It's Time To Get Firmly Settled In Your Land of Goshen

     

     Almost exactly six years ago to the day, I wrote a blog post titled, Are You In Your Land of Goshen? There were increasing signs that our nation was undergoing radical changes philosophically, politically, and culturally. We were struggling with the societal and religious issue of same-sex marriage; protests over a police shooting in Ferguson, MO were turning violent in the streets of major cities; the Federal Government and ranchers were at a dangerous standoff in Nevada; the CIA admitted it was spying on citizens; Slender Man (a demonic entity geared towards kids) made his presence known on the internet; an Ebola outbreak terrified the world; Isis posted beheadings of an American aid worker and journalist; and much more that signaled we were undergoing a "fundamental transformation".

     Those issues seem like a cake walk to where we find ourselves today. Not only has marriage been redefined, but so has gender, to the point that biology is being dismissed, and gender is being declared as "variable" and "inconstant". Switching genders is at the whim of a person's desire. Riots and protests show no sign of decreasing. Mayors and Governors ignore attempts by the President to bring law and order to the streets of our nation, and Civil War seems to be on the lips of anyone who is paying attention to the nightly news. Covid-19 makes Ebola seem like a case of the sniffles, and death is coming to innocent Americans by home-grown terrorists. And all that doesn't even touch on the precariousness of our economy and state of mind.

     Now, you may be thinking that I'm promoting a defeatist attitude. On the contrary! I'm here to help you declare and establish you and your family's Land of Goshen. Do you recall the story of Joseph in the Bible? He was sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers, only to overcome lies and deception and rise to the office of Vizier, the second most powerful man in Egypt, next to Pharaoh. Because Joseph found favor with God (and Pharaoh), he was able to store up food during seven years of abundance, which allowed the Egyptians to survive a seven-year famine. His Israelite brothers journeyed to Egypt to buy goods during the famine, and Joseph invited them to remain and live in Egyptian territory. Discovering that they were shepherds, Pharaoh told Joseph to "Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen."

     It is important to know that not only was Goshen the best land in Egypt, suitable for both crops and livestock, but it was spared plagues brought by Moses. It has come to be exemplified by the prospects of "comfort and plenty". Additionally, in Hebrew, Goshen means "drawing near".  If you will read Genesis 45:7-11, you will find that God had a plan: for Joseph to bring his family out of the famine in Canaan to a place where they would find shelter and security.  We see that Joseph desires to have his family near him; to protect them from the famine that will threaten others; and to provide for their needs. That's what God wants to do for us in whatever is going to happen in this nation.

     Mark and I have declared and proclaimed our property and home as the Land of Goshen.  I have said this before: that I know without a doubt that God maneuvered and positioned us in this exact spot, both physically and spiritually, in 2008.  For the past 12 years, He has protected us from the deteriorating economy and provided for our needs -- even when everything in this world pointed to the unlikelihood of our survival.  Just as in the Bible, when God sent the ten plagues against Egypt --- they hit every part of the country, but the land of Goshen.
     I believe that we have avoided the disastrous consequences of the physical and spiritual poverty of our country because we have drawn nearer to God, here in this spot that He placed us, than at any other time in our lives. When we draw near to Him, He draws nearer to us.  He keeps revealing more; He introduced us to His precepts of spiritual warfare and then His Kingdom realm. And I know in my soul and spirit that He will be present with us as the growing persecution comes against us. And while I recognize the threats of Satan and his anti-Christ in this world -- transhumanism, 21st century plagues, the New World Order, the annihilation of Israel, and the collapse of our own country -- are ever-constant, I have faith that I am in the exact place God wants me to be in order to receive His protection and provision. 
      If you have not been called to move or change locations, then accept that you are in your personal land of Goshen.  There's no need to flee in fear or doubt.  Stay where you are; knowing that you are firmly rooted in your faith and the knowledge that God is drawing you near. The storms will rage all around you, but your experiences will be different than the world's. Put on your spiritual armor and enter into the Kingdom of God and the realm that is Jesus. We are engaged in a spiritual battle, and when the forces of darkness see that you have drawn nearer to God, they will flee for greener pastures.    
     I believe in the power and authority of our God to proclaim as many Land of Goshens as He desires.  So take a look around ... maybe what you have taken for granted these last few years is really a safe haven from the wiles of the devil. Say a blessing over your home and your small plot of land.  Dedicate them and your family to drawing nearer to God so that you might escape the devestations coming our way. Be thankful for your refuge and your shelter, and rest in your Goshen.

