Our Definition

Our Definition

5/12/17

In a world where everyone tries their best to become equal, it is easy to become weary and leery about our foundings.  Some of us come from unknown bloodlines while others are the opposite have “royal” lines that stretch for millennia.  But if we limit ourselves to the physical we cannot understand exactly how we were created for our origins were not of this world but from a Being that is all powerful and all knowing, with perfection and eternity as His origin.  We do have a definitive origin and it is vital that we understand exactly who made us and for what reason He did so.  It is also part of our origin to ensure that His Will be done on the earth and that means to push back His enemy, and ours, as much as possible.

A little under eighteen years ago, my wife and I welcomed our youngest child Rebekkah into the world.  Rebekkah was the last of our children and while we would have loved to have had more certain physical conditions warranted otherwise.  When I was a young person I would sometimes catch my parents just staring at me and through my selfish windows I failed to recognize or even understand why they would just take the time to watch me a bit.  Today, I understand that feeling they had so many years ago because Bonnie and I are facing the same scenario, watching our children grow up and go about on their way making their own life without always being around the house.  It has especially hit both of us pretty hard since Rebekkah represents the last one of our kids to leave high school.

Do not get me wrong, some of these feelings of loss and ending were felt when our other daughters reached this point in their lives as well, but for those of us who have faced or are facing the last child leaving, it puts a different perspective on things. Honestly, I cannot believe that Rebekkah is graduating and even old enough to graduate because I can still see her as a little girl with curly hair running in and out of the back door with not a care in the world.  Rebekkah, your mother and I love you very much and are so proud of you and the accomplishments that you have achieved so far and will achieve in the coming years.

When I look over my four daughters’ lives I am taken back of just how time flies and in a blink of an eye they are off with their own families.  My remembrances of them being young do not fade and the pains they encountered that we all experienced way back when are laughable now, but one of the most joyous of times was when and still do have the opportunity to lay my eyes on their presence.  I know that there is no question that they are mine and that I created them, but I cannot help but to thank God every day for their presence in my house and to hear their footsteps pounding up and down the staircases.  While this physical creative status of theirs I am proud of, I am more proud that I know they have the opportunity to choose God and to stand on His side of existence as the ultimate and eternal Creator of their lives.  I would love to take total claim of all my daughters and on the physical aspects of their lives I can but their eternal existence which is far more important than our physical, God owns and through this truth Bonnie and I shall do our best to show them God and His Son’s love for them on a daily basis.  It is this point that God wants us to understand that while we are created in the flesh, it is His Spirit that dwells within us that matters to our eternal positioning. 

It is in this reality of parenting we find ourselves in the fight of our lives, for there is nothing that we would not do in order to protect our children from harm.  It is a parental instinct to protect our children as much as possible and even give them credit where credit may not be warranted.  This quality of our inner being can be fierce if triggered, yet remain calm in other circumstances where our children are concerned.  We were created to create others but as being a created being ourselves we must recognize and honor the One who began our existence in the first place.  Without this acknowledgment of our origin and definition we cannot fully comprehend life itself, but only exist as a figment of our true ability.  When a child is ripped from our presence before their true time, one cannot describe the adequate words that parents feel, another testimony to how children represent our lives both physically and spiritually for it was God who allowed Hs Son to leave Him to represent eternal life.

In Genesis 2:7 gives us the detailed information we need to understand the origins and definition of our life.  The word definition is defined as such: “the action or process of defining something”.  Genesis 2:7 states: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.”  I find it very interesting that no other details about Adam’s formation are given as in physical features; nose length, eye colors, ear size, etc.  This proclaims that to God our formation according to His standards is far more important than what our physical physique represents; a significant issue that one must take into account in order to continue to place God first in our lives according to our way of life.

It does not take us long to find out that many lives are divided, and through this division are physically defined people who have questions about their mode of creation.  It has become a norm of western society to have many parents, come from different backgrounds and be forced to cope with lingering questions concerning other family members myself must be included in this equation.  While my parents knew a story about my beginnings they did not know the entire story and even today after my biological family found me, that story is still filled with gaping holes.  When God created us from dust His intentions was for our lives to be simple without pain or suffering with no complications added.  God also understood that He could not create slaves either thus providing a secondary means of surviving if we chose to differ from His Ways.  God did not create a compromised product it was our choice to introduce sin into our lives that complicated our matters.

We as a society have done a fairly good job at trying to manage our lives alone without the help of God or anyone else who might suggest us trying to acquire God’s help.  Through this fairly good job of going about things on our own we have severely complicated numerous areas of our lives, including the origins, foundations and now we are morphing our definition of life as well.  The answer to the deepest questions that we have about ourselves does not lie in a multitude of answers or directions towards answers.  The world places these various categories of choices in our way so that we can hop through the doors whenever we feel like it and reverse course if we change our minds.  How can one even obtain stability with a pathological misdirection in front of us, much less senility?  We do not need to be redefined in order to make our lives more comfortable and accessible because when we live through this lie all we are doing is giving our enemy pathways of destruction that he shall capitalize on at some point in our lives.

Changing the pathway of our definition cannot allow us to start over and to begin again there is only One Being that can accomplish that feat and He is the original Creator of our lives.  When we understand that God Created us and then breathed His Spirit into our lives that mean we have His presence and everything that it represents in our lives as well.  When we understand that we are His Creations the question of who I become irrelevant and the only thing that becomes our necessity is to know our Creator more for when we do we will automatically understand our lives better as well.  This is the reason why there are so many people hurting these days when it seems like times are good all around, for we are so scattered internally we cannot even understand and comprehend our own names much less our family history or country’s history.  This type of life is NOT what God created us to do or to live by.  God gave us one law to obey in the beginning, plain and simple it was but we chose to complicate and compromise according to our own wills and judgments.  We did not have to do this act against God and we do not have to do it today either.

Most of you know that I love music and have placed music as a centerpiece in my life.  While Classical music holds my heart the dearest, Christian music ranks right up there in a close second.  I always love to hear new songs or even old ones that emphasize what God is saying to us in these articles and I have found a couple of them that specifically relate to our lives according to Genesis 2:7.  I have no idea why these artists wrote these songs but I do know that the words that they use in these songs will touch many lives that are questioning their existence and their definition.  These words also reinforce the truth that God created us in one way and provided a single way for us to be restored following His one plan.

The first song that brings this point of God’s into focus is from Kim Walker and her song “You Define Me”.  You cannot get more pointed and specific than the title of the song alone because it is God who defines us not the world, not our makeup, not our hair or accent but God and God alone.  It was Him who gave us life from nothing but a bunch of dirt particles and formed us into the second chances that we are today.  God is the perfect Creator for everything He creates is perfect in every way it is our choice to compromise our positions, not His.  One of the more exciting portions of this song states “The words You speak over me” mean so much to our lives for it declares that God is still alive by the usage of the verb “speak” through our creation by Him, He “You tell me who I am”.  There is our definition and it coincides with Genesis 2:7.  Since God is still alive this means that every time we fulfill God's command to replenish the earth and create a baby, His Word continues to be alive for this process of life-giving contains Him and Him alone.  There is so much more about this song that thrills me to hear and I urge you to listen to the song and allow God to warm your heart through the truth of this song.

