Home » Posts tagged 'Bible' (Page 2)
Tag Archives: Bible
SPIRITUAL RAPE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, December 22, 2015 – When tempting Eve, Satan seduced her by telling her exactly what she wanted to hear.
He flattered her; he claimed to be on her side, fighting for her rights.
He promised that everything would get better and better if she would only believe what he was telling her and do everything he told her to do.
He spoke her pain aloud in words that resonated with her, and then offered her a quick fix.
Deceit is mental rape. Deceit pins you down and tries to force you to accept lies. Just like rape is a show of power rather than desire, deceit aims to fool you first, and then to rule over you.
Don’t be spiritually raped.
Jesus warned us that many would come in his name and that there would be many false prophets. Some of these would even claim to be the Messiah. He said he was warning us in advance so that when these spiritual rapists appeared, we would not only know not to fall for their cunning lies, but we would remember that we’d been warned.
Note that Jesus didn’t say: “It’ll be super-awesome, guys! Towards the end, more and more and more people will believe in God. All around the world, people of all faiths will join hands. We’ll all become one. It will be a golden age of peace!”
No, he didn’t say that. He warned us that false prophets would usher in a false peace and that their deceptive signs and wonders (performed through the supernatural power of demons) might fool even genuine born-agains. He also told us that when he does come back, he’s staying just long enough to gather the few remaining true believers and then get the heck back to Heaven.
He’s not staying here to set up a “millennial kingdom” because the millennial kingdom is already here.
******
Everything I know about God and Jesus I learned directly from God, Jesus, and the Bible. So imagine my confusion when I started to hear about the “pre-tribulation rapture” and the “post-tribulation millennial kingdom”, mostly from online forums. I knew these doctrines – now widespread and accepted by mainstream Christianity – were not in the Bible. If they were not in the Bible, they weren’t from God.
Jesus’ kingdom is here and now. “Jesus is Lord” here and now. Jesus’ thousand-year rule (in God-time) is happening here and now. When Jesus comes back at the very end of time, he’s not even touching down on Earth. He’ll be “in the clouds”, and he’ll send his angels to gather the few remaining believers just before the final cataclysm destroys Earth.
Jesus has done his run here. He has no intention of coming back as a human, not even as “king” of a global government. People who believe otherwise do not know God, Jesus, or scripture. People who believe that Jesus is coming back to set up an earthly kingdom are demonically inspired to believe so. Pray for them, but don’t be deceived.
If it’s not in the Bible and if it’s not supported by biblical reference and cross-reference, then it’s likely not true. If in doubt, ask God and Jesus yourself. As born-agains, you have that option.
Don’t be deceived. The deceived are on the broad path that leads to a false global peace and ultimate destruction. The deceived are being spiritually raped.
Don’t walk with the deceived, even if it means you walk alone.
HOW TO GET HOME
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, December 3, 2015 – As a born-again, the purpose of your time here on Earth is to do whatever it takes to make it home to Heaven. The way to get there is The Way that Jesus showed us. Here’s a summary of the four most important points that you need to take to heart AND DO if you want to make it home.
First and foremost, you must put God first and foremost. Jesus said that this was the most important commandment. If your earthly family and friends and their needs and wants are more important to you than God, then you won’t make it home. Remember Jesus saying to the guy who wanted to attend his father’s funeral “Let the dead bury the dead; come follow me”? Remember Jesus clearly defining “family” as those who do the will of God? He said: “Who is my mother? Who is my brother? Those who do the will of my Father in Heaven are my mother, my sister, and my brother.” It might come across as harsh, but Jesus meant it to sound so. He meant to shake people up and remind them what their priority should be.
You are either aligned with the world or you’re aligned with God. You can’t be both.
The world is very good at tempting us to forget about our purpose. It sidetracks us, demonizes us, perverts scripture, and even tries to redefine what it means to be a born-again Christian. God permits all this because it is part of our test: He wants to know if we truly want what we say we want. It’s all well and good to claim that you want to follow Jesus and live a “Christian life” (whatever that means), but when things get tough, do you get tougher or do you just wimp out? Scripture says that most will ‘fall away’ from God. You don’t get a third chance if you fall away this time around. Being born-again is already your second and last chance. God didn’t have to give us a second chance, but he did so out of love for us. We all screwed up the first time and fell for the lies of Satan. We rebelled against God. Don’t do it again. Always put God first, even if it means you must suffer and die for it.
