That Summer in Pennsylvania.  Men were present before their God in humility of purpose and presence.  Petitions, declarations, proclamation of Liberty made on the eve of intent for remorse, reprise or rapid subjection to indictment and death.  Simplicity had found its breath in the voice and heaving chests of a group of men daring to declare peace their intent but war if occasion required.  The line drawn, rope ended, last knot traversed, hanging out over the precipice of circumstance and occurrence they chose the Hope of God instead of doubt.  Insecurity present, without surprise they determined beyond the cost of their lives that living as subject to tyrant and price immeasurable.

And who came to plead God’s case that all men are Sovereign in their relationship, fealty and obedience to a perfect King?  Well, all who came to offer everything, knew fully and wholly of the Holy God that they entreated with request and answered blessing.  A nation, a start, opportunity, not chance because what does powerless fate have to do with the Sovereign Declaration of God in answered prayer?  What fickle minded philosophy or cadence can count time to the music playing outside of its existence, a melody beyond reference, simply to be enjoyed, gathered and remembered as the day when God spoke to all.

This would cost, probably everything, but then that is what comes when the word priceless has been covered.  But what is all material good or treasure in weighted measure against humanity’s freedom and promise of inalienable expression and pursuit of God’s unalterable rights?  Comparison may not be entertained when reviewing Heaven’s blessing.  This was God intervening in the material plane, proving once again that for those whom He loves all things are not only possible, but probable, likely and loving in expression to His Beloved.  When men chose to act upon their creative courage in likeness to God they honored Him and when they doubted not or offered all as expression of faith, they learned that pleasing God is possible to men who will be righteous before Him.  What were they given on that sweltering day when men came together in their committed expression that they had a King and No Man could take His Place?

Well, they were given choices that belonged to few in History; Choices of where to live, how to serve, what to teach and what to learn, how to govern and how to join in the governance of a people yearning, agreeing and enjoying the Freedoms God presented?  What price had they paid, well surrender, not to some tyrant King who would show them prison, rope or blade, but to the King of Kings giving their lives to divine providence to live out God’s Purpose for a Nation.  This Nation, a free nation, was dedicated to live for God’s Plan for humanity, in living their lives as a fearful poem, written to reflect His honor His Glory His Peace and Power before this world that all would know clearly, completely and endearingly that Jesus ruled the hearts of America.  Though others would come with freedom to choose whom they served in the afterlife, this nation had made a choice by invoking God’s Gift of freedom, inalienable from the assaults and frailties of men, that we had dedicated our freedom’s to the God who had given them.

Why then the assaults upon family, upon Christianity and the olive tree of Judaism?  Well, in a country dedicated to God only those with the moral compass and spiritual understanding could truly comprehend that deep meaning.  Placing them in assaults travel they forgot, in fear of their own potential loss, the Power they served and the story they had sworn to tell, teach and cherish.  They had forgotten, not the freedom that blessed them but its arrival, its source, it preciousness, before God and men. Now forgiveness is launched, for repentance must be made and without it no cleanse conscience for our leisurely treatment of Holy Objects and Ideals.  When men are sworn to watch the vault of important things day and night without loss of intent or vigilance and they depart that august duty, what shall become the nation in the time of darkness and defense?  Without appeal before God there shall be no measure or recourse, for what was given of Him in gift and loss through Him in adulterous behavior, must be regained From Him in request for pardon.

These are the days of Glory, not for Americans though we can review the times through which God’s Hand has delivered us, but for God as the World’s Eye turns to our recovery and reshaping again given by His Awesome Craftsmanship.  This America must change, transformed through the sanctifying Hand of Almighty God to become a nation that shall not forget our way again, remembering the Sovereign God, expressing His reflection and Love for the People He Created by bestowing that Sovereign Free Will Upon their free nation.  We are protected as long as we remember who it is that offers that protection and from whose mighty Hand we cannot be plucked by any enemy whether man or principality.