The second song that speaks volumes to me about my definition is from Colton Dixon and his song “In My Veins”.  Most of you know that I work in a clinical laboratory and have done such for over thirty years now.  I fell in love with the lab field when I was in high school and have never left it ever since.  So when a song proclaims that God is in my definition as He courses through my veins I cannot ignore this truth.  One line particularly stands out here and it goes like this “When you wrote your name, in my veins”.  This means that God has an ever present presence in my life which includes every part of my life IF I choose to allow Him access.  His Spirit and creativity were present first before the world gained access, He has legal rights to His Creation and desires with every breath and heartbeat of His to return.

I cannot tell you exactly what is about to occur in this nation but what I do understand is that at some point God is going to allow a divine act to touch the shores of this nation.  As of this moment, our lives are wandering in so many directions that unless we stop and return to God now our lives shall be in complete shambles after the natural disaster has been completed.  It is vital that we understand that God cannot give any more than one direction, it is the work of our enemy that places confusing directions and choices in our paths.  We have done a superb job in trying our best to dethrone God from our hearts and to replace Him with the world.  Look around us and it is not hard to see that the path that we are taking will only lead us over a cliff.  God is not political by any means however, He is 100% eternal and it is the eternal portions of our lives that He wishes for us to straighten out.

God is not in the habit or position to scare anyone into accepting His Ways He did, however, provide us with the ability to make the true and pure choice of Him based on the Word that He has provided us.  It is through His Word that not only defines God, but it also defines us as well which means there is only One God and there is only one human and we are created in His image which means that each of the songs above proclaims the truth about our lives and definition.  The job of the ruler of the world is to confuse and to confound your heart which produces doubt, God is not about doubt but truth and purity.  It is this holiness, purity, and truth that is our definition and God has graciously provided the means in which to obtain this purity again.  Church turn your hearts back to God and once again be the witness that God desires from each one of us.  There is not much time, repent and allow God to restore what our enemy has stolen from us.

DLB

Be Not Of This World

Be Not of This World

5/7/17

To what degree did God say this statement to Adam, Abraham, Moses, and to His Church and how much did He mean it to those who followed His Ways throughout their lifetimes?  The same question can be asked of ourselves today and most of us would not really have an adequate answer for such a question.  We have successfully downgraded the setting of such a covenant that means the entire definition of God and His people through the proper coaching from our eternal enemy.  Covenant is the most important way and necessity that we need to understand and live by, for it provides the standards of why we need to be separated from the world and the commitment that God has to His people.  We also must understand that since God is eternal and has no rivals this means by no means can He break or violate such a Covenant, a detail most fine and pure that can only bring violations since the one originating such a contract is Himself everlasting.

I have always believed that God has created each person for a specific purpose and it is this belief that God resounds this truth through our lives.  While we are continually walking in disbelief and confusion, God still uses us to promote and advance His Kingdom and to most of us, this action comes as a distraction in itself because we are so self-centered and fail to understand why God has created us in the first place.  God gave us a command way back in the Garden of Eden and through this command He expected us to understand the importance of separation from the world and all of the grieving issues that its presence would bring.  We have lived under the concept that God created us for our own existence but in truth, we were created for His Kingdom and its advancement. 

There is no way possible that we can ever compare ourselves to God or try and place ourselves on His level.  The closet that humanity came to this fact was when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden and had no influence of sin IN their lives, it became obvious that sin was around them but up until they accepted sin into their lives they knew no issues of wrath against them.  They were separated from the world and this truth is explained to us in Genesis 2:15 when God’s Word says that He placed Adam into the Garden to keep it and to dress it.  The Garden of Eden was a perfect setting for Adam and eventually Eve and it was through this placement that defined God’s intention for mankind to be separate from the environment that had been established by the one who thought he was just as good as God.

The concepts of Covenant were established between God and mankind in the Garden of Eden and it was clearly shown to both Adam and Eve through the teachings of God as each morning came into life.  God provided daily talks with Adam and Eve and while His Word does not directly state what they conversed about, God cannot hide things from His people so the reasons why this separation was necessary had to be discussed.  We must remember that God is a consistent God and through this truth about Him and through the patterns that we study about all throughout the Bible, it is clear that He established this separation pattern in the Garden of Eden because it is the same message to all people, both in biblical times and today.  It is evident that Adam and Eve watered down God’s separation truth just as it is evident that we are doing the exact same thing today.  How many times have we lifted up our own lives and do things according to our flesh instead of knowing, understanding and following God’s Ways?

It is not easy for our finite minds to understand why God wants us to stay away from the world and all that it has to offer.  The world is in constant motion and brings forth things into its path even when we are snoozing in our beds.  I have found it so convenient to accept just a little portion of the world into my life and then unknowingly have it grow until it becomes an idol or part of me that I find difficult to let go.  The time frame from the introduction and until the true realization of what is inside my life varies but as I take a closer look at it I can see the growth pattern and how it has wrapped around my inside heart.  It is this part of influence that cost Adam and Eve their place of dominion and currently resides in billions of us around the globe.  We have fallen for the inclusion theory of our enemy and have not even questioned his presence around us; how comfortable we have become with this setting.

The entire truth about Covenant is about protection and separation based on a holy and pure origin and then given to those who wish to live under its covering.  Covenant cannot have an origin because it originates from God and since God does not have an origin His protective covering is eternal as well.  Thus stated, since God is eternal, consistent and had no rival this means that His Covenant is also eternal and pure and cannot be broken by Him.  Since the base and foundation of this Covenant cannot be broken and that it is eternal and pure this means that those who live under its protection and then choose to leave this standard can only violate its contents.  For if God cannot break its contents and He is pure, holy, consistent, and eternal this can only mean that the ones who He made the Covenant for cannot break it either, only violate it.

Protected from what or from who is the logical question here.  We must remember that God is the Father of ALL living things and of created items.  This means that all life as our minds and hearts can comprehend and even those that we cannot were made by God at some point in history.  As God has shown us many times in His articles and what He has provided us throughout His Word we know that there is an enemy that does not like our presence for it represents the advancement of God’s Kingdom.  Yes, we are the reason God’s Kingdom is either advanced or Satan’s is advanced and it is 100% through the choices that we make that either kingdom advances.  The Bible states this because it says that for every plan that God has Satan has a counter plan in order to advance his kingdom instead, a logical strategy if one understands the rules of engagement and war.

If God is all truthful, holy, consistent, pure, and cannot change that means the enemy of His is the complete opposite of these traits.  The Bible actually gives us an accurate description of Satan in John 8:44 when it states: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”  Wow! What a vivid description of the one that God is keeping us from and no wonder He wants us to stay away from such antics and heartbreak.  Through this verse alone, God’s description of His opposite means that everything that comes from Satan is a lie for he is the father of lies.  If God is Father of all things living and Satan is the father of all lies this means that life itself is a truth which means that our lives represent God’s Kingdom.  Therefore, everything that Satan represents is the opposite of life which is death and death is a lie to life, then death cannot inhabit life which means that God and Satan cannot coexist and neither can their kingdoms.

