The Secret of the Kingdom

Luke 17:20 Being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The Kingdom of God doesn’t come with observation;

21 neither will they say, ‘Look, here!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ for behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.”

Jesus spoke often of the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven. Whether or not these are one and the same is another matter. For the purposes of this essay, I’ll treat them as one as, if these two terms do refer to different Kingdoms or different aspects of the same Kingdom, the same principles apply either way.

The sharpest among you have surely made the leap already.

How many times did Jesus say “the Kingdom of God is at hand.”? I’ll answer for you – once. He said “the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” three times. The words “at hand” means close to us in time and/or space. What if there is another meaning?

Consider a teacher instructing an apt student. The teacher tries to convey an important albeit abstract concept. He can see the student consistently overlooks the one important aspect that would make everything crystal clear.” He says “You are almost there.”. In other words, the solution to this problem is at hand. Such is the Kingdom of God.

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

King James Version (KJV)

Wait. What?! Look at verses 3 and 4 in the World English Bible (WEB)

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;

4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds,

Verse 4a says “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh” (or carnal in the KJV). The word for flesh and carnal share the same root in the Greek. Let me ask you… if something is not of the flesh, then of what is it? Of course, scripture often compares the flesh with the spirit, but here, let’s consider verse 5…

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Hmmmm – imaginations and knowledge, bringing into captivity every thought. There you have it. Humans think in pictures and… words. Let’s take this one step further.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The word of God is sharper than any twoedged sword. Where else is the word of God compared to a sword?

Ephesians 6:17b …the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

This verse is near the end of the great passage revealing the true nature of our warfare.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

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.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Notice how every aspect of the armour of God is directly related to words. This is a spiritual truth. This is why prayer is powerful, why we are exhorted to renew our minds, and why Jesus said “the Kingdom of God is within you”. Ask yourself… “within you” where? In your feet? In your belly? No! In your “heart” – a figure of speech indicating the very center of your being. In other words, your mind.

What a revolutionary statement! No other creature formed on earth can rival man’s ability to communicate with words. We exist on a higher plain, just as spiritual beings exist on a plain higher than ours. I am not so sure it started out that way. Adam communed with God on a personal level. From the scriptural accounts one can ascertain their relationship was not like our own at all. While born again believers have regained the potential to operate in the spiritual realm, we are not quite complete… yet.

1 Corinthians 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Some use this passage to justify their contention believers can no longer operate the nine manifestations of the spirit. Personally, I find this ironic considering this passage follows on the heels of the most detailed treatment of the manifestations of the spirit and instruction and exhortation on speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy – three of the nine manifestations. Why bother with this at all and then say “oh, yeah, use this while you can because when I pen my last epistle, all of this is done because then the new testament scriptures will be complete”. Do note, neither Paul, nor any of the early church fathers said this… ever.

The Apostle Paul, however, did indicate when “that perfect will come” will be a reality, and he was not alone. Of course I speak of the return of Christ. He is perfect and he certainly will come. At that time:

1 Corinthians 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We shall all be changed. Isn’t that wonderful? And, oh gee look, this passage comes soon after that one I wrote of before! Go figure. In the same epistle even. Huh. Context! By this I mean, rather than taking a few verses out here and there, do consider the whole – where and how it fits. Surely there are some asides in these epistles and elsewhere but overall it is our job to rightly divide and discern how these things apply.

2 Timothy 2:15 (KJV) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The WEB presents this in a different light

2 Timothy 2:15 (WEB) Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth.

This is one reason why it can be helpful to compare different versions. I do this quickly and easily using the free software Theophilos, but one can also use online tools such as the Blue Letter Bible. To be fair the BLB is actually a stronger tool as it allows the student to instantly seek out the meanings of the words used – such as “study vs give diligence” above. The results of such studies are not always conclusive but they more often than not offer far more insight than simply reading one version or even comparing two or more.

Talk about asides. 🙂

So what is the Secret of the Kingdom? Jesus told us in the verse at the beginning of this post. Beyond that, the Kingdom of God is accessed by us mere humans by the utterly simple means of accepting Jesus, the Messiah, as Lord and Savior.

2 Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Romans 10:8a But what saith it?

Romans 10:8b The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Romans 10:9 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.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.

13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Romans 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

In part one of this post, I took to task those who scoff at “mere words”. The “mere words” they love to scoff at are God’s words i.e. His WORD. These same scoffers will then use words to justify their claims and even more words to deceive and control anyone within earshot. Controllers overwhelmingly control via words. It is only when those words are ignored do they then apply force.

Words are the substance of human society and iteration. They set us above all other earthly creatures. In Genesis, God destroyed the tower of Babel and confused man’s language. Why?

Genesis 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

God knows the power of words. Read Genesis from the beginning. The phrase “And God said…” occurs numerous times in the “creation” account. (Pop quiz: How many times does Genesis says God created? The answer may surprise you.) Consider just some of those things God said about words.

Psalms 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Proverbs 15:26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.

Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Micah 2:7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

Luke 9:26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.

1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword

Thus I urge you to take the words and Word of God to heart. The day will come when you will either be glad you did or woe your decision to ignore them.

Just Words… Again

How many people today snort in contempt when someone mentions God’s Word? How many roll their eyes when God is mentioned? Are you one of them? For those who believe – how much do you believe? My own confession may surprise you. I’d have to say – it depends. Depends on what? How much I believe depends on how certain I am what is held forth as God’s Word truly is just that – God’s Word. It depends on my understanding. While I don’t have to understand something to believe it, I tend to believe more strongly in those things I understand best. Don’t we all?

No matter how much, or little, stock you put in God’s Word, as you understand it, let’s say we consider the concept of words in general. As a writer, I know words can be powerful. They can also be as wimpy as that 98 lb weakling on the beach. Then again, you need not be a writer to understand this. We’ve all been hurt by words. Many times words can cause pain far worse than a beat down. Ironically, much of the pain depends on the source. Keep this in mind…

If you would, stop for a moment and consider the events of your day. Pay particular attention to those things you see. Single out the “news” items. Let’s dump the news items concerning actual, physical violence for now. Instead let us zero in on, oh say, government doings, shall we? What do you see?

Depending on the day, chances are you are seeing some sort of legal action. You might be viewing reports on what law enforcement is or is not doing. Congress is sure to be up to one thing or another, as is our state legislatures and governors. You might notice none of them, with the exception of law enforcement, carries weapons. We’ll get to the law enforcement bit in a moment.

First let’s consider the lawmakers. By now you know where I’m going with this. Whether they are current involved in actual legislative action or they are jockeying for one agenda or another, they are using words. Laws are words. Political platforms are words. Don’t all legal actions boil down to what the words really mean? Ask any lawyer, the heart of any law is comprised of the definitions included.

Moving on to law enforcement, of course weapons are typically used. That said, the true force of law is not in weaponry but in the words. Without words, there are no laws to be enforced. Indeed, without our the words of our Constitution, we have no basis to even define laws. Warrants are words empowering those enforcing the law to search, to seize, to arrest. Summons call citizens and non-citizens to courts of law where their fate is determined on the words presented.

Beyond the realm of legislatures, laws, and courts, now consider some other stories vying for your attention. Is it fair to say words, in one way or another, influenced or are even directly involved in these acts? Violence does not happen in a vacuum. Even accidents often are the result of someone ignoring the rules of the road expressed in words.

In fact, the deeper you dig the more you will discover the roots of nearly all human activity are either expressed in or the direct result of… words.

Our nation was founded upon our Constitution – words. Our forefathers’ beliefs were based on what they learned in their youth, be it from the scriptures, from the classics, or from their elders. All words. Our laws take form in words. From the highest offices of the land to the most secret places in the darkest depths, the most damning and damaging weapons used against us are words.

So… and I’m speaking to you unbelievers and neer believers – go ahead – scoff at God’s Word. For those of you to envision an angry, vengeful god, take note, you are so very, very wrong.

Mark 10:17 And as he was going forth into the way, there ran one to him, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, even God.

19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor thy father and mother.

What did Jesus tell this fellow? Did he laugh in his face? Deride him? No. He told him simply to heed the commandments he’d been taught from his youth. You know what they are but I’ll post them here as a reminder.

Exodus 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.

Note Jesus listed only seven of the ten. Which ones did he omit? Have no other Gods, do not make idols, and remember the sabbath. Those first two were likely a given considering the man was asking one he addressed as “good master”, in other words, a respected rabbi and not some priest representing any false god. As for remembering the sabbath, I don’t know why he didn’t include it.

None of these omissions detract from my point – only one of the above even hints at possible vengeance and that one merely states “Jehovah will not hold him guiltless”. More importantly, what do these commandments actually require?

For the most part that we treat others decently. How awful! What terrible god would require such things? (Do I need a sarcasm tag here?) So many have and will point out all the killing and such detailed in the scriptures. Two of these are among the most brutal.

In Judges, there is the story of a Levite who takes a concubine. Scripture says she “played the harlot”. Many verses later, the man literally cuts her into twelve pieces and “sent her throughout all the borders of Israel”. Ouch. Again, this man was a Levite or one of God’s priests class.

