Will Pastors Humble Themselves?

As I have moved forward with this ministry, and the message GOD has delivered to me, I am keenly aware that the change in the direction of the church could hinge on the teachings of Pastors. It doesn't necessarily have to, since GOD can raise up HIS people despite them. But, if a Pastor who has been touting the actions of using the government and courts to stop the evils of the world were to get a hold of the message of Bless God America and the book, “If MY People...”, would that pastor be able to stand before his congregation and explain that he had led them in a wrong direction?

Of course, that might not really be necessary. He could just begin to teach the truth and let it change the course of the church. But, that would be a much slower way to do something that really needs to have a sense of urgency.

This also brings up another question; Can this wine be poured into the existing wine skins or does it need to be something new? Should we who have heard the truth try to change the course of existing congregations, or should this be a call like the first one, to call GOD's people out of the worldliness and into a true faith relationship with HIM? I have had to grapple with this question for a while. I know what I would prefer.

I would prefer that those who grab hold of these truths partner with this ministry and stay in their churches to stand against the teachings that are taking HIS people away from HIM. I would rather see a movement in each church.

I know that there is an ensconced teaching in our Christians community that needs to be torn out and cast off. I know that this will be a serious fight of prayer warriors waging a war on their knees with everything they have.

I really hope GOD has a plan to prosper the effort of this ministry.

As I have moved forward with this ministry, and the message GOD has delivered to me, I am keenly aware that the change in the direction of the church could hinge on the teachings of Pastors. It doesn't necessarily have to, since GOD can raise up HIS people despite them. But, if a Pastor who has been touting the actions of using the government and courts to stop the evils of the world were to get a hold of the message of Bless God America and the book, “If MY People...”, would that pastor be able to stand before his congregation and explain that he had led them in a wrong direction?

Of course, that might not really be necessary. He could just begin to teach the truth and let it change the course of the church. But, that would be a much slower way to do something that really needs to have a sense of urgency.

This also brings up another question; Can this wine be poured into the existing wine skins or does it need to be something new? Should we who have heard the truth try to change the course of existing congregations, or should this be a call like the first one, to call GOD's people out of the worldliness and into a true faith relationship with HIM? I have had to grapple with this question for a while. I know what I would prefer.

I would prefer that those who grab hold of these truths partner with this ministry and stay in their churches to stand against the teachings that are taking HIS people away from HIM. I would rather see a movement in each church.

I know that there is an ensconced teaching in our Christians community that needs to be torn out and cast off. I know that this will be a serious fight of prayer warriors waging a war on their knees with everything they have.

I really hope GOD has a plan to prosper the effort of this ministry.

We're here. We're queer. We want your children.

      I was recently reading my book and realized that I had allowed someone who is too young to remember, to soften what I had to say about the homosexual situation in America. I am not anti gay and I do not fear them having what ever life they want to have. I do not care if they get married and the other issues that branch off from that I am on the fence about.

      I remember the Gay Pride marches of the early 90s when grown men with children on their shoulders marched down the street chanting, “We're here. We're queer. And we want your children”. I do believe that the gay community learned that was not an effective way to garner support and good feelings. I am not convinced that their motives are any different today.

      For anyone who reads my book, you may misunderstand this point; I think this entire homosexual issue is just one of many plagues GOD is using to get HIS people to humble themselves. It is part of the continual downward spiral of American (and world) social moral constructs. This is all part of a spiritual sickness that only GOD can cure.

      In all of what we see in the interaction of GOD with HIS people Israel, we see HE continually sells them into the hands of godless nations until they repent and turn back to HIM. That is what my book is all about.

It is never too late for HIS people to turn things over to HIM and trust HIM to fix it. It only takes a simple act of acknowledging that HE alone can turn these things around. HE can end every wicked and evil urge in every human being if HE wants to. HE can reduce them or HE can let them burn unchecked.

