I find it ironic the name of our latest mass shooter is Nikolas Cruz. Nicky Cruz, you may recall, was the name of the sinner turned saint in "The Cross and the Switchblade". If that Nicky Cruz could be saved, why not this Florida youth of the same name? Yes, he had a hard life, but why turn to murder? Had he never heard of the healing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ?
For those of you not familiar with the book and movie, The Cross & the Switchblade was the true story of the conversion of Nicky Cruz. Cruz was a gang leader in the barrios of New York City, and David Wilkerson was a young preacher from Pennsylvania (if I'm not mistaken). Wilkerson tried time and again to tell Cruz and other inner city youth of the love of God. Cruz beat him up- I don't wanna say everday, but more times than most of us would have put up with! Yet the man of God would not give up.
Ultimately, God's love broke through, and Cruz turned from his evil ways and followed Christ.
So, what about Florida's infamous Nikolas Cruz of today? They say his adopted father died when Nikolas was four years old, and his single Mom succumbed to the flu this past November. The young man had numerous run-ins with police, and was receiving psychiatric care of some sort for awhile.
Did anyone tell him Jesus loves him, and died for him??? Did anyone tell him he was worth something? Did anyone tell him God could wipe away all his tears, and heal his broken heart? Some of you may think it's cliche' or even corny to tell someone "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life", but isn't that just what this messed up kid needed to know? Because I guarantee it wasn't God's plan for him to gun down a dozen classmates and a handful of teachers!
Is the Church dropping the ball in reaching out to today's kids? What has changed? I graduated years before the Brady bill ever came along, yet "school shooting" wasn't in our vocabulary. Weren't kids messed up back in the 70's? Weren't they depressed, lonely, rejected and bullied? I wasn't exactly Mr. Popularity in school: I was like Forrest Gump trying to find a seat on the schoolbus, and had my permanent place at the Losers' Table in the lunchroom. Guess how many kids I shot?
Why didn't I kill myself and everyone else? Because I gave my life to Jesus Christ and He gave life to me.
Because somebody somewhere cared enough to get the message of the cross to introverted wimpy nerds like me. As the saying goes, "But for the grace of God, there goes me". So why are loser kids shooting up schools now, or is that all staged fake news propaganda?
Why aren't we reaching this generation of rainbow-love, gender-confused, detergent-eating, feminist, dumbed-down safe-zone kids? Ok, I get that they are taught from kindergarten we evolved by chance and the Bible is not but myths and fairy-tales; but what are we doing to show them otherwise? From birth our kids are immersed in the Disney world of sex and magic as the spirit of antichrist pervades the media and education establishment. But are they beyond hope? Or do we just not care?
What good is it if TV preachers push a Chicken Soup for the soul, get-rich-quick pyramid scheme, with no calls for repentance and no calls to the altar?
Listen, I will be the first to admit my failure as a Christian! I suck as an evangelist, I really don't have that loving heart that's needed to show hardened sinners God's pure love. My preaching style steps on peoples' toes & stuff. I've oftened struggled with believing God would use a PoS like me, and whether anyone was listening in the first place.
But friends, Jesus promised He would be with us until the end of this age! It ain't about my ability, but His. We need to get the message to the lost that Someone is looking for them. Jesus commands us to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in!
We need a light in this dark generation.
We need to send laborers out into the fields and reap, because it ain't over 'til God says it's over! I can't imagine feeling so overwhelmed and so overwrought that killing everbody at school sounds like a good idea. That ain't normal. Fatih comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. We need to get the gospel to these kids. Gun laws aren't the answer, but saved and healed souls are.
As Isaiah the Prophet wrote thousands of years ago, and Keith Green sang decades ago, "Here am I, Lord; send me!"
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Saturday, November 11, 2017
I Missed the Rapture---AGAIN!
They tried to warn me! Over and over they showed me the signs, but I was like, Whatever. Recently, there appeared in the heavens a sign: the constellation Virgo lined up between the Sun and Moon for the first time in like, a gazillion years. And that's supposed to be what John saw in Revelation 12:1 (which eschatologists throughout the ages assumed to be either the nation of Israel, the Virgin Mary, or the Church) and that means, once again, it's Rapture time!
And I missed the Rapture again, just as I have every time since I first heard of The Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory back in the mid-to late 1970's. I missed in back in '88, then again in 2000, then in 2012, after that, whatever date Isaac Newton supposedly calculated, the Blood Moons and the Jubilee, not to mention the Great American Eclipse. Besides a whole bunch of random mini-raptures every few months. I'm beginning to think the LORD doesn't like me. Why else would I keep getting Left Behind?
Now I ain't the sharpest tool in the box. I, who am less than the least of all saints, seem to have been born with a knack (and a taste) for picking apart flimsy arguments. But we all have our crosses to bear. What I want you to know, Dear Reader, is that all these rapture alerts are totally bogus.
