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Faith

Happy Father’s Day


I love you with all my heart.

I love you with all my heart.

1 Peter 1:3 ESV

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”

I knew from childhood that you were there, but everyone told me to be afraid of you.

I was scared that you would “Get me for that”.

I wanted to please you so I became as religious as I could.

I never found you in my religion.

Then I met your Son.

He wasn’t mad at me.

He didn’t scold me.

He loved me.

I asked him why.

He smiled at me and said:

John 14:10 ESV

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Then He breathed on me, and I believed.

Now I get it, God.

Just as you are Jesus’ Father, you are now my father, too.

In order to show us how much you love us, you had to send your own Son here:

To live among us.

To show us your likeness.

To die in our place for the fall.

And to rise again to show us that,

if we will simply understand,

if we will simply accept this free gift,

we are already saved, redeemed, and healed, and loved of God.

If we will simply understand that this is free, because you love us, and you did this for us.

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

I do believe, now, Father.

I believe not because others tell me I must.

I believe because I met Him, for real.

What He is showing me about you takes my breath away.

You love all of us on Earth.

You are not mad at us.

Jesus paid the price for anything and everything that stands between us and you.

All we have to do is accept this gift, this free gift.

Where religion hid your love from me, Your Son revealed it.

What gift can I give to You, Father, that would show and demonstrate what an amazing love I have for YOU?

All I have is me.

That I willingly give to you.

I love you, my Father.

I love you.

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Faith

Open your eyes and look at the fields


Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest. John 4:35

Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest. John 4:35

Listen to what I’m telling you: Open your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ready for harvest.  The reaper is already receiving pay and gathering fruit for eternal life, so the sower and reaper can rejoice together.  For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’  I sent you to reap what you didn’t labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from their labor.”

 

We will spend a lot of our lives asking “Who Am I?”.  We will spend another significant amount of time asking ourselves “Why Am I?

About 11 months ago, I was exposed to an answer to those questions.

My life has not been the same since.   I have been many things in this life: A theatre lighting specialist, an actor, a musician, a model, a student Architect and drafts-man, an electrician, a programmer, a project manager, a seminary student, an evangelist.  I have been many other things that do not bear discussion or revelation here.  I was, through it all, at best, very religious, or at worst, very evil.  Through none of it, did I have a clue who I am in Christ, or why that matters.  My acknowledgement of Christ was cultural.  I grew up in the Bible Belt, and being a Southern Baptist was what we did.  What I learned that Seminary had more to do with promoting the “Baptist Faith and Message” than learning how to be a servant of the Lord.  Even if I was taught anything about the relational aspects of Jesus, I was not in a place where that made sense.  I was there because my religious ambitions out weighed my need to understand the work of the Cross.  I tell you this to let you know, I am not writing as anything other than what happened to me 11 months ago.  I am writing as a new believer, who has finally understood what the whole meaning and purpose of the Cross is, and have finally understood and accepted where I am in God’s eyes.  I am writing because, I have literally been there and done that, and survived to tell you what a glorious and loving God we serve.  I write to tell you who you are and can be in Jesus. 

I am also writing to remind myself that, if my new life does not serve to lead the lost to the Lord, and help and uplift my fellow believers, then I am in serious need of an “Upgrade From God”

 

“And have clothed yourselves with the new [spiritual self], which is [ever in the process of being] renewed and remoulded into [fuller and more perfect knowledge upon] knowledge after the image (the likeness) of Him (JESUS) Who created it.” – Apostle Paul – Ephesians 2:8 ESV

“I am just a Mom.”, “I am the Sales Manager”, “I am a bicycle mechanic”, “I am a gardener”.

Yes, you are these things.  This is true.  There are many things that are true about you.  But I want to share with you THE TRUTH about who you are in Christ Jesus.

The first thing I am going to ask you to do is watch this video, it will be worth your time.

Wasn’t that good?  Your truest identity is as a Child of the Living God, because of Jesus Christ.  You are still a Mom, or a Sales Manager, or whatever it is you do, but now you are in Christ who is in you.  Your identity is now Jesus’ identity.  And it is the Holy Spirit’s job to grow you up to be Just like Jesus.

When Jesus Christ was placed on the Cross, He was placed there on our behalf.  While He was on that Cross, He became ALL sin, ALL failure, ALL things that are wrong with the fallen world and not part of God, and BECAME those things.  When he became all sin, past present and future, God then poured out ALL his anger, ALL His wrath, ALL Judgement onto Jesus.  Jesus was separated from God for the first time in His life,  which is why he shouted out:

Mark 15:34

English Standard Version (ESV)

“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 

When all the wrath of God was expended on Jesus, Jesus died.  God’s judgement was satisfied.  The price for the fall of mankind was satisfied.  When Jesus said “It is finished”, he was telling you and me that all sin and debt to God is paid for, and that HE just paid it.  This was the covenant God made with Jesus Christ.  In return for this, we were given all that Jesus is; His inheritance, His favour before God, ALL that Jesus is, we inherited and share with Him,  making us the perfect gift of God to become the Children of God.  We are saved by GOD’S grace, and not that of our own flesh, but by Jesus faith in the covenant of God.

When you accepted this as true, in your heart, in your very soul, you were crucified with Christ (See Galatians 2:20).  And the life you now live in the flesh is by the faith OF the Son of God, who lives in you. It is Christ’s faith that is at work in you.  Your tiny faith, your mustard seed faith, has to be planted in the rich soil of Jesus’ faith that dwells in you.

Christ proved he has authority over life and death when he raised himself from the dead.   Before that, He marched into hell, took the keys from Satan, and preached Salvation to the captives in hell, and set them all free from the wages of sin and death.  When you confess with your mouth, speaking it out-loud, as your true confession, you are risen with him.

You are no longer dead.  You are now that New Creation that rose in the newness and likeness of Christ Himself.  (See II Corinthians 5:17).

It is time to put down all the old clothes and baggage that belonged to your old self.  That stuff belongs to Jesus, now.  He died for it, and it no longer is your property.

We are called to put on the new creation that we are.   How do we do this?  Simple, WE CAN’T!

It is the Spirit of God, who is sent to fill you that does this.  You just have to drop all that old stuff and let the Spirit teach you what it means to be like Jesus.  As you see the difference between your old self and the new self, you will grow to despise, at first, your old self.  The more you become like Jesus, you will learn to forgive your old self, just as the Father has forgiven you all your sin.  And the more you become like Jesus, you will eventually forget who you were before Jesus.  When that happens, the Holy Spirit will grow you to be exactly like Jesus Christ.  Our identity in Christ is supposed to become so strong that, eventually, and this is our mission, when people look at you, all they will see is Jesus at work in you.

You are unique, and different from everyone on earth.  We are all unique, just like everyone else!   (Insert laugh here.) God made you as you are so that you will be able to prove God did not want a bunch of robots serving Him.  The Jesus that will shine out of you will be displayed through all the things that make you unique.  Are you a Mom?  Then you are a Mom in the image of Jesus.  Are you a Sales Manager?  Then you are a Sales Manager who is in the image of Jesus.  This way, the millions and millions of unique Christians around the world will all have one thing in common.  We are all in the Likeness (Character) of Christ, Himself.  THIS is why we are still on the earth after we are saved.  We have something important to do in our little corner of Earth.

As this happens, you can share with other people who are struggling with the same stuff your old self struggled with, and show them how to be set free of all that baggage.  The Love and Grace and Mercy of God keeps growing in you, and the more this happens, the more like Jesus you will become, until there comes a time where your presence in a crowd will make a difference in someone’s life.

We were not made into the Children of God just to start a religion, or to form an exclusive club.  Our churches, however, come across that way to the lost, and to the saved who do not know just how free they are.  They are already free if they will accept it.  They are already forgiven if they will just accept what Christ did for them on the cross.  They are going to be made in to the image of Christ, just as you are, if they can be taught how to rest in the finished work of the cross.  THAT is why we fellowship, that is why we support each other in prayer and with our material possessions, and THAT is WHY you were not raptured the second you became a Child of God.

LOOK UP!  Crawl out of your comfort zone.  Forget political correctness. Stop trying to be a people pleaser.  Stop trying to be the most important thing in your heart. (Matthew 22:36-40 NIV)

The more like Jesus the Holy Spirit makes you, the more you will want others to know about this amazing, powerful and free gift.  We have to look up from our little world to see the larger world around us.

