The Amalek Mind-set is Alive and Well on Planet Earth 509 - 10 - 8

Past into the present:

From last week, Who and Where is Amalek Today?

“’Today, though Amalek definitely and unfortunately exists, we cannot say with certainty who, or where, all of them are. However, there is a noteworthy exception. When Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany visited Jerusalem during his journey to the Holy Land almost all the religious leaders of Jerusalem came to the city gates to greet him. Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (d.1932), the spiritual leader of Ashkenazic Jewry in Israel at that time, did not go. When asked about his refusal he answered that although the Kaiser himself was deserving of the honor bestowed upon him, “I have a tradition that Germany is Amalek.”’

[http://www.breslov.org/who-and-where-is-amalek-today/]

Present, The United Nations:

The UN seems to suffer from obsessive-compulsive behavior when it comes to Israel. Repeatedly Israel is condemned for human rights violation and yet she remained only democracy in the area. The only way this mindset could exist is if it’s a throwback to that of the Amalek. So many examples including this recent resolution.

UN Human Rights Council passes five anti-Israel resolutions Friday March 26, 2017

[https://kehilanews.com/2017/03/26/un-human-rights-council-passes-five-anti-israel-resolutions-friday/]

Present, The "Christian" Church:

I don't have to go far from my home In Quartzsite, AZ to find anti-Semitism within church bodies that consider themselves to be Christians.

An example is a fundamentalist Independent Baptist church in Tempe, Arizona, Faithful Word Baptist Church founded by Pastor Steven Anderson. A recent sermon goes far beyond replacement theology into denial of the Holocaust.

Steven Anderson brands all the Still-Living Holocaust Survivors as “Paid Liars” who are simply lying when they talk about their experiences in Hitler’s Death Camps.

[http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/baptist-pastor-steven-anderson-says-jewish-holocaust-survivors-are-all-paid-liars/]

Present, media:

Evangelical/Leftist/Progressive/Hippie/Radical/Activist Shane Claiborne alleges that Jesus Christ was a refugee and teaches this to Millennials. He posted a cartoon of what appears to be Mary and Joseph in a life raft, approaching a beach patrolled by an Israeli soldier. The IDF soldier stops the little family, stating, “Sorry. There’s no room.”

Jim Fletcher writer, researcher, speaker, and director of Prophecy Matters wrote concerning Claiborne, “That given the nation’s biblical illiteracy, coupled with Millennials’ general gullibility—we were all once young and naïve—progressives like Claiborne are free to roam around presenting false history and get away with it. In this case of historical revisionism, the victim is the democratic state of Israel, a champion of women’s and minority rights, among other things.”

[http://www.raptureready.com/2017/03/12/iw-mar-12-2017/]

Technology Entertainment and Design is a community organized lecture by Anna Blech. She is the winner of numerous awards as a high school student for her paper Downplaying the Holocaust: Arthur Hays Sulzberger and The New York Times”. Ms. Blech created this informative video of media denial and cover up.

Why Jewish People Can Never Again Rely on the World to Come to Its Defense

[http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/why-jewish-people-can-never-again-rely-on-the-world-to-come-to-its-defense/]

Although the Amalek Mind-set is Alive and Well on Planet Earth there is hope, reason and resolve.

Present, voices of reason:

“Bible, Not Google, Gives Jews Right to Judea and Samaria” Declares Secular Israeli Minister in Washington

“The shift towards Biblical language among the heads of Israel’s government was visible this week at a Washington event held at the annual AIPAC conference, with one politician proclaiming that the land of Israel was given to the Jews not by Google and Wikipedia, but by the Bible.”

[https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/85831/bible-not-google-gives-jews-right-land-secular-israeli-minister/#UDzy0LvF03x7ILyJ.97]

President Trump is said to be considering moving our US embassy to Jerusalem, just do it already!

Is there a deeper meaning to the words of Jesus, “The volume of the book is written of Me 509 - 10 - 6

Psalm 40:6-8, “6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” 

These verses are distinctly Messianic! God had required sacrifices and offerings for the nation of Israel as types of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus as a propitiation for sins. John 1:29, “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

A few verses earlier, Psalm 40:2. “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” Resurrection after three days and nights in the tomb? Brings to mind Daniel 2:43, “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.”

