Ah, Let’s Revisit This Topic, Too: Tares

I wrote this back in 2017 and had previously started the same one in 2012. I reread it and it has to be revised a little.

Because there is such apostasy and heretical compromise within the Body of Christ, it really needs to be addressed. People have become more consumed with politics, social networking and the mire of this world more than they are of Christ. There is laxness and compromise among Christians with the ways of this world. If we all don’t wake up soon, God will clean house. He will separate the wheat from the chaff. But first, let’s take a look at the original post.

What are Tares? Jesus spoke of tares but no one has really investigated it. If Jesus mentions something then it is important to pay attention.

Tares are also called darnel wheat, depending on the translation. In Matthew 13:25 Jesus tells the story of a man who sowed good seeds in his field and while everyone slept the enemy came along and sowed tares. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads so did the darnel appear. The servants of the man who sowed the good seed asked if he wanted them to pull out the darnel or tares which he said the enemy sowed. He said not to because the good wheat would get pulled out, too.

Jesus’ disciples later ask Jesus to explain the parable. He tells them that the one who sowed the good seed is Himself and the seeds are us, the sons and daughters of the Kingdom. The darnel wheat are the offspring of the evil one. He tells them how His angels are going to sort out the real wheat from the darnel wheat and throw the darnel into the fire.

What is the difference between darnel wheat and real wheat? Darnel wheat is a type of rye. The seed or fruit of the darnel wheat is not like the seed of real wheat. (“You shall know them by their fruit.”) They look exactly alike but only on the inside are they different. On the inside, they are corrupted. When darnel matures, then you see the difference.
In John 8:44 Jesus condemned the religious leaders of the day and tells them, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.” So the religious leaders of the day back in Jesus’ time are an example of darnel wheat.

Okay now we come down to it. If the tares or darnel wheat are growing alongside the chosen of God, then it means that they are right there with us, blending in.

They are there to poison the flock and to defile the Body of Christ. And if one of them is disguised as a “minister of light” all the better because he has the potential to affect many. We live in very dangerous times. Darnel wheat is poisonous, too. It has a soporific poison. Soporific means to cause sleep, much like ten virgins that slept (Matt. 25). What lulled them? What darnel wheat were they partaking of that lulled them to sleep? Who were they listening to? What worldly ideas have seeped into the Body of Christ? Five woke up and trimmed their lamps while the others still dozed. Five realized they were in danger and got their act together. We live in extremely dangerous times and I cannot emphasize that enough.

We are also told to know someone by their fruits. That would be the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5: 22-23–“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” This is a very good rule of thumb because tares will not have these fruits or they will try to fake them. Tares will also exhibit sins that should never be tolerated like lying, twisting the truth, engaging believers in topics to such a degree that God is no where in sight. They don’t care. Confront them on anything and they will lash out at you with much venom. The peaceful, God-centered atmosphere of the church becomes toxic and unsafe. Left unchecked, they will poison the whole congregation because that is what satan has sent them to do. Rest assured that their activities outside of church are far from Christian. They live by their own set of rules. It is going to get worse as time advances. And stop making excuses for them or giving them the “benefit of the doubt”. That’s like trying to play nice with the devil. Are you nuts? They are narcissistic manipulators who excel in gas-lighting others.

Some years ago, I was sitting with my son, David, in a Christian bookstore. Being a pastor he has access to more resource material than I am. He said to me that there are Christians who will accept the mark of the beast rather than suffer persecution. That is within this society because other devout Christians in other countries are suffering great persecution and being decapitated, raped and killed in the name of Jesus. His statement alarmed me because I then realized that the condition of the church was much worse than I thought. God is standing by watching this. They know better but still want to play in the mud, like errant children gone astray. Yet, at the same time, put on the cloak of respectability in front of others. Yes, we have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. We must go to God in sincere repentance and want to change. It is never too late to get on track. We, as Christians, need to be praying for the entire Body of Christ to wake up before it is too late. Yes, we also need to pray for those not converted but our first priority is our own brothers and sisters in the faith. Those who have been duped by satan and made weak must turn from their ways and seek God again.

We need a huge spiritual revival in this country and in any country in the free world. Put on the whole armor of God and take a stand. This is my prayer for my brethren; that they wake up, kick the devil out of their lives and become a fierce and unstoppable army in the Hands of our Almighty God. Then the Gospel of Jesus Christ will go forth like a wild fire; the likes of which would make the apostles stand up and cheer. Amen!

Why So Many Books?