The second passage results in Israel’s first king, Saul, losing his kingdom.

1 Samuel 15:28 And Samuel said unto him, Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine, that is better than thou.

Why? What did he do? What commandment did he fail at keeping?

 And Samuel said unto Saul, Jehovah sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of Jehovah.

2 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.

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.

That’s right. God commanded King Saul to totally obliterate Amalek – everyone and every thing, even the babies. And Saul did just that… almost. Where did he fail?

1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

You read right. Saul spared the Amalek King Agag, and the best livestock. In other words he showed mercy (and a bit of greed) and lost his Kingdom because of it. As brutal as this seems, our Heavenly Father’s logic turned out to be absolutely infallible. Go figure. Because the Amalek line was allowed to continue, this tribe caused no end of trouble for Israel. It was an Amalekite who eventually killed Saul. So much for mercy.

Moving on to the main point, the scriptures overwhelmingly encourage and exhort us to be good and do good. This is particularly true of the New Testament. If we were to heed God’s words in these pages, this world would indeed be a peaceful and joyous planet.

To you they may just be “words” to me they are words of life. Just words? You tell me. Out of all the words in all the places in the world today – what words are better than those found between the the covers of the Holy Bible? If our understanding of the significance of words ended there, we could all lead very blessed lives. But what if there’s more… much more? Well there is. Stay tuned for part two – the Secret of the Kingdom.

The End Times, The Church, and The Seven Mountains

The Seven Mountains is a Lance Wallnau thing. Since he brought all this up on The Lance Wallnau Show on RAV, I’ll offer some random thoughts on his commentary.

If I understood Lance correctly, he was saying the return of Christ has more to do with the Church (or the Body of Christ) than what this government or that media outlet or some technology does. Moreover he emphasized how important it is for Christians to spread out and take territory on each of these mountains. In part he issued a caveat about depending leaders in the Church or in politics to be the tip of the spear.

The example of Church leadership was one I found fascinating as I nodded my head in agreement. He spoke of pastors of small and large churches whose whole focus was on growing their church rather than preparing parishioners to spread out into the world.

Now I don’t see this in every church, in fact, one church my wife and I were involved in, “The Vineyard”, was taking steps to take more territory. The focus of this particular group was Ukraine and, more specifically Ukrainian orphans. This was nearly 20 years ago, long before Ukraine was in the daily world headlines. While I had and have some problems with their efforts, I participated and supported them. It’s not that they were “wrong” but my question was about the outreach in our own community, or the lack of thereof.

Overall, I think it would be worthwhile to study those churches that have grown rather than shrunk to see what we can learn about them. Then one can determine what efforts are worth attempting to duplicate. To me, the key to growth would logically be tied to outreach. And that brings us right back to the gist of what Lance was saying.

Much of what Wallnau was saying dovetails into some of my recent posts. Okay, so you might have to actually think about all this a bit. What have I been saying? Grow where you are planted. I guarantee you, wherever you are in life, you are on one of those seven mountains. Grow how? Grow as a Christian and grow as a professional. Better yet, grow as a Christian professional. I don’t care if you are management in a Fortune 500 company or waiting tables – you are there for a reason. What you make of it is up to you.

Where I struggle with Lance’s ideas is where he seemed to say what God does will be dependent on what the Church does. To me this suggests the Church, not God is in control – or at least we have have the wheel. There is some precedence for this line of thinking for example:

It is often stated by some scholars that if Jews had accepted Christ as their Messiah the earthly kingdom would have been established then. If this had indeed happened, then what of this current age? It seems it would be skipped. So, along with this same line of thought, could the return of Christ Jesus be tied to what the Church does? Lance seems to think so. I’m not so sure.

Lance himself quoted Jesus who stated before his return the gospel must be published to all nations. This suggests to me at least one specific criteria. Jesus also said only our Heavenly Father knows the exact day and time when he, Jesus, will return. This makes me think that God does indeed has a punch list of specific criteria and He’s keeping most of it to Himself. Who am I to argue? Should this be true then the idea of an open-ended period of time for everything that must happen to come about is unlikely. In short, I do not think God Almighty is going to wait on us to make things happen. However there is another aspect to all this that seems to support my contention that the time and date for Jesus’ return is set and thus a “done deal”. What is that?

God already has people on all seven mountains. The Church has never operated in a vacuum. Sure, there have always been certain Christians or groups that keep mostly to themselves, but most of us, wards and all, live and work in the real world. By all means, each of us should do our best to live God’s Will to the fullest but I do believe we all fulfill His purpose even when we fail. If my life is any example, I can point to it and say for certain: we can do better. I know I surely can. The good news is I am doing better, most every day. What about you?

I cannot say because I have no idea who you are or what your place is in this world. Maybe your reading this on your break before heading back to finish mopping that floor. Or maybe your preparing to enter the boardroom and take your place at the head of the table. Chances are, you are somewhere between those two extremes. None of that matters. What does matter is what you choose to do in the next minute and every next minute after. No doubt whatever you do will have some effect on the world. Don’t count yourself out by thinking that clean floor won’t make any impact. For all you know, it could create a far greater ripple than that multi-billion dollar decision of the executive that just stepped around the wet spot. We won’t know until we’ve “leveled up”.

Meanwhile, well, let me ask you… what can The Church do in today’s world? Yes, it is a loaded question. It hints that “The Church” is a unified entity that can act in concert. Putting it that way, the fallacy is glaringly easy to see. The Church is the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.

13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all given to drink into one Spirit.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

This last verse is the wrench in the works of the “unified entity” concept. Surely if each of us perfectly served Christ, well, that would be something, but as members, we are all flawed – each and every one of us. The good news is, God knows all this. He’s got a handle on it so we need not worry about what anyone else is doing. Each of us only needs to focus on our walk. That doesn’t mean we cannot or should not lose sight of The Church, The Body of Christ, as a whole. Scripture says a lot about edifying, building up, the body. We have each other for a reason. The danger is for us to look to one individual, other than Jesus himself, to lead. The Catholic Church has their Pope. No matter what one might think of the current Pope, I think we can all agree he is vastly different than those who preceded him. My understanding is Catholics are taught not to question the Pope. I’d have a hard time reconciling the doctrine of Pope Francis with say, Pope John Paul II. Both served in my lifetime. From my non-Catholic perspective their doctrinal views counter each other significantly. Since in Popes are never supposed to be in error, how can one reconcile the two? This difference in the Catholic Church seems to have a parallel in some of our nation’s SCOTUS decisions. The current court says previous courts had certain things all wrong. This is not the first period in history where SCOTUS has overruled previous Supreme Court rulings. So what does all this have to do with The Church and the end times?

Just this: as believers in Christ, members of the Body of Christ, The Church, we should expect to hold our brethren in Christ accountable when circumstances arise. But our primary focus should be our own walk. We need to live our lives, keep those beams out of our own eyes, rather than watching to see whom we can accuse. The adversary is the accuser. We are not.

Now maybe you are a modern day Apostle Paul, such is not for me to say. You are what you are and you belong where God has placed you. I’ve no doubt Paul never once thought his letters to the churches would one day be canonized and published for billions of believers to live by. He humbled himself to serve as best he could as a man who once persecuted the Church. Certainly he knew he was a man of great influence, how could he not? But I suspect he lived each day with a heart and mind of how he could best serve his Lord Jesus and his Heavenly Father.

If there was ever an example we could learn from, a model to follow after, this would top the list. Paul’s example was simple. Walk in love. Walk in the spirit. Put on the whole armor of God. Having done all… stand.

Review of Sound of Freedom

Unless you’ve been lost at sea or something, the movie Sound of Freedom is causing quite a stir these days. All I needed to know is the globalist shills, i.e. the mainstream media is agin it. I knew I’d have to see it sometime. So what made me shell out nearly $20, drive to the nearest town big enough to have a movie theater, and blow half a day? Well, a couple of things. (I SO want to put a “THE” in front but this article doesn’t seem to be in the title.)

Not in any order but first off, my wife told me an associate had seen the movie locally. She said it was good and worth watching. Okay, so much for that but not much. I tend to ask a couple of questions of anyone who recommends any movie to me. For instance… what other movies would you recommend? This I learned back in the good ol’ days of video stores. Too often a clerk at the store would rave about a movie. I’d rent it only to find out it sucked – big time. So… what other movies do you like? Keep naming until you hit on something I recognize. If you say “Natural Born Killers”, I’m gone. On the other hand, if you list “Shawshank Redemption”, then I’m interested. I’ll pay even more heed if you agree it should have won the Academy Award over Shindler’s List. Now don’t get me wrong, I like both movies but I thought Shawshank was more deserving. Either way, it’s not a deal killer.

Then there’s the media. Calling the movie a “Q-anon conspiracy” or the like, and “filled with Hollywood tropes” gets my attention. Again, I stand by my contention that “Q-anon” was a federally sponsored psyop so such linkage suggests someone wants to ward off the sheep herd. As for “filled with Hollywood tropes”, uh, what does that mean… exactly? For me it is an empty phrase that offers no significant information.