      Does the chant mean they want to be pedophiles? Does it mean they want to teach your children to be homosexuals? Was it just an “In your face” chant because straight people say homosexuals are pedophiles. Or was it just a way to say they wanted acceptance and would target teaching your children they are human beings with feelings and rights like anyone else? Probably all of they above. Different reasons from different people.

      What matters is, it was said. It was shouted in the streets. I cannot blame people for wanting to keep a lid on this boiling pot. But, if there is one thing I have learned in my life, keeping a lid on a boiling pot means it will boil over. Taking the lid off and letting it have full freedom, reduces it's volatility.

      There is one other reality to all of this. That is; I am in this world as an ambassador of another kingdom that is not of this world. I am a representative of JESUS the CHRIST, the SON OF THE LIVING GOD. Worldly things are not my concern. What this world becomes as a result of the sin and wickedness in it, is not something any human can control. GOD is still in control and the world is still doing what HE has planned and told us HE would have it to do. I was never told, in any of the scripture, that I was supposed to try to control people or governments or courts. I am told that GOD is in control of all of it.

      So, let me state this as clear as I can. I think homosexuals getting so crazy out of control is part of the many plagues and curses that are coming upon us from GOD as a result of HIS people rejecting HIS ways and commands and precepts and following the precepts and leadership of men (Christian leaders) who are leading us (Christians) away from GOD. IF WE REALLY CARED about GOD or country or our children, we would put all of this right back into the hands of GOD and we would return to doing things HIS way and live lives pleasing to HIM.

                          Humbling ourselves before GOD is not just an answer, it is the only answer.

THE SIN THAT SO EASILY BESETS US

         I have, once again, been privy to the opportunity to slide into the old ideals and bad doctrines and, once again, I have found myself dragged right smack into the very thing GOD has showed me HE is not happy about. I am loath to say that I had the opportunity to speak, at a time when I most needed to speak, and was instead pulled into the current of worldly concerns and humanist efforts.

         I was once a wanna be politician. I am just smart enough to see things that are wrong and creative enough to see ways to deal with them. Like many (or really ALL) of our politicians, my insights and ideas are based in my understanding and human logic and are to be done in human power. That is the problem. Isn't it?

As a human being, I am not blind tot he plight on man. I see the disintegration of the physical world around me and I think I can do something about it. I want to do something about it.

         I was just at a ministerial fellowship meeting that was intended to be an effort to bring 4 different ministerial fellowships that had divided long ago, back together to work as one. Unity is a wonderful goal. An explanation of the reason for the split was given (which were human reasons based in worldly concerns) and it was clear that all those in the room wanted to work together and be a force for a common goal. There in lies the problem;

         The discussion was started by telling how the city had lost a $28,000,000.00 grant to rebuild a portion of the city because there was no cohesive group involved with acquiring the grant. Then the discussion went from there and was all about creating a political action group and had absolutely nothing to do with JESUS and bringing the blessings of GOD back to the city and the nation.

          I was struck by that reality, right after the end of the meeting as I stepped out of the room. Unfortunately, not be fore I tossed my voice into the conversation by making a comment that continued them down the same path that runs rapidly away from the precepts of GOD and the very message I have been teaching for 10 years. I was once again captured by humanism and the idea of unity. I had my chance and I didn't even see it, let alone take it.

         All I had to do was to stand up and ask, “Where is JESUS in this conversation?” That would have been it. We could have then, possibly, started down the path of determining how we could work together for the kingdom of GOD. But, NNNOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! I was caught in the flow, on the band wagon, marching in step with a group of ministers who had no thought to GOD or HIS power and plans. I was once again one of THEM.

          I am ashamed. I am embarrassed. I am angry with myself and really torqued at Satan and how he twists every good thing into something evil.

         This meeting was another evil in a long line of evils. Perhaps the most evil aspect, which I thankfully was not blind to, was that there were some there advocating that those who GOD has separated unto Himself as Holy before HIM, should mingle themselves with those of the religions of Satan and the spirit of anti-christ. Because humanism has not spiritual component.

