Remember Me

Remember Me

11/30/16

How important is this phrase when it is directed towards God and His Son Jesus or for any relationship for that matter?  Do we continually remember His Word and hide its passages in our hearts or do we occasionally or hardly consider His teachings at all?  Do we realize that the physical actually reflects the spiritual?  This phrase should mean our eternity and should be held in the highest regard for our existence, yet it saddens God to know that we do not hold this phrase in high esteem but many do not hold to it at all.  This lack of understanding concerning this sacrificial process was the key that lost Israel its status and favor from God and is also the key to our survival or destruction as well.  Communion serves that the symbol of sacrifice that God established a long time ago and unless we do not conform to the origins of its creation, we shall never know true peace again. 

It is common knowledge that the act of sacrifice was practiced by the children of Israel for God’s Word states this process being completed many times on different occasions throughout the Old Testament.  The first example of a sacrifice occurred in the Garden of Eden when God gave Adam and Eve skin coverings before they left the Garden.  We have another example of a sacrifice occurring when their two sons were completing this act, we all know the story that one son lived and the other died through the actions of such sacrificial planning.  It was here that the concept of relationship with God and with the world came into focus and if we did not understand the consequences of such choices in the Garden of Eden, God gave us a dandy one here.  Why is it so difficult to get this truth through our thick skulls and allow it to grow within our hearts so that our spirit can help us fight the evil that dwells all around us?

One of my favorite Christian artists has a song out entitled “Remember Me” and the artist’s name is Steve Camp.  This song is an older one but it is still one that grabs my heart every time I hear it played for it speaks a deep meaning of life that I recognize as the most vital necessity I require to live.  The song is based on the words of Jesus when He was speaking to His disciples at the Last Supper and it is through those words of Christ that every Christian should live through each day they draw breath. Communion with a holy and pure heart represents the exact form of living that God intended us to have, for it conquers self and it places the wants far down the list of our existence all the while placing God and His Ways first.

A few years back, God shared with me some details about the communion service and what the symbols of this process mean.  I shared this information with others in an article when God had finished giving me the details.  And, typical of God He decided to add to that wonderful article and further define how important it is to have a relationship with Him based on keeping communion practices through His Word and NOT through denominational and trivial markings.  For us to understand the importance of this practice is we first must consider that the act of a sacrifice is a living and constant act.  As God has shared with us a few times previously, if the children of Israel would have understood this truth and had lived completely under the concept of sacrifice things would have been totally different in their lives.  This communion truth is still in effect and shall provide the same results as it did when Jesus walked the earth if we only decide to live under the exact set of ways.  Communion and purely understanding the phrase that Jesus said about His body and His blood we could have totally different living conditions today as well.

In Matthew Chapter 26 Jesus commands His disciples to go and prepare a room for Passover.  After the preliminaries are completed the setting is ready for the true meaning of sacrifice to be known and the vitality of such a process made pure through God and His Word.  In verses 26-29 of chapter 26 reads as follows: “As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying; Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”  What a powerful statement of truth that Jesus gives us here.  We cannot honestly live under the Blood Covenant of Christ unless we remember Jesus as being the ultimate Sacrifice for our sins, thus proclaiming that God had eternally established this process back in the Garden of Eden right before Adam and Eve left because of their disobedience.

A logical and finite question that many will ask is if this process was so important to our eternal survival why didn’t God make it a daily practice?  It is because the act of sacrifice comes from the heart and it is through the relationship with God that this act of sacrifice is based, not on a routinely construed symbol that looks good on the outside surface.  Communion is the symbolic act that initiates our relationship with God for if we truly live under the act of sacrifice we can differentiate what is right and what is wrong according to God’s Word and not the world.  Do you know that if you are not fully living under the act of sacrifice you are living under the sacrifice of the world?  While the physical act of sacrifice was not required in the Old Testament its process and procedures should have registered closely enough to the Israelite’s lives that it should have been easy to understand, but the world and its ruler were allowed to infiltrate and things changed into a routine and bore instead of a living condition.

Obedience is a direct act and result of someone who is living under communion and sacrifice.  Obedience is the daily reflection of our covenant with God and a public show to the world and the humans that live around us that we are committed to the separation of our lives from the world.  It is this reason that God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden every day for it represented the relationship that both parties desired to have.  God’s desire never wavered or fainted but it is clear that Adam and Eve had other ideas while God was away, which means that they had already established that the concept of sacrifice was a routine; a hard pill to swallow but it is truth made alive.  I guarantee that if we do not live through the origins of God’s holy Sacrifice we shall not have a daily communion and relationship with God as we are supposed to.

When the Lord’s Prayer was stated by Jesus a specific portion of that passage says that we should ask God to give us our daily bread. Now, of course, we need food in order to survive and thrive accordingly but the daily bread that is mentioned here comes from God on a spiritual level so that we may have and keep our direct communication line open with God.  If we do not strive to live through Communion with God our sacrificial process cannot be considered complete and holy either.  Daily bread is just that a constant supply which means that if we do not recognize this truth about sacrifice and Communion and the meaning behind these acts our spiritual bread supply will dwindle and if left long enough be no more.  God understands that there is no way that in our physical conditions can we ever approach His throne and look at His holiness, but it is through the Covenant of His Son’s blood that allows us the privilege to enter His presence. 

The communion table is the living sacrifice symbol that Jesus wanted His disciples to understand historically and currently and what He wants us to understand historically and presently as well.  The Communion table is a relationship builder or a relationship destroyer.  If a person or nation lives under the confines of God then their relationship with God is built up and their relationship with the world is torn down or destroyed, vice versa is accordance as well.  

This is why it is more important to obey God than to complete a sacrifice to God for if one does not wish to obey God (everyday activities) then the reasons why you sacrifice plays into the hands of religion instead of relationship.  If one believes that Jesus is alive and does not live like He is alive inside them, then they have fallen into the routine sacrificial status and therefore are in danger of being spewed from God’s mouth.  Anyone who is in a relationship must know that it takes two sides to make that relationship work and when this is present there are no demands that need to be made for both parties are willing to sacrifice their efforts to honor the other party.  There is no wonder as to why the ruler of the world wishes so much to destroy every relationship that God deems as holy.

I have mentioned an old song before entitled “To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice” written and sung by Keith Green.  It is because of this truth that Keith wrote this song and it is also through this truth that many people did not wish for him to publish this song or wanted him to change the words so that it was not so harsh.  But Keith flat out refused and kept the Word of God intact and proclaimed this truth until the day he tragically lost his life.  Because it continues the truth that through daily obedience to God one shall keep the law of His Word with a pure and whole heart.  It is also through this truth that should be the defined reasoning that we wish to be separate from the world, for Communion and Sacrifice commend the loss of self and the choice of God instead.  A relationship will only grow if constant communication is achieved, not just on an occasional basis. 

Church, if your desire to obey God every day of your life and to be separated from the world with every breath you take, you must know that you are in danger of losing your eternal life and be separated from God.  If it is not your desire to live under Covenant and have daily communion with God, then your sacrificial offering will turn sideways and not be a sweet smell to God’s nostrils.  God does not care for ritual, He cares about relationship.  God cares about having a relationship with you, wholly, holy and complete with no worldly input present.  The desire to rid yourself of the worldly baggage represents a daily communion status with God and a relationship that is advancing through God’s ways. 

