a bounty of riches, His mercy to those who wait no longer for the love of Holy Father God the seal of salvation in Christ Jesus can be set upon you. You can wander out of the way, but you can’t wander back to it. Pray, cry out to Holy God all of you; I want to believe, Lord I believe, quench mine unbelief! Grab the alter of Heaven and don’t let go; call upon the Lord Almighty for his mercy endureth for ever.

“He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour.” – Proverbs 21:21

Jesus is righteous, merciful, worthy of honor and glory; giving Himself upon the cross, counted worthy of death yet meriting Kingship, he posted your due to the God of Heaven and Earth, the One who created and calls to you. God in these last days has spoken unto us by his Son, having risen from the dead and been made heir of all things, showing Himself the Saviour, Jesus is the way of life eternal, in His mercy you can find this life.

Here is the knowledge of truth; there is one God. Error abounds in this by those who proffer the lie that all men worship the same god simply a different understanding of that god. Well, if this is true, why not worship your dirty toenail? No, there is one true God, and the many rest are false. There can only be one God because there is only one Mediator of the Covenant made by God through Christ on the cross. One go-between, one Daysman, will plead your case before the mercy seat of judgment, making of you His own possession by ransom honored, the man Christ Jesus.

“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” – 1 Timothy 2:5-6

Now is the time; today is the day of salvation in Christ Jesus. His torture of the cross and resurrection unto life testifying century after century to those who come by faith; to taste that God is good, entering into the abundance of truth and love to worship of the one true and living God whose name, to those that truly know Him, is too terrible to utter.

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” – 1 Timothy 2:3-4

Wander no more among the congregation of the dead. When God says something is good, it is good and acceptable in His sight; that you would come unto the knowledge of the truth of His compassion is God’s desire. When God created the heaven and earth, God saw that it was good. God making you a new creation in Christ can look upon you as a son reborn; it is good in God’s eyes for you that are being accepted by the Saviour, brought into everlasting life. Call upon Jesus, for He is the Mediator of merciful salvation.

Tagged Gospel Witness with the others of this irregularly posted series. Tools for witnessing here and here.

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” – John 12:32

The kindest thing you can do for a lost sinner is to be pointed and direct about their eternal soul’s condition and need for salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The conversation is truly between the lost sinner and the Holy Spirit of God under conviction; they must come to Christ by faith on their own. We don’t lead lost souls into a false sense of salvation. We are merely a messenger of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many folks who fear sharing the Gospel don’t understand that you are not even responsible for the outcome of the conversation. Soul winners tell the truth, pointedly and plainly, so that God may use His sword, which is His word, to bring a lost sinner to the cross of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit speaks to the lost person’s conscience, while God uses the Bible verses you share to bring their faith. Your fear is unfounded; you tell people that the Bible says x, y, and z, and they agree or don’t. It’s between them and God.

He is faithful. If you begin this service to God, He will be right with you, teaching and guiding you. You will see the miracle of the moment of salvation as God saves those that He would.

The nicest thing a Christian can ever do is to tell a man that his sin has offended God, that for his sin, he is found guilty before God, who is the Judge, that for this guilt of sin, not sins but that he IS a sinner, he is condemned already to suffer death, and eternal wrath abides on him. But Jesus Christ already suffered that wrath for him upon the cross of Calvary, taking all the man’s accounts and settling them with Holy Father God, that on the day of judgment, God would see Christ’s purchased possession; a forgiven son of God who has been made joint heir with Christ in His kingdom.

Be a man, tell them with concern, but don’t hold back from the ugly truth of it all; the lost sinner is God’s enemy. But be ready, for those called of God will ask, how so? You must be prepared to show them to besiege God for forgiveness admitting guilt, and asking for life and life eternal that they may enter into the Kingdom of God and of His Christ. There’s no formula; belief by faith that Jesus paid it all upon the cross, plus and minus nothing.

