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

When a Nation Becomes 330 Million Inhabitants

When a Nation Becomes 330 Million Inhabitants

5/28/15

One would think that a nation of this multitude would carry a certain clout within the world’s stage and for the country known as the United States it does.  However, as we all know there are other countries that have certain populations that are just as populous and some even greater in number than this country, yet do not carry as much weight within the world’s community.  This means that a certain presence or place has been made for this country one that should be revered yet sanctioned at the same time; a place that should never forget its founder or its foundation.  For once a country is defined its foundation cannot be altered in any way and still expect to be maintained accordingly but for some reason I guess we want to become just 330 million.

It is no secret that both China and India have over a billion inhabitants each and represent almost a ¼ of the world’s population when combined.  It is also known that China is vastly becoming an economic powerhouse and is slowly buying up millions of acres a year in several countries and territories.  China has emerged out of its shell to become a formidable challenge to the remaining parts of the world and can no longer be considered a “small” nation.  It now has a large and modern military that can pose a threat to any country in the world, and is also figuring out how it can manipulate other regional nations into getting its way on many levels.

India is a nuclear nation which has an ugly enemy to its north.  India is not usually considered to pose a world threat to anyone even though it is most famously known as a former colony of the United Kingdom.  Many parts of India are still living in poverty and the sex and slave trades are horrendous with no end in sight for both of those industries.  And while over a billion people reside within its borders India still remains a fairly quiet territory which holds its tongue regularly but keeps an all Seeing Eye open on everything that goes on around the world.

With all of the diversity in number population within the world today it would seem that the countries with larger populations would dominate the major entities that govern the world.  Many of these nations do have this type of regional stigma and status but on a global scale they seem to be weaker while being boisterous in their communication levels.  With a world that follows population guidelines through the strength in numbers settings, one would believe that the same would be constitutionally sound on the worldly stage.  In other words, why is India and Malaysia so quiet during all of the United Nations meetings yet very vocal when their regional Asian organizations meet for their annual conferences?

Have we even begun to look at how these countries, both small and large, were established or created?  I do know that for many of these countries religion plays a huge role in their daily lives even marking who they complete business with a marketing nightmare.  How do these religious beliefs result in their development and status within the global community and is there any difference in these beginnings and how these countries fall within their global settings today?  Many would argue that there is no place for this concept in play, but one has to take into consideration as to why a billion people populous does not dominate world trends and markets extensively.

By whose authority should a nation of 330 million people dictate a global economy when there are at least two other nations that have more people living within their borders and several other nations close to the number of people as this specific figure?  It is clear that the tides of blessings have been bestowed upon our nation even though we ourselves have committed atrocities on many people’s lives over our history.  What sets our country apart from other nations in order that we have a unique place within the global setting?

For many decades this standard of ours, we have worn with pride and with dignity.  We have stood firm with our stick and have not had to use it many times, but at least we have displayed our resolute when times were troubled.  It is clear that times have changed and that some policies needed to be updated but it is also clear that some of the institutions that were deemed acceptable have been pushed aside as being too extreme or “out of touch with society”.  Are these ideas and beliefs actually out of date or have they just fallen victim of trends that feel good?

A while back God shared with us an article topic that stated that an idea of an individual will eventually grow into a law and take the necessary populous steps in order to achieve this status.  It is evident that this practice of humanity is in full swing with new additions to worldly culture being accepted and applied almost every day.  It is also becoming more difficult for these changes to be readily accepted by some of the other nations simply because of their religious beliefs or opposing moral standards.  Of course the quick and normal worldly thing to do is to become angry and boycott these nations or even protest their existence in society.  And when the country with 330 million people dictate what a billion people say and believe things could get a little bit hairy down the road.

