The fires in California have been described as "apocalyptic" and "like armageddon." These are Biblical terms. What do they mean in the Bible?

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for spending some time here today. Full disclosure, I'm filling in for a different podcast called The President's Daily Brief hosted by Mike Baker. He is off on a four week camelback journey through the Jordanian and Saudi Arabian desert. I mean, we've all done that before.

It's fine. About time he's getting, I mean, I did that, I've done that like 10 times, like whatever. So it'll be gone for a while, so I'm filling in. It's a huge honor. It's one of the top podcasts in the country.

And I'm just gonna be honest, it's gonna take a lot of time, and a lot of time I don't have. So I'm gonna be going short on these podcasts for the next month. We've tried a different format,

a bunch of different formats for the show over the last couple of years. We've done 45-minute episodes, five-minute shows. Lately, they've been like 10 to 15 minutes. So we're gonna go like five minutes for a month or so. If you are tuning in from the President's Daily Brief,

you're like, who's this Mike Slater guy? If you go back a couple weeks, kind of get a better taste of what we've been doing lately. But the mission here is to take the news of the day, filter it through a biblical lens and some biblical truth so that our anxiety goes down. That's the goal. We want our anxiety down because

when your anxiety is up you can't think clearly. And we want to be fit and healthy and clear-eyed so we can fight another day. And we can't do that when we're in fight-or-flight panic mode. That's what the enemy wants us to be. There's nothing new under the sun. So anything that's going on today has biblical parallels and truths that we can apply. And that's the mission of our podcast. One thing that crossed my mind today I wanted to share, obviously looking at the

horrible fires in Los Angeles and we've been covering it on the radio show a lot and taking many different angles. One of the political, because it is political. I've lived in California for 12 years, San Diego. And I said for 12 years, there's a huge difference between a drought and a man-made water shortage. California does not have a drought any more than they've always had a drought because it's a

desert. What California has is a man-made water shortage and they have intentionally, purposefully, as we've detailed many many times, purposefully, intentionally failed to solve this problem. It's a man-made water shortage. Similarly, wildfires are natural but a citywide inferno is man-made. It's a political failure. And hopefully one of the things that can come from this fire are people realizing that the

Democrats, at least in California, not nationwide, are unable to govern. And they've been, they're totally inept and need to be voted out of power. Now one thing I've heard, and I don't think people are being blasphemous or anything. I think people are, they just say it out of habit or something, is they'll describe these fires as the apocalypse or apocalyptic, or it's like Armageddon.

And it got me thinking, you know, we should maybe define those things in a biblical way. So the Greek word for revelation, as in the book of Revelation, apocalypsis. it means to uncover or unveil, to lift off the veil, or to reveal. Revelation. The Greek word apocalypsis is where we get the word apocalypse. So Armageddon is

another word people will use to describe the fires. The word Armageddon appears in the Bible one time, Revelation 16 16, and Armageddon is an actual place. It is the climactic future battle between God and the forces of evil. Here's what it says in Revelation. The sixth angel, and we're going to go over all the angels this week. I think that'll be a fun, fun way to spend time.

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the king from the east. Then I saw three impure spirits that looked like frogs that came out of the mouth of the dragon." What? We'll describe all this this week. Out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

They are demonic spirits that perform signs. And they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. Armageddon is an actual place, it's a location.

We'll talk more about Revelation 16 this week and the description of this battle on Revelation 19. But I wanted to bring it up here, just the more you know. But the actual battle of Armageddon is going to be much worse than even these fires. As horrible, and as horrific, and as deadly, and as impossible to imagine these fires are with these flames whipping 30 feet in the air with a hundred mile-per-hour winds nothing compared to Revelation 16 and 19 and I thought this is a little bit of a tie-in to what we talked about last week with

you know people saying that this is judgment from God on the people of California I don't know maybe I don't know but what I do know is that this is tiny sign of the judgment that is to come. Similarly, what you're seeing in California right now with these fires, it's just a picnic compared to the actual Armageddon of Revelation 16. So I recommend we all make sure we're right with God and get saved now so we're on the right side of that battle.

Mike Slater dot Locals dot com is the website where we put this podcast for free with no commercials and a transcript. MikeSlater.Locals.com.

Nahum 1:3 says, "The clouds are the dust of his feet”. That should either terrify you or comfort you. 

Welcome to Politics by Faith. Thanks for being here. This is our part two in regards to the fires in Los Angeles. Someone called into my radio show the other day, and we should just go listen to the part one so we don't need to redo this whole thing. But a very quick jog in memory.

Someone says that these fires are a sign of judgment against the people of California by God. And that made me a bit uncomfortable at first. I was like, okay, let's see what the Bible says about this. And we went through a couple of different points in the last segment. I think the two most important points are, I don't know if that's what this is. I do know that the fall

doesn't just apply to people, but to the entire earth. I do know that natural disasters are a sign of the judgment that is to come. There's no question about that. We talked about fire and hell in the last episode. And I do know that natural disasters are an opportunity to repent. Every moment is an opportunity to repent, but this is a pretty visible one for a lot of people.

It should be.

