You Are A Thief

You Are A Thief

5/31/18

All of us at one time in our lives have taken things that do not belong to us, but it is this small fact that is not what is considered important right at this moment.  There is another truth that we need to understand that far outweighs this minute detail but at the same time explains why the title of this article is a true statement.  This thievery that I am talking about encompasses a greater being and entity and it defines being born into sin.  It is our lives that provide this example of theft and it is because we chose to live in our own mechanisms that we have to shamefully admit this fact.  However, just as God’s Word was relevant in the lives of Adam and Eve its life is still true for us today and its Author is the only one that can rightly return our thievery, especially since it is He who we steal from with each breath we take.

How dare I suggest a statement such as this?  I can almost hear some people say this and ask such a pointed question, along with a few other statements and questions that follow the same pattern.  But it is okay for it would be a logical question for those who do not understand what our lives mean and how we were created and to be honest, when God revealed to me about this article, I had to stop for a second before it really set into my heart.  This is not an easy topic to write about for it deals strictly with our hearts and the condition that we have become to believe in concerning our existence itself.  The title of this article is one of complete truth and it is one that we need to not only understand for ourselves but to share with others because it is just as important for your brother as it is for you.

It is important that we take a step back and review another article that God has given us.  The specific article in mind is “The Definition of We” which was published on 1/23/17, and it is this article that contains the beginning of what this article will be talking about.  Our minds cannot comprehend something that has no real beginning yet it is the only Being that Created us that this eternal status can be attributed and it is this one Being that starts our existence and the eternal standard of the “The Definition of We” for if this eternal Being was not present our lives would have no directional meaning and purpose.  It is this definition that our existence was established, and thus, if any differences occur then it shall mean that our original and perfect design by the perfect and original Creator would be changed.  It is through this eternal and holy principle that we chose to violate thus believing a liar instead of the One true Creator; therefore, we by our own choosing chose to steal from God His one true creation and standard and THAT single issue alone proves that our lives being born into sin establishes us a thief unto our Creator.

Let us go back to the first few chapters of Genesis to see this truth about our lives for it is these two chapters that give us the status of our creation and the conditions that we were created in and within.  When God looks over something and says that it is good, you can count on every detail of what He sees is just that, good to His standard.  This means that every spec of detailed issuance is perfect and that nothing is made below His eternal and holy position and definition.  It is this setting that we see in place after Genesis 1:2 is stated which means that the liar who had his opportunity to make life eternal and perfect failed again in his efforts to outsmart and outwit God.  The establishment of the human presence on this earth cannot be denied nor can it ever come into question concerning our creation and status.  We were perfect and lived in a perfect dominion and it was our responsibility to keep that dominion as God created and established it.

So what occurred that brought us to the truth concerning our lives that we are thieves?  The period of time of when Genesis 3:1 and Genesis 3:7 occurs is not specific, nor is the time period from Genesis Chapter 2 until Genesis Chapter 3.  We do know that a bunch of information must have exchanged hands and that some type of relationship developed between Adam and Eve and Satan for when Genesis 3:4-6 rolls around there is no startled settings in place, only a comfortable atmosphere that cannot be argued.  The level of communication is not part of the biblical text yet one can easily attribute that the conversation has been about the duties, workings, and status of Adam and Eve with God.  This means that the thief had already gained access to the prized Creations of God, and also had already unknowingly devalued their existence enough to warrant a trip to the forbidden tree and a position that God had warned about previously.

How many times has one of our children or even ourselves brought someone home to meet the family and instantly known that it was not going to be a good match?  I am not suggesting any type of class warfare or degradation here, but there comes a time when it is well known that the paring of such people will not result in anything good.  It is this case that we find Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:6 for their attempts to entertain the Serpent have had successful results and he is about to pull the plug and identify his true plan for their relationship.  By now, the humans are warped enough to grasp the opportunity and so he does in Genesis 3:5 and the “fruits” of the relationship come to a head in Genesis 3:6 and the plan of the Serpent are completed.  I understand that we have heard this portion of the article many times before but it is most imperative that we know who is responsible for the actions that all of us face today.  Modernity would state it is the fault of the Serpent but that is not the truth, it was our decision to eat and then bear the consequences, plus it serves as the basis for why we are a thief in the eternal setting of our existence.

We have read, studied, and even sang about how everything belongs to God because He is the one who has created everything.  This is a true statement that so much weight behind its meaning and such weight we tend to forget about when it comes to our responsibilities as a presence on this earth, in other words, do you truly believe what you say, read, and sing?  Part of dressing and keeping of the Garden of Eden was to make sure that no invaders were allowed to flourish and another part of our dominion was to ensure that all parts of the environment were maintained according to God’s standards.  These standards also included our minds and hearts and the only way that any of these standards could have been kept up in an orderly and holy fashion was to receive such standards from God Himself, in which He did.  When we decided to go in our own direction and believe the thief our standards changed from our original position and status which means we were no longer at the same level that God had created us in.  So, if this is the truth, and it is, that means we stole from God that portion of His Creation from our lives and voluntarily gave it to our enemy.  How can this be true?  Well, we must remember that when Lucifer fell from Heaven He stole from God what God had previously made whole and holy so it is through this definition of thievery that binds Satan into the job that he fortuitously committed in the Garden of Eden and continues this act today.  Since he is bound to such a life, then all he can do is to lie, steal, cheat, and destroy for that is the position he chose to accept when he challenged God for His position in Heaven.

It is also easy for us to say that Satan is our enemy but what level of respect for him do we hold, and by respect, I mean how much do we know him and his activities?  Would it be safe to say that we probably believe in him just as much as we believe God represents everything about life and our existence?  A question to ponder and to study further because it is ultimately the responsibility of the Church to show the people who need God the truth about who they are and what they mean to God and if we cannot succeed in this mission then we are the prime examples of thievery.  More in tune would be to say that we are living on the same level as Adam and Eve were in Genesis 3:4-6.  Adam and Eve abandoned the direct teaching that God gave them during their daily talks face to face by agreeing to believe the twisted lies that the Serpent spoke.  God cannot represent anything else but life, true life and while His instructions must have become mundane in some sort to Adam and Eve they had already had doubts in the back of their mind for some period of time because it fell so easy into Satan’s plan in Genesis 3:7.  The act of thievery occurred once again but because of the way God created us we were able to have a second chance for while our bodies die and that process is out of our control the choice still reigns within our hearts to choose God and to slap our eternal enemy as we enter into the presence of God.

We soon see because of the way that God created our lives He is able to once again show us His Way of separation and restoration.  Genesis 3:21 states that God made skins of clothing for Adam and Eve to restore their covering in the manner in which was needed, a manner in which God only could provide.  The first example of sacrificing occurred that day for God had to reassure both of them that He had not abandoned them and that even though they stole from Him, He was still their Father and He loved them.  God displayed to Adam and Eve that even though He understood their wickedness before Him there was a way to purely hide this wickedness from His sight, but it had to be done His Way alone.  The entire Word of God is lined with thieves that stole from God and did not understand exactly their need for God to cover them.  Anytime a person goes it alone and seeks answers on their own shall face the consequences of failure and extended thievery, it cannot be done alone God must be in control at all times for any eternal covering to be present.

It does not matter what type of action humans may take to try and cover their lives with blankets of salvation, it shall not work.  It is imperative that we understand that the world is the domain of Satan and Genesis 3:24 tells us this statement is true.  It is through our choice of abandonment that leads us into lives that we know today, it does not matter on what level you choose to exist, we all need to have God as our covering for every day we hear about varied excuses others use to justify their actions, they are all examples of thievery.  As stated above and many times previously through these articles, God cannot represent anything but life and if we are subject to death, in ANY manner, we choose to further our thievery.  God cannot represent death but He provides us a way out on the eternal death status but we must completely and 100% turn our hearts over to Him.

