Category: Inspiration

Overview of Battle Field Earth

The world is at war. I’m not talking some silly euphemistic pseudo war. Nor do I refer to the myriad of skirmishes taking place at different hot spots around the globe. Nope. I’m not talking about none of that. I mean WAR, a real, down and dirty, no-holds-barred war. The problem with this war is, you won’t see it unless you open your eyes. The war I’m referring to is a spiritual war.

Unbelievers will scoff at this, of course. Not only do unbelievers deny the very existence of God, some even deny that evil exists. Yet in the next breath they will call somebody “Hitler” or some other embodiment of the very evil they deny. This post is not written for them. I’ll not attempt to bring anyone to Christ here.

As for my brethren in Christ, this should not be news to you.

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;

And again…

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

And again…

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.

Consider how we are bombarded nearly minute by minute by the troubles of the world. We are either taking a pounding from the latest crisis or the enemy begins encroaching on some new front. Anyone who watches any “news” program for ten minutes or more can see what I mean. Take a step back from all those things swirling around our heads on a daily basis. Consider a longer view.

It doesn’t matter what the topic of the moment is: Ukraine, congress, Team Biden, crime, inflation, or the crisis of day, every instance boils down to good versus evil. We all know who lands on the side of evil… every time. All of this tends to narrow our focus so we forget about the big picture. Good versus evil is really God vs the devil – the god of this world.

While we don’t know exactly what goes on at the spiritual level (check out Frank Peretti’s novel “This Present Darkness” for an excellent perspective here.), what we do know is both God and the devil operate in the material world via humans. In fact the entire spiritual battle on this planet is all about humans. Imagine that. Little ol’ us are the center of attention of powerful spiritual beings. So… how does this all pan out?

In recent times, the major battle line has been drawn between the globalists and the nationalists. The god of this world desires total control of everyone and everything via a one-world government. Really, there’s no disputing this. One needs only to glance about to realize the devil is a total control freak. Accepting this, it becomes blatantly easy to see his army. These are the globalists, the politicians, the activists, and the deep state minions. Add to that those in key fields such as media, entertainment, science and business and it may be hard to fight the creepy feeling we are surrounded. Now include those individuals in your personal world who you can identify as sympathetic to the devil’s causes. Wow, huh?

“Men, we are surrounded by the enemy. We have the greatest opportunity ever presented an army. We can attack in any direction.”

― Anthony McAuliffe (Chesty Puller is attributed with a similar quote)

General McAuliffe is also famous for his one-word reply to the German Commander who proposed McAuliffe surrender as his army was surrounded by the Germans at Bastogne.

His reply? “Nuts!”

As Christians, we need to take a similar attitude towards the devil and his minions. Yes, we are surrounded. Yes, his forces can be overwhelming. That said, we have God Almighty on our side. Add to that, in fact, this war has already been decided. We win. If the devil refuses to surrender, why should any one of us?

1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.

6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

2 Corinthians 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Once we recognize the devil is a total control freak, it is easy to see how he operates in the material world. He seizes and exerts control whenever and wherever possible. No wonder he hates liberty! As a rule he tries to control men via our weaknesses. His standard areas of attack are not hidden: sex, drugs, money, and power all top the list. He uses our emotions against us – hate, greed, envy, jealousy and so on. Worse, he’ll even distract us with “good things” such as food, “love”, and entertainment. I put “love” in quotes because he has confused this topic to such a degree that most of us don’t really know what real love really is.

Contrary to how the devil operates, everything God does resides in the parameters of free will. Even many Christians will be shocked to realize God is the exact opposite of a control freak! Consider Adam in the Garden of Eden. He was given only ONE rule: do not eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Summing things: we are at war, we are surrounded, we are being attacked on every side, from every angle with everything the devil has. Despite all of this we can be confident God has already won this war. The question remains… what is our part in this war?

As Christians, we are not merely observers, but soldiers. Part two will lay out the battle map as well as explore our part in this epic battle.

Is Our Nation Lost?

One comment I read today concerns the Warnock-Walker Senate race in Georgia. The commenter stated if Warnock wins, it’s over for the republican party. Similar dissertations have popped up over other results. Right now the republican party is reeling and wringing their hands on how to become more relevant. Of course, they don’t use those words but isn’t relevance what it amounts to?

Let’s face it, most of today’s republicans can be likened to ghetto white boys. They dress what they think an inner-city gangbanger should wear, pound their ears with incessant hip hop, while trying their very best to act, um, cool? Whatever. Back in the old days, the stereotype was the nerd who wanted to be “popular”. Of course they’d always end up looking like idiots. Seems like some kids never learn. They “grow up” to be republicans – well, RINOs, really. You see, they want to be popular, you know, cool. These days that means going “green”, cheering for Zelensky, and virtue signaling at every opportunity. Of course, wearing the right labels and attending the right parties also earns points. And lets not forget about the most important task, the duty of every government official – ensuring our government continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Priorities, you know.

Meanwhile, here in the trenches, the citizens of our nation are lost. We are wandering. It is blatantly evident we cannot trust those in government – not our elected officials, nor those who ostensibly work for us. We can’t trust the electoral process. We can’t trust those leading our party – whoever that may be. The media lies. New evidence reveals some of the depth of those lies and where they come from. Did I mention we can’t trust those in government? I’ll clue you in… some of us were in class that day when it was revealed how all of a sudden it became legal for our government to lie to us citizens. I’m sure it’s all for our own good.

So is our nation also lost? This remains to be seen. That said, there’s less then two minutes on the clock in the forth quarter and the home team on their own one yard line and down by six touchdowns. Okay, maybe not six touchdowns but it’s not looking all that good. Then again, what if we’re looking at the wrong game? If the home team is 15-1-0 and seeded first in the playoffs, how much does this game matter? What if we stepped back a bit to consider the bigger picture?

This hurts, but what if our beloved nation, the United States of America, the greatest nation in the history of the world crumbled before our eyes? What then? If it all burned down today, what would rise from the ashes? Would we rebuild our Constitutional Republic? Or would something else take it’s place? Would the states survive? Would Texas want to be associated with New York? Would Tennessee cozy up to California? I’m not seeing it. What if the globalists declared victory? You know they would in a heartbeat – assuming all the globalists combined could find a heart among them. I have my doubts. Beyond that, what do the globalists want? It’s no secret. They want our borders to vanish so they can install a one-world government. Isn’t that what globalism is all about? Centralized control of everything? What happens to us patriots?

Sure it is a stark venture in thought but is it really beyond plausibility? I don’t think so. I’ve been saying for years now that the globalist agenda will eventually come about. Prophesy says so. If you cannot wrap your head around that idea, just look at basic demographics. The short view is people cluster. We humans tend to group together. It is our nature. As we gather into city centers, we tend to demand more government. This is indisputable. It always happens. Always. It is only a matter of time before we humans centralize ourselves into a world government. For this to happen, every nation worth two cents will be swallowed up by the central government. Again, it is simple logic. A central government cannot, will not stand competition. If it comes to war, so be it. Winner take all.

Again, we are back to square one. IS our nation lost… yet? Maybe, maybe not but we are at a critical crossroads. As I demonstrated earlier, there is no true opposition to the globalists. At least nothing of consequence. Lump all the conservatives together. Go ahead, toss in the Libertarians, the Constitution Party guys, and constitutionalists (no party affiliation) and whoever else and you still have a minority and a minuscule one at that. The globalists have successfully browbeaten our citizens into accepting enough of their drivel so what was once “far left” is now considered “moderate”. I’ll offer just one example. Suppose some serious public figure was to propose ditching Social Security? We would see howls of protest on both sides of the political spectrum. That figure would be considered a radical, if not entirely shunned. Once a radical Socialist program, SS is now sacred in political circles.