What really got me was Disney. You know, the mega-corporation whose main bidness is marketing to kids. Word is they had the rights to the story and sat on it. Then they sold it to Angel Studios. Huh. Now, we’ve been there before but I’ll say it again. If your branding with an eye on youngsters (not in the creepy Joe Biden way) then wouldn’t it make more sense to spend more time and effort championing kids? Instead they seem more intent on wooing the pedo crowd. I’m surprised they sold those rights instead of sitting on them forever. I see the hand of God here.

So, Sound of Freedom. In short, I went, I saw, I liked. It was not what I expected at all. The crowd watching was thin on this Thursday afternoon. Most of the audience was older. Everyone was quiet. There is a special message at the end of the movie signified by a countdown timer. It was only a couple of minutes. Bluntly put, I would have ignored it but I wanted to see the casting credits to confirm one of the actors was whom I thought played the part. (It was.) Funny thing, we all stayed. Every one of us. It was interesting. I won’t offer a spoiler here. Nor will I go into detail about the movie.

I will tell you this much, it is based on a true story. How much of this is true? Well the facts stated at the end of the movie are likely accurate and this is enough for me to ignore any literary license. Pedophiles exist. Children are taken and sold, traded, and prostituted as sex slaves. As one character put it “You can sell cocaine once. You can sell a child ten times a day, every day, for ten years.” (I’ll call this a paraphrase but I think it is reasonably true to the actual words.)

What this movie is not is – it is not a documentary. It is a story, well-told and riveting. If it were total and complete fiction, it would still be a good movie. It is not political. If you happen to belong to a political party or activist group that glorifies pedophilia then you will likely scream at me about now. Have at it. Don’t expect me to visit you in hell. (Check out Matthew 18:6)

My reasons for seeing this movie are mostly above but there is one more reason I wanted to see this in an actual movie theater instead of my usual “I’ll wait for it to come out on disk.” – I wanted to financial support this movie – to make a small but clear statement to the globalists. You can’t have our children.

Now there was a surprise, and a pleasant one at that. I’ve learned there you can see the movie, in a theater, even if you are strapped for cash. The link is below to get free tickets or if you can and so desire, buy tickets for someone else.

Sound of Freedom Tickets

If you missed the trailer…

As a nation, as a people, we should be ashamed that this sort of activity is not only going on right under our very noses but we are turning deaf ears and blinding our eyes to such atrocities. Kudos to those who have stood up to school boards and so-called “educators” coming after our children. Now we need to stand up for those children who have been forced into a world not of their choosing – who are trapped by evil adults who care only for their own perverse pleasures. God will deliver them but WE need to do our part.

Happy Independence Day 2023!

The true name of our July 4th borders on irony today. “Independence Day”, yeah, right. Our nation has become the exact opposite of independent. We are dependent on foreign oil. Our government is dependent on foreign cash to keep spending. More and more citizens are dependent on that spending to live their lives. Worse, those of us who are fiercely determined to remain independent are criticized, ostracized, and often targeted for legal and possibly lethal actions. Call me “Debbie Downer” but I’m calling it as I see it. Is it all really that bad? Well… yes. Yes it is. However down is not out. I do not believe we are done yet.

If you’ve been paying attention, you know I’ve long emphasized how our nation can be restored. Scoff if you will, but until and unless we turn to God Almighty, repent and ask for deliverance then all our hopes and dreams are likely to fade away. Can God save us? What!? Are you serious? If God cannot save us, He wouldn’t be worth worshiping now would He? Of course He can. WILL God save us? Now that is a question I cannot answer. What I can say is… salvation, at least as it pertains to our nation, is secondary. Primary is your salvation and the salvation of all of us called by God. The whole idea of sacrificing yourself to save the person next to you is somewhat silly, eternally speaking.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Our Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah was already sacrificed for us. Offering Jesus innocent (sinless) blood for our sins was the whole idea.

Ephesians 5:2 and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.

Hebrews 10:12 but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

Jesus had his purpose, we have ours.

Romans 8:28 And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose.

29 For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren:

30 and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

We were called “to be conformed to the image of his Son”, to be a living sacrifice…

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

This is the essence of our duty to God. Thus, getting right with God should be first for each of us – not just once but continuously – every day. For me, this means several times a day because, well, I’m a slow learner, I suppose. I’m still a work in progress and I don’t see myself completed before Christ returns or my time on this earth expires. It’s not for lack of trying. But wait! There’s more…

While the idea is often attractive, I’m not a hermit. To that end, my actions among others also need to be in line with how God would have me act. Included in this is a duty to speak the truth when appropriate. By this I don’t mean to refrain from lying, but to speak words that exhort and comfort others, words that bless those around me, and to promote godly thoughts and ideas. Now this latter may cause shudders among some of you. We’ve all been around a “bible thumper” at one time or another. This is not at all what I mean.

Certainly there are times when it is appropriate to open up a bible and share what we know. There are also times when we need to take a stand as Christians. But there are also times when our words and actions simply demonstrate our beliefs. Here’s one example:

One day, a few years ago, I was heading to the office when I realized I needed water for my coffee machine. Our town water isn’t fit for drinking so bottled water is a must. I stopped by the store to grab some. At the checkout there was an older gentleman and his wife ahead of me with several items on the belt. As one might expect, there was only the one cashier. It was no big deal. I was the boss as well as the only worker so even if I was late, it made no difference. However the fellow ahead of me took one look and told the cashier to scan my bottle so I could be on my way. He wouldn’t accept payment and simply told me to have a blessed day. If you haven’t guessed, he made my day by that simple act. His simple kindness boldly stated his Christian walk.

Beyond these things is yet one more (at least) consideration. If you are a citizen of this United States for America, you have been blessed with one of the greatest gifts Almighty God has ever bestowed upon a nation – our Constitutional Republic. Our nation is comprised of self-governing citizens. True, a cadre of usurpers have seized power they’ve no right nor authority to claim but their hold is tenuous. Really. It is. Our founding document, our Constitution remains the law of the land and the rights enumerated within are deemed unalienable. Once we, as citizens, recognize this, we can take back what is rightfully and legally ours. It’s that simple and with God backing us up, who will stop us?

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?

Today we recognize that day in 1776 when our forefathers signed the document declaring our independence from King George and England. Our Constitution had yet to be written, much less ratified, but this day they took a huge step towards receiving this wondrous gift from God Almighty. The road ahead was to be long, hard, and bloody. I cannot say what our road ahead has in store for us. I do not believe further bloodshed is necessary but this does not mean the usurpers will give up without resistance. Nor will the road be easy but, as our forefathers did, we need to decide to move forward and claim the liberty that we and our loved ones have been granted.

God bless and Happy Independence Day!

Sunday, June 25, 2023 Where Have I Been Since April?

Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s been over two months since I last posted. Short and sweet – I got to the point where I wasn’t finishing any of the posts I started. I’d get an idea for a topic, get started and then I floundered. Finally I gave it all a rest.

Was God telling me I needed a break? I don’t know. At least He wasn’t saying it in so many words. What I can say is recently I’ve felt the strong urge to get back in the game. It’s not that I have any “inspiring” posts demanding to be published. Fact is, I saw an interview of Eric Metaxas by Lance Wallnau – twice. Okay, so the second time I cut it short because I knew I’d seen it but not before Eric says God is calling the Church to be The Church. I tried to link it but I’m getting crap. Try going to RAV – Real America’s Voice to find it. I’m sure it’s there but it is a bit of a pain to get to which is why I’m posting a link myself. (Are you getting that Steve Bannon? How about making it easier to access your channel’s content? Contact me for details.) I don’t know what’s going on with Rumble. Usually they are pretty reliable as a source IF they have the video. Not so much this time. I get a 31 second “wait for it” and then nothing. Oi.

Anyway, Eric got me thinking, especially when the topic is put to to me a second time. Biblically speaking, something repeated is something confirmed. Remember the next time you roll your eyes thinking “I’ve heard all that before.”. Could it be God is telling you something – trying hard to get your attention? I can’t tell you how many times I had to remind my own kids of the simplest things.

So Eric is saying God is calling the Church to be THE CHURCH (my emphasis). Okay. Great. I am not the Church. I am a lowly member of the Body sooo… no dice. I’m not getting out of it that easily.

1 Corinthians 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Oh, yeah, THAT. The word “base” above is only used this once in scripture. It means:

a man of base birth, a man of no name or reputation

Well, heck, that’s me if it is anybody. Nor does this passage help me avoid God’s call.

1 Corinthians 12:13 For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.

15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.

16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body.

17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?

18 But now hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him.

19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?

20 But now they are many members, but one body.

It might not take you long to figure out I’m not one to join a church. I’ve attended many over the years, most of them regularly but I’ve never aspired to become a “member” of any of them. The big reason is I cannot in good conscience affirm their trinity. Those few assemblies that did not require acceptance of this doctrine never had formal memberships. That said, I am most certainly a member of the body which does not require an application nor does it provide a membership card or even a secret decoder ring. This last is the one thing I’ve always wanted.

