WHEN SPIRITUAL VICTORY LOOKS LIKE DEFEAT
“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?“
Matthew 26:53-54
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 24, 2024 – Even before I was a believer, I knew that Jesus’ crucifixion was considered by Christians to be a victory. I thought it was all foolishness at the time and couldn’t be bothered even to hear their explanation as to why they saw Jesus’ torture and execution as such a good thing. Peering through my cracked and foggy lens of atheism, all I could see was defeat propped up by an improbable fairy tale that only gullible losers could believe.
Fast-forward to today.
Well, as this blog attests, I became one of those “gullible losers” myself, and I now see Jesus’ death on the cross not only as a good thing, but the greatest victory ever achieved for mankind.
God has a plan. As believers, we hear this so often that it pretty much goes in one ear and out the other, but God does have a plan. He has a plan for you and he has a plan for me, and it’s up to us whether or not we want to go along with his plan. He’s revealed his plan in scripture and he’s also revealed his plan for each of us, one on one, like he revealed it to Jesus and to Peter and to Paul.
In revealing his plan to us, God doesn’t hold a gun to our head and tell us we have no choice but to comply with it; he shows us plainly and well in advance what it is, and then he stands back and lets us choose whether to go along with it or not.
Jesus told us he always did that which pleased the Father. And we know this is true, because God told us: “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” From this, we can see that Jesus and God were clearly on the same page. There was no divergence between them. No conflict. No contradiction. Still, when God explained to Jesus what his mission was, he left it up to Jesus to accept it or not. Nothing was forced on him.
God’s plan for each of us also includes spiritual victories that will appear to the world as defeats. Many of us may already be living that reality. We also know (because scripture tells us publicly and God tells us personally) that if we at any time feel overwhelmed by what we’ve agreed to and want to back out, all we need to do is to call out to God and he will in fact send 12 or 50 or even 100 legions of angels, if that’s how many the situation warrants. This option is always there for us.
I don’t know about you, but I’m spiritually greedy. I don’t want to settle for plan D or plan F or some other fallback plan after I’ve chickened out of the main one. I want to do plan A, no matter what it entails. And as grateful I am that God has those twelve or more legions of angels on call should I need them, I don’t want to have to use them. Like Jesus, I want to do that which pleases the Father. I want to comply with God’s plan without contradiction or conflict. I want to endure, as Jesus advised us, to the end.
Like with Jesus, this might require me to look like a loser or a failure or a criminal to the world, but if that’s God’s plan, then so be it. You can imagine that the last thing Jesus wanted was to hang on a cross with the world pointing and laughing at him and sneering that God had deserted him. Jesus didn’t go up on that cross because he wanted to; he went up on the cross because it was God’s plan, as laid out in scripture and as told to Jesus personally by God. And because it was God’s plan, saying “no” to it wasn’t an option for Jesus.
Saying “no” to God’s plan should never be an option for us, either.
God’s plan is never a mystery. God has, as Jesus pointed out, told us well in advance what his plan is, so that when it happens exactly as described, we’ll know who’s behind it. What is often a mystery to us is how God is going to achieve his plan. That’s where the miracles come in. That’s where faith comes in. That’s where we come in as we take our place up on the cross where Jesus once was, confident that this is where we need to be and that this will be our greatest victory, too.
THIS IS YOUR MIND ON GOD
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 24, 2024 – That look you get inside when you put all your trust in God and he does this to you, metaphorically speaking.
You’re still trusting God, even while you’re all trussed up and flailing; you just don’t know what the heck he’s up to.
That’s why they call it a test.
That’s why they call it faith.
It’s not God who’s done this to you, by the way. It’s always the devil or one of his minions. God’s given them the go-ahead, with clear limitations and restrictions, but it’s the devil who dreams up the schemes, the way he dreamed them up for Job.
Yet take this to heart: You’ll never be left trussed up and flailing beyond your capacity to endure it WITH GOD’S HELP.