Can we ever find our way back as a nation? Personally I have my doubts. This doesn’t mean I am ready to write the good ol’ USA off entirely but I think it’s time to face facts. We are on the verge and things don’t look good for the home team. For those of us who can accept this possibility I can offer a ray of hope.

What is missing entirely from the postulation above? What have I not considered up until this point? Who is in control? How is this a game changer?

If it’s not obvious, let me be plain: GOD. We can talk politics all day long, but until we recognize that GOD is in total, complete control, all is for naught. By all means, GOD changes the game. Heck, GOD OWNS THE GAME. It is HIS playing field. HE set the rules. You know the adage, the house always wins, well we’re in GOD’s house.

Now with God in the picture, the game doesn’t just change, it becomes an entirely different game! Let’s call this game “good versus evil”. Right now it looks like evil has good on the ropes. It is an illusion. How about we take another gander at this game from God’s perspective?

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

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

Within these three verses we can pretty much figure out God’s end game. Ephesians indicates God’s no dummy. He knows not every one will believe. He knew this before it all began. Just the same, He gave everybody a chance. But wait! You say. What about those who were died before salvation became available? You mean, like David? Please. God’s got everything all figured out. If you can trust me on this one, trust Him. He is not just a “fair” God. He is a merciful and gracious God. I’ll take mercy and grace over fair any day. So let’s swing back on this whole “lost nation” thingy, huh?

We’ve all heard the tale and a lot of the jokes about Israel being so lost it took them forty years to trek about 435 miles, by most estimates about an eleven day journey. The joke I’ve heard most is Israel was lost because Moses refused to stop and ask for directions. How long would the journey taken had the people of this nation had turned to God and kept their eyes on Him? I’d say it’s possible we’d be talking about their amazing land speed record instead of forty years of wandering in the wilderness.

Now ask yourself… WHY is our nation lost? By now the answer should be obvious – we’ve turned away from God. In the battle of good vs evil, we are opting for evil. Huh. Go figure. What if we opted for good instead? What if we turned to God? Could our nation be saved? Restored even? I’d say possibly, but what if we’ve moved beyond that? What then?

In a worst-case scenario, our world would be on the fast track towards the end times. Once a world government is established we are all in for some spicy times. Tell me… what would you do if you woke up one morning with the realization that the wait was over? Those last days are upon us and we Christians are now enemy number one? What then?

In my own limited mind, I can think of two things. First – survival. I mean, I’m long past the point where death scares me but as long as I’m drawing breath, I’ll do what I can do keep drawing breath, so, survival. Second, rescue. By this I mean making every effort to give as many people as possible the chance to opt-in to eternity – whatever it takes. What else matters?

Now we’re not at this point yet. It may not come to that in my lifetime if I live to be 200. I just don’t know. What I do know is no matter whether our nation can be restored or not, God will remain in control and unless our nation, WE the People, turn back to Him, the globalists will continue to solidify their hold on us. Evil is winning, or so they think.

We can fight back but politics is not the answer. Certainly “civil war” is not the answer either. Once the nature of the battle we face is recognized, doesn’t it make sense to fight the spiritual war? I’ll get back to this in a moment. First how about we consider our circumstance in mortal terms.

Again I’ll contend that a physical war a la “Civil War I” is absolutely the worst scenario we can hope for. Nobody wins. Even if, lets call us “nationalists” wins, what do we have? A decimated nation, torn by war with dead yet to bury and either a government restored from our current Constitution or a new one formed from a revised Constitution. I’d say this is the “best case” scenario. It looks pretty bleak to me. Should the globalists win… hoo boy, we’re all in for fun.

So lets drop that notion for example. In the secular world what does this leave us if not a political solution. What political solution? What would a strong, Republican, majority bring to the table? For one thing, they’d be right back to battling the “other” party, whether it is comprised of democrats or whatever. Once again we will instantly be faced with a group whose primary objective has to be to grow the government. It is how power bases are formed. Additionally, it is all the politicians know how to do – grab and wield power via influence. Such is the goal. The tools, money (taxpayer money) and regulations, remain the same. Go ahead, change out “Republican” for “Conservative” or “Libertarian”, whatever. The formula for “getting things done” stays the same.

My own ideal political solution, one I highly doubt anyone else would sign on to would be effective but far too cumbersome and, as such, would soon fall back to the current status quo. In my ideal system, WE the People would rule at the county level. Thus the county seat would be the center of our political universe. All law enforcement would be under the primary jurisdiction of the county sheriff. More importantly, most government functions would be handled at the county level. State and Federal duties would be delegated when a majority of counties deemed it so. Subsequently state and federal representatives would answer to their constituents primarily via oversight committees comprised of representatives from each county. Additionally, each state and federal representative would be required to attend county, and in the case of larger population areas, city, board meetings on a regular basis. The oversight committees would take their direction from county residents who would meet, either in person or virtually, to make their preferences known. The board meetings would offer the opportunity for representatives to hear directly from their constituents and for constituents to have their voices heard.

Granted, my “ideal solution” is more of a work in progress than any sort of blueprint but the idea behind the concept is to find ways to decentralize government and our representation while allowing for a balance between access to our elected representatives and allowing them the breathing room to do the job we give them. Imagine being micromanaged by 500 people, then multiply that by 1000. That is about the average number of citizens in each congressional district. One of the most common complaints I hear from local representatives is they often cannot eat a meal in peace without being inundated with citizens with a word, a gripe, or some advice. Sure, it’s the nature of the job but they have lives too.

Summing up from my wanderings… if you take anything away from this post, I would hope it is the sense that the battle we face is spiritual, rather than political, in nature. As such we need to properly equip ourselves and fight accordingly. Every major issue facing us today has a spiritual base. The globalists are bent on denying evil even exists, much less God Himself.

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.

This is the sword that will win spiritual battles.

Ephesians 6:13 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.

The good news is God has fully equipped us for this battle. He truly is our sufficiency in all things. Are you ready to take up “the whole armour of God”? Not the arms of the world that lead to destruction but the armament given to us by Almighty God to defeat the real foe in this war against evil.

Warnock’s Victory and My Response to a FnBook Friend.

By now you know the election was called for Warnock. As disturbing as many of us find this, it only takes a trowel to dig deep enough to uncover far more disturbing things about this. I’ll list a couple in no particular order.

First, we can gnash our teeth all we want about whether this election was stolen. The numerical difference with 95% tallied is 93,542 votes. How many votes would have to be stolen to reach that result? For the sake of argument, lets say 500,000. If such were true this would mean Walker actually won by over 400,000 votes. Okay. Fine. It would also mean that 1,300,000+ STILL VOTED FOR WARNOCK. If you don’t find this disturbing, why not?

We know what Warnock is. Strip off all the political rhetoric, and the pretty veneer. At his core, he is a globalist. His deepest desire is the same as all his comrades – to absolutely control the entire population (elites, excluded, of course.). At one point the globalists hid their agenda to some extent. No more. They openly parade their desires before us all.

Yet over 1.3 million people or more voted for his agenda. Either they know what he is and agree or they don’t have a clue. Either way, it is shameful… and disturbing.

Worse, in my mind, is Warnock purports to be a man of God. Now I have nothing against anyone of faith being in politics. In fact, as I am convinced our very nation is a gift from God Almighty, I believe every God fearing citizen should absolutely become involved in government at whatever level they are led to do so. It is our duty and responsibility. The problem with Warnock is he says he is a Christian. I won’t question his faith but I would remind him Jesus said “no man can serve two masters”. One of the tenants of globalism is to replace God with government. He will answer for his actions, this much is certain. What of the Christians who vote for him? What are they really voting for? I find this disturbing.

