What are my options?  Let us review.  I am a proud citizen of a blessed nation who has either forgotten or chosen to depart from its Judeo-Christian heritage.  Our government, once the model for a world full of despots, kings and tyrants has now become so corrupt that it suffers from dyslectic amnesia.  Trust withered, faith shaken and conscience seared people are left fending for “Self”, bereft of the collective sense of duty and community.  Women, full of fear, fall pray to the paralyzing prison of private depression, taken out of the game by the false safety of personal retreat.  Once strong men, stand palsied, captured by the latest whim of marketing, unable to lead, destined to follow the most prolific bully or nightmarish character.  Children so afraid of the encroachments of their own governing bodies that they fail to speak out against infraction, keeping their wounds in private, knowing fully that telling the truth would be far more costly.  Brothers who have forgotten loyalty, dedication and righteousness.  Sisters that seek fulfillment through temporary victories of beauty and possession rather than the timeless wealth of family, tradition and lasting legacy.

What lay on the spectrum of rational choices propagated by extremism, lunacy and wrong thinking?  Where does the conscious man philosophically reside?  How does one balance one’s call to duty for a nation departed from the underpinnings that make service sensible?  How would a man speak out without being labeled, seditious, alienating friends, family and compatriots?  Is there a way to “fly under the radar”, the current mantra being mumbled by the disenchanted, or will the meek become fodder for the powerful as they have throughout our transgressive history?  Should a man take stance regardless of implication or sacrifice?  What would be the cost for standing in the path of greed, false teaching, subversion and wickedness?  Even my Christian brothers have lost heart refusing to place faith in the Sovereignty of God.

Perhaps this is the Glory of God’s Plan?  A design so perfect that it creates impetus in each heart as we are faced with the decisions of protecting our positions or standing up for righteousness and truth.  What will we do when faced with that moment where we could have made a difference?  Will we melt into mediocrity letting the chips fall where they may or be remembered as the guy who defied the apparently insurmountable?  This conflict although internal, faces all of us.  Our collective conversations indicate that we all face the same internal struggle.  Everyone one around me is conflicted and this, my friends is a good thing.  Without conflict there can be no resolution.  Without friction there can be no torque, horse power or finish line.  Change is guaranteed, peace must be bought and maintained with intention.  Status quo is unsustainable.  We are perched upon the fulcrum or competing influences, teetering between opposing realities. left with the choices or capitulation or sacrifice.  Inaction provides temporary relief balancing between possibilities, weight compensating, temporarily avoiding the inevitable.  But this is a story with only two possible or probable outcomes, agonizing over, ignoring or refusing to make a choice will not alleviate the consequences.

I choose Christ and all that this choice means, regardless of the personal implication.  May He be followed, praised and glorified.  Amen.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/2390419343001/jerusalem-mayor-on-russias-role-in-syrian-conflict/?intcmp=HPBucket&playlist_id=922779230001  Israel resolute, Jerusalem prepared for God and Russia making its position clear.

Where have I gone when called to speak?  Why do I lay in comfort when every fiber of my spirit cries, “Stand”?  What has become of my will to honestly declare, “no, that is wrong, and I will have nothing to do in supporting it”?  Why do I look away when I see the storm on the horizon, knowing fully well what the clouds portend?  How do I reconcile my unwillingness to study, know, declare and prepare for what God’s Prophets and the Lord Himself have said are next for humanity?  I cannot question the motivation of a man because I cannot see into your heart, I can only guess because I see the self-serving tendencies within my own breast.  But, know this that the Lord sees all.  Fear that moment when those eyes of fire review directly, every moment of our existence, speech and action and your fear of anything in this world will become nil.