Psalm 73:28    But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God; I have made the Lord God my refuge and placed my trust in Him, that I may tell of all Your works.   

    

    

Right Before Our Very Eyes

      Next month my husband, Mark, and I will be presenting a one-day teaching entitled, Freemasonry, the New World Order, and the Anti-Christ Spirit. As I've been organizing what we want to say, and developing the PowerPoint presentation, I've been forced to step back and look at just how subtle Satan has been in weaving his plan in the midst of the Father's intention for mankind.

     From the very beginning, in the Garden, through the temptation of both Adam and Eve, Satan has sought to corrupt mankind through the sin of thinking they can become their own god. This act in the Garden changed man's position from an immortal spiritual being [in the image of God] to a being with physical limitations. We moved from a transfigured spiritual existence to a lower physical reality, subject to the devil's agenda to steal, kill, or destroy any possibility of re-establishing that original relationship with our Creator.

     Even after Jesus comes as our Savior, and the Kingdom of God was initiated on the earth, Satan has not abandoned his efforts to entice man by convincing him he can rule the world as his own god. Nimrod is one of the first men to align himself with the devil and seek to usurp God's sovereignty. He was the King of Shinar (Babylon) and he took advantage of the fact that the people all spoke the same language, and convinced them to build a city with a tower that reached heaven, in order that they might "make a name for themselves", so they would not be scattered over the face of the whole earth. This is the same temptation with which the devil would entice Jesus when he offered Him "all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor" [their riches]. God's purpose was for man to live for His name, scattering over the earth to proclaim Him!

     From Nimrod down through the centuries -- from Nebuchadnezzar to Alexander the Great to Robespierre to Joseph Stalin to Adolph Hitler to Mao Zedong -- they've all succumbed to the Anti-Christ spirit of Satan to seek their own kingdom and government of the masses, while reserving the power and riches for themselves. They've often been occultist, which is defined as seeking to gain supernatural power, abilities, or knowledge apart from the Creator God. And it is all disobedience to God!

     But our Father has shown Himself to be a faithful Sower of Good Seed, producing men who will receive His truth and perpetuate His Kingdom on earth. Satan, however, has not stood idly by. As Jesus tells us in His Parable of the Wheat and Tares, Satan has sown his seed among the good seed and they have grown up in the midst of God's field [the world]. They have sprung up, like weeds, within our philosophies, our cultures, and our forms of government; at first, they resemble righteous men in appearance, except their hearts grow black. They have lost the quality of godliness and they poison ordinary men with their promises of power, wealth, social equality and justice. But, in the end, they only produce death for the souls of nations.

     Throughout history that death has come in various ideologies .... Feudalism (societal structure based on holding of land in exchange for labor); Plutocracy (government by the wealthy); Autocracy (supreme political power in the hands of one); Anarchy (abolition of the State as undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful) ... and our modern systems of Marxism, which is the basis for Communism (both of which advocate a class war in which property is publicly owned; there is no encouragement of individual rights or ownership). None of these ideologies harmonize with God's Kingdom system of government, where our faith in Him produces citizens who are productive, self-motivated, charitable, and servants at heart; men and women who are free to follow the Lord's ways above their own, and incorporate His Laws as their laws.

     Now, in this 21st Century, in the year 2020, we once again find Satan influencing the hearts of men as they reach for their piece of the world's power "pie". And sadly, the Body of Christ has been lulled to sleep by the soothing lies of the devil, who has convinced us that we are  "comfortable in our wealth and we do not need a thing." But Satan sees us ripe for the picking as he leads the world towards his goal of lawlessness and anarchy. He has firmly anchored his economic and political systems of Marxism and Communism in the hearts of godless men.

     Just consider some of these quotes from Karl Marx, Joseph Stalin, and Saul Alinksy (political activist who has greatly influenced some of our most powerful politicians; Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, among them).... "My goal is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism" (Marx). "Religion is... the opium of the people" (Marx). "We do not fight against believers or even the clergymen. WE FIGHT AGAINST GOD to snatch believers from him" (Stalin). "God is on your side? Is he a conservative? The Devil's on my side, he's a good Communist" (Stalin). In the dedication of his book, Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky wrote, "Lest we we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical ... to the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom -- Lucifer".

