“The world will hate you…”  (John 15)

Let’s begin by clarifying the passage or part of a passage above.  Our Lord told us that we would be hated by the world.  He did not stutter nor did He stammer.  He was not using superfulous words or Hyperbolic language.  Christ used five (5) one (1) syllable words to tell us exactly what he wanted us to know and to understand,  “…The world will hate you.”  The Christ-ian would never charge the Master with lying…never.  But allow me to be the devil’s advocate for a moment.  Reader, are you hated for your beliefs?  Are you persecuted, I mean really persecuted for you love of Christ.  Methinks most of us, being intellectually honest and fair-minded, would confess, “Not really.”

So what are we to do with our Lord’s words?  Was He wrong?  Was He speaking of another time, past or future?  What are we to make of these Words that are said by the One calling Himself the Truth?

We are to believe them and figure out what He is saying.  The world hates Christ-ianity enmasse or as a whole.  The same way the Christ-ian hates the world system, the homosexual agenda, the anti-Christ-ian environment we find ourselves in, as a whole, while at the same time being constrained and compelled to love the unsaved individual, the homosexual individual and the militant atheist, because of our faith and Who it is that lives within us.

This is a difference between the between the two (2) mindsets above.  The hater of Christ-ianity, finds it easy to like an individual Christ-ian if that Christ-ian is likeable. But the Christ-ian that hates all systems taht are anti-God, we find it difficult to like the individual anti-God-er, but we are constrained and compelled by our faith and the Spirit of God that resides within us.  You see, if the anti-God systems thought properly they would extrapolate their fondness of the individual Christ-ian and be friendly to the Christ-ian faith. However, the Christ-ian who loves the individual anti-God-er, the Christ-ian could not embrace the anti -God system.

Not only is the Christ-ian public enemy number UNO. The sound and conservative minded thinker is despised and denied any real consideration.  If you are not led by your feelings, you are the enemy because you can dismantle my feelings based argument, if argument it can be called.  If you possess and control you feeling instead of being demon-like possessed of your feelings, you are an enemy. If you put forth a sound and logical argument all I have is fallacies and a larger crowd because “logic is rare.”

Reader, I’m tired of writing on such a topic that is common sense to anyone who is intellectually honest.

Godspeed.

“From out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh”  (Matthew 12)

“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.”  (Matthew 12)

“For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”

Readers,
The above passages remove from the enemy of Scripture the lie that anyone can interpret the Bible anyway they want.  It also removes the excuse that the Bible is too hard to understand.  The above passages say this….A man will be judged by God for the words that the man chooses to use and those words are representative of the man’s heart….or in other words, the chosen and spoken word manifests or makes clear what is inside the man’s mind, the man’s emotions, and the man’s will period.

For example,  “I control my own destiny.”  We heard a person say this the other day.  Upon hearing this, we shook my head and thought to ourself, “Well, that’s all I need to hear to know what’s going on in that person.”  What more does on need yo hear, Reader?  The person that says something like that is a fool…a Godless fool and is intoxicated not with wine or the Holy Ghost, but with pride and self-worship.  Though he used other words, (s)atan said the same thing. The person that spews such trite and ignorant thoughts and feeling,  firmly believe in free-will and they believe not in God.  Sometimes God will allow a person to think this and will even allow a person their wants and ways?  Why, Because their life will witness against them when they stand before the God that gave them all they had, but was never once acknowledged!!!

The person that spews such notions, that are not according to knowledge, are spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, spiritually voice-less or dumb, spiritually lame, and spiritually lost.  Imagine if these spiritual conditions were physical.  A person who is lost, blind, deaf, dumb, and lame cannot seek assistance, nor would they for they would not even know they were lost.  This is the spiritual condition of the lost and the fool who says in his heart, “There is no God.”  Yet the irony is this: These are the people that “…deviseth his own way…”  and know not that God, “directh is steps.”

