Are You Saved? Have You Been Born Again?

I have been saved, born again by the grace of God, by faith. You can read the story of my life, and know that I am not some goodie-two-shoes who thinks I’m better than someone else, nor am I someone apt to get in your face and try to convert you.  I just care.  The opportunity for you to escape the horrors that are coming upon this earth soon, are running out.  Yes I do believe the Bible is God’s written Word to man, so that we may know Him, and know the things that are coming.  The world as a whole, for the most part, and much to their detriment, have rejected God.  They have bought into the lie that “in the beginning, there was nothing, and that exploded, and from nothing, came all that there is”.  They have believed that a baby is not a baby until it is born, and before that it is merely a blob of tissue not viable on it’s own.  That is the same logic that leads people to believe it is acceptable to kill someone because of their heritage or skin color, or because they have gotten old and can’t do much if anything to “contribute to society”.  There is right, and there is wrong, there is good, and there is evil, and the further mankind moves away from God, the less they even recognize the difference.  God has said those who will not retain God in their memory, will be given over to believe lies.  If the Lord has been tugging at your spirit, if some friend or loved one has told you about your need to be born again, and you have wrestled with it, I’m asking you now, now is the time, please do not put it off.  Someone is praying for you.

Truly there is coming a moment when those who have been saved, will be taken out of this world, and those who have not, will be left here.  Revelation is full of the horrors that will take place on this Earth at that time.  Yes, I know plenty of people laugh at this.  But they will not be laughing on that day when it actually does take place.  And they won’t be laughing for the ensuing years of Tribulation.  Animals will die on a massive scale, famine will envelop the world, millions of people will perish. The “insanity” of weather and nature we have seen in recent months and years will be nothing compared to what will take place then.
A man will appear on the scene with supposed solutions to all the worlds problems and the world will be so desperate they will bow down to him.  He will be believed to be the Messiah which the Jews have long awaited, but they will learn that he is not, when he turns on them.  Are we in that period even now?  Some Christians believe that we are.  However, I believe what we are seeing now are mere foreshadows.  These things are not going to “settle down” and “return to normal”.

I am just a 48 year old mom with an upbringing in which I was blessed to be exposed to the teachings of the Bible from a young age.  I walked away from that for a time, I tried the world’s way of living, and my patient Lord and Savior welcomed me back like the prodigal that I had become, but with open arms and undiminished love for me.  You can read my blogged book in the sidebar and my testimony above.  This blog is mostly about news as it relates to these “last days” we are living in, but it is also my own personal expression of gratitude to God, who I know to be a God of love and compassion.  Life is not always easy.  The way is not always smooth.  Matthew 7:1³ Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴ Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.  Jesus Himself is that Gate.  You don’t have to understand that fully in order to accept it.  I hope you will do so today.

Chapter 5 Her sins, which are many, are forgiven

As my room-mate was saving up for her move to Florida, going through her things and deciding what to take and what to put in storage someplace, we had been invited to a different singles group at a larger church not too far away.  We started visiting and I ran into a guy I had once worked with years ago.  My room-mate was interested in him, so we struck up a conversation and made some plans for a group outing with him and some other friends of ours, to go to a college basketball game.

(Side Trip) That turned into an adventure in it’s own right, when my alarm system went wonky on me late at night in the heart of downtown after the basketball game.  The doors would unlock but the system would not disarm so I couldn’t start the car, and I couldn’t stop the glaring horn sounds.  The police wouldn’t help us, and I didn’t have Triple A, so it took some time for me to get hold of a tow truck.  Then we all scrambled to come up with the $65 between us (which sounds cheap now, but I was appalled then) and then all 4 of us crammed into the cab with the tow truck driver (yup, 5!) and made the 45 minute drive home.

Anyway, the match didn’t “take” between my room-mate and the old acquaintance from work, but the old acquaintance also had a room-mate, and the long and short of it is, he is the father of my children, and known affectionately to my readers as “hubby”.

Now, it didn’t happen just like that. God had done a good bit of work in my heart, and I had finally resigned my will to His on the “being married” score.  I was ready to trust the Lord and allow Him be sufficient.  I had every intention of moving to Florida.  (I jokingly remind him from time to time that he still owes me Florida).  I expected to live out the rest of my life as a single and childless person, and I had accepted that.  It’s interesting that when I finally relinquished my determination to have a mate, it was only then the Lord sent him.  There was a great deal of heart-ache for me as I shared with him my past, and a renewed mourning over what really had been lost.  (He loved me anyway).  My history, my scars, came into the marriage with me.