What would happen if our status as a world leader and most powerful nation simply collapse?  How would someone or a state or even this entire nation handle such a situation?  What if another depression occurred, one that mimicked the 1929 crash or was even far greater than that travesty?  Would we be prepared for such a disaster or would we basically implode with all of the current issues that we are ignoring simply because our attention is elsewhere?  All of these questions shall come into play and we shall play out the results if we do not change our ways, now.  It is not a matter of if; it is a matter of soon.

When one looks at our historical timeline we have to believe in its founding and origins; our foundation if one wishes to use that terminology.  The foundation of our country did not start in 1776 as many would like to proclaim but far earlier than that.  It actually began when Columbus was leaving his port in and at that watching the Jews being thrown out of his country by the rulers of the land and the Church.  It was through this voyage that the New World was discovered and with this discovery and a little time the newly found lands were finally going to be inhabited by new people.

In 1607 the first thing that John Smith did when his ship anchored was to build a cross and to dedicate the new land and life to God.  This was the true and heartfelt desire of these people when they stepped foot on the shores of this continent.  Was everything from then on a bed of roses?  No way!  In fact, many startup projects were not completed and at times it looked like the newly arrived people were not going to physically make their presence felt long enough, but they persevered and did their best to maintain their presence and to make right the dedication to God.

Then the colonies became increasingly stronger and eventually gained their independence from the only know superpower of that time period.  The fight was severe and it cost many lives but it was worth it and every person that played a part in that fight has been remembered thoroughly throughout the centuries since.  Our first president George Washington made some astounding remarks during his first inauguration, which represented the first time that this country had an elected head and a legislative body which truly constituted our existence and defined us as a nation.

In President Washington’s first inauguration address he made this statement:” Such being the impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station; it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe, who presides in the Councils of Nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes: and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success, the functions allotted to his charge.  In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either.  No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States.  Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.  And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their United Government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most Governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.  These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed.  You will join with me I trust in thinking, that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free Government can more auspiciously commence.”

President Washington further states: “Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained”

These two statements, from the first official act of the formal United States of America, from the first American President make a huge motion for God being the purpose and the provider for this country.  His words also proclaim what should happen if the people of this country should ever forget who is actually responsible for their freedom, way of living and provider and then goes on to say that if eve we shun the “eternal order and right” that our nation should not expect one more blessing from her provider.  These are powerful words delivered at a public and official setting and probably would never be spoken at a current and similar setting today.  And through this trust it should be known that we have reached the point to where President Washington stated that we should never receive another blessing from God.

An important fact that we need to remember about today that is tied in with the first inaugural address and prayer that President Washington led back in 1789.  After the Presidential address had been completed the president led Congress over to St Paul’s Chapel and prayed for guidance and leadership for the country.  It was in this church that the first president of this country officially asked God for guidance in order that he would lead the country in the right direction, especially after what the country had just endured over the past few years.  It was Washington’s heart cry to ensure Congress and the people of the country that he was hearing from the one who allowed this country to be established.

St Paul’s Chapel is still standing today and continues to hold church services on a regular basis.  St Paul’s sits just a few yards from ground zero where the twin towers fell on September 11, 2001.  During this devastating event the church was not structurally damaged in ant major capacity and it was a miracle that it was still standing after both towers collapsed.  I do not know if anyone has placed the connection between St Paul’s Chapel and the twin towers into this type of context before but God wants us to understand that it is time that we did.

In 1607 Captain John Smith dedicated this land to God and for His usage and purpose.  At that time the nation was not even inexistence and in reality no one knew if it would survive or not.  After a hard fought war and regional and tribal skirmishes with the Indians, the country finally was established and born.  In 1789, she elected her first president who upon the first official act declared the land God’s and thanked the Almighty Author for His protection and guidance during that time.  President Washington then dedicated all the past, present and future blessings of the country to God and recognized exactly where they had come from as well.  He also served a warning to everyone that if this country should ever abandon God and His rules and order that we should not receive any further blessings until we change.  In both “firsts” in this country God was present and the center of the people’s hearts which gives God claim to serve as provider of property; which automatically claims Shemitah laws over our lives.