This is the lesson I am learning today.  I have to allow the Spirit of God to cause me to love others as much as Jesus loved me.  I have to learn to care about others just as God cares about me.  I have to be willing to step out of my comfort zone and be brave enough to declare to anyone that Jesus Christ is Lord of Life and Death, and that you are forgiven, and that you are free from the wages of sin and death, if you will accept it.  I am called to serve Christ.

We don’t need to tell sinners that they are sinners.  They already know this because they are never satisfied with who they are or with what they have.  And they covet what others have.  The lost may not have any idea that sin exists, but they know intuitively that something is just not right.

We do not win them to Jesus by pointing out that they are sinful.  We lead them to Jesus by living and sharing the very same Grace that Jesus shared with us.  We give them the Love of God, that lives in us.  We meet them where they are, not where our religion says they have to be.  When they see Jesus they will automatically understand they are sinners.  Then the rest is up to them. They will either want to know how to change, or they will reject your message.  All you have to do is tell them, unflinchingly, THE TRUTH..

We are citizens of a Kingdom that is not of this world.  In a very short time, we will all be going there, one way or another.  Who do you know that you would love to see there with you?  And what about the people who hate you?  Love them.  Hate cannot exist long in the presence of Love.  Hate always loses.

Jesus said that “If I be high and lifted up, I will draw all nations to me”.  Jesus lives in you.

So here’s the big question I have been asking myself for a couple of weeks.  Who am I in Heaven?  Why am I still here?  What does God want me to do?  And how will I support my family while I am doing it?

The answer is very simple to hear, but may be difficult to labour into the rest of.  Seek first the Kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness, then all these things will be added unto you.  ALL things includes ALL things.  The good news is, if you are a Christian, the righteousness of Christ is already in you.  If it doesn’t shine and flow out of you as living waters, then the Holy Spirit has work to do to unblock the channels that will flow.  Submit to that urge you feel, and follow Christ.  You will be amazed how beautiful and marvelous the world is when you look at all the fields you get to help harvest.

Lets Be About It!

I love you,

 

David G. Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Faith, Observations

“…but their hearts are far away”


Luke 6:46 ESV : “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Luke 6:46 ESV : “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

The pressure to produce, lately, is overwhelming.  I have obligations, and the means to meet them are getting harder to come by.  As I fell into my “Charles In Charge” mode, and prepared to execute an action plan I had devised, I heard the Lord.

I recognize the voice of the Spirit, now that I have ears to hear.

“Come talk with me”, said the Spirit.

I am not used to this gentle Spirit of Love talking to me.

Keeping in mind the Business Model I have learned throughout life, I reminded the Spirit that I have things to accomplish, and I have broken them down into three categories:

1. MUST:   Do the things you MUST do first. KNOW THE MISSION, DO THE MISSION!   I have to accomplish a lot in a very little time if I am going to meet my obligations.  Earn your living, pay your bills, meet your deadlines.  If you have obligations, you MUST meet them, no matter what else is going on.  That is life, and how it is.  As I am running against real deadlines, and everything depends on me to accomplish them, I have to hit the bricks and perform my duties.

2. NEED:  Next, do the things you NEED to do. THESE ITEMS WILL ALWAYS BE HERE IN ONE FORM OR ANOTHER.    I need to get the car tuned up, and have the timing belt replaced (It is a Toyota, and has greater than 200,000 miles).  I need to replace the weather-stripping on the back door.  I am not fond of trying to air condition all of Texas.  I need to get braces for Hannah, get my wife knee surgery, glasses, and take her out on a few dates…

3.  WANT:   Finally, do the things you WANT to do.  I want to spend all my time praying and serving God, because of Jesus.  I want to be the best writer that ever walked the face of the earth.  I want to take my family on vacation…I want to show them the places I have been on this planet, so they can see the incredible beauty I have witnessed.  There are a thousand more things I want to do.  And, while stopping to spend time with the Lord would be fabulous, I have obligations that take precedence.

The agony of my obligations have been gnawing at me relentlessly.

“I MUST meet certain obligations…MUST, and do it NOW!!”, I practically shouted that at the Lord.

Did you know that you can actually hear the Lord sigh, and hear (see) Him grin?  It is true…you just have to know how to hear, and know how to see.

“Come talk with me”, said the Spirit. 

I am irresistibly drawn to His voice.

I lay my agenda on my desk…I cannot say “no” to His invitation.  

“Here I am, Lord”

“Hop on your bike and meet me at the third pond.”, He said.  (REALLY, Lord??  It is freaking HOT out here in Pearland.  HOT, and the Sun will melt me before I get out of the driveway!) 

“OK, Lord, I’ll do it.”

A few weeks ago, I decided I need to get back on my bike.  My car was in the shop, and I had obligations.  My bike was my back-up plan.  My first time out was a dismal failure.  I had a flat, and on the return leg, I had a mild heat stroke.  If it weren’t for the concern of two people whom I love very much, mild would have turned in to severe, and I probably would have ended up in the hospital.  After that, and after recovering, I decided I will get back on the bike, and relearn how to ride.  It really is an art, if riding a bike is one of your passions.     I am up to 12 miles, every other day.  I ride outbound 6 miles, to Highway 288, and ride back the same 6 miles.  The body doesn’t forget, and I had adapted to riding in real heat and humidity in decent time.  Perhaps I can lose that next 50 pounds this way.

I looked back at my agenda.  It lay on my desk, accusing me of being a slacker.  I HAVE OBLIGATIONS!!!  

“OK, Lord, I’ll do it.”

The rays of the Sun bore down like fine needles, piercing every part of me.

The 12 mile route includes passing by three water overflow reservoir, or ponds.  When it rains here, (AND IT RAINS HERE), these overflow reservoir collect all the run-off from all the neighborhoods in the area.  Reservoir abound through-out South Texas. Pearland is, after-all, in hurricane alley.    I pass by three reservoir when I ride.

I love to ride fast.  If found, however, that, if I maintain a 9 mile per hour pace, I get enough air flow so I can breathe (The air was just hanging around, not moving.).  I also discovered that, if I go faster than 9 miles per hour, the sapping energy loss of the heat and sun shine would deplete my reserves before I go a mile.  So, I kept the pace at a very leisurely 9 miles per hour.

I discovered that riding this slow gave me the chance to see where I am riding, to absorb the beauty that is Pearland, Texas, to actually look people in the face as I pass them by.  My blood pressure started falling.  The knots in my stomach were coming undone.  I felt a song stirring in my heart, “This IS my Fathers world…” . I hummed the song as I rode my bike. 

Recent heavy rains meant the reservoir were still laden with enough water to support wild life.  I watched the cranes and heron and gulls sitting in shallow water, their wings open, so they could get some natural air conditioning.  “This is my Father’s world,  the birds their carols raise,  the morning light, the lily-white,  declare their maker’s praise.”  The oppressive heat turned into a warm embrace…I caught myself singing out loud.  When did I start doing THAT?

After just a few minutes, I arrived at the third pond.  I walked my bike around the pond until I found some shade trees to rest under.  I drank some water and let the breeze off the pond cool me.  Those birds really knew what they were doing.  I listened to the frogs, and dragonflies, and heard turtles making their way to the water.  I saw snakes hiding in the rush under some trees that had their roots in the pond.  What a good thing it is to sit and watch God at work.  Nature is God’s work.

“How was the ride?”   “Amazing”  

He grinned again.  “I’m glad you came here.”  “Me too, Lord, me too…”  

“What has you so fearful?  “My life just went out of control, Lord.  I don’t know what to do.”  

“What did you learn from your last mission?“, He asked, gentleness soothing my soul.   “I need to keep my eyes on you, Lord.  I got caught up in their religion, and made their 12 commandments more important than the author and creator of those virtues.  I looked to man for approval, not to you.  When I got too caught up in trying to observe the “Law” of the commands, I forgot about the Grace of the Lord.”  “I learned that religious people can hide some pretty intense hate and fear behind their “Positive Attitude”.  I learned that, whether we are in the desert crossing to the promised land, or in Texas, “Living the Dream”, if we turn your virtues into a law, and make the law more important than the Creator, then we have lost sight of what is really important. In the end, we make hypocrites of ourselves.  And we advertise that we follow these virtues when it is apparent to everyone that we don’t.”  “I also learned that when I am keeping my eyes on you, things go really well.  But when I look to myself or others, I fail miserably.”

