Category Archives: the gospel

The Proud and the Weak

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“God and religion are useless to me.  They are for the children and the weak.  I’ll take real life.  Keep your “holy” garbage out of my sight.  All it does is weaken my resolve to survive.”

And another:

“I can’t move!  I’m afraid to think for myself.  I’m afraid to accept the promises of God, for I fear it will ask too much of me.  Keep your “holy” words far from me.  I would rather hide here in my darkened cave, than turn and face what you call “light”.

Isn’t that what you say?  Perhaps you don’t say it in words.  But your actions are clear.

Weak, you say?  My friend, you have no idea what strength it takes to believe.  And what good would it do to try to explain to you how much strength it takes to submit to the Living God’s Christ?  You know nothing about overcoming sin.  And you are not able to conceive what difficulties await every moment, as His people walk “The Way”.

No, my friend, it is you who are weak.  Look how you suffer under the burden of expectations.  Look what the world demands of you.  Look at your inability to perform with consistency.  Look at your own fear level.  You’re the one who’s weak.  The very fact that you stand with bravado, tells me how weak you are.

I’ve lived among the drunks.  I’ve lived among the proud.  I’ve come to recognize the signs of fear.  The cocky one who brags about all the things he can do.  That’s the one whose the weakest.  The strength of his life is found in his violent hands and quivering lips.  You call that strength?

And you who cower in a corner.  You who keep the windows of your life closed.  How utterly helpless you are to go outside anymore.  You turn away from Christ.  You turn to religion, in its various forms.  You keep to yourself, the things that are true and eternal.  If indeed, you have them at all.

You who cower look at the victorious and moan.  You think you can’t achieve anything.  How utterly weak are you?  But at least you recognize your weakness.  You are not like the proud, you don’t brag about your weakness.  But you have it just the same.

The proud.  The fearful.  Both miss the central point of the Gospel.  “I will be your strength!  It is I who will lift you up.  Humble yourself before Me, and in due time, I will lift you up.  The weak will become strong.  The proud will be humbled.  The Way of the Lord shall remain, narrow and Holy.”

The proud looks to weakness.  The fearful looks to strength.  Both fear to move, lest what they love is crushed.  The proud fears to lose his strength.  The fearful fears to lose his excuses.  But The Way of the Lord moves through the sea of men, unscathed, unhindered, eternally set, and arriving at perfection.

Put down your pride.  Put down your fear.  Stop groveling in your putrid mess.  Look up and believe!

The Nature of Heaven

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As I drove along in the dark last night, I let my thoughts drift to the nature of heaven.  With whatever my imagination could provide, I thought about peace, living creatures, a safe and inviting environment, and a people that will never again know any sin.

I tried to think of heaven millions of years passed the day of judgement.  I thought of a place where what is here is never mentioned.  They do not remember the wicked greed of man.  They do not remember sickness and death.  And for eternity this will be their life.

As I woke up this morning I tried to consider my thoughts about heaven.  I recognize that they are only based on what I can perceive here.  And then I found myself amazed at how little God has revealed about eternity.

His message to man does not contain the indescribable beauties of his heaven.  God and all his creatures have lived in splendor for millions of millions of years.  But exceedingly little information has been given to man.

Partly, the restraint has to do with our language.  And partly the restraint has to do with the frailty of this creation.  But more so, the restraint has to do with God’s will toward Man.

God is not interested in making us happy here.  The entirety of this place is designed to cause us to hate it.  Nothing is stable.  There is no secure place.  Nothing is friendly unless it is manipulated.  And the strength of our bones wears out so that we can no longer manipulate.

The entirety of this place is designed for faith.  We have hope in faith alone.  We are to put our trust in the Living God and His Holy Son Christ Jesus.  Even the very character of our mind is full of unrest and unpredictable behavior. 

God did not desire that we should live at peace here.  It is God’s desire that we desire his peace.  So instead of describing what is his, he tells us that he is firm and true, peace, safety, strength, purity, and that his promises are fully reliable.

The nature of this place is designed to test the heart of every man.  The question hangs in the sky over the head of every man here:

“Do you desire what you have; this place full of chaos and unpredictable things?  Or will you open your heart to honesty; looking about you and confessing the true nature of this place of testing.  And that you yourself are not able to do one right thing.”

If we will turn to God out of despair, for the sake of the things we can see that are wrong, he is willing to embrace us.  But if we want to dig in our feet, and live in this place of lies, full of rebellion, full of unbelief, full of hatred for our fellow man and for God, we will suffer unto death then be cast away as unprofitable.

