You Are Afraid

I once had a man ask me, "If you could have only one wish, what would it be?" Without hesitation I said I wanted to go to heaven. He replied, "Well in God's time, but what do you want now and here?" My answer was still the same. He couldn't understand my desire to go to heaven right then. This man was a professing Christian, and a good man. But it got me thinking as believers why would we not want to go to heaven?

Of course his statement on God's time is correct. Regardless of what I do here in this life, my life won't end until He's ready. So what's wrong with being eager? What's wrong with having an overwhelming desire to be there now? If we're honest with ourselves; not having that desire should cause us some alarm. A desire for His promise of no more death, or sickness, or pain. It's not hard to look around at the decline of this world and wish and yearn for something better. Something Heavenly.

So why do so many want to go to heaven but just not now? One word: FEAR! Fear of leaving people behind. A fear of leaving a life of comfort behind. A fear of possibly the unknown. If we have true faith, should there really be any fear in death? Or should death be the goal. In fact Jesus and His disciples spoke on dying quite a lot. Philippians 1:21-23 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. Here Paul states that for him to live in Christ will be fruitful labor, yet his desire is to die and be with Christ for that would be far greater.

Charles Spurgeon said, Depend upon it, your dying hour will be the best hour you have ever known! Your last moment will be your richest moment, better than the day of your birth will be the day of your death. It shall be the beginning of heaven, the rising of a sun that shall go no more down forever! Solomon the son of David wrote in Ecclesiastes 7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume and the day of death better than the day of birth. Now how could people desire death so much? Simply because they had no fear. Or in other words, through the grace of Christ there is no need to fear death!

We found out today that my uncle passed away. When I asked about arrangements I was told there will be none. He simply requested nothing. At first I could not understand why there would not be some form of memorial. I was told that he only had a handful of people that even really knew him. I'm happy to say I was one of those. I don't think my parents were even aware that we had talked on many occasions. My uncle had many questions on Christ and The Scriptures over the last couple of years. I have no fear or doubt that we will talk again one day.

But the fact of having so few to mourn, or lift up praises over him still bothered me. This has been my fear for sometime. The fear that when I'm called home, there will only be a handful that remember me. Then as our gracious Father often does, He spoke to me. He reminded me that when He was dying on the cross, there were only a handful of people there to mourn him. His devout followers had all scattered in fear. It was a humble death. To the world so few brings sadness and emotions of feeling sorry for him. To me the few and his request shows me a lack of fear for what this world wants, and his desire to just go home.

Transitions are always difficult. It is hard to hear the Spirit tell us to leave a familiar place where we have once seen Him work, and to go to another place of which we know little. In this hour it is also greatly difficult for many to leave the sheltering arms of Babylon when they have known nothing else. Many are torn about leaving, especially when they see so many of those they have known saying that things are still fine in Babylon and that they have no intention of packing up and heeding the call to come out. The enemy seeks to defeat those who would set their face toward Zion. If he cannot frighten them from taking this road, he will seek to waylay them and in some means keep them from their destination. He would also seek to get these pilgrims to become wearied of the way and confused about their actual destination, to blur their vision of where they are going, that he might turn them back to what is familiar.

Fear of change and fear of where God wants us to go can be a powerful tool in the enemies arsenal.
We fear what we can't see or understand. It's easier to stay in our bubble of comfort than to venture out into the unknown. Christians have no reason to fear death. God has promised wonderful things after death for those who believe in Him. One of my favorite verses come to mind, it's in Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing in this world or the world we can't see; not even death can keep us from the love of Christ.

Mathew Henry once said, “He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his feet into the grave.”
Don't let fear run your life. Embrace death; because in dying, you gain eternal life in Christ.

May You Be Blessed With Peace And Understanding

A Cult Of Personalities

What do you think about when you hear about a Cult? You probably picture a group of people blindly following a person that promises them hope and a new life. You probably picture a group of people living together away from the normal society of the world. A group of people who have handed over all their possessions. However it's usually led by someone who is misleading and taking advantage of others. Whether it be mentally, sexually, financially, etc. The world and those selfish people that begin the cults have painted this lifestyle as crazy, out of the ordinary, and foolish.