     So, right now, from our halls of government to our classrooms to our streets full of chaos, we are seeing the latest anti-Christ agenda of Communism and Marxism being fulfilled. This is not a political statement... I don't believe God is interested in our politics. He is interested in how we, if we call ourselves citizens of the Kingdom of God on earth, are governing this realm according to His tenets and principles established in Heaven. And I would like to give you just an idea of how far we are off the mark ... On January 10, 1963, Democratic Representative Albert Sydney Herlong, Jr. read into the Congressional Record a list of 45 goals of Communism from the book The Naked Communist by W. Cleon Skousen. I want to show you just how much has been accomplished in the last 57 years -- during my lifetime!

Communist Goals

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.
3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament [by] the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.
11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. 

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."
31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.
35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand [or treat].

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.
41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use "united force" to solve economic, political or social problems.

 

     That is 33 of the 45 Communist goals that have been reached in this country. I understand that Communism is kind of an old-fashioned idea in this country, and since The Naked Communist was written in 1958, and presented before Congress in 1963, the idea that the New World Order might be working through Communism in their plot to overcome and control all of the world's governments, has been variously called "a right wing conspiracy theory" and patently false. But can we deny the words of the anti-Christ Communist leaders -- or how quickly these 33 goals have been achieved?

     Again, I do not present this to you as part of a political statement, but to show you that the Anti-Christ spirit has been active and tireless in its agenda ever since Nimrod sought to use his form of violence and insurrection against God to see a "united force" establish a one-world government.

     And it's happening quickly and right before our very eyes! As Christians, we abandoned our identity as watchers on the wall. It's no wonder when we look in the mirror, we so often identify with the Church of Laodicea... we've become wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. But it's not too late! As long as the remnant is willing to take a stand, I believe God can defeat the physical and spiritual armies of Satan. But we must take off the blindfold and get in the fight! We've heard the Anti-Christ is coming, but it is not yet the last hour, so let's join forces with God and Jesus and show the Enemy what our agenda looks like!

1 John 1:22      Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

    

    

The Cost of Discipleship

      If you have followed this blog for any length of time, then you know the story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. If not, then I hope you will find the courage and wisdom of this Pastor to be a beacon of hope and encouragement during this season of our nation's history. Let me share a little bit about him...

      I know we are not to have idols in this world, or lift any man above another.  But there are times when we must look to the example of righteous men, in order to know the path we are to follow. My friends, that time is now.  Our culture and nation are rapidly disintegrating into immoral chaos. Destruction begets more destruction; death begets more death. We see the moral fabric of this nation being stretched in so many directions that we wonder how long before it's ripped to shreds? People are listening to false prophets and teachers who promote lawlessness in the name of justice. How far are the citizens of this nation willing to go to achieve their idea of "social equality"? Do we, as a nation, still revere our individual freedoms, or will we blindly follow the voices of deception? Are we, as Christians, willing to stand for uncompromising Christian principles?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

     Eighty years ago, a pastor in Nazi Germany asked himself those same questions and took his stand. Dietrich Bonhoeffer acted responsibly in his faith during one of the most evil times in history. He was a deeply religious Lutheran pastor and he found himself in a dilemma ... when informed of the evil that was Adolph Hitler, and the plan to exterminate the Jews, he had to make a decision ... how far is "too far" in order to stop that evil?  When confronted with something so offensive to God, is there ever an excuse for Christians to compromise, capitulate, or raise the white flag?

     Bonhoeffer didn't think so, and it cost him his life.  At the beginning of the Nazi regime, many members of the [Protestant] churches did not reject National Socialism on principle.  Suffering from the effects of their loss in WWI, many Germans were drawn to the German National People's Party and their idealization of the past.

     But a small group of pastors, including Bonhoeffer, became unified in what would be called "the Confessing Church" and arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to nazify the German Protestant church. They objected to the Nazis on moral and theological principles: they could not reconcile the Nazi state's claim to total control over the person with the ultimate sovereignty that, in Christian orthodoxy, must belong only to God.  It was their stated objective to resist state manipulation of religious affairs. They tried to stay out of the political fray, and hoped to convince the Church to recognize the contradictions of being a Christian and a Nazi.