“That’s was a mouth full!  And I think I hear some judgement encroaching your lessons, too.”  “David, I don’t judge you.  All judgement of all sin and failure was poured out on Jesus at the Cross.  I am here to teach you.  What you said is true, but you didn’t mention THE truth.”

“Lord, please tell me THE truth, then.  What am I to you?  What am I going to do now?  How does this apply to the fact that You sent me here?”

“David, I have called you and Sandy to serve me, and me alone.  I sent you here, and soon, you will know why.  I need you to learn these lessons, as painful as they are.  Keep your eyes on ME, and trust that I know what I am doing.  Stop trying to please man AND serve me at the same time.  That is not possible.  Remember at all times the Love and Grace I have given you.  You are to give generously to all who you meet.  Never take matters into your own hands.  I am your Lord, I care for you, I love you, and there is no condemnation on you because you are in Me.  Seek me first, in all things, in all ways, and all the rest of the things on your list will be taken care of.”   What you experienced at that place was, in fact, exactly what you asked me for.

“What?”  “It’s TRUE.”  “WHEN?” “Remember you prayed to work at a place where My virtues are pointed out, where people are Christians, where ‘Doing the Right Thing’ actually means something?”  “Yes, I do.” “You got what you asked for.  You have no more business judging them for their shortcomings than they do judging you for yours.  I sent you to where you asked to be sent.  But, even so, I always send you where I need you, where you will do the most good, and grow to be like Me.”  “You simply forgot why I sent you, that’s all.  Now that you have learned this lesson, I will send you where you can do some good.  Just remember to keep an eye on Me.  I will meet all your needs.  My promise is not conditional, nor is it based on whether you behave yourself or not.  I always keep my promise.  You will serve me.  The more like me you become, the less you will have to worry about in this world.”

American Christians are not yet at the point where it will cost them their lives for their faith.  We have become complacent, and have turned what God has intended for good into a religion that drives mankind far away from God.  We have fellowships that are more like clubs.  We do not readily accept the unwashed, the sinner, the outsider.  If I don’t think like you, then I am wrong.  The hard truth is, neither of us think like God, nor do we have the mind of Christ.  That is not an accusation, that is a hard-earned observation.  In my anti-religious stance, I have built a new religion.  In your Americanized Christianity, you have built a religion.  Jesus did not come here to build a religion, but a relationship.  Any time we forget that seeking the Kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness is more important than anything else we will do, then we are in error.  We are still saved.  But we are not following God, through Jesus Christ.

Jesus died of all our sin, all our failure, all our fear, all our poverty, all our lack, and anything else that built a wall between us and His kingdom.  In return for this, He gave us eternal life, eternal fellowship with God, and everything that HE inherited as Lord.  We abound in God’s goodness, if only we can remember how to hear and see what God has done for us.  When what we do as Christians drives people away from God, then we are being religious.  When what we do does not bring the lost to the Kingdom of God, and the Saved to be more like Him, then we are practicing a religion.  If we are running a business that touts the virtues of God, but does not actually serve God, then stop saying what you are, and just be what you intend to be.  By seeking God, your business WILL have those virtues, and God will make sure everyone knows it.  Bragging on HIS children is one of the things God LOVES to do.

We still sin, and fail, but God’s promise is eternal.  You are His child.  You will be made in to the image and likeness of His son, Jesus.

Religion worships the idea of God, and the idea of the virtues of God, but the heart of religion is all about lip service to the Creator.  We are more concerned about being right than being like Him.

The Cure for Anxiety

“This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t He do much more for you — you of little faith? So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat? ’ or ‘What will we drink? ’ or ‘What will we wear? ’ For the idolaters eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.” – Jesus – Matthew 6:25-33

This is why I know that, in spite of any failure on my part, or any judgement of mankind against me, in the end, I will serve the Lord.  He has become my first love, and I desire Him above all else.  My burning desire is to serve Him.  He is using my failures to teach me how to succeed HIS way.  And I love even these hard lessons.  Forgiveness, Love, Grace, Mercy, Service, Giving, are more important than any idolatrous covenant that God never asked you to agree to.  All things that God desires to give you will come to you when you seek Him first.

Let’s Be About It!
I love you.
David G. Perkins

 

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Faith

Revealed Truth, or Religious Bigotry?


Holy Pottery‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.  ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’  Jeremiah 29:11-14 NASB

I have not written in the last few days.  I had to ask myself some hard questions.  One of those questions was:  “Am I showing the truth, or being a religious bigot?”

An opportunity to answer this question presented itself, today.  So, now I can tell you what I have learned.  I am not going to bore you with my testimony.  Let my current life be my testimony.  And I am a work in progress.  But over these past two weeks, I have been struggling with how dogmatic my writing sounds.

I am by God‘s grace, and training, a researcher, and an analyst.  I am very good at it too.  I will not bore you with this, either.  I say it so I can tell you this:

The difference between a researcher and a religious bigot is, the religious bigot will not accept that any other point of view, other than his own, is true.  He will be so dug in that he cannot, and will not, even entertain conversation that will allow a different point of view.

The Religious Bigot believes that his answer, even if it contradicts hard evidence, or Jesus Himself, is actually the correct one.  And the contradiction against Christ does not present a mental conundrum to him, either.  The religious bigot will plot the curve then try to find data that supports it, or will bend the existing data to force it to agree with it.  He has the answer before he knows the question.  In his heart, he has cut out several things Christ has had to say about Himself, Salvation, and what it really means to follow Him.

A researcher will look at as much evidence he can find.  He will weigh the evidence.  He will let the evidence speak for itself. He will suspend his biases in order to see if something is hidden in the data that he would otherwise not choose to see.  Even if that data represents a major threat to his understanding of things, he will look.  If the shock doesn’t kill him, he will adapt to that truth.  He knows the difference between a truth and an opinion of a truth, even in his own mental frame-work.

I have spent, literally, all my life researching and studying as many religions as I could find.  I even attended many of their religious meetings in order to get a better understanding of them.

All my research has driven me back to some very basic truths.  This has shown me the difference between what you call a fundamentalist and what I call a fundamentalist.   A fundamentalist, in any religion, has boiled his faith down to things that are the bottom line of his faith.  The American definition of a fundamentalist is actually the definition of a religious bigot.

Here was the hard part.  There is only so much the human mind can comprehend when it comes to spiritual matters.  There comes a time when you must rely on faith and hope.

In Christianity, I have discovered that, the gift of Faith comes from God alone.  And when I rely on it, I am shown things that have been right in front of me all along, but did not have “The Third Eye” opened to it, yet.

Being a researcher, I am open to every possible interpretation of any event that you can imagine.  I know that, if I have the truth, nothing can remove it from my heart.  However interesting and entertaining that journey into another viewpoint is, I can test it against the baseline of revealed truth, and know it for what it is.

Am I dogmatic?  Absolutely.  What I have been writing about all this time is directly from the scriptures.  There is no room for my opinion of it, or my interpretation of it.  It is the truth as Jesus and the Apostles, and God have revealed it in the scriptures.

As a researcher, I want to hear other views.  I am not afraid of differing opinions, or what others think is revealed truth.  I can do this without my ego being attached to it because I have learned, in my return to Christ that “Truth is its own witness, and Time is the Judge of all truths.”

I am dogmatic over the things I have delved into, and have seen for myself are true.  There are things that are true that I could never discuss in a church or over a pulpit.  I have learned the hard way that, even though it is the truth, most people cannot fathom that it is true.  I have discovered that, even things that are mentioned in the Bible are outright rejected by most American Christians.

But what I know, I must write about..  What I write about are truths as revealed in Scripture, and how God has applied it to my life, and my wife’s life.  We are in total agreement over these things.  We arrived at this over very different routs. She is my partner and my love, and we walk together in our calling.

WHAT THIS BOILS DOWN TO

It is a heart condition that will keep us from growing to be like Christ.

When you are saved, spiritually, you are complete.  The Holy Spirit marks you as being a child of the Living God because of your faith, IN YOUR HEART, that Jesus Christ is who he said he is, and did what he said he will do.  Your faith was born in your heart, after God placed the seed of faith in you.