Let us, Reader, consider together who else in Scripture thought they “directeth his own way” and believe in his free will.
*Pharoah: God hardened his heart and brought him and Eqypt to their knees.
*The army of the Cannanites in Joshua eleven (11):  God hardened their hearts and caused them to attack Israel, so that God could “destroy them utterly.”
*Saul’s Prophecy:  God forced Saul to prophecy.
*Samson and Delilah:  God put it in Samson’s heart to love Delialah, why?  Because God sought opportunity to attack the Philistines.
*What about David, the shepherd boy?  Did David hold desires of grandeur in his heart?  Did David long to lead as King of Israel?  Methinks not.  He was happy communing with God in the fields.  But God “directeth his steps.”
Going back to the Book of Judges and Gideon.  Gideon saw himself as a young boy, whereas God saw him and made him into a “mighty man of valour.”
*Jeremiah, also saw himself as a child, but God saw him and made him into a great prophet and mouth piece of the Divine.

Let us move outside of Scripture and look at church history:
*Augustine desired a place of solitude where he might commune with God in prayer and study.
*Luther was to study law.
*Calvin also was to study law and he also desired solitude to be with God.

None of the three (3) got their way, all three (3) were thrust head-long into the church to teach and the latter two (2) were thrown into the Reformation.

We can alse look at current events.  If I’m not mistaken methinks an actress was proposed to recently by a prince.  This hearkens back to Grace Kelly, does it not?  Both these girls might have grown up playing princess but I doubt either one of these women ever thought it possible if they ever thought it at all as an adult…….”But God,”  “directeth [her] steps,” does He not?

Now let’s make this personal.  Reader, When you were young what did you want to be when you grew up?  My wife, when she was a teenager said, “I’m never having kids.”  She now has four (4)!!! She has me, she has a twenty (20) year old, and soon to be sixteen (16) year old twins (DV). Me? I was going to be either a boxer or wrestler.  Today I am a preacher and teacher of God’s Word, which is far better. God did give me a time in Jiu Jitsu and MMA.  By the way, I’m still planning on being a World Champion…even if I have to buy the title belt from Toys R Us. What about you did you attain your desired profession or did God direct your steps?

Sometimes a person does attain their goals and this is because God planted those desires within long ago. Sometimes one will force one’s way into a path and will ultimately fail or find that that path is not fulfilling.  We have seen and known many persons like this.  Sometimes God will allow you into your desired path so you will see it’s futility and the absence of fulfillment and satisfaction.  We knew a guy maany years ago that was very full of pride because of his college education.  I forget what the major was, but I do remember, this pride-filled and condescending person getting a job in his chosen field, and within a year he was working at a retail center.  Reader, Understand this, there be no shame in any honest job or career.  However, what must this man have felt when everything blew up in his face?  He could not handle the pressure in his blindly chosen field.  This is the story of many a college graduate and many a parent that is indebt to a college that will never benefit their child.

A misunderstanding clarified:  God does not only direct the steps of His own people but He also directs the steps of the unsaved and God-less.  God directs the steps of the unsaved into paths that will benefit His people best.  Not all doctors or law authorities are Christ-ian but they are what they are to benefit the Christ-ian.  God will also lead the unsaved into temptation in order to protect His people and to glorify Himself.  (By the way, the present pope wants to eliminate “Lead us not into temptation.”  because God does not lead His people into tempation.  This is true, God does not lead His people into temptation, but He does lead His enemies into tempation all the time!!!  This is a perfect example.  The Word of God states in three (3) different parts of the Bible, O.T., Proverbs, and Revelation not to add to or subtract from the Words witten in the Bible and great wrath will befall those that do.  Reader, God is leading the pope into temptation, this is Holy Irony.)

Was not Judas led into temptation?  Was this leading not prophesied and therefore, promised?  Was Peter not led into testing…not temptation, but testing.  Temptation leads to destruction, testing leads to correction and correctness.  God leads His own into testing in order to demonstrate our weakness so we might address that area of weakness through watching and prayer.

