Whitewashed Tombs

 Do 'Christians' here support their 'right' to bear arms - including automatic weapons? Do they believe they need a gun to 'defend' theirself? Jesus said, 'live by the sword, die by the sword'. Jesus said that those who seek to save their own life will LOSE IT. Do these 'Christians' clamor about their religious 'rights'? Do they harbor hatred in their heart for those they believe are the 'enemy'? Do they shout that all 'Democrats' are going to hell, as they are seeking political power, celebrity, and wealth? Do they call names, and slander? Do they worship Trump? According to Jesus' standard, which He laid out for us, do we have murder in our heart? While the outward appearance may be sparkling white, and one may fool many, God knows. 

God WILL give us what we demand for in prayer... We WILL get what we insist on. Yet, in the end, what is in the darkness WILL be brought to light. We must get right with Jesus, and put away thinking we are here to judge and correct the world. (1 Corinthians 5:12-13: For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges.)

(1 Peter 4:17: For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?)

Do these words of Jesus, in Matthew 23:27-28, resemble any one of us? "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."

If one resembles the world in their attitude, and refuses to repent, they will spend eternity in Hell... even if they think they're a 'Christian', yet refuse to fear God, love and forgive others, humble their self, repent, and love and obey the Lord Jesus Christ.

No, things are not 'looking up' for America, as false prophets and teachers are saying. There is no 'breakthrough' coming, no matter what we 'declare'. God is not bound to our declarations! What the earth is ultimately facing is 'the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord' - as has been prophesied all through the Bible. The Christian WILL face Tribulation. God has promised He WILL judge all nations. America is no more special to God than any other nation. America is not a Christian nation, and never has been. In all of history there has never been a Christian nation. For the Christian, this world is not our home. We belong to King Jesus, and the Kingdom of Heaven. And every liberty we have in this life is a gift - NOT a 'right' (entitlement).

GOD KNOWS THE HEART OF EVERY MATTER. The Lord Jesus Christ is ALL my righteousness. Jesus Christ, ALONE, is 'worthy'. Not me, and not you. May He be merciful to us, sinners all. Amen.

Hogwarts Christianity

 

For the one who makes the claim of being Christian, to identify, then, as 'Gnostic' or 'Mystic', this one has missed the mark and graduated into an occult spirit.  

To be a 'Christian' is a matter of identity. This is where we identify with Jesus Christ - His life, death, and resurrection. This is not a mystical event. It is a an actual creative work of God. The true Christian has died (willingly) to the Old Man and has been 'born again' into a New Man by the finished work of Christ Jesus and through the transformative power of the Holy Spirit. This is God's gift to us - His provision for our salvation. It is a happening as actual as Creation itself... for what is material is that which is passing. Only what is born of Spirit is eternal. Because we lack understanding (in darkness), then, some will call this 'mystical'. God is not mystical. God is real. If we lack understanding it is because we are in darkness, and we are not God. ONLY GOD, BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT, GIVES UNDERSTANDING.

Mysticism and Gnosicism leave the practitioner in darkness - not 'special knowledge' and 'enlightenment'. When I was involved in the occult - with Jesus Christ as my chosen diety, by the way - there was NO END to the pursuit of understanding! In a practice, where intellect is highly venerated, it was an ever increasing crevasse of darkness... a rabbit trail leading to nowhere, except straight into Hell.  

AND, Hell is an actual place - in no way comparable to the torments we experience in this earthly existence, as some are fond of saying and believing. This ideology comes from those who love a lie, and hate the truth. Hell is much worse than what we experience on this earth, and it is eternal. Hell is not something we go through here, while on our way to Heaven. Those with hell (evil) in their heart do not make it to Heaven. Apart from merciful God's saving grace in Christ Jesus, literal Hell is the eternal and real destination. God is not willing that any should perish. Hell was created for Lucifer and his demons. It is the followers of Lucifer who put their selves in Hell. And, Lucifer appears as an 'Angel of Light' to deceive many on the mystical (mythical) path of 'enLIGHTenment'...

Another consideration, I never achieved anything in meditation by the emptying of my mind, except emptiness. I never had a revelation, or an achievement. Nothing. Yet, when I read the Bible, or listen to a song, or a testimony, I find myself meditating on what I have read or heard. This is true regarding ANYTHING we put into ourselves! Watching Harry Potter, and letting your children watch, too? Occult (demonology) becomes the meditation... you WILL become that thing you put into yourself. Your children will become that thing you allow them to put in. Star Wars, Star Trek, horror movies, fantasy, romance and sensuality, music choices, comedy choices, the News, yoga, reiki, astrology and horoscopes, etc... We become what we 'eat'! And, your children are listening and watching, too!

