“God is not willing that [I] should perish…”  (2 Peter 3)

“The Blessed man…”  (Psalms)

“I am more…”   (2 Corinthians 11)

Many persons can attest to what I am about to write.  What I am about to write about is not a peculiar truth to me alone but is still so very special to me and is one (1) reason I am who I am today and is a very big part of why my faith is what my faith is today. I have heard many persons speak about their experiences, today I write about ours.  There should be no thought of pride as any part of this…to God be all the glory and those that know me will know I speak truth. God is so very real to me and this is one (1) of the so many reasons why.  God is my Saviour…not only of my eternal soul but of my temporal body that shall be made like unto His perfect, resurrected, and glorified Body.

In this article we shall recount the many times I should have died or had my life changed forever but saw God’s intervention.  I said many persons could talk about what I am about to write (DV) but many more could speak to this truth yet they know not or refuse to give all glory to God.  I shall not and do not fail to do this…To God be the Glory. What I am about to report is the truth and the whole truth. I speak not in hyperbole or exagerration.

We shall report the facts in bullet point form:

*My mother and father can support this particular claim.  When I was just a young child my parents were amost involved in a car accident.  My mother was driving, my father and I were in the back seat. My mother had to slam on the brakes and as every thing went flying and rushing forward I went flying and slamming forward too.  If not for my father’s…my earthly father’s quick reflexes and my Heavenly Father’s protection, I would have most likely gone into, if not through, the windshield with terrible results.

*In my “terrible teens” three (3) events strike me.  One (1)  I remember riding on my friends running boards as we were driving down a very steep decline in the road and I remember (for what ever reason) jumping off the running boards.  I hit the street with my feet and due to physics I fell backwards with great velocity, hitting the back of my skull and my back on the street with force. The outcome?  I got up shook my head and ran to catch up to my friend’s truck.  Looking back all I can say is to God be the glory, He was not willing that I should perish or suffer any results due to my foolishness, no not even a scratch and or a bump.  Another incident from my terrible teens was due to a very physical street fight.

Two (2). The back story is not important. I found myself in the middle of a circle of other teens and ready to face off against just another opponent, one of many.  Street fighting was one way I spent my teens.  I was undefeated at this point, but that would come to an end…technically anyway.
This particular fight was against a “ringer” from Cicero.  I was set to fight two (2) other boys, but they backed out and brought this guy in to fight in their place…the two (2) boys were cowards. I was set to fight these two (2) the day before but they failed to show up which was a good thing as i planned to beat them with a hidden bat.  This was just one (1) more time God saved me from myself.  Anyway, I had beaten this stand-in ringer, I thought.  i went to far and pick him up with plans of dropping his head on a triangular white stone I spied, as we were fighting next to a newly stoned creek side and this triangular stone was one of these stones.  I picked the beaten boy, I had beaten him with my “patented” upper cut.
I dragged him over to the white stone, had him in a front face lock, think DDT and I was in the midst of lining his forhead up with the point of the triangular white stone, I was planning on killing him, again God saved me from myself, the boy came to, realized what was about to happen and with his newly realized strength pushed me into the newly realigned creek bed. I again hit the back of my head, this time, on the white stones in the creek bed. Next thing I remember, my opponent was beating my face in with one of the stones, ironically it was the one I had planned to end him with.  I was taken to the doctor once someone dropped me off at my house. My mother could not look at me because my face was so badly beaten, I could not see any thing until the next day as my eyes were swollen shut.
This was before I fell upon the Rock of Christ.  That Rock was soon to come and I would remain broken upon that Rock forever.

Three (3). One final report from my terrible teens.  Just before I was to meet Christ, I was in a bad place as many of us are before we meet Him.  This time I remember I was going to finish myself off with a bullet to the head.  I had found my parent’s gun and I put it to my head and pulled the trigger, This gun would fail to work properly…Reader, I have goosebumps.  This gun never failed to operate in the past, this time it did.  I was to meet Christ very soon and my life would never be the same again.  To God be the Glory…Reader, I have tears in my eyes.

*Years later, in 2007, I suffered the first attack of Pancreatitus.  The doctors said I should have died from this first of very many attacks, but again to God be the glory.

*During one (1) of my many hospitalizations I was put on a pain pump.  I was scheduled to receive a certain amount of dilaudid, a most powerful pain medication, usually reserved for cancer patients. The usual dose for cancer patients is point 2 (.02) milligrams,  not two (2.0) milligrams but point two (.02).  The pain pump did not act properly and I was given thirty-two (32.) milligrams in one (1) dosage. I did not know this until I tried to get my next does. The machine would not provide the next dose because it was empty.  I called the nurse to tell her it wasn’t working, she checked the machine and went into panic mode…this nurse was a very qualified and very experienced nurse and she paniced!  She asked how I was feeling and I replied that I was fine.  She and the other nurses could not understand why I was not dead.  I referred them to the last chapter of Mark.  The last chapter of Mark promises that those who believe in Christ could be given poison and not suffer therefrom!!!  To God be the glory.

