Zach Uram's Blog

This is Czesława Kwoka taken at the Auschwitz concentration camp, just minutes before she was murdered by the Nazis.

Her crime was being Polish, Catholic, and 14 years old.  Her red triangle was for political prisoners, because of where she was born in Poland. After this photo was taken, she was killed in Auschwitz extermination camp on March 12, 1943 with a phenol injection in the heart.  Just before the execution, she was photographed by prisoner Wilhelm Brasse, who would later testify against the executioner of Czeslawa, a woman. Just before the photo was taken, the executioner punched Czeslawa in the face, as the hematoma on her lip shows. This is the face of a terrified little girl, who didn’t even speak the language of her executioner.   She had lost her mother a few days before.  But she dried her tears to look presentable for the photo.  They took her hair and her life, but they couldn’t take her dignity. She was only one of about 250,000 children and minors who were executed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. This is what happens when hatred is cultivated in a nation and thugs gain control.  If you don’t think could happen here, you need to read Gulag Archipelago.

According to this article,  between 1.1 and 1.6 million people died in Auschwitz. 

Here we see the train tracks heading towards Auschwitz. The Jews and others the Nazis wanted to kill were loaded on cattle cars and taken by train to Auschwitz.

According to the Holocaust Encyclopedia at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum the number of Jews killed during the Holocaust is 6 million. A staggering 7 million Soviet civilians were killed. And a further 1.2 million non-Jewish Polish civilians. 3 million Soviet prisoners of war were killed as well.

I’m proud of my PapPap (paternal grandfather) for fighting the Nazis in Europe during World War 2! He helped put an end to the monstrous evil of Nazi Germany.

Never Forget! Sadly man’s heart is desperately wicked and utterly depraved. We have seen tens of millions of people die in genocide since World War 2 ended. We will continue to see such evil until Christ returns!

 I love eschatology, the study of the End Times. I am a futurist. I believe most of the prophecies in Scripture concerning the End Times are future. I am a Premillennial, which means I believe Christ will return before the Millennium. Christ will rule the world under a theocracy headquarted in Jerusalem. I am also pre-tribulationial. I believe the Body of Christ will escape the Great Tribulation, this is a terrible time when God’s wrath shall come against the world like nothing ever before! His Bride shall  be raptured out of the world before the Tribulation begins.

Many believers don’t realize it, but Premillennialism was the majority view of the Early Church. There were some who believed in Amillennialism, that there isn’t a Millennium. But Amillennialism didn’t really become a dominant view in the Church until Augustine in the early 5th century when he wrote the book “The City of God”. The Roman Catholic church has been Amillennial ever since. The Protestant Reformers were used mightily by God, but sadly, they didn’t reform enough in all areas. One area was eschatology. So they retained the Roman Catholic view of Amillennialism. This is a great shame.

“The predominant eschatological view in the Ante-Nicene period was Premillennialism, the belief of a visible reign of Christ in glory on earth with the risen saints for a thousand years, before the general resurrection and judgment.”
Source: Schaff, Philip (1914) [1882]. History of the Christian Church. Vol. II: Ante-Nicene Christianity. Charles Scribner’s Sons. p. 614.

Here are some of the Church Fathers who were Premillennial:

Papias (60-130)
Clement of Rome (90-100)
The Sherpherd of Hermas (96-150)
Ignatius of Antioch (98-117)
Barnabas (100)
The Didache (100-160)
Justin Martyr (110-165)
The Epistle of Barnabas (117-138)
Irenaeus (120-202)
Tertullian (145-220)
Hippolytus (185-236)
Cyprian (200-250)
Lactantius (260-330)

Let us be Semper Reformanda, always reforming! I believe Dispensationalists have reformed the errant view of Amillennialism and adopted the correct view of Premillennialism. I am a Reformed Baptist, yet when it comes to eschatology I am Dispensational. Unlike Covenant Theology proponents, which views God’s interaction with man in terms of covenants or agreements, we believe the correct way of looking at it is through Dispensations. Some Dispensationalists differ on how many there are, but generally most Dispensationalists agree on 7 Dispensations:

Innocence (Eden); Adam under probation prior to the Fall. Ends with expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Some refer to this period as the Adamic period or the dispensation of the Adamic covenant or Adamic law.

Conscience (fall to flood); From the Fall to the Great Flood. Ends with the worldwide deluge.

Human Government (Noah to Babel); After the Great Flood, humanity is responsible to enact the death penalty. Ends with the dispersion at the Tower of Babel. Some use the term Noahide law in reference to this period of dispensation.