This verse also states that Satan is the father of lies which means he was the first one to use a lie.  To be a father of something is very specific and definitive, another reason why it is important to our enemy that he destroys the family in every way possible; he lies and everything that he tricks us into believing is also a lie.  We must understand that since he is considered the father of lies that this means every act he performs is a lie and nothing else but a lie.  This means that God has never lied nor can He lie so everything in His Word is the truth and cannot change, which is consistent with God Himself, another reason that God wants to protect His children.  This means the opposite of God from Satan is true if Satan cannot tell anything but lies then God cannot tell anything but the truth, which is the foundation of Covenant.

God did His best to convey this message to Adam and Eve before they chose to fall into sin, God continued this practice of Covenant ideology and truth before they left the Garden of Eden and continued such truth telling to Abraham, Moses, Jacob, David, and all of the prophets in the Old Testament.  God also gave us His Son so that His presence on earth could eternally solidify this eternal Covenant with us and once and for all expose our enemy for who he is, the manipulator and liar that God’s Word says he is.  It is our eternal enemy that God wishes for us to be separated from and if we do not understand that the world and all of its short-term glory is actually Satan’s kingdom, we are doomed.  That is why God wants us separated from the world and more specifically not even in the world’s company.  Israel gives us plenty of examples of what occurs when we place our security and trust in the world, we fall hard and many times fail to recover to our previous standards.  God gives us 100% of His time, love and purity and that is why He expects the same in return from us because He knows that if we do not then we shall be subject to our enemy’s control.

A sobering example still comes from the land of Israel and God’s chosen people the Jews.  I have a great friend who I call upon to ask questions concerning the Jewish ways and thinking.  I asked her one day about how important covenant was to the religious Jews and she replied that covenant with God is their definition of existence and nothing less.  She also added that a growing number of Jews were falling away from God yet they were still arriving in droves to Israel.  She elaborated on her last statement that it is the covenant that Jews have with God that separates them from all other religious practices, hence their definition in God.  I politely said thank you, said our courtesies and ended the conversation.  It pains me to realize that there are millions of people in the world that know about God but still continue to walk with the world and living from underneath His Covenant.  This means that the nation of Israel was solely dependent on God for everything since they were to be separate from the world, and since God is a consistent God He has offered this separation status to gentiles as well which means that Covenant is open for everyone, an important detail that Jesus took care of when He died on the cross and rose again from the grave.

Our enemy has done a wonderful job in scrambling our mission statement enough to mire our activities in junk instead of cleanliness of life.  Even the Early Church struggled with the same ideologies of selfish perfection of the flesh instead of living under the protective covering of an eternal God that understand that sinful flesh cannot change its spots, so there have been thousands of added years of misconceptions concerning who is holy and who needs eternal covering.  If one looks at this statement – which is a vital truth to our existence – we will notice that the same identities haunt us today that did when Abraham walked this earth, a disturbing detail that has Satan laughing at God’s children.  All Satan needs to do is to convince us that it is ok for us to use God’s eternal Covenant as an umbrella and that it is ok to go from underneath it when times are good, a clear sky is just as dangerous as a cloudy and dark one for every element is present in detailed circumstances.  Equality in the name of the world shall only bring further division between

Every day in today’s societies we are witness to governments, persons, groups, and ideas clash with those who believe that their answers and ways of thinking arise higher than those who differ from them.  These influential sidings are growing at an exponential pace and while doing so fail to understand what is really transpiring not only in their own hearts but in society as well, all as a result of such activity.  We would rather depend and call upon a flawed societal and plagiaristic lie than live under a guarded eternal presence that has no worldly differences taking stage.  Covenant is a huge issue in our stability and is vital that we understand that it is our choice to either live under this Covenant or violate it.  We also fail to understand that when we choose to live from under God’s Covenant that we automatically lower the percentages of our protection which mean less of a chance of an eternal survival with God.  God does not want a short or small percentage of your life, He wants it all and that means that it is either all or nothing; not just Sundays and Wednesday nights.

Do we honestly believe that Jesus had this “couple of days a week” attitude while He was walking on this earth?  From my observations concerning the Church, I can state with confidence that we actually believe can obtain a true relationship with God by adhering to the umbrella concept of Covenant.  Many people play out only parts of Jesus’ ministry, you know, the parts that are deemed good for societal and social settings which require the least amount of commitment yet leave the penetrating and eternal truths about His fulfillment of Covenant with His Father and to us to nothing more that honorable mentions which deem little attention.  It is these “honorable mentions” that brought Jesus to the earth in the first place for it is these acts of Jesus that provide us with the eternal sacrificial offering that only He could give.  Every act that Jesus did while He graced this rock with His presence exemplified Covenant and the living meaning of separation from the earth and it is our responsibility to demonstrate His walk each day of our lives.

A while back I was walking down the street in my small town and noticed a woman provocatively dressed coming towards us.  As we approached each other, I glanced at hr neckline and noticed a large cross necklace which was very visible and shiny.  I could do nothing but shake my head in disbelief after she passed by us because it was obvious which portion of her existence was more important, yet still trying to keep her recognition of God present for everyone to see at the same time.  In all honesty, her appearance defines the modern world and more specifically the modern Church.  The Church wishes to supply the world with a watered down presentation of the Bible yet at the same time fail to recognize that she is actually portraying the world’s standards instead of God’s standards.  If Jesus would have said “no” to the cross and had His angels minister to Him and fight off the spirits around Him His actions would be exactly like the lady who passed us by on the downtown sidewalk.  Jesus did not take the umbrella approach to His life and the meaning of His life was to be, He totally separated Himself from societal whims and disguises and chose His Father’s Ways.

The sole reason that we are in the destructive situations that we wake up and hear about each morning is simply because we have failed to understand and then live under God’s Covenant.  It is easy to criticize the bible as being an ancient text that is not relevant for today’s societies and should not be in consideration as a text that has the capability to teach.  At the same time, I find that belief hilariously sad and deafening because when anyone proclaims that statement as a truth they prove God’s Word true for they have provided the exact reasons, reactions, and results that people in the Bible went through those seemingly “ridiculous” storylines.  Why do we allow our enemy have so much control over our lives that we cannot see what he is doing to us?  How can we become so distracted that we believe the father of lies over the eternal Father of all living things? 

Do we understand that as long as we continue to live outside of God’s Covenant – His Life and Word – that we shall only continue to be in decline?  How can the Church, the one institution be so inclined to join the world’s death march instead of seeing then promoting the eternal salvation that God’s Word provides?  If we really study Scripture and dive into the portions of God’s Word that define Covenant, then live by that eternal blessing our lives would dramatically change within a few short moments.  If our hearts are turned towards God and we have no desire than to live for Him, we cannot be a part of the world, simply through the definition of separation that John 8:44 gives. 

Our debts and chains may be gone through God’s Covenant but that gives no authority to selfishly take advantage of this grace and ignore the truth as to how it was obtained.  Covenant is an all encompassing truth which takes the time to learn about but so freeing when realized how our survival depends upon it.  So, the Covenant learning begins for when we begin to understand about Covenant, we then begin to understand how important God needs to be in our lives, how we cannot go one second without His Word in our hearts, and exactly how vital it is to be able to pass under the Covered Bridge He has provided for all His children as the way to restoration in God.  Oh, how God wants us to know and to live by the fact that restoration means to be not a part of this world and only through this truth can be obtained.