I capitalized and bolded WITH GOD’S HELP so you’ll know how important that part of the test is. Many people leave it out and wonder what happened, why God never showed up to rescue them. If you come to a door with a sign on it that reads: “PULL” and you just stand there, waiting for it to open on its own, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t open. Ever. You need to PULL, like the sign says. And like scripture says, you need to ask God’s help to get you through your tests and trials. He’s not going to intervene without your request. You need to ask him.
You need to ASK. (It’s that pesky free-will thing again.)
I’ve recently embarked on a years-long course of action that’s required me to step out in faith and faith only. I have no idea what’s going to happen to me from day to day, but it’s as freeing as it is (somewhat) terrifying. Even so, I trust God and I know that a big part of the faith test and the trust test is not knowing how God is going to arrange this or that; if you know how God is going to arrange this or that, then you’re not operating by faith and your trust is in yourself only, in your poor and limited understanding of how things are or should be.
We, as born-again believers, need to move as far as we can beyond seeing with our eyes and hearing with our ears and understanding with our minds. We need to see with our ears and hear with our eyes and understand with the mind of God, like Jesus did. It may leave us feeling on occasion like that poor trussed-up pup in the picture above, hang-dog eyes and all, but it will be worth it in the end.
I know it will, because as bad as it got for Jesus right up to and including his crucifixion, it was definitely worth it for him when all was said and done. We know this from the 40 days and nights that he appeared to his disciples and followers after his resurrection, and we know this because we know Jesus one on one. We know that he sits at the right hand of the Father and will be there for all eternity. No matter how hard the tests got, Jesus’ faith and trust were not misplaced in God: There’s no-one and nothing else he could have put his faith and trust in than God.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I still have some flailing and pulling to do. ;D
WHEN THERE ARE NO MORE CONVERSIONS
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 23, 2024 – When there are no more conversions, the Church will look inward and tend to its own: “As ye have done unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done unto me.”
Where there are no more conversions, the times of the gentiles will have been fulfilled, and all those who will be sealed will have been sealed.
When there are no more conversions, the windows to Heaven will be shut and the doors locked, and all forms of communication will be turned to “private”.
When there are no more conversions, there will be time no more.
When there are no more conversions, the only ones calling on the Lord will be those who have already called on the Lord and have been sealed.
When there are no more conversions, there will still be trials and temptations and tests and tribulations and the falling away even of those who have been sealed.
When there are no more conversions, we must be kind to the unkind, as Jesus was kind to Judas and prayed for the souls of the doomed even from the cross.
When there are no more conversions, we must surround and protect our lambs like a sheep herd surrounding and protecting its lambs, knowing there’ll be no more lambs after these.
When there are no more conversions, it will be all-out war on the Church. To fight in this war will be to fight against God. You don’t fight the enemy, you avoid; and when you can no longer avoid, you endure. Spiritual warfare is not praying against your enemy but praying for your enemies and being kind to them.
When there are no more conversions, the Church will have to feed its lambs only.
When there are no more conversions, the Church will have to feed its sheep only.
When there are no more conversions, the Church will have to feed its sheep only.
When there are no more conversions, you will know there will be no more, as the only ones reading this will be sealed.
___________________________________
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still.
He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.
He that is righteous, let him be righteous still.
He that is holy, let him be holy still.
Revelation 22:11
ON FALSE CONVERSIONS AND REAL ONES
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 21, 2024 – As a born-again believer, I don’t hate lightly, but one of the few things that irk me on a visceral level (the way that Jesus was irked during his temple rampage) is false conversions. They make a mockery of the best and holiest experience on Earth, cheapening it and misrepresenting it, and in so doing blaspheming God.
Not surprising, the heaviest promoters of false conversions are the denominational churches.
I’ve written here and here (and throughout my blog) about the rebirth experience and about how you can know you’re genuinely reborn. For me, a former atheist, conversion was unsought, unexpected, instantaneous, thorough, and profound. I had zero doubt at the time that something monumental had happened to me – the fabled “sea-change” – and I’ve had zero doubt since. It’s never once occurred to me to question my rebirth.