*I  was in a 7-11 convenience store and was verbally assaulted by a drunk man while in line.  Things kept escalating and escalating over a period of minutes. This guy kept threatening me in front of my daughters and I kept mocking him and pressing his buttons.  I could tell by his body language he wasn’t going to do anything and if he tried he would fail.  I confessed myself to be a preacher of Christ and told him he should back down. I went on to tell him one never knows who they are messing with and he was one of those people that knew not. One (1). I am a practisioner of jiu jitsu, God had taught my fingers to fight and my hands to war, and Two (2). I has my hands in my pocket and my fingers laced a pair of brass knuckles.  Anyway, things ended as I predicted and he left without doing a thing.  I found out the nexy day, within minutes of our altercation, this guy drove a block to the Shell gas station and died in his car.  If we would have had a fight in the 7-11 parking lot, he would have died, but instead of dying alone in his car, he would have most likely died at my hands and I would be in prison.  Many will say I handled this all wrong, whether right or wrong, God saved me again.

*The last time I was hospitalized I was hospitalized with a blood sugar level over Eleven hundred (1100). Again the doctors said I should be dead and again, to God be the glory.

Reader, these are the times I remember specifically. There were many times my life could have ended or been changed for the worse.  How many times did God save me from alchohol poisoning,? or drunk driving,? how many times was I saved from being a dad to someone else than with the wife of my youth? How many times was I not arrested from DUI?

I remember one time in particular, believe this or not, it makes no difference to me. I was driving home on a Wednesday night from a country and western bar. I had “poisoned” myself with a number of Long Island Ice Teas and a number of shots of Jaegermeister, and Goldslauger. I found myself on a bridge, stopped in traffic…many cars were in front of me and many behind me.  It was odd to have so much traffic that late at night.  Then I saw the reason.  The police were stopping each car and looking for drunk drivers from the country and western bar, “of whom I [was] chief.”
Remember the cars in front of me and the cars in back of me?  There was no way out of this.  I thought to God, I was backslidden, what am I gonna due now, I figured He had finally had enough as He and i were at war…or at least I was.  Reader, the next thing I remember was my Mother screaming, “Keith!!!!!!!!!!!!, What in the h… are you doing?”  This was not normal language for my sainted mother. I new I was in trouble.  I had apparently, for what ever reason, opened my mother’s closet and opened a box containing many pairs of my mother’s many shoes, picked one smaller box, in particular, casting the shoes from inside the smaller box…no, not upon the Lord, Who careth for you, but over my shoulder so I could vomit in the smaller box!!! This was just one of the many times my mother awoke to my drunken foolishness, normally she would catch me standing atop the stairs that led to the basement as I would be urinating down those stairs, in stead of relieving myself in the bathroom which was situated right behind me.
The question was and still is, how I made it home that night without a dui. I know I had made it through a few police stops before this and faked my way through, this time was different, there could be no faking it this time. Yet, to God be the Glory, I made it home without a dui, but still how?

Reader, I could write about the number of times I could have been killed in various car accidents, one of which, had a semi truck running me off the road, into a number of orange and white, lighted up traffic horses, I can’t recall what they are called but, you understand and into a ditch…the semi truck driver leaving me to my end…whatever that end might be…I was, of course fine and of course to God be the Glory.

Some have called me, in jest, Catman because of my many lives. I call myself a blessed man among other blessed men. I look at the times David faced his potential death and the times Paul and the other apostles faced their potential deaths as well as the many times our Lord and His many other servants faced their deaths, both then and now, humanly speaking. I can, as well as so many others, say while boasting upon the Lord, “O death, where is thy sting?  O grave, where is thy victory?”
I and many others can also say, while boasting upon the Lord and glorying in His great power and strength, “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.” I will also testify in my Lord’s protection and say, “Though an host should encamp againtst me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident,” and “A thousand shall fall at [my] side, ten thousand at [my] right hand, but it shall not come nigh [me].

Reader, any one of His servants and chosen soldiers can testify to these words and so many, many more in the Word of God and in the history of God’s loving care of His own, whether they be in Scripture or out.  It is true that all of God’s people will either face death or rapture, there be no doubt.  Those that meet the Lord through death do not lie when they claim to these passages because even though their body may find temporal rest in the earth, their spirit and soul, “afterward[s] [shall be] receive[d] to glory” and [will] dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”

So again I say with many others, “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy glory?”  The sting and the glory has been taken in the great victory of our great Saviour and Defeater of death, the Lord Jesus…To Him and Him Alone, Who holds death in His nail pierced Hands and victory over the grave, be all the glory.

To any who think I am bragging in myself and not the Lord, You be a fool and know not what it is to live in the Lord and to see His great and many promises of protection.  My unbelieving friend, If His Eye be on the sparrow, should not His eye be upon me? To my believing readers, who have experienced similat acts of God, Rejoice with me in His proven promises and praise Him Who proves Himself faithful time and time again.

Godspeed.

“I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.”  (Romans 7)

“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.”                                                                                                                               (2 Corinthians 10)

I remember asking another believer, long ago and after a really, really bad day, if they ever swear or have a temper tantrum in their head.  This person told me, “Naw, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Methinks this person doesn’t know what this person is talking about. Temptation, we are told is common to man.  Christ-ian reader, you are not the only one with bad thoughts, you are not the only one who slips and swears every now and again.  You are not the only one that has bad thoughts sneak up on you when you are in prayer.  These things are common and if anyone tells you differently, find out what medication they are on because I want some. Why would 2 Corinthians 10 be there if our minds and thoughts were not vulnerable to attack???

