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PRETTY IN PINK? WHEN AURORAS MEAN DANGER
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, May 12, 2024 – In one of the many science fiction “invasion” movies I have unfortunately subjected myself to over the years, a woman in a crowd stares up in awe at a massive spaceship hovering in the night sky over her head. The invading ship is covered in twinkling lights, and the mesmerized woman just manages a breathless “So pretty!” when the “pretty” ship fires down a laser beam, instantly incinerating her and all those around her.
I’m reminded of this and similar movie scenes when I read the breathless descriptions of the auroras that have been painting our skies over the past few nights. The shimmering and dancing otherworldly lights have been described as “amazing!”, “once-in-a-lifetime!”, “vibrant!”, “awe-inspiring!”, or just plain “WOW!”
But there’s one thing wrong with this picture – many of the auroras have been pink, and pink auroras are well known in the scientific community for being not only incredibly rare, but also a sign of extreme danger.
As breathtakingly beautiful as they may appear, auroras are first and foremost an indicator that the electromagnetic shield protecting Earth from harmful solar rays is under attack. A geomagnetic storm battle is being waged wherever you see auroras, with the colors indicating the danger level that we below the lights may be exposed to. Most auroras are red or green, indicating the battle is relatively moderate and being raged well above Earth and outside the danger zone. Red and green auroras also indicate that the shield has the invasion more or less under control. But when pink auroras appear, which prior to the past few evenings was only on very rare occasions, the battle is extreme and very close.
Not only that, but pink auroras indicate that a tear has occurred in the shield, allowing the solar wind to literally pour down on top of our heads.
A tear in Earth’s electromagnetic shield is not a good sign. In fact, a tear in the shield is a very very bad sign. As “pretty in pink” as they may appear, these auroras tell us that a major breach has occurred in Earth’s defenses, which means that all life in the vicinity of the breach is being exposed to harmful rays at dangerous levels. While pink auroras may not instantly incinerate us like a laser beam from an alien ship, their simultaneous occurrence globally is a massive heads-up that all is not well – and is in fact far from well – with our electromagnetic protection field.
Scrawled across exposed desert rocks and on cave walls high up in the mountains in the western United States are depictions of auroras that were carved in stone thousands of years ago. These petroglyphs stand as a testament to a catastrophic event that wiped out much of the world’s population, with the survivors retreating to higher ground and finding refuge deep in caves. There, they would have been shielded from the worst of the electromagnetic storms, which were alleged to have lasted for years or even decades. While there’s no indication from the petroglyphs that the auroras painting the skies in those days were the notorious pink ones, we can imagine they likely were, and that Earth’s magnetic shield had been violently torn like the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the profane part of the temple was torn at the moment of Jesus’ death, signifying the exit of God’s Holy Spirit from the place.
Like pink auroras, the exit of God’s Holy Spirit from a place is a rare and very very very bad sign. So tonight, and every night from this day forward, if you look up and see pink auroras, consider whether “Wow!” is really the right response, given what the colour signifies. It’s not a time to be awed and rapt in wonder, but a time to prepare spiritually for what lies ahead. For if the state of the natural world reflects the world’s spiritual state (which indeed it does), it ain’t pretty.
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.
INTO THE FIERY FURNACE
CHARLO, New Brunswick, April 11, 2024 – Our trials, when they come (and come they will), don’t always announce themselves in advance. Sometimes our trials are meant to blindside us because our raw response is part of the test.
Daniel’s good friends and colleagues, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (hereafter “SM&A”), weren’t entirely blindsided by their trial, but they also didn’t have months to prepare for the furnace. In the book of Daniel, we read that Nebuchadnezzar, the then king of Babylon, had a 60-foot-high golden idol set up. He was so proud of his idol, he decreed that everyone – regardless of cultural background – must fall down and worship it whenever they heard the sounds of certain instruments playing, kind of like Pavlov’s dogs responding to ringing bells. The punishment for failing to prostrate before the abomination was death by fiery furnace.