This is One Nation Under God and that is the only Way It shall continue to be a Nation. Roar America, raise your mighty Voice to Heaven declaring your worship of the Almighty God who Loved you enough to hear that roar and whisper back, I Love You.  May God Bless this United States of America and may His name be ever on our lips and His Love indelibly inked upon our hearts and minds in the Freedom He Gave Us, two hundred and forty three years ago today.  Thank you Father in the name of the Precious Son you gave for our salvation, Jesus Christ Our King.

Afraid to face the dark? Or is it the dawn? Perhaps the middle of the day when your mind is so taxed with information and obligations that you would prefer to escape?  Maybe you fear the tax man, elephants, mice, clowns or balloons?  Are you frightened by the thought of fear, not yet knowing from what to flee but knowing it will come nonetheless? This emotion is perhaps one of the greatest motivators in this life.  It is drives, cowers, stifles, reflects, mortifies, stumbles, hobbles, regrets and petrifies more people from achieving their joys in life than any other motion. It stops loves pursuit, forces one to stay in an abusive circumstance or makes us weep out of shame for the steps not taken.  What is fear to you, is it master, humbler, threat or thief?

Stop for a moment dear one and realize that it is okay to be afraid for in this moment there is the great possibility for decision and growth.  I embrace you and am sorry that you are terrified, I wish I had the power and authority to take that from you, but it is here in this lifetime, provided somehow by God as a motivating tool or obstacle to provide for our successes.  Yes, my fears may all come true right now and then where I am left.  Dead, perhaps if that is the nature of my terror?  Incarcerated, alone, tired, hungry, impoverished, ill, unloved, unwanted, separated from those you love, what is the end result of this fear that haunts you in its promises?  What happened right now if every fear you had were to suddenly be realized in an instant?  Where are you?  Are you still alive, are you okay or has the fear truly rendered you incapacitated as it promised?

Is fear rational?  I don’t think that matters, because it is emotional, and being of feeling its logic is frankly irrelevant.  However, fear is belief based.  If you do not believe that an emotion can hurt you are subject you to some fearful punishment then you will deny its worldly claim to effect that outcome.  As well, since fear is sponsored by belief then if God tells us that the spirit of fear is an enemy given facet of life, does it change the nature of the understanding of how to defeat it or navigate its promptings? Basically, if God didn’t give us the spirit of fear and it is therefore an enemy attempt to control our emotions to provoke specific action or inaction then God’s Word says that we are to speak His Word and the enemy must flee, for we are to resist his attempts to drive him from us.  Therefore, describing my fear through the lens of faith, it is one of those obstacles provided for my overcoming. For victory’s sake, I must resist, understanding that the temptation to flee is just as any other temptation; lust, pride, covetousness, adultery, fornication or thievery. When I resist them patience will strengthen my faith and when patience has done its work, perfection is revealed.

I know that this task is not easy, but no one has tried to tell you that it will be in fact it may be down right impossible, which is the true blessing.  You see, the things that you can do are simply life successes that may be overcome with our time, talent and a measure of hard work or coin.  It is in the impossible task that God’s Glory is demonstrated.  I don’t know what your fear.  I am sure that it is equally as terrifying as my own.  What I do know is that God Loves you so much to never frighten you and that Perfect Love Casts out fear.  The worst the enemy can do to me is take my life in a frightful moment of fear and mortality.  Almighty God is the only one with control of my immortality, my spirit.  Reverent fear of the one who holds every soul in the palm of His Hand, now that is a rational fear and a good one to have.  Work out your salvation in fear and trembling, not of any man, creature or power or principality, but of Almighty God.  Lord Jesus we are holding on until your return.  Let us do good work for you in the process of waiting.  In your precious name.  Amen.

Okay Caleb, you’re fat. Yes, I am thank you for reminding me the need for a more healthy consideration of this life over which I am the steward. I will not answer you in the worldly fashion for to do so would require me to put back on the skin suit of the old man who really cared what the world thought of me. My identity is in God. What you call dumb, funny looking, fat, weak, smart, incapable or simple He made for His Good Purposes. So, are you insulting me, who is fearfully and wonderfully made by the Almighty Hand of an Omnipotent God with perfect skills as a master craftsman or are maybe are you challenging the work of His Mighty Hand?

