Stomach

Stomach

7/20/15

I learned a valuable lesson about God and how He views sin this week and the method that He used this week to show me the message that He wants His people to know was also quite different from His previous ways.  This message is a descriptive one and has its summation with one of the more commonly used phrases known in the Bible; it also will demonstrate how we as humans believe we can stand up to God in our own human circumstances and defend ourselves against the almighty Creator of everything.  This message also has a restoration point that God makes very clear through this process which everyone needs to understand because if we do not change now, life as we know it shall never be the same.

God has given me numerous topics to write about over the past few months, and through my slew footedness I have slowly progressed these important tasks into fruition.  I have no one to blame but myself and I cannot blame anyone since God has given me these topics on a personal level to share with His people.  So far this month I have made public three articles and still have many more to write, which I shall promptly continue as soon as God has finished with this specific topic at hand.  The subject of this message is how our sinful and shameful lives direct our everyday presence on this earth all the while trying to cry out to God for help and blessings yet still continuing in our voluntary sinful states.  We all know that we cannot change the physical and sinful state of our bodies, but it is our choice to either accept or reject God through our lives.

Last week I was in the middle of a few topics and as I stated above, just taking my time completing them.  I have never lost the urgency of the words of wisdom that God has given me to share with you but for the past few weeks I have just slowed down and began to crawl with His articles.  At the beginning of last week, God softly whispered into my spirit to take the rest of the week off and do not write a thing.  Those were His specific words to me, “not to write at all”.  I had no idea why He was telling me to stop for a while but it was clear as a bell and I knew that for some reason He did not want me to write.

His next word to me was simple and singular and that word was “rest”. I was to rest for the rest of the week.  This made sense to me because when I begin to write a message from god all hell breaks loose around my life and Satan throws so many distractions my way and in my family’s way that it becomes almost comical.  But for the remaining days of the week I was not to write but to rest, so I did just that.  And even though I was obeying God in this aspect, I found out that I was not resting but stirring my mind trying to figure out why God told me to rest.  It became frustrating to me and I then found myself constantly reminding myself that God wanted me to rest which was defeating the entire purpose of God’s spoken word to me.  This purpose from God would also settle harshly within my spirit down the road and in all honesty, God was teaching me a couple of valuable lessons about myself and His people all wrapped up into one week’s rest period.

As the week progressed, my mind tried its best to figure out what God was up to and why He placed me into a rest cycle.  I had even dreamed up that a huge event was going to occur at the beginning of this week and that I was to be witness to this event and then write about it afterward.  It became such an obsession to me I totally lost focus on what God told me to do and I found myself becoming anxious and so wound up that by Sunday night I could not even sleep; my focus of rest had become so self-centered that I almost totally missed what God was trying to show us.  Yes, this is a personal story but it has a direct meaning to everyone in the world especially to the Church because it describes how the Church views themselves and how God views the Church at the same time.

I have never claimed to be the perfect “altar boy” and there are some really rough edges about my life that God is still working on and through and it has to do with one of these rough spots in my life that God used in order to wake me up about how my life looks to Him when these rough spots show themselves to the public and to my God.  It is easy to smooth over our faults with other traits and to have these faults downplayed enough that they are either accepted by others or not readily noticed to make any waves.  But as I look back and think about how comfortable I have become with some of these rough edges in my life, instead of working on them they must have presented themselves at some point in time along the way; which brings me back to this week and my ridiculous attitude towards what God said for me to do and not do.

The reason that God told me to rest was to place me into a relaxed state through His peace and not through the rat race that the world offers.  God wanted me to rest assured through Him and not through the constant wondering and wandering that my “type A” mind wanted to run within, yet for the first part of last week I did exactly that, run constantly.  It was not until about Wednesday of last week that I began to rest in God’s presence and find out some of the differences that He wanted my body, soul and spirit to be in; yet, I continually strove to find out why and through this selfish decision of mind I probably did not receive the full extent to which God wanted me to rest because it was through this rest that He was showing me what He wants His people to understand.

God understands that humans are sinful creatures and that there is no way possible that we can ever change this condition about our lives.  God also knows that we try our best to seek out worldly answers and pleasures in order to “find” peace, understanding, and relaxation.  God continually knows that there is no way that we can achieve this utopia life through worldly means, only God can provide us with perfect peace in all circumstances.  It was through my constant wondering what God was going to do that allowed for my fall today and it was through God’s grace that He showed me my error and at the same time provided me with the topic of this article, stomach.

All throughout the Bible God tells us and gives us countless examples of why we do not need to be associated with the world.  God even specifically instructs us to be totally separate from the world and to live a totally and complete life away from the ways of the world.  In Matthew when Jesus was being tempted Satan took Jesus up to the high mountain and made a profound statement.  This statement said that Satan would give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would just bow down and worship him.  Now, we know that Jesus would never allow His arch enemy to make any false statement while he was around so one would imagine that Jesus would call Satan out on this point, but He did not.  Which means that Satan was actually telling the truth when he made this statement, which means the kingdoms of the world belong to Satan; thus, explaining the reasons why we should have nothing to do with the world.

Another famous passage in the Bible that we use is where God says that He cannot stand lukewarm people that serve Him and that He would spew them out of His mouth.  This is a huge statement and it should strike fear into every Christian’s heart because no one would ever want to have this status in God’s eyes, right?  Well, over the past 47 years of my life God has been protecting me in extraordinary ways that some might find hard to believe but as I look back on this truth, I cannot have any doubts that God has had His hand on my life for a reason.  That reason is just coming to light and has only just begun, but some of my faults and rough edges still shine through at times.

Today I made the idiotic decision to present one of my rough edges to the public and to the spirit realm.  It was not really noticed by many but it sure did make waves in God’s heart and in Satan’s eyes, for both sides began to rumble within my life as soon as it occurred.  It was shortly after the rough edge had appeared, that God spoke to my heart about why He wanted me to rest, for God knew that through my actions of last week I had not completely rested in Him and that through my actions I would be vulnerable today.  God did not set me up nor did He put me in a place to fail but He did allow me to realize the difference between the world’s ways and His ways in order to teach me some eternal concepts.

It is the sinful ways of the world that we allow into our lives that cause us to be a stomach ache to God, for God cannot be around sin.  God walked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden until sin entered into the lives of humans and God’s judgment for that sin had been dealt with.  It is the constant sin that His people (the Church) harbor within their lives that cause this spewing from God’s mouth and it was through my actions today that woke me up concerning this fact.  There is no way that Christians can be a part of the world, nor can they harbor ANY part of the world within their lives for if they do, just like my rough edge, it will appear at some point in time and prove to be a stumbling block to your life and to others who might be needing God.

It is through this belief of mixing with the world, that Christians are placing themselves in danger of being thrown up out of God’s stomach (protection).  This country along with many other societies around the world are in the same boat as the Church and it is time we understand that it is not our interpretations of how things ought to be that we are subject to, it is God’s laws that were placed into our lives in order to provide guidelines to separate us from the world, not to mix with it.  The only way that we can completely understand what God wants us to do is for us to fully “rest” in Him, so that we may know what our true state of eternity is at.  God wants no person to be eternally separated from Him, but He has no choice but to grant that separation if we choose it first.

As soon as I choose to show my fault today, God turned my stomach and I literally became nauseated.  Now, not much can turn my stomach, and unless I am sick my appetite usually does not wither at all, but almost immediately after I completed my fault, my stomach became upset and it was at that point that my heart was quickened with what God was trying to show me.  I was so wrapped up in trying to figure out what God was going to show me or to show the world that I did not obey His simple command to “rest”.  As soon as the “deed” was done I was shown why the rest was important for if I would have allowed God to fully rest me like He intended I would have both physically and spiritually known the meaning of true rest and relaxation, on both levels.  When I contemplate my behavior over the past week it is easy for me to see where I missed this truth about God.  While I did receive rest from Him it was not the full rest that He intended for my life.

God also showed me that even this simple disobedience of mine opened the door for me to fall down the road and to experience just exactly what God goes through when one of His children does the exact same sinful act.  This does not mean that God is finished with us and that He has given up on us, for even with my stupidity today, He still is showing me exactly what to write concerning this past week, my selfishness and how I can turn this rough edge of my life into a smooth rounded end that will be a complete testament of His will and knowledge for others to see.  I had to first come to grips of my sinful behavior and then I immediately asked for forgiveness and then God allowed the restoration process to begin. 