From the get-go, SM&A wanted nothing to do with the decree. Note that they didn’t lobby against it or protest it or start a petition to protect their minority religious rights. No, they didn’t engage in any kind of public protest or encourage others to do so. Instead, they just didn’t go along with it and remained quietly and resolutely standing when everyone else around them fell down.
Their decision to remain standing marked them for trouble. Soon enough, trouble came in the form of a gaggle of envious Chaldeans who gleefully snitched on them to the king. Furious, the king hauled SM&A before him and offered them a calculated deal: He promised them that if they would fall down on cue from that point onward, they’d be off the hook for their previous failings and free to go. But if they chose not to fall down, they’d be thrown into the furnace and burned alive. The king then addended his offer with: “and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?”
Who, indeed.
SM&A, knowing their God and choosing to stand firm in his promises rather than those of the king, quickly but respectfully schooled Nebuchadnezzar, stating:
If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. (Daniel 3:16-18)
Their refusal to submit to him sent Nebuchadnezzar into a blind rage, and he ordered the furnace to be heated seven times hotter than usual and that the men be thrown into it fully dressed and bound, and without further ado.
We can only imagine what was going through the minds and hearts of SM&A while they were being hauled off to their fiery end by the king’s brutes. Whatever it was, it caught God’s attention, and he immediately sent his angel to protect the faithful trio, who ultimately emerged unscathed, unsinged, and even fresh-smelling from their trial. Humbled by what he’d witnessed, the king then decreed that anyone who spoke anything amiss against God should be dealt with accordingly.
All’s well that ends well, certainly, but I believe there’s a deeper lesson to be learned here than simply that God comes to the rescue of those who are faithful to him or that God gives you exactly what you’re asking for in prayer. In their statement to Nebuchadnezzar, SM&A not only pointed out that God was indeed able to save them from the furnace, if he so chose, but that even if God chose not to save them from the furnace, they would still remain loyal to him. In stating this, SM&A were showing that they were not putting any conditions on God or making assumptions about what he would or would not do: they were only stating what he was capable of and affirming that their loyalty and submission would remain to God and to God only, regardless of how their trial played out.
My dear fellow born-again believers – this is the crux of our faith: that we stand on the witness of our heart, not our eyes, and that we put no conditions on God or make assumptions about what he will or will not do for us. We love God and are loyal to him because we love him and are loyal to him. Full stop. We don’t stop loving him (that is, give up on him and turn from him to worship other gods) if he doesn’t deliver us from our trials in the way we think we should be delivered, or if he doesn’t deliver our loved ones from their trials.
We put no conditions on God. That, I believe, is the deeper lesson taught to us by the fiery trial of SM&A. Yes, they were delivered by God who showed he was well and easily able to do so, but even if he hadn’t delivered them (like he didn’t deliver Isaiah from being sawn in half or he didn’t deliver Jesus from being crucified), their faith (I believe) would have remained sure.
We stand on the witness of our heart, not our eyes. We love God with everything we have and everything we are and submit fully to him and to him only not because of what he can do for us, but because he is. That’s the first and what Jesus called the greatest Commandment.
If you’re not there yet in your faith, you need to get there, and the sooner the better.
ARE YOU HELPING FOR GOOD OR IN VAIN?
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, January 17, 2024 – Jesus spent his entire ministry helping people. In fact, helping people was the reason God sent him. As Jesus’ followers, we also have that same impulse baked into us to help people: It’s part of who and what we are as Christians: we can’t help but help. Certainly, helping people is a good thing in and of itself, but we need to remember that Jesus didn’t just go around randomly helping people for the sake of it; he waited for God to show him who he was to help and how he was to do it, and then he helped them.
I was reminded of this when I read an article the other day about a homeless encampment in suburban Halifax. The camp has been growing for months on an unused baseball diamond and has gained some notoriety through constant media coverage. The fall-out from all the publicity is that members of the general public – including some local churches – have started dropping off “donations” to the homeless at the camp. These are usually in the form of food, gift cards, clothing, tents, sleeping bags and other camping items, and personal care products. Some people also drop off cash.