Russia has now taken an open role of opposition to Israel.  They no longer work solely behind the scene to foster a culture of subversion to God’s people, but now choose openly, to act in a style of aggression that lays bare their true intention.  Do we know Psalm 83 and Isaiah 17-19, where God foretells what will surely and quickly come to pass?  Or do we wish to remain ignorant hoping that our naivete and refusal to admit will somehow delay the inevitability of prophecy?  Soon, a select group of Israel’s neighbors will make the ill advised and percussive mistake of threatening and attacking Israel.  This will end in the Nation defeating them handily and subsequently capturing/absorbing a greater territory, previously given them by the Lord Almighty.  That episode will set a countdown to the circumstances depicted in Ezekiel 38 and 39 where Russia, joined and empowered by a greater coalition of nations will enter the Land to take what we perceive as “bounty”.  These are not my thoughts, my words, my predictions.  I make no claim to have specific insight in these occurrences, I am simply declaring the Word of God from old.  That we have any recent insight into these things at all, has in itself been foretold in Daniel, because the Holy Spirit of God has revealed these things to the beloved.

Prepare your minds and hearts to receive the indwelling of Spirit.  Take the stand when Spirit directs to declare to the masses the Righteousness of God.  Warn those who would be eternally separated from the Father, that salvation is near and judgment follows.  Make it known to all what is soon come to pass as evidence of your reliance upon the perfection, truth and accuracy of God’s Word.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of the Lord.  So seek the answers in scripture, as you need not be ignorant or led astray by false prophets.  My hope is in the God who saved me and His redemptive authority over all that exists, including sin and death.  Rejoice for salvation is come, in Christ the King, Jesus our Lord will soon arrive to accept His rightful place upon the throne of humanity, for ever and ever.  I cannot wait for that day, but if I must Lord, please equip me to handle all that comes my direction.  Empower me to act, speak and wait in tandem with Your Will.  Praise Your Holy Name.  Amen.

The Glory of God’s plan brought us back into relationship with our Creator through the Divine Personality of Christ.  He made it possible after separation in the garden to once again have fellowship with the Almighty, growing in faith and resemblance.  How is it now that we have been given that greatest possible gift that we find ourselves so far away from God?  This distinct distance is measurable in all today’s top stories.  We no longer trust our leaders to do the right thing but rather cling to hope that their transgressions will have limited impact upon our status quo.

Our disconnection from the Lord is so complete, no longer is it socially/morally acceptable to hold someone to honest accountability.  Our leaders no longer accept responsibility for their direction.  They dismissively sacrifice the reputations of those around them on the alters of power preservation.  The term public servant no longer means what it represents because apart from God “there can be no truth”.  Service to self is now acceptable practice.  Our faith in egalitarian selflessness has eroded displaying the loam upon which our house of cards resides.  The people of the Earth have become more like their true father, the god of this world.  Having abandoned God we now seek satisfaction in the unreliable.

The Glory of God is that this is all recoverable.  Our distance from God has been closed by His visitation.  He comes to us when we reach out in humility asking for forgiveness and a return to relationship.  I pray Father that my Brothers and Sisters caught up in the deception of this world see the cost of eternal separation and throw themselves upon Your immutable Mercy and Grace.  There is nothing in this world that may be taken with us when we leave this life why then do we cling to it so?  Please allow us to see the error of our departure from Your Truth and Light.  Let us again see the Brilliance of Your Glory as it illuminates the path to Righteousness leading to the foot of Your Throne.  Jesus Be Praised for ever.  Amen.

Be careful or you too will risk being led astray.  These are dangerous times where opposing influences revel in each heart or mind that they capture through deception, false teaching or corruption.  Have you looked around you recently to see all of the earthly gods of money, job, sex and adventure vying for your time, loyalty and attention?  If those who have seen Almighty God, as Solomon did, fell pray to these foreign influences even after being specifically warned then what hope shall any of us possess outside of God’s direction?  We both know the answer.  So check your heart, capture your thoughts and pray that the Holy Spirit of God protects us from all stimuli seeking our deception.