Secondly, you must go out in the world and preach the Good News. You must. That’s not just a suggestion; that’s an order from Jesus, who was handing it on from God. How you choose to do the preaching is between you and God, but my advice is DON’T DO IT FOR MONEY. Freely you have received from God, freely you give. The so-called churches that have appropriated the gospel for their own purposes ALL preach for money. They water down and twist God’s Word so as not to alienate any potential customers, but they do this to their own detriment. Don’t be like them. Jesus never preached or taught for money. Be like Jesus.
Thirdly, you must endure to the end. Being born-again is not a first-class ticket to Heaven. It’s a means to getting that ticket, but it’s not a ticket in itself. The Jews thought that being children of Abraham meant they had a guaranteed ticket to Heaven, and Jesus told them they were wrong. Christians or born-agains who think their state of grace is all it takes to get to Heaven are just as wrong at the Jews who thought their Jewishness was enough. Jesus very, very clear in this regard: THOSE WHO ENDURE TO THE END WILL BE SAVED. Just because you’re in a state of grace now doesn’t mean that you’ll die in a state of grace, and those who do not die in a state of grace will not make it to Heaven.
Jesus is very, very clear about that, too, when he says that we MUST be born-again to get to Heaven. Being born-again means being in a state of grace. Grace can be lost, not by a decision of God but as an outcome of our own choices. If you consciously and persistently choose against God’s will, you will lose your grace. If you do something that might appear to be “good” in your own eyes but God says not to do it and you go ahead and do it anyway – that’s sin. God’s spirit cannot dwell in the same soul as sin. Paul spoke about it, as did Jesus. If you lose grace, there is no way to get it back. Jesus said that losing grace is even worse than not having it in the first place – the house that was swept clean is later inhabited by more and worse demons than it was the first time around. Jesus said it would have been better for that person never to have been born.
Fourth and final – you must shake people up. Jesus did it, and so must we. He said he wasn’t come to bring peace to the world but a sword that will divide families and make enemies of unbelievers. The chief characteristic of those who are unbelievers is that they are asleep. We need to wake them up. It’s better for them to hate us and maybe someday turn and embrace God, than for them to keep sleeping and never turn. If they hate us, there’s hope for them. I used to hate born-agains, and look at me now!
God put his laws into everyone’s hearts. That means every soul here on Earth today has God’s laws engraved on their souls. They all crave what we crave – to do God’s will and to go home to Heaven – but their craving is stifled by their self-inflicted pain of sin. We’re not going to shake them out of their sleepy stupor or shock them out of their self-absorbed pity by tip-toeing around and trying not to offend anyone. Remember Jesus’ conversation with the Samarian woman at the well? He didn’t hide his Jewishness or the fact that he was the Messiah, even though Samarians and Jews were not supposed to socialize in those days. If everyone who knows us doesn’t know that we’re born-again followers of Jesus, we’re doing something terribly wrong. We’re God’s representatives here on Earth, just as Jesus was. Jesus didn’t tip-toe around, not for anyone’s sake, and neither should we.
So go ahead – get spat on, be called a bigot and crazy and narrow-minded, be an outcast from your family and friends, lose your job, get driven from your hometown, and get arrested for preaching God’s Word. If you suffer all this solely for being a born-again follower of Jesus, then congratulations, my friend! You are well and truly on The Way home.
HEAVEN SEVEN
BEDFORD, Nova Scotia, October 28, 2015 – As born-agains, the spiritual tools we value the most, use the most, and need the most have no place in Heaven.
Imagine that!
The Ten Commandments are obsolete.
The directives God gave us through Jesus don’t apply.
We don’t have to pray.
And there aren’t even any Bibles (King James or otherwise).
Imagine that!
Faith, hope and charity have value only in this life.
We don’t need faith in Heaven because, as Paul told us, we’ll see and know God fully as he is.
We won’t need hope, either, because we’ll have everything we want and there won’t be any adversities to overcome.
And we won’t need charity, the self-less love that’s expressed by obedience to God’s will. There won’t be any need for charity in Heaven because we’ll all have the mind of God, so we’ll all be doing God’s will automatically.
As for praying, we won’t need to do that any more because we won’t have to talk to God and Jesus in faith, trusting they hear us; we’ll be able to talk to them face-to-face.
So you see, there’s no ‘faith, hope and charity’ or praying in Heaven because there’s no need for them.
And there’s no free will, either (to which I say: THANK GOD FOR THAT!).
I’m glad God gave me free will, but I’ll be even gladder to kiss that double-edged mother good-bye.
It’s caused me a lot of problems.
Bye-bye, free will!
Bye-bye, Bible!
Bye-bye, faith hope and charity!
Bye-bye, loving your enemies!
Bye-bye to everything but God’s will and God’s goodness, because that’s all we’ll need when we arrive in Heaven. God will provide us with everything else, just like he provides for us on Earth.