Why? Very simply, no one can predict the time of Christ's coming, and those who do are not speaking by the Spirit of God! Sound harsh? Yet the Apostle Paul cautioned his disciples, "...be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand" (2 Thessalonians 2:2). And I might add, neither by televangelist, nor by magazine, nor by Youtube video. Don't let them get you worked up.
And don't you know any date anyone picks for the Rapture or the Second Coming is automatically wrong? Because Jesus taught His disciples, "the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not." in Luke 12:40. So one of the things that characterizes the day of the Lord's return is that it happens when we don't expect it. So it is impossible to predict the day of the Rapture; any day you pick is immediately disqualified. Why? Because it's not an hour ye think not. It's an hour ye think so.
I'm convinced Satan has a little committee of demons whose sole job and purpose in the kingdom of darkness is to think up goofy stories to fool unstable Christians the Rapture is coming next month or the month after that! The Mayan calendar, Newton's calculations, archeological finds, scientific breakthrough, historic world events, people's dreams and visions, Nostradamus's inscrutable babblings; all are fodder for the Lying Spirits' Club.
I wish I had a dollar for every false Rapture prediction I've heard and seen. I don't even bother debinking them anymore, since time itself is the greatest debunker of false predictions. You tell me September 23rd is it, and I wake up September 24th to the same old, same old. The only thing new is the new date you give for the Rapture!
And can I let you in on a little secret? The people and groups pushing these predictions don't believe it themselves. While they're telling you it's all over come 9/23, they're busy expanding their operations, buying up land and building new buildings for all the new members their false prophecies will bring in. It's Big Bucks! Sadly, the evangelical Church has stolen a page from the WatchTower Society's handbook. They're using the same cheap trick the JW's have been pulling since 1914.
I tell you the truth: by the time you read or watch their prediction that the Rapture or Second Coming or End of the World as we know it is next week or next month, They already have written up an explanation why it didn't happen that day. Some lame excuse that their calculations were off just a hair. And, they already have the new date picked out! Don't be deceived!
God is not the Author of confusion. He's not the one giving out these phony predictions! The Holy Spirit comes to lead you and guide you into all truth, Jesus said. "All truth" means no lies. The Holy Spirit doesn't give people theories. He gives us truth, and, "...frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backwards, and makes their knowledge foolish; that confirms the word of His servant and performs the counsel of His messengers..." (Isaiah 44:25-26)
As I write this today, be sure in the next few months will come the latest "revelation" of the latest sign and it's attendant non-sequitors and syllogisms which give "definite proof!" it's really gonna happen this time. Don't buy it, folks. Junk like that comes up in your newsfeed, just delete it. I don't care how long they've been around, how big a ministry they've got, how well-respected they are; if they're telling you they know when the Rapture is, or who the Antichrist is, or when God's judgement will fall, just ignore it. They don't know.
We are told to watch and pray, not to jump on every bandwagon that comes down the 'pike. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a hundred times, shame on me.
Let's stop circulating the sensationalistic junk and fake prophecies.
Peace.
And I missed the Rapture again, just as I have every time since I first heard of The Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory back in the mid-to late 1970's. I missed in back in '88, then again in 2000, then in 2012, after that, whatever date Isaac Newton supposedly calculated, the Blood Moons and the Jubilee, not to mention the Great American Eclipse. Besides a whole bunch of random mini-raptures every few months. I'm beginning to think the LORD doesn't like me. Why else would I keep getting Left Behind?
Now I ain't the sharpest tool in the box. I, who am less than the least of all saints, seem to have been born with a knack (and a taste) for picking apart flimsy arguments. But we all have our crosses to bear. What I want you to know, Dear Reader, is that all these rapture alerts are totally bogus.
Why? Very simply, no one can predict the time of Christ's coming, and those who do are not speaking by the Spirit of God! Sound harsh? Yet the Apostle Paul cautioned his disciples, "...be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand" (2 Thessalonians 2:2). And I might add, neither by televangelist, nor by magazine, nor by Youtube video. Don't let them get you worked up.
And don't you know any date anyone picks for the Rapture or the Second Coming is automatically wrong? Because Jesus taught His disciples, "the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not." in Luke 12:40. So one of the things that characterizes the day of the Lord's return is that it happens when we don't expect it. So it is impossible to predict the day of the Rapture; any day you pick is immediately disqualified. Why? Because it's not an hour ye think not. It's an hour ye think so.
I'm convinced Satan has a little committee of demons whose sole job and purpose in the kingdom of darkness is to think up goofy stories to fool unstable Christians the Rapture is coming next month or the month after that! The Mayan calendar, Newton's calculations, archeological finds, scientific breakthrough, historic world events, people's dreams and visions, Nostradamus's inscrutable babblings; all are fodder for the Lying Spirits' Club.
I wish I had a dollar for every false Rapture prediction I've heard and seen. I don't even bother debinking them anymore, since time itself is the greatest debunker of false predictions. You tell me September 23rd is it, and I wake up September 24th to the same old, same old. The only thing new is the new date you give for the Rapture!