Promise (Abraham to Egypt); From Abraham to Moses. Ends with the refusal to enter Canaan and the 40 years of unbelief in the wilderness. Some use the terms Abrahamic law or Abrahamic covenant in reference to this period of dispensation.

Law (Moses to John the Baptist); From Moses to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Ends with the scattering of Israel in AD70. Some use the term Mosaic law in reference to this period of dispensation.

Grace (Church age); From the cross to the rapture of the church. The rapture is followed by the wrath of God constituting the Great Tribulation. Some use the term Age of Grace or the Church Age for this dispensation.

Kingdom (Millennium); A 1000 year reign of Christ on earth centered in Jerusalem, ending with God’s judgment on the final rebellion.

“There was a time when it was almost the case that the only people who believed in the Bible were the dispensationalists. That liberal theology can come into the mainline denominations… the evangelical church was really either nonexistent or almost exclusively dispensationalist. Then the language was either modernist or fundamentalist and the fundamentalists were utterly heroic.”
~ R.C. Sproul Jr.

 
Let us always be ready for the Lord’s return. Scripture says He will come like a thief in the night. We must  be prepared at all times for an imminent Rapture! This is our blessed hope. MARANATHA!

I wrote this poem 10 years ago, to honor the samurai of Japan!

Swords raised. 
太刀は抜かれた。

Senses heightened.
五感が高ぶる。

Tempered minds
鍛精した心が

command cold steel
冷たい鉄刀を操る

glimmering in dawn’s light.
黄昏の光とちらめついた。

Sharpened by intention,
武士道ひとすじへの

Bushido,
こころ意気と

the warrior’s code
武人の鉄則が

restricts and defines
最終試練の

a final test.
決定役を果たす時となった。

A struggle for honor.
栄誉への闘争。

What is lost
勝には

in winning,
どんな負けがあり

what is won
負けには

in losing?
どんな勝があるだろうか？

Every move calculated,
一挙一動が算定され

a parry for a thrust,
打突へのかわしや

a counter for each form.
ひとつひとつの動作への反作用。

This deadly calculus
この致死的算法が

plays out,
繰り広げられ

all the training,
すべての練成や

dedication and sacrifice
献身と犠牲が今

reduced, refined
切り詰められ洗練され

to one last move,
畢竟最終の動きとなる

now it comes.
今その時がきた。

The air sings.
せっぱ詰まったた空気。

As the blades dance
刃が

to a harmony,
調合的に踊り

only two can hear
精確さと

precision coupled
激烈さが

with intensity.
二人に絡み合う。

Reality drops away,
実在性は消え失し

only dazzling swordplay
ただまばゆい交刃のひらめきが

suspended in time.
時の流れに浮遊する。

A lone cherry blossom falls.
たった一つの桜の花が

As the final stroke connects,
最後の一撃で落ちた。

blood sprays
血潮のしぶきは

soaring into the sky,
空に舞い

release.
放出された。

The samurai’s soul
でも武士の魂は

not broken
崩壊されず

transformed
美しい

a beautiful match!
勝負となって変わり残った。

— Zachary Uram, (c) 2011 フレッド林　　訳

I slowly walk down the street
It’s a chilly autumn day
A kaleidoscope of colorful leaves
They crunch underfoot

A lone raven flies above
Circling in the sky
Looking for something to eat
It caws at me

Cars whiz past
I wonder who they are
Where they are going
Do they see me?

It’s a cloudy day
Shafts of sunlight
Peek through thick clouds
I feel tired yet I’m happy

I arrive at the park
The bushes and trees are bare
I see a lone deer
Finally, I’m at peace
 

by Zachary Uram (c) 2021

 

We as humans are beings created by God and we possess an immortal soul. Scripture clearly teaches that when we die we will go to either Heaven (if we are in Christ) or Hell (if we die apart from saving faith in Him).

What is Hell like? Who goes there? Is there a chance to be redeemed in Hell? What happens to a soul in Hell?

I believe Scripture clearly teaches that Hell will be a place of eternal conscious torment (ECT).

Revelation 20:10:

The Devil who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

The pronoun they in that verse refers back to the Devil, the Beast (aka Antichrist) and the False Prophet. So Satan and some humans will suffer for eternity. According to Scripture, their eternal destiny will be torment day and night forever and ever. That equals eternal torment. From this we can also conclude that the souls of the Antichrist and False  Prophet are eternal, since they won’t be annihilated out of existence. This same truth is repeatedly substantiated throughout Scripture. Moreover, the Greek word translated tormented in Rev. 20:10, with its meaning, is:

basanizo, bas-an-id’-zo; from G931; to torture:–pain, toil, torment,   toss, vex.