     But as the evil that was Hitler and his regime grew, pastors could no longer stay on the sidelines.  They had to choose between inaction, which was, in essence, condoning the atrocities towards the Jews; or becoming involved with plots to stop the madness -- even if it meant being part of assassination attempts on the Evil Mastermind, himself.  Many chose the safe route that included tolerance and turning a blind eye. A few did not; with some being sent to concentration camps, where they survived the war -- or in the case of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose fate was to be hanged for his opposition to Hitler and his obedience to his faith.

     I can only imagine the spiritual struggle involved in making that kind of decision. As a Christian, willingly killing someone is never something that we want to consider. But as our Second Amendment rights are threatened, and as the soaring gun sales across this nation exhibit, people are sensing that evil is on the rise and there may come a time when they must make a decision to defend their own life by taking the life of another. God forbid! Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced that decision on behalf of his entire nation. 

     Therefore, I have not been surprised at the efforts of the anti-Christ spirit in unbelievers to tear down the memory of martyrs like Bonhoeffer.  They must not let us see or hear the writings of such a man who struggled with how to respond within his religious principles (and God's will) to a rapidly deteriorating national culture -- and who was not only unafraid to live for what he believed in, but was not afraid to die for it.
     I can only imagine the struggle within his spirit as he confronted the likely consequences of his actions. One day he would have to stand before God and explain how, as a Christian, he could be complicit in murdering Hitler.  He finally decided that he would have to rely on God's mercy to understand that he had to stop Evil at any cost, even if it meant he lost his soul. But it wasn't just his own soul he was concerned about.  Writing to his co-conspirators in 1943, he said,  "The ultimate question for a responsible person to ask is not how he is to extricate himself heroically from the affair, but how the coming generation is to live."

     In his masterful book, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, author Eric Metaxas tells us of the challenges Bonhoeffer faced in reconciling his faith, his moral ethics, and the politics of the day, which were quite diabolical in Nazi Germany. How does a committed Christian deal with the prospect of conflict with the Enemy on the battlefield? 

Desmond Doss

     In comparison to Bonhoeffer's story, I'd like to present Desmond Doss, an Army Medic and real-life hero of WWII, who vowed to serve both his country and his God, no matter the cost.  As he told a military tribunal who tried to court martial him for his refusal to carry a weapon, "With the world so set on tearing itself apart, it don't [sic] seem like such a bad thing to me to put a little bit of it back together." Doss determined that he would serve his fellow man by putting him first; willing to endanger, and even sacrifice, his own life in order to save another's.  He would save lives, rather than take them, choosing to live out, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

     Bonhoeffer, however, was faced with how to stop the demonic actions of Adolph Hitler, the anti-Christ of his times. Like Doss, Dietrich knew the 6th Commandment, Thou shalt not kill.  But he faced the moral dilemma of doing nothing to stop the murder of 6,000,000 Jews.  He finally came to the conclusion that he trusted God to understand his motives in becoming involved in an assassination attempt on Hitler. To Bonhoeffer, it had come down to God's admonition to Hate evil, love good, And establish justice in the gate! Both men exercised their freedom of conscience, and they took their accountability to God not only seriously, but solemnly.

     So, are we all capable of being as heroic as Doss or Bonhoeffer?  We have yet to find ourselves in the midst of a gruesome battlefield, although our streets are rapidly becoming a war zone. One thing is clear -- as Christians, we are all in a battle with our culture, and the increasingly compromising positions of our Churches and governmental officials. And like Doss and Bonhoeffer, we must decide how we are to act, as we find ourselves inside the collective drama.  While we are in this world, we are not of it. So, we cannot, and must not, separate ourselves from the world. But it is going to take courage to be and maintain the image of Christ, while all around us, the darkest impulses of the human will try to overwhelm and defeat us.
     If we are true to our faith, we know where our citizenship lies. We are the sons and daughters of the King and citizens of the Kingdom of God. In fact, we are already there with Jesus, in spirit.  We just have to conform our mind, emotions, will, and these temporary bodies to the heavenly conviction of our spirit, and then let our actions show who we are.  It is not enough to pray... although we should not abandon sending our petitions heavenward.  We must be totally committed to our Biblical morals and completely loyal to God; acting on our faith, not just believing.