My certainty in this regard contrasts sharply with the lingering doubts of many alleged converts, who are constantly running to their pastor or minister (or even random strangers on the internet) for assurance of their spiritual status. Unfortunately, they’re running to the wrong people, as most pastors and ministers are themselves unregenerate and therefore ignorant of what constitutes genuine rebirth. That’s not to say that those questioning their rebirth may not occasionally luck out, however, with certain random strangers on the internet, who will not hesitate to set them straight on what it means to be reborn. ;D
The Catholic church will tell you (like it told me) that you’re reborn at baptism. Well, I was one month old when I was baptised, and I can guarantee you that I wasn’t reborn at that time. Seven years later, clad in a red mini-dress and white fishnet stockings, I lined up at the front of my local Catholic church to receive first holy communion, and I can guarantee you that I wasn’t reborn at that time, either. Neither of those two “sacraments” appeared to have any positive effect on my soul. It seems that the more elaborate the ceremony, the less that actually transpires on a spiritual level.
Altar calls to “receive the free gift of the Holy Spirit” are another false declaration of rebirth. It’s disheartening how many people have been told they’re reborn simply from walking to the altar and being groped and mumbled over. Even when the alleged converts feel no different afterwards, they’re assured their salvation is a done deal and they’re on their way to Heaven. This level of spiritual fraud, if perpetrated knowingly, is a grievous sin. But most of the people misleading others are themselves misled. They simply don’t know any better and are a prime example of the blind leading the blind.
There’s no reason to be misled about what it means to be reborn because there are plenty of examples in the Bible. For instance, Jesus told Peter, “When you’re converted, strengthen your brethren”. Note that he didn’t say “If you’re converted”, he said “When you’re converted”, meaning that Jesus knew for a certainty that Peter would be converted – born again – and so he was, along with a roomful of others.
And how did that play out in real life? At a prayer session on Pentecost (ten days after Jesus’ ascension), Peter was “filled with the Holy Ghost” and immediately started preaching the Gospel boldly and in languages he hadn’t learned. He was so persuasive, that thousands of people joined the disciples, giving everything they had into the commonwealth of the group. A miraculous public healing followed soon afterwards. This caught the attention of the temple elders, who then accosted Peter and forbid him ever to preach in the name of Jesus again. Of course, the first thing Peter did upon his release was to preach in Jesus’ name, because that’s what you do when you’re reborn and ready for your spiritual close-up – you don’t shut up for anyone or anything until Jesus takes you Home.
Another scriptural example of genuine rebirth is Paul’s. On his way to Damascus to round up some of Jesus’ followers for execution, Paul saw a blinding light (so called because it actually blinded him) and then heard Jesus asking him why he was persecuting his Church. Paul then had to be led by hand to Damascus, where he cloistered himself, fasting and praying for three days and receiving visions from God. Then Ananias, being tasked by God to seek out Paul, laid his hands on him, and Paul received both his sight and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Shortly after that, he started boldly preaching the Gospel and continued to do so through hell and high water to his dying breath.
Note how these famous conversions are wildly different from each other. No two genuine rebirths are the same, because no two souls are the same. Even in mass conversions, such as the one that took place at Pentecost, rebirth will play out in different ways according to the person being reborn. Some will take time to process what happened to them and wait until their faith is stronger before being sent out by God to preach and teach the Gospel. Others might have the breadth of knowledge already but not the Spirit to inform and enliven it, so at their rebirth, they’re ready for immediate release to the public, like Peter was.
Me, I was reborn from atheism, so it took me years of learning about God and Jesus and deepening my faith in them before I was ready for public duty. I had a very steep learning curve, with lots of bumps and bruises along the way, but even in my “hidden years”, I never once doubted my rebirth. When you’re genuinely reborn, you don’t doubt it. I would sooner doubt my existence than doubt my rebirth.