Basanizo(6) is found elsewhere:

And suddenly they [demons] cried out, saying, “What have we to do   with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” (Mt. 8:29, NKJV).

That verse reveals that the demons already know what their future destiny will be, that is, torment not annihilation. Consequently, this   verse and Rev. 20:10 together give us in-depth insights into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

Then He will also say to those on the left hand, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil   and his angels” (Mt. 25:41, NKJV).

Some people teach that the wicked who are damned will have their souls annihilated when they die. I believe this is heresy! Scripture clearly teaches ECT: Matthew 25:41, 46; Mark 9:42–48; 2 Thessalonians 1:5–10; Revelation 14:9– 11; and Revelation 20:10, 14–15.

Jesus declares in Matthew 25:41 that the destiny of the wicked who are unsaved is “the eternal fire prepared for the devil.” Matthew 25:46 uses the same adjective, eternal, to describe the fates of the lost and saved: “eternal punishment” and “eternal life.” Jesus depicts “hell” as a place “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:47–48). Paul’s reference to “eternal destruction” in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, indicates a figurative devastation that the damned will experience forever in hell, separated from the Lord’s presence. Revelation 14:10, where we read that the impenitent “will be tormented with burning sulfur,” depicts the hellfire imagery as agony, not annihilation. John speaks of everlasting torment when he adds, “and the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever” (v. 11). John’s description of Satan’s fate in Revelation 20:10 as being placed in “the lake of fire and sulfur” and being “tormented day and night for ever and ever” signifies everlasting pain, a fate that lost human beings share (Rev. 20:15).

Throughout Church history, ECT has been the majority view. Here is a partial list of some of the great Christian theologians who  have upheld ECT: Tertullian, Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Wesley, Francis Pieper, Louis Berkhof, Lewis Sperry Chafer, and Millard Erickson.

Here is a list of 10 verses in Scripture which teach ECT.

Scripture in no way teaches annihilationism (that the souls of the wicked will cease to exist) or universalism (that every soul will be saved). Sadly many pastors and theologians are now teaching either annihilationism or universalism.

If you are reading this and are not saved, please don’t delay, repent of your sins, believe the Gospel (that Christ the Second Person of the Triune God led a sinless life on earth, died for your sins, and resurrected on the third day.) and trust in Christ alone and live for Him. If you do this you will be saved and will escape the horrible eternal torment of Hell!

Augustine wrote a short treatise (in Latin) on demons, De divinatione daemonorum / On the divination of demons. He discusses the powers of demons and how they operate in deceiving us. The English Translation was done by Dr. Mattias Gassman.

Augustine say demons have swiftness of movement and keen senses. They can perceive things which we humans can’t. Also due to their very long set of experiences they can perceive things which we can’t.

Some other things Augustine says about demons:

• Demons can predict things which will happen. They can alter things which are visible to us, to make them appear to be something they aren’t.
• Demons can cause sickness in people. They can change the air to cause these sicknesses.
• Demons can send thoughts into our minds, whether we are awake or asleep.

But we should fear not, for the  Lord will prevail against them.

Here is the Microsoft Word file (.docx) which you may download. There is also a PDF document here.

The Bible does clearly speak to the existence of demons, and the power Jesus and His disciples had to control them. Today in the West most people, even most Christians, are ignorant of the reality of demons and the spiritual warfare raging constantly around us. Scripture is also clear that people can be possessed by demons.

Demons are spiritual beings. Yet they can take shape, form and be visible to humans (Job 4:15). They can attack us in a number of ways. Some examples from Scripture include:

• Physical Illness
• Mental Impairment
• The Spread of False Doctrine
• Spiritual Warfare
• Possession

The Bible also teaches that angels will be judged by us! Paul asked the Corinthians, “Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6:3). Perhaps this will occur during the Millennial Kingdom when Christ will rule for a 1,000 years from Jerusalem.

Demons are fallen angels who sided with Satan in rebellion against God. Thus they are enemies of God, but they are already defeated by Jesus! Christ has “disarmed the powers and authorities,” and He has “made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). If we submit to God and resist the devil, we have nothing to fear. “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4).

Here are some verses from the Bible about demons.

We should remember that as Christians we have the Holy Spirit living inside us so it is absolutely impossible for a Christian to be possessed by a demon. Demons can oppress us though. But we have power through Christ to resists their attacks and to defeat them!

