The Path Of A Child

The Path of a Child

10/30/18

It is the dream of the parent to ensure that their children all grow up to be more successful than they are but we are increasingly witnessing that this wish is not being fulfilled, or is it.  The paths that children take are usually a direct reflection of what their eyes and ears heard while following behind their parents’ footsteps.  It does not matter what path the parents took either, for it is what occurs in the everyday life of the family that is cast in the heart of a child.  I would love to state that the children of those parents who went to church every week would be the ones setting the stage for the future of this nation but I cannot honestly say that this setting is of a wholesome picture either.  We are reaping this product of our lives today and it is clear that we are nowhere near God or His Ways and that it is time we turn from the world and begin to train up our children to make a stand for God and not the world.

Being a pastor’s kid I had the opportunity to travel a bit around the country and see many different types of ethnic cultures during this time in my life.  When I was a young adult I had the opportunity to trade the minister’s son’s life for a life of the military personnel and when I signed up I had hoped that I would have the opportunity to go around the world, instead, I received Texas and Utah two very familiar family places.  Even with these stateside stations, I continued to have the convenience of witnessing further cultural habitats within my assignments.  Then after my military tenure was over I planted myself in a small community in western Colorado and have remained in this wonderful spot ever since, but even in this small community where a good majority of the population has been around here for generations it proves to be just as culturally diverse as all of my previous experiences combined.  A fascinating detail that when I think about it and I cannot help but shake my head at these wonderful people and wonder just how we all get along so well, that is up until now I should say.

As I span over my career here I cannot help but notice a few instances where cultural differences have come together and produced some pretty organized gatherings but on the other hand, I have also been witness to some of these cultural institutions clashing and producing an ugliness that is almost unmentionable.  I remember one of my employees a while back openly and proudly talking about how she spent her weekends and who she was with while those weekends unfolded.  The majority of the weekend was spent inside a bar drinking and carousing around with whoever she wished and would come and go with those people as she pleased.  I was never involved in this type of scene when I was younger and while it was not too hard to imagine living such a setting I still had to wonder why anyone would do such a thing.  I could not help but wonder where her parents were while this underaged teenager was allowed to peruse bar after bar with a seemingly limitless curfew and it is at this point where one simple question of mine set into motion in my head of a destructive pattern that today God will be using in order for us to understand the importance that we follow His Ways at ALL times and not haphazardly or at whims call.

As this young lady was explaining to her coworkers about a weekend that she had in the bar and just how terrible she felt that morning because of her weekend status, I could not help but become engrossed with the conversation.  Not to condemn her at all or to start any talk about how she was wrong and that she should spend her time off doing constructive items but just to listen to see how her mindset was and to wonder if she really enjoyed her activities.  At some point, I interjected and asked her where her mother was during this weekend bash at the bar and without any hesitation or embarrassment she answered quickly and said that her mother was right next to her at the barstool beside her.  It kind of stunned me for a second when she said this but what she said next stunned me even more for she stated that her mother would be right next to her at all times unless she went off with a guy, then it might not be until the next morning that they would meet up again.  Her words were not surprising to me about the things she did but what she said about her mother placed an entirely new light on how I understood the generations that were coming up and how they would perceive authority and governance within their own lives, a frightening sight that we are now seeing unfold before our eyes.

While my parents did not share too much information about the problems and issues of the church family, I could tell that not many after duty, evening or late night calls dad would receive were of any good nature.  Most of the time I could figure out that someone was sick or had passed away but occasionally my ears would hear that this common calling out was not the case.  I really was too young to understand most of what transpired but I knew that something was not right and that the call was not of a good nature.  As my years increased and my understanding of how the world infiltrates a person I figured out that some of these calls dad had to attend were of a domestic nature and I can only imagine some of the sights and sounds he had to endure while attending such messes.  When my medical field career began I quickly became indoctrinated with such sights and what I believed I knew as an older teenager was just the tip of the iceberg to what I was witness to in my early twenties and onward.  Also, as I stated before I wish that my eyes would have been witness to those instances in which I did not know the individuals involved in such ugliness, but I cannot for even church members presented themselves to the emergency department with injuries that could only be acquired from physical altercations.

How could this type of behavior be right I would ponder to myself?  I asked one of my coworkers this question because he was a state trooper for many years before he retired from that position.  He stated that he and his troops would dread Sundays that Denver would play because if they lost they all knew that they would receive at least one call of domestic abuse, and he said it never failed not to occur.  If this type of activity is triggered by a football game and its result how much more damage could be attributed to people when times are really bad and just what lengths would they take in order to gain what they would be “needing”?  This question and many more still run through my mind today because I see the same type of activity being displayed over social media and on news sites on a daily basis.  So my question still remains and rings true, what path are we training our children to walk and how will we handle things when we are questioned in the future about such activity from them?

Proverbs 22:6 addresses this issue and it provides a great deal of wisdom but in order for it to be applied the ones setting the example must understand the truth about life and what it means to train according to what is right.  The verse goes as such: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”  I have heard this verse taught to many people in various settings and capacities and it is a wonderful verse of promise when it is referring to the person who trains their children in the Light of God and in the Truth that God’s Word gives but we must be honest with ourselves and know that this verse is not always referring to a sacred art of raising children and that it could also be in reference to a warning to those who do not care about the real truth and live according to the world.  The example I gave about my employee is a tone for such statement and example and we cannot afford to dismiss this aspect of the verse for it should serve as a testament to witness to such people and it also gives us a detailed access to how society is operating and what kind of status and influence the Church has on society as well.  We cannot forget that if someone brings into an account of things that do not line up with God’s Word completely, then it shall be a poison to the Word of God and thus cause someone to fall sick.

The Book of Proverbs is packed with verse after verse of wisdom that we should take into consideration every day of our lives, yet in many cases and times, we tend to see these wise acts after we have faced trials and tribulations.  The hindsight concept comes into play here on a routine basis bust as we kick ourselves for not getting things correct the first time around we must take into consideration of what we have portrayed to our children in the first place, for it is their eyes and ears that see how to act.  It would be a normal placement to see children of Christians be on good behavior and of upright standards as they grow up and after they grow up but to be honest some of the most hate-filled people walking on this earth are preacher’s kids or those who have been associated with the church all their lives.  At the same time, we see people who have no connection to the church portray similar attitudes and actions towards others, a most unlikely network that can be confusing to many and it is this reason why many people who have read this passage or those who truly love God have trouble with this verse.  And it this detail of how we are ourselves that God wants us to understand about Himself, His Word and our hearts for two of these three can never change no matter what we wish to conceive about them.  I have heard many a parent quote this verse in hopes that it would apply to their lives but cannot understand why their child has strayed so far away from God.  It is the choices of the heart that brings forth the path of the child and if our form is not completely directed by the Word of God Satan will use this door to subvert our children right in front of our eyes.

First off we must understand that this verse is NOT only referring to God and the ways that Christians raise their children.  In this verse, there is no mention of God or His Ways only the fact that when a person raises their child in such a specific manner that they will remember such a manner when they are older.  Now, all parents who are of sound mind and state do their best to raise their children in a good manner but the influence that they give their children makes the difference in how those children respond in the future.  It is true that if they are not continually influenced by God and His Word that they shall have no reason to live according to God’s Ways but this verse does not solely address God and His Ways for it also addresses the state of society as well.  It is this aspect of the verse that we need to understand and then do our best to correct before the world infiltrates our children and we fall behind on what David really meant when he wrote these words.  If we train our children to accept the world and its principles we should not be surprised when they come home acting like the world.  It is this point that we cannot scream or preach the Bible to them but to teach them what the Word of God says and show them how important it is to remember that the world only offers decay, destruction, and death to those who follow its lead.  When a parent or even society is under the wrong influence the children of these entities shall show what they have learned and it does not take too many generations later to witness a complete change in attitude and lifestyle.

Look at the many options that the world offers that are accepted as normal today, everything from same-sex marriages to multiple divorces to drug-induced births crosses our eyes every day which the world demands that we blindly accept as nothing new.  While this aspect of the world should not come as any surprise to us it is concerning because the Church is not making headlines in voicing their opposition to what is being labeled as normal and a “right” to everyone.  Instead, the Church is lining up with these lies that the world is teaching and promoting them from the pulpits and pews.  If the Church parents are accepting this worldly practice into their lives then how can we expect any true and godly opposition to the world to follow in our children?  It is not okay for these deadly values to be promoted and then followed for if we allow them to continue the complete authority that God gave parents in Genesis 2:22-24 will totally be replaced by the perverted version of Proverbs 22:6.

