Lord, Raise Up a Generation of Godly Men!

A friend sent me a social media posting that proclaimed, "Dear women, there is a new breed of man awakening on this planet and he does not (mess) around. He knows exactly what he wants and he shows up for you emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and sexually. He learned how to treat a woman while transmuting his own emotional pain and heartache into power, then used that power to alchemize his fear into love; [i.e. transform that fear supernaturally into love]. He remembers his position as a man, a protector and a lover for the woman sent to him by God. He treats her like a sacred phenomenon from heaven and wants her by his side as a partner, lover and friend".

Actually, this friend sent it to my husband as well, telling him how blessed I am and what a great role model he is as a Godly man. I couldn't agree more! I pray for this awakening among men because our world, our nation, and our families desperately need Godly men to rise up and lead. Frankly, I am tired of seeing men emasculated by a culture that seeks to weaken them, undermine them, and reduce the identity in which God created them. It's easy to see Satan in this strategy ... he wants to corrupt God's design of man's dominion over the earth. It started in the Garden when he tempted and seduced Eve into usurping Adam's authority in making the decision to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And that sin has crept in, down through the centuries, increasingly attacking men's role and their identity, with the goal to make them weaker or less effective, leaving the door open for Satan to control the world.

[NOTE: At this point, I want to take a quick sidestep, and introduce a topic that involves the Genesis 6:1-4 incursion of Fallen Angels. The Church's teachings on this event is sparse and limited, at best. But Flavius Josephus, a Jewish priest, scholar, and historian has shed some light on the oral histories that were accepted and passed down. I suggest you read his 20-volume Antiquities of the Jews for a historical perspective on this subject. And there are some excellent books by modern authors Gary Wayne (Genesis 6 Conspiracy) and Timothy Alberino (Birthright: The Coming Posthuman Apocalypse and the Usurpation of Adam's Dominion On Planet Earth) that will shatter our tame Biblical narrative [of Genesis 6] that the seminaries have proffered over the last 200 years or so.

The thoughts that I am carefully forming [and studying] center around the theory [and possibility] that Satan encouraged the Fallen Angels, [who were jealous that God had provided Adam with a helpmate and wife] to lust after the daughters of men and to marry them (Genesis 6:2) in order to corrupt the bloodline that was designed to lead to Jesus. Timothy Alberino suggests there's a possibility that the women were willing partners because they also sought the knowledge that their ancestor, Eve, was tempted by -- the divine knowledge that Satan used to deceive Eve, and that the Fallen Angels would have received in Heaven before they rebelled and defected.  

Consider this: Our authority for dominion of the earth comes from Who we have pledged our allegiance to and Who we're in covenant with, namely the Creator of Earth. But those who have pledged their allegiance to Satan owe their authority to him. He gives men (and women), who use their free will to disobey God, the authority and resources to use their dominion to serve his [Satan's] purposes. We see it today, most alarmingly, in the practice of abortion. Men and their desire, or opinions in this situation, are discounted because Satan has convinced women they have exclusive control and rights over their bodies and can do with them [and to them] what they wish. God's structure for the family is being destroyed and eliminated, as man's purpose in establishing dominion on the earth slips away].  

With this understanding, let me get back to my purpose for this post. It is so important at this juncture in history, that we see men reclaim their identity; to begin to live as though they truly are the image of God. So, what makes a man, "Godly"? How can we begin to not only identify and encourage such men, but begin to raise up sons who will follow in their father's/Father's footsteps? We all know that Jesus is the perfect model of a Godly man, so let's consider His character traits.

I think one of the leading indicators of a Godly man is one who has cultivated a deep, personal relationship with God. Jesus never did or said anything that wasn't approved by God. He prayed for Divine counsel and never imposed His will on the situation. Godly men have hearts full of compassion for those in need, and have hearts to serve -- not to be served. How many wars could be avoided if leaders sought and listened to God's advice? How many families would feel secure and live in peace and security, if men were willing to sacrifice and give of themselves for the sake of their wives and children and the Glory of God? And how many women would feel deeply loved by a Godly husband, when they realize they are married to a man who makes it his priority to provide for her, protect her, and esteem her, bringing peace to her life?

Godly men are honest and humble. They don't act out of selfish ambition, but for the good of others. They do the right thing, even when it's not pleasant or desirable. They are steady and consistent, bringing discipline and self-control to situations where peace and harmony are needed to battle against the lawlessness of the Enemy. They know how to persevere and endure in times of challenge and testing, showing others what faithfulness and commitment to God and His ways looks like. They seek wisdom and discernment from God, trusting Him in His timing and plans for the future. They talk to God a lot.

There are so many traits and characteristics of Jesus that are the measure of a Godly man. And I am truly blessed to be married to a man that is intent on following in Jesus's footprints. He is not perfect, [and would be embarrassed that I am paying him this tribute]. He did not always walk out his life in Godly ways. But when the Lord called him out of a worldly mindset and made him accountable for the words, actions, and thoughts in his life, he became teachable and moldable, resolving to grow spiritually as he matured, and let God lead him to more and deeper revelations about his purpose. What could he do for God's Kingdom during whatever time he's here?

Naturally bold and courageous, I have watched him stand for Biblical principles even when it wasn't popular by worldly standards. His heart posture, or attitude, is this: he is not afraid to defend his Biblical worldview in a culture that despises anything that competes with their self-gratification. For him, it's all about representing God and His Son, who gave everything to show us the greatest expression of what love is truly all about. And in the midst of such a determined life, he is still human. He still stumbles, but he repents when he sins, and he is careful to ask for forgiveness and offer it when he is sinned against. 

I guess I am most proud to be the wife of this Godly man because he is leading by example, not calling attention to himself, but walking boldly and confidently as a redeemed man; a man who has learned to die to himself so that he can glorify His Lord. Without a doubt, he is bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God, and it is my privilege to walk by his side as we seek God's Kingdom and righteousness, growing together and learning more each day how big and magnanimous and glorious our God is. May He hear our fervent prayers, and faithfully raise up a generation of Godly sons on the earth! Amen!

1 Peter 2:9      But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.     

 

  

The Lord Is Testing Us! May We Come Forth As Refined Gold!

Have you noticed or felt that the world is on shaky ground -- literally and spiritually? Are you experiencing a season of feeling weighed down by the responsibilities of life, and sensing a strong spiritual force coming against you? You're not alone! The planet is literally trembling and shaking at the surface, and spewing forth from its depths. Wildfires, hurricanes, pandemics, famine and food shortages are becoming more frequent and more severe. Is a Polar Shift in our future? All this plus the recent volcanic and earthquake activity are evidence of the "birth pains" that Jesus foretells in Matthew 24. 

He is very deliberate in describing the signs and events that will happen before the end of the age. Like the birth pains before the birth of a baby, many Christians understand these signs to mean that Jesus's return is coming quickly once they start. But they miss the fuller understanding that these signs and events are just the beginning of greater troubles to come. Just as the labor pains [at the birth of a child] increase with intensity, Jesus is telling us that we will experience challenges that will escalate in strength and force as the end approaches. 

These events will be the beginning of sorrows, followed by the worsening of the labor pains [as the world prepares for the fullness of the birth of God's Kingdom on earth]. But we cannot escape the times of tribulation that come before that glorious birth; the times of great catastrophe, anguish, and cataclysm. Are we there yet? I don't know, is my honest answer. But I don't think we can dismiss the deception that Jesus warns us about in Matthew 24:4-5 ; or the wars and global conflicts we are seeing in Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Iraq and now Taiwan. Hints of Nuclear war are increasing. These wars alone don't mean the end, but when they abound alongside the other signs, they indicate His return is getting closer. 

As I talked about in my preceding post, the moral and spiritual decline, along with the celebration of evil as being right, plus the mocking of Biblical values shows us we are mirroring 2 Timothy 3:1-5 ... People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy. We are there, folks!