One more passage of Scripture that God wants us to understand to think about a bit more in depth and that is when Jesus was on the cross.  Luke Chapter 23 gives us the example of when Jesus was crucified between two thieves.  This passage tells us that even the time when Jesus was being crucified was all pointing the Truth about God, His Sons’ life and true meaning of our lives as well.  It is NOT a coincidence that Jesus was crucified between these two men, because it all points back to the “Definition of We” and whether or not we accept this disciple of true separation from the world or if we become thieves to our Creator; it restates the passage of Genesis 3:21 and Genesis 3:24.  This is a harsh statement but it is an eternal statement that we need to really consider because it represents exactly the choice that is set before our lives.  It is this truth about our thievery that brings into our hearts concerning obedience and 100% completeness in serving God for it was the exact reason why Jesus gave His life for us.

It is impossible for our finite minds and eyes to fully understand the truth about eternal forgiveness and faith for that matter.  When our eyes and hearts stare squarely at the examples of humans it is simple for us to reject anything invisible for what we can ourselves justify.  Even the absurd becomes logical if we delve into the settings around us for any lengthy period of time, a method so methodically planned by our enemy that it really manifests itself without even having to be presented in a fashionable manner.  All of us struggle with everyday life issues and what we have to witness as we step across their boundaries, this makes sense for it is the only guarantee that this world can give us as we rise and fall asleep.  But as God covered Adam and Eve and showed them once again that He was the only way possible for eternal life, God gave us His Son to show us again that He meant business way back in the Garden of Eden and He still means business today.

Just as the one thief next to Jesus chose to change his life that dreadful day, so can you today.  God is not a religion or a denomination but He is a living and breathing individual that wants to have a relationship with you.  So many times we have read how the so-called church and the people who attend its meetings have done horrific things towards others.  It is easy for us to be turned off to God through others actions but God is not like that, He is perfect in every way and He wants to show you that there is a better way of life, the one He wants for you.  I do not have to explain just how hard the world is and how difficult it treats all, that is not what God wants for our lives and even though we must tread through what the world offers we do not have to participate in its filth.  The filth that the world offers represents the thievery that Satan took from God and then the lies that he convinced us so long ago.  When we accept this life then we strengthen our thievery against God but when we accept His Ways, then we are just like we were as God created us before the theft occurred.

DLB

Void

Void

5/27/18

Everyone has at one point in their lives come into contact with this word and its meaning.  For some, it means a good thing but for most, it means an end of a contract that has not served its intended purposes.  In any manner, this word means that the intended fulfillment did not materialize in an adequate manner and is laid waste.  A void means there is an incompleteness or lack of a finished product, a state in which God cannot condone or live within.  Humans tend to thrive in such conditions so they can live in blame and circumstantial evidence against their existence, but God wants us to understand that this is not the life He created for us and that there is an eternal difference at hand.  To know and experience such awesome living experiences, God wants our hearts so that He may express His blessings of eternal life to those that choose His Ways as the example to follow.

One of the more popular things humans do is to go out in the world to find them and to find the answers that they have concerning their motivations and desires while on the earth.  There cannot be any more definitive design and definition of void and trying to fill it than this example for it presents a hole or void in that person’s life that they recognize and also knows that it needs to be filled.  Some people wander around the globe in search for this finding while others stay within themselves and look for alternative ways of expressing their desires of fulfillment.  All of us at one point in time find ourselves looking for a direction or some type of knowledge that we believe will provide us with the answers in life that we want; however, it has been proven many times over that if God is not a part of this process and the center of all our heart the answers that we find only lead to another found void and the cycle repeats.

Many times we do not figure out why this void continues to live and thrive in our lives but if we understood that God and His Word is the answer for the voids in our life so many of our issues would simply disappear and close by themselves without any problems incurred.  Throughout the Bible, God demonstrates this truth to us and as we go through this article we will find that God does know exactly what our hearts are needing and just how much closure is in order, all at the same time.  The world cannot provide such answers and right from the beginning of God’s Word we have this example and it comes in one of the most read passages in the Bible and it proves that God is the only being that can properly and eternally fill such voids in our lives.

Some of you may know that I have been divorced and through this process of my past I went through many patterns of acceptance and denial due to what had occurred in my life.  I did not ask for this process to occur but because I did not listen and understand just what was at stake it was inevitable that this process would eventually rise up enough and burst onto the scene.  I ignored it even though I knew it was a great possibility of producing a vile result at some point in my life.  After it was completed, there was an emptiness that was present inside my life and I felt like a good portion of my life and heart had been ripped away, and while that feeling was true I immediately recognized this defeat of mine and needed to have it refilled as soon as possible.  Yes, I began dating after a short while but never really found the correct person and while I continued to pursue others I was not filling the void in the correct manner but through a selfish manner instead.  My void would have continued to deepen if I did not stop and allow God to change my heart and fill that selfishly created void before I seriously considered living again.

We must begin this message with Genesis 1:1 but only the first few words of that verse need to be spoken and read to adequately defend God and His ability to fill our needs.  “In the beginning God” are the words that are needed here and to set the stage of ending all voids.  These simple few words define God and how He was actually present at the time that our beginning came into existence which means that according to His eternal truth He has no reference point or beginning and that His existence has always been.  Now, that is a huge concept for our finite (feeble) minds to wrap around but in order for us to understand just how important God is to our lives and to be the ONLY being to fill such questions and voids, one must fall in love with this verse for it gives us hope, trust, and direction for our lives.  I am not going to reiterate the voided life of Satan here but it is through his loss that defines what a void means and is to anyone who subjects themselves to such a calamity, which means all of us are subject due to the nature of our status.

Anything that establishes nothing or creates a void in any substance cannot be a good construction or design and if one trusts a construction company who builds a house or any other structure that contains holes in the foundation, walls, or ceilings and deem it structurally sound, may need a lesson in completeness.  We read the definition of void as being: not valid or legally binding; completely empty; discharge or to drain away.  There is nothing there worth mentioning for nothing present exists in a voided state.  When we read the next verse in Genesis it lists the condition of the earth and how it looks in the eyes of God.  We must remember that God cannot lie at all nor can He change His eternal status which means that when His eyes see a certain person their condition is automatically revealed to Him according to His definition.  So, if God sees that the world is dark and void then it is just that dark and void.  It is this exact condition that Genesis 1:2 describes the world and it means that at some point in time before this verse occurs that God allowed such a project to form by a hand other than His, for God cannot create a lie or anything that is “sub” or “below standard” anything. 

We can even relate this specific verse to the existence of sin and how it became such a part of our lives through the actions of choices.  I find it very difficult to believe that God would change His standard or could change His standard by creating something void and dark and just leaving it there for no reason at all.  This is impossible and God could not do it if He even tried for truth and eternal purity IS His existence which means He had another purpose for this condition.  It makes sense to me that God would have allowed Lucifer to challenge God’s existence by proving to Him that he could authorize such life and creative imaginative life.  But as we see in Genesis 1:2 there is nothing there but a huge black and meaningless void, so once again, God goes to work to create the perfect living setting right in front of Satan’s eyes; then, God does the unthinkable and creates humans just like Him and even gives us the eternal breath of life.  All of a sudden, the void is gone and eternal perfection rules once again.

Luke 1:37 gives us confirmation about how God exists and what it means to be born and live for God when it says: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”  Then add this eternal truth to John 10:10 where it states: “The thief cometh not, for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  There is no mention of the word void in these two verses containing references to God, only our enemy and what he can provide.  God gave him an opportunity to try and create the perfect establishment on earth, Satan could not do it, and Satan tricked us into believing that his way was better but God still provided the perfect way of being restored.  Each and every time God has provided us the perfect and true way of representing, being, and living life as it was created to be, without void.  So, why do we continue to choose the side of a loser in every category?  I wish I could say that I have never fallen into the traps of the devil and could be exempt from his lies, but I cannot for I have done so many times before and probably will do it again at some point down the road, but I have hope in God that I shall see His eternal truth in front of me so that those failing opportunities are few and far between.