Spiritually, you are complete.  There is nothing lacking in you spiritually.

The reason you were not raptured when you were saved, is so that that spirit can take over your heart.

Here is a good explanation of this:

THE CONDITION OF THE HUMAN HEART

In Scripture, the heart is the seat of indwelling sin as well as its subject. It is from the heart that indwelling sin springs in a person’s experience. Indeed, sin has invaded as an enemy and now possesses the very throne of God himself. So says the preacher:

Ecclesiastes 9:3 This is the unfortunate thing about everything that happens on earth: the same fate awaits everyone; The hearts of all people are full of evil, and there is madness in their hearts during their lives—then they die.

This is a very good description of the heart.  When you are saved, you are complete in the eyes of GOd.  This is because the Holy Spirit now dwells in you.  However,  “When he [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world, and show where right and wrong and judgment lie. He will convict them of wrong…”  John 16:8 (NEB).  (Click the link, you will find a very well written article that covers this topic in-depth).

Being complete in the spirit is why you are saved.  But the heart has to be Cleaned out of all its old habits.  It is the heart that contains all our sin, impulses, evil and wayward living.  If you really want to grow to be like Jesus, you cannot stay content being complete in the spirit, you will want God to do His heart surgery on you.  Even if you know it might hurt.

I strongly recommend this book if you want a complete study of why this cleaning is part of the Grace of God:

“Grace: The Power To Change”, by Dr. James B. Richards, 1993 ISBN: 0-924748-07-9  Look it up at your favorite book dealer.  CDB carries it.

So, if I am a dogmatic about anything, I am dogmatic about the lessons I have had to learn, by allowing the Holy Spirit to work in my life.  It is hard work, and it comes only as we are willing to submit to these changes. It is a work I was never willing to do myself.  But the Spirit of God compels me to submit to a work only He can do in me.

The fact that I am willing to change according to the will of God proves I am not being a religious bigot.  I am very open to any change the Spirit of God needs to make in me so that I will end up being just like Christ, my Lord.  I am willing to sacrifice anything and everything I love and hold dear, if it is what God needs me to do, if it will mean I get to be like Jesus.  That especially includes all the hidden matters of my heart.

You must be willing to have your heart changed.  Eventually the Spirit of God will tire of you quenching it.  If, in your wisdom (Translates to Arrogance),  you want to delude yourself into thinking that you do not need to change your heart, fine.  My invitation is only to those who, like me, have  discovered the Lordship of Christ.  Jesus is more than a Savior.  In order to understand the Lordship of Christ, a Christian must be teachable, and allow the Holy Spirit, not your opinion, to be the teacher.

Lets Be About It.

I love you,

David Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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An Opinion


USA-Map-NAVYd

“Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well-being granted to them by their world government.”

by:
Henry Kissinger
(1923- ) Former US Secretary of State
Source:
Speaking at Evian, France, May 21, 1992. Bilderburgers meeting. Unbeknownst to Kissinger, his speech was taped by a Swiss delegate to the meeting.


Here is your opportunity to say I have donned the proverbial “Tin Foil Hat“.

If you haven’t noticed, the world is changing rapidly.  What was not true a year ago, has become true today.  We see all the conspiracy nuts are actually turning out to be right, all along.  To our astonishment, we are no longer laughing at them for all their dire prognostications.

I spent a great deal of time, over the last 20 years doing a particular type of research.  Occasionally, that research took me into the “tin-foil hat” arena.  The stuff they said usually made me laugh.  I thought they were contributing to all the fear porn already being spewed all over the internet (A.K.A. inner-tube).

So, why have I joined them?  It is the same reason I have been writing you all along.  The Living God is calling some of you to be His witnesses.  He is calling some of you, just like he is calling me, to be remade into the image of Christ.  What is about to come, and soon, means that there will be a need for men and women so grounded in the Scripture, so filled with the Spirit of God, so willing to give up everything, that they become the only Jesus a condemned world will see before the Son of Perdition is revealed.

The map above was drawn up by the Navy.  It illustrates what the USA will look like when the Cascadia fault and the New Madrid fault finally gives way.  Much of the USA will be subsumed into an abyss.  The USA will be divided into three parts.  Stan Deyo (http://standeyo.com/) has been talking to anyone who will listen for over a decade about this very subject.

The interesting thing is, that what will trigger the New Madrid will be a huge disaster, but not a natural one.  I have “seen” this, and today, I received confirmation of this.  Through the auspices of the Federal Government, and a few other foreign interests, the State of Louisiana has bought in to a lie that they are cleaning up the BP oil spill.

What they are doing, actually, is every day of the week, pouring a cleaning solvent in to the gaping sinkhole that will dissolve a large salt pillar, that is plugging a huge Methane pocket, that is also preventing the ocean from undercutting the earth under the very area where the New Madrid fault line originates.  The Map above shows what will be left of the USA when they succeed.  This will happen soon.  Most of us will witness this disaster with our own eyes.  I am not the first person you may have heard this from, but I am telling you now.  It is coming.

The quote above has to do with Kissinger showing his cards.

Ronald Reagan spoke at the UN some time ago, while he was president,  (Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZP1Cfpy945c&t=0, and Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QJt6KHIX0-Q).  He spoke about the theoretical possibility of an Attack from Space that would unite all peoples of the earth.

This is the invasion Kissinger was alluding to.

Although this information has been available to the public, again, only the “Tin Foil Hat” crowd has paid any attention to it.  Here is why I mention it today.  Here in this NASA release: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/mag-portals.html is the article that describes the discover of magnetic portals.  One such portal connects the sun to the earth.  What this means is, particles can travel the vast distance between the Sun and Earth instantaneously.  It has always been a mystery why, when certain particles are detected leaving the sun, they are simultaneously detected on Earth.  All kinds of ignorant theories were tossed about.  But it boiled down to PORTALS.  Guess which book, quoted by Jesus Himself, but removed from the canon of acceptable scripture talks about these portals?  The Book of Enoch (For a ripping good translation, see this one:  http://www.forbiddengate.com/BookOfEnoch.pdf.

Here is the bottom line on this.  There will be a staged invasion from space.  The portals will be part of the explanation of how “They” got to us.  The fear this will cause will lead everyone who can be deceived to call on the world governments to rescue them.  This is going to be part of the great deception.  This, too, is coming very soon.

Along with these two things, the “Natural Disaster” that will subsume much of the USA, the fake invasion and the portals being opened in space (You probably already cannot believe what I am telling you, so it will probably be futility on my part to tell you that what WILL be coming through those portals will make the “Space Invaders” look like your favorite Aunt.)…Like I said,

Along with these two events, will be a civil war, and total economic collapse.  You have already learned, if you have been reading the news, that the Federal Government has been funding the people who want to go to war with “Whitey”.  It is OUR government that is trying to foment this civil war.  They need things to go very bad here so they can release the UN troops who have been filling up our Military Bases since these last several months.The further use of these foreign troops will be that, according to Kerry, Obama will be signing the UN Global Gun Ban during the Summer Recess.  This will give the UN the right to send foreign troops into the USA to confiscate our weapons.  (Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/03/lawmakers-urge-obama-to-reject-un-arms-treaty-as-it-opens-for-signature/)

These are only a very FEW of the things the world government is going to do in order to bring about a chaos that they create so they can introduce their own version of a “New World Order”  (Read it Here: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Henry_Kissinger_Obama_should_act_to_0106.html  and HERE: http://www.wnd.com/2009/01/85442/)

All these disasters are being planned and executed by people who have given their lives to serve a fallen angel named Lucifer.  These individuals believe it is Lucifer who should be King of all Creation.  The last time Lucifer tried this, God told him to go to Hell.   History WILL repeat itself.  With the same results.  Except this time it is permanent.

God has allowed all this history and recent activity to exist, that is, He has with held his judgement on us so that some of us may be saved.  That includes you.  He doesn’t want to see you die and be cast in to Hell with Lucifer.  He loves you enough that He sent His own son to die for your sin on the cross.  Jesus is our savior.  Believe in Him, and you will not die.  He has proven to be the Lord over Life and Death by raising Himself from the dead, and has promised all of His followers that THEY TOO will be raised from the dead (You will not have to suffer God’s judgement, your soul will live in eternity with Him, in Heaven).