The reason the camp was in the news on that particular day is that a drug dealer had set up camp (literally, in a trailer) next to the homeless encampment. Using the camp as his cover, he’d been plying his trade for months. When the dealer was arrested and his trailer seized, the police found hundreds of gift cards as well as unused winter clothing, sleeping bags, tents, and other items with street value. The police also found a large amount of cash.
While no witnesses have come forward to attest to the homeless people at the camp trading their donated goods for drugs, the evidence is overwhelming. Thinking they were helping the homeless, the people who’d dropped off donations were in fact only helping the drug trade and enabling the drug-addicted homeless to sink deeper into their own personal mire. In other words, they were making a bad situation worse.
What the general public chooses to do is their business, and I would never tell them who or how to help. It’s not my job to do that. But what Christians do or don’t do is very much my business. We’re here to help each other as much as we’re here to help non-Christians. Please allow me, then, to offer you a gentle reminder (for those who need it) about the importance of helping people the way Jesus helped them and the way God invites us to help them.
First and foremost – wait for God to show you who and how to help. If you wait for God to show you, he will also enable you, and the help you provide will be blessed. When your help is enabled and blessed by God, it won’t end up in the hands of a drug dealer. It won’t make the situation worse. If you wait for God to specifically tell you who needs the help and how you can help them, you will genuinely be blessing people.
Secondly but just as importantly, “don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing”. In other words, don’t make a big show of your help. Don’t blow a horn and announce your help. Just do it.
And thirdly, let people know you’re happy to help them in any way you’re able to help them, and then leave the offer with them. Don’t force your help on anyone or guilt them into thinking they need your help. Wait for them to come to you. If they come to you, God has brought them to you, and God will help you help them.
I worked for a major international Christian charity several years ago on a short-term contract, coordinating the charity’s volunteers at Christmas time. My office was on the main floor of the main building, so I got to see all the comings and goings of the charity’s interactions with the general public. A few weeks before Christmas, an elderly woman dropped off a garbage bag full of mittens and hats she’d knitted over the past year, intended for the homeless and needy (there was a homeless shelter attached to the main building). She’d brought her donations to the charity assuming that the charity would then dispense the items to people who could use them. This was a tradition for the woman, that she’d donate a garbage bag full of her labours every year just before Christmas. The charity staff made a big deal of thanking her for her donation and waved her out the door. Then one of the staff took the bag of mittens and hats upstairs.
A few weeks later, just after Christmas, I was rummaging through one of the storage rooms to find a pair of winter boots for someone at the hostel, when lo and behold I stumbled across dozens of dusty garbage bags full of handknit mittens and hats, moldering in the dampness. By the looks of it, none of the woman’s donations over the years had gone any farther than that storage room, and now they were no good to anyone.
One of the most sobering parables in the Bible is the one about the people who’d attended church and performed miracles and preached in Jesus’ name but who were shut out of Heaven because they’d done all these things on their own volition. When we rush to help people without God’s prompting and guidance and without God’s blessing, we aren’t helping them in any real way and are likely only making things worse. As Christians, our job is to help people, but we need to help them as God guides us, in his way and in his timing. When we rush to help people just for the sake of helping them, our efforts are not unlike those who claimed to preach in Jesus’ name but who preached in vain because God hadn’t sent them.
David’s advice to “wait on the Lord” (Psalm 27) is as applicable to helping people as it is to every other aspect of our lives.
I KEEP THE SABBATH FOR MY BENEFIT, NOT FOR GOD’S
********** A repost and a reminder for those who may need it! **********
FROM THE HEART: THE CONVERSION OF THE PRIEST IN THE EXORCIST
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 20, 2023 – Growing up an atheist, I loved watching horror films. One of my favourites was The Exorcist, which I saw several times. I didn’t know then what drew me to that particular film (or why I cheered for the demon rather than the little girl [lol]), but now I know. I also recall being struck by certain scenes which have stuck with me ever since. These weren’t the more infamous scenes, like the head-spinning or levitation, but rather (and oddly, in retrospect) quieter moments that were not at all demonic.
One of these quiet scenes that struck me and then stuck with me over the years was where the priest pours his bottle of liquor down the drain. He’d been having a crisis of faith and had turned to alcohol as a comfort. But after he witnessed Regan’s full-on demonic possession, his crisis came to a screeching halt and out the booze went in one fell swoop. He’d been instantaneously and miraculously healed of his alcoholism.