God has shared with us many times over these past few years within these articles that He cannot change, and it is this truth that we base our relationship with Him and it is this eternal truth and foundation that we present our lives onto for restoration and eternal keeping by our Creator.  God also wants us to understand that our enemy cannot change either, once he fell from God he cannot reverse his position which means he cannot ever, in no way possible tell the truth.  It is VERY important that we understand this part about our enemy because it has come to the attention of God that we have once again fallen for the deceptive and colorful lies of Satan, so much so that this nation is now grabbing the eyes of God in such a manner that is not to our liking.  We have allowed Satan’s void to be present and then grow into our hearts at a reckless pace and it is now encompassing our entire life’s existence.  It is this reckless pattern of existence we would expect to experience from those who reject God and His Ways, in other words, the world.

However, we face the concept and sad truth that the Church has fallen into this reckless abandonment of God and have accepted the same lie as the truth that Adam and Eve believed.  It is difficult to understand why Adam and Eve fell for such a trick but it is even more confounding to think that when a perfect opportunity appears to redeem us back to the holy and pure state of existence that we do not take it without condition.  Sadly, we have come to the conclusion that our lives deserve to live in such voided conditions and there we must remain during the life torture period that surrounds us all.  When we accept the world as any standard, we can accept nothing more than a void or darkness, plain and to the point.  We have been so blinded that we now cannot even recognize what is truth and what is a lie, for when we look upon a transgender person and see that the appearance of that person is considered more standard than either a male or female we are spiritually void which means we have no desire to have any connection to God; thus, a condition and status of Genesis 1:2.

Be aware be very aware, of what occurred after Genesis 1:2 and it is this truth that we must understand and grasp for it holds so true today.  When God saw the world sitting there being void and in total darkness, He could not stand to hear its groaning to Him.  He could not sit back and watch nothing rule the day, so He changed it.  So, how does the state of Genesis 1:2 differ?  It differs because at that point Satan could not do anything so God had to start from our beginning.  Today, there is something present and when the void is celebrated and loved more than life God has to reset the picture according to His Ways and Creation, He cannot just sit back and watch Satan win, especially through lies.  This means that God at some point will have to reset the map and place things back on a scale of His choosing in order to give us another opportunity to see who really loves us and who really lies to us.

You do not believe me?  Study the entire Bible and you shall see that what God has just shared with us is true and what God is sharing with us today is that an unimaginable change is headed our way unless we stop and repent of our sins and then allow Him to throw away the world from our hearts.  If God allowed such destruction to come to the Children of Israel, the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah, what makes you think that we and today’s society are any better than they were and would be exempt from such similar destruction?  In no other time in human existence have we had it so easy and had so many opportunities to show others that God is real and that He is the One that Created us.  Yet, we have sat in our church buildings and sang our little songs and did not mean one ounce of it, all the while the world taking control of our existence without any inhibitory measures taken. 

It is time we understand that we are knowingly, willfully, and desiring to re-create the status of Genesis 1:2 and with this lie as our fulfillment goal, our lives will change shortly.  Church, stop and repent completely repent and allow God to flow through our hearts to the world again with the truth about who we are and how God wants to live.  It is strictly up to us to complete this truth for it is the command that Jesus gave to us to do.  God does not want us to retreat to a Genesis 1:2 status, but a Genesis 1:3 – Genesis 3:6 status and it is all possible if we place Him first in our lives and live for His Ways at all times.

DLB

Promoting The World

Promoting The World

5/20/18

What could ever go wrong if we do not promote God, is a common thought that runs through our minds at some point in time.  Many people who consider themselves to be Christians do not live or even want to live for God 100% of the time, thus not recognizing exactly what is at stake and who is running the promotional status commercials of this world.  Our Western societal standards promote such a lavish and independent lifestyle that we now believe that the stars we see are actually coming from our illuminating brightness, just as Eve was fooled on that dreadful day so long ago.  God is still in the restoration business and we still have a few moments left before our world is changed dramatically by the hand of God.  We can avoid such pain if we just turn our hearts back to God and skip the realization that the voice of the world is lying to us not telling us the real story.

I have shared with you a few times about how I have been raised in church all my life and have fit the role of being a pastor’s kid up until this day.  I have had no real major disappointments with my life and when I look back at all of those times of moving around and going to new places I cannot say that I have ever harbored any ill feelings against my parents for they have only obeyed what God has shown them to complete.  It is through their obedience, the key to God and the relationship with Him, I have had the opportunity to witness some great experiences with God, and I must include some of the harder times in this accolade as well.  However, it was my own worldly desires that drove me away from God for a while and it was those same worldly thoughts that kept me from studying the Word of God thus keeping me from the answers that my questions posed each day.  How many of us still cannot find what God has in store for their lives or what the meaning of their life is supposed to be?  Look around you and it will not take long to see such hurtful and sorrowful people wandering around hopelessly searching yet seeking answers in all the incorrect places.

Even in my adult life with all of the knowledge and godly wisdom my father and mother taught me, I was still foolish enough to believe in worldly standards instead of relying upon and trusting my eternal Creator and His Word for my life.  As I look back and realize what God has spared me from I cannot help but believe that His Word has all the answers I need in order to fulfill my existence on earth.  There are countless amounts of stories that I can share with you about how God protected me in times of need, times in which I was so voluntarily blinded by my own selfishness that I could not see the words of God directly in my face, yet I used them on a daily basis.  It is this part of my life that I wish I could take back or have never experienced, but if I could or if I did not experience them I could not have the remembrance of how my life was and really could not be a true beacon to those who are struggling and looking for help.  How many times have I read the Bible and missed what its contents say and how many times have I missed what I needed to say to others who are seeking Him?

First off, I want people to understand that God is not picking on Eve here but that He wants us to understand how fooled Eve and Adam had become by the time Genesis 3:6 had rolled around.  There are a couple of verse here that now stands out to me very boldly and once again they are verses that I have read many times before including in the brilliant articles that God has already shared with us previously.  It is this example that proves to us that God is alive and that He will reveal His Word to us if our hearts are turned towards Him at all times.  Also, these verses prove what will occur to our lives and in our lives if we become fooled from the words of our enemy.  The question that needs to be answered is which Kingdom are we promoting?  It is impossible for us to promote both sides of our existence, one must be chosen and then lived under so which one do you promote?

Secondly, God is not meaning for this message to hurt anyone or to drive them away from His presence.  On the contrary, God knows our hearts and our lives and His only wish is for us to understand His Word for our lives and how each letter in the Bible was written specifically for you and me.  God also knows that sometimes we take His Word for granted and through this haphazard attitude misses the very item that we are searching for, but that does not mean we are dumb or ignorant but need to spend more time alone with Him in order to know what He is saying to our lives.  The only thing that God wants us to know is that we do not have to follow in the paths of every person given as examples in the Bible, that we can skip so many troubles and heartaches if we just obey His Word.  It is a simple process of learning and it is through this gift of learning and obedience that separates us from the world.

Genesis 2:8-9 will start us off as it says to us: “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden: and there he put the man whom he had formed.  And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”  Ever since I have placed my entire heart into the studying of God’s Word I have been amazed at what it says to me and how much informational wisdom it has given me, yet at the same time as God gives me these words to write I understand that there is so much more wisdom that I have not been told about which blows my mind because as I have stated many times before and proven so wrong at the same time, that I thought I knew the meaning of such verses.

It is these two verses that we find out where Adam lives and what the foundational message to him was, these verses also provide us with a basic understanding of the groundwork that God uses in order to provide the protection Adam needs for his presence in the garden.  Eve has not been created yet nor has she been shown to Adam but even though Adam is still on his own he has received the knowledge about how God wants him to live.  God gave Adam a mind, a heart, two feet, two hands, and all of the other human body parts that you and I have today.  This means Adam had the ability to reason and think about what he needed to do, in other words, he had a choice, just as you and I do as well.  So, what is so special about these two verses that it has a changed status in Eve?  If you take a look at verse 9 and more specifically the portion of the verse that says “to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food;”  It is this portion of Scripture that is the important detail that God wants us to understand and to really contemplate about which kingdom are we promoting for it is this phrase that defines the difference in what God said here and what Eve stated in Genesis 3:6.