The bottom line is I am convinced I need to keep writing and posting. I cannot stay silent while those working for the adversary are pounding every pulpit they can usurp with all sorts of nonsense. Citizens and Christians are being attacked on every front. We cannot and should not hide from this but, rather, having done all, to stand, wearing the full armor of God.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might.

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

13 Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand.

14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

16 withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.

17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

18 with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints,

This is “the evil day”. Our battle is spiritual, NOT physical. God can and will deliver us but it is up to Him as to how He will accomplish this. For my part I will do all I can with whatever means He provides me. How about you?

Tribulation and the End Times Today

Over the past several months I’ve come across increasing references to the end times. At least one man, Lance Wallnau, says we are in the end times now. Is he correct? If not, I do not think he is far off. Then there’s tribulation. Will Christians today suffer from the prophesied tribulation or will we escape it via the Gathering Together – the Rapture? Ooooh! Good question!

When the topic turns to tribulation, it seems to send shivers down the spines of many a Christian. It’s scary, don’t you think? Could it be it is so scary because we are ignorant? Don’t get mad, ignorance is simply a lack of knowledge as opposed to stupidity – the inability to understand knowledge, or bullheadedness – the refusal to even look at new knowledge. When it comes to scripture, it is always preferable to seek knowledge and understanding. This is not to say, we can always understand everything in scripture. After over 40 years of reading, studying, and praying, I can honestly say there is a lot I still do not understand. Hopefully it is not because I am stupid or bullheaded (about scripture).

So… tribulation. I daresay when most of us hear this word, our thoughts immediately go to the “great tribulation”. That phrase “great tribulation” only occurs three times in the King James…

Matthew 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

Revelation 2:22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

Revelation 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

These three verses seem to indicate a definite period of time. What did Jesus say about it?

such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Well now, this tells me this is a very special period of time. We can also find what seems to be a reference to the same period in Mark.

Mark 13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,

Take note, this verse talks about after “that tribulation”, again referring to a specific period of time.

Now let us consider the context of this verse:

Mark 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:

16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.

17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!

18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.

19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.

20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.

21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:

22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.

23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

In this passage Jesus marks the beginning of the period “But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet”, at least it sure looks like the beginning act to me. Jesus also reiterates his statement in Matthew in verse 19: “For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.

Now I won’t delve into any debate as to whether these passages in Matthew and Mark are versions of something Jesus said once or whether Jesus essentially said the same thing twice and each disciple quoted a different occurrence. Neither view invalidates anything.

One thing is clear to me – Jesus spoke of a “great tribulation” that was to occur after the “abomination of the desolation spoken of by Daniel” and it ain’t pretty. I am also confident this great tribulation is again prophesied in the Revelation of Jesus Christ – the last book of our bible.

Now for the good news – we ain’t there yet. I’m still thinkin’ today’s Christians will be caught up in the Rapture by then. Now some who contend this rapture won’t happen until some time in the Revelation period also will call Christians like me cowardly for not wanting to live through all that. Or, for some reason, my belief in the Rapture is some sort of wrangling to avoid stressing out about it or something. I don’t fear the “great tribulation”. If I am correct about the Rapture and Jesus were to ask for volunteers to hang back on earth, I expect to raise my hand. I’m sure I’d regret such a decision more than once but if I can serve my Lord and Savior in such a manner, I am willing to do so.

All this speculation aside, my understanding for the time being is this great tribulation does not apply to us. We’ll be gone.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

What is this “wrath to come” if not this period spoken of by Jesus? It and other verses state we are specifically saved from this wrath. Hallelujah! I’m all for that. (I stand by my previous statement but I’m not fool enough NOT to breathe a sigh of relief if Jesus doesn’t ask for volunteers.) So that means we’re clear of tribulation… right? Well, not exactly.

Nowhere in scripture are we promised that we will never experience tribulation. In fact, we are told we absolutely will see tribulation.

Romans 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

Paul not only speaks of tribulations, plural, but says tribulation works patience. Now, according to the version of the bible you are reading, the word “tribulation” could be rendered “suffering” or “trouble”. Either one could easily apply. In other words, we are not out of the woods yet! In fact, the verse above offers a clue as to how such tribulations or sufferings or troubles can actually work in our favor.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Here is says “all things work together for good”. Should “all” include troubles? Of course it should, if if you rather… why not? Imagine a life without troubles, never having to face a challenge. What would such a life be like? The word that comes to my mind is “complacent”, or maybe the phrase “fat and happy” evokes a more accurate picture.

There is a saying bandied about these days a quote attributed to G. Michael Hopf that fits well here:

Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

In fact, this principle is seen throughout scripture. We often see this as “cause and effect”, God blesses men who then turn away from God and God gets angry and punishes men. These now suffering men turn to God who then blesses them. It seems all we ever see is an angry God dispensing wrath. Is this really the way things are? I don’t think so.

Granted some passages in scripture seem entirely brutal. One of the examples I point to is the story of King Saul and the Amalekites. Saul was the first king of Israel. Saul was instructed to wipe them out entirely.

1 Samuel 15:1 Samuel said to Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore listen you to the voice of the words of Yahweh.

2 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, I have marked that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.

3 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (WEB)

Saul did not listen.

1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and wouldn’t utterly destroy them: but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.

God did not take lightly the annihilation of the Amalekites. It wasn’t punishment. His intent was to spare Israel trouble in the future. Saul got greedy and saved out the best of the livestock for himself. He also showed compassion on the Amalekite king, Agag. His disobedience caused him his position. Why? Why was an act of compassion reason to remove Saul as king? Again, the word is disobedience.

1 Samuel 13:14 But now your kingdom shall not continue: Yahweh has sought him a man after his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept that which Yahweh commanded you.

As a practical matter, God was not “angry” with the Amalekites. Certainly they rejected the One True God and sought to worship other gods, as did every nation on earth… including Israel. Time and time again Israel turned away from God unto false gods, even after God delivered them from the Egyptians by parting the Red Sea. Yet God forgave them again and again. He still forgives them. Consider what God says about Israel in the New Testament. This after Israel rejected the Messiah and still rejects him. While God in no way condones humans worshiping false gods, he has shown mercy time and time again on even those who reject him, as well as his only begotten son Jesus the Messiah. This, if nothing else, should demonstrate God’s mercy.

Why then tribulation? Or as so many non-believers have put it: “if there is a god, why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?”. If I may first point out… nothing happening in the world today is a mistake. While I am certain I do not understand these things entirely, I do believe I have some idea. First, let me ask you… what would fiction look like without conflict?

We all know the common tropes in fiction. Man is lonely, man finds girl, man loses girl, man wins girl back, and they live happily every after. Of course these days we are likely to see every possible variation of this theme but the basics remain the same. Every story centers around one or more conflicts. Also, the protagonist is flawed somehow and this causes problems. What would one of these stories look like with these issues?

Woman is lonely, woman finds man, they live happily ever after. Wow. That was a nail-biter. You get the idea. Now I’m not saying we experience tragedy in our lives just to spice things up, but just as conflict in fiction serves a purpose, tribulation and troubles in real life does likewise.

While I’m near this topic and before we dig in, I want to address something that often seems to make no sense and that is untimely and seemingly pointless deaths. To use a real-life example, there was a young couple who lived across the street from us years ago. They had a big house and a big family. We didn’t know them well but they seemed to be decent God-fearing people. One of their children contracted leukemia and died at age two. If ever a death seemed senseless, this one was a top contender. Instead of asking why this child died, might it not be better to wonder, what was this child spared? We don’t know. I’m sure that today, nearly thirty years later, the loss of this child still causes pangs for the parents and others close to this child. What we won’t know until we begin our journey in eternity is what the alternative might have been. I have no doubt both the parents and the child would have suffered more had he lived. So it is with all such tragedies. We don’t know what we don’t know.

Back to the topic of tribulations aside from the “Great Tribulation” mentioned above. We are told on no uncertain terms we will experience them. In the King James Version, the Greek word “thlipsis” is rendered “tribulation” 21 times and “affliction” 17 times. In other places it is rendered trouble (3x), anguish, persecution, burdened and “to be afflicted”. These last four renderings are once each.

The meaning is described as “pressing together, pressed or oppressed” and so forth. One can ascertain the sense is to feel pressure from outside. While I get the sense that the “Great Tribulation” will entail more than mere “pressure”. I’m still working out this aspect in a bible study on the “end times”, but my sense about this period sometime in the future is the intent is to get the attention of the remaining population as those who are never going to accept God are systematically removed. What about the rest of us?

Certainly you’ve come across some dramatic depiction where someone, usually a man but not always, finds himself in very deep doo doo. There he sits, alone and talking – seemingly to the air. His words are generally along the lines of “God, if you exist, I’m not a praying man but if you can hear me, I need your help.” Such is a prayer of desperation if I ever heard one! Let’s take a closer look.

