Mastering Sin

Thursday, December 30, 2010, 2:02 p.m. – The Lord afforded me the opportunity today to examine three passages of scripture in relation to this topic of mastering sin. What I will share here will be from my own experiences with temptation and with sin and from what I learned from them – both from my failures, as well as from my successes, by God’s grace.

Genesis 4:7:

“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

My Understanding: If we do what is right according to God’s Word, he will accept us. This begins with believing in Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior, by his grace through genuine faith – repentance and obedience. When we do this, we are accepted by God as one of his children and as forgiven and made righteous via Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and his resurrection from the dead, in which he conquered death, sin, Satan and hell.

Nonetheless, when we do what is wrong in God’s eyes - which I believe implies willful disobedience in this context - it opens the doors of our hearts to further sin. Sin desires to have us, in this case, because we have already “been had”, which thus makes sin believe it can conquer us again. James 1:13-15 says this:

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

The solution to this situation of sin crouching at our door because we have not chosen to do what is right, and sin desiring to have us, is that we must master sin. I believe these are the necessary steps that need to be taken if we are to truly master sin in our hearts and lives:

1. We must agree with God about our sin (call it what he calls it) – confess and repent to God and to those whom we have sinned against by our words or actions.

2. In order to do this, we must first of all be willing to go through a time of heart examination before God to see what sins are in our lives and what is at the root of them (heart issues), and then be willing to do whatever God requires of us.

3. We must be honest with ourselves, with God and with others concerning our sin – “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (Jms 5:16).

4. If we are not willing to take these initial steps, then the process ends here.

5. Next we must examine any stumbling blocks or hindrances to our faith and obedience and be willing to eradicate them from our lives, if necessary, in order to gain complete victory – “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Mtt 5:29). This is saying we must rid our lives of those things that cause us to or that contribute greatly to us stumbling and falling into sin.

6. In other words, I need to evaluate the things or situations in my life that might provide me the opportunity to sin (especially related to sinful habits), and I should be willing to rid my life of any of these sin triggers or opportunities, where necessary, in order to gain complete victory over sin.

7. Lastly, I need to make a plan to not fail again – “If we fail to plan, then we plan to fail” (don’t recall who said that) – this is so true! If we don’t have a plan in motion as to what to do in the eventuality that we will be tempted again in the same or a similar manner, then we are just asking to be led right back into the same sin.

8. We must put on the armor of God daily (see Ephesians 6:10-20) in order to fight off these attacks of the enemy against our minds and hearts, for this is where the battle truly begins. This will take serious attitude against sin, i.e. we must have the same attitude about sin that God does. And, we can’t fight temptation just with the shield of faith. We must pull out that sword of the Spirit and we must fight temptation with the word of God and let Satan know we mean business!!

1 Corinthians 10:13:

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

My Understanding: We are all tempted to sin. The Bible says that there is no one righteous, no not one – Romans 3:10-11: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Isaiah 53:6: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

And, there is no temptation that comes into our lives that we cannot overcome or that cannot be conquered by God’s grace and via his provisions for defeating sin in our lives, if we choose to take advantage of those provisions afforded to us by Jesus’ grace to us. His Word teaches us how to get out from underneath the temptation to sin so that we can stand against sin and can stand for righteousness, so we need to know the truth so that the truth can set us free, which means not just head knowledge, but heart knowledge and obedience.

2 Peter 1:4:

“Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

My Understanding: God has given us so many precious promises that help us to live godly lives and to forsake sin. Some of them are:

• He has promised to be faithful to us
• He has promised to not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear
• He has promised to provide a way out from under the temptation so that we can stand up under the temptation against sin and stand for God and righteousness
• He has promised to accept those who accept Him
• He has promised his grace, mercy and forgiveness to those who believe on His Name – “By grace we are saved through faith, it is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
• He has promised to heal us and to restore us if we will cooperate with his plan.

