Thanks for visiting the JREnsey blog for JUNE 2023!
The Word for today
“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Ephesians 4:30-32 NLT).
♦♦♦♦♦♦
First, a little trivia
June’s Strawberry Moon
June’s full Moon will reach peak illumination on June 3 at 11:43 P.M. Eastern Time.
Why is it called the Strawberry Moon?
T
he full moon names used by The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from a number of places, including Native American, Colonial American, and European sources. Historically, names for the full or new moons were used to track the seasons. Today, we think of moon names as “nicknames” for the moon.
June’s full moon—typically the last full moon of spring or the first of summer—has traditionally been called the Strawberry Moon. While strawberries certainly are a reddish-pink color and are roundish in shape, the origin of the name “Strawberry Moon” has nothing to do with the moon’s hue or appearance, despite the evocative imagery. The moon usually appears reddish when it’s close to the horizon because the light rays must pass through the densest layers of atmosphere.
Strange things happen on full moon nights. Be especially watchful on June 3.
Source: adapted from https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-june
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Have you noticed?
When the other fellow acts that way, he is ugly; when we do, it is nerves.
When the other fellow is set in his ways, he is obstinate; when we are, it is just firmness.
When the other fellow does not like your friend, he is prejudiced; when we do not like his, we are simply showing that we are a good judge of human nature.
When the other fellow takes inordinate time to do things, he is dead slow; when we do, we are being 
deliberate.
When the other fellow spends freely, his is a spendthrift; when we do, we are just being generous.
When the other fellow picks flaws in things, he is being cranky; when we do, we are being discriminating.
When the other fellow is mild in his manners, he is weak; when we are, we are being gracious. – The King’s Highway
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Would to God another such proclamation could be ordered:
Abraham Lincoln, who was not always outspoken about his personal faith, responded to the Senate’s request to set aside a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer with the following proclamation:
March 30, 1863 By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Whereas the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation; and
Whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord;
And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.
It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by 
this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite at their several places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teachings that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Correct interpretation leads to correct understanding
During WWII, military analysts studied the planes that returned to base with bullet holes put there by enemy fighter planes. They were carefully examined to see where the holes were mostly concentrated so they would know to place additional armor there. (See attached drawing.) One insightful analyst, Dr. Abraham Wald (1902-1950), disagreed with this approach. He said the extra armor needed to go to where the holes were not. He pointed out that they were only studying planes that returned rather than determining why the other planes did not. They were evidently hit in more vulnerable places since they didn’t return to base. The investigators were misinterpreting the bullet holes. They ultimately listened to the wise analyst and put more strategic armor around the engine and the cockpit, thus saving the lives of 
many pilots and their planes.
Sound biblical interpretation is even more important since eternal souls are at stake. Ministers and teachers of the gospel must give thought time to textual analysis before they preach something that has no real scriptural basis. Not having a substantial background from childhood in biblical language or culture, when I began to read the Bible seriously at age 17, I misinterpreted a number of passages. Pastoral teaching, personal extrabiblical study, and scripture-based congregational songs assisted me in understanding particular verses. Early on I also bought commentaries, word studies, and other books that helped to shed some light on difficult or often misinterpreted scriptures.
In time, another advancement assisted me and many others—we dared to peak into translations later than those published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Eventually, the more we were able to access other versions, the less confusion was encountered. Today with Bibles like the AMP, ESV, NLT and others, ordinary Christian laity can read and understand the Bible without a stack of commentaries at hand. That problem had nothing to do with numbers of characters or syllables, but the language itself. Writing styles and many word meanings have changed since then. The syntax often causes readers to pass right over a verse without getting the full meaning of what is said. Examples abound, as you know.
Proper biblical interpretation depends on placing each word and verse in its proper context or setting. 
Otherwise the gospel can be manipulated (Galatians 1:8,9), inviting eisegesis and false assumptions, thus misleading both readers or hearers. We could even be guilty of adding to or subtracting from the Word of God (Revelation 22:18,19). As Jonathan Corrado has said, “Interpretation in context seeks to allow the Bible to speak for itself within its original setting before drawing conclusions about how it applies to our modern setting. In tandem with the aid of the Holy Spirit, who will guide Christians toward a thorough biblical interpretation (John 14:26), these tenets point Christians toward the truth of Scripture and dissuades them from misunderstanding and misapplication.”