If you want to know the glories of heaven, listen to the righteous words of God and do them.  Allow yourself to believe in the Holy Son of God, do not harden your heart with restraint.

Read his Holy words that HAVE been sent us.  Believe them and stop second guessing the Holy Word of the Living God.  Listen to your conscience and confess your sins to him.  Ask him to strengthen you in the things that are pure and right.  Then do what you are told to do.

All of these things can be gained in Christ Jesus.  He has promised, and is reliable, overcoming this place of chaos is possible. Heaven can be attained if we listen to him.  Then we will know the nature of the eternal heaven of the Living God.  Then our language will be like his, for the place of our perception will be an eternal place.

So many like me desired to know what is in heaven.  What a perfect example of wasted time.  A better deployment of the minutes is to teach myself godly restraint, and this according to His Holy Word and the prompting of His Holy Spirit.

May God have mercy to grant understanding to those who read these words.  Those who desire will hear.  Those who hate God will stop up their ears.

In Christ Jesus, the Righteous and Holy Son of God, I pray.  Amen.

By His Grace

Luck

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Luck is for the faithless.

Among the blessed of Christ there is no such thing.

Luck is for the godless.

Among the godly, Christ is all.

Keep your hope that good things might happen,

All you who hold yourselves as gods.

For Christ is sovereign,

All in all,

For those to whom he has been revealed.

Contrary to popular opinion, there is no such thing as luck.

By His Grace

The Fullness of Christ

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It is said in every place, “The Holy Father has given all things into the hands of His Holy Son.”

We read it.  We strive to believe and understand it.  We strive, with all we have to “do” the testimony of it.  But “it” remains beyond our grasp to fully understand that simple statement.

This morning, while I went to that habitual place of reverence to the Lord, He brought to my soul a remarkable understanding.

Now, I’m going to try to relate this using human understandings.  There is no way to relate what is of heaven, in the language of man.  I say this to avoid any possible attacks from some who rightfully strive to defend what is holy and of Christ, their Love.

As to the Glory of Christ Jesus:  If all of heaven were to be utterly destroyed (as if such a thing could happen).  If all of creation were to suddenly perish (yet isn’t that part of the Gospel of Christ?).  Christ Jesus would remain untouched.

The Holy Father has dressed His Holy Son Jesus, in such a manner as to be Sovereign.  What I’m trying to say is that Jesus does not depend on anything in creation, whether of heaven or earth, to secure His standing.  Everything else, absolutely everything else, in heaven and earth relies on Him for “continuing”.  Nothing, and no one else holds any possible equal to the Majesty of Jesus.

He, Jesus, and the Father are ONE.  As God the Father is Sovereign, so it is with the Holy Son.  Grasp this, and your understanding of the Holy One of God changes drastically.   Have it spoken to your soul from the Father Himself, and your entire day just got injected with unshakable strength!

As the understanding covered me this morning, I stood in wonder.  For it came to me dressed in everything I know.  It was not given as if a statement.  I guess man might say it was a revelation from God.  For I struggle so to relate what I perceived.

May God bless you, my beautiful family in Christ, this day.  May He open the volume of Heaven to your holy heart.  May all that His Holy Wisdom desires come upon all His people.  May Christ Jesus dawn in our hearts, that we might hold the strength of testimony due His Holy Name.

May the will of God be done among us all.  For the Glory of His Majestic, Holy, Loving, Patient, Merciful, Just, Righteous, Pure, and Blessed Holy Son!  (In that Jesus has been blessed to be Sovereign, as has always been the Holy Father, it is impossible to exhaust or articulate His Holy Name).

Amen!

Fasting and Sabbath

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What has this world taught me about rest?  What a curious mix of instruction.

“Be diligent and do everything that’s expected of you!  If there is time at the end of the day you may rest.  If you do this consistently for a year, we may speak of a vacation.  If that vacation appears, then you can do what pleases you.”

This is what men call rest.  They do and do and do, so that they can do what they please.  They strike themselves hard for the sake of prosperity.  Then take what they have earned, and go and do as they please.  Is this really a prosperous rest?

In the doing of this kind of rest,  America turned away from the Sabbath when I was a boy.  The stores no longer closed and we ceased to go to church.  Is this what you call rest, America?  Yes it is.   And you live out your Sabbath every day of the week without fail.

There’s no need to throw that at you as if it is a condemnation.  That condemnation will do you no good.  For you will not turn because someone rightly accuses you.  It’s simply a truth.

