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THE RISE OF THE BLASPHEMY POLICE: A FEW WORDS ON BILL C-367
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, March 25, 2024 – There’s a bill currently working its way through the Canadian parliament that will likely one day become law. Among other things, the bill proposes repealing (that is, removing) legal protections for people to speak their mind based on their beliefs. Canadians are currently legally protected to speak their mind, including about Jesus and God. If the proposed law comes into effect, we’ll still be able to speak our mind, but only if it aligns with government-approved sentiments around, for instance, the alphabet rainbow contingent or DEI dogma.
The new law being proposed is a blasphemy law. It aims to silence any opposition to the turbo-charged woke religion that now permeates every aspect of public and private life in Canada. As with other blasphemy laws, the punishment is harsh (up to life imprisonment) and wildly disproportionate to the perceived “crime” of spoken or written words. It is also sorely out of place in a country whose very anthem describes that nation as “strong and free”. Surely a strong and free nation is full of strong and free people, and strong and free people wouldn’t be bothered by mere words!
I grew up chanting “sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me”. I grew up both hearing and declaring: “It’s a free country; I can say what I want!” One of my grandmother’s favourite quips was: “If you don’t like what I’m saying, don’t listen to it”. It was inconceivable to me, as a born and bred Canadian, to be told I wasn’t allowed to say something for whatever reason. My freedom to express my beliefs was writ in stone, or so I believed. Then blasphemy laws rebranded as “hate” laws were introduced in Canada several years ago, though without gaining much traction. Bill 367 is the 2.0 version of those laws on steroids.
I have no idea what will happen to this blog when the bill passes. I also have no idea what will happen to me because I have no intention of not speaking God’s Truth, however “hateful” it may be mislabeled by the woke faithful. I’ve already been banished to digital Siberia on several platforms through shadow-banning and outright banning; I’m guessing my blog will be unavailable in Canada when the law comes into effect or it may be removed from WordPress altogether. I’ll deal with whatever comes as it comes, and with God’s guidance.
Jesus tells us to watch, not to fear. He says that when we’re unwelcome in one place, we’re to shake the dust of that place from our feet and go somewhere else. There are always workarounds that don’t involve compromise. We must never compromise God’s Word, no matter what the cost. Canada is quickly going dark in the worst possible way, which should not be surprising, considering that the majority of Canadians and “newcomers” have turned from God and are living the rewards of that choice.
Jesus was accused of blasphemy when he stood up in the synagogue in Nazareth and revealed himself to be the Messiah. The punishment for blasphemy was death by stoning, but Jesus simply walked through the midst of the enraged crowd and went on his way. God protects his children, yet we shouldn’t take his protection for granted or as license to do as we please. We need to deal with issues as God gives us guidance, all while holding tightly onto his hand. Then we get his protection.
I am watching the progression of the blasphemy bill through the Canadian houses of parliament and will act accordingly when this abomination is passed into law. Until then, I’ll air my opinions and beliefs in Canada as freely as I always have, including on this blog. And if anyone is offended by my calling a spade a spade or a sin a sin, my straight-shooting saint of a grandmother has a remedy for that: “If you don’t like what you’re reading, don’t read it.”
MIRROR MIRROR: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
CHARLO, New Brunswick, March 24, 2024 – There are no mirrors in Heaven. There aren’t any windowpanes either, though there are windows. You don’t need screens and windowpanes in Heaven because bugs don’t bite or sting and the weather stays outdoors where it belongs. Everything is perfect in Heaven, so everything is right where it belongs.
I’ve written before (here, here, here, and elsewhere) about Heaven, or at least about what God has shown me and allowed me to share with others. One way to describe Heaven is “Earth perfected” or perhaps you could describe Earth as an imperfect prototype of Heaven. Not all of God’s creation on Earth makes it to Heaven, and there’ll be things in Heaven that we, if we do make it there, have never seen before, things we can’t even imagine now. The visions given to Ezekiel and other prophets hint at that.
Paul talks about seeing the Heavenly realm “through a glass darkly” or seeing “in part”. God shows me little pieces of my little piece of Heaven and glimpses of other people’s little pieces, but that’s it for now. I see only in part. Sometimes he goes into more detail but tells me to keep those details to myself for the time being. But I do know, because scripture tells us, that we’re known by different names in Heaven and in fact we’re already known in the spiritual realm by those names. Each name is unique: There’s only one of each, just like there’s only one of each of us. We’ll learn our name if and when we get to Heaven.
Jesus tells us that we’ll be like the angels and that people don’t marry and aren’t married in Heaven. That’s a roundabout way of saying that people don’t have children in Heaven. There’s no procreation there or activities that lead to procreation. It’s shocking for some people to think there’s no sex in Heaven, but there isn’t. There are no sex organs, so no sex. Jesus wasn’t kidding when he talked about people becoming eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. Sexual activity is very much a crude relic that we leave behind like so many filthy rags, some of us leaving it behind even before we leave Earth.
