Tag Archives: Place of Testing

Above Our Ability

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Christianity is singular. Meaning by necessity it has to stand apart from everything on earth. Just as everything on earth has a beginning (a threshold) to its place. As you approach, it is not then all of a sudden it is. So what is the threshold of Christ in us?

Spurgeon points at it with this:

“Genuine, spiritual mourning for sin is the work of the Spirit of God. Repentance is too choice a flower to grow in nature’s garden. Pearls grow naturally in oysters, but penitence never shows itself in sinners except divine grace works it in them. If thou hast one particle of real hatred for sin, God must have given it thee, for human nature’s thorns never produced a single fig. ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh.’”

In the Blink of an Eye

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Have you looked into the coming future of Man?   Do you know about the utter devastation of all wickedness?  Do you know how sure it is?  

At the very moment of Eternity when God lips cease speaking the command, a devastating and eternal blow will be sent to all this darkened the creation.  Like a lightning bolt that strikes a pea, the earth and all this black universe will be no more.
Everything man currently loves will become nothing more than a floating ember of ash.  Absolutely nothing, of even the dust, will remain.  
Heaven will move, taking its rightful place.  This place of testing will be no more.  The joy and righteousness of God will prevail forever.
When this happens it will be as if this place has never existed.  All the things men love will be gone.  And it will happen in the blink of an eye.
It will happen faster than it takes an atheist to remember he has said there is no God.  Have you considered these things with serious and vibrant desire?  Or have you been like so many others?
Lashed to a portion of the ship, the man proclaims there is no storm.  The ship is tossed 45 degrees to the left, then is forced the other direction 90 degrees.  All the while he stupidly proclaims, “There is no storm”.  
It’s easy to see there is no common sense in such a man.  Are you living your life like that?  Or are you letting common sense cause you panic?
Such realization ought to send us to the words of God.  Truly believing this ought to make our fingers tremble as we turn the pages.  Is this the way you see people reacting to this News?
It doesn’t matter how we respond, does it?  It doesn’t matter what comes of us when God puts an end to all the things men have loved. 

Heaven will gain its rightful place, that place that this place of wickedness has consumed for so long.  And it won’t matter whether we believed this or not.
I urge you because I love you, think about this.  If I despised you I would say nothing.   Please let your mind think this through.

The Singular Miracle

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The gospel is minimized to the best of Man’s ability.  Within the days of Man, all the chores of the flesh take precedent.  And today so very many even actively campaigning against miraculous work of God.

Blind, blind and blind are all the people.  Who has considered The amazing puzzle.  Who sees the Christ of God for what He is?

It is not as though the Christ suffered periodically among God’s enemies;  as if once every 30 billion years the Holy Word of God must enter a creation that despises him, and be crucified for their unholy sake.  The precious miracle of God has blossomed; the Son of God has been sacrificed.  But who sees it as it is?

From Adam until now billions of men have come and gone.  Yet only a handful have understood.

In his excellent Holy wisdom, the Living God has made this place of testing.  It’s a done deal folks, and we’re living in that moment.  The Eternal God has performed his eternal task.  Even while we rested in Oblivion.  And even while I write this, that particular oblivion continues.

The reaping is next.  The final word will be spoken and all the souls of men will appear before the Living God.  Still men minimize the grand work of God to create this place.

The illusion of the temporary is that powerful.  Days come and go, and the mind of man is captured by the things that are not eternal.  How easily we push aside the reality of eternity.  “I’ll consider eternity when I get there.” Perhaps many even blame our limitations and use them as excuses.

This is not written to make people feel guilty.  It is some faulty and meager attempt charge our minds according to the truth of God in Christ.

See the gospel for what it is.  God’s Holy Son has been tested and found worthy to be granted exceedingly great Glory.  Once and for all he has become Master by the test he endured among us.  For eternity he had not been glorified.  But now for eternity he has!