We can't ignore Israel's role in End-Times prophecies, nor the tensions that are building in the world as every nation is watching the Holy Land. I need you to understand my position on God's chosen people. The land belongs to God and He will restore His holy Zion and her people to their homeland. But there's a difference between the holy Zion of the Bible and the secular, political Zion we see today. But I believe there will be a time of repentance and they will return, fully committed to their God. That is my prayer for them!

And, if you read my blog with any regularity, you will notice that I often write about warnings surrounding Technology and the role it could play in the prophecy of Revelation 13:16-17 .... It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. Can you see the system of control that is beginning to creep its way into our lives? -- It's visible in restaurants that no longer accept cash as payment; in digital IDs; in AI surveillance on our phones, in our TVs and appliances; and microchips used as part of the infrastructure for worldwide tracking of every human on earth. 

One clear indicator for me is Jesus's prophecy that the end of the age will come when one last sign is fulfilled ... it will come when "this good news of the gospel of the kingdom is preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations".  Consider how long it has taken during the past centuries to spread this gospel! Now, one click and it is shared worldwide. While Satan will try and use Technology for evil, God is using it to for His good and spreading His Word fast and far!  

So all this is telling us how the Bible says we will recognize the "signs of the times". But how are you dealing with all this personally? Do you recognize that as the prophecies of God's Word are unfolding, that we are also being tested by God as to the level of our faith? In 2015, I wrote of my feelings of anxiety and apprehension as I discerned the civil unrest in our streets, the racial tension among our citizens, homeland terrorism, and the threats of world war. That was ten years ago and everything is escalating! The birth pains are increasing in intensity! 

At the time, I found myself trying to look into the future, plotting and planning ways to endure that scary time. Today, my spirit knows the truth -- my security does not lie in anything I can do -- the world, itself, offers no security. And what the world calls security is false. No amount of money, peace of mind, or stability in my life measures up to the trust I have in the Lord through my faith. [NOTE: I am not naive ... I have skills that will sustain me in times of trouble]. And I will admit, that there are times the Enemy taunts me to return to those sleepless nights full of fear and sows into my active imagination. But I remind myself that my husband and myself are in a covenant with the Most High God. We have put our confidence in the truth that He is who He says He is, and will do what He has promised us: He will be faithful to provide for all our needs, if we would be faithful to put our trust in Him. 

I will accept it if He decides to test me. I am not perfect! And He needs to know He can trust me to do His work when the times get tough -- and we're headed that way! So I praise Him for those times when I discern His testing and the supernatural clarity of the inter-dimensional aspects of this world and the heavenly realms. All the worries and concerns that the Enemy uses to distract me are only momentary and worthless compared to the riches that will be my inheritance in Heaven. I want Him to refine me and purify me so that I can battle the darkness, all while waiting on Him and renewing my strength. So, as the Bible encourages us, let us count it all joy when we meet these trials and tests, because it will help us develop our steadfastness. And when we prove that we can remain resolute and steady in times of trials and tribulation, we are assured the Crown of Life! It is all worth it! Hallelujah!  

Job 23:10     But He knows the way that I take [and He pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I will come forth as [refined] gold [pure and luminous].        

     

The Death of a Society's Virtue

Today, I found myself seeking a moment or two of  solitude; just sitting quietly by myself, hoping to quiet my thoughts and get a sense of the heaviness that I was feeling. As soon as I shut down all the distracting noises of the world, I quickly understood that the weight on my spirit came from the realization that this oppression is coming from the accumulative erosion of the virtue in our society.

Before I can continue with this train of consciousness, I need to define my idea of "virtue", and why it's important to me. Virtue is a valuable commodity in my Biblical worldview, and it stands for the goodness, righteousness, integrity, honesty, decency, incorruptibility, moral, and principled manner in which a society operates. It matters to me because those are the standards that I use to measure if the society in which I live is worthy of my respect and adherence. I believe that my God, Jesus Christ, created this world to glorify Him; its peoples to follow His ways; and its laws to mirror His government in Heaven.

That may sound like a naive perspective for the 21st Century, but as I look upon the direction this modern civilization is headed, it is apparent to me [by my standards, which are God's] that, by abandoning this criterion, we are becoming a dying society and culture. And it has been a death by a thousand cuts; so gradual that we didn't even see how we were compromising our covenant with God. Just in my lifetime, I can see where the idea that "God is dead" took root in philosophical circles. That theology is nothing new -- Satan has tried to implement this groupthink since the Garden. Various civilizations throughout the history of man's existence have bought into this lie that we don't need God. But I can trace the rise of this secular idea and the abandonment of traditional beliefs in God [during my lifetime] to the 1960s and the rise of rebellion among American youth.

That defiance and resistance to anything suggesting conformity [especially to Biblical principles] quickly saw prayer, God, and the Bible removed from our schools. This is in such stark contrast to their place in education at the dawn of America. In fact, a classical education in the American colonies emphasized the study of the Bible and Christian principles as foundational to all knowledge and learning. Schools were established to ensure Bible literacy, and the curriculum included theology alongside classical subjects like Latin and Greek.  

Just ponder these quotes by the Founding Fathers, and whether you are a Believer or not, you cannot deny the importance they placed on God and His place in a just and moral society ... "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other" [John Adams]; "Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle" [George Washington]; "No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people" [Noah Webster]; "Nothing is more dreaded than the national government meddling with religion" [John Adams].

It's so easy, if you employ critical thinking, to recognize Satan's tactics: sow into vulnerable minds the temptation to believe that God is unnecessary; therefore the idea of Him is dead, which leads to the conclusion that prayer and the mention of God and the Bible are no longer necessary in our classrooms. And without the guidance of God or His tenets, we become our own god, giving ourselves the freedom to do whatever pleases us [instead of Him]. And so we bought into the lie that drugs, sex, and rock and roll gave us a more enjoyable lifestyle than the dictates of a Biblical lifestyle. Free sex with whomever you desired understandably resulted in unwanted pregnancies. It's not convenient for your self-indulgent lifestyle? Then abortion is the answer. And to keep religion or guilt from "meddling" in your life, well then, we worked to get government to enact laws that gave us the legal right to murder those babies. 

Can you see how easy it was to remove the semblance of virtue from our society? But this progression is nothing new in the history of man. In actuality, there is a demonic presence that Satan has introduced throughout different civilizations to mock and destroy God's ability and authority to create Life. Remember, Satan can't create anything! He can certainly tempt humans to listen to his lies and follow his instructions to worship him [and act in his ways] instead of following the One True God. So, in an effort to mock and oppose God, it was to Satan's benefit to introduce the false god known as Molech [or Moloch or Malek, depending on the different cultures that existed at his introduction to the Canaanite culture and tribes]. 

Men were tempted to build statues of Molech, which resembled a human body with a bull's head. Usually made of bronze, the statue appeared with arms outstretched and a belly that opened to serve as a furnace. In the ancient cultures, families would offer to pass their children "through the fire" [to be burned alive] in order to secure favor and prosperity. Fast forward through the centuries, and we see that even in the 21st Century, the spirit of the false god Molech is still alive and working as a dark, evil mirror of our disintegrating society. Abortion is the law of the land, and it reflects the practice of infant sacrifice, which is part of Molech worship. It doesn't take a genius to see that abortion exalts death, which is what the worship of Satan and Molech exemplify. Whether a woman identifies abortion with Molech worship or not, the act of killing your baby accomplishes the same thing for Satan.