What was amazing was that the pains and aches in my stomach slowly went away after a few hours and even though my stomach is not hurting now, I remember the pain that I had when God pointed out my faults.  God loves us so much more than we can ever imagine, and it is His desire to see each of us live a glorious and fulfilling life with each breath we take.  But the only way that we can succeed in this perfect plan of God is for us to live through Him and through His commandments.  If we take to heart what God has shared with us today and apply this setting to our lives, we will begin to understand just what sin means to God and how much of it He cannot look upon.  It shall also open our eyes to the spiritual ugliness that we do not have to live with and that there is a way that we can be restored into God’s fold again.  Time is short and we need to turn our hearts back to God now!

There have been many times in my life that my stomach has been torn up with some kind of bug and it is not a pretty sight to witness.  Everyone of you reading this message know what I am talking about and while our bodies eventually overcome our physical sickness, our eternal sickness to God continues until we repent and then allow God to restore our spiritual lives back to the proper order.  I plan on allowing God to work on my rough spots; will you allow Him to smooth out yours?

DLB

Blessing God

Blessing God

7/7/15

How often do we think about this phrase and do we really understand what this phrase entails?  It should not be difficult to reason this phrase out but when you place it into the hands of humans we have a way of messing it up so that we can use it for our own benefit instead of God’s.  It is important for us to try our best to limit our selfish wants long enough to truly give thanks for what God has bestowed upon us and our nation.  Yet, as each day passes we allow the enemy’s kingdom to infiltrate our lives almost unabated and block out our mission to bless God.  Restoration is a good thing and it is a process that we need to completely incorporate back into our lives or one day soon our blessings shall be gone.

As a nation, have we ever asked ourselves how we can bless God or have we just stuck to “God Bless America”?  I have to admit that I have never thought of turning that phrase around and using it in this manner, but it makes perfect sense to not only turn this phrase around but to put this new meaning into practice as well.  This brings up the logical questions of how to complete this mission and does this phrase America, bless God actually have merit?  This will be the topic of this article and while I cannot take credit for the original usage of this phrase it is an important one that we need to understand and use every day of our lives, for if we do not God shall have no choice but to take our blessings away.

The first question above asked: does this phrase actually fall into the category of our mission that Christ gave to us when He was on the earth?  The answer to that question is “yes, it does.”  So much so that it is the centerpiece of our mission and the portion that defines the mission itself.  There is no question that Jesus commanded us to go to the world and preach the gospel and not many children of God will argue that.  IF, we can get past our denominational hang-ups and forget about our selfish feelings we can actually accomplish this task as Jesus commanded us.  The completion of the mission that Jesus told us to do fulfills our blessing God, and it also advances His Kingdom and pushes back the kingdom of this world.  Living under His commandments and laws also blesses God for it proves to Him that we really do love Him and that we wish to separate from this world.

For as long as the Church has been standing on the earth, humans have tried their best to fill their own pews with their converts. This conversion has been accomplished in various forms and has even included taxing, punishment and through torture and death; what kind of godly conversion tactics do these represent?  I am certain that Jesus did not mean to go into all parts of the world and kill people in His name, even though we have many within the walls of the Church who continue to do this practice today.  Christians may not physically kill people but their harsh treatment of those who do not know God have spurned a horrific worldly backlash that has not been witnessed in a while.  Plus, allowing the spirit of the world to come into the Church and safely harbor there without the truth being told to them, acts in the same manner, but the death is eternal.

Witnessing is not a job but an opportunity to show people that there is a true and complete alternative to the world and its standards.  We should be demonstrating to them that God’s laws are designed for our protection through separation from the world, not incorporating it and weaving it into our lives.  Our problem is that we as Christians have failed to understand God’s laws adequately enough to complete the mission that Jesus told us to do and this lack of knowledge has brought us to a standstill today and we are now faced with a huge spiritual battle that we have no idea how to combat, which means that we do not understand how we are to effectively witness to people.  And if we do not understand the true meaning of God’s laws and we do not understand how to witness to people, then we have no idea, on a godly level, of what our blessings really mean.

The only way that we can begin to figure out God’s blessings is to understand that there are two kingdoms vying for our eternal life and through these kingdoms our spiritual and physical lives play out.  We need to remember that our enemy already has won our physical death and there is no reason for him to vie for that portion of our life, it is the spiritual portion that is most important because spirit is eternal and which direction we eternally place ourselves is strictly up to us; our choice only!  We also must understand that the world and everything that it stands for shall always be against God and His Kingdom.  It seems like the Church has forgotten this concept and that through this forgetting process have softened our stance against our enemy.  It is not the will of our enemy for us to live with three meals a day in our bellies.  It is not the will of our enemy and the ruler of this world for any of us to live in peace and be content with our neighbors.  His job is to blind our hearts enough that we forget where these blessings come from and what will happen if we go long enough without remembering their origin.

What good does it do if you feed a person but do not feed their spirit at the same time?  Yes, physically feeding the poor and homeless are good qualities but unless we witness to them we are only completing our mission on a 50 percentile range which in is a failing grade in any teacher’s grade book.  Is this blessing God or is it satisfying a certain amount of charity that we believe is necessary in order to justify the way in which we ourselves have been blessed?  When the disciples met the beggar at the gate of the city they had nothing monetary to give but they did say that they had something better and they took the opportunity to witness to the man; eternal concepts came into play in this setting.  If we do not place this type of eternal concern upon people’s lives, it is this type of belief that will resonate that we have no idea of why God placed His laws into existence with the exception of gaveled follow through.  This process resoundingly answers the first question that it is part of our mission to understand God’s laws completely and not just through human and earthly thinking.

How can we bless God is the second question that is asked and while a portion of this question is answered through the first question and answer, there is another part that needs to be understood before we can bless God as we should.  It has been stated ever since this country was created that it was a land of opportunity.  It does not matter whether or not one believes in God, all of us have used this particular ideology in order to strive to make it in this world, but it all falls back upon the human in order for us to complete this opportunity.  But in order for us to understand this mechanism, we must concede that God is the Originator of such opportunity and it is through His origins that we can pursue the dreams and desires that we dare to risk.

If we ignore the person that created everything or fail to understand all of His ways and means then we are taking for granted what we have and will soon become an advocate of self indulgence instead of blessings.  If allowed to grow long enough that ideology will become an internal law and then demand payment at the cost of others.  We cannot afford to stop at just using the 10 Commandments when we wish, it is imperative that we grasp the concept that they were put in place for a specific reason which is the separation of God’s people from the world.  There cannot be ANY wavering from this truth because when we do, it can become easy to get sucked into the world’s philosophy that God is a lie and does not exist.

This brings me to a short video that I watched a short time ago from a person who has a weekly Bible study at one of the local coffee shops in the town where he lives.  His videos are not very long, have a compact message for the people that choose to listen to what God is saying to the world, and at the end he is always giving thanks to God for every blessing that he sees each day.  But this last video was different in the fact that instead of him saying “God Bless America” the personality said that America should bless God instead.  It was through this video that this concept was brought to my attention and it was also through this video that God is using in order for His people to be shown what it means to understand what His blessings actually mean to our lives.

Blessings that this country has benefited from over the centuries does NOT come from the world, they come strictly from God. We continually see our blessings each time we wake up with a roof over our head, or every time we start our vehicle to go to work or to the grocery store.  We flow through our daily lives and buy up items that we really do not need but see and want for physical consumption or usage.  Our duty is not to live through these blessings and fail to see the true reasons why we have them.  It is our duty to live through these blessings and share them with others and to tell the people that we share them with that God is the provider of all blessings, not the world.  It is through this process that we bless God and it is through this concept that we fulfill our mission to spread the gospel of Christ.

How is this country blessing God?  Is this country obeying God’s laws or is she thumbing her nose up at Him?  When you ask yourself these questions, answer them honestly and according to what God says in His Word.  Be honest with yourself in that if you really do not know why God has commissioned His laws, that you would go and study the Bible well enough and then place humanity within those settings then make a comparison and you will see, if you have performed this with a level and honest heart, that both settings are the same.  God had no choice but to examine the human heart and understand what it was going to follow.  God designed His laws in order for our hearts to stay as pure as possible while our presence is on this sinful realm and it is through these laws that we stay upright in God’s eyes and provide a method of eternal escape from death.  This is an example of what it means to live through the blessings of God and to bless God in return.