Are you a follower of Jesus Christ? Do you feed on Him? He is the Bread of Life! What are you feeding your children? This is what you - and they - will become... except for the intervening grace and mercy of Jesus Christ. Our only Hope.

(Romans 6:6-11)  [6] ...knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; [7] for he who has died is freed from sin. [8] Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, [9] knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. [10] For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. [11] Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

(Galatians 2:20)  I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

(2 Corinthians 5:17)  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.

WAR

 The 'battle' is not political. The battle is not to impose morality by force of will. The battle is not one of 'rights' (i.e. entitlements). Here is the battle:

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12

The battle is a spiritual battle. To 'fight' the battle by our own understanding - wilfully, defiantly, and forcefully, attempting to conform the world to our idea of how things should be or what we think God wants - is an act of hubris and rebellion. Ultimately, it is witchcraft. The Bible is specific on what the true battle is, and how to fight it.

Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 2:12-16:  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST.

Again, Paul writes, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:  For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

These 'arguments' and 'lofty opinions' cannot be destroyed unless they have first been destroyed within the individual. The battle begins with the individual! It is not external, with 'those people out there'. Firstly, it is our own thoughts which must be taken captive toward obedience to the Mind of Christ Jesus. And, the one who has been born again has been given this mind.

Secondly, we must take care in HOW we fight against the demonic. Here is what the book of Jude says:  Jude 1:8-16 Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.

Have you witnessed a Preacher, Evangelical, or Prophet, ridiculing the devil, his demons, and the forces of witchcraft? Scorning and mocking a political leader, or otherwise? Prancing about the platform they have formed for themselves, loudly mocking and slandering those who do not fall in with them? Scoffing at those who do not conform to their ideologies and assertions? If so, turn and run from them! These irreverent and arrogant mockers are of the evil one. Have nothing to do with them! They are as dead as their evil deeds.  

Again, as stated in the book of Jude (1:18-19): In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.  

…do not follow them. They will lead you into hell - right along with them. You cannot participate in the victory Jesus won for us against principalities and powers by joining with the devil.

Ephesians 6:11-18 says:  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING put ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

Dad (and the Red Backpack)

 

My dad had cancer. It was in his bones. Especially affected was his lower back. Out of concern, there came a time my siblings moved dad from the home he shared with mom (for many years) into an Assisted Living facility. This caused much grief and mourning for mom and dad. Yet, my parents took it like the Troopers they are. They made the best of a terribly painful and difficult time. A slow death is not an easy death - some passings are more tenacious in nature... both in endurance, and in heartbreak. Most often we fail to see this as a gift from God.

When dad went into Assisted Living I called him every day, twice a day. We spoke of the Lord Jesus, and of life. Dad was heartbroken about being away from mom. He was heartbroken that death was taking him from mom. He missed his wife of 60 years. He missed his life, his home, and his work. Dad loved his work, and was proud of his accomplishments. Dad did beautiful metal work, as a welder, and gorgeous woodwork. These became his hobbies. Dad missed doing his woodwork when he could no longer safely do it.  

Dad missed fishing. During his final day of fishing, on his little boat, my brother Mike took a picture of dad holding up a beautiful fish he had just caught. Mike and dad both knew it was dad's final day of fishing on his boat. It is my favorite picture of dad.

Ultimately, dad loved his life here on this earth. This is where his 'treasure' was, and he was having trouble letting it all go in favor of the Kingdom of Heaven.

And dad was afraid to die… I must admit that this surprised me. I, somehow, believed that dad had such a strong belief in, and relationship to, God that his dying experience would be colored with peace. Yet, peace was often not present.  

There were many times I, as a child, went into mom and dad's bedroom at night terrified of dying. Dad would sleepily talk to me briefly of Jesus, say a prayer with me, and send me back to bed. I went to bed, still terrified, and not wanting to die and go be with Jesus. The thought scared me, because I had never seen Jesus. He was a stranger to me… not like flesh and blood mom, dad, and siblings, that I knew for a certainty. Now it was I talking to dad over his fears and concerns of dying.

In our daily phone conversations, when dad and I talked about dying, he would sometimes tell me a story about how, when Uncle Curtis was dying, he feared he had not 'done enough' for the Lord. Then came the time when dad admitted to me that he had the same thought… even though he knew our salvation is a free gift of Jesus Christ. Any 'works' are a result of the Holy Spirit manifest in our life. Yet, the thought did haunt dad, even if just a little.