I wish I could describe to you the perfection of Heaven, but the best I can say is: Imagine the best day you’ve experienced on Earth being the prototype for Heaven. There are no “off” days or “bad hair” days in Heaven because the elements that cause you to have off and bad hair days on Earth are not present. There’s no free will in Heaven, so no bad choices are made resulting in bad days. There are also no more tests, trials, or temptations, so again, no bad days. There are also no ill-meaning or unhappy people in Heaven causing spiritual contagion to everyone around them. All sources of pain and unhappiness are gone and our will is completely and perfectly aligned with God’s, so every day in Heaven is a perfect day, as all our choices are godly ones.
I’ve written before about the perfection of our glorified Heavenly bodies. We’ll all be beautiful with a beauty surpassing even the greatest beauty on Earth, as our bodies will not be flesh and blood but a Heavenly substance that never decays. We’ll all have perfect athleticism, perfect pitch, perfect rhythm, and perfect form. This will make us superb athletes (though we’ll still have to work at learning our chosen disciplines), superb singers (like the angels!), and superb dancers, and we’ll all be beautiful to look at. In fact, we’ll be so beautiful, God will not permit any mirrors in Heaven lest we get caught up in the beauty of our own image and become vain, like Satan did.
Some of you will be pleased to learn that we’ll eat as much as we want in Heaven and never get fat. ;D
We’ll sleep every night (if we want to sleep; we don’t have to: I mean, our heavenly bodies don’t require sleep) in a perfect bed with perfect pillows, enjoying a perfect sleep that leaves us perfectly refreshed when we wake up in the morning.
We can talk with all the animals and insects; they can understand us and we can understand them. There’s no animosity in Heaven, so we’re all friends. If you want to have animals and insects as friends, you can. If you don’t, you don’t have to. Heaven is like that.
Nothing dies in Heaven; there’s no decay and no dirt or dust, so there’s no housecleaning. You also don’t have to cook (unless you want to) and dishes get cleaned in a way that I don’t yet quite understand. You never have to bathe or wash your hair because you don’t sweat and you don’t pee or poo. You’re perpetually clean. Being perpetually clean remains your default state for all eternity. But you can take a bath if you enjoy taking baths and you can swim with all the creatures in deliciously warm seas without fearing them or having them fear you.
Your allotted land in Heaven is made up of all your favourite natural places on Earth. When Jesus says to store up your treasures in Heaven, he also means all the places in God’s earthly creation that you love. God shows me my house in Heaven every day, and I see that it’s full of all my funny little earthly treasures that I alone value, along with all my treasured foods, while outside are my treasured trees and flowers and landscapes and views. Everyone in Heaven has a unique house full of their special treasures and surrounded by their favourite landscapes and views. Some live with others and some live alone, depending on their preference.
Our pets are there, too. You’d better believe it and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise – our beloved pets are in Heaven waiting for us, and we’ll be able to talk to them and interact with them just like we talk and interact with people on Earth. Only it will be better in Heaven, because there’ll be no misunderstandings and no biting or scratching or fleas, just love.
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One of the saddest things about unbelievers is that they miss out on visions of Heaven. They have no conception of Heaven and think that Hell is going to be a party place where they’ll be able to party with all their family and friends forever, doing whatever they want as long as it feels good, but that’s the last thing Hell is. Hell is the holding pen for those who end up in the lake of fire, and the lake of fire doesn’t sound much like a party place to me. And forget about spending eternity with all your friends and family who didn’t make it to Heaven – there are no family reunions in Hell, just fear and pain and dreading what comes next. And then there’s only pain and endless remorse.
I would rather forgo whatever I have to forgo now, doing without and allowing God to work through me in ways I might not entirely understand, than to try to get my Heaven on Earth and lose the real Heaven when all is said and done. The little bits and pieces that God shows me of Heaven are themselves sufficient for me to forgo whatever I have to forgo now, be it through a test or a trial. God says he requires mercy not sacrifice and mercy is almost always more difficult than sacrifice. Mercy is the ultimate test. Better to pass that one now, while there’s still time, and pass it again and again and again, whenever it’s required, because when the age of mercy draws to a close, no matter how much you plead and sacrifice, it will be too late.
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There are no mirrors in Heaven, though allegedly we won’t miss them. I have it on good authority that wondering what we look like doesn’t even occur to us in Heaven. That sinful part of us – the pride part – will have been removed.
That’s another reason why there are no mirrors in Heaven: We won’t want any.
LIFE IN SATAN’S WORLD
CHARLO, New Brunswick, March 16, 2024 – The dark energy generated by emotions such as misdirected anger, guilt, unholy fear, and agony is the spiritual life blood of unholy beings. The desire to feed on this form of energy drives Satan’s agents to inspire and actively encourage war, revolutions, torture, murder, pornography, unfettered sexuality (especially deviant and degenerate forms of it), violent entertainment, violent protests, horror fiction and films, and suicide. The energy released during these activities and events strengthens the demons that attend on the participants and expands Satan’s areas of influence.