Proverbs 22:6 is a wonderful verse with a vast spiritual and eternal promise but if the Church does not stand up for her Creator and do what is correct in His sight.  The beauty in this verse is proclaimed when parents wholeheartedly teach their children the truth about right and wrong staring with what occurred in the Garden of Eden then explain to them exactly why it is important that we do things correctly at all times instead of experimenting with the world as the alternative.  It is this path of what the world considers to be “right and correct” that serves us with a devastatingly deadly dose of lies that makes us feel good at the present moment.  God is the only being that can understand what the consequences of our present can procure which is why He wants us to fully understand this verse in Proverbs.  It is not just a one-sided verse but represents the entire picture of what the possibilities are or could represent in our lives. 

It is for this reason that we need to take a closer look at our own hearts and allow God to see what really resides within them.  Even though we may call ourselves Christians and represent publicly as one who walks upright before God, how is it then that the Church is in such disarray with God when we are the ones who make up the Church?  Something is not right here for there cannot be any question that the Church is the sole representative of the message and mission that Jesus gave to do when He was on the earth.  It is evident that what the children are being taught and trained today is not what lines up with the Word of God.  We can easily expect that from our schools and public facilities but if contrary measures are not adequately taken at home where intimate relationships are built or should be built then our hopes of any decency in knowing when to stop these ridiculous activities that we are blindly participating in will not stop but continue to increase without bounds.

It is frightfully sad to see such wicked activity being displayed from a nation that was founded on God and the principle of freedom of worship.  But when you take into consideration what our children are being taught both in the public and at home it should come as no surprise when horrifying statistics cross our screens concerning our children.  The examples that this nation alone exhibits is flat disgusting and will not change but increase unless we turn our blackened hearts back to God.  Our actions stem from what comes from our hearts and it does not matter what state of mind one wishes to procure their identity either.  The choices are simple in that if we continue to push God out of our hearts our hearts shall continue to darken and will reflect such darkness in our present and future actions with our inherited past serving as the foundation of what is to come.  Or, we can choose God and allow His Ways to influence our hearts and provide the truth about what Proverbs 22:6 really means and if we turn our hearts back to God our society will be healed according to God’s promises.  When we completely turn our lives over to God and teach our children to do the same it will become more likely that this verse will be like most of us proclaim a verse that promotes God and His Ways.  Many parents’ hearts have been broken by the actions of their children godly parents are included in this statement as well.  That is why we must allow God to search our hearts on a continual basis so that He may weed out the world and replace it with His Ways so that we may give our children a fighting chance for their future.

DLB

How Far Hath The Heart Fallen

How Far Hath The Heart Fallen

10/29/18

Can anyone actually determine how far a person falls away from true authority?  I know many of us would like to ignore such a thought but it is possible for God gives us illustrations of what the human heart can do when it has made up its “mind” to stray away from truth.  Sadly, it is usually after the fact that we recognize the effects of such a disastrous turning even though the signs of blessings have come and gone with no holdings possible within our hearts.  God still calls us to live in His Light and shall continue this beckoning until we draw our last breath.  The patterns that we set into motion must contain God at the helm because if He is not then we are subject to the plan of the world which has no good outcome for us physically, spiritually, and most importantly eternally.

For some people in this world, they do not have to contend with the fact their children will not continue to live for God after they walk out of the house into adulthood.  However, any God-fearing parent will always wonder and pray for their child’s spiritual condition and that they will always draw closer to God all of their days.  Then there are those young people who as soon as they step foot out the front door lose all contact with God and have nothing to do with God on any level which brings into question the Scripture passage that states to train up a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it, a seemingly controversial verse in which the truth was not manifest in someone’s life.  There is only one answer for this question and that is the child still and continues to look in the wrong direction for guidance, so there is still hope that God will grab hold of them before it is too late; more on this at a later date.  It is this falling away that we must understand and when we understand it we will know how to pray against it and help God come into contact with whoever is the subject of the question.

The condition of the spiritual heart is the one area that is most vital to our eternal future and is what God looks upon when He sees how we live.  This definition of His on-looking can seem to be complicated to someone who has been born into sin but not ever witnessed the supernatural patterns of God the Father and Creator, in fact, one may totally dismiss this truth due to the lies that this world presents to us each day.  It is not our place to condemn such beliefs but to do our best to show these wonderful people that our spiritual hearts do exist and that they need to be in contact with their Creator for that is what they were originally designed to do.  Because we are now physically subject to sin and have no option of physical eternity in our present state, it is easy for our enemy to grab hold enough that it makes witnessing to those who need God much more difficult but this state of physicality should not be a hindrance at all, just a guide of how important it is that we understand exactly what the Bible says and how it serves as our lifeline against our enemy.

A few weeks ago, I was rushed to our local medical center for an operation on my heart.  While I was not expecting such a surgery to come as quickly as five years after my previous heart procedure, I was told by my physicians in 2012 that the next time they saw me I probably would have my chest cracked and once again modern medicine and its personnel were correct.  The personnel at my hospital’s emergency room believed that I should go to that place by helicopter in order to expedite my arrival and travel time and by the time I knew that my transportation had already been established meant my arguments against the flight were mute.  So, off in the air I went and as we left my small town I was able to see my house from above for we flew right over it, this pattern was not new to me because I had watched the helicopter go over our house many times before but this time was so different than any other setting.

As I was lying there on the stretcher in the helicopter I was able to see out the front window and watch the scenery as we passed by it.  Of course, at some point in early in the flight I thought to myself that it would be a shame if this thing would go down and I would never be able to have any corrective surgery because I would have been dead, it was a ridiculous idea but one that my mind entertained for a few moments.  That all changed shortly afterward because God began speaking to me and He showed me a picture of an onion.  I related to this because it is time for harvest and we usually get a large bag of onions to last us for most of the winter but this single onion was unique in many ways.

To the outside view, it was the perfect onion in color, shape, and size and it looked ready for anyone to slice it and use it according to their wishes.  As it was before my eyes, I really did not understand how or why it was before me until God asked me a simple question and when I gave Him the answer He began to show me why He had an onion in front of me.  I do not know how long this vision was before me but it could not have been but a few minutes but the information that God showed me concerning this onion was vast and yet specific at the same time.  As soon as God began showing me the onion He two things not at once but separately the first thing He did was somehow perfectly and precisely slice the onion into two pieces from top to bottom, effectively cutting the onion in half.  But this beautiful onion that was white as I have ever seen had a black spot in the center of it, where the root or heart of the onion would be located.  And as God brought it closer to me He said that the black spot of that onion was the heart of the onion for it was the place where the onion would receive its nourishment and would be the origin of its growth as well.  This I knew for we had planted such “seeds” in our garden for a while now so this was not too much of a surprise.

However, it was the explanation that God then gave me that set me back for even though I had understood this concept about an onion before and had actually been around the process of onions going bad from the inside out I did not know that this is how God sees our hearts.  When this image was placed in front of my eyes, God spoke to me and said that this is how He views our hearts and immediately was reminded of Psalms 51 where God states that we are all born into sin even at the moment of our conception and that through this inherited condition God cannot help but see such deformities and wickedness even though our surroundings look perfect.  It is this detail about having a black heart that God wanted me to understand that is how my heart looked to Him for a long time but now all He sees is a red line above my heart.  While this picture stood out in my mind quite vividly, God was not through with what He had to say to me for this vision was about to become much deeper not only about my life but for the existence of this nation and future world conditions.  First off, God reminded me that this black heart condition was not the way that He designed our heart’s to be and to function that His creative abilities were perfect in every way in our beginnings.  It was our choice to allow sin to be introduced into our lives that established this blackness and decaying state of our hearts and that even though our physical hearts will one day stop that it is still possible to have eternal life, but only as His Word defines it and not through our own devices or methods.  This picture of a perfect onion with a black dot in its middle hit home to me because it also symbolized my physical heart due to the condition that my genetics has placed me in, but at the same time I had a renewed sense of hope because God told me that I would be fine but I needed to trust Him in all things concerning this process.

Secondly, God asked me a question and that question dealt with my old school days when I was in Biology class and we dissected an onion.  I quickly but no out loud said yes to this question and I replayed the dissection process in my mind which included taking the onion and slicing it in half and then using one side of the onion for the procedure.  I then brought it close to my eyes and went for one layer of the onion and slowly yet methodically peeled that single layer from the onion and it was this single layer that I was going to put under the microscope and look at the different levels of mitosis that the onion skin presented.  An onion is the best organism that we have to look at the different stages of mitosis for the cells of an onion are nicely placed in an orderly fashion and while all lined up in rows still represent individuality due to the fact that each cell operated at a different time which gives us the perfect examples of mitosis.  But as soon as I completed this thought in my head God spoke again and said that it was not the mitoses that He wanted me to understand but the peeling away process was His target.