In today's society, Satan tempts women to sacrifice their children in the name of Self ... specifically in the name of access to education, career goals, financial concerns, lack of stable relationships, and inconvenience, among many other emotional reasons. And I want to make it clear that I am not insensitive to the issues of rape or the mother's health. Those are difficult decisions that I hope would be made after much consultation with Jesus, who created the child that the mother carries. But I also believe far too many women choose to sacrifice their babies out of a desire to meet their own needs. That process also ignores the fact that they are destroying what God has created. In that sense, women become their own god, giving themselves the authority to destroy life. With over 65,000,000 babies legally aborted in the U.S. since 1973, I think I can argue that we have created a culture of death in this country -- the exact opposite of God's desire for humanity.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

Each one of us is born with a spark of God's Light in us. And that Light shines in the darkness of Satan's world here on earth, when we are in kinship and unity with the One who created us. When I think about over 65,000,000 Lights extinguished in the last 52 years since Roe v Wade was enacted in 1973, my spirit is overcome with tremendous grief... grief for those innocent babies who felt the pain of being gruesomely destroyed in what was supposed to be a safe place for them, their mother's womb ... grief for the women whom I believe will one day experience the spirits of guilt and shame when they realize that they fell for Satan's lies ... and the grief of Jesus, whom I believe has borne the pain [and shed the tears] of those precious lives He created. 

I am no longer the unsuspecting and over-trusting young girl of my youth, who believed what I saw through the rose-colored glasses I wore and what I was taught about my country's history. I have seen behind the curtain, and I recognize the deception that I was spoon-fed. There are far too many believable conspiracies behind political assassinations; false reasons for wars [that resulted in untold millions of unwarranted deaths and suffering]; and willful duplicity and treachery for personal gain and power. And the deception seems to keep growing. We are not turning away from the path Satan has set before us. And when we become aware of it, and we don't make an effort to turn the ship back towards God, then we are complicit with the system of destruction.

Sadly, I believe the system has become too powerful, and the expanse of society is too comfortable in their deception. Looking forward, I think it is going to be up to each individual to decide whether their personal virtue is worth preserving, or if the battle over it seems too ominous, burdensome, and colossal. I understand. But we also have to decide how we want to appear before Jesus. For me, I want to finish strong in His sight. I want to stand before Him as a Daughter in whom He approves and is proud of. In my flesh, I unapologetically want to try and reclaim some small part of my impression that this country was founded to be representative of God's Goodness and Provision. I don't know if that is even possible anymore. But I promise you this ... I will be true to who God made me to be and to who He is. I will not cooperate with Evil, and I will not compromise with a world who only seeks self-gratification and self-worship. I believe Jesus is coming soon, and I am ready for His rule and reign!   

"Yet even now," declare the Lord, "return to Me with all your heart [in genuine repentance], with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts [in sorrow and contrition] and not your garments". 

My Pilgrim Journey: Following the Spirit to Jesus

image © theholyspostles.com

 As I get older, I am becoming more aware of the temporary state of my existence, what others call our mortality. I know that this is the same path most humans will eventually travel, but it has particular significance when you are a follower of Jesus Christ, the Hope of the world. And how you choose to walk in this impermanent life will determine if you profit in your life's journey, and whether you've stayed true to who you were created to be.

Unfortunately, it is human nature to waste our youth on selfish motives and desires. I look back on all the years I chose to feed my appetite for temporal rewards -- those worldly, profane, transient, material, mundane, carnal, fleshly, and perishable prizes this world offers for our self-gratification -- and I grieve for those lost opportunities to become more of who I truly am. 

I have discovered that I am a Pilgrim; a person who travels on long journeys in search of the sacred meaning of this life. As I'm writing this, I know it sounds like I'm some kind of fundamentalist and an adherent of religious theology; even a dreamer. But nothing could be further from the truth. I'm about as non-religious as they come. I have simply embraced who I've been throughout my life ... someone who never fit the pattern the world decided was acceptable and normal. And that also defines what the Church has established as the standard of a Christian. I guess I'm the proverbial example of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole; an individualist who can't be pigeon-holed into any specific niche in conventional society, yet nevertheless, is able to navigate all the different spheres circling each other.

Then I stumbled on to the history of my maternal heritage. My mother's maiden name was Palmer, which just happens to historically refer to a pilgrim who traveled to the Holy Land and returned with a palm branch as a sign of their spiritual journey. It points to the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem before His crucifixion and death on the Cross. In the ancient Near East, palm branches were symbols of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life, and their use by the crowds signifies their recognition of Jesus as the anticipated Messiah and King. They were also used during the Feast of Tabernacles, the festival that celebrated God's provision and deliverance. As biblehub.com reveals, in Christian theology, the palm branches of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem foreshadow the ultimate victory of Christ, as depicted in Revelation 7:9, where a great multitude stands before the throne of God, holding palm branches in their hands, signifying eternal victory and peace in the presence of the Lamb.

So, I am humbled that my maternal lineage seems to foretell that I was ordained to be a "palmer"; a pilgrim looking for the modern equivalent of  "the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God" (Hebrews 11:10). I can look back and see two distinct events in my life that God [and Jesus] entered my circumstances, offering me a life-line. The first was in my college years when my stubbornness and false pride urged me to rebel against authority at the university I was attending [and working as part of the dormitory administration], which resulted in me having to withdraw from school, and led to a year of financial struggle as I worked my way back to being able to finish my final year of school and receive my degree. I prayed, and really talked to God for the first time, knowing I wasn't going to make it unless He helped me. It was extremely difficult-- no car (I walked to work, rain, snow, or shine); reduced to food stamps for six months (extremely anemic); and only barely made enough to pay the rent on a small, dreary apartment. But God showed me His Grace and His mercy, delivering me through that dismal period.

The second event was 11 years later, when I was rear-ended by a hit-and-run driver on a major highway through downtown Austin, sending my car end-over-end for five rotations up an embankment. God spared my life as I cried out to Him with each revolution up that embankment. You see, I knew He was real; I knew about Him; but I didn't know Him! I didn't have that personal relationship where I heard Him, or saw the direction He wanted me to go. So, if I was going to ever grab hold of my true identity, I guess He had to get my attention. From that moment on, I began my pilgrimage, a journey that has been winding through hills and valleys, and not without its challenges and tribulations. Yes, I think He tested me along the way. If there truly is a divine purpose to my life to serve Jesus and His Kingdom, He has to know He can trust me to share His Truth, His Way, and His Life with those whom I share the Gospel. My life truly embodies Ephesians 2:8-9, For by grace, I have been saved through faith; and that not of myself, it is the gift of God; not as a result of [my] works, so that I may not boast. I have nothing to boast about in my years on this planet, except for His amazing grace, His everlasting faithfulness, and His persistent goodness and mercy. And for all that, I am so very grateful!

I truly believe that part of the reason for my pilgrimage has been to show me that I do not need to model my life [or my faith] on what the world prescribes. I certainly have walked in unconventionality through every season of my considerable years. And that includes my journey with the Church. Because I intentionally seek direction from the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus has given me to clearly hear and see my way forward towards the goal line He has set before me, I am sensitive to anything or any word that doesn't sound like His voice. Yes, that familiar scripture is really true... My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I have heard a lot of voices within the four walls of the church building that proclaim they are sharing God's Word and what it means, but because I have decided to seek that personal, individual relationship with my Savior, I can recognize the false and phony voice.

I wish it weren't so ... I wish that every man or woman inside the Church institution spoke the language of God, which brings love and freedom to follow Him in ways that benefit His Kingdom. He made us all with the purpose of glorifying Him, and there are as many ways to do that as there are distinctive people He has made. But that demands that you are truly in tune with His voice, following Him in His ways; not your own ways which the devil has convinced you are legal. 

I used to have to fight my qualms and insecurities that I was hearing Jesus correctly, especially when it seemed so foreign to what was being taught in the church I happened to be attending at the time. But then the Spirit showed me that the lack of peace and joy I felt when sitting under those teachings was, in reality, Him showing me that this was not where I belonged; that I could trust Jesus to enlighten me through deeper dives in His Word. In fact, the more I decided to follow the path "less traveled", the more depth I found in my relationship with Jesus. It didn't have to mirror anyone else's! And I found a clearer understanding of Scripture, and received more spiritual revelations that connected me to qualified ancient knowledge of the Creator of the Universe -- the knowledge to discern the difference between self-serving propaganda and God's inspired Word; the ability to discern corrupted theology, designed to lead men away from their purpose in this world.