It is through this lack of daily relationship and communion with God and a retaliatory display sacrificial penance that has brought us to the position that we are in today.  Our nation is sinking fast and since we are considered the ideal standard of living for the world that means the rest of the nations will sink just as fast, maybe even faster than we are.  We can turn to any human being for help and answers and all we will find is a failing system that will lead to one conclusion, our demise.  Only if we return to God and allow Him to restore our daily bread, to keep His command of remembering Him as the true, the only, and complete sacrifice necessary to be blameless before God can we remain in Communion with God.

We are precious in God’s eyes and it is His desire to ensure that everyone under His heart live with Him eternally, but this cannot and will not occur unless we surrender our selfish wants to Him and turn from the ways of the world.  Taking communion does not automatically mean that you are living under Covenant with God, nor does it mean that your status as a Christian is present either, but it is your daily communion and desire to live for God that represents a relationship with God and thus you shall be remembered by Jesus’ Father just as you have remembered His Son.  Church, allow God to search your heart and see if there is anything part of it that is hindering your Communion with God.  Jesus was in total Communion with His Father and it is through our daily bread of obedience that will allow our sacrifice to eternally live in the heart of God and be the proof that you really do understand who we remember.

When we remember a family member that has left us what type of memories do we project towards them?  It has always been said not to speak ill of the dead but in reality, there are those who we have encountered that it would be hard not to say things of ill nature.  This is a sad representation of the human race but unfortunately, this type of bad remembrances has defined many a life throughout human history.  Do we remember God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in like contexts, or do we regard them as a different category?  God has always interjected into our hearts that He wants nothing less than for us to have a daily conversation with Him about any subject and topic and Jesus said the exact same thing at the Last Supper.  So why do we continue to lack in this area when it evidently is so important that we have such direct communication with God?

My grandparents are all gone now and for the most part, I can only really recall three of the four because my grandfather on my dad’s side passed away when I was very young.  I hold tight the words that my parents tell me about pawpaw and how he loved me and wanted nothing but the best for his grandchildren.  Sometimes I sit back and remember the times we spent in Arkansas with my grandmother yet I could not help but do my best to include pawpaw in my thoughts.  I was older when we lost my grandmother on my mother’s side but my memories of her still remain even though my age was still considered to be of the younger sort.  Pimento cheese salad and wilted lettuce salad are two of the memories I have about my grandparents and as long as I have breath and a holiday passes where a family meal is served, I shall remember my grandparents and the influences that they continue to have in my life with those dishes.

How can we honestly say that we remember Jesus and His life if we do not come to Him every day?  How can we honestly believe in God if we do not daily seek to understand His ways and laws?  How can we remember the ways of God if we do not hide them in our hearts and teach them to our children?  If we do not live with God and communicate – honest communication – with Him and then turn around and say we do, they we are liars for if we cannot remember things about our grandparents and parents whom we have most likely grew up with then how can we say that we know God whom we have not physically witnessed?  

Judas can be used as a prime example of this portion of the article and I can guarantee that we can deny Jesus just as he did.  We claim on a daily basis that we want to hope and truth in our lives and to make our nation great again, these acclamations are noble in themselves but are rendered a foolish fantasy if God is not placed first in our hearts.  It is through God’s Son and the blood that He shed for us that will represent the only way that these requests from our hearts are granted, but we shall never see our greatness return until we surrender our crowns and place them at the feet of Christ first.  Take heed to the Covenant in which Jesus proclaimed during the Passover for it is the only way that we can stand before God and be blameless in His eyes.  Church, God loves us with all His heart and it is our duty to drop the world and its standards and pick up the Covenant arms of Christ and teach the world the true gospel of salvation.

DLB

We Have Lost our Toughness

We Have Lost Our Toughness

11/28/16

Being tough is a truth that many of us would like to believe that we harbor without uncertainty, but when the water meets the paddle do we have the stamina to remain even functional?  The world proclaims that being tough requires one person standing up and leading a charge towards a fallible goal while God says that toughness comes from His ability to bring humanity out of the world to advance His Kingdom.  A person that is tough will choose to stand out from the world and proclaim their Creator as the one who can deliver us from the problems of the world.  This reality and truth concerning life have not been fully recognized ever since Adam and Eve chose to allow Sin into our existence and until we return to the complete authority of God this desired state of toughness shall not be witnessed again.

When we ascertain our physical status amongst our peers the main area that we contribute this characteristic is to present a physique to the human eye that outwardly stands above others.  There is no way possible that I could stand up to a body builder and challenge her / him to a wrestling match, for it would not be any contest.  But this inevitable defeat of mine would result in my “physique” to become a broken relic that probably would take years to fit back together and serve no purpose but to present the obvious.  When I was young, the majority of my junior high school and high school years were spent in Texas which meant that since I was a male and living in Texas that I would follow the majority of other males and play football.  Some of you have heard this story of mine but it is relevant because it touches on a striving for a goal that could be costly down the road.

Being white and short gave me two disadvantages when playing this sport of football for almost everyone else on any team I played for was taller, bigger and stronger than I was.  This meant that in order for me to have a chance at playing for one of these teams I had to do things better, harder, faster, and be more aggressive than the others.  In turn, this activity of mine would also cost me not only down the road but on immediate accounts as well for when I gave it my all and hit those bigger players they remembered that the next time the play came to my side.  Physicals were a requirement to play, of course, and each year as I stood in front of the doctor each one would tell me that after I finished growing and began to settle down in age that I would regret this decision of mine to play football.  I laughed them off for I was feeling great and had no problems at all, but as time has advanced so has the truth that they preached to me, for now, I am one tight and painful mess.  Combine this truth along with the fact that I continually made fun of my parents about their soreness and stiffness when I was young and one can plainly see that God has a sense of humor in many areas of our lives.

Was I tough enough to play with the big boys?  Yes, I was and I did accomplish that goal when I was younger and even today I am still seeing the results of that combative attitude I had when I was young.  But the questions I had to answer were if all of my efforts back then were worth it and how much toll did my enthusiasm take?  Looking back at those days I now understand what the doctors were warning me about for I live with the results of my youth every day.  I get to talk about these experiences to some people on occasion but have no real exciting memories to attach so that my time in football would be popular and meaningful.  With one great exception and that exception being of how to work together as a team so that we could be the best representatives of our town every time we stepped on the practice field, the stadium, classroom or in the community and it was through this basis a long time ago that taught me a great principle of toughness when it comes to my eternal life and presence on this earth.  For if we properly take care of the physical the spiritual will follow and supply the additional strength needed to maintain both.

It is through this example of my life that I found out that it is not just the physical aspects of my life that present toughness, for as my body continued to get older my “toughness” status began to slow and fade away, a fact that no matter how hard I tried to slow continued to break down and reveal itself.  In reality, my toughness was being given up rather than me losing it for my body could no longer sustain what the world would call a “fit” person.  This means that the world requires a standard that one should live within and uphold as long as they can but as time tells this status is always given up to the next generation or nation for if this subject cannot viably compete on a routine basis, they become ineffective and useless to society then thrown away as part of history and which needs to be placed in a museum for storage.

In Genesis Chapter 2 we find that God has completed the creation of the earth and all of its beauty and we also know that God has included the creation of humanity which He looked down upon with great pride for we were the prized element of the advancement of His Kingdom.  A question coming from those who are not schooled in the Bible, including many Christians, is why would God create such a race and then allow it to become destroyed through their courses of lives?  This is a wonderful question and it is easily answered but for many hard to accept and to live by after the answer is known.  We have this answer in Genesis 2 when we read that God had everything that mankind needed for their survival planted in the Garden of Eden.  However, God cannot have idleness amongst His existence so He gave the humans a job and that job had two parts to it. 