Reader, We are not the deciders of our destiny and be ever sooooooooooo thankful.  God, directs our steps.  God is the Deviser of our path.  It is our loving God that has predestinated our end and this shall be to our everlasting comfort and His everlasting Glory.

Let everything with breathe, Praise God.

Godspeed.

“A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his path.”

“The king’s heart is in the [H]and of the LORD…  [H]e turneth it whither soever [H]e will…” (Proverbs 21)

“And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by hum at his will.” (2 Timothy 2)

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”  (Romans 6)

“For sin shall not have dominion over you…” (Romans 6)

“Know ye not, that to whom yeyield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”  (Romans 6)

“Being then made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.”  (Romans 6)

Reader,
We have presented before you, for your consideration, seven (7) passages of Scripture that plainly refute the fallacious doctrine and the misunderstanding of free will. The early philosophers of Greece and Rome philosiphied over this subject of the will.  The early church fathers wrestled with this notion of free will. Like many principles that are thought to be deep, dark, and difficult, the Inspirered Library of the LORD presents as something simple to behold and understand.

We have listed seven (7)   (Seven (7) is the Biblical number of perfected-ness, and completion)  passages of Scripture that denote the “Bondage of the Will.”  Scripture mocks the idea of free will.
We will give you examples of the bound will:   *The hardening of Pharoah’s heart,  *The disobedience of Jonah,  *The Maleficence of Haman,  *The leading into temptation of the Caananites (Joshua 11), *The forbidden missionary travels of Paul, The Forbidden prayers of Jeremiah and on and on it goes.  Free will, in the sense that the world thinks free will is is a fallacy.

There are many natural and supernatural things and entities that hinder free will: Weather, Circumstances, Conditions, Institutionalization, Sickness, Inabilities, Finances, Geography, Personal Status, Emotions, Other Persons, Carnality and the Lust of the Flesh and the Pride of Life; the Immutable and Sovereign God and the lapdog of God, the devil.

“Of [H]is [O]wn will begat [H]e us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of [H]is creatures.” (James 1)  and then, we learn the devil blinds the minds of unbelievers and he is able to take them captive at his will. We also are told, ” [we] were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Reader, Wherein the above truths does one, being intellectually honest, find any mark or mention of man’s free will?  The objective observer must step back and look in on the human race and confess mankind is not free but is bound and burdened, being the servant to the above and aforementioned natural and supernatural things and entities.

I concede that man has freedom within certain bounds but even in that, he is still bound by outside and inside forces and powers from on high and powers from below. Man is at liberty to satisfiy his penchants and predelictions to and for SIN. It is always the hour and time to sin freely, there is no doubt, but to be at liberty regarding wants and wishes, man can be bound.  In terms of eternal pleasures and satifactions, there is no will or knowledge at all to take hold of faith. There is no will, there is no understanding that leads to a willingness to approach holiness and righteousness. There is no spiritually cognitive apparatice in man to presuppose one’s condition of spiritual deadness, lest God initiates and regenerates the spirit; the spirit that is in man. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of [T]hy power…”

Reader,
Simply put, we are servants to selfishness and wantoness in our own selves or we are servants to sin and (s)atan or we are in service to the Saviour.  This is how the world is my beloved reader. As Joshua said, we are those that will happily and rewardedly serve the Saviour.

Yea, One of the dumbest thoughts or views a person can have is the fallacy of channelling  or directing one’s own destiny.

Mike Tyson said it well, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.”

Other examples and/or thoughts :
*Man plans his way and God laughs. As I said before: *God is the Scientist and we are the specimen in His petri dish; *God is the Director and we be His chosen acting stars; *God is the Potter, we are His clay that is made into vessels of mercy and others are His vessels of wrath, fitted for destruction; *God is the Captain of our Salvation and we are His chosen soldiers that endure hardness with an eye to His Glory;  *God is the Adult Collector and we be His articulate Action Figures; *God is the Head and we be the many members of His Body; God is the Govenor and we are His governed.