Just before we met, his aunt died, ( She was a nurse, and a poet-some of her poems are on my blog at Cordia’s Page) Included in her estate, was a ring.  His mom was the heir to her estate.  When we knew we were serious, he asked me what type of ring I would want when we got engaged.  I described it.  I said I wanted white gold, an emerald-cut ceylon blue sapphire, with diamonds on each side, but not necessarily symmetrical.  When he told his parents, and asked his mom to go ring shopping with him, she said “Nope, we already have that ring!”

Here is Aunt Cordia’s Ring, which is now mine.  It is a Ceylon blue emerald-cut sapphire, baguette diamond on one shoulder, 3 rounds in tapering sized down the other. The only difference was, it was yellow gold, clad-over with platinum.  When I had it polished, they stripped the platinum off of the shank, so now it is two-tone, which I think I like even better.  For our bands, I got white gold and he got yellow, but they are matching in style.  We had the jeweler furrow out a thin cross at center of each ring, use the yellow gold from Garrett’s ring, to make a yellow-gold cross in my white-gold ring with his gold, and a white-gold cross in his ring from my gold.  So each of our rings has a piece of the others ring in it, in the shape of a cross which symbolizes Jesus in the marriage with us because a triple-stranded cord is not easily broken.  You can sort of see the crossbeam on my band, as it is tured a little off-centered toward the left.  (Look just below the left prong on the sapphire).  When the rings are polished you can see the crosses very clearly, but as tiny scratches appear and mar the surface, it is less discernible, but can be seen in bright light such as sunlight.  We get a lot of compliments on them.  He was so excited when he proposed to me, and the story about the ring is just amazing because we all saw it as God’s blessing.  His aunt also was a Christian.  I think I would have liked her a lot from what I’ve heard about her.  I’ll meet her in heaven some day, where we can swap nursing stories.

Well, with Garrett I was finally  safe enough for God to begin to unpack my baggage and start dealing with it all.  We both were cheated by those other experiences in my history.  He had history of his own, but was not previously married.  I worked hard trying to learn God’s real design and intent for Biblical intimacy and for marriage itself. Now that I had a good man, I had to learn how to be in a relationship that wasn’t turbulent and conflicted and dysfunctional.  We both had to learn things.  I am so thankful that God gave me this man, a gift I certainly did not deserve, and then even blessed us with our two great boys.  Garrett is as consistent as I am “chang-ie”.  I am the kite, liable to get myself caught up and carried away on turbulent winds, but he keeps me from ending up in the stratosphere.  He calls himself my cinder block.

The church we were attending when the kids were younger, had a class that was pretty unique, called “Apples of Gold”.   It centers around the Proverbs 25:11 verse which says “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” and it is  mentoring program for older Christian women who have raised their families, to mentor younger Christian women wives and moms on how to make the home a warm and nurturing place for their family to enjoy together, how to set a peaceful and Godly tone or atmosphere, practice hospitality and fellowship, and most of all how to be a good mate to her husband and nurture the marriage.  It was one of the neatest church programs that I think I have ever participated in.  I think it was 12 weeks.  There were about 8 mentors, and about 25 younger women.  Each week there were 4 of the leaders who were assigned to creatively decorate a table, using full table settings, themes, and decorations, while one leader was in charge of the devotional and whomever was hostessing was the mentor in charge of the meal.  That person would take us through a recipe which she would have all the prep-work done ahead of time, and teach us about the herbs and things she used, as well as about cuts of meat, etc.  We got the recipes of everything that we cooked or ate while there, to take home, so at the end of the course we had 12 full-meals we knew how to put together.  It also included variations of table-settings, substitutions for certain ingredients, conversion charts, etc.  They taught us about certain kitchen tools and gadgets that “every kitchen should have” to make work easier, etc.

When we first arrived, we did the recipe.  We all gathered around in the hostess kitchen, while she demonstrated her recipes, and while that was cooking, we had our devotional lesson, all centering around the ideas of fellowship, being gracious, particularly on respecting your husband and how to build him up, rather than tear him down.  We discussed how the woman really sets the atmosphere at home, so things like knowing to give him time for some quiet and transition when he first gets home, just lots of stuff that, in today’s broken world, where so many come from broken families, and never learned the more traditional stuff, can know how to still have that for their own family.  The classes were one morning a week, and lasted about 2 and a half to 3 hours.  At the end, if you completed all the classes, you got to attend this really nice banquet, childcare provided, where you and your husband were treated to a nice dinner and they made  it all really special.