The stone cut out of the mountain without hands that shattered the status in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was a foretelling of Jesus at the end of days. The miry clay could relate to Genesis 6:2, “That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” A little further out of the box, Jude 1:6, “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” 

Jesus was quoted by Paul as confirmation, Hebrews 10:6-7, “6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”

A mystery in Numbers 21:8, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live.” Explained in John 3:14, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up.” Again Jesus, a propitiation for sins.

Hundreds of Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, and yet Matthew 7:14, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Rather most rush through the wide gate “that leadeth to destruction.” 

44 Messianic Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus Christ

[https://www.thoughtco.com/prophecies-of-jesus-fulfilled-700159]

353 Prophecies Fulfilled in Jesus Christ

[http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html]

The Magnificat 531-1 - 1 - 4

Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel, God’s messenger. Luke 1:31, “And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.” It took a little convincing by Gabriel as Mary was a virgin, however, Luke 1:38, “And Mary said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.” 

God in Genesis foretold the virgin birth 3:15, “and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Mary was of the house of David through Nathan, the son of King David thus circumventing the blood curse of Jeconiah.

Gabriel also told Mary her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, miraculous as Elizabeth was barren and “well stricken in years.” Mary visited Elizabeth and Luke 1:44, “For behold, when the voice of thy salutation came into mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.” 

Mary's Song of Praise, often called The Magnificat

Luke 1:46-47, “46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour (G4990).”

Saviour, G4990, a deliverer, that is, God or Christ. Mary made no claim of being a co-creator. Most meaningful to me as, like Mary, I'm humbly in need of a deliverer.

Luke 1:48, “For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.”

Mary would be called blessed not that she would bestow blessings. 

Luke 1:49-50, “49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.”

Mary is in a passive role but recognized fear of God is rewarded with mercy.

Luke 1:51-53, “51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.”

Romans 2:11, “For there is no respect of persons with God.”

Luke 1:54-55, “54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55  As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.”

Mary speaks with gratitude for the eternal faithfulness God has for His chosen people.

In 2 John refers to the “elect lady and her children.” Mary, the elect lady, who John is warning to be on guard against those who will come in her name with false teachings to lead her children, the Church, astray. 

The Jesus Film Based on the Gospel of Luke Movie 531-1 - 1 - 8

God works in many ways and what often is considered a coincident is anything but. The story of a 12-year old Maori girl, Tarore, of the Waikato tribe being given a copy of the Gospel of Luke in in her language is both tragic and awesome. The translation of the Gospel of Luke was completed in 1835 by The Bible Society and only 100 copies were printed including the one given to Tarore.

The story goes that the warring Rotorua tribe attacked Tarore's village killing her and taking her precious book. Eventually the Rotorua chief hear a translation of the gospel of Luke in his language and was converted. The convicted chief eventually made peace with Tarore's tribe resulting in many conversion to Christianity.

As for the text, “In his preface, Luke reveals himself as a historian. He describes the source materials to which he had access and the method he followed. Then he explains his purpose in writing. From the human standpoint he had two types of source materials—written accounts of the life of Christ and oral reports by those who were eye-witnesses of the events in His life.”

[Believer’s Bible Commentary]

The Gospel of Luke has been very successful as a witnessing tool. The Jesus Film (also simply called Jesus) produced in 1979 is a Biblical drama film that uses the Gospel of Luke as the basis for the story of the life of Jesus Christ. It was filmed on location in Israel and financed primarily by Campus Crusade for Christ with a budget of $6 million.

In 1981 American evangelist Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, created the Jesus Film Project Organization. The organization’s goal was to “Accurately translating Jesus into other languages and showing them around the world. The first translation was done for the Tagalog-speaking people of the Philippines. The organization works with thousands of missionaries around the world to show the film, sometimes to audiences who have never seen a motion picture. The Mandarin Chinese version of the film is widely distributed in China by the government-linked China Christian Council's Amity Foundation in Nanjing, both on VCDs and DVD.”

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_(1979_film)]

The Official Jesus Film Project Ministry Statistics – January 12, 2017 lists 1,501 as the Total number of languages available with an audience in the billions and more than 200 million people "Indicated decisions for Christ following a film showing."

[http://www.jesusfilm.org/about/learn-more/statistics.html]

The full movie, The Gospel according to Luke is located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTb4UIbnOHE

Esther wanted the ten sons of Haman to be “hung on a tree.” 509 - 9 - 6

God wasn’t fond of the Amalekite, descendants of Amalek, Esau’s grandson, Genesis 36:12, “And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau's son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek. Amalek was the first nation to attack Israel as they left Egypt and God declared that Israel would have war with Amalek in every generation. Exodus 17:14, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”

Through the prophet Samuel God commanded King Saul to destroy the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:3, “Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” Nevertheless, King Saul took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive as well as the best of the livestock in direct violation of God’s commandment.

