Yesterday Today Tomorrow

Hope. An expectation or belief in the fulfillment of something desired. Present hurts and uncertainty over what the future holds create the constant need for hope. Worldwide poverty, hunger, disease, and human potential to generate terror and destruction create a longing for something better. Historically people have looked to the future with a mixture of longing and fear. Many have concluded that there is no reasonable basis for hope and therefore to hope is to live with an illusion. Scripture relates being without hope to being in the world without God: “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). -McAlister, P. K. (1988). Hope. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 996). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Yesterday Today & Tomorrow

There are plenty of people in America who can change the course of our time. However, most of us are ignorant about the current event and paralyzed by the fear of any form of loss. However, foreign-born like Congresswoman Ilan Omar can come to America bravely enforcing their culture and belief system without fear. Something significantly went wrong. Most Americans think the current affairs of the cultural changes are not significant. Most Americans are busy surviving yet comfortable enough to sustain life. Alternatively, Most Americans are very tolerant. However, most immigrants who left their country for various reasons would not tolerate the cultural shift because we immigrants do not want to live in a country where a similar system is infiltrated as their home country. We sense better people who are born here. We left our country for the very reason, to have more freedom and enjoy America's political and cultural system. Can you imagine the majority of immigrants wanting to be the leader of this country and make America like their home country or enforce the system like theirs? So the whole American system becomes the UN or becomes a particular country like China, Middle East, Europe, or South America. Time to protect American Identity, which God has bestoed on us for a special time. We are under attck, spritually, economically, idologically and politically. Time to pray and Time to wake up. Pay attention how God is moving.

In post-modern time, we proved that race or ethnicity does not define one's identity. Every race or every ethnicity has good quality and ugly quality. Numerous wars, not all, originated from the inferior complex due to the social identity crisis. One party against the other or one family against the other, one tribe against the other, one nation to the other by constant comparison, covetousness, and competition brought hatred, and the hatred brought wars.

The book of Zechariah is an example of how God felt toward Israel, yet turned his heart to show mercy to Israel and the world by planning to send His only begotten Son to the world. His stored wrath toward those who are still rebellious to the end will be displayed on the world stage. Despite Israel's sins, God showed His mercy and grace in the book of Zechariah, which is one of the prophecies that prepared the heart of Israel for the first advent of Christ and the second advent of Christ.

Today, we would like to study the minor prophet, the Book of Zechariah in the Old Testament, the 38th Book of the Old Testament. The last book of the Old Testament is Malachi. The Book of Zechariah is one of numerous scriptures that shares God's mercy, unfailing love, faithful love, steadfast love. I am going to start reading Zechariah 5:1-4 first. Please open the Bible and read, Zechariah 5:1-4.

With the world's digital currency, AI and Robot, BMI, Singularity etc., we must be most concerned about our identity. Whether the invasion or spiritual war, the first thing that we get attack is identity. Once identity is in place, nothing shakes us. 1. We must know God's love is not conditional. 2. We must know who we are in Christ. 3. We must know we do not exchange our identity.

Overcome your struggles. Fulfill your deepest longings. Your whole life awaits you. Many people today are stuck in unhealthy behaviors, thoughts and relationship patterns. You may be living with unresolved hurts and constant shame, often struggling with how you see God. But God has so much more for you, and he wants you to experience healing and wholeness. Your struggles aren’t random. They’re signals that, when answered, can lead you towards a thriving life. Josh McDowell https://www.josh.org/ A trailblazer for truth and relationships, Josh has been at the forefront of cultural trends and ground-breaking ministry for over five decades. Josh shares the essentials of the Christian faith in everyday language so that youth, families, churches, leaders and individuals of all ages are prepared for the life of faith and the work of the ministry. This includes leveraging resources based on years of experiences, new technologies and strategic partnerships. Since 1961, Josh has delivered approximately 27,200 talks to over 25,200,000 people in 126 countries. He has written or co-authored 151 books, including More Than a Carpenter. He also authored Evidence That Demands a Verdict, recognized by World Magazine as one of the twentieth century’s top 40 books. Some of Josh’s books have been translated into 128 languages.

Christians in the US must be aware of the cultural changes in America. “For a long time, the Western world took comfort in thinking that this ideological aspiration existed only on paper, while China’s 1.4 billion citizens got on with the job of building families and communities and seeking knowledge and prosperity. But the ideology must be taken seriously.” — The World Turned Upside Down: America, China, and the Struggle for Global Leadership by Clyde V. Prestowitz https://a.co/0Nl4Qx4

We must come out of a bubble and facing reality in the spiritual realm. “When the facts change, I change my opinion. And what do you do, sir?—John Maynard Keynes In 1991, having emerged triumphant from the Cold War, America and the free world countries experienced a wave of euphoria. The classic expression of the era’s geopolitical mood was Francis Fukuyama’s book The End of History and” “the Last Man, which reported that the conquest of the world by democracy and free market capitalism was irresistible and permanent.” — The World Turned Upside Down: America, China, and the Struggle for Global Leadership by Clyde V. Prestowitz https://a.co/1fURwy8