Jesus stated point-blank that the world is under Satan. God has given Satan administrative authority over the world, but Satan can only do what God permits, and God will only permit what has been earned or what he’s using for testing purposes. Satan’s role, and the role of those who serve him, is to tempt people into acting in ways that are contrary to their spiritual benefit so that they’ll earn worse and worse rewards. He does this mainly by lying, that is, by misrepresenting Truth. In Satan’s economy, what is godly is made to appear “backward”, unfair, unjust, and unattractive, while evil is dressed up and sold to us as progressive, fair, just, and desirable.
It is worth reminding ourselves, lest we get too comfortable in this world, that Satan and his minions are in control. They run all levels of government and royalty, most “global” businesses, public and private education, public and private healthcare, all banking and financial systems, all military and public/private law enforcement and security, all religious institutions, most media, and the lion’s share of the communications and entertainment industries. They also control the drug, prostitution, illegal arms, and human trafficking trades. Official and unofficial mafias fall under their realm of authority as well, including supra-national entities such as the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, and their offshoot charities, think-tanks, initiatives, conventions, and meetings. All regulating and governing authorities in the world operate under Satan, but Satan is strictly limited by God for the time being. Because he’s limited by God, Satan can only do what God permits him to do, and God will only permit the precise amount of evil – to the exact iota – that has been earned or agreed to by those on the receiving end of it or what God sees as a beneficial test. Satan cannot override God’s limitations.
It’s important to understand the extent of Satan’s reach in the world in order to appreciate how deeply the demonic realm infiltrates every aspect of worldly life from conception to grave. For us born-again believers, Satan has no power over us beyond the corporeal. Spiritually, we’re under God’s authority and protection, which Satan and his demons recognize and cannot breach. This protection is the victory won by Jesus’ sacrifice and is inviolable as long as we remain loyal to God. It is for me a profound and humbling comfort to know that Satan has no hold on me anymore.
Those who are of the world, however, have no such comfort. Being spiritually deaf, blind, and dumb, they’re easy prey for Satan. No matter how many times politicians lie to them, they continue to vote for and support them. No matter how many medical errors, incompetencies, corruptions, and outright murders are exposed in the healthcare system, the people of the world (including, unfortunately, most Christians) continue to flock to doctors for treatment. No matter how much corruption is reported about law enforcement, the worldly, for the most part, continue to obey the enforcers. Those who are of the world operate in a state of cognitive dissonance, meaning that even though they are presented with clear evidence of fraud and ill intent, they continue to function as if that evidence doesn’t exist. Their entire being relies on ignoring Truth and embracing lies.
It’s no wonder, then, that human sacrifice has been repackaged as euthanasia and is being marketed as preferential to natural death. This rebranding has Satan’s claw marks all over it, as we only need to ask “Who benefits?” to see who’s behind it. Satan benefits firstly by getting the suicide victim to violate God’s law against killing (suicide literally means “self-killing”) and secondly by having the suicide victim endure horrendous suffering during his or her death throes, which, as mentioned previously, feeds and expands the spiritual energy of dark entities. Satan also benefits from the harvesting of the suicide victim’s flesh and organs during the death throes (most euthanasia victims agree ahead of time to donate their organs and flesh), which are then sold for a tidy profit.
Torture during death throes releases certain chemicals in the tortured body that tenderize the meat and give it a better taste. This is why animals are terrorized during some slaughtering processes and why many animals, both domestic and wild, “play” with (i.e., terrorize) their prey before killing them. It is worth noting that not all of the human flesh and organs harvested by medical teams are destined for transplant recipients, medical schools, or research facilities; some of it ends up on dinner plates.
This is the sad reality of Satan’s world, but none of these horrendous practices are new. In fact, they’re as old as recorded history, which not surprisingly also began around the same time as the fallen angels landed on Earth and started teaching humans their dark ways. Human sacrifice, cannibalism, and sexual depravity quickly became accepted and ritualized in most cultures, including those that gave birth to Judaism. Read the back story on Abraham and how he physically and spiritually escaped his own cultural heritage (you’ll find the story in the apocrypha). If nothing else, it very clearly demonstrates that there are indeed instances when you can never ever go home again.
We need always to keep in mind that Satan’s main mode of operation is deception. God brought him onboard the plan of salvation because Satan’s so good at deceiving. As Jesus said, when Satan lies, he’s speaking his own language. This means that everything and everyone under Satan’s authority likewise needs to be viewed as deceptive, as their orders and directives come straight from the Father of Lies.
That’s not to say that, just because Satan’s issuing the directives behind the scenes, we should actively oppose worldly authorities. Jesus never did. He well understood that everything happening in the world was permitted by God, which meant that actively opposing worldly authorities by, for instance, protesting or engaging in revolutionary activities, would be the same as actively opposing God.
Yet, that’s also not to say that Jesus went along with everything that worldly authorities dished out. Right from get-go, when Herod issued a kill order for all children aged two and under in a certain region, Joseph and Mary didn’t hang around waiting for the soldiers to arrive with swords drawn. No. God warned them about the imminent danger and advised them to grab Jesus and head to Egypt right away, which they did. They didn’t protest Herod’s decree or try to defy it; they simply removed themselves from its reach before it could affect them. This is a picture-perfect example of how we, as followers of Jesus, should deal with the ungodly laws and mandates that are being passed in this world: We simply remove ourselves from their reach.