These same trends are mirrored across our nation. New York State has been a leader in this respect for decades or more. We can blame corrupt politicians. We can blame the democrat and/or the republican party. We can blame the media. When it comes down to brass tacks, we need to look to ourselves. What have WE done to shine a light on the truth?

At the heart of things, our nation is embroiled in a war between good and evil. It is indeed a spiritual war. If we are to stand a chance at winning this war we need the correct weapons of warfare and we need to know how to use them effectively. God has equipped us for spiritual warfare. You will find your armament listed in Ephesians 6 10-18, among other places.

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;

Can we win this war? Yes. Absolutely. WILL we win this war? I don’t know. What I do know is if we join this spiritual battle, we increase our chances AND we will gain territory for God. If nothing else, we will be able to offer our fellow citizens the opportunity to accept Christ and/or join the fight.

What say you?

God bless

The Problem With Brazil

Unless you only watch MSM or otherwise live under a rock, you’ve seen what’s going on in Brazil. For the aforementioned readers who someone stumbled upon this post, I’ll elaborate.

Brazil recently elected a new president. From what I’ve been able to ascertain, he is a convicted felon and an avowed communist. While felons are prohibited from running for that nation’s highest office by law, it appears the communist-leaning court gave him a pass. Does any of this sound familiar? Oh, yeah, that’s right, your MSM blinders don’t allow you to see anything other than the “official” party line. Maybe you’d better sit down. You see, the courts here in the good ol’ USA have likewise squelched any hint of electoral impropriety to the outrageous extent of branding the events in DC on January 6, 2020 as an “insurrection”. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along now.

It was only recently when CBS decided Hunter Biden’s laptop was really was Hunter Biden’s laptop and not some “Russian Hoax”. Now we are seeing the massive extent our own shadow government went to suppress this and a whole bunch of other information in order to install Slow Mo Joe in the White House. All that is just the beginning of sorrows initiated by the usurpers of our nation. Enough of that, back to our regularly scheduled post…

So Brazil’s election was compromised, beginning with a nominee who wasn’t legally qualified to run anyway and ending with massive fraud perpetrated to “elect” a communist, essentially turning the entire nation of Brazil over to the China. But that’s not the real story here. The real story is the reaction by the citizens of Brazil.

They are pissed and they are protesting en masse – all across the nation. The streets of ever major city is filled with citizens who are demanding this wrong be righted. That’s the story. Now for the problem…

Just like here in the US of A, nothing is happening. Here we’ve seen scandals, fraud and widespread criminality all over the place. From elected officials compromised by foreign agents, to open total disregard for our constitution, to former Vice Presidents promoted after openly admitting – bragging, actually, on video, to using his influence as VP to get the man investigating his own son fired by threatening to withhold foreign aid. The list of crimes alleged as well as blatant, staggers the mind and yet, only a handful of scapegoats are pursued and/or prosecuted.

Citizens who dared walk into the Capitol building on January 6 languish in prisons unfit for any human, not only deprived of their constitutional rights, but horrifically beaten and abused, while criminals who firebombed a police car are slapped on the wrist. Again and again, we see our nation sinking into lawlessness and all we can expect is more of the same and worse. How does this relate to Brazil?

Just like these things detailed above in the US, the citizens of Brazil are being ignored. Word is, the government there will impose martial law. The implied threat is “shut up about it or we will kill you.” This is the problem. If you’ve happened to have seen the masses protesting, there should be chills running down your back. First comes the realization that with so many Brazilians protesting, something is very, very wrong and the entire world should be taking notice. Then comes the sucker punch – their protests are not likely to have any effect. Yes, things might end badly either now or in the future. Yes, this may be the start of a very unstable Brazil for months, maybe years to come, but the will of the people is being subordinated to the will of the usurpers. This is most disturbing. Worse, it could be a portent of things to come here and all over the globe.

Not too long ago, I envisioned similar things happening here as those events in Brazil. Think of it, all across the nation, citizens gathering at county seats, asserting our authority as citizens and taking back our nation. What a display of citizen authority! Can you see in your mind’s eye, photo after photo in Twitter of citizens standing tall at their county seats? I was certain it would cause the usurpers to tremble with fear and awe once they realized their gig was up. While such an even could happen, what shook me was the apparent apathy of the Brazilian demonstration. It’s like nobody even bothered to yawn. Are the powers that be so confident of their grasp that they simply don’t care? What would it take to make them take notice?

Likewise Chinese citizens are protesting also. The crimes committed on them are even more mind-boggling in that they are being herded into facilities, let’s call them what they really are, concentration camps. Those who resist are beaten and even killed in the streets. One apartment building had the doors welded shut so the world watched in horror as residents were burned alive. Like the Brazilians, the Chinese government has yet to be challenged. If nobody stands up for them, who will stand with us?

That’s the problem I see. Is there a solution? YES! For most of you, it is not what you think. Not at all.

Abandon Ship!

Wait! What?! Really??!! In a sense, yes, really. I am not advocating leaving the country or giving up. What I am advocating is a complete refocus of our efforts. Now I’ve gone down this road before but this time I mean to burn some bridges, so to speak. For the most part, any and all political action is dead or dying. Can we take back our nation county by county? I do think it is still possible but recent events lead me to believe such efforts are more than not likely to fail. Why?

Look at this last election. Yes, the republicans reclaimed the House of Representatives. whoopie. (was I able to convey my nearly total lack of enthusiasm here?) Meanwhile Arizona’s election was stolen and it looks like it will remain that way. In New York? The democrat machine reinstalled the entirely uninspiring and totally worthless Kathy Hochul. Pennsylvania likewise sent the barely functioning John Fetterman to the US Senate. Michigan went to Gretchen Whitmer. And so on and so forth. As I’ve stated before, it doesn’t matter one whit whether any of these elections were on the up and up or not. It really doesn’t. Unless the cheating was done on such a scale that it totally overwhelmed the will of the People, we need to come to terms with the fact that a significant number of citizens actually voted for these individuals.

Even IF the anticipated “Red Wave” took place, the result would only be a band-aid on the gaping wound infecting our nation – and the adhesive on that would barely cling. The real issue we’re facing is much larger than any one election can address, much less repair. The real issue is we’ve lost God. As a nation we are a people wandering in the wilderness, wondering why God has abandoned us. In truth, WE have abandoned HIM. For this reason, I’m advocating we abandon this “ship”, i.e. an political remedy and turn our attention fully upon God. How can we do this?

For those of you involved in your church already, and I mean really involved, step back and examine what is going on in your church. What is your focus? Are you going through the motions are you in the trenches? Is your church focused inwardly on members or on outreach? Is it effective? Are you bearing fruit? You can ask this of yourself as well as your church. The fruit you bear is the harbinger.

If you are not involved in a church… why not? Are there no churches near you that bear fruit? Surely there must be some Christians in the area doing God’s work. Find them. Join them. Or start something yourself. Look to God to lead you.

If you have not accepted Christ, I’m not sure what I can do for you. Nobody can make you. That’s the whole point. If you are still reading this, I suspect you are doubting your own convictions. All is not lost as long as you are still breathing. Believe it or not, God will help you. I am living proof. God literally saved my life (maybe multiple times, I don’t know.) both before and after I accepted His Son Jesus as my Lord and Savior. He guided me to exactly the right people to provide me with exactly the right information I needed to be saved. And get this, the people He guided me to were not all from some “church group”. Only one was attending services at the time. Ask God to show you the way. Email me if you like.

At this point in history, I do not know what the future holds. Okay, I never do, but that is beside the point. I once had hopes this nation could be restored. Now I am not so sure. Either way, we need to seek out God and His Will. As for me, I’m forming a bible study group. My goal is to get together with other believers and seek out fellowship and biblical truths. My own idea is for this to be the first of many seeded study groups. Whether this is what God has in mind is yet to be seen. All I know is I feel the need to reach out and this is my first step to that end. My own life these days has not born as much fruit as I feel it ought to, so I am doing exactly what I advocate.