The battle is always for the Human soul.  The world, and those who rule it now only want you to die.  They call you “Useless Eaters”  Here are some interesting quotes for you:

The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
Dr. Henry Kissinger New York Times, Oct. 28, 1973

Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world, because the US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries”.
Dr. Henry Kissinger

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” and “The elderly are useless eaters”
Dr. Henry Kissinger

“World population needs to be decreased by 50%”
Dr. Henry Kissinger

“We are on the verge of a global transformation. All we need is the right major crisis and the nations will accept the New World Order.”
David Rockefeller

So, here is why my blog exists.  I am to write something every day.  That is my obedience to a call.  Most of the time, I pray for several hours before I know what to write.  Today, I have been praying for several weeks (Approximately 13) before writing about this.

My blog exists to tell some of you who struggle with the return to your salvation, what I had to go through to find my way home, to God.  My hope and belief is that it will stimulate in you the same call to return to Christ.  Secondarily, but equally important, I write so that some will be saved.  I don’t know who they are, but based on all the hate mail and death threats, I am guessing someone is being affected by this.

Some have accused me of being a legalist.  This is not so, and it is not worth arguing over.  Grace and its efficacy is my message.  You can read into my blogs whatever you wish.  I am always glad to discuss it with you, even when you threaten to kill me for it.  But you will only get out of anything and anyone what you want, based on the filters you wear to see and hear.

But the Spirit of the Living God is the same.  He draws all people to him.  All are invited, few are chosen.

Here are the few that are chosen:

Luke 9:23

English Standard Version (ESV)

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

The only Jesus the world will see, during and after the afore-mentioned disasters are the people who are willing to do what Jesus asked us to do.

We need Jesus.  Our land is already condemned for kicking God out of everything.  The reason you, Christian, are still alive is to obey Christ.  This i snot a statement of legalism.  You and I are totally incapable of doing this.  Our flesh rebels at the thought of it.

It is by Grace that you are saved, and not by any work you can perform.  And it is by the loving Gentle leading of the Holy Spirit that the Saved are taught that Jesus is also Lord, and is to be followed.

Can you be saved?  Yes.  The difference between the called and the chosen is best summed up in the words of Jesus:

“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.  But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6 19-20

And the Apostle Paul’s words:  For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.  Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.  I Corinthians 3:11-17

And from Romans 12

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If Jesus Christ is your Savior, and really is, in your Heart, you are saved.  You will be raptured.  Noting can remove you from God’s hand.  But the time of the Gentiles is rapidly closing, and we need Men and Women of God. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.

It is to these brothers and sisters that I write.  If that is not you, then I hope you simply gain from what God has shown me, and enjoy the rest of your lives.

Let’s Be About It!

I Love you,

David G. Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Ye Are The Light


“In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” Genesis 22:18

Abraham was considered righteous, not because of any law, but because of his faith in the promise God gave him. It was this light of faith in God that cause even other nations to admit that there is a God, and he favors those who obey Him.

After the Law was given, it was immediately apparent that no one could keep the Law. What the Law did was to make sin more visible. Sin became a larger target because the Law pointed it out so readily. When it became apparent that the Law couldn’t work, instead of resorting to the Faith of Abraham, the religious leaders of that day added even more laws to the books.

The light that was supposed to shine for all nations to see, became a burden on Israel that snuffed out that light. Even so, the religious leaders of that day, all the way up to Jesus, made being Jewish a very exclusive thing. Instead of being the light to the world, and a serving the world, so all nations would be drawn to God, the religious leaders kicked out everyone except those who would become Jews. According to Jesus, those disciples became more of the sons of Satan than their teachers were.

The Light Came Forth

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:4-5

Jesus did not come in tot he world to eliminate the Law, but to be the complete fulfillment of that law. He was the sacrifice that would cover all the sin of the world. No other sacrifice would do. Even so, those who insisted that the law overrule the will of God, preferred to stay in their darkness. And the rest of the world remained in the darkness, except those who accepted that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, who died for the sin of the world, and rose again to prove that He not only had power over life, but over death too. This is why believers know that they have inherited eternal life.

The Light Shined

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5

While Jesus was among men, He proved He was the light of the world. He came to throw off the burden of the Religions of all time, and to shine light into the hearts of men. He raised the dead, healed the sick, made the blind to see, and the lame to walk. Many miracles Jesus did to prove He is the author of Life, and wholeness, and any who believed in Him will not taste death.

Before The Light Was Put On The Cross

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Matt 5:14

Because Jesus had empowered the disciples to be like Him, He called them the Light of the World. He did this because He knew he was going to his death, and afterward, to His Father, in Heaven.

The Light Sined Brighter after the Ressurection

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

The thing about light is, it gains strength after it multiplies. The more light you add, the brighter the shine. The more powerful the light source, the greater the reach and power of the light. Jesus returned to His Father. He left behind the power source. And the light began to shine into all the vessels that chose to receive it. And the power multiplied, and the light shone even farther.

Of the 3000 that were saved on the day of Pentecost, there were many Jews there, from all nations. They, too believed, and received. They took this light to the ends of the earth. History is replete of the writings of the Rabin that returned from Jerusalem to their respective nations, of seeing the Christ after the resurrection. Of being present when he rose into heaven. And when the Holy Spirit burst forth in the streets. It is widely believed that the gospel did not leave the area of Israel and Samaria until the Apostles took it there. But the Gospel had preceded them. It was the will of God. The Apostles were taken to these lands to help build churches, and to eliminate all the errors that had crept into the teachings of the Gospel. This included the attempt to reintroduce the Law of Moses to a people who believed, but were not necessarily Jewish.

Where The Light Lives Today

“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;” Philippians 2:15

We are called to be the image of our Lord. We know that there is nothing we can do on our own to do this. The “church” today has lost its light. The “Church” today is irrelevant.

I was taught a long time ago that, “There is not enough darkness in ALL the Universe to put out the light of one small candle.”

There is an awakening happening today, in America. There are genuine believers who recognize that the cheap grace that is taught in our churches will not save anything or anyone. Not really. There are real believers who are being awakened, who are being asked to give up their lives to become just like Jesus.

These people are the real church. Listen to the Lord, all you people. He is calling for a revival in our land. Some of you will be chosen. The rest of you will not. You are chosen the moment you realize that you must lose your selfish ways and submit everything you are and have to the will of God. That will is that we become the very image of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord of all.

Jesus is calling us to follow Him. We cannot do this until we get over our selfishness, and sacrifice all our character so that the character of Christ can live in us. This i snot something we are able to do on our own, and no flesh is wiling to submit. Anything in us that refuses to bow before our Lord is that part of us that we have refused to submit to Him.

We are running out of time.

The Spirit of God, working in us, will take all that you are, and transform you into the likeness of Jesus.

Not only will you do the things Jesus did, but greater things that that will you do.

“And he (Jesus) said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Let’s be about it.

I love you,

David

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Agains All Odds


Sandy and I like to write songs. Below are the lyrics to one of them. It makes more lyrical sense when you hear the melody, but I am hoping this speaks to you, whomever you are, in this time of your need.

This is for all of us who really struggle with our faith, especially when things get frighteningly real.

A Prayer in My Darkness

If ever I need you Lord, I need you now.

O, deliverance flow in my life.

Remove all the heartache, the fear and the doubt,

I need to see Loves’ Holy Light

When Darkness persuades me I don’t stand a chance,

Yet Your Word says that I’ve overcome;

Touch me with Mercy,

Fill me with Hope,

dry my tears,

Teach my soul how to dance.

Scatter my sorrows,

Fill me with Joy,

Let me know Loves’ peace within.

If ever I need you Lord, I need you now.

O, deliverance flow in my life.

Remove all the heartache, the fear and the doubt,

I need to see Loves’ Holy Light

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:6-7 KJV

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Alright, people, this is  a LONG one.  Go get something to drink, and maybe a snack.

“He saved us —not by works of righteousness that we had done,  but according to His mercy—  through the washing of regeneration  and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5 HOL

Leaving the Military Base for good didn’t really come as a surprise to me.  I actually knew I would be leaving last November, 2012.   What I didn’t know then is the manner I would be leaving it.   Sometimes God has to give you a nudge to get your attention.

Here’s the deal.  I realized what had gone wrong with my walk with God, some 20 years ago.  I was doing it all on my own effort.  I had fallen for a cheap grace;  I knew in my heart that the call God placed on my heart a long time ago (1986 or 7), was the kind of call that means committing myself to that call.