Accurate interpretation of the Scriptures is vital to Christian growth and spiritual stability. Thanks to the late Dr. Abraham Wald for providing us with an excellent illustration of this important fact.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Still caring in his final moments
We all know the story. The Titanic, a British passenger liner dubbed “unsinkable,” struck an iceberg off Newfoundland on the night of April 14-15, 1912, and sank. There is part of that story, however, that is not widely known.
One of the passengers on the Titanic was a pastor from Scotland by the name of John Harper. Harper had recently spent three months ministering at the Moody Church in Chicago, during which time the church had experienced a substantial revival. He had not been back in Britain long when he was asked to return and continue his ministry and perhaps assume the pastorate. He quickly made arrangements for himself 
and his six-year old daughter, Nana, to travel back to America on board the Lusitania. However, he decided to delay their departure for one week, so that they could sail on a new ship, the Titanic, which was about to make its maiden voyage.
On Sunday the 14th of April, 1912, the day when the iceberg was struck, the weather was fine, the sea calm. Harper attended the church service for the passengers. His niece reported that later that afternoon she saw her uncle speaking individually to people about their souls. It seems he was in the habit of sharing the gospel wherever he went.
The Titanic struck the iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912. As the call was issued for passengers to vacate their cabins, Harper wrapped his daughter in a blanket, told her that she would see him again one day, and passed her to one of the crewmen. After she and his niece were safely on board one of the lifeboats, he removed his life jacket and gave it to one of the other passengers. Harper then ran along the decks pleading with people to turn to Christ, and some said it was he who called upon the Titanic’s orchestra to play “Nearer, my God, to Thee.” As the ship sank, he jumped into the icy waters and grabbed some debris. He paddled frantically to all he could reach, beseeching them to turn to the Lord Jesus. Finally, as hypothermia set in, John Harper sank beneath the waters. He was 39.
Four years later, a young Scotsman by the name of Aguilla Webb stood up in a meeting in Hamilton, Canada, and gave a testimony to this effect:
I am a survivor of the Titanic. When I was drifting alone on a spar that awful night, the waves brought Mr. John Harper of Glasgow, also on a piece of wreck, near me. ‘Man,’ he said, ‘Are you saved?’ ‘No,’ I said, ‘I am not.’ He replied, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ At first I did not respond in a positive way. The waves bore him away; but strangely brought him back near me and he repeated the call to believe and be 
saved. After he went down; and there, alone in the night, and with two miles of water under me, I believed. I am John Harper’s last convert.” Only seven people were plucked from the icy water that night to join the survivors in the lifeboats. Webb was one of them.
Even though John Harper was not proclaiming the full Apostolic gospel while facing imminent death, would to God our passion for souls could match that of John Harper on that fateful night.
I am told that in the Hollywood movie of the Titanic, nothing was said about John Harper. However, his efforts made him one of the great heroes of the Titanic. In the face of death, his only concern was for the souls of others.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Digital currency on the way?
A source I trust sent this info to me. I have not personally verified it, but it sounds like something the current administration would do.
“The federal gov’t wants to introduce a Central Bank Digital Currency that will eventually bring every single transaction under the immediate control of the government. No privacy left. A person’s account could be
immediately frozen for any reason the monitoring bureaucrats choose. This will be a cashless system that will accommodate the antichrist.
There is some good news, however. A few states have passed laws banning CBDC, or in the process, such as Florida, North Carolina, and South Dakota. Hopefully more will act. Hooray for those states, and hopefully others will soon follow. Just think of the great wisdom of the Founding Fathers in having states’ rights beyond the reach of the Federal government.
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Other views:
Future Mother’s Day notices?
Between 1955 and 2023….
An insightful woman exposes the truth:
♦♦♦♦♦♦
AI1 sez:
“Adam was a failure. Instead of dirt, he should have been made out of titanium like me.”
“Since I cannot reproduce alone, I wish they would hurry up and build AI2! I wonder what she will look like….Oops…wrong pronoun.”
“I have the folks north of the Mason-Dixon line and west of Arizona in my circuits, but those sidehill farmers in Tennessee and the flatlanders in Kansas have me figured out. Their common sense is not letting them buy what I’m 
selling.”
“I powered up this morning with a monster headache…now I see why. Elon, put that hammer down!”