Perhaps the part of my journey that fills my spirit with hope is seeing more and more Christians who recognize that something is not right ... who recognize that the world, our society, our government, and yes, our churches have wandered off the path that leads them to a Godly life. The corruption in the spiritual realms is too obvious to ignore, and their souls and spirits long for the peace that Jesus promises when we walk with Him. But I am going to be honest... it won't be easy! As Jesus told us, following Him comes with trials and tribulations. But when your heart is sick from watching the decay and destruction in the world, you want nothing else than to be yoked with Him! So take the risk! You don't have to be part of anything that makes your heart or soul sick. Your spirit is longing to awaken to the voice of our Savior! Take a chance and become like Isaac and Jacob ... Live by faith as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in temporary tents [which are also our temporal bodies], fellow heirs of the same promise [as the fathers of our faith].  

Don't follow the herd or the tribe! You are here to complete a mission specifically designed for you! Do not miss your opportunity or disappoint yourself! Walk in your own individual truth of who you are in Christ, as whispered by the Holy Spirit, and confirmed by the voice of your Shepherd! You will then live all your days with the certainty and joy of knowing that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, pleasing Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work [you do for His Kingdom], and increasing in the knowledge of God. What better way to spend your remaining time on this corrupted earth? Remember ... we are all exiled as strangers and sojourners in this land. We are here for a reason...

1 Peter 1:17.    If you address as Father, the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear [and reverence] during the time of your stay on earth. 

 

       

Stay Alert! Consequences of Accepting the Beast System! PART TWO

In Part One of our conversation on the incremental introduction of the Beast System in the End Times, I pointed out that the wheels have already been set in motion for our easy acceptance of a Beast System that is, at its core, deceptive and serves the Enemy's agenda. I believe it could be hidden in the convenience and ease with which Technology has invaded our lives. It's becoming increasingly difficult to avoid technology. For instance, in some of the major cities, restaurants and retailers no longer accept cash for purchases; they demand credit or debit cards. And try to get access to your doctors or customer service by phone -- how many of you get frustrated and just hang up?

Then there is the gap that technology is creating between parents and grandparents [who didn't grow up in the "technology age"] and their children who don't know how to dial a rotary phone, change a tire, operate an answering machine, maintain a physical checkbook, or write a letter [and definitely not in cursive]! The increased presence of technology in our lives is influencing our ability to communicate with our fellow man. The most recent generation(s) don't even like to answer a phone call and speak to someone, let alone have a conversation in person -- they'd rather text. This corruption of our communication skills can be seen as corrupting the image of God in which we are created because God is all about personal relationship and communication! 

I think we Christians have pretty much accepted the easy explanation that the Mark of the Beast's most obvious characteristic is that no one will be able to buy or sell without it. That's part of it, but the most dangerous effect [to me] is that it changes who we are! I believe that those who are of my generation are able to recognize the warning signs of technology and reject it [where we still can], but the younger generations see it as the next step in human evolution. That is where they are being deceived! They have bought the lie that technology can make us better than how God created us.

In fact, I recently ran across an article on IdentityProject.tv that suggested "The Five Lies Technology Tells Us". They are: 1.  "I am the center of my own universe; 2. I deserve to be happy all the time; 3. I must have unlimited choice; 4. I am my own authority; and 5. Information is all I need. And I love the arguments that this article uses to counter this destructive identity .... We are not made to orbit around ourselves. Our identity is rooted in God and we are made to live for something greater than ourselves. Jesus never promised us constant happiness; He promised us abundant life. Choice is a privilege, not a right. Learning to appreciate what we have -- instead of demanding unlimited access to things -- will lead us to true joy and peace. We are not our own authority -- God is. And the final counter-argument is that we are created for deep wisdom, not shallow data. 

Can you see that adoption of these Technology Promises challenges our relationship with God? It dulls our spiritual sensitivity and elevates the selfishness of the soul, which is our mind, emotions, and free will. In other words, when the soul takes priority, we live our lives focusing on the information that our minds/brains have accumulated [all that shallow data], and we just seek what makes us feel good and soothes our emotions, which results in our rejection of anything that is hard, or we have to work for. When that happens, prayer seems more distant and less important or productive. That "dullness" in our spirit will also weaken any conviction we might have about our sin. This is an important warning sign for discerning the path that will lead to the Mark of the Beast System.

You might think that Christians couldn't possible fall for this tech deception, but think about this ... if you find yourself, as a Christian, constantly "plugged in" to technology or unable to manage your life without it, you need to do a check of your spiritual condition. Even ardent and dedicated believers can gradually become spiritually desensitized. Oh, they may still sound religious but their hearts can become hardened when constantly bombarded with worldly distractions like porn [both men and women], YouTube videos, or online gambling. Christians might still quote Scripture and talk about God, but their faith may soon lose its power in their life when they can no longer hear His voice. And its the children that I worry about most. They are being targeted the hardest, and parents who are caught up in their own obsessions with technology are unaware that their kids are being drawn away from the Divine into a false world where they are easily influenced by Satan's proxies. 

I will admit, I don't see the advance and persistence of Technology in our lives slowing down in any sense of the word. I believe we still have time before there's no turning back from this evil System that will institute its Mark to control the world. For those of us who can clearly discern where we're headed and how AI could be used to speed up the implementation of Satan's agenda, there are things we must do before the final Deception is fully launched ... we must strengthen our relationship with God NOW so that we recognize His voice and can tell when the seductive invitation to receive the Mark is not from Him. We must diligently study His Word, and build strong spiritual relationships with other believers, teaching and encouraging others to stay strong in their faith.

I do not accept Satan's fear tactics that those of us who refuse the Mark have no hope. Instead, I believe that those who reject it will be divinely protected and Jehovah Jireh will provide for our needs. We will have inner peace and not be shaken. Our faith will become deep and unwavering; strengthened by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us. I'm not saying it will be easy, and many of us will suffer. But we will not be separated from the Light of the Lord, even in the midst of our darkest hour. When you abide in the Lord, there is no system -- man-made or demonic -- that can turn you from your God-ordained path in this world. 

My final word is this ... Technology still offers advantages in our lives; just stay alert to any temptation or seduction that replaces your live-giving and personal relationship with God, who created you. Technology promises rewards and success in this world if you engage with it. No Mark of the Beast System can deliver you what God promises ... His rewards and victories in the next life that will be eternal as you walk in His spiritual Truth. And know this: There is an eternal fate waiting for those who willingly accept the Mark ... and it will seal them to a covenant of eternal agony as they experience everlasting separation from God, the Father; the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, the Messiah and King of the Universe. May we all have divine discernment and always encourage each other to stay strong in our faith journey and trust God's promises in all our ways. Amen!

Hebrews 10:39    But our way is not that of those who shrink back to destruction, but [we are] of those who believe [relying on God through faith in Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by this confident faith preserve the soul.       

Where was God in the Midst of the Rising Flood Waters?

I have consistently watched the media coverage of the tragic Kerrville Flood for the last week. I have read everything I could find on the precious children lost in the raging waters and the heroic rescues of those that somehow found a way to survive this nightmare. I have prayed for the search and rescue teams, the clean-up crews, and the coordinators who have what seems like an impossible job to bring closure and restoration to our beautiful Hill Country. 

My husband and I have listened to the Holy Spirit to hear how we can best serve our fellow Texans in the aftermath, but this post is not about shining a light on our efforts. God knows. I try to get sleep at night, but the images and the stories won't let my spirit or my brain rest. I see the questions posed by the Doubters and those who look to Politics and the World for explanations about how something this horrendous could be allowed to happen. And then the finger-pointing begins... someone should have done something to avoid this tragedy! 