DLB

Non-Wavering 2

Non-Wavering 2

4/29/17

In this side of the issue, we shall take a look at what occurs when God’s children honor His Word and willingly live under His Laws.  This does not mean that all life shall be a bed of roses but protection according to a just and honorable God is guaranteed. Life itself may bring disasters but when one lives within the Truth of God’s Word we can rest assured that our eternal presence with Him shall not be in question.  It is this Truth that we need to be sharing with the world for their separation from God shall not have the same identity when life ends as we know it.  It is our duty and eternal responsibility to show the world that God loves them and to demonstrate holy love and not what the world brings to the table.  Furthermore, this example of God’s Love is not a difficult one to ascertain but easy to acquire, maintain and grow and it comes through easy steps of obedience.

When my kids were in school I would frequently be shown a copy of award after award that they had earned.  All throughout their school careers my four girls would continually win awards for a various array of categories and whether I would personally lay eyes on these awards or receive notices in the mail, it would never fail to amaze me of how good my girls were and still are today.  As I look back at and reminisce about my girls’ school days I cannot help but remember these instances of such prizes for it is not the awards that bring me the most joy but their presence in my life and what they are able to bring to the world.  And as this school year comes to a close, my youngest shall end her high school years and embark on her college tenure with great ambitions, just as her previous three older sisters have.  I was so lucky to have more of these reports and I did calls from the office saying that my child was caught doing something harmful or destructive and it all came from obedience to the school, the place that was instituted for instruction.

What gets me the most about my girls and the awards that they earned throughout their younger education days is that with each award that they earned still reflects their attitudes and contributions to God, the family and to the communities that they live. They may not realize this fact about their lives but it is there and reflective about how they are made up individually and fearfully by God.  I may have created each one of my four girls but it is God’s presence in their life that separates them from every other person who is on this planet, or who has ever been on this planet or will ever be on this planet.  It is this unique characteristic about our lives that we need to understand for it is this truth that we honor God.  While their lives may not always have been roses and smelled like a cool spring breeze the awards that they earned prove that they wanted to what is right before the eyes of their teachers, family, community, and most importantly God.  It is this characteristic that defines our abilities to worship and to please our Eternal Creator for He has placed this desire in all of us and through this obedience, we shall reap a bountiful harvest for His Kingdom.

In the last article, we learned about what occurs when we decide to disobey God’s commands and how through this disobedience our lives dramatically change, both physically and spiritually.  We are going to be referring to basically the same Scripture passages for this topic but in Deuteronomy we will be using a few verses down from chapter 4:1-3 and focus on verses 4-9 and will tell the attributes of what we were originally made to do and live by, the true slap in the face of our enemy.  Many times we tend to focus on the bad side of our lives but we must remember that we also have the side of us that do good and to stand for what is correct, God also operates on this side of life and no matter what we may face, this is the side of God that we only can know for He is good, righteous, kind holy and sufficient at ALL times and is NEVER bad towards His children.  It is His desire for us to exemplify His characteristics of this nature at all times through our lives and we need to understand exactly how we can accomplish this truth about our existence.

When we study Genesis 2:15-17, we usually see the results of God and the command that He gave to Adam concerning the results of a potential disobedient act and the consequences thereof if he chooses to do so.  There is a minor detail here that I had not realized about this passage of Scripture before and even as we have discussed many times over the past few years about the first three chapters of Genesis, it was not until now that this detail stuck out to me.  In every Scripture past Genesis Chapter 3, we always see a good and bad side of God’s Laws.  Having said this, what I mean is that if one obeys this will occur and if one does not obey this will occur.  It is this common pattern that we tend to focus on and rightly so for after God’s Law and Laws are established it is always our choice to follow them or not, and since God understands our hearts and minds He shall give us the entire picture of proceedings for both choices.

But in this passage, there is a detail that now stands out and it is through this passage that declares the stability and condition of Adam before the fall of mankind.  In this passage God is telling Adam the single command that He gave Adam, God also gives the specific and detailed results that would occur to Adam if he chose to disobey that single command.  The present tense is there and the future tense is foreseen but there is no “good” side to the command if you wish to put it in this manner.  As God stated above, when we study His Word from this point forward there is always a good side and a bad side of human activity when it comes to the choice of obedience to His Laws, there is not this position here in this passage, only the present, and the future.

This can only mean one thing, that in the state of the Garden of Eden at that moment there was not history present and when God created such place it was of His nature which consisted of nothing but purity, holiness, perfected bliss, with Divine creativity on all levels.  This creative status included Adam and everything else that was associated with the Garden of Eden.  There was no need for God to mention a “both sides” issue here for only one side existed.  This may seem like a minor detail but it is one that serves a huge detail about God and His Order that we need to recognize and to understand for it is this detail of God that once again defines His character and how He operates.  His Order is established and it cannot be changed, that is why we shall not see both sides of the human issue in this passage but will continually see it after Genesis Chapter 3 because it was our choice to bring sin into the world, not God’s.  After sin was introduced, then there is a “both sides” issue and therefore can be given in context to each situation by the one and only consistent and complete God.

With this detail now in order, we can proceed with Deuteronomy 4:4-9 and adequately pursue what God is wanting us to know about His Law and our choices to either obey them or disobey them.  In verse 4 it states the following: “But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.”  This verse is a direct statement by God that demonstrates His knowledge of their obedience to His commands and what occurs when His Laws are obeyed.  As stated in the paragraph above when God created Adam and the Garden of Eden there was only the present concerning the human and when we look at God and His Being we must understand that God was never created He has always been which means He only has the present and the future defined in our belief patterns.  This is impossible for us to adequately contemplate and understand but it is this truth that we need to keep in our hearts for it helps us not only to understand God more but also understand and accept the truth that we need Him more than ever to live and to know our life as a whole.

Moses goes further about obedience in verse 5 when he conveys that he has tried to teach the people about God’s Ways and how important it is for them to continually follow so that they may receive the benefits of God and possess the land which He promised them.  This verse is also a direct communication of truth concerning what occurs when God’s Ways are obeyed and while we cannot fully comprehend all the reasons as to why God’s Laws exist, what we do know is that they are in place for a reason and not as a punishment as so many people want to claim.  It was the desire for Israel to enter into the land that God had prepared for them, but as we find out through study it took forty years wandering in the desert for God to get Egypt out of their lives before He showed them the way.  A pertinent issue that we need to understand today, for when God brings into His plan in our paths we first must be inadequate standing before Him first which means no worldly idols in our lives.  His cleansing is needed before and not after His blessings for if the process was reversed, then His Ways would automatically be and continually defeated.

Verse 6 expands on the issue of obedience by commending the children of Israel about the wisdom and knowledge they displayed in ascertaining the truth about God’s Laws and the concept of obeying its contents.  This is a huge verse because it reemphasizes that fact that even back in biblical times people had the opportunity to make choices, or in other words use the brains that God gave them in order to make the correct decisions.  It is obvious that not everyone that heard the commands of God listened and had obedience to those commands and for that choice they perished and left this earth.