A cult by definition is: a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object. A relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister. synonyms: sect, religious group, denomination, religious order, church, faith, faith community, belief, persuasion, affiliation, movement; a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.

I don't think I'd be off based by saying that sounds like a description of Christianity. Religious devotion towards someone, living in a small group of people that are perceived as strange or differing from the normal world around it.  (Romans 12:2) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (1 John 2:15-17) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Sounds to me that this was the exact culture and way of life Christ and His disciples instructed us to live in. We and those who believe as we do should live in a way so apart from normal culture and ways of the world, that we will appear; in the world's term: Cultish. Not in the way this lifestyle is shown through those worldly people; but in a way that the world will look at us, our love and kindness, and the way we live and thirst for it. Does the modern picture of the Church look like this, or just another version of the world itself? (Acts 4:32-35) All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Acts makes it seem so clear, so easy. All these problems with inequality would evaporate if we lived in such an exemplary and faithful way! This is a picture of the ideal community, one in which no one lacks for anything! Everyone gives to those who need. No statements like "Why should I help them if they don't work?" Or resentment towards those who aren't exactly like us in appearance, nationality, financial status, or a plethora of other selfish reasons. Things are more complicated than this as we know too well. Often times, Christians have turned to the Acts of the Apostles hoping to find there the perfect church or at least a really good model of what church might be like. We hope that if we could just do church the way the early church did, we would be in a much better place.

This passage is one key motivation for these nostalgic hopes. Acts notes that this is a community of “one heart and soul.” Doesn’t that sound like what we yearn for most? In a world where many of us don’t know our neighbors, where we are so easily divided over political questions, where we can’t seem to agree on anything, where we legislate the privileges of some over the simple liberties of others, don’t we yearn to be of “one heart and soul?” Now, notice that this is a community that talks the talk and walks the walk. They love one another by selling their possessions. And why do they do this? We find the answer in a verse we too often miss. Verse 33 reads: “With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.”

They were not of one heart and soul because they tried really hard. They did not sell their possessions because it was the right thing to do. Instead, everything they did was because of their belief in the resurrection. They so believed in Jesus who defeated death and promised life to us all that they trusted every bit of their lives into the hands of God and their neighbors. They so trusted each other that they gave all that they had to one another so that there would be enough for all. They believed because if God can raise the dead, then surely God will provide our every need. They believed in God who can raise the dead and in this way discovered what it meant to be children of a God of hopeful abundance.

In the beginning of chapter five we see what selfishness and worldly desires do to the community of believers. Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
Right after this community begins to unify, the greed of one couple starts to tear the community apart. As soon as this community starts to come together, as soon as everyone’s needs are being met, it all starts to fall apart. And perhaps this was inevitable. We know what we are really like. We are not all that surprised that we have established systems that privilege some and neglect others. This is what we do!

The Gospel calls us to imagine what it would be like for us to live in such a community. The gospel calls us to wonder what would keep us from selling all we have for the sake of the other. The gospel calls us to wonder whether our stuff has become our “stuffing” in life. Does our stuff give our lives shape and meaning? Or might it just be that our stuff is a gift not for us but for others? That our stuff is never about us. That our stuff didn't belong to us in the first place, but to God. What might it be like to trust, really trust our neighbors with all we had? And an even more radical thought for many of us: what might it be like to rely on God to form me into a person and us into a community worthy of such precious trust?

Come To Me

I can faithfully say that everyone gets exhausted from time to time. Most of the time I feel like I'm in a perpetual state of exhaustion. In our busy lives we get a little extra rest but not the rest we need. We continue to trudge on despite the overwhelming drain it causes our bodies and those around us.

There are times in life when we find ourselves both physically and emotionally drained. It sometimes feels as though we have nothing left to give. During these times, it's imperative that we find rest for our minds and bodies and refreshment for our souls.

Sometimes we can point to a significant factor, but often we can’t. Our weariness results from the cumulative, multilayered intersections of life’s complexities, bodily frailties, emotional heartbreaks, and the consequences of sin. It surpasses understanding. Because our burdens are not simple, they are not relieved by simplistic platitudes (“Cheer up! Things are bound to turn around!”). But a simple promise can relieve a complex burden, provided we believe that the power behind the promise is complex and strong enough to relieve our heaviness.