When we confess our sins to our Heavenly Father, what is the ratio?  Are you confessing murder? theft? adultery? or are you confessing sins of the mind?  That battlefield is in the mind, Joyce Meyer is spot on.  The battle is not over souls…the battle is over our own spirit. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his own spirit [is better] than he that taketh a city (Proverbs 16).  That is high praise from the Holy Spirit is it not?  We have more encouragement for you.

If you turn your Bibles to Galatians 6, you will find the fruit of the Spirit.  The last fruit is called temperance or self control.  Self control, whether in spirit (mind), soul, or body is the hardest to produce and that is why, thinks me, it it mentioned last.

Having written all of that; we must always keep in mind, as hard as it can be at times to be temperate, modest, and under control, it is what a Christ-ian does with the aid and support of the Holy Spirit. This is one of those things that separate us from them.  We are not to indulge ourselves with whatever world there is in our heads. Not saying that one should not use the imagination, the imagination is from God and it is to be used properly.  [SideNote:  I do not get bogged down with evolution debates. However, there is one question that I wd ask, “How did the imagination evolve?” Really, at what point would a, for the lack of a better word, this nebulous thing we have called the imagination? When did it begin to evolve?]

I’m reminded of something C.S. Lewis said or wrote: A fish does not have big dreams of flying in the sky.  That is because the fish is where the fish should be. BUT, We have an imagination, we can picture things in our head, we can rumble through the files of our brain in order to recall something or someone, we can see the faces of our most beloveds in the eye of our mind. “For as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23)

The Lord Jesus said, “But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery in his heart.”

If we make that a principle, then all the good we would want to do we have done so in our hearts.  Methinks this is how one lays up treasures in Heaven.

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.”  (Psalm 122)

“Likewise greet the church that is in their house.”  (Romans 16)

Reader,
What happens when a piece of charcoal is removed from a burning grill?  It cools down.

What happens when you put a tea bag into hot water?  The flavour comes out.

What happens when a Christ-ian is removed or keeps away from other Christ-ians?   S/he cools down.

What happens when a Christ-ian is among other Christ-ians?  That Christ-ians is strengthened, encouraged, renewed, revived, refreshed.

Christ-ian reader,
The above is true and the above is they way God intended things to be.  In the Old Testament God said it was not good for man to be alone.  In the O.T. God’s people were in tribes.  These tribes made up God’s chosen nation.  In the New Testament, we are many members of One Body with Christ as the Head. In the N.T. we are many members of the Church and the Church makes up the Bride of Christ.

We are told the Holy Spirit desended and took up residency in the Temple of God, who is the individual Christ-ian believer. When He did this He brought certain gifts to certain persons. The Spirit of God gave gifts, “severally as [H]e will.  The purpose of these gifts is to benefit the church.  The Christ-ian, you, reader, have been given a gift and God intends you to use it for the benefit of the Church.  You cannot simply receive this gift(s) and keep it to yourself.

Example: Let’s say there are five (5) persons and these five (5) persons have widgets and these widgets need batteries.  You, Reader, have all the batteries for these widgets.  Without your batteries these widgets will not work.  Therefore these five (5) persons with five (5) widgets can do nothing but sit and waste time all because you have the batteries but you will not show up and do your part, you will not show up and BE your part.

When I talk about church, I’m using it very broadly.  Church can be the traditional Sunday services at the local church building: Sunday School, Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, with a mid week service and possibly a youth group.

There is also the small group meetings during the week and then all the small groups meet together for Sunday services.  Some churches have a church building and satellite locations where believers meet and watch and listen to the head-pastor via video screen. In these satellite locations there are associate pastors.

The home church or the house church or the para church is a growing segment in the body of Christ. The Bible references this church, methinks, nine (9) times. When the church began it began in the homes of Christ-ian believers. It seems the church has come full circle in this way.  The church began in homes and it seems that for many the church is going back to homes.

The point of this article is not to rate these churches or to say which one is better. The point of this article is to demonstrate to Christ-ian believers that there is a place for everyone there is a place that should appeal to everyone.

This writer is a preacher, teacher, pastor that ministers out of his home.  That is not to say we have broken from the local N.T. Churches.  NO! Not at all.  We are so happy to be known and loved by pastors and their church’s in our area. We are happy to love these pastors and their churches, as well. The pastors of these local churches and this writer share our thoughts with each other.  This writers gifts are being used on Sundays and whenever we meet with pastors or others from these churches. Our gifts are being used when God puts us into the path of another or another into the path of this writer.

Reader, You are meant to be part of a local church in whatever form it might take.  To be absent from the church is to withold your blessings from them and to miss out on their blessings for you.  Reader, the Church is to be a world unto itself.  The Church is the world whereunto God sent His only begotten Son.