We see this approach again when Jesus coolly walked through the midst of the mob in Nazareth that was trying to kill him and went on his way. He didn’t resist his frenzied former neighbours or try to reason with them; he simply, with the protection and guidance of God, removed himself from their reach. He did this again and again throughout his ministry until it was his time, at which point he fully submitted to the arresting authorities and to everything that came after his arrest. Peter and Paul and the other apostles likewise did the same, not resisting authorities when they arrested them or beat them, but relying on God for strength and guidance, so that sometimes they had to endure the test of a beating or an imprisonment and sometimes they were whisked away before they could be caught.
Satan isn’t going anywhere for the rest of our time here on Earth. He and/or his demons will be our constant companions, whether we see them hovering next to us or not. Most of the people we know are under their authority and can turn against us at any time, which means they can’t be fully trusted. God we can trust, Jesus we can trust, other born-again believers we can mostly trust, but everyone else we need to keep at arm’s length.
Yes, Satan is running this show, but God is the producer, and what he says goes. I write all this as a reminder of the kind of world we live in (lest we get too comfortable in it) and also as a reminder of how grateful we, as born-again believers, need to be, every day and every night, for God’s unbreachable and loving protection.
We may be in the world, but we’re not of the world: We’re God’s.
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“And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.”
Isaiah 4:5
THE RAPTURE AND THE ASCENSION: PART 2 OF 2
CHARLO, New Brunswick, March 15, 2024 – Speculations on the origins and purpose of the false doctrine known as the pre-tribulation rapture (or simply “rapture”) could fill a few libraries. My intention here, however, is to give a brief overview of some of the main subtopics concerning the rapture, focusing in particular on the relevance of this phenomenon to born-again believers.
If you missed Part 1 of this article, you’ll find it here.
WHO INVENTED THE RAPTURE?
Officially, the rapture was not invented but received as an insight while doing a Bible translation. The person who claimed to receive the insight was an Irishman surnamed Darby (1800-1882), and that’s all I’ll say about him, other than to mention that he was born into wealth, raised in privilege, and very likely inducted into one of the secret orders pertaining to those born into wealth and privilege. As a member of the so-called elite of his day, he would have had to toe the line of whatever his superiors mandated, so whether he had the “insight” or someone else gave him instructions, we’ll probably never know for sure on this temporal plane.
What we do know is that after Darby massaged the notion of a pre-tribulation rapture, Schofield (of the Schofield Bible fame) took the stress ball and ran with it, as did a few other well-connected, well-heeled, and well-oiled wolves in sheep’s clothing, all the way up to today’s televangelists and Internet prophets with prominent donation buttons. Considering its unholy pedigree, could the pre-tribulation rapture be yet another lie of the devil?
WHY WAS THE NOTION OF THE RAPTURE INVENTED? WHO BENEFITS?
The term “rapture” has its root in Medieval Latin rapturus, which means “seizure” or “kidnapping”. Raptura is derived from Latin and means “snatch”, “grab”, or “carry off”, such as what happens during kidnappings and abductions. It’s not for nothing that this event is called by a name that literally means the violent abduction or kidnapping of people.
Words matter.
I had a dream last summer about the rapture. I posted it here. In the dream, there was a mass abduction of people all over the world. Most of the abductees were genuine Spirit-filled believers, but worldly Christians were also caught up in the nets, specifically pre-tribulation rapture-believing Christians who were known among their family and friends to be waiting to be raptured. Along with the abductions, the pastoral snake-oil salesmen who’ve been pushing the pre-tribulation rapture are also whisked away, a few to an undisclosed location to bide their time before “miraculously” reappearing when the beast government is set up, while the rest are imprisoned, tortured, and then murdered, like the other abductees, their usefulness to the ptb having come to an end.
The sole purpose for inventing and publicizing the idea of the pre-tribulation rapture is to plant a seed in the minds of worldly Christians regarding a “disappearing” event that will herald the start of the so-called Tribulation period. A critical mass of pre-tribulation rapture believers needs to exist for this event to be successful. Are we there yet? Do enough Christians believe in a pre-tribulation rapture for the event to succeed? I have no idea. I do know that nearly every Christian I encounter these days parrots the same line “Jesus is coming back soon!” at some point in our discussion, so we could be getting close. But other moveable parts also need to be in line, which means that the snake-oil salesmen and their dupes will likely keep pushing the rapture through their churches, books, movies, videos, etc., for the foreseeable future, long after we’ve gone Home (if we do go Home!).
Anyone who wants to demoralize worldly Christians could do no better than to invent a fake rapture event where the majority of Christians are left behind, ostensibly rejected by God. This will lead to a mass falling away on a scale never seen before in any religion and will cause many to flee into the false comfort of other belief systems. Who benefits from the rapture’s invention? Everyone who hates God, Jesus, and us.
WHO’S PUSHING THE RAPTURE?