I recalled this scene tonight when I was reading some comments under a YouTube video. The comments were from people who claimed to be born-again but were fighting addictions such as alcohol or drugs. I couldn’t help but think that if these people truly were born-again and therefore truly believed not only in God but in the existence of evil, they would know first and foremost to go to God for help, and he would help them. That was my first thought.
My second thought was the scene in The Exorcist where the priest pours his liquor down the drain. I remember how the tenor of the movie shifted after that scene. In layman’s terms, “sh*t got real”, and what had been for the priest a theoretical belief became a real belief. He’d witnessed evil so up close and personal that he could no longer deny its existence. In witnessing evil face-to-face, he finally came to believe in everything he’d been taught in seminary; that is, he finally believed in God.
When the God-penny dropped for the priest and he became a believer, nothing else mattered to him but acting on that belief. He’d already been equipped with the tools of his priestly trade so he knew what he had to do to deal with the demon, and off he immediately went to do it.
What does this priest have to do with us? Well, comparing this scene in the movie with the comments I read on YouTube, I’m wondering how many people who say they’re born-again actually believe in God. Because, to my mind, if they actually believed in God, they’d be like the priest who just poured the booze down the drain and that was that. No more addiction. I guess what I’m trying to say is that many people seem to have a head belief in God but not a heart belief. They want to believe, they think they believe, but their lives and their fears belie their belief.
When you truly believe in God, you’re like Jesus. You’re like Moses after he saw the burning bush. You’re like Elijah or any of the prophets in the Old Testament. You’re like Paul. What I mean is that God is your whole life and doing his will is what motivates you. You don’t have to force yourself to do it, like an obligation – you want to do it. You might even have to be held back for a time, like Jesus was, so strong is your desire to serve God.
Yes, you might still want to do things that you want to do, but if they’re not God’s will for you, you don’t do them. You don’t even think about doing them after God lets you know they’re not his will for you. If you truly believe in God with a heart belief rather than just a head belief, then you don’t have addictions. Why? Because an addiction is an idol that you worship and bow down to. You cannot bow down to an idol and truly believe in God at the same time. It’s not possible.
That quiet scene with the priest pouring his beloved booze down the drain shows what it means to truly believe in God, which is why I’m of the opinion that most people who say they believe, don’t actually believe.
I haven’t watched The Exorcist since I was born-again 23 years ago. Maybe I should watch it again, just to check that scene, to make sure it was as I represented it here. One thing I do know for sure, though, if I do decide to watch the movie again – I won’t be cheering for the demon this time! 😊
WHY WE WORSHIP GOD
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, May 20, 2023 – An unbeliever asked me yesterday why God needs us to worship him, which is an excellent question. You can always count on unbelievers to ask the hardest-hitting and most uncompromising questions. The short answer I gave him is that God doesn’t need us to worship him; he doesn’t need anything from us. We need to worship him, and to do so for our own benefit, not for his.
When we worship God, we benefit.
Case in point. I had an unsettling dream last night that left me with an accusing mindset when I woke up. Still half asleep, I was mulling over the dream in my mind when I heard a choir of what I can only assume were angels singing a song of worship to God. I listened for a few seconds and then I couldn’t help but join in. It was a very simple and very catchy tune (it just went up and down the scale) with very simple lyrics, so I picked it up fast. As soon as I started singing, the accusing mindset melted away and the unsettled feeling resolved into joy.
Glory!
Glory all together!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Glory all together! Praise the Lord!
In the name of Jesus!
Praise the Lord!
This is why we worship God. When we praise him, his joy finds an outlet through our worship, however we choose to express it. When we worship God, it opens all our spiritual doors and windows, enabling his Spirit to work powerfully through us. While it’s true that God’s Spirit is always with us born-again believers (if God’s Spirit isn’t with us, we aren’t born-again), praising and worshiping God – especially through singing – amps up the measure of the Spirit God has given each of us. It doubles, triples, quadruples our measure of God’s Spirit during the time of worship, which is why people who love God love to worship God – it just feels good!
