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ARE YOU ONE IN A MILLION?
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 6, 2023 – When Moses stood on Mount Horeb delivering the Ten Commandments, he had an audience of two: Joshua and Caleb. Sure, there were 600,000+ men of fighting age spread out before him, along with their wives and children and parents and grandparents, so there were probably upwards of around five millions souls. Still, of all those souls 20 years of age or older who received the Commandments at that time, only two made it to the promised land on the other side of the river Jordan.
I’ve written before about how we need to look carefully at those numbers. We not only need to look carefully, we need to mull them over and consider how they relate to us as Christians. We especially need to mull over those numbers and consider how they relate to us as individuals and what they say about our chances of getting into Heaven. If nothing else, those numbers clearly indicate that we won’t get to our own Promised Land as a collective, but as individuals – more specifically, as very very painfully few individuals who, though part of a much larger collective while on Earth (Christians), will stand before God as individuals and be judged as individuals.
Most Christians don’t want to consider those numbers. They want to believe that they and all their family and friends are on their way to Heaven and that Heaven’s a guarantee for them. They want to believe the lie of the devil that “belief” is the only requirement for admission to Paradise because Jesus took care of the rest. These Christians don’t care that only two out of the millions of God’s chosen that came out of Egypt ultimately made it to the promised land. In fact, most Christians probably don’t even know about Joshua and Caleb in that context because they’ve never read the Old Testament and so they don’t know the history of their people. They don’t know the warning.
At the time of the end, God will seal his people and there will be no more conversions. Those who are unsealed will remain unsealed for eternity, and those who are sealed will be tried and tested to further purify them, like gold is purified. The purification process is never easy or pretty, and scripture says that even some of the sealed will fall.
Imagine the scale of the temptation if even a sealed soul can be tricked and beguiled! Imagine the level of torture and torment and the broad unrelenting sweep of persecution. Yes, God protects his own, but he also permits them to be tempted and tested. I can imagine that whoever’s left of God’s people in those days, if they’re not in prison for being believers, will be constantly on the run or in hiding or down on their face begging God to take them Home.
There’ll be no respite from the horrors they’ll have to endure. The pit of hell will have emptied out and every demon in existence will be occupying any and every warm body that doesn’t bear God’s seal, including animals. Imagine every living being you encounter (other than born-again believers) being fully possessed and singularly purposed to get you to capitulate to Satan by whatever means possible. This will be the reality of God’s end-times saints. Satan himself will rule over his dark brood, not from behind the scenes like he is now, but openly, having taken full possession of the body of some doomed soul and ascended to the highest political heights.
Without God’s Spirit protecting and informing you, your soul wouldn’t make it out alive. You’d capitulate along with all the rest. None – not one – without God’s Spirit will survive. Other than for a few sealed stragglers who’ll grab onto Jesus’ feet and hang on for dear life, everyone else will fall. Jesus says if it weren’t for God shortening those days, there’d be no survivors, not even among the sealed.
That’s how difficult it is to get into the Promised Land. That’s how great a reward it is and how great are the requirements. Mere obedience to God is not enough; full, tested, and tried-and-trued willing submission to God is what it takes.
So what about you? Do you have what it takes to make it Home? Are you one in a million? Are you the modern-day version of Joshua or Caleb? If you haven’t answered a quiet “yes” or at least an “I hope so” to these questions, you’ve got some praying and pondering to do. The Promised Land of Heaven is no more a guarantee for Christians today than was the promised land of Israel for the children of Israel thousands of years ago.
Consider this your sober reminder.
JESUS AND A.I.
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 6, 2023 – The excitement and hysteria surrounding the release of artificial intelligence (AI) chat bots to the public is, I imagine, not much different than the excitement and hysteria that accompanied the emergence of various wannabe messiahs in Israel and Judah before the coming of Jesus. Everyone was in awe, everyone wanted to be around the latest alleged chosen one, a few brave souls dared to test his mettle while the rest were content to bask in the evidence of his unearthly wisdom. Fervent followers sprang up overnight and became hard-core converts before noon the next day. Nearly everyone wanted to catch a glimpse of what nearly everyone else was catching a glimpse of and many wanted to clamber on board the messiah train without even knowing where it was going. FOMO (fear of missing out) was strong.
Long before he took center stage as the real Messiah, Jesus already had his mettle tested, and by none other than the devil himself. Scripture tells us that the devil took Jesus in spirit to a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant. The devil then offered Jesus the power and glory of these worldly kingdoms if he would just bow down and worship him. But Jesus had set his sights on a much higher Kingdom than those laid out before him, one that would last forever and give him substantially greater glory, and so he declined the devil’s offer, dismissing it as the worthless bauble it was.