What matters most today is outreach. As a Christian, if you are reaching out already, ask God to show you how to do more. If you are not reaching out, then ask God to show you where to start. If you have distanced yourself from God, then your first step is to draw nigh to Him. We can do nothing without God. Until we turn to Him, our nation will continue to decline until we find ourselves fighting for our very lives. Our best effort now is to immerse ourselves in the truth, hold it forth and stand fast.

God bless

The Society For the Elimination of Thanksgiving

In case you are wondering there is no official “society”… yet. It just feels that way to some of us. Okay, it feels that way to me. Years ago I read where Halloween was the second biggest retail season of the year. It was only outpaced by Christmas. It wouldn’t surprise me if Halloween was now number one. Certainly more people seem to broadcast their love for Halloween far more often and vocally than anyone does for Christmas. Many even fear saying “Merry Christmas”. Instead they substitute the benign “Happy Holidays” or some such tripe… with voices dripping with weak apologies no less.

As for myself, I have always hated Halloween, this even before I came to Christ. The revelry always gave me the creeps. It still does. If you ever want to open your eyes to the truth about this “holiday” I urge you to check out Carol Kornacki. She is a former witch who accepted Christ. My favorite line of hers is “if you are watching the parade, you are part of the parade”. Of course everyone in my family, save my wife, always berated us for refusing to allow our children to participate in the “festivities”. We were just no fun. We were depriving them of their childhood and so on and so forth. I wish my childhood had been as deprived. Seriously, they are all grown now and I don’t really think they were damaged by our decision. About all that “fun” they missed – think about it.

What is the central theme of Halloween? What word do you think of when you hear Halloween? Scary? Close enough. Another word for “scared” is fear. What are those fears based on? Death. Sure, some kids want to be Superman or a firefighter and such but lets face facts. Most of the glory centers around the gory. The movie ain’t about a tea party. Nor are the sequels. They are scary. They are about death. I’ll grant you, Halloween isn’t all about death. It is mostly a celebration of evil. Cry and whine all you want, take out those things that celebrate evil and death and what are you left with? Uh-huh. Without those things are society would abandon Halloween in a heartbeat. What does that say about us?

Skipping on Christmas, why not take a blunt look at this season as well. Personally, I’ve never been a fan of Christmas either. I tend to root for the Grinch. I know it is supposed to be a time when we celebrate the birth of Christ, at least ostensibly. But do we really? Any serious or even semi-serious biblical student (semi-serious so I can count myself in) should have to admit Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th. Just on the basis of angels announcing Jesus birth to the shepherds, one can ascertain he must have been born in the fall or spring. Winter is too cold to be pasturing sheep. There’s more evidence available for anyone willing to look. It’s nearly as easy to debunk as Kwanzaa. Look, if our society truly embraced Jesus during the “Christmas season”, I’d be far more supportive of it but even this holiday was heavily commercialized from the time it was first popularized. I remember reading somewhere that Dickens was encouraged to write “A Christmas Carol” for the express purpose of popularizing the holiday. If it were truly a sacred time then it would be about as exciting as, well, Thanksgiving.

The best the hawkers can do is promote “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving. These days, they’ve polluted that day in order to try to leverage a buck. Now, rather than launching the Christmas season, the “Black Friday season” begins 30 seconds after the Halloween decorations are put up. Of course I’m exaggerating. They no longer wait for Halloween to be over anymore. It’s all about the money. That’s way they hate Thanksgiving. There’s no real money in it. And that’s exactly why I love it.

Now Thanksgiving is under attack. Just the other day I read where protesters (you can guess who) are decrying Thanksgiving. They say it’s an “imperialist” holiday, whatever that means. Oh, I’m sure they’ll tell us. Let me beat them to the punch – by “imperialist” they mean it is NOT communist. For the record, I maintain communism is a poor cousin to globalism. As the Highlander would say, “There can be only one.” and that “one” will be a globalist. Bet on that. Now the curtain has been pulled back, you can see the real reason Thanksgiving will soon become a point of great contention. Thanksgiving by its very name centers around God. To add insult to injury, we celebrate this by bringing families together. There is nothing the globalists hate worse than God and family.

It won’t be long before someone forms an organization resembling “The Society for the Elimination of Thanksgiving”. Wait for it. In past years, globalists have done their best by polluting the waters. Most recently, they urge their minions to insist on discussing volcanic topics at the dinner table. Why think of those things we have to be thankful for when we can talk trash about Trump? This year my money is on “gun violence”. It may be the top menu item from the left as I write for all I know. Yesterday’s Walmart shooting is still fresh off the presses. “Never let a crisis go to waste”, as they say. I’m sure it won’t be “vehicular violence” or “knife violence” or “pushing people into trains violence”. I guarantee no one from the left will want to bring “hammer violence” to the table. Nor will they want to discuss just plain “violence” or “crime” in general. Both are losers. Truth be known, the whole “gun violence” idea is a loser, ask anyone in the nether parts of Chicago.

Word is now out that Biden’s handlers have released a “cheat sheet” to arm his minions with propaganda to spew out for the holidays. Ironically they called it some “talking points when that uncle comes at you”. Interesting. I’d say they stole this from me but I hadn’t posted anything at the time. Unless they are lurking on my computer…

Meanwhile they emphasize “working with Republicans” while downplaying any and all real family issues. The only “republicans” they work with are RINOs and only when they can be taught to perform cheap globalist tricks – like impeaching Donald Trump or holding trials disguised as congressional committee hearings that would make Stalin proud.

May I propose we set aside darkness and talk about godly things instead? Note, I said “godly things” not necessarily God. Sure we can talk about God too or even entirely. I’m all for that. You and I both know how that sort of things go in most families. There’s always Uncle Crank. Why can’t we talk about love? What’s wrong with happiness? There’s a whole world of good things out there to talk about, is it so impossible to focus on them? Many family gatherings will harbor at least one “Uncle Crank” who seems determined to sour the mood if not incite a nuclear incident. Sometimes conflict is unavoidable but more often than not a peacemaker can emerge and save the day. Why not commit yourself to being that peacemaker? Pray about it now and be ready to enlist God’s help to diffuse any situation.

Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

It’s a start. Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you.

Below Psalm 28 is posted in both KJV and WEB formats followed by my observations and where they led me.

KJV

Psalms 28:1 Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
3 Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.
5 Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.
6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.
7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.
9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

WEB (World English Bible)

Psalms 28:1 To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me; Lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, When I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
3 Don’t draw me away with the wicked, With the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, But mischief is in their hearts.
4 Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve.
5 Because they don’t regard the works of Yahweh, Nor the operation of his hands, He will break them down and not build them up.
6 Blessed be Yahweh, Because he has heard the voice of my petitions.
7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices. With my song I will thank him.
8 Yahweh is their strength. He is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed.
9 Save your people, And bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, And bear them up forever.

I almost posted the previous Psalm (27) instead of this one. Psalm 27 is one of my favorites. There is so much to draw from it. I include verse 11 or a paraphrase of it anyway in my daily prayers:

11 Teach me your way, Yahweh. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies.

Why post both KJV and WEB versions? The King James is my “go to” – it is the bible I read every day. More specifically, I read one particular publication, “The Companion Bible” by E.W. Bullinger. This title was first published over 100 years ago. I like it because Bullinger was an exceptional scholar and his Companion Bible offers a great deal of insight via his notes and the appendixes. In this version he always prints the Hebrew word YHWH as LORD. At the time, the scholarly translation was Jehovah. I believe the current rendering of YHWH as “Yahweh”, a phonetic spelling is more accurate. Why is this important? YHWH, or Yahweh, is the proper name of God Almighty. His only begotten Son has a proper name. In English it is “Jesus”. As for the name YHWH, the WEB version translates it into a pronounceable name and treats it as God’s proper name. While I often transition the word “LORD” accurately in my head, I think it is important to offer a plain rendering for anyone who prefers not to practice my kind of mental gymnastics. Besides that, the WEB is a fairly decent rendering for the most part while presenting a version of scripture that is easier to read.