Well, one day a leader named Mrs. Delaney* was speaking, and when we all sat down, I noticed right away that she was a little nervous.  I noticed because I turn flushed around my neck and face when I am nervous or upset, and she was like that.  (I always hate when people make it worse by pointing it out.)  She opened with prayer, and then she started out by saying that she would like us to continue to pray for her as she spoke, because she had something else she had planned to talk about that morning, but God led her to speak on “this other thing”.  Her voice was even trembling so I was really feeling empathy for her, I mean, I could tell it was excruciatingly uncomfortable for her. She said that she even argued with God, and tried to talk Him out of it but that He told her, “no, there is someone here today that needs to hear your story.

At that she forged ahead, and began telling about how she had grown up going to church, got saved when she was real young.  She said that she was pretty timid and shy, and didn’t really date anyone during her teen years, until when she was about 19 years old.  She met a boy she really liked, and  they started seeing one another regularly.  She felt comfortable with him, they had even started talking a little about getting married some day.  In other words, she really trusted him, but one night, when they had been dating for about 8 months, he started getting physical with her.

When I realized where she was going, and that I was that person for whom God was asking her to relive this very obviously painful piece of her past, I was overtaken with panic and I began to quake in my seat.  I felt suddenly cold as ice.   I dropped my chin to my chest and kept my eyes closed,  and fought to keep tears from forming.  I felt like a spotlight was on me and I sat there, frozen, not daring to move, barely breathing, not wanting others to realize it’s me while a little voice somewhere down in me began to whimper, and plead, “no, please God, make her stop, please don’t let her tell it”.  I experienced a sense of both shutting down, and of going outside of myself at the same time, outside of the scene and watching from afar.  I remember also experiencing a sense of dropping, down, down, down into a hole, with people all around me, hearing her voice through a roaring that filled my ears, and muffled her words.  I remember wanting to run, but feeling pinned in place.  All I wanted was to not be in that room.  My chest squeezed like there was an enormous balloon in there, and every word she said pumped it up tighter and tighter.  I felt that pressure rise into my throat, but I choked back the sobs until my head ached with it.  I kept telling myself, just hold on, it will be over soon, and when everyone starts moving around, you can slip out and you never have to come back here.  She told of how he brought her home afterwords, her dress torn, her socks muddy, and crying.  She told of how when she told her mother what had happened, her mom didn’t believe her.  She called her a slut.  And she said that other than her husband, she had never told this story to anyone else in her life.

As everyone got up and started moving around, in the general chaos of several ladies gathering up their things, I made a bee-line for the door, only getting stopped once, and made it to my truck before I broke down.  I didn’t want to sit there and have my breakdown, because if anyone so much as looked at me, much less asked me if I was okay, I was afraid that I might shatter into a million pieces.  When I got home, no one was there.  It was a school day, and so for a couple of more hours, at least, I had the house to myself.   I started praying, just trying to take everything to the Lord that I was churning up inside me.  The Lord said “call her”.  I said, “oh God, no, please, I don’t want to talk about it”.  God said “call her”.  So I finally did.  When she answered the phone, I told her who it was, and I said, “you said the Lord told you there was someone there who needed to hear your story.  I think it was me”.  She said, “I know”.
I said; “you knew it was me?”, and she said, “When I first started talking, I didn’t know who it was, but by the time I finished talking, the Lord had told me who it was.  Now, I want you to come on over to my house, you need to talk about this”.

So I went, and I did talk, and she ministered to me and prayed for me, and prayed with me, and she told me that God has forgiven me, that I needed to forgive myself, and the person that did this to me.

The Lord has intervened in my life in very personal ways many times, but this!  God coming to me, orchestrating the time, the date, the individual He would use, He came especially to me.  Me! I was so overwhelmed and so broken by His mercy.

That was a new beginning for us in this marriage because between the emotional pain and shame that I carried, and my mental and physical illnesses, Garrett’s and my relationship intimacy was fraught with frustration, difficulty, and tears.  The irritability that came with the “ups” of my mood swings made it excruciating for him to even touch me in any way, and yet I so needed to be comforted by him.  A lot of the time I couldn’t even tolerate a hug.