I’m just rambling tonight. Just random thoughts. If you walk into the living room or into my bedroom you will see a lot of religious books of one kind or another. Some are actual studies that I have done, like the Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer. I liked her book because she also went into the description and background of the Roman soldier’s armor and dress and how it applies to scripture. But I have a wide variety of books and some I have not read yet. However, among the authors you will see one that stands out because I have bought his books over and over. Not because I agree on his Biblical points of view. Sometimes I disagree. But it’s what the common theme through all his books is: encourgement and hope. I can always count on Max Lucado to be upbeat and oftentimes humorous, using himself as an example of human foibles. I have never picked up one of his books which made me depressed or negative. In fact, when I am down I will pick up something of his aside from the Bible which I have many verses highlighted, particularly in Pslams.

I thought about this the other night or in the wee hours of the morning when I was suffering with insomnia. It occurred to me that what I needed was encouragment and hope especially when surrounded by so much negativity. I die in a negative atmosphere which is why I ignore the news. It totally kills my spirit. I like being hopeful and optimistic. It’s hard when I hear BAD, BAD, BAD. All over the Internet. In my emails or anywhere else. All day, all night. Because then I feel like shouting SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP.

I’m so thankful my Heavenly Father is positive and uplifting. His entire kingdom is that. No politics there and it never will be there. His kingdom is so radically different than ours that we cannot imagine it because we only know this ruined physical world run by satan and his minions. I remember long ago I watched a video in which the narrator was talking about Columbus arriving in Amrica. He imagined in his mind a native medicine man standing on the shore looking out over the sea. He could see some disturbance on the water but he could not see the ships because he had no frame of reference. He had never seen a ship before so he could not see it. He could not formulate that image in his mind. I sometimes wondered if we can’t see Heaven for the same reason. It is so way beyond anything we could ever imagine, we can’t see it. It is also very pure and very holy because God is Pure and Holy.

A.W. Tozer described Divine Holiness in these words. “We cannot grasp the true meaning of Divine Holiness by thinking of someone or something very pure and then raising the concept to the highest degree we are capable of. God’s Holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the Divine Holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it. He may fear God’s power and admire HIs wisdom, but His Holiness he cannot even imagine.” I think that says it all.

I’m currently reading “The Campfire is Calling” (Just a Dayspring devotional)

Be blessed.

Time to Revisit Something

I thought I had this paragraph in a post about the Armor of God. Then I realized it was not Anne Graham Lotz who wrote that book but Priscilla Shirer. However, the paragraph I was looking for was in the Lotz book but it was the Daniel Prayer. I am going to copy and paste the paragraph I had taken from the back of Anne’s book here: This took place on a day she wanted to discuss things she deemed important to discuss with God. God, however, had something completely different in mind. She paraphrased what He said to her. My hair would be standing straight up on end if I got this message! But she openly shared it because it does pertain to ALL OF US. NO EXCEPTIONS. Here it is:

“Anne, I hold you in one hand and the Holy Spirit in the other hand, like balance scales. I’ve weighed your life against His and you don’t measure up. I know what you have been doing. You are in ministry, traveling around the world, telling other people about Me and getting them to listen to My voice, but you are not listening to Me yourself. You have a reputation of being alive—people regard you as an exemplary Christian—but from my perspective you are falling short—spiritually dying on the inside. The prayers of your prayer team are not a substitute for your own prayers. Wake up!… I have not found your deeds complete in My sight because you are prayerless. Remember, therefore, what I have told you and repent.” (emphasis mine)

I take God very seriously and He does not look the other way or gloss over sin. He doesn’t let things blow over, either. There is NO excuse for it. Anne had to write out her sins while sitting with God. She has them mixed in with others that came to mind when she was writing this so you don’t know which ones are hers. I will reprint them here. (I had written posts about the Daniel Prayer a couple of years ago but the people who might have seen them back then are no longer around except for my son, David, and his wife. So I am going to put the long list here.) It’s time for some summer cleaning of our souls. And you have to look at this personally. Not like: “Oh I hope he or she sees this!” No, our salvation is so important that we must shut out anyone else and just concentrate on our own mess. Whether someone else changes or repents is not our business. God will take care of them. We must take care of our own little houses. Understand that I doubt that anyone has all of those sins below to deal with. But we do have some. Good grief! Anyone who would have every single one to deal with would have to be spiritually dead and in a great deal of danger.