The church is full of persons that are meant to help one another. Preachers, teachers, mechanics, nurses, doctors, landscapers, contruction workers, bankers, accountants, lawyers, chefs, administrators, psychiatrists, psychologists, engineers, etc. etc. etc.  Within the church there are persons that can help each other…we do not take these persons for granted, but we know to Whom they answer and therefore we know we are getting a good deal and the best service available as they do their work as unto the Lord.

We are fully aware that the church, in general, is not healthy, this we know.  We know there is a mixed multitude in the church.  We know that sound doctrine is not being taught in every church.  All this is known, but we also know there are bastions of truth as well. God promises to leave Himself a witness in this world.

Reader, you must tap into a source somewhere, somehow.  There are places on FB that will help you keep warm like a piece of charcoal. But that is not enough…it is not good that man should be alone. The moment one becomes a Christ-ian that Christ-ian becomes a target of (s)atan and his minion.  Look at our Lord Jesus,  As soon as He was baptized, where was He led? Why was He led there?

The Lord Jesus, after His baptizm, was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil for forty (40) days.  Christ-ian, Are you to be different?  I say nea.  When you became a Christ-ian, you became an enemy and a focal point of the enemy.  You need back up and that is found in the church, whatever form it takes.

There be no, “Yeah, Buts”  Tap into the power of Christ’s body and make it stronger and greater.

“…[God] shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their wickedness: yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.”  (Psalm 94)

We will preface this article with the precept that one must not take personal pleasure in the destruction of an enemy. One cannot have great happiness when the wicked are mowed over by God.

The Christ-ian can and will be pleased to see God execute His vengeance upon the enemies of God and God’s people. But we are not to ever take personal pleasure or personal satisfaction in the destruction of another. We will see God glorified in the destruction of His enemies and we can rejoice in that Glory, but not have a cold blackness of personal veneance in our hearts that can be felt.

When God cuts one off, God is cutting off a creation in His Own Image and there must not be pleasure or giddiness in any destruction of an Image of God. If you have a personal pleasure in the downing of another, you know not what spirit ye are of.  Are we all on the same page?

Having written all of that, we will (DV) look into the destruction that the wicked, the self-centered, the self-exalting, the abusers of what God has given them and those that use their temporal power to vex the life and lives of others under their ruthless reign should expect from the Most High God, the LORD of Hosts, and the Closer of all open accounts on the behalf of His elect and holy people.

The  wicked and reprobated persons who use or rather abuse their power, their authority, their status, their reach that is due to their celebrity: to bully, to seduce, to intellectually rape, to influence, to coax, to incite, to instigate, to conform others to their likeness, to hurt, to harm, to gain, and to profit shall be cut down by The Power and THe Authority they sought to be in their tiny kingdom of me, me, me, and only me. God will be greatly glorified when He advances forward upon His helpless and hopeless enemies.

When God’s Holy Wrath, Holy Vengeance, Holy Justice, and Holy Fury is satisfied, the people of God will rejoice in the Righteousness of God.  When the puny humans receive their just rewards for their ungodliness and their pride-filled, God affronting actions, thoughts and feelings the people of God will live in peace with their Great, Good, and Graciously Governing God.

“…[H]e shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in [H]is wrath. The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man shall say, verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily [H]e is God that judgeth in the earth.”  (Psalm 58)

“Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not: and make their loins continually to shake. Pour out [T]hine indignation upon them, and let [T]hy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents….add iniguity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into [T]hy righteousness. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous (Selected Psalms from Psalm 69).

Preface:
This article may be a little longer than usual, but Reader, methinks you will benefit greatly from the instruction this article puts forth. This article deals with how a Christ-ian should treat an individual that is part of an institution that hates and rages against God and is God’s enemy.
Reader,
Have you come face to face with an obvious abomination and know not what to do or how to act or even how to feel?  Have you then thought later, ” I should of…” Considerate Reader we present to you an article that will (DV) answer these questions. We believe you will glean a spirit of liberty and freedom from what this article says, as this article puts forth the Word of God.
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“I hate them that hate [T]hee.”  (Part of a Psalm)

“Love thine enemy…”  (Matthew 5)

WHAT???!!!  “Which way do I go? Which way do I go?”

“I can’t understand the Bible.”  “There are too many contradictions in the Bible.”  “I just don’t get it.”  “It’s too confusing.”  “We’re not suppose to read the Bible ourselves, we need a priest to interpret it for us.”  “It just doesn’t make any sense to me.”  “That’s your interpretation.”

Christ-ian reader,
Say Amen if you’ve every heard any of these comments before. If you speak often about your faith you may have heard many or all of the above.  Sometimes the person saying them really believes what they say and sometimes it be an excuse. In fact, you may have even uttered one of these at some point in your pre-Christ-ian life.

In out titles above and in our text above there is reason to say, “I just don’t understand it.” In one part of Scripture we find King David saying he hates all them that hate God. Yet we find Christ saying we are to love our enemies!!!”  Reader, which be true?  Are we to hate them that hate God and love our enemies?  Are those that hate God our enemies? Can we love those that hate God”  We might say with King David, All of this is too wonderful for me.  We might even say all of this is above my pay grade.   Could we agree with David and disagree with David’s Son?  Can we agree with Christ and disagree with David?  Aren’t they both in God’s word?  Isn’t all of God’s Word true?