1 Samuel 15:26, “And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.” Samuel “l hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.”

Haman of the Book of Esther was a descendant of Amalek.

Per CM’s PDF, “The execution of the ten sons of Haman completed the utter destruction of Amalek.” This was in fulfillment of Esther’s request.

Who and Where is Amalek Today?

“’Today, though Amalek definitely and unfortunately exists, we cannot say with certainty who, or where, all of them are. However, there is a noteworthy exception. When Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany visited Jerusalem during his journey to the Holy Land almost all the religious leaders of Jerusalem came to the city gates to greet him. Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld (d.1932), the spiritual leader of Ashkenazic Jewry in Israel at that time, did not go. When asked about his refusal he answered that although the Kaiser himself was deserving of the honor bestowed upon him, “I have a tradition that Germany is Amalek.”’

[http://www.breslov.org/who-and-where-is-amalek-today/]

So are there any Amalek alive today or is it a mind-set? There is another theory.

“It is traditionally believed that the German Nazis were of direct descendants of Amalek, thereby making them literal and biological “sons of Haman” (14). This could be the case and is definitely a valid viewpoint. Even if this is not the case, the ten executed Nazis still could have been considered as “sons of Haman” because they were clearly tied in with the same antichrist-spirit as the original ten sons of Haman.”

[http://joshpeckdisclosure.blogspot.com/2014/08/haman-to-hitler-secret-nazi-prophecy.html]

Anti-Semitic activities are on the increase throughout the planet. More rockets were fired from Gaza recently with one exploding within Gaza, oops. Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized and the boycott of Israel products is main-stream. The United Nations never misses an opportunity to accuse Israel of human rights violations. Thankfully the Trump administration is pro-Israel, however, there are years of Amalek mind-set damage to undo. 

Quite a difference between retribution and retaliation. 509 - 9 - 2

Superficially retribution and retaliation seem similar, however, first a few definitions.

Retribution:

• recompense, reward
• the dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment especially in the hereafter
• something given or exacted in recompense; especially:  punishment

Recompense:

recompensed; recompensing

• transitive verb: a:  to give something to by way of compensation (as for a service rendered or damage incurred) b:  to pay for
• to return in kind:  requite

Retaliate:

• retaliated; retaliating
• transitive verb:  to repay in kind retaliate an injury
• intransitive verb:  to return like for like; especially:  to get revenge

[Merriam-Webster]

Per CM, Retribution and Retaliation are very distinct words and he provides insightful lists from sermon notes by Ken Ortiz.

Retaliation is always Negative, Personal, Amoral, Punitive, Angry, Bitter, Vindictive, Wrathful and Human.

Retribution is Sometimes Positive, Impersonal, Moral, Consequential, Dispassionate, Judicious, Just, Self-controlled and God-like.

CM adds that Retribution is a basis of life, “a deserved punishment; return for evil done; or sometimes good.” CM follow-up verses; Matthew 7:2, Psalm 18:25, 26, Isaiah 35:4; 59:18 and Galatians 6:7, 8.

One of the above verses that I try to remember is Matthew 7:2, “For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” 

Retaliate is literally to “pay back” means “to pay back a wrong or injury; return like for like, usually to return evil for evil. CM follow-up verses 1 Peter 3:9 “Not rendering evil for evil…” and Romans 12:19 “...Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.”

The study of the Book of Esther recalls Genesis 12:3. As Joel Richardson reminds us, someday a Jew will rule the world.

“We must recognize that the phrase “the day of vengeance” is not merely a general reference to the end times; rather, it is a very specific phrase speaking of the Lord’s retribution against Israel’s enemies and the ultimate triumph of Israel. Although the Scriptures are clear that Israel will experience a very great purging immediately before this time, “the day of vengeance” is specifically “for the cause of Zion” (Isaiah. 34: 8). It is always a reference to the Lord coming in revenge to save Israel from her enemies in her darkest hour and to execute a decisive and final judgment against them.”

[When A Jew Rules the World: What the Bible Really Says About Israel in the Plan of God by Joel Richardson]

Isaiah 34:8, "For it is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, and the year of recompences (H7966) for the controversy of Zion." 

