Tag Archives: God

Our Personal Altar

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Jesus, my God and King.  I stop here to lay a white stone on the top of my altar of life.  As a child I started this altar with little balls of mud I rolled in my hands as I encountered the truth of Your Holy ways.  Each little ball  represented a firm truth that was only perceived, not yet learned to live out in my ways.  But each one gave you Glory for Your perfect teachings.

Next came the smooth little pebbles I found on the edge of the River of Life which you took me to go see from time to time.  You let me drink from the edge as was wise according to Your endless wisdom.  Then you drove me back to where You found me to have advanced.  In this You watched to see what I would do with what You had given.

Then You drove me to the edges of that vast desert of life among men.  Walking out a half day’s journey, I received what you offered to prove my heart.  Dryness, loneliness, stark reality appeared before me as a living image of the relationships between man and man, and God and man.  Jagged rocks began to be placed on this altar of Glory to You.

You gave me strength I did have.  You gave the strength of Sampson from time to time.  And I placed immense boulders on the altar as You brought me to them in “The Way”.  You did not let me go around them.  Rather You bid me pick them up and stack them for Your Glory.  Amazement and worship filled me as each bolder of trouble was removed and placed on this Holy testimony to Your eternal love.

And now I reach in my pocket and pull out a smooth white stone.  With loving fingers I place it atop the great and growing pile of worship to You.  Through prayer I let it go to see where it will rest.  Little noises come to my ears as it finds its way to rest amid this pile of testimony.  And I watch it disappear into the pile.  As it became Yours, it now is hidden from sight.  Only You know where it now lay.  And all the more is Your Glory.  For You will testify that it has been laid within the altar which can never be torn down.

Glory is Yours!  For You see what we cannot.  Even the understanding You give us finds its place in our heart.  We perceive where You placed it.  Yet, even as we perceive it the understand disappears into the man You are causing us to become.  Only You know where it lay.  And on the day You cause us to appear before You, You will expose each response to what You have done.  All Glory is Yours.  And this will be so forever.

These words are Yours.  They come from a servant You have blessed with life.  I testify to man.  But You see the testimony that even Your servant cannot perceive.  Thus all Glory is Yours Forever; and that to the Glory of Your Father who Lives in unapproachable light!  You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God, are worthy of every possible good word.  May all who call on Your Holy Name do so with a trembling soul.  For You are given Immense Beauty from the God of all things.  You are worthy!  And Your worth is stamped with the approval of the Father of Life.  Amen!

The Alarm (Don’t push snooze)

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The Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell in Kraków, Poland.

The Zygmunt (Sigismund) Bell in Kraków, Poland. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I look around at the people I see.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the things of the Lord.

I look again at those who have a clue about Jesus.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the things of the Lord.

I look again at the remaining few.  What does my mind perceive?  I see the majority ignorant of the extreme calling to holiness from the Lord.

I look one more time and what does my mind perceive?  I see a tiny few who have entered into the full scale war against the flesh by the power of the Spirit of God within them.

How can I say this?

Let’s take a look at what I have just said by considering a number.  Let’s give it the value of 100.  I’ll be generous because I don’t know the state of people like the Lord does.  I’m only making these statements by what my mind can perceive.  The Lord sees the heart of every man.  I can only look on the outward appearance.

Out of the 100 I see 75 who don’t care at all about the things of the Lord.  Out of the remaining 25, I see people who recognize that God is greater than any man.  They attend a service or two.  But there is very little difference between their lives and that of the first 75.  Ask them about the Bible and they can’t answer.  But they will tell you they believe in Jesus.

Out of that 25 I see, perhaps, 1 or 2 who are awestruck by the things of God in Christ Jesus.  Their lives are turned upside down by the Gospel of Christ.  You won’t see their prayer life very often.  But it is obvious that they are intense in their prayer life.  They are so distinctly different than all the others in everything they do.  These are the ones everyone else hates.  Not because they are Bible thumpers harassing everyone else, but because they make the others look bad just by being alive.

What makes the difference?  And how do we encourage any of the other 98 or 99 percent to join this tiny band of people?  I confess that I don’t know how to incite others to become absolutely sold out to the things of Jesus.  All I know is that it is impossible for any man to attain the full measure of dedication to the Lord.

I take a look at this from my own perspective (I’m not allowed to judge others in their faith.  So I am forced to look inward to explain this).  What do I see within myself that provokes me to a deeper commitment to the things of Heaven?  I see the warnings of Christ Jesus ringing from every “house” within my mind.  The warnings are not words to me.  They are a screaming call all day long and into the night.  I wake and I hear the warnings.  I work and hear them.  I sit still and they provoke me to think of Him.  Everything I encounter has that sound ringing loudly from it.