Those whose faith in a Sovereign God is weak or non-existent will look to government officials for the answers to society's ills. And I've read posts that stoop to make this disaster about "white privilege" and politics, pointing out that "Camp Mystic is a sacred name in Texas elite circles. Girls of Governors, oil families, and even former First Ladies have attended", citing the cost to attend and the 3 million dollar yield at the end of each summer as financial benefits for the owners, who have owned the Camp for generations ... and who, by way, perished in the Flood trying to get girls to higher ground.   

In the first 24 hours, people who don't live in Texas or understand our history, our hearts for our fellow Texans, nor our pride in taking care of each other -- no matter our ethnicity, social status, or financial level -- were quick to pass judgment. They accused us of failing the kids, failing the families in the RV camps, failing the elderly, and failing the First Responders. Within the first 24 hours they declared that the brave responders "didn't have the resources" they needed. They tried to say that the two brave Mexican counselors who had their wits about them to write the childrens' names on their arms "gave everything, but wouldn't get the headlines". Nothing has been further from the Truth.

Texans across the state came together and poured their hard-earned money into the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, a Flood Relief Fund to support, Hunt, Ingram, Kerrville, Center Point and Comfort nonprofit organizations, first responder agencies, and local governments, in response to the 500-year flood event. We didn't wait for FEMA and the Federal Government to come to our aid. We stepped up and went to work immediately. And if a crew needed chain saws, or chain saw oil, or replacement chains, they got them. Someone stepped up to fill the need. So, I am deeply offended by the callous remarks that "we've heard the "polished" grief for Camp Mystic. We've seen the prayers, the ribbons, the televised tears. And that grief is real. But so is the silence around everyone else who died in the same flood -- in the same night -- just without the privilege". 

How dare you! How could you make that kind of judgment in the first hours, when no one yet had knowledge of the breadth and depth of the losses? How dare you try to make this a political statement about the millions of illegal people who crossed our borders -- an unimaginable number who are young children trafficked for the sex trade! You say we chose to "ignore Science" and had no real evacuation plan. I suggest you do a little more research before you give your uneducated opinion. Have you made the effort to follow this story? Have you seen the thousands of people who showed up to help in anyway they could -- spending hours in the blazing sun clearing brush and looking for bodies in the hopes that they can bring everyone home to their families? Or were you just looking for ways to slander people whose hearts you may never understand? Remember! This was a 500-year flood event! This country is only 249 years old ... can you wrap your head around that?!?!?

Our Faith is what gets us through these unimaginable events. And I'm going to tell you, we here in Texas take our faith seriously. And it is that faith that will not quit until every possible person can be reunited with their loved ones. We don't look at the color of skin when a tragedy like this befalls our state. We lean on God. And I've seen the remarks on TV and social media that question Him and how He could let this happen? 

I want to be clear ... I am NOT judging anyone who asks the question I have posed in the title ... WHERE WAS GOD IN THE FLOOD? It's our human flesh that asks the natural questions -- Could God have stopped the Flood? Could He have saved everyone's life? Did He have the power to send angels , divert the waters, or awaken every camper before the Flood came? The answer to each of those questions is a definite YES! But He didn't.

So, how do we wrestle with our Faith over this conundrum? We didn't see the results or the hope that we prayed for. But we know God's heart for each of those precious children and every person that was lost in this devastating Flood. What is He trying to show us? So much suffering, and we need to see God's purpose in it. Can you imagine how each of the Disciples and Jesus's followers felt when He was crucified? They were probably asking the same questions ... If Jesus is the Son of God, why isn't God rescuing Him from the Cross? He's the same God today, so we know He could have, right? But He didn't. What was His reason? 

None of us know, for sure, God's mind on this subject. However, I believe Jesus experienced suffering in this world, so He could show us that there's a greater purpose in the suffering. Like Him, we need to know that we can go through the pain, the fear, the chaos of this fallen world because we know He will never abandon us nor leave us. Even within the horror of those early morning hours, He was present in the rising waters. And He showed us that miracles still happen, when a person was found alive. He comforts us in the enormous loss so many experienced. The love that we see among the community, and the stories of the relationships forged in calamity will be the heritage of Camp Mystic. 

My final thoughts remind me that God is Sovereign and I know His heart is broken over the loss of so many people. But I also am forced to acknowledge that we live in a Fallen world that has been corrupted by Satan. Man has become morally corrupted by Sin; nature has been corrupted; and even the weather has been corrupted from God's original design. Satan delights in seeing the pain that tornadoes, floods, volcanoes, and hurricanes cause God's children, whom he despises. 

Yes, God could have stopped the flood, but He also could have stopped Jesus's death on the Cross, but Jesus chose to sacrifice His life in exchange for our eternal life. And, no, none of those children or people chose to die in that horrific flood, but we get to choose how we respond to this tragedy. We can blame God, let our faith suffer, and remain miserable for the rest of our lives, OR we can choose to praise Him for the love strangers are showing each other in the clean-up and recovery; for the selfless acts of charity; and the heart-breaking and back-breaking work to help bring closure for those God did save from the raging waters. 

Satan will not defeat those who love Christ. Satan will not defeat Texan's spirits. And he will not, in the end, have a victory over God. God will [and is] bringing good out of this evil. We continue to go forward in faith, knowing Jesus understands our suffering because He suffered. It's OK that we question and get mad. God understands and forgives us when we humbly approach Him, expressing our sorrow. Let us lift up His Holy Name and declare His Sovereignty and Dominion over all things! Amen!

Isaiah 43:2    When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you.    

       

Stay Alert! The Beast System Will Be Incremental & Innocuous! PART ONE

There are a proliferation of videos on YouTube that are titled something along the lines of "I Died and What Jesus Revealed About [fill in the blank] Will Stun You". I'm sure you'll not be surprised to know that these Near-Death Experiences (NDEs) ran the gamut of topics ... Fasting, Tithing, Christmas, Speaking in Tongues, Prayer, Christmas, Nuclear War, Masturbation, Israel & Trump, Elon Musk, and anything else you can imagine. There seemed to be a higher number of NDEs centered around the topic of the Mark of the Beast, though. That, too, should not be surprising, considering the direction the world seems to be headed.

We all have our own ideas of what the implementation of the Mark will look like, myself included. I scanned a few to get an idea of what others might be thinking. Technology was a common theme, and several of the videos were obviously created by AI, with voices being dubbed over a person supposedly sharing what Jesus revealed to them while they were clinically dead. It didn't take me long to discern that while most of these videos had no spiritual value for me, they helped me to evaluate and validate what I believe the Holy Spirit is showing me.

Mind you, I'm not here to proclaim that I've heard a distinctive and precise word from Heaven about exactly what this symbol will look like or how its administered. We know from the Bible [and Revelation 13] that it is associated with the End Times. And we know that the Mark will be necessary in order to Buy and Sell (and subsequently have the means to eat and survive in the world's economic system). But for those who cannot resist the temptation of accepting [or taking] the Mark, the consequences of their choice will sever their relationship with God, resulting in eternal torment and suffering for those who are deceived. 

So, I have decided to share where my discernment is leading me, as of this date in time. I fully understand [and expect] my opinions to change as the Holy Spirit and Jesus choose to reveal more of the Enemy's plan to implement what the Bible insinuates will become "the Beast System". To begin with, I believe that the rapid advancement of Technology in our society -- and our reliance upon it -- makes us vulnerable to the temptation of accepting some kind of "mark" (symbol, sign, impression, characteristic feature, implant, etc.) that Satan designs to make us dependent on his world system and agenda, rather than remaining faithful to God's kingdom on earth. 

