Tag Archives: Jesus

Conspiracy

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Coast to Coast AM

Coast to Coast AM (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I drive at night.  And just to stay awake I often listen to the am radio talk shows.  I’ve found I can’t listen long anymore.  The things they talk about are so amazingly incomplete.

There is a show that comes on quite late called “Coast to Coast”.  The format is anything having to do with paranormal.  One time the host was asked for calls from people who had stories of paranormal activity.  He took a call from a Christian woman who talked about the relationship between Jesus and His people.  The host said that he was looking for “paranormal” stories and that Jesus was not paranormal.  I laughed and shut him off.  What he was looking for was demon activity.  He had no interest in God.

But last night I turned it on for a while to get something to think about.  There was a man talking about a movie about mars.  I confess I didn’t care about what he was talking about so much as to get something to rant about as I drove through the night.  He was spouting something about conspiracy.  And something occurred to me that he would not really appreciate.

Let’s say he discovered a conspiracy of weapons or energy that was being used against mankind.  What then?  Let’s say he chased his discovery to the end and had those arrested who were plotting against us all.  What then?  40,000 others would move into the vacuum left by those arrested.  So he is wasting his entire life chasing after something futile.  He might claim that he saved mankind from some terrible problem.  But he hasn’t done a single thing to curb the onslaught of wickedness.

And this is what I came away with last night.  If such men, as those who search after weird little thoughts, would concern themselves with a certain conspiracy they would go a lot farther in helping man.   There is a conspiracy that does warrant attention.  And this conspiracy gets horribly little attention.  There is a conspiracy of rebellion in the world.  It is first a rebellion against the God who made us all.  We naturally hate His rule among us.  And for the second point,  this rebellion is destroying the entire world.   Billions have already received their eternal sentence of separation from the Living God.  And the tide of death is not stemmed yet.   Now, if he spent his entire life chasing and exposing that rebellion, he would really be doing something worth while.

 

Rights or Obligation?

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Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven, as in the r...

Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven, as in the reconciliation of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 33, after Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A “right” can be established if the proper means has been gained.  An obligation really doesn’t care whether you want to meet it or not, it remains against you until the contract between you and the obligation expires.  A “right” never dispels as long as the giver of that right remains.

Sometimes people who have lived a relatively “righteous” life will look down on a drunk (or worse) who has gotten a handle on life’s prerequisites.  And when the sinner begins to live a “righteous” life and speaks about it openly the “righteous” folk will come to detest him.  You would think they would embrace the sinner gone “good”.  But that is rarely the case.  The sinner is embraced by the perceived righteous if he has some quality that they themselves admire.  But if he has worn out his bodily welcome he is shunned and laughed at as a fool.

I can see why the “righteous” think they alone have the corner on speaking about what is right.  After all, they have worked hard to guard against the kind of behavior that the sinner allowed to swamp his boat.  But there comes a place where their perceived right becomes judgment against others.  To them, their “rights” are being usurped by an illegal citizen of their ranks.

But the obligation to speak belongs to the sinner more.  He has been lifted from certain death to a place of understanding.  He knows the ground he has covered.  He knows better what it is to be filled with wickedness.  So he has an obligation to warn others.  Not to mention that he is likely far more thankful for being set loose from his former life.  So the very fact of his thankful heart compels him to meet his obligation to speak about what is “righteous”.

“But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” (from Luke 7:36-50)

Sealed Forever

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Jacob Matham’s engraving after Sebastian Vranc...

Jacob Matham’s engraving after Sebastian Vrancx’s The Rich Man at the Table and Lazarus at the Door (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A wicked man was beating a Christian.  Afer he had vented considerable injury to the Christian, so that the Christian was near death, the wicked man suffered a fatal heart attack.  He had allowed his wrath to overtake his heart’s ability to sustain his hatred.   In just a few moments the Christian also died.  Silence was all that remained of them in this place of testing.

The next noise the Christian heard was, “Welcome home My good and faithful servant.  Come share in My Father’s Kingdom.”  But when the wicked man woke he realized that the object of his hatred was now in the company of God.  Full of the same hatred he had at death, he challenged God.  With spit leaking from his lips he screamed, “That one belongs to me!  Give him back!  I am by no means done beating him!  You have no right to what is mine!”

Guess what happened next.

Set Yourself Toward Him as a Sharp Flint

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Flint knife from Barajevo.

Flint knife from Barajevo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Open your heart to the Lord.  He has said, “I am not angry.”  Toward all who sincerely desire His friendship, His arms are wide open. But to all who think they can bend His will to theirs, his face is turned.  Men call on Him in times of trouble.  As soon as trouble is past, two faces turn in a dance of simultaneous rejection.  Steady your gaze at the One who can teach purity and righteousness.  It is demanded of us. It will not be taken out-of-the-way.  Nothing impure or unholy will ever enter His presence.  Do not mistake His mercy in times of trouble for His intent for you.

He set His face like flint to go toward His death on a cross.  This is what He is looking for in all of us; that we should set our soul toward Him with complete abandonment of all the things of this world.  He is completely LORD.  His people will be completely His.

Consider how flint was used to cut.  Cut through your rebellion and the temptations of this world.  Get sharp, by His Spirit, and remain sharp.

Come Out From Her My People!

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You who call upon the name of the Lord with a hopeful whisper, not knowing if your prayer is heard.  Where is your confidence?  While you fear the world you live in, where is your strength?  You should fear the Lord of Life only!  There is no place for fear in love made perfect.  For fear has to do with punishment.  And the fear you hold is born of your embrace with the wicked.  Separate and your confidence will grow.  Remain and the fear you now have will consume you.

Do Not Let Me Resort to Fear

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In life here there are lies.  There is death, hunger, despair, hatred, false religion, false gods, hopelessness, twisted men who present themselves as if they are “good”.  And the list I could make of what is here would go on for many pages.  Who would read what they can touch with their own fingers?

Yet in this life there is a place of understanding that strips off all that filthy list.  There is a place where a man can know truth and live it.  I know that place!  I know that many will see me type those words and balk, “No man knows truth.”  I tell you I know Him!  And, more importantly, He knows me.

You want freedom from all that detestable list?  Do you want FREEDOM to LIVE?  Pry it from my heart.  Help me testify to what He is.  Ask me.  Press me.  Help me put into words what only the soul can understand with any clarity.

We have lips, graphics, gestures, and body language to communicate.  That’s the limit of our ability.  So how can I hope to tell you what is spoken in a place where these things are NOT the limit?  Take it from me.  Ask until you understand.

God has given the Gospel to men so that men can speak to one another.  It is a humble heart who will lower themselves enough to ask another man.  It is the proud who will restrain their questions before men.  The proud will think that no man can know the truth.  The humble will avail themselves to any possible source of life.  They will seek with all their might.  And if the testimony I give you falters, the meek will understand that I am like them.

We struggle to share what cannot be perceived.  But that inability to perceive it through our senses does not mean it is a lie.  Salvation in Jesus is absolutely real and transforming.  Consider this:  We are in the place of testing.  We are the ones who, for now, can’t see what eternity has seen all along.  We are the ones blind to His presence.  He is not blind to us.

Ask and I will tell you what He has told me.  And I am not the only one.  There are thousands of me.  Ask them.  Press them.  You know who they are.  Make them tell you.  And do not let them resort to fear.