And the last thing we’ll say good-bye to is good-bye itself, because there are never any partings in Heaven. Everything and everyone are there to stay.
SPIRITUAL SLOB
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, August 9, 2015 – Are you a spiritual slob?
A pew potato?
Do you just sit there passively sucking in what other people say about God’s kingdom without discerning whether or not what they’re saying is true?
Mainstream Christianity is bloated with spiritual slobs. But the good news for said slobs and all those who say they believe in Jesus but live their lives as if they don’t is that they don’t have to stay that way.
They can change.
They can get spiritually fit for God’s kingdom.
Here’s how:
- Pick up the Bible and read it for yourself. I’m guessing that some of you reading this haven’t read the Bible in years, if at all. So go ahead – find the nearest Bible, open it up to Genesis, and start reading. Read the Old Testament and read the New Testament. Read it until it starts to make sense to you and makes sense of the world. Do not stop reading until you get to that point, and then keep reading until it makes complete and total sense to you and makes complete and total sense of the world. And then keep reading it every day until the day you die.
- Stop going to organized religion services. People who sit in the pews of religious services are pew potatoes. DON’T BE A PEW POTATO. There is nothing worse than a pew potato. God called them “lukewarm” and spewed them out of his mouth like so much rancid vichyssoise. Don’t get spewed out of God’s mouth. Get off that pew and out of that building they call a “church”. If you’re reading this, you should be born again; if you’re born again, you shouldn’t be parking your arse in a pew. You should be out here in cyberland or out there in physical space preaching the Good News. You don’t preach with your arse parked in a pew. If your arse is parked in a pew, you’re a pew potato. There’s no other way to say it. Better to face facts now then to find out on Judgment Day, when it’s too late to do anything about it.
- Get to know God as your Dad. If you don’t have the same close and loving relationship with God as Jesus had (he called God “Abba”, which is “Daddy”), then you’ve missed the spiritual boat. In fact, you’re not even on the wharf or anywhere near the water. I spent the first 3 years of my rebirth knowing God only through a priest. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME. Don’t be like I was. You can’t get to know God through someone else. You can know ABOUT God through someone else, but that’s not the same as knowing God one-on-one as your loving and omni-present Dad. There is no greater relationship that a human being can enter into than to know God as “Dad”. Nothing beats it. Nothing. If you don’t yet know God as your Dad, for the sake of all that’s good and holy, turn off your computer right now and get to know him already today. NOW. Tomorrow might be too late.
- Stop worrying about what the world worries about. Stop worrying about your health. Stop worrying about your finances. Stop worrying about what people think of you. Stop worrying about politics. Stop worrying about what your spouse or kids or parents or siblings or neighbours or friends are worrying about. Stop worrying about everything. Jesus said we have only one thing to worry about: SEEK YE FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, and everything that you would otherwise worry about will supernaturally be supplied and/or resolved (by God). Focus on God and his kingdom that is here, now, all around us and inside those who are born again. Treat ALL people as you want to be treated. Love your enemies. Follow the Commandments. Preach the word. Choose to forgive. THAT’S what it means to seek the kingdom of God. Do that, and everything else will fade into insignificance. That’s a promise from God.
- Build your faith step by step by choosing what you know is God’s will. We all make mistakes. We all sometimes wander down a path that we realize only after the fact is not what God wants for us. If you’ve found you’ve done that, it’s not too late to get back on track. Some day it might be (don’t tempt God’s patience), but for now, there’s still time. The more you do what you know in your heart is God’s will (see #4 above), your faith with grow. The greater your faith grows, the easier it will be to do God’s will, and the closer you will grow to God (see #3). The greater your faith and the closer you grow to God, the easier it is to do his will, and so on, and so on, and so on. This is how Jesus built his faith. He wasn’t born with it; he built it, day by day, choice by choice. So can you.
I know that if you’re reading this you don’t want to be a spiritual slob. You don’t have to be. You can get spiritually fit with as much vigor and focus and success as the world gets physically fit. It’s not hard. God does most of the slogging. All you have to do is make the first step, and God will take it from there.
Do it.
NOW.
Come Judgment Day, you’ll be glad you did.
“PUT YOUR SWORD BACK IN ITS PLACE!”
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 21, 2015 – With the increase in killings and land-grabs by what Obama calls “violent extremists” (the newest PC term for Islamic terrorists), so-called Christian militias are forming to combat them. The aim of these militias is to protect the few ancient Christian villages remaining in Iraq and other war-torn nations, but their mandate is not from God.
Two words that don’t belong together are “Christian” and “militia”. Two words that can never go together are “Christian” and “militia”. Christians cannot fight in any militia, except one whose weapons are prayer and words.