     And it will cost us. Discipleship in the Name of Jesus will not be a road easily traveled.  We can look at the lives of all the Apostles and see what it cost them. And in the cases of Doss and Bonhoeffer, we can see how loyalty to their God resulted in very different outcomes -- one's actions led to a hero's medal; the other to execution by hanging. I know that there will be those who say that Bonhoeffer's path was wrong and can never be accepted nor forgiven by God.  But my thoughts turn to King David, and his actions in having Uriah killed so that he could lie with Bathsheba.

     As theologian and Hebrew scholar, Michael Heiser, so eloquently writes in his fantastic book, The Unseen Realm, "King David was guilty of the worst of crimes against humanity in the incident with Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite.  He was clearly in violation of the law and deserving of death.  Nevertheless, his belief in who Yahweh was among all the gods never wavered.  God was merciful to him, sparing him from death, though his sin had consequences the rest of his life."  The lesson here, is that personal failure, even the worst kind, as exhibited by Bonhoeffer, will not separate you from God's mercy. Although Bonhoeffer was not spared from death [as King David was], he never disavowed his loyalty to God, nor doubted YHWH's loyalty to him.

     In the final minutes of his life, before being led to the gallows, he led a short service for fellow prisoners, praying, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." Then he asked that a message be delivered to Bishop Bell [a supporter of the German resistance to Nazism) in London; the message reading that "this was the end, but for him also the beginning of life, and that the ultimate victory of their cause – a universal Christian brotherhood rising above all national interest – was certain".
     The prison doctor, who witnessed the execution recorded this impression: "Through the half-open door in one room of the huts I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer, before taking off his prison garb, kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God".

     Again, I look to Bonhoeffer's story for signs of what might be coming to our land. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and a handful of pastors stood alone in the German Church. He came to America in 1939, hoping to escape the fall of his Church, gain strength from the American Church, and return to Germany to rebuild the Church from the ashes of war.  But he soon became disillusioned with the American Church, writing:  "I now wonder whether it is true that America is the country without a reformation? ... There hardly ever seem to be "encounters" [with God] in this great country.  But where there is no encounter, where liberty is the only unifying factor, one naturally knows nothing of the community which is created through encounter."
     While attending an American church in June of 1939, Bonhoeffer wrote of the sermon, "Lively and original, but too much analysis and too little Gospel."  What would he say today??  And again in June of 1939, he wrote about America:  "The separation of church and state does not result in the church continuing to apply itself to its own task; it is no guarantee against secularism.  Nowhere is the church more secularized than where it is separated in principle, as it does here.  This very separation can create an opposition, so that the church engages much more strongly in political and secular things."
     Sad to say, I find many Churches and fellow Christians looking to politics and elections to solve our issues. They look to bring their Christianity into the political arena in order to influence it. Do we really think changing our politicians or passing legislation will accomplish our commission from the Lord? Do we really think the ballot box will provide us with an escape from what the Bible tells us is coming?

     So, how will we, as modern day Christians, exhibit our loyalty and discipleship to our Lord?  We have seen in the examples of Desmond Doss and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the very picture of heroism -- two entirely different men, but both committed to acting out their faith. Neither set out to become a hero, and I wage that neither welcomed the mantle.

     Ultimately, what does Dietrich Bonhoeffer's story have to tell us? Consider what he had to say in his own words ... "Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”  All Christians, whether in leadership roles or not, should take heed of Bonhoeffer's words and pay attention to history. The German Church ignored the growing persecution of Jews across Europe.  They turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to it, and they did it at their own peril.  In the end, the German Church was taken over by Nazi ideology and the blood of millions of Jews was upon their hands. The American Church is flirting with following the same path.  Pastors must throw off the chains of government and speak out about the wave of persecution streaming towards Christianity.

     We must open our eyes and see that the tide of torment in the streets is beginning to turn its attention to our faith. First it was the tearing down of statues that honored the history of our nation's Civil War. Now, I'm beginning to see the defacement of Christian statues and cries to tear dow Jesus. Evil is growing into a tsunami and history has shown us what can happen when such evil is allowed to foment unchecked.

       In the words of Spanish philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952), Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In the end, we are responsible for our faith and our actions. I pray for hearts that are set on being obedient to the will of God. That's not a simple thing to do in this world. I pray that we all will have the courage of Desmond Doss and Dietrich Bonhoeffer... to be a bright light in the midst of this dark time in our nation's history; to be that unwilling hero to someone in need of the image of Christ in their life. And I know in my spirit that God will honor our actions on His behalf. He's just looking for willing participants.