And into our weariness steps the most complex power in existence speaking a promise as simple, hopeful, and refreshing as we could possibly want: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30)
The simplicity of Jesus’s promise is both striking and refreshing. Jesus doesn’t offer us a four-fold path to peace-giving enlightenment, like the Buddha did. He doesn’t give us five pillars of peace through submission as Islam does. Nor does he give us “10 Ways to Relieve Your Weariness,” which we pragmatic, self-help-oriented 21st century Americans are so drawn to. Unique to anyone else in human history, Jesus simply offers himself as the universal solution to all that burdens us.

And his simple promise is audacious: “Come to me.” The only way that this isn’t megalomaniacal lunacy is if Jesus is who he claims to be: the eternal Word made flesh, our Creator (John 1:1–3, 14; John 8:58; Hebrews 1:1–3). His simple promise implies a power behind it more than sufficient to lift what weighs us down. And here is where our burdened souls are tested. Will we believe in him; will we trust him? We want to rest our souls on the knowledge of how and when our burdensome problems will be addressed. But Jesus does not provide those details. He simply promises us that they will be addressed.

Jesus does not want our souls resting on the how and when, as if we are wise enough to understand and determine them. Rather he wants our souls resting on the surety that he will keep his promise to us in the best way at the best time. “Come to me,” he says, “cast your anxieties on me for I care for you” (see 1 Peter 5:7). “Trust in me with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding” (see Proverbs 3:5), he says, “and you will find rest for your souls.”

Our souls only find rest in hope. That’s what we’re frantically looking for whenever our souls are burdened and restless: hope. And that’s what most of the marketing of most of the products in the world tries to offer us: hope. But they are false hopes for soul-rest, providing only temporary distraction from or briefly masking the effects of our burdened souls. They don’t truly lighten our loads. No, our burdened souls only truly find rest in one place: For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. (Psalm 62:5-7)

Jesus knows that he only is our salvation, our fortress, our mighty rock, our refuge. He is the one answer to every question, concern, fear, and need we will ever have. And so he simply and comprehensively offers us himself. For our hope is from him. Only in him will we find rest for our souls.

The Naked Truth

According to a 19th century legend, the Truth and the Lie meet one day. The Lie says to the Truth: "It's a marvelous day today"! The Truth looks up to the skies and sighs, for the day was really beautiful. They spend a lot of time together, ultimately arriving beside a well. The Lie tells the Truth: "The water is very nice, let's take a bath together!" The Truth, once again suspicious, tests the water and discovers that it indeed is very nice. They undress and start bathing. Suddenly, the Lie comes out of the water, puts on the clothes of the Truth and runs away. The furious Truth comes out of the well and runs everywhere to find the Lie and to get her clothes back. The World, seeing the Truth naked, turns its gaze away, with contempt and rage.
The poor Truth returns to the well and disappears forever, hiding therein, its shame. Since then, the Lie travels around the world, dressed as the Truth, satisfying the needs of society, because, the World, in any case, harbors no wish at all to meet the naked Truth.

So what is Truth? What is absolute Truth? Believing in the supremacy of God leads you to believe in the existence of absolute truth. Absolute truth is what Francis Schaeffer used to call "true Truth." Not just truth for you or truth for me, but absolute truth whether you or I believe it or like it. If the supreme Creator God exists, then there is Truth with a capital T. God is simply there, and he must be taken as he is. We do not make him or shape him or define him. He makes all things. He shapes. And he defines. So we come into a universe that is full of givens. God is simply there. And he has made the world one way and not another way. And he and his ways are the truth. That is what you embrace when you embrace the supremacy of God.

The apostle Paul writes these stunning words in 1 Timothy 3:15, "I write to you so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." The church of God is the pillar and defensive wall of the truth. The support and the protector of True Truth in the world is the church. Why is this? Because the church is the household of GOD! And God is the Truth. What he is and what he says and what he does defines the truth. So those who submit to him and listen to him and speak his Word and live his way are the "pillars of the truth." This is one reason why God and his church are so unpopular. They represent absolute claims on people's minds and wills and emotions. If God exists, we are not god. If God is true, then we cannot decide what is true. It's out of our hands, we have no say in it. No vote. The universe is not a democracy. It is an absolute monarchy.