Even when you “fail,” you don’t fail. Every contact made, every demonstration of outward faith to a lost sinner, every mention of the name of our Lord Jesus, every verse of scripture shared is a seed very well planted. God will nurture and grow those seeds in the lost sinner as He sees fit. God leaves His word’s pure and holy truth in the lost sinner’s heart. It’s impossible for you to fail, for God works in the hearts of men to bring them to repentance, not you; it’s God Almighty.

And again it happens.

Philadelphia police say an armed home intruder impersonating a police officer was shot and killed by a Mayfair resident Sunday night.

Authorities say the shooting happened on the 7200 block of Battersby Street just after 10 p.m.

Officers from the 15th District responded to the scene and found a man outside a doorway with gunshot wounds to the head, chest and arm, according to officials.

Police say he was taken to Jefferson Torresdale hospital where he was pronounced dead at 10:19 p.m.

According to Chief Inspector Scott Small, the deceased victim, who had a fake police badge around his neck, and another man approached an apartment where a 25-year-old was coming out.

Small says the two men said they were police officers and forced their way inside the apartment.

Officials say the suspects threatened to shoot and kill the 25-year-old as they were attempting to zip tie his hands.

When the resident realized the two men were not police officers, he pulled out his own gun and shot one of the suspects, killing him, authorities say.

We’ve documented posing as police here, here, here, here, here and here.

This is why SWAT raids must end and we cannot simply lay down our arms when someone busts in the door and announces that he is police.

And get away with it.

SAN ANTONIO (KABB/WOAI) – A woman has been fighting the China Grove Police Department for almost four years to retrieve property she says was unfairly taken from her family.

Brandy Napier lives in Seguin, but she and her husband have family they visit in China Grove.

That’s where her husband Franklin was pulled over by a China Grove officer in August 2018 for reportedly running stop signs.

Brandy says he had just left the gun range and had three guns in the car.

The officer confiscated them, but made no arrest.

No formal report was ever given to the Napier’s, just a burglary inventory sheet typically used to document items stolen in robberies.

“She stated that she didn’t have the proper documentation to give him, so that’s why she put it on that and she let him go,” says Brandy.

Brandy showed us receipts for two of the guns listed in her name and Franklin’s along with the serial numbers listed.

The third gun she says was bought at an auction.

She’s made several attempts to retrieve those guns since, making trips to the City of China Grove office.

Every time she says she’s been told the case is pending in the District Attorney’s office and that the guns couldn’t be returned without documentation from their office.

Brandy made a last ditch effort to retrieve the guns last month.

“He said, ‘I don’t have the documentation from the District Attorney’.”

KABB/WOAI made calls a few weeks ago requesting a formal police report from Franklin’s traffic stop in 2018.

KABB/WOAI also stopped by the department Monday to ask for the report and why the guns hadn’t been returned.

We were told we had to go through the DA’s office to retrieve any information about the case.

The DA’s office sent us a letter, stating that media requests had to be processed by the Attorney General’s office.

But the Napier’s lawyer says he’s checked: it doesn’t look like a case exists with Franklin’s name at the DA’s office and at this point, it’s too late to create a case.

“If they haven’t filed a criminal case against the person by now, the statute of limitations has run,” says attorney Patrick Hancock. “A lot more than two years has gone by, so I don’t think the DA can file anything against him and I don’t believe there’s a case sitting in the DA’s office by China Grove on this matter.”

Nearly four years later, no arrest or charges have been filed, a red flag for this attorney.

“If they can’t produce the guns that were taken, the personal property of the individual that was taken and they can’t produce a public police report to even verify that a China Grove officer stopped them and took an individual’s property, then they need to be investigated by the Texas Rangers,” says Hancock.

Sounds about right.  No arrest, no charges, no involvement by prosecutors, no guns returned.

Because shiny badges and DAs and judges in your corner.

Dean Weingarten.

As I collected documented incidents of handguns fired in defense against bears, a pattern emerged. The recorded incidents of pistols being fired in defense against bears overwhelmingly occurred from 1960 onward.