For quite a while now God has told us that He is a complete God and that everything He does He does for a reason and on a total level.  Hopefully, we know this truth about God well enough to understand the process by which God is going to expose this nation, including the Church, to get to our hearts so He can show us about the need for Him in our lives.  Since God is a complete God He cannot and shall not just slice our physical attributes that we have surrounded our hearts and go straight to the heart and repair it; that would not be in accordance to His process of completeness.  Instead, God showed me that He is going to be using the Biology class process of peeling layer by layer off of our lives until He reaches our heart.  This seems like a cruel process but when you hear the next portion of why God must perform changes in this manner you should understand.  What God has shown me corresponds with the fact that God does not sit on His throne with a huge pencil and eraser then erases names out of the book of life when we do wrong, nor does He have a gavel in His hand ready to end our lives and angrily judge us; however, it does project His character as one that wishes to give His children time to realize their sins before He must remove all of our existence in order to get across to us that we need Him.

The layers that God created in our physical beings are not the same today as they were in the Garden of Eden.  Yes, our bodies are the same but how they functioned before sin entered into our lives was totally different but because God designed them in a specific order and manner our existence was not immediately sealed or destroyed.  Through the process of sin, our hearts have become blackened and thus affect the condition of what our physical lives represent around us.  From the time Genesis 3:7 transpired we have been in the business of physically trying to cover our sinful hearts with physical identities.  While the ability to reason and to have knowledge was present in Adam and Eve’s lives the only thing that they could think about was to cover them to hide their heart.  But God already knew what had transpired because He witnessed the color change of their heart and it is this color change that we try and cover up today as well.  These covering opportunities have become our definition and what we would consider to be our hiding process in order to look presentable before others.  It is evident that Adam and Eve had fallen away from God enough that their first response was to cover themselves instead of going to God first which is exactly what we do today as well.

If an onion is left alone for long enough the heart of that onion becomes rotten and through this process of becoming rotten the inner layers of the onion begin to take on the characteristics of the heart.  The onion continues to try and grow and produce more layers around it and it will even begin its new process of restoring itself for the next cycle but at some point, the onion’s heart shall decay enough that all processes of growth stop and the onion begins to dry.  When one cuts into this type of onion they can see that the center of the onion cannot be used because of the state that it has become and more importantly the layers around the heart cannot be used either for they have taken on the condition of the heart.  If the onion is placed back into a favorable environment it will continue this decaying process it shall not recover its full and proper heart condition again but will decay further and destroy more layers surrounding it.

At this point, the onion becomes mush from the center outward and for the most part cannot be used at all.  It begins to stink and its smell is distinctive and pungent all the time.  But this point in the life of the onion did not occur overnight but took an amount of time to complete and it is this point of our lives that God does not want us to arrive.  In fact, God cannot allow our lives to reach this point of decay because it would go against His Covenant with us and also allow Satan to grab the upper hand due to our present condition of harboring sin.  Even though our hearts are blackened with sin God cannot allow us to increase in the probability of death without doing whatever He can to make us aware of what is going on inside our lives.  Therefore, in order for God to complete this task of making us aware of our need for Him He shall peel away each layer of the world that we have built around our hearts so that we can see just how sin eats away at our lives and that only His Son’s blood can truly cover our blackened hearts.

Is it possible for us to know exactly where our hearts stand in accordance with this potentially mush condition or have we covered ourselves with layer upon layer of worldly exposés that we can no longer able to see what our hearts really contain?  Look at our lives and the manner in which we conduct ourselves, are a Christian nation or are we remnants of the Wild West reincarnated as the eternal definition of The Badlands?  When our conduct has become adversarial to the point where we do not look at others as friends it represents the growth of the decaying parts of our inner beings and if not stopped will continue to outgrow what we try and replace it with, for it is just like an inner infection that quickly develops into a cellulitis and if not treated properly shall continue its invasion and eventually the entire body (onion) becomes infected.  It is this process that while we may ignore or deceive ourselves about God sees His prized creations becoming a state of death and He just cannot sit back and not do anything concerning this matter.  See, even before man was created God was busy advancing His Kingdom through the goodness of His presence through the provisions of work as it is stated in Genesis 2:5 which means that if God was busy advancing before mankind was around His statute of work for the Kingdom continues after mankind was present as well, Genesis 2:15.  God’s agenda is to weed out any part of sin that dwells in our presence or that exists around us, and these two verses of Scripture prove that sin was present before mankind was created and after mankind was on the earth.

In order for God to complete this process, He first allows us to give ourselves completely to Him so that He can accomplish this cleansing on a voluntary basis.  Yes, the process will not be a pretty picture but when we allow our hearts to and inner spirits to be cleaned in this manner God is able to keep our lives intact instead of having them ripped apart in an involuntary state.  The definition of Covenant is to be separated from the world and since this can only be performed by God not only is it His definition but it defines how His methods of living need to be and it is our hearts that provide this “target” and He needs to clean every layer leading up to that target.  Sin is an invading entity and if not treated properly it shall only grow as the invasive bacteria do in the cellulitis example above.  But the question continues to remain within our realm of how long are we going to allow sin to invade our lives or are we going to ignore it and try to build superficial layers around it in order to hide it?  I am reminded of an incident back in 1986 when the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl exploded and the Russian’s solution to getting the radiation to stop leaking in the air was to pour an almost immeasurable amount of concrete onto the burning reactor.  It solidified and did its job temporarily for the radiation began seeping through the concrete and returned to its poisonous levels.  This is what unabated sin will do to our lives if it is not dealt with on God’s level.

In our Biology class experiments with the individual layers of the onion, we found out that it was not very easy to peel just one layer off the onion at a time.  Many times it would take a while to complete this action for we would get two or three layers at one pull which would not be adequate to see the individual onion cells lined up in mitotic formation.  Each layer of the onion represented a specific process of growth and while all of the layers contributed to the overall growth and stabilization of the onion, each layer had an independent process that required its own amount of energy from the heart of the onion and when put together with the other layers formed a magnificent machine that one could spend hours upon hours looking at the mechanisms at work.  It is this individual layered process that God has to take into consideration when He is dealing with cleaning our hearts for if He does not properly and adequately reach our hearts layer by layer and then removes these layers one by one then the restoration process through spiritual definition cannot be properly completed.  In other words, all layers must be removed one at a time in order by which they appear and if they do not those contents of the layers skipped or missed have the spiritual authority to come back and infiltrate your heart again, Jesus addressed this principle in Matthew 12:44.

It feels kind of weird to be compared to an onion and the layers of such an organism but on the other hand, it serves as the perfect example of how sin enters into our lives and then through our natural processes grows layer by layer around our sinful heart.  The last portion of this article deals with God and how He is going to deal with this nation.  God dealt with this subject on a personal level and then on a national level and while the methods of His dealings were different they have significant meanings of how His peeling shall occur.  God understands the function of my heart and He showed me this example so that I will understand how He sees my heart and how it is covered by His Son’s blood, but when it came to the nation’s “onion” He mannerisms were different for He did not slice the onion at all but simply began peeling layer by layer off of the onion.  Through this process, each layer fell away from the onion and as each layer left its place the onion became smaller in size.  When God is allowed to take control of our lives He shall show us the filth that He is taking away and the goodness that He is replacing it with, this is all part of the measures of witnessing that we can demonstrate to others who truly want to change.

As the size of the onion shrunk, so did the effectiveness of the onion and how it could provide nourishment to its intended subjects.  See, each layer that was taken off was not done in a hasty manner but a methodical one that took a specific amount of time, but what was so amazing was that it was precisely one layer at a time which also had a specific purpose as well.  As each layer came off I could see that it represented a certain portion of our existence in the world that we had allowed being built around us, none of the layers had anything to do with God or His promises or Covenant.  Every detail about our societies was being taken off our existence and as each layer came off it was visibly evident that as the closer He got to the heart of that onion the darker the layers of that onion were.  I do not know how to explain it adequately enough as of yet but it was like each layer pulled off was dead or diseased in some manner and while it functioned to a certain degree it’s construction could not satisfy the need in which it was intended initially.  I could see and feel the fear coming from the onion itself, a weird event that sticks out in my mind.