Here is what I mean by that:  At the on-set, I knew that what God had called me to was the kind of thing that takes total commitment.  It was the type of calling that I could not, and would not do on my own.  Not having the patience to grow up, I took matters in my own hands, ran WAY ahead of God’s will for me, and attempted to do it all on my own.  My walk WAS pretty effective at first, but after a while, I grew fatigued.  When I grew fatigued, and because I was doing this ahead of the will of God, I didn’t have the power to sustain what I was doing.

Instead of going back to where I should have been, and taking the time to grow up, and finding the time and wherewithal to go through the disciplines of spiritual growth,  I gave up on God, and I gave up on everything else that relates to Christ.

I learned a few things over these last several years about that.  One thing I learned was that I had to get back to the very basics.  I had to be re-grounded.   In 2007, I began searching for God, again.  I didn’t know, at that time, that I had not left His hands.  It just felt that way.  The loneliness and desolation I felt was an isolation of my own creation.  I learned this from being a daddy.  Sometimes, you just have to let your kid alone with their thoughts, let them be mad at you, and let them struggle with the issue at hand.  Eventually, if you have been doing your job as a parent, that kid will come back, and peace will be made between you.  Hopefully, we both learned wisdom in that process.

God, however, does not need to learn anything.  So, if I had a problem with God, Christ, religion, etc, then it was not God that was wrong, it was my perception, or understanding of God that got in the way.  God is not going to let us play with strange fire, any more than you will let your child play in the middle of the Highway at rush hour.

It took me from 2007 to the present to learn what I am going to share with you.  And this is fundamental to understanding what it means to be a Christian.

Salvation is a work of God.

Humans are not capable of saving themselves.  Humans do not think they need saving. Despite of the ever present hole we feel in our heart that tells us something is missing, that something is wrong, it does’t occur to us that we are separated from God.  Nothing fills that hole either.  Trust me, I have tried.  There is not enough adventure to satisfy that missing piece.   There isn’t enough sex, food, money, material belongings, or vacations that can touch that hole in our soul.  Still, we go out of our way to fill it, thinking that the next adventure will do the trick.  We become objective junkies of whatever it is we pursue to fill that hole; yet nothing satisfies.

Somehow, someway, because it is not God’s will that anyone should perish, you hear the gospel message.  You learn that we are sinful creatures.  You learn that your best efforts will never please God.  You learn that the wages of sin is death.  But, while you were still enemies of God, He sent Jesus as His only begotten Son, to die in your place for that sin.  And if you believe in your heart that Jesus did this for you, and if you confess with your mouth that his resurrection was proof that he has the right and authority to bring the dead to life, then you are saved.

Before, you were already dead because of sin.  Now, you have eternal life  because of Christ Jesus.

You didn’t do this by your own power.  You were going along, pursuing anything that would fill that hole in your soul.  It was God that drew you to the right place at the right time.   There really was NOTHING AT ALL you could have done on your own to get to this place. (Titus 3:5).  God draws us to Himself.  Humans have no desire to be there.  All we know is that something is missing, and it takes God to show you what it is.

What you received is faith, so that you can believe.  That too is a gift from God, and not something you already have (Ephesians 2:1-5, 8).   And here is where I get back on track.

REAL faith , saving faith, is neither defective or short-lived.  REAL FAITH endures forever (Phil 1:6 & Hebrews 11).  God gave you that gift of real faith.  It never dies if it is real.

I had to ask myself a LOT of questions at this point.  I will cut to the chase, though and go to the answers.  The questions are self evident.

There is a gospel being taught in America. This gospel is NOT being taught anywhere else.  Friends of mine, from all around the world, have talked to me about this gospel.

My friends live in a world where merely mentioning Jesus Christ in public is the death penalty.  Or, they may go to jail.  It is risky business being a believer in those countries.   The Faith and Grace and commitment they have is genuine, real, forever, and powerful.  It gets tested every moment of every day.

My friends talk to me about our cheap grace.

American churches have gotten to the point that they teach that, all you have to do is give some sort of mental assent to the fact  that Jesus lived, and you are saved.  There is no need to see a change in your daily life.  You can go on and do whatever it was that you were doing.

American churches have stopped teaching that it is sin that separates us from eternity, and fellowship with God.   It is this cheap grace that has allowed the Roman Catholic Church to say to the Moslems, your path to God is equal to our path to God.  After all, there is plenty in the Koran and the Hadith that teaches that the historical Jesus existed.  By the logic of cheap grace, that makes the Moslems Christians, and the Christians Moslems.

Cheap grace teaches that it is not necessary to do anything other than give some mental assent to Jesus.  That you are saved if you do this.  But this is NOT what the scriptures teach.  (I recommend two outstanding books by John MacArthur, “The Gospel According to Jesus“,  and “FAITH WORKS – The Gospel According to the Apostles” for a really deep discussion on this topic).

Where I went wrong in my earlier walk was that I only acknowledged God, and only acknowledged Jesus, and decided I had better get busy “doing” what “Christians” do.  And it fell flat on its face.  Because I did not have a complete understanding of the effective work of God in my life, I was not able to sustain a relationship with God.

If you are simply going around acknowledging that Jesus existed, then, you are not saved.  SATAN knew Jesus existed, and HE is not saved either.  There is coming, in our lifetime, a falling away from the Church.  That will happen when those who say they belong to Christ are given a choice to serve Christ, or serve something that will cause less stress in their life.  Humans always chose the easy path.  It takes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord, and the faith that God gave you to stand up to the pressure.  Those who live by cheap grace will discover that they are willing to sell their soul than acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Lord and the Savior.

The closest I ever got to what my friends overseas face was right after I was saved.  I was with one of my Moslem friends.  He had bought a new gun, and he wanted me to go shooting with him.  I took my gun, and we went.  I couldn’t shut up about Jesus.  He pointed his gun at my temple and said that if I mention Jesus again, he will kill me.  I mentioned Jesus.  He pulled the trigger, and the gun jammed.  God always protects children and fools.  It is foolish to commit yourself completely to Jesus as your lord.  It takes time, effort, and gets in the way of all your fun.  But if you are saved, you will know in your heart that serving God is better than anything else you could possibly ever want to do.  There is no cheap grace when you are on the firing line.  Another Moslem threatened to storm in to my home, tie me up, rape my wife in front of me, cut her throat, and then see if I will still be a Christian.  This is is actually what they do overseas to Christians.  I told him that neither my wife, or I will ever denounce our faith.  Fortunately, another friend from Lebanon stopped that guy.

In Ephesians 2:10, we learn that we are saved and fully justified BEFORE our faith ever produces a single righteous work.  It is never the other way around.  You are incapable of doing ANYTHING righteous until after you are saved and fully justified.  Then you cannot produce on your own, but only produce by the will of the Holy Spirit working in you.

This gets us to the Object of our Salvation.  The object of faith.  The object in our faith is first, last, and always Jesus Christ HIMSELF.  A creed, acknowledgment, or some sort of promise is NOT salvation.  Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord AND Savior IS salvation.  It is impossible to separate the two; Lordship and Salvation.   It is impossible to please God without it, either.  You can go and do all the works you want, but if it was not driven by the Holy Spirit, out of your love for Jesus Christ, you just wasted your time thinking that you have curried favor with God.

FAITH involves a personal commitment to Christ.  (II Corinthians 5:15).  Merely acknowledging that Christ exists is not being saved.  Going to a church does not mean you will be saved, either.  Being a deacon or a Sunday school teacher does not mean you are saved.  Saved people will do these things, but we know that it is because the Lord has driven us to do it, and we have responded out of our love of Christ to get it done.  We acknowledge that we do not have the power to do this on our own, but that God gives us the power to do it.

Works will happen if you are committed to Christ as your lord.  If you have given your being to serve Christ.  Works, however do not make you saved.

Now, here is where I get LOTS of lovely email.  Go ahead and write.  I love hearing from you.

All true believers follow Jesus.

“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 3:27-28

Simply acknowledging Jesus doesn’t get you saved.  To repent because of your sin IS to have a change of heart.  Faith and Repentance are concurrent. (Acts 2:38; 17:30; 20:21; 2 Peter 3:9)  You do not see the need to repent until God has drawn you in, and until you receive the faith to see the need for repentance.  The two happen at the same time.  So check if you have ever repented.  That is your first clue.