And can I let you in on a little secret? The people and groups pushing these predictions don't believe it themselves. While they're telling you it's all over come 9/23, they're busy expanding their operations, buying up land and building new buildings for all the new members their false prophecies will bring in. It's Big Bucks! Sadly, the evangelical Church has stolen a page from the WatchTower Society's handbook. They're using the same cheap trick the JW's have been pulling since 1914.
I tell you the truth: by the time you read or watch their prediction that the Rapture or Second Coming or End of the World as we know it is next week or next month, They already have written up an explanation why it didn't happen that day. Some lame excuse that their calculations were off just a hair. And, they already have the new date picked out! Don't be deceived!
God is not the Author of confusion. He's not the one giving out these phony predictions! The Holy Spirit comes to lead you and guide you into all truth, Jesus said. "All truth" means no lies. The Holy Spirit doesn't give people theories. He gives us truth, and, "...frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backwards, and makes their knowledge foolish; that confirms the word of His servant and performs the counsel of His messengers..." (Isaiah 44:25-26)
As I write this today, be sure in the next few months will come the latest "revelation" of the latest sign and it's attendant non-sequitors and syllogisms which give "definite proof!" it's really gonna happen this time. Don't buy it, folks. Junk like that comes up in your newsfeed, just delete it. I don't care how long they've been around, how big a ministry they've got, how well-respected they are; if they're telling you they know when the Rapture is, or who the Antichrist is, or when God's judgement will fall, just ignore it. They don't know.
We are told to watch and pray, not to jump on every bandwagon that comes down the 'pike. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me a hundred times, shame on me.
Let's stop circulating the sensationalistic junk and fake prophecies.
Peace.
Saturday, September 2, 2017
You''l Never Convince Me.....
I've always loved the Sunday funnies. When I was a kid, one of the strips featured in the paper was Ripley's Believe It or Not! which depicted weird and wonderful facts(?). Well some things we believe readily, other things we're like yeah, yeah! It intrigues me how people will ignore mountains of evidence on one subject and swallow a crock of BS on another. How we can dismiss volumes of research out-of-hand on one topic, yet accept a blurry photograph or nonsensical anecdote as proof positive for another.
That is to say, we don't demand the same level of proof for every claim. We judge by different criteria! Often, if a person only asserts a claim with enough confidence and sincerity as if he believes it himself, that's good enough. Someone we trust said so, so we accept it. At other times we're like Thomas of old, who refused to believe Christ was risen from the dead until he could confirm it for himself.
So today let's have a little fun. At the risk of offending every member of my fan base (both of you), here is a list of claims my legendary open-mindedness simply cannot and will not concede. You'll never convince me....
The Earth is flat. Even if NASA really is lying about everything they say, so what? The Earth was round long before NASA was created. One word, folks: longitude. Lines of latitude slice the earth up like a tomato, while longitude divides it up like orange wedges. Thus on an orange-shaped earth, longitude lines converge at both the North and South poles, being furthest apart at the Equator. But on a pizza planet, they get farther and farther apart the further south you venture, being their widest distance apart at the "crust" i.e. the Antarctic.
Follow me? Thus we would expect more discrepancy between the false model and reality in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in the upper latitudes. Ships and planes would be getting stranded all the time because their globe tells them it's only a thousand miles from here to there when really it's three thousand. So we would expect more Flat Earthers from Australia where their GPS's would be getting them lost more. 'Cuz folks, people would notice the maps were all wrong by now. Can I get a "DUH!"?
There are Reptilians among us. A race of aliens that can disguise themselves as human and run the world? The amazing proof of this is in the fact that HD videos occasionally pixelate, causing the pupils of world leaders' eyes appear to shape-shift from round to slitted. Listen guys, I am 99.99% certain that when Jesus Christ called the Pharisees and Saducees a "generation of vipers" , He was speaking metaphorically about their moral character, not literally about their genetic make-up. This is mass hysteria, or if you prefer, a psy-op. Either way, it ain't real.
We evolved by chance. What has evolved is the Theory of Evolution, which gets a make-over every century or so. Paleontologists have discovered a race of ancient human beings called archaic Homo Sapiens, which existed long before the little monkey folk we allegedly evolved from. This would mean man evolved, went extinct for an age or two, then evolved again. Uh-huh, yeah. The chances of us evolving once were a bazillion to one, and you expect me to believe we evolved twice??? Newsflash: even if some prehistoric ape was born with a mutation that gave him a speech center in his brain, he still would never learn to talk. This is because that part of our brains won't develop right unless we hear someone speaking to us while we're little. Without someone to speak to little Bright-Eyes, his Broca's area would never, could never be able to process speech. With no one to stimulate his growing brain, he would remain dumb. And before you tell me language itself evolved, the truth is ancient languages were far more complex than our modern ones. Like everything else, language is devolving.