Godspeed Beloved.

“…[A]nd after the fire a still small voice.”  (1 Kings 19)

“Be still, and know that I am God…”  (Psalm 46)

Reader,
One of the saddest and hardest thing to understand is the fretting and worried Christ-ian.  Many a Christ-ian sings, “When peace like a river attendeth my soul” but many a Christ-ian bear false witness in their melodious declaration.  Many a Christ-ian sings, “What peace we often forfeit and what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer” yet many a Christ-ian forfeits peace and needlessly bears pain precisely because they do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Reader,  There is a peace that passeth understanding because there is a small and stilling Voice of God when one will simply be still and [then] know that {He is] God. Two (2) words that should still and steady the trouble heart of the Christ-ian is, “God Knows.”  Simply knowing, understanding, reckoning and appropriating the truth that “God Knows” could, should, and would remind the Christ-ian that, “It is well with [their] soul.”

When the Christ-ian frets the Christ-ian denies God the opportunity to comfort and confirm the Christ-ian.  The worried and care-filled Christ-ian should be and could be an oxymoron. Faith and fret are mutually exclusive to one another or should be.
In the short story, “The Dying Detective” Sherlock Holmes appears to be at deaths door due to an illness, and he rejects and rebuffs the help of Doctor Watson saying he wasn’t a good enough physician to aid him.  This of course hurt Doctor Watson, this is similar to the Christ-ian choosing to worry and fret, they are, in truth, rejecting and rebuffing God’s promise to care for them.  It is written in Scripture of those that would not be comforted by God and this is a sad state to bein to be sure.

Reader, there exists a state wherein one may enter and remain and experience peace that passeth understanding. There exists such a state and sense of peace that one may enter into and remain if only they will trust God,  if they will be still and know that “God is,”  “God Knows,”  and trust that God honours faith. Faith is meant for the dark and distressing times in the Christ-ian’s life. It is easy to be faithful in our faith when all is well. It is honouring to God when the Christ-ian is faithful in faith when all is stormy and the waves are striking against the ship.  When the Christ-ian looks upon the waves and the down pouring of life, he will always sink into the waters.  One should expect a great fish to arrive when one is taken down by the reaching and grabbing of the waves.

In the short story, “Red Shadows,” written by Robert E. Howard he writes of Solomon Kane, a puritan that hunts and fights evil.  In the story [this is a spoiler], after Kane is battle wearied and bloody he is stalked by agiant black man in Afric that is called Gulka the Gorilla-killer.  Kane is in know shape to fight of this giant.  kane has already been embroiled in a great battle and he is without his rapier and pistol.  The giant Gulka comes charging at Kane and sense thinks this could be his end, when the giant hulking Gulka stops dead in his tracks, for a greater and far more hulking entity has enetered his gaze. Gulka is called the gorilla-Killer because he had killed a gorilla, and now the gorilla’s mate has appeared upon the seen, seemingly out of know where and with ease pounces and breaks to death Gulka.  Solomon Kanes stands their, invisible to the gorilla. Kane survives his ordeal and is soon on a ship headed for Kane’s next adventure.
It is not stated, but it is apparenr and obvious that the meaning of the great ape’s sudden appearance is due to a divine calling to defend Kane; the call hearkens back to God calling the animals to the Ark of Noah.  It also is a reminder of the aforementioned Great fish that saved Jonah.

This writer is reminded of David’s words, “It is good that God hath afflicted me.”  We are also reminded of Job’s witness, “Though [H]e slays me, yet will I trust [H]im.” We are reminded of the angels that brought Lot out of Sodom before the fire fell upon the city. Example after example could be noted and remarked upon from Scripture that testifies of God’s faithfulness to His peculiar people.