As mentioned in the above, Adam and Eve were humans and they had every aspect of human life that we have today with one exception, they knew what it meant to live in perfectly created conditions and we will not have that opportunity to experience until we have chosen God as our savior and live with Him for eternity in Heaven.  Having said that, Adam and Eve knew what it meant to eat for if they did not have the need for food God would not have mentioned this detail to Adam in Genesis 2:9.  We cannot forget that when God mentions something it must be important to our lives, thus is the sole and holy reason why we need to understand as much of the Bible as we can for it provides us with the necessary food for our eternal existence.  God says that the trees are good for our eyes and that they will be good for food and that Adam could eat of each tree except for one, Genesis 2:17.  It is this phrase in Genesis 2:17 that defines the principle of obedience to God’s Word and no other source has such authority.  Adam knew that God had no beginning but that every other living being either spiritual and/or physical did which meant that no one else could represent such truth.

Now, comes the part where one logically asks the question: why would God need to set boundaries and place into effect the need for obedience in this matter?  The answer lies in the fact that God has an enemy who tried to beat Him by challenging God for His eternal status and since Lucifer was a created being it meant that he was automatically at a disadvantage yet tried his hand at challenging the One who has no beginning to a showdown.  In essence, it meant that whatever details occurred at an unspecified amount of time earlier resulted in an ugly separation from God that has now boiled over to God’s prized creations, us.  So, with this eternal placement battle, it is the job for God’s enemy to lure humans into his setting and to get them disobey God and His Word.  It is impossible for our finite minds to understand exactly what it means to be completely separated from God with no hope of redemption but it is this pattern and eternal separated status that Satan has and it is the very concept that he is promoting to us each day.  He does this through various ways but each way that he uses promotes the world and a lifestyle that goes against the Word of God and if he grabs our attention enough so that we do not understand the Bible as we should, it becomes very easy to become critical of such eternal wisdom so that we actually blaspheme against its eternal and restorative meaning.

One of the more enjoyable experiences that I have had over the years is to see my daughter’s open gifts from friends and family members.  There is nothing more exciting to see the look in their eyes when they see what each gift is and who it came from.  The occasion does not matter nor does the time of the year, but when their eyes light up with pleasure in this setting there cannot be a more spectacular scene in a parent’s eyes.  When we were young, it was the excitement of the new toys at Christmas that readily come to mind and at that moment we thought that there could not be anything more valuable or precious to us.  Our outlook for the new toys was limitless and the plans we drew up in our minds seemed endless.  We all knew that for the most part, we would receive something new for our parents had asked us what we wanted for Christmas, anyone spends hours upon hours looking through the department store Christmas catalogs as I did?  Most of us had that pleasure so when it came time for the presents to be unwrapped, we were not disappointed for we already knew the pat discussions of such gifts.  But now, it was new and fresh once again and visible to our eyes in an entirely new way.

Now we come to Genesis 3:4-6 and it states as follows: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat.”  I have read this passage many times and it amazed me when God gave me another bit of information here concerning the promotional aspect of Kingdom and just how effective this principle has in our lives.  We can talk about how the relationship between Adam and Eve with the serpent grew and we can talk about how long it took for this relationship to develop, all of which are very important details but God wants us to know that it is the element of excitement and seduction that our enemy uses in order to promote his world and as each day passed in the Garden of Eden and as each day passes in our lives today Satan’s method is running unabated and is winning the eternal battle and status where it concerns God.

Back in Genesis 2:9 God gives us the phrase about what the trees would look to us through our eyes and He also gave to us that the fruit of the trees would be good for food.  It is this verse alone that defines why we should never add to the Word of God because when we do it will get us into trouble every time.  Genesis 3:6 states that Eve saw that the fruit was pleasant and that it was good for food.  Why does the Bible mention this fact again?  Eve ALREADY knew that the fruit was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, for God had shared this fact with Adam back in Genesis 2:9 and since Adam and Eve had a duty to keep and to dress the Garden of Eden both of them knew about that tree and the fruit on it AND MOST IMPORTANTLY what God said about it.  But Genesis 3:6 continues by stating Eve believed that it would make one wise when the fruit was eaten.  It is this addition that was the disobedient lie that God did not want to occur, but because Adam and Eve believed in the starry lie of opened eyes that Satan spoke to them, their lives turned forever and allowed the world to have a presence.  Eve fell for the direct lie of “stardom” and “greatness” that only Satan can promote in such a manner as to subvert the eternal plan of God.

How elegant are the commercials that entertain our eyes today?  How about the televisions programs or the movies, what do they promote?  It is every girl’s dream to be recognized and noticed by film directors or model agents and it’s every guy’s dream to be recruited to a major college and then drafted into the professional sports leagues down the road.  To become the CEO at a multi-billion dollar corporation, or even the President of a nation or region most boys have thought about at one time in their lives.  Any type of promotional status to occupy our minds and to step on others with our elite attitudes is what rules our day and if one stops and thinks about what occurred in Genesis 3:6, not much has changed from that day until today.  The world shall never come into alignment with God, it cannot for the world was created and God was not which means the world shall ALWAYS lose to God no matter how “good” it wants to make you believe it is.  The reason the Bible gives us Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:6 is for us to recognize what is the truth about our existence versus the lies that our enemy will use in order to trick us into leaving God and His plan for our lives.

Eve had a choice that day and I would have loved for her to just have said no to the temptation and to have believed in God and His Word instead of the hyped up lies of Satan.  As Jonah has shown us, the entire Book of Genesis and in that point the entire Bible could have been written differently, but instead, God’s Word gives us with every individual book in its content, stories of people who struggled and then had to acquire the applicable consequences of their follies.  It does not mean that God has written you off and has given up on you, the truth is that He is now more than ever calling for His children to return to Him.  Each letter of the Bible contains a message of eternal life and through these letters, God is calling for us to repent.  God does not want to see any child of His suffering at the hands of the world, but unless we turn from the world and choose God completely, our lives shall continue to experience the consequences of having our “eyes opened”.

The world will open your eyes, it will open your eyes to a so-called freedom that at first may seem exciting and adventurous but soon enough that excitement shall ware away and when it does it shall take a part of your life with it.  Satan does not care about you, your status on the earth or even your presence as a representative of life all he wants is your eternal death and separation from God.  The world has its lights and glamorous studios but those institutions are only temporary and will drain you dry and then leave you for the person that believes their lies.  There is nothing wrong with having excitement in our lives, for this too is a gift from God but in order for us to truly understand what excitement is and means we must see what God offers and what the world offers and recognize the difference.

Sadly, the Church has fallen into this glamorous lifestyle of the world and now is incorporating the views of the world into its Constitution.  God’s Word plainly states that this “cooperation” is a lie and it cannot stand against the eternal truth of God.  I see many denominational buildings celebrating the world and its laws, gaining strength from those who spit in the face of those who take a solid stand for God and Christ.  From homosexual church leaders to performing staged abortions in front of cathedrals and everything else in-between, it all points to the world’s point of excitement and separation from God, and our buildings promote it.  God demonstrated His love when He spoke to Adam the words of Genesis 2:9 but it was the words of the world in which dictated the actions of Eve in Genesis 3:6.  The lust for new beginnings without God led to our demise back in the Garden of Eden and from what we can see today that lustful gleam is still present and running rampant in our hearts today.

Repent Church, for our time here is short, for while we are demonstrating and promoting the works and wiles of the world’s leader, God is preparing His hand against us.  Some believe that Adam and Eve were dealt with harshly after they made the choice to sin, but those who say such ideas fail to recognize that it was their choice to leave the protection of God from such separated status.  Even as God sent Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, He once again showed them the way to restoration and it is our responsibility to show those who are lost God’s restoration pattern and not the world’s plan.  As the great song goes that comes from Psalms 84:10, it is better to spend one day in God’s court than a thousand elsewhere, and when we grasp the truth in the two passages God has shared with us in this message, it is clear as to why David spoke these words to us and also demonstrates the importance to obey God at all times.