Repentance is not a work, either.  It is an act of GRACE.  It is by the grace of God that you are drawn to Jesus.  It is by the grace of god that you realize the weight of your sin against God.  It is an act of Grace that you are able to see what Jesus did on your behalf to take away your sin.  It is an act of the grace of God that led you to repent, to turn around and follow Christ.

You will hear Jesus’s voice IF this is what has happened to you, and in you.  You WILL follow Jesus Christ out of your love for him.  Salvation is an act of Grace, and committing to Christ is not something you can do on your own, but only through the Grace of God.  (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25)

Repentance will change your heart.  Repentance will change the way you behave. Repentance will change your priorities.  Repentance will lead you to a strong desire to please the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Repentance, genuine repentance, means you will no longer desire to do the things you used to do.  (Luke 3:8, Acts 26:18-20).  Repentance is turning from sin. (Acts 3:19;  Luke 24:47).

SALVATION IS NOT JUST A TICKET TO HEAVEN!

We read in Romans 6:23 that eternal life is the “gift of God”.  This gift also includes everything that it means to be a Christian.  It means to stop what you are doing and serve Him.  It includes every aspect of your life.  It includes all that is considered godly.  (2 Peter 1:3;  Romans 6:23; Romans 8:32)

Everything I have written above pertains to the struggle I went through from 2007 to now.  I knew that my days were numbered at the Base, long before it happened.  I knew this because I finally understood that I cannot merely acknowledge the historical fact of Jesus, and give only head knowledge for what he did.  I needed Christ to become completely and irreversibly part of my very being.

I also knew, the minute I understood all of the above, that this will call for a change in my life.  A radical change.  God brought me to faith.  There was noting I could do or read that would do it for me.  Only God.  I had to face my sin and depravity and see what that looks like to God.  It is a state of being that deserves God’s judgement of death.  But, in His mercy, he bestowed on me the faith to see that Jesus died on the cross for me, and the faith to accept that, because Christ has risen from the dead, I too will have eternal life if I believe in Him.

I knew that this will take a commitment.  Anyone who knows me well knows my passions run deep, and when I commit, I really commit.  But this commitment is not one of my own doing.  It has deeper passions, a stronger love than I have ever imagined, and a purpose that makes all my former plans and schemes look meaningless.  And the real evidence that this change is real, is the evidence of real change in my life.

The people who have taken the time to get to know me, have seen this change.  It is not fake.  I do not have to pretend to love or care.  I do not have to try to love Christ, I simply LOVE Christ, and I desire with all my heart to follow him.  I hear his voice.

I knew I would have to accept whatever change God brings to my life.  But I knew for sure, my old life was over and done with.

Cheap grace does not bring you to this point.  Cheap salvation cannot create in you the desire to follow Jesus.  Cheap grace does not change you like the real Grace God bestows on you.  Cheap grace says it is OK to keep on sinning, and you don’t really have to change anything about yourself to be saved.

Real salvation teaches you that, as long as you are human, you will still sin, but you will not pursue sin.  You will hear Jesus’ voice and you will follow him.  And when you do sin, you will feel its weight on your soul, and the interference it brings to your relationship with God.  And you will repent of that sin.  The JOY of your salvation will be restored.  Real salvation means that it will be your hearts desire to please God, and follow Christ wherever he leads you.

I am unemployed in the sense that I have not had an income since April 10th, 2013.  But that does not mean I do not work.  I witness for Christ because I love Him.  I write about the things of God because I am called to do this, and I LOVE doing this.  This is not labor.  Earthly labor saps you of your strength.  Obedience out of Love for Jesus gives you more strength, more joy, more grace, more courage, more love.

I have been writing a lot about the Church.  I have been accused of being an angry Christian.  Of that, I am guilty.  I am angry that we have sold our birthright for a cheap or alien gospel.  We are the only country on earth that has people who think they are Christians simply because they go to church, or give some kind of mental assent to the fact of the historical Jesus.  We have let other forces, spiritual forces, take over every aspect of our lives because we have been deceived into believing we are saved, when the evidence of salvation simply does not exist.

I was one of those “Cheap Grace” Christians.  Except for one thing.  I actually read the Bible.  I have seen that what the Bible says is not what is taught in our Churches.  Real salvation means a changed life.

I knew when I realized this, that the only answer for me was to surrender it ALL to His will.  I have no idea where this will lead, but I do know I am obeying.

My challenge to you is to have the stones to examine your life, like I had to examine mine.  See if your life is one that pleases God.  See if your life is one of submission to Jesus Christ as Savior AND Lord.  You either genuinely believe, or you don’t.  You are genuinely saved or you aren’t, and the fruit of your walk will be the evidence of it, and it will exist, not because YOU did it, but because, when you submitted to Jesus, HE brought forth fruit out of your walk.

Want salvation?  Let’s do what my friends overseas risk their lives for everyday.  Get real salvation.  Get real.

Now, go be about it.

I love you.

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Faith

Who is the Church? – Part II


2 Timothy 3:1-5a. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness denying its power.”

If you glossed over the above scripture, please go back and read it for comprehension sake. I’ll wait.

Now, stop and look around you at the world we live in. Does the list of things in those verses sound like today’s society? You have read in the papers about all the incredibly evil things people are doing to each other. You have seen on the news (For what the news is worth) how evil is triumphed, and those who cry out for good are called evil.

Did you know that Paul was warning Timothy about the false preachers who, in the last days, infiltrate the churches? The warning was there because of the doctrines of the false servants of God would be borne out in the followers of the false teachings. That warning is: They will produce fruit after their own kind. He was not warning Timothy of the sinners who walked around outside the church, he was talking about the church itself.

The same thing happened to Israel.

Isaiah 5:20-23 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and, and valiant men at in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”

False doctrines and falsehoods were dragged into Israel, and condoned by the High Priests. They took bribes to look the other way, they were drunkards, they pronounced that the things of God are bad, and the things that are evil are good.

Just like in the book of Timothy.

These warnings and the subsequent judgments were not against people who do not know God. They are directed at people who claim they do. Israel was appointed by the Living God to be a light unto the world, that all nations will know there is a God, and He created them all. God’s efforts at redemption are illustrated all throughout the Bible.

In Timothy’s time, the doctrines of Grace, Mercy and Love, filling you by the Spirit of the Living God, based on the believers confession of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, was being diluted.

The people who diluted the Gospel were people who appeared pious, said all the right words, and smoothly talked their way into the congregation. Once they were in, they slowly diverted the Gospel of Jesus Christ for another Gospel. They turned people, slowly from the things of God, to other things. Just like in the days of Israel, when Isaiah gave all those “woes”.

Sinners are going to be sinners. They are the ones we, as Christians, are sent in to the world to reach, love, show mercy, grace, and heal their hurts. But the worst kind of sin, one that God does not tolerate, is when HIS congregation, His “called out” ones, sit idly by and let the congregation of deceivers turn people away from the simple gospel, to some sort of psychobabble, “New Aged”ideology.

Many churches, today, endorse evil, and say that if you cannot embrace that evil, you are a hater, and not a “child of God”. They say this because their view of God is that He is a kindly grandfather that endorses everything you do, simply because he “loves” you enough not to discipline you.

Every generation, every nation, every church, every tribe that has known the Living God, then thrown off His ways was destroyed.

Look around you. America is in deep trouble. Here we are within the worlds largest field, needing harvest, and we ourselves have no idea what to do about it. We are so afraid we will “offend” someone, that we do not tell the truth. We bow to laws that call for us to disobey God, hoping that God will see we are just trying to get along with every one. We fear for our jobs more than we fear disobeying God.

Jesus promised : “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels? Mark 8:35-38 CEV

The time for compromise has ended. Jesus assured us that we WILL offend people. That all people want to hear is what they want to hear, so they will feel good about the sin they commit.

If we genuinely want revival in the land, it starts with individual repentance. There is no such thing as “corporate” salvation. There is only individual salvation. The whole congregation will not be there for you when you see God on judgment day. If you will bend your knee, confess your sin, and let the Spirit of God remove all the lusts of your heart, and all your pride, and all your lying, and any other road blocks you have placed between you and a walk with the Lord, if you will repent, and be cleansed, you can be the one person who can start this revival in our land.