This verse also details an important distinction between another set of words that have similar meanings but one has a far greater authority than the other.  From the time of the Greeks onward, intelligence is the form of understanding that everyone wants to display and from that period of human history until today, many individuals, groups, beliefs and even some nations are classified according to their “intelligence” level.  Today this word is thrown around quite frequently and is used in a negative manner as being non-intelligent especially used on those who do not favor the modern or new boundary-free societal philosophy.  In this verse, we see where the misinterpretation of wisdom is downgraded into the form of intelligence today.  Direct from Moses, God states that the children of Israel who obeyed His commands and stood tall when needed that they exercised wisdom and knowledge concerning such choices.  God commends these acts of faithfulness and today we are witnessing persecutions against those who go against the world thus justifying the difference in usage between these two words.

Verses 6-7 proclaim that because the children of Israel who listened and acted through the wisdom and knowledge of God’s Laws were the prime example of a great nation.  This is a magnificent compliment coming from the Creator of everything, don’t you think?  To be labeled as a great nation because we followed God’s Laws is mind boggling if you ask me because we cannot do anything remotely close to being like God yet He sees our obedience as a consideration to become a great nation.  Wait a minute here, you mean to tell me that all a person or nation has to do in order to be considered great by God is to obey His Laws?  Yes, it is that easy.

Now we reach verses 8-9 and these verses provide the way in which to maintain this great nation status.  It is not a hard or difficult process at all.  Human laws are complicated and can draw numerous conclusions to just one sentence.  The human mind is limited in every way imaginable but in verse 8 it states that God has the ability to recognize each heart that is included in the nation in order to provide coverage or non-coverage for His protection.  The process is still simple however, all we need to do is to keep God’s Laws first in our hearts which will automatically keep them first in society as well, this verse states that God has the power to see if a nation is living by this process or not, so if God can see an entire nation He will have no problem at all seeing an individual’s heart at all.

Verse 9 details how we can maintain this level and status of being a great nation and all that this process entails is to keep God’s Laws first.  God says and promises that if anyone lives by this standard that His protection shall always be upon them and in His eyes can do nothing wrong.  But it is when the individual or nation change this setting and place Him second on the list in their hearts, it is at this point where through deception that our status drops and then we become subject to the hand of God instead of living under His protection.  This entire passage of Scripture is straightforward, clear, and precise and there is no need for any other interpretation of said verses.  This is wonderful news people!!  It clearly states in these verses that if we simply obey god’s Laws and obey His commands that we as individuals and as a nation together will be considered to be great in the eyes of God. This means we have grace in the eyes of God and have accepted Him as the Lord over our lives and of our nation.  Such an easy task to handle, right?

Currently, in our nation, there is a great divide ongoing about a specific time period in our nation’s history.  In relative terms to European, African, and Asian, timelines the western societies are fairly young.  The West was the last place to be discovered, explored, and colonized.  This nation alone is just over 300 years in age compared to some nations being thousands of years old, we are relative newcomers to the scene.  Yet, this nation has bounded into the greatest nation to have ever existed and that the world has ever known.  But we have a huge problem, for some reason, we have followed into the democratic trap that every other democracy or free nation in the world has fallen into and it looks like it is close to breaking apart again.

The American Civil War issued into place a where the idea of division is an option due to differences in beliefs could last and thrive according to a playing field where God was used as a pawn instead as The Creator.  There cannot be any argument that this portion of our nation’s history is ugly with every household feeling the issues being fired upon from both sides.  It is this period of time where men and women became famous and great due to the activities that they believed were true, deceived or truth based both were allowed to play out.  It is this portion of our history that some people are trying to silence and to bury and understandably so but is a grave mistake because oral history based on one-sided freedoms leads to race baiting and slavery and automatically reverts modernity to ancient times again.

I have no idea what the most common practices of killing time were in the days of Egypt and the children of Israel but I have read many times that at least slave labor, calf building, and gossip were known about.  To be a great nation all must be known and studied for if it is not only hearsay, innuendos, gossip and lies can be spoken and believed, and I am not mistaken when I say that all of these traits were displayed in two groups of people in one single storyline in the Bible which means that for some reason both sides of this story line that includes all of the content from Exodus to Deuteronomy were connected by burying history.  Yes, each side had its own physical history but it was the history of God and His Ways that both sides buried, for Egypt was not like that when Joseph was alive and neither was Israel in the same timeline.

Why did some get it and others did not?  Even Pilot’s wife did not want her husband to have anything to do with Jesus, yet the timeline accurately states what occurred.  This nation was built on the Divine hand of God by hardworking and God fearing men and women who did not agree on every subject but God saw their hearts and created the world’s greatest nation based on this fact alone.  Over the course of time, we have buried this true history of ours in favor of one that is more self-centered and self-controlling completing the same pathway as every other democracy on this planet and identically as to the direction that Israel took during biblical times.  This portion of the message may seem like a turn in direction itself but it is not, it follows the description of both Genesis Chapters 2-3 and Deuteronomy Chapter 4 almost word for word.

It is this point in which God wants us to understand about obedience, if we obey His Laws we fall into the category of being a great person or great nation and when we fall away from this obedience we allow sin to overcome our lives and thus become subject to eternal separation from Him.  When Adam and Eve obeyed God’s single Law they were a great nation.  When Israel obeyed God’s Ways they were a great nation.  When David obeyed God he was a great nation.  When the Church obeyed and obeys God she is a great nation and when this country obeyed God it was a great nation.  But in every case mentioned here, each fell and they fell hard and our nation is now on the verge of following in the exact same footsteps as these. Obedience is a simple choice and through this simple choice so much of our lives ride upon them.

We do not have to follow in this step for step procedural destruction, just as each one of these examples above was created for perfection and not destruction.  We do not have to go through the same issues that others have faced, we have the perfect corrective measure right in front of our eyes yet we shove it aside because we believe we have the necessary and correct answers for today’s issues.  Well, guess what!!!  So did all of the other democracies, groups, and individuals for I can guarantee you that they said and believed in the same lie that we believe in today.  We cannot do things on our own, we shall fail every time.  Why? It is because we were created to worship God and to live under His protection and wisdom, not our own.

Church, we have been playing church for far too long and have forgotten how to live as the Church for the completion of the mission that Jesus set into motion, this is the perfect example of disobedience on our part and the perfect setting of obedience on His part.  We have lost the dreams and desires that God has for our lives and nation due to our selfish wants and continual worldly rants.  We have fallen for Moloch and have forsaken the Almighty God who provides us with the very materials we use to construct our idols.  You claim that the Bible is not relevant for today’s modern society?  How can you even honestly say that much less believe it?  Each story told in their accurate, holy, and perfect gift of wisdom tells us of events that occurred centuries and millennia ago that we see play out on this very day.  God is our answer, not the world.  The ruler of the world does not care anything about you all he wants is for you to be eternally separated from God.  If he has to use the church to do this then he shall, and for your information he is.

The best part about a non-wavering status is the foundation it provides the necessary basics that all of us are looking for when we make mistakes.  The process is simple and it is easy to follow, and when we mess things up we have the choice to cry out to God and to start all over again. Like nothing ever was wrong but we must make the choice to do this.  If we do, we will long to do things correctly in God’s eyes and be considered a great nation amongst His Kingdom and if we do not then we will reap our selfish rewards accordingly.  Following God’s Laws is easy, all we must do is to study them and apply them to our lives.  These laws are easy to follow, no human interpretations needed for they are explanatory as is with no clauses for grievances against these laws.  This is great news people!  In a world that delivers nothing but bad news on a second by second basis, this news should be recognized as exciting and easily heard and more importantly wisdom to share with others.