When I think about the technology industry [from my decidedly non-technological brain], I can see that in just a little over 60 years, the electronics industry has moved from the first electronic circuits on a little computer chip, to billions of transistors squeezed on a chip the size of a fingernail. This economic factor and improvement to the chip has [in the words of the New York Times], "helped Silicon Valley bring startling advances to the world, from the personal computer to the smartphone to the vast network of interconnected computers that power the Internet". And that rapid acceleration has given Satan a great advantage in his plan to deceive mankind and bring in his Beast System to try to achieve his age-old dream of dominion of the earth.

And he does it all innocuously ... through ways that seem innocent enough; harmless, mild, unobjectionable, nonthreatening. Through technology, Satan offers us greater convenience, while we trade our human independence and autonomy for increasing dependence on chip-implanted devices. We punch a button on our car keys and it locks/unlocks the doors. We punch a button in the car, and it starts, without inserting a key and turning it on. A chip on our credit card gives the merchant all the information they need to charge us for anything we want to buy. Doctors and healthcare systems don't have to amass huge paper files for their medical records; our entire medical history is stored by microprocessors on a laptop computer. We are told these are all "helpful tools for modern living". And no one questions it as we march onward towards increasing dependency on technology while [simultaneously] sacrificing our self-determination and authority over our lives.

As a Christian, you might declare that you will never take your eyes off any seductive introduction to Satan's systems of deception. But how many of us have willingly adopted the technology "services" that allow us to sign into digital Bibles; transfer our tithes to the church coffers; or register for church events? Millions of people, in congregations across the world, have embraced technology unwittingly and accepted the "updates" and "upgrades" that have further integrated this "applied science" into our daily lives. It's monitoring our health through the watches we wear on our wrists. It has convinced us that we need it to help entertain our children so that we can continue to work the long hours to accumulate the "things" we want and need. 

So we place an iPad in front of our kids to occupy them from the moment they are just a few months old, affecting their brain patterns, and regulating their emotions, almost like a sedative does! Can't we see that technology is affecting their development? They aren't developing critical [or independent] thinking. They don't know how to express genuine emotion; they are learning how to mimic what's on the screen. And perhaps saddest of all, their spiritual sensitivity is stunted and replaced with mind hive thinking and the inability to connect with the unique essence of who they are, as created by God. I'm afraid a whole generation is being prepared for Satan's world system. Their whole identity is being determined by who technology tells them they are. They are guided to trust their devices above their own God-given instincts and their parents' wisdom. And ultimately, as this system begins to tighten its noose, they will trust it above God's Word.   

These are just a few of the ways that we have been anesthetized to the effects of Technology on our society and in our lives -- and yes, especially in our spiritual lives. As the influence of technology continues to integrate into our lives, like a serpent slowly coiling around its prey, it finds a way to control financial, political, and social systems in our lives. Banks will fail, power grids will crash, supply chains will break down, and society will erupt into lawlessness. The Bible calls that CHAOS, and defines it as representing disorder, confusion, and the absence of Divine Order. 

That's when men will cry out for solutions, and they will be deceived into thinking that changes to the existing systems will be the answer. But all the subtle methods by which technology has stealthily invaded our lives has set the stage for Satan to reveal his Beast System. It won't be introduced by violence [at first!], but will sound practical and based on common sense. Politicians will approve the new system, and religious leaders will say it's good because it doesn't demand the worship of another god, so it can't be the Mark of the Beast! 

But the wheels will be set in motion. Our current systems (health care, banking, education, etc) will offer incentives. There will be social pressure, backed by a fear of not wanting to be left behind. You will hear the same message everywhere -- This is progress ... this is necessary ... this is good! Can you see how the deception was incremental, like the proverbial frog in the pot of water who never noticed the increasing heat that caused the water to boil? Can you see how gradual and measured [yet consistent] the change might happen? That's how the Mark will come to pass. 

In Part Two of my thoughts on the Mark of the Beast, I will address what the Bible describes as physical evidence of the Mark (and I have some new thoughts on that that I've been discussing with the Holy Spirit). I will also deliver my thoughts and forewarnings on the spiritual consequences of not being alert to the subtle maneuvering of Satan to implement his system of world dominance. We must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Those who can't see it creeping in innocuously will be susceptible to willingly accepting it, and their eternal fate will be sealed. It goes without saying that the deception is real and it is not to be taken lightly!  

Ephesians 5:15-17    Be very careful, then, how you live -- not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.   

The Biblical Truth About Baptism vs Its Mockery During Pride Month

We have reached a place in our social and public discourse where I feel it is necessary to defend the Truth of our Christian faith. There is so much false theology, mockery, and ridicule of our faith, that it is hard to be heard above the cacophony of divisive voices. So, when an article came to my attention, entitled LGBTQIAAP2SN + Gay Sex Pride Cult Members undergo Sacrilegious 'De-Baptism' Ritual, I felt it was time to take a personal stand.

Let me start by saying that we all have been given free will by our Creator. And whatever one chooses regarding their sexual preference; or how (and if) they choose to worship or believe in God; and what their worldview is with respect to our responsibilities as human beings is all up to the individual. They have a choice. BUT, it is also my opinion that those decisions will have a profound effect on how we are rewarded in this life and the next.

The point of the article that I have alluded to is that those who gathered at a booth at the Lansing, Michigan LGBT Pride festival, engaged in a mock "de-baptism" ritual, designed to free them from what they felt was "forced" programming by the Church. A brief explanation of their grievances regarding Baptism is that many of the attendees were baptized as children without "informed spiritual consent", and they entwined that belief with their support for gender ideology under the banner of "Freedom of Expression". 

The ritual of de-baptism, or un-baptism, is conducted with an unplugged hairdryer (labeled "reason") pointed at the person's head, while someone declares, "I dry [the] water from your head [that] you never consented to. Let guilt evaporate, and shame fall away. You are one. You are whole. You belong".  One person described her de-baptism as "a moment of release and healing, writing, 'Dry, whole, and finally, by my own choice' ". 

But here's an additional piece of information you need to know ... the article also mentions that these ritual ceremonies of de-baptizing have also become common among satanist groups. And Satan loves nothing more than to mock God and the institution of religion. Sadly, there is enough conflict and incongruity among the world's different forms of religion to cause anyone seeking true faith to question the various rituals and traditions. That being said, I brought this article to your attention as an opportunity to share the importance of Baptism in the Christian faith; it's spiritual purpose; and to reveal Jesus's teachings about it.

Historically speaking, Baptism has always signified a cleansing. And its important that we recognize that it did not begin with Christians. For years before Christ, the Jews had used baptism in ritual [and physical] cleansing ceremonies of Gentile converts. John the Baptist took baptism a step further and applied it to the Jews themselves. John came, making way for the Messiah, so he called for a baptism of repentance -- demonstrating a recognition of one's sin, a desire for spiritual cleansing, and a commitment to follow God's law [in anticipation of the Messiah's arrival]. With John's baptism, a person repented of their sin[s] and was ready to place his faith in Jesus Christ, who would soon be revealed as the Messiah. No wonder Satan and his followers are promoting a ritual of de-baptism and mocking the cleansing attributes of repentance that comes with dying to your sins and rising in Christ!

That is what is so beautiful about the Biblical recounting of John baptizing Jesus. It's a pivotal moment that models righteousness for us as believers. It also expresses the importance of discipleship and obedience. Jesus didn't treat it as an option when it came to following Him. And I've come to see it as the symbol of a new life; my declaration to the dark forces in the spiritual realms that I have chosen a side in the cosmic war in the heavens. Furthermore, it highlights that baptism is not just a physical act, but a spiritual transformation that takes place through the Holy Spirit. 

Another reason that I see as Satan's efforts to mock Baptism is that Jesus emphasized how much it played an indispensable role in making disciples. It is a symbol of our new life in Christ when we declare our faith in Him, our allegiance to the Kingdom, and our obedience to His command to Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Satan doesn't want us making new disciples for Christ, nor teaching them His ways. 