There is no God. I don't care if the so-called Smartest Man in the World says God is just a delusion. God says He's real, and I believe Him! I didn't go looking for God, He came after me. Why He'd bother with a POS like me, I'll never know. Jesus said "No man can come to Me unless the Father draws him." If you haven't met Him, you may well think it's a myth or fairy tale. But if He's revealed Himself to you, there's nothing anyone can say nor do to make you deny Him. I don't care who thinks I'm stupid, I don't care who thinks I'm crazy!
Tell me all your psychobabble, your pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo, blahblahblah, I don't care! I know that my Redeemer lives. I have believed, and therefore have I spoken: I believe God created the heavens and the earth, I believe the Bible is His word, and I believe Jesus Christ is His only-begotten Son and my only Saviour. And you'll never convince me otherwise.
That is to say, we don't demand the same level of proof for every claim. We judge by different criteria! Often, if a person only asserts a claim with enough confidence and sincerity as if he believes it himself, that's good enough. Someone we trust said so, so we accept it. At other times we're like Thomas of old, who refused to believe Christ was risen from the dead until he could confirm it for himself.
So today let's have a little fun. At the risk of offending every member of my fan base (both of you), here is a list of claims my legendary open-mindedness simply cannot and will not concede. You'll never convince me....
The Earth is flat. Even if NASA really is lying about everything they say, so what? The Earth was round long before NASA was created. One word, folks: longitude. Lines of latitude slice the earth up like a tomato, while longitude divides it up like orange wedges. Thus on an orange-shaped earth, longitude lines converge at both the North and South poles, being furthest apart at the Equator. But on a pizza planet, they get farther and farther apart the further south you venture, being their widest distance apart at the "crust" i.e. the Antarctic.
Follow me? Thus we would expect more discrepancy between the false model and reality in the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in the upper latitudes. Ships and planes would be getting stranded all the time because their globe tells them it's only a thousand miles from here to there when really it's three thousand. So we would expect more Flat Earthers from Australia where their GPS's would be getting them lost more. 'Cuz folks, people would notice the maps were all wrong by now. Can I get a "DUH!"?
There are Reptilians among us. A race of aliens that can disguise themselves as human and run the world? The amazing proof of this is in the fact that HD videos occasionally pixelate, causing the pupils of world leaders' eyes appear to shape-shift from round to slitted. Listen guys, I am 99.99% certain that when Jesus Christ called the Pharisees and Saducees a "generation of vipers" , He was speaking metaphorically about their moral character, not literally about their genetic make-up. This is mass hysteria, or if you prefer, a psy-op. Either way, it ain't real.
We evolved by chance. What has evolved is the Theory of Evolution, which gets a make-over every century or so. Paleontologists have discovered a race of ancient human beings called archaic Homo Sapiens, which existed long before the little monkey folk we allegedly evolved from. This would mean man evolved, went extinct for an age or two, then evolved again. Uh-huh, yeah. The chances of us evolving once were a bazillion to one, and you expect me to believe we evolved twice??? Newsflash: even if some prehistoric ape was born with a mutation that gave him a speech center in his brain, he still would never learn to talk. This is because that part of our brains won't develop right unless we hear someone speaking to us while we're little. Without someone to speak to little Bright-Eyes, his Broca's area would never, could never be able to process speech. With no one to stimulate his growing brain, he would remain dumb. And before you tell me language itself evolved, the truth is ancient languages were far more complex than our modern ones. Like everything else, language is devolving.
There is no God. I don't care if the so-called Smartest Man in the World says God is just a delusion. God says He's real, and I believe Him! I didn't go looking for God, He came after me. Why He'd bother with a POS like me, I'll never know. Jesus said "No man can come to Me unless the Father draws him." If you haven't met Him, you may well think it's a myth or fairy tale. But if He's revealed Himself to you, there's nothing anyone can say nor do to make you deny Him. I don't care who thinks I'm stupid, I don't care who thinks I'm crazy!
Tell me all your psychobabble, your pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo, blahblahblah, I don't care! I know that my Redeemer lives. I have believed, and therefore have I spoken: I believe God created the heavens and the earth, I believe the Bible is His word, and I believe Jesus Christ is His only-begotten Son and my only Saviour. And you'll never convince me otherwise.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
The Family Business
There is an economic principle you are probably unaware of. And it's costing you. It isn't taught in schools. You may not even hear it from "Prosperity" teachers. The Media and Advertising are more than happy to keep you blissfully ignorant of it.
You know the Bible warns us not to be conformed to this world? Or that the Beast system wants its mark on your hand or forehead? Did you think the Devil chose those body parts randomly? Listen, you and I have been taught, trained to think in a certain way. To see ourselves a certain way, to behave in a certain way. And this is a way that is not good for us, but very good for those who would exploit us.
You ready? Here it is: A FAMILY IS A BUSINESS. That doesn't exactly sound earth-shattering, but if you don't know it, you can't profit from it, and you can be kept down. Have you ever wondered why a couple needs a license to get married? It's because the new entity they are creating- the family, the household, is a business.