Worshiping God is the best thing we can do for ourselves, which is why God made worshiping (loving) him the first and foremost of his Commandments. Worshiping God is also the highest form of spiritual warfare: It steers us away from thinking things we shouldn’t by resolving any enmity we might have in our heart and putting our focus squarely on God.
So the next time someone asks you why an omnipotent God needs us to worship him, tell that person God doesn’t need anything from us; we need everything from him, especially his joy, which he’s made us to receive simply by worshiping him.
Glory!
Glory all together!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Glory all together! Praise the Lord!
In the name of Jesus!
Praise the Lord!
(* Repeat as many times as you need to!)
“COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE!”: A WORD ON THE INVASION
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, May 10, 2023 – Just before God delivers his judgement on a nation and a people, he sends his prophets to warn them. The closer to the point of judgement, the more powerful the prophet. And so we see Abraham intervening for Sodom, Moses pleading with Pharaoh, Jeremiah railing at the Judeans, and Jesus clashing with the temple elders.
Along with sending his prophets, God also warns his people in other ways. Some of these are listed in Ezekiel 7:21-24:
“I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil…. My face will I turn also from them…. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen and they shall possess their houses… and their holy places shall be defiled.”
Chief among these warnings is the mass invasions by “the worst of the heathen”.
No-one can deny that the spiritually worst of the worst are making their way to formerly Christian nations. As some politicians have dryly quipped, “they’re not sending their best and brightest”. But the invasion, which began as a trickle shortly after WWII and has since swelled to a tsunami, is organized, initiated, and permitted by God. It’s the collective just desserts of a fallen Christendom; in other words, former Christian nations have it coming, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.
This is not an anti-immigrant or anti-refugee rant; this is a take-off-your-blinders-and-see-what’s-really-going-on-here exposé, aimed at God’s Church. The most important take-away is that no-one can halt the invasion, as it’s been earned by those countries being targeted by the invaders. What God put in motion, no-one can stop. It’s God’s perfect justice in action.
There was a time when God’s backslidden people could have put on sackcloth and ashes and repented their way out of this situation, like the people of Nineveh, but that time is long gone. Once the tap has been opened full throttle and the invaders are pouring over the borders in numbers too great even to count, it’s too late. The window of opportunity to appeal to God’s mercy has slammed shut and there is no other exit.
How do we, as God’s people, deal with the invasion? First, we need to see it for what it is on a spiritual level and understand what it indicates, as I’ve explained above. There’s no stopping it, and even criticizing it means you’re working against God. Don’t do that. Secondly, you need to decide whether you want to live in the midst of the invasion or separate yourself from it. Being a child of God, you have that choice.
Jeremiah tried to warn his people to turn from their sins or they would lose everything God had given them since their arrival in the promised land. Instead of heeding his warning, they doubled down on their perversions and accused Jeremiah of being a turncoat (aiding and abetting the enemy). But God had instructed Jeremiah to plead with his people to surrender, as the destruction of Jerusalem would proceed as planned, with God himself fighting against his own people. The only ones who’d survive this horror were those who did as Jeremiah instructed.
We in the Western world are now in the same position as were the children of Israel just before their defeat. The more we support the godless West and its perversions, the more we call damnation down on ourselves and end up fighting against God. The last thing that we should be doing as born-again believers is fighting against God, even in support of our home country. Yet we shouldn’t be supporting the enemies of the West, either. We should support neither side, since the worldly powers-that-be are under Satan, and we don’t want to align with Satan.
Instead, we should remove ourselves to a small, quiet, out-of-the-way place, like Jeremiah did and like Lot did, and let God enact his judgement when and where it’s due. This is why God says to “Come out of her, my people!”. He doesn’t want his children to remain in spiritual Babylon and suffer the same reward as those who brought the punishment on themselves. We not only have the choice to flee spiritual Babylon so as not to “share” in her punishments, we have the obligation to flee.
In other words, “Come out of her, my people!” is not a plea; it’s a command.