DLB

Non-Wavering

Non-Wavering

4/28/17

It is a common theme that people wish to elevate them and do their best to become equal with God.  The world sees nothing wrong with this venture and promotes it every day, but right from the beginning of our existence God has always stated not to add or to take away from His commands, yet as we watch continually we have no fear of these commands.  We forget that God is consistent, complete and all everything despite our lustful greed about our own status.  Our world is falling apart further and deeper each day and will continue to do such until we repent and turn back to God and place His commands back into our hearts.  God loves us and it is not His desire to see anyone of His children suffer or perish but that number of fallen that sleep in departure from God grows each day; we have work to do Church.

Arguments placing mankind at the center and root of our problems are mostly scoffed at today, but in truth, this is a long argued point from many past societies who deemed themselves to be far above any deity.  This is a hilariously sad statement because each one of those past societies had their own gods that they people of that society had to recognize and serve or be considered atheists.  When I was listening to a documentary on Christianity a while back I was amazed to find that the leaders and many people in the Roman Empire considered Christians and Jews to be such atheists simply because they would not recognize and worship the gods of Rome.  A thought that makes sense when one who lives within a society that does not consider God to be alive and ruler over people’s lives no matter who is in physical power, and a process that is being witnessed today as well.

How many of you had parents repeated something to you that they deemed was important especially after it seemed like you ignored their concerns?  How many of you had parents that punished you when you did something wrong, how about when you did that same wrong thing again?  The laws of this land often state that the accused knew what they did was wrong or that they should have known what they did was wrong, therefore giving the law grounds for appropriate charges.  I know that when I did something wrong my parents would always make sure I understood what I did was wrong and not punish me for something I did not know was such, but if I ever did something repeatedly, my punishment was a tad bit stronger than the time before, a reasonable clause in the parenting and child sides and one I tried my best to avoid but sometimes found.

There is a reason why we should consider a mistake just that but when we present tendencies of repeating such “mistakes” they no longer can be considered mistakes but deliberate disobedience.  If one is told about a certain law and knows exactly what that law states, then we voluntarily go against that law, we have no excuse when we get caught.  Probably the most common law broken or one the most common laws broken is the speed limit.  How many of you have ever sped down the road?  All of us have done this for whatever reason and while some get caught others do not but even if we do not get caught it is still considered breaking the law when we speed.  I am guilty of this infraction and while I have not received too many tickets over my driving career, some of the ways that I have handled them have not been illustrious by any means.  I quickly found out that the consequences of these infractions result in a higher premium on my insurance bill, a small price to pay for a disobedient act but one that reminds me to stay within the guidelines of the law as well.  By the way, it has been almost 20 years since my last ticket and I do not plan on receiving one anytime soon either.

God deals with His children in the same manner for there are occasions which His laws state a certain thing and when it is disobeyed our lives reflect such disobedience in a certain manner but we are spared and then there are those disobedient times against other sets of His Laws which terminate our lives rather quickly.  Why would we wish to push our luck in finding out which ones God deems important enough to wipe out a nation or just allow His children to walk in a wilderness until they figure things out?  Parents have a duty to teach their children to stay away from harm and from evils that would have negative effects on their lives, or at least that would be the proper way that parents should act.  However, today we see that many parental settings have different views towards their children and even go to the bars with them thus setting an example that shall follow both dominions ineffectively.  But God does not waiver on His Ways or Laws for they represent His definition and since He has no rival and has never been beaten on any level this means that His Laws are true and tried and shall never be defeated or broken by Him.

As we see in Genesis chapters 2-3 mankind believes that they can bring themselves up to God’s level thus deeming God to be flexible in His Ways and Commands.  God gave Adam and Eve one law to obey and over time they sunk into believing a lie that God was just kidding somehow when He delivered this command to them, this “kidding” belief came from Satan our immortal enemy whose only desire is to see us die in our sins (disobedience) and spend eternity away from God.  As we have also previously read, it was the Israelites continued disobedience and ignorance of God’s Laws that kept them wandering around in the desert for forty years instead of entering into the land that was promised to them by God unscathed.  For such a grievous time explained in both of these examples why would anyone down the road in human history decide to live other than what God has commanded?  But, here we are in serious trouble again due solely because of our sins and selfish lusts that have produced a wicked society in the eyes of God.

One of the fundamental aspects of our lives is the family and when we look at biblical history and overall secular human history we cannot deny that the major downfall of any society begins with the destruction of the family.  We first see the destruction of the spiritual family that God created when Lucifer fell, then his antics carried over into Adam and Eve and it has been a destructive pattern and course ever since.  This pattern has not changed since Lucifer’s fall and he and this pattern have no intentions of changing what-so-ever either.  God was never lax in His authoritative presence in the Garden of Eden but He never forced Adam and Eve to obey His single law either, it was ruled over by their hearts and chosen to either live by or disobey.  This is why the family is so important to God for it was His family that was both spiritually and physically attacked and while God stood Strong and True the attacker faltered grossly for eternity.  It was this course that brings us to why humans disobey and why the family is the center of God’s life.

In Genesis, we have the example of Eve adding to the command of God when she stated that they could not touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  God had proclaimed the consequences of such a disobedient act if done and it must have been an unexplainable concept come to life when that truth was fulfilled.  God had no choice but to fulfill the punishment of their disobedience and while banishment from their perfect Garden of Eden setting was hard, their bodies were now introduced to a permanent stage of death which had never been understood before.  It was clear to Adam and Eve of what God said not to do and it was also clear to what would occur when and if they decided to disobey, a setting that should have been continually reminded to oneself over time.

In Deuteronomy Chapter 4 we once again have the Israelites being warned about not obeying God’s commands about a certain law that God deemed worthy enough for the disobedient act to result in grave consequences.  Deuteronomy 4:1-3 gives us a passage where God is speaking to the Israelites about not adding to or taking away from the commands that God has given them for it would be such a grave example as He had to demonstrate concerning those who worshiped Baalpeor versus those who listened to His Laws and obeyed them.  The people that received such consequences concerning this disobedience were not from another land or culture, but of themselves, people they knew and probably grew up with, ate dinner with, walked and with and might have even had daughters marry their sons.  This intricate detail did not matter for when God said to not do something He meant for it to be obeyed.

The consistency and completeness of God is shown here in these two passages, and I must admit that I did not see this connection before but this link now is engrained in my heart strictly because I have studied God’s Word with an open and willing heart to what He wants me to hear, thus share with you.  In Genesis 2:15 it states the following: “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”  Deuteronomy 4:2 states the following: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish (ought) from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.”  There is a single word here that ties these two verses together and set the stage for the future is followed or not followed and that shared word is “keep”.