Finally and most importantly, I saw the onion and what God was doing with its presence but there was a detail that says it all about this nation and how God holds its value for His Kingdom.  As each layer disappeared from the onion, it sat there and did not move one bit from its original position and as my eyes “pulled away” from the closeness to the onion I could see a hand holding the onion in place as if it was keeping the onion in close proximity for some type of protective status.  When you peel an onion or slice it up to use it in food one cannot hear the onion if it makes any noise at all, a silly concept but one that holds truth and value for this article.  I could see another hand peeling away each layer and discarding it in one motion, there were no human mechanical devices to help this process it was just two hands present completing the necessary movements.  As this process continued, I could hear a loud commotion but could not see what was actually going on so as I kept my eyes on the peeling process I had to try and concentrate on the other noises as well.  The noises were not of any organized rhythm either but all jammed into one loud bunch of noises.  Then I heard God say that this is the process that I will do to this nation in order to reach their heart so that I may reach what I have Created.  I suspect that since this peeling process was not completed in a very fast manner that the restoration process, if any will take a considerable amount of time as well, for look how long it took Israel to be restored after its fall to the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Now, when looks at this picture on an individual level it may not be as “scary” as one may believe, but we must consider the personal implications that occur when we allow God to peel away those decayed layers that hinder our service to God and life under Covenant.  Yes, the loss of those layers will be painful as they leave our lives but we must remember that in order to be made clean and holy again we must be completely removed from sin that we have allowed to infiltrate our existence.  Many people shall not understand what we are going through but will recognize that we are battling something inside.  This process is an ugly one but one that is necessary in order for us to live in eternal freedom from this world, another aspect in which friends and family members may not understand.  When God removes sin it comes with a reminder of exactly how sin digs its claws into our lives and to be honest this lineage and root system runs deep for it is established at our birth and grows constantly if not recognized.  God shall replace these dead layers with ones that will glorify Him and shine to others as a testament of His Covenant and Grace, a change in stature that cannot be hidden.

In concerns with the national level, we must also take into consideration the entire spectrum of what will be taking place as God delivers His reckoning.  We cannot forget that this process was shown in a manner in which the nation was not willing to have such peels and layers taken off, but that it was God who held the onion and began peeling, in other words, God was in complete control of the situation and it was His doing that was being manifest, not this nation’s, a huge difference in the two portions of the vision.  While the first portion deals with the individual and how the internal spirit of the individual is restored, those layers are kept in place but transformed into the vision of God for His child.  Yes, they will be different but restored by God’s process and not the world’s.  The difference here is that when God deals with this nation He peels the layers of the onion away and they are gone!  This setting represents the change in heart according to how the nation responds and has responded to the warnings that God has provided over the past.  When God is “not allowed” to have control then He being holy and sovereign over all things takes matters into His own hands and deals with the problem in another fashion.  Do not believe me?  Ask Israel, ask Rome, and Greece, ask Egypt, ask Assyria, ask any other group or nation what occurs to their existence when they refuse to allow God to be in control of their lives, their existence becomes just a memory until they return to God.

We cannot forget that without any question, and I do not care what elected officials say contrary to, this nation is the greatest nation to ever be established in history and there is a reason for this abundance of blessings and that source is God.  When our beliefs and trusts leave God and are placed on the human scale of self-reliance nothing good can be of long-term security.  Humans have tried to understand each other and live with each other on an equal basis for centuries even millennia and have not figured out the key as of this day and the single reason is that in every case they have left out God to run things on their own.  This is a heart issue and until we understand that in order for true equality to reign we must have God first in every aspect of our personal existence and national heart.  We are no closer to this truth any longer than what the past societies were including Israel when she decided that her heart would be better off aligned with worldly leaders instead of her Creator.  God allows this to be attended but as some point, He knows that unless that nation’s heart returns to Him He will have to peel their worldly layers off of their presence at some point in time in their future.

Even though this article may spell some doom and gloom there is some good news that if we adhere to can delay this ugliness and world-changing truth that is coming our way.  God has shown us two distinct levels of this onion and if we as individuals truly and honestly turn our hearts and lives over to God He is faithful to heal us from the sin that we have voluntarily harbored within our lives.  And if enough of us completely repent and turn back to God it shall change this nation’s heart and delay what God has to do if we do not turn back to Him.  Our existence is held in His hand and no matter what we think or believe about this painted picture it is the truth and if we do not change His other hand shall begin to move.  The Church is the entity that must take the lead when it comes to repentance and she needs to turn back to God and allow Him to correct our hearts and our layers so that we show nothing but true restoration to the dying world.  No, the world shall not like it because it will contrast to what it pushes as truth, but we shall stand out as a pure onion does and will be able to change the entire status of the world.

A detail about this peeling that we must remember for we shall encounter it and have to endure it when it comes.  As each peel is strategically pulled off, not only shall this nation endure the loss but so shall the world as well for even though some may discount the true nature and status of this nation our presence in the world is for a reason and through this status we have provided such stability on ALL levels of modern societal standards that when God decides to claim His Created heart for His Kingdom again, it shall affect all societies around the world.  Remember, when God takes a layer of that onion off the entire onion shrinks in size which means its capacity to survive according to what that layer was will be fundamentally gone.  As of now, we have been witnessing small warning signs that have been present in our news for some time, we have done nothing but ignore the heart’s cry and play the superficial finger pointing game towards those who disagree with a certain stance.  God does not play the finger pointing game, He takes complete action to expose the issues so that we have the choice to wake up and change our hearts before He has to begin the layer peeling process.

One of the more important layers that God will peel away is the Church and through this peeling, we shall finally understand just how she has manipulated so many lives over the centuries and refused to complete the work that Jesus commanded us to do.  It would be in our best interest that we figure this issue out and deal with all the other issues that are participating in the hardening and blackening our hearts before God has to intervene.  It does not matter what you believe when it comes to denominational dogmatic statements, lose them!  It is time that we drop all relationships with the world and its divisive nature and focus our hearts on winning the lost.  What is so frightening about how the Church operates today is that they have deemed themselves to be “religious” but have a relationship with the world.  Think about that statement for a while and let it burn into your spirit because that is exactly what we have allowed ourselves to believe and to live under and it is one of the most hideous sins states that we can live in.  I see this type of “Christian” lifestyle being demonstrated each day and if it sickens my stomach I cannot imagine what it does to the stomach and heart of God.  This is not only a personal statement but a national one as well and as God reveals deeper idolatry lionizations it shall become clear that all aspects of our societies shall be affected.

Jesus gave one command to the people that followed Him while He was still present on earth and that was to go and preach the gospel to the ends of the world.  He gave that one command to one people not denominations or groups of people.  The people might have lived in this world but Jesus saw their hearts and He understood that unity was the necessary key in order for this command to be completely and properly fulfilled.  Our enemy jumped on this statement quickly a long time ago when Adam and Eve were walking in the Garden of Eden and we have allowed him to manipulate our lives and presence ever since.  We have to separate ourselves from the world in order for God to restore our layers that lead to our heart.  Sadly, when I hear people today sing or play worship songs I cannot help but wonder what is exactly in their hearts when those words and chords are played.  WHY???  Why should I even have this thought run through my heart?  The condition of the Church is hanging in the balance and she is so anemic that she is rapidly becoming an invalid and nonexistent which means that her status is also being readily deemed as a nuisance to the societies of the world.  It is also evident that many people who sit in services are listening to what the ministers are saying to them, for our weakness to the world is shining brightly than ever before.  Yes, you read that correctly, the ministers are NOT doing what they are supposed to be doing which is teaching us the TRUTH about God and how we should live separated lives from the world.  Manse pansy and watered down sermons grace the pulpits of many of the church buildings today and for this reason alone God must peel away the established Church as she sits in existence today.

I could go on and on about what other layers God shall be peeling away for we cannot forget that when God does something He is always complete about His Ways.  This means that every aspect that modern societies deem as successful and necessary shall fall when God shrinks our circumference of existence.  So as this article draws to a close the question remains if we are going to allow God to break us down and then restore us on a voluntary level or if we will continue to snub our noses in His face and force Him to measures into His hands and reduce us layer by layer.  We still have this choice right at this moment and as each day passes we come closer and closer to one of these two options as answers.  There can be no question from anyone that claims that God does not love us for if He truly did not He would not give us further warnings about what will occur in our lives and at the same time give us the answer as to how to fix the issues before something happens.  Church, let us now repent and be the example that Jesus wants us to be to the dying world before God has to change tactics and begin His peeling.  It is time we retake up our responsibility as the ones who shine the Light to the world and once again act like redeemed of Christ, for Christ promotes growth and God promotes growth so why are we still on a deliberate track of reduction?