         What fellowship has the light with darkness? How can one even hope to bring the blessings of GOD to the city when we are so humanist in our thinking that we can mingle that which is Holy and that which is abomination. If you are not striving to bring people to CHRIST, then you are striving against HIM. How can a people who should know they need to do as GOD has said, to have HIS blessing, want to bring those who are against CHRIST into an effort. If our focus is not on the glorification of JESUS and reflecting back to GOD what HE does to save our city and nation, then there will be no power from GOD and there will be no hope.

          I feel as if I have let people down who know the truth. I feel I have let those people who were there down, who don't know the truth. I let me down. If GOD were a man, that HE wouldn't have known what I was going to do (And had it to be so as part of HIS plan) I would say I let HIM down. But, I know my JESUS. I know that this is yet another lesson in why we must be fully prayed up and ready for battle at all times. I am more keenly aware today, then I was yesterday. Perhaps I will be even more so tomorrow. I entered the lions den unprepared. I was focused on the past and the stories of why these ministry associations had divided, and I was not focused on JESUS. I did not come to do battle with Satan because I came under a flag of peace and unity. I will not be so blinded next time. I hope.

Questions From a Used To Be Believer

I was forwarded these question and I answered them. I thought you might like to see it. Feel free to comment.

1. First up, the most obvious Q that come to mind is that if large parts of the Old Testament are only intended for now long dead tribes of Jews, why is it still included in the Bible today? When the Nicene council decided what to include and remove from (and some might say add to) their new holy book, why not remove the parts that were no longer relevant? If the Jesus story is all accurate, then the decision to leave in the Law, with its verbiage as it is, has resulted in thousands of years of confusion, suffering, and death (‘thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’ comes to mind). If the book is perfect, clearly these irrelevant passages should have been redacted to reduce human suffering and death.

The truth is, that the things recorded of these tribes were not recorded for them, but for the future. They are recorded for us that we are able to see and understand the purity and perfection of absolute Holiness. It is through these stories and this history that we see the absolute, and severe, nature of the holy requirements of God.

Look around you today. If we did not have the stories of Israel and their interaction with GOD, we would not be able to see what is happening in the world today and understand it. But, by seeing that this is how GOD relates to HIS children, we see a perfect loving Father who disciplines HIS children to keep them in line with what is best for them. If you do not understand the holiness of GOD, and if you do not understand how Christians relate to the Israel of that time, then you cannot see why the things that are chastising us and punishing us today fit in.

As JESUS stated, HE didn't come to abolish the law but that through HIM the law might be fulfilled. Salvation through the shed blood of JESUS the CHRIST has paid the eternal/spiritual price for sin. But, the relationship with GOD in the physical world is still based in the promises that require a 2 sided relationship. GOD has said, “IF you will do this......I will do this”

2. Also (this is somewhat of a side tangent) – what was the purpose of making a group of people live under such tormentous and dogmatic principles as the Law, just to undo it two thousand years later? Are we to believe that these rules were absolutely necessary in 500 BC, but were no longer needed in 35 AD? What changed that made 35 AD the proper time to offer a reprieve to humanity that couldn’t have been offered earlier? The only people abiding by the Law were the Jews, anyhow, but the sacrifice was purportedly good for everyone, including people on the other side of the planet. And, what did people do before the Law was written? What did the Greeks do, or the Sumerians? Are we to believe that human civilization had not only survived but flourished for thousands of years while under the impression that murder and adultery were morally permissible?

The law of GOD is not a torment or difficult. They reflect the holiness of GOD and what it would take to be as holy. They are a road map to achieving the perfection of GOD in order to live with HIM. What they actually did was show people that there was no way for them to be as holy as GOD. In fact, no person on Earth is able to be as holy as GOD.

GOD chose to raise a people to Himself. HE gave them the laws and the precepts and the revelation of Himself for the purpose of showing who HE is to the world. The other nations do not matter. GOD has a love and commitment to those who are HIS people. The promise of a Savior was to Israel alone. But, in the promise, GOD also included a salvation of the gentiles. JESUS is the Savior raised up to graft in the gentiles. HIS return will fulfill The promises of GOD to Israel.