Jesus made it very clear that those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
God made it very clear that he’s in charge of vengeance, and that we’re not to kill, not under any circumstance,
These terms are non-negotiable.
As Christians, our strategy should always be to avoid going places where we know God’s word is not welcome, and to leave our current location if we find out that God’s word is no longer welcome. This is what Jesus did, and we’re to follow his example.
If Christians in Iraq are being persecuted, they should leave – just up and leave, like Joseph and Mary and Jesus did. Leave with nothing but the clothes on their backs, if necessary. Staying and fighting is not an option. Not for Christians, anyway.
And as they leave, they should pray for those who are persecuting them and driving them from their homes.
It is not our duty, as Christians, to provide financial or spiritual support to an army that takes up weapons to kill in the name of Jesus. God doesn’t want us killing in Jesus’ name, and certainly neither does Jesus.
The people under attack in Iraq need to flee. This is a time-honored Christian strategy. Flee, and God will deal with the invaders and murderers. It’s not for Christians to deal with them in any way except prayer and words. The invaders have given them the option to flee, but instead Iraqi, and now also American and Canadian Christians have taken up arms in Iraq. This is the wrong response. They have made themselves murderers in God’s eyes. If just looking at a woman in lust makes you an adulterer, then picking up weapons with the intent to use them makes you a murderer.
Dwekh Nawsha is the name these so-called Christian militiamen have adopted for their militia. It’s an Aramaic phrase that means “self-sacrifice”.
God says: I require mercy, not sacrifice. These self-styled, self-sacrificing anti-Christ “Christian” killers strutting around Iraq with automatic weapons need to give their ego-swollen heads a shake: what they’re doing is not God’s will. It’s Satan’s will.
Someone needs to tell them the same thing that Jesus told the follower who whipped out his sword and cut off the ear of one of the soldiers taking Jesus to his crucifixion. Jesus said to this follower: Put your sword back in its place, for all those who draw the sword will die by the sword.
Those who kill are doing Satan’s will, not God’s will. No if’s, and’s, or but’s.
“Put your sword back in its place! And pray for those who are persecuting you.”
MILLENNIALISM AND OTHER LIES
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 8, 2015 – The Bible is an open book for anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear.
If you want to know anything about God, including what he has in store for us, all you have to do is ask him. He’ll tell you, and then he’ll show you supporting passages in scripture to back up what he said.
Having rejected mainstream Christianity as a belief system built on doctrines of devils, I don’t waste a lot of time poring over its contrived nonsense. But every so often God points something out that he then suggests I should point out to others. One such item is Millennialism.
Millennialism is the notion that Jesus will return to Earth at his second coming and reign here for a thousand years. The thousand year time-frame may be literal or figurative, but the actual reign of Jesus in a physical body, on planet Earth, is an indisputable part of Millennialism. Even those who reject Millennialism (e.g., Catholic Amillennialists) still believe that God’s Kingdom will physically be set up on Earth as a geo-political entity after Jesus’ second coming.
Consider that this ‘notion’ developed and spread even though Jesus himself declared to his disciples nearly 2,000 years ago that his kingdom had already arrived, that it is not of this world, and that he would return in grand style with his holy angels just long enough to gather together the few believers that were remaining on Earth, and then leave everyone else behind to “mourn”.
Not once did Jesus make any mention of putting down roots here after his second coming.
To find out more about Millennialism, I did a quick google search. I wish I hadn’t. Some things you just can’t unsee. Suffice to say, it’s all nonsense piled on nonsense infused with outright lies and topped off with a large dollop of crap. I’m ashamed of those who’ve bought this stupidity, and I’m even more ashamed of those who’ve created and spread it.
I do have a sneaking suspicion, though, as to just who is behind this crazy little thing called Millennialism. It’s that same certain someone who benefits from people being duped. (You know who I mean.) But what could he possibly gain from getting people to hope and pray to live in a Golden Age on Earth?
Imagine if that same certain someone could convince not only Christians but also adherents of other religions to believe in a coming Golden Age where there would be peace on Earth under a benevolent ruler. Imagine if you could find a common thread connecting all religions to this one theme, and imagine if all religions agreed that all religions agree on this one point and this one point only.
Imagine!
This is how the devil works, and this is how the world works. We’ve been warned that the devil will send a strong delusion that will fool not only false believers and unbelievers, but even some of God’s own children (meaning us).
Muslims are waiting for their messiah leader who will come after an age of widespread turmoil, unite the world, and usher in an age of peace.
Jews are waiting for their messiah leader who will come after an age of widespread turmoil, unite the world, and usher in an age of peace.