The methods by which the enemy will seek to assault you will always be identified with those that gain him access to the treasures of your joyous heart. We must be vigilant, diligent and aware of these creative attempts and become wise to our own navigable pathways in defense. It is entirely possible that the Lord allows the enemy at us through these avenues just as He designed the Law as a mirror for our self realization of sin, this too is a glorious mechanism that we might see the weakness in our defensive posturing. If is hard to protect an opening that might become a foothold or lead to a full on entourage of enemy encampment if we cannot ourselves see that weakness and take it to God with request for its healing, closing or eradication.

The Lord gives us more than we need, perhaps we are simply failing to recognize the tools and weaponry of our overcoming?  It is apparent that if I continue to walk this road that the Lord has determined for my footfalls that I will be assailed by the slings and arrows of enemy assault because of the nature and the importance of my mission for God’s Glory and purpose. Therefore, God’s Word is clear about a businessman embarking on a project without first considering the capacity, manpower and finances to finish or undertaking a battle for which there is no rational reason for victory. I am walking this road in the absolute certainty of victory.

Now that victory does not depend upon me but it does depend on my willingness to acquiesce and follow only the Lord’s direction. If I determine to follow my only tactical or strategic bullet points of objectives then I will most certainly not be following the path to victory dictated by Him in the outset or agreement. That means I must expect that this enemy also knows that I am a soldier for the Lord and the enemy being an effective planner will always assail me with the hope that I will find the road too difficult and take it under my own counsel to quit or come up short. Yes, God will use all things for good for those who love Him and walk according to His purpose, but that presupposes that we are in fact walking for His Purposes, not our own.

I might want seclusion, safety and limited relationships with saints and the World, but is that consistent with His rules for my Life? Of course not. So if I want His Goals, His Victory, His objectives then I must embark on this project with the intention of following His guidance, His wisdom and His planning for strategic and mission realization.  That requires that I see that you are being used by the enemy to point out the weakness in my defensive field or to show me that the Lord, as in this case has eradicated or deactivated that button that used to be effective in my persuasion. I praise God for His Glory in protection and thank Him for providing the mirror that you’ve given me to show me how much He truly does love, provide and protect me.

Thank you for being you, In Jesus Name, you are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. Will you embrace that or avoid it as you’ve continued to do so for the duration. I pray that you surrender to His perfect Will for you life, In Jesus’ Holy Name.

If you go into a room and discuss any topic with the intention of bringing about an argument, there will those ready to oblige. However, if you go into a room and have complete love in your heart and wish to have a conversation things will likely go smoothly, that is until you determine to discuss one of two things; Jesus or the specific sin to which those in the room regularly practice. Why is it that those two subjects are inflammatory just from their mention? Could it be that we do not want anyone determining our worthiness or righteousness because it is directly attached to our self identity? If we identify with sleeping with multiple partners that are not our spouse or live the life of drunkenness every night then it is perhaps something for which we have already built considerable internal criticism and shame. Maybe our families have already spoken to of our pursuits and we already stand upon a position of weakness or the need for defense? I understand that about mentioning my normal practices by why would the mention of Jesus prompt the same veracious appetite for argument and self-defense?

That is a tremendous question upon which entire series of PhD’s have been offered and accepted. Far be it from a knucklehead from no where to render expository argument otherwise, but to me it is all associated with the inherent mechanisms associated with conviction of the Holy Spirit. We know that we are doing wrong regardless of the cultural norms so when anyone alerts us to that fact, especially in the circumstance when we have surrounded ourselves with advocates we have the propensity to rush to self-defense.  That is why they hate Jesus and avoid or immediately try to extinguish the topics surrounding a discussion about Him. Because, Jesus is the only worthy and righteous Judge.  In fact, the Bible states that He is the only one assigned that position and that the world, nations and individuals will all stand before Him one day in that judgment for their lives.  Additionally, let’s face it the idea of positing yourself as God on Earth here to save the entirety of mankind and making it exceedingly clear that you are the only door to Eternal afterlife is going to provoke some response, especially from those who desperately cannot have this information expressed or actually be true.