We can bless God by understanding the full meaning of His Word and what it says about the world.  The Bible becomes a wonderful tool for our hearts to witness to others who do not know God, but if we ourselves do not first understand why things are the way they are, we cannot give an adequate foundation to those who have no true foundation.  Using God’s Word for personal gain or as a proving ground is only a provocation of war and to use His word in this manner can only result in further division both from God and from mankind.  Living holy and righteous lives through God’s laws gives us the true freedom which every human desires and longs to inhabit.  The world cannot provide anyone with this peace for the world deceives people into living its ways and then enslaves them according to its flawed ways.

The only way that we can truly live free lives is for us to study God’s Word and to allow His spirit to engulf our lives in a personal way that we can begin to understand what our surroundings bring us.  To bless God is to allow Him access to our entire life and to place His ways above all others.  Look at our country and then ask yourself who this country is blessing?  The answer is easy and if we continue to follow in our own choices, our blessings shall be taken away.  God has never once apologized for the things that He has had to do in order to get His people to comply with His laws; there is a reason for that!  We need to restore both our spiritual and physical lives back to God by putting Him number one in our lives, not number 1.2 million. Church, you are physically wide awake but spiritually blind to what is going on around you and you rule with your physical sense of touch, rather by spiritual faith.

There is a simple formula here and it goes like this: if we completely bless God by honoring and keeping His laws and commandments His blessings shall to continue to pour out His blessings upon this nation and everyone who lives under His guidance and protection.  We can avoid God’s coming judgment if we turn away from this world now.  We are all playing with a holy fire that none of wish to witness but if we continue, God has every bit of authority to take away what He has given.  God proves Himself through His blessings and He also proves Himself through His judgments when needed.  It is either we come back to God or He will have to remind us that it is He that is consistent in all of His ways and not humanity.  God loves you and wants His blessings to be upon us at all times.  Bless God at all times for He has blessed us first.

DLB

A New Day

A New Day

7/3/15

To each of us who are alive a new day has arrived in which we have woke up from our sleep, got out of our sleeping arrangements and began our routine human patterns to complete another day.  Many of us will face many trials and uncertainty while we are attempting to complete this feat while others will walk through the day without any hang-ups to speak of.  But in order for all of us to get through these days we need to be recharged through a process called rest and what a true rest can bring not only to our physical life but also to our spiritual life.  The world loves to spin our lives with endless tangents so that rest becomes impossible to acquire.  When humans reach this point, it is then that we become vulnerable to the truth about humanity and systematically subjected to defeat.

The human “day” can come in many forms, shapes, and sizes.  The world that we live in does not have set hours that defines a day, for as the “day” goes so does the world turn.  Many businesses and groups work continuously around the clock not taking a break even for national holidays but comply with the current global environment that each of these organizations revolve within.  Global business has redefined the human life and all that it has to offer.  Some will say that is a bad thing and others will say that these working and living conditions actually make the world a better place and the human stronger.  Whatever the opinion of humans, everyone who works in this environment has to be recharged at some point so that they can face another one of their typical “days”.  Whether we like it or not our bodies will eventually send us a shut-off notice if we do not take a bit to rest.

Sleep, how many of us have some sort of sleep deprivation pattern that steals our rest from our bodies.  Most of us do not realize that sleep actually restores our physical bodies so that we can function properly during our “up” hours.  Our sleep patterns define our bodily functions and it always affects our thinking capacity of our minds.  We all know that sleep habits come in various manners and that some of us actually need more sleep than other people.  We also realize that when these sleep patterns are routinely disturbed that we can become ill or invite other physical ailments to invade our bodies, yet we continue to ignore the call to sleep and to rest that our bodies demand.  Since humans live in a global society our sleep patterns come at all hours of the day and can vary in length on the same level.

Without rest, our bodies would reach a point where it could not function properly.  Our minds would not be able to think clearly nor would it be able to make sense about our surroundings.  Our speech would be slurred and our chemical levels within our veins, arteries and organs would not be able to keep up with the second by second demands.  Everything that we knew about survival would be thrown out of proportion until the necessary replenishment was supplied.  Remember in the movies when the doctors tell family members that the patient needs rest?  Well, that is exactly what we need to do and get enough of on a continual basis, or the shutdown process will come quickly, sometimes without warning.

I have known many people who have stated that they do not need too much rest, and to be honest with you the majority of those people are either no longer with us or have serious physical conditions that require constant monitoring.  I have to place myself into that category since I was a prime example of that type of lifestyle back before my heart attack at age 35.  Yes, at age 35.  Now, most of my problems were due to my genetic makeup along with the foods I ate and the lack of rest added into the mix, but I know that if I had lived properly beforehand maybe I could have spared me a little bit of anguish down the road.

I am all for putting in a hard day’s work and to maintain a long and active work life.  I also would agree that people need to take time and dismiss their work day by having some type of relaxation regime that they follow.  But with this fast-paced lifestyle that western society believes it should operate, how is one supposed to do this?  If you would go to the exercise rooms, recreation centers and other places of recreational enjoyment, one would notice that even these places have a set time and energy pattern that is expunged.  This is not a rest or relaxation process, it is just another added activity to have your body exposed to and to keep it from relaxing.  One may eat better doing this type of exercise but where is the resting period and where do you have time to sleep enough to restore your body back to its beginning state?

All of us have started a new day off being tired.  There are a number of reasons that we do not sleep well or sleep restlessly while in bed.  Our minds continue to roll as we lie in bed trying to keep our eyes closed, yet stare at the alarm clock and watch it continue to speed towards the moment when the room’s silence is interrupted by that dreadful noise we refer to as the alarm.  What about when we are ill or have major decisions to make the next day?  All of these circumstances steal from us the one thing we need the most in order to stay healthy, sharp and even employed.  The world throws enough junk at us each day that we need to b limber and “with it” constantly, but have we thought about our spiritual side of our lives and have we thought about how to rest this part of our lives?

The invasion occurs and we do not even know it has begun until a certain point in time where our bodies react to the changes, but then it is too late our enemy has already located our weakness and has begun its mission within.  We have allowed ourselves to become so preoccupied with our daily lives that we have failed to store up our defenses and even though we did not mean to become sick or to hurt our bodies in that manner, it still happened and the impending consequences sure.  Look at how our lives are today and all of the activities that keep us wrapped up without understanding time.  Our actions become blabbering and useless and if anyone cares about the ongoing situation will immediately notice that you are not making any sense.

When does an enemy attack?  Do they attack us when we are at our peak in our defensive positions?  Do they attack the most fortified positions of our walls?  Do they attack us with weapons that they know we are prepared for?  The answer to each of these questions is a resounding no!  Enemies will take a survey of the potential battle field and then make the necessary plans to conquer the enemy on those grounds.  They will take time to find weaknesses in any form in order to gain the upper hand.  Our bodies fall into this category when we do not rest and our immune system weakens slightly and then the viruses and bacteria seize the moment.  These types of attacks also occur on our spiritual bodies and if we are in the physical state above, we are prime targets for our eternal enemy to do even further damage to our lives.

Are we aware that there is a huge difference between resting and sleeping?  And do we understand that while we need sleep for our bodies to function properly and to thrive at its peak and yet when our spirits fall asleep it has the opposite effect in that eternal death is our destination?  I also find it fascinating that both our physical and spiritual conditions are very vocal when these conditions are being portrayed.  It is obvious that a tired person is not very lively, friendly and subjective in their comings and goings.  Even when asked about how they are feeling their physical appearance will give others the truth.

In the days leading up to my heart attack I was feeling ok for the most part.  I would tire out a bit quicker than other times but I basically attributed that to my weight gain and the fact that I could not remember the last time that I walked around the block for exercise.  As I look back on things now I cannot help but remember many more people asking me if I was feeling ok, for no reason.  It was not until after I had my resting period and a month with normal blood flow to my body and a church picture setting did I realize just why people were asking me this question.  When we received the pictures back from the studio I was shocked to see how I looked, even after a month after my heart attack; I still looked terrible and had my off color appearance.  While I was sleeping my body was telling me something else, it needed rest a complete rest away from the strains and trials that continually bombarding it.

I was not living correctly nor was I taking care of my body that I should have been either.  I was totally ignoring all of the warning signs that things were not completely right and that my body was screaming out for me to change my ways and means.  I continued to play the game of invincibility and 100% believed that nothing would or could stop this false fortitude.  When my body said enough it dropped me to my knees and placed me into another category, on all levels.  My thoughts and patterns had to change if I wanted to be around to witness my girls’ graduations, dates and marriages.  It was then, at this time on my knees that I realized that I was just like any other person that was walking on this earth, human and subject to death just like everyone else.