Millennialism Christians are waiting for Jesus to return after an age of widespread turmoil, unite the world, and usher in an age of peace.
I don’t know about you, but I see a pattern developing here. Buddhists and Hindus are also waiting for a messiah-like leader who will – yes, you guessed it – come after an age of widespread turmoil, unite the world, and usher in an age of peace.
In fact, it seems that every organized religion on this planet promotes the coming of a messiah-life figure to put things right after everything goes terribly wrong. This should not be surprising to us, since Jesus tells us that many will come saying they are the Christ, but they will be false Christs and false prophets. He warned us nearly 2,000 years ago not to be taken in by their deceptions that will come in the form of ‘miracles’ and doctrines of devils (like Millennialism).
The alleged basis for Millennialism is Revelation 20. But when I read Revelation 20, I see a description of a God’s spiritual kingdom on Earth, not a geo-political realm. I see a description of a spiritual realm that is very much in power here today, not in some hazy future. The passage describes God’s church, of which I am a card-carrying member. Jesus said that his kingdom had already arrived, is not of this world, and is eternal. He meant that his kingdom was not a geo-political structure confined by time and space. Jesus never intended to set up an earthly kingdom. Anyone who truly knows God and truly knows Jesus knows that.
Bluntly put – every form of Millennialism, including Amillennialism, is a lie. When Jesus returns, it will only be long enough to rescue whatever followers are remaining here and to show himself as the true Messiah. Scripture says that everyone will see him and everyone will know who he is. There will be no doubt and no need for persuasion or explanation: Everyone will just know. And then his faithful followers will leave with him, and everyone else will be left behind to face the final destruction of planet Earth, as foretold in Daniel’s visions.
On the cross, Jesus said: It is done. He didn’t say: “Well, that’s all for now, folks. But I’ll be back for more fun and games after everything’s been polluted and destroyed, and most of God’s creatures are extinct. Can’t wait!” What possible motivation would Jesus have to set up a physical kingdom on Earth when he already has a spiritual kingdom here and a perfect home in Heaven where he reigns at God’s right hand? It’s illogical for him to set up physical kingdom on Earth. And it’s redundant. And it plain just doesn’t make sense. Add to that it’s ascriptural, and you’ve got the makings of a true heresy.
So, Millennialists are living a lie, and Jews who deny that Jesus is the Messiah are also living a lie, because, well, Jesus IS the Messiah. Jews who pin their messianic hopes on anyone other than Jesus are just setting themselves up for a fall. They are deceived. Muslims who believe that Jesus will co-rule with their long-awaited messiah are likewise deceived. As explained above, Jesus won’t be hanging around long enough to share a throne, let alone attend committee meetings. And regardless of what the Koran says, Jesus is not Islamic.
I don’t know Buddhism or Hinduism well enough to go into any detail as to why their messianic hopes are also false, but it doesn’t make me any less certain that they are, for the same reason that the Millennialism Christians’ Jews’ and Muslims’ hopes are false. You don’t have to throw yourself face-first into a steaming pile of manure to know that it’s manure; it’s sufficient just to stand within smelling range. The Buddhist and Hindu messiahs have more than a whiff of the Millennialist, Jewish and Muslim messiahs about them, and for that reason alone do not pass the smell test.
Ultimately, the devil’s game is to deceive us so that those who are on their way to receiving the truth will turn away and get lost, and those who already have the truth will lose it (as the devil did). The messianic deception is the devil’s final and most heinous trick – and how important it must be if he’s been working on it since before Jesus was even born! In fact, you can say the whole of human history has been a behind-the-scenes arranging and rearranging of events and circumstances, all leading up to the enthroning of what Paul called the “man of perdition” or what we know will be the false Christ or ‘Antichrist’. Supporters of Millennialism have had a hand in his crowning, as have Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., as well as those working towards the establishment of the global police state known as the New World Order.
We cannot stop the false messiah from coming, but we can be aware that he is a false messiah and do what we can to make others aware of it. Like Jesus, all we can do is tell the truth. It’s up to others whether or not they want to receive it.
TURN TURN TURN!
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 3, 2015 – Twenty years ago, if someone had told me that I would one day be hosting a blog for born-again followers of Jesus, I would have laughed in his or her face. Then I would have let loose with a few choice curse words, and then a few more, and a few more, until the trickle turned into a stream and the stream into a flood and the flood into a tidal wave of hate. I hated anything that had to do with God, and even just hearing his or Jesus’ name would set me off into the emotional equivalent of a grand mal seizure. This extreme response was, of course, due to the legion of demons who’d taken up residence in and around me. On the day I was born again, I read the New Testament for the first time, and when I got to the verse: “And seven devils were driven out of Mary Magdalene”, God said to me: That’s what happened to you, only there were a lot more than seven.