On July 16, 1945, at 5:29:45 AM (MST), the first atomic bomb ever detonated went off near Socorro, New Mexico at the test site known as Trinity. Hence the world was ushered into the Atomic Age. This place wasn’t far from Los Alamos, where the atomic bombs were under development in the top secret program known as the Manhattan Project. This eventually resulted in a Cold War arms race between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Why was the atomic bomb developed? Was it necessary to end the 2nd World War?

My parents recall the silly Duck and Cover drills they had at school in the early 50s. My father knew in 4th grade that the drills were useless and would not protect them if they were close to ground zero of a nuclear strike. Here is the video that was shown at the time to instruct kids what to do.

In the 1930s as the Nazi state rose, a large number of prominent physicists (some of Jewish ancestry), including Albert Einstein, left Germany and emigrated to the United States. Einstein’s breakthrough work on the relationship between matter and energy showed that a large amount of energy may be released from a relatively small amount of matter through the process of nuclear fission. Einstein himself went to far as to write to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and urge him to develop an atomic bomb before Germany did.

In the United States, in the summer of 1939, a small number of physicists, alarmed over the possibility of Germany successfully developing an atomic bomb, decided to warn President Roosevelt. A letter was written by Einstein and Szilard, and was delivered to the President’s aide, General Edwin Watson, by Alexander Sachs, an economist and writer who had a friendly relationship with Roosevelt. Sachs was given an appointment with the President to whom he read Einstein’s letter. The letter described the new powerful bombs that could be produced and recommended that the U.S. Government speed up experimental work currently taking place. Einstein closed his letter by stating his understanding that Germany had stopped the sale of uranium from Czechoslovakian mines and that Carl von Weizacker, a highly respected German scientist, was attached to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin where American work on uranium was being repeated. These last remarks reflected the concern of U.S. nuclear scientists over German capabilities. https://ehistory.osu.edu/articles/story-atomic-bomb

On August 6, 1945, the B-29 bomber Enola Gay carrying “Little Boy” dropped its bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, destroying most of the city and causing an estimated 140,000 deaths.

On August 9, 1945, another B-29 bomber, Bock’s Car, carrying “Fat Man” dropped its bomb  on Nagasaki, Japan. The number of deaths at Nagasaki was an estimated 70,000 people.

The fanatical Japanese Emperor Hirohito refused to surrender after Hiroshima. But once the news of Nagsaki reached him, he convinced the Japanese military they had to unconditionally surrender.

By the way, Nagasaki was home to  thousands of Japanese Catholics. Nagasaki was where famed Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier built a mission church nearly 400 years earlier. Christianity came to Nagasaki in 1543. The atomic bomb exploded directly over the Urakami Cathedral, killing 8,500 of its 12,000 members, either directly from the blast or later on through radiation sickness. In fact, Nagasaki was the most Christian city in Japan, and the massive cathedral had been the largest Christian church building in all of the Orient.

  The ruins of the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, Japan, as shown in a photograph dated Jan. 7, 1946.

 

The casualties from the 2 atomic bombs were terrible, but I feel the Allies, significantly the United States and President  Truman, made the right call by dropping the bombs. There was already a proposed plan underway to invade the Japanese home islands, called Operation Downfall. This would have resulted in at least 1 million Allied casualties, as well as 5 to 10 million Japanese casualties. Prior to the atomic bombs dropping on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese War Minister Anami said the military could commit 2,350,000 troops to continue fighting. In addition, commanders could call on 4 million civil servants for military duty! Without the 2 atomic bombs, the war would have dragged on until 1947 or even later possibly. A protracted, brutal land invasion of the Japanese home islands would have resulted in horrific casualties for both the Allied and the Japanese. The Japanese literally worshiped Emperor Hirohito as a god, and would have tenaciously fought to the last man as they did on Okinawa and other islands.

A few years after the atomic bomb was developed, the hydrogen bomb (thermonuclear) was developed by the United States. It used a combination of nuclear fission and fusion to produce far more energy. The  first atomic bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to 20,000 tons of TNT or 84 terajoules. Whereas the first thermonuclear (“hydrogen”) bomb  released energy approximately equal to 10 million tons of TNT or 42 petajoules. One petajoule is 10^15 joules (1 million billion) or 278 gigawatt hours. This is equivalent to the electricity used by  2,354,000 televisions in a year!

The first thermonuclear bomb was developed by the United States under the code name Ivy Mike. It was detonated on November 1, 1952, on the island of Elugelab in Enewetak Atoll, in the now independent island nation of the Marshall Islands, as part of Operation Ivy. 

It’s scary living under the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. But, as a Christian, I have faith that God is sovereign and under full control of everything that will happen to me. And death is not the end, but only the beginning of an eternity with Him!