Again, this is not an anti-immigrant rant. It’s an exhortation in support of God’s justice and judgement. The current massive waves of people into the Western world are calculated not only to destroy the economy of the West, but also to destroy its cultural cohesion, quality of life, food supply, services provision, etc., and yet this destruction has God’s seal of approval. Scripture warns that the “worst of the heathen” will be living in our houses and so they are. The West chose to live a godless life, and this is what a godless life looks like: God removing his blessings from his people and giving them to the enemy.
Knowing all this, how are we to proceed?
We need to accept God’s judgement as just, not fight against it. We need to remove ourselves from the flash points and take refuge. We cannot stop what is already in motion, but we can choose to survive it and live to preach another day.
*****
The verses in Ezekiel quoted at the beginning of this article are followed by what I consider the darkest passage in scripture. I’ve written about it here. Ezekiel 9 shows God moving beyond mercy to judgement.
This shift is now underway in former Christian nations, and this is your final warning: Get out of spiritual Babylon while you still can or suffer the same fate as God’s enemies.
GOT TALENT? A TIMELY REMINDER TO USE IT, NOT BURY IT
NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario, December 15, 2022 – When I was four years old, I loved watching figure skaters on TV.
I wanted to be just like them, so my parents bought me a pair of skates and my mother would take me to the local arena. She would glide around the periphery and I would mostly just slip-slide along the boards, holding onto them and trying not to fall down.
In one of our visits to the arena, I decided I wanted to jump like the figure skaters on TV.
So I slip-slided over to the centre of the ice and I jumped.
The next thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back, howling in shock. I don’t remember exactly how I got down there, but it was nothing like the jump landings I’d seen on TV. A kindly man helped me onto my feet and brushed the snow off my back. Then my mother, alerted by my howls, skated over to me and took me home.
As the years passed, I continued to skate, but I wasn’t a talented figure skater. I took lessons and learned how to be good at the basics, but I could never jump and spin due to balance issues, and my later vision problems threw off my hand-eye coordination, so I wasn’t much of an athlete. I’m OK with that now, because I know in Heaven (if I make it) I’ll have perfect athleticism. That’s what I’m holding out for: to learn how to figure skate in Heaven.
But four-year-old me knew nothing about Heaven. All she knew was that she wanted to do something that she had no ability to do. Even then, at such a tender age, I understood that no matter how hard I trained, I would not be able to skate like the figure skaters on TV. I just didn’t have the talent for it.
God gives us all talents. We all have something we’re naturally good at. The trick is to find what that is and then work on it. I worked on figure skating and became a competent skater, but I still couldn’t jump or spin: I could only glide gracefully around and around, backwards and forwards, in circles.
Skating wasn’t a talent God gave me. It was something I worked at, but it wasn’t a talent. In the body of Christ, which is God’s Kingdom on Earth (otherwise known as the Church founded by Jesus), we all have a God-given talent that we’re good at and that we’re expected to invest in the Kingdom. That talent is something we’re completely comfortable with and doesn’t feel like work. It’s as natural to us as breathing, and no matter how long or how often we do it, we never tire of it.
Jesus found his several talents in teaching and preaching and healing and casting out demons. He’d learned how to be a carpenter, but that wasn’t his talent. He was probably pretty skilled at carpentry work, having learned it from his dad from a very young age, but being a carpenter was not what he’d been called to do. He was called to heal the sick, cast out evil, and teach and preach God’s Word. Because he was called to do these things, he was given the talent to do them, which meant that he was able to do them night and day and never tire of doing them.
That, ultimately, is what a talent is – a God-given, God-driven, and God-fueled ability to do your calling. It’s that thing you do well that you then need to put to the service of the Kingdom. Paul reminds us that there are many different parts of the body of Christ, and that each part works in tandem with the others, the way organs and systems in a body work together. We can’t all be eyes or ears or gall bladders in the body of Christ, or it would be a pretty funny-looking Church.
What’s your talent? Some of us are good at teaching. Some are good at charity work. Some are good at ministering to the poor and homeless. Some are good at witnessing. Some are good at ministering to the elderly, and some are good at ministering to children. Some are good at listening and advising. Some are good at working quietly behind the scenes. Some are good at healing. Some are good at casting out spirits, some are good at Bible research, and some are good at preaching. These are just a few of the talents within the body of Christ.