The problems Israel faced as a result of a failure to live up to the commandments of GOD were not based in a failure to keep the laws, it was in having a complete disregard for the GOD who raised them up.

As far as when or why, GOD has His time table and He does things accordingly. The very real truth of GOD has well been stated by you. HE chose Israel and let the other nation flourish. GOD created a perfect world. Just as drug dealers and sinners flourish today. They exist outside of the law of both GOD and man. Law doesn't establish a nation, GOD does. With Israel, GOD chose to raise that nation up to reflect Him, that He might show His power and grace and fatherly chastisement. What the other nations did, they did. GOD chose Israel to be the object of His love. Of all the families on the Earth, GOD loved Israel and so, of all the families on the Earth, GOD punished Israel for their inequities. We do not see that with any other nation.

You might say that the other nations are better off for it. If all you have is carnal reasoning and you measure by worldly life, then that might be true. But, Israel was the recipient of the greatest gift and they rejected it.

However, this life and this creation is not what it is all about. It is about eternity. In the grand scheme of eternity, what GOD has done here on this blue ball is to establish a people that will be with Him for ever. With those that He created to be with Him forever, He also created the others. He created those who are the object of His love and those who are not. All for His purposes.

Yes, it was common for murder and adultery to flourish. The strong did what they wanted and women had no status. It was the norm for people to have a wife and still go whoring around. Solomon, the king of Israel, had 800 wives and 1,300 concubines. It was very common. The non-Jewish people in JESUS' time put their newborn, unwanted babies on the red hot arms of an alter to sacrifice them. We abort them today. But, it is the same basic concept, worship sex and kill the offspring.

3. Most importantly, whether or not Jesus paid the price for our sins is irrelevant to the question of determining moral boundaries. Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t remove the boundaries of ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’, it only purports to have removed the eternal death penalty for immoral actions. The lines that define ‘moral’ and ‘immoral’ still exist as defined throughout the Bible, whether or not we have to suffer the full consequences of those actions.

True. In fact, Christians, in many ways, have a greater requirement to the moral constructs of the scriptures. Christians have a moral obligation to a law of love that far exceeds the written law.

4. Therefore, the problem I proposed still exists. You may turn a blind eye to the rock theft, and rightly so, but you don’t have the authority to do so under Biblical principles. Whether or not this child and I would be held spiritually culpable for that action is irrelevant – the Bible provides strict, black and white right and wrongs and this theft is deemed a ‘wrong’. Without Jesus’ sacrifice in play, that action would’ve been worthy of eternal death under Old Testament Law (and elsewhere repeated), because the Bible does not grant you the freedom to update its definitions. This is only something man made moral boundaries can do; the rules in the Bible were set in stone 2,000 years ago and are not negotiable.

NO doubt about it. Theft is theft. Turning a blind eye to it is wrong as well. Now, did she know it was theft? If so, then it is also a sin. Sin is in place when intent is in place. As George Carlin would say, “You have to wanna”. So, you being complicit is sin, but her doing it in innocence is not. This is why there is a Bible. It teaches us right and wrong. Until she is taught right and wrong, there is no guilt. Where there is no law, there is no transgression. It is a shame you did not take this moment to teacher these things.

It is also the very reason for the law. The law shows us the requirements of absolute holiness. Most important, the law shows us that we have all sinned and fallen short of the holiness of GOD. So, the law shows us we need a savior. The prophesies of the Old Testament show us that JESUS was the promised Savior who fulfilled the law.

5. This is why the problem with homosexuality still exists. Jesus’ sacrifice may purport to remove the punishment for homosexuality, but it does not grant us the freedom to deem homosexuality as moral (or amoral). It is, and will forever be, immoral in the eyes of God, because God doesn’t offer Biblical writ updates or clarifications. Whatever is in the Bible is in the Bible, and any advancements we make in our thinking are either elections to ignore parts of the Bible or massive leaps to fit the Bible’s texts into our modern day understanding.