Being filled with God’s Holy Spirit for the first time is the best experience a soul can have on Earth. Nothing comes close to it. It’s so amazing, you remember everything about it in minute detail as if it just happened yesterday. Your life is then divided between Before Conversion and After Conversion, you’ve changed so radically and instantaneously. Certainly, you remember your life (or what passed for a life) Before Conversion, but you don’t want to go back to it; not for a second. All you want is your After Conversion life and to live every second of it in the grace of God’s Holy Spirit.
I have it on Good Authority that the only experience that exceeds the amazingness of spiritual rebirth is a soul’s Homecoming in Heaven. I can’t imagine that level of euphoric bliss, but I hope some day to experience it for myself.
I hope you do, too.
THE TEMPTATION OF THE END-TIMES CULT
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 20, 2024 – Christian eschatology, or the study of end-times prophecies from a Christian perspective, is big business. Along with televangelists and internet prophets, an endless stream of movies, books, videos, conferences, workshops, etc., is spreading breathless predictions about when Jesus is or is not coming back, what he will or will not do when he gets here, and what the world may or may not be like when he arrives. All of this is being channeled (in the darkest sense) 24/7 into the psyches of those weak in faith and knowledge. Inundated with the propaganda, many have become obsessed with end-times prophecies to the point where it consumes their entire witness. They eat, sleep, and dream the end times, and then rush to YouTube to post a video about what they’ve dreamed.
But it wasn’t always like this. Relative to his other teachings, Jesus spent very little time on the end times, and for good reason: He knew the end times had an allure that would draw people away from learning sound doctrine and entice them instead into believing religious fairy tales, to the detriment of their soul.
The early Church likely wouldn’t recognize today’s end-times-obsessed believers as one of their own. Jesus’ first followers were consumed not with play-acting and spit-balling visions of the end but with surviving day by day: They were already living the nightmare of a world where their very existence made them targets of roaming death squads. Jesus’ warning that his followers would be outlaws wasn’t meant for a time two or three thousand years in the future but for the years and decades following his ascension. There was no need for the self-inflicted emotional distress that die-hard rapture-believers subject themselves to today; early Church members needed only to self-identify as followers of Jesus to experience the beast system up close and personal.
Yet even under constant threat of apprehension, torture, and execution, Jesus’ first followers still focused on spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Had they not done so, we wouldn’t be here. The world would have long since ended like Sodom and Gomorrah, which is how it’s going to end after Jesus takes the last of his Holy Spirit-filled followers Home.
Certainly, the early Church eagerly awaited Jesus’ return, but they also took to heart Jesus’ teachings about putting their shoulder to the wheel so that when Jesus did come back, he’d find them labouring as he’d laboured, not pining away and play-acting end-times scenarios based on dubious interpretations of the book of Revelation.
In short, the end-times-obsessed movement is a cult that shares some elements with Christianity but has splintered into an entirely separate belief system that has nothing to do with God’s Church. Knowing this, we born-again believers need to avoid the temptation and allure of the end-times cult and instead labour as Jesus laboured – and as his genuine Church has likewise laboured – focusing on supporting and guiding each other with sound doctrine and bearing ever-joyful and truthful witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
RIGHTEOUS PAYBACK OR A TEST?
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 19, 2024 – When things get bad on an individual level, most people blame other people for their problems. Similarly, when things get bad on a regional or national level, most people tend to blame the government. Very few make the long torturous perp walk to the nearest mirror to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the person staring back at them. In fact, most people bristle even at the insinuation that they might possibly be the author of their own misfortunes. For most people, it’s always someone else’s fault, but the inescapable truth is that it’s always – ALWAYS – our own fault.
There is never a time when we don’t get what we earn. Granted, God may be testing us, but his tests are meant to raise us higher than we’d otherwise aim for. God constantly spurs us to be better and better even than we think we can be, because he wants us to have the best possible life while we’re here on Earth and, more importantly, the best possible eternity when we get Home.
With hardship, you’ll know the difference between getting what you’ve earned (“the measure you mete is the measure you get in return”) and being tested, as payback and tests make very different spiritual impressions on your soul. When you get what’s coming to you, it hurts. If you’re not a believer, you’ll probably lash out and start finger-pointing; if you are a believer, hopefully you’ll humble yourself, repent, and endure whatever you’ve brought on yourself until your debt is fully paid.