Could the fires be a judgment from God? Sure, it could be. But we talked a bit yesterday about this fascinating part of our nature to know every little thing that God moves and why. It's like, listen, it's beyond us anyway. We know, whether there's a fire or not, that there's plenty of reasons that we are under

God's wrath. There's no question. Proverbs 1, because I called and you refused, so this is to the point that it could be a rebuke from God. Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hands and no one paid attention. You neglected all my counsel. You did not want my reproof.

I will even laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your dread comes. When your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind. When distress and anguish come on you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently. They will not find me, because they hated knowledge, did not choose the fear of the Lord.

They would not accept my counsel. They spurned all my reproof. So they will eat of the fruit of their own way and be satisfied with their own devices." That is the terror of being abandoned by God and turned over to your sinful choices. Not a good place to be. So that could be what happened to L.A. here, too.

There's quite a concerning, not concerning, haunting line in Hosea 417. Ephraim, which is Israel, is joined to idols. Leave him alone. Leave him alone. This is, you don't want God to leave you alone. This is in Matthew 15. Jesus talking about the Pharisees. He said, their blind leaders of the blind let them alone. That abandonment is

serious business. The contrast to that is Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, like horrible things are, crazy things are happening, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. We will not fear. We will not fear. God is our refuge. Let me quote Spurgeon here. We did a little bit yesterday of a sermon he did on

Nahum one three that says the clouds are the dust to God's feet and the point of this is that God is much much bigger than us. So, big things does like the clouds are nothing but dust to God's feet. So, you should fear that uh if you're under judgment but you should be comforted by that if you love Jesus. Here's a little bit of his sermon. He said, uh the most

terrible things in nature are not terrible to the saints, thus. The clouds are the dust of his feet, of God's feet. Don't you see what I mean? There's nothing terrible now, because it is only the dust on my father's feet. Did you ever know a child who was afraid of the dust of his father's feet? No, if the child sees the dust of his father's feet in the distance, what does he do?

He rejoices, because it is his father, and runs to meet him. So the most awful things in nature, even the clouds, have lost all their terror to a child of God, because he knows that they are but the dust of his father's feet. He says we are not afraid, for we hear our father's voice. And what favored child ever quaked at his father's speech? We love to hear that voice, although it is deep, low, loud, yet we love its matchless melody, for it issues with the

depths of affection. Put me to sea, and let the ship be driven along, that wind is my father's breath. Let the clouds gather, they are the dust at my father's feet. Let the water-spouts appear from heaven, it is my father dipping his hand in the water. Fall down before his feet and worship him, for he has loved you by his grace. You know there are many fearful events

which may happen to us, but we are never afraid of them, if we're saints, because they are the dust of his feet. Deadly disease may ravage their fair city once again, and thousands may die, and the funeral procession may be constantly seen in our streets. Do we fear it?

No.

The pestilence is but one of our father's servants, and we are not afraid of it, although it walks in darkness. There may be no wheat. The flocks may be cut off from the herd and the stall. Nevertheless, famine and distress are our father's doing.

And what our father does, we will not view with alarm. There is a man there with a sword in his hand. He is the enemy, and I fear him. Yet my father has a sword, and I don't fear him. I rather love to see him have a sword, because I know he will only use it for my protection. Last part here.

But there is to come a sight more grand, more terrific, more sublime, and more disastrous than anything earth has yet witnessed. There is to come a fire before which Sodom's fire will pale to nothingness, and the inferno of continental sink into less than nothing in vanity. In a few more years, my friends, Scripture assures us this earth and all that is in it is to be burned up.

That deep molten mass which now lies at the bosom of our mother's earth is to burst up the solid matters to be melted down into one vast globe of fire. The wicked shrieking, wailing, and cursing will become a prey to those flames and will blaze upward from the earth, from the breast of earth. Comets will shoot their fires from heaven. All the lightnings will launch their bolts upon this poor earth and it will become a mass of fire." See how that fire is much bigger than the ones that we're seeing in LA right now? And Spurgeon says, but does the Christian fear it? No.

Scripture tells us we will be caught up together with the Lord in the air,

and we will forever be with the Lord.

Now, that's if you're a Christian. On the flip side, if you're a Christian,

it's very comforting. But if you're not, you should be very afraid of the dust of God's feet. The terrible fires and clouds, they're terrifying to you. Imagine how much more terrified you should be of God. You should not be at war with God. If the clouds are the dust of his feet, how foolish would it be for you to be his enemy? Instead, Psalm 46,

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I'll conclude with this. We've talked about this many times and we will many more times. People say, you know, what kind of God would let terrible things like this happen? And that's never the right question. It's what kind of God would ever let anyone ever live and ever let anyone be saved. We all deserve to die, but instead God lets us live. Whenever there's a natural disaster like this or a tragedy of some kind, it's a reminder

that you don't know when you're going to die, but you will. You can't predict it and you can't plan it, but it's important to repent and be saved right now. And if you already did, and if you already are, we've got to be grateful for that every day and never fear the things of this world. Acts 11, 18, when they heard these things they fell silent,

and they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life. We must repent and be saved. Second Peter 3 9 says, God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Here it is, embracing full faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Death will come, and we must repent and turn to Jesus before it does. And then we'll get to go to heaven forever. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Mike Slater dot locals dot com. Transcripts commercial free on the website Mike Slater dot locals dot com.