God has a great sense of humor, which shouldn’t be surprising considering that he created both our sense of humor and our ability to appreciate it. Here I was, just newly born-again and brought weeping back to the fold, and there God was, cracking jokes to make me feel more at ease, more at home. This quality of God’s is what I remember most from my first few days as a newborn-again. God wasn’t “up there” or “out there somewhere”, pointing his finger at me and calling me evil, he was right here with me, cuddling me in the crook of his arm and telling me jokes.
I mention this because we (and by “we”, I really mean “I”) – we have a tendency sometimes to look at people who’ve done horrible deeds and curse them for the evil that obviously is working through them. I’m ashamed to admit it, but there it is. Some might argue that it’s a natural “human” response to shun and recoil from people who do horrible things, but such a response can and should be overcome in us born-agains. Jesus talks about the servant who couldn’t repay his debts, so his master forgave him those debts, only to have the servant turn around and start beating on his own servant and demand he immediately repay him. As the noted atheist writer Samuel Clemens (alias Mark Twain) once commented: “It ain’t those parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me; it’s the parts that I do understand.” If you’re genuinely born again, God forgave you a lot to get you to that amazing state of grace that you’re in. The least we (I!) can do is to treat other people as God treated us.
I read in the news today that a captured soldier was burned alive. The same political contingent that burned the soldier to death also beheaded a journalist a few days ago. These are without doubt horrendous acts of savagery. Regardless of who is actually behind them, the acts themselves are condemnable. What we need to be careful of, when condemning these acts, is not also to condemn their doers or to consider them beyond God’s help and mercy.
My personal pre-born-again history would likely make your toes curl, and not in a good way. I’m not going to recount my deeds of woe and horror because they’re over and done with. Suffice to say I was pretty bad, and again, not in a “good bad” way. Although I (thank God) stopped short of burning someone to death or hacking their head off, I might have, had I continued along the road I was on.
And yet here I am, hosting a blog page for born-agains.
If I can turn, anyone can turn.
Seriously.
Paul, as a Pharisee, viciously persecuted and even executed early followers of Jesus. And yet that same Paul, once he’d turned, became a powerful witness to Jesus as the Messiah. I look around at the people I know and the people I read about (including whoever burned that poor guy alive today), and I think: Who’s the Paul among them? Who’s going to turn some day and become a powerful witness?
That potential to turn and to witness for Jesus is in everyone. And strangely, it’s those who we think are least likely to turn that actually end up turning into the biggest “Jesus freaks”. If there’d been a category in my high school yearbook for “the girl least likely to become a born-again follower of Jesus”, I would have won that award hands down.
As bad as I was, I still wasn’t beyond God’s help and mercy, and neither was Paul, and neither is that person who lit the match under that human bonfire today. We need to remember this.
I need to remember this.
GOD’S SURVEILLANCE STATE
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 2, 2015 – You are being electronically monitored nearly everywhere you go. And if you’re not actively being monitored, the technology is within viewing, hearing and implantation range, set up and ready to roll. All it requires is to be installed and activated. Communications grids that enable instantaneous global communication also serve as tracking systems. Yet these monitoring and tracking systems, however impressive, pervasive and invasive, are nothing compared to God’s surveillance state.
God, being God, designed and engineered the first and best of all possible surveillance, protection and alarm systems. This combined system (better described as a state) is perfect. And it works without unsightly wires, cameras, microphones or other cumbersome hardware that can easily be compromised or break down. Through his state, God knows exactly where you are at all times and exactly what you’re doing and saying and seeing. Plus, as an added bonus (and one that the world’s surveillance systems designers can only dream of) – GOD ALSO KNOWS ALL YOUR THOUGHTS. There’s nothing and nowhere you can hide from God.
But wait – there’s more! God not only knows everything about you in the here and now, he also knows exactly where you’ve been and exactly what you’ve done, said, seen, and thought THROUGHOUT YOUR ENTIRE LIFE thus far.
And if you’re not sold yet on how God’s surveillance state blows the world’s surveillance systems completely out of the water, this oughtta clinch it – as incredible as it sounds, God knows everything YOU HAVE YET TO DO, SAY, SEE AND THINK!
So there you have it: God knows everything about you, past, present and future.
Let that sink in for a minute.