Whether it is the waves beating upon the ship or the Pharisee ganging up and cornering the disciples, or the demoniac of Gadera running toward the disciples, Christ is always the very Present Help in the time of need. When it appears to be a strange spirit that is approaching the Christ-ian while the waters are raging, it turns out to be the Master coming to one’s aid and saying, “Fear not, it is I.”  It is God in the storms of life.

Reader,
Trust in Him, Whom you have believed and you will know it is, “well with [your] soul.”

Godspeed.

“Whereby are given unto us exceeding and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”  (2 Peter1)

“Howbeit we speak among them that are made perfect…”  (1 Corinthians 2)

“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to [H]is mercy [H]e saved us, the the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Which [H]e shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ out Saviour; that bering justified by [H]is grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3)

The titles above, I like to use when speaking to Christ-ians.  “Are you divine?”  “Are you perfect?”  “Are you self-righteous?”  I wd ask Christ-ians to raise their hands if they be divine and perfect.  It’s a trick and kind of a mean question, this I know.  No one wants to be thought arrogant. No one wants to lift up their holy hands and acknowledge divinity, perfection, or righteousness for fear of whay others may think.

Reader, You ARE divine, by partaking of God’s Nature,  Reader, You HAVE been perfected by and through Christ’s merits, works, and Life. Reader, in our own person, we are what we are: In Christ, however, God sees us as divine, perfected, and righteous based on His Son’s identifying with us and His making us a new creation in the Christ.

Reader, This is important to know, reckon, and appropriate into our mindset. This reckoning is not arrogant or heady, it is Glorifying to God as we must acknowledge the great work He has done in us.

There are four (4) pictures of this imputation in Scripture:
1. Jacob putting on a disguise and making his, almost blind, father to think he was Esau.  This speaks to God’s blindness to our sins, in term of penalty

2. Joseph’s Coat of many colours. This speaks to the varied and differing lives we live in God’s honour. God loves variety and this is seen in the many colors.

3.”Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ…”  Again we are saints in the guise of God’s Son.

4. The Whole Armour of God, that is the same as number three (3), Christ-likeness is our armour and protection….”of whom should [we] fear? of whom should we be afraid?”        “[We] will not be afraid of ten thousands of people…”  “If God be for us who can be against us?”
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Again, we are humbled by the Master’s touch, but if we do not acknowledge His Mastery and Workmanship we deny Him the great Glory of His Work; His Work that He; that He has Wrought. If we are to let our light so shine, we must reckon and know how and why God sees us as He does.

If we are to have strong confidence in the fear of the LORD, we must throw of the grave clothes and be free in our standing before God.  If we are to be bold as lions, we must acknowledge God’s Work and reckon ourselves to be righteous as the righteous are bold as the lion.

Reader,
The Scriptures speak of perfected persons, of righteous persons, of partakers of the divine nature of God, if it be not us, who be it?  Reader, Who do you say that [we are], if not the children of the Perfect, the Righteous, and the Divine Deity. Arrogance and humility can be confusing to the saintly, we are not arrogant, we are humble and humbled; we lay face down and prostate before His Holiness and Majesty and at the same time we must acknowledge the great grace of God and the new work He has wrought in us by Christ and His Holy Spirit.

Godspeed.

“Think on these things…”

“Prove all things.”

The choice of words we choose to use matters greatly, because God, is an electing and choosing God and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The usage of words honours and glorifies God or they don’t.  God records our words in a book,  out of the heart the mouth speaketh and God looketh upon the heart of man and hears what we say.

I’ve noticed many persons using the word feel in place of think, “I feel like it X”  in the stead of  “I think it’s X.”  The person with an unsound and objective mode of thinking relies on emotion or feeling.  The sound, the critical, the clear, the logical thinker uses his God-given apparatice called the mind.  This should be expressed in the way we choose and use our words.  People that stammer and stutter with, “Uhhh…” are thought to be slow thinkers or bad thinkers when it is, in fact, the opposite.  The “Uhhh” is used to pick and choose words from our vocabulary.