Who makes this sound I keep hearing?  Did I wake up one morning and decide to make a mental bell to sound in my mind?  That’s foolish to consider.  This state of alarm is from the Lord.  I asked for it.  And He gave it.  I will tell you that I know He can silence those bells if I prove that I’m not willing to obey His next command to me.  It is the Lord who does this to me.  And I conclude that He has done it to that 2 percent I mentioned above.

Now what of the rest?  I don’t know.  What is the threshold of entrance into the things of God through Jesus?  I don’t know.  Some point to the simple confession of lips, which mouth the name of “Jesus”.  Ok.   I can’t accept that.  The bells don’t mellow their sound when I consider going that direction.  So I conclude that perhaps it is a good beginning.  But it is obviously not the end of the road.  In short, I can’t testify that speaking the name of Jesus is good enough.  There’s more.

Is it going to church or even reading the Bible when we feel the urge?  Nope.  Still got that alarm going off.

How about if we go to church and listen to the sermon really hard?  Nope.  Bells still ringing.

Ok.  Then I’ll try be a good man.  Nope.  ALARM!

You see what I mean?  No matter how deep I go into Jesus, there is still an alarm sounding which calls me farther.  How then is it a good thing to be like any of the others?  And woe to me if I teach myself to ignore the sound of alarm.

I post this, not to brag about my Christianity.  But to open a discussion in the heart about the urgency of Jesus’ call to all men.   I care, and I can’t afford to care, where you are on that list of people.  What does it matter if I say one man is such or another?  Each of us gives complete account of ourselves alone.  I’m just trying to open a can of worms here.  Let’s see where they slither.

Bling Bling or God’s Perfection?

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Bling bling armband

Bling bling armband (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the flesh, all men and women analyze their value.  Do I make enough money?  Am I popular enough?  Am I as attractive as I can be?  What do people think of what I do?  The focus of the flesh is always placed on what others think about us.

Now I ask myself, “What value has all that been to me?”  If I were to present myself as beautifully as possible to man, there would still be many who would find plenty to criticize.  And I would be forced to either hate them or go back to make a better try.  In the end, I will get old and of no value to those who set the trends of society.  So I quit trying to please man in that manner.

As is our nature, when we can’t find acceptance in one place we look for it in another.  So I turned to God.  I read that He is willing to accept us through the work of His Son.  And I embraced it well enough.  As I became clean, however, I found myself thinking I would again present myself to man.  “Surely they will accept me now that I don’t do the things that are ugly.”

A rather large surprise greeted me at the door to humanity.  I realized that they hated God and all His ways.  And if I now embraced God and His ways, they were more than willing to hate me too.  So, with perplexity in hand, I left man and all his ways.  Now I serve the Living God with vigor.  He is far more comfort than anything man has to offer.

I make this post to testify that God is better than the world in every way.  A tiny few will believe what I have written.  But the Living God has told of this from ages past.  What’s the summation?  Look to man and you will die a very slow death of competition, greed, pride, and every form of wickedness.  Look to God and He will show you every good thing.  Satisfaction belongs to those who place themselves completely in the hands of the Lord Jesus.

A Song of Truth to Martin Bashir

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MSNBC NJ HQ

MSNBC NJ HQ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I saw a quote from a “news guy” (Martin Bashir) regarding the Catholic leader’s denial of a law which forces them to aid their workers in gaining birth control.  The statement he made was something like this, “That’s not being very Christian.”  There are no more stupid words a man might string together.  And this article is presented to show why his words are abject stupidity.

The man showed his complete lack of understanding regarding Christianity.  And he opened his heart to show us how rebellious he is toward the Holy God of Israel in Jesus the Christ.  And he displayed his choice to obey man rather than God.  What makes his statement stupid are the things he knows nothing about.  Maybe someone will make sure a copy of this reaches him so that he might give account of himself.

To this man, being Christian means we must give regardless of God’s commands to respect what He has given us.  To this man, Christians are hypocrites because they won’t help a woman to regulate the outcomes of sexual intercourse.  In short, this man thinks Christians should allow all women to play God when it comes to the function of their bodies.  And he is mystified that we should stand against the sins of this wicked day in the world’s history.  He might as well have said this:  “How dare you tell us we can’t use you to complete our desires!”  Well, we DARE!