DLB

Continuing The Pattern

Continuing the Pattern

5/18/18

One thing that people can say about humanity is that once they start a pattern, we will do everything in our might to follow and then finish that pattern even when all hope seems to be lost.  Many times this pattern goes nowhere and ends up in complete disappointment, yet we follow the road that we have chosen even though it cost us almost everything.  The striving for success and completion is a noble cause but one that can be made so much easier if we turn to the Creator of everything instead of paddling against the current of the world.  God does not mean for us to struggle when storms come around for He wants us to be sheltered in His Ways during these times, but there is no way for this sheltering to occur unless we relay and completely obey Him and His Ways.  God never promised His children an easy path of life but knowing that He is always with us and leading us is the best guidance plan anyone can ever follow.

There have been plenty of times in my life that I have tried my best to complete a set that I began even when I know that failure will be the end result.  I know I am not alone in this category and many of us who have followed this lead end up requiring stitches in the heart for the beating we receive for such patterns were brutal.  The storms of this natural world we cannot control but the ones that we voluntarily place ourselves in we do have a say in what occurs, but for some reason, we stick to our guns while passing through these situations and then complain about all of the damage done afterward.

Most of you know that for a period of time in my life I lived as a divorced man and during this time of my life I experienced many ups and downs due to the devastation that this status brought me.  I did not like nor did I approve of the statistic that I had become and the label that the world had placed upon my life.  What I found so frightening is that through this worldly identification that I was living in was producing inside of me an attitude that resembled such label and it was haunting me and forcing me to comply with its ambitions.  This battle inside me was not a pleasant one and it was one that began as a slow moving process but increased to a springtime flowing river that quickly overtook my heart.  At times I felt comfortable with the feelings that I had inside but most of the time I resented the fact of how I allowed myself to be fooled for so long that the warning signs presented to me I ignored without hesitation thus commanding me to face my devastation process.  God never left me during this time in my life and He did His best to teach me a thing or two while my consequences were being felt, but most of the time my mind was focused on getting through the storm without Him, a futile belief that did not truly change until I returned to His Ways.

It does not matter how long or how short the time we spend trying to buck God and His Ways to do things on our own like we have been told numerous times in these articles it is a noble cause but one that cannot be obtained with any great result.  My time of selfish stupidity lasted for about 5 years with another period of rebellious time thrown in down the road and so far in this series with Jonah we have an unspecified amount of time given but we know that it did not take too long for Jonah to disobey and then run from God.  It did not take Jonah any time to hop into a boat and go in the opposite direction of what God had told him to do, and it also did not take too much time for God to change Jonah’s world enough for him to understand that God meant business either.  We cannot help but feel the effects of the world when we disobey God for God wants His children to live in obedience so that their lives can know and understand eternal freedom.  Jonah knew this for it was the message that God wanted him to deliver to Nineveh, but Jonah did his own thing for a while and the results of which provide a valuable lesson for all of us who choose to do things on our own.

Jonah takes a huge gamble with the existence and proclamation of God when he states to the others how to calm the storm.  This really did not come to anyone’s surprise on the boat because in all of historical and mythological tellings and beliefs bold statements made from those declaring their words from their gods are of a common occurrence.  We cannot forget that human gods and the belief in any and all types of deities did not originate in our timeline but have been around for countless millennia.  Yet, Jonah takes a bold stand as an example of God’s love and restoration, not as a potential martyr to those in the boat.  In no way does God represent death, only the world can protrude such a lie to our Creation.  Through the declaration that Jonah gives in verse 12 is not one of accepting the martyrship but complete trust in God for peace, calm, salvation, restoration, and life.  It is through the words of Jonah here that provides us with the information that Jonah had known about God and was specifically chosen by God to fulfill the job that God needed to be done.

It is the first phrase in Jonah 1:13 that shows us the picture that exhibits the title of this article and also provides us with why the world is in chaos today as well.  “Nevertheless the men” is the phrase that sets the stage of why Jonah was not believed and why Jonah made the statement that he did in verse 12.  After Jonah had showboated his beliefs to the crew, they did not care what his point was for they immediately returned to their duties and began trying to return the ship to shore and ultimately to safety.  But as verse 13 continues it becomes clear that the boat and the men trying to row towards safety is no match for the storm that encompassed them, but you must give the men credit for their efforts for they were only responding as any human being would during this time.

By the time verse 14 appears, it becomes visible that the men are beginning to figure things out where it comes to Jonah and how he was the one responsible for the calamity that they were “enjoying” at that moment.  So, the crew begins to change direction from the inside out and start to call upon the name of the Lord to help them salvage their lives.  While their prayers seem noble enough they are conducted in a selfish manner for it is obvious that everything they have tried so far has not worked in calming the storm, so why not try another approach and see if this Jonah person actually knows what is going on and has the answer for all involved.  See, God sent Jonah on a mission of salvation and restoration to a specific place and when Jonah refused and ran that storm followed him by spiritual legal rights and it was up to God, through the true, holy and complete repentant heart of Jonah to provide the same salvation and restoration message to those in the boat as He eventually did over Nineveh.

I find an important detail here in verse 13 where it states that all the men return to trying to complete (continuing) the physical course by rowing, in other words relying on the ways of the world instead of God’s Way.  But when we read in verse 14 their actions have turned from the physical and are beginning to focus on the spiritual or origin of the issue at hand.  We see in this verse that it was all the men who participated in calling to the Lord.  When all the men tried to rely on the world and its answers nothing could shake the storm but when they all united together in God things quickly turned and through the actions that Jonah had stated we see in the next verse of God in action through obedience.  This single verse also demonstrates just how quickly things can change if we turn our hearts to God and begin listening and then following His Ways.

It is not in common sense that change comes easily for humans, for it means we must step out of our comfort zones and take steps that are uneasy and in an unfamiliar direction.  We expect people who love the world to act like it and to produce such fruit but how many times has the person who claims to know God and who lives as such to act accordingly, but Christians have proven many times to shout boldly yet live unexpectedly and then wonder why we are not believed.  Sadly, it is this continuance of patterns that may see us as now and therefore have no time for what we need to tell them.  It was this type of words that Jonah finally spoke in boldness but the crew of that boat had no time for what he was saying.  It is for this example alone that the world produces multimillion dollar blockbuster films that have complete violent content yet cry and scream at the same time about having gun control, and Christians enthusiastically attend such screenings.  When we open the physical door of the world and step through its threshold the spiritual contents of the world has the right to invade because of the choice you made and the pattern continues without hindrance.

This passage brings us another important detail that we must consider here and keep within our hearts and that dealing with dominion.  Yes, it is the same word that God gives us way back in Genesis when He was explaining the responsibilities of Adam to him, and we need to understand that Jonah was not operating in his given dominion.  The dominion that God gave Jonah began when He gave the command to him to go and tell the people of Nineveh that they needed to repent.  Anything that God gives a person and then instructs them to do so, that authority represents the dominion that God gave to Adam, you, and to me.  This means that in order for Jonah to be able to operate and to fulfill God’s command he must be within his dominion which ultimately means obeying what God said in the first place.

As we will see in a few verses, all works out okay for Jonah and the crew of the ship but the question remains as to why we must continually challenge God when He says for us to do be a light unto the world.  How much time, pain, sorrow, and effort would we be able to skip if we just obey His Word in the first place?  The admission about God from Jonah to the crew had no real value to them because Jonah did not stand out from the others before the fingers began to point, Jonah was nothing more than someone who blended in, or tried to blend in, with the crowd and hide from the truth.  When we align ourselves with the world and continue to follow in such a pattern for an extended amount of time, the words we say to them when troubles come around will not be taken seriously and the ones who need to hear about God will continue their patterns as is without any hesitation.  It is this detail about our walk with God that is so very important and the one that we need to take into consideration as we rise every morning.