Words like awesome and amazing are used so much for the most trifling of things, “That’s awesome”  and “that’s amazing” are words that should be reserved for that which is Awesome and Amazing, such as God and His wonderful and magnificent ways and works and will. and wisdom.  Once a person steps into and remains in the pavillion of God’s Awesomeness and Amazing-ness all other things pale so very much in and by comparison.

Godspeed.

“…[F]or the joy of the LORD is your Strength.”  (Nehemiah 8)

“And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of [H]is [M]outh, and shall destroy with the brightness of [H]is coming…”                                                                                                                                 (2 Thessalonians 2)

What is one to the other?  What the Glory of God is to Him,  the Joy of the LORD is to the Christ-ian.  The Glory of the LORD is God’s super power, He will not share His Glory with another.  When Christ shall destroy the Anti (c)hrist with the brightness of His coming, it is His Glory that shall destroy the devil.  God will not share His Glory with another. Without Glory God would not be God, according to Thomas Watson..

What Glory is to God, Joy is to the Christ-ian.  The Christ-ian shall not share his joy with another.  When we say that, we mean we shall not allow anything or anyone to take or steal our JOY.  Without JOY, we are  nothing!!! Just Like God is not God without His Glory.  God is robed in Glory and it is BRIGHT, so BRIGHT no man can see God and live.  WHAT GLORY IS TO GOD, JOY IS TO THE CHRIST-IAN!!! We shall not share our JOY with another…we must not allow another to steal our JOY.  We must destroy…pummel…Take down….hurt…our enemies with the BRIGHTNESSS of our JOY!!!

We have the JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY down in our heart and if the devil (or his children) do not like it, they can SIT ON A TAC!!! That’s an old children’s song, but it is full of truth.

Reader, Do not allow your JOY to be taken, for the Christ-ian is nothing without JOY.

Godspeed.

“THe Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God…”  (Romans 8)

“…[B]ut the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered…”   (Romans 8)

I’m not dogmatic on this point and I cannot quote chapter and verse on this, however it seems a sound deduction, using [Theo]logic.  I have asked various persons if they believe the church…the invisible church, in general is sound and healthy.  In other words I asked different persons if they believed the churches a cross this country are preaching the whole counsel of God.  Is the church whole, sound and healthy?

The other day I was listening to a preacher on the radio.  This preacher, i am comfortable with.  This preacher was talking about the unsoundness in the Church.  When he was talking with another preacher he asked the other preacher what he was planning on preaching.  The preacher said it was a really good message and the people are going to enjoy it.
This same radio preacher was, himself, asked by a different preacher what he, himself was planning on preaching.  The radio preacher said, “2 Thessalonians.”  the questioning pastor looked at the radio preacher and thought he was joking.  The point the radio preacher was making was the other preacher didn’t realize 2 Thessalonians was an actual book of the Bible!!!  Kind of like 2 Hezekiah, preachers will quote from in jest because there is no 2 Hezekiah!!!  But the questioning preacher didn’t know that 2 Thessalonians was an actual epistle of Paul and a book of the New Testament???  This I have a hard time believing, but the radio preacher was serious. how can a “pastor” not know the Books of the Bible?

Back to my question. How do these persons know the Church is unsound in it’s teachings today?  Yeah, I know the Scriptures foretell of a great falling a way and a great apostacy, but how do we know this is happening in our time?  Most persons attend a single church, so how would they know the Church is sick when they do not attend other churches?  Yeah, I know about t.v. preachers but those are t.v. preachers, they do n ot represent the whole body of Christ, so how do Christ-ians know that the Church is unsound?

I asked persons this week and they confess the illness of false doctrine in the church, but when I ask them if their church is unsound, they say not.  I then ask them how and why they think the Church is sick.  These persons look at me and say, “I don’t know.”  This is fascinating to me.

How does the body of Christ know things and not know how they know these things?  I’m not saying they’re wrong, I’m not discounting their views, I want to know how we know what we know instinctively.