DLB

After the "T" Has Been Decided

After the “T” Has Been Decided

10/23/18

It is not uncommon that people ignore warning signs and have to face certain consequences of their ignorance sometime in their future.  It is also understood that hindsight is extraordinarily clear when it comes to such decisions, but the main questions afterward are how much is left of our lives and what can be salvaged if anything.  We take for granted the issue of choices and have rallied to the point where only a certain path is acceptable in the name of choices, a condition that has grave consequences not only for the individual but for a nation as well.  God still wants us to choose Him and His Ways for it this path that is the only one that can lead to peace, happiness, and restoration.  God calls us to repentance and it is His desire not for us to be witnesses to certain devastation both physically and spiritually.  We can avoid such calamity if we only return to God and act like we trust only Him and not the world.

There comes a time in every person’s life when the manifestations of their choices come to fruition and present themselves in a very specific manner.  When this time arrives, it becomes very visible to others through the words and actions that the demonstrating people conduct.  For the most part, their actions speak volumes for what they have accepted as the truth, so much so that they become advocates of such decisions and stick by those choices whenever challenged.  What the concerning issue is that when the world is chosen it gives the ones who have chosen this way of life a distinct advantage and for those who reject such teachings must understand how to spiritually combat such dealings for the division between the two eternal kingdoms is being displayed and will continue the fight for one’s eternal possession.  A worldly choice and the one, who accepts it cannot live with those who choose God and His Kingdom, look around you today and this type of setting is very apparent.  Sadly, unless we effectively witness to these beautiful people and through the power of God they change their lives, our world shall continue to sink in its own muck and mire and drag those who truly believe in God and wish to advance His Kingdom down with it.

It has always amazed me that many people who work in the medical profession practice terrible health habits while congruently providing tests on other people who face horrific possibilities of having serious issues in the near future.  One of the most intriguing settings concerning this is the respiratory techs who smoke.  Over the decades that I have worked in this profession, I have noticed that many of these techs smoke and have smoked for a very long time.  One would think that it would be this section of the medical profession that would be the staunchest advocates of clean breathing with absolutely no mention of smoking in their lives.  But as time has passed, I have not witnessed any type of decline in the percentages of respiratory techs that smoke only a head-shaking increase in that number.  Why would anyone who has watched people suffocate at a later portion of their life or witnessed them drown in their own bodily fluids all due to the history of smoking?  Yet, many hospital personnel do choose to smoke and do so with no conviction at all.  I am not just picking on this department, for many hospital personnel practice this nasty habit and fall into the same category as their patients.  Smoking is not the only ill practice of self-indulgence that will lead to major problems in people’s lives either.  There are countless other factors that we voluntarily bring into our lives that darken our physical hearts enough to warrant such activities, a process that is a direct reflection of how our spiritual lives are being led as well.

I must include myself in this category because for a long period of time in my life I knew that my genetic makeup was not of good stock and that I needed to keep in shape in order to maintain a healthy heart.  I studied these disease processes for decades even when I was a young boy growing up my nose was always in some type of medical textbook.  So, when the time came for my heart to say enough and to tell me that something was wrong, I knew that it was all my personal fault but still considered myself, on a certain level, exempt of such healthy teachings even though I was given another chance to change my life before it was over.  Over the next fifteen years my heart continued its genetic charge towards clogging up and this early fall it came to a head when I found myself in a hospital with a nice little scar on my chest with tubes running out of my body.  Yes, I had made the choice to change my eating and exercise patterns and to be honest did a fairly decent job, but it was the initial damage so long ago that sealed my fate a few weeks ago.  I knew what was eventually coming to my life but I was not completely dedicated to completely follow through with the changes that needed to be made.  It was these relaxed choices of mine that produced the consequences which now keeps me from the work that I so adamantly love.

Every time I read the passage that God wants us to hear again I cannot help but to think just how parallel our nation is compared to the people of the passage and I also cannot help but to read further and to see the consequences of such tragic choices that Israel made because when you put the two nation’s hearts next to each other, one cannot deny the fact that both look identical.  We will return to 1 Samuel 8 and once again take a deeper look at what occurs when choices to accept the world enter our lives and what effects it has on our lives when we make such a choice.  The processing of knowing both sides of the kingdom realm does not make things any easier; in fact, it makes all issues increasingly difficult to walk through because we will continually have a spiritual battle inside while we destructively walk through standards that we know we could be avoiding.   

Our official text is 1 Samuel 8:1-7 and we see that the children of Israel have made a fateful choice in who they want to rule over them even though they know their past and who Created them as a nation.  It is this detail of knowledge that might seem a bit frustrating to us and cause us to ask why they would do such an act but when we apply the first few paragraphs of this article to our own lives it becomes clear as to why such decisions were made.  It is of the most important of items for us to remember that the children of Israel were humans, just like us and since this is a fact we can and probably will be subject to the same choice decisions that they faced.  What is frightening about this passage is that we have reached the same position that Israel did and we have made the exact same choice as they did.

In verse 3 we see that the sons of Samuel were made judges over Israel and that they had not followed in the ways of God as Samuel had shown them.  This is not an uncommon pattern when the hearts of a nation have become weary with what they believe God should be doing in their lives and in their nation for they did not understand that while they made this choice officially they had already come to this conclusion privately earlier.  There was no question that the sons of Samuel did not know God and the teachings of His Ways but on the other hand, they chose not to follow such ways and instead took from the people in such a manner in which the world can only teach.  In what ways do we read here that is not different from the way that our government leaders act and draw from today?  When a mediocre salary produces such lavish bank accounts over time that one cannot deny that some type of corruption has been issued during their tenure, and how many deals are struck while laws are being made in order to get fellow colleagues to vote for such outrageous and meaningless legislatures that will advance personal gain instead of national interests?  How many of these so-called godly leaders have achieved their statuses through shady bargaining or through stepping on others and using others to achieve this level of leadership?  More importantly, why are we as a nation falling for such ridiculous ideas we pursue as being hidden yet are blinded by the light of what direction we are heading, and why are we not asking God for help to correct such heart rendering decisions?

In verse 4 we find that the elders of Israel came together and made a consensus decision to go and talk to Samuel about such wicked dealings that his sons were handing down including direct perversions of judgments that everyone had to deal with and could not ignore.  Notice that these accusations against the sons of Samuel were not rebuked by the leaders of the people which mean that they themselves knew what was occurring yet did not wish to change judges and keep the ways of God this type of action can only come from the heart folks.  This meeting of elders gives us the consensus of how the people felt and how they were fed up with the leadership that was placed before them but instead of changing leaders and ensuring that God continues to rule their lives they take a different path and it is this path that they took that is evident in our society today.  As we see our nation’s congressional, business, entertainment, and countless other leaders fall for scandalous accusation and call out everyone else but themselves, one cannot help but worry for the status of this nation especially since we continually look at humans for encouragement and guidance.  We have become so obsessed with becoming like other nations that we fail to see that we are living out this passage of Scripture, and most troubling is that our nation shall walk in the same results as she did.  Are we really that stupid and dumb to believe that “our” way is any different than Israel’s?

It is this setting and words from the elders in verse 5 that verbally admit what was already in their hearts as a nation.  Now, I cannot believe that every single person within the nation of Israel wanted this choice to be their ruling but the majority of the people, due to the agreement of the elders, was in order to separate themselves from their Creator and join the world’s gathering.  So, one can ask these questions: where was God in their lives and how come they had fallen so far away that they no longer wanted to have anything to do with God?  To some it may be a baffling set of questions but to others they may be ones that are easily identified and answered but for whatever the detailed history of such unruly behavior and corruption that had been presented it was present long enough by those who were supposed to be led of God that the majority of the people did not want anything to do with God.  They had been blinded enough with their hearts that they could no longer know and feel the need for God in their lives, in other words, they rose above the truth about their Creation and establishment by God enough that they fully denied His existence in their lives.  It was this choice and change within their hearts that eventually led to the reasoning that they should look toward other nations for their improvements rather than God.

When I was a younger lad, I found it funny that people would place so much trust in a system instead of God but as I grew in age that “funniness” waned and I understood why people chose this path of self-governance for a good portion of me accepted such reliance.  Israel wanted this self-reliance as well for their eyes had been witness of the differences that other nations had and it must have been frustrating to not be able to participate in the same activities as they, for I know that some of the choices that my wife and I made for our girls went contrary to what the world preached and I know at some point they had to wonder why we were different.  The people that defined Israel wanted to control what they did or did not do and through this self-nation building conceptual belief they grew in separation from God until their identity was stolen from them right before their eyes.