The first part of the job is given to us in Genesis 2:15 and it states as follows: “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.”  This single verse tells us that God gave Adam a job to do and through that job he would establish his toughness in order to complete the second part of the job that God had for him.  See, if one cannot handle or keep up the physical then there will be no way possible for them to keep up the spiritual for both aspects are created in our lives and one cannot correctly function without the other.  Adam now had a physical job to complete and with the Garden of Eden being full of life it had to be groomed and kept neat for if not the blessings of its life would soon overwhelm the reality of its existence.  Does this type of living standard sound familiar to anyone?  Even back in the Garden of Eden, God’s blessings needed to be distributed according to their presence for adequate life to be displayed.

The second part of Adam’s job was given to him in Genesis 2:16-17 which states as follows: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”  We have the authority of a complete God at work here in these three verses of Scripture and what is so fascinating about these verses is that God follows the exact same pattern and order of the job that He gave to Adam as He did when He created Adam with the physical being given first and then the spiritual given.  This passage is another perfect example of how complete God is and how His majesty can never be compromised on any level for He has no rival or equal.

The spiritual aspect of Adam’s job was not only to physically include the tree of good and evil but the spiritual aspect of his job was to understand that his spiritual condition was at stake as well.  Adam was not stupid or created dumb for God would have taught him and Eve what the essentials were to physically and spiritually cultivate their jobs while in the Garden of Eden.  The physical came first which meant that they had to be physically tough in order to complete the daily exercises of grooming the garden, but more importantly they knew that the physical had to give way to the spiritual because it was that part of their job that had a consequence if not followed.  The consequence was a result that they did not understand but knew when God spoke of its concerns and  He made His point clear enough for mankind to know that it would not be a good outcome.

Some question Adam and Eve’s behavior in the Garden of Eden and they try to defend their actions when it comes to the consequences of their actions.  But if we do not understand that our physical lives directly relate to the spiritual conditions of our lives we cannot understand the importance of both working in accordance with God’s ultimate purpose for our presence on earth.  God gave Adam and Eve the perfect setting to accomplish this feat but instead of cultivating their lives in the manner in which they were created they chose to go their own route and listen to the new individual who came into their lives and formed a different yet similar type of relationship with them. God has mentioned this point a couple of times before but we must remember that Satan attacked the spiritual aspect of our lives and not the physical for through his own life he understood exactly what it meant if the spiritual was compromised and what it would lead to in the future.  While there are multiple examples in God’s Word that give descriptions about Satan attacking the physical but it was the spiritual aspect that he went for first and therefore set the tone for future attacks on the physical.

Why did Adam and Eve not see this evil being coming and have the knowledge to thwart his activities?  The answer is obvious for when Satan decides to attack he looks at weak areas of our lives in order to gain access inside.  The answer to this question is that they had lost their toughness, the correct toughness and the order of their failure soon became a reality.  It is logical that Satan noticed this weakness about Adam and Eve at some point while he was observing their activities.  His ongoing and growing relationship with Adam and Eve must have reflected such information as the time with them began to expose, for it had to have become evident to him that their objectivity in their job automatically placed them with a bulls-eye over their spirits.  It is hard for me to believe that they did not know what they were doing when they began to slip up on their responsibilities, where does it say that they did?  We are talking about humans here and every human follows patterns due to their free will, therefore, we can be certain that they did as such.

They had given up their dominion through the lack of keeping up the jobs that God gave them, which means that they had lost their way and had chosen to go their way just as the one who was now heavily influencing them did some time before.  They began to shy away from the toughness that God required them to have for conversational pieces instead.  It was through these conversational pieces that small details began to be missed and doubts about such dominion began to grow.  The atmosphere was more relaxed and Adam “even came home early” a time or two but what they did not realize was that through the lack of completing their jobs they were breaching their dominion for the one who hated them the most and wanted nothing less than their deaths before his eyes.

My dad always told me never to get into a fight with anyone and to try my best to avoid one if one presented itself.  He also told me that if I ever did get into a fight that I had better win or else he would not be happy with me on all sides of the issue.  Up until this very day I have not been in any physical altercations with an opponent and I hope that this streak of non-fighting continues for the rest of my life but I do know that I have been fighting a more serious battle for many years and it has to do with my presence on this earth.  It is a truth that if we do not have physical toughness that we cannot protect what we deem important but in the same light we must remember that if our physical is not tough in the right areas our spiritual will become vulnerable as well and it is this truth that Satan used his manipulative authority to invade Adam and Eve’s spiritual aspects and twist their priorities enough to destroy their way of living for eternity.  Adam and Eve had lost their capability to fight on both levels through their obsession with Satan and the world that he presented.

One can be conditioned enough to outlast any opponent but that stamina is useless unless one understands how to properly defend oneself against the punches thrown at you by your enemy.  Once we allow our self to rule our beliefs we automatically fall down on the physical jobs that we are required to maintain our dominion and then if we continue to fall down on this aspect of our life then the second and more important aspect will fall shortly as well.  God knew exactly what His methods of job giving meant and since He is a complete God He explained the details to Adam very clearly.  God gave Adam the ability to defend his dominion with both aspects of the job God gave him, it was his place to then teach Eve as well and it is evident that he did so through the words she used in the next chapter when it became crunch time.

Our presence on this earth provokes our enemy whether or not you believe it and through this provocation God wants us to understand exactly how to properly defend ourselves through the undefeated methods of existence.  This preparation and toughness have been challenged on a minute by minute basis for as long as creation has been around yet no one and no other created being has even come close to even stepping foot in the ring with God.  But if we do not understand and then apply the correct concepts of our dominion we shall never have the success in life to keep the Gardens of our lives clean and pure.  God has provided us with the perfect plan to restore our dominion and through this restoration once again live in the desired peace that everyone craves and needs.

How do we build up or re-buildup our defenses?  Start working on your personal dominion and allow God’s laws to become the driving force behind your stance.  God’s Word is the one key that holds all the answers that societies around the world need yet we kick God to the curb and continue to lose ground in life and complain and blame others for our failures.  When our physical dominion is in ruins there is absolutely no true way to properly defend our spiritual realm and thus are sitting ducks for our eternal placement away from God.  The old adage that goes one cannot be lined up vertically if they are not first lined up horizontally is a true one because unless your physical dominion and job are following God’s law then there is no way that you are going to be tough enough to fight off the spiritual.

Church, you are a sitting duck for the spiritual darts of our enemy.  In fact, you voluntarily are opening up your shirt and providing him with an unobstructed view of your spiritual heart and when those arrows hit you stand in amazement as he laughs at you as you fall to your knees, not in worship but in defeat.  You do not know how to protect and to complete the physical aspects of your job and therefore cannot fulfill the mission that Christ commanded us to complete.  Your existence is null and void and represents only a relic of a reminder of what you once were and held.  We are no longer tough in both aspects of our job because we have chosen the world over God and are following it down its yellow brick road. 

If we would follow these three verses of Scripture and plant those words into our hearts both aspects of our job shall return to their full capacity and we will once again be restored to the same status as Adam and Eve before they fell.  But if we continue to ignore God and the blessings of work that is needed in our lives we shall eventually be cut off as a nation and as the Church for our defenses shall become as Swiss cheese and we shall have no power or strength to hold on any longer.  God is calling us to repent and to once again complete the jobs that He has commanded us to do.  Turn your eyes away from the world and focus them back on our Creator and if we do so He has promised to heal our land so that we may dress it and keep it and not eat of the forbidden tree.