Are we the elect?  Do you know that you are headed to heaven, certain of your salvation, sealed by the Holy Spirit of God to be among the raptured?  Or is something in your life between you and God, prohibiting that relationship from blossoming?  It may be an unbelieving man or woman, who holds your love, leading down a path that you would otherwise have avoided.  Perhaps the dreams of success, whether job or competition calls you to dedicate your time, talent and resources to something other than Kingdom pursuits?  Maybe it is fear of being abandoned that keeps you standing among peers for which you were never intended, grasped by the false agony of potential loss.  Or worse yet perhaps it this new global voice of tolerance, asking you to be rational and voice opinions contrary to God’s Word in hope of being accepted.  Whatever the influences, beware the false gods of this world.  Anything that leads you outside of God’s Will or draws your energy away from what you know must be done is anti Christ.  Remember these are spirits not humans and their weapons are lies, fear, deception and promise of satiated desire.

I see these influences competing daily for my limited attention.  I am not saying that I always succeed in doing the right thing.  That is not a requirement for being a citizen of the Kingdom.  However, capturing thoughts, repenting and turning away from sin and not returning to wickedness are expected of Christians.  But we humans will certainly continue to fail, even when we are certain of our strength.  I wish to encourage you to turn to the Lord in repentance and truth.  Ask God for forgiveness, accept it and then ask Him to change your heart, thoughts and actions.  He will make you a new creature, you have but to surrender to His awesome, shaping Hand.  There is nothing each of us has done that He does not know from the beginning of time.  He knows yet He still listens and forgives.  I will never be worthy of such love and acceptance.  Thank God, I don’t have to be.  You are my Lord, the one and only God of all universes.  Besides You there is no other.  You are worthy, You are righteous, You are Eternity and everything lays before and beyond.  Praise You Father in the name of Your Son, King Jesus, Amen.

Adding the suffix -ness to the word helpless does not even begin to measure the height of my fear or the deaths of incapacity.  My only succor, the observation of Shakespearean performances by everyone around me attempting to camouflage their own brand of personal terror.  Oh, I wish to give up fear, for it inhibits, prohibits and places limits upon my worship, fellowship and kinship with the Lord.  Yes, I do feel palsied, incapable and frankly insufficient to the tasks before me and those are precisely the correct motivating emotions I am meant to experience.  All this world is designed to chase me to the shelter, assistance, strength and authority found only beneath the shadow of God.

Great things we shall do.  Not because we somehow overcame the personal obstacles designed to shackle us to mediocrity or scatter us from crushing potential for success.  We will speak words that will shatter the resolve of mortal kings, freeze molten courage in warrior’s hearts and waken the implacable will of slumbering parishioners, because they are from the mouth of God.  We will stand and recover from the overwhelming forces of storm, explosion or battle, not because we are well prepared but because we are armored in the Lord Jesus Christ who made all these things.  Adamantium hearts will dispel the effect of illusionary fear through indwelling of His Eternal Spirit.  For my persistence is not based upon my own definition of happiness or shame, but upon the Promises of God upon which everything is defined, outlasted and overcome.

I forgive you Adam, as I must offer myself the same grace when seeing my own failure in perpetuity.  I am you Eve, in my quest to somehow place myself upon God’s throne rather than simply obey.  You came to me God because I could never save myself and in so doing showed this world the meaning of true love through sacrifice.  We have all gone astray in our belief that anything other than God may overcome this life.  I will have no other gods before thee Lord.  You are my abundance, my joy, my help, my sword, breastplate and shield.  I will never yield, confident of victory not by my own faculties of brilliance, strength or courage.  I will overcome through the Blood of the Lamb, my testimony of how His Spirit saved and sealed me for eternity and my steadfast love for God through Christ.  Where I end He begins, somewhere inside of me there is a point of origin which has no end, that moment when I was born anew to be with God.

Praise Him for His infinite patience, Grace and Glory.  Amen.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/military-blocks-access-to-southern-baptist-website.html

The Labels are being accepted as cultural norms.  The big lie continues its efficacy.

It has been perpetuated.  Arguing on behalf of God’s Word is no longer acceptable in our infiltrated military.  A military that used to stand for a code of conduct that championed adherence to principles and moral standards, even when society had abandoned the same.  Freedom to think as you would is no longer permissible.  Now you will be propagandized and censored into believing what you are “allowed” to believe.  We have permitted God to be taken out of schools, businesses, public places and now Biblical Truth will be censured from military campuses.  Question; will this potentially create a backlash where “disloyal” soldier who visit the “scandalous” Baptist websites off campus are arrested or counseled when they return to base.