Verse 6 tells us that Samuel was very upset with what Israel had decided to ask for and since the elders were the ones that brought this proposal to Samuel it had already been decided by the people to leave the confines of God and His Creative Covenant.  Now, Samuel took this proclamation personally and was very displeased with what his ears had heard.  Samuel prayed to God for guidance and to basically tell on the children of Israel a typical reaction when something goes wrong and the human takes the next step.  It is interesting to me that Samuel did not address the fact that his sons were part of the reason that Israel was not happy with God and that it was their actions that played a major role in the tribes wishing for secular peace instead of eternal protection from God.

Verse 7 gives us the condition of Israel’s heart and just how far down the road they had gone from God.  God tells Samuel that it is not because of the actions or Samuel that Israel had turned but because their hearts had turned from Him.  This is a process and a desire that people must choose to take and not one that comes overnight.  When eyes and hearts are focused on the human aspect of life alone they cannot understand the difference between righteousness and sin for sin becomes the norm and God is looked upon as the outsider.  Verses 6-8 reiterate the fact that Israel had no intentions of replacing the corrupted officials and keep their ways with God, but that they wanted to go their own way and do their own way instead.  In other words, they had accepted the fact that what the judges were doing was wrong but at the same time accepted the fact that they could follow in their footsteps and grab a piece of the pie as well which could prove to be more lucrative than what their present situation was.  Does this way of thinking sound familiar to anyone?  It should for it is exactly what this nation, western societies, and the Church all believe and function within today.

The lingering question was if Israel understood what their actions were doing to them and if they knew that they were legally violating the eternal Covenant that God established their nation under.  Had they grown so far away from God that they flat refused to recognize their history and the reason why they were created in the first place?  It seems like this is the case for God speaks directly about this setting in verse 8 when He makes the statement that they have rejected Him and not Samuel.  God did not forget the origins of His Covenant and still stayed in faithfulness to Israel even after this passage took hold in their land.  This is also a pattern of God that we need to remember that He shall never violate His Covenant for Covenant is His definition; therefore, it is us that can only violate this Covenant setting which legally places us in a very dangerous breach of Covenant and thus subject to countless attacks from the enemy.  Israel had made up their minds about the direction they wanted to live and to whom they wanted to serve and even though God did not like this decision of theirs He allowed it which is another detail about Covenant that we need to remember, God shall allow us to leave but if we do He cannot protect us as if we were under Covenant.  The heart of Israel had become so darkened that it had infiltrated the interior layers of their spirit enough that they willingly chose the world as a solution to their anger, spiritual torture, and pain.

While this passage is one of human’s own admission it is one that proclaims what the heart sees as just and truth.  In this case and many like it, the heart has made the decision that it can survive quite nicely without its Creator’s guidance or any influence from Him on any and all levels.  It breaks God’s heart to hear such words flow from our mouths but He allows such words to protrude and thus commend our actions to our own will.  Even though God allows us to go at things on our own it does not mean that He gives up on us returning to Him.  God understands what shall occur to our lives when we make such a worldly acceptance for just as God cannot change the world cannot change either and when we choose the world we accept what it has to offer us with open arms and doors.  This is not the Covenant that God wants us to live under for when we do He cannot protect us according to His Definition and since we are born into this world and born into sin it is an eternal fight for us every day.  How can we not compare ourselves today with the attitude in which Israel demonstrated to God in this passage?  It is impossible for one to draw any other conclusion that by our own admissions we are following in the exact same path as Israel did so long ago, another example of how we as humans fail to recognize our own history.

I can imagine some of you do not want to believe in this article’s content, and there are a few out there that may not even understand that the direction that this nation is heading in a bad direction.  I must ask you to examine this passage closely and to think about the words and actions that are presented here and then compare these words and actions in this passage to the words and actions that we hear on a daily basis today.  Are they different at all?  The only difference is that many more people see what is transpiring in our nation because there are many more of us than those that lived in Israel so long ago.  Both sets of hearts have changed and are making their contents known without holding back, see when the heart has changed its course or has accepted a directional path it becomes compliant with that direction’s beliefs then you throw the spiritual additions into play and you have an eternal battle that spills over into both realms and is characteristically demonstrated without any hindrance to the darkening process of our hearts.

When we accept the world we cannot help but to further darken our hearts which means that when this color begins to grow it has only one direction to flow and that is around to the surrounding tissues.  The other day I watched a mob surround a supporter of President Trump.  They backed her up against a glass door and began to hit her with eggs and other debris it became so bad that the owners of the store opened the door of their store and pulled her inside.  As if this was not bad enough, as the scenario unfolded one could see about ten people filming the altercation on their phones and the evil looks (grins) that they had on their faces while doing the filming was strictly out of a horror film.  They were enjoying what they were doing and what they were seeing transpire to someone that had different opinions than they did.  It is this type of action that we need to understand comes straight from Satan himself for it is exactly how he feels about God and you.  Let that statement sink into your head real deep for it is this process in which Satan uses in order to gain control of those who accept the world.

Even worse, Satan has convinced the Church to operate in the exact same manner and thus has had a great deal of influx into the downfall of the Church.  Through this obvious fallout, one cannot deny that she is only being rewarded with what she has allowed into her heart.  The Church is supposed to stand opposite of the world and to be representative of God’s holy Covenant to those who wish to escape from the world’s vulgar presence, not to accept that vile vulgarity into the walls of her sacred chambers (heart).  I am not saying that we should stand on the corner of streets and scream at those walking by and shunning them as those who do not know God, but in order for us to bring in those that are lost we must be willing to have conversations with them long enough to build a trust that might open the doors of their hearts to God.  In no way do we have to compromise our godly standards when we are performing this mission of ours for it is necessary for us to stay holy throughout this process for if we do not then we have personally succumbed to the world as well and have defeated what Jesus wants us to complete.

The days of the world shall not become any easier, for the ruler of the world understands that his physical time is running out, and in order for him to keep as many people away from God as possible he must inject further and deeper conflict between humans.  Its bad enough to be at odds with the world but to add the Church into the mess only deepen the wounds that Satan can inflict and then pour worldly salt into.  We can no longer afford to take worldly responsibility for our actions but we must take on the full armor of God in order to shed the world and to fight it on all sides.  God is searching our hearts for a way for Him to get it through our heads and then into our hearts that this is serious business, an eternal business that shall end ugly for countless amounts of people if they do not turn and return to God.  This includes the Church for she has fallen asleep to God and has allowed the world to sit right next to her and distract her as the Word of God is taught.  How many of us did not pay attention to what the preacher or Sunday School teacher taught us when we were younger, or do we still do that today as well?

We have no clearer example of what occurs to a nation when they reject God and turn to the world than the passage that God has once again given us to understand.  When the hearts of people totally lose faith in God and place that faith in the world, that brand of equality is a deadly sort because we are doomed to die and the world cannot offer anything but death because it is from the same lot.  So, why do we choose the world again?  It is time for repentance Church.  It is time that we place our hearts back into the Word of God and allow God to cover our hearts with His eternal Covenant and to give Jesus’ blood an opportunity to stop our darkened hearts from corrupting the remainder of our spirits and our bodies. 

Why do we have to face adversity for us to become “reacquainted” with God?  And do we not understand that when we live in this type of belief in God that it means we have no clue about who He is or what He has done for us all of these years?  Why do we look at the breach that is over us and pick up rocks to see if we can throw them through the breach or worse look up at this breach and consider it a part of the normal sky?  A few years ago God showed us and gave us an article that stated that we were approaching the “T” and that a decision had to be made and that decision would affect our nation from then onward.  Israel faced that “T” and they made their choice and passed that “T” with their decision and from what I can tell, this nation along with its relational Church status with God has also made that choice and has moved onward without God as well.

The blessings of Israel were countless when God created her and His promises concerning His blessings on those who blessed her and vice versa concerning the cursing against her all added up to God’s perfect plan for His chosen nation.  There has been only one nation that ever existed since that early biblical nation of Israel that has been utterly blessed in such manner, and that nation is the United States of America.  There is no question that the way this country was founded that it was founded on the principles that God desired for true freedom, especially in worship to Him.  Yes, we have stepped in it many times over our history but up until a short time ago we have kept and dressed the commands of God in this nation.  But now we have short-sided God and His ways and wish nothing further to do with Him so in turn, we have the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in our mouths and are turning to give it to others.  This path can only lead to one result and that is the same result as any other example we can find in God’s Word.  But as of this moment, we have the opportunity to repent and to turn back to God and allow Him to cover our hearts with His Son’s blood before it is too late.  God urges us to come back to Him for times are going to become tough real soon and this nation shall endure some major notices that will sting tremendously and if our hearts are not under the blood Covenant of God we shall turn against each other during this calamity and will never be able to recover.