I’ve found 125 documented cases where handguns have been fired in defense against bears, from 1890 to present. Two of the 125 cases were considered to be indeterminate as to success or failure. An additional 20 cases, where handguns were used with other lethal means, are considered combination defenses. They are not included in this analysis.

The total numbers include indeterminate cases, but not the combination cases. 95% of all the documented cases occurred from 1960 onward. 76% of all cases occurred from 2000 forward.

Dean then goes on to examine the causes.

First, while pistols were used against bears prior to the development of the cartridge firing handgun, (about 1840 – 1870) much of the use was in hunting. There the handgun was used as an ancillary device to long guns.

Bears tended to be hunted hard on the outskirts of settled areas. They were considered pests. Bounties were offered for them. Bears had no legal protection. Bears, of necessity, became wary of humans, and seldom attacked humans other than when hunted and wounded.

Second, few records were written of handguns being used against bears during this period. Some hunts were recorded, as were a few incidents involving bears. Most involved long guns. What few records there were are difficult to find. Records became more common after 1960, and much easier to find after the Internet information explosion in the 1990’s.

Third, while human populations continued to increase, bear populations declined, then started to increase, with the greatest increase from about 1960 onward.

To sum up, an increase in effective handguns, record keeping and the ability to search records, and increasing populations of humans and bears do much to explain the rapidly expanding number of documented cases of pistol defense against bears.

It all makes sense.  Handguns firing centerfire cartridges were developed, and cartridges became much more powerful and with much higher muzzle velocity, with much better materials and construction to take the higher chamber pressures.  Next, record keeping and the availability of retrieval.  Third, bears are protected.  You can’t hunt the if they’re not in hunting season, and if you have to shoot one, even in self defense, you just might run afoul of game management officers.  Thus, population is on the rise.

Maybe depending upon how near we are to the bush, we all need to go back to carrying long guns for self defense.  Just a thought.

Long guns are heavy.  Then again, it might be good exercise.

Apparently, there are an awful lot of Savage rifles in use in Ukraine.  This adds to the AR and AK variants we’ve already documented.

Eventually they will want to standardize on both a cartridge and system of weapons, both semi-automatic and bolt.

Contained in the Noahic Covenant are the rights of men from which our duties flow. As background for context to Genesis 9, read Genesis 8 starting around verse 19.

Interestingly, verse 22 of Genesis 8 says that seedtime and harvest shall remain until God takes the earth away. All famines are man-made, manufactured.

To understand what governments men attempted to constitute after the Reformation, one must know from where the rights they spoke of stem. To say, “God gave us our rights” isn’t enough. The communists claim the same thing; they have a different god, same for the muslim man, and on and on.

The flood shows Holy God’s purposes in judgment, and it offers a view of His instruction in righteousness and God’s blessed object in grace and salvation. We contend that the Ten Commandments always existed, for they are holy and perfect, but were simply codified, written down into Law, when God handed them down to Moses and the children of Jacob.

Contained in God’s covenant with every living thing are the basic operating procedures the planet is under and an outline that men may live well one with another before God. Salvation (restoration and justification and reconciliation with God) was not by this covenant and never by the Law; it always comes by faith in Christ alone (Romans 3:28, Hebrews 11).

We’ll go through the first several verses of Genesis 9, bringing a light treatment as an outline. It’s too much to develop this fully. This is a background to understanding the laws and customs of post-reformation Western Civilization, which ended in communism and other socialist totalitarian regimes around 1900AD.

The American Church, and most Americans, are operating under the delusion that the Reformation remains the current state of affairs in the Churches and Western Civilization. They let the Church be nationalized by the Internal Revenue Code 501(c)3 in 1954, as under Constantine. They will learn the hard way. The Reformation ended, and your Churches are being made pagan dens of inequity. We can almost certainly state that more Christians in America won’t set foot in a corporate Church building than there are Christians, perhaps not total warm bodies but converted Christians, inside those buildings.