It is hard enough, being mommy all day, and making the switch back to being someone’s lover.  I think for most women, tenderness outside the bedroom is a crucial and necessary prerequisite, for leading up to that greater intimacy we both may be hoping for later.  We women are not compartmentalized within, like men are.  We have to have some neutral territory in between, to create a segue way from point a, to point c.  Most of us can’t “turn on a dime” at will, emotionally, from being mommy in sweats, with baby puke on the shoulder and toddler slime on the sleeve, to being our husband’s “hot mama”.  We were aware of the need for “us time”, we just found it nearly impossible, between my being sick, our financial struggles, the conflict with the in-laws, who often when we might have asked them to babysit, were already keeping the other couple’s two boys, and just yada, yada, ad infinitum.  We did the best we could.  I continued to work on me, my issues,  with a counselor, and on my own with the Lord, and also the two of us with counseling.  We just never gave up.  We had faith that God would some day help us get things right, in spite of ourselves, and there were also two things in particular we had going for us in the marriage.  Garrett and I are great friends first and foremost, and we have always “found our way back to one another” whenever there is anything that we were divided about.  Because we both are absolutely miserable when anything is sitting badly between us.  The other thing is, we can always laugh together.  That by itself has probably been our saving grace more times than I could count.

I know that there are those who would argue that being married again, makes Garrett and me both adulterers.  Well, yes.  Adultery is an act, though, not a continuous state.  I’m an adulterer, I’m a liar, I’m a thief, I’m a murderer.  So is he, so are you.  Gods law is one law, if we are guilty of breaking one, we are guilty of breaking all because God’s law is one law.  That is why Jesus gave His life.

I remember before meeting Garrett, that there was a nurse about my age who started working on the unit shortly before I left, whose husband had left her, except she also had a daughter.   She was a Christian, but felt strongly that she could not be remarried because of her divorce, yet she felt very cheated.  She was not judgmental about it when she knew I got engaged to Garrett, in fact she was genuinely happy for me, but she was bound by her own convictions in regards to herself.

While another girl, who was a good bit younger than I was, and not a Christian, made a remark to one of the other nurses when she found out, saying “Engaged? She doesn’t have any business getting engaged, she’s done been divorced twice”.  One of the other nurses said “doesn’t she deserve to be happy like anyone else?” That nurse wasn’t a Christian either, but she knew I was, and she was the one that shared the exchange with me.  It stung a little, but people are entitled to their opinions.

God hates divorce.  Having been through it, I know why. No matter what the circumstances, divorces are painful.  I am so thankful that there were no children in those other unions, although the second one did have his young daughter, and I saw that even as her step-mom when her dad only had her every other weekend, and a week each summer, that it was painful for her.

There are people who would say that if I was only 9 when I “got saved” and considering the direction my life took, I probably was not truly saved back then.  And frankly, I wondered that myself, later on.  I mean, if a child dies before the age of accountability, and goes to heaven because she had not reached the point of being able to grasp her state of sinfulness and need for salvation, (not knowing good and evil) then I have to wonder if professions of faith at that age are “counted” per se as the moment of salvation, or whether God sort of takes it “as earnest” but  still requires a later confirmation of that decision once the age of accountability is reached.

There are those who just do not believe a person who has truly been saved will be allowed by God to live in such opposition to His law, essentially dragging Christ’s name through the mud.  (All I know is, God knows the end, from the beginning). I do know that I truly loved the Lord as a child and teen (even if I didn’t have much understanding about Him or His character and nature yet).  Things grew very complicated as I began to face the life passages of adulthood, and I was miserable the entire time that I walked counter to His will, and that the day I came to the end of myself on the floor before work, was the first time that I truly understood with an adult’s mind,  the cost of sin and my need for my Savior and the price He paid.  

Can there be salvation without repentance and can there be repentance without fully grasping the scope of our depravity? (Jesus says we are to come to him with faith like that of a child)  I was sincere in 1973 at the age of 9.  I was broken that fall day  in 1992, at the age of 28 when I cried out to Him again.  Which counts as my “spiritual rebirth” day?  I don’t know if it matters.  Because whether I was saved in 73 or 92, Jesus has paid the penalty for my sins.  I know I never had a doubt after the encounter in ’92.

I sometimes imagine that my physical sickness stems from that history, but I don’t see anything that I have been through as punishment, but rather natural consequences.  Sin brings pain and death.  Whether it is my sin, or whether I am in some way a victim of the sin of someone else, doesn’t really make a difference.  Like a pebble dropped into a pond, there is a ripple effect of sin and it effects every person and all of creation.  The “thou shalt nots” of God’s law are not there to spoil our fun.  They are fences and boundary lines erected for our own safety and protection.  God is holy and yes, it offends Him when we violate His law, but it is because He loves us and provided a way to avoid the painful consequences and yet we choose to suffer them when it is unnecessary.  What’s more, He knew we would, so He took the form of a man, and died to pay for those sins so we didn’t have to continue to suffer for them through out all of eternity, and people still refuse to accept His free gift of forgiveness and redemption, loving their sin all the more.