Have you found your talent yet? If so, are you investing it in the Kingdom? When I was first born-again, I thought I had to do everything – charity work, teaching, preaching, witnessing, ministering to the poor, etc. None of these things were my talents, so I kind of bombed at them. I also felt out of place doing them, which was very discouraging to me. I didn’t feel forced to do them; I just assumed I had to do them. I later realized I was wrong, and I learned first-hand that God doesn’t expect us to do what we’re not good at. Being a follower of Jesus is not a “to do” list: It’s a calling.
God doesn’t want us pursuing activities in the Kingdom that are not our talents. He doesn’t want us slip-sliding along the boards, holding onto them for dear life, or falling flat on our backs the minute we try to step out to do something we’re not equipped to do. And he also doesn’t want us to work at something for years and years just to have the ability to skate around and around in circles, going nowhere.
The talent that God’s given you is what he expects you to pursue, not the things you see others doing and so want to do yourself. A talent is also not something that you can do competently enough but just competently enough. God doesn’t want you wasting your time on those things. He’s given you at least one talent, and he expects you to use it in the service of his Kingdom, like Jesus did. If you choose to do that, God will work through you and give you success in your efforts. All he asks of you is a willingness to invest the talent he’s given you back into the Kingdom.
I hope you choose to do that. I hope you find your talent (or talents) and go for it. We need all hands on deck in the Kingdom these days. Don’t bury your talent and don’t waste whatever time you have left on Earth pursuing things that are not your talent. Let the parable (below) and my four-year-old howling self be your warning.
(And for you literalists out there, yes, I’m aware that the parable is about money, but it’s also applicable to abilities.)
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For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:14-30
HAVE YOU BEEN DUPED BY A FALSE PROPHET?
NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario, October 19, 2022 – It’s easy to fool the gullible, and unfortunately most people who consider themselves Christians are highly gullible. Why is that? Because of those who consider themselves Christians, most are not actually Christian, and of those who are, many don’t know scripture and/or don’t know God.
We, as born-again believers, should be none of the above, and if we are, we need to attend to it immediately.
I do not name names here. God knows who the false prophets are; no need to name and shame them. Suffice to say if they charge you money for books or videos that (allegedly) teach you about God’s Kingdom, they’re false prophets. If they solicit donations for any type of project, they’re false prophets. If they solicit donations for their ministry, they’re false prophets. If they charge you even an honorarium to preach at your church or organization, they’re false prophets.
Many will come with grandiose stories of how they became followers of Jesus. They also come with equally grandiose stories of their sordid past, which they unhesitatingly share in gory detail. Rather than simply to say “I was a sinner”, they provide enough background information to write a novel. It’s as if they’re proud of how ‘bad’ they were. Those who genuinely reborn don’t want to talk about how they used to be. They’re ashamed of it. That part of them is dead and gone and buried. It suffices for the genuinely born-again to say “I did horrible things”, and to let the rest be.
I came across a video yesterday featuring a false prophet. As soon as he opened his mouth, I knew he wasn’t speaking on God’s authority. He claimed to be a former Satanist, and yet I had the distinct impression that he still served the dark powers. Everything he said was like a punchline rather than a revelation. He provided immense detail on his years as a Satanist. This should not be. We do not need to know any details about Satanism, and yet this man’s testimony could easily pique the interest of those who are weak in faith. His testimony was like a peephole into Satanism, whereas if he were genuinely reborn, it should be like a brick wall or a bulwark barring even the mention of the term.
It is easy to fall under the spell of someone who claims to have been saved from the clutches of the evil one. We want to rejoice with a newfound brother or sister and to welcome them into the family. We want to share our love of God and Jesus with those who likewise want to share their love with us. And yet our desire to see God’s saving grace working through people in real time makes us vulnerable to deception.