Verse 1:

“AND God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” – Genesis 9:1

In verses 1 and 7 of chapter 9, God promises that they will replenish the earth and later that every man will be descended from one of the three sons of Noah. There is a sense of regeneration here. It reminds us of God’s covenant with Adam.

From this comes the giving of lands to men and, therefore, property rights. If one is to replenish the earth, they must take it in possession.

Leviticus 25 and Numbers 34 forbade the Hebrews from releasing a paternal inheritance. The Jews weren’t to sell their family land, and all property was returned to the original family at Jubile(e) (Leviticus 25:10). That’s how important land is that God gives. The Hebrew Jubile was after 49 years.

The story of Jezebel is about a land grab and theft of lands. Naboth rejected king Ahab’s offer to buy his land, saying, “…I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers.” Instead of following the government, Naboth rightly chose duty to God instead of submission to an unlawful government decree. The story is in 1 Kings 21. When you hear of a Jezebel or an eminent domain or “federal lands,” remember that the first was about the theft of land by the government against the Law of God. How much land does the US government “own” today?

“The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” – Psalm 24:1

It all belongs to God, and He has given lands to men.

“The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.” – Psalm 115:16

The government has zero right to tax your land under the Noahic Covenant with all men. It’s God’s land given to us, not the government.

“And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” – Acts 17:26

Nations are distinct peoples, not some tower of Babel 2.0. God has set out the bounds of nations on the face of the earth.

Verse 2:

“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.” – Genesis 9:2

Compare with Genesis 1:26

Dominion was established in fear and force, and blood after the flood. The curse of the fall continues and even deepens in some ways. The so-called animal kingdom is delivered into our hand. The power of the dominion of men is predicated on men acting like men. After the flood, dominion over the animals is re-established as the dread of man is put into them. Animal and environmental rights are evil; they attempt to dethrone God by taking our dominion. God gives us authority over animals. Being placed under our jurisdiction, they have no rights. The “animal rights” movement is picking up steam globally. When we do not uphold our duties to God, our blessings are taken. Is God chastening us by removing our ownership of land and dominion over the animal?

Animals serve us, feed us, and we even keep them for pleasure. And animals are pretty neat. Thanks be to God for the animals He has blessed us with for all purposes and those that have been our companions.

Verse 3:

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” – Genesis 9:3

Verse 3 establishes men as carnivores, eaters of meat. This and other verses may indicate that men were vegetarian before the flood. Verse 3 sets the pre-Mosiac Law dietary rules as they are now. The separate dietary laws for the Hebrews under the Law of Moses were rescinded by the New Covenant (Acts 10:9-16, 1 Timothy 4:4-5).

You have a right to eat the fruit of the land, both plant and meat, and the right to feed yourself and your family. This covenant also establishes the duty to work to feed your family. Meat and plants take work to produce for food.

Verse 4:

“But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.” Genesis 9:4

Verse 4 indicates we are not to eat (drink) blood. This is later codified in the Levitical Law, 17:11-12, 14.

Life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).

James, who most agree was the Pastoral head of the church at Jerusalem during the so-called Jerusalem Counsel, determined, by God, that the abundance of grace in Christ Jesus was found sufficient for the Gentiles. Specifically at question was circumcision of the flesh. But other questions of the Gentiles were also wisely answered. Did they refer back to the covenant with every living thing? We don’t know. But the correct choice, as God always makes, was determined.

“Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: 20 But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” – Acts 15:19-20

The death cults drink blood.

Verse 5:

“And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.” – Genesis 9:5

Verse 5 further indicates that we should care for the created beings under our charge. And, each man has an appointment with death. Holy God sets this appointment (Ecclesiastes 12:7).

Further established is that we have no right to take our own life. Your life is not your own (Psalm 24:1). It belongs to God. And further yet, predation is established among the animals, and capital punishment is indicated.