DLB

Betrayal

Betrayal

11/27/16

The use of this word is a harsh one for all parties involved for there are foregone conclusions as to why any act of betrayal came to fruition. There are countless examples of this type of behavior in our history and when this type of setting is recognized, of course, emotions shall run high. God understands betrayal for He was exposed to it long before humans ever were created and while He continues to be the light for this condition we tend to ignore it. Jesus dealt with denial and betrayal on a personal level and while many do not recognize the actual events of Judas, he still is alive and well in today’s Church. We need to put God back in control of our lives so that we can recognize the light that God is shining us and maybe we will change our hearts before we hang ourselves.

All of us have had a friend, an acquaintance, or someone we know who has either betrayed us or was betrayed. The feeling of betrayal is hard to accurately describe without stating that it feels like an arrow has found its way straight to your heart or inner core. It is a person’s worst fear for them to feel this way because it seems like every defense you put up is quickly breached and your security no longer exists. It does not take humans very long to make a long list of opportunities that have gone bad and can be placed into this category and many times having a betrayal list is longer than the “good times” list. Whatever the scenario might have been it is hard for us to forgive these situations and those who drove this setting into place, but even Jesus had His moment of betrayal and it was through this process that His appointed time on earth soon came to an end.  But as we shall see, Jesus allowed the will of God to be completed instead of taking matters into His own hands, which He had every human right to do so.  It is this point where the betrayed and the betrayer part ways and confirm the truth about the heart that lies within.

This article is going to address another issue that has been a popular concern, and a growing one over the past few decades and it has to do with the belief of behavior and the consequences of the actions involved. The biblical setting of this article will be out of Matthew Chapter 26, Mark Chapter 14, and John Chapter 13 with these passages commonly known as the Last Supper and while the true issue here in these passages is about betrayal it is the act itself and the consequences of such an act that will be getting the attention that God wishes for us to hear. This article may seem to be cruel to some and common sense to others but always keep in mind that what is contained in God’s Word is just that, His heart and His Word all wrapped together as truth. While almost everyone understands the act that Judas agreed to complete, but what about the Passover feast itself and how things continued after Judas was dismissed.

Over our recent past, humans have begun to justify their sinful behavior with the term love and how God could not hate anyone or send them to a place where He was not present. Many have used settings in the Bible to justify these sayings and beliefs with many using Jesus as their example of why God is perfectly ok with sin and not being too concerned about its presence amongst our lives. Some have even justified their lifestyles so much to proclaim that Jesus rewrote the laws of the Old Testament in order to be on everyone’s equal beliefs. This is such a lie from the pit of hell and one that will claim so many lives for the ruler of the world and not God.  If God was “ok” with sin and its presence then why did He kick out Adam and Eve for their disobedience, why did He utterly destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, and most importantly why did He allow His only Son to die a sinner’s death for no reason?  This type of logic does not line up with God’s Word and it never shall either.  One also has to contend that this type of behavior and beliefs from humanity did not originate here but in ancient times as well which throws us into the same type of consequential category as the ancients.

To remind ourselves of God’s position, we must remember that God cannot change any word that He has set into motion, He cannot change any law that He has proclaimed and put into practice, God cannot alter His beliefs to accommodate anyone, god is all knowing, all seeing, all powerful and is the Creator of the universe and all living things, and has no rival. This means that god cannot do anything wrong at any time of the day or night. Therefore, what is spoken in God’s Word is the truth and according to His Word cannot be changed. In other words, God cannot betray His own existence.  While this truth is hard for us to wrap our hearts around sometimes, it must be at the forefront of our existence.  Sometimes the Word of God can seem a bit harsh but its words originate from a being that is totally serious when it comes to your eternal placement, and in that manner, God cannot afford to play games or sugarcoat the truth.

In Matthew Chapter 26 we read that Christ is preparing for the Jewish time of Passover, which is one of the largest and most sacred traditions that the children of Israel have, for it marks the event in their history of when God passed through their captive state and after He demonstrated His authority over all humanity, freed His people from their situation.  When Jesus was alive He was always pointing to this time of the year during His ministry but like most humans they (we) missed it and carried on with this tradition as a blind symbol of remembrance of their history only. 

There is one act in this passage that defines how things will be when God decides it is time to call His people home and what will occur when the truth is being revealed.  Many of us have read this passage of Scripture numerous times but I have to admit that this passage and this little detail that God is going to show us is an important one for our lives today.  I must admit that it shall not make some people happy and it even goes to the point of angering a few, but it is a truth that we need to take into our hearts and apply it to those who are being fooled into believing a lie from Satan himself.  Yes, it is that important of a detail and it is one that we need to use when someone questions us about our stance on sin.  We must always remember that God is a complete God and when He places something in motion He must adhere to it for eternity and cannot change that Way in any shape or form.

We know that not every act that Jesus did is recorded in the Bible, for if all that He did was written down the enormity of the Bible would simply be overwhelming in size and content.  We have sufficient amount of truth in the Old Testament alone to warrant a truthful manuscript of the life of Christ, and when you add His life in detail in accordance with the New Testament there can be no mistake that He alone was the Son of God and that He had a specific purpose for His existence on earth.  There have been and still are plenty of times of when I study Jesus’ actions on earth that I wish I had more details but through the amount of words that are in the New Testament and Old Testament it is possible – with the help of God of course – to piece together what the true mission of Christ really is to our lives.  But it is this part of the gifts of our physical bodies that God has given us to enhance God’s Word, through His Word the details of the completeness of God, which means that through the completeness of God means that He is complete through His Word and not ours finite imaginative one.

Only a few chapters before Matthew 26, we find that Jesus was on a journey to call His disciples and to change their lives forever.  I sit and wonder how I would feel if I was one of those 12 men whom He called to give up everything and to personally walk and talk with Him on a daily basis.  I understand that is exactly what He has done through this ministry of mine and I would not change it for anything, but to have the opportunity to see His flesh and to hear the voice of God speak personally to me on a daily, right in front of my eyes; I know one day this will occur but until then, I shall wait.  Can you imagine how these 12 men felt when some dude walks up to you and says something like, drop your fishing line, give up your known lifestyle, and come with me and I will teach you to fish for men instead?  It is frightening enough to have people come up to you and ask for directions to the supermarket much less ask you to change your entire world and go with them.

What a motley crew Jesus took as well, for none of them were part of the religious order known as the High Priest or priests of the Jewish religion.  They were all working class and common men who worked hard for their wages each day; with a few shady characters thrown in the mix for example purposes.  Each one of these men was chosen because of what Jesus saw in their hearts and what their hearts would accomplish for His Father’s Kingdom.  If you wish to put it in this manner, then one can say this was the beginning process of Jesus building His Church through Him and not the world – let the stepping on toes begin.  This means that God knows that there will be people who attend that really want to understand His Word and that there shall be those who go through the motions even as they sit in the presence of God.

We also have plenty of examples of how the disciples really did not understand what Jesus was saying to them, because when you argue about who is going to be the greatest or first in the class while your teacher is about to tell you that He is going to die for the world, one gets a pretty good idea that even after a time with God some just miss it.  And, if we are truthful, many of the people who sit in the pews in the church every Sunday fall into this category as well.  Do you realize that it is these types of people today that are a direct mirror image of the original Disciples of Christ?  Stepping on toes part 2. 