And since the universe is not up to date, it is simply not accepted. Paul describes ordinary people in Romans 1:25 like this: "They exchanged the truth of God [notice the phrase!] for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." He says in verse 18 that men "suppress the truth in unrighteousness." The Bible says, that, except for the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts always tilt one way: we suppress the ultimate objective truth outside ourselves and we choose to create our own. This is ultimately why the supreme God of the Bible is rejected. If he exists, he is absolute Truth and we must yield to him, and define good and bad, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly, true and false, wise and foolish, and our very selves according to him and not according to us. God is the measure of all things, not man.

This is the ultimately unpopular truth for self-sufficient, self-exalting, self-determining human beings. The cause of God and truth has advanced in the world not through timid, indecisive, fence-sitting, lukewarm Christians. It has advanced through conviction like Paul's when he said in 2 Timothy 1:12, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded." To spread a passion for the supremacy of God you have to speak and act on his truth.

In other words, you may believe in truth, but if you don't speak and act on it, it is not honored. Our mission is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God. You cannot spread a passion with silence and inactivity. Silence and inactivity spread nothing good. So our commitment to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things demands that we speak up. Picture God walking into a room as a guest and no one saying hello or going over and shaking his hand, but only ignoring him, or even snickering at him. That is the way most people treat God today. He is simply ignored, or sometimes snickered at. Now that is the opposite of a passion for his supremacy. If you want to spread a passion for his supremacy, you speak about his supremacy and his truth. And you change your lives to show it. You pay attention to him. You greet him. You walk with him and introduce him to others.

Martin Luther once said, "If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proven, and to be steady on all the battle fronts besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point." In other words, if we stand with Christ loudly until it's a "Politically Incorrect" situation; then we aren't truly standing with Christ. If our lives are only wholly given to Him when it doesn't really affect our lives than it means nothing.

We as Christians and even more as His Church are supposed to be a stark contrast to the world. Just our belief in The Truth makes us indifferent to the world. Folks you can't serve both. If all the prophets, disciples, heroes of the Bible, or Christ Himself buckled to the world when it mattered; Christianity would be a mute point. The Lie has been allowed to travel the world shaping the minds of all of humanity for far to long. It's time for the Naked Truth to stand up, unashamed, and proudly with a booming voice speak the Absolute Truth.

May You Be Blessed With Peace And Understanding

What Signifies A Good Marriage?

So often you hear people say, "We had a good ten years but we just couldn't work out our differences." Or you hear, "We loved each other at the beginning." But what characteristics signify a good or great, marriage? Is it how much either feel loved? Is it based on financial stability? Is it based on the ability to communicate well? Or is it based on a plethora of other reasons?

No it's none of these. The only word that signifies a great marriage, is Death. Just as we all repeated those vows, we promised to be united till death. Only a marriage centered on being with each other till death will survive. A marriage that has death at its center will be able to endure the times when the love doesn't seem up to par. Only with death as the center will the marriage survive the times of financial stability and financial un-stability. And I think it goes without saying, if your in a marriage that has absolute perfection in communication then sign me up for the class.

Another term for the vows we take as a couple is a covenant. We are joined in a covenant together before God when those vows are exchanged. Although your vows are merely words spoken, a covenant has a much deeper meaning. God made five covenants in the Bible. When we speak of  covenants, we are referring to instances where God has entered into an agreement with mankind that involves both promises and responsibilities for each party. All five required the blood of a sacrifice as a binding agreement. By the way, the number 5 symbolizes God's grace, goodness and favor toward humans and is mentioned 318 times in Scripture.

So the final covenant God made with mankind was the gift of His son. A covenant of salvation through the shed blood of His son, that would bestow God's ultimate grace on mankind! Amazing right! So you see, a covenant is a deeply meaningful commitment between two people. As God himself says in Matthew 19:6- "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” When we are joined in marriage before God, we are making a covenant with not just each other, but with Him as well.

We are promising to take care of each other with the same loving grace he showed humanity. In Ephesians 5:25 it says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Here again Christ shows the great importance He put on the institution of marriage. We are supposed to give up our lives for each other, just as He did for us. His commitment to humanity was sealed in death by His crucifixion. In the same way, our commitment to our spouses will be sealed with our deaths.