When you draw other “believers” to repentance, you will have a congregation of believers who have been cleaned again, and are willing to risk it all for the gospel. When you have that, my brothers and sisters, you have a real assembly of believers. If you have a real assembly of believers, forgiven, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, who was given to you when you first believed, and through the knowledge of the word, you will be a formidable force for the sake of the Gospel.

You can feel it in your bones that time is running out. The age of church complacency is over. The age of our willful ignorance os over. The age of denying the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is over. If you want to see all your lost friends and neighbors saved, let it begin in YOUR heart. Do business with God, and watch what business He will do through you.

You do not need permission from ANYONE to obey God. Jesus gave it to you the instant you believed in Him.

“If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; (even) if we are faithless, HE remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11b-13

In my lifetime I have seen Jesus kicked out of Schools, public discourse, and now the Military.  In some towns and cities IN THIS COUNTRY, it is illegal to share the gospel. “The Religion of Peace” will cut your head off for sharing Jesus. Sharia law is creeping its’ way in to our laws, even as you read this.

When the congregation of believers gave up their right to do the will of Christ in their communities, then the government, who has proven to be evil to the very core, has taken them over. And when you dance with the devil, you way his price.

God destroys every nation that denounces Him. We, as a collective, have denounced God, or, out of fear for our own well being, have stood by and let it happen. I have repented of this sin, and challenge you, the individual, and the church, to do the same.

You can change what is about to befall this country when you can change your heart. And you can bring others to Christ while you can, and are willing.

Start with your church, because, if you have read the book of Revelation, you have read what Christ has to say to the Church at Laodicea. They are the archetype, we are the type. Time to get in shape and finish this fight.

I beg you, as a brother in Christ, to do what I had to do.

Repent, stop making excuses for not serving the Gospel, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Learn to pray again. Learn to read the scriptures again. Find others who have done this same thing. Be the light of the world. If you are saved, then you ARE the image of Christ. Change how you act, change how your churches act, and you will see a change in our beloved nation.

Nothing short of an act of God can turn our country around.

We are out of time, so let’s be about it.

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Faith

The Ethics of Hell


[NOTE: I have kept a copy of this article preserved and encrypted in the event that it is somehow altered by a person or persons other than me.]

“Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. “Ecc 3:16 -17

THE SETTING:

Ray Charles can see that the Government of the United States has abandoned all that is holy, moral, legal and right. Oftentimes, I stand in stupefied wonder that “We the People” have let this happen.

The condition we are in today didn’t happen overnight, either. I remember vividly, in the 1960’s, when God was being kicked out of school. Today, there is a concerted and overt effort to remove Christianity from the common arena.

What dumbfounds me is that:

A: What passes for a representative republic openly demonstrates, with great pride, every effort it can to destroy all that was considered good, all that was considered right, all that is constitutional, all references to the Living God, and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

B: What passes for government today openly calls Christians, and tea party members “terrorists” while giving a free pass to the people who want to kill us.

And

C: We are tolerating this behavior.

MY REACTION

I have no doubt you are aware of the same things I am.  This has been a real struggle for me. I was raised in the South where being an American is just as important as being a Christian. In fact, a lack of patriotism usually meant that your neighbors will question your salvation.

I was raised to believe that we are a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy. That the Constitution IS the baseline by which all laws are measured, and no law will exist that takes away from the constitution, in any form, shape or deed.

I was raised to believe it is honorable to die for your country, that the flag will not be desecrated under ANY circumstances, and that this nation exists because of the Living God.

Now that we have kicked God out of our lives, our nation has fallen to a very dark place.

So, my gut reaction is to be angry at the Government. My gut reaction, my real heartfelt reaction, is to take matters in my own hands. That is my gut reaction. I have this reaction because, in the 1980’s I swore an oath that includes this phrase:

“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.” 

That oath keep crashing against the shores of my conscience, and I am overwhelmed with the desire to keep that oath.

There’s just one problem with that…..

THE ETHICS OF HELL

“The thief (Lucifer, Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came that they (you and me) may have life and have it abundantly.” Joh 10:10

This part took me a while to see.  Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am very patriotic, that I am very willing to risk my life for my oath, that I have been harboring deep hatred and resentment in both the government for all of its blatant display of corruption, and a nation that tolerates it.

But I took my anger to God.

And I prayed.

And prayed.

All this time, God listened to me rant and rave. My anger had been kindled, I wanted to pour out MY wrath on these people.

This is when God reminded me of the ethics of hell.

The enemy of God doesn’t care where fear, anger, confusion, distrust, and treachery comes from, AS LONG AS IT IS THERE. I might feel perfectly righteous being angry, but my anger tempts me to run into sin, and not wait on the Lord. No other patriot would blame me for my feelings, either.

This scripture came to my mind: “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Pro 25:28

Anyone of us can justify our patriotism. We can even look down our noses at anyone who doesn’t feel the same hatred and indignation of our corrupted government.

God showed me that my anger is misdirected and I was sinning in my heart by the things I imagined should be done to fix our government.

The ethics of hell means that you will be tempted to sin, and you will be able to justify it in ways that hardly anyone else could condemn.

My willingness to lose self control opened a chink in my armor. My anger was not God’s anger. My desires for action were not Gods desires for me. And no matter how well I could justify my attitude, all I did was open a door that allowed the enemy to breach the walls of my heart. And thoughts of evil piled on top of thoughts of evil, until all I became was an animal waiting to be unleashed to his prey.

Satan does not care how much you read the bible, pray, sing in the choir, as long as you are willing to be angry and sin. As long as you give harbor to fear and confusion, as long as you take your eyes off Christ, and look at the waves you are walking on.

Satan is the author of confusion. Satan speaks death in to everything he touches. Satan divides. Satan destroys. And he is especially happy when he can distract Christians away from God. Satan knows that if we ever stop being willing to sin, if we ever approach God and confirm God’s will on our lives, and if we ever remember that our first call is Love, then Satan loses this skirmish.

MY RESPONSE

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isa 1:18

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. – Rom 12:17 – 21

After praying, and God pointing out that my fleshly response will not please Him, I asked, “Then what should I do?”

God laid it on my heart that my anger does not serve the kingdom. That taking matters in my own hands is not the will of God. God reminded me of my calling, and the fundamentals of all of our calling. Those of us who seek the Lord with all our hearts, who know that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and have accepted that free gift of salvation, know deep down that God’s ways are not our ways.

It is the ethics of Hell that demands you take matters in to your own hands. It is the Ethics of Heaven that reminds us:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Eph 6:12

In God’s army, our battles always begins on our knees before Him. We are to listen to Him, and obey whatever he leads us to do, no matter how contrary it may be to our human reasoning. The mightiest weapons we have in God’s army is prayer and praise.

God reminded me of the battle in II Chronicles 20 (A good read), where the battle was not won with swords, but with praise. This is where we become the most effective in the service of God’s army. Praise and prayer will bring the changes we need in our nation. Unrighteous anger just adds to the overwhelming noise that exists on this planet. But prayer and praise are inhabited by the Living God.

Knowing this, then, here is what I did.

I prayed for the Salvation of Obama. I prayed to God, and the more I prayed, the more it made sense to love my enemy. I prayed for the House and the Senate, as well as the Judiciary. I prayed that the Spirit of God descend on them, and everyone in Washington D.C. that they will be convicted of their sin and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That the powers that be have the courage to face the consequences of their actions, and to confess to the Lord, who will be faithful to forgive them.

I prayed this prayer, and it was one of the hardest things to do to say that I genuinely love Obama and care about his eternal soul.

It is not my place to attack anyone in the government. Not even in my prayers. As a warrior of God’s army, my battle begins with me getting out of the way of the will of God, and praying for my enemies in a way that is pleasing to God.

It is the will of God that no man should perish.

But for the most part, I needed help from the Holy Spirit to teach me how to pray for people that I so sincerely despise. It is written:

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Rom 8:26

and

“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” 1Co 5:12-13a

Do I want my sense of vengeance, or do I want revival in the land? I want revival.

Revival will begin when I pray that God forgive my attitude, and when I ask God to fill me with HIS desire for our nation. If we pray for the tyrants who rule over us, we will see a revival in our nation. But this revival must first begin when we, as warriors to God, start the battle on our knees.

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