There has been enough compromise from Christianity!  The Gospel has been watered down enough!  It is time to either, take a stand and begin to speak out loudly against this wicked age, or it is time to get up from your seat before Jesus, close the doors of your worship centers, and walk away from the truth He calls us all to embody.  I choose to remain with our Lord and God Jesus.  I will gladly take a strong stand and say the following.

Such women tell God that they are the ones in charge.  They say to Him that they will have sex any time they please.  And it is none of His business what happens as a result.  careers are to be made, sex is to be had, drinking is to be indulged, drugs, prostitution, gambling, greed, pride, and every wickedness abounds.  And I will take a stand against them all.

This man thinks we should aid them in this rebellion?  Was this the way of women from ages past?  Before birth control was available, did the women stab themselves in the stomach to abort their children?  When they were born did they throw them into the fire or water?  No, they had much more respect for what their bodies were capable of doing.  And if one did such things she was not glorified in society.   And unlike this man, the men of all other ages had more respect for their women.  Restraint was used instead of drugs.  Self discipline, an all but forgotten tool, was used with respect for the obvious outcome.

It is this age of abject rebellion which men and women take their stand against the Most High God.  They continue to contrive every possible means to gain what they want without regard to what God has commanded.  They consider that they live to please themselves, even at the expense of souls given to them in their womb.  They have thrown away self-control for the sake of pleasure. And they have come to expect that this seeking of pleasure will be allowed them regardless who is bold enough to stand in their way.  They do not consider that God gives life (a soul) at the union of sperm and egg.  The conception of life within them is simply a bother.  And they will not have it.

Even now there will be people read this and think I am being too harsh.  It is you who are being too harsh!  You are the ones killing the will of God among you so that you can do as you please!  You are the ones who are misusing the gifts of your bodies for the sake of your own gain.  I cannot be harsh enough about this topic.  God Himself will testify strongly about this on the day we all stand before Him.  And my words can never match the authority of the Most High God.

If that man who said, “That’s not being very Christian” would lower himself to read this message he would see that we have no intention of being the kind of Christians he thinks we should be.  To be as he suggests is to be no Christian at all!  We are saved by the ultimate authority in the ways of men and Angels.  Our obedience and allegiance is to God in Jesus, the creator of all that is, alone.  But then this man does not respect the authority of God, does he?  To him, Christianity is simply a religion which tells its followers to “be nice”.   What he doesn’t realize, and neither do those who rally with him, is that this message I’ve just presented is being nice.  I was nice enough to tell the truth.  I am being bold enough to incur the wrath of every rebellious man and woman.

I too walked as these people are doing.  I chased after every pleasure without thought to the consequences.  At some point the Gospel was presented to me, and I believed what it said.  With trembling heart I approached the Lord to confess what I was doing.  He has responded with a great mercy to lift me from those things.  He is quite willing and able to do the same for all who call out to him with a truthful heart.  I do not condemn you for what you are doing.  You are condemning yourself.  The judgment is already passed on all who chase after rebellion.  A second death awaits you after you die in this body.  And the judgment has already been rendered carte blanc.

This letter is a warning of two things:  The first warning is that all rebellion will bring swift destruction on anyone who embraces it.  And the second warning is that Christianity is not a “be nice” religion.  Regardless how you perceive the authority of Christians to tell you what is true, God remains King of all Truth and Righteousness.  He will judge us all according to our willingness to obey His commands.

You think because He is silent for now that He does not see what you do.  You purposely dismiss the fact that you will give account of yourself to Him.  And you believe all the lies of your brothers and sisters of sin to chase after every pleasure.  For now you take your side against the Living God.  But that need not remain the case for you.

The Apostle Paul said that “In Him we live and move and have our being.”  Consider this truth:  Allow someone to put an ant on your skin as your eyes are closed.  You will certainly feel what is foreign to your body.  It is the same with sin to God.  Every act of disobedience is felt and observed.  Nothing is hidden before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Turn to Him with earnest and fearful heart.  Confess what you have allowed yourself to become.  I assure you, He will lift you from all this rebellion in due time.  When He sees how we push away from sin to seek His ways, He responds with the gift He has promised.  This is the Gospel, my friend who thinks we should give in to every whim of sin you can imagine.  It is a message of hope to those who are already counted as dead before the Holy Throne of God.  It is not a license to continue in rebellion and every possible sin.  He will teach you to refrain from chasing after the things you now do which will cause your destruction.  And Jesus is able to teach you how to become clean, without fault, and holy.  He is able to turn you from an enemy of God to that which pleases His Father.