After I allowed the physicians to take care of my heart and to do their best to repair the damage that I had allowed to occur, my recovery could begin and even though I felt better and wanted to speed up this healing process I still had to give my body time to heal properly, and I finally understood this when I had an opportunity to look at the family picture that the church had taken.  As time gained I found out more information concerning my biological makeup which further increased my knowledge about how lucky I was all down through the years by depriving my body of the rest that it needed.  Sleep is one thing but rest is the one ingredient that separates our lives from living and living abundantly.

All of those years I believed that while I was sleeping that my body was getting the proper amount of rest that he needed, but through my snoring and restless tossing and turning each night I was in fact steadily increasing the harm in my life instead of helping it.  My way of living was not working and I was voluntarily draining my life from the living state that God wanted me to be within, and yes this included my spiritual condition as well.  I knew that my spiritual life was not what it was supposed to be and even though I continued to try and ignore this aspect of my life too, God decided to fulfill His mission in my life.

Taking a rest in the spiritual realm is a necessity but it must not be confused with a sleeping spirit; there is a huge difference and I see the difference in our lives today.  It is true that our spirits need rest and there is no better scripture that describes this truth as Psalms Chapter 23.  This chapter is a beautiful example of a spirit at rest and not asleep.  There is nothing wrong with a spirit that is resting, because it regenerates it and renews the communication link that we need in order to continue receiving truth from our Creator.

It is, however, the job of our enemy to put our spirits asleep and to try his best to fool us into a spiritual sleep instead of a restful period in God.  A spirit that is asleep will miss vital communication signals from God, ones that are designed to provide us with life saving information, both on the physical and spiritual levels.  Satan will deceive us in many ways in order for our ears and our spiritual “minds” to click off into a lull and then into a deep sleep.  I am not referring to the deep sleep that God placed Adam and Abram into, but a spiritual sleep that our enemy offers after many long battles.  A time for restoration turns into a stagnate pond in a prone position which will only lead to sleep.  Our spirits are continually being bombarded with attacks that eventually take its toll as well.  Spiritual attacks follow the same patterns as our physical encounters of our “day”.  However, with the spiritual attacks these continual assaults do not stop they are in motion with relentless intensity that does not stop.  Remember on a spiritual basis, spirit knows no time so its range of attacks and methods of attacks can be brutal and limitless.

Many good people do not even know that they are spiritually asleep and thus vulnerable to the tricks of the enemy.  They are so blind that they buy into the lie that human rights are actually warranted and fail to see that they actually allow humans to enter into a deadly slave state with a controlling entity that will eventually come to collect from those who he has given earthly gifts.  It is vitally important that we understand the difference between a restful spirit and a sleeping spirit.  A restful spirit will be re-energized and ready for a new day so that it can push back the kingdom of darkness with vigor and stamina through the Word of God.  A restful spirit recognizes its enemy and the mission of that enemy and does everything in its power, through the commands of her Leader, to rescue people from an eternal separation and certain eternal death from life itself.  A restful spirit will wreak havoc on the kingdom of this world, guaranteed and with no questions asked.

A sleeping spirit will wake up long enough to recognize its immediate surroundings and demand that things change without any work or major movement required.  It will lay there and be fed by the first opportunity that comes along and will be assured that it does not have to get up and move, but can be just as effective by going back to sleep and hoping to feel better a few “hours” later.  It is in this state that the enemy uses these “gifts” in order to keep us from fulfilling our mission and while we lay in spiritual slumber he can run amuck all around our lives and in our surroundings without even fighting one bit.  A sleeping spirit will accept things that feel good and that do not require much energy expended in order to make its presence felt.  But in reality what does this accomplish?  Only earthly and selfish goals with egotistical wants places focus on us and on the physical instead of fighting the holder of the marionette.  Taking swings at the marionette is the accomplishment that our enemy established in the Garden of Eden and our blindness to such continues today.

It is a no brainer that our bodies need rest and sleep because without these we would cease to function quite quickly and we cannot afford to keep this type of belief when it comes to our spiritual lives.  Spiritual life and spiritual communication with God is the only way that we humans have a chance in this world.  The battle has been set long before you and I arrived on this planet and it will continue until God ends the fighting.  Resting our spirits actually resets our spiritual security system as physical rest resets our immune system and natural defenses, which explains another reason why God says for us to rest in Him.

The world also teaches us that we need to be constantly on the move and making decisions in a split second.  How can we effectively accomplish this if we do not get our rest?  It is impossible for us to make continual and rational decisions if we are constantly draining our energy sources and there will come a time that things will catch up with us.  We see this every day around our world with people who enter into the emergency rooms sick with some type of ailment.  When you hear what they have been doing and then ask them about their sleep patterns, it is very clear what they were setting up for themselves.  The same principals apply in the spirit realm and it conditions that we place it in. We can have a great communication system with God but if we do not listen to Him saying to rest, then our spirits become subject to deeper attacks.

All of us wake up each morning to a new day and face many challenges.  These challenges are a part of life and it is imperative that we do everything possible to prepare ourselves for this combat.  The physical realm and the spiritual realm fit into this category and neither area should be taken lightly.  Attacks will come at any given moment and by the grace of God and our obedience, we have the authority to overcome these attacks on all levels.  Yes, we will not fend off every attack, but with our rested bodies and spirits our defense system will be in better shape to fight off what has been thrown at us.  If we continue to plug our spiritual resting periods into God’s presence it will only cause a dimming of the mystery that surrounds our Creator and will bring us closer into relationship with Him and not the world.

DLB

Are We Forgetting Something?

Are We Forgetting Something

7/1/15

The human mind is a fascinating organ that directs our very movements, allows us to see, hear and sense all areas of life that we need in order to function.  Likewise, our mind is the one organ that will hide and then permanently put away things that are deemed to be irrelevant and non-useful to our lives and this includes all aspects of our lives.  Yet, while we systematically engage in this type of activity our spirit continues to starve for its Creator, and given time our inner being becomes silent and gives into the wiles of the world and when this status changes, our entire existence changes.  It is through these changes that God sees and acts to accordingly, which automatically exposes what is hidden within our hearts.

Back in the late 1990s one of my colleagues at work approached me about a specific event that was going to be presented at one of the local mortuaries in our town; sounds morbid I know.  The event was being sponsored by this specific funeral home and it involved a local film producer who made a documentary about some of the World War II veterans that were living within the nearby area, who would share in their experiences during this time frame.  My colleague and I had many conversations about WWII and its events over the past few years so when the opportunity arose; he naturally invited me to join the screening.  I was thrilled beyond words to have such an opportunity to be part of something that I held so close to my heart, and to think it was the premier of this documentary to top it off.

As the years have passed, I realize that while I do not think about this event every day of my life, this evening still rings loud and clear in both my mind and in my heart.  The event was about those men who served our country during World War II and all of their experiences that they encountered during those tumultuous years.  I remember that when the documentary was finished, the producer stood up and stated that one of the men interviewed for the documentary died shortly after the film was finalized, and as of today I can almost guarantee that the majority of the others if not all of them have passed from this world onto the next.  We cannot retrieve these heroes but in my heart I believe that it is our duty to keep their memory and what they did for civilization alive and represented well.

I continually read history, and through my readings I have learned that all mankind has had to endure multiple unnecessary pain, agony, and endless frustration due to some of the choices that our forefathers made.  It is not hard for humanity to hide some of these past choices and bury them deep enough so that many of them are never retrieved; ones that are glorious or otherwise.  It has become blatantly obvious that most people around the world wish to hide these historical facts and documents away from their lives in order to proceed in a progressive manner, even while proclaiming that they understand that "a past" cannot be continually lived within, or they use these negative or situational lessons as a resource to prove their personal points.  So, it becomes easy to forget these past circumstances by eliminating them from our thought process and pray that the public eye approves of such a resolution, which becomes easier when the participants of such events are no longer within striking distance in our lives.

This period of WWII remembrance continued through the early 2000s when a series came out that covered a specific unit during this time and the entire series was received with award-winning praise; it even spawned a sequel about the other half of the war in the Pacific.  As with the other wars, many or all of the men who fought and survived them are now eternally resting.  Our memories gradually lose control of their achievements and while periodically we attend to their memories within our heads, they have forever left our hearts which leaves only a faded recollection of what they gave us.  No matter how we feel about this war and all other wars that this country and her allies fought, we must never forget what those men and women did for this country.  We should never lose sight of the accomplishments that their actions led to and through these accomplishments the endless opportunities that their actions provided.