Tests can also hurt, but they usually come out of the blue and when you least expect (or need) them. That’s one of their chief characteristics; think of Jesus being tempted to conjure bread after he hadn’t eaten for 40 days and nights or being tempted with untold wealth after he’d left everything behind and was living homeless, penniless, and on the brink of starvation. Our tests aren’t usually as dramatic, but besides being out of the blue and coming at a time when we least need them (when we’re weakened in some way), they’ll also come presenting a very persuasive alternative or counterargument to the godly way of dealing with the test. Think of the devil’s solutions to Jesus’ perceived problems in the wilderness or Job’s friends’ explanations and solutions for Job’s sufferings. These “persuasions” almost always are framed as generous and selfless offers of assistance and try to convince you that your suffering is unnecessary and wrong, and that you are in fact a victim of circumstances beyond your control.
But we are, none of us, victims. Once we accept that truth and own what comes to us, whether as righteous payback or a test, we’ll do just fine because then we’ll be leaning on God for guidance and support, not on our own understanding or on someone else’s perhaps well-meaning but still misguided and ultimately back-firing and back-sliding “help”.
I had to learn all this the hard way. But God is patient and lets us make our honest mistakes in our own time, knowing that if we beat ourselves up enough, we’ll eventually knock some sense into ourselves.
Now when hard times come (and they always do, sooner or later), I stop for minute to analyze whether I had this hardship coming to me, as righteous payback, or if it’s a test. That’s the first and most important thing to determine when hardship strikes. Certainly, in either case, you humble yourself under God and endure to the end, but tests are going to require a little bit more determined endurance, since, as I mentioned, they also come with very persuasive arguments against dealing with the hardship in a godly way. This is when we really need to know our God and to stand firm in him, even if it prolongs the hardship. There is never a time when we choose God’s way that he doesn’t help us carry our load. He’s just waiting for us to ask for his help.
What about you? Did you come into this world already knowing how to deal with hardship in a godly way, or did you have to take your knocks like the rest of us and learn the hard way? Our time here on Earth is not meant to be comfortable. We’re not here either for a good time or a long time, though the devil works hard to convince us otherwise. Our allotted time here on Earth is for purging the ungodliness in us and testing our progress, with brief respites to catch our breath before the next hardship arrives.
Yet God also blesses us out of the blue in the same way a father blesses his children, both good and bad, because he just likes to see us happy. God takes no pleasure in allowing us to suffer either righteous payback or tests, but they’re part of what it means to be human. We cannot wriggle out of them as long as we’re living in time and space in a human body.
Consider whatever hardship you’re facing now and determine whether it’s righteous payback or a test, and then proceed accordingly, and always and only with God’s guidance and help.
MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, 10th of Abib, 5784 – I’ve been waiting a long time to post this picture of the adorable little white lamb and the mischievous little black-booted one sneaking up behind him…. It’s a screen shot from a video on jumping baby goats that was made last spring. These lambs are now one year old and ready to be sacrificed for Passover (if they’re male and unblemished). I’ve posted the video of a barnful of jumping baby goats below. If you’ve never seen baby goats jumping for no apparent reason other than for pure joy, I highly recommend watching the video.
God, through Moses, commanded that a yearling be removed from its flock of either sheep or goats on the 10th day of the month of Abib. The lamb was then to be kept separate from the other animals until being slaughtered on the 14th in preparation for the Passover meal that evening. Today is the 10th of Abib, so the little lambs in the picture above, were they in Israel or somewhere else where the slaughter of the Passover lamb is still observed, could potentially be in the process of being whisked away from their family and friends and cloistered somewhere alone for four days before going Home (euphemism for having their throat slit and their blood drained, being thrown onto a fire and roasted whole, and then eaten).