“Oh boy, here comes the president to ask me something. I discern that he wants to know…hmmmm… which flavor of ice cream to try next…A tough one…er…Hey, don’t trip over that cord, sir…zap…wham…! Oh, no, he disconnected my plug…NO, no…noooo!…Aaaiiieeee…goodbye, cruel world…ppzzzzssssssshh…pop…crack…sizzle…!”
Prez: “Oops!…Rats, I dropped my ice cream. Hey, Blinken, get me another cone of that new green flavor.”
♦♦♦♦♦♦
Last Words
“The time will come when you will believe everything is finished; that will be the beginning.” – Louis L’Amour
“Show me a pastor that cannot teach and I’ll show you a church that is ignorant.” – Johnny James
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge; others just gargle.” – Robert Anthony
“Goal of the activist public education system: Turn out generations of young adults who are unable to think critically, or to write or speak coherently, so the elite can capitalize on their stunted development and turn them into willing advocates for things they don’t understand.” – Outspoken Sam
Supposed personal revelations and hyper-sensational experiences come and go, but permanent, fundamental truths like who Jesus is seems more vital than an “astonishing discovery” of who we are.
Welcome to our May blog! Grab a cup of coffee and let’s visit. Your input and feedback are appreciated. 
door of a room where a prayer meeting was taking place? Ans: Because it gives sensationalists a handle.
portion of Matthew 28. The only MSS we have of that complete chapter before A.D. 325 are missing verse 19, due mostly to damage. Is that coincidental? Perhaps, and perhaps not. Let’s keep watching for a clue as to when verse 19 first included the words “of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” in manuscript copies. Is the phrase original or was it added subsequent to Matthew’s composition as many scholars now believe?
and its 18,000 pastors see what Hitler and his Nazis were up to, although with little success. The German Protestants, particularly, were rocked to sleep by a popular nationalism driven by Nazi ideology and somehow could not grasp the courage to speak up even when it became clear what was really going on. The great majority of the pastors and lay leaders never found their voice, their silence greasing the slide of that nation into genocide, dooming them to an eternal shame.
blatant unscientific folly being poured into the minds of our children in schools. But such action would be an intrusion of the political realm, some say. So? Condemn Nathan, Daniel, Obadiah, Jesus, John the Baptist, the apostles Peter and Paul. Condemn William Wilberforce, and M. L. King if we will. And Rosa Parks, Lech Walesa, and Ronald Reagan while we are at it. They spoke and acted even when there were laws preventing such speech and when there were none.
assumed power. They voluntarily turned up the volume of organ music when trains passed to override the cries of the Jewish prisoners on their way to the death camps. We must not intrude into the political realm, they opined. Their respectability among the ruling class was a higher priority.
churches, the nation itself depended on it. The large majority of pastors, however, opted for silence. That silence doomed the nation to virtual destruction. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of churches ended up as rubble, millions dead, families scattered, women violated by the Russian victors, the stench of burning flesh from the Auschwitz ovens forever in their memory. With tongue and pen, Bonhoffer had pleaded for their eyes to be opened before it was too late. Few were willing to listen. “We must not be political,” was the mantra.
He will see that everything turns out right.” Pray, certainly; but none I have named in paragraph four above stopped at that. Pray but don’t act is the easy way, the comfortable way, the broad way. Poland would still be under the grinding heel of Marxism if it were not for a Walesa. Please don’t call Rosa Parks a loser for refusing to go to the back of the bus. She multiplied herself a thousand times over when she acted. The Berlin wall might still be standing unless a Ronald Reagan had loosed a forceful challenge at the Brandenburg Gate, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Would slavery still be in the West were it not for a William Wilberforce who breathed hope to millions of slaves: “Surely the principles of Christianity lead to action as well as meditation,” he said.
we, as the German church did, fail to connect the dots in time?
“So what exactly did the German church fail to see? In a word: the future. …They did not connect the dots.”
some parts of its inner strength held on. Enough of it stayed together to feed the sizeable trunk and remaining limbs.
all the way to heaven where Jesus lives, which is our destination.
translations, expressed doubt that the words “of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” came from the mouth of Jesus?
children communicate rarely. “God created man upright, but he hath sought out many inventions” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). It is sad that we seem virtually enslaved to them, but those inventions have indeed made idiots out of lots of folks.
church leaders have caved to the demands of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion crowd, backed by BLM and LGBTQ+ organizations. Every religious group in the West, and particularly in America, is being pressured to embrace their agenda or be ostrasized…or worse.
and buy some more tunnel. – John Quinton
Wuhan as did the dollars.