The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists keeps a doomsday clock of how close we are to doomsday. And it’s currently at 100 seconds to midnight. In other words, we are extremely close to a doomsday scenario involving the use of nuclear weapons.

Here are some photos of atomic and thermonuclear explosions.

Martyrdom is no stranger to the Church. During the 1st century at the birth of the Church, and on through the next nearly 3 centuries the Christian community of believers was persecuted and martyred by the Roman government. Their martyrdom was the life blood of the Church. For all the persecution, the Church only grew. Today Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world.

Then with the advent and rise of Islam in the late 7th century we saw a high number of Christian martyrs as Islam spread by the sword, conquering one Christian nation after another in the Middle East. The Middle East was for at least 6 centuries Christian. 

In modern times, during the 20th century we saw widespread martyrdom happen associated with the 2 World Wars, and the rule of the Communists in Russia and China. Tens of millions of Christians were martyred. The 20th century began with the genocide of the Armenian Christians beginning on April 24, 1915 and continuing in the years after World War I. The Muslim government in Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) killed at least 1.5 million Christian Armenians. In Russia, the atheist Communists persecution of Christians began March 8, 1917.During their 70 years in power, the Soviet government killed 20 million Christians (17 million Russian Orthodox and 3 million Roman Catholic). Many of these deaths occurred during the time of dictator Joseph Stalin. In China, the ruthless atheist Communist dictator Mao Zedong killed an estimated 45-70 million Chinese during the time of the decade long Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) alone.

During the 21st century we’ve again seen widespread persecution of Christians due to mainly Muslims. Also there has been significant persecution from Communist, Hindu, and Buddhist groups. According to a report by The Center for the Study of Global Christianity, at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 900,000 Christians have been martyred in the last decade leading up to mid-2021. That’s 90,000 a year and works out to one Christian martyred every six minutes! And it’s predicted there will be 900,000 more martyrs per 10 years by 2025 and 1,000,000 every 10 years by 2050.

Dr. Todd M. Johnson,  Professor of Global Christianity and Mission at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary estimates that more than 70 million Christians have been martyred over the last 2,000 years. With more than half of those deaths occurring during the 20th century alone.

According to Open Doors‘ World Watch List 2021, 340 million Christians live in places where they experience high levels of persecution and discrimination, just for following Jesus. That’s 1 out of every 8 Christians globally! There was also a 60% increase in the number of Christians killed for their faith in the past year. 66% of the 2.3 billion Christians in the world today are in jeopardy. They live in dangerous communities, and they’re often poor and belong to linguistic, ethnic and cultural minorities.

Here‘s Open Doors’ World Watch List 2021 showing the top 50 countries worldwide for Christian persecution.

1 Corinthians 12:26 If one part [of the Body of Christ] suffers, every part suffers with it.

Please remember to pray for persecuted Christians worldwide. And help in a material way if the Lord places the opportunity before you! Let us live as they did, with a singular devotion to Christ and an active living faith of obedience. Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” May we live a sanctified life, of continual repentance, obeying Christ’s commandments to us, and living for Him by the power of the Holy Spirit!

From the time I’ve been a small boy, about 5 years old, I’ve been an Elvis fan! My parents played his records on our old stereo. I’ve come across few male vocalists who have a combination of sheer power in their voice, the ability to convey emotion and feeling, the mastery of phrasing and intonation, and possessing a magnetic charisma which truly made them a superstar performer. Elvis had all of these in abundance.

Here is Elvis’ performing one of my favorites, “An American Trilogy”. The sheer power and command of his voice is dazzling! Elvis poured his heart and soul into every performance.

Here is a nice article on Elvis’ lifelong love of gospel music. “It was the gospel music that he turned to for inspiration and consolation. He was a person who appeared to be in conflict; he was not doing what he loved for a living … he had a career that had just taken him captive,” said Gospel Music Association President Frank Breeden.

Here’s my favorite Elvis gospel song, “How Great Thou Art”, which  he won his first Grammy for.

When Elvis’ beloved mother died, he was absolutely devastated and never got over it. It would haunt him until his last days. Elvis died tragically, at the age of only 42. Years of an unhealthy diet with high fat, high cholesterol, and high calories, and abuse of prescription drugs culminated in his death from heart failure. There’s still controversy over exactly what Elvis died from. You can read about it here. One startling fact from the Wikipedia article: In the first eight months of 1977 alone, George Nichopoulos, Elvis’ main physician,  had prescribed more than 10,000 doses of sedatives, amphetamines, and narcotics!

And here is my favorite Elvis’ song, “If I Can Dream” which was written after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Elvis delivers a huge emotional impact, singing powerfully!