As brutal as it sounds, this is the kind of animal sacrifice I can get behind. First and foremost, the slaughter of the Passover lamb is fully initiated, commanded, and blessed by God, which means it doesn’t matter what I think: The ritual is still right and good. Secondly, nothing is wasted in the sacrificing of the animal and the meat is equitably allotted – each household is to take one lamb only, but if the household is too small for a lamb, two or more households can combine forces until there are enough people to warrant eating a lamb. Thirdly, the lamb is roasted whole, including its head, feet, and innards. Nothing is removed; nothing is wasted; and no bones are broken in the process. Fourthly, any part of the lamb that isn’t eaten during the Passover feast is burned to smithereens either that same night or very early the next morning. So other than for a few ashes, nothing remains.
The process of slaughtering the Passover lamb is as swift, lean, and tactical as a military operation. To me, its urgency seems less a ritual and more a matter of life or death, which in fact the first Passover was. The Hebrews had to hastily repurpose the lamb’s blood as a door marker to indicate that children of Israel lived in that home so that God’s avenging angels would pass over them and head for Egyptian houses. Then the Hebrews had to finish eating the lamb, burn its remains, throw a few things in a backpack, and get the heck out of Dodge before Pharoah changed his mind again about letting them go.
We, if we’re born-again, bear the blood of Jesus the Lamb of God on our souls. This marks us for protection in the spiritual realm and is inviolable. Jesus was God’s ultimate Passover sacrifice, a role that he willingly accepted and perfectly played. We honor Jesus’ sacrifice during the Passover supper when we raise a glass in his memory and eat a piece of unleavened bread in his honor. He asked us to do these things specifically at Passover, and so we do them at Passover.
Like God’s command to the Israelites to celebrate the Passover, Jesus’ request to his followers to celebrate Passover in his memory is also a command that has the same force as God’s: Do not doubt that for a second. Easter is not Passover; in fact, Easter is more an anti-Passover, as the date for Easter was specifically and purposely chosen by Emperor Constantine and the religious powers-that-be in 325 A.D. to defy the Passover date set by the rabbis in Jerusalem. This decision by Constantine and the religious ptb, as well as the reason for it, is a matter of public record.
Passover is a quintessentially Christian feast, and we need to celebrate it as such.
As for slaughtering a lamb, we don’t have to do that anymore, but we do need to raise a glass in Jesus’ memory (as he asked us to do) and to eat a piece of unleavened bread in his honor (as he asked us to do), even if we celebrate alone (because we won’t be alone; Jesus and God will be right there with us). I hope you choose to follow Jesus’ command. If you’re a born-again believer and you’ve never before celebrated Passover and the accompanying Feast of Unleavened Bread, it’s high time you did, and “better late than never”, as my grandmother would say!
Enjoy!
PASSOVER BREAD RECIPES FOR FOLLOWERS OF JESUS
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 17, 2024 – When God commanded the Israelites, through Moses, to observe the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread in perpetuity, he was talking to us. Jesus reminded his followers of this command at his final Passover meal with them and even added a special twist to it – raising a glass in remembrance of his sacrifice – to mark the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new one.
Passover is a thoroughly Christian feast and needs to celebrated by those who are genuinely born-again. It should NEVER have been substituted with Easter.
We don’t ignore God’s commands once we’re made aware of them. We may be ignorant of them for a time, but once we know of them and still ignore them, it will be to our eternal detriment.
Even so, I don’t know why any genuine follower of Jesus, once made aware of God’s command to celebrate Passover, would not want to celebrate it. Passover is a joyous feast that marks two equally joyous occasions – the first one being God’s special protection of the Hebrews in Egypt when every first-born among the Egyptians was killed, and the second occasion being Jesus’ reminder to us that we shouldn’t mourn his (short-lived) death but instead be happy for him, because he was finally finishing what God had sent him to do (redeem us and save us from our sins!) and was triumphantly going Home.