First, the man directly addresses “God”. Does he even know whom his is talking to? The fact is the word “god” can refer to any number of beings real, or imagined. It is as non-specific as one can get. And yet this man expects “something” or “someone” being able hear him. Some talk about this mysterious being as “the man it the sky” or will scoff at the idea of something they cannot see, hear, or touch – preferring to believe in something tangible. Then, this “being” he speaks directly to is not supposed to be instantly insulted by questioning its existence. Hmph. After which he admits he’s a stranger. “You don’t know me but…” right before again talking to some mysterious being even while he admits he has no idea if anyone is on the other end. Finally, he asks for help in a situation where he has nowhere else to turn.

Yet we see this scenario played out again and again. No doubt it has happened on more than one occasion and, again with no doubt, God, Almighty God, Creator of the heavens and the earth, Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, has often answered with some sort of helping hand. That is all fine and good but it is not where I’m going with this.

Where I am going is, for some reason most people can accept the idea of a supreme being when we are at our wits end. It is not unnatural to reach out to God… as a last resort. In other words tribulation or trouble tend to drive people towards rather than away from God – at least those who might be inclined to turn to God. Those determined to reject him will do so anyway. For the rest of us, you know the old saying… you never miss something until you don’t have it.

Let’s face it, when our lives are surrounded by peace and comfort, we tend to let those things distract us. Even strong Christians are known to get “too busy” to focus on God or maybe we just let spiritual things slip from our minds. “Maybe later, for now I just want to enjoy the ocean breeze. God’s there too… right?” It’s not until the storm becomes threatening that we suddenly remember God.

For too long, our nation has settled in with the comforts of life. We’ve been blessed. We enjoy a high standard of living. At the same time, we’re stressed – as a nation we tend to be “aholics” – workaholics, alcoholics, sexaholics – you name it. Far too often we are too busy for our own families – much less godly things. It is beginning to show. Rather, we are neck deep in our sinful ways and they are devouring us. It’s not God doing this, it is God allowing us to experience the lives we chose when we turned our backs on him.

This is not to say the godly never experience tribulation. Again, we are promised tribulation (or warned if you will) in scripture. Nothing there even suggests it is avoidable. In fact, we are directly told we will likely get more tribulation if we stand faithful. However, that’s not the point.

The point is we all face trials and troubles, in other words tribulations. While we may well escape the “Great Tribulation”, it does not mean we should expect some fairy tale life of total bliss. Those choices we’ve made individually, taking full advantage of the blessings God has bestowed upon our nation while at the same time turning us away from the God who bestows these blessings are now coming back to bite us. Hard.

This nation is a mess not because God has turned his back on us but because we have turned away from HIM! As a nation we may already have passed the point of redemption. But it’s not all “bad” news.

God already knows what choices we will make and the result of those choices, including the troubles we get into. For each one of us and all of us he knows how things turn out. It’s all good. God said so.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

All things means exactly that – ALL things – even those pesky tribulations. What we need to do, and by “we” I mean those of us Christians who are paying attention, is turn back to God, ask forgiveness for our sinful acts and turn to him once again.

As far as the “Great Tribulation” is concerned, I have no definitive understanding as of yet. Every time I am convinced there will be a rapture, I see things that make me wonder.

1 Corinthians 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

What is meant by “the last trump”? Does this refer to the last trump in a certain event or THE last trump?

The main problem I have with reconciling revelation times is it appears salvation in the revelation period will revert to works rather than grace. What then signals the end of grace? For me the obvious marker would be the Rapture.

Whether or not certain Christians will endure the Great Tribulation may be the object of debate until either Christ raptures his body of believers or the world is embroiled in the Great Tribulation. Either way, we cannot escape tribulations nor should we desire to do so. In fact, considering those situations where we can expect even more tribulation, we should welcome, even embrace them. Consider the early apostles:

Acts 5:40 b …when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

They were bold to speak the gospel and rejoiced that they were counted worth to suffer. Should we not be of the same mindset?

Tribulation is something we are not going to escape nor should we desire to. If the price for serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father is being despised and abused by the world, should we not embrace it?

1 Peter 4:12 Beloved, don’t be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as though a strange thing happened to you.

13 But because you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory also you may rejoice with exceeding joy.

14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified.

15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or as a meddler in other men’s matters.

16 But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this matter.

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. If it begins first with us, what will happen to those who don’t obey the Gospel of God?

18 “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and the sinner?”

19 Therefore let them also who suffer according to the will of God in doing good entrust their souls to him, as to a faithful Creator.

God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Is Praying Useless?

Coming from me, this question may come as a shock. I had to ask. What did your gut tell you?

It wasn’t as much a question as it was a pop quiz.

Your own visceral response indicates your spiritual health. To paraphrase a one popular quote:

Whether you think it is or you think it isn’t – you’re right.

Mark 11:24  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Now by referring to the above verse I might stand accused of purporting a “name it and claim it” ideology. Such is not the point. The verse says what it says. What I will ask is: what happens to those who pray who do not believe they will receive?

James 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
17  Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18  And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Is praying useless? My own answer is if my heart is right with God, then never. If my heart is not right with God then never.

May Almighty God bless you and keep you in the name of our Lord Christ Jesus.

Slow News Day – A Respite

Interesting thought – to me anyway – about the Subject – “A Respite”. Originally I was thinking “Taking a Breather” and I decided on “Respite”. What’s so interesting about that? The word “respite” has the same root as respiration – or breathing. Hmmm.

Okay I checked around and, yes, I did look beyond “The Gateway Pundit” and nothing really grabbed me.  So for today, I’ll post this:

It’s one of my favorites. God bless.

 

A Debate on AI – the REAL Issue

So I decided to comment on Elon Musk’s warnings about AI on Lance Wallnau’s Facebook page.  For the most part I said we’ll never see true AI. And I added that any AI that does emerge can be no better than the programmer’s involved. This is true of any software. Call it what you will, any AI program is a program. It’s software. Can it learn? Certainly it can, but this so-called “learning” does not make it sentient and that is the sort of AI everyone wants to extrapolate this concept to. It ain’t happening. That doesn’t  mean one or more programming groups can’t or won’t develop dangerous AI wannabe programs. More than likely they will. But there is a bigger issue at state.

GOD.

All this hand-wringing over AI diverts focus from the things of God. Let the non-Christians fret over AI, we Christians have more pressing issues at hand. Christ is coming. When? I don’t know. No man does. Jesus said so himself so it is not for us to know. What should we do instead? Whatever God calls us to do. Me? I’m posting, praying, studying, and whatever other godly tasks come my way.  What about you?

 

Privileged to Speak for God

Anyone who has read more than a few of my posts knows I write about God a lot. Up until very recently I hesitated to come out and say I am speaking for God. After all, who am I to suggest such a thing, to no less presume to speak for the Creator of the heavens and the earth?

Then there’s the “accountability” thing. I was always taught those who speak or teach God’s Word are going to be held accountable for what they teach.

James 3:1 Let not many of you be teachers, my brothers, knowing that we will receive heavier judgment.

2 For in many things we all stumble. If anyone doesn’t stumble in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also. (WEB)

Well, gee, it might not matter much if I actually say I’m teaching or not. In fact, another scripture says I’m going to have to account for everything I say no matter what.

Matthew 12:36 I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (WEB)

At this point I can only ask and pray for forgiveness because I know I’ve said a lot of stupid things. The good news is, when it comes to things pertaining to God, my tendency is to strive for accuracy and speak earnestly. If those “idle words” are going to count against me, I hope my inclination to be as accurate as possible when speaking God’s Word will be counted in my favor. Even so, I’d rather lean on grace than any sort of balance sheet.

Speak for GOD? ME?! What about YOU!?

Uh-oh, I stumbled across a bigger issue. Now let’s not forget that “idle word” thingy Jesus spoke of. I don’t know about you but I’m not all that clear on what he meant by an “idle word”. If the definition is broad, a lot of us could be in big trouble. For the record, Thayer’s defines the usage in this verse as “unprofitable” though the Greek word generally means “lazy” or “unproductive”. I have to admit, I’ve said a lot of “unprofitable” things in my own life. However, there’s this other thing nagging in the back of my mind. It goes to the concept of “good and evil” or “truth and lies”.

Look, James clearly indicates those who teach will be held to a higher standard, BUT Jesus said we would ALL be accounting for our words – at least the idle ones. The apostle Paul also wrote of giving an account to God.

Romans 14:12 So then each one of us will give account of himself to God. (WEB)

The difference is he didn’t limit the account to mere words.

I bring this up to point out how it looks like we are all going to be in the hot seat at some point. Now I’m not saying this to scare anyone. Granted, I do feel a chill run up my spine when I look back at some of the things I’ve said and done. Sure God is gracious and yes, I DO believe I’m forgiven. The thing is, I know I don’t deserve it. All the more reason to be thankful for God’s grace and forgiveness. And all the more reason to forgive others for their slights against me. My own slate needs more than a simple cleaning, it demands a good scrubbing.

So here we are looking ahead. Heck, why not look where we stand right now? Let’s say we can accept God has forgiven us for our past, um, indiscretions. Now what? My first thought is to give thanks. For me this is always a good place to start. My second thought is where I always stumble. I know me. The very idea of never again saying or doing anything ungodly is, well, like a pitcher vowing to pitch a perfect game every time for the rest of his career. I just don’t see it happening. So I’m already figuring I’m going to making mistakes. In comes my third thought: “so be it”.