If you are confused please allow you friendly neighborhood Preatureman to come to your aid.  We can believe both and we can do both.  We are completely and utterly against the gay agenda, we could not stand any firmer against it. We know persons in this movement. Yet we bear  no grudge against any of them, no, not one…no, not one.  We drive past every so often a “gay-church.”  Our ire rises and we shake our head.  Yet we hate not one of those men or women or man-women or women-man inside.

We shop at a store where a man is dressed as a women, he wears eye make up and paints his finger nails to match.  This man’s voice is very deep and this man is very friendly.  I have no harsh feelings toward him and I do not think he has any against me. Yet if he were to ask me what my opinion is on the gay agenda I would tell him I abhor it and stand against it with every fibre of my being.  If he asked me how I feel about him I would tell him I bear him no ill feelings and i love him as my neighbor. Normally, however, when a person of his association finds out that I am a preacher, their ire is heightened and I become an enemy immediately.

Reader, does this make sense to you or do you feel as though you are betraying and denying Christ if you show kindness to a person that is an associate of an enemy of God?  You should not.  I know, depending on what camp you run with how you would feel about this doctrine.  If you are of the fundementalist camp, you view those in league with the gay agenda an enemy just as you do anyone that thinks differently than you. Do not deny my statement.  If you are a Christ-ian of great age, you might even feel uncomfortable with this doctrine.   If you are a super saint, I know you feel the same way as the fundementalist.

Let me give you some examples of this doctrine in play.  With whom did Christ eat? Did He not eat and drink with sinners and yet remain holy and unchargeable of any sin?  One need not read the Gospels very long to see the animosity Christ had toward the Pharisee and that the Pharisee felt no love loss with Christ.  Yet, Reader, In John three (3) who do we find coming to Christ at night?  Was it not a Pharisee, Nicodemas?  Was their exchange and engagement not friendly, do we not see our Lord and our Example showing kindness and love to this man who associated closely with Christ’s chiefest enemies? Reader, methinks yes.  Who do we find later in the Gospels defending our Master when the Pharisee desire Christ’s death, was it not Nicodemas? Who was it that desired Christ’s Body after the crucifixion? Was it not Nicodemas and Joseph of Arimathea?

Reader, let me give you another example. Paul, in his letters to Rome and Corinth, did he not speak strongly against the gay life style?  The gay lifestyle ran rampant in Rome and Corinth. Yet we find Paul including the gay person in his first (1st) letter to Corinth saying, “and such were some of you.”  Do you think for a second that gay persons were brought to the Christ-ian faith and repented from their sin because Paul was hateful to them individually?

Do you not think that these individual gay persons came to Paul asking, “What must I do to be saved?”  Was Paul’s instructions any different to these persons than it was to the Philippian jailor?   Do you not think Paul said to these, convicted by the Spirit, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved?” Paul needed not tell these gay persons to repent for repentance and the goodness of God brought them to repentance already and now their repentance brought them to a desire to believe?  Praise God.

Allow me to explain this doctrine in a personal way.  I have used this before and we will probably use it many more times.  Let us say a gay pride parade was marching down your street. It is an extremely hot and humid day.  You are about to explode from anger.  Then you notice a marcher falls from heat exhaustion in front of your home.  “What do you do?”  “What do you do?” A. You let them lay there and possibly suffer great injury and think to yourself, “Well, if s/he was not marching in this abomination to God, s/he would not be in this predicament.”  2. Do you run out there and pull the person from the street, get a glass of water or a hose and tell your husband or wife to call 911?  What do you do.

I hope the answer is most obvious.  If you answered number one (1), you need as much forgiveness as the gay person!!!  You are being most wicked and you have a great beam in thine eye.  Are you truly a Christ-ian?  If you answered number two (2), Good answer.  You can hate everything this person stands for and still show this person Christ-like love. What did Christ do when the woman, caught in the very act of adultery, do?? Need I even remind you?  If you answered number one (1) you are one (1) of the men Christ rebuked.  If you answered two (2) you are the Christ-figure.  Praise God for the Spirit that indwells you, leads you, drives you, and directs you.

How should a Christ-ian respond if a gay person resists you and your kindness and shows only contempt for your faith?  The sad truth is, many if not most of the time, the gay person will show contempt as soon as they learn of your faith in Christ.  I have experienced this many times. To be true, however, the person need not be of the gay agenda.

I have had kind exchanges with many a stranger and as soon as I wish them God’s blessings or Godspeed, a wall goes up and their facial expression changes in a twinkling of an eye.  It as though they have become a different person. This is because i have become a different person, I have changed from a nice customer or a nice guy, to the enemy of their soul.  I have tried to pay for a fellow customers items but as soon as I say it is because of the Lord’s goodness and provisions to me, they refuse my kindness.  Others, are pleased and tell me thank you and promise to pass on the kindness.  Do I resent those that refuse my or rather God’s kindness?  Not at all. Dogs bark and Cats meow and God-haters hate.