Over time I have come to learn that even our failures are never wasted in God’s economy.  I avoided church and God, and Christian friends when I was living a life that diverged from that “straight and narrow” way.  Even though I was rebelling and railing against God in my heart, I still respected the Bible and God and Church enough that I wasn’t about to go into church and fake it. Even after I was back in church, for a long time, I couldn’t  share the gospel because somewhere along the line and without realizing it, I had absorbed the “get saved-have a better life” mentality.  Without that “selling point”  I didn’t know how to appeal to people.   Beyond my initial rudimentary grasp that I had as a nine-year old child, of my need to be saved, I somehow grew to feel entitled to certain blessings in return for being a “good Christian girl”   As if I knew I needed Him to save me, but I thought I had achieved some degree righteousness of my own.  (As if it can be built up like a muscle).  So many misconceptions.
God said: “My people are destroyed for lack for lack of knowledge”.  He also said “the people that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.

Maybe the biggest difference between my earlier years and now, is that now I know Him better.

As I look back now, I know I am forgiven, so in regards to my self, it doesn’t matter whether or not God counted marriage #1 as a “real marriage” or whether technically I have been divorced once or twice. All of it is under the blood.   I regret the bad example that I was to the lost around me who knew I professed to be a Christian. I did so many things that misrepresented Him.  Yet even that has been forgiven.

I am just a forgiven sinner.  That is all.  Sin leaves scars, but God loves us anyway.  And that is probably why the song “Alabaster Box” is so special to me, and why the many instances recorded in scripture of Jesus’ tender mercy to women, are so precious; the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, the woman who anointed His feet while the Pharisees griped about the waste of the precious and costly perfume.

Luke 7:37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,

³⁸ And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.

³⁹ Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.

⁴⁰ And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.

⁴¹ There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty.

⁴² And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

⁴³ Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged.

⁴⁴ And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

⁴⁵ Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.

⁴⁶ My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.

⁴⁷ Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

⁴⁸ And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

⁴⁹ And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?

⁵⁰ And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.

Yes, that is why I love Him so much! More than my husband, more than my kids, more than my parents, and more than life. 

Go to Randomocity Interlude or skip to Chapter 6

Examine Yourself

 

A reader contribution

In response to a reblog about a historical agreement between the Vatican and Jerusalem, a reader in the U.K, Dean Heyes, left the following comment and  video link.  (Thank you Dean.)

{ Discoveries of Ron Wyatt} Ark of the covenent ,the above footage takes a while to start and stops and starts in places , GOD commanded we test all, and keep what is good ,I have spent well over a thousand hours testing this and I have found no fault or contradiction and the Biblical suport is overwhelming . I believe this is GODS way in these last days to test of our faith ,so many Christians use their own logic to understand GOD and his ways , and therefor canot comprehend HIS truth.

I have seen parts of this video before, and I remember watching the 20/20 documentary of the discovery of Noah’s Ark when it ran in the 80′s.

I hope you will watch the whole video, but if you already are familiar with the Noah’s Ark find, you may not know about the information presented in the latter part of the video starting around 49:06.  That last 30 minutes is very compelling in regards to archeological evidence of what happened when Christ died on the cross, and about the Ark of the Covenant.

Archeological evidence repeatedly affirms the Biblical accounts, so much so that archeologists routinely look to the Bible to figure out and decide where to dig.  God would probably prefer it if we just believed His Word, but knowing our human weaknesses, I think He has allowed these things to be discovered for reasons similar to those for which the risen Christ allowed the doubter, Thomas, to see the wounds in His hands and side.

Faith becomes knowledge and certainty upon sight of the proof.

As we await the Messiah, we still live in a fallen and progressively darkening world.  It can be so easy to doubt and lose sight of what we know.  But the greatest thing in all the history of the world, is the fact that the Bible is true.  God is true, and His love and grace are real.  He devised a plan to save us from ourselves.  Jesus came to deliver us from the evil of this earthly existence.  All who are willing, can be born again, and that blood which fell on the mercy seat, is sufficient to cleanse the sins of the worst offender.  He did not come to call the righteous, but the broken-hearted repentant sinner.  Jesus died to set you free.  This old world can be cruel and life here can be excruciating, but that doesn’t have to be the end of the story.  We can mess up real bad, make horrible, costly choices that cause pain to ourselves and others, for years to come, and yet that doesn’t have to be the ending of the story, because Christ offers hope for a new life beyond this one.