This is quite true. Sin is sin and it will always be sin. It is GOD who sets a person free from sin and GOD who may choose not to. IN the end, JESUS is a come as your are savior. There is no doubt that a person who is saved will have a great struggle with the sins they are captive to. However, it is no greater sin than failure to tythe to your church. In fact, failure to tythe is far more an act of the will than being a homosexual. There are too many people willing to overlook their own sin in order to look at someone else.

The idea that our current evolution of the social norms is an advancement is debatable. Moral decay is not advancement of improvement. It is moral decay. As we get closer and closer to the end times, moral decay will be more prevalent. In large part, this is do to spiritual sickness that has invaded the church. The one who holds back evil is all but gone and evil reigns in our churches and our society. Christians could change that by humbling themselves and prayer. But, I have read the book and I know this is a necessary part of the plan.

Let Go and Let GOD

         Such a common slogan. We hear it regularly. Yet, we never do it.

         There is something in the nature of man that makes him want to be in control. Every form of doctrine that comes along and tells people they have control is far more readily accepted than the doctrines that say they have no control. Human beings being on the throne of their own lives, their own hearts, is simply more comfortable than believing you have no control over anything.

         So we struggle in vain. Fighting against the air, boxing with our shadows, convinced that there is a victory to be had if we just work a little harder, argue a little more fervently, insist a little more strongly that we are the masters of our own destiny. Then it all falls apart and we become angry and disillusioned and shake a fist in the air as if being upset at GOD is really going to make it change.

         Still, when it all is said and done, we feel a need to be angry because things are not working out the way we planned and hoped and wanted.

          The world is going to hell in a hand basket. The downward spiral is continuing and accelerating at an alarming rate. Immorality and decadence has taken over our nation and our churches. The perverse and the morbid are common place. What are we to do? Things simply are not going as we think they should and we need to do something.

          For some, that means doubling and redoubling their efforts to contain the decay. They hope that the passing of laws and the restricting of people's activities will somehow change the course of things. For some reason, they haven't noticed that the more effort they put out, the worse things get.

          For me, when things go bad or are contrary to what I had hoped would transpire, I just give up. I stop striving and I stop fighting and I hand it all over to GOD with a firm belief that what HE has planned is what is going to happen, and what is happening. For me, that is a simple concept.

          I know that we are all raised to fight for what we want and to strive to achieve greatness. Some people do, in fact, achieve worldly greatness. But no one has ever achieved real eternal greatness by striving to do what it is clear GOD is not doing.

          I am a strong advocate that we need leaders in this nation. Really good leaders. The kind of leaders who don't think along the lines of forcing people to do what they feel is right. Real leaders show people a better way and hope they take it. Not all will. Not all people are going to accept everyone else. Some are going to be racists, some homophobes, some will hate old people and some will hate young people. Some will despise fat folk and some will disdain skinny ones. But, no law can actually change that, it just makes them fight all the harder for their brand of hate and intolerance.

          In the end, we human beings have no power. We have no position and no authority. All we have is a very weak effort to control our own flesh and no power at all to control others.

And I say it is time to give up!!

         It is time that my Christian brothers and sisters determined to return to the ways of GOD and just let the world go however it is going to go. Let it alone. Let society evolve (or devolve) as it will. Just leave it all in GOD's hands and just turn away. It is time we spent our efforts on being compassionate and loving and kind and meek and a real reflection of how JESUS treated the sinners of HIS day. Because the truth is, JESUS got invited to spend time with the sinners and the religious folk hated HIM. So it should be with you and me.

        This doesn't mean we are handing the world over to the ungodly. Quite the contrary, we are handing it over to GOD. Who HE gives it to is none of our concern. We have enough on our plate trying to overcome the reputation that hateful and intolerant men and women have given to our JESUS. We have enough on our plate to keep us busy doing the work of GOD, and letting HIM do the work of the world. This is my father's world. Though the wrong seems all so strong, GOD is the ruler yet.

So. Let Go And Let GOD.