Okay six hours have passed and I came back and reread this. One thing that stood out in my mind was the statement where God says, “Anne, I hold you in one hand and the Holy Spirit in the other hand, like balance scales.” This is what bothers me about that statement: 1) the Holy Spirit is also God. None of us can measure up to Him on our own which is why we need Him on the inside. I actually could not imagine God actually saying He was weighing a human in one hand and the Holy Spiirt in the other. Makes no sense to my mind. 2) All have fallen short of the Glory of God. We, in our present human bodies, could not even remotely compare ourselves to Him. God is aware of our failings and frailty. 3) This is the first time I have heard of anyone hearing that much from God whether His literal voice or speaking to our hearts and minds. I’m not doubting she heard something. I am questioning some of the things said, particularly the first sentence. However, the list below is worth reviewing just to keep ourselves in check.

1) Ingratitude. Failure to thank God for the favors He has bestowed both before and after salvation. What blessings or answered prayer have you neglected to thank God for?
2) Losing Your Love for God. Loving people or things more than your love God. Have you lost your first love for Jesus?
3) Neglect of Bible Reading. Pushing daily Bible reading aside due to an over-full schedule or being preoccupied with other things as you read. How long has it been since reading you Bible was a delight? Do you remember what it says when you are finished?
4) Unbelief. Refusing to believe that God will give you what He has promised. (which is the same as accusing Him of lying.) What promise do you think He will not keep?
5) Neglect of Prayer. Offering prayer up to God as spiritual chatter, fantasy, wishful thinking, or daydreaming. Do you offer prayers without fervent, focused faith?
6) Lack of Concern for the Salvation of Others. Standing by and watching people on their way to hell without caring enough to warn them, pray for them, or admit that is where they are going. Have you become so politically correct that you don’t apply the gospel to those you know and love? Do you think it is someone else’s responsibility to tell them?
7) Neglect of Family. Putting yourself and your needs before those of your loved ones. What effort are you making, and what habits have you established, for your family’s spiritual good when it requires personal sacrifice?
8) Love of the World and Material Things. Thinking of your possessions as your own instead of blessings and gifts from God. Do you believe your money is yours and that you can spend it as you choose without asking God?
9) Pride. Over-concern about outward appearances and thinking you are better than someone else. Are you offended, or even irritated if others don’t notice certain things about you? How do you react when people say you are wrong?
10) Envy. Jealousy of those who seem to be more fruitful, gifted, or recognizable than you. Do you struggle with hearing somebody else praised?
11) A Critical Spirit. Speaking about others in a manner that is empty of grace and love. Do you find fault with others? Do you set standards for them?
12) Slander. Telling the truth about a person with the intention of causing people to think less of him or her. Whose faults, real or imagined, about others have you discussed behind their backs?
13) Lack of Seriousness toward God. Not showing God the honor and respect He is due. Do you show disrespect for God by sleeping through your prayer time or showing up late for church as though He doesn’t matter? Do you give God the leftovers of your emotions, time, thoughts, or money?
14) Lying. Saying anything that is contrary to the unvarnished truth. What have you said to impress someone that wasn’t the whole truth or was an exaggeration of the truth?
15) Cheating. Treating others in a way you wouldn’t want to be treated. Have you stopped short of treating others the way you would want to be treated? (I wondered about this one. I don’t know if Cheating is the correct word to use to fit the definition Anne has laid out. I wonder if I can find out from her.)
16) Hypocrisy. Pretending to be something you are not. Are you pretending to be anything you are not?
17) Robbing God. Wasting time on tings that have no eternal value or exercising your God-given gifts and talents for a fee. What are you not doing for God that you are willing to do for others–for a price?
18) Temper. Losing patience with a child, coworker, friend, spouse, staff member, or anyone else. What cross words have you spoken recently?
19) Bad Temper. Losing control of your emotions, thoughts, and words so that you abuse someone else verbally. Have you lost your temper recently?
20) Hindering Others. Taking other people’s time needlessly or destroying their confidence because you hold them to an unreasonably high standard. Have you done this?
21) Arrogance. Accepting God’s forgiveness while refusing to forgive yourself or somebody else. Have you been guilty of this lately?

Be blessed.