God is the only Being that can freely give out your dominion and to authorize you to dress and keep it.  This is not some withered away doctrinal teaching that happened way back in the first book of the Bible and then forgotten it is a covenant principle that is still viable and living within us today.  Jonah should have recognized this principle because his life was after Adam and Eve, Moses, Abraham, Joshua, and David and the first verses of the Book of Jonah gives us the reasoning that Jonah knew about God and what it meant to serve God by telling others to separate themselves from the world.  Separation from the world is repentance and nothing less, and God had no choice but to grab the attention of Jonah along with the innocent bystanders around him.  Keeping and dressing your dominion is strictly understanding the entire boundary of your dominion and then completing the task that God has given you to do.  It is a guarantee that the task that God gives a person shall go totally opposite to what the world teaches and expects and if you are not completing such a task then your dominion is in dire trouble and is continuing the same pattern then it will become obvious that the people who need God will continue to row towards the shore under their own ways.

The first step in restoration is repentance and in order for us to do this we must acknowledge our sins and turn from our wicked ways.  If we do not have the sincerity to complete this first step we will not be able to grab anyone’s attention even when a storm is around us.  Jonah knew this and acted accordingly, but still, the men in the boat with him did not believe his newfound sincerity.  They continued rowing or trying to row towards the shore, just as the world is currently trying to do during the storm warning that God has allowed for our nation to endure.  We learned a while back that many people do not recognize the difference between a natural event and a natural event allowed by God to grab our attention.  Why is this?  It is because we do not recognize the importance of being separated from the world and when God calls upon us to change this standard we ignore it and continue our developed worldly patterns that we are secure in.

God is asking us a difficult question here and the question deals with our unity and who we are truly unified with on our intimate levels.  The question being asked is: are you unified with self or are you unified with God?  It is this question that Jonah deals with at the beginning of this series and it is obvious that he is unified with self instead of God.  Do we realize that it is this question that we must face when it comes to our selfish denominational beliefs?  It is the exact same setting as Jonah displayed and because of this presentation the life of Jonah turned dramatically until he changed his views, and our loyalties and hearts lay in tandem with Jonah through our denominational voices which cry out for recognition instead of unifying and coming together to teach the Gospel of Christ to a dying world.

It is for this answered question alone as to why people have soured stomachs for the Church and do not believe a word she is saying.  How sad when the ONE living entity cannot turn the heads of the lost towards our voices but turns them away in the opposite direction due to the ineffective garbage of self-determination that flows from us.  Jonah was a good man and he demonstrated to God that his heart was far better than what the world had offered others, but his heart ran from God in a specific moment and even though Jonah might have not wanted to travel to Nineveh God had other ideas for the salvation of that city and He chose Jonah for such a message.  Jesus chose His Church to perform the exact same message to the world and it is our responsibility to do the command that He gave us to do, without selfish blame and self-guidance. 

I find it so amazing that we would rather struggle against the issues at hand instead of listening to God for divine answers that would calm the storms around us.  But on the other hand, I cannot argue the fact that I sometimes would rather row instead of listening and after I realize what is ongoing, correct it in the manner in which God wants, I look back and feel ridiculous for not understanding things in the first place but having to struggle with my own continual patterns.  I must say that my life still needs a great deal of work from God and as each day passes He teaches me more about His Ways and how they are so much easier to handle than what the world can present.

Church, we have lost the holy fire of repentance and have doused the world with water instead of God’s Holy Word.  Our watering down of the Bible has provided a wicked society that we now claim as our equal instead of rising above what the ruler of the world offers.  God did not create us to be equal to sin, nor did He ever want us to fall upon our selfishness against His Word.  Church, it is imperative that we stand fast in God and in His Word for if we continue the pattern that we have allowed to progress our world will change in such a manner that it shall never be recognized in like manner again.  As each day passes we fulfill the Word of God but not like we have always believed for it is the sleeping Church that allows such horrors to come upon the lives of the innocent and it is time to stop proving the Bible correct in this manner.  However, and speaking in truth, we shall continue our sinful ways and prove the Bible correct and usher in a new era of life that shall not be what we had planned all the while standing there in astonishment as the mute and empty church shouts of what to do.

DLB

Being Responsible

Being Responsible

5/13/18

The topic of this article from the title would seem quite simple but this topic is quite the opposite and one that needs to be recognized as such because it defines many aspects of our lives.  Responsibility is a great achievement if one completes the task at hand in a timely manner but is a hideous account if one is responsible for devastation. It is interesting to see how people take the responsibility of owning up to issues when things go bad but what many do not realize is that when we accept the responsibility for our wrongdoings it is actually the first step in restoration and all around calmness.  God wants us to be restored and the only way we can complete this glorious benefit is obtaining it from Him.  Faith in humanity alone is a sinking ship in an ugly storm but if we turn to the One who controls that storm then our issues will disappear.

In writing this series on Jonah I have been blessed in the fact that God has delivered the bulk of the information of the articles to my heart two or three at a time.  But on this specific topic, He did not do such a thing but just gave me the verse and that was it.  I was not concerned about it at all and really did not fret about not knowing what the next topic would be either until I finished Jonah 1:9 and still did not hear anything from Him concerning the next passage.  I continued the day with nothing new in my heart yet was not concerned at all, until the evening hit and I began to become antsy to the point where I could not sit still and enjoy the time with my wife.  The evening finished and it was about ready to complete my evening routine before going to bed and as I was sitting at my desk eating a small bowl of cereal God dropped the title and topic of this article into my heart.  He also expounded on another topic that I have not formally written yet either, which once again confirms that God has His own time for each article to be written and then sent; a pointed project that I could never try to accomplish on my own.

It is this waiting period of mine that reinforces into my heart that I am not in control of what God wants for my life.  I can see how Jonah believed he was doing the correct thing for his life when he took off in the opposite direction after God had given him the message for Nineveh, but in the end God has His own delivery method and timing because we tend to forget that God sees all and knows all at the same time, a part of our existence that we cannot comprehend.  It is like being a person who delivers the weather, one that can be wrong 365 days of the year and still have a wonderful job that pays far more than what I make.  There are just some things that are difficult to predict and then there are those things which we can be fairly sure about, either way we may believe that we know what is going to occur in the future but with God’s sense of humor involved, our limited predictions can be messed up even before they begin.

I pride myself on doing a good job in the medical field and that I am able to provide my patients, physicians, nurses, and pharmacists with reliable and valid results when it comes to blood work.  But there are times that, for whatever reason, the results I provide can be skewed and when I notice such errors I automatically become embarrassed and worried at the same time.  At no point in time do I ever want to provide a false result to anyone and in order for me to do this, I need to make sure that all my results are compatible with life and follow the pattern of treatment of patients.  When such errors occur, very rarely I might add, it is my responsibility to own up to the issue and to correct it as soon as possible and even though I recognize the issue and do something about it, it would place me in the same category as Jonah if I knew that an error was present and did nothing about it.  If I did such an abomination to another then I would be violating the oath I took when I promised to do no harm to those that seek my help.  Sadly, as I have stated before and that God has shown to us as well there are those in the world who do not care enough to stand up for the errors they make and then at some time down the road have to either take responsibility or engage in the blame game, which brings us to the passage of Jonah 1:10-12 and the passage that God wants us to share with us.

So far in this series, we have learned that Jonah has deliberately left God’s command to him and has gone about on his own way hoping to hide from God while doing so, a common misfortune that many humans believe.  Jonah enters a boat and begins his journey in the opposite way but runs into a storm that threatens the boat and everyone on board.  Jonah has admitted to being a Hebrew and one who serves the Almighty God after he had been singled out from the boat crew.  So, now we are at the point where the storm is still raging and the people on the boat are confused and terrified at the same time, a combination that does not sit well with humans.  As in my personal statement in the above paragraph, there are people’s lives and eternal placements at stake here so the setting is of a vital nature and a perfective plan must be carried out.

Jonah 1:10 states as follows: “Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because he had told them.”  How can someone not be afraid of violent surroundings especially when they do not understand why these violent conditions exist?  One cannot fault the mariners for having such emotions and to be honest, they gave Jonah a fair deal by not getting rid of him immediately after they learned of the truth behind his staging within the boat.  Verse 10 gives us the reason why they should have completed this motion and it is because Jonah came clean with not only who he was but why he was there and what he had done to deserve such hideous weather conditions.  How much guts it took for these men not to take matters into their own hands after finding out that while their gods and fortunes did not warrant any distinctive harmful manner only to find out that the one asleep and not helping with the matters at hand is fast asleep below.  A stark contrast to how our society is today I would have to say.