Wake and consider these things.  We do not live in a place that will continue forever.  And at the sum of our days we will appear for the reward that belongs to us for the sake of our doings.  Where does the Holy strength of God rest in our minds?

By the wisdom of God we are not “just passing through”.  We live our days inside eternity.  Today IS forever.  Christ Jesus is glorified.  Once and for all eternity has done an unspeakably beautiful work.

Why the Wrath, Here?

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I sat with the Holy One, reflecting on the nature of things in this world.  I saw that His Holy Wisdom has been loosed in this Place of Testing; a Great display of His Majesty to sustain life, even among a people who detest His Holy Right to Rule.  Then I settled on a question.  “If the destruction of the wicked will surely come to pass, why bring the volume of the seven seals among Man?”

I did not mean to judge His Holy Wisdom to seal the end of this Place of Testing with violence.  I simply did not understand the necessity to bring the plagues upon humanity, since the destruction of rebellion will surely come to pass.

I asked this question.  He told me to go and write, as is the custom of revelation between He and I.  He spoke to Moses face to face.  He speaks to many in dreams.  He has spoken to me in the means of writing.

Let understanding come as it will.  The following is His answer.

They will receive (even in their place of flesh; even in this “place of testing”), the due penalty for their willful ignorance.  The punishment of wickedness will certainly begin while the consummation of the war against evil rolls toward finality.

It is not the state of man to endure this war.  It is not Man for whom this war has been engaged.  But it is the state of those who side with the unholy one to endure the same “ripping away of willful disobedience”.  Those who desire to side with evil will certainly endure that taste of coming and sure destruction.  All that belongs to the hands of the accuser will suffer loss, even while those hands are busily destroying.  Man is caught in the war between God and the accuser, whether he desires to be involved or not.

It is Man who is become the display of contention.  It is Man who is either saved for the Glory of Christ, or it is Man who is delivered to humiliation for the sake of he who is humiliated for his accusation against the Holy One Forever.

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Who can understand the Holy Wisdom of the Most High God?  What man can speak of the beauty that belongs to He who Lives Forever?  As we endure in His Marvelous Mercy, so the wicked will surely endure in His Marvelous, Righteous, Just, and Eternally Powerful Wrath.  May the will of the Living God be done forever, and that in His Holy and Righteous Living Son, Jesus the Christ.  Amen.

Defining “The Difference”

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Yesterday morning, I drove to the garden supply to gather some things.  As I drove, I found myself filled with a different perspective.  The beauty of Spring overcame my mind.  I saw the houses, lawns, people, even the shining aspects of my truck, as though they were worthy of “righteous” praise.

I have not had that perspective for years.  The difference between what has become my perspective in Christ Jesus and what is the perspective of man, was astounding.  It scared me to witness my thoughts turning from what is holy to what is obscene before the Most High God.  (It is possible that the reader might raise an eyebrow at that last sentence.  But bear with what is written here, that understanding might surface.)

In writing this post, I am reminded of the words of Jesus.  In regard to my experience yesterday.  “He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.'” (Luke 16: 15)

How can I relay the difference between what is holy and what is common, to those who do not believe?  By His Grace, I have become a man who sees the things of this world as an enemy to the soul that belongs to the Christ of God.  How can I help others perceive the things of this world in the same light?  If the war of Christ has not become the primary resident in the soul, the things of this world will appear as a friendly.  We either gravitate (learn to live) to the battlefield of Spiritual Difference, or we continue to live in the encampment of the enemies of God.

The draw of man’s things is powerful.  Powerful enough to cause men to demand the death of Jesus.  Powerful enough to entice men to spit on the crucifixion of the Holy Son of God.  Powerful enough to draw a soul away from Christianity.  And powerful enough to retain eternal hold on any soul who does not seek the face of the Living God continually.  Even the slightest withdraw from the Holy things of Christ, is enough to unveil the desires of the flesh.

Let me try to convince the reader (If indeed, there is the slightest desire to disbelieve these words.)