Abortion is wrong no matter how you package the lie.  Same sex marriage even though socially acceptable by majority vote is still against the word of God.  Just as fathering a child out of wedlock is entirely possible, or skimming money, legally from unsuspecting elderly folks is allowable they are just plain wrong.  We have gotten off the slippery slope and are now trying to stay ahead of the avalanche of degradation threatening to bury this nation underneath the whole mire of the valley of death.  And the worst of it is that we are embracing evil rather than fleeing from it.  God help us and God protect the hearts and minds of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

I will of course, now be labeled subversive or whatever ridiculous monicker they give people who practice their Constitutionally protected right to speak the truth in faith and love.  What lay before us as Bible believing Christians is the same choice with which we have always been confronted, only now choosing sides is becoming increasingly costly.  I serve God, not man.  I pray for man and love all people even when they have chosen things that are an abomination to God.  I cannot however join those who would jointly decide that declaring something correct by popular vote is an acceptable practice.  God defines right and wrong, I just obey that definition.  I choose not to oppose God.  I think that is a sound decision.  God Bless us all.  In His name I pray.  Jesus guide us and protect us.  Amen.

Sin’s lifeless grip.  How it strangles, suffocates, devours, corrupts, putrefies and poisons.  There is no new net net gain from sin, it produces nothing.  It is an energy depletion mechanism with entropy its intention, winding down the universe by turning all forms of energy to festering dust.  How can one interpret sexual immorality, greed, jealousy, murder, gluttony, envy, disrespect and quest for power in a positive framework?  Great societies have tried only to find themselves destroyed by the impact of testing, brought to their knees through the corrupting and devouring influences that define sin’s nature.

God is love and sin being the absence of God contains nothing of loves grandness.  Sin separates man from God and in that isolation man finds himself possessing all that is lifeless, poisonous and dark for without God their is no life.  Sin promises pleasure but delivers crushing agony in an endless pursuit of neurotic stimulus, each time further dampening synaptic potential.  There are no returns on time, effort, energy, heart and spirit invested in sin there is only consumption of energy and assets.  Any gains are misleading as they eventually produce acidic tendencies with greater capacity to consume.  There is only loss through sin.

Conversely, there is only gain through Christ.  Life everlasting, abundant life, wisdom, love, relationship, peace, patience and security.  But be cautious because of the deceptive principles surrounding the pursuit of sin this world will attempt to convince you that Christianity carries the cost of all that sin has brought you.  We have already established that there is no net gain from sin so the only loss you experiencing through becoming born again into the Kingdom is the loss of loss.  This is a challenging concept but one that when reviewed seems laughable yet tragic.

Separation from God even if it brings the emperor’s ransom is worthless.  From an investment standpoint any logical man must choose Christ.  From an emotional perspective if there is no gain of love, security or peace through pursuit of sin then my feelings all point to a relationship with God through Christ as the only heart centered option.  As both logic and emotion point toward God as the obvious decision what other sources may I consider?

Pursuit of Spirit only leads in two directions, toward God or away from God into profitless spirituality.  Again we are confronted with the same logical conundrum, logically if all that is not God returns only loss, then the choice of anything but God is illogical by definition.  But God’s Word makes it plain that every man knows the truth that is God.  Whether arguments depend on logic, emotion, spirituality or any other combination of variables is irrelevant for the Truth of God is known by all.  In this truth lies freedom, blessing and eternity.  There is no other path but Christ.  Praise You Lord, take from me any sinful pursuits.  Wash me clean Lord so that I may pursue YOU unimpeded by corrupting influences of thinking, emotion or spirit.  Amen.