Do note that other words in scripture is also rendered “lord”, with and without caps, and as such, words with completely different meanings are jumbled together so as to dilute the true magnificence of God’s Word.

As for my comments on this passage, my focus today leans more towards those described as “wicked” here. These are also referred to as “workers of iniquity”. Here the references begin in verse 3…

Psalms 28:3 Don’t draw me away with the wicked, With the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, But mischief is in their hearts.

By asking Yahweh not to draw David away with the wicked he, of course, implies the wicked will be drawn away. Away from what? Away from whom? There is no answer to the question of “where” but it is logical to ascertain the wicked would be drawn away from those who are not wicked. So far so good.

Next, we are faced with another challenge as the word “the wicked”is now coupled with “the workers of iniquity”. Notice the word “with”. It appears twice. Huh. So are the “wicked” the “workers of iniquity” or another group? I must admit I got stuck on this for a moment. I almost simply declared “what’s the difference, really?” and moved on. Then I realized God, does not use words idly. He is not at all haphazard in His usage. Thus I decided it was worth a bit more effort to find out. The results were no less than enlightening

The word for “wicked” in the Hebrew is “rasa” (pronounced raw-shaẃ for some reason) it mostly means “guilty one” as in guilty of sin against God or man. It also means “hostile to God”. Hmmm. Okay, this word seems pretty straightforward. Onward.

The phrase “workers of iniquity” is comprised of two words – pa-al, meaning to do or make – and aven. Aven is where things get interesting, but only after digging a bit deeper. Mostly it is defined as trouble, wickedness, sorrow, or idolatry. The root word is not used but it means “to pant”. In this respect it is linked to Ecclesiastes where it says “everything is vanity”. How is it linked? Vanity can be understood as “vapor”. Now consider the more modern phrase “huffing and puffing”, or how about “nothingburger”?

Now consider the rest of the verse: “Psalms 28:3 …who speak peace with their neighbors, But mischief is in their hearts”

They talk of peace but they want mischief. Would it be safe to say this pretty much sums up the globalists, the media, and everyone else seemingly bent on tearing down this nation? Climate change, white supremacy, racism, the list goes on for pages. What little truths proponents manage to sprinkle into their rhetoric are either inconsequential or blown far out of proportion and nearly entirely encompassed by lies. In the end, nothing but vapor comes from their mouths.

The next verse urges God to give them their due. I’ll leave it at that. The following verse states that because they do not regard Yahweh, He will break them down and not build them up. Now, take a moment and consider those thoughts. Did those people David wrote of deserve what they got? Maybe even more? After all God is merciful.

What about you? Do you regard God? What of our nation? How much do we, as a people, regard God? For most I would say God is a mere afterthought, if He is thought of at all. We go about our days, live our lives, send our kids off to school, go to our jobs, stop at the supermarket, take our children to afterschool activities, and maybe watch some television. Surely anyone whose life resembles part or all of these daily activities are not “wicked”, but how much do we regard God?

Now some of you reading this may be active in their church. If you are doing good as a result, I commend you. For those who are doing everything they can, I’ve got news for you, God has bigger plans for you. I would ask you to look around you. How many others are living similar lives? I’m not asking you to judge, just take notice. Jesus said “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few”. Count yourself blessed to be one of the labourers.

As a nation we not only do NOT “regard” God but many are intent on driving God out of our nation entirely. The globalists’ goal is to replace the One True God,Yahweh, with a one-world government. I can almost see some of you scoffing but take heed – what did the communists do in the former USSR? What are the Chinese doing today? I’ll tell you right here and now, communism is nothing more than a thinly veiled tool of the globalists. The end game is the same – one government to rule us all.

What can we, as Christians do? Speak out. Hold forth the truth. What you should NOT do is “speak out against”.

First and foremost, get right with God.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Do you believe that God is? Can you honestly say you trust Him… no matter what is going on around us? Do you believe God will reward you if you diligently seek Him? Do you even want to please Him?

Are you ready to make a real commitment to God? I’m not talking about the “starting to go back to church again” kind of commitment. By all means do that if you aren’t already and seek out more opportunities to spend time with your siblings in Christ, but I’m talking about your own personal walk. Are you committed to seeking out God on a daily basis in prayer and reading scripture? Do NOT give me “I don’t have time.” nonsense. Rather, think about looking the Creator of the heavens and earth in the face and explaining how you were “too busy” to seek Him out. I’ll wait.

Let me be blunt. Unless you are fully persuaded God is real, He is in control, and His Word is truth and relevant to our lives today, you aren’t ready to step out, much less step up.

For those who have gotten this far, pray for God to open up opportunities for you. Ask Him to put you in the game. You need not look far. In the words of Lewis B. Chesty Puller, USMC

“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time”

EXPECTATIONS

What can you expect to happen? This, I cannot say because I do not know. From my own life, I can say I haven’t made any big splashes. It would be nice if I were able to say that, at least, I’ve lived a good and sinless life these past 40+ years. I cannot say that at all. Every day I find myself before God acknowledging my need for forgiveness. Even so, I am a better person than I was four decades ago. I am a better person today than I was yesterday. With all of that said, I can safely say that while my life would never be called exemplary in my Christian walk, I have from time to time been able to muster up some instances of positive influence. The least of which is this blog, mostly because I cannot say for sure anyone has actually read my postings and came out the better for them. Still, I write and post. What I can point to is some of the people I’ve been blessed to have crossed paths with. While I haven’t kept score, I strongly suspect I’ve gained more than I’ve given, but who can say what effect we’ve had on others in the long view? It’s easy to see some of the impact my wife has had on others and much of that impact is a direct result of my influence on her.

The bottom line here is while someone reading this may go on to do great things in God’s name, and even point to something read here as inspiration, no human can say for sure how my scribblings might be received when I post them. My goal is to do today what I feel led to do rather than launch some mighty ministry intending to change the world. For all I know, that kind word I had for some person in passing will yield bushels of fruit while this entire blog ends up being no more than a puff in the wind.

The same goes for you. God, Yahweh, is working in you right here, right now. What you accomplish is up to Him. All you need to concern yourself with is those things you can do right now.

James 5:16b The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

One of the most sneered at actions one can do is prayer. Who sneers at them? Non-believers scorn prayer, yet God places great emphasis on it. Where do you stand on this? Do you scoff? Or do you believe “that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”?

“But… I’m nobody special!” Oh really? How so? Did not Yahweh choose you “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”? Nobody expects you to be the next Paul of Tarsus or Billy Graham. If you are not, that doesn’t mean you have no place in God’s Kingdom.

1 Corinthians 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

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

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

21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:

This entire passage refers to the “body of Christ” – that’s you, me and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ since that day at Pentecost. We all have our place in the body. Every. Single. Person. God chose us for a reason – His reason. Who are we to question Him?

Stepping back and looking at the bigger picture, I see our nation poised for revival. I see a massive outpouring of God’s Word and God’s grace upon our nation. Will this be enough to restore our nation or will our nation fall to the globalists? I cannot say. It doesn’t matter. What matters is for each of us to get right with God, seek Him out and endeavor to live a life pleasing unto Him. I am convinced there are many, many of His children in this nation who are ready to turn to Him. What part will you play?

America First? Or GOD First?