And isn’t it just as well that you have tossed away the Sabbath of God, that day when you restrain yourself for an hour or two from doing the things you desire to do.  For when you kept that day you did not keep His way.  Perhaps it is good that someone finally rose up and closed the door.

The Sabbath is not Sunday.  The Sabbath is not Saturday.  The Sabbath of God is a way of life.

I will not bother to interpret it to you.  Rather, I will give you the words of God Himself.

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

2 For day after day they seek me out;
they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
and seem eager for God to come near them.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.

4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousnessa will go before you,
and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

13 “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,

14 then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.  (Isaiah 58)

Perhaps a person may read this who has No desire to serve the living God.  Perhaps they will laugh and say to themselves, “This doesn’t apply to me”.  Aren’t you created also?  Doesn’t the one who created you desire you to come to him?

Now I know the gospel of the world, which is no gospel at all.  You say I will be kind to my brother and that will be enough.  But in this you are kind to your brother for no reason at all.  For you do not do these things that the Most High God may dwell in your heart.  You do these things that you may be considered a righteous man.

The pendulum of Man swings far to the left and far to the right.  From complete disobedience to a presumption of glory, the will of Man is not dependable.

Between rebellion and false humility is the Holy Lord God Almighty.  This is the place his Holy Son walked as he was among us.  The entirety of his life was for the Glory of his Father.  He did nothing to glorify Himself.

I don’t want to write a book about it.  If any man will look into these things he will learn far more than I can say.  The question is are you willing to look into these things?

By His Grace

The Nature of Temptation

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What have I learned about temptation that is worthy of writing?  So much is written on the subject.  I did not dare write about it until I had something more to offer.

I have learned about its true nature.  It is not just an unwise choice, born of rebellion against God.  And it is not a single action. 

It always starts as something small.  It never comes upon us in its full-blown nature.  In this it is rightly called an enticement.

Among men there are things of beauty.  Among men there are things that can rightfully be desired under the right circumstances, and within a proper limit.  But the enticement of temptation will draw you a little farther.

Consider the beauty of woman.  Along with desire for wealth, her beauty rates very high in the failure of man.  What does temptation whisper, as it begins its routine enticements?  Doesn’t it make remark in regard to the things of our perceptions?

We say yes.  She is beautiful.  Then temptation agrees, adding an observation of your desire.  The enticement has begun.

Temptation whispers to you that lust is only natural.  By now you are ready to agree.

But as the foolish man enters in, temptation does not keep quiet.  He adds more shame upon shame.  By now you are not only too weak to resist, you encourage him to speak.  Pathetically, by now you consider temptation as an honorable teacher.

Before a short while is done abominable things have crossed your filthy heart.  Temptation does not end with enticement.  It takes a man or woman to the classroom of filthy thoughts and actions.  And when physical satisfaction has been found, it laughs at you!

Now temptation does what it is renowned to do.  Its strip you of pride, and rubs your face with all that is filthy.  You are a disgrace before God.  You are a disgrace before the Holy Angels.  You are a disgrace before all humanity.  You are a disgrace to yourself!  The only one who is pleased by your stupid choice is temptation.

Worse upon worse, temptation now knows your weakness!

Take note in all these things, I did not call temptation the devil.  The book of James tells us that we are tempted and drawn away by our own desires.  Yes he is called the tempter.  But we, my friends, are the ones pointedly to be blamed.

I have used the example of woman.  But I do not blame her singly.  It is the most pervasive temptation among man.  But it by no means stands alone.  Everything that draws us away from what is good and pure is sin.

To some it is lying.  To another is money.  To one it is gluttony.  To someone else it is self-abasement in any form.  And temptation will testify, “The myriad is large”!

Temptation knows your weakness.  Be honest with yourself, my friend, so do you!

I tell you a truth.  You will not overcome the things that tempt you from within.  Try as you might you will not find the strength.  You are bound like a prisoner to repeat your filthy ways.

The only one who can free us is Jesus the Christ of God.  And I do not say so with the slightest sliver of shame.  I testify to you that overcoming temptation is quite possible.  But you will not overcome if you do not call out to him.

Eternity will be purged.  Did you know that?  Once this place is done, this place of temptation and testing, nothing that is sin will ever find life.  If you needed provocation to consider resisting temptation, let eternal death sink into your mind.

Those who desire righteousness will seek His Holy face.  Those who are content to be filthy will never raise their eyes.  Death will cover them forever.  And no one will say, “Sweet dreams”.

By His Grace