What kind of country would grow to 330 million people and be considered the leader of the entire world and its standard then have it all collapse around us due to the fact that we “out grew” the need for God and pushed Him aside with the garbage.  Well, we are completing this task at record pace folks and it looks like we are going to continue this path without looking back.  I am amazed at the fact that St Paul’s Chapel escaped the horrific calamity that 9/11 brought to our land but I am so much more thankful of what that Chapel represents than any other thing.  The difference between a country with 330 million people who represent leaders of the entire world to that of the same country of 330 million people who have a small voice in world conditions boils down to one source, God.

When a person or group prays that means they are talking to God.  It is a personal talk one that likens to having a relationship and it is through this relationship that God saved for us to remember just how strong He is and that as long as we are on His side and are in relationship with Him, He shall keep us protected when devastating storms (and collapsing buildings) are around us.  But if we do not keep this relationship He will allow our enemies to take down our idols completely.  We have a small window in which to change our patterns before God allows something greater to occur.  It is in our path if we do not allow God to restore our lives back into Covenant. 

One final thought from God for this article and letter and it is this:  this year marks a Shemitah year which means that it is a Sabbatical year.  It is a year of forgiveness and restoration for the Jewish lands and hearts.  God is a just and equal God and since He has shown us in the years 2001 and again in 2008 (both Shemitah years) that He has His eyes on our country and we are vastly approaching the end of this Shemitah year of 2015.  God does not waiver from His ways nor does He slumber in His ways and if God sets a pattern into motion if is guaranteed that He shall continue the motion until a final verdict is made.  It is strictly up to us folks and it is solely our choice whether or not to choose God or to choose the world.  God is making a move for His people and so is our enemy which one will we choose?

Watering System

Watering System

5/27/15

It is not difficult to imagine how important water is to our lives and to what extent humanity will go to in order to continually obtain its supply.  We all know that if we have too much water we will have total destruction and the same is true if we have no water at all.  There have been legal processes over water and there have been people killed in the name of water but there has been only one recorded place that has had an endless supply of water and it was our choice to throw that source away.  A component so vital to our existence and humanity trends away from its source, a question that rattles around in our hearts continually yet we still do nothing to restore the supply.

As many around the world have watched in fright, some of the states within our Union are getting pummeled with too much water from the sky.  Devastating floods have been the result of this rain and from what the forecasters have said there does not seem to be any let up anytime soon.  More good news for the people in these states, in just a few days the official hurricane season begins which places an entirely new threat of water dumping within these areas.  To add misery the areas that are receiving all of this moisture was in the middle of a big drought in which the ground was parched and this makes for further damage since now a good portion of the top soil that was remaining has now been swept into the Gulf of Mexico.  This is clearly an example of too much water and this setting is not new to these residents, but it does make one wonder about the reasons why these weather patterns occur which go totally off the grid and what humans predict.

On the other side of the nation, the opposite is in effect, with a severe drought baking the state of California.  That area has been in an increasingly destructive drought that has deepened every year for almost a decade now.  The conditions are so bad that the leaders of the state have issued tighter water restrictions for its residents, even though there is a huge source of water available to them along their shore.  This letter is not the one that shall address this specific issue for that shall come in a short time, but we must remember that in this state of the area there is an option and we have chosen not to use this option which has further damaged the area through voluntary means.

It is gardening season here in the northern hemisphere and that means many people will have small, medium and even large gardens that they wish to maintain, and in order for this to occur water is a main ingredient that is needed.  Here in Colorado the water supply is not as plentiful as it is in other parts of the nation so we have to irrigate our gardens in order for them to survive.  Sometimes it takes a couple of days for us to clean out these irrigation systems so that the water can flow to the plants properly, but while many years there are no restrictions on water I cannot always say that this is the case.