The biggest pushers of a pre-tribulation rapture are God’s enemies both inside and outside the worldly church and gullible worldly Christians. They’re doing this by preaching and teaching about a pre-tribulation rapture in the apostate churches, publishing books and websites about it, making films about it, and posting videos online about it. Many Christians believe in the rapture more than they do in the Ten Commandments, so obviously the propaganda is working.
WHY IS THE RAPTURE BEING PUSHED NOW?
If the rapture is supposed to happen just before the beast system set up, then the ptb must suspect that the beast system will be unveiled soon, as the rapture has increasingly been pushed since the 1960s. However, I don’t believe the ptb know any more than any of the rest of us exactly when it’s going to occur. It will happen when a signal is given, which will likely be when we least expect it and out of the blue, just like Jesus said his second coming would be.
But in the meantime, lists are being drawn up and kept current and scenarios are being rehearsed. If you’re a genuine born-again believer, you’re likely on one of those lists and slated for abduction. No point in trying to avoid it or fight it; if God permits it, we just have to endure it to the end, and God will take us Home.
My point in bringing the fake rapture to your attention is not to scare you but to inform you. We need to be informed about what the ptb has planned for us. Whether or not this will happen in our lifetime doesn’t matter. The fakeness of the rapture needs to be publicized as much as the fake rapture itself, so that when the abductions occur, those of us who may be “left behind” will know what’s going on.
WHY IS THIS ESPECIALLY RELEVANT TO BORN-AGAIN BELIEVERS?
We are the proverbial thorn in the side of everyone who hates God or doesn’t believe he exists. But we’re especially loathsome to those who are actively working to bring about Satan’s reign. They want us gone not only because we speak the Truth and refuse to be silent, but because they know we won’t fall for their lies. It’s dangerous for them when even one person refuses to play the game.
Most importantly, though, and the reason why the ptb will implement a fake rapture as their final solution to get rid of genuine believers, is that we remind them of everything they’ve lost. The Bible reminds them, which is why they’ve ejected it from the public square, watered it down, changed its contents, and are now trying to ban it outright, and we also remind them of what they’ve lost. The very fact of our existence is a torment to them, the way that Jesus’ existence was a torment to the powers-that-be. They wanted him gone, and now they want us gone.
For the past 2000 years, the ptb has been working hard to eliminate us, side-track us, and lure us away from God. We’re why state-imposed Christianity, Islam, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Reformation, the Enlightenment, Communism, etc., were created. A fake rapture gives the ptb the chance to get rid of us once and for all, and in one fell swoop.
May we not be here when the fake rapture happens, but if we are, may we face it the same way as Jesus faced his abduction, torture, and execution.
DO YOU WORSHIP WITH DEVIL WORSHIPERS?
CHARLO, New Brunswick, March 14, 2024 – If you sit in a building designated as a house of worship and you’re surrounded by people who either don’t believe in God or have sworn an oath to a secret society to serve Satan – who or what are you worshiping? Jeremiah grappled with the same issue 2500 years ago and this is how he dealt with it:
“I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.” (Jeremiah 15:17)
We do no-one a favour when we gather with unbelievers to worship God. It’s not fellowshipping to worship with those who don’t love God or are actively working against him. The worldly churches are filled with these people. They’ve sworn oaths to serve a so-called higher power, who in return has promised them worldly success that includes wealth, prestige, high social standing, and immunity from prosecution. For this, they forfeit their soul and work to bring others under Satan’s control.
Ezekiel wrote extensively about such people. Isaiah, too, as did Jeremiah and many others. They wrote about the temple elders, priests, rulers, and other well-educated authority figures – people who should have known better than to throw their lot in with the devil, but their greed and fear and love for the world got the better of them. Where Jesus, when he was tested in the wilderness, said “No” to the devil’s temptation, countless others have said “Yes”.
The prophets could easily have written about such people today. Back when I used to attend Catholic mass, I would see professors and their families, business owners and their families, politicians and their families, lawyers and their families, etc., all occupying the front pews marked “Reserved” in whatever Catholic church I was attending. I didn’t realize at the time why they were there, though I do remember thinking they didn’t look very happy to be there: It was like they were attending a funeral and I was attending a marriage. I used to think they went to church just out of habit or to fulfill some kind of social norm; now I know they were compelled to go to church (it wasn’t just an obligation; it was a command) and to sit prominently at the front, for reasons I’d rather not discuss here.
But I ask you again – who or what are you worshiping when you sit among devil worshipers? Why they go to church is between them and their chosen gods, but why you sit next to them while they worship their gods is between you and your Creator.
God revealed to me a few years ago that none of the so-called houses of worship are consecrated anymore. They’re no longer God’s houses. They’ve been handed over to the devils that lord over the people who serve them. So I guess when you go into a house of worship and sit next to people who have sworn an oath to serve Satan and Co., you’re actually the interloper in this scenario because they’re in their designated pagan temple.
This is the sorry state of houses of worship today. Now, I’m not talking about genuine born-again believers who gather together to worship in a believer’s home or a barn or a clearing in the woods or even online. That is a holy convocation, wherever that happens, and God will generously bless those get-togethers. Jesus says that wherever two or more are sincerely gathered in his name, there he is among them. The Church will still exist regardless of the demon-worshiping conclaves happening elsewhere, because God’s Church = God’s Kingdom on Earth = Zion, and Zion, as foretold in the Old Testament, is what Jesus firmly established.