However, there is a pattern here that Jesus must have recognized and it is one that must have concerned Him but it was one that while concerned Him He did not exclude His disciples from a certain high and holy day that was approaching.  There is no doubt that Jesus loved each and every one of the men He chose to serve Him as disciples and it is through this act that brings us to the meat of the article and the point that God wishes for us to understand.  It is a passage that has deep meaning to those loved ones of yours that choose to live in a world of sin rather committing themselves to be separated from the world.  It is this passage that drives a nail into the lie that says it is ok to do what I want because God loves me and will not let me go to hell but live in heaven.

Really?  Can one ascertain this truth about God from the Passover and Last Supper portion of the Bible?  I thought it was all about Jesus telling His disciples about His death and how it was going to change the world forever.  I thought it was just about how Jesus was establishing the New Covenant that God had promised.  It is all of those things but there is one significant detail that needs to be remembered and it actually occurs before the supper ends and thus gives us the truth about the heart and what kingdom drives it.  A detail that many people use to justify their acceptance of their sinful life occurs here through the pattern of acceptance, yet it is the separating factor that Jesus calls out during the Passover supper and the final choice is instantly made.

Matthew 26:26 – 29 states as follows:  “And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover. Now when even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?  And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.  The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man who by whom the Son of man is betrayed!  It had been good for that man if he had not been born.  Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I?  He said unto him, Thou hast said. 

When I was a kid and living in Cleveland, Texas, our church put on a play on the Last Supper one Easter season.  The entire play was conducted as the disciples arrived, as Jesus arrived, His words to them and their actions after what Jesus said during that time. Each disciple was given a monolog to depict their life as the one who might betray Jesus on that fateful night and also to reflect on their time with Jesus while He was on earth.  I remember this play quite well for it touched my young heart about how a friend or a group of friends could end up costing a person their physical life; this was God even!!  

The entire play was a call for everyone in the building that night to allow God to search their heart and to see if there was any betrayal residing inside, a powerful message of guilt, repentance, and restoration.  At that moment in my young life, I did not understand the exact part of Judas and I probably do not still but through God’s wisdom He has pointed out this detail that needs to be shared with those who play with God and His Ways.  We can never forget that God is a complete God and if He does something once He must honor that act and then act accordingly with that act in the future.  See, God is a complete God and He demands that we be complete in Him as well and we just cannot do that if there is any betrayal in our hearts.

The point that Jesus made was that someone in that room that was participating in the Last Supper was going to betray Him and it was startling enough that each person in the room asked a specific question, even the guilty party.  Jesus did not kick Judas out of the ceremony even though Jesus knew that it was going to be Judas who was to complete the act. Jesus gave Judas plenty of time to change his mind and to stop the proceedings of betrayal from occurring, but instead, Judas chose to continue what he had already committed himself to and carried out the act within a matter of a few hours.  Even after Judas asked the known answered question of is it I, Jesus did not kick him out, continuing the time that Judas had the opportunity to repent and stay with Jesus and the others.  It is at this point where Judas finally leaves and does not return but he chose his path (the world) and went to the priests.  How many of us have taken Communion with betrayal in our hearts?  Even Judas participated in this act of salvation but in the end chose to follow through with his act of betrayal.

Chasing a rabbit here for a moment but it is an important rabbit to remember.  The spirit of the Chief Priests and the High Priest was not of God but conducted through the spirit that Satan manifested in their hearts.  Yes, the crucifixion of Christ was the will of God and it serves as the high point of restoration for every human being.  God understood this and allowed His only Son to be sacrificed for our lives, this was planned and ordained by God way back in the Garden of Eden and even though it was a grotesque procedure, God knew it had to be done.  The rabbit here is that Judas listened to the spirit of the world instead of the spirit that Jesus portrayed and taught him, which means that the spirit of the world is totally against God and will do anything in order to promote its agenda.  The spirit of the world does not care about your life nor does the ruler of this world and if he can get you to accomplish a single act to push God’s Kingdom backward – or to believe he is doing this – then he has won.

The feast of Passover was a planned out ceremony that everyone that participated in did not leave until all activities were completed.  The disciples must have questioned as to why Judas left the building before the evening festivities had concluded, but it must not have been such of a concern for the activities continued without major interruptions.  Jesus was clear in His statement to Judas concerning the deed that he was about to do and through this statement of Jesus God was allowing Jesus to eventually die.  A “gift” that Satan must have been thrilled about yet something had to be telling him that a huge event was about to take place that would infuriate his eternal being. 

The important issue here is that Judas was not part of the party that left the upper room and went out into the night singing, but he was already in the process of finalizing his betrayal act.  There must have been a huge battle going on inside Judas’ head and heart but the forces of peer pressure from the priests must have been just as intense.  While the religious spirits were jumping with joy the entire Kingdom world was waiting with bated breath to see what would occur next.  But Judas did this act willingly which meant that he was ok with it and that his belief in the world was far greater than what his eyes had witnessed and his ears had heard over the past few years.  Does this pattern sound similar or even identical to how people believe today?  It is this truth that God wants us to understand about, that when you do not accept the ways of God you are in a betrayal status.  

Not only are you betraying God but you are also betraying your individual status of existence and creation as well.  God will allow you to continue this belief of yours but at some point in time, God is going to move on and follow His will for His will shall be done always.  For those of you who are living outside the guidelines of God’s Word please listen to what God is saying because it is your eternal life that is on the line here.  You cannot live and serve the world and expect God to ignore your unrepentant heart.  Jesus did allow Judas all the time to change and repent but in the end, HE DID NOT.  It is this point that is dangerous to those who believe they will be secure in their sins when it comes time for them to stand before God.  Judas’ actions prove that once a person chooses the way of the world they shall follow it even when God is sitting face to face with them; a hard subject but one that is true.  As stated a moment ago, how many justifications did Judas go through in order to complete his act of betrayal?  Probably just as many as those who justify their sinful acts and still claim to call Christ their Lord and Savior, I am sorry but it cannot and will not mix.

As it is stated above there is no doubt that Jesus loved Judas, even when He told Judas about his “secret” plan against Him.  We all know what occurred to Judas after his act of betrayal of Jesus and it does not have a happy ending.  I am confident that even after Judas completed the act of betrayal and he asked Jesus to forgive him that Jesus would have done it in a heartbeat.  It is hard for a human to understand this truth but it is just that, the truth.  Judas did not reenter into the setting until his act was to commence, and it was there that Judas betrayed the Son of God.  In Jewish tradition, there is a holiday that occurs each year that demonstrates how important it is to confess every sin and to forgive everyone against you.  In this tradition, one is supposed to examine their lives even down as far as the lint inside the pant pocket and to remove it from your life.  It is this type of examination that God wants to perform in our lives as well, so it means every sin and not just a few chosen ones.  God loves you this is a correct statement but He cannot overlook sin and justify His love based upon a lie you have spoken into existence.

God is calling His people to repent wholly and completely, not just partially.  It is vital that we give up the things of the world for chances are when it comes time to choose we shall choose the world instead of God.  When I was a young man the state seat belt laws came into effect, and many of my friends and including myself believed that we did not have to wear seat belts because if we were about to be in an accident we could put our feet up on the dash and protect ourselves in that manner.  The only problem is that accidents occur much faster than we can react to such a motion, which means that the theory of putting your feet up is not going to help you in any way.  This is the same type of concept that those who choose to live in sin have when it comes to their eternal life and therefore will project the same outcome as well.  Please, think about this and allow God to challenge your heart to return to Him.