When the rich young ruler came to Christ seeking to be a disciple and ultimately refused Christ’s precepts and walked away, did Christ resent him?  No, we are told Christ loved the young man.  Reader, If you are to become Christ-like at Christ’s return, it begins here and it begins yesterday!!!  Reader, Love thy enemy, pray for them and bless them that hate you and curse you.

Reader, I know this may not come easily and it may not come fast.  I know that there are many beilievers that are loved of Christ and know not how to respond to those in the gay agenda.  And let me be clear, I know the gay agenda is evil and must be opposed at every turn. I also know the Catholic church must be opposed at every turn but I also know we can be Christ-like when engaging individuals from these institutions. We all know persons from the liberal mindset and we abhor everything they stand for but are we not kind and loving to those with in out own families that are of this ilk?  I hope so.

Did Christ not hate SIN and yet eat with sinners?  What does one (1) do when one is face to face with a beligerrent homosexual, liberal, atheist or any other enemy of God?  Do we have to smile and show kindness and act sweet to them as they attack righteousness and the greatness of our God?  Of course not.

When I practised jiu jitsu, my opponents knew I was a Christ-ian, I had a Christ-ian patch on my Gi, they knew I was a preacher, they knew I was their friend.  My opponent also knew I had plans to separate their head from their body or rip their shoulder from their rotator cuff.  Not literally of course, but they knew I was going to come at them with all my knowledge and my technique, after all i was, the “Technician”…..no kidding!, I was called that.  I was not interested in the ground and pound style, though I was well versed in it, I chose the slow, mental, and methodical aspect of tying my opponent up in to a human pretzel.

Do you see my point, reader?  My opponent and I would go after each other….ON THE MAT.  However, after we fought…let’s be honest, after I won….. (I’m kidding, no I’m not, or am I) my opponent…my defeated opponent would shake hands and hug.  I felt no grudge, anger, hard feelings or any negative feeling toward them and neither did they toward me. This is how one (1) deals with an enemy of Christ, whether it be an atheist, a liberal, or a homosexual.  When we step foot on the mat, make no bones about it, they are stepping on that mat or entering that cage also…they are thinking the same thing you are. When the bell rings, you engage them with everything you’ve got, you pull your sword, (I know I’m mixing metaphors) that is always sharp and whetted, but clean from your last battle with eight hundred (800), from it’s sheath and you take up your shield that is always present, you put on your righteous armour that is to be worn on your right hand and your left and you go for the kill!!!

The Spiritual, the Logical, the moral and truthful kill belongs to you. You share that victory with no one, except….EXCEPT… He Who delivered your foe into your hands.  We wrestle not against flesh and blood, we wrestle not against the vessel that is fitted to God’s wrath and God’s utter destruction, but we DO, we WILL (DV) wrestle those powers and principalities as they be robed in flesh and blood.  We seek to spill no man’s blood but we seek to empty the spiritual power’s and pricipality’s of every ounce of black blood that is in them. We seek to take the head from the giant and present it before God as a cat brings the dead rat to his master as a gift and to show honour, loyalty and respect!!!

BUT once the enemy of Christ is vanquished or the bell sounds, due the the time limit expiring, both competitors, both combatants look upon one another, they nod in respect, they shake hands and they depart.  One (1) giving glory to self, SIN, and (s)atan and one (1) giving all praise and glory to God, laying his crown of victory and the head of the giant of militant unbelief before the Feet of Christ, our Master, our Lord, our One and Only Saviour, our Example, our Captain, our Champion, our Trainer, our Spiritual and predestinated End.

One does not walk away thinking, “I sure told him,” or thinking “a mighty warrior am I” or “I know so much.”  No! nyet! No! No! No! One walks away thinking, saying, and meaning, Glory be to God for it is He Who has “taught my fingers to fight and my hands to war.”  One (1) walks away thinking, saying, and meaning, O’ God! O’ my God, O’ God of my Strength and my Salvation, If it please Thee, cause all my thrusts, and swings and blows, my strikes, my hits, my poundings, allow all my attacks and strategic assaults be used for Thine Own Glory and the conversion of Your, our enemy.”  It is a high form of love when one (1) prays for an enemy; God inclines His ears to these prayers.

In war, one captain can respect and honour the enemy captain’s strategy while seeking his defeat and the destruction of his nation.

It is to be noted, unless one (1) be inhabited by God, Who is a “[M]an of war,” in the Spirit of Christ, the Prince of Peace, one (1) cannot even begin to be the person I’m writing about and writing to, and writing for.

Godspeed.

“I am the…Way.”  (John 14)

“I am the [D]oor…”  (John 10)

GOOD GRIEF! READER,
Did you know that Oprah Winfrey is being called upon to be the next President? Humanly speaking, what fun it would be with Trump and Oprah opposing each other. It would be a politicalphiles dream come true. America would fall, everyone would binge watch the news channels.  Of course, I’m exaggerating and using hypebole.  Oprah for President? HMMMM? Oprah running for president is not the focus of this article.