This is an amazing time for our country. I've never lived at a time with so much potential. But we have to remember that Satan is like a lion looking to devour. So how can we resist his temptations?

Welcome to Politics by Faith, brought to you by the Patriot Gold Group. Thanks for being here. Sorry we didn't do an episode yesterday. We're changing around our schedule in the Slater home, trying to find what's best for my wife and her, really. So in our rearranging of things yesterday, the podcast didn't happen.

So I'll try to get a better schedule as we move forward. We had a gentleman call in on Monday, Gratitude Monday. We do that every Monday on the radio show, Sirius XM Patriot. Every Gratitude Monday, to start off the week. And we had a gentleman call in who said he was grateful

that this was his first sober Christmas. I think he said 25 years, maybe 25, 30 years. And he said he became a Christian just a couple weeks ago and started crying on the radio about his new life, a life completely changed by Jesus. And how about that for being the greatest thing ever? And for someone to share that on the radio takes a lot of courage. It's wonderful. Hopefully it encourages others. So this is on Monday, yesterday.

I was right after the terrorist attacks from January 1st. And we played a clip of Trump from a couple weeks ago saying that this is going to be the golden age of America. And that is an aside. He said something like, unless unforeseen things happen, something like that, like a COVID, for instance, or terrorist attacks. And I saw this parallel that we're potentially, we're moving in a good direction in America. I think some really big, important things can happen, some really good things.

But it's in moments like this that our enemies will be looking to take us down before the

good things happen.

And I thought it was just like Satan, who is going to try and take down this new Christian from Minnesota, who called in the other day. He's always trying to take down all of us, but a new Christian is a prime target. I happened to read the other day the temptation of Jesus in Luke 4.

It's an incredible story, of course, and to see the parallels between the first Adam and the second Adam, Jesus, both tempted by Satan. But consider the differences. Adam and Eve, they were in the Garden of Paradise. Everything was perfect.

They had everything they could possibly imagine. They had all the food ever, all the joy of the world, everything. And Adam had his wife, her helper, and still they were led by the serpent to sin. Jesus, He was in the opposite of the Garden of Eden.

He was in the wilderness, the Judean wilderness, alone, hungry, 40 days of fasting. Maybe I used to have this impression that that's no big deal, like He's Jesus, like whatever, He doesn't have to eat ever. But Luke 4, 2, it says, and when they were ended, the 40 days, He was hungry.

He was hungry. I would imagine, after 40 days, you'd be pretty famished. So he was the opposite of the full-bellied Adam and Eve. And the first Adam failed the test. The second Adam, Jesus passed them all. Don McLeod, he says,

He, Jesus, was free from inherent sin. Nowhere in the structures of his being was there any sin. Satan had no foothold in Him. There was no lust, no affinity with sin. There was no proclivity to sin. There was no possibility of temptation from within.

In no respect was He fallen, and in no respect was His nature corrupt. That was Jesus, unlike our fallen nature, of course. I just want to encourage us all to stand strong against Satan every day, no matter what. B.F. Westcott, in the late 1800s, he wrote this about how no one knows what it's like to be tempted more than Jesus, because no one's ever resisted the temptation all the way to the end.

And Westcott said, sympathy with the sinner does not depend on the existence of sin, but on the experience of the strength of the temptation to sin, which only the sinless can know in its full intensity. He who falls yields before the last strain." So this is the late 1800s when he said this. I am sure that C.S. Lewis knew that Westcott said that when he said this, which is more known today.

But he said this in the 1940s or so. He said, C.S. Lewis, no man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. That's an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.

After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That's why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness.

They live a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it. And Christ, because he's the only man who has never yielded to temptation. He's also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means. If you want to be more like Jesus and know what it's like to really be tempted, we have to resist.

We have to resist sin. We have to flee from temptation. And if I may, before, and during, and after all of that, we need to know that our joy comes from God and nowhere else. Everything else is counterfeit and lies from Satan. David, Psalm 63, in the wilderness of Judah, for another parallel, said,

Oh God, You are my God. Earnestly I seek You. My soul thirsts for You. That's what we need to do. We're thirsting for everything else, or we're taking drinks from everything else, at least, thinking it will satisfy our thirst.

Never will. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh faints for you. As in a dry and weary land where there's no water, my soul clings to you. But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth."

The truth is that only God satisfies. There's all these lies telling you things that'll make you happy, things that'll bring you peace, and they're all lies. I read the ESV, My Soul Clings to You, actually I read the King James. It says, My soul follows hard after you. My spirit follows after your spirit.

That is where we need to put our attention and our focus so while there are a lot of countries and Like terrorist groups that want to take America out at this time Even more powerfully. There's a lot of forces Spiritual forces that want to take you and me and all of us out at this incredible moment of our lives as well Spiritual forces that want to take you and me and all of us out at this incredible moment of our lives as well Don't let it Mike Slater locals comm transcript commercial free on the website Mike Slater locals.com