God’s grace is a free gift to us who would believe. The Bible teaches that belief is action, not just words or not just an intellectual assent to what Jesus did for us on the cross. True faith is faith that is accompanied by repentance and by obedience to God’s commands, not in absolute sinless perfection, but true faith makes this its life goal and mission to live for God and to walk in obedience to Him and to His teachings. This is not works-based salvation. This is merely an understanding of what it means to truly believe and to accept God’s grace into our lives. If we believe Jesus died for our sins so that we could be free from sin, not just the penalty of sin, but the control of and bondage to sin over our lives, then we would not continue to live in sin. The Bible tells us this in I John and in other places. So, God’s grace does not provide us the option to keep living in sin. Instead, a true understanding of God’s grace acknowledges that his grace provides us with the opportunity to be free from under the bondage and control of sin over our lives, and that is true grace!! Amen!!

Were It Not for Grace / Larnelle Harris

Time measured out my days
Life carried me along
In my soul I yearned to follow God
But knew Id never be so strong
I looked hard at this world
To learn how heaven could be gained
Just to end where I began
Where human effort is all in vain

So here is all my praise
Expressed with all my heart
Offered to the Friend who took my place
And ran a course I could not even start
And when He saw in full
Just how much His love would cost
He still went the final mile between me and heaven
So I would not be lost

Were it not for grace
I can tell you where I’d be
Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere
With my salvation up to me
I know how that would go
The battles I would face
Forever running but losing this race
Were it not for grace

Yielded and Still

Thursday, December 30, 2010, 8:44 a.m. – I woke this morning with one song after another playing in my mind. This song stayed in my mind as I got up to write:

Just a Closer Walk with Thee / Unknown

I am weak, but Thou art strong,
Jesus, keep me from all wrong,
I’ll be satisfied as long
As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er,
Time for me will be no more,
Guide me gently, safely o’er
To Thy kingdom, dear Lord, to Thy shore.

Just a closer walk with Thee,
Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee,
Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

When I finished writing the title to this song, and I began to pray to the Lord, he brought yet another song to mind:

Have Thine Own Way, Lord / Adelaide A. Pollard, 1862-1934
George C. Stebbins, 1846-1945 / Tune: ADELAIDE, Meter: 54.54 D

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine!

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o'er my being absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me!

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Luke 21:5-36:

Signs of the End of the Age
5 Some of his disciples were remarking about how the temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus said, 6 “As for what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another; every one of them will be thrown down.”
7 “Teacher,” they asked, “when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are about to take place?”

8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

10 Then he said to them: “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

12 “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 This will result in your being witnesses to them. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 All men will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 By standing firm you will gain life.

20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

29 He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. 30 When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. 31 Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

32 “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

My Understanding: I believe the Lord would have me focus this morning on the aspects of this Biblical passage and these two songs that have to do with the things we will experience in this life as believers in Jesus Christ, what Jesus Christ did and/or does for us, and what our response to him should be.

Our life experiences as believers in Jesus Christ

• Persecution and rejection

• Betrayal at the hands of those we love

• Weighed down by the cares of this life

• Temptation and/or giving in to sin, sin habits, sinful lifestyles, etc.

• Spiritual and/or emotional weakness and temptation to give in to the flesh

• Wounded and weary via circumstances of this life that weigh in on us

What Jesus Christ did and/or does for us

• He has given us His Words, which will never pass away - words to give us guidance, direction, instruction, encouragement, hope, and healing, etc.

• He is strong for us when we are weak, wounded and weary, if we rely on his strength and power within us and not on our own strength to overcome our flesh

• He keeps us from sinning when we place our faith and trust in Him and not in our flesh and we repent and choose to turn from our sin and to follow him

• He is the potter and we are the clay – he molds us and shapes us after his will if we are willing, yielded and still before him

• He cleanses us from all sin via his death on the cross and his resurrection in which he conquered death, Satan and sin – freeing us from the ultimate penalty of sin as well as setting us free from the control of and bondage to sin on a daily basis if we are willing and yielded to him

• He heals us physically, spiritually and emotionally when we turn to him in faith and obedience and we cooperate with him in what he wants to do in our hearts and lives

• He fills us with his Holy Spirit who is within us to give us guidance, direction, counsel, comfort, encouragement, conviction, reproof, etc.