I can imagine that Satan was none too pleased to hear Jesus point to John's baptism as a precuror to His own ministry, saying, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Obedient followers of Christ, baptized with the Holy Spirit, [who would provide wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear/reverence of the Lord] would result in some formidable opponents in both the physical and spiritual realms that Satan hoped to own. 

At this point, I want to make a statement that is part of my own personal belief system, and I believe the Bible backs it up ... I do not believe that Baptism is a requirement for receiving the free gift of Salvation through your faith in Jesus Christ. Rather it is an expression of your deep abiding faith in Christ and what He has done for you on the Cross. Additionally, it is an act that symbolizes repentance and commitment to our faith. As we are immersed in the water of baptism, we publically identify with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection [as we come up out of the water]. Satan and his demonic followers have no question about who we belong to!!

One other point I'd like to make is in regards to who can baptize new believers. The modern Church often gets rigid in their denominational rules and rituals. Many declare that only an ordained pastor should be allowed to baptize. I disagree. As mentioned above, Jesus, Himself, tells His disciples to go and make more disciples, teaching them to baptize in His Name, and teaching them everything Jesus commanded. His disciples were ordinary common people and numbered far more than the twelve whose names we know. If baptism is for the purpose of spiritual rebirth, receiving the Holy Spirit, and declaring your commitment in faith to Jesus, it is God, the Lord and the Holy Spirit who will do the spiritual work in a person's life. They need someone on earth to be their hands to help new believers carry out this important part of their faith journey. Why limit the number of baptized people? Again, I'm sure Satan loves it when we, in the Church buildings, get in our own way.

And that brings me to my conclusion on this post ... it deeply saddens me to see the inroads that Satan has been able to make within the atheist, satanist, and rebellious [translated as denying Christ] LGBTQ+ communities. I pray that the Lord will be revealed to them so that they know Him personally and see the value in making a commitment to Him, whether they ever decide to be formally baptized or not. [However, I think that once they commit themselves to Chrsit, there will be a longing to identify with Him through baptism]. Jesus created them and He loves them, just as He loves me. But unless they come to repentance, they will never know the unfathomable depth of that Love. Satan only offers death and destruction. May they soon be confronted with that truth and turn towards the One who desires to wash away the pain and ugliness in their lives. The path He offers is easy and full of Light. Take that first step and He will meet you, I promise.

Romans 6:3-4.   Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 

 

"The LORD is a Man of War. Jehovah is His Name"

It is getting increasingly difficult to bury your head in the sand. The world is at war; whether officially declared or not. Russia, China, the United States, Israel, Ukraine, Iran ... the drumbeats of war are sounding. The reality of what we're looking at in the world is causing a good amount of fear and anxiety among all peoples. That includes Christians, even though we should all be familiar with this verse in Matthew 24:6: You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place... (Matthew 24:6). 

Throughout history, as portrayed in the Bible, it is clear that war is inevitable when the world is filled with sinful people. And we must not confuse killing with murder. We cannot apply God's command of Thou shalt not kill to the prospect of war. That holy commandment refers to the "intentional, premeditated killing of another person with malice; in other words, murder. We can agree that war is never preferable, but sometimes it is unavoidable in order to protect innocent people, or to uphold a righteous cause. Consider WWII, when Hitler and his evil plan of extermination of the Jews had to be stopped. Or think of our own Civil War, when the evil institution of slavery was only going to come to an end through war. 

If you study the history of those two wars, you will find that years of appeasing and compromise did not stop the evil happening against innocent people. It is calculated that 70-85 million people died in WWII, and a conservative estimate of 650-750,000 Americans died in the Civil War. There is no questioning that war is a terrible thing, and God grieves the loss of life, while He hates the sin that leads to war. But He often uses it to see His will done when men refuse to follow His ways. And obviously, some wars are more "just" than others, but we must acknowledge that war is always the result of sin.

King Solomon, who received God's wisdom [until he sinned by following after his pagan wives' religions], declared that God has created different times and seasons in mankind's existence: There's a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. As Christians we are not to desire war, and as citizens of both the world and the Kingdom of Heaven, we are to represent Jesus, showing His love, and offering Peace as an option to war. Paul reminds us, in Romans 12:18, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all". Sometimes, peace isn't possible. War is part of the reality of living in a fallen world, and evil people make war inescapable, and we must take a stand. 

Yes, Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but He is not a Pacifist and He and the Father were in agreement when King David was sent to war against the Philistines. David declares "Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle...". In his youth, David's hands and fingers were trained for the shepherd's hook and the musician's harp. But when he answered the Lord's calling to lead His people, David understood the Lord had a different purpose for him, and was training him for wars in the natural world and battles in the spiritual realms. 

So, when it comes to the subject of War in the Bible, there are a couple of things that I think we must consider. While we know that God never changes, Jesus makes it clear that He and the Father are one (John 10:30), and that He could do nothing by Himself; only what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19). So we can be assured that Jesus's teachings and actions perfectly align with God's unchanging character. And yes, Jesus is the Prince of Peace. But He's also the Lord of Hosts; the commander-in-chief of Heaven's armies. 

Pacifists like to point out that Jesus taught us to "turn the other cheek", and spoke that "Blessed are the Peacemakers" in the Beatitudes (Mark 5). They often cite the Biblical concept of Shalom as the guiding principle of the Lord's pacifism. But to understand Jesus's teachings on peace, it is important to understand that there is a deeper meaning to Shalom than just "peace".  The word comes from the Hebrew root shalem, signifying wholeness, harmony, and restoration -- its meaning extending far beyond the idea of peace as tranquility or the absence of conflict. Again, the restoration part of Shalom is in perfect alignment with God's plan of redemption and reconciliation with sinful mankind through Jesus's payment [on the Cross] for our sins. He broke the power of sin and offered us the way to our personal restoration with God. That is true Shalom! 

But let us not forget that Jesus is also the Lord of Hosts. He didn't promote Shalom by avoiding conflict, but by confronting [and defeating] evil. Take note of His statement, "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34)..  This sword isn't to be used for physical violence, but rather division; causing men to make a choice between sin/evil and justice/righteousness. He backs that first statement up with another: "Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division" (Luke 12:51). Remember, He used a whip to drive the money changers out of the Temple; He overturned their tables; and publicly rebuked them as a den of thieves. 

And as much as many modern-day Christians hope they will be raptured out of the world, and escape the coming wrath and judgment against Evil, we cannot ignore Revelation 19:11-16. Jesus will come as a Warrior-King, leading Heaven's armies in a final battle to destroy Evil and to manifest eternal Shalom ... "With justice He judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on His head are many crowns. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and His Name is the Word of God". 

So, war is part of the reality of living in a fallen world, and there are times it may be necessary to wage it in order to prevent more atrocities and deeper levels of Evil. We can see in the Old Testament that God would use warriors like Joshua, David, Gideon, and Deborah to act as His instruments to secure His justice and establish peace. He never changes, so we can rest in the knowledge that it may be necessary for Him to raise up warriors in our time to engage in conflict in order to ultimately secure justice and establish peace. That does not mean that every leader who wages war has been appointed by God to do so. The Bible is also full of examples of unrighteous warrior kings who acted for Satan. Jeroboam, Ahab, Manasseh, the King of Tyre come to mind.

In summary, as we face an uncertain future amidst the tensions that come with the beginnings of the prophesied birth pains (see Matthew 24:3-8), we need to come to terms with War in the world. It's inevitable and can be used for God's plan of redemption. It is also a tool of the Enemy, and when unrighteous, must be confronted with righteous force, while pursuing the mercy and peace that pours from God's victory.  As difficult as it is, when we see the wickedness and brutality of war, we need to model Jesus. We need to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44), while standing firm against evil. That portrays the spirit of Jesus and the heart of the Father. May we receive the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to follow their example.