DLB

My Hiding Place

My Hiding Place

10/17/18

We all have our hiding places where we go to feel secure and safe when things around us are crumbling.  These hiding places come in a variety of methods, ways, and areas and they all serve their purpose at that moment but what do we gain from these momentary sanctuaries and do the results fit us accordingly and for a long-term period of time?  Have you ever wondered why one has to leave the area in which one faces adversities in order to find this type of secure setting?  Maybe we should take another look at what a true hiding place is and how we should view its presence.  God is often referred to as the best hiding place and while this is a true and glorious statement the question must be raised if we really understand what His presence means and exactly where this hiding place is located.  If God can proceed in only one direction, why is it we believe we must run back to Him in order for us to find His hiding place?

Some of you know that my earthly hero is General George S Patton.  I have admired him for decades now and I love to read about his actions, motivations, and sayings.  As most of you know not all of his career moves were the best and in some instances just down and out stupid, but all of them served a purpose and through his actions and leadership on the battlefield helped the truth be liberated and then spread to millions of people not only in Europe but around the entire globe as well.  One of the sayings of his that has stuck with me is one that not many people have heard but it is a very important and one that should remain in our hearts when we are learning about God and the characteristics of God.  The saying is this: “I do not like to pay for real estate twice” which means that once General Patton went through an area he did not like to retreat and have to fight for it again, for any reason.  It is this concept that we need to understand about God and how His holy hiding place exists and also how God operates in only one direction.

Some of you might remember me talking about my father and I’s trip to Haiti way back in the mid-1980s.  It was a time in which God showed me so much about life and how the blessings of God have been poured out on our nation and how things could be if our hearts would not have been submissive to Him so long ago when we were establishing this nation’s foundations.  I remember that there were areas of this island nation that when traveling through were simply magnificent to look at for the structures and landscape was gorgeous and when one would go up into the mountains and look below the ocean and bay was simply divine.  But for the majority of the country, the living standards were defined as a mire and muck shanty living country and as my eyes gazed across this territory my heart understood what it meant to live in complete poverty on all levels of human existence.  I had never known hunger or filth before and I pray that as my mind wanders back to that setting that we never turn so far away from God that His hand strikes us into this position.

There were places that we went that when we arrived in the area we would have to roll up the windows of the vehicle because of the stench and filth that was in the area.  You could actually see the dirt and mire that the area harbored for it loomed as a brown cloud that covered the blue sky above and it was this type of living that these people called home and thought nothing about because of the setting in which they knew as life.  My mind and heart were broken on that trip and I have never looked at food the same ever since.  When a single box of shoes can cause a massive turnout of approximately 10,000 people within a matter of a few minutes, one’s sense of security becomes in question especially as you turn your head to look behind you and all you see is a small beach and a bunch of water.  When a couple of men take off their belts and start swinging them in the air striking people around you to fend them off so that they do not crush you, sends chills of insecurity and fear through even the “toughest” seventeen-year-olds body.  Where do you go, where could one hide are some of the questions that ran through not only my mind but to those that were with us as well.

After that day, I did not leave the confines of the hotel very much.  When I returned from that fateful trip to the Cite Soliel my heart did not have the courage to venture out too far away to what I considered to be the safe place or hiding place.  I was supposed to be taking photographs of dad when he preached to the small churches in the city, write small blurbs about his sermons and messages for each stop but I was stuck in the hiding place that I ran back to and stayed there and did absolutely nothing that was planned for me.  Dad was not mad at all and understood my fears for in the past on previous trips he had experienced the same type of emotions when times changed from peace into war in just minutes.  The only difference was that he never froze and ran back for cover he always led his group and took them to the places where they were scheduled as long as it was safe to do so.  It is this type of hiding place that God wants to share with us and how His hiding place does not retreat or sit back and watch as things in the world develop and fall around us, what I did was childish and not what God authorized for me to do, in fact, what my actions promoted is a defeated Christian who is too chicken to inquire about the world and its need for Christ.

A while back God shared with us an article called “Home Field Advantage” and it was for a reason, for it explains just how our lives are affected by this truth and how we should respond when troubles are around us.  Satan has the home field advantage for the world is his kingdom and he rules it accordingly.  We all know that even though when games are played at an opponent’s home field or court the number of players do not change, the rules do not change but the atmosphere around the field or court makes it difficult for the visiting team to overcome.  The same thing occurs when we are going about our daily activities while on this earth, for Satan sees our purpose and the potential that our purpose presents to his defeated kingdom.  Satan does not want us to have any contact at all with those who he has convinced to stay with him but at the same time must adhere to his own chaotic environment for everyone to “enjoy”.  It is this environment that you and I are not exempt from and must face every day.  It is this environment that God says He is our hiding place as well, so why do we continue to try and skirt the truth about our living conditions while claiming to be in God’s hiding place at the same time?

One of my all time favorite songs is called “My Hiding Place” by Selah.  I cannot count how many times that this song has ministered to my heart when I needed it and it is a song that proclaims so much truth about God and His provisions to His people.  The words are very simple and they come from Psalms 32 and they represent a characteristic of God that many do not understand that He offers or misunderstand the truth about this covering in general.  If you have never heard of this song before I encourage you to listen to it and allow God to show you just how much He loves you and that He is always around you no matter what occurs in your life.  This passage as one might expect will serve as one of our Scripture passages for this article and the other passage will be Exodus 13:21-22.  I have read both of these passages before and have never connected them as being the same thing, but when God shows us something about His Word it brings it into a new light and then establishes life in our hearts which is exactly what God wants to do for it is He who is the author of such a great and eternal work and it is our responsibility to understand as much of the Bible as we can for when we do we also understand God and the wisdom that He brings.

How many know that both of these passages that we will be using are Covenant passages?  How many of you know that if these passages are Covenant verses then they must be characteristics of God?  We will start out with the passage in Exodus 13:21-22, and we find out that the children of Israel are ready at the edge of the wilderness.  The escape and procession out of Egypt were still fresh in their minds and they were well on their way to the Promised Land that God had given to them.  Now in this passage, we find that God is with them in the form of a pillar of clouds during the day and a pillar of fire at night.  Those of you who have spent any time in the desert know that during the day it becomes very hot this is a known thing but some may not know that when the sun goes down that same desert becomes cold even though the thermometer does not say as much which means that in this aspect God was with them on one level of protection.  While this may be just one level of God’s presence with them He was in fact just that, WITH them.  That cloud and that fire provided such information to them about God and His concern for their safety that it must have been a great comfort to them to see such phenomena each day and night.  How could anyone doubt the presence of God during this hike or so one would ask oneself. 

Verse 22 states that God did not take away these pillars of protection and that they were with the children of Israel as they walked through the wilderness.  It is easy for us to imagine seeing a large number of people walking through a long and hot desert for a short amount of time but this trek lasted for forty years and many of the older ones who started the journey did not live long enough to see the Promised Land due to the fact that the ones who looked up and saw these miracles above and before them could not see the sin that they continued to harbor within their lives concerning Egypt.  But the important detail here is that as they were walking in the wilderness, their everyday life at that time, God was with them which meant that His pillars were their covering of protection, their hiding place.  Their hiding place was not behind them or to the side of them, it was with them even though their present setting was a dry and ugly place.  I also find it amusing that many wanted to run back to Egypt to live in captivity again, which means they were willing to leave the presence of God in order to live in “comfortable slavery” again.

As we continue onward to the net passage we must keep in mind that once God does something and shows us a direction of His He cannot change this direction or in this case His protection, so remember this as we read the next passage of Psalms 32:7.  This verse states as follows: “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.”  This verse alone gives us two pictures one concerning what the world provides and the other what God provides, which makes this verse a Covenant verse for we know that when God shows us something about Himself it automatically deals with Covenant.  God’s Word states that we will be around trouble at all times, why is this?  It is because all that the world can offer is trouble and adverse conditions, nothing good from the world can be ascertained for the world and its ruler represents nothing about life.