What our response should be

• Watch out (be on the lookout) that we are not deceived by anything

• Use the troubles of this life as a springboard to grow closer to our Lord in fellowship with him, in walking in faith and obedience, and in being a witness for him

• Stand firm in our faith even in the face of persecution, rejection, betrayal, etc.

• Stand up and lift up our heads, i.e. don’t let the circumstances of this life weigh us down and keep us from obeying our Lord

• Be careful not to allow sin or sin habits to creep back into our lives and to give in to the flesh and fleshly appetites so that we obey them rather than obey God

• Be always on the watch and pray – don’t let your guard down – Satan knows our weak points and he will come after us in those areas, so we need to have our armor on all the time, we need to be prayerfully watchful so that we don’t fall to temptation

• We need to aggressively seek to listen to God’s voice within us, to obey what he says, to spend time with him daily in prayer and in his word, and to be sharing our faith with others so that we grow closer to our Lord daily

• We need to be yielded and still before our Lord to allow him to mold us and to make us after HIS will and not after our own wills

• We need to be willing to have the Lord search our hearts and to reveal to us any sins that need to be confessed and repented (turned from) of – to show us any weakness of mind, heart, and soul and to allow him to work his healing in our lives

• We need to put off the heart responses to our flesh and we need to put on the things of the Spirit so that we can be filled with God’s Holy Spirit so that Christ Jesus is who is seen in our lives as a testimony for him, instead of us revealing flesh-controlled lives

I Surrender All / Judson W. Van De Venter / Winfield S. Weeden
… Lo, we have left all, and have followed Thee. (Mark 10:28)

All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

Duplicity of Heart

Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 6:49 a.m. – I woke with this song playing in my mind:

Yield Not to Temptation / Horatio R. Palmer

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin;
Each vict’ry will help you some other to win;
Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue;
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Ask the Savior to help you,
Comfort, strengthen, and keep you;
He is willing to aid you,
He will carry you through.

Shun evil companions, bad language disdain,
God’s name hold in rev’rence, nor take it in vain;
Be thoughtful and earnest, kindhearted and true;
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

To him that o’ercometh, God giveth a crown,
Through faith we will conquer, though often cast down;
He who is our Savior, our strength will renew;
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Luke 20:19-26, 45-47:

The Parable of the Tenants
…The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.

Paying Taxes to Caesar
20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor. 21 So the spies questioned him: “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. 22 Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

23 He saw through their duplicity and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?”

25 “Caesar’s,” they replied.

He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

26 They were unable to trap him in what he had said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent…

Whose Son Is the Christ?
…While all the people were listening, Jesus said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 47 They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”

My Understanding: I asked the Lord to grant me his understanding of how he wanted to apply this passage of scripture to my life and/or for me to share with others the truth from it that he would want me to receive and/or to share, especially in relation to this song he placed into my mind when I awoke this morning.

The words to the song that really jumped out at me this morning were “dark passions subdue” and “shun evil companions,” as well as the words to the chorus in its entirety. Going along with that, the words in the passage that particularly stood out to me were “who pretended to be honest,” “He saw through their duplicity,” “for a show” and “Beware.” So, the main message I believe the Lord wants me to focus upon this morning is this idea of those he says we must “beware” who pretend to be honest, who have divided hearts (duplicity), who do things for show, who are evil in nature, and who yield to dark passions. If we are to “beware” and/or to “shun” such people, we need to understand the meaning behind each of these phrases and we need to look at what God’s word teaches concerning how this is to be done in all practicality. So, I want to examine each of these phrases.

Dark Passions Subdue – Dark means “having little or no light; angry; hostile; evil or wicked; hidden from others” (Encarta); “shadowy (secretive; a spy); obscure” (MS Word Thesaurus). Passion means “intense or overpowering emotion; intense enthusiasm; strong emotions” (Encarta); desire; hunger; appetite; craving; lust (MS Word Thesaurus).

I believe we can say that “dark passions” are thus the evil, secretive, and/or hostile things we are the most intense about, that we have strong feelings about, and that represent our heart’s desires, the things we crave, hunger after and/or lust after. So, to subdue those dark passions would mean to “subjugate; conquer; vanquish; defeat; overpower; crush; quell and overcome” them (MS Word Thesaurus). We can’t play games with evil.