Presently our nation is embroiled with the current and popular Confederate flag issue and all that it brings to the table it should not be a surprise as to why it is being fought over.  How many people living within this country fought in the Civil War?  How many people differ from this battle flag and everything that it stands for?  One could argue that countless numbers of differences exist if one wishes to accurately formulate.  Does this mean that it should be erased from our memory and how it shaped this country?  Should it become taboo, subject to instant ridicule and advocate of anger?  Or does it really symbolize our inadequacies towards the truth and doing our best, on all sides, of trying not to repeat history?

With the current attitudes flying around our land, most of us know it is a matter of time that this part of our national history will be thrown into a museum and sent into hiding from the general public.  Afterward, instead of healing it will be stored in these museums only to fester for days, weeks, years and maybe decades reigniting memories at some future time.  But what I find very intriguing is that while many are throwing away this remembrance portion of our history and the fight, on both sides, that it defined are replacing it with a hyper segmented lie that could define their eternal status for eternity.  For a country to be divided from its original confines seems petty compared to that of an eternal separation from our Creator.  True and perfect healing through Christ is the only way that this issue can be forgotten and properly learned.

Why is it so difficult for our egos and pride to reflect upon the manners in which this country was founded and then divided?  The same question needs to be posed to those that refuse to seek wisdom through our heritage and history over the past millennia as well.  A flag means something to a person, a group, a state or nation and its hoisting up and its lowering can bring an end to a nation or a future struggle of another one.  This action can also be applied on a personal level and can reap the same benefits or adverse conditions as on a national level or global level.  How many of us have forgotten this principle about humanity; probably more than one would expect. 

It is unnerving and downright destructive when a person, state or nation deliberately forgets about its history.  Even though the history may represent a personal or national scar it still needs to be remembered not erased.  By defaulting and then foreclosing on history one foregoes their responsibility to remember it and to learn from it; therefore, dooming that person or society in repeating that history in some gross and adulterated manner.  It does not matter which part of history one can put onto the dotted line, all would be readily accessible for this type of acquisition.

Another example of this type of progression has occurred with the Bible as well.  While not everyone has always been acceptable of God’s Word they have been respectful of those who were.  Over the past few decades this percentage of tolerance towards God’s Word and of the people who have accepted God’s true ways has diminished drastically.  But one must contend that many Christians have directly contributed to this decline through the harsh transactions that they have portrayed upon the dying and sinful ways of humanity.  The double consequences of these actions are now being presented through the actions of the ruler of the world, allowed by such choices.  No matter what our history may entail we must never forget about the scars that we obtained during our past.  For those who are thinking about this and trying to rid of our scars, we cannot augment them either, for that process shall leave other scars as well.

It is no argument that the Bible and everything that took place within that time frame is part of our history, and it is also no argument that many people treat biblical history as any other type of history.  The difference with this argument is that biblical history not only tells about the physical history of mankind but it also demonstrates the eternal consequences of the choices of humanity; basically reiterating the double consequences rule that was mentioned in the paragraphs above.  So, when it comes down to the dotted line biblical history falls within the same kind of thinking as any other type of history, forgotten. 

There are two sides to this forgetting of biblical history that are concerning to our lives today.  The first is that the world itself continues to ignore the fact that the Bible gives us specific directions on how to be blessed by God and why we are to be chastised by God, all within the same context and verse.  This side of the issue remains in contention that everything from God Himself to the stories within the Bible are fantasy and they never happened, which make them lies and fuel fanatic resistance to their cause.  To enhance this type of thinking, many have now restricted the voices of Christians and practices that have been generally accepted in the public eye.

This type of behavior should not come as a surprise to many since one would logically believe that it would be on a natural level for this type of thinking from this group of people.  By their own admission that the Bible is not true, they have deemed this important and vital piece of wisdom as inaccurate and resistance propaganda, in which intellectual and advanced peoples would be considered foolish to even consider its content as fact.  With the grouping of the Bible into human history, it has been thrown into the forgotten and “not wanting and inconvenient” categories which further its enthusiastically shelving by the billions.  Out of sight, out of mind comes into play here and this thought process opens the door for a dangerous situation to occur.

God cannot change, no matter how humanity wishes to try.  Governments have tried to override His ways and laws, ethnic groups have tried to derange their existence by formulating relationships with other gods and religious practices, and nations have done their best to rewrite human laws where life itself is concerned.  We continue to try and change things through a humanistic value system and every time we have tried to complete this, it has failed.  Every time we leave God’s laws and ways out of our lives, we have failed.  Every human way is flawed, so why do we continue to try and improve our lives based upon flawed thinking?  Don’t you think that if we base our laws and ways upon a perfect Created system that our results would be better?

The second side of this issue comes from the Church herself and how she has forgotten about the history of mankind and of God.  It is alarming of how rapidly she has continually dealt herself a losing hand when it comes to this area, all due to her complacency with the current worldly environment; there are numerous examples of this type of human behavior in God’s Word where mankind has totally forgotten who God is to them and how their society shortly afterwards fell.  The Church should know what will occur when individuals, groups and nations ignore God’s laws and turn from His ways to accept worldly substitutions; the Church shall have no excuses either when the final period of time arrives.  Yet with this knowledge, she is standing tall now for worldly transcripts and ignoring God’s laws all in the name of egotistical and prideful claims.  Every member of the Church should recognize that humans cannot be equal in a multitude of areas, especially when the world is involved in that decision.  The world cannot create equality only God can and we blew that equation long before you and I were on this planet.  If the Church continues to hold hands with the world, it will not be too much longer until the world’s hands will be around another part of her body; it is that plain and simple.

I have to admit that besides the war memories and the Confederate flag issues I was struggling a bit to find a biblical companion to this article.  When it was time to begin my morning Bible study I felt like God directed me to read the first chapter of Exodus.  I did so, and then began my other morning routines and really did not think too much else about the passage that God wanted me to read.  It was not until later in the day as I was driving to get my youngest daughter who had stayed with my oldest daughter that God dropped the reason why He wanted me to read that passage.  I felt so stupid and since I was driving at the time I could not hit my head or do any other foolish thing so I began mumbling to myself, in which my wife looked at me weird and then I had to explain to her what was going on; she then just gave me a smirk.  But it is this side of the issue that this country can relate to and see where it will be headed if we do not change our ways, now!

Exodus Chapter 1 gives a prime example of what happens when people forget about their history and this passage proves that it does not have to be ancient history or a “long time ago” to fall into the forgetful category.  This passage states that Joseph had died and that all of his brethren were dead as well.  All of the relatives of Joseph were now out of the government and no longer a part of that setting.  The leaders of the Egyptian government had no clue about what had occurred during the reign of Joseph and now looked upon the descendents and people of Joseph’s land as a problem instead of an ally.  The Egyptian leaders were in their place of power due to the knowledge that came from God to their forefathers, yet Scriptures clearly indicate that the future generations of that land had forgot where their source had originated.

A series of decisions and laws were made pointing this new attitude towards the children of Israel all in order to keep them at bay.  But as the laws began to tighten against Israel, they continued to prosper and flourish within Egypt and once again more progressive and suppressive laws were incorporated upon the Israelites until they had become slaves to the land that their ancestors saved years before.  I find this example very testy since the same type of setting is occurring all around the world today.  Not much has changed in this manner, especially when human beliefs are challenged and thus deemed threatening.  The slavery of Israel would cost their population countless numbers of people yet what was remarkable about this situation is that once they were free, many still continued to desire their return back to the land of slavery.

While God’s children were laying in waste through the captivity in Egypt, God still had a plan for their lives but He had to rid Egypt from their hearts first.  Later on down the road when it was time for the Confederate States of America to rise up and to take a stand against the Union, God still had a plan for each American male and female within the borders of this country.  World War II and all of the other global conflicts proved to be defining moments in world history that cost millions of lives, yet God still had a plan for humanity even after all of the atrocities man afflicted upon each other during those years.

If one takes a hard study concerning humanity they will find that whenever people refuse to allow God to be number one in their lives humanity falls apart.  The root problem for this cause is the fact that people who associate themselves with God do not study the Word of god deep enough and pure enough to understand what God is showing us.  The only way that we can survive each other is to hide the Word of God within our hearts and in order for us to live by this standard we must throw away our selfish divisions and listen to what God is saying through His laws.  To hide something means that you know exactly where that object is located.  What security one will have when they know that hiding God’s laws and words in their hearts provides them no matter what the occasion may rise. 