As the previous verses have explained, the mariners were in search of the source of the storm which means that these men are demonstrating the very type of activity one today would demonstrate during a crisis.  If one is paying attention to their current surroundings and then watch the corresponding reactions to everyone involved it becomes quite clear of where their heart lies and who or what they offer their hearts up to.  The confidence in such deities can be amusing but to those who are dedicated to them take the situation very seriously the only problem with this fact is that unless those people are praying and seeking guidance from God alone, their prayers are falling on laughing ears.  And this example is given to us in the next few verses of this passage. 

Jonah confesses the reason entirely to the men, probably in a condensed version due to the magnitude of the storm, but in any view, he makes his point clear that it is due to his disobedience that the storm rages around them placing them all in danger.  The men must have asked the question about how Jonah could do such a thing in a puzzled manner, for it is clear that even they resourced their own personal gods when times became troubled.  It is obvious that the mariners had obeyed their statutes to their gods and had followed what they had been taught to do, yet while their prayers were being presented to nothing, a man claiming to be one that fears the God of all creation sleeps, justification for such questioning.  Can you now understand why so many people today doubt the sincerity of Christians due to their daily behavior?

Jonah makes no doubt about why the storm is raging around them and tells them exactly what is going on, yet their fear and doubt about his words confound their thinking concerning their next move.  I can imagine how astonished the men were to hear such words of defiance against their own gods and ways of life and to provide such damning evidence for the reason their lives were at stake.  Jonah even takes the next step and tells them what to do in order to calm the storm, he gives very specific instructions to them and he even tells them what will occur after they complete this task.  Again, profound words from an outsider to the crew of the boat for one just do not lightly make a decision to throw someone overboard to “calm the sea” in order to calm the storm above them and the sea underneath them.

It is this type of responsibility or the lack of true responsibility that God wants us to understand about our lives today.  He has charged humanity with a command of complete governess over our dominion and ever since the Garden of Eden we have been playing with this command from God in order to appease our own selfish desires.  God does not and cannot allow our lives to become idle for when they do it is a guarantee that disobedience will rear its ugly head soon afterward.  It is the nature of the Serpent to do such a task for where the lifeblood of the Kingdom of God is not continually flowing and covering us opportunity knocks for the world to enter.  The seemingly simple word “no” to God that Jonah gave after he received his command set off a potentially destructive presence for him and the ones that were unknowingly involved with him as well.  It was this slight word that set into motion a frightful set of warnings that could have cost innocent lives and placed them into their eternal position far too early.

With the actions of the modern-day Church, it is not difficult to understand that we have said the exact same word “no” to God after Jesus gave us His command and to go and teach the gospel to the dying world.  We are currently in the boat with Jonah and the crew of the boat explaining to them why the storm is around us but our words because of our past actions are falling on deaf ears.  Jonah was willing to correct the situation by giving the men the way out by resolving his issue with God yet in all sense of truth, Jonah still had not confessed his disobedience to God the One who he really needed to do.  Jonah stands up for God in this passage and that is what the responsibility of the Church is to be but just as Jonah in these few verses, he stands up to the physical and not the spiritual which gives us a clear reason why the storm continued to rage around them.

Church, we are in disobedience to God and to the command that His Son gave us to do and when we try and justify our sin to the people of the world we shall see NO submission of the said storms around us, only increases.  The storms around us are our own fault for not obeying the command of God way back in the Garden of Eden and because of our lack of obedience to Jesus’ command to His followers as well.  If Jonah had obeyed God in the first place none of the problems that those men faced would have ever occurred, yet even in our own selfish ways and sinful mannerisms God still gives us an opportunity to repent and to make things right with Him.  Whether or not we figure things out quickly or not is up to us for we can skip the belly ride if we wish or we can go through the severe awakening that God has to do sometimes to grab our attention.

Jesus knew exactly how difficult a job that His command would be and that is why He gave it to Hid best witnesses, His Church and that is YOU.  As previously stated in an earlier article in this series, the entire Book of Jonah could have been rewritten and ended in a totally different manner if Jonah had just obeyed God in the first place.  To take that statement a bit further, the entire Bible could have been rewritten if Adam and Eve would have simply obeyed God and not allowed sin into the lives of humans.  How many times have we stood before others and emptily proclaimed Christ to them?  I would dare to say the answer would be more times than not which is a sad and pathetic service to the one who has given us life eternally.  But our actions are not new and are not short in lineage for we see even during the life of Jonah that denying God is a common thread that all of us share; ties going back to the Garden of Eden.  We have become so much like the world that we have to be asked if we are different than what others believe, our separation from this world has become a spiritual joke and lie that is not only costing us our eternal positioning but many others’ as well.  The storms are all around us and while we recognize them as our wakeup call we would rather play the martyr than tell others to repent as we have been first commanded.

Oh, how we need to have God burn away the dirt and filth from our hearts so that we may once again be washed in the blood of the Lamb.  We do not need the waters of the physical world to tempt us with its drowning effects we have been designated as overcomers and ones who serve the Almighty God.  Yet, we choose to live in disobedience and thus create an entire avalanche of worries and issues that should be a needless setting all the while lying to those around us who are in desperate need of eternal help.  Our verbal and physical ways of existence and worldly acceptance give us away when troubles occur and are the sole reason why so many that are asking for help during these times of crises do not believe the words coming from our mouths.  God created Israel to be separate from the world and He also asks His Church to follow the same guidelines.

God has stated this next phrase many times in the articles that He has shared with us but it is an important message not only for ourselves but more importantly those who have never heard about God and His Son Jesus.  We need to repent Church, and once again spread the True Gospel of Christ to the dying world and that means to those who are sitting down and playing church as well.  God does not care if you have been raised in church or if you have no clue about who He is; all He wants is to cleanse your heart from this world and to have eternal communion with you.  There is nothing good about this world and it can offer you nothing in the means of life, death grips it on every side and when in this status, that is all it can offer.  Are you a responsible person who truly and purely witnesses and obeys God or are you part of the responsibility party that has produced the storm warnings that we face today?

Church, it is our duty to spread the Gospel of Christ to the world and we cannot complete this mission if we have an alliance with the ones who we are trying to witness.  Yes, we must proclaim who we are and who we serve just as Jonah did in the boat, but we cannot be actively living and promoting the world (sin) at the same time.  We can confess our past but when we do we must be in alignment underneath the blood of Christ in order to be true and viable to the ones who need God.  As we have learned before in this series, being a showboat Christian only makes us a fool to others and liars to God.  Let us come together and repent and return our hearts to God so that we can be true witnesses and win Nineveh (the world) back to God.  When we are not living separate from the world, our responsibility shifts to the side in which Jonah portrayed in the boat because we present ourselves as such we automatically transfer our true responsibility from God to this perverted state of living.  In this case and through this passage, we do not need and we cannot afford to be like Jonah but for many false reasons, we have become just that example.  It is time we turn around and again give our hearts back to God before our storm becomes our judgment.

DLB

Earth Destroying Itself

Earth Destroying Itself

5/7/18

A short break from Jonah to deliver a message to those who are concerned about what humanity is currently going through and the tensions that are ever present each day that we rise.  God knows what is transpiring across our lands along with is in our hearts, and He wants us to understand that we can change the course that we have set into motion if we just stop and allow Him to take control of our lives again.  It begins in the individual heart and if allowed this godly change shall eventually infiltrate the heart of this nation once again.  We have a small amount of time left before we see the destruction of this nation and the world’s status as we have known it, but we cannot wait too much longer for things shall change dramatically if we are not up to the eternal challenge set before us.