Speaking for myself, I can mostly pick my way through life without actively doing wrong. For me, it’s my mouth that gets me in the most hot water. James had me pegged there.

James 3:5 So the tongue is also a little member, and boasts great things. See how a small fire can spread to a large forest!

6 And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

7 For every kind of animal, bird, creeping thing, and thing in the sea, is tamed, and has been tamed by mankind.

8 But nobody can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

9 With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.

10 Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.

Few of us are going to take a vow of silence. I’m sure I’d break a record for how fast I broke that vow. How about you? Would you be a contender for that record? I thought maybe. So what’s the alternative?

We can choose our words carefully. Lance Wallnau had a thought. He said, “Pray before you say anything about anyone.” While this may not be an easy habit to get into, I can see the usefulness. While I tend to hold back more in social situations, I am far freer with criticizing people I see on video, online, and in social media. Would these count as “idle words”? How could they not? Ouch.

Now… About That “Speaking for God” Bit…

So far most of what I’ve done is detail the downside. My goal was to impress upon you how all of our words are likely to count for something. Each of us will be responsible as to how our words will tally up. With this understanding under our belt it seems reasonable to, at the very least, tread carefully moving forward. That said, I contend we can do far better than that.

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members one of another.

26 “Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,

27 neither give place to the devil.

28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.

29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

30 Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.

32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you. (WEB)

While all of the above is well worth taking to heart, let us, for the moment, focus on those things dealing with our tongues:

Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members one of another.

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

How much better would our lives be if we only stopped speaking falsehoods (yes, even those “little white lies”) and stopped badmouthing? (corrupt speech is directly translated as “putrid speech”). What if we stopped grumbling and complaining and instead, endeavored to give thanks?

On top of all this, what if we forgave others rather than curse them? I hate to admit this but a great deal of my own grumbling is directed at people who annoy me because of actions that are likely more thoughtless than evil. “Did she HAVE to pull out in front of me JUST to turn a half mile down the road?” Instead of cursing, what if I thought or said, “Thank you Father for allowing me plenty of time to slow down for this driver. I forgive her for pulling out in front of me so abruptly. Bless her and keep her.” Which reaction produces good fruit?

The 1% Solution

In his groundbreaking book “Atomic Habits”, James Clear advocates pursuing tiny changes – aiming at improving a mere 1% per day. Imagine applying that concept to your walk with God. Too often we consider an idea by allowing our minds to run to the finish line. Winning a marathon is simply too high a goal for many of us. Heck, the thought of running a whole mile makes me shudder, but anyone can walk around the block. A simple 1% improvement over that each day could result in walking a marathon distance. At some point, many of us could improve our health to run a bit, then a bit more.

Now apply this concept to your walk with God. Can you do one thing consistently that you do not now do? Build on that. Walk an additional step tomorrow and the next day.

Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

If anyone in scripture could be pegged as an example of a Christian who continually tried to improve, I cannot point to any better than the apostle Paul. Not only did he dedicate his life to speaking the gospel, but he kept his “day job” as a tentmaker, earning his own way so as not to burden others financially. As dedicated and as godly as Paul was, he strove to do better. What better example to follow than his?

As we will have to give an account anyway, why not strive to improve ourselves every day? Instead of vowing to “turn over a new leaf”, doesn’t it make more sense to look for ways to improve a little every day. To that end, I highly recommend “Atomic Habits”. James Clear’s method is easy to understand and simple to implement. That said, what “habits” should we strive to build?

Three habits come to mind for starters – prayer, reading and studying scripture. Of these, studying scripture may be more daunting than the others. Though I’ve heard countless excuses why people just “don’t have time” to read their bibles. They are fooling themselves. Of course one has time. We all do. We all have the same amount of time each day – exactly 24 hours. How we prioritize our time is a more accurate measure. If your priority is your walk with God, then you will make time for these things. Whatever reasons you may have for not pursuing them are something you should consider in light of your walk. For example what if someone says “I’m to busy making a living.” Is such a person acknowledging God as their sufficiency in all things? You get the idea.

Sad to say, the habit of grumbling, cursing and such, may be one of the more difficult habit’s to address. Even Clear’s book doesn’t sufficiently address it. Why? Because this habit is more reactionary than others. For me, I have to first catch myself grumbling. I am making progress but it is easy to slip. I liken it to when I smoked. That habit of reaching for a cigarette after a meal or when walking out of a building can be a toughie. Even though the cigarettes are long gone (24 years now), it took a long time to reframe that desire.

My regular prayer time helps as I include prayer to help me pray more during the day as well as to be more aware of what I say. I also pray that I can bring hymns and spiritual songs to mind throughout the day. In keeping with both these endeavors, I’ve developed one habit of singing “I’ve Got the Joy, Joy, Joy” at least every time I begin down my driveway. Now I’m branching out to do so whenever I get in my car. To spare any passengers, I sing to myself when I am not alone. 🙂

Our Christian Privilege

As Christians, it is our privilege to speak God’s word. As a practical matter we have a choice with every word we speak. Will we choose to speak words that edify – build up or words that tear down? What words do you want to be accountable for? Beyond that, those things we say indicate where are hearts are.

Matthew 15:17 Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body?

18 But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man.

19 For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.

If you spend your day cursing, grumbling, complaining and such – where is your heart? Where is God in your life? Do you think such individuals are drawing closer to God or moving away from him?

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.

17 Whatever you do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father, through him.

I cannot speak for you but as I visualize the above verse in my mind, I have a hard time placing myself in the picture. Once I ran across a woman in a supermarket. She was a Christian who was so at peace she radiated with joy. She told me God had healed her from a terminal illness and it changed her life. While I did not envy how she got to where she was, I admired her walk. If that store lost power, I’m almost certain we could all navigate by the light she gave off. I am certain every single one of us can walk as she walked.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputes,

15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,

16 holding up the word of life; that I may have something to boast in the day of Christ, that I didn’t run in vain nor labor in vain.

Wherever we go it is God who is working in us, yes, even on our bad days. As I said, I don’t always see myself as such, but that doesn’t stop me from trying. What I’ve found is the more I seek God, the more I endeavor to put on that new man, the easier it gets.

Today I am privileged to share these thoughts, these words with you. When I leave this keyboard to go out into the world, I am privileged to speak the word to others, to shine as a light in the world. While I didn’t get where I am today all at once and I am far from where I’d like to be, I strive make that little 1% progress each day. It adds up.

1 Thessalonians 1:6 You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,

7 so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.

8 For from you has sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth; so that we need not to say anything.

9 For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you; and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear:

You, too, are privileged. You also have a choice. You can take your privilege for granted or you can embrace it, make it you own, live it. Even if you see yourself as the most miserable human being on the planet, you can change. The hardest part may be the decision to take that first step. Thankfully, these steps often reap instant rewards, and if they don’t, those rewards will be waiting for you in heaven. The decision you make now will affect your entire life, even if you decide to do nothing. I’m rooting for you to decide to accept your privilege and make the most of it. God bless you.

Even MORE Revival – Hallelujah!

Earlier I posted the Tweet below on FnBook and Twitter. The song America by Chris Tomlin came to mind. I also posted the lyrics below.

As I’ve been posting, only God can save and restore our nation and for Him to work we must turn to him! Ask yourself, why should God restore our nation if we continue in our sinful ways?

The time for revival has come. Praise the Lord!

 

God, we cry out for Your mercyWe cry out for Your in our landAnd really see You as You areThat Your glory would fill this placeLet Your kingdom come and let Your will be doneLet Your kingdom come to America
Let Your glory flyLet Your glory flyLet Your glory flyLet Your glory fly
If My people will humbly prayTurn from sin and their wicked waysThen I will hear them and heal their landAnd show my glory and power again, yeah
Lift your eyes upLook to the skyThe Lord is coming, coming to AmericaCan you feel the fire?Can you see the wind?It’s blowing throughComing to America again
Go and tell them the blind will seeThe lame will walk and the slave is freeShout the news that the lost are savedIn the name of Jesus the dead are raised, yeah
Lift your eyes upLook to the skyThe Lord is comingComing to AmericaCan you feel the fire?Can you see the wind?It’s blowing throughComing to America againCan you see it coming?
Let Your glory flyLet Your glory flyLet Your glory fly
Let Your glory flyLet Your glory flyLet Your glory fly
Let Your glory flyLet Your glory flyLet Your glory fly
Let Your glory flyLet Your glory flyLet Your glory fly
Lift your eyes upLook to the skyThe Lord is comingComing to AmericaCan you feel the fire?Can you see the wind?Blowing throughComing to America, yeah
Lift your hands upTo the skyThe Lord is comingComing to AmericaCan you feel the fire?Can you see the wind?It’s blowing throughIt’s coming to America, again
Can you see it coming?Can you see it coming?Can you feel it coming?
I lift up my eyes to the hillsFrom where does my help come?My help comes from the LordMaker of HeavenI lift up my eyes to the hillsFrom where does my help come?My help comes from the LordMaker of Heaven

Asbury University Revival and Beyond

Yesterday marked the end of the Asbury University revival. Strangely enough, while it began spontaneously, the end was planned. However even the end offered some deeply spiritual connotations.