There was a man who starved himself to death, some time ago.  I don’t remember his name.  I don’t remember his cause.  He is simply gone.  All I remember is that there was a man who did this in the last 20 or 30 years.  He was an American.  That’s all I remember.

But see how useless his life was.  I do have the sense that his plight was not provoked by Christianity.  It was some political miscarriage of injustice.

He is gone now.  What was written about his “statement” would be difficult to find.  Even the memory of him is obliterated by the demands of this Place of Testing.  His family may know to remember him.  But the fabric of America doesn’t even think about him.

But what should a man of Christ expect, as he works out his salvation with fear and trembling; knowing that it is God who works in him, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (From Philippians 2: 13)

The things of this world are obliterated from the memory of man, as time moves from one year to the next.  Even if it is written down, either on a headstone or in a book, our provocation to live and do comes to nothing.  But the things which are done in a man, by Christ Jesus, are retained forever.  They take their place as living testimony to the Righteousness, humility, godly doings, and hope that remains in this place of testing.  Not only that, but they take their place in Eternity.

Either we endure the “warfare within”, that is caused by conflict between the things of God and the things of man, or we suffer the futility of life that comes from living the things of man.  I will add, I would not have known the difference in perception if I had not become accustom to the things of the Living God’s Christ.  I have to admit, the difference in perspective is enough to frighten my soul.

I guess it’s up to the reader.  Do you even know that there is a difference between the perceptions of the flesh and the things of God?  Do you even know there is a war to be fought?  Or have you never tasted the perspective of Heaven?  This place of testing is a passing ruse.  Heaven is the eternal perspective.  Those who have never tasted the things of God, are helpless to remove themselves from the things of man.

I testify that there is, indeed, a radical difference.  Those who will live eternally, will be incapable of memory toward those who do not join them.  The Glory of Christ will overwhelm His people.  The doings of those who remained in this place of testing, enjoying the things of man as if they were worthy and eternal, will be obliterated.  All their days will come to NOTHING.

Regret is But a Vapor

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Among men, there are things that are referred to as truth.  In this place of testing, this place where wickedness is king, such a statement has a moment of viability.  For men will do what they do.  They will accept what they consider profitable.  And they will praise one another for obedience to the expectations of men.

But there is a place where such things called truth will leave all their hands empty.  They will be void of praise for the One who has allowed them freedom to do as their pleasure has demanded.  When Glory no longer allows the pleasure of men, they will have no praise for God.

They give gifts to one another for the sake of worthless profit.  But their hands will be full of regret, at the time of appearing before Him.

How can I help you, my brothers of flesh?  How can I inspire you to gather profit?  How can this tiny man urge you to fill up your gifts for Him?  How can these words displace the pleasure of man within the souls of my fellow man?

Please consider, with the greatest sobriety, how that moment will be.  Every man will see the Holy Angels bowing at the Glory of Christ Jesus.  Every man will witness those whose hands are filled with the Holy Works of God.  Every man will hear the praise, that holy praise, which is rightfully due to the One who has redeemed their souls.  And shame will fill those with empty hands.

Eternity, that great door of Life, will open for those who accept the Lord’s offer of humility.  Void of pride, they will enter His Holy Kingdom.  While the great assembly of eternal dead are ushered to their place of horror, the righteous will abound in joy.

Who are the righteous?  Are they those whose own works of pleasure has filled their holy hands?  No.  This is a fable of man.  The pride of man has promoted this lie.  The righteous are those who have sought the Living God.  It is God who has endowed them with righteous and eternal ways.  They have received!  They have not provided for themselves.

Such people will have what cannot be taken away.  For what belongs to God will remain forever.  But the pleasure, pride, accomplishments of the flesh, and desire for what brings temporary peace, will utterly be void of praise for the Living God.

Regret is a vapor.  Do not let your hands be filled with vapor when you appear before Him.  He offers you profit this very moment.  Be full.  Become profitable for He who is Life Eternal.  Let Him dress you according to His Holy Will.  Why would we remain naked all our days here?