There’s a lot of talk these days about hiring politicians who put America First. Depending on how they mean this, I’m all for it, but I also wonder… shouldn’t we really be putting GOD first? Hear me out.

Time and time again, I’ve advocated turning to God Almighty as a nation. My premise is our nation was founded by God Himself, blessed by God Himself and has risen to be the greatest nation this world has ever seen because God Almighty Himself has graciously allowed it. Why? Because for the first time in the history of the word, a nation has emerged on the basis if being ruled by its very citizens, one that sensibility guarantees each citizen equal rights under the law as the foundation of our being. We are NOT ruled by a monarch or an emperor. We are NOT ruled by a dictator. Nor are we subject to some communist scheme or ruled by a mob (i.e. a democracy). We are a Constitutional Republic, a shining light to other nations. Our nation was conceived by Christian men who risked everything to give birth to it. Now, as we decline in power, both economically and politically, as we are increasingly engulfed in corruption, we are faced with continuing on this path of assured self-annihilation, or repenting and turning back to God – asking Him to restore our nation to former glory.

I suspect my voice has fallen onto the ears of three distinct groups.

First, my brethren in Christ, most of whom look upon my words in puzzlement. Don’t they already pray to God? Daily? Repent? Of what? Surely we are seeking God already.

Second are those who already “have their religion”. Some of these claim Christ. Others worship other gods.

The third and final group scoff at the very idea. God who? They ask. Aren’t we in the modern world? You mean to say you still believe in those old fables? Well, yes, I do.

Hopefully there is yet another group – those of you who are not satisfied with the so-called “answers” above. Somewhere, maybe deep down, you know something isn’t right. Something is missing. I’m sure most of you identify with one of the above groups in some way but it’s not sitting well with you. It is you to whom I am reaching out. Hang in there. Maybe things will soon start to make sense… finally.

For starters, I’m sure you’ve come across the phrase “For God and country”. I can’t tell you where or when I heard it first. Even here something seems to be missing. In my mind this should include the word “family”. So I did some searching and what do you know?

It seems this phrase “God, family, and country” is attributed to Thomas Aquinas. He was a Roman Catholic priest and philosopher. As such he is also attributed “sainthood” but not being Catholic, I’ll circumvent that label. Still, many of his writings are remembered and studied today. Among them is the idea that the three pillars of traditional Western society are “God, family, and country”.

While I have yet to see where anyone else has said this, maybe it is just too obvious, but the order of this phrase is exactly correct. God first, family second, and country last but certainly not least. Thomas Aquinas is also known for defining many principles of “natural law”. I contend here and now, that God, family, and country are not only pillars of our civilization but also the principles on which our natural, God-given laws must stand on.

Thus God should and must come first. Why? Mostly because without God, we have nothing. Okay, let’s back up. What do we have WITH God?

For the moment set aside the concept of “sin”. For those who do not believe in God, the concept of sin is abstract at best. Rather, let us consider something all humans have sought since our beginning – life after death. For those of you who believe there is no such thing, well there you have it. Once you’ve used up whatever time you have, you’ll end up with nothing. Unless you’re wrong, but let’s not go there. I’m perfectly happy to let it go at that. You die and then… nothing. Isn’t that bad enough? Seriously, without God this is the best you can hope for.

Now WITH God in the picture, we have… eternal life. By my calculations, eternity is going to last a long, long time. Even better, in God’s world, eternity is also going to be a big upgrade to what we have now. What about the other side of that coin? You know, that eternal damnation bit with the fire and brimstone and all that? Well… what about it? I’ve heard stories. I’ve read scripture. Yes, I do believe some will end up there. Who and how, I’m not all that clear on. My own feeling, and it’s just that, a feeling, is only the very worst of the worst will end up there. (No, I don’t know about you mother-in-law.) I’m pretty sure all those devil spirits stand a good chance of job security, unpleasant as that may be. Forgiveness aside, there are a few humans I might not feel all that bad about if they ended up there. Even then, I’m not feeling very gleeful at the thought. I suspect a third option is possible. That option is simply death. Lights out forever. How about we revisit that eternal life thing?

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Well, that doesn’t look all that hard now does it? We can obtain eternal life through Jesus Christ. The fact is, it is not hard at all. It was never meant to be. So what’s the catch?

Matthew 19:23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Is that the catch? Whew! I’m not “rich” so I’m good right? In the passage above, wrath wasn’t the real issue. Jesus was talking to a young man who happened to be wealthy. Jesus told him to sell all he had and to follow him. The statement above falls into the “figure of speech” category. You see, that whole “eye of the needle” stuff was really a thing in those days. In some walled cities, in order for a camel to enter, they had to take off everything it was carrying as the entrance was too small for a loaded camel to get through. Whether this was by design or not, well that’s another topic. The idea here is, like that camel, you gotta lose your baggage before you can get in.

You can look at this a lot of ways but, today, I think it’s safe to say, you’ll need to give up that “well there’s many paths to God” thinking if you want eternal life via Jesus Christ. Last I heard, he wasn’t accepting coupons from other stores. Now if you’re thinking, “fine, I’ll just find a back door somewhere”, um, Houston, we’ve got a problem. Now I haven’t studied those “other paths”. I hopped on the Jesus track after I realized atheism was a dead end – literally. That said, I’m pretty sure they all pretty much think they are the only way to eternity. So, I ask you, how can they all be “right”? I guarantee you not one of them will tell you to accept Jesus as Lord. If they did, they’d have to also tell you:

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Um, yeah, there is that. Of course, you can always say Jesus was the liar, but if that is true than who is saying that and how do you know you can trust them? The thing is, I’m not seeing anyone stepping up to fill the gap if Jesus is tossed out. Nobody, nothing, even comes close. Islam? Funny thing about them, they acknowledge Jesus as a prophet and then deny him as well as his words. I have a hard time seeing how anyone can have it both ways. Can you see the problem here? I see the same issues popping up no matter where else you turn.

Now for the good news – God made it easy for us.

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.

God only gave Adam ONE commandment – do NOT eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That was it. Eve was to follow this too but only ADAM was specifically told “NO”. So the serpent, the devil, went to work on Eve who then convinced Adam it was okay to do the ONE thing God said NOT to do. The point here is, God also makes it easy for us to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. Why? Mostly because we’ve got a lot more to deal with than Adam had back then and unless He makes it easy, we’re going to mess it up. So he made it simple.

Really, that’s the whole starter pack. Sure there’s more, a lot more, but this is the ticket you need to get your slice of eternal life. Is there more to it than this? What do you mean by “it”? If by “it” you mean being set as far as eternal life is concerned, I’d say “yep, that’s it”. Now if you are wondering if you need to do more, well… the short answer is yes, but don’t worry, God has got your back. Let me elaborate just a bit.

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Whoa! What? Yeah. Let that sink in. God, the CREATOR of the Universe chose YOU before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him in love. Sink your teeth into that and chew on it again. Remember, God is BIG. He can create, He knows what’s going to happen down to every single detail, and He’s, well, God, so He can do what He wants… and HE CHOSE YOU. I can’t speak for anyone else but the thought still gives me chills. Trust me on this, there are lots of times I wonder why the Creator of the Universe would even want me, but He did and He does.

Romans 11:29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Now consider the next verse in Ephesians:

Ephesians 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will

This verse does require a bit of work to “get it” due to some common misconceptions and a rather inaccurate rendering.

First, let’s tackle the word “predestinated”. Without getting into a study of the Greek, according the Vine’s New Testament Dictionary, the word can be understood as “foreordained” or “predetermined”. In other words, while some might say everyone’s life is “set in stone”, so to speak, and thus our choices are already made for us, the very wording of this is contradictory. How can we have a “choice” if our actions are predetermined? Do keep in mind one of God’s principles is our own free will. Revisiting the Garden of Eden, Adam did not HAVE to listen to Eve and eat that fruit, but God knew ahead of time he would. If he’d refused, mankind would have taken another path and, chances are, you or I would never have been born.