The way I heard it, the revival began after a regular chapel prayer. The students lingered. One stood up and started listing his faults. Things snowballed from there to gain international attention. It all ended yesterday, February 23, 2023 as the college hosed the National Collegiate Day of Prayer. That Asbury University hosted this was no last minute detail – it had been scheduled two years previously. But that’s not the only oddity.

Back in 1970, there was another spontaneous revival at, you guessed it, Asbury University. For those with long memories, 1970 was remarkable for yet another historical landmark, a secular one. The Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl. Yes. They. Did. What does it all mean? I don’t know.

What I can say with absolute conviction is God’s hand is evident in this outpouring. Of this I have no doubt. I see no other logical explanation. As for what it means, well, I suggest we each ask God what it means to us, personally. Surely this has touched the lives of every person who heard of it in one way or another. Just like anything else, each of us takes away something different, something intimate.

My hope is this will spark revival across the globe. It need not make the news as long as it touches hearts and brings those of us who claim Christ closer to him as well as our Heavenly Father. Additionally my hope is it will bring new believers to Christ, as happened in Asbury. The world needs Christ now more than ever and Christ needs his body to come to him, for us to shed our differences and turn our eyes and our hearts to him.

As for myself, I can only hope those things Asbury has stirred in me is just the beginning. You may have noticed my posts have slowed a bit lately. This week I’ve been struggling to write something I felt worth sharing. It’s not “writer’s block”, I don’t believe in that nonsense, but I cannot seem to find a satisfactory finish for those thoughts I’ve put down. I started to wonder if I was indeed finished. I don’t think so but as I prayed about it, God has shown me where I need to gear up. That something is prayer.

It’s not to say I haven’t been praying but I’m sensing the need to expand upon those things I pray for and pray more for those things I already lift in prayer. So I will pray for those around me, for those is positions of power and authority, for those willing to lay down their lives for others and their families and for the families of those who have laid down their lives. Of course I’ll pray for revival and for my nation, and my brethren in Christ. No doubt the more I pray the more I’ll find to pray for.

None of this means my two regular readers (or anyone else for that matter) should give up hope of new posts. I’ve not been given any guidance, much less clear guidance that I am to stop writing and posting. So I’ll continue to post as I have something to share. Hopefully this will happen on a regular basis – at least once per week. If you think of it, say a prayer for me now and then.

Calling the Body of Christ to Unity!

The previous two posts dealt with the body of Christ and how we are members of that body. These are important concepts. How do I know they are important? GOD wrote us letters about these things! God doesn’t do fluff, therefore everything He tells us is important. Now I’m about to delve into how these important concepts apply to us as Christians today.

You should know already that God chose you to be a member, part of the body of Christ. You should also know your part in God’s plan is important. Remember, God doesn’t do fluff, so you are not fluff. Look. I can relate to how some of you might feel. As a writer, I tend to cringe when I see authors with 10, 20, 40 books to their names. For many of them, publishing books is just a sideline. Me? Not so much. Writing has rarely been my day job. I’ve been a working stiff all my life and those jobs I’ve held, well, they were just jobs. When I’m being honest with myself, I have to admit I failed to understand the concepts I’m revealing here. That said, lemmetellya, among the humans in this world, there are few who can claim to be as lowly and inconsequential as a writer. Anybody who reads is a critic. Anything we publish is open season with no bag limits. No wonder so many of us writers are quivering blobs of insecurity. Whatever your lot in life, I feel you.

Now that my pity party is over, I should point out God does not see me like that. I cannot tell you how He DOES see my walk in any detail, but I know all those menial things I’ve done in my life add up to something. How can I say that? Because God doesn’t do fluff. Even when I can’t see the value in my life, God does. Who am I to argue with the Creator of the universe?

So let’s talk about this unity thing. First I have to fess up. The word “unity” only appears in the KJV twice. Both instances are in Ephesians, in the same chapter no less. Each of those instances refer to something different. Go figure.

Ephesians 4:3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

There you have it – the unity of the spirit and the unity of the faith. No way, no how, these two can refer to the same thing. But wait a minute. The Greek word for “unity” is “henotes”. That word is derived from the Greek word “heis”. That Greek work heis? It means one. Oh.

Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,

2 with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;

3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you also were called in one hope of your calling;

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.

God talks a lot about “one”. We are all one body with one Lord, Jesus Christ, who is the head of this one body. Now consider the second use of the word “unity” below in context.

Ephesians 4:7 But to each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

8 Therefore he says, “When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

9 Now this, “He ascended,” what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?

10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;

12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;

16 from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.

Whew! I know. It’s a lot to take in, but do take it in. Let it sink in deep into you. This is important. You are important. You are a member of THE body of Christ. It doesn’t matter if you run the company or if you “just” empty the waste baskets, you are where the Creator of the universe Himself placed you. He didn’t just place you in your job but He also placed you in your city, with your family and in your church and so on. In short you are exactly where you are supposed to be in God’s plan for you. This is something I’ve often realized at certain points of my own life – far too often to my disappointment. You read that right – to my disappointment.

The question that should have come to my mind then and your mind now is: was I right to be disappointed? Well, yes and no. “Yes”, in respect to the idea I knew then and I know now that I was capable of doing better. I was underachieving. “No”, because, upon my realization, I should have thanked God profusely for said understanding, then asked, okay, now what?

What took me so long to understand is God is ever gracious to forgive our sins and overlook our shortcomings, but even more importantly, He always meets us where we ARE.

Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,

14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Now I don’t think for a moment Paul was stretching forward into next year, next month, or even next week. He wasn’t look ahead to tomorrow. Rather, he was reaching for what God put right in front of him. What else is there?

By this time you may be wondering what all of this has to do with “Calling the Body of Christ to Unity”. If you’ve ever tried to herd cats, or watched someone else attempt do do so, you may want to keep that in mind for the rest of this post. You need not go far into scripture to realize, compared to humans, herding cats is a breeze. Let’s start with Jesus, shall we?

Matthew 9:1 He entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city.

2 Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”

3 Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man blasphemes.”

4 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?

5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Get up, and walk?’

6 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…” (then he said to the paralytic), “Get up, and take up your mat, and go up to your house.”

7 He arose and departed to his house.

Here it was the scribes complaining. In the next passage, it was the disciples of John. Later on the Pharisees and then the Sadducees chimed in. Someone was always complaining no matter what Jesus did. Nor did it stop after they killed Jesus and God raised him from the dead.

Acts 6:1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

Signs, miracles, and wonders followed Jesus, and the twelve apostles, and the 70 sent out after that. Did Jesus’ detractors stop complaining? No. they found new ways to find fault. Even after Jesus died and God raised him from the dead, the complaining didn’t stop. The apostles and other believers continued demonstrating the power of God via signs, miracles, and wonders. It wasn’t enough. What does all this complaining – the murmuring lead to?

Division. Division is the opposite of unity. Rather than believe God, the detractors all had their own little inklings on how things ought to be. We know the source of all of this. That has not changed. But I want you to clearly see how even Jesus himself was the target of dissidents. Jesus lived a perfect life. He always did his father’s will. Yet he was crucified because the Jewish leadership would rather cling to their fiefdoms than submit to the authority of God Almighty.

The early church was likewise infected with divisive forces almost from the start. These divisions within the church didn’t really begin to take off, at least as far as scripture records, until believing Jews got wind of Gentiles being invited to the party.

Acts 15:1 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

This was a major division in the early church, but it was not the only one by far. According to Corinthians, early Christians were finding numerous reasons to split off.

1 Corinthians 1:12 Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?

Here Paul all but directly tells the Corinthian church NOT to put him between themselves and Christ. Who are Apollos and Cephas? Cephas is Aramaic for Peter, the most prominent of the original twelve apostles . As for Apollos, his story, found in Acts, is interesting.

Acts 18:24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures.

25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John.

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

27 When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;

28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews, publicly showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

This passage says much of what we know about this man. He was a powerful speaker and persuasive but until he met Priscilla and Aquila, he “knew only the baptism of John”. It also says he “he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus”. Thus, he surely knew about the resurrection of Jesus and the new birth, though this passage doesn’t say it directly. The next section offers a bit more light.

Acts 19:1 It happened that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.

2 He said to them, “Did you receive the** Holy Spirit when you believed?” They said to him, “No, we haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 He said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”

4 Paul said, “John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the* Holy [the]* Spirit came on them, and they spoke with other languages and prophesied.

7 They were about twelve men in all.

 

Jesus said as much himself:

Acts 1:5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the* Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

As did John the Baptist:

Luke 3:16 John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the latchet of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the* Holy Spirit and fire,

From these verses and others there is a clear difference between water baptism and being baptized in spirit. On a personal note, I’ve always understood scripture indicates the spiritual baptism was to supersede water baptism, however this is not the practice in a majority of Christian churches today. Apollo was not the only one apparently confused on this issue. I do wonder how much impact his influence had on the early body of Christ.