The modern church is in an uproar due to its own lack of understanding about hiding the Word of God within her heart.  Her presence on this planet has become stagnant and vulnerable to the same world that she is trying to incorporate within her walls.  She has totally forgotten about how to hide the message of good news within her heart so that she may stand out as a beacon to a dying world.  Instead, she has grasped the concept that she should lower herself into the murky waters of the world in order to still be relevant within society.  Through this activity, the world has sold her into believing that God’s Word is not the authoritative definition of our existence and has also convinced her to water down the content of the Bible and to leave it chained up on the boat when in deep waters. 

If the Church continues to operate in this manner we should expect more conditions of slavery to infiltrate our lives.  I am not talking about just the Church herself but in all societies around the world.  No, they will not be presented as such but according to the laws of God we will become slaves to our own flaws and worldly operatives which in turn will create a permanent division from God.  The world screams for this separation by making their own laws and thumbing their noses at God’s ways, and this is how the Church should be standing out from the world, by not accepting deadly ways.  God does love each and every one of the people o this earth but in order for us to understand and to know God’s love we must live within His laws and not ours.  There can be no substitute for this truth in order to maintain our eternal security.

DLB

Credibility

Credibility

6/17/15

All of us wish to establish and maintain a credible account of our lives.  It is very important that we do our best to achieve this standing and as long as we accept the fact that honesty is one of the main foundations of this goal we will have the reasonable chance in reaching it.  However, when this status is based upon lies nothing good will come from its status, only hurt and pain will be the end results.  We cannot achieve this status in life without first understanding who our creator is and then complimenting this standard with mankind’s Creator, then all things will become possible in our lives.

This topic that is currently floating around the world touches my personal life in a very specific manner.  As some might know, I was adopted when I was a baby.  To a very loving home with great and loving parents whom I still cherish today.  My parents never kept anything about my adoption from me and always told me the truth about how I came to be a Bishop.  Of course, they did not give me the entire story when I was 10 years old but by the time I was graduated from high school I knew everything that they knew.

It was no big deal for me to be adopted and unless it was brought up for some reason I never really thought about that fact of my life.  But being adopted was a part of my life and it was a fact of my life that needed to be understood by some when certain settings arose.  The medical side of things was by far the most important aspect of things but at other times some traits of mine would appear out of nowhere which made me stop and wonder about things for a moment.  All of these new additions to my life I could understand and easily accept since I knew I had a set of biological parents other than my adoptive ones.  But what would my attitude be if I did not know this truth about my beginnings and upbringing?  How would I feel about things if I had found out that my adoptive parents had lied to me all of those years, even though they gave me the best that anyone could have received?  The same concept applies in this current identity thieving that is now all the rage to embrace. 

Approximately five years ago my parents received a phone call from a man that lived in Arkansas.  It is tough enough knowing that someone gave you up for another family but through the grace and peace of God, He has allowed total acceptance of my life on my side of the issues and from my parents side of the issues; and this is the way it is supposed to be, for every life created. When my parents answered this call, it was a man claiming to be my brother and how he had just then found out that I existed. This shocker was setting up to be a hard time for everyone involved since none of my biological brother and sisters knew anything about me until that time frame.  In other words, they had been lied to for over 40 years about their own family; this had to hurt.

To top things off, we have recently found out that we have another uncle living in Georgia.  Mike and I had no idea about him and to everyone’s “amazement” he had no idea about us either.  This new revelation has answered a few questions that Mike and I have had, but it also raised many more questions than expected.  Some are so sensitive that just the thought of them are damaging enough and are the type that can burn with anger for an entire life.  I cannot blame one for being upset with these types of findings, but it is the lies that hide the truth that hurt the most and will have the most impact in this situation.

When a person finds out that the life that they thought was their foundation turns out to be a complete lie, that information has the potential to do some serious damage in that life.  No one wins when this type of situation is allowed to fester quietly, especially 40 or more years but even 1 day is way too long for such an atrocity.  The lie only deepens, not erased because at some point in life the truth will filter out somehow and then lives will change drastically.  When dealing with an individual, there cannot be any worse condition to experience than a direct lie about that person, not only for the person themselves but for everyone else involved in the committed lie.  In my brother’s case the lie continues to grow because not all of the truth has been told and those who know more about that truth are refusing to correct the lie, which will only deepen the anger and bitterness into hatred, even if one has moved on with their life.

Around the year 2001 there was a man who had established a reputable college football program at Georgia Tech University whose name was George O’Leary.  He had literally worked his way up the ladder to be a major university coach, beginning in the high school ranks.  On paper, he was destined to be one of the best coaches around and should be considered a top candidate to one of the larger football programs in the country if all went according to plan.  After a couple of decades of assistant coaching jobs, he received the call to be the next head coach at GT.  Mr. O’Leary turned that program into a powerhouse opponent and was in contention for conference champions each one of GT’s seasons under his rule.

After a fine tenure with GT, a certain major football program came knocking on his door and everyone who knew what was transpiring was considering this opportunity for Mr. O’Leary to be one of a lifetime.  I do not know that everyone around the world has heard of the University of Notre Dame but I can guarantee that the majority of the world’s population has at one time or another and this was the program that came knocking on Mr. O’Leary’s door.  Anyone who wants to coach football will have a dream to coach this team with all of the pomp and circumstances that go along with it.  However, not just anyone would be considered to fit within the confines of the coach’s chair at this university, they had to be chosen which meant that their credentials must be a certain level.

With the school’s mascot being a Leprechaun and having the nickname of “Fighting Irish” and them considering a man by the name of George O’Leary, one would automatically assume that his name alone would place him at the top of the list of possible coaches.  Of course, the media was going wild over the prospect that George O’Leary was going to be considered and some even had him as a lock for the position.  It did not take long for both sides to issue statements that in fact Mr. O’Leary was going to be the next head coach at Notre Dame. 

Within a matter of a few days of the official announcement that George O’Leary was the next head football coach at Notre Dame some questions began to surface.  It seems like that some of the listings on his resume were not lining up and when the university began investigating a bit further those inaccuracies were proven to be true.  The allegations turned into truths and shortly afterwards Mr. O’Leary was once again in front of the cameras resigning his position as head football coach of Notre Dame without even having his presence on the practice field.

Mr. O’Leary’s credibility went into the toilet and he almost immediately went into hiding until the situation died down a bit. There were still some lingering questions that he was forced to answer but for the most part his coaching career was on a long hiatus and it might have been believed that it may be over.  Disappointment was no doubt present all around the campus of Notre Dame, the campus of Georgia Tech and across the nation, for one of the NCAA’s golden boys had fallen from his perch and after the dust had settled it was widely known that he fell hard.  Everyone involved in this scandal was completely embarrassed and while searches continued for replacement coaches, everyone knew that hearts were heavy during this time.

George O’Leary eventually returned to the sidelines and presently is a head coach of another large school.  His salary eventually returned as well and one can still see his brilliance as a head play caller for a football team, but even though his mind and heart are still within the game and can contribute greatly to any football program I doubt very seriously that his presence at another major university will ever take place.  I know that Mr. O’Leary still receives questions about this incident and from his responses it is evident that it continues to dwell within his soul as a black mark and turning point of his career; one in which he is none too proud.

Today, the country is once again being subjected to another person who has lied about a portion of their life; however, this time it is not concerning a resume (kind of) but of her own personal life.  While this person was locally known and mainly kept out of the national spot light for the most part she has been thrust into it by her proclamations concerning her ethnic origins.  This type of remarks and claims does not surprise me since many people love to embellish stories about their lives in order to make a point to their friends, other family members or colleagues.  But when those remarks actually defame those colleagues, friends or family members it crosses a line that can only result in hurtful and sometime life-long turmoil between the people involved within the lies.

In this lady’s case she claimed that she was half black and that it was her father that was black and her mother was white.  We all know that this type of racial blending is common in our world today, not just this example but of many races, and probably would have not even been questioned at all; it just fits within the societal standards of today.  However, someone must have known that the parents that she claimed to have in the past did not fit this category and when the investigation began the doubts of her public proclamation about her “father” were inaccurate at best. 