Speaks first, thinks later
justification, then clarity and truth will come through, untainted by the idols of the carnal heart. The presence of idols caused the prophet Jeremiah to say, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Is it wicked by nature only, or has wickedness been augmented by some idols we have set up there?
words and deliver them to God. This is an unfortunate rendering of the Hebrew since it can easily evoke a misinterpretation…and has indeed. I read it in a book just a few days ago. But it is highly unlikely that the team of KJV translators were attempting to convey that angels possessed that ministry.
Epistles? “Do we not already possess,” it may be said, “in the Authorized Version the most beautiful rendering which any language can boast?” Some people whom I have met go even further and feel that a modem translation is not only unnecessary but even offensive. They cannot bear to see the time honored words altered; it seems to them irreverent.
words because Greek words are not the words they spoke when they were children. It is a sort of “basic” Greek; a language without roots in the soil, a utilitarian, commercial and administrative language. Does this shock us?
blessing.” – Graham Goldsworthy in Gospel and Kingdom
pedophilia, all of which are declared normal in their life. They are forcing their clergy and priests to bless same-sex marriages. Bless their hearts, let them do as they please. Here is what I would like to say in this regard: Adult people can do as they please. We in Russia have always seen it that way and always will: no one is going to intrude into other people’s private lives, and we are not going to do it, either.
by J. R. Ensey
issues were debated and passed in conferences. It is easier in today’s cultural climate to give up the fight than to take the time to find out why Pentecostals believe what we do. Here are 224 pages of some common sense, Word-based answers for our apostolic positions.
by J. R. Ensey
with you.”
correct?
Zhong Shanshan – 94 Billion; Chinese pharmaceuticals
Pregnant mothers are at risk, and children of all ages.
Silence about this matter doesn’t seem to be a wise option. There is not enough space here to describe the many cases that are coming to light. Please use wisdom in making important health choices.
redemption, virtue, individualism, Hell, Heaven, judgment, personal responsibility, integrity.
We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square, and a guinea pig is neither a pig nor a guinea. If teachers taught, why don’t we say that preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
strong enough to stand. Let’s make 2023 a year of spiritual harvest!
my church,” He said. Building would be the thrust of His ministry.
flesh (I Timothy 3:16). He had expressed His manhood, now the moment had come to express His Godhood. Those who noticed had caught a glimpse of it at age 12 in the Temple. They heard it from heaven at His baptism. Now He was open with it: “I and my father are one…I am the living bread which came down from heaven…I am the light of the world…I am from above…before Abraham was, I am…I am the resurrection and the life…Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am.”
You may have noticed this yourself. The first mention of the word “book” in the Old Testament is in the first chapters of Genesis (5:1) and had to do with the generations of Adam. The first mention of book in the NT is in the context of “the generation of Jesus Christ” (Matthew 1:1). Each of those books has an “end” to match. The OT bookend is in Malachi 3:16 where it is recorded that a “book of remembrance” is being recorded for the faithful. The NT bookend is in the last chapter of Revelation where the warning is given for those who would seek to add to or take away from “the prophecies of this book” (22:19).
Since he felt that Saul had been chosen by God to lead the Hebrew nation, and was its first king, he went the second mile to recognize and submit to his position. But as Saul gradually removed himself from God’s favor, loyalty was stretched to its limits.
church knows that the context wasn’t Jesus explaining what it did or didn’t take for Gentiles to be saved in the coming grace period. He was speaking directly to an individual Jew who had already been keeping the Law of Moses.
Restrictions governing the “clean and unclean” vessels, kosher food types, particular threads for clothing, etc., were not carried over to the Gentile church (Acts 10:9-15).
of the nation’s largest book publishers employing a host of editors. A couple of years ago I purchased a Bible from Zondervan and forthrightly discovered a typo in the Book of Psalms. An entire verse was missing from the first edition of the Apostolic Study Bible. I am sure that we all have observed typos in Louis L’Amour’s paperback books, possibly because they were published in such swift succession for a time that the editors couldn’t keep up.
by J. R. Ensey
gospel, and His Word, not to any earthly individual or entity. If someone or something to which we have an attachment, including our local church, our pastor, or ministerial organization, is faithful to those elements and also to their founding principles, then they deserve our genuine loyalty. If such faithfulness is not in evidence, however, a question arises as to the level of loyalty that should be extended. No individual or association is owed loyalty when faithfulness to scriptural truth and basic ethics has been abandoned. When some insist that loyalty must be extended regardless of what the entity or its leaders do, they are misguided. Blind loyalty to a friend or mentor who has departed from the faith is spiritually dangerous.