It seems to me that there is a spiritual and communal mind within the Christ-ian and within the Christ-ian body, the Church.  In Romans 8 we read that the Spirit witnesses to our spirit and that He intercedes with groanings that cannot be uttered.  I’m learning that we as Christ-ian believers are tapped into One Communal MInd!!!  Christ is the Head of the body to be sure. The Spirit of God is He Who brings Christ’s thoughts and that which God wants us to know…it is like a telephone tree in a local church.  If a member is sick one person will call a few persons and then those persons will then call other persons and on it goes.  I believe that this is how Christ-ians know what we know…yeah, I know Scripture tells us and teaches us all things necessary….the transfer of that knowledge necessary, however is transferred into knowledge received and confirmed through the intercession of the Holy Spirit!!!

In Bible times word would spread from one home to another.  The episteles of the Apostles would be sent to one church body and then that church would then deliver the epistle to the next home church and on it would go, being preserved by God.  Today with Christ-ian believers being spead over the globe, the Holy Spirit delivers knowledge to God’s people as we have a communal Christ-ian mind.  This is how certain Christ-ians can identify other Christ-ians whom they have never met.  The Holy Spirit is bearing witness within each believer and when that happens each believer’s spirit witnesses to each other!!!  This is why Christ-ians become fast friends and unity is formed so quickly.

We are of One Spirit…One Holy Spirit, and He binds, ties, knits, unites, glues us all together into one communal spirit or mind.  How great is our faith…How Great is the Author and Finisher of our faith?  O’ God, my God!!!…praise Him, all ye that have breathe. Praise God in the Highest  Christ-ian unity…the body of Christ… the Church United… WHAT!!! a great FAITH and FAMILY our God has put together; this family of God spans ages, eras, centuries, countries, continents…we are all bound together by One Spirit…One Blood…One Love…One Hope…One God…One Baptism…One Creator…One Name under Heaven given among men whereby WE…WE..WE MUST be saved.

Godspeed.

“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”                                                                                                                                           (Matthew 4)

Servant of Christ, Do you ever feel like a voice in the wilderness, IE. No one is hearing you or you are the lone voice with the true message?  I knew the answer before I asked it, that’s what we do, we ask questions when he already know the answers.  Of corse you do.  Whether you are apreacher, a pastor, an evangelist, an old disciple, a new disciple, a Christ-ian witness, a missionary, a Sundday School teacher, etc. There are times you wonder, is anyone hearing me?  Yeah people listen to the words that exit your mouth, but are they really hearing you?  The truth is some are but most probably aren’t.

Consider what God said to Jeremiah, God told Jeremiah to go forth with great boldness and speak the Words God will give him. God added a caveat though,  “By the way Jeremiah, No one is going to hearken to you [paraphrased].  What did God say to Moses? He told Moses to go a speak to the king of Egypt on God’s behalf but this king would not hearken to Moses either.  What about Elijah?  Elijah also felt like he was the last voice crying out for God and God’s greatness.

Who else do we find in the wilderness?
*God
*God’s chosen prophets
*God’s people are in the wilderness, Exodus-Deuteronomy.
*John the Baptist and those seeking God.
*Our Lord and His disciple spend very much time in the wilderness. Christ was always departing to the wilderness.
*Paul spent three (3) years in the wilderness and much more time later.
*The devil

Fellow labourer,
You may feel like a voice crying in the wilderness, but that’s where all the right people are!!! Except for the devil. The devil’s purpose is to distract you, discourage you, cause you dismay, disappoint you, damage you, disgust you,and destroy you.  However….review the list above, “Silly devil, the wilderness is for the righteous and the strong!!!”

Godspeed.

“The wages of sin is death.”  (Romans 6)

The best way to define the term systemic is to use an example.  When I was a landscaper I used chemicals to control weeds. Weed killers are systemic and that means one would apply the chemical to the flowering portion of the weed and the weed would absorb the killer into itself and the chemical would work it’s way through and down to the root system.  By this method the killer kills the entire weed and not just what one can see above ground.