It is your choice to make, but time is running out.  World History may well have nearly run it’s course.  There is a time and season for everything, and every person will die and stand before God, whether you believe that or whether you don’t is of no relevance whatsoever.  That mercy seat which is represented by the Ark of the Covenant, is a real place.  Jesus’ death bought you entrance to go and stand before that very mercy seat, but only in Jesus’ name.  We have nothing else to recommend us, no grounds of our own, on which to approach our Holy Creator and appeal for mercy.  Better to humble yourself, and approach Him on the basis of what Jesus did, and ask for that mercy now, because after death, when you stand before Him to be judged, it is too late, there will be no mercy granted then.

Jesus was sacrificed for our sake.  Anyone who goes to hell steps over that sacrifice in order to go there.  The sacrifice is before you today.  What do you choose? See my link at the top of the blogstream on “What does it mean to be saved”.

The Way Is Narrow

Last evening as I surfed the various websites and blogs that I read regularly, I came across a video on one blog which was a clip from an episode of one of those prank television programs.  I love a good sight-gag or practical joke as well as the next person, but this one was downright disturbing on many levels.  The set-up was an office of some sort, with a receptionist at the desk, and an elevator at one end of the room.  Individuals would walk in, and without being able to understand what they were saying (Spanish? Portugese?) it was easy enough to discern by gestures and setting, they would ask the receptionist for directions and she would walk to the elevator with them, explain something and then point upward, and the citizen would thank her as the doors closed.  Of course the elevator has mirrors, and hidden cameras, and the occupant would look around, look in the mirror, if a female, she would generally primp and then the lights would flicker and the elevator would shudder a bit as if to maybe stop, then the lights went out.  Of course there was black lighting enough that the viewer can still see what is happening, but as you know when lighting goes from bright to very dark, it takes several seconds for pupils to dilate and eyes to adjust.  That few seconds was just enough for a little girl to slip out of one of the lower sie panels, holding her little doll baby, hair long and snarled, eyes deeply shaded with dark circles.  When the occupant’s eyes had adjusted they immediately see the little girl and begin to scream (all of them, even the men), and then the little girl screams as well,  heightening the terror.  After that the lights flicker, the elevator shudders again, the little girl slips back into her hiding spot, and the lights come back on.  The people in the elevator are then seen frantically pressing buttons and several of the women come out wiping tears.

Now, I ask you, when did cruelty become an acceptable form of entertainment?  What is next, the Coloseum, Gladiators, Lions?

This is disturbing not only in the cruelty, but in the visceral reaction and the obvious conviction that the victims had, that what they were seeing was real, and a threat.  No one moved toward the little girl to touch her and see if she were actually an apperition.  Frankly I consider it child abuse for a kid to play a part like that, whether “in fun” or in a major horror movie.  Playing around with themes of the occult and “undead” is no laughing matter.  I have seen home videos where people dressed for Halloween and sat by their door, posing as a stuffed scarecrow, and had grown men punch them in the face in visceral reflexive reaction.  What might an armed and terrified elevator-rider have done?

Yesterday I shared an article that stated that a “mentalist” has been invited to perform at Obama’s second inauguration.  And just this morning a “Forensic Profiler” described how he was able to “read between the lines” and determine Obama’s “super-ego subconscious meaning” behind his spoken words, and detect his confession of having stole the election.

The reblogged article by Joseph Chambers (Angels Holy and Unholy) which I shared with you this morning, goes into the underlying reason for these things.  The occult world is merging with our physical world at an alarming rate, and the reason that is happening is because we have flung open the doors and invited them.  Through Harry Potter, through the Twilight vampire obsession, selling witchcraft to our children in the form of books and games, and glorifying all these things of darkness.  When a culture is bound and determined to pursue and embrace what is mystical and dark and evil, that culture will find itself bound, period.

I have also run across several un-edited videos capturing the graphic, barbaric slaughter of little children by Islamic terrorists, as well as some Islamic ritual wherein they flog themselves, ripping the skin from their own backs.  Can there be any question that these Radical Islamic elements are fully indwelt by demons?  God help them! God help their victims!  Muslim children are born in families with generations of worship of a god they call allah, which I believe is satan himself.

Aren’t you thankful we serve a God who didn’t just leave us to our own devices and base nature?  He graciously gave us His Word which provides instruction on these things if we only will receive it, believe it, and obey it.  We are to set our mind on things above, not on things below.  Godly things, not satanic.  As more and more of the Earthly realm is overtly invaded by the demonic, it is all the more crucial for us to keep pouring the clean water of the Word into our mind.  Pray for all of those who are unsaved because they are subject to the whims and tortures of evil spirits, demons, principalities and forces of darkness.