DON’T GIVE THE ENEMY A SEAT AT YOUR TABLE- It’s Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind (Louie Giglio)

The above title is actually the title of Louie Giglio’s book and there are many good points that he brings up. Based on Psalm 23 where God sets the table in the midst of our enemies and it is only for you and Him. But oftentimes the devil will just pull up a chair and sit down. He’s not welcome and needs to be thrown out. Now how do you know the devil invited himself to sit down and, in some cases, is eating your dinner. He doesn’t belong there! That table is for you and the Lord and no one else. How do you know the devil sneaked in? Well, there are obvious signs: 1) Are you listening to negative self-talk? You’re no good, you won’t amount to anything? I even got a big one back in 1997 where I was distraught and walking in Central Park, NY crying and I suddenly came upon a small boat house and on the roof was painted this word in very large white letters: OUTCAST. I felt I had been rejected and cast aside by God. But that was just satan’s LIES. 2) and I’ve had this one a lot in the past: God is angry with me that;s why everything is going wrong. I saw myself standing on the outside looking in through a window at Jesus enjoying the company of His favorites while I was rejected. Well that is a giant satanic LIE to get you to feel so down, so depressed and discouraged you can’t think straight or see straight. The devil wants to destroy you and bringing you to your knees in defeat is one of the ways that POS angel works. He will beat you over and over and over again with his lies till you actually believe them. DON’T. STOP RIGHT NOW.

Here is some TRUTH: 1) God LOVES you. He died for you so you could be with Him forever. 2) He is NOT angry with you. He loves you too much. We often think that immediately when things don’t go right or we are suffering in some way. God will allow certain things to come into our lives that we oftentimes don’t understand. Just trust Him. Where you are now might not be the greatest thing in the world but He placed you there for a reason. Why did I have so many tough trials and even a cancer scare many years ago? Why do I continue to have tough trials that make no sense and just wear me down? Well I can tell you for sure it is to strengthen me. And you are being strengthened, too. Whatever future job He has for you, you are being trained for it now. Trained to really trust Him no matter what and know He is ALWAYS looking out for your best interest. That punishment crap is straight from the devil. God leads you. He does NOT beat you up. 23rd Psalm. Heck, Joseph “coat of many colors” would have never made it through all the really tough trials he went through and even been sold into slavery by his own family and tossed into prison based on the lies of Pharoah’s whore of a wife if he thought God was punishing him or deserted him. No, Joseph knew that God was with him no matter what was going on around him.

3) He will not fail you. 4) He will bless you, He will strengthen you, 5) He will never leave you, 6) He is with you right now, 7) He believes in you, 8) He will give you rest, 9) He will answer you and 10) He is for you.

Where you are right now is where God wants you to be. He is in charge of your life. Right? You have the Holy Spirit. You are sealed for all eternity (Be aware there are some tares out there who are put into churches by satan who will try to destroy from within) You have the Love of God with you wherever you go in the form of the Holy Spirit who is our Guide, Comforter and Friend. If you are repeatedly having negative thoughts (which are from the devil, not God.) then you might have allowed the devil to buiild strongholds inside your mind. Time to tear down those strongholds and kick him out. God is all positive when it comes to His children. The spawn of the devil, the children of wrath will feel God’s anger. You are not one of them so STOP FRETTING ALREADY!! STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP!! That’s the devil trying to destroy you from within.

You are right now a new creation in Christ. Gone are all the old ways. Come into the Light and see youself as God sees you. His beloved. His cherished creation that He loves with all His heart. He would rather die than be without you. And He proved it by sacrificing His life on the cross. You are FREE, really free. Cast off the old self. It’s gone forever. Stand in the light of God’s glorious Love and feel the warmth of His love and acceptance of you. And kick the devil in the throat and toss him out. He has to obey you in Jesus’ Name. put on the Armor of God and stand proudly behind the Commander and Chief whom we all serve as He leads us into battle.

Amen

YOU’RE FIGHTING THE WRONG ENEMY

I haven’t written in quite some time because there is so much evil going on right now that it’s overwhelming and I didn’t know where to begin. However, God knows where to begin: right with those who belong to Him. When an idea plays itself over and over in my mind, I generally take it is from God if it falls in line with scripture. So here it goes:

Satan has successful gotten people to fight one another instead of taking a stand and fighting that piece of crap angel. He’s using the current world situation and the man-made system of failure called politics. Each country has its politcal parties, which are not designed by God but by man and even satan, if you go to the very bottom of it all. It’s worse when it is inside a church because that’s where satan’s main target is. He already has world leaders in his pocket with his invention of the New World Order. He really wants to tear down the Body of Christ by introducing all his vile and evil crap: woke-ism, gay agenda, sexual programming of young children,etc. (the list goes on and on) He hates children which is why he wants to kill them before they are born and even afterwards. Children are the creation of God, whom he hates more than anything, because they grow up and become his enemy by being born again into the family of God. In some cases, the children give themselves to God while still young and now are automatically enemies of satan.