You say, "Yeah, some families have a home business." and perhaps you are diligent to support small businesses and local family-owned trades. I applaud you for that! Keep it up, it's the right thing to do.
But what I want you to see is that we have been deceived. We've been lied to, and we bought the lie. From the time we were kids in school we've been told that we are consumers. Not producers, not savers, not investors, but consumers. And we believed it. Why would our Social Studies teacher lie to us, right? They labelled us "CONSUMERS" and we accepted it, and we became that. That's why two of every three families in America are buried in Credit Card Debt. And we continue to consume despite racking up enormous debt through unfair and unethical interest rates and fees.
This needs to stop!!! We need to stop calling ourselves what they call us, "consumers" , and see ourselves as and become producers. Now most families, it is true, don't own any land. Maybe you live in an apartment, or condo, or a house with less than an acre of land. Maybe you can't have a garden or raise chickens or whatever. But every household is a business. Even if you don't produce anything yourselves, you still bring in income from your jobs.
And we all think that when we go to work, we're working for the Company, not for ourselves. We need to change that thinking. Our take-home pay is to run our households. Not just to buy more stuff and consume more goods, but to increase our assets and become more profitable, to build up equity. Many families today just want to break even or keep their heads above water.....well they never will as long as they have that consumer attitude.
I wish someone had told me this forty or thirty years ago, even twenty years ago! Sometimes individuals dream of becoming successful as a person, but how many think of becoming successful as a household, or as a family? Let's turn back to the beginning: God placed Adam & Eve in the garden "to dress it and to keep it", not just to eat the fruits thereof without putting any effort into it. Nor did He place them there to labor constantly with no reward, but "every man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree". God ordained that each household should have means of production and be fruitful.
The world seeks to undermine that and keep us ignorant. The motto on the Connecticut state flag is "Qui transtulit sustinet"; why did they write it in Latin? Why not put it in our common language so common folks would know and understand that He who transplants sustains, or he who gets off his butt and invests in his household will survive!
Read the Old Testament miracles and episodes of divine intervention. How many of them were to get a family established, or back on their feet? Remember the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10) "Oh, that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!" Now that sounds like a selfish prayer, but we are told plainly, God granted him his request. Why? Because that's the way it's supposed to be!
Everything in our current system is rigged to keep all the wealth in the hands of a select few while the rest of us never get ahead. The first thing is that they've brain-washed us into seeing ourselves as merely consumers. Friends, it's time to renew our minds! I'm telling you this because I wish someone had told me!
Think about it!
If we truly want to take our country back, and make it great, it must begin here, with changing our mindset toward the home and the family! We cannot let the culture dictate how we live. The Beast wants to brand our right hands (work, productivity) and our foreheads (frontal lobes, i.e. reason, logic, judgement) with their stamp. A nation is only as strong as her families.Take our households back, and we will take our country back.
You know the Bible warns us not to be conformed to this world? Or that the Beast system wants its mark on your hand or forehead? Did you think the Devil chose those body parts randomly? Listen, you and I have been taught, trained to think in a certain way. To see ourselves a certain way, to behave in a certain way. And this is a way that is not good for us, but very good for those who would exploit us.
You ready? Here it is: A FAMILY IS A BUSINESS. That doesn't exactly sound earth-shattering, but if you don't know it, you can't profit from it, and you can be kept down. Have you ever wondered why a couple needs a license to get married? It's because the new entity they are creating- the family, the household, is a business.
You say, "Yeah, some families have a home business." and perhaps you are diligent to support small businesses and local family-owned trades. I applaud you for that! Keep it up, it's the right thing to do.
But what I want you to see is that we have been deceived. We've been lied to, and we bought the lie. From the time we were kids in school we've been told that we are consumers. Not producers, not savers, not investors, but consumers. And we believed it. Why would our Social Studies teacher lie to us, right? They labelled us "CONSUMERS" and we accepted it, and we became that. That's why two of every three families in America are buried in Credit Card Debt. And we continue to consume despite racking up enormous debt through unfair and unethical interest rates and fees.
This needs to stop!!! We need to stop calling ourselves what they call us, "consumers" , and see ourselves as and become producers. Now most families, it is true, don't own any land. Maybe you live in an apartment, or condo, or a house with less than an acre of land. Maybe you can't have a garden or raise chickens or whatever. But every household is a business. Even if you don't produce anything yourselves, you still bring in income from your jobs.
And we all think that when we go to work, we're working for the Company, not for ourselves. We need to change that thinking. Our take-home pay is to run our households. Not just to buy more stuff and consume more goods, but to increase our assets and become more profitable, to build up equity. Many families today just want to break even or keep their heads above water.....well they never will as long as they have that consumer attitude.