The word keep used in Genesis 2:15 and the word keep used in Deuteronomy 4:2 is the exact same word, there is no difference in the word at all.  Therefore, when Genesis 2:17 states: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” and Deuteronomy 4:3 states: “Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.” can be linked due to the completeness and purity of God and the Order in which He is defined.  Another intricate detail here that we should remember is that the first command that God gave to Adam was disobeyed and death reigned in his life and here in Deuteronomy where it states that men failed to follow God’s first commandment of the 10 Commandments which also detailed death as the punishment.  Is there ANY question of how important God’s Laws to us are now?  If you are not familiar with the story about Baalpeor, I refer you to Numbers Chapter 25 and it gives a small detail about Moab, Moabites, and their gods.

What God wants us to understand is that it is important for us to keep His commandments close to and inside our hearts.  We must remember that the definition of sin is disobedience and sin will always separate us from God unless we accept Him and His Ways completely.  Also by definition, our lives can do nothing but sin which means that we must be totally dependent on God for our salvation, this truth is exemplified throughout each book of the Bible.  It is not for us to say which law of God will bring about destruction or death but it is our duty to understand the laws of God and to obey them according to His Covenant with mankind.  It is through the choice and willingness to obey His Laws that is important, not counting the cost (physicality) of each law.  If one counts this cost then we automatically place value upon sin and therefore allow our minds to create “a little white lie or a big black lie” in our hearts.  Sin is sin no matter how we look at it and when we disobey God’s Laws we automatically add to the enemy’s purpose of destroying our dominion.

God states that our dominion is a necessity in our lives when He gave us charge over it in the Garden of Eden.  Our dominion represents and defines our life according to God and His Creative status of our lives, a hard concept to grasp but when God reveals this truth it makes perfect sense why Satan’s number one target is the family and why sex is so important to keep holy and pure between humanity.  Want to understand why homosexuality is such an abomination to God?  Study the relationship of our dominion to our lives through God’s Creation of our lives itself and you will begin to know why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and all of the related cities around them.  In no way can God ever accept the voluntary destruction of life or in this case dominion at the hands of mankind that He purposefully created.

The important message God wants us to understand in this article is that when we disobey there shall be consequences to our sin if we choose to adhere to such ways.  Those disobediences do not “pile up” per say but have its own effect on our lives as disobedience occurs.  In all reference to the Bible, God does not punish people for mistakes but He does allow for severe and sometimes destructive consequences for direct disobedience of His Laws.  All God wants us to remember is that when we sin we cut short our dominion and it is our dominion that defines our existence eternally.  When we sin we cut short and harm our dominion which is our definition and what represents to Satan as God’s Kingdom.  Our dominions are stymied enough by the weight of sin that we inherit God wants us to not further weaken our lives by voluntarily adding to this weight, that is why He provides us with His Ways and wants us to choose life.

Even the Church has lost this truth about our lives, for if they had not she would NOT be acting in such a manner as she is today, or even in the Early Church days either.  How important are you to God?  The message from God in this article should point out that importance very clearly.  It is time that we repent and turn our hearts back to God and allow Him to restore our dominion (life) once again.  We need to walk under the blood of His Covenant and study its principles thoroughly so that we know how to live properly.  We were never made to “just survive” but we were wonderfully and masterfully created for a Divine eternal purpose and it is high time that we start living in such a manner.  God is non-wavering in His Laws and I am so thankful for that truth.  He might have to smack me at times for my willing disobedience to these eternal Laws but I am so thankful that He has provided me a way that I can choose to live perfect in His sight under the blood of His Son.

DLB

Important Defenses

Important Defenses

4/27/17

Much controversy has been circulating around considering the construction and reinforcing the borders of this nation.  The sides have been drawn and are defended quite heavily on this issue by all those who care to weigh in.  But in all-around standings, we must consider the protection of this nation and how to make sure that all lives are safe as much as possible.  Our spiritual protection is just as important as our physical and should be protected in like manner and whether we wish to admit it or not, both issues are at hand today.  God wants both our physical and spiritual dominions protected and when we look at it in this manner, it is easy to justify this necessity.

This topic runs deep with parallels in our lives and for the continued protection that we so desperately desire.  I find it difficult to sit back and observe the patterns that emerge each day but at the same time, these patterns do not surprise me, for they represent a graphical truth that all humanity expresses.  To be honest, I would not expect anything different to be showing right at the moment for it is a true reality of what lies within our hearts.  The only issue that is of any eternal concern is that we fail to recognize exactly what is transpiring and that our actions today shall affect our standing both physically and eternally at some point in the future.

One needs to understand a few words of wisdom before we proceed any further.  First of all, this message comes from God and not me, I want to make sure that this truth is set into motion upfront before anything else is written.  Secondly, this message has nothing to do with politics or one side of an issue or another, it will strictly be guided and directed to you the individual reader from God on your behalf of your life.  Protection is the utmost of importance to God and He wants us to remember the reasons why it is important to protect ourselves first, not later.  Again, this is NOT a political topic it is one of pure safety of you.  If anyone tries to play this message from God into a political ploy then shame on you for God gave us brains and He expects us to use them in the only capacity that we can, honorable and true not biased.  

I find it amazing of how many conflicting answers people give concerning the issue of protection, and what intrigues me the most is the ensuing arguments that those answers provide.  While none of us shall ever agree on all issues I truly believe that all should be civil in our disagreements.  Yet, as each issue comes and goes we see tensions between ourselves increase and thus promote further division.  Defense structures are in place for a reason and there is an intimate and specific detail that we must consider before we rush into whether or not we build a wall or not for even the individual protection of a society is just as important as the entire society itself, a detail that we do not even follow with consistency.

Anyone remember the old movie “The Boy In The Bubble”?  It was a movie that gave some details about a young boy who was born without an immune system and basically had to live in total seclusion from all society due to this condition.  I watched this movie with my parents back in the early 80s and it raised many questions in my head concerning how people felt and how they got bugs and how they got over them.  There were all kinds of imaginative thought processes over this movie and how a family would respond to such an event, not to mention all of the differing opinions that the movie brought to light as well.  All of us have had the flu or had a cold and even some of us have other immune system conditions as a long term illness.  But do we understand that our immune system is at work even when our bodily functions are at a perfect level?  And do we understand that we need these immune functions in order for us to not be subject to live inside an enclosed environment?  In other words, our immune systems build a wall starting with our skin and then also being reinforced through tiny molecules running through our vessels and tissues so that our defensive mechanisms stay within normal boundaries. It is for this reason alone that any choice made in our lives must be carefully and specifically rectified before ignoring the overall possibilities.

Over the past few months, God has been showing us some of the detailed events that took place in the Garden of Eden.  Some of these events were well known and yet God expanded our knowledge concerning examples but there were a few of these items that God has completely opened our eyes about and through this new content has brought about a better understanding of how things transpired in the Garden.  God makes it clear in Genesis Chapter 2 that Adam has a job to do and that his job is to dress and to keep the Garden of Eden in order.  The Garden of Eden was Adam’s dominion, the one that God gave Adam to live in and to ensure all things were kept in order, thus serve as the defender of his dominion the one who would be the defense from anything that sought to do harm.  Harm over what?  You know that question had to be asked by Adam and one that God must have explained to him over the course of time before the fall of man occurred.  While we have previously discussed borders and boundaries, there is a specific detail that God wants us to know through this message, so while some of the material may be a repeat the read and knowledge is valuable to our lives.