Peter grabbed a sword, somehow missing all that the Lord had tried to teach him in the preceding three years.  We as Christian’s, look at Peter’s passion as if somehow we would behave differently.  I assert that the majority of us would and will give in to our own fears when confronted with the same pressures to which the Apostles found themselves subject.  Fear is the enemy’s primary weapon of choice.  We are not taught to employ fear in our discipleship, though we know that fear is the beginning of wisdom does present a foothold from which unbelieving theorist’s seek purchase.  How are we to separate the enemy’s use of fear from the reverent fear which produces discernment and wisdom? Lord, how are we to react, reflect or demonstrate our love for You and for the humans You have created without the use of enemy tools, devices and tactics?  How do we overcome them without becoming them?  How do we protect ourselves, forgive those who harm us and proceed boldly into a future we know by Your Word will carry regular and horrific tragedy as norm?  How do we live a life that reflects the faith of Stephen rather than the doubtful shame of Thomas?

We don’t want to accept the answer, because to do so requires that we surrender all to God’s Will for our lives.  I hear Pastors say we need to give God Sovereignty, control or authority over our lives in order to achieve this or that objective.  I pray that they see how this leading/teaching may produce wrong thinking in their flocks.  This is simply blind logic.  God is sovereign over our lives regardless of our choices or surrender level.  It is an entirely different idea to “accept” that sovereignty rather than ignoring, resisting or fighting against it.  Yes Stephen surrendered to God’s Will for his life and thus was filled with the Holy Spirit at the moment when the predestined events arrived for which he was designed.  Each of us must have personal conversation with the Lord where we accept His sovereignty and surrender to His will or decide to remain in our own/enemy guidance, authority and direction.

Stephen accepted God’s Sovereignty and surrendered to the guidance, authority and direction of the Holy Spirit of God, even unto death.  That is such a tough concept for us to fathom, that I doubt many of us reflect upon it unless reminded.  The answer that we are loathe to accept is that we cannot overcome anything in and of ourselves.  It is through our testimony of how GOD came to our rescue, providing forgiveness, salvation and shelter that frees us from the wiles of the enemy.  It is through the Blood of the Lamb, JESUS the CHRIST by which we are redeemed, sanctified, made whole and protected from the powers of the principalities of the air.  It is by our love and trust in Jesus that we are indwelt by the HOLY SPIRIT, sealed for eternity, empowered to overcome fear, capable of discerning truth from ignorance and deception.

Lord, I pray that You indwell me in such a way, that if I am ever provided that Stephen Moment, I will allow You to overcome the circumstances, forces and fears.  Let me realize my humanity to the point where I fully accept to rely upon myself in that moment would produce nothing but shame, failure and regret.  I will never overcome the enemy, but Praise Be to God in Jesus Christ that the enemy has been stripped of all authority by Jesus Christ Himself.  I need not fear that Moment for You have seen it before the beginning of time and provided the strength and guidance to carry me through, producing results commensurate to Your Glory.  If my death even in humility, embarrassment and shame somehow furthers Your Kingdom then let me accept Your Sovereignty as Truth.  Praise You Father.  Live Your Will through Me.  Forgive them for me even when I cannot.  Stand when my legs will not support my weight, give me the Right Words when my mind and tongue are paralyzed by fear.  I remain protected, armored by Your Character, where nothing can move me without Your willing it so.  Thank You for choosing me, it is the greatest honor of my life.  Amen.

Why the silence?  Has the Holy Spirit bid all dutiful Christians to hold their tongues?  This world is teetering.  You know I know it and yet the Church powerful remain silent.  The Lord our God states clearly that homosexuality is an abomination, a contortion.  The Bible makes it plain what the Lord thinks of people and nations who wickedly sacrifice their children upon the altars of false gods or convenience.  A government that was dedicated to God at its inception cannot turn away from His counsel, evoking practices and policies in conflict with His law without, expecting lasting consequence.  Our leaders are lawyers, historians and doctors they should know what has happened historically to EVERY nation that has traveled this path.  Why then is the Christian population roughly silent as our foundations are stripped away.  It is obvious we are afraid of losing our worldly possessions.  Power, influence, the seat at a table of the ungodly, these are the treasures to which we find ourselves in service.

