Tag Archives: truth

Mr and Mrs pryde

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“I feel bad about Who I am.  There is something lacking in the praises to me.  I am gorgeous and beautiful!  Why then, do all not bow down when I arrive?”

And so the flatterer was born.  His Father was the Most High God.  But those who raised him up were called Mr and Mrs Wrongful and Ignorant Pryde.

What a couple they make!  How righteous and perfect do they first appear.  But spend a moment with them in conversation, and the reality of their hatred fills the air.

Men can come and go from their presence, as they please.  But to be reared in their house is a sentence of death. 

Nothing satisfies the Prydes more than dreams and ambitions of being God himself.  But even if it were possible for God to step aside, would they find the comfort of their thrones pleasant?

If these are your parents, it would be better for you to go live in the streets.  It would be better to die of starvation, than to live in the house of Lies.

Truth and humility live in the place of suffering.  Opulence and plenty fill the house of Mr and Mrs Pryde.  Every day and night they entertain many.  And flattery caps every conversation.

But Truth and Humility make their home in the open spaces.  They carefully teach all their children to endure.  They speak joyously about the things of eternity.  They never cease to praise their Father in heaven.  And holy respect caps every conversation.

They are from the lineage of reality.  Trustworthy and dutiful parents, they are adored by all their children.

Who are your parents?

By His Grace

Frustration Unleashed

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Not one single man has ever lived that was able to please the expectations of the Most High God.  I exclude the Holy Son of God from this mass of men, for he came from heaven and has ascended.  But not one man has ever done the will of the Holy Father in heaven.

Do you think you are a righteous man?  I’ll get right up into your face, eye to eye with vast boldness, and whisper through clenched teeth, “You are not”!  Respond as you will, I can’t afford to care.  Go ahead be offended.  What is that to me?  Hate me if you like, for saying this in your face.  With what payment can I be made to care?

Do you think these words are too harsh?  Do you think my boldness is unwarranted from a man?  You likely do.  Very likely.  And if you knew the man I used to be, you would hate me all the more.

Does it incense you, that a man should confront you like this?  Do you ponder my sanity?  Why would you not?  Today’s people simply don’t do such things, do they.

I have used soft words.  I have displayed my life openly to all.  I have served with the diligence of the Christ that lives in me.  Still it is as if no effect at all.

Is it hatred to accuse a man of the truth?  Isn’t it the love of God to let you hate me?

God Himself has spoken,  10 “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3)

Why should I beat around the bush, trying to flush you out?  Why should I not risk damage to myself and crawl in there to get you?  What is death to me?  

The hatred of man is not priceless!  With a few simple words I can purchase more than I can handle.  Of this commodity there seems to be no end.

It is right that I should be hated by men for speaking the truth with boldness.  For they hate the Living God and His Christ already.  How should his people be treated any differently?

Do you know that you will die if you do not turn to Christ Jesus?  Do you know that God will not accept the testimony of men in regard to their own righteousness?  Judgement Day is not a day for debate!  It is a day reserved, that men should receive the righteousness of God.

You have demanded that the gospel wear softer gloves, for you cannot bear harsh treatment.  And look how you’ve gotten your way! 

You filthy people who have perverted the Gospel of Christ!  You have loved men more than God!  You have feared what man can do to you more than you fear the Holy Living God!  And now you demand that I wear fuzzy gloves also?  I WILL NOT!

God does not want to see you die.  He has proven it by allowing man to murder his Holy Son.  And again he has proven it, by raising up men such as I.  (Of whom it can will be established, I am the least.)

If you will heed the warning, then good.  Join me in this bold proclamation which is the Christ of God.  If you desire to refuse, then by all means refuse.  This one day I have had my fill of wearing fuzzy gloves!

I have made a fool of myself here.  I have let my frustration be vented in your sight.  I care, but then I don’t.  For as I look around, this message is not being proclaimed with enough intensity to shake the world.  There are thousands of preachers who simply want everyone to “Just get along”.  And such things turn my stomach!  Don’t give me numbers!  Provide proof that the fruit of the Gospel is blatantly apparent in those you convert!

I write this propelled by mercy.  I do not hate my fellow men.  I gladly risk everything you can throw at me, if by chance one of you will humble yourself before the Living God’s Christ, and truly become his disciple.

May the will of God to save men be done.  May the Glory of Christ Jesus be furthered by my folly.

Amen

By His Grace

To What End?

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Why do you protect your family?  Why do you work so hard to earn a living?  Why do you go to church?  Why do you read the Bible?  Why do you study devotions?  Why do you pray?  Why do you speak the name of Christ?