Verse 6:

“Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.” Genesis 9:6

Capital punishment is made clear. This becomes codified in the Sixth Commandment of Holy God given to Moses: “Thou shalt not kill.” – Exodus 20:13

The Six Commandment didn’t annul Genesis 9:6; it is further established for the Hebrews and is enjoined. This means that the duty to protect life flows from the responsibility not to kill with impunity.

Verses 7-10:

“7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. 8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, 9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; 10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.” – Genesis 9:7-10

Not only is abortion murder under this covenant with every living thing, but it violates God’s command(s) to be fruitful and multiply. Women’s liberation wrecked God’s Law, destroying the subjection (roles as arranged by God) of men and women to each other (Ephesians 5). We’ll discuss subjection to each other and obedience to God (for they are not the same thing) in posts on Family and State, including Romans 13.

Every living man is under this covenant. We contend that the Noahic covenant remains in effect as evident in nature and human behavior and as established in New Covenant doctrines. For space, we didn’t cite every pertinent New Testament verse showing this covenant to remain in effect; that’s your job. Where this Law is abridged or rejected, sin abounds. America has wandered so far from its founding because she has forgotten the purposes of the duties and liberties granted under this Covenant from Holy God given to all the seed of Noah’s sons.

Seen at Gun Feed, Norma is making a move.

CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. — An ammunition manufacturer is relocating its U.S. headquarters to Chatham County.

Norma Precision Ammunition is a subsidiary of the leading European ammunition manufacturer RUAG Ammotec.

The Swiss-based company says it develops and produces high-end ammunition for sports shooters, special operations forces, and peace officers worldwide.

“With their facilities in close proximity to the Port of Savannah – the top port for U.S. exports – and our highly-skilled pool of talent, I’m confident that RUAG Ammotec will be very pleased with their decision to invest in the Peach State,” said Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.

“I am pleased with all that Georgia has to offer our company. I am confident that with our relocation, we have chosen the right community to partner with to ensure mutual long-term success,” added President and CEO of RUAG Ammotec Christoph Eisenhardt.

RUAG Ammotec has operations in 12 different countries. The company says in 2021, Norma Precision Ammunition imported over 400 containers of ammunition from factories in Europe, while also delivering over 30 million cartridges of ammunition made in the U.S.

But are they really moving their headquarters?  Where is it currently?

I couldn’t locate their headquarters, unless it’s a Swiss city.  These two articles (here and here) seem to suggest that there isn’t currently one in the U.S., and they are establishing one in Georgia.

This continues gun valley moving South, or in this case, gun valley choosing South.  See also Parts I, II and III.

By the way, I’ve never had any problems with Norma ammunition, and it’s always performed well for me,

David Codrea’s article at Ammoland should be read, entitled “Ask Dettelbach Tough Questions about ‘AFT’ Abuses During Confirmation Hearings.”

I also enjoyed reading this comment.

On that note, admit there is no epidemic of gun violence and that all 23,000 current laws are totally ineffective. The United States’ 1931 population was 124 million, and we had 11,160 murders and manslaughters, 7,533 committed with firearms.  The United States’ 2019 population was 328 million, and we had 13,927 homicides, 10,258 via firearms.

So…Over the course of 90 years, we increased population by 204 million, citizens built or purchased over 250,000,000 additional firearms, yet America experienced only 2,725 more homicides by use of guns in 2019 than we did in 1931.

Per population growth alone, much less Gun purchases, we should expect around 28,000 murders.  Yet the murder rate has plummeted.

The guns in law abiding hands are NOT a problem; they are employed in defensive means to prevent a crime against persons more than 5 times as often as guns in the hands of criminals are used to perpetuate a crime.

Source data:

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-2019/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-8.xls

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsushistorical/mortstatsh_1931.pdf (page 53)

Any time you hear something like that, they’re trying to scare soccer moms.  Be a man.  Chuckle, point out the truth to people, and then ignore the hysterics.

He makes an interesting point about why he chooses a pack that doesn’t go above the top of his shoulders, or in other words, why an assault pack isn’t the same thing as a backpacking pack.