Has God stripped away the prophets in these last days?  Has the Holy Spirit muffled all those who know the truth and would speak plainly the Word of God?  Has the Lord Jesus Christ’s work become nil so that we may follow the path of wickedness and sin?  Are we only a remnant too weak in our faith, too empty of Spirit, powerless against the coming storm, that we huddle inside our churches keeping the truth to breast as a winning hand of cards?  What has become of God’s Glory lived out through the walk of His children?  Have we sold our inheritance for a fancy truck, a vacation at the shore and a comfortable nest egg?  Are we so afraid of the enemy’s authority here that we shudder at the thought of losing our tax status for speaking truth?  There are too many of these questions to which the answer is a declarative Yes.  That my friends is the nature of my fetid stomach.  I too am afraid, too afraid to stand with God in His righteousness, befriending the lost for ill gain.  Oh, what a pitiless man I have become.

God restore us to our honor, courage and pure living so that we may serve Your Will and not our own.  Give us that measure of faith as a mustard seed and let it blossom demonstrating Your Authority to this World You Have Created.  Let each of us stand up, step forward and declare the Words, Spirit Provides, that we will not stand with the forsaken.  To allow this nation or even one man, woman or child to go down our present path without attempting to stop them is complicity.  Would you allow anyone to step over a crevasse, step into oncoming traffic or stand up in a barrage of bullets?  That is exactly what we are currently doing by not calling them back from their path toward eternity separated from God.  This path leads directly to hell, the place designed for satan and his angels.  Man was not meant to join him in his damnation, we do it by choice.  We, as Christians are the Living Word of Christ.  It is our responsibility to inform them and then let God mold and shape their hearts.  If we will not speak that is flagrant disobedience.  For this we should be humbled and seek God’s forgiveness.  But then we must repent of this sin and stand up for God’s Word, His Glory and His Coming.  He deserves no less.  In His name I pray.  Jesus is God.

http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/love-worth-finding/player/what-is-the-good-life-335586.html  Is today your day?

So much is said about wishy-washy Christians, we often forget to reflect upon God’s Sovereign capacity to sponsor change.  I have been reflecting upon those times in Biblical History at which God either sent warning, tragedy or even limited judgment in order to wake people up and return them to a righteous path.  My journey has taken me to the events leading up to the Flood, Sodom, Nineveh, Jerusalem, Babylon and Egypt.  I am impassioned by the consistency.  God does not change His stance nor does He transform in Righteousness.  He warns, offers solace to those who would escape, warns again, sends judgment, offers solace to those who sincerely turn their faces back to Him and then pronounces final judgment without mercy.  Where are we currently in that modeled paradigm?

Perhaps we are at the beginning where we have received cursory warning about our wickedness.  In which case we should be seeing at least a cadre “coming out” in an attempt to find safety within God’s reflection.  Is that what we are seeing?  Have many heard or seen the sign and flown from coming judgment?  I haven’t seen it.  Then maybe we are at the second warning in which case we should see many turning their faces back to Him, humbly, demonstrating repentance and renewed righteous living.  Nope, don’t see that either.  Then we have to either be at a period before this sequence of events has begun or sadly, currently or about to receive the “Waking Judgments”.  Judgments designed to shake us from slumber, returning us to worship and right living before God’s Wrath outweighs His mercy.

How do we know something is true?  Do we accept only facts, sticking our fingers in the holes on his palms or in His side?  Or do we take this on faith knowing that God’s Word is always true, never errant, seeing that we have reached the denouement and are rapidly approaching conclusive action?  I think to whichever position you subscribe the results are identical.  The evidence shows that we have been repeatedly warned and have seen scant humility or life change.  Faith tells us that God is reaching that point where His patience will expire.  Both tell us to expect severe judgment as a last attempt to rouse us from our trance. Unfortunately, for those that refuse to listen the worst is yet to come.  From the appearance of the facts it appears to be close and those facts are confirmed by God’s Word and my faith.  What does this knowing create in you?

God be praised for His Mercy, Patience and Glory.  In Jesus’ Holy Name.