You have to realize you have only ONE Savior and that’s Jesus Christ, not any political leader. The reason we don’t fight the real enemy is because sometimes we don’t know HOW. (Even if the pastor has already told us and we still haven’t gotten it into our heads!) Churches are caught up in numbers; the bigger your church, the more successful the pastor must be. But that’s not the case really from God’s point of view. He started with twelve, not a hundred. You will notice in the Bible that God works with small numbers many times. That is so He gets the glory, not us. Our focus has gotten off of God and onto worldly things like how big is our church, how many “groups” (or cliques) do we have, how many “leaders” do we need (worship leader, children’s leader, men’s and women’s group leaders); the list is endless. What did Jesus have? None of those. He was the leader and that’s all that is required. Yes, it is stated in the Bible that we might have elders and deacons to help the pastor, but not all those are leaders. The pastor is the leader.

God has already told us how to fight. He gives details in Ephesians 6: 10–the Armor of God. Why do we not pay attention to that? Why don’t we truly realize that what is inside of us (the Holy Spirit) is more powerful than what is in the world (satan)? Why don’t we realize we literally have the power to tell the devil where to go and he has to obey when we tell him “in Jesus’ Name”? Why don’t we walk in the authority we are given by God? Because we’re too caught up in the crap of politcs and what candidate is better than the other. We end up stubbornly fighting each other and we’ve fallen into satan’s trap. Yes, there are some who are evil and are opposed to anything and everything that has to do with God. They are glaringly obvious. God has NOT changed one iota. The God of the Old Testament is the same One who sacrficed His life for us in the New Testatment. When He called something an abomination in the Old Testament it stands for all eternity as an abomination in His eyes. Yet stupid church leaders have changed that because they have allowed tares to enter the congregation and poison it from within. So to all of you who are accepting into your congregation that which God hates and calls an abomination, be prepared to have the door slammed in your face when Jesus returns. You just bought your ticket to hell.

We must lay down our weapons that we are using to fight one another and stand up against the enemy satan and fight him instead. God’ way of fighting is rather unorthodox at times; like marching around a city seven times and on the seventh time, blow trumpets and shout. And…there are times when HE does the fighting for us. Yes, go ahead and vote if you want but realize in the end it is God who selects the candidate. Instead, love one another as is commanded by Jesus and serve Him and each other in love. Study the Armor of God in Ephesians and let God teach you what you must do each day to fight. We are in a fight for our lives to the very end. This entire battle is about good vs. evil. The entire battle is spiritual because the Kingdom of God, which we belong to, is entirely spiritual. I read recently that if someone asked Jesus about His spirtual life, He would look at them oddly because His entire life is spiritual. So is ours. Let us behave in a way that honors our Father, not ourselves. Because it is God’s Kingdom that we will live in for all eternity. Everything you see will be gone permanently.

P.S. I use the lower case s when referring to satan when not in the beginning of a sentence because I won’t give that piece of crap the honor of a capital s.

How Would You Describe Your Relationship With God?

I can assure you that I did not come up with that title. Here I was in my prayer chair with my insomnia keeping me company, talking to God. I’ve been in a lot of turmoil as of late and I think this is His way of addressing it by turning my mind back to Him and our relationship which I can only describe as unique. But before you answer the question yourself, just spend a bit of time thinking about it. Truthfully, I would never talk about my private relationship with Him but for some reason I had to write about it. I have no idea why but He does. So here it goes.

I can affirm that He has been with me since birth beause I was born dead and rushed to the hospital where I was revived. But I know there is only One Person with the power of resurrection and that is way above any doctor’s pay grade. Even as a child I was drawn to church and used to go to Saint Killian’s. At one point I wanted to be a nun. Then in high school I wanted to convert to Judaism and thank God I didn’t. But God was there because I’d never have those thoughts unless He was present. I just didn’t know, at that time, how to have a relationship with Him. And I surely didn’t know, in detail, about any other Christian religion. I knew of them but not what they believed. Not until much later in life.

No one knows of my private relationship with Him because I keep it close to my chest. There were times when I went off and did my own thing. That was later in my twenties and thirties. That’s so long ago now that I can barely remember that life. What I do remember are all the private times with God. Times when I was off in the forest by myself, having driven down some logging road off Route 260. I would drive up there in my Dodge Dakota that I loved and spend time with Him alone. One night I tried to stay up on the mountain all night. I tried to sleep in my truck with the window cracked a little for air. But the night sounds were scary. I’m almost sure there was a bobcat or a mountain lion lurking around, judging by the sounds I was hearing and the rustling of branches in some bush.