In the creation of man and woman as one in the sanctity of marriage; God was giving a foreshadow of His unfailing love to mankind. Marriage was meant to be a union that showed a level of love and grace that was comparable to what God showed mankind. A union so unbreakable that people would be drawn to it. It's our opportunity to show the world what the love of Christ means.

If people saw you and your spouse would they see the newest drama? Or would they see an unknown love shining through you and want to know how they can have the same love? Will you have a marriage that's good for awhile; or will you be able to stand before God and say. "We had a love unto death, just as you showed us."

May You Be Blessed With Peace And Understanding

Daddy, Are Superheros Real?

I'm not sure how the conversation started, but my daughter asked me this question the other day. Being the storyteller I am, I whispered that she had to keep a secret; and that I was a superhero. That started a multi-day journey of her asking me 1,000 questions about what I did, what my powers were, and who were the villains that I had caught. It is time that I will never forget. It made me start to think about the question. Are Superheros real?

I read an article discussing the ten highest grossing films in 2017. An overwhelming 80% of them were about a superhero. Good vs evil, light vs darkness. Everyone was clamoring to see a supernatural savior. So what does that say to you? A large portion of society is wanting to escape a fantasy world. It shows we have a deep longing to be saved, and an innate desire to be the one who saves others in distress.

But do Superheros exist? They most definitely do! They don't wear capes or masks. They don't wear their underwear on the outside of their pants. No, real superheros wear uniforms. They are the fire fighters, the police officers, and the men and women of the military. They are doctors, EMT's, and yes even Pastors. They are all mostly people that have accepted the calling to save others. Their goal is to save other people's lives, protect them from the evil in this world, and even sometimes at the great cost of their own lives. But are they the only Superheros that exist?

Can anyone be a Superhero? A teenager can be a Superhero. That few minutes you took the other day to talk to the kid no one speaks to makes you a Superhero. Just that morning they had made the decision to end their life, but your kind words changed their entire world. That lady in the grocery store that just dropped all her groceries and you helped her pick them up. She looks like she's about to lose it because she just found out her child is deathly ill. Your kindness allowed her to momentarily forget her pain. The happiness and smile that your visit to that lonely elderly man lying in his hospital bed, makes you a Superhero.

You see, the basic criteria for being a Superhero is Love. Showing someone sacrificial love and taking their needs into consideration above your own makes you a Superhero. It also makes you Christlike. 1 John 3:16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. Just like Superheros, Christians aren't promised prosperity in life. They are called to lay down their lives as followers of Christ.

It says in John 13:34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Our love for other people should stand out in stark contrast to everyone else. We should seem as something otherworldly in our compassion for others.

Christ was the ultimate superhero. His sacrificial love was bestowed to all of mankind. It was given to those who hated him as much as those who loved him. His sacrifice was given to all. He paid the ultimate price of his life while bearing upon himself every wrong thing that every person would ever commit. Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

If we could show to each other even a small fraction of the love Christ showed; we would all have the ability to be Superheros. May You Be Blessed With Peace And Understanding.

Fear Or Fear Not?

It's virtually impossible to go a day without hearing from or about someone who is fearful, worried, or anxious about something. Whether it be fear of what people think of you, not having enough money, being away from home, failure, sickness, or losing a loved one. We all long for more of God's peace in the midst of the stresses of our lives.

"Fear not" is the most repeated command in the Bible. It has been said that there are 365 "Fear nots" in the bible; one for every day of the year. Lloyd Ogilvie in his book Facing the future without Fear says there are 366 "Fear nots". One for every day plus leap year. There is actually only 103 occurrences of that term in the Bible. But not being fearful is spoken of more than 500 times.

God wants us to be reminded more than everyday to not be fearful. To trust Him in the situations where we in our finite minds aren't able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The Psalms are the Bible's great soul book, meant to train us to respond to all of life's situations and difficulties through prayer and trust in the Lord.

In Psalms 56, David has been seized by the Philistines and he starts to become afraid, but instead he sets his vision on his Lord and Saviour. He praises God and his word to all of us to "Fear not".
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me? 