Sin, is the problem of man.  No religion deals with sin other than Christianity. Judaism delays it, allowing a yearly atonement for that sin that returns again the next year. Buddhism simply recycles it and the sin foretells the quandaries one will face in the righteous expression of our next life since the sins of this one determine the destination in the next. Islam determines that we simply have to try real hard to legally and morally balance the scales of good vs evil in our lives that on that day of our judgment we will be found 50.1% good allowing us entry into the next. Most other religions simply address the living of a virtuous life without addressing the complex internal dilemma of my psyche full of sin. There are some new age mystic faiths that deal with it in through meditation and living a centered life in touch and in tandem with the spirit of the Earth and nature but still never tell us how we are to deal with the sin of our past and present. Yet, Christianity deals with this subject head on. It says that the entire reason for our separation from that which is Godly is that sin which marks us, poisons us and determines the direction of our journey into the afterlife.

Christianity deals with the most caustic subject in any room anywhere that will always provoke argument, the sin of mankind. Jesus came to accept the punishment for every sin of all of mankind for the history and future of man’s existence.  God addressed this problem of our conviction by allowing us a method by which to be cleansed of previous sin and be forgiven for future sin all with the unbelievable benefit of being adopted into His Holy Family and being given as an added bonus of eternal life with Him, rather then the separation and punishment that befalls all those who are not forgiven. What God requires is repentance from that sin, simply admitted that it is wrong and that you did it, then admitting the belief and faith in the work that Jesus came and performed because God loved us enough to deal with the greatest topic of religious consideration our moral insurrection against the things of God; Sin.  What makes Jesus the center of men’s argument and some times heated response is that He says that if we don’t accept that free-will, Loving Gift that we will in fact be sealing our eternity in separation from Him within the Lake of Fire that He prepared for disobedient Angels. It is the judgment or the mention of the incumbent judgment afforded to all men once they leave this worldly plane that provoke or evokes the anger of men, for they feel that no one, even the God who created them should have the authority to determine the rules for their passing to the afterlife. They have in fact invented a god of their own imagination and a heaven of their own day dream and if you challenge their narcissistic understanding of that construct you have now threaten to destroy the fabric of their entire existence.

I guess looking at those odds I too would have the recourse to express some ideas in dramatic fashion if you were challenging my reason for being or the determination of my fantastic afterlife with your words about a God who had a differing set of rules. That is why it is so important for disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to understand the circumstances in which they will stand for speaking the Word even in Gentleness and Truth will in fact challenge man’s existence in this life and the next. Why does the mention of Jesus or the sin that people practice provoke such emotional response, because the Truth of it would mean that we are all damned unless accepting the one path to life set before us by God. We are simply so independent and rebellious to authority that we will not accept any mandate that is not of our own volition. Well that is okay, this one is by choice, you can choose to be cleansed of all unrighteousness, transformed in this lifetime and given eternity with God in the next or you can choose to be judged in front of that Holy And Righteous God and sent for eternity in a pool of fire with His Angels. It is in fact a rational choice with one clear option that is to the benefit of all mankind. Yet you still out of the Love of God for all men have been given the choice to serve whichever god you choose. You can choose the gods of this life in which case you will receive the rewards of this life and no reward in the next or you can serve the Everlasting God who will reward you in both this life and the next. The choice is yours. Whether you have effective argument to justify your current behavior the choice remains in the background awaiting your decision. No other religion deals with it except the true Gospel of Peace, provided by God through Jesus. The way the Truth and the Life found only in Jesus Christ the King. Choose, this day whom you will serve in this life and the next.