But as for the others who feign worship of God while behind the scenes are worshiping the devil – for those people, God has left the building.
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“A conspiracy is found… among the inhabitants.
They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers and [have gone] after other gods to serve them.
Therefore thus saith the Lord, I will bring evil upon them which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Then shall [they] go and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.”
Jeremiah 11:9-12
“IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME; I THOUGHT I WAS DOING THE RIGHT THING”
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, March 13, 2024 – Of all God’s characteristics mentioned by name in the Bible, “practical” is glaringly absent. As are “logical”, “reasonable”, “expedient”, and similar terms. Those words are never used to describe God because God’s ways are waaaaay higher than ours, and what flies as an excuse with us doesn’t fly with God.
There’ll be lots of long line-ups on Judgement Day when all souls come before God to plead their cause. But the longest line-up by far will be the one for souls using the excuse “it seemed like a good idea at the time and I thought I was doing the right thing”. That line-up’s going to wrap around and around eternity at least a few times before merging on the far side of the judgement seat with the road to Hell paved with good intentions. I pray to God that I don’t see you in that line-up (and I pray to God that you don’t see me). We born-agains should know better than to act without first asking God for his guidance, because that excuse (thinking it was a good idea at the time and thinking we were doing the right thing) will not be acceptable on Judgement Day. Not for us.
I can imagine that Herod, if asked why he decreed that all children aged 2 years and under should be slaughtered, might say: “I thought I was doing the right thing”. Judas Iscariot might say the same if asked why he betrayed Jesus, or Nero if asked why he ordered Paul beheaded. Even Moses might declare that killing the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew seemed like the right thing to do, maybe even the godly thing to do. Certainly Peter thought that attacking the soldier to defend Jesus at his arrest was the right thing to do – was it not logical, reasonable, expedient, and even expected that he should defend Jesus? To the world, yes. Only, Jesus didn’t see it that way, so he healed the wounded soldier and reminded his followers yet again that those who live by the sword die by the sword.
God’s ways are wonderous, miraculous, perfectly timed, and for most people mysterious. What seems a logical or practical way forward from our perspective is not God’s way. That’s why we always need to ask God for his guidance before we decide to do something, however righteous or godly we think that something might be. Years ago, I came into possession of some highly sensitive information I thought might be expedient to hand on to the person concerned. But on the day that I was preparing to relay the information, God stopped me in my tracks (literally; I nearly did a faceplant over my bike’s handlebars) and told me if I proceeded with my plans – however well-intentioned I thought them to be – I’d lose my grace.
As I mentioned, that was a long time ago, long before I got into the habit of going to God for guidance before planning anything. I no longer plan to do something and then afterwards, when everything’s ready to go, ask God’s blessing on my enterprise and expect to get it. That’s not how we’re to do things, as followers of Jesus, because that’s not how Jesus did things. Jesus said he always did that which pleased the Father, and the only way we’re going to do everything that pleases God is to go to God first for guidance and then to make plans based on that.
Think for a second of the times when things have blown up in your face as a born-again believer. I’m guessing that each of those times you were doing things that you hadn’t been guided by God to do. Now think of the times when God has specifically guided you to do something or to wait for his signal before acting. See the difference?
To me, it’s not a restriction but a great comfort to go to God for guidance in everything I do. I don’t feel that my freedom is in any way inhibited by so doing, any more than a paintbrush would feel restricted or inhibited in the hand of Michaelangelo or Monet. I’m grateful for the privilege of having learned to place myself into God’s hands and to let him guide me in ways that might seem impractical, illogical, or even foolish to the world. I’d rather be a fool in the eyes of the ungodly than to land in that long, long line-up that ends in Hell.
EVERYDAY JESUS
MCLEODS, New Brunswick, March 12, 2024 – I am not a fan of religion. I believe that organized religion, more than any other force on Earth (including sin and Satan) is the biggest barrier stopping people from seeking God. This should be ironic, that religion prevents people from finding God, but it’s actually been par for the course for thousands of years. Jesus also had issues with organized religion during his ministry years and likewise considered it to be the main stumbling block to genuine faith.
Even so, organized religion can still be used as a resource tool for genuine believers. It has good value in that regard and God permits it to continue mainly for that purpose. In my case, God encouraged me to attend mass every day for nearly three and a half years after I was reborn from atheism so that I could be in an environment where belief was accepted and I could hear God’s Word spoken and explained, albeit from a Catholic perspective. I was grateful at the time (and still am) that the doors to the various Catholic churches I attended were open for the scheduled services and that the priests did the job they were paid to do. But as I matured in my faith and reached the stage where I needed to be consciously developing a relationship with God as my Father and Jesus as my brother and best friend, God pulled back the veil cloaking Catholicism, and what I saw made me walk out, never to return.
