Sexual Gender Is Not a Melting Pot

In the movie Kindergarten Cop, a child stood up and offered Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character this bit of wisdom: “Boys have a penis; girls have a vagina.” In 1990, it was humorous because it was common knowledge. Today, it might register a gasp from the audience for being controversial.

I recently ran across a show that calls itself a docu-reality series. A press release for the project says it’s about six young and creative “disruptors” who emerge from downtown New York to follow their dreams and pursue love and art on their own terms. It claims to be about “The Real World,” but it only featured sheltered privileged snowflakes. All but one of them comes from the fashion industry.

The documentary promotes a growing trend in society of sexual flexibility. If you want to be gay, straight, or Bi, the New York scene is a paradise of sexual liberty. One guy was dressed in clothes more fitting for women but seemed chummy with both sexes. One review said a redneck from Texas tried exploring his budding bisexuality by kissing a dude for the first time. There is a good conversation starter for this upcoming Thanksgiving get-together back home.

I could not find a single review of this show on Rotten Tomatoes. It was produced by a team that has done well-received movies. I thought the Texas guy was going to be the token heterosexual. After looking at the other cast members’ Instagram accounts, all six of them may swing both ways.

Singer Harry Styles got positive and negative feedback when he recently posed in a dress for the cover of the U.S. Vogue magazine. ‘I don’t think of myself as a style icon,’ said Harry Styles as he wore other dresses and heels while discussing his new beauty brand for Dazed magazine. He announced he was hoping to fill cabinets across the world with his new beauty brand, entitled “Pleasing,” where nail polish sets cost $65.

Mr. Styles has several images on Google images of him wearing dresses. He just starred in a movie called My Policeman, which is described as LGBT “Queer Drama.” Harry has previously been accused of “queerbaiting,” but Styles avoids any sexual label for himself. He just likes to push the boundaries with his gender-fluid fashion.

Another example of the downward spiral of masculinity. The British version of Vogue has selected Timothée Chalamet as their first solo male cover star in its 106-year history. The magazine gave no explanation for why it chose Chalamet to be the first male. It just said that “the 26-year-old star has left an indelible mark on his generation that’s too hard to ignore.”

In the same story about Harry Styles, there was a reference to Nick Jonas having expanded his horizons by taking on acting roles where he has sex with other men. Yes, Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers, who had such clean-cut, sugarcoated images that they each wore a purity ring, which indicates that the wearer is abstaining from sex until marriage.

On The Late Late Show With James Corden, the Jonas Brothers said they had to work hard to shed their once-wholesome image. Nick Jonas’ excuse for taking on homosexual roles is that he doesn’t consider “whether the character is gay or straight, but about what the story is and what the audience is going to get out of it.” His decision was about overcoming “stereotypes and breaking down some of those barriers.”

This fall, Saturday Night Live will debut its first non-binary cast member in its nearly 50-year-history: actor and comedian Molly Kearney. Non-binary is an umbrella term for gender identities that are not solely male or female. Their identities are outside the gender binary. They prefer to use pronouns like I, me, and myself.

One reason why SNL is no longer funny is that the show is more interested in selecting cast members based on their race and sexuality. Two other new cast members will be the first of their kind. Melissa Villaseñor will be the show’s first Latina cast member. Aristotle Athari will be the first Middle Eastern man to join the sketch ensemble.

If the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had witnessed the sexual practices of this generation, they would likely be very confused about a non-binary transgender. The biblical account shows them as being straightforward with their perversion. No wonder Jesus said Sodom and Gomorrah would rise up and condemn later generations.

In my early years, I expected sexual immorality to increase in quantity. I never had any idea that it would turn into a freak show of multiple varieties of sexual sins. We must be close to the end of the church age because these people are quickly running out of colors to represent the gay rainbow flag.

“He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created” (Genesis 5:2 NIV).

–Todd

Tribulation Temple Clock Ticking…

The believer’s pathways toward the future are illuminated through the prophetic Word of God. Many specific signs are posted along those pathways. God’s prophets—of whom Jesus, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Godhead, is greatest—foretells things to come with unerring clarity.

The Third Temple, the subject of this commentary, is one such prophetic sign. That Jewish house of worship is prophetically scheduled to be constructed atop the most volatile piece of real estate on the planet. That rocky plot of earth is feared by world diplomats to present the greatest threat to Mideast and world peace.

Mount Moriah, known as the Temple Mount, is a focal point for adherents of the world’s three most prominent religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Only worshippers within Islam, at present, are allowed to worship upon this promontory at the southern area of Jerusalem. Merely the hint of the other religions’ attempts to conduct worship atop Moriah is met with violence from Muslim militants. It seems inconceivable that a Jewish house of worship can ever be built there.