I have written a series of posts on Dietrich Bonhoeffer from 2012-2016. This post is a compilation, along with added and relevant insight to current events.

Isaiah 50:7-8:  "But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He who vindicates me is near..."

Why We Have Tolerated The Weeds

    

     Once again, as I've studied familiar Scripture, the Lord has shined His light upon the Word to give me a new and fresh revelation. We are studying Matthew in our Home Church and, specifically, Matthew 13, best known for the richness of the parables Jesus shared with His disciples.

     If you've spent any time at all reading your Bible, then these parables are familiar to you. And if you are like me, my initial understanding of them was that Jesus spoke in terms of simple stories, in order to teach a moral or spiritual lesson. Theses "lessons" were to be applicable down through the centuries to His followers. And I thought I'd done a pretty good job of comprehending what He was trying to teach me. That is, until I discovered His message of the Kingdom. That changed everything!

     It began with the recognition that the Kingdom of God was the central point of the parables, and that the Parable of the Sower is the foundation for understanding all the parables. Jesus confirms this in Mark 4:13 when He asks His disciples, "If you don’t understand this parable [of the Sower], how will you understand any parable?"

     So, Jesus proceeds to explain the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:18-23. How many of you, like me, missed verse 19 completely? How many, like me, were stunned when the Lord shined His Light on this fundamental truth in His Word? He says, The hard path where some of the seeds fell represents the heart of a person who hears the Good News about the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it; then Satan comes and snatches away the seeds from his heart. As we've all been taught by the Church, the "Gospel" is the "Good News" of Jesus Christ. He couldn't make it any clearer in this parable ... He is the Sower bringing the Gospel of the Kingdom into the hearts of men who will receive it! It is important that we distinguish which Gospel Jesus is sowing into the hearts of men in this parable! Check out the various translations in the Bible.... almost all of them identify "the seed" as the "word of the Kingdom".

     As I've written in previous posts (here and here), I am not downplaying or discrediting the Gospel of Salvation, but that wasn't His primary message to the crowds or to His disciples. Salvation is the necessary and mandatory entry point into the Kingdom of God. Jesus explains that quite well in John 3:1-5. Please read that, if you are confused about the difference between the two Gospels. Because, today, I want to show you why this confusion even exists today. And believe me, the Body of Christ needs to understand this truth in this critical hour.

     All you have to do is query the internet about the meaning of the parable of the Sower and you will find such vague and misleading answers as these .... The man represents God and the seed is His message. But what Message? Salvation or Kingdom?.... The moral of the Parable of the Sower is that not everyone who hears the Christian gospel will understand and believe. But which Gospel? Salvation or the Kingdom?

     So, why is it so difficult for the Body of Christ to grasp this important and crucial message about the Kingdom? Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom message was of primary importance to Him. In Luke 4:43, He says, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” Why does the Church stay focused on the good news of Salvation, instead of taking the next step and sharing that once a person is Saved, they are to see and understand the Kingdom and enter into it? That's why they are here on earth!

     It's taken me a long time to get to the central point of this blog, but here it is .... In Matthew, after presenting the most important parable of the Sower, Jesus then shares the Parable of the Wheat and Tares [or Weeds]. Do you think that is a coincidence? If you believe as I do, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then join me in understanding what our Lord is telling us in this pivotal parable.

     In Matthew 13:24-30, Jesus has this exchange with His Disciples, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”

     We know from the previous parable of the Sower that the man is Jesus, the good seed is the Gospel of the Kingdom, and the field is the world which Jesus created. So how did weeds get in this field and what does it mean for us? This time, Jesus is more succinct in explaining the meaning of His parable. He says, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil."

     I want you to focus on this small portion of the parable ...  that Jesus sowed the good seed of the Gospel of the Kingdom, but while "his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also". Are you able to discern that Jesus accomplished His mission of sowing the Gospel of the Kingdom into the world, which means the Gospel was received by the sons of the kingdom [the Disciples] and the Body of Christ, or the Church, was born. But after that first generation of Disciples died [were sleeping], others came into the Church and sowed seeds from the Enemy. These seeds represent men who began to alter Jesus's Gospel of the Kingdom, to focus primarily on the Gospel of Salvation. While this Gospel is not wrong and is most important, it stops short of Jesus's full mission for us ... receive Salvation and then enter the Kingdom to bring the government of Heaven down to earth.