I wish someone had told me this forty or thirty years ago, even twenty years ago! Sometimes individuals dream of becoming successful as a person, but how many think of becoming successful as a household, or as a family? Let's turn back to the beginning: God placed Adam & Eve in the garden "to dress it and to keep it", not just to eat the fruits thereof without putting any effort into it. Nor did He place them there to labor constantly with no reward, but "every man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree". God ordained that each household should have means of production and be fruitful.
The world seeks to undermine that and keep us ignorant. The motto on the Connecticut state flag is "Qui transtulit sustinet"; why did they write it in Latin? Why not put it in our common language so common folks would know and understand that He who transplants sustains, or he who gets off his butt and invests in his household will survive!
Read the Old Testament miracles and episodes of divine intervention. How many of them were to get a family established, or back on their feet? Remember the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10) "Oh, that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!" Now that sounds like a selfish prayer, but we are told plainly, God granted him his request. Why? Because that's the way it's supposed to be!
Everything in our current system is rigged to keep all the wealth in the hands of a select few while the rest of us never get ahead. The first thing is that they've brain-washed us into seeing ourselves as merely consumers. Friends, it's time to renew our minds! I'm telling you this because I wish someone had told me!
Think about it!
If we truly want to take our country back, and make it great, it must begin here, with changing our mindset toward the home and the family! We cannot let the culture dictate how we live. The Beast wants to brand our right hands (work, productivity) and our foreheads (frontal lobes, i.e. reason, logic, judgement) with their stamp. A nation is only as strong as her families.Take our households back, and we will take our country back.
Until next time, Peace.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
The Kingdom of God is for LOSERS!
The Kingdom is God is for losers. It is for the weak, and for the foolish. That is a bold statement, but before you get too mad at me, listen. Hearken as Christ opens His Sermon on the Mount with these familiar words:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth."
This as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, and Luke adds, Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake." (Matthew 5:3-5 & Luke 6:20-22)
So the people who seem like they're getting passed over in this life are promised so much more than our eyes can see! Now scoffers and scorners will say this is the biggest scam of all time, that there is no afterlife, and religion just keeps the poor from trying to make a better life here. More about the scoffers in a minute...let's talk more about the "losers" first.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, and reminded them, "For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: that no flesh should glory in His presence." Why would God choose the losers? Partly because the "winners" think they don't need God, they're smart enough and strong enough and badass enough to take what they want without any help from the illegitimate son of a carpenter.
James, the Lord's brother also asked, "Has not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to them that love Him?" When God called Gideon to deliver Israel from the Midianites, his response was, "Me? I'm the poorest member of the poorest family in the whole country!" to paraphrase Judges 6:15.
Again, scoffers mock Christ's statement that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. The self-sufficient suppose the weak and the poor and the ignorant are merely being mislead by the preachers As Bob Marley put it, "We sick an' tired of your ism-skism game, dyin' 'n' goin' to heaven in-a Jesus' name, Lord" .
But there are two points the unbelievers are missing. First, there is a certain quality God is looking for in people to join His kingdom. Secondly, the benefits of living in that kingdom are not all in the sweet by and by, some distant dream of a hope that will never be realized!
So why does God choose the losers? Is it just because they're rejected and oppressed and down-trodden in this life? Or do they have something the winners don't? "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart" wrote the Psalmist, " and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Psalm 34:18. To this the prophet Isaiah agrees, as God identifies Himself as, "...the high and lofty One Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, to revive the heart of the contrite ones." (Isaiah 57:15)
God's not going to waste His time with someone who thinks he's all that! (Though there have been throughout history those who thought they were all that, until they got knocked off their high horse and realized they were nothing but a speck of dust in the universe!) He's looking for somebody who knows he's nobody. Did not Christ warn the religious leaders that hookers and tax collectors would get into the kingdom of God before they would?
Hear me, the kingdom of God is not some far-off fantasy world that never comes! God lifts people up now, in this life. I know, 'cuz I was there! I know the road I was heading down, and where I'd be if Christ hadn't intervened and pulled me up out of it! I'd either be dead, or wishing I were!
Christ's offer, "Come unto Me, ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" is not an empty promise! And He's not talking about one day, after your life is over. He gives you new life, new strength, new wisdom! I was weak, I was poor, I was a loser. But now I can say with the Psalmist, "He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings."
But the scoffers and skeptics will say I'm deluded and deceived: God isn't real, Jesus is fake, the Bible is all myths. Fine. I'll tell you what is real. Suffering, and pain, and humiliation and guilt and fear, and addiction and hopelessness and depression are all real conditions. Such are the heavy loads Jesus promised He'd get off our backs! And don't tell me, because I've seen with my own eyes what God can do and has done in people's lives to set them free from all kinds of pain and torment! My brothers and sisters in the Lord, many friends have I who the Lord has delivered, and lifted them up now in this life!
I know what He did for me!
And you may say it's all in my head, you who imagine you have everything all figured out, confident you know how the universe was born, and how lifeless chemicals took on intelligent life! Ok, it's all in my head! But the thing is, you don't have anything in your head that can do what my Jesus can do!!!