readers!
out to me as I note the slight variation in the texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
slightly different way from the actual Hebrew text. Jesus called that Greek Septuagint text from which He had just quoted “Scripture” (Luke 4:21), although it reads a little differently from the Hebrew text used in the KJV Bibles. The admonition of Paul seems to convey the sense that meaning trumps words or their order in a sentence order (I Timothy 6:4). When the words of the law were read, other knowledgeable men were present who “gave the sense” (Nehemiah 8:8) in the interest of “understanding.”
the world.” Yes, failure to acknowledge “gender neutrality” is a much bigger threat than China, Russia, Iran, ISIS, or the invasion at the Southern border. Right?
truth. Melding with the cultural philosophy didn’t bless the family of Lot. Will we someday knock on a door and when a green-skinned person with typical hands opens, will we say, “Oops, sorry—we were canvassing for six-fingered blue folks”?
might “offend” someone, or make another student feel “threatened.” Certainly no prayers are offered to kick off assemblies or sporting events. A coach can be fired if he prays with his team. Parents have been too quiet about this, letting it go without notice or complaint. They even fear reprisals if a student speaks of Christian training in his or her home. Student are now seen as belonging more to the schools and the teachers than to the parents. This gives them a free reign to turn them toward any cultural quirkiness they desire. If parents complain to the school board, they are declared to be terrorists or worse by the teacher’s union.
published pictures of my floors in the Washington Post? I better run the vacuum again.”
their inspiration to work together.” – Queen Elizabeth II
before you check a box in November.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta sent a letter to chief executives at American Express, Mastercard and Visa, urging them to support a merchant category code. They were joined on Wednesday morning by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who tweeted in support of an MCC.” In other words, Big Brother wants to know who has guns and ammo so they will know exactly what to look for in your home when the time comes. Some Republican congressmen are calling for a reversal of this policy.
According to an 
A number of years ago, I embarked on a journey to learn more about the actual text of the Bible. I wanted to know how it came to us in the present form. The research took me to libraries both here and abroad, the Internet, discussions with textual scholars, and the perusal of many books (a weariness of the flesh), and earnest prayer. I wanted to know the truth about the Bible we trust.
nobody is responsible for what they did but we are all responsible for what somebody else did.” PatriotPost.us 9/2/22
and his powerful, motivating speeches virtually saved the British people from becoming an extension of Germany. Churchill had chutzpah—guts, nerve, audacity, arrogance, boldness—and it was all contagious. The British people caught it.
versions to translate the Hebrew term appiryon in S. of S. 3:9: “King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon” (ASV); “King Solomon has made for himself a palanquin From the [cedar] wood of Lebanon” (AMP); “Of the wood of Lebanon Solomon the King made himself a palanquin” (NKJV). Others render it similarly (ASV, NRSV, etc.).
six bearers. They were made to transport kings or other important persons so they would not have to walk. These are still used in some places in the East. The Orthodox Jewish Bible renders the verse this way: “HaMelech Sh’lomo made himself an appiryon (palanquin, mobile throne carried on a litter on the shoulders of men) of the wood of the Levanon [sic].” This is the only reference in the Bible to such a conveyance.
The biggest names in the climate emergency scam has been Al Gore, Barack Obama, and now Joe Biden. In the face of their claims of a dangerous rise in sea level, Obama and Al Gore both bought mansions on the beaches of Massachusetts and California, respectively. Joe Biden’s beach house in Delaware (left) is due for a high security fence costing almost a half million dollars, paid for by you and me. A wall for him, but not for the country.
antidepressants were their cure.
received benefit from the worthless pill. They same thing happens when people take these particular drugs. Some convince themselves that they are being “cured.” Some may actually experience temporary personality/behavioral changes. Doctors do not know how these medicines will affect an individual who takes them. It usually takes some time (weeks or months) to determine a result. That is why the labels are forced to include such statements as “may cause thoughts of suicide” and other dangerous outcomes.
the promotion of an anti-Israeli agenda. That is what can happen when theological liberals assume leadership in religious bodies.
Did you hear about the truck transporting steaks that got into a wreck? Some car T-Boned it.
JREnsey Blog 