The Focus of this article is Christ as the One and Only Way to God and Eternal life. How does Oprah fit in? Oprah fits in because she has a huge following, a huge corporation, a brand that is known all over the world. Oprah also fits in because she believes her own press. This woman really thinks she is, as they say, all that. This woman fits into this article because she props herself up as a spiritual guide.  What’s wrong with that, some may ask. The problem is she over and over again and again denounces Christ as the One and Only Way to God.  This woman said there are millions of ways to God and it is impossible that there is only One Way. Reader, I’m not making this up. Go to youtube and you’ll see her denounce and deny Christ again and again.  It seem to me that she has a personal problem with the Man Christ Jesus.

What about the other world religions?  What about Buddism?  What about Hinduism? What about Islam?  Aren’t these also roads to god/God?  The answer depends upon what deity you are speaking of.  If you are talking about the god of this world, (s)atan, then yes, all roads DO lead to the god of this world and eternal life in Hell. But if you are speaking about the Creator, the Sovereign, the Holy, Holy, Holy God, then no, there is Only One Way to that Great and Good God. That Way is Christ Jesus, “I am the [W]ay, the [T]ruth, and the [L]ife, no man goes to the Father but by [M]e. Christ also puts out this tenet, You are either with Christ or you are against Christ….No middle road. No Neutral position.

We are happy and priviledged to exclude all other “faiths” from the reality that Christ-ianity is the faith of Christ.  Buddah is in Hell. Whatever millions of gods the Hindus look to, if there be any basis for any existence at all of their gods, is in Hell. All the cult fathers, like Mormonism and J. Witnesses (Russellites) are in Hell and the list goes on O’ let us not be remiss in not mentioning the religion that worships death, Islam, yeah, (m)ohommad, he too, is in Hell.

Reader, Is that too harsh?  Is that too crude? Methinks not. Methinks it is a firm stand upon the grounds of a Risen, Reigning, and Returning Redeemer, Lord, Master, and Saviour and His Name is Christ Jesus, THe Anointed Saviour.

The Psalmist tells us to Kiss the Son, lest the Father be angry.

“So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin.”

I have said this many times before and I’m going to say it again (DV).  I fell into the trap of Fundementalism and in fundementalism if you are not in that camp, you are a potential enemy.  It’s true and I’m sorry that it is true. Fundementalism is nigh cultism.

In that camp, Billy Graham is not a person well spoken of. They call him a puppet of the Pope. They call him a false prophet. They see him as an enemy. It’s true, research it.

When I was in the fundemental church I bought in. I said horrible things about Billy Graham.  I believed the people in the camp. Billy Graham was an enemy and a false prophet. BUT THEN……………………………………………………………………………….

But then on the day of my ordination, Bro. Richard Sandlin said, with emotion and tears something like, “You can love him or hate him, but that old man stayed faithful, there are no scandals in his minstry.”  I heard this from the man that is about to ordain me.  This made a mark on my mind.

I decided to look into Graham.  I purchased some of his books and I went to the source. What did I find? I found a man that held sound doctrine and was a fervent servant of God.  I ordered more books and books of Graham’s quotes on differing subjects. This man, I found to be a man of God, which caused me to look back upon all the things I said about him and all the things I was told about him by the fundementalist camp.  I repented of my slander from ignorance and shed myself of the fundementalist mindset. The men that helped me out of that mindset were: Luther, Graham, C.S. Lewis and A.W. Pink.

Billy Graham was an Ambassador of God’s Kingdom; a good emmissary for God, Billy Graham was. A good role model for persons to look to.

I have said Billy Graham is the Joseph, the Moses, the Samuel, the Nathan, the Daniel, the Nehemiah of our time, in terms of being God’s witness in a leader’s ear. This chosen man of God, this man that did stand in the gap. This man of God was counselor to Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush.  Obama gave political lip and eye service, and Trump, methinks respected Graham. It looks similar to Christ and His twelve (12) disciples, there is even a traitor in the mix!!!

Billy Graham will stand as Noah stood.  Due to Graham’s testimony and witness, many will be condemned, in light of his constant witness and his constant pointing to Christ.  And thankfully, on the other hand, many persons know Christ as Lord and Saviour through God’s use of this humble man.

If God chooses to, God may raise another to stand as Graham stood. One would think his son would step in, however, methinks America would not be able to stand Franklin’s forthrightness.  That is not a negative statement of Franklin, in no way, is that a backbiting statement concerning Franklin Graham. It is, however, a charge against this nation’s secularism and God-less world view.

It is never good to deify a man. We are not deifying Graham. Billy Graham was a sinner who became a saint by the grace of God. Graham came to Christ as all come to Christ, Repentance and belief.  However, it cannot be denied, nor can it be doubted, our God favoured Billy Graham with a great measure of faith and a great measure of grace. One may and can live a life like Graham, a life well lived. It’s simple, really, Love God through the Spirit of Christ and obey Him over all others.

Godspeed.

“And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in [T]hy [N]ame; and we forbad him, because he followed not with us…”

Readers, Parents, Family Members, Christ-ians,
Do you base your relationship with other persons based upon their relationship with God or lack thereof?  In other words, do you write someone off if they be not a Christ-ian or the right kind of Christ-ian?  Parents do you have a child that loves God and a child that does not show much love or God?  parent, do you show more favour to the former or the child that shows love to God?  If so, thou art wicked!!!