You see you must understand; without a belief and trust in God, that tunnel will always be dark. Is you heart right with God? Have you put your belief in Christ? Have you called out to him for salvation? Once you have been liberated from sin, you are giving a guiding light to shine a path of joy through all of life's problems. The outcome may not always be what you hoped or even prayed for. But know this; even in the hard difficult outcomes of life, He truly does only have the best interest of His children at heart. It may not be today, or tomorrow, or even for years down the line. At some point you will look back and see that trial in your life made you even stronger.

What fear is trying to take hold of you right now? What threat or trouble are you facing? Watch and pray as David did. "When I am afraid of _____________, I will trust in you, and you will light my path out of the darkness." Matthew 6:25-27  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

May You Be Blessed With Peace And Understanding

A Return To Baal

Baal was the chief god of the Canaanites and the chief substitute god for the God of Israel. When the ancient Israelites turned away from God, they turned, most of all, to Baal. Baal was lord of the Canaanite pantheon, god of thunder, fertility, and gain. His worship involved sexual immorality and the confusion of gender. His worship also involved the offering up of children. Parents would place their babies on the bronze arms of the idol and witness their children given over to the fire. It was for this sin that ancient Israel would be destroyed.

For those of you who have read The Harbinger or The Paradigm you know the link between America and ancient Israel. America was founded by the Puritans after the pattern of Israel in the Bible. The Puritan John Winthrop said that if we follow God, “we shall be as ‘a city on a hill’ and shall be the most blessed of peoples.” But most people don’t realize that Winthrop followed that vision with a warning. If America should turn away from the God of its foundation, and to other gods, gods of lust and profit, then the same judgments that came on ancient Israel will come upon us.

It would be hard to find anyone in modern-day America who would admit to worshiping a false god; but modern America is filled with idols and false gods. And if we turn away from God, and we have,  then we will find ourselves seduced by false gods, and we have, most notably the spirit of Baal. Baal is the principality that leads a nation that has once known God, away from God. Under the spirit of Baal, ancient Israel embraced sexual immorality, so have we. Under the Spirit of Baal, Israel embraced the confusion of gender, so have we. Under the Spirit of Baal, Israel killed its most innocent, its children, so have we, over 60 million of them.

When the battle over America’s future, a battle centered on the overturning of biblical morality, the killing of the unborn, and the acceptance of immorality, approached its climax in the presidential election of 2016, a sign appeared. It appeared in New York City, one month before the election. It was the sign of Baal. The arch of Baal, through which his worshipers passed to worship the deity, was erected in New York City.

Recently, the battle over the nation’s future again came to a furious climax, in the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. As the battle approached its final phase, something happened. The day before the hearings over the accusations began, a sign appeared. It was the sign of Baal. – the same sign that appeared in New York City. The Arch of Baal was erected, now in Washington D.C. – on the Washington Mall – directly facing the Capitol building where the battle was being waged.

Even during the 2008 presidential election we can see the choice to use a symbol of Satan used for a symbol of America at the Democratic Convention. Obama took a trip to Berlin and saw the Altar of Zeus. The same alter that was moved from Pergamos to Berlin in the late 1800's right before World War I. And how do we know that this alter is the same one used to worship Satan in ancient times; because we are plainly told in God's Word. REV 2: 12-13 “And to the angel of the church in PERGAMOS write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: “I know your works, and where you dwell, where SATAN'S THRONE is."  America has been on a downward spiral for sometime and at breakneck speeds.

On January 22, New York Governor Cuomo passed the Reproductive Health Act that allows abortion up to the date of birth. And while this is atrocious, little has been heard about Vermont's proposed bill. Vermont’s goes all the way to creating an absolute right to an abortion, at any time in the pregnancy and for any reason, with no limitations as to method. Unlike New York’s new law and the Virginia legislation, there is nothing at all in the bill about distinguishing non-viability of the fetus from viability. There is no pretense of limiting late-term abortion to circumstances in which the life or health of the mother might be impacted. There is nothing mentioned about what to do with a born baby that survives abortion. It establishes a “fundamental right to abortion,” meaning an absolute right that cannot be infringed or restrained in any way. The bill has 91 co-sponsors. It could very well pass. If it does, I do believe it will become the most radical abortion legalization statute in the world.