Jesus used the synagogues and the temple for teaching purposes. He also took full advantage of the hospitality of the religious powers-that-be by accepting their invitations to dine, knowing full well that their motive for inviting him was less than charitable. But eating at their tables and using their religious buildings for his purposes didn’t blind Jesus to the problems inherent in organized religion and didn’t stop him from making the best of the situation and suggesting better ways forward than killing those who disagreed with you. He didn’t overlook the corruption and rot that had come to characterize Judaism; he stared it down and offered himself as a solution.
Faith, as we know, is far more than just reciting a list of beliefs and attending a service. Faith is life, as much as God is life and Jesus is life. I know for a sure fact that without my faith, I would be dead. My faith encompasses my belief in God and Jesus and everything they teach, but it also includes how I interact with people on a day-to-day basis when I’m not consciously thinking about God and Jesus. My faith informs those interactions, and charity guides them. That’s the goal, anyway.
When Jesus said that God was looking for people to worship him in spirit and in truth, he meant God was looking for genuine believers who were interested in the practical application of Jesus’ teachings, not hypocrites who relied on ritual to mask their lack of belief. Ritual has its place in faith when used sparingly (like in the changes to the ritual of the Passover meal that Jesus introduced), but it should never override faith or be equated with faith. Ritual should never be the centerpiece of faith. The centerpiece of faith should always be our one-on-one relationship with God and Jesus, which should not be contrived and preset but unfeigned and spontaneous, the way we are with anyone we love and who loves us in return.
What does the practical application of Jesus’ teachings look like? It can take many forms, but it definitely doesn’t look like religion. It looks like everyday life. It also doesn’t announce itself as the practical application of Jesus’ teachings: It simply responds to situations as Jesus did.
We born-again believers aren’t called to be religious; we’re called to follow Jesus, which means we’re called to make the same life choices Jesus did – everyday Jesus, not religious Jesus. There’s no such person as religious Jesus.
May you never let religion come between you and God.
ON KILLING AND HUMAN SACRIFICE
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, March 11, 2024 – When you fight in a war to kill “the enemy”, you strengthen the devil’s forces. Sure, you might temporarily stop, disarm, or even defeat your military foes, but in killing them, you give the victory to your spiritual enemies.
All wars are human sacrifice. The purpose of this form of sacrifice is not, as soldiers are told, to “die for your country” or for any other allegedly noble cause but to enable evil to grow. This is the sole purpose of war and violent revolutions: to increase the percentage of evil in the world.
Human sacrifice does not make things better for a nation. If it did, God would not only have allowed it but blessed and mandated it. Instead, he commanded us not to kill. Jesus said that if we are his followers, we will keep his Commandments and we will love our enemies. Loving our enemies does not involve killing them.
Yes, Jesus advised us to get a weapon when the time comes, but he didn’t say to use it with lethal force. Our weapons are for deterrence purposes only. I’m talking to Christians here, genuine Christians. Jesus never asked us to kill anyone in his name, though he did warn us that we might have to die in his name. If Jesus never asked us to kill in his name, then we are not to kill under any circumstance.
All wars are human sacrifice. All killings of humans are sacrifices, whether done rashly in the heat of the moment or coldly at the point of a needle. All killings are human sacrifice, and every human sacrifice expands Satan’s turf and makes the forces of evil stronger.
We need to consider this now and in the days to come, because God’s saints will be tempted to take up arms. But there’s no such thing as a “Christian soldier” who kills humans. It’s not God who’s calling us to kill in his name and it’s not God who’s tempting us to take up arms with the intent to kill: It’s the devil masquerading as righteousness. And as we know, the devil is very good at his masquerades, which means the temptation will be very strong.
All killings of humans are human sacrifice. This includes euthanasia and, of course, abortion. The purpose of all such killings is to increase the percentage of evil functioning in the world. Evil attends on the killer, following him home and taking root wherever he lives. Nothing improves in the life of a killer following the kill, not in the godly sense. There is no godly improvement in the life of a killer as long as he remains unrepentant.
Millions of Americans identify as Christians, but how many of them would kill in defense of their country, property, or family, or even kill in defense of their right to kill?
Every killing of a human by a human is human sacrifice. When you support the killing of humans or demand it as a right, you’re serving Satan.
God doesn’t demand human sacrifice; Satan does.
WHEN TIME’S UP
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, March 11, 2024 – Jesus once wondered aloud whether he’ll find faith on Earth when he returns. He also mentioned that if God didn’t shorten the final stage of the tribulation period, no-one would survive, but for the sake of his elect he’ll shorten it.
Our numbers are dwindling. Even as the official head count of the worldly church continues to increase, the remnant Church is shrinking day by day with every passing or falling away of a believer. No-one is rising to take their place. Scripture tells of a time when there’ll be silence in Heaven, which I interpret as a time of no more conversions. There may be false conversions (we’ve had those since the beginning), but no more genuine conversions, no more rebirths. God’s voice will no longer be heard by potential converts, so hardened hearts will no longer have the opportunity to soften: “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your heart.” The opportunity to “seek the Lord while he may be found” will also have ended and no matter how desperate the pleas, they won’t be answered, just like the pleas of those drowning in the Flood waters went unanswered and the screams of those being massacred in Jerusalem were ignored.