Now about that word “adoption”. Ask any adopted child, the very term can be somewhat painful. Going back to the Greek, the word used here would have been better rendered “sonship”. We are children of God via birth.

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.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Jesus first alluded to this when he spoke with Nicodemus in John 3. He was speaking of the “new birth” that did not become available until after he died and God raised him from the dead at Pentecost. From that day on, when we confess Jesus as Lord and believe God raised him from the dead, God creates that “incorruptible seed” in us, that earnest (token) of what we be blessed with when Christ returns.

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.

And here we are right back to eternal life. Putting it all together, God, our Heavenly Father, in His foreknowledge, chose you to be holy and without blame before Him in love before the foundation of the world. He brought you here, today. Whether you accept these words or not, if you are His, He will continue to show you the truth until you are ready to accept Him as God Almighty and His only begotten son, Jesus, the Messiah (or Christ) as Lord and Savior. This is your ticket to ride.

As for my siblings in Christ who may still be wondering what you are doing here… it’s going to take all of us, both new and old, to reclaim our nation. We all need to turn to God and put God first in our lives. Certainly we were born into the greatest nation this world has every seen. We’ve been blessed beyond what anyone could expect. Many of my brothers and sisters in Christ seek God daily. What more can we do?

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

I’ve no doubt you have faith. Of course you believe that He IS, how could you not. But are you on board with the latter part of this verse? Do you believe He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him? Let me put it another way…

Do you really believe God can and will restore this nation just because we ask Him to? I’m not so sure who believes this. My own wife is often skeptical. Even I doubt if it will happen, but I don’t doubt God. Rather I wonder if we have not lost faith in God to deliver us. What faith?

James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

But there is more to it than just asking…

James 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

This last election cycle has demonstrated this principle perfectly. The polls, if anyone can believe them, strongly indicated a “Red Wave”, even a “Red Tsunami”. What we saw was a red ripple. What happened? We voted, didn’t we? Yes. We voted. By one account Republican’s outvoted Democrats by over 3 million citizens nationwide and still many key races were lost. Why? Two reasons.

First, I am completely and thoroughly convinced, the Democrats cheated. Whether you agree with this assessment or not (I’ll not belabor it), in any honest contest, any and all discrepancies would be completely examined and questionable tallies removed. It’s been pointed out multiple times since the 2020 election that if the Democrats were so confident that vote was honest, they would insist on audits to vindicate themselves. That never happened. Instead they fought tooth and nail at every level to obfuscate any questionable results. However this is entirely secondary.

Even worse is the realization that these elections were even close. Far too many citizens proudly vote for godless ideals – abortion on demand, racist policies, pro-criminal behavior, and so forth. Much of what the globalists desire is pure evil. Those voting for evil either embrace the evil or they are blinded. The very idea that more people could possibly vote for evil over Godly principles sickens me. These same citizens have effectively rejected God Himself. Even with this great shroud of darkness looming over our nation, there is a ray of light.

Remember Ephesians 1:4-5? How many of those voting for evil are lost souls? How many has God foreordained them to be His children? I do not know, but I am convinced there are more than a few. The even better news is WE need to reach them. All we need do is reach out. It is God’s place to call His children to Him. He will not let a single one fall into the devil’s hands – at least not for eternity.

I see the potential for a great revival in this land. God is not finished with this nation. This can happen whether or not God chooses to deliver it, however restoration will not happen if we continue to turn our backs to Him. In light of this, the only commitment that makes sense is to put God first in our lives. With this strategy, we cannot lose. What can you do?

Seek out God in your private life. Pray. Read scripture daily. Join or start a bible study. Seek out others to worship with. Turn away from sinful things. Speak the truth.

On this last, I am not advocating for anyone to quote biblical passages to individuals or groups as a means of “speaking the truth”. A quiet word injected in a conversation may be enough. If you commit yourself to listening to God, He will show you. He will direct your path.

Psalms 27:11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

God will lead you to those who need to hear.

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

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!

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

So many of us, Christians included, look for a Donald Trump or a Ron DeSantis to save our nation. They cannot. Surely God can put such men in place to do His work but our nation needs more. It is bigger than one governorship, or a single presidency. It is greater than Congress. Our nation is one comprised of self-governing citizens, a Constitutional Republic. If we are a nation under God then we will once again be that shining beacon to the world. By putting God first in our lives, we will ensure America is first among all other nations.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Do you believe?

CAN We Win on November 8th?

Most of us are anticipating the “Big Game” on Tuesday. It’s the Nationalists vs the Globalists in a heated contest. From the looks of things, the Nationalists are coming on strong. Many are predicting a blowout. Others warn it’s not a done deal. The Globalists are known to play dirty and there is every reason to believe they will pull out every sneaky play in their book. One thing we all can agree on – this one will be a nail biter.

Yawn. That’s right. Wake me when it’s over. Don’t get the wrong idea. I do believe this coming election may well be very crucial to the future of our nation. No matter which way it goes it will be decisive. Or will it? Let’s consider.

Suppose the worst happens, as far as us “Nationalists” are concerned. The blue team snatches a victory by keeping a majority in both houses. Even if all they do is keep on doing what they are doing now, we are in for one hell of a tempest. Our current path leads nowhere but down. Worse, the burgeoning diesel crisis could soon plummet our nation into depression territory. I’m not talking about running out of diesel. I am assured we are still producing it but we will see shortages. And since our nation literally runs on diesel fuel – from trains to trucks to tractors to heavy equipment and more – no aspect of our nation’s economy will be unaffected. And that is just one issue.

Even more dire is the fact that the globalists will seize upon a win, declaring it a mandate to double down. It won’t matter if they cheated to gain the advantage. They will not let go of it come hell or high water. And double down is just what they will do. Hunting down political adversaries, shutting down all semblance of free speech, even demanding more violence against dissenters will all be on the table. If the globalists win, we who oppose them will be in a fight for our very lives.

But what if we win? That’s a good thing… right? It depends. Really. One factor we need to consider is how big the win is. At this point I’m seeing a lot of speculation about impeachments. Every time I point out that unless there are enough potential votes in the Senate to convict, any impeachment efforts are a foolish waste of time. And the democrats are not likely to vote for a conviction even if the evidence is overwhelming. Here in Virginia, our two Senators, Warner and Kaine are solid blue. I cannot see Kaine voting against his party under any normal circumstances. Warner might possibly jump ship IF he was convinced it was the only way to salvage his political career. Such would be the case for any democrat Senators and none of them will even be up for election for another two years. That’s a lot of time to forget.

Besides that, gaining a “super majority” in the Senate is more pipe dream than possibility. I don’t see it happening. So what we’d be left with is a majority in both houses and there is no guarantee of this either but let’s dream a bit. Again, with a majority in the House, the republicans could impeach anyone within their constitutional reach, but, again, there’s no teeth to this act and I cannot see Joe Biden stepping down for that. I can see him pardoning anyone who happens to be impeached. Along with that, I’ll stand by my prediction that Joe will not last much past the two-year mark of his first term. How the handlers plan on dealing with Harris is beyond me. If I were in their position, I’d replace her first and then dump Bobo, but I digress.

What, exactly can an opposition majority do with a globalist president in the Oval Office? One thing they are not likely to do is override any vetoes. So anything they pass will have to be negotiated. And they can hold up funding so as to make life miserable for the leftist cause. The danger here is the left will be screaming bloody murder all the while. They know from experience, what they scream is far less crucial to their cause than how loudly and how often they scream it. Even defeated, they do not give up and they do not give up. My point is, what the nationalists can do is limited at this point, especially when the globalists control the administration. But it gets worse.