The proud and haughty, who have all this world's good, the wealth, the fame, the honor, the glory, go ahead and laugh! Your day to cry like a baby will come, and there will be no one to listen.
The Kingdom of God is for losers.
That's not a put-down, it's an invitation.
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Konspiracy Koncepts: The Psy-op.
Let me tell ya a little story! When I was a kid in Grammar School, we read some of Aesop's Fables, and one of them went like this: One day, the Sun and the Wind were hanging out, and, being a couple of Alpha Males, soon got into it over which of them were the most powerful. Blah, blah, blah, the Sun says, "OK, Windbag we'll see. You see that dude down there in the crappy coat? Whoever can get his coat off him is the winner, and the other guy has to buy coffee. Or beer." So the Wind be like, "No problem! Watch this!" And he starts huffing and puffing to blow the dude's jacket off him. Only the harder he blows, the tighter the dude wraps his coat around him. So the Sun says, "OK, my turn." , and starts shining brighter and warmer. After a while the dude is so hot, he takes the jacket off. And the Sun is all, "Yea-ah!"
We are embarking on a study I call Konspiracy Koncepts, in which I'll I'll try to list and explain the basic concepts behind modern conspiracy theory. I just gave you one of them. So why bother? Why do you need to know this stuff? First, so you can make an informed decision for yourself whether this stuff is "nuts", or whether anything weird is really going on. How can you judge the Truth Movement if you don't know what they believe, or why?
More importantly, we have an enemy, and we need to know how he operates. "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices." , Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church. Jesus taught us in Luke 16:8, "...the sons of this age are shrewder and more prudent and wiser in [relation to] their own generation [to their own age and kind] than are the sons of light " Whaaaat? The Devil's children are smarter than the children of God?
Christ further urged His disciples to " be as wise as serpents" (Matthew 10:16). The angel told Daniel, "none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand" prophetic messages and their fulfillment (Daniel 12: 10). And the well-known passage from Revelation 13: 18---"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast..." So my purpose here is inform the reader of the concepts that drive conspiracy theory. To make you wiser. I'm not talking about letting you in on secrets, because nothing I'm saying here is secret! And I don't know any secrets!!!
Good? Then what's all this stuff with the Sun and Wind? I didn't forget, just wanted you to think about it a minute. It's simple, and it's a basic conspiracy concept. Here it is. The rulers of this world know that if they try to take something from the people by force, we will resist. So instead they use persuasion.
Suppose they want our guns? If they come in like the Wind, to take away our arms by force, we will fight back tooth and nail. So, they gonna play the Sun and try to get us to "warm up" to the idea. Imagine some gun-totin' madman blasts 20 adorable children and 6 courageous teachers into hamburger with a bad-ass machine gun. We'll be like, "Come, Governor Malloy, Senator Blumenthal, President Obama, take these horrible guns away!" This is the idea behind a false flag or psy-op. We gave up rights to privacy for security after the WTC attacks, like the dude taking off his coat in the hot Sun.
Wait a minute, if all this junk about mind-control and government brain-washing were real, wouldn't the Bible tell us? Then listen to what it does tell us. What do you know, or think you know, about the Mark of the Beast? Let's read the passage again, this time keeping in mind the Sun and the Wind fable.
We are embarking on a study I call Konspiracy Koncepts, in which I'll I'll try to list and explain the basic concepts behind modern conspiracy theory. I just gave you one of them. So why bother? Why do you need to know this stuff? First, so you can make an informed decision for yourself whether this stuff is "nuts", or whether anything weird is really going on. How can you judge the Truth Movement if you don't know what they believe, or why?
More importantly, we have an enemy, and we need to know how he operates. "Lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices." , Paul wrote to the Corinthian Church. Jesus taught us in Luke 16:8, "...the sons of this age are shrewder and more prudent and wiser in [relation to] their own generation [to their own age and kind] than are the sons of light " Whaaaat? The Devil's children are smarter than the children of God?
Christ further urged His disciples to " be as wise as serpents" (Matthew 10:16). The angel told Daniel, "none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand" prophetic messages and their fulfillment (Daniel 12: 10). And the well-known passage from Revelation 13: 18---"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the Beast..." So my purpose here is inform the reader of the concepts that drive conspiracy theory. To make you wiser. I'm not talking about letting you in on secrets, because nothing I'm saying here is secret! And I don't know any secrets!!!
Good? Then what's all this stuff with the Sun and Wind? I didn't forget, just wanted you to think about it a minute. It's simple, and it's a basic conspiracy concept. Here it is. The rulers of this world know that if they try to take something from the people by force, we will resist. So instead they use persuasion.
Suppose they want our guns? If they come in like the Wind, to take away our arms by force, we will fight back tooth and nail. So, they gonna play the Sun and try to get us to "warm up" to the idea. Imagine some gun-totin' madman blasts 20 adorable children and 6 courageous teachers into hamburger with a bad-ass machine gun. We'll be like, "Come, Governor Malloy, Senator Blumenthal, President Obama, take these horrible guns away!" This is the idea behind a false flag or psy-op. We gave up rights to privacy for security after the WTC attacks, like the dude taking off his coat in the hot Sun.