We who are saved by Jesus and worship the ONE true God have no need to fear these things.  Isaiah 35:4 KJV Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.

 

 

 

 

What Really Happened in the Garden of Eden –Conclusion

What Really Happened Part III    Conclusion    (Click on link to left to read or reblog this post from original site)

God’s Great Love For Us- the Gift of His Glory

1Jn4:8 tells us‘.. God is love’.   God is the personification of Love.   God’s love is perfect.   Love is conveyed through words and actions.   We express our love by giving to others- our families, friends, and those in need.   Even more so with God!  This is a very important key point: Because God is love, He wants to share all of His glory with us.   But because God is also Holy and Just, He is constrained to give His glory to only those who are deemed worthy; only to those who are pure and holy, who have been tested and proven.   Peter wrote ‘..the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ’ 1Pe1:7.   Paul wrote ‘The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.   For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us’ Ro8:16-18.   Jesus expressly prayed the Father saying ‘And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them..’ Jn17:22.   1Th2:12 states ‘That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom andglory’.   Paul wrote ‘Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ 2Th 2:14’.

God gave us His Spirit to change us from glory to glory into the same image as Jesus Christ 2Co3:18.   God’s desire is that we become like Jesus, so He can give us all things.   Re21:7 states ‘He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son’.   In short, this is  the Sonship message- God wants more sons and daughters like Jesus Christ.   But Sonship is only for those who know of this great plan that God has for us.  It would require faith and a desire to be like Jesus on your part for it to be fulfilled in you.   Without these virtues, faith and desire, Sonship will  be unattainable to you!

The Sonship Message- God’s Eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus 

Jesus came to earth so that……….read the rest

From the Heart

Today I will write from a heart churning with many emotions.

Sadness, because our family lost a very dear friend this morning. A very special person who was deeply loved by many people. Rejoicing, because he is not suffering now and I know he is at this very moment in the presence of Jesus.  Anticipation, because I know it will not be long before I and the rest of the Bride of Christ will also be in the presence of Jesus.  Sadness, again, for those who will be left here to go through the Tribulation that is coming and the eternal hell that comes afterwards for most.

As I continue to read and hear from other Watchmen on the Wall, the general consensus is the same.  Every indication points to the fact that it is only the still-present Holy Spirit within God’s people, which is holding back the tide.  There is no Earthly explanation as to how war has not yet erupted, and global economic collapse has not commenced.   There may be a war in the Middle East before the Rapture, but should one start, I doubt we will still be here to see it end.

America is teetering on the edge of a rapidly crumbling sinkhole.  The Middle East is erupting like forest fires in a drought, fires which have  already jumped continents and manifested here on college campuses, and which will not stop there.  This will not be contained.  The rage and savagery of the Embassy attacks, the cannibalistic attacks, the blindness of our leaders, has been brought about by God’s permission, to those who have rejected Truth, and God has given them over to demonic influence and control.  There is a clear blood-lust that is feeding on the killings, but un-satiated by them, and thus it will continue.

The hatred that is being exhibited by these individuals, is beyond the scope of human hatred.  It is Satan’s hatred and jealousy toward God’s chosen people of Israel, and the Bride of Christ the Christian church, as well as toward the United States because of our history of a now all-but-lost Christian Heritage.  As this frenzied hatred ignites more and more pockets of violence all over the globe, it will only grow more sinister and relentless.

Now that Obama has dropped all pretense of standing with Israel, and has in fact done all he could do to prevent Israel from addressing the Iran problem on their own, all for the sake of his re-election campaign, America stands in a position she has never been in before.  That is in direct and defiant opposition to God and His express will.

The Feds quietly set in motion the third round of Quantitative Easing this past Friday.  And any day I expect China to abandon all use of the dollar, at which point it is finished finally and permenantly as the worlds reserve currency.

In willful and defiant opposition to God’s express will is a dangerous place to be standing, and we all know that the rain falls on the just as well as the unjust.  So those of us who never wavered in our support of Israel, are not exempt or immune from the fallout that may possibly result  while the Lord continues to tarry and bring in the final sheep into the fold.   It is a solemn moment in world history.

Obama’s is more aligned with the Muslims than either Christians or Jews, religiously.  He is more aligned with the Communists, politically, than traditional Democrats.  He has been programmed his entire life as a globalist, and in his role at the helm of world leadership, he fostered the climate for this tragic turn the world and America have taken, but only after many other compromisers paved the way.

For myself, this is a time for prayer and quiet.  A time for our family to grieve a loss, but also a time for going to the Lord for that extra helping of grace and strength that will be required for the days and weeks ahead.