Shortly afterwards an interview came out on national television with the parents that she was born to which were both white in ethnic origin.  Pictures of this lady were flashed across the screen when she was a little girl and then again at a later date in her life clearly showing her true ethnic origin.  Ironically this entire story broke at the same time this lady was going to be a main speaker at one of the upcoming NAACP meetings telling about her life and how she dealt with her ethnic existence. 

There is no doubt that this false proclamation did cause hurt and pain within her family, especially her true parents.  In addition to this false claim about her parents, a new development has just been discovered that enhances the lie and it conveniently pursues the life of a man that this lady claimed to be her father.  It is amazing that the story that she has made public concerning her “father” resembles the life of this man, which she does know and refers to him as her “dad” but is in no way her birth father. I understand this type of claim, for I have four daughters and their friends call me “dad” on a regular occasion.  They are part of my extended family and I would do everything in my power to protect them if needed, but they would never claim me as their birth father nor would I ever allow them to do such a thing, unless of course I would adopt them for some reason., but even then I would not be their biological father.

The concept of being someone else has always been demonstrated throughout human history.  We can read countless accounts of leaders and “common” people in this quest in many history books and primary documents.  But from our current practices it seems like we have not heeded these examples and discontinued this practice of painful lies, not only to ourselves but to our families as well, but have embraced these practices once again and are now in the process of establishing laws to protect these practices.

There is nothing more foundational than our own credibility and if we voluntarily destroy this basis of our lives we will eventually crumble both as an individual and as a society.  There is no question that all of us wish to have fame and glory on some level for recognition on a superior level can make or break our lives.  However, no matter what the circumstances may be we cannot afford to fabricate our “resume” in order to establish this status.  It is even more difficult when society exploits this type of behavior and condemns those who actually expose this wrong doing, then rewards these people with other positions after a while of seclusion.  In my family’s case this seclusion has been in effect for over 47 years now and it does not look like it is going to end any time soon.

Think for a moment of how things will be when this type of charades is conducted on a national or societal level.  Oh, wait a minute they already are being conducted on this level.  Not just now but they have been for a very long time, and yes even during ancient times this practice was conducted and the same results will occur today as they did back then.  We have got to lose this theme of ambiguity about the truth that we have voluntarily and purposefully created and established within our lives. It has infiltrated every part of our societal standing and it is now even encompassing the Church, willingly I might add.

I understand that the world has its own ideologies and philosophies about how people can live, act and die but if we are totally honest with ourselves (lol) this type of activity would be condemned instead of promoted.  Yet, the world screams war, war, war and throws its weight into the faces of those who do not agree with what the new standards are becoming.  God asks us to stop and to take a hard and honest look at what we are doing to our lives and how much personal, emotional and spiritual damage we are doing to our existence, both as an individual and as a society because just as other societies found out these types of acceptances will only lead to one result, destruction.

In each one of these examples that has been shared in this article are real and they have occurred within our lifetime.  The ones in ancient history were real as well and through all of these examples the picture has been clearly painted and hung on the societal wall for everyone to see.  Once again it has become clear that when mankind tries to do things on their own nothing good comes out as a result.  A temporary fix for a troubled time is not a good result and no individual or nation can function in that capacity.  At the same time it has also become clear that God has all of the correct answers, He even takes all of the problems away at the same time, case closed.  Yet, we continue to believe in the worldly kingdom that is faltered and allow ourselves to be drugged into slavery to this kingdom.

God’s Word is not a bunch of condemning laws that were made to hold humanity back from its total potential.  On the contrary they were put in place to free us from the slavery of the world so that we may life in total freedom through God.  There is nothing hypocritical about God’s Word for it is all about humans and how we have struggled during our existence and at the same time providing us with a way out of those struggles if we just accept the real truth.  We do not have to lose our credibility on any level but if we ever do we have the confidence to know that God shall accept us back into His Kingdom and will restore our credibility through His ways.  That is the good news mission that Jesus spoke about when He walked this earth and it was the exact command that He gave us to complete as well.

It all comes down to this: there are two kingdoms and those two kingdoms have immortal and hated enemies as their leaders. These two kingdoms can never mix in any way for they are at war for your eternal existence.  One Kingdom is ruled by God, His Son and the Holy Spirit and the other kingdom is ruled by their arch enemy – and ours – Satan.  There is no middle ground present, there never was and there never shall be, period!

Both leaders are calling out your name, and both leaders are vying for your eternal destination.  Look at our past and see what this type of credibility brings to our credentials as created beings and it should become clear what happens when we understand the kingdom of the world versus the Kingdom of God and the outcome of each choice.  God loves you and does not wish to watch us lose your personal credibility, nor does He wish to see out national and societal credentials go down the drain, but He shall allow it to occur if we chose to do so.

DLB

Systematically Correct

Systematically Correct

6/15/15

Humans like to believe that their knowledge of events are the most accurate options that one has to chose from and that no one else has a better answer.  We also tend to believe that what we choose to initiate, dictate and follow actually come from our own processes, but in all honesty even the thoughts that we believe are our own truly originate from God’s creative motions, not ours.  These truths are directly explained throughout the Bible through human lives and nation’s choices which furthers the fact that the Word of God is here for our protection and not our hindrance; which also proclaims that God is solely doing His best to protect us from something humanly unimaginable.

The examples that I am going to use in this article will be both personal and national in nature and I am going to start out with the personal example in order to begin with the fact that God does care about the individual just as much as He does a nation.  For it takes individuals to make up a nation and without individuals a nation becomes silent and extinct on all levels of existence.  It is also God’s symmetrically and systemic plan for each one of our lives that establishes our true nature and should be studied at all times, which will prove to be an invaluable resource for our eternal presence.

With my parents being ministers one can imagine that I moved around a lot and while we did I have ill feelings towards them for I understood their calling and knew that there would be times that we would be leaving areas of comfort to walk in the presence of danger.  At that time in my life, I had no real understanding about those dangers but I did know that for some reason God always had His eyes upon my life and His protection around my body.  Little did I know that He was actually teaching me things that I would be able to show people and to tell people about years (decades) down the road.

When I was a sophomore in high school we moved to a town called Hobbs, New Mexico, and for a very long time I referred to this time setting as “to hell and back” for my life.  As I look back on those times I had to come to grips that God had placed our family there for a reason yet at the same time protected my life and my family’s life constantly; and I cannot rule out the presence of angels sitting on our pews either.  As our time was winding down in that city God showed up to a couple in southeast Texas and told them to come get me for I was to be taken out of the town immediately.  God also confirmed this through my father while walking through an airport terminal.  Both messages were crystal clear, get me out of there.

As I arrived in Texas I was taken to the doctor for a checkup and while I basically felt fine, with a few aches and pains, I had no idea of how much danger my life was really in at that time.  My spleen had been enlarged for some time and I was very much in danger of it rupturing and with its current contents I would have bled out almost within minutes with no chance of survival.  Has anyone ever move during their lifetime?  Then those who have will know that when people make a major move they almost always come away with bumps and bruises.  God had His hand on me during those times and I still do not fully understand everything about that situation but I do know I am alive and well today to share what God has given us to hear.

I have no idea how my life would have turned out if mom and dad did not go to Hobbs that year.  What if we had gone elsewhere?  I know that my life would have been protected but what kind of experiences would I have gone through during that time, and would God’s messages actually been heard from the ones that God intended?  It is hard for our minds to grasp the fact that our lives and the lives of others play a specific role in the overall plan of God and sometimes it just does not make sense until God begins to reveal certain aspects about humanity through His Word that our understanding clicks.  I know that if my parents had not gone to Hobbs then that city would not have heard the message that God had for them and it would have not been a just act when their true setting was enacted.

How was I to know that God would use gangs, death threats on my life, sabotaged acts against my house and automobiles as a means to talk about what kind of things God shall allow to His people in order to grab their attention before things become to a point of no return or when God has to say “Ok, enough”.  This point of no return or point “B” if you wish to place it into that context is far away from point “A” that humanity or a nation starts and it is at some point along this timeline that we continually progress along not realizing just how much danger we are allowing ourselves to be in on a regular basis.  This was my situation in Hobbs and as I look back at it now God was solely in control of my life but allowed a dangerous situation to arise in order for others to know what is going on in our society today.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the date September 11, 2001 will remember exactly what they were doing or where they were at the precise moment when the world watched planes crash into the Twin Towers, slam into the Pentagon building and fall into an open field in Pennsylvania.  I do not have to replay those events to any person that is old enough to remember what transpired that day not only in this country but around the world as well.  Many things changed that day with the accomplishment of those horrific acts that those men played out that day.  All of us would agree that on that specific day the world stood still in shock as we watched our world change forever.