Which is why Jesus warned us that “many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” and Paul advised us to test the spirits. We should never simply take someone at his or her word, no matter how successful or established the ministry or how sincere the false prophet claims to be. Jesus says that the Way is narrow and few find it, and that we’d know them by their fruit. What is the fruit of the false prophet? Nearly always mammon. Everything they do is done with the intention of gathering more adherents, as more adherents translates into more money.
Too many Christians today are bedazzled by seeming angels of light, but this is not a new phenomenon; Paul was dealing with it already 2000 years ago. Test the spirits. Take no-one at their word; compare their testimony against scripture. If something seems “off” about someone, it’s probably because it is. We live in an age of great deception, and followers of Jesus are the primary targets.
But what is the end goal of false prophets, beyond acquiring wealth and fame? Satan uses them to lure believers into accepting false teachings. He also uses them to lure believers away from reading the Bible for themselves and to focus on the false prophet rather than on God and Jesus. The mission of the deceived then becomes to serve the false prophet and the false prophet’s church or organization rather than to serve God as a follower of Jesus. Ultimately, the purpose of a false prophet is to lure souls away from God, especially born-again ones.
Are you under the spell of a false prophet? I was, years ago, as a very young born-again believer. I bought the books and the videos, I made the “love donations”, I faithfully watched all the programs on TV and attended the daily services until little by little, what I saw didn’t add up (or rather, what I saw added up to something that didn’t align with scripture or my own personal experience as a convert). That’s the thing about false prophets – they’ll always give themselves away, sooner or later. They’re a test as much as a temptation, and it’s up to us to discern them as such.
Don’t be ashamed if you’ve fallen for the wiles of a false prophet. They’re very good at what they do. Our essential human impulse is to give people the benefit of the doubt, which is why psychopaths have such an easy run. Keep in mind, too, that many false prophets sincerely believe in what they’re doing, not as believers, but as people who are (as they see it) giving hope and spreading joy, using Jesus and God as their shtick.
In the end, God can use anything to our benefit, including false prophets. My firsthand experience in falling for false prophets actually drove me to read the Old Testament for myself (rather than to rely on others to spoon-feed it to me) after I’d realized I’d been deceived. Likewise, I got to know God as my Dad only after I ran screaming from institutionalized false prophecy. It’s as if the devil was betting that he’d get me back and God was telling him to dream on, knowing that my desire for Truth would eventually override my gullibility to snake-oil salesmen. And God was right (when is he ever not?). My personal experience with false prophets became for me a cautionary tale and learning experience that God ultimately used to draw me closer to him and to warn others.
If you’re adhering to a ministry that requires you (or guilts you) at any level to fund it, you’re in the clutches of a false prophet. No genuine minister of God requires anyone to pay money to hear his Word and learn from Jesus. God doesn’t even require “free will donations”, as so many false prophets like to phrase it. If God wants you to sow financial seeds into a ministry, he’ll prompt you to do so in his time and in his way; everything else comes from the devil. It’s not a coincidence that of all the followers who could have been in charge of the money bag, it was Judas Iscariot, who also, according to scripture, stole from it.
As Jesus tells us, you cannot serve God and mammon. Every false prophet serves mammon, and they don’t hide it. Just look on their website and see what you can buy or donate. They want you to buy and/or donate – that’s the whole purpose of their ministry.
“B-b-but they do good work! Look at the orphanage they’re running in [fill in the blank]! Look at how they’re inspiring people to be better [fill in the blank]!” That’s precisely why they fit the definition of angels of light. Jesus talks about those at the judgment who are shocked not to be numbered among the saved, as they’d held and attended services and even performed miracles. Yet despite this, Jesus says he never knew them. God does not know false prophets, which means he hasn’t sent them to preach and teach. “By their fruits shall ye know them.” For false prophets, whether institutionalized or independent, it’s all about the money, and you can discern that just by checking out their website or attending a service. Somewhere, at some point, money will be requested. That is the false prophet’s calling card.
It’s not something to be ashamed of, to have been tricked into supporting a false prophet for a time. We’ve all fallen for the smooth words and soulful confessions of at least one of them. But if you know or suspect that a ministry you’re supporting is a false prophet and you continue to support it, then you’ll be answerable for it.
Better to stand alone and true to God than to sit in the congregation of the deceived.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 