Freaked out, I eventually left. On the way down I saw a deer standing in the middle of the road. A little while later, I pulled over, got out and sang out loud to the Lord while staring up at the night sky with arms raised. “Jesus, you are my Reward, to see Your Face on that day is all I’m living for. Jesus, you are my Reward, to hear Your Voice on that day is all I’m living for. Jesus…you’re all I’m living for.” (I don’t remember who wrote that song or who sang it back then.)

Well I got back into my truck and drove back to Camp Verde where I was living with my son, David. I quietly let myself into his house and went to bed.

When I was in college I had to design a book in my 2D design class. The instructor was from some Scandanavian country and used to persecute me. My book was “Life with my Father, God.” I did a lot of work in Photoshop creating all sorts of fun pages for it. On one occasion I had gone outside into the parking lot of the college and took a picture of the town of Sedona in the distance. I used that picture, creating storm clouds and lightning. I flooded the entire town and put an image of God that I got from the book I had on the movie, “The Passion of the Christ” standing on top of the turbulent water with a picture of me as tiny child standing alongside Him as He protected me. Yeah, I was standing on the water, too. The persecution got to be so bad (she was constantly telling me to redo my work, among other things.) that one of the students, a girl from Australia, lost her temper and yelled at the instructor to leave me alone.I was shocked and so were the other students but they thought it was pretty good that the instructor got told off. She was not very well liked. I got an A in the class. I don’t have the pages of that book anymore. It might be on the hard drive of my old computer. It was supposed to be made into a hard covered book but for some reason Apple would not accept the file and so I never got it made. (the computers we used were Macs and the program to turn the pages into a book was done with some Mac app at that time.)

There are many more but too numerous to list here. It would make this post way too long. I don’t take any credit for my relationship with Him. It’s all God.

Anyway, if you feel your relationship with God is not so good, it is never, never too late to connect with Him. I have a feeling this post is meant for someone out there that He wants to reach and reassure them of His love.

Anyway, be blessed and stay safe.

Two Angels Are Perched On The Backs of Chairs Moving Human Armies Across A Chestboard

The devil would have us running crazed in all directions at once. He wants to inveigle and obfuscate because that’s what he does best.

He has his lieutenants in every facet of society and not just at the top. The plan is to infest everything: governments, industry, media (of course, since he is the prince of the power of the air), the workplace of the common man, his family, police, waitresses, butcher, baker and candlestick maker. The best one is infiltrating the Body of Christ, which he has done an excellent job. Their job is to influence others who are blind, to do that which will harm them and destory them. It’s not about political parties. It’s about good and evil; spiritual forces in high places. Those that infiltrate are tares; false wheat that will be separated and toss into the fire at the end. (Matthew 13: 3-9 and Matthew 13: 24-43)

Satan is very well organized and methodical. I would say cold-blooded and heartless but he has neither. He is darkness personified; a cold empty void within him. He has been planning this since the Garden of Eden.

Be warned, he is highly intelligent. He was, after all, the Covering Angel, who stood behind the great throne of God. He possesses knowledge you can’t imagine since he was privy to all things God. When we come into the kingdom we will be stunned at what he gave up. And for what? For nothing at all since he was DEFEATED by Jesus Christ on the cross. (Ezekiel 28:14-18)

You don’t even realize you are doing the devil’s bidding because he has effectively bullied you into submission with FEAR. His minions marshall and round up the unsuspecting common man to obey what he has been told by those in positions of power else face some unspeakable horror which is all a lie.

Satan’s plan is multifacited. He has his army on all fronts. That is why we must not fret or be surprised at what is coming our way. There are some hair-raising events coming soon that will shake you to your very core. Be aware that he can influence what you see. Things that are not really there will appear and things that are in plain sight will disappear. He moves his armies all over the globe to create chaos and conflict. It’s not that one leader is the enemy of another. They are really all on the same side. It’s a giant chess game to satan. When dealing with the darkside, satan’s kingom, he pits one nation against another and even those of one nation against the same nationalty. It’s mass confusion to the point where you don’t know what to believe. And THAT is why you MUST stay close to God, no matter what!! I can’t even emphasize that enough.

Repent and turn back to your Creator, who loves you so much that He’s reather die than be separated from you.