I have scheduled a few posts for the coming days, but the flurry of multi-post days are over for the moment.  I know that often it was a lot to absorb.  And I hope you might come back during this break, and have the opportunity to catch up on some of the massive volume of stuff that I’ve posted, particularly this past week, and I mean, really read it, and watch the videos, listen to the speakers.

I pray for God’s mercy, and that He will prepare us for whatever our (likely brief) remaining mortal future will hold.  There is no doubt there will be more death coming our way, and it will be getting “closer to home”.
That goes for people all over the world, not just here in America and in the Middle East.  I do not base my conclusions out of an “American-centric” view of the world.  The only “great role” I see
America playing in the last days is in her complete neutralization as a world power, moving out of prominance, and opening the way for the Ten Kings and ultimately the Antichrist to rise to power.

This one thing I know about America: all the armed Americans will not sit on their hands while radical Islam brings its rage to pour out here on our streets.  There are any number of Americans still around who are less afraid to die for what they hold dear, than these “radicals”, and I expect many will, even before the government has the chance to step in with Martial Law.

Government, authority and order across the globe is disentigrating.  Mankind as a whole, has spoken.  They don’t want God, or anything to do with His rules.  God is about to give them what they have chosen.  Severance.  A cutting off from Him that is permanent, and the fruit of their evil desires.

If you have ever felt God’s conviction in your soul, your need for a Savior, your time is rapidly running out.  There are only a few grains of sand left in the hourglass.  Someone has prayed for you.  Jesus Himself has interceded before the Father for you. He is not willing that any should perish, but because He gave free will to all humans, many will perish needlessly.  But not a death that is done and overwith, then eternal nothingness.  It is an eternal dying that never will end.  A torment.

The offer of Salvation does come with an expiration date, and only the Lord knows when His offer to YOU is rescinded.  He sees the inward heart.  You can fool yourself and others.  To the unregenerate, unrepentant sinner who reads this, consider yourself warned.  Today is the day of Salvation.  You were never garuanteed a tomorrow.

 

 

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Do You Know Jesus?

There is a God, and He is not happy about how we are behaving.  We have moved outside of any semblence of obedience to Him as a nation, as a world.

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9-10 All have sinned. Sin has consequences..  God is just and requires atonement for sin.  Jesus never sinned, and was the”spotless sacrificial lamb”  that died to pay the penalty for our sins.  We must confess our sinfulness, ask Jesus to apply his substitutionary atonement towards our guilt,  and in exchange have the righteousness of Christ attributed to “our account”, thus satisfying God’s  wrath, and reconciling us to Himself.  That’s how it works.  You don’t have to understand it, you just have to accept it as true, believe it, confess Christ as your own Saviour, and be saved from the wrath that is coming, because my friend, “we ain’t seen nothin yet”!

Are You Saved?

G od so loved the world that He gave His

O nly begotten

S on that whosoever believeth on Him shall not

P erish but have

E verlasting

L ife

Jesus is the one and only sinless Son of God who died on the cross, was buried, and rose again on the third day and now lives and sits at the right hand of God interceding for you and me every day.  He did it for you, and would have done it for you if you were the only human ever born.

 

10 out of every 10 people will die some day.  Then what?

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingom of God:  Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revillers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death  BUT: Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes (wounds) we are healed.  But God commendeth His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.  Much more than being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath to come  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul.   Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

You don’t have to know how it works, any more than you need to know all the inner workings of an airplane when you fly on it.  You just have to trust it will get you there, and get on board.  Your conscience (con means with, science means knowledge) tells you that there is a God and you will answer to Him.   He doesn’t want to give you what you’ve got coming.  He so badly doesn’t want to, that He (who never sinned) took your punishment for your sins when He died on the cross, but you have to believe what He has said, reject (renounce) your own sinful nature and ask Him that the price He paid be applied to your “account”, or else His sacrifice for your sins will go “unclaimed” just like an unclaimed ticket left at the will-call box, and you will spend an eternity in  hell needlessly.  You have the option to exchange your guilt (and all the labels-liar, theif, adulterer, etc that go with it) for His righteousness.   Remaining under condemnation is a choice.  He did everything He could to prevent your going to Hell.  If you feel a prompting in your heart upon reading this, that is the Holy Ghost convicting you of the truth of it.  Please do not take it lightly. There is grave consequence in blaspheming the Holy Ghost.  (Matthew 12:31-32).   Behold today is the day of salvation!

See Also “The Four Spiritual Laws“