Artificial intelligence is offering us the world in an instant. Everything we do, AI allegedly can do better, or at least faster. Humans, we are being told (by none other than AI itself), will soon be obsolete. Their only hope for survival is to bow down and submit to an AI-enabled and -dictated future. If we do so, everything we could wish for is at our command prompt.
There are distinct similarities between what Jesus was tempted with by the devil and what we are now being tempted with by AI converts. You might even say that Jesus had his AI moment when the devil tempted him with power and wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But Jesus was well aware of the devil’s tricks, and even in his fast-induced physical weakness knew to lean on God and his Word for guidance and protection.
Artificial intelligence is being hailed not only as the Next Great Thing but the Ultimate Great Thing that nothing and no-one can surpass. As such, it is shaping up to be a God replacement for those who reject God or believe he doesn’t exist. Our inferiority is being contrasted with AI’s superiority in everything from computational speed to knowledge breadth to data analysis. Need a 2000-word essay by 9 tomorrow morning? AI just wrote you one in the time it took to read this sentence. Wanna know how to defeat the Russians? AI just generated a sure-fire plan for you, complete with flow chart. Ditto with a plan to rob the local bank. It’s all just crunched and refried data.
And that’s where AI differs fatally from humans – it’s not alive and has no soul. We serve a living God and are made in his image, whereas AI can never live. It can only exist by crunching and refrying data. The very essence of what you are – a living soul – is worth more than all the kingdoms of the world combined, but AI is unable to grasp this concept because it cannot quantify a soul and therefore cannot even confirm that a soul exists. So to AI, humans are merely deeply flawed, cumbersome, and inferior fleshly computers. AI can never take souls – the essence of being human – into account and so remains blind to God-inspired human capacity. This is its Achilles heel, its inability to take God-inspired human capacity into account. You should never underestimate God-inspired human capacity. The devil did with Jesus, and he fell flat on his face.
We humans are infinitely superior to AI not because we know more or think faster (AI will always beat us at those things), but because we have an immortal soul. Our soul also makes us infinitely more valuable and enables us to achieve God-level inspiration through God’s Holy Spirit. AI is a useful tool that is programmable and self-taught to a degree, but it can never be inspired. Its lack of a soul is its Achilles heel that keeps it permanently beneath us and at our service. We should never worship or serve a machine, however wondrous its abilities. Use it, yes, appreciate it as a tool, yes, but bow down to it, never.
Whatever seeming benefits AI offers us in the short term are as nothing compared to what God is offering us if we make it all the way Home.
LOT’S SONS-IN-LAW AND THE CANADIAN WILDFIRES
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 6, 2023 – I read the Bible several times a year, and each time I read it, something new jumps out at me, something I’d noticed before but hadn’t really taken to heart, something God put there for me to see and use at a specific time and in a specific place.
Lot’s sons-in-laws are a case in point. How many times have you read about Lot’s escape from Sodom and not given his sons-in-law a passing thought? For me, it’s been quite a few times. Mind you, the sons-in-law only appear in one chapter and only as minor characters, so it’s understandable if we overlook them.
What do we know know about Lot’s sons-in-law and why do they matter now? We know they thought Lot was joking when he told them Sodom was about to be destroyed and they needed to leave immediately. We know they laughed at him. We know that when Lot did leave, only his wife and two daughters went with him and that they were dragged out by the two angels, since even Lot himself seemed reluctant to go.
But the angels didn’t grab the sons-in-law when whisking the rest away. Why is that? Why were the sons-in-law left behind?
Scripture doesn’t tell us outright why the angels left them behind. But we do know that the rescue was carried out as a favour to Abraham, who’d earlier interceded with God for Sodom on behalf of his nephew Lot. So the angels, when they arrived in Sodom, were on a rescue mission. They had no intention of trying to save souls at that point, just the bodies of the souls that had been granted God’s mercy. In other words, they weren’t there to preach repentance; they were there to get Lot and his brood the heck out of Dodge.
The older I get and the stronger I grow in faith, the more I realize that there’s a time for preaching and a time to get out of Dodge. Those two times are definitive and should never be confused. Scripture is clear that God’s mercy has a use-by date. We see this in the flood narrative, as well as in Ezekiel 9, in the sacking of Jerusalem under King Zedekiah, and in the book of Revelation. And we also see it very clearly in the full-scale destruction of Sodom.
Jesus tells us that we as his followers should live as he did – with our “loins girded”, which means we should be ready to leave wherever and whatever at a moment’s notice. There are no exceptions to this directive. Leaving at a moment’s notice necessarily implies leaving everything (and possibly everyone) behind. That can be the hard part.
That, for some, is the deal-breaker.
There are currently several wildfires burning out of control in Canada. Most of these fires are in remote forest locations, but a few are burning near communities. As of today, thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes and forbidden to return until the all-clear is given. Some of the evacuees were not at home when the fires broke out and the mandatory evacuation zones declared, so they had to leave all their valuables, including their house-bound pets, behind. This can be emotionally devastating.
When Lot was hauled out of Sodom by the angels, he could take nothing with him but the clothes on his back. All his possessions – which were extensive, he was a very rich man – were lost when Sodom was obliterated. Scripture doesn’t say, but it’s highly likely that even before the angels showed up, Lot had been warned already by God to get the heck out of Sodom. Lot shows by his conversation with the Sodomites that he was fully aware of how evil the place was, and yet he continued to live there.
The hundreds of wildfires burning out of control across Canada have prompted local governments to issue warnings about evacuation alerts that may come at any moment, day or night. The Lots living in the fire zones have long since been hauled out of the ever-shifting path of the flames, while the sons-in-law are still there and continuing their lives as if there are no fires. Like their Biblical namesakes, they probably don’t even believe there is any danger, so if and when the government’s emergency evacuation order does blare from their phones, they’ll likely just hit mute, roll over, and fall back to sleep. In Sodom, Lot’s sons-in-law were likely still asleep when the fire and brimstone started falling on them and were incinerated in their beds.
Jesus told us to watch. He also told us to live our lives with our loins girded, ever ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Lot’s sons-in-law are a cautionary tale of what not to do when God gives you the signal to go. You don’t question the directive and you certainly don’t laugh at or ignore it. You should at all times be mentally prepared to walk away from everything and everyone the instant you’re directed to do so by God. It can be a difficult directive to obey, but your body and soul depend on your obeying it.
As we know from the sad and sorry tale of Sodom, God’s refining fire can purify or it can devour.
RELATIONSHIP OR SUPERSTITION? GOD IS MY FATHER
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 6, 2023 – When I was a little kid, my parents took care of all my needs. I didn’t have to ask them to feed me, house me, clothe me, and protect me, they just did it all by default. It’s what parents do for their kids. It was part and parcel of our parent/child relationship.
God does the same for his children. He feeds, shelters, clothes, and protects born-again followers of Jesus spiritually as well as physically for no other reason than that they’re his kids. We don’t have to beg God to look after us; as long as we remain his children, he will look after us.
I mention the Father/child relationship we born-agains have with God because many Christians seem not to know about it. They think they have to ask God specially for protection or to pray for it using incense and incantations. They think they have to plead the blood of Jesus or perform some kind of ritual to get God’s attention or to keep evil spirits at bay. As a child, I didn’t have to recite a verse or sacrifice a pigeon in order to get my three square meals a day. All I had to do was show up in the kitchen when I was called.
My point here is that much of what is termed ‘Christianity’ today is actually superstition. Not understanding the foundational tenet of our belief (that God is our Father), many Christians rely on rituals and sacrifices to “invoke” God, petitioning him for things he provides anyway by default to his children. When you rely on superstition instead of faith, ritual instead of relationship, you miss the whole point of why Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross. A mindset that’s steeped in superstition and ritual will do things like “meditate on”, memorize, and study God’s Word, hoping this roundabout approach will help crack its meaning. But you can’t understand the meaning of God’s Word in a roundabout way, relying on your own insight and intellect. You can only understand God’s Word through the guidance of God’s Holy Spirit.
When I was newly born-again, I spent three and a half years neck-deep in Catholicism. I was taught to get down on my knees and recite “prayers” to Mary and angels and saints, and to accompany the recitations with candle-lighting, holy water dabbing, and rosary bead counting. I was never taught about my relationship with God. I was taught rituals. I was taught superstition, like this water is holy and that water isn’t, and candles need to be blessed, as only blessed candles will provide spiritual protection. Ditto for salt and oil and crucifixes (and pets). Everything needed to be blessed, and evil spirits could only be chased away by incantations, recitations, the sprinkling of holy water, and the frantic waving of crucifixes.
It would be funny if it weren’t so sad, this fallback to superstition that is the hallmark of many denominations today. I thank God that he sprung me from superstition and taught me about our relationship through his Word. Now I know that I don’t have to study the Bible, I simply read it, and in reading it, God opens up its meaning to me through his Spirit. This is how he teaches his children.
So I’ve learned, through his Spirit, that God is my Father, and as my Father, he does everything a father does, and he does it perfectly. If God’s my Father, then I’m his child, and as his child, he will feed me, clothe me, shelter me, and protect me. I don’t have to ask for those things; he’ll do them by default, as long as I remain his child, that is, as long as I continue in his will and his Word.
And prayer – well, prayer is just talking to God. No recitation or props are needed. I can pray standing up, sitting down, laying down, or standing on my head, if I want to, and I can pray wherever I am at any given time using whatever words come to mind or no words at all. It’s a relationship we’ve be called into with God, not a ritual. We do not know God as our Father by ritual; we know God as our Father by faith.
Jesus says we need to become like little children if we’re to enter into the Kingdom. Part of that directive means to understand that we’re in a Father/child relationship with God, with all that such a relationship entails: We not only know God but God knows us. We’re not like fans worshiping a pop star from a distance while the pop star has no idea we exist. We know God intimately and are known by him intimately.
This Father/child relationship forms the basis of our faith. Without it, we’re just mouthing empty words and making empty gestures, however holy they may seem to us or other people. Without a relationship with God as our loving Father, no matter how much church-going and Bible-studying and good-deed-doing and evangelical outreach we do, all we’re going to hear from God on Judgement Day are the four worst words in all of creation: “I never knew you.”
It’s a relationship we’re called to have with God and need to have with God, a loving, one-on-one, Father/child relationship. And we need to maintain that relationship in good standing, the way that Jesus maintained his relationship with God in good standing when he was on Earth in human form (“I always do that which pleases the Father”).
If you don’t have the same relationship with God that Jesus had, you need to get it and you need to get it now. Because without it, you won’t make it Home.
WARNING: THE BIBLE IS NOT A PARLOUR GAME
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 6, 2023 – There’s a growing trend among Christians to use God’s Word like a magic 8 ball: They close their eyes, open the Bible to a random page, point to someplace on the page, and then open their eyes to see if what they’re pointing to offers them guidance to their problem at hand.
This is a form of fortune-telling divination, which is thoroughly condemned by God.
Jesus died so that we could regain the close relationship with God that we lost when Adam and Eve sinned. When we practice divination (which is what we’re doing when we use the Bible like a magic 8 ball), we’re essentially throwing Jesus’ sacrifice back in his face. We’re saying we don’t need a relationship with God. We saying we’d rather look for signs and omens and rely on fortune-telling than go to God in prayer.
I don’t know about you, but this is not something I want to mess with. Divination of any kind is an occult activity, which means it relies on the power of demons, not on the power of God’s Holy Spirit. You’re summoning demons when you practice divination. Even if you’re using a Bible, you’re appealing to demons to guide your hand.
God has given us his Word to use for guidance, comfort, and correction. We’re to read the Bible with reverence, not treat it like a parlour game. We’re not to idolize the Bible, but we should definitely treat it with respect. It’s not just another book, it’s THE book.
If you’ve been caught up in the trend of looking for signs and omens by opening the Bible to a random page, please consider not doing that anymore. Please remember Jesus’ sacrifice and what he accomplished by it. Please take advantage of Jesus’ accomplishment and go to God in prayer when you need guidance and direction.
As a born-again believer, you don’t need a magic 8 ball or tea leaves or any other kind of occult-based medium because you’ve got God on your supernatural speed dial 24/7. Through his Holy Spirit, he’s available day and night to answer your questions and keep you on the right path. Jesus is, too. All you have to do is pray.
“There shall not be found among you any one… that useth divination….
For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD.”
Deuteronomy 18:10-12
WOLVES
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, July 1, 2023 – It always starts with a little compromise. Not much, just enough to keep the peace. You don’t really mean what you say, you just say it to smooth the feelings of the hurt one, to put a smile back on his face.
Then at some point you’re held to what you’d said in passing. At some point it’s thrown back at you, and if you show any hesitation to affirm what you’d said, you’re accused of not supporting the cause. Tears and shouting ensue. Murmurings of hate. So to quell the storm and avoid being called a hater, you double down on your initial compromise. You dig your hole deeper.
Day by day you sink deeper into what was supposed to be a temporary wink at truth. Day by day the darkness closes in around you as you sink deeper and deeper and deeper. Yes, a man can be a woman. Yes, it’s fine for men to use women’s washrooms. Yes, men should compete against women in sports. My pronouns are fee, fi, fo, fum.
While your head is still above ground, you look around you and see that nearly everyone else is in the same hole. Like you, they started with just a little spoonful of dirt shifted from here to there, to smooth the tearful one’s hurt feelings. Now you’re all nose deep. It’s getting harder to breathe, and as far as the eye can see there’s no-one’s at surface level to haul you back up.
Allow me to let you in on a little secret. It was never about the women. It was never the women they were after. The women were just a wedge, a bargaining chip, a go-between. They knew if they could get the women to agree to the compromise, to double down on the compromise and to keep doubling down and doubling down until they actually believed and lived and spread the lie – until it became law – they could get to the children. It was always the children they were after, specifically the male ones.
But they couldn’t start out with the children; no-one would have made the initial compromise for that. They had to start out with “consenting adults” in order to work their way down to “consenting people”; they had to start out by sexualizing every aspect of public life in order by logical progression to sexualize children and to do so legally.
So here we are, with the children fully sexualized. Even in pre-school, they’re being taught they can be any gender they want, this gender one day, that gender the next, and that adults perving on them is healthy and natural and legal – oh so legal. To believe otherwise is to be a hater. Haters are bad people. Haters belong in jail. A hater is someone who says there are only two genders. A hater is someone who says I’m too young. A hater is someone who won’t let that nice man touch me down there. He lets me touch him down there, too. Then he gives me candy.
*****
We women were supposed to protect the children, but we were more concerned about keeping the peace and avoiding being called a hater. So we sold our children out. Even if we don’t have children of our own, we sold the children out. We were supposed to protect them. Instead, we threw them to the dogs.
A dog is a lovely thing, an almost human companion until it forms a pack with other dogs and runs wild. It then turns into the wolf it always was, devouring even the kind human who once foolishly thought it a friend.
We have let our wolves run wild and now they’re coming for us. Enraged, ravenous, and with full protection of the law, they’re coming for us.
As far as the eye can see, they’re coming for us.
The only one who can save us is Jesus.
ON PRIDE AND THE NORMALIZATION OF SIN
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, June 29, 2023 – The devil works hard to convince people he doesn’t exist. He does this because if people don’t believe he exists, then morals are relative rather than absolute, which means there can be no such thing as sin.
And if sin doesn’t exist, then people don’t have a moral compass to guide them when they’re tempted. Not having a moral compass, they fall prey to any kind of persuasion, including being convinced that what was once considered sinful is now just a personal preference for those who were “born that way”.
In other words, sin is rebranded as natural, normal, and healthy.
The normalization of sin is a process that begins with eliminating the devil, which the devil himself is only too happy to initiate. Each soul he convinces that he doesn’t exist becomes his by default, because a soul that doesn’t believe the devil exists is a soul that doesn’t believe God exists, and anyone who doesn’t believe in God is by default the spiritual real estate of Satan. That the captured soul doesn’t believe Satan exists is just icing on the cake for the old snake, who finds the irony delicious.
The image above is from a “pride” parade in Toronto a few days ago. It doesn’t need commentary but it does stand as a fitting representation of the fallen spiritual state of what used to be known as “Toronto the Good”. The devil’s obviously been busy in Toronto to bring it to the point where middle-aged men can, not only metaphorically but literally, parade down a street to the cheers of hundreds of thousands of onlookers. Yes, public nudity is still illegal in Toronto, but it seems that laws only apply to those who won’t comply with the global agenda to normalize sin.
Men who exposed themselves in public, especially to women and children, used to be promptly arrested and then named and shamed to deter other men from doing the same. Yet here we are, supposedly on our way to peak social progress, and Torontonians have less decorum or motivation to protect their women and children than primitive jungle tribes, who at least have enough self-respect and respect for their fellow tribespeople to wear a loincloth when they’re out in public.
The rebranding of pride has turned it into something we’re supposed to admire and celebrate rather than avoid and shun. Until just a few decades ago, pride in anything but your country or in the hard-earned accomplishments of yourself or your loved ones was considered vanity and the mark of an immature mind. Pride was not admired. In fact, pride was not only not admired, it was considered a sin, and a deadly one at that: one that presaged a great fall. Only vain and frivolous people paraded their pride and they were justly ostracized and condemned for it.
The rebranding of pride has turned the notion of pride into something else altogether. This is the devil’s doing, and the general public is lapping it up. If you’re reading this, you know what “pride” now stands for; there’s no point in my going into details. Let me just say that “pride” as it’s understood and used today is just as sinful as pride always was. That aspect of pride has not changed.
“Pride” was the sin that got Sodom obliterated. And if you think history isn’t repeating itself, think again. Former Christian nations are being set up for annihilation through the overspreading of “pride”, especially among children through the educational system (which includes story hour at public libraries). A whole generation is being brainwashed and groomed into accepting “pride” as natural, normal, and healthy. If you wonder how Sodom could have devolved to the point where Lot’s house was surrounded by locals banging on the door and demanding that Lot hand over his guests for, well, “Sodom-izing”, you have your answer. To the people of Sodom, who were raised believing that what they were doing was natural, normal, and healthy, Lot was the one who was perverse and out of line.
Sound familiar?
God gives the devil permission to turn everything upside-down because testing is required for his good purposes. God needs to see whether you want what he’s offering or what the devil’s offering, whether you embrace his version of reality or the devil’s. The majority, unfortunately, are choosing the devil’s version, as is witnessed by the nearly wholesale support of “pride” across former Christian nations.
I had a discussion earlier today with a self-identified Christian woman who’s allegedly against men exposing themselves to women and children but has no problem otherwise with “pride”. She didn’t see the connection between her support of “pride” and the consequence of men being empowered to expose themselves in public or dress up as caricatures of women to read lasciviously to children. She seemed to think these were two different kinds of “pride”, but really there is only one “pride”, and it’s the same “pride” that got Sodom wiped off the map.
Pride in all its forms and guises needs to be outed for what it is, not sugar-coated and heavily made up to pretend it’s something it’s not. Rebranded sin is still sin. Sin cannot be virtue. The devil cannot be God.
As born-again believers, we are obliged to pray for those who are bound by sin, but we cannot in any way align ourselves with their sin. We can’t support their expression of sin, which means we cannot support or participate in “pride”. We cannot rebrand sin as natural, normal, or healthy because it’s none of those things. Sin is today what it always has been – a fast track to death and a sure way to separate yourself from God.
And as a former “pride” supporter turned born-again believer, I can tell you there is no worse state of being than separated from God.
SILENCE IN HEAVEN
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, June 28, 2023 – [Sound of a phone ringing and then the click of an answer:]
Hello.
You’ve reached the voicemail of God.
I’m sorry I’m not here to take your call personally, but please feel free to leave a message and someone will get back to you before you die.
Alternatively, you can press “666” at any time to speak to an A.I.
Thank you for your patience.
This is a recording.
[Sound of a long beep and then silence.]
I am not a fan of this world. I’m grateful to God for allowing me to be here to get right with him and to learn my lessons, but the world is a cold and dark place that is growing colder and darker by the day. I can’t sugarcoat that. I can’t look past it and pretend it isn’t so.
For the past few decades, I’ve been tending the graves of my two grandmothers. Both graves are now starting to be desecrated. One of the headstones was knocked over last year, and when it was repaired (set on a new foundation), someone twisted the headstone sideways before the cement had time to harden. In the whole graveyard of thousands of headstones, my grandmother’s is the only one that has been turned sideways. This is the headstone of the grandmother who prayed for me for 36 years before I was reborn.
But I’m sure the vandalism was just a random act and not targeted at all.
In another graveyard with the remains of my other grandmother, the flowers I lay for her at each visit have been torn to shreds and scattered around the headstone. When this first started happening about a year ago, I thought it must be the wind or birds or some other animal doing it, but then I noticed that only my grandmother’s headstone is being attacked. The flowers on the other headstones are undisturbed.
When you become a born-again follower of Jesus, you get God’s seal on your soul. You can’t see it and other humans can’t see it, but those in the spiritual realm can see it, like they can see the mark of Cain. You become known in the spiritual realm when you’re reborn. You gain extra spiritual protection because of it, but you also become a target of the evil ones who use people to accomplish their aims.
The evil ones are ramping up their attacks lately, and God is permitting it. What God permits we need to submit to. Still, I cried when I saw the headstone turned sideways, just as I cry at each visit to the graves when I see the flowers mangled and torn to shreds. I feel like I’ve brought this on my grandmothers, and the fact is, I have.
*****
When Jesus stepped out of his comfort zone and took his place as the Messiah, he immediately became the target of the devil. If you want to get the devil’s attention, stand your ground as a believer, even when you face persecution. The devil doesn’t bother with those who claim to be Christians but live like the rest of the world. He knows they’re his already, or nearly his, and that it won’t take much to get them to capitulate. But take a stand for God as a born-again believer and the devil makes a beeline for you.
As I mentioned, whatever God permits, we need to submit to, and the devil can only do what God permits. This to me is a comfort, as I know God would never allow me to suffer anything that I can’t overcome with his help. The same holds true for punishment (at least while we’re still here on Earth). God would never allow us to be punished beyond our capacity to endure spiritually with his help. How you know whether God is permitting you to be tested or permitting you to be punished is that when you’re being tested, you want to draw closer to God, whereas when you’re being punished, you want to hide.
The past week has been one test after another, and just when I think I have time for a breather, I get hit again. Each time, the test comes via people. Most of them are heavily tattooed or identify as the opposite sex, so it’s kind of a given that they’re spiritually messed up and easy prey for demons. Some may even be purposely invoking demons. My response, after the initial impact shock, is always to pray for these people. At the same time, I pray for me too, that I respond like Jesus taught us to respond. The temptation is very strong to be outraged or go into self-defence mode or (worse) try to reason with the messed-up souls. You cannot reason with these people, as Paul found out the hard way. You can only get up, wipe the dirt off yourself, pray for them, and move on.
Silence in the face of false accusations and bullying has never been my strong point, but I’m learning. Jesus had to learn, too, and he did so to an exemplary degree, as he demonstrated during his trial. His earlier run-ins with the Pharisees and Sadducees and all the resticees were good practice that stood him in good stead when he needed it the most.
I sure am getting good practice now.
I can’t claim to be acing my tests, but at least I’m improving. At least I hope I’m improving.
God is never far from me during the testing. He doesn’t intervene and he doesn’t interfere, but he lets me know he’s there – not watching from a distance (like from the bleachers), but standing right behind me, close enough to whisper in my ear. He’s my coach, reminding me to apply to the present what I learned in the past. Sometimes he brings specific scripture to mind as guidance. He can’t interfere during the tests, he can’t tell me what to do, but he can bring to my mind what I already know. He can cheer me on. He can be there for me.
I can’t imagine going through these tests without knowing God is right here with me through his Spirit. Jesus is with me, too. What a formidable team they make! It’s humbling to know that I’m on their team.
The tests will continue during the rest of my time on Earth, and it looks like things will only get bleaker from hereon in. For every believer who dies, evil increases: That is spiritual math. (So is counting your blessings.) Yet God reminds us not only to count our blessings but to see things for what they are. Jesus told us to watch, not look away, so I’ll watch even if it makes me cry.
I thought about getting my grandmother’s headstone reset, but I know that even if the vandals don’t get there before the cement hardens, they’ll do something else to it. My response to their provocations needs to be like Jesus’ response, which is silence. I’ll pray for the vandals but give them no further cause to condemn themselves.
The next time the devil comes a-callin’, he’ll just get my answering service.
TO BE HONEST
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, June 21, 2023 – Jesus teaches us that we need to be converted and become like little children to enter into the Kingdom.
What does he mean by that? Conversion, as a spiritual process, we can understand, but how can we become like little children again if we’re already adults? Should we put on kids’ clothes and wear pigtails?
I am not and have never been a game-player or manipulator, even though I’ve been surrounded by such people all my life. I’ve come to see game-playing and manipulating as standard adult behavior that people start to learn when they enter their “tween” years. I guess I must have missed that memo on how to gameplay and manipulate because I was always a terrible liar and I tended to take people at their word, finding out too late that they didn’t really mean what they’d said.
It was confusing for me as a young teen and older to find that people I’d grown up with were starting to use words as bargaining tools rather than statements of fact. The more I was betrayed by alleged friends, the more I retreated into my own world that grew smaller and darker as the years passed. I learned to make do without friends and only had short-term relationships with men. I had no interest in getting involved in anyone’s life because my experience had been that as soon as I got involved, that person would in some way betray me. They would say one thing and do another, as their words meant something different to them than they did to me.
Most children are not like that. Most kids, if they say they’re going to do something, they do it. If they say they feel something, they feel it. Most kids use words as a means of communicating their genuine thoughts and feelings rather than as bargaining chips or chess pieces. They play games, but just for fun. Some children do learn to manipulate, but only when they’re a bit older. Most young kids still take people at face value, still take them at their word. That’s why you have to be very careful about what you say around little children. They’re like sponges, soaking up every syllable they hear and processing it for meaning. They have to learn, over time and by watching older kids and adults, to use words deceptively, to say one thing and mean something else, as using words as tools of deception doesn’t come naturally to them.
I think this is part of what Jesus meant when he said we need to become like little children. He didn’t mean we should dress like kids and play hopscotch, but that we should take words at face value and also use them as such. We shouldn’t manipulate or lie. We should trust those who have been proven trustworthy and assume they’re acting in good faith. This should be our default position with God.
In the Bible, God goes out of his way to let us know that he’ll never leave us or betray us. I feel as a born-again believer that I can invest everything in God and not worry about him feigning affection or talking about me behind my back. I would never make such an investment in most humans, even born-again ones.
Other traits of young children that I believe Jesus was referring to is their ability to forgive and forget, to move on without looking back, to share what they have cheerfully, and to wear their heart on their sleeve. Children also love to learn what they love to learn, are constantly expanding their interests, easily accept guidance, nearly as easily accept correction, and enjoy helping out. These are all good traits for the Kingdom.
Conversion is a process that’s initiated by God and depends on him, but becoming like little children is something you can accomplish on your own. You can start by saying what you mean and meaning what you say and by letting your true feelings show rather than hiding them. You can start by being honest about everything and by not only saying that you’re willing to help out but actually being willing to help out wherever and whenever help is needed. These are baby steps on the way to becoming like little children again, but they’re a good place to start. The rest, if your heart is in the right place, will follow in good time.
And if people object to your Jesus-approved approach to life, they’re the problem, not you.
“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Matthew 18:3
PRAY FOR HAMISH HARDING AND HIS FAMILY
CAMPBELLTON, New Brunswick, June 20, 2023 – I do text editing and proofreading for my daily bread (Paul fixed tents; I fix tenses lol groan).
One of my clients years ago was a search and rescue (SAR) helicopter pilot who wrote articles for military journals about his rescues. It was fascinating to read his “insider scoops” about his missions. Many of the rescues were of people who’d done things they shouldn’t have done, such as gone skiing in locations that were off-limits due to avalanche dangers or headed out to sea in an approaching storm in a flimsy boat. Still, as a SAR operative, my client always had to put his personal feelings aside about the foolhardiness of the people he was attempting to rescue. He had to put his personal feelings aside and conduct a rescue mission, even if he personally believed it was a lost cause and even if it meant he had to put himself in harm’s way. Regardless of his personal opinions on the matter, he had to conduct a rescue mission. That was his job.
There’s no shortage of people doing things they’ve been warned not to do who then get themselves in a pickle they need rescuing from. But the time of rescue efforts is the not the time for giving up hope or for wagging your finger or for saying “I told you so.” The time of rescue efforts is to do everything in your power to bring the distressed people to safety. After they’re safe, then you can lecture them.
I mention this because a big part of our job as born-again believers is to pray for people. If people request our prayers, we pray for them. Our prayers are our spiritual SAR. We offer our prayers regardless of our personal feelings about the people who’ve asked for them or the reason they’ve asked for them. When people ask for our prayers, we go into spiritual SAR mode and conduct the requested mission.
As of the time of writing this article, a billionaire adventurer has gone missing during a trip in a submersible to the Titanic wreck in the North Atlantic. His family has requested prayers. And because his family has requested prayers, we need to pray for the safe rescue of the billionaire and everyone else on board the submersible. Regardless of our personal feelings about the man’s adventures (or now misadventures), we need to pray for him. That’s our job.
So please pray for him. The man’s name is Hamish Harding. Please pray for Hamish Harding, at the request of his family. Please pray for his safe rescue and the safe rescue of all those on board the Titan.
“Hamish Harding’s stepson, Brian Szasz, confirmed his stepfather was on board the vessel when it went missing.
“‘Hamish Harding, my step father, has gone missing on submarine. Thoughts and prayers,’ he wrote on Facebook, sharing family photos and articles.
“‘Thoughts and prayers for my Mom and Hamish Harding,’ he added.
“In a follow-up post, he added: ‘Thoughts and prayers for my stepfather Hamish Harding as his submarine has gone missing exploring Titanic. Search and rescue mission is underway.’“
*****
tldr: When people ask for your prayers, you give them your prayers.
That’s a non-negotiable request.
Regardless of your personal feelings towards the people making the request or the reason for their request, you pray for them. You ask God to help them.
That is your duty as a Christian.
If you choose not to do your duty, you’ll have God to answer to.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 