In the meantime, you will be made to do things that will eventually kill you and others. He will turn you into a facsimilie of himself and you, in turn, will go after and kill the elect of God. But have no fear, we will be with Christ when He returns. It will be a new world, the likes of which you cannot imagine because we have no frame of reference for it. (1 Corinthians 2:9) Be strong and courageous for the Lord your God is with you. (Joshua 1:9) You must stay close to God because the devil plans on tricking you and causing you to sin. Stay strong because this world is passing away. The devil has NO power over us. Don’t believe his lies.

Be careful of who you trust. Judge them by their fruits as to whether they are of God or not. Listen to the Holy Spirit who will instruct you and lead you in the you should go. Remember God will NEVER do anything that is against His own nature. This you will find in the Bible KJV.

Its’s going to get very, very rough. Stay strong, stand firm and put on the whole armor of God and NEVER take it off. (Ephesians 6: 10-18)

When God Takes You Outside Your Comfort Zone Do You Really Begin To Live

Okay it is 3:31 in the morning of July 9,2021 and I am suffering from insomnia. When I get frustrated enough, I get out of bed and into my prayer chair. I had previously read a book by Anne Graham Lotz titled: “Jesus In Me-Experiencing the Holy Spirit as a Constant Companion.” I’ve been instructed to copy what Anne says on pages 143-144. This will lead to another post but I don’t know what the contents will be yet. I like Anne because she is not afraid to admit to things she’s done wrong. I believe she was raised primarily by her mother because her father, Billyi Graham, was always traveling. Her mother, she says, spent hours on her knees in the wee hours of the morning praying and a long time at night doing Bible study. I don’t doubt her devotion to the Lord. Someone, aside from myself, needs this information I am about to give. Let the Journey begin. Here is what she said:

“I’ve never taken a personality test. I know myself well enough to recognize that in my natural self I’m shy. Timid. Self-conscious. Fearful. Prone to anxiety. with a large inferiority complex. When God called me to serve Him in a public way, my first response to Him was “I can’t.” And I meant it. But He responded “I can.” And He meant it. I argued, “I am weak and timid.” And I am. But He responded again, ” I’m strong.” And He is. I tried one more excuse: “I’m inadequate.” With no higher education, no formal Bible training, no resources at my disposal, no network of capable people to draw from, to say I was inadequate was an understatement. But He closed the discussion with I’m sufficient. In other words, I felt He was saying, Anne, never mind who you are or who you aren’t. I’m all that you need. Follow Me.

At that critical moment, I had a choice to make. Either I could shrink back into who I knew I was and into what I believed I was capable of, or I could take what seemed to be a huge risk and follow Him beyond my abilities and capabilities, my expertise and experience, my personality and preferences, my comfort zone and convenience. I knew that if I did shrink back from following Him, I could no longer call Him my Lord. That thought scared me enough to motivate me to follow Him. If I failed, then in my small way of thinking, He would be accountable for calling me to do something both of us knew I couldn’t.

What I discovered during the past forty years of following Him outside my comfort zone is that the Holy Spirit has always enabled me and equipped me for whatever He has called me to do. I have been on the most amazing adventure of experiencing what the Holy Spirit can do in and through me if I will simply make myself available.”

And there it is: what I am supposed to convey to everyone out there who reads this. Someone out there is on the fence about something God called on them to do. When I see a message repeated multiple times I know it is from God. The idea of being outside my comfort zone has come up several times in the past. Sometimes it can be just one sentence like “Let the journey begin” and I can feel it resonate with me and I have to be prepared for whatever lies ahead. Another message appeared when a short one-minute video by a pastor in Georgia has appeared several times in my inbox. That message was, “the road ahead will easier and better than the road behind.” https://www.youtube.com/embed/3ydAkNS86HM?rel=0 And there have been more. So whatever is coming up in the future I better prepare myself now. I have no idea what that something is but I have no doubts that I will find out. And so will others out there that need to see this.

So I Was Going To Write This Post….

Based on what I had read recently about how this one Christian woman suffered when she discovered that her husband cheated on her with someone he met on the Internet. In addition to being devasted by him, there were others that contributed to her distress and none of them were sorry for what they did or said. It wrecked her for two years and she couldn’t get out of the pit of despair. I don’t know all the details of how she did it but she did write a book about it which I will be ordering sometime in the near future. The title of it is “Forgiving What You Can’t Forget.” Of course she had God’s help.