The weed is a picture of sin in the Scriptures.  Genesis tells us that due to the fall the thisle would populate the ground.  In Christ’s parable of the wheat and the tares, the tares or the weeds are planted by the enemy and they take over the field. This is what sin is, it is systemic and it populates the field of the human person.  Sin has effected every aspect of the individual and the human culture.

Sin has effected and corrupted mankind at every level and in everyway.  Sin has corrupted the mind of the individual, the emotions and mental state of the individual, and the will and actions of the individual.  Sin has effected and corrupted the institutes of religion, government, family, schools, and business.  Sin is the spiritual cancer of humanity.  I truly believe the reason cancer exists is to provide humanity with an object lesson of sin and it’s corruption.

How does cancer work?  It get’s started in one part of the human body, and spreads through out. Cancer can corrupt the brain, the heart, the sexual organs, the digestive systems, and every other possible target.  This is how sin works as well and it effects and spreads and corrupts the same areas in a spiritual and very real way.

Our chosen text above is from Romans 6, we read, “The wages of sin is death…”  This tells us sin is the reason for human death and therefore it is the cause of all things that cause death whether it be sickness, murder, injury, etc.  Paul is not merely saying that individual sin is the cause of an individual’s death, but sin is the cause of death by outside agencies.  Murder and violence are wages of sin, read Roman chapter one (1) and see what Paul says about sin, Read Galatians five (5) and see the works of the flesh, Read 2 Timothy three (3) and see Paul continue his litany of sin and sins.

Reader, Sins will not decrease until SIN is addressed.  Sins as we have written recently are the symptoms of SIN.  The symptoms cannot be dealt with in any real way until SIN is dealt with in a real way.  Look at the city of Ninevah.  Ninevah was a corrupt and wicked city, riddled with violence and unrighteousness.  God sent Jonah, not with the message to cease sinning but to repent of SIN and turn from it.  Sodom and Gommorah was not so fortunate.  The corruption of homosexuality was not the issue in Sodom….NOW WAIT and hear me out for a second.  Homosexuality was the judgment of God upon Sodom for their corruption due to the cancerous nature of SIN.  Read Romans one (1), Homosexuality is the reaction of God upon a nation that forsakes Him for homosexuality is meet and appropriate for the nation that turns from God.  Homosexuality was the symptom of the SIN that corrupted that city and it is the same in America.  Homosexuality is not America’s affront to God but is God’s answer.  Homosexuality is not the cause of God’s anger, it is the Lord’s angry response.

Also listed in Romans one (1) as a sign of God’s judgement is murder and the disobedience of children to authority!!!  Can God and His Word be any clearer?  What is America plagued with but homosexuality, disobedience of children to authority and murder.  America has been warned by the spirit of Jonah in the preaching of the church or at least part of the church for far longer than forty (40) days.  I fear this nation is past the possibilty of redemption for God has already sent judgement in the form of the sins listed above as well as the abandonment of the church as a whole.

God has departed and the vacuum He has left has been “filled” with “all unrighteousness…” (Romans one (1)).

This nation is hell-bent on focusing on simple remedies to the symptons of SIN.  The answer to teen pregnancies and STDs is condoms and education or abortion or pills.  The answer to poverty is money and not the improvement of character, the answer to violence is gun control, the answer to mental illness is medication, etc. etc. etc.  No one is will to do deeper to the heart of the issue and the heart being the issue.  All outward expression whether it be word or deed, comes from within and not from without.

Reader, you may or you may not agree with what is written here and it may be you cannot or will not see it, I know not but I know the SIN corrupted and SIN addicted and those that find pleasure in SIN like those in government will not see it, hear it, or believe it.  This house that is built upon the sands of subjectivity and outward fixes, this house that is divided against itself is sure to fall…so says the Carpenter.

Godspeed.