Eternal life is given to those who overcome.  What is it that we overcome which pleases God the Father through Jesus?  It is a life lived sinless that pleases God.  And Jesus is quite able to guide you into that very life.  I have spoken to the truth to all men and women.  This is the truth He has given to man in the Gospel of Christianity.  Make no mistake, It is “being very nice” to warn others of what is certainly going to come about by rebellious behavior.  It is to be eternally violent toward you to keep this message to ourselves!  So by asking us to help you remain in rebellion, you are actually asking us to be violent to you.  This is why that man’s statement is so incredibly stupid.

If you heard of a plot to murder a friend of yours wouldn’t you try to warn him?  If you knew that men were waiting to kill him as he went to his favorite bar, wouldn’t you try to keep him from going?  This is what I am doing for you.  I consider you my friends.  Because we are in the same position in this place of testing (the place God has made to create men and test their hearts to see if they will obey Him even without proof of His existence; do we love what is true or allow ourselves to misuse what He has provided).

And I am telling you that God has plotted against all wickedness, rebellion, selfishness, and sin.  God has sworn by Himself that nothing unclean will ever enter His presence.  He will catch you as you leave this body you now inhabit.  And you will be utterly destroyed!   The Holy Spirit of God, which helps me write this to you, will not contend with the wickedness of man forever.  There is a place where separation will be made.

Now what if your friend is so dead set on going to the bar that he pushes you away and rails on you for keeping him from his pleasure? With hatred for you in his heart he slams the door as he leaves.  What will you do next?  Do you still think I hate you because I try to keep you from death?  Do you really think I am being too harsh?  Think about it.

To the Woodshed We Go.

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English: Sheep and woodshed These animals were...

English: Sheep and woodshed These animals were determined to be in the shot! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is no light matter to expose our own faults.  But it is our duty to display the entirety of the Gospel within us.  It is one thing to say that the Lord can save us from sin and present us to His Father clean and without blemish.  It is an entirely different matter to display what that cleansing looks like as we walk with the Lord every day.

His people encounter the same ugly world as the non-believer.  And we stumble around sometimes just like they do.  The difference is that He holds us to account of our ways.  The things we do which displease His Father will be dealt with appropriately.  This is the side of Christianity the world knows little to nothing about.  Perhaps, just perhaps, if we displayed our travails more often the world would be set on ear as they criticize us.

Hypocrisy and Blasphemy

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The Grand Stand

The Grand Stand (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I had two dreams I that kind of rattled my cage.  I had been caught in some troubles with another.  And the relationship ended up shattered.  It doesn’t matter who’s at fault.  The result is the object of both dreams.  Though these dreams reveal a rather bad experience, I hope they might be helpful to others.

hypocrisy:

I dreamt I was attending a function with a lot of people, perhaps thousands.  I and a friend sat in the upper row of the stands.  I heard some people singing as they drove along the freeway to my right.  It was a song I have been looking for with great anticipation of finding.  I jumped up and said, “I’ve been looking for that.”  My friend looked at me quite puzzled.

I ran to find the driver of the van.  And when I did find him I asked him where he got that song.  Instead of helping me understand he began to berate me for only wanting a portion of Christianity.  (The song was something to do with the Christian life.)

I looked at him with anger and disgust.  Then I walked away.  That was the end of the dream.

Blasphemy:

I saw in another dream that a leader of a Church was teaching all the truth of the Gospel.  One man was there learning with a vibrant heart.  After that student had learned enough to understand fully, he said to the leader that he was going to open his own class room.  The man didn’t wait for a response, but walked down the hall to another room and encouraged everyone to join him.

The leader watched.  Then he walked outside and called to everyone there:  “Come help me tear this building down!  If we push with unison we can topple every timber.”  As they began to push in unison, I woke.

The understanding the hypocrisy:

Sometimes we are so desirous of other’s understanding of Christianity that we push too hard against their perceptions.  We tend to forget that we too were once flailing about trying to grasp the fullness of Christ.  We often demand too much from those who can only eat the basics.  And this is the meaning of the first dream.  The driver of the van was me.  The man in the stands was the other.  The fault of the destruction of our relationship belongs to me.

As for Blasphemy:

The teacher is Jesus.  And not one student will be allowed to “muscle in” on the Lord’s role in the Church.  It would be wise of all of us to remember to sit quietly and learn.  There is a place of sending.  But it is not wise to bring division to the Lord’s Holy Temple.  The Lord will simply tear down such a building with a rather quick judgment.

I present both these dreams and their understandings for everyone to consider.  I am not any different than my brothers and sisters.  We are all redeemed sinners.  But it is my hope that there might be some value found among us at the revealing of these dreams.