Every year since I started celebrating the Passover supper in my own quirky little way (I don’t drink alcohol anymore, and I don’t like lamb and bitter herbs lol), God has blessed me more and more both during the Passover celebration and the week-long Feast of Unleavened Bread that follows it, as well as during the preparation for both feasts. Knowing my quirky tastes, God allows me substitutes for the lamb and the bitter herbs and the wine, but the unleavened bread needs to be unleavened bread. God doesn’t allow me any substitutes for that.
Not being a fan of the matzo (big dry hard tasteless crackers) that’s available at most grocery stores and delicatessens, I decided a few years ago to start making my own unleavened bread from scratch, using organic ingredients. It’s been a learning experience, to say the least, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of it. All it takes is a little flour, water, olive oil, and salt, a bit of mixing, kneading, and rolling of the dough, and then onto some parchment paper on a baking sheet it goes and into the bottom of the oven, on broil, for a few minutes each side. You have to tend the bread carefully, of course, so that it doesn’t burn, but it’s fun to watch it bake (and, oh, it smells so good!).
For those of you who learn better by visuals, I’ve included two recipes below on how to make classic traditional unleavened bread. One includes photos and shows how to make the baked (oven) version and the other is a video that shows how to make the skillet (stovetop) version. I like both of these breads, but if you prefer less grease, the oven method would be better for you. The videos include the recipe, which you can tweak to your needs and preferences (a little less or more olive oil, for instance).
It’s cool to think that this recipe is probably the exact same one followed by the women who prepared the bread that Jesus ate at his last Passover supper (and also the same recipe for the bread Moses ate at the very first Passover supper).
Enjoy!
Four Simple Ingredients for Unleavened Bread
- spring water
- sea salt
- organic flour
- organic olive oil
For detailed preparation instructions, see the video and link below!
STOVE-TOP (SKILLET) UNLEAVENED BREAD (RECIPE AND INSTRUCTIONS DIRECTLY BELOW)
BAKED UNLEAVENED BREAD (RECIPE AND INSTRUCTIONS DIRECTLY BELOW)
I HAD A RAPTURE DREAM: THE FINAL SOLUTION
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 17, 2024 – Not sure why all the “rapture dream” videos have been popping up in my YouTube feed lately, but there certainly is a bumper crop of them. The mass psychosis is reaching pandemic proportions among those who insist that “Jesus is coming back soon” to whisk them away before things become too nasty down here.
Never mind that Jesus warned his followers that they’d be classed as outlaws and would of necessity have to suffer the same persecutions that he did.
Never mind that Daniel prophesied that believers will “fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days”, or that the “king of fierce countenance… shall destroy the mighty and the holy people” and “shall wear out the saints of the most high”, or that John in Revelation prophesied of that same king that “it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them.”
Never mind scripture. The YouTube prophets have it all figured out, thanks to the guiding hand of the televangelists. No genuine believers, according to them, will have to suffer anything prophesied by Jesus, Daniel, John, or any of God’s prophets. Hallelujah and praise the Lord, amirite?
Only what we have here in reality is a spiritually invoked mind-worm that is infesting those who want to believe that God would never allow them to suffer the prophesied trials and indignities. Interestingly (and perhaps tellingly), all the people publicizing their rapture dream confessed to fervently wanting to have such a dream. Many of these dreams were also accompanied by a “presence” on or near the dreamer’s bed.
Here’s what we know about presences on or near beds while people are in a state of sleep or near-sleep – they’re well-documented as being demonic entities. And here’s what we know about demonic entities – they’re well able to mimic heavenly presences, as scripture tells us that Lucifer himself will appear as an angel of light.
As born-again believers, we know that a mass ascension will indeed take place because Jesus told us it would. His words are clearly recorded in scripture. But this ascension will occur only at the very end of time when Jesus comes back in glorified form with his holy angels, who will gather together the last of his faithful and take them Home. This event will be highly visible to everyone on Earth, not just to a chosen few, and all those not involved in the ascension will be simultaneously struck with the certain knowledge of who Jesus is and what they lost by rejecting him.