Dad also believed he had encountered demons, and the demonic, while at the Assisted Living facility. There was a time when dad thought he actually saw a demon when the lady in the room across from him died. I don't doubt this is true. We talked about this, too. Certainly the devil was making a play for his soul even to the end.

Many months before dad died - even, perhaps, a year before he died - I had a dream. What I remember of the dream today is that dad had a red backpack on his back. I was frantically telling him that he needed to get rid of this backpack - to throw it out of the window of the room we were in. Just get rid of it before he died because it would send him to hell if he didn't. I was frantic and yelling at dad, at the end of my dream, to get rid of the backpack or he would go to hell. When I awoke I was terribly disturbed. I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, for dad following that dream. I had been praying for him before, but my prayers amped up after the dream. I prayed about the dream, and God showed me that the red backpack was anger and unforgiveness that dad was harboring and needed to be rid of.

So, I prayed fervently - as if in battle, which I was - talked with dad daily, and went to visit him at the Assisted Living facility as often as I could. Toward the end, probably even about just over a week before dad died, I called dad. He answered and seemed a bit distracted and maybe even upbeat. He was looking for something in his room. I asked him what he was looking for and he said he was looking for his 'sin sticks'. He was referring to his cigarettes. My heart sunk. I didn't understand why anyone this close to death - one who believed in Jesus, and the judgement of God - would want ANYTHING to do with sin. It seemed to me that this would be a time of preparation to meet with Jesus. The Lord had delivered dad several times from cigarette addiction, and now - at the end - to cigarettes he did return. I kept the conversation light, and returned to my prayers for dad.

A very short time later - I seem to remember it being a week, or maybe two - dad was in his bed. He could no longer get about, or communicate. I visited him alone in his room. I turned off the damnable TV, and sat with dad. I gave him some water that was beside his bed with a little sponge. He was thirsty. As I talked with him I saw a single tear roll down his face. I wiped it away and told dad that I love him, and that I know he loves me. I told him what was going on in my life, and played some Christian music for him, read scriptures, and prayed (as I recall). I wasn't there long, and then said my goodbyes for that visit. As I prepared to walk out the door dad seemed to get frantic and panicked, so I turned around and spent some more time with him until he was calm.

I knew dad's end was very near, so I visited him again the next day. This time John went in with me. Again, I turned off the damnable TV. Dad's face was disturbing to me as I searched it for signs of peace. I could not see it. His left eye was open, and looked as if it could not close. I believed it was his final day (and it was), so I took pictures - only of the right side of his face. I sat with dad, read scriptures, and sang him a song (actually a medley of two songs):

"I'm trusting You, Lord.

I'm trusting You. 

You've been so faithful. 

You've been so true.

You never failed me,

Though I failed You.

I'm trusting You, Lord.

I'm trusting You.

Have Thine own way, Lord.

Have Thine own way. 

You art the Potter.

I am the clay.

Mold me and make me,

After Thy will.

While I am waiting, 

Yielded and still.

I'm trusting You, Lord.

I'm trusting You. 

You've been so faithful. 

You've been so true.

You never failed me,

Though I failed You.

I'm trusting You, Lord.

I'm trusting You."

Then I prayed with dad. I prayed until I felt peace descend upon the room. I prayed until I felt the struggle cease. I prayed God's protection all around the room, and prayed that the TV would stay off. John said a prayer. I said my final good-byes. I got a message from mom later that night that dad had passed before midnight. With him was mom and Denise (a treasured friend of our family).

It has been just over a year since dad's passing on May 1st, 2021. I have been troubled over all that dad had to go through in his final days. I have been troubled about his passing, and the red backpack… I have remained in prayer. Yet, over the past few days God has shown me something…

God will set people in place to pray for us.  God will break our hearts to save our souls. God will teach us to fear Him, even - in terror - to save our souls. These are gifts!  God allowed dad fear and uncertainty. God broke dad's heart. In the times dad could no longer communicate on the outside, God was dealing with him on the inside - preparing dad for his departure from this world - a world dad had to release his grip and affections from. And, I believe God helped dad to get rid of that red backpack. The Holy Spirit has comforted me, finally, about dad.

This I know: God is faithful, and God is good. Very good. He is not willing that any should perish. Neither am I. I thank God for the gifts of prayer, heartbreak, and the fear of the Lord.

"He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety." Job 5:11

"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit."  Psalm 34:18