Are all these things only for show?  Or are they so that you can become as devoted to the Living God’s Christ as are the Holy Angels?

When you have done these things for years, have they produced a holy man?  Or have you found yourself only becoming a socially acceptable Christian? 

What is the fullness that God desires in all his people?  What does that look like?  Can you point to someone and say, “That is it”?  Can anyone point to you and say the same thing?

It is like men to pursue a dream, only to find a place where they are comfortable.  What about death to all the things in this world?  Does that sound comfortable to you?  What about a beating by the hands of men because you have spoken the Gospel in their presence?  How many friends have abandoned you because you love God?  What about a burning willingness to obey God’s command, regardless the outcome?  Does that apply to you?

I ask this many questions, because you are the only one who can answer them for yourself.  I do not command anyone to do anything.  But I have an obligation to ask my brothers these things.  And they distinctly apply to me also.  And why would anyone not ask his brother at these things?

Who will shake the world for Christ?  Will it be you?  Who will cower in a corner, amassing all kinds of peace and luxury.  Will that be you?

By His Grace

A Taste of the Chasm

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To hear your voice a afresh.

To hear your words so clear.

After a time of rest,

Without your music in my ears.

I’ve spent time with the Holy One.

I’ve listened to his voice.

He has, my love for man undone.

He’s granted me The Choice.

But lies are all you know to speak.

Such noise is vast absurd!

Such peace and truth are mine to eat.

While you feast upon your words.

Then I come across the chasm,

Back to the place of man.

To stand among the chaos,

To hear your unholy demands.

To prayer with you, or away with you!

I cannot stand your din!

For nothing here can ring as true,

As 10 minutes spent with Him.

How great is the gulf twixt man and God,

How great is the distance between?

What is the dimension of impossible odds?

How vulgar is obscene?

By His Grace

An Unwarranted Suppression

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I do not need bars or scars to mark out the place of my imprisonment for the sake of Christ.  I am constrained by his excellent strength within the place he has set me himself.  And it becomes my great joy to serve Him in this very place of obscurity.

How greatly I desire that all my brothers and sisters should perceive their place in the same fashion.  May zeal consume us to be joyful in our place of holy affliction.  For we have not arrived among the things we own by circumstances of chance.  But it is God in Christ who draws us to this place.

It is God in Christ who will draw us to himself.  And even now the signs of his ownership dress us with glory!  See how our hearts are marked by his indelible seal.  See how Desire desires to consume us.

Do we restrain his will?  Do we restrain the desire of God among us?  This has no Holy right to exist.  But receive this word of urging.   Receive and be strengthened for his Lovely sake.  How should the Gospel of Christ Jesus be suppressed?  How should that which burns within us find any extinguishing?  These things within us, these things of Christ, are delivered to us from eternity to eternity.

It is a childish matter to be able to point out the suppressing of the Glory of God among men.  But among the people of God, it would be right if one had to search far and wide to find such a suppressing.  Yet how my heart sinks to realize, one does not have to search very hard at all.

Does this need to remain among us; this willing restraint of the Holy will of God?  You know the answer is “no”. 

This word of exhortation is complete.

By His Grace

The Grand Reception

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There is a love that is readily perceived as hatred and selfish ambition.  And there is a hatred that is readily perceived as love, but is full of hatred and selfish ambition.

There was a time when one man turned an entire city to God.  For in that day people cared about what is true.  The love of God for the people was sent in the body of a reluctant man, and the fruit of that love was blatantly obvious.

Today no such thing can be done.  Jonah caused Nineveh such great anguish that they fell to their knees in repentance and prayer.  Such words today are ignored as if they are full of hatred and selfish ambition.

But preach to the people what they want to hear, and you will amass to yourself millions.  Your words will be full of hatred for the Living God and full of selfish ambition, but the people will perceive that you love them.

Do not be surprised in this day if the preaching of the true Gospel receives such a tiny welcome.  This is not the day of Nineveh.  This is not the day of Babel.  It is not the day of the great Egyptian empire.  Nor even that of Rome.

This generation is special unto itself.  For these are the last days.  This is the day which gives birth to the generation who celebrates at the death of the prophets; sending gifts to one another, for they despise the Word so greatly.

Take heart if you are cast aside and vastly unpopular.  So mankind has treated God’s prophets from the beginning.  And from here on, it becomes even more so.

And if you are a teacher who receives great welcome in this world for the words you speak, it would do well for you to consider the truth.  For if the world loves your words. . .

By His Grace