When time’s up, it’s up.
There’s a doctrine of men that insists God will rescue anyone who calls on him right up to and including Jesus’ return. The sole intent of this false doctrine is to lull people into believing that there’ll always be more time to make things right between you and God, so that even if you miss the last bus tonight, you can catch one tomorrow morning. But what if there won’t be a bus tomorrow morning? What if there won’t even be any more buses tonight?
When the age of mercy ends and universal judgement begins, the sealing of God’s people will be complete and no more sheep can enter the fold. They’ll be able to exit, but they won’t be able to enter. And if they do exit, they can’t come back.
The book of Revelation tells of a time when there will only be the condemned who’ve taken the mark and the remnant who’ve been sealed. There is no third category of people mentioned, such as, for example, those who’ve refused the mark but haven’t (yet) been sealed. There are only the condemned and the remnant. Find me, if you will, that third category of people in the book of Revelation, because I’ve scoured the text and found no mention of them. There’s just the condemned and the remnant Church.
The purpose of the age of judgement is to determine each soul’s eternal reward. After the sealing, the age of mercy ends and the age of judgement begins. This is not the wrath (the wrath comes after the judgement, after Jesus has taken his Church Home and leaves only the condemned behind); it’s a time of determination. During the age of judgement, all souls on Earth will be tested to see where they belong in the eternal realm.
Being sealed doesn’t exempt you from being tested. Being sealed also doesn’t exempt you from falling into perdition. Being sealed marks you as God’s child, which affords you certain spiritual protections, though not necessarily physical ones. Scripture is clear that the age of judgement will be a time of all-out war against God’s children and that most will be martyred and some will fall.
We always like to believe there’ll be more time. Even Jesus thought there’d be more time for him to do his Father’s work, but when God gave the signal, he had to go. Our time, when it comes, might also come with the sense that it came too soon, that we need more time, that we still have work to do. But God knows best and his timing is perfect, and so like Jesus we’ll have to go.
In the meantime, also like Jesus, we need to devote each and every day to serving God and serving God only – not serving the world, thinking we’ll have the time to serve God later, not dividing our time between God and the world. No, we need to spend each day now serving God and God only, because tomorrow’s not a guarantee, and you will be held accountable (that is a guarantee) for every second you spent as a believer with your back turned to God.
The book of Revelation tells of a sealing and then a time of judgement that is also a time of testing and, for some, of falling away. How do we avoid falling away? By spending each and every day serving God and God only, like Jesus did.
There’s no other way.
URGENT!
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, March 8, 2024 – The Gospel message is not for the faint of heart or procrastinators. If you live your life in fear, clinging to the flotsam and jetsam of the world for support and treading water rather than swimming for heavenly shores, you’ll never make it Home. Because the Gospel message is about urgency, about letting go of the world and being ready to leave wherever you are and whatever you’re doing at a moment’s notice, even and especially when you least expect it.
God gave his people the feast of unleavened bread as a reminder of the urgency of doing his will. Urgency means keeping God’s commands whether you’re ready to keep them or not, whether you’ve added them to your schedule or not. The Hebrews had to leave Egypt so fast, their bread didn’t even have time to rise and they had to bake it and eat it unleavened. This is the purpose of keeping the feast of unleavened bread – as a tactile reminder of the urgency of doing God’s will. When God gives you his orders (which, by the way, you’re still free to disobey, though I strongly recommend against it), you don’t have time to sit around sipping tea and planning in minute detail how the orders should be carried out. Ask Noah how much time he had when God said “Go!” Sure, up until that point he had plenty of time when God was giving him the specifications for building the ark, but when go-time came, it was now or never for Noah.
Just like it’s now or never for us.
Jesus lived his ministry years as if he were under a state of emergency. He dropped all pretence of “business as usual”, immediately walking away from his carpentry business and home life in Nazareth when God gave the signal. He whittled his needs down to the bare minimum (food, water, warmth, and air) and spent each and every day serving God. Jesus didn’t just preach and teach the Gospel – he lived it. And in living it, he showed his followers how they likewise should live it.
The parable of the ten virgins and the oil in their lamps is for us. All ten had lamps, but only five had the forethought to fill their lamps with oil. The five that didn’t have oil tried to bum some from the other five, but the other five quite rightly refused to give them any, telling them to go buy what they needed, which they did. When they came back with their lamps freshly filled with the oil, fully expecting to be let into the wedding feast, they found the door shut. Yet even in the face of the closed and locked door, they still believed all they had to do was to call out and they would be let in. But it was too late for them. They’d slackened at the wrong time, and no amount of scrambling or pleading could make up for that.
All their last-ditch efforts were in vain.
The Gospel message is not for the faint of heart or for procrastinators. If you’re not living your life like Jesus did, like his disciples did, like Paul did – as if under a state of emergency – you’ll end up like the five virgins who got eternally locked out of the wedding feast.
The Gospel message is first and foremost one of urgency to serve God and to do his will day in and day out. If you’re not yet doing that, and if you don’t make up your mind to do it now – today – and for the rest of your days on Earth, you won’t make it Home.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 