In other parts of the world, we are witnessing heat waves that are claiming hundreds of lives each day.  In fact just the other day the heat wave in India claimed over 300 lives in one area in just one day.  Still other areas such as my area are experiencing cooler than normal temperatures with a higher amount of moisture than normal and over the winter some parts of this nation had record cold temperatures and copious amounts of snowfall.  All of which contributes to the amount of water we have for the coming summer through the ingenious invention of the reservoir systems.  But even though we depend on many ways for our water supply all areas have one thing in common, none of them have the capability to produce its own water it must be supplied from a source, and when we look at the weather conditions that are currently ongoing that supply can be proportioned irrationally at times.

Over the many decades of the history of this nation, we have witnessed many settings in which people have been desperate enough over water rights that they take their fellow man to court.  There are many books written about the water wars out in the west between ranchers trying their best to keep their livestock fed and watered adequately so that they can have a good enough herd to sell at the market.  There are many movies that have depicted this type of setting which are entertaining to watch and allows our minds to think about how important water is to our lives.  My wife was raised in Wyoming and she has told me of stories about how important these water rights are and how they came to a head during her lifetime; and this was with water and modern irrigation systems in place.

Every part of our existence depends on water for without it we cannot survive for very long.  We can live for a while without food if need be, but many of us could not last more than a day without some type of water intake.  It would seem that if our bodies adapted from muck as many people say that it did, that during this process it would have found a way necessary to produce its own water source internally, the perfect and endless water source if one wants to put it that way.  Yet, that is one of the major faults of our lives I guess, or was it because at one time our bodies did not need the water in constant demand or was it continually provided from a pure source that would never cease.

There is only one system that has ever been mentioned that describes such a system and this setting occurs in the Garden of Eden.  The Bible states that God placed the Garden of Eden in a specific spot and created mankind to live and to take care of this Garden.  Many descriptive features are provided for us concerning the Garden of Eden and if we allow our minds and hearts to ponder its existence we can easily imagine of all the fulfilling necessities that were there for all life.  The stage was set for a perfect setting for a perfect creation yet through a gift from God we chose to abandon this way of existence and thus changing our lives forever.

One of the endless and perfect gifts that God gave the Garden was a continual mist that occurred in the cool of the day.  One can agree that the Garden of Eden was a perfect and pure setting for mankind and since God is perfect Himself, He cannot create anything that is not perfect which means that the Garden of Eden had its own perfect watering system built in place.  To be honest it would be hard for our minds to comprehend such a setting, one that provides all life with a perfect supply of water at all times.  Even the natural springs and hot mineral wells are not conducive to every form of life even though these sources are plentiful.  Such irony it is that the earth itself provides since the majority of its surface is covered in water.

In the Garden setting, we can picture this watering system as one that works in tandem with the surrounding conditions, providing the correct amount of water that each plant and life form needs.  The plant does not have to wither from the heat of the day nor does the human have to become dehydrated for their water supply is just a few minutes away.  No poisons in the water, no harmful chemicals to be ingested and no any microorganisms present to cause intestinal blockages or inflammations either.  A pure and perfect water system that is continually flowing and satisfactory on all levels of necessity.  This was just a small portion of the Garden of Eden but it was an important part since water was needed for life.  Even after mankind chose to end this setting God did not leave us out to dry, He provided a way for us to receive the water we needed but we had to go about things in a different way to obtain it.

God has shared with us about the difference between a want and a need in the past and one cannot find more a perfect an example as water is that would define this difference.  There is no way that a person can survive if they do not have a source of water.  Jesus used this example while He was talking to the woman at the well and through our physical beings He understands our need for physical water, yet on the other hand He understands our need for spiritual water as well and how that source has not stopped even though we continually ignore it and continue looking for something more tangible.