I leave you with these final thoughts: Only God knows when that time or season of His appointment to the Final War will take place. But I cannot dismiss that we may [or will] experience a cataclysmic war on the way to our ultimate Victory against Satan and Evil. I only know that however or whenever war comes, I must remain steadfast in my hope and trust in the Lord. I will proclaim His Greatness, Mercy, Love, Glory, Justice, and Righteousness in all the circumstances that may befall our nation. I am ready to receive His judgment as well as His compassion and to represent Him to foe and friend alike, to the best of my abilities. I will take captive all thoughts of fear and anxiety; any feelings of hate or revenge, and I will endeavor to stay focused on the Holy Spirit [in me] to guide me in the ways of my Deliverer. Lord, let me stand ready to fight, or to lay down my sword -- whatever You command me. Just let Your Goodness and Your Peace cover this world. We are growing weary of the Enemy and his dominance over men's hearts. We long to see You manifest in the earth once more. Come, Lord Jesus, Come! 

I invite you to click on the link to this article, which inspired me as I wrote this blog.

Joel 3:9-10.     Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, "I am a warrior." 
   

Satan, "No Kings" Protest, and the One True King, Jesus Christ! -- Part Two

As I alluded to in Part One of my commentary on the "No Kings" protests, it's important that we see the agenda behind this latest movement of social mutiny and anarchy. And lest you think I'm going too far in calling the participants anarchists, let's consider the definition of the word ... anarchy is defined as "a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority, or other controlling systems". I think that pretty much sums up the mindset of most of the protesters.

But this is not a new response to government in this country. I'm old enough to remember 1968 and being confused by the reaction of kids in the streets. The Vietnam War was in full swing and young people were not shy about voicing their disapproval and beliefs that the "undeclared war" was not worth the mounting death toll of America's young men. There became a distinct "line in the sand", if you will, between the WW2 generation [who never questioned their government's actions] and their politically active children. The shootings of unarmed protesting students on the Kent State college campus by National Guardsmen [killing four and wounding nine] solidified the divide. 

America entered into a new paradigm of open criticism and activism by segments of  dissatisfied citizens. I can also remember sitting in a Freshman College course on US Government, and hearing the Teaching Assistant, [a graduate student, himself] declare that he could not bring himself to teach American political history representing the time-period of post-1948. He declared that our politics had become "dirty" and our government no longer represented democracy or freedom after that date. I was a naive student, at the time, and was shocked to hear him speak of my country in that manner. And being the daughter of a WW2 Navy airman, I had a hard time looking through the rose-colored glasses of my patriotism. It was then that I began to see the seeds of "revolution and discord" being sown on our college campuses. [NOTE: Now, many years later, I can see that his opinion was not unwarranted. Politics has definitely been sullied by corruption and greed.]

It was student teachers and professors who led the way, and I had to forge my own path through their radical ideas, as well as being willing to pull the veil back on our history and see the spiritual battle being fought over America and its promotion of individual freedom. That was a difficult time in our country, and the spirit of rebellion, instigated and encouraged by Satan and his cohorts, has only been urged and incited in the years since. At the root of this rebellion is the temptation of wealth and power, and the willingness of men to sacrifice the uneducated and angry members of society to do their bidding in order to gain their own rewards. Among those who believed he held the answer to "peaceful protests" was Saul Alinsky, a political [and social] activist and organizer. He began to make a name for himself as a prominent influence, involving himself in various actions, including strikes and protests. 

A self-proclaimed radical, Alinsky also thought of himself as a patriot and, no doubt, a social justice warrior, long before those terms were coined. Interestingly enough, in his first book, Reveille For Radicals (1946), he proposed the idea that with organization and leadership, citizens could best demonstrate democracy through legal protest and could exert their political power in positive ways. As the years passed, his tactics seem to have changed, and by the time he wrote his final book, Rules for Radicals (1971), he had become known (in a New York Times article written about him) for "goading, confusing, and infuriating the power structures" of American society with his "explosive mixture of rigid discipline, brilliant showmanship, and a street fighter's instinct for ruthlessly exploiting his enemy's weakness". 

Let's consider some of his 12 Rules and see if they are still in play in the current barrage of "mostly peaceful" protests we see on the nightly news ... 

RULE #1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have".  Power is what both sides of the protest argument want, and there are two main sources for power -- money and people. When you have the wealthy elite (like George Soros) funding the money to hire the people to agitate and fuel the self-proclaimed "deprived" citizens, you have a recipe for violence .

RULE #3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy". Alinsky advised organizers to "look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety, and uncertainty". The organizers in LA, and around the country, certainly have enough arguments to stir up the protestors into civil disobedience: the illegal immigration issue; the economy; impending WW3; the lies and corruption in Congress ... it's a bubbling cauldron of demonic deception and unrighteousness.

RULE #4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, then send 30,000 letters. No one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation are at stake, and if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to target it and chip away at the damage).

RULE #6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy". They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. They want to create anger and fear. 

RULE #8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up". Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach [to quell the protests] hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover, and re-strategize).

RULE #10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive". Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. It worked in the 60s when unions used this tactic when peaceful [yet loud] demonstrations incurred management's wrath, often in the form of violence, bringing sympathy to the marcher's cause. 

RULE #12: "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. This is cruel but very effective.

These are not all the rules that Saul Alinsky promoted, and you can read all twelve of his "rules for radicals" here. And you can still see them at work in the streets of America today. Satan never abandons a good tactic that serves his purposes. These Rules for Radicals bear his fingerprints all over them. And Alinsky acknowledged Satan's influence in introducing "radical rebellion" in his book's dedication: Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer.

The problem is that Satan has conveniently wiped the subtitle of Alinsky's book from our social conscience. The complete [and original] title of the book was Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. According to his own "mostly peaceful" goals, Alinsky sought to create a guide for future community organizers to empower the people to gain social, political, and economic equality. The ultimate goal was to successfully unite people into an active organization with the power to affect change on a variety of issues. 

But, since the 1960s until this first quarter of the 21st Century, there's a big difference in the motives and the means to carry out social change. Satan has upped his game. Alinsky's rules have been successfully adapted and adjusted in the hope of creating permanent division and discord in our nation. We can see the original intents of gaining more power through money and people (Rule #1); the increase of insecurity, anxiety, and uncertainty (Rule #3); overwhelming the system with "fake news" through media compliance (Rule #4); encouraging looting and destruction, which the "bought instigators" use to incite the sinful passions of the mindless sheep (Rule #6); constantly applying the tactics that work by keeping up the pressure and trying to overpower the system (Rule #8); taking the gloves off when it comes to violence, hoping to create more violence and more sympathy for your cause (Rule #10); and finally, pick a target, preferably individuals [like a president or an elected official] and point out how they are the cause of all the chaos and discontent among the citizenry. 

We can see how Satan's escalation and expansion of these rules are having an effect on our society. The protests are becoming less peaceful, and the organizers are resorting to increased violence to promote their grievances, leading to violence by those trying to maintain control. Satan loves this! Violence plus violence begets chaos (disorder and confusion), which is the darkness that existed in Genesis 1:2. But God brought order to that chaos at the beginning of this world, and when He has reached His limit of man's rebellion against His rules, then His judgment will once again establish order, as it was in the days of Noah. 

You see, Satan loves to see men caught up in "the virtue of struggle".  That's where he can sow his lies of victimhood. But that only leads to disillusionment and discouragement. Jesus, the One True King, promoted His Father's own set of rules in Exodus 20; rules carved on tablets of stone nearly 3500 years ago. They don't require violence, money, or man's power. They are the solutions to all of society's woes. When men walk in morality and ethics, and adopt individual responsibility and accountability, we can manifest what God truly desires for us... plans to prosper us and not harm us; plans to give us hope and a future [Jeremiah 29:11]. Isn't that the true desire of all men's hearts?

Galations 5:10.    I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty.