NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario, November 17, 2022 – You say you’re a believer, but what is it exactly that you believe?

Some people believe that Jesus is the Christ; some don’t.

Some people believe that God answers all prayers; some don’t.

Some people believe that simply claiming to be a Christian is enough to get you into to Heaven; some don’t.

Some people can’t articulate their beliefs at all when you ask them what they believe. Some look confused. Some go blank. Some shy away. Some get belligerent and demand to know What kind of a question is that?!? Some lower their eyes and say nothing.

The rest usually just change the subject.

What about you? What do you believe?

If you were standing before God’s throne right now and God asked you what you believe, what would you say? You can’t lie to God. You can’t not answer God, not when you’re standing before his throne. So what would you say?

I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I do want to put a bee in your bonnet and plant a seed in your heart. If you can’t easily articulate what it is that you believe, you need to start thinking about it. You need to start praying on it. You need to ask God’s help.

Because some day someone is going to ask you what you believe, and you’re going to need to answer without hesitation and with rock-solid conviction.

Could you do that now?

*****

For centuries, believers were spoon-fed their beliefs in the form of creeds they had to memorize and recite in unison along with everyone else. A group of men would get together every now and then and decide what other people needed to believe, word-for-word. Anyone who refused to swallow and regurgitate the creed on command was deemed a heretic and cast out of the church, in much the same way as those who believed in Jesus during his ministry years were cast out of the synagogue.

The problem with creeds is that they mix lies into the truth. The devil is very adept at doing that. So believers see the truth in the creed and then tend to overlook the lies, suffering from a kind of selective spiritual blindness. I don’t think they recite the lies knowing they’re lies, they just don’t believe them to be true.

I was taught a creed soon after I became a born-again believer. And then I was taught another creed. And another. Every church has its own creed that attendees have to recite at some point during the service. It’s like an anthem, but spoken instead of sung. Most people honestly don’t pay much attention to the words of a creed, any more than they pay attention to the words of an anthem. Maybe if they did pay attention to the words, they’d speak them differently.

*****

“I was born in Canada and have lived in Canada most of my life. Yet this country has become like a foreign country to me. Its values no longer reflect mine. It’s creed is anathema to me.

“For example, Canada introduced Medical Assistance in Dying (MAD) a few years ago. It was originally sold to the Canadian public as a mercy extended to those who were at death’s door and suffering unendurable pain. Then it was further extended to those who were suffering pain but were not at death’s door. Then the notion of ‘pain’ was extended to include mental anguish, such as you might feel if your boyfriend dumped you. Young people were then invited to apply for MAD. Old people were invited to apply for MAD. Parents were invited to apply for MAD for their babies. Now every Canadian citizen and permanent resident can apply for MAD and be executed by the state FREE OF CHARGE in Canada. MAD is mostly done by lethal injection.

“I no longer recognize my country. This is not the Canada I grew up in, this is not the ‘true north strong and free’, as the anthem informs us. Asking someone to kill you is not being ‘glorious and free’. This is state execution dressed up as mercy killing. This is preying on the sick and the weak.

“The creed of Canada has become demonic. When God is kicked out of a nation (as he has been in Canada), he will leave, but demons will rush in to take his place. There is no such thing as a spiritual vacuum. The demons have taken over the reins of power in Canada and they are doing what demons do best – masquerading as angels of light. So it’s not a state execution by lethal injection, it’s a mercy killing; it’s euthanasia. The same medical professionals tasked with keeping you well now counsel your death, in their expert opinion. In their expert opinion you need to die, if you say you want to die. Even if you don’t say you want to die, in their expert opinion they will suggest death as a solution to your problem(s). In their expert opinion, MAD is the only solution. MAD is Medical Assistance in Dying, which is the fancy phrase for ‘we gon’ kill yo’ ass’. The real acronym is MAD, but the experts call it MAID, for obvious reasons.

“This is what I believe. They are all murderers, every health professional involved in MAD and all those who support this ungodly creed. There is nothing merciful in murder. Medical Assistance in Dying is not MAID, it’s MAD. Those who do it and those who support it are likewise mad. This is what I believe. This is my creed. I am an unCanadian, a social heretic. I cannot call darkness light. I cannot mangle an acronym. I cannot believe lies. I cannot repeat lies. I am an unCanadian who believes in God and follows Jesus.

“There is no life outside of Christ. You must die spiritually to be reborn. This is what I believe. There is no such thing as a spiritual vacuum. This is what I believe. When God is kicked out of a nation, demons rush in to take his place. This is what I believe. You cannot get rid of a nation’s demons by casting them out – you need to repent them out. You need to get down on your knees and repent them out. You need to get down on your face and repent them out. But you first need to take care of your own soul before you can take care of the souls of others. That is the Law of the Beam in the Eye. This is what I believe. You cannot take away someone’s pain by killing them. Pain does not end in death if a soul is unrepentant. This is what I believe. The pain of an unrepentant soul continues for all eternity. This what I believe.

“There is no mercy in killing the desperate. There is only murder. Canada is MAD. The demons have taken control. This is what I believe.”

*****

When you stand before God on Judgement Day, you’ll have to know what you believe before you get there. You won’t have either the time or the ability to formulate your thoughts once you’re there; you will arrive fully formed. There will be no addition to your thought processes once you’re before the throne. You’ll make no more decisions of the will. There will only be you as you are, nothing added and nothing taken away. You will be judged on that, and the judgement will stand for eternity.

Most people don’t believe this. Most people don’t believe in God, or if they do, they believe they’ll get a second chance even on Judgement Day. They believe they’ll still have time.

But we born-again believers are not most people. Our beliefs need to be based in God’s Truth, not in the world’s truth and not in the truth of nominal believers who simply spout what they’ve been told to spout. While we still have time to formulate and refine our beliefs, we need to test them against God’s Truth. We need to see whether or not they hold up under examination. We need to be sure that we’re standing on God’s rock and not in the devil’s quicksand.

What do you believe? Do you stand by your beliefs? Do you live by your beliefs? Are you willing to die for your beliefs?

If you’re not willing to die for your beliefs, then you don’t really believe them; you only say you believe them. That’s called lip service. God does not look kindly on lip servers who say they believe in him but prove they don’t when put to the test.

I cannot tell you what to believe. Even God can’t tell you. It’s your choice, what you believe. It’s your free will choice. The record of your free will beliefs along with the record of your free will words and deeds are all you’ll take with you when you leave your human body. Everything else you (think) you own you’ll have to leave behind, because you don’t really own it. You don’t even own your body. It’s just on loan for the time you’re here. God owns your body, just as he owns your soul and everything else in Heaven and on Earth. The only thing he doesn’t own is your free will.

What you believe has eternal ramifications. The thoughts you entertain become you – not the thoughts that appear out of thin air and sidle up to you unbidden, asking for a light, but the thoughts you entertain. Better make sure those thoughts are godly. Better make sure your beliefs are godly. Better make sure your words and deeds are godly, because you don’t know when you’ll be whisked away and stood before God’s throne. But it will happen, that is a guarantee. And when it does, it will be too late for you to change your beliefs or words or deeds, and you’ll be judged on them. For all eternity, you’ll be judged on them. That is a scriptural Truth spoken by Jesus and recorded in the Gospels.

So what do you believe?

Do your beliefs inform your words and deeds, or is there a disconnect between what you believe and what you say and do?

Do people know what you believe by what you say and do, or do they have to dig deeper to discern the real you? Do you hide your beliefs?

Do you hide your beliefs?

*****

There was a time when I hand-wrote upwards of 40 pages a day. I couldn’t not write. The words clamored to get out, and so spilled down my arm and onto the page. My pen moved like a lie detector needle, leaving big sprawling cursive strokes that spanned multiple lines and making my Grade 2 cursive teacher weep for the horror of it all. It was illegible, my cursed cursive, but it wasn’t meant to be read by anyone but me. And even I didn’t read it. It was just words that needed out and so I let them out.

After I was born-again, I couldn’t write for three years. The compulsion to record words on a page was gone. When it came back, I wrote Faith Revolution, which was my first attempt to express my newfound beliefs in written word format. Sections of Faith Revolution later became the first entries in this blog.

“I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not….”

I don’t hide my beliefs. Sometimes I give too much away. I don’t write in multiple-line-sprawling cursive anymore (other than for my signature); I type, thanks to an old boss who’d hired my mini skirt and high heels fresh out of university without asking first whether I could actually type. I could, if you call using only your pointer finger “typing”. I guess what I did was more “pecking” than typing. Within a few days of starting the job, I was given the ultimatum to involve my other nine digits in my secretarial pursuits, or I’d be out the door. And so, over the next few weeks, I taught myself to 10-finger type, and that skill I still put to good use today.

A threat can be an excellent motivator.

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God doesn’t threaten us, but he does warn us. He warns us that time will have an end, and that after time comes the judgement. He warns us that there’s a right way and a wrong way, and that there are rewards for both – good rewards for choosing the right way and bad rewards for choosing the wrong. These are meant to be motivators, but they’re not threats. God doesn’t coerce, he guides. He is consistent in his guidance; it is never his goal to confuse but to clarify. The Ten Commandments are as clear as it gets.

God won’t force you to believe anything, but he will teach you the right way forward that will lead you Home. It’s up to you whether you’ll accept his teachings and base your beliefs on them. That is entirely up to you.

I believe everything God teaches me. I have no reason not to believe, as God has shown me time and time again that he is faithful in everything he says and does. He has shown me and he has shown others throughout the ages. When he says “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, that is not an empty promise: It’s a statement of fact.

What do I believe? The Word of God. The promises of God. Everything that comes from the mouth and hand of God. I believe everything Jesus taught us and continues to teach us through God’s Holy Spirit. I believe I was born again from atheism by a miracle of God. I believe I continue to live that miracle every day as I make my way Home. I believe that God’s Spirit guides me, protects me, smooths my way and informs my words, just as Jesus promised. I believe that Jesus is the one and only Messiah. There is no other and no need for another. I believe that Jesus is Lord.

What do I believe?

I believe.