Stealing (renew your mind)

 

I have recently been reminded of just how easy it is to be a thief and a liar. You see, there are many things that people do in the world that are accepted as normal, and even encouraged. Of course, not encouraged by those who are the victims, just by others who do the same things.

I was at a meal recently and one of the people there ordered the special, all-you-can-eat meal. I ordered a salad. This person said I could have some of their fish, because they could get more. WRONG!!! As it turned out, they didn't even finish the first order, and took the rest home. So, I could have eaten some.

 

Someone recently asked me to make them some copies of my Christian music, so they could share it with a friend. WRONG!!! Not only did I tell her that I wouldn't do that, but I explained that it was stealing. Not just stealing, though, it is stealing from a ministry. (every time you pull out a copied disc, you tell people you stole that material)

 

I was in a Christian music store a number of years ago. A couple was starting a new ministry and wanted some printed materials. The particular curriculum they were looking at was more than they could afford. After some time in conversation with the sales person, she said (in a low whisper), “you could just buy a couple books and then copy them”. WRONG!!!! I quietly walked up behind them and said, “Yes. You could start a ministry for JESUS with stolen materials.”

It seems almost ludicrous to me that someone would consider the LORD wants them to do something and they would start it in sin, instead of just waiting for the LORD to provide.

Then there are memberships into shopping clubs, and rentals and what not. Some allow a member to bring a guest. Some, on the other hand, require each user to be a member. Yet, one person has a membership and uses that membership to help someone else shop. Churches and ministries do this. It is what I like to call WRONG!!!!

The Bible has no gray areas. It is black and white, yes and no, right and wrong, good and evil. Anything that is gray is part evil. Anything that is part evil, is 100% EVIL.

We, who are in this world as ambassadors of CHRIST, who are not of this world, need to reflect the values and concerns of our holy and perfect LORD. Not for our sake, not even for HIS sake (although HIS reputation should be our concern) but, for the sake of those who see us and know what and WHOSE we are. For conscience sake. Not your conscience, but the conscience of one that might see.

The renewing of the mind is a process of learning to think from a GOD centered perspective.

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

1Corinthians 2:11-12

Religious Oppressors

The most important reason for the formation of America, the travels of the Pilgrims, and the strength of our nation, is the foundation of religious freedom and the ability to escape religious persecution. The Christian church flourished here because the government was established in such a way that the truth could overcome all other teachings.

Now, the Christian church leads the charge to limit the freedoms of people based on religious reasons. They lead the way to discriminate against people and force a particular religious view down the throats of those who do not agree.

It doesn't take much effort to see that this approach has become the foundation for the greatest resistance the cause of CHRIST has felt in this country. When you pick up the Bible to use it as a weapon against any group of people, or even an individual, the natural response is to recoil and defend.

If, on the other hand, the church were to put more trust in the power of the truth, and the power of GOD, and handed the Bible to people for them to use as a weapon against Satan, than all of the spiritual issues facing this nation would be overcome.

We do not have a problem with drugs, alcohol, divorce, homosexuals, or abortion. These are symptoms. Symptoms of a spiritual sickness. It is not just a sickness in the nation. It is a sickness in the people who say they trust in GOD.

If we, as a people of GOD, trusted in HIM and HIS power and spent our time doing what HE has asked us to do, living by HIS precepts, and being the people HE has called us to be, then the spiritual aspects of the decline in America would be reduced and the issues we face would be reduced. There is no place in the Bible that we have been told to use the government to battle evil. We have a lot of instruction on how to battle evil. The government is not in there.

The Bible, the founding fathers of America, history, even common sense should tell us that the approach we have been lead to use does not work and is not a good idea.

There was a time when the nations of Europe were run by the Christian church. Now, it is likely you would get arrested for preaching JESUS in the streets.

We, as Christian Americans, need to protect all Americans from religious persecution, particularly from Christians. Undermining these principals will result in these freedoms being lost to Christians as other groups rise up to defend themselves from the persecution by Christians.