As with any major event there are many questionable tactics that these men chose to complete that day but what is more amazing is that those men had staked out our country’s system long before we knew anything was wrong and trained aggressively for this act of terror.  There are many people out in the world who believe that our government is partially or fully responsible for what occurred on that day.  There are many others who strictly place the blame on a single religion for this act.  But what we completely miss is that God allowed the evil of this world to come to a head that day to attack a nation and a society that had up until that day stood as a tall tower to the world.  People cannot accurately blame the type of government that this country had at the time nor can they place blame on one single act or regulation authorized for such an act either.  The only thing that we can accurately and correctly recognize is our faults against God for those acts being allowed to occur and to be so successful.

As I sit and watch the planes hit the twin towers I find it so amazing that a single strike against a single building could have such a devastating effect on a strong tower.  One would not believe that such a strike would send two major buildings and a few other buildings around them crashing down to the ground.  The planes did not even hit at the same level, their strikes were at different heights but eventually the manmade buildings of symbolism came crashing down and thus destroyed all hope of escape for thousands of people.

This was a game changer, a serious blow to the world’s gut and one that staggered the world’s economy.  Even though the attack was on American soil the entire world lost many relatives that day and it did not matter which religion was represented either.  It is difficult for our minds to comprehend as to why God would allow such a strike against the dominate society of the world, one that would change many working environments throughout the world yet it was such a blow that has since further defined our attitudes towards many aspects of our existence along with further hardening of our hearts towards God.  Just as God allowed my enemy to continue persisting in my life He so too allowed that same enemy to persist in our life as well; striking with a potential death blow to life as we know it.

Many of the people who have spoken out about this catastrophic event have almost been sacrificed themselves due to their opinions.  Many of these who have spoken out have left out the history of our country and the biblical settings that accompany it.  It is of the utmost importance that we place history and biblical history together for this process because it sets into motion a correlation of events that is most remarkable.  We must also understand, grasp and accept all of these factors including down to the minute detail, for everything is at play when our eternal lives are at stake.  So even though humans can conjure up conspiracy theories about how governments allowed things to occur, or how they initiated plans of destruction, or any other human derived event, God still allows all things to transpire according to His time log.  It is easy for us to dismiss this fact and even harder to grasp that god allows these plans to be developed and put into motion all in the name of our return to Him.  But if God was not God and did not love us so much to fall by our own swords (choices) then He would become a god and not God.

It has been known that it is difficult to attack our land from abroad simply because of our isolated position within the globe.  It is also through this ideology that we have become egomaniacs and demand self attention from everyone else around the world as a side bar expectancy.  However, with modern travel accommodations and connectivity between people it has become far easier to obtain access to our lands.  The idea of us not being attacked in any major way was shattered on 9/11 and it is now apparent that something else is on its way.  We have overstayed our boundaries of acceptance of every old and new concept that the mind can imagine and we need to curb these activities, for if we do not we will have no one to blame but our own selfish intentions when our world comes crashing down upon us.  However, there is a way that we can protect ourselves once again and it is high time that we once again seek this divine protection before our country is totally dissolved and life as the world knows it is itself history.

Israel was in a similar state a long time ago in which they too did not listen to the watchfulness of God and ended up being destroyed and scattered for millennia.  When our leadership looks at our opponents as friends instead of enemies or declassifies them as a sub group it is then that we become a high profile target, just to grab our attention.  Our arrogance has totally engulfed us with selfishness that we no longer can be around our allies because of the terrible smell that we continually give off.  Israel was the exact same way when the Assyrian Empire totally wiped them out, took them captive and sold their culture to neighboring nations and empires.

The identity of Israel was completely stripped from the earth and placed into a mortal and earthly context for thousands of years.  Yes, it took that long of a period of time for God’s chosen people to figure out that they had done wrong and that they needed to turn back to God in order to re-establish their united land UNDER God and not the world.  It is easy to become the hero of the world when you have God on your side and for a very long time we have held that status, just as Israel has had.  Yet, with this status comes a huge responsibility to conduct ourselves in a like manner which, just as Israel did, we have abandoned this concept and are doing things on our own.

The important part of this setting that we either forget or do not understand is that God allowed these events to take place due to the choices that all settings made.  Even my little life was placed into danger because of things that were made without understanding exactly what was going on at the time.  Mom and dad were not wrong but the stage was set when they began their ministry in Hobbs and with the knowledge of the creation of Israel and this country those stages were set as well.

There have been a few people around the world that understand what is taking shape within our society today on a biblical and godly level not just the worldly.  These people have been on TV, on the radio, writing letters and composing books trying their best to allow others to see what is exactly transpiring before our eyes.  These people have been basically ignored, laughed at and even shunned by the society to which they are trying to reach, which amazingly is rapidly fulfilling biblical texts by these actions.  The enemy has initiated this pattern of thinking into our minds so that we can minimize God and maximize ourselves in order to achieve the greatest standing within the world community, all the while ignoring and refusing to identify exactly where these blessings originate.

It is now widely accepted by society that God is no longer welcome or only a compromised and humanly scaled down version of god (yes, this is the spelling that is needed here) is accepted.  9/11 should have taught us something about how we were living and in which direction we were heading, but it only solidified our hearts to a worldly center.  The September crash in 2008 should have woke us up from our financial orgy and made us recognize that the directions that we were driving in were not according to what God had for our country and society.  Since that time, we have done a wonderful job at blaming the other side, whatever side you wish to be) for the problems of the globe and have ignored our personal fallout with God’s laws.

Look at how this country was created and one will see that it was first dedicated to God for His purposes and then after mankind took a hold of it we began to struggle against the truth of God.  If one will read the history of Israel in the years 727 – 722 BC one will catch a glimpse of what occurred to their country with the assistance of the Assyrians.  If one will look at Greek history and their glory days one will find that they too fell hard and never recovered.  We can add Rome into the equation and we will find the same result, their total destruction and complete failure to recover.  Why should we follow in those examples?  But we are doing exactly that, pushing the One person out of our existence in order to fulfill the popular commodities of a dead world.

I wish to interject a quick note before I end this letter but it is a very important note to think about and to keep close to our hearts.  9/11 occurred in the year 2001 which according to God’s time log was a Shemitah year.  The financial crash of 2008, which also occurred in the month of September, was a Shemitah year as well.  This year, 2015 lands on another Shemitah year which will end in September.  What will occur?  The past two Shemitah years have proven to be financial, moral and structurally devastating years for this country and for the world, so why would God change His patterns to accommodate sinful societies?  Also, one must take into consideration that with each devastating event in these Shemitah years, it has taken longer to “recover” than the previous and with God keeping with His perfect ways……

God urges you to read history, both biblical and worldly in order to help us understand what is exactly at stake here.  Humans have always established and followed their own plans for their lives and at some point in their existence ignored God then had to come to terms with their choices after the fact.  There is no greater protected nation in the Bible than Israel yet many times over they strayed away from God and had to go through long periods of time in a captive, destroyed or scattered state all due to the choices that they made.  It cannot be denied that this nation called the USA has been the most blessed nation on earth and even though we have stood for and against many things in our history, the choices that we are now making into laws shall be the destruction of this great country.

No matter how we believe about equality and justice none shall be obtained until we return back to God and His ways.  The worldly progression of humanity shall fail and it will all be due to the selfish choices that are made in the name of popularity. And while it is through our choices that we obtain and sustain our lives we must know that God shall allow this to occur.  God also will give us plenty of time to recognize our sinful ways up unto a point and then He must say “enough”.  It is at this “B” point that our enemy shall be allowed to complete his masterpiece of destruction upon our existence and to wreak defining terroristic havoc just as the Assyrians were allowed to do Israel.

The hedge of protection has been voluntarily removed by our own choice and unless we repent and allow God to restore that hedge of protection around us, we shall soon experience exactly what Israel, Rome, Greece, Egypt and all of the other empires during their age.  It is a simple fix, repent is the first step, then allow God to restore.  But in order for this to occur we must give up our selfish ways and habits and turn our hearts back to God.  You really want a change and regain hope????  Then change from humanity’s past and follow God’s Laws instead of our own and follow Him for once and we should not have to worry about God’s systematically correctness being an issue in our lives.

DLB