God is calling us to repent totally and allow His restoration process to occur in our lives.  The most important thing that we need to keep close to our hearts is that we need God and Jesus in our lives and that we need to come to Him every day and make sure our lives are wholly in His will and not ours.  Do not be fooled by the worldly version of God’s love for it is a lie.  The ONLY way that we can understand God’s Love is to study His Word and hide it within our hearts.  Church, repent and allow God to change your status from a worldly one to a holy one.  And please know that there shall come a time when things become tough and hard decisions will be made and we need to be engrained in God’s Word to survive both physically and more importantly spiritually.

DLB

Under the Microscope

Under the Microscope

11/26/16

We would like to believe that we have the ability to move about freely on this earth with no one specific pair of eyes watching our every movement.  We continually seek this peace and fun-loving lifestyle but in truth, we are under the scrutiny of millions of people, right down to our thoughts and choices of the securest matters.  It has become a common theme that if our lives do not end immediately after we do something wrong, that we have gotten away with this act and therefore not subject to the laws of man and more importantly the laws of God.  But there is a God who sees all activities of mankind, so close in fact that He knows them before we even complete them, so why don’t we begin to follow His Ways and leave the faulty ways of mankind behind because all of us are under the microscope of God and nothing gets past His loving eyes and heart.

Cells are the most important organism that we have to identify conditions and diseases in the laboratory.  In some cases we can detect certain levels of chemicals in the blood without the direct usage of a microscope but even when the fancy instruments measure their results their mechanism of detection, in theory, uses such a magnifying lens to obtain the minute volumes of elements that circulate through our bodies.  When we inform the physician that a person may have leukemia, a urinary infection, or a skin or body cavity infection a microscope is used to determine exactly what infecting organisms are present so that proper treatment of the problem can be completed.  Without the microscope, the patient would receive a guess about how to treat their issue and given antibiotics that may not work, then the infectious bacteria would be allowed to grow even more and produce further damage to the body that could even result in death.

I have always been fascinated with the microscope and how with a single set increase in magnification one trained eye can see exactly what is floating around in areas that are causing pain.  With humans being in all shapes and sizes the effectiveness of such a microscope can only be obtained if the oculars (lenses) are conformed to the face of the user and the oculars are focused properly onto the slide contents or tissue plate on the stage (platform) of the scope.  It is then that the prepared object can be adequately viewed in order to understand what the source of the problem is to the patient.  Many times this simple process is all that is needed to know the patient is suffering from but in other occasions the process takes a bit more time and staining to receive the desired answers for treatment.  To save time for all medical professionals concerned, it would be wonderful if the microscope itself could automatically adjust itself to the required specifics every time before the human even places their eyes to the scope. This is not possible but there is one being that continually has His eyes focused on our lives and it is through this focused truth that God loves us with His entire heart, but at the same time He sees our need for Him and prescribes His truth and medicine to restore us to His ways but as in all other aspects of human activity, it is strictly our choice to receive this forgiveness and obey His Ways or not.

It can be easily stated that all activities of many of the people in this nation are under a constant microscopic strain and it does not look like this type of scrutiny will change anytime soon.  It is becoming obvious that Christians and those who believe ideas that go against the world are going to feel and witness escalated tensions and assaults against them until they either convert to the ways of the world, driven from their immediate environments or even killed due to their stances.  This statement should not be surprising to some because they understand that these times would be coming and will only increase as our world gets further away from God.  However, for those of you who do not understand what is going on or who do not believe in God; just know that through your actions of denial and self you are proving the Living Word of God correct 100%.  I do not say this sarcastically or in any hateful manner, but if you do not believe me, then read the Word of God and you shall see for yourself.

I also find it amazing that in this troubled timeframe it has become evident that long time and deep friends are becoming strained with each other for festering differences that have slowly smoldered underneath the skin for quite some time.  It seems like it no longer matters what issue one can speak about, some type of argument and placement of division will occur after those words have been mentioned.  Friends becoming public scrutiny through blame of their own differing opinions is nonsense but will this may be a fact this type of setting has brought down numerous empires in our past and must be warned about before drastic measures are taken again; not by mankind but by God Himself. 

The third part of our series that occurs in 1 Samuel Chapters 4-6 continues in this article and serves as the foundation of the lie that Israel fell for, did not address, then eventually accepted and ultimately lived through during the time of these passages.  This setting does not occur in 1 Samuel Chapter 4 but in 1 Samuel Chapter 2 and it deals with the heart of the High Priest and the house that he held in Israel.  1 Samuel 2:21-29 and it is through these verses that the stage is set for a great calling to become a terrible falling, not only for an individual’s house but for a nation as well.  This section of the series should have been the first one written but for some reason, God said to write the other two first, which I did.

1 Samuel 2:21 gives us the account of Hannah the birth of her children and this verse must be included in this passage for it if was not mentioned that she bore the amount of children that she did, then the prophecy of God would have been discredited and deemed a lie.  But through this single verse the person who God spoke to about this personal prophecy about God’s High Priest is documented and put into place according to His Word.  Verse 22 begins with stating the Eli, the High Priest, was very old and it would seem that he had been in the position of high priest for a very long time.  This means that Eli was well versed in the ways of God and that he had no excuse for the allowances of misdoings and wrongs that were presently being committed inside the nation of Israel.  The second part of this verse states that Eli had heard about all of the crimes and sins that his sons had committed and how they even slept with the women that were present at the doors of the tabernacle.  Verse 23 states that Eli called his sons to him and addressed the situation about the accusations against them and asked them why did they do these things against the people of God?

One of the important things to remember here is that Eli and his sons knew the aspects and intimate details of the Laws of God, yet in their own ways ignored the Word of God.  Verse 24 and verse 25 has Eli telling his sons that it is bad enough when the people sin against others but to have people directly sin against God is a whole entirely different ballgame and places everyone – especially them – into a very high risk category of becoming of a new status that we refer to as being dead.  Eli’s two sons who had the job of being judges over Israel totally ignored their father’s words and chose to continue in their ways against the people of Israel and against God.  It was this choice of selfishness that led to the prophecy against Eli and his house and the slaying of thousands of men on the battlefield, not to mention the further unfolding of the lie that Eli and his house protruded.

It is through this direct negligence of God’s Ways that led to the unfolding of the prophecy given to Eli and his house and the completion of that prophecy after the loss of thousands of lives on the battlefield.  There is no way possible that either party involved in these verses could deny the fact or say that they did not know the truth of what was being told to them.  Here comes the dangerous part, and the part that places our nation and the state of the world in jeopardy with God.  Eli’s sons were judges that were placed in positions of complete authority over the laws of Israel and should have represented themselves according to the standards of God.  When their actions became so blatantly sinful and included disgusting sex acts for the maidens of the tabernacle, Eli had no choice but to talk to them about their deeds.  The problem was that in the eyes of Eli’s sons he had lost all authority over them by his past allowance of their deeds without any consequences being they came to the conclusion that their ways were higher of their parent, a major problem according to God’s Word.

Secondly, Eli himself was at fault for once he had addressed the issues to his sons and after it was made clear to him that they were not going to adhere to the ways of God, he did nothing further to correct the situation.  Eli allowed his sons to rule and dictate their own policies over Israel directly guided by their lustful desires instead of the ones that God had directed previously. This act of Eli was the catalyst that forced God to show His hand to the Israelites on the battlefield, and it was this lack of doing what God had established as the correct way to correct faulty ways that landed Eli into hot water.  A parent’s obligation to their children does not end with a simple scolding along with a question and answer session.  God is specific about the actions of His children and how they should be dealt with when behavior becomes unbecoming of God.  Eli chose to stop with the Q&A and do nothing more to ensure God’s house, laws and children remained on His Way and not the human’s word.  Does this sound familiar to us?  Look at how our children are behaving ever since the well mannered disciplinary skills of parents have been taken away, or ignored by said parents.