Most born-agains don’t spend a lot of time thinking about God’s surveillance state. That’s part of the built-in mechanism, I guess, to keep us from being paranoid about it and to allow us to exercise our free will, well, freely. And when we do think about God’s surveillance state, it isn’t with fear or reproach. We love God as our Dad and appreciate that he watches over us as a good Dad would and should. We’re glad that he knows everything about us because his intimate knowledge of us, together with his perfect justice system and his unconditional love, helps to keep us on the straight and narrow road to heaven. We also appreciate and feel safe knowing that God is protecting us all the time.
Ultimately, God created his surveillance state for our benefit. It isn’t about spying on us in order to catch us so that he can punish us; it’s about teaching, guiding and protecting us, all for the sole purpose of helping us.
The world’s surveillance systems, on the other hand, are all about the opposite. Although sold to a gullible public as being the technological equivalent of sliced bread, these systems exist for the sole purpose of intimidating and punishing us. And what are we being punished for? Committing crimes, of course – ‘crimes’ like speaking openly about what the world’s powers (who are, not surprisingly, also the initiators and supporters of this technology) are doing behind the scenes politically, financially, scientifically, and so on. How ironic, that the same Earthly powers whose technology is trained on us night and day are the very same powers that are making it a crime to know and report on what they’re really up to.
Scripture tells us about these kinds of powers – the ones that operate in secrecy where they think their dark deeds will not be known. They’ve been operating “behind the scenes” since the beginning of human history. Intensely paranoid themselves (a guilty conscience will do that to you), they want us likewise to be paranoid: It’s their natural state of being. They don’t hide their electronic snooping but instead reframe it as a benign means to enable enhanced communication, target consumer products, and protect us from the latest contrived boogey-man (like, for instance, ‘terrorists’). And if we’re not aware that they’re potentially everywhere that a camera or microphone is (i.e., your smartphone, your laptop, etc.), they’ll send agent ‘messengers’ like ‘Edward Snowden’ and give him blanket mainstream media coverage for months and months, just to make sure that you are aware that you’re being watched and listened to, indoors and out, 24/7. After all – a paranoid populace is an easily controlled populace. We can see the truth of that in how easily controlled by Satan the ultra-paranoid powers-that-be are.
Jesus says the world is under Satan except for those who are in God’s kingdom. Jesus also tells us to shout the truth from the rooftops, and that we’re not to fear those who have power over our body and possessions but not over our will. If you live in fear of the world’s punishment, you’re fearing the wrong thing. Big Brother might be watching you through your computer, but God is watching Big Brother, and God’s got your back.
God’s surveillance state is perfect. It is based on love for us and respect for our free will, and it operates solely for our benefit.
In contrast, the world’s surveillance systems are deeply flawed. They are based on disdain for us and disrespect of our rights, and they operate solely to our detriment.
Yes, the world is under Satan, but thank God we don’t have to be. Never be paranoid and never be afraid to speak the truth, regardless of the Earthly consequences. We all have to die for something; it might as well be for the truth.
HOW’S YOUR SOUL?
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 1, 2015 – Just before I was born again, God did me the very great privilege of showing me my soul. Mind you, at the time, I had no idea it was my soul because I was an atheist. I won’t go into detail about what I saw, but let’s just say that it was enough to finally break me. And broken, I was shortly thereafter and very tenderly put back together again by God.
Oscar Wilde wrote a book about seeing the state of one’s soul. In it, a vain young man, exhilarated by the power and privilege that his youthful beauty conferred on him, makes a wish that he could keep his good looks for the rest of his life and that a newly painted portrait of him would instead bear the marks of aging. The young man’s wish comes true, but instead of only bearing the marks of aging, the portrait also shows the man’s sins. As the portrait starts to age and turn ugly, the young man covers it and hides it in the attic so that no-one will see his secret shame. I recommend reading the book. The 1945 film (you can see it on YouTube) is also worth watching.
We spend a lot of time worrying about our physical health, including our appearance. In fact, it becomes a source of pride for some of us. There’s nothing wrong with taking care of our body; it is, after all, the vessel of God’s Holy Spirit and we’re expected to look after it properly so that we can do the work we need to do. But when our physical health becomes more important to us than our spiritual health, then it’s a problem.
Whenever I hear the wail of an ambulance siren, I think: Imagine if a siren went off every time someone’s soul was in mortal danger? Imagine if, when someone was just about to make that final fatal choice condemning him or her to an eternity of pain, a siren went off, piercing and wailing, so that everyone within hearing range would rush in prayer to help?
Imagine, too, if well in advance of that siren going off, we were able to get people to think about their soul? Imagine, if instead of talking about the weather or physical aches and pains, we started off casual conversations with “How’s your soul?” Imagine if soul talk became as common a communication starter as weather talk or sports talk or money talk?