We live in dramatic and momentous times – when a nation that once knew God is waging war against its own foundations. We live in the days of Baal. How shall we live? In the days of Baal, the people of God must live and move in the spirit and power of Elijah, bold, un-compromised, on fire, all out, advancing, and proclaiming the Word and ways of God. Let us set this in motion to resolve to do just that. And may God greatly bless you as you do!

"Emptiness"

This is a sculpture created by Romanian artist Albert Gyorgy and is located in Geneva, Switzerland. It is called Mélancolie. Mélancolie means, longing for something past, sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned, sadness caused by grief or affliction, a feeling of thoughtful sadness, and an atmosphere of depression. So much pain and grief bound up in one word. I can’t imagine any other image that could make someone understand what it feels like. The quite emptiness, the void, the weight of this eternal sadness.

We've all felt the utter feeling of emptiness in our lives. Whether it comes from the loss of a loved one, a job, a home, or just the feeling of depression. We all have had the feeling of an empty hole in our soul. Something is missing. And people will fill that hole with anything that might give them a momentary feeling of relief.

We try to fill it with alcohol, drugs, pornography, adultery, food, and a host of other life debilitating things. But those things only work for a short period of time, then we're empty again. That emptiness is a longing for something in our past. It's something that was removed long ago; and it can only be filled by one thing. You may feel that you have been forsaken or abandoned. It may feel like your affliction or grief will never be healed. But in our brokenness there is something waiting there to put the pieces back together.

Broken things and broken people are the result of sin. But Yahweh sent His son to be broken so that we may be healed. That emptiness, that hole in your life that you feel; is from our separation from God. And the only way to fill that void is to allow Him to heal you. The emptiness you feel is a lie from Satan. Right now, whatever it is you're feeling, whatever it is you're going through, the Holy Spirit will fill you. Have hope and keep your head up. You are not powerless. God is working through you and in you.

Arthur Erickson is a world renowned architect. He has designed some of the most well known buildings in the world. He once said that, “Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within.” How very true this is in our lives. We construct all kinds alternate realities in our lives through many debilitating habits. Many destructive habits or illusions to try and fill the hole in our soul. But no matter what this emptiness stems from, there is only one solution that can truly heal us. Arthur made another quote that gives even more meaning to this. He said, “The delusion of entertainment (destructive habits) is devoid of meaning. It may amuse us for a bit, but after the initial hit we are left with the dark feeling of desolation.” Folks, only our Heavenly Father holds the power to heal the desolation and emptiness in our souls.

In your despair just know that you can trust God. You can trust God with the unknowns about your future. You can trust God to heal the hurt. You can trust God to fill the emptiness. You can trust God to illumine this darkness. You can trust God to restore joy to your life. You can trust God to supply sufficient grace and divine power for facing whatever comes. Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. 

He Moves In Mysterious Ways

New Year’s Day, 1773, marked a decade since depression nearly snatched away William Cowper’s life. The mental agony tortured him so severely ten winters prior that he was locked up in St. Alban’s insane asylum after a botched suicide attempt. While there, he stumbled upon a Bible that the asylum’s Christian director had strategically left open. His eyes fell upon Romans 3:23–26, and the glory of Jesus Christ chased the shadows from his soul.

But by the beginning of 1773, successive blows had left Cowper staggering. His brother died in 1770, followed by two of his cousins the following year. In 1772, neighbors’ whispers suggested that Cowper’s relationship with his landlady was something short of innocent. The grief and the slander soon gathered into clouds too dark for his sanity. And so, as Cowper walked through the fields after church 246 years ago today, Cowper “was struck by a terrible premonition that the curse of madness was about to fall on him again” But before night fell on Cowper’s soul, he sat in the light of his remaining sanity, took up his pen, and wrote a hymn that has strengthened generations of staggering saints through their various shadows.

Cowper’s hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way” is a song for every saint who sits on the edge. It is a guide for all who do not see fresh hopes rising over the horizon of the new year. It is a confession of faith in the face of darkness; one that flickers with enough light to carry us through whatever midnights this year brings. At the heart of the hymn is a simple exhortation: “Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take.” Take courage. Take courage when the clouds come thundering toward you. Take courage when the coming days seem covered in shadow. Take courage when you cannot understand God’s ways. But why, we ask in the valley, should we take courage? Throughout the rest of the hymn, Cowper gives his reasons.