There was a doctor of some type that named one child Winner and his other child Loser. I’m not making this up.  This “doctor” wanted to see what kind of life each of his sons would live based on their names.  SURPRISE!!! SURPRISE!!!  Loser ended up with the better education and the better life.  This show clearly, it does not matter how one (1) starts but how one (1) finished. The child that loves God in his youth may fall away before all is said and done and the child who loved not God in his youth may come to Christ later in life and never leave Christ’s side.

Some cases in point:

*King Saul started well and finished badly.
*Solomon started well and finished badly.
*King Manassah started very badly, but finished well.
*King Nebuchaddnezar started badly but finished well.
*Judas started well but finished very badly.
*Demas started well but finished badly.
*John Mark started well, fell badly, got back up and finished well.
*David started well, fell, got up, fell, got up and finished well.

Many more examples could be given but this shall suffice to make our point.

Let me be clear, I’m not talking about God’s enemies, those that are wicked and great hayers of God.  I’m talking about the persons that simply are not believers.  We are to love these persons and show them the love of God.

Do not write those off whose names may be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Godspeed.

I am trying to write something in the “What’s on your mind?”  Each time I try to write something a gray screen covers the page and the “Whats on your mind” place is taken away.  Are they reading my mind?

Good grief!!!

Anyway what I was going to write on the FB page I will (DV) write on my website and have it moved to FB.

Have you heard?  The liberal mindset is asking America to boycott Amazon because Amazon has a streaming channel that is from the NRA.  I’m sure everyone has the same thought as I did, if they are individual thinkers, anyway and not group[non]thinkers.  Everyone should buy something from Amazon, even if it is something for a dollar or a penny plus shipping charges.  I would like to see this whole liberal plan to take over the world to lose this battle.

Look it up for yourself, I typed. “Liberal Hollywood Boycotting Amazon.”

“And [the Samaritans] did not receive [H]im, because [H]is [F]ace was as though [H]e would go to Jerusalem.”  (Luke 9)

“…there is neither Greek nor Jew…”  (Galatians 3)

Racism bores me and race baiters anger me.  Racism is nothing new.  Our Lord was rejected because of His full Jewishness. The Half (1/2) Jews, the Samaritans would not receive Him into their village.  What did Christ do?  “…And they went to another village.”  If we ended the re-telling of this event there we would be leaving much out.  James and John were angered by this snub of their Master.
This is what they asked the Lord:
“Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and even consume them, even as Elias did?”
What was the Lord’s response or rather rebuke?
“…[H]e turned, and rebuked them, and said,
“Ye know not what spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.”

It seems to me, we have in this recorded event in the Book of Luke, our Lord’s and therefore, our view on racism is to go to another village.  Move on.  I  know there is racism in America and I know there is no answer to the wickedness of racism, excepting the Gospel of Christ that says, “…there is neither Greek nor Jew.”  In other words, there is neither black or white. In Christ and in the church there be no color or race…we all be of one (1) race and that race is Christ-ian. There be no multi-nation as we are all of one (1) nation or Kingdom, Heaven.  My brother or sister, if you hold any negative view of a person based on their race, “ye know not what spirit ye are of.”

We have raised our children to never base any judgment of a person based on race or color.  If I be bigoted at all, it is in the area of not being,  “unequally yoked together.”  Skin color matters not, but Bloodline does.  By Bloodline we mean, Blood-bought!!!  Does that person have a Christ-ian heritage?  If not s/he is out.

While racism bores me, Race baiters greatly enrage me.  Readers, this is why God gave us the emotion of anger.  Anger should not be used to do wrong, or to get revenge, or to get even.  Anger is given us to make things right. Anger should be righteous and anger should prompt the righteously angered person to act in a righteous way.  “tThe wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God.”  We are not speaking to wrath. We are speaking to the righteous indignation that caused Christ to enter the temple and throw out the money changers.  We are speaking to the righteous indignation of Nehemiah. We are speaking to the righteous indignation of Phineas, of Ehud, of Jael, of Samson, of the Godhead.   Of course we are not inciting to murder or killing, we are speaking to the anger that comes from a place of righteousness, from a heart and a spirit that God has put within us.

Race baiters anger us greatly. They are the trouble makers that Proverbs says should be smitten…in our age and day, smitten = words.  The race baiters are those that get normally, calm person, drunk on rage.  Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, The Nation of (i)slam leader, I forget his name, and Obama are all race baiters. They make their living stirring up trouble between the races. I judge them to be BAD, WRONG, and FALSE.  I do not step over the line and speak to what punishment they should suffer as that is God’s Place. I do know however, how God will judge them.  He will judge these men as false prophets, trouble makers, men that sow discord, and as workers of iniquity.  We will be bold and make the statement, God hates these men and He sits back and patiently allows these men to fill their cups of SIN, so that God may pour out His Cup of Wrath upon their heads. We cannot take personal satisfaction in this truth but we can be pleased that God will be glorified by bringing justice to the unjust race baiters…evil, evil men that profit by sowing discord and bearing false witness. These race baiters and their SIN are some of the seven (7) things God hates.  What makes things worse for them is their knowledge of Scripture.

Godspeed.