Yet, there is more than a concept—the matter of wanting to build a Jewish Temple on Moriah. In the thinking of some, it is as good as already done. That’s because the God of Heaven has declared that it will be built. His prophetic Word never fails to produce fulfillment. The nation in the midst of which Moriah sits is absolute proof in the thinking of those who believe the Third Temple is as good as already placed there.

Modern Israel is a miracle entity, guided by the very hand of God through more than 1900 years of dispersion. The Jewish people endured enemies and persecutions of every description while being brought to return and reestablish their nation on the very ground where ancient Israel surrounded the Temple Mount.

This fact is proof that God’s Word is truth. Bible prophecy foretold that Israel would be punished as a nation and removed completely from the land God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We remember that Jesus told His disciples while they sat on the Mount of Olives that not one stone of the Temple would be left upon another. This dismantling took place in AD 70 when the Romans, under General Titus and his father, Emperor Vespasian, destroyed the Jewish Temple. The people were scattered throughout the known world and, as prophesied, were brought back into their own land and reestablished as a nation on May 14, 1948.

Jesus also prophesied that someday there would be a Temple sitting on Moriah and that the deceptive man of sin the Jews would accept—rather than Jesus Christ, their True Messiah—would sit in that Temple and declare himself to be God and demand worship. This would be right in the middle of the last seven years of human history before Christ will return at Armageddon. We call this horrendous time, of course, the Tribulation.

With all of the other signals that point to that time shaping up for fulfillment, the Temple in which Antichrist will sit must be somewhere upon the end-times horizon.

Those who visit Jerusalem can go to the Temple Institute near Moriah and view all of the implements for Temple worship that are already prepared for such worship to begin. It’s more than rumor, we believe, that a Third Temple sits in modular form somewhere nearby and can be quickly assembled, once the go-ahead is given to place the Jewish Temple on the Temple Mount.

And most recently we see the reason for this commentary’s title.

Certain cleansing rituals must take place for the sacrificial system demanded by Torah. This involves the burnt ashes of a perfect red heifer, which are to be mixed with water to do the cleansing practices.

There have been searches over the years for the “perfect” such red heifer. We remember a number of years ago those responsible for the search thought they had found such an animal. Her name was Melody, as I recall. But hairs colored other than red were found, and the search went on.

Now they believe they’ve found five candidates for the red-heifer ritual cleansing requirements. The following, although the Hebrew language can’t be understood by most, I realize, gives information about the red heifer matter.

“The Temple Institute launched its  Red Heifer program about a decade ago, led by Rabbi Azariah Ariel. But even in Temple times, an animal that fulfilled the Biblical requirements was exceedingly rare. Failing to produce a suitable candidate from ranchers in Israel, The Temple Institute began investigating alternative sources for a red heifer.

“Boneh Israel, an organization that connects Christian lovers of Israel to the Holy Land, stepped in to help. Led by Byron Stinson, a native Texan, Boneh Israel understood ranchers.

“ ‘I didn’t set out to do this, but right now, I am probably the best red heifer hunter in Texas,’ Byron quipped. ‘The Bible says to bring a red cow to purify Israel, and I may not understand it, but I am just doing what the Bible said.’

“ ‘The prophecies came true, and the Jews are back in Israel,’ Byron said. ‘Now they need to build a Temple. But it’s like buying a really nice car. If you don’t have the key, you aren’t going anywhere. The red heifer is the key to making the Temple work like it’s supposed to.’”

The cows [Byron found and acquired] were between 5–8 months old. To be suitable for the red heifer ceremony, the cow must be two years and one day old so these heifers will be raised in Israel until they reach the proper age.

Chanan pointed out that last year was 5781 in the Hebrew calendar.

“ ‘In Hebrew numerology, this is תשפא. That is an acronym for תהיה שנה פרה אדומה (it will be the year of the red heifer). The cows we are looking at now were conceived last year,’ Kupietzy said. ‘This year is תשפ,ב 5782, an acronym for תהיה שנה פרה בישראל (It will be a year for the heifer in Israel). In two weeks we will begin תשפג, 5783, the year in which the ceremony of the Red Heifer will be performed. This is an acronym for תהיה שנה פרה גאולה (It will be a year of the Red Heifer of redemption).’ (ISRAEL365 EXCLUSIVE: Red Heifers arrive in Israel, by Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, Israel365news 202, 9/16/22, Rapture Ready News, 9/17/22)

Sadly, all this is preparation for what Jesus called the worst time in all of human history. The prophetic clock is ticking swiftly toward that time of unimaginable horror.

But those who know Christ are promised to be kept out of that time (Revelation 3: 10). Here, again, is how to be assured that you are in God’s family and kept from the time of Tribulation.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:9–10)

—Terry