"God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm." As Cowper wrote his hymn, God’s ways confounded him. The God who had rescued Cowper from the storm of mental instability was now sending him back in, where Cowper would feel like he was scrambling always in the Dark, among rocks and precipices without a guide, but with an enemy ever at my heels, prepared to push me headlong. We can understand why he would begin his hymn with the famous line “God moves in a mysterious way.” But for Cowper, “God moves in a mysterious way” was a statement of faith, not despair. Cowper knew from Scripture that God rarely performs his wonders in lands of comfort and ease. More often, God delivers his people from one trouble only to usher them into another: he delivers us from Egypt, and then leads us to the shores of the Red Sea (Psalm 77:19). “He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.”

Do not be dismayed when God’s ways bewilder you. Instead, take courage. Remember with Cowper that you are in the company of many trusting saints. You are walking with Abraham and Sarah, waiting decades for a son (Genesis 17:15–21). You are traveling with David through the valley of the shadow (Psalm 23:4). You are watching with Jeremiah as Jerusalem goes up in flames (Jeremiah 21:10). You are lying with John the Baptist beneath the executioner’s sword (Matthew 14:1–12). You are weeping with Mary Magdalene outside the tomb of Jesus (John 20:11–15). We do not need to grasp all that God is doing when we find ourselves in the middle of his mysterious ways. In the end, God will show that his ways, so high above our own (Isaiah 55:8), were nevertheless perfect (Psalm 18:30). “God is his own interpreter,” Cowper reminds us later in the hymn. And when the time is right, “He will make it plain.”

"Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds you so much dread, Are big with mercy and shall break, In blessings on your head." Cowper did not downplay the anguish of depression or any of our other afflictions. He did not claim that, because of Christ, the children of God stride unfeeling through the thorns of this cursed world. He was willing to write in a letter to a friend that depression had thrust him into “the belly of this Hell, compared with which Jonah’s was a palace, a temple of the living God”  Nevertheless, Cowper’s hymn does more than give a voice to our distress. It also lends us the eyes of faith to look ahead at the storm clouds of our sorrows, no matter how dreaded, and to recognize them as the messengers of God’s mercy. “Dreaded clouds” are never the final horizon for the people of God. In the end, the barren couple holds a baby in their arms (Genesis 21:1–3). The sun rises over the valley of the shadow (Psalm 23:6). Jerusalem hears again the sound of a song (Isaiah 62:1–5). The martyr awakes with a resurrected body (1 Corinthians 15:53–55). The stone rolls away from the tomb (John 20:16–18).

Take courage. The clouds that cover you this year may be darker than any you have yet known. They may linger long. They may seem to blot out the sun. But God knows how to take even these clouds, and through them work wonders so marvelous, so unlooked for, that they leave us on our knees in worship.

"His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flow’r." Toward the end of the hymn, Cowper leaves us with an assurance: God’s purposes “will ripen fast.” Very soon now, the sun will scatter these dreaded clouds, and we will stand upon the dry land of God’s goodness with everlasting joy on our heads. In the moment, of course, God’s fast may feel like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8). The depression that fell on Cowper in 1773 covered him until his death in 1800; a 27-year darkness. John Newton, in his funeral sermon for Cowper, preached from the passage about the burning bush (Exodus 3:2–3), because, as he put it, Cowper “was indeed a bush in flames for 27 years.” Can we say that 27 years in the flames was a fast affliction? Only if we, with Cowper, set 27 years next to 27 million years, and allow eternity to adjust our scales. From the standpoint of forever, no calamity can befall us this year that will not be a “light momentary affliction preparing for us an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). For the moment, we taste only the bitter bud. Soon, we will see that heaven’s soil knows how to turn every bud into a flower whose beauty we cannot imagine.

Later in his funeral sermon, Newton agreed with Cowper’s sense of fast. “He was one of those who came out of great tribulation,” Newton said. “He suffered much here for 27 years, but eternity is long enough to make amends for all.” Eternity is long enough to make amends for all — all the evil that has fallen on us so far in this life, and any evil that will fall on us this year. So take courage. Today, we are one year closer to the land where the skies are always clear, where flowers cover the hillsides, and where every tear stained face feels the tender touch of Jesus Christ.