     And here is an expanded meaning of what the weeds represent: In the King James Bible, “weeds” is called “tares”, and this is how the Concordance describes them: “A kind of darnel (Eurasian ryegrass) that grows as tall as wheat and barley, and resembles wheat in appearance, except the seeds are black. It is seen by the Jews as degenerate wheat (it has lost the qualities of wheat). The seeds are poisonous to man, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and even death. The plants can be separated out, but the custom, as in the parable, is to leave the cleaning out till near the time of harvest”.

      If as true Christians, we desire to righteously represent our Lord, why have we tolerated these "weeds" in our midst? It's because these “weeds” have grown up alongside the men of the Kingdom since the inception of the Early Church, poisoning its teachings. They introduced denominationalism with all its varied doctrines and traditions, and hid the Gospel of the Kingdom from the Body of Christ. They promoted Salvation as the be-all, end-all of our Christian experience, and these teachings have continued until today. That’s why the Church follows so many wrong man-made doctrine.

     We were unable to recognize the poisonous seeds because they resembled the seeds first sown by Jesus. We did not see what grew from the seeds; we ignored the blackness of the seeds which was a poison that produced apathy and passivity in the Church. We, as the Body of Christ, did not guard against imposters, but welcomed anyone whom we thought resembled us, without doing our due diligence.

     And now, the Body as a whole, cannot be trusted to recognize the pure wheat from the impure (or degenerate) wheat. Centuries of assimilation and accommodation have produced a crop within the Church that includes lethargy, sickness of soul and spirit, upheaval in the Kingdom on earth, and yes, even death. These conditions are the weeds grown from the seeds of Christ's enemy. And Jesus will come and gather them out of His true Church at the end of this age. He will be the One who separates the wheat from the weeds at His harvest. And I believe the Body of Christ will be shocked at what is revealed amongst them.

     But, I also believe this is the season before the harvest, when the Remnant can rise and boldly declare the full Gospel of the Lord ... He came bringing the government of His Father's Kingdom in Heaven; to show us why we were created -- to rule the earth [as images of our Creator] in the same way He rules Heaven. The first and crucial step is to recognize our unrighteous sin, and receive Christ as our Savior, and pledging to be obedient in all His ways. Then we have the credentials to enter into the Kingdom, where we are to spend the rest of our lives as ambassadors of the Kingdom and continuing Jesus's work to bring the heavenly model of God's Kingdom to earth. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven is not to just be spoken in reverent prayer, but is to be walked out and lived daily! 

     It is not too difficult to recognize that the wheat is ripening and the harvest is near. And I clearly distinguish the wheat from the weeds. The Good News that Jesus came proclaiming includes both Salvation and Kingdom! In this crucial hour, let us not rest on an incomplete Gospel. Let us bring Salvation to the nations and then encourage them to enter the Kingdom, where we might yet save more wheat from being destroyed by the weeds. I praise my Lord for calling my attention to His Word and revealing His truth where I have missed it. Let me be one of the righteous that shine like the sun in my Father's kingdom! Let me be an instrument to grow His harvest! Let's no longer tolerate the destruction that comes with the weeds!

Acts 20:29-30      I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

    

The Lord Is My Banner

    

     I'm in a contemplative mood today. And as insignificant as it may seem, I have been struggling over whether to change the name of this blog. Salvation and Survival certainly had a specific meaning when I wrote my first post on December 5, 2011. I began writing to encourage women who were fearful; to inspire them to walk in their identity in Christ; to strengthen their faith in times of dread and panic. At that time, I was focused on the confusion and calamity I saw occurring in my beloved home country, the United States, and around the world.

     We were still striving to recover from the fallout of the financial crash in 2008, along with civil unrest caused by the Occupy Wall Street movement. Our economic fortunes took another turn for the worse as the U.S. credit rating was downgraded for the first time, and unemployment soared. The world experienced the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Arab Spring, and increased terror attacks, including the killing of 77 at a youth leadership camp in Oslo, Norway.