The health of our soul should be our clear priority, not our physical or financial health. As born-agains, we have the very great privilege of being able, at any time and any place, to know the exact state of our soul, and we should take advantage of that by making frequent spot-checks. We should be checking our soul’s health with the same diligence as the world is told to check blood pressure, blood sugar, BMI, tooth decay, bank balance, stock reports, engine oil, and so on. Some people are afraid to get check-ups for fear of what they might find. Don’t be that person.
As an atheist, I was never asked “How’s your soul?” Mind you, I didn’t believe I had a soul, so had someone actually asked me, a whole different conversation would have ensued, during which the exact health of my soul would have become glaringly and appallingly evident to anyone within viewing, hearing, and spitting range. Think “pea soup scene” in “The Exorcist”. Then you have an idea of how I would have responded to any inquiries about my soul.
Still, such an inquiry should have been made, regardless of the unpleasantness of the anticipated response. In the movie, the mother didn’t back away from her hideously afflicted child, and neither did the priests. As born-agains, we take on these fearless and caring roles, just like Jesus did. We are priests and mothers at large. We love and tend to needs, even as we’re cursed for it.
People need to hear the words “How’s your soul”. They may not want to hear those words, but they need to hear them. They need to be reminded that they have a soul and that the health of their soul should take priority over all other concerns.
So, how’s your soul?
HELP WANTED?
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, January 27, 2015 – I used to run a resume service. In general, I dealt with two types of job searchers – those who wanted a general resume that they could fire off “cold” to thousands of companies, and those who wanted a targeted resume that they could send to one employer in response to a job ad. The job searchers who sent out targeted resumes were almost always successful at getting at least an interview, whereas the job searchers who blanketed companies’ inboxes with their “To Whom It Concerns” resumes always, with very few exceptions, came up empty. Many job searchers were burnt out by the lack of response and lost interest in looking for work altogether.
Born-agains want to help people. It’s part of our spiritual DNA. We want others who don’t yet follow Jesus to experience how joyful life can be. The desire to help is so overwhelming sometimes that we feel we have to help everyone, every day, everywhere we go.
It should be no surprise to us that we end up helping no-one when we adopt the ‘shoot wide’ approach. People who don’t want to be helped cannot be helped. In job-search terms, they’re not currently hiring and they’re not open for our business.
God knows that. It’s how he operates. It’s also how Jesus operated during his ministry years, and it’s how we must operate, too, if we genuinely want to help someone.
Let’s take a look at scripture. In it, we can see examples of how Jesus and God can only help people who want their help. Certainly, God wants to help everyone all the time, but because of free will, only those who allow him to help them can be helped.
Jesus taught those who came to him, either in public places, in houses of worship, or at his home. During those teaching sessions, there were many who asked Jesus for specific help (e.g., more wine, healing physical ailments or deformities, casting out evil spirits, etc.), and, with God’s assistance, he was able to oblige. They sought him out, they wanted his help, and they believed he could help them. This is of particular importance – they believed he could help them. Many born-agains spend a lot of time trying to convince people they can help them. This is as backwards as making a decision about something you want to do, and then asking God to bless that decision and your subsequent efforts. From personal experience, I can tell you that this approach does not work very well. In fact, it doesn’t work at all.
The right approach is to wait for God to guide your decision, and then he will bless your efforts. Likewise, the right approach is to wait for people to seek out your help, and then you can help them because they’re open to what you can offer them. Metaphorically speaking, they’re open for business, they’re hiring, and you’re the favored candidate.
Jesus told us that those who make it into heaven are those how feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and so on. What distinguishes people in these situations from people in general is that they are in a position of need so they are open to getting help. That’s not to say that we can’t, like God, always be ready to help someone at the slightest indication that they want our help. When I was still an atheist, I chicken-sat in Australia. It was a 3-month house-sitting gig that involved looking after two pet chickens (Red and The White One) for a Christian woman named Mildred. Mildred had a Bible in her living room. Before she left, she didn’t tell me “Oh, by the way, there’s a Bible in the living room, if you want to learn about God and Jesus.” She knew that I, as an atheist, wouldn’t be open to that kind of pointed info, so she just left the Bible there, out in plain view where I could easily find it, in case I needed it.
And need it I did. Within a month and a half of being at her place, I was born again, and the first thing I did was make a bee-line for the Bible and read the New Testament from cover to cover. Thank God Mildred left the Bible out where I could easily find it, and thank God she didn’t try to bang me over the head with it.
You can waste your time and energy trying to help people who don’t want your help, or you can invest your time and energy wisely, like Jesus did, and target your help to those who ask for it. Always be ready and willing to help, but wait for the request. In the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to leave a Bible out where people who are clearly in need can easily find it.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 