When trouble is around us it is a normal reaction to becoming nervous or scared for the calm settings that we like to fit into is gone at that moment and it is also natural for us to look for a way around this ugliness as well.  But as we all know there are times that we are successful in avoiding such disasters but other times we are stuck in the middle of the soup and must face what is going on around us.  It is this time that God says He is our hiding place and that no matter what occurs He will be with us until the end of that situation.  The outcome may not always be favorable but nevertheless, it is one that God has approved of and one that we can take restitution in.  One of the definitions of the word “compass” is to go around in a circular course and it is this meaning that David uses in describing how God is around us when trouble abounds.  God does not flee the scene and expect us to follow Him in a cowardly manner, but God surrounds us in the time of trouble and expects us to take comfort in His presence with a peaceful and joyous heart as the trouble takes its course.  It is the trouble that flees and goes away not God, which means that we do not need to flee either.

At the end of Psalms 32:7 David uses a word that has special meaning or should have special meaning to us, it is the word Selah.  It means to stop and think about what has just been said and to ponder the entire setting before proceeding to the next.  How many times have we read over this passage and kept on going without doing what David suggests we do?  I am guilty of such skipping and moving ahead without taking the time to understand what has just been presented to my heart.  God understands that no matter where we may be trouble will usually be around and that we do not have to automatically flee the area in order to be safe.  Now, God is not saying to just stand around and watch a building fall upon your head without moving we do have common sense you know, but what God is saying is that when we understand that His hiding place is around us He will provide protection in the necessary means which could mean get out of the area as soon as possible.  God’s hiding place is a moveable shelter that is over our lives and this shelter is alive and constantly aware of what is going on around us even before we do.  We do not have to run and find it, it is with us at all times as long as we fully aware of God and have Him in our lives.

It is common knowledge that our hearts like to be challenged for it is the way we learn things and how to deal with issues that we are not comfortable with.  The majority of us walking around the world have to study for tests and even though we know that they are approaching many of us to wait until the last minute to study for these challenges.  We also complain afterward about how poorly we did yet few actually blame themselves for such inadequate habits.  So, what or I should say who is to blame for these life tests when they come around for we all know that many of these issues appear out of nowhere at any time of the day or night and without warning.  Five years ago I had my third stent placed in my heart and released shortly thereafter from the hospital with a warning that the next time they would see me I probably would be having a bypass done on my heart.  On Monday, 24 September 2018 I went to work as usual without any complaints, but within a few hours of my workday, I found myself on a helicopter riding to the nearest medical center for a heart procedure.  The next day I woke up after a triple bypass on my heart and my recovery process began again, this time with a longer recovery time needed.  Was I expecting this or did I foresee this coming as I drove myself to work that day?  No way!  It was a surprise and a life-changing event.

During my flight to the medical center, I felt a peace come over me with a voice that spoke and said that all was going to be okay, it would be a longer recovery but to trust me during this time period.  At the time I did not have this article’s outline written down for God had not given it to me but when He did I remembered those words He spoke to me over the loud rotors of that helicopter which proved to me that my hiding place was with me even though I was facing a troublesome procedure the next day.  My wilderness might have been a short time in comparison to that of the Israelites but the process and God’s protection was just the same, He was there and I did not have to run anywhere to be in His hiding place.  I could have easily been totally lost and have lost my sense of reality, but at no time was I nervous enough with my surroundings to come unhinged and worry about what I was facing.  It would have been my choice to run back and to try to find God and His hiding place for me and if I did such a thing I would have not found Him because I would have been the one that left Him.  What is most concerning to God when we “run away and try to find Him” is that when we do such a thing all we can do is find the world for we cannot recognize that God is already with us.  It is this reason that another Psalm tells us to be still.

Ever see a retreat move in the forward direction?  Uh, the definition of retreat means to go backward or in a backward direction which is where my favorite saying from General Patton comes into play for if one decides to retreat it means that you must pay for that real estate again that you worked hard for previously.  Something to think about here, when you retreat and believe that this move is the only option your beliefs about God serve only as a memory and thus you cannot understand that He is alive and can only operate in one direction.  Either God is alive in your life and you recognize His presence or you do not and since you live in a country where church is an everyday option it means that God is only some kind of memory that your mind thought about at one point in your life.  A memorial (memory) is suggestive that God is dead to you or lives someplace elsewhere except within your heart which if in accordance to this stance would mean that He is not your shield and protector which would mean that when trouble arises you would naturally retreat to a safe place, just as I did in Haiti.

So once again God asks the question if you believe in Him and believe that He is with why would you run back to any place behind you in order to seek refuge in His hiding place?  The lesson here that God wants us to know is that when the Israelites were walking around in the wilderness He was with them at all times.  Also, in Psalms 32 when David states that God is his hiding place he is talking to God which means David understood that God was with him, right then and there not on some far-off mountaintop that is unreachable.  Today, God wants us to know that He is in the exact same place as He was in these two passages of Scripture, WITH US.  There is no need to run anywhere when troubles are around us, in fact, it is when trouble abounds that we need to keep our heads up, our ears listening and our eyes open so that when God does give us directions we know what to do and where to go.  This is a Covenant article and one that we need to become familiar with so we can teach this comfort to others.  By definition, God cannot retreat or take back anything He has set into motion, which means if we run backward then we are running away from Him and thus accepting our fate alone.

Has God ever taken back or withdrawn any of His letters of His definition?  I mean, His definition begin the Bible, the Word of God.  No, He has not and He never shall either and since we are His children do you understand what that means according to this definition?  The Bible that I mainly use for studying was given to me by my father.  It was one of his older Bibles that he used when he preached; I do not know how long he used it but from the writing that is in the margins I would say it was used for many years.  One of these markings that is present that I have come across is located at the top of the page that begins 2 Corinthians and it says this: “We are Christ’s letters to the world”.  Have any of you ever considered this truth about your lives?  We know that we are supposed to be witnesses to the world but letters?  When we look at this saying in the context of the epistles of the New Testament it becomes clear about what my father is saying, the stories of our lives serve as guidelines to others about what to do and what not to do and somehow we need to listen to Paul when he gives us instructions about our conduct.  In this case “Paul” is Christ and it is His words of instruction that we need to adhere to and there is no way possible in doing such work if we are running from issues and trouble.

The epistles of the New Testament show the Church running in countless directions as trouble approaches and it is trouble that they themselves have created due to beliefs in false doctrines and ridiculous practices.  They were about to face real troubles and face the gallows of governmental persecution and those conditions would just be the beginning of what the faithful would have to endure throughout the ages.  How can we face these types of everyday troubles if we do not realize where God is?  It is impossible to understand what to do if we run away from issues just as the world does yet for some reason we ignore our purpose and mission and drop all of our possessions and run away following those in reactive chaos.  Can anyone explain why this is the case?  Why are we running away and performing worldly applications in response to what is going on around us?  Why are we not telling people that the actions that they are conveying actually prove God’s Word correct and that if we continue in such strides that some point soon in time our entire way of life will change for the worse?  The answer to these questions is that we no longer recognize that God is around us because we have adopted the world as our leader and pushed God aside.

In both of these passages that God has given us today exemplify the fact that He is with us at all times.  In Exodus, God went before the people both day and night which means He was with them at all times.  In Psalms 32, David states at the beginning of this verse “Thou art” which means “You are” or “He is” and means that God is around at all times, He is present and not a past tense god that the world promotes.  It is evident that today’s Church does not convey this type of identity with God and it is sad that we have run away so far from what our mission is that we cannot know what that definition I any longer, yet at the same time we look towards the heavens and cry out to nothing for we cannot even see that God is right in front of us.  The reason is that our hearts have become so discolored with sin which comes from our birth inheritance but instead of allowing God to cover this sin properly we have allowed our rotting heart layers to infiltrate the remaining layers of our lives that surround our black hearts.  We have believed the lie that we have no real concern about how our hearts look, Satan gives us this fact but it is how we treat such evil that matters and as long as we continue to hear his voice instead of God’s voice we shall never understand God nor will we know that our help is right in front of our eyes.

How can God be our defense when we do not even recognize His presence around us?  How foolish we are when we run away from God to call upon His name while standing in a so-called safe zone?  Church, we have lost our hearts to this world and we need to turn our lives back over to God, completely.  It is not difficult to figure out that this world is becoming worse on every level as each day passes, so why do we continue to stand with this liar?  We must quickly and 100% repent and once again begin to teach the lost that Jesus Christ is the only way to peace and eternal life.  We must end the lies against life and begin to teach life as the only option for existence.  God is our present and future hiding place and if we take a hard look back at those times in our life when trouble was all around we shall see that God was in the exact same place as He is today, right next to us.  We do not need to run anywhere when trouble arrives, but stand still and allow God to be our hiding place and a place of refuge.  Our hearts need to be covered properly or at some point in time, God shall begin to peel away those layers of His precious Creations in order to make our lives whole again, His way and not ours.

DLB