Recompences, H7966, from the root H7999; a requital, that is, (secure) retribution, (venal) a fee: - recompense, reward. H7999,to be safe;  completed; by implication to be friendly; by extension to reciprocate: make amends... recompense, render, requite, make restitution, restore, reward.

Queen Esther’s showed great courage by appearing before the King un-requested 509 - 8 - 1

Lots of drama in the story of Esther. Through the deception of Haman Esther’s people were to be slaughtered about a year hence. Esther was unaware of this but heard that Mordecai was wearing sackcloth and in anguish. Through palace intrigue, a copy of the decree calling for the extermination of the Jewish people was sent back to the queen along with an order from Mordecai to use her office as queen to intercede for her people.

Nevertheless it was a capital offense for anyone to appear in the inner court of the king without invitation. The exception would be if the king extended his golden scepter to the petitioner. Several years had passed since her wedding to the king; From Esther 4:11, “but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.”

Mordecai’s reply was very to the point. Esther 4:14, “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther called for a three-day period of fasting by the Jewish population and then she would approach the king in opposition to the law of the land.

Esther had what seemed a wonderful life, however and in my opinion, she was like a bird in a gilded cage to answer whenever they king requested her presence. Since the king had not requested her presence for a month there was a possibility that the rather capricious king had lost interest in her and would not hold out the Golden scepter thereby condemning her to death.

Fasting and praying, Esther put on the "The Whole Armor of God" against Haman, a type of the 20th Century Hitler. Ephesians 6:12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Esther was a Jew in a court of pagans. however, she could still say "If I perish, I perish." Esther approached the king, he extended his golden scepter and Esther’s people were spared extermination.  

Esther placed the survival of her own people ahead of her own life and her office as queen to the powerful king. She was willing to risk both her royal station and her life. Not only was Esther very brave, she was a very humble woman.

Esther arranged two banquets for the king and saved her people 509 - 8 - 3

“The Lower Story, our story, is actually many stories of men and women interacting with God in the daily course of life. The Upper Story is God's story. The Bible contains an Upper Story and a Lower Story. The Upper Story tells the big picture, the grand narrative of God unfolding throughout history. The Lower Story contains the sometimes delightful, other times appalling particulars of human experience. Without the lens of the Upper Story, the Lower Story seems out of focus and perplexing.”

[ Randy Frazee “The Upper Story and a Lower Story”]

The following paragraph deals with the “lower story” between Esther, her king and the scheming Haman.

“Opinions vary as to why Esther planned these two delays before making her request: (1) She wanted time to ingratiate herself with the king, having apparently been out of favor with him (see notes on Est_4:9-12); (2) her courage failed her both times; (3) she wanted to build up an element of suspense and impress upon the king that her business was vitally important and no mere whim; (4) she wanted to inflate Haman's pride and take him off guard before she exposed him as a vicious murderer. Perhaps elements of all these ideas entered into her strategy.”

[Believer’s Bible Commentary]

While the four main characters in this drama were interacting in the “lower story” God was busy in the “upper story.” It wasn’t in God’s timing for Esther to present her request to the king during the first banquet.

That night God kept King Xerxes from sleeping so the king had the chronicles of his reign read to him. A divine "coincidence" you think? The portion read to the King detailed the attempt on his life and that Mordeca prevented it several years earlier. When the king realized that Mordeca had not been rewarded he arranged to have Haman perform a great tribute for Mordeca, the same Mordeca who Haman sought to destroy.

God was in control of the timing for the tribute to Mordeca. So by the time for the second banquet Haman must have been both enraged against Mordeca and fearful that his plot against Mordeca and the Jews would come out.

Esther presented her request before the king asking for her own life and the lives of her people who were sentenced to death. The king asked who had instigated the plot against Esther’s people.

 Esther 7:6, “And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.” The king stormed out and Haman begged Esther to intercede for him. Perhaps it was God who tripped Haman causing him to fall on top of Esther as the king walked back into the banquet room. Haman was executed on the gallows he had built for Mordeca.

Eventually the king allowed Esther and Mordecai to write and distribute another decree counteracting the first decree created by Haman. The Jewish race was saved!

Satan has used his “puppets” throughout history to try to thwart the plan of God. 509 - 7 - 5

God hates pride. Pride was the motive behind Satan’s fall when he sought to rise above God. Satan appealed to Eve in the garden first through doubt and then by appealing to her pride by saying “you could become like God.” There are warning against pride in the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs 13:10 "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom" and Proverbs 16:18, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."