Wait a minute, if all this junk about mind-control and government brain-washing were real, wouldn't the Bible tell us? Then listen to what it does tell us. What do you know, or think you know, about the Mark of the Beast? Let's read the passage again, this time keeping in mind the Sun and the Wind fable.
"And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great... to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads" Revelation 13: 15-16)
Notice that this walkin', talkin' image doesn't kill the non-worshippers itself, but causes someone else to kill them! Nor does it force the people to be stamped with the mark, but causes them to receive it!! It makes them want to get it, and to give up their eternal lives just like the man gave up his coat for what the Sun was giving him.
The Press and the Media act like the Sun in that fable to mold public opinion! They use celebrities to tell us what we want, what we love, what we hate, and what we protest. Remember that the animated image John saw caused people to receive the mark. They'll camp out for it like it was the newest I-phone! They've been brain-washed for generations now since the end of WWII....first radio, the movies and television, finally the Internet, all telling them what to think, believe, and want.
"They live, we sleep!"
Now that you understand the concept, you can judge for yourself whether this principle from Aesop's fable is being applied. Maybe it's not so nuts?
More next time.
Peace.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Konspiracy Koncepts
Well Conspiracy Theory is certainly becoming a hot topic in the Media and Press, so we're going to take a little time and do a series going over the basic conspiracy concepts. It seems like you almost never hear the word "conspiracy" without the word "nut" attached to it. But is it nuts? What if I told you the Bible itself declares there is a global conspiracy?
There is a prophecy in the Old Testament, repeated (and partially fulfilled) in the New Testament: it is Psalm 2:1-3 and Acts 4:25-27.
There is a prophecy in the Old Testament, repeated (and partially fulfilled) in the New Testament: it is Psalm 2:1-3 and Acts 4:25-27.
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His Anointed, saying, 'Let us break Their bands asunder, and cast away Their cords from us.'"
So the governments and the common people together unite and plan for the purpose of breaking free from God's dominion and control. They want to run the world their way. Or someone's way. But they don't want God in charge. Let's see.....who they gonna get to take His place?
It turns out somebody volunteered. Satan's mission statement is laid out in Isaiah 14:13-14.
"...I will ascend into Heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." So here we have the chief conspirator, Lucifer, with his megalomaniacal scheme to overthrow God. Think he can pull that off without a little help from a bunch of fallen angels and humans???
And, Hello, Christians, did you just hear Satan announce his plans to infiltrate and run the Church? No, it went right over your heads. Listen: I will sit also upon ther mount of the congregation. You say, "No way, Matt: Jesus said the gates of Hell would never prevail against His Church." Right, and they won't prevail against the true church. But that doesn't stop Satan from setting up a false one. Haven't you read the Parable of the Tares? That's a key Konspiracy Koncept right there- that Satan would raise up counterfeit Christians.
And what about this idea that the wealthiest of the wealthy are buddying up together to get themselves more of our wealth? Hear the Apostle James: "Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you...Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth....Ye have condemned and killed the just." James 5: 1-6
So not only are the rich men cheating their workers, but apparently bumping off whistleblowers who seek to expose their evil deeds. But did you notice what else they're doing?
James says the rich men are stockpiling their assets for something that's going down in the last days. Our days! Folks, that's a multi-generational conspiracy. Satan didn't start building his New World Order in 1776. Paul tells us, "the mystery of iniquity doth already work" (2 Thessalonians 2:7) And John adds, "...this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:3)
And it gets deeper, and darker, and creepier. Because this conspiracy isn't just between kings and people, but involves the collusion of demons as well. Don't take my word for it, listen to God's word. "And I saw three loathsome spirits like frogs, [leaping] from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet. For really they are the spirits of demons that perform signs (wonders, miracles). And they go forth to the rulers and leaders all over the world, to gather them together for war on the great day of God the Almighty." (Revelation 16:13-14, AMP)
These frog-like entities are what are commonly known as the "Grey Aliens" (but really they are demons) who are performing signs, wonders and miracles- not of magic, but through technology they give us. And notice that they are uniting the nations! They gather leaders from all over the world together! Love! Unity! Tolerance! I know, we'll call it "The United Nations"! Yeah, the UN is a huge part of conspiracy theory.
Bottom line, modern conspiracy theories of one-world government, religion, and economy come right off the pages of your Bible. So it's not nuts. Although there are "nuts" involved in the "Truth Movement" who say nutty things. We'll get into that. What's a schill? What's a psy-op? What's a false flag? You may hear these terms and not really know what they mean. So I'm going to take the next few blogs here to explain it the best I can, nice guy that I am.
And remember, whatever is or isn't going on out there, this one thing you can be sure of: Jesus Christ will be with us, even unto the end of this age. Amen.
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