Then there was another Christian woman, Bonnie Gray, who is a sweet Chinese-American, who was also hurt by others when she had returned from a mission trip all excited to share what she had learned and accomplished. Well some highly judgemental women laced into her so badly that it put her into a deep depression for several years till she sought professional help. She had a bad childhood and this event unearthed some of those memories. She wrote about it in a book entitled “Finding Spiritual Whitespace”. It reminded me of what someone had said once: “If people knew the Christ of Christians, they would embrace Him. But instead they know the Christians of Christ and reject Him.”

Another woman was so destroyed by what another said to her that when she later saw that woman outside of a Costco or Sam’s Club, she could not go out for fear of running into her and experiencing the horror all over again. She stayed in the store, having anxiety attacks, until an understanding store manager helped her by walking with her outside. It made me angry that those women were victimized by Christian bullies who got on their self-righteous high horses, shot their big mouths off like a canon and passed judgment on them. No one has the right to destory another person. I will do the post probably after the next one. What we really should be doing is uplifting one another. We don’t know what is going on inside of another person, what their back story is which is why we should be careful not to contribute to any of their woes. People will be looking for compassion and healing. Not a Brillo pad scrubbed across their hearts.

I try to be encouraging to others. Every night I send Walter a text so when he turns on his phone the next morning, he sees a text that tells him I love him winjillion bunches followed by emojis of hearts. Even if I am out of sorts (because I was experiencing insomnia, pain or both) and tell him about it, somewhere in the text is a love note. He responds in kind. It is so important that we stick together in Christ-like love to support one another. And I am not perfect, either. Insomnia and pain make me very irritable sometimes and I apologize for that.

And it is most important that we are careful with our behavior because the rest of the world will know if we belong to Jesus or not. We can’t let our guard down. We must remain connected to the Vine through prayer and Bible study and submitting to the will of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to have full control. In the next post, I am going to talk a bit about that. Eventually I will get to 1Thess. 5: 16-23 and a few more other verses. Be blessed.

Be Like A Bison

I had previously mentioned in another post that I had subscribed to Jonna Jinton on YouTube, who lives in northern Sweden with her husband. She is very creative being an artist, musician, singer, photographer (her photography is amazing) and a helper to her husband who makes beautiful jewelry. I had wanted to write about her but didn’t know where to start, until this episode of her channel arrived yesterday: A Time of Change. What she said in the beginning of the video really riveted me and then I knew I had to write about it. She apparently had been going through some rough times and a wise man told her to be like a bison. I will provide the link here: (it’s in the first 3 minutes or so of the video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7ev29b9sqM

Here is basically what she said: Bison do not run away and seek shelter from a storm like many other animals do. They go right through it and face the hardest parts so they can come out on the other side of it much faster. Then she says to go right into the storm and be a part of the transformation. When in a time of deep transformation, it’s more important than ever not to hide from things that are uncomfortable. Not to get stuck in old ways of thinking or patterns just because it feels safe. Go right into the storm of emotion or fear or whatever it might be. To change the things deep inisde of us that feels too hard or too uncomfortable; to bring it to the surface and release it. Be part of the transformation we need to go through. You are a bison. You were meant to go through storms. Watch the video to hear everything she said. I did try to put most of it here.

The parallel between what she said and Christian life is evident. I have had so much crap to deal in my life I often asked God if I could just coast. His answer might have been: “You were meant to go through storms.” That put a whole different complexion on everything. It’s actually quite an empowering statement. Not to shrink from it and whine but to be fortified by it and become strong. God wants us to be strong. He one time said to me a long time ago that He wanted me to have a backbone, not a wishbone. He has sent me messages over the years that I sort of got but after that video, it really nailed it. Like the strongest trees in a forest are at the tree line because they can take the brunt of the storm. I think all this is coming up now because we are going to face one of the toughest times not only in our lives but in history. You better put on the armor of God and never take it off, even when you sleep.

I want to be brave enough to take a flying leap at God and see where the Holy Spirit carries me off to.

But remember we are never alone. No matter what storm we face, Jesus is right there with us. He has NEVER left our side. You can totally lean on Him. In fact, He expects you to. You are not to carry the weight by yourself. So it’s time to put down the sack of bricks. Do not allow satan to get into your head and rivet it on problems and stresses of life. Let go. Let go of all that. Put the bricks down that are sitting on your heart. This is not even real life. Real life begins with God. The Kingdom of God which is eternal is real life.

So my brothers and sisters-in-Christ: Be blessed, be a bison.