Adam and Eve had the choice to keep God’s Law continuous or to break its protection by doing what they deemed to be adequate in their own eyes.  It was totally up to Adam and Eve for this decision and when they made the decision to listen to another who convinced them that no godly defense was needed, their world soon came crashing down around them for God’s protection had been breached by disobedience.  This is a prime example of why it is so important for us to maintain and to recognize the boundaries and defensive mechanisms of our lives for when Adam and Eve chose not to keep up the dominion that they had, they lost it and were never allowed to have it back or even return to its presence again.  Here lies the truth about having defined boundaries and fortified borders around and in our lives for without them or if we do not believe in them, we are defenseless and shall believe anything that is told to us by anyone operating within our reach.

We must also remember an important detail about the dominion that God gave Adam and Eve to dress and to keep, their dominion was alive.  From the command that God gave Adam, it meant that the Garden of Eden would not keep itself that it had to have someone over it to maintain its presence in the fashion that its life gave and in order for the Garden to provide what it was meant to give it had to have someone over it.  Therefore, its life was in the hands of Adam and Eve for when Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden angels and a flaming sword was put in their respective places; besides a few further references the Garden of Eden was never mentioned again nor was it ever saw either, a significant detail about how important it is to keep up defenses for just our own lives but for other life as well, a matter to really contemplate about when one looks at it on this level.

Back when I was a kid, I became a bit confused when at times my parents wanted me to be around certain kids when they were not feeling well.  When I was living in Hope, Arkansas I remember that one of my friends had a bunch of red dots on his skin and when his mother approached my mother about the situation it seemed to be all ok.  I also remember that within a few days I too had those little red dots on my arms, chest, and legs and I was not feeling the best either.  But, when another one of my friends became sick with the flu, my mother kept me away from him poured cough medicine down me and checked on how I was feeling every few hours.  A tad confusing to a kid but with whatever method my parents took I knew that they were doing the best for me and only wanted the best for my life.  Boy, you should have heard me when it was mentioned that it was time for me to get a shot, we will leave this subject right there.  That trend from my parents about knowing what is best continues today and I am so lucky that they are still with us and continue to provide valuable guidance and wisdom to me and to my family. 

I know that not every person reading this message will agree with what my parents did back then, and that is ok but in my life what they did turn out to be the best defense system for my life, for I do not know how things would have turned out for me if they had not loved me enough to make sure that I was protected on every level as possible.  Mom and dad could have counted on my healthy condition to be the warranting pattern and not had I received the inoculations but what if I received something else of a greater magnitude, what if I did not?  All of these questions plus much more do loom large in a parent’s heart but it at this point where the nervous parent should trust the physician and their recommendations as guidance.  Do we follow such healthy guidelines today or are we mandated in some certain areas to complete this type of task without question?  A sign of variance that is not considered to be a stable environment if one wishes to push it to this limit – which we all need to do.

So, what do this matter and subject have to do with our eternal placement?  The choices that we make will in all roads lead to where we will spend eternity.  If we do not or refuse to put into place defenses around our boundaries we will be subject to the invaders, any invaders, who wish to harm our lives.  If we have a system in place that requires certain procedures to be followed before such individuals are allowed to freely enter this country the chances of us or others becoming victims of their wrath are slimmer than if none existed.  The same concept can be placed on an individual level, a national level or spiritual level and each level will be directly involved in the other guaranteed.  I do not care what you have been told before about humanity and how good people may seem to be, in truth all humans have an evil nature to them for it is a condition that we all have, the Bible states that all are born into sin and sin is disobedience which means not doing something that is good or right.  ALL are born into sin, with no one being exempt from such a condition which means that no one is exempted from this border, boundary or defensive positioning.

Why do the positions of so many today not surprise me when they voluntarily forfeit their defensive mechanisms in the name of “freedom”?  Because it is the common will of today’s societies to want to be absolutely in control of their lives and in order for that to be accomplished no boundaries are allowed for there is so much love to go around.  Plus, and this is the most important reason as to why people do not want boundaries or defined borders is that if these wonderful people believe in the Bible they believe it on their terms alone but for the majority of them they do not consider the Bible to be credible enough to warrant a sincere thought about which places them in line with the enemy of our lives both physical and spiritual and by this definition of belief and the truth that all are born into sin concurs with what the Word of God says about yours and my eternal positioning. 

As Adam and Eve found out, an untidy and undressed dominion is subject to fall from your grasp at any moment.  As my life has progressed over the last forty nine years, I have learned that if I do not take up the defense for my family, they shall be taken away from me.  The truth of these two events also applies to God and to our spiritual lives, for if we do not adequately and purely defend God and His Word, our eternal positioning shall be with Satan and his defeated life.  Why would we want to listen to and place our trust in a belief of non defense to the king of losers?  Hello!!!  Our enemy is eternally defeated because God adequately defended His Dominion when Lucifer decided to try and do things on his own.  It is our goal to be like God and while we fall short our hearts are the one that should desire to be more like Him and not the world.

God asks us to take a hard look at our lives and to see where our defenses are.  Are they in good shape, do they need repair and reinforcing or are they even there?  If a nation has shoddy defenses and a good army their status shall be overrun after a while, the same is true when you have good defenses but a lousy army, but God did not and does not intend for His children to be subjected to those types of conditions.  So why do we enthrall ourselves in such madness?  God wants His children to live in peace and prosperity at all times, ALL of His children, not just a few.  Living in God’s Laws fortifies our lives both spiritually and physically and provides us with the best defenses possible to withstand the attacks from our enemy.  God asks us if we will allow Him to be our definition of our defensive system, both inside and out.  If we do allow him this title in our lives then He is faithful and just to protect us according to His Covenant that is in place for us but if we do not then we shall soon witness a great destructive force that will not only eat at us from within but physically change our land until it is no longer recognizable to any eye.

Our inner immune system builds a wall of protection that we need in order to survive, just as our national borders need a defined border of recognition which is respected not mocked.  Remember all wars have begun when an enemy, declared or undeclared, has crossed a boundary in force and when this occurs whose fault is it when the invaded country falls?  It is not the invading country or enemy but the country that was inadequately prepared to defend itself when it came time, a horrific example to enforce the options of choice into play but a necessary one to remind us that we all need to ensure the proper border defense instead of building up personal walls in retaliation to those being proposed.  If we automatically limit our inner defense mechanisms how will we be strong enough to protect our surroundings when the time calls for endurance?

Church, it is our responsibility to build up the inner immune (spiritual) system through the living words of the Bible.  We are the examples that need to be in touch with God at all times and not messengers from the world.  God does not care about Republicans, Baptists, Democrats, Catholics or any other descriptive word or phrase that we tend to hide behind cheaply relate with, He ONLY cares about your heart and how it needs to recognize its Creator for if we do not then He will lose a child for eternity.  Our lives need a good defensive mechanism in order to survive and so does our heart.  God has given us a brain to take care of the physical and has given us a spirit to take care of our eternal.  It is our wakening up to the fact that we need both aspects protected that is of the utmost importance and this life-saving formula shall not occur unless we have God first in our lives.  If we approach God’s Word with shoddy tactics and “bits and pieces” belief we are sunk.  Allow God to restore our hearts so that we shall understand the importance of defenses, for as the old saying goes the best defense I a great offense and vice versa.

DLB