Since we have chosen to ignore this perfect and pure state that was provided to us we must now find ways to conserve our water supply.  This concept is not too hard to understand for it has been in practice ever since mankind has been around but when one has to deal with “Mother Nature” the human is forced to scramble at times.  While the term Mother Nature is a fictional being we still have to rely on the weather for the majority of our water, and since God is in control of the weather patterns this means we have to rely on Him.  One can call me crazy, stupid or any other name they wish but I do believe that our choices affect our lives to even the smallest degree including our earthly conditions and it is well stated as to how humanity can never run out of water.

In the book of Genesis there is a story about Joseph and how he was sold into slavery by his brothers.  We know that he was imprisoned and eventually rose to the number two position in Egypt.  One of the details about his life was when he was interpreting a dream concerning Egypt and a coming drought.  God showed him how to prepare for the coming famine by building adequate storage facilities for the harvests and it would be through these stores that Egypt would use during the famine.  The same philosophy can apply for water as well.  With all of the technology that is available to mankind now, it is a simple process to have all of the storage needed in order to survive any major disaster that might come our way.  Yet, we would rather tie up our resources on ridiculous items and waste our resources on other material wants instead of gathering up our harvests for the future.

As I look upon history I see many patterns that come and go for each part of the world.  Sometimes people are warned about these coming events and sometimes they are not but in either way humanity suffers due to its lack of belief in what is transpiring around them.  I also find that God usually gives His own set of warnings to those that are listening to His voice.  I also find it interesting that when people ignore these warnings humanity suffers even greater at the expense of themselves through their own choices.

Egypt which was a nation that held God’s own created nation in slavery had a leader willing enough to listen to what God was trying to tell him and God provided.  God even states in His map that He will heal our land if we turn back to Him and listen to His voice again.  The Pharaoh of Egypt was considered a god by the people and he was thus treated as such; this status totally violated God’s ways yet God was willing to keep His children and the people of Egypt fed during the famine.  Why?  It was because they were willing to listen and to follow the voice of God.

Over the last few years or so this nation has been torn apart by violence concerning some issues.  Recently we have once again been witness to some horrible scenes in one of our cities in this nation.  These scenes are not private and have been shown, videoed, tweeted and messaged all over the world for everyone to see.  During these settings it has been easy to watch as people choose to destroy other people’s businesses, cars and even sometimes display personal and physical violence on the innocent.

There is one striking aid here that has progressed that should be very alarming to those who were watching these festivities unfold; yes, it has everything to do with the topic of this letter.  In the previous unrest the officials of the towns and cities have tried their best to calm the nerves and tensions of all parties involved.  While some have not done their utmost in these instances, they have to be given credit for their actions.  The tensions were high a few weeks ago in Baltimore, Maryland when the same setting occurred that has fueled the past problems across the country.

The difference is that one of the officials of that city made it very clear that the city and the authority figures were giving them permission to destroy property simply because it was “just property.”  This is where the difference lies in these situations and it comes down to just one phrase.  We all know that at some point in our near future another setting like these is going to occur again and since this official used this phrase, and meant it, this official set into motion an open door for future destruction with a progressive agenda.  Yes there are those who live in this country that do not have much in storage with some having nothing at all, but the opportunities within this country are still almost limitless right at the moment.  But when times change and things go south what will be the state and frame of mind when it gets really tough for the entire world?

Whose voice will the people hear during this future time?  What mindset will the people be in when things come crashing down?  We have had plenty of warnings over the past few decades and we have taken it upon ourselves to ignore every one of them and try to “fix” things on our own.  We are not even on the same plane as Pharaoh was way back when.  A civilization that comes from nothing and then rises to prominence then is thrown into lacking, and has no God before them, can only fall into total calamity.

We still have a very short period of time before this occurs in our society.  God is allowing us to have one last opportunity to turn back to Him before He says “enough”.  Restoration is a painful yet rewarding process and it is completed with much more ease if we allow him to complete the process voluntarily instead of involuntarily.  We blew the pure and perfect water system a long time ago and can never retrieve that status again; however, we can restore our conditions if we simply turn from our wicked ways and allow God.

DLB