Lust is another tool in Saran’s toolbox. God called King David “a man after his own heart,” however, 2 Samuel 12:10, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.”

Murders and betrayals were legion with the descendants of King David. Most notably was the horrific actions around King Jehoram of Judah and his wife Athaliah.    

“2 Chronicles 1:4-6 Judah's fifth king chose to walk in the way of the kings of Israel instead of in the way of David. Jehoram was a murderer and an idolater. He ruthlessly killed all his own brothers to strengthen his hold on the throne. Scripture leaves us in no doubt as to the evil influence that caused Jehoram to act so wickedly: His wife was Ahab's daughter (v. 6). Earlier Jehoshaphat had arranged the marriage between the two kingdoms, and now Judah was infected with the same wickedness that was ruining Israel. Ahab's daughter Athaliah was a tool in Satan's hands to bring judgment on God's people.”

[Believer's Bible Commentary]

After eight years Jehoram died and his son Ahaziah was crowned king. Within one year Ahaziah and his brothers and their sons were murdered. Athaliah became queen and then “destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah” except for Joash.

Israel (Northern Kingdom) was defeated by Assyria and the northern tribes exiled and co-mingled with other races losing their Jewish identity. 2 King 17:6, “In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.”

The evil and prideful Haman plotted the massacre the Jews after Mordecai’s refusal to bow to him. Esther 3:6, “And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai”

So many plots against Israel throughout history including:

Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) ransacked Jerusalem, prohibited Torah practice, and set up the “Abomination of Desolation” in the Temple. God raised up the Maccabean who recaptured and rededicated the Temple.

The Roman Catholic Church has long been hostile to the Jewish race. The RCC’s Concordat with Hitler’s Third Reich was pretty much a blessing to exterminate the Jewish race.

Reich Concordat 1933.

"The Reich Concordat was an agreement that was intended to regulate the relationship between the German Reich and the Catholic Church. It was signed by representatives of both entities on July 20, 1933, and ratified on September 10, 1933."

[http://holocaustonline.org/reich-concordat-1933/]

As a Christian, the question of how should I behave towards those in authority is important 509 - 7 - 3

Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous (H6662) are in authority, the people rejoice (H8055): but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn (H584).”

Righteous, H6662, From H6663; just, lawful, righteous (man). H6663, to be right cleanse, clear self, just, turn to righteousness.

Rejoice, H8055, probably to brighten up, that is, be made gleesome, glad, joy, merry

Mourn, H584, to sigh: groan

IMO, the Obama administration was a long eight years for most conservatives and especially for BACs to witness the denigration of morals in an age where many conformed to Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness (H2822) for light (H216), and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”

Darkness, H2822, From H2821; the dark; hence (literally) darkness; figuratively misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness: night, obscurity. H2821, A primitive root; to be dark (as withholding light); transitively to darken: - be black, be (make) dark, darken, cause darkness, be dim, hide.

Light, H216, From H215; illumination, happiness, bright, clear. H215, A primitive root; to make luminous (literally and metaphorically): break of day, glorious, kindle, set on fire, shine.

As for me, it does seem like emerging from a long dark tunnel into the light. Much as I disliked most of what Obama stood for I always honored the office of the Presidency of the United States. When Obama was in office I didn’t riot, post fake news and other activities that seem to be materializing in the form of an Obama/ Soros shadow government. Prayers are very much needed for the protection of President Trump, his family and administration.

Regardless of who is/ are in authority, Paul tells us to pray for them. 1 Timothy 2:1-4. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” Obama really needs our prayers! 

As an aside, my all-time favorite movie is Fiddler on the Roof. A classic line concerning those in authority is:

Leibesh: Rabbi! May I ask you a question?

Rabbi: Certainly, Lebisch!

Leibesh: Is there a proper blessing... for the Tsar?

Rabbi: A blessing for the Tsar? Of course! May God bless and keep the Tsar... far away from us!

As the Jews were being expelled from their town in Russia there was some discussion:

Lazar Wolf: We can fight to keep our home.

Constable: Against our militia, our army? I wouldn't advise that!

Tevye: I have some advice for you. Get off my land. This is still my home, my land. Get off my land.

The end of the movie is sad as villagers are departing their homes. However, there still is optimism as the matchmaker says “Next year in Jerusalem” and others discuss their destinations, several in America.

[Word Studies, Strong’s]