God sent a messenger to Eli in 1 Samuel 2:27-36 explicitly explains to Eli of what would occur to his house with the decision that he had made with his sons.  This prophecy over Eli was both on the personal aspect of his life and over the entire house that he represented, which meant that his sons were going to be included in the downfall of Israel.  The messenger gave Eli specific details about his life and what was to come of it along with the entire house that represented him, down to the point where the future of his house’s blossoms would end in a single day.  We see this prophecy being fulfilled in 1 Samuel Chapter 4 states that the entire house of Eli was destroyed and killed, along with thousands of men of Israel on the battlefield.  Think that your single or individual disobedient heart does not make a difference to the outcome of a nation?  Please, please reconsider your thoughts for you do have a choice and God wants your choice to be Him on all levels of our existence.

The last part of this article draws a conclusion that broke God’s heart in two.  Not that having Israel lose thousands of men, His dwelling place captured, the loss of His High Priest and judges of Israel all in one day wasn’t bad enough but it was this next act in 1 Samuel Chapter 4 that stresses the importance of the final words of prophecy against Eli when in Chapter 4:19-22 states that Eli’s daughter-in-law found out about the results of the battle and immediately went into labor with Phinehas’ child.  She bore a son and named him Ichabod, to which the ladies around her began to rejoice.  Eli’s daughter-in-law acted unusually after she gave birth to Ichabod for even the child’s name alone explains why she remained somber and silent.  The name Ichabod means where is the glory, or no glory present.  In verse 22 she states that the glory of God has departed from Israel through the actions on the battlefield for she understood exactly why things occurred in the manner to which they did and what the entire prophecy concerning Eli meant.

What occurred to Israel in these passages was horrific in nature and we must include the grotesque details of what occurred to the Philistines after their victorious battle win as well.  Through the previous two messages that God has given us He has shown us exactly what occurs if we harbor Him somewhere else other than our hearts.  God makes it very clear that it is His #1 desire for Him to inhabit the center of our hearts and to be the source of our heartbeat.  God also makes it clear to us of what occurs in our lives through our own choices if we do not keep God first in our hearts, even when there are stressful times in our lives. Thirdly, God points out that if we propose to the world a lie even when using God as the lie to others, He shall not tolerate any side which is involved and will strike equally against those who legitimately win battles against us.  Finally, God will complete His Words from the beginning until the end of every word spoken in concordance with what He has said to His children.  This includes the good, the bad, the ugly, to the just and to the unjust alike without any favoritisms being displayed.

It is this point that our nation has come to as well, for we have lost the definition of our country and have placed our decisions into our hands instead of them being through the hands of God.  To make matters worse, we have now thrown out God and His Ways and labeled them as blasphemous to our human laws thus solidifying our defeat in a future setting.  Also, God has sent us messenger after messenger over a varied amount of time to warn us of our sinful behaviors and to change them before He must allow ugliness to occur.  Just the sons of Eli ignored his words so have we the words of God’s messengers that have preached to us about what God desires from His children.  As well, our leaders of the Church have deliberately allowed sinful acts – many being committed by themselves against the people - to go unchecked in the pulpits of these church buildings and in the hearts of those who should be setting God’s standards instead of their own due to the evil belief of lies as their god.  How can we stand before God and deny these charges against His people and against His House?  Church, we are in the exact same position as Israel was in when this battle was about to begin and if we do not change our ways and turn back to God and place Him in the center of our hearts, we are going to have the exact same outcome as Israel did so long ago.

This is a death sentence for this nation and a proclamation and fulfillment of the prophecies that God has given to many messengers over the past few years concerning the destruction and devastation of this nation.  Now, now is the time that God is saying this to us, you can choose the path that Eli took or choose the path that Eli should have taken when God spoke the warnings to him and his house.  Eli made it clear that God was the persona non grata in his land and in his heart and was destroyed for that choice.  Let us not make the same choice as Eli did.  Turn our hearts towards God and allow Him to rule and reign as He desires to do, His yoke is easy and the freedom that is obtained is breathtaking.  God loves you and wants to be in your life completely.  He is in my heart and is the beat to which my heart steadies onward.  I understand that my life shall never be free from the disease called sin but I have the confidence and faith to know that when God looks through His microscope over my life, I pray that all He shall see is the red cells of His Son that cover my eternal disease.

DLB

It Could Have Ended Here!

It Could Have Ended Here

11/24/16

Do you ever wonder why humans cannot stop foreseen escalatory proceedings before they spiral out of control?  Why is it that we must continue our path of problems when the answer to all is already known?  For some reason it is a popular belief that we must operate in crisis mode in order for anything to get accomplished, this is rubbish!  God does not wish to see His children go through any unnecessary adversities for any reason.  So much so, that He has provided us with the perfect guide to avoid these situations and until we really grasp this truth our lives shall continue to walk the wayward path of destruction.

Why would anyone stand and continue to lie when the truth would be easier to tell is a statement that my mother has said many times in my life.  While that is not a direct quote from her, one can get the gist of what her words are trying to get across. Thankfully, for the majority of those times, those words of hers were not directed towards me but towards someone else. However, I cannot always state that I was truthful with my parents and that I never hid any details of my life from them, nor can I state that when I hid some of these issues from them that I did such in a manner of a continual pattern.  In other words, I continued to keep such a belief and story when they would ask things about a certain story of mine in the future.  Lying and keeping false pretenses is one of the human traits that many humans indulge themselves in and as long as this pattern remains in place, our lives as we know it will continue to be in decline.

I have always wondered why humans cannot keep the laws that are in place and that we believe that we can get around those laws without any damage coming to our lives.  One of the more frustrating occurrences in the Bible occurs at the beginning of God’s Word and through this miscarriage of the truth, we are still battling our demons on a day-to-day basis.  In Genesis Chapter 2 God has already created the earth and every part of its beauty and He has also created His prized creation and masterpiece the human being.  He then charges man with one law and this law is a simple one without thousands of pages of ridiculous and contradicting information either.  Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of good and evil.  That is it!  Plain and simple.  But within an unspecified amount of time the humans revamped this law for their good and then fell for a lie when challenged, which brings us to the present day of millions of laws worldwide and we wonder why we continue to have problems in every area of our lives.

Of course, as humans, we do not like to have our mistakes pointed out to us either, especially so that the public can have the opportunity to ridicule our choices or laugh at us as we fall on our behinds.  A question that begs to be answered is this: if this is such of a great importance to us why then do we continue to disobey these laws and simplify our lives according to their obedience instead?  If this is a legitimate question then wouldn’t it make sense to obey them instead of creating more to disobey?  Maybe this is why God only began with one law for mankind, but because of mankind’s ability to choose it is our own doings that more have been established, something to ponder I guess.

One can horrifically state that after mankind chose to disobey God’s only law that things have been and are still developing into a complicated mess.  We can only hope that we break this cycle of problems by beginning to obey laws instead of breaking them for when we do then our lives will be placed on a steady plane once again.  So, why don’t we just obey God and when we do it is guaranteed that our lives shall be better.  We have a great example of this human pattern of disobedience even when knowledge of such laws have already been established, plus it is in line with the series that God is showing us through 1 Samuel chapters 4-6 and how important it is to have God #1 in our lives and to live by His protective ways instead of going about our business in our own finite and limited manner.