Any so-called rapture that will take place before this witnessed-by-all mass ascension will not be a supernatural event but very much a human-engineered one. It will involve the individual snatching away and abduction of pre-selected people (“snatching away” and “abduction” being the root meaning of the word “rapture”), likely leaving only their clothing behind as “evidence”. Of these abductees, most will be genuine believers, although some will be rapture believers, and a few will be wolves in sheep’s clothing who are in on the scheme. It will be the final solution meant to rid the world of evangelizing Christians once and for all, as after this event is publicized as the rapture among rapture-pushing denominations and they realize they’ve been left behind, what faith they had will be dissolved under their hurt pride.
Do I believe these abductions will take place soon? I have no idea. Despite the rapture being a human-engineered event, its timing is still up to God. Even the people planning the abductions have no idea when they’re going to take place. Nonetheless, they’ve been preparing for the operation for some time now, awaiting the signal. Note that it won’t require a lot of people to be “raptured”, just enough to get rid of the worst of the troublemakers (that is, those who refuse to fall for their lies) and to lend credence to the myth of the rapture so that those left behind will be soul crushed. After Jesus has allegedly come and gone without them, what will these people have left to believe in?
Some of you may be wondering how I know about the planned abductions. Did I stumble across a leaked document on the deep dark web? Did I overhear a whispered conversation? Did I bug a secret meeting of the infamous cabal?
Nope. None of the above. The simple fact is, dear reader: I had a rapture dream, too. ;D
TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, April 14, 2024 – There are two kinds of people: those who use words to convey meaning, and those who hide behind words, using them as a weapon or a strategy.
The first kind of people are truthtellers and the second kind are liars.
The funny thing about truthtellers and liars is that they don’t always identify as such, even to themselves. I have met truthtellers who speak the truth because they can’t conceive of not speaking the truth. The alternative doesn’t even occur to them. I have also met liars who lie as a matter of course, without thinking twice about it. They don’t consider words as strategies or weapons; they just lie because that’s who they are.
For the most part, the world is full of liars. Better said, the world is peopled by liars. Liars by far form the vast majority of the population no matter where you go. Some (surprisingly few) lie knowingly and with intent, but most do it without even realizing they’re doing it (or thinking that what they’re doing is in any way wrong), since lying is the currency they trade in, and they’re good at it. It comes naturally to them. The world is conceived, built, greased, and rolls on lies.
Me, I had learn this the hard way, about the way things are. I’m a born truthteller and a terrible liar, though I occasionally tried lying on for size as a child as a way to wiggle out of tight spots. I wasn’t very good at lying, though some still believed me, or at least feigned believing me. I found it was all in how you stare them steadily in the eyes while you stumble for the right words or what you think are the right words, daring them not to believe you. Now, in hindsight, I understand that people accepted my lies not because they actually believed me but because taking what I said at face value was easier than trying to get to the bottom of things.
Liars are lazy. Truth requires constant self-adjustment, like a tuning, every day, several times a day. It takes effort. Lying simply adjusts around you so that you can stay exactly as you are, looking past truth as if it doesn’t exist or has no more merit than lies. Most people go through life lying not because they have a character flaw but because they’re born that way. You’re either born a liar or you’re born a truthteller. You don’t become one or the other through circumstances: You remain the same from birth to death and beyond.
Liars surround themselves with liars the way that birds of a feather flock together. Truthtellers tend to be individualistic, wandering from one flock to next in search of – what? Another truthteller? You might as well pan for gold in a septic tank. Your chances of success will be greater.
Surely it can’t be that bad. Surely I’m just making this up as a way to explain away the hurt. I have seen smile after smile of sympathy, the feigning of empathy, when the mind is a million miles away, planning supper. You can only say so much to most people, and that I had to learn. The hard way.
Let us talk about the weather (but not about weather modification). Let us talk about beliefs (but not about God). Let us talk about the future (but not about death, never about death and certainly never about what comes after death). Steer toward the middle of the liar freeway and you’ll be OK. You’ll be fine. Just, whatever you do, don’t mention (the unmentionables).
I have found it is better to live alone than to live with liars. This, too, I had to learn the hard way.
I’m still learning.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 