Once again, we see division in the church. Oddly enough today’s body of Christ seems to be somewhat unified on this point, with most of them offering and sometimes insisting on water baptism while ignoring baptism in the spirit. Even these churches debate between sprinkling, dunking, and full immersion. This is a glaring example of division within the body of Christ. One article states the Baptists separate themselves from Presbyterians due to differences concerning baptism in the name of get this… UNITY!

What does Ephesians 4:5 state?

Ephesians 4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Oh. I wonder which “one baptism” is THE one?

The letter to the Galatians deals with the disputes over circumcision in depth. According to the apostle Paul, there is no question. His contention was back up in full by the apostles in Jerusalem.

Acts 15:22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole assembly, to choose men out of their company, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brothers.

23 They wrote these things by their hand: “The apostles, the elders, and the brothers, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: greetings.

24 Because we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law,’ to whom we gave no commandment;

25 it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who themselves will also tell you the same things by word of mouth.

28 For it seemed good to the** Holy [**the] Spirit, and to us, to lay no greater burden on you than these necessary things:

29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”

Beyond their stance on circumcision, what strikes me most is what other instructions they gave to these churches… “abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality”. That’s it. They saw no need for a detailed rule book or a statement of faith or doctrine. They kept things simple. Amazing that.

However Paul later wrote of a different vision – unity.

1 Corinthians 3:21 Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,

22 whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours,

23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

If you look at all of Paul’s teachings, you will see again and again this sentiment. If every one of us, each member of the body of Christ put aside our differences and instead that we speak the same thing – that we “ be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment”. Also note while Paul encouraged the Corinthians to be followers of him, this was restricted to “as I am in Christ”, thus placing Christ, not Paul, in Christ’s proper place at the head of the body.

1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Philippians 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Gospel of Christ, that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Gospel;

What an example we would be if we only lived God’s Word! If we set aside our differences, put away the “old man” and put on the “new man”.

Ephesians 4:21 if indeed you heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus:

22 that you put away, as concerning your former way of life, the old man, that grows corrupt after the lusts of deceit;

23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.

25 Therefore, putting away falsehood, speak truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members one of another.

26 “Be angry, and don’t sin.” Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,

27 neither give place to the devil.

28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.

29 Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear.

30 Don’t grieve the* Holy [the]* Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice.

32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

Surely some of you are thinking I might as well become a “cat herder”. No way are all the Christians in the world going to give up “their own beliefs” to try unite into a single church. But wait! Aren’t some already attempting this? Isn’t that called “Ecumenism”? The short answer is, yes, and the organization is called “The World Council of Churches” (WCC). This is NOT what I’m talking about. Not at all.

For my part, I know this organization, the WCC, exists and that is about it. From my standpoint, they neither claim nor exert any real authority. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only church I see claiming a hierarchy with direct authority from God is the Catholic Church and they are not a part of the World Council! Oh my. Strangely enough, the World Council apparently insists members “pledge allegiance” to the Nicene Creed in one sentence and then releases any church from the responsibility of adhering to it in the next. Ironically, the Nicene Creed established the doctrine of the trinity in the year 325 A. D. and is the foundational doctrine of, wait for it… the Catholic Church.

Even today, anyone who fails to embrace the doctrine of the trinity is typically declared a non-Christian by most “True Christians” even though nowhere in scripture is the word “trinity” even found, much less any indication that one must accept this creed in order to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. Well, yeah, that kinda makes sense considering the new birth predates the Nicene Creed by over 300 years. So much for unity!

If it is not obvious to you, I’ll state it plainly: I am not, in any way, advocating any “centralized” organization to unify the body of Christ. THAT would be herding cats. I agree. It ain’t gonna work. Nor am I suggesting attempting to formulate any sort of “document” or doctrine we can all agree on. We have both already, it’s called the Holy Bible. Even that is subject to debate as I doubt if any two of us Christians could completely agree as to what it all means.

Rather, what I am suggesting is quite radical. If we each look to Christ as the head we will naturally be one body. How can we accomplish this? We each individually, strive to “put on the new man” as best we can according to our understanding. Meanwhile we accept those brothers and sisters in Christ as they are and do our best to find common ground. The end result is not our responsibility. We need only account for our own walk in Christ.

For me, the most common ground would be… do you accept Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior and believe God raised him from the dead? (Romans 10:9-10) Should someone offer something else, I’m willing to listen, consider, and pray about it, though I don’t anticipate many problems with what I consider to be the least common denominator of our faith.

In the end it is God who determines who is and who is not a member of the body of Christ. How would we then know? I would say either by a right dividing of scripture and/or discernment of spirits. Scripture is very clear when it comes to Romans 10:9-10. I see no ambiguity at all. Either one confesses Jesus as Lord or one does not. One either believes God raised him from the dead or one does not. To this date the only real confusion I see is from those who say Jesus got himself up from the dead. I’m still waiting for an explanation of what “dead” would mean in such a case. Here is another clear verse:

1 John 4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.

Many versions render “remains” as “dwells”. While I prefer the latter rendering – either way, is there any doubt that confessing Jesus is the Son of God is the litmus test here? Why try to apply rocket science? Once one’s credentials as a born again believer are established, what else do we need? Certainly some things such as a brother or sister in Christ practicing sin should not be glossed over. The scriptures provide for such cases. As for other “doctrinal” differences? Should I refuse to fellowship with siblings in Christ because they sprinkle rather than dunk? Or whether they do believe or do not believe in water baptism? Should I shun a church depending on whether they believe in speaking in tongues or not?

Granted there are some commonly accepted practices or beliefs I may not be able abide by. I’m just as sure there are some things I accept that other believers cannot abide by. The answers to these contentions are always addressed in scripture if the contentions are valid. In such cases we should be seeking clear understanding of the pertinent scriptures. Those areas that remain unclear cannot (or should not) be issues serious enough to cause a rent in the body of Christ.

The bottom line as I see it is we have clear guidance as to our we should live our lives as members of the body of Christ. By far the most importance guidance is to walk in love.

Ephesians 4:15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;

16 from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.

Ephesians 5:2 Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.

Colossians 2:2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,

Is it any wonder that wonderful passage in 1 Corinthians 12, dealing with us as members of the body of Christ, is followed by 1 Corinthians 13, a treatise on love?

1 Corinthians 13:13 But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.

Romans 13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not give false testimony,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

10 Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal.

Jesus so loved us, he laid down his life for us.

John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

I cannot tell you how many times someone has preached the doctrine of love to me, not to mention how many times I’ve read and studied these scriptures and contemplated these topics on my own. Thinking about love and vowing to do better is one thing, practicing love in the real world is another.

We can wake up in the morning praising God, soak our minds in His Word and in prayer, immerse ourselves in inspirational teaching and music on the drive to work and then someone cuts in front of our car. Or you find that fine thing you accomplished yesterday on your desk with REJECTED stamped across it. Or a coworker stops by and drops a bit of juicy gossip. At times like these, we need to redirect ourselves – renew our minds to God’s Word and hold fast to the truth.

In my next post I’ll offer some deeper thoughts on the practical side of living love. Meanwhile, forget about the unity of the body of Christ. In the physical world you need not think about reaching a landmark you can see ahead of you. You only need set your sights on it and take one step after another. Your head sees your goal via your eyes and your body goes where you feet take you. The same is true in the body of Christ. Christ this the head of the body for a reason. He will direct the body. It is not our place to unify the body it is his. Your part is to function as a member of the body. If you are a mechanic then be a mechanic in Christ. If you are a doctor – be a doctor in Christ.

Colossians 3:23 Whatsoever ye do, labour at it heartily, as doing it to the Lord, and not to men;

24 knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance; ye serve the Lord Christ.

May God bless you and keep you in the name of our Lord Christ Jesus

Footnotes

All scriptures quoted today were from the World English Bible (WEB)

Longer note on the article “the” as pertaining to the words “holy” and “spirit”: Regarding the words “holy” (Greek hagion) and “spirit” (Greek pneuma), our English versions tend to insert or omit the article “the” at will with little or no regard to the underlying Greek texts. The verses I’ve noted above demonstrate this quite well. Judge for yourself how including or excluding this article can alter one’s understanding. Those verses where this article “the” with a single asterisk * with an additional [the]* included denote where this second article “the” was omitted as explained below. Verses with the article “the” followed by a double asterisk ** are instances where there was no such article in most, if not all, Greek texts.

* In the Greek texts in these verses, the article “the” precedes both the word for holy (hagion) and spirit (pneuma) so “the Holy the Spirit” is a more accurate rendering and differentiates the Giver (God) who is Holy and who is Spirit from the gift of holy spirit. Given the common, nearly ubiquitous usage of these terms in current Christian circles, I can only ascertain our English renderings tend to follow the doctrines and traditions of men rather than God as pertaining to these words.

** no article “the” in the Greek

Per articles, punctuation, and caps, another longer note: Much confusion stems from seemingly haphazard sprinkling of articles, punctuation, and capital letters in English versions of the bible. For example, the Greek texts had no capital letters at all so one must be careful about assuming authority. I am guilty of this myself where I typically capitalize God and His Word, etc.