      I knew from my conversations with friends and family that women were feeling that their security was in jeopardy. I wanted to share ways in which they could begin preparing for "hard times", while ultimately pointing them to Jesus. I wanted to show them that their security was in Jesus and their salvation was a stalwart  anchor in the midst of the coming storm. I wanted them to know that both Salvation and Survival were possible as we watched our world careening out of our control.

     There have been times throughout the last nine years that I wasn't sure I had anything more to say, and I would ask the Lord if it was time to quit writing this blog. But you know what? This blog has never been about me expressing what I had to say; it's always been about what God wanted to say through me. And He has a lot to say that He wants imparted to those with "ears to hear". So, I keep writing. After all, it was in 2008 that a man I met [only once] made a profound impact on my life. He told me that he had a word from the Lord for me ... Be the pen, not the blank piece of paper. And I know part of my assignment in this world is to write for my Lord.

     But wanting to do it to the best of my abilities, I now find myself questioning if the title of this blog reflects the growth of my assignment. I know it sounds like a mundane consideration, but I never want to misrepresent the Lord. I have completed my task of alerting people to think about food storage, and sustainable living, and self-protection --which fulfilled the Survival purpose of this blog. And the Lord showed me that while my Salvation message should always be a priority, He wanted me to expand it to point to the Gospel of the Kingdom, which was Jesus's priority (Luke 4:43 and Matthew 24:14). Shouldn't my blog title reflect this enlargement of my assignment?

     After doing some initial research and discovering that changing the url of this site could mean that all the previous posts could be lost and anyone looking for me under the original name might not be re-directed or able to locate the new site, I felt I would just have to live with what I felt was an obscure and ambiguous title. That is, until I expressed my concern to my insightful husband.

     Mark said, first of all, it wasn't worth losing all that I've written over the last nine years, but more importantly, he felt Salvation and Survival was still applicable to the new territory we are plowing. In fact, what we face in the world today makes 2011 look like a walk in the park! A weaponized virus is affecting the entire world and has transformed this nation into something I hardly recognize. Fear is more rampant than I've seen it since 2001. The Enemy has blinded people with deception and lies, and just as Jesus said, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12). Notice that He said most, not many!

     And I'd like to address another point ... there are days when I'm writing what the Holy Spirit has put on my heart, that my soul worries my message is too often negative. By that I mean that like many of my fellow Christians, I am not expecting a worldwide revival. Instead, I see the remnant stepping into position to be able to speak into Believers who will lose heart (and even their faith!) when the AntiChrist unleashes his plans upon the unsuspecting. I try to infuse my posts with the encouragement to persevere and endure as we abide in Christ. That is what He is telling me, and it is what the Word says will happen! I identify with a good friend of mine, whose spirit hears clearly and undeniably from the Lord, that we know how the prophet Jeremiah felt. I don't want to be delivering gloom and doom, but I also cannot dismiss or misrepresent the Lord's exhortation. I write, not in defeatism, but to embolden you to walk in the power and love of Christ!

     So, Mark has helped to show me that the banner for this blog is still appropriately called Salvation and Survival -- Salvation is the entry point into the Kingdom according to John 3:5, and we will need to rely on our Kingdom citizenship; our power; and our authority for Survival during this time and the coming persecution. In fact, entering into the Kingdom of God is the only way we will survive.

     God never changes and neither has His purpose for this blog. We are in a battle, Christians! And the Lord is our banner! In ancient times, a banner was not a flag, as we consider it today, but was often a pole with a bright, shining ornament or standard on it that the warriors could focus on. We are to be valiant warriors and put on the full armor of God and serve on the battlefront! The Enemy is bringing the battle to us, whether we want it or not! But under the Lord's banner, our victory is assured. And I must tell you, that apart from it, defeat will be a certainty.

     This may be a new position for some of you, if not most of you. But, you need to understand that we are all in a new position. We are not going back to our comfortable, safe lives. Is it scary to find yourself being moved into a new position? You bet it is!  But you have two choices. You can either retreat into the false cocoon of your safe system (whether it be your national identity, your church, your family, or the recesses of your mind) and fail to get on the battlefield; OR you can accept your place in God's army, under the protection of His banner, and get in the fight to defeat Satan's kingdom of darkness and re-establish God's Kingdom on earth. Do not be afraid! Focus on His banner and we will be victorious!

Psalm 20:5-6     We will sing joyously over your victory, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions.  Now I know that the Lord saves His anointed; He will answer him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.