In 1 Samuel Chapter 4, we learned that the army of Israel was thoroughly defeated by their enemy the Philistines.  We also learned that through this defeat a prophecy concerning the existence of the High Priest and his house would be completed.  We then found out that the destruction of Israel was so complete that their victorious enemy captured the Ark of the Covenant and placed it in their own god’s room for keeping and display.  Furthermore, we learned that even when humans believe that they have contained God, He is still in control and shall ensure that everyone around knows that He has no rival and that there is none like Him.  This brings us to the current state of the passage that is going to be used and it will be 1 Samuel 5:6 – 1 Samuel 6:21.  This usage seems like a lot of verses but it follows one theme as it plays out and includes several details that follow this human pattern of succession.

The Philistines have just found out that the statue of their god Dagon has been toppled over by God as the night progressed after the victorious battle over the Israelites.  I can guarantee that God did not waste any time while being pinned up in the same room with the statue of Dagon, for I am confident as soon as that door or curtain shut behind the deliverers God destroyed that statue with complete ease.  It must have been quite the shock to walk into that room after a night of partying and find the god that you hold so dearly to be lying on the ground, face down and in pieces.  This had to have shaken these people’s faith and probably warned them not to fool around with the Israelite God.  However, we are talking about humans here and once a human faces embarrassment they must retaliate as only humans of that time period (and all others) know how.

Verse 6 states that God was very angry with Ashdod and that He destroyed them, allowed a plague to come over their lives and this was acknowledged by the Philistines because it is stated that “for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.” Through this admission, they understood that God was the one responsible for the devastating effects on their population and through this admission they understood the reason why He was upset.  It is at this point that the Philistines gathered their leaders together and had a powwow to see what could be done to rid themselves of the issues God had with them.  They directly knew that the Ark was the source of their problems and they understood that they had to get rid of it as soon as possible.  So, with the great minds, all gathered in one area they made the command decision to move the ark down to another town and with this action they continued to believe in a lie rather than accepting the truth about the one true and living God.

With the destruction of the Philistines’ fertility and agriculture god one would think that their belief in these areas would have been shattered just as much as their statue was but the leaders decided to send the Ark to another town called Gath.  So, according to 1 Samuel 5:8-9 the Philistines moved the Ark to the town of Gath and once there God decided to continue His completeness on the town’s people of Gath by continuing the plague of death and the plague emerods but this time He added another aspect of the emerods that He placed them on their reproductive parts, kind of a recognition to them that He destroyed their fertility god so why keep ignoring the truth?  One can find these examples from God all throughout His Word and one can follow these examples until the human sees fit to die or to actually change.  Keep in mind that the Philistines still believe that they have control of God even though all of these issues are continuing and growing.  What is an emerod?  It is the equivalent to a bleeding hemorrhoid, usually referring to both internal and external hemorrhoids that are bleeding.

After the enormous death toll and genital plagues occur in Gath, the Philistines once again meet and decide to change their ways and turn their hearts to God.  Actually, that conference did not occur and instead the Philistine leaders decided to give their problem to someone else and then sent the Ark down the road to Ekron.  Once again proving that the will of the human is just as stubborn today as it was back in biblical times.  God continued His pattern of destruction through the city of Ekron and the sores that had occurred on those remaining alive with devastating results just they occurred in Ashdod and Gath.  Dudes, you have lost a great number of people in your territory and had awful sores and ugly things occur to your bodies at least return the Ark and go your own way.  It is clear that you and your false gods are not a match for the One True God, give up or turn from your ways and serve this God that is before you.

As we move into 1 Samuel Chapter 6 we find that the Philistines have had enough with God and decide to return the Ark to Israel – a novel idea.  They dress two milk cows that have never been yoked before, place the Ark on their backs and send it on its way along the coast with the help of another friendly group called the Bethshemites.  Now, when news of a battle has occurred and there is a sound victor involved there will always be stories of booty that has exchanged hands.  Capturing the holy symbol of a nation is gigantic news and the Bethshemites would have heard about this capture by this time for the Ark stayed with the Philistines for seven months.  So, returning the most prized treasure would bring about, even more, news and greater questions to curious minds, wouldn’t you expect?

One has to guess that the Bethshemites must have asked why they were sending the Ark back and after the stories had been shared you would think that the Bethshemites would do as little as possible to disturb the Ark and to just get it back to where it belongs.  But, once again we are dealing with humans and the men who were handling it decided to take measures into their own hands and look inside the Ark and thus violate the conditions that God had established concerning the Ark a long time before these events occurred.  With God being a complete God, He destroyed the men of Bethshemesh for their sin and since they knew of the instances of the Philistines and did not listen to their turmoils, they too were included in the devastating lie that the Israelites initiated.

WHAT????  The lie that the Israelites started?  Yes, that is exactly what God says in His Word.  Israel knew that God had established their land through His Covenant with them and His presence amongst them was in the Ark of the Covenant. Therefore, knowing all of this plus the fact that God stated He would never leave them, they understood completely what the presence of God meant to their existence and they knew how close God wanted them to be to Him which means they understood but ignored the command of God.  So, it is through this ignorance of God that they built a lie, then tried to use God in battle through this lie and in the end it cost them thousands of lives on the battlefield and a completed prophecy against their High Priest.  When one looks back on this setting and sees the entire picture, it makes sense that Israel had all of these deaths and consequences occur to them, for God cannot be mocked even if the mocking stems from His blessed people or His enemies.

Also, we must consider just how far a lie goes and to what extent that its content accrues.  Not only did the Israelites lose over 30,000 men on the battlefield due to its lie but a great number of Philistines lost their lives as well as a result of this lie.  Then you add the loss of life to the Bethshemites and you have a gigantic disaster and loss of humanity that resulted from a wicked high priest who did not obey the commands and anointing of God.  I believe we can see how important it is to keep the Word of God close to our heart and to make sure we know what its words contain and mean to our existence.  In no way does God ever wish death upon any of His children, but if we force His hand into such an act we have no one to blame but ourselves.

As of this moment, we have the opportunity to break this cycle of lies that we currently live under.  We do not have to follow in the footsteps of those before us because in the Garden of Eden God started out with one command to His perfect children.  In Exodus Chapter 20, God gives us a command with the words “thou shalt have no other gods before me” but He knew that this would never last and therefore was forced to create much more afterward.  It is obvious that other cultures during the time of the ancients that they knew about God and the ways of the Israelites but they too had made it clear that they had their own gods and wanted nothing to do with the One True God.  Through the lies of mankind, the innocent perish and thus justifying the reality that the just and the unjust come into contact with God all the same.

Church, we can avoid this type of judgment from God if we only stop the lies that we live by and turn around and repent of our sins to God.  Confession of our sins is the first step to a healing process in which God promises to complete but if we do not and continue to live through our lies then at some point God will have no choice but to strike this nation – including the just and the unjust – in such a manner according to His Word.  God is calling for us to repent and to save this nation and the world from a devastating catastrophe, let us start now so that we can miss the hand of God in a way that is not favorable.  Repent, and allow God to restore our royal status as His Church and His people.  I believe God has adequately demonstrated how important it is for us to know and to understand every detail about His Word and if we completely turn over our lives to Him, it can still end here!

DLB