What’s worse? Winning will most likely give us a false sense of security. We’ll breathe a collective sigh of relief – hopefully it will be about the only “collective” thing we do – and go back to our day jobs. Meanwhile, the political machines keep rolling. Unless we keep applying pressure, supporting those who support our republic and shining the light on the globalists and their agenda, we will soon end up right back between a rock and a hard place. In short, we can expect little reward for our win and lots of trouble.

The Bigger Issue

As a nation we have a far bigger issue facing us. I’ve pointed this out before and I’ll keep on doing it until I crash into some brick wall. The problem is, somewhere in the neighborhood of half our nation buys into the globalist garbage enough to put them in power. This is not a “political” difference. It is not some intellectual contest. It runs much deeper than that. It goes to the core of our nation. It is spiritual in nature. The globalists’ “god” is government. Their god is a false god and they worship it in earnest. I’ve pointed this out before – their ultimate goal is complete and total rule over every aspect of every individual’s life. And they’ve conned nearly half of our citizens into believing in their utopia.

The only way to reclaim our nation is to reclaim our stature as sons of the God and Father of our Lord Christ Jesus. We need to turn back to God and ask Him for His help. We must stand strong on those principles we’ve been taught since our youth. We need to turn away from ungodly things and set our affections on things above.

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Do you turn to God daily? How many times? The apostle Paul encouraged us to pray without ceasing. Does your life reflect your commitment to Christ? Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying we all need to start living like monks. Speaking for myself, I see a whole lot of room for improvement in my own life. That said, I do endeavor to make those improvements on a daily basis. I’ve also gone down paths where I’ve spent days, weeks, and months pursuing things that would never bring me closer to God. Not all pursuits necessarily need to be “sinful” to draw us away from our relationship with God. I’ve even seen “church projects” that have lead honorable men away from a godly life. Often it is not the path itself but the perspective of the individual traveling it.

No matter what party ends up with a majority in either house, we can win or lose by the actions we take as citizens and believers. If we gain ground, great – lets make sure those we elect into offices are held accountable and that we diligently work towards bringing God back into our lives and our nation. If we lose ground we need to do much the same but it will be harder as the globalists will do all they can to eradicate anyone or anything in their way. They cannot defeat God but knowing this will not deter them.

Piercing the Darkness

Before I begin, “Piercing the Darkness” is also the title of a Christian novel by Frank Peretti. It is an excellent read that, along with his previous novel, “This Present Darkness” is written from a spiritual as well as a human perspective. Other than the title, today’s post has little in common with Mr. Peretti’s work other than being written from a Christian perspective.

Today’s topic might be summed up with yet another story, a riddle actually, whose author is unknown to me. While the basic premise is similar, I rather strayed somewhat. You be the judge.

It seems there was a man on his deathbed who had accumulated a great deal of wealth. He had been an honest and honorable man throughout his life. Now he was faced not only with his own passing, but the task of choosing a successor from among his three grown children. While he felt they were all worthy in their own way, he didn’t want to play favorites, nor did he wish to induce jealousy among them. After praying about it, he decided gave them a riddle to solve. The child with the best solution would inherit the bulk of his estate and assume leadership of his companies. He called them to his bedside, and handed each an envelope.

“Each envelope contains a $100 dollar bill. I want each of you to take that money and use part or all of it to fill my room. I will evaluate your solution based on two criteria. First, whatever you use to fill the room should represent how you will run my companies. Second, you will need to account for what you spent and what, if anything, is left over. The child who provides the best solution will take my place in my companies and inherit the bulk of my estate.”

His eldest child returned first. With a flair, he handed his father the $100 bill. He opened the door and motioned for someone to come in. One after another, people entered with flowers. The parade stopped when no more flowers could be brought in.

“As you can see, Father, I didn’t spend a penny!”

“So where did all of these flowers come from?”

“From our warehouse of course! I remembered one of our companies distributes flowers wholesale. As you can see, I intend to run our companies by bringing wonderful color and cheer everywhere.”

“Hmmm, you say you didn’t spend a penny?” his father said, “Who paid for the flowers and the labor to bring them here.”

“I… I guess the company did.” His eldest looked at his shoes. “I didn’t think of that. I spent thousands to save $100, didn’t I?”

His father just nodded. “Please remove these flowers.”

“As long as they are here, how about I donate them to the hospital auxiliary to distribute to other patients and staff? At least then I can write the expense off.”

“That should work.”

The flowers were just cleared out when the man’s second child entered. She had a box under one arm and was pulling a tank with the other hand. She opened the box and began filling balloons with helium.

She explained as she filled balloons. “I used most of the money on the balloons and the helium, Dad. Each balloon has a positive message and that’s how I’ll run the companies – by being positive and resourceful.”

Before long the room was nearly filled with balloons and the box was empty.

Her father nodded. “Well, you filled the room all right, but I can’t see anything anymore. Can I ask you one thing?”

“Of course.”

“Now what?”

His daughter’s face fell. “I don’t know. I suppose I need to get these balloons out of here. I’ll take them down to the children’s wing. I’m sure they’ll love them.”

“Good idea.”

The balloons were gone. In came the youngest child.

She smiled shyly at her father before pulling his beside table to the center of the room. She set a candle on the table. She lit the candle and flipped the switch by the door. Light filled the room.

“Daddy, I’m sorry I don’t have any money left. I bought the candle and the candlestick at a thrift shop for one dollar. But while I was looking for it, I noticed a young woman with two children looking at clothes. One of them kept crying saying she was hungry. The younger child had her eyes on a yellow dress. It was worn but in decent condition. I saw the tears in her mother’s eyes as she told her child it was very pretty be she needed clothes for school more. The girl nodded, her lips quivered, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the dress.”

“I couldn’t help myself. I stepped over and told the little girl I too thought the dress was beautiful. I said I know a little girl just like her who would love it but her parents couldn’t afford it. Would she mind if I bought it for her. Her eyes widened and she broke into big smile. She said yes, she just know that poor little girl would just love it.”

I took the dress and found the candle. At the counter, the cashier gave me a funny look when I broke the $100 bill to pay for the candle and then used my credit card to pay for the dress and then asked for separate bags. The little girl cried with delight when she realized I was giving her the dress. I gave the change along with all the cash I had to the woman. I handed her my card and told her if she was looking for work to call me. I’d find something for her. I hope that was all right.”

Her father held out his arms. “Honey, the light from that candle filled the room better than anything but the light in you will light up the world.”

* * *

This was not what I had in mind when I set out to recount the story. I can only give credit to God for this as it brought tears to my own eyes as I wrote it. While I have to admit, I generally like my own prose, I can’t remember ever getting emotional about it.

Not long ago, I heard a preacher say love is not about how you feel, it is about what you do. The young daughter in the story above demonstrated exactly that. Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment.

Matthew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love God. Love your neighbor. Those two commandments supersede all the rest, but how do we love God and love our neighbors? How will others see our light?

We are told not to put our light under a bushel but on a candlestick as did the young lady above.

Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

It is often said people judge us Christians by what they see rather then what we say. They look at the example we set. They observe how we act and how we react.

Look around you. Our nation is overshadowed by a great cloud of darkness. God is denied, defamed and disregarded everywhere. Christians are targeted and, yes, even thrown in prisons for standing for what we believe to be right. Others are fired from their jobs for their beliefs or for simply praying to God. This darkness is encompassing us. It is suffocating our nation, but it has a weakness. That weakness is light.

Light will pierce darkness every time. Light dispels darkness.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

Our nation can once again shine as a beacon, a light unto the world. That light needs to shine from us because we are the children of light. This is the light that will pierce the darkness. Return unto God. Let your light shine.