It is a common thread to say that God works in mysterious ways and it is also a common passing statement that we tend to say but not take to heart.  If we say this statement then we must have some reckoning about how God works and why He does the things He does, and while we may not immediately understand the entire picture that has been painted, God has given us the ability to put things together as time goes along thus allowing Him to explain His Ways at the right moment.  The example that God will show us here some may scoff at while others may understand and come to realize that this is a serious and pivotal point in our personal and national lives, either way, I am obeying what God has told me to do and shall deliver the message as given.  But the example that God has shown me comes straight from His Word and it makes total sense of what we are currently leveled up to each day that we encounter others.  God does not wish to send His hand over this nation in a manner in which defies His heart, but if we do not wake up and change the ways that we have set into motion God shall no other choice but to preserve His Kingdom’s holiness through His definition of life.

Currently, we are able to watch a fascinating phenomenon occur in Hawaii, where a volcano has been giving us warnings for the past few months and now has decided to deliver on those heeded requests.  This natural event may not affect many of us on the mainland but we need to take into consideration that this part of our nation has numerous volcanoes that can once again become active at any time.  Yellowstone super caldera and Mt St. Helens quickly come to mind for they too have been in the news recently and many of us “older” folks remember when Mt St Helens erupted back in the early 1980s.  All of these natural events many will brush off as just the planet exercising its natural potential at a specific stress level internally while others may not be concerned with this type of activity at all, and of course you have the majority of people who fit in the middle of these extremities with their ideas and theories.  In any case, it is quite extraordinary to watch unfold and to see the power of nature at work while humans stand by and do nothing while this event unfolds.  What is so amazing at this event is that the lava actually consumes its own energy as it flows which paints a more deepening factor in its devastation.

The scientific portion of this example is that there is a vast amount of pressure that builds up and as the pressure builds it begins to make noticeable changes to the earth.  When the pressure reaches a certain point the underground holding center no longer can keep the pressure contained and thus breaks the surface of the earth and releases its content into the atmosphere.  In the case of the Kilauea volcano, the lava and molten rock that is being released is on a slow yet dedicated route and it is possible to get some incredible footage of such natural devastation.  The lava is extremely hot and when it comes into contact with the surface of the earth it burns everything in its path, without exception.  That is why it is important that while the scenes being created may be pretty and out of the ordinary or even once in a lifetime opportunity to see, it is not recommended that anyone be around when this molten rock approaches.

The volcano is currently has been releasing its contents for a few days now and from what experts say this flow and eruption will last for a few weeks or maybe even months.  As this destructive path grows the ground that it consumes is rendered useless for the entire upper layers of ground surface are completely wiped out due to the extreme heat of the molten rock.  Plus, when the flow subsides and slows to a halt the air temperatures begin to cool the heated rock and thus creating a new set of ground surface which will take many years to produce life again, if at all.  The part that is most concerning is that many people do not understand that the molten rock is not just ground surface particles that the lava has picked up along its path, but it is actually part of the earth that constitutes the earth itself.  When a volcano erupts, the eruption comes from the earth below and it brings with it the interior of the earth thus establishing a new ground surface that can be foreign to the current habitat of the surface.

This can mean that a variety of new factors could be presented after it is safe to return to the area and begin testing exactly what has come up from below if one wants to put it in those terms.  As this hot soup hits its new territory it destroys what it comes in contact with, and as stated above it is no respecter of persons, places, or things.  All of what has been said should not come as a surprise but there is a huge message here that God wants us to understand and it directly relates with this type of natural activity that we are witnessing from the earth today.  The earth is actually eating itself up and while it may look fascinating to some we must remember that a portion of the earth is literally being swallowed up by another portion of the same earth.  If you want to put it in a bit more personal terms it would be like your pancreas turning against your hand and somehow building up enough pressure to come from your insides to get its intended target.  While this seems far-fetched it shows the capability of the unusualness of the entire organism being subject to other parts of the body, yet functioning as one gigantic unit when stable.

God brought my attention to this today as I was watching a small video about the Kilauea volcano’s lava flow.  It was slowly creeping across a road to where an abandoned car was parked.  It eventually reached the car and totally engulfed the car never to be used or recognized again.  It was here that God asked me a question: “Do you know that is exactly what humans are doing to each other?”  Before I could think about an answer God referred me to Genesis 2:7 which states: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life: and man became a living soul.”  It was then I understood what God was showing me and what He wanted me to share with you.

While we sit back and watch the lava flow destroy anything that is in the path of this magnificent event, we cannot help but think about the personal loss of those people who are directly involved in this natural event.  Hawaii is a beautiful place and has countless attractions for almost every type of individual and personality, but it is gut-wrenching to watch this take place and no amount of human effort can stop its progress for all we can do is observe and see how much damage it will do over the unspecified amount of time.  It is this activity by Kilauea is a direct example of what we are doing to ourselves as humans.  Our selfish behavior has become so demoralizing to others that we cannot even proceed in an orderly direction as a family much less as a nation.  Polarization of our societies is now the norm and if one does not fit in within a certain community then they are isolated and ostracized on every level and deemed stupid or not in touch with reality.

It does not matter what level of human contact and activity one wishes to compare and discuss, the level of self-indulgence at the expense of others has reached out of control measuring and just as that slow lava flow in Hawaii continues to eerily creeping down its own path we are exacting identical measures upon our own brethren.  How do I know this to be a fact?  We sit for hours at a time hunting for a comment or event to disagree with and then we pounce on the one who initiated a comment that we do not like.  The blood is drawn and others swim to the fray and attack just as piranha devouring what portion can be served first.  Since we are all made up of dirt, the origins of this personal and cultural devastation that we inflict on our “physical enemies” can only mean that we are following in the “beautiful” devastation patterns of a molten rock festival with the accompanying heat that it brings.  Think about this folks, for God has a powerful message here that we need to grasp and take hold because if we do not change our tactics and return to God this molten lava flow will hit us at some point.

Now, let us think about all the times we have sat and watched the news about certain events around the world that involve humans projecting hatred – true hatred and not the made-up kind – against others.  How many shootings have occurred, how many stabbings have occurred, how many “gotcha sessions” have we endured, how many bombings have we reluctantly viewed, not to mention all of the real and natural events transpire, and how many loved ones have we lost just to normal conditions?  All of these calamities and hideous events humanity at some point glorifies for their own personal causes and then seeks out those who may be against such ideas that they have and bashes them while blaming them for said outcomes.  What more of a perfect example can God give us about how we are treating each other than this one here?  Earth destroying earth can be a horrible and grotesque sight to behold yet we unknowingly commit that episode every day of our lives and what is more sickening is that we thoroughly enjoy completing this process.  Our society is the perfect poster child for such wickedness that only our eternal enemy can deliver, in fact, it is he who gives us the match to start the fire against our brethren.

Many people want to blame a certain political party or ideology on what we are experiencing today, they could not be any further from the truth.  Look at what is transpiring here, as the verbal lava spews and flows, it means that someone else is being burned by such activity which in turn creates and then ignites its own lava flowing in the opposite direction.  Then you add another person or group into the verbal entourage and another fissure opens, then another, then another, then another and after a short period of time we have an identical catastrophe as what is unfolding in Hawaii.  Kilauea is not a new volcano it has been erupting for many years now and what is occurring in our nation today is growing just as fast.  I suggest you go onto some type of media outlet and watch some of the videos that are being circulated, study its content and then place what God has just shared with us into the framework and then maybe we can see what God is showing us and what we are doing to each other as well.

This graphic warning that we are watching unfold in Hawaii we have no control over for it is a warning that we did not create, but only God.  God sees exactly what is occurring in our hearts as we wake each day and He does not like to see such voided lives being placed into a state of dissolution because that is not how He created us to operate in and to live under.  It is this example that should show us that God does use nature to grab our attention because everything that nature can throw at us we harbor as a part of our bodies and since this is a scientific fact we cannot argue against this truth.  As we just learned in Jonah 1:9, why do we have to go through the warnings?  It is because God is trying to tell us that something is very wrong with our lives and beliefs and that He wants us to change our hearts before He must take the next step.  We may not have any control over this natural warning but we do have control over our individual and national controlling ideas and beliefs and we can change things before it becomes ugly.

DLB