Shun Evil Companions – Evil means “profoundly immoral or wrong; deliberately causing great harm, pain, or upset; malicious; connected with the devil or other powerful destructive forces” (Encarta); “sinful; vile; wicked” (Thesaurus). A companion is a “friend; buddy; mate; cohort; acquaintance; and/or confidant” (Thesaurus); or “somebody who accompanies or shares time with another” (Encarta). To shun someone means “to avoid somebody or something intentionally” (Encarta).

So, this is saying that we should avoid our friends who we know, for a fact, are living immoral, sinful, and wicked lives. I believe implied here is the idea that these are people who know better, yet are intentionally and willfully choosing to live in such a manner. Since these are words in a song, I want to see what God’s word teaches on this subject:

Eph. 5:11:

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

2 Tim. 3:1-5:

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

I Co. 5:9-11:

I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

II Co. 6:14-18:

Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
“Therefore come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
“I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”

These are hard teachings and difficult to know how to apply. Obviously there are people in our lives we can’t totally avoid, such as coworkers, family members, people in public places, etc. I believe the overall idea here is that we are not to remove ourselves completely from the world, meaning the physical world, but we are to remove ourselves from worldly and evil influences, as much as is within our power to do so. We are not to avoid the people of the world entirely, but we are not to make them our close companions (yoked together), either. And, those who are our close companions who say they are believers but are choosing to live in open rebellion against God, we are to not associate with, as much as is within our power to do so, both for the purpose that we are not drawn into their sin with them and so that we also do not give approval to their actions by our continuing to hang out with them. This would be for the purpose of helping them to see the error of their ways and to turn back to God in faith – repentance and obedience.

It appears to me here that the Lord is narrowing this message to those who are outwardly religious and who give a show (a form of godliness) of being righteous, and in particular are those who are in positions of spiritual leadership over others, i.e. that these are the ones who are following dark passions that must be subdued, and they are the ones who are our evil companions with whom we must avoid close association.

Beware – “to be on guard against somebody or something” (Encarta).

Who Pretended to be Honest – Pretend means “to claim untruthfully or exaggeratedly to be or to have a particular thing, or imply something in this way; to act in a way intended to make somebody believe something untrue or misleading” (Encarta). Honest means “morally upright - never cheating, lying, or breaking the law; expressing or embodying the truth” (Encarta). So, to pretend to be honest means to imply that you are telling the truth when in fact you are telling a lie. This goes along with “duplicity.”

He Saw through Their Duplicity – Duplicity means “the fact of being deceptive, dishonest, or misleading” (Encarta); “disloyalty; unfaithfulness; betrayal” (MS Thesaurus).

For a Show – “an appearance given, either as an outward display of an emotion or trait, or as a demonstration of falseness and pretense” (Encarta).

So, we are to be on our guard against those who claim to be teachers of the Word, who are in positions of authority over us spiritually, or who are outwardly religious but inwardly are giving way to wicked acts. We are to watch out for those who have duplicity of heart, i.e. who are dishonest and deceptive yet who give the appearance of honesty and trustworthiness. Jesus saw through their duplicity. He was discerning, in other words. This does not mean we go around accusing people of telling lies unless we can prove they have lied. This is not about being judgmental but it is about being wise and guarded against evil in all forms, but in particular against those who would deceive us into believing a lie.

We are to take a stand against evil in all its various forms, not give way to it, not believe the lies, not be deceived, not compromise with it, not placate it, and not make it or its cohorts our close companions and friends.

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

We are not to try to do this in our own strength, though, because we are all sinful human beings who are vulnerable to sinful desires of our own. We must ask Jesus to help us, and he is the one who will carry us through, because when we truly decide to take a stand against evil and to not make it or its cohorts (supporters, accomplices, etc.) our close companions, we will meet with resistance and we will lose friends and will have people hate and despise us and even plot evil against us, so we must rely upon the strength of the Lord.

Peace, Be Still!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010, 4:35 a.m. – I woke with this song playing in my mind:

There's Within My Heart a Melody / Luther B. Bridgers

There's within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low:
Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,
In all of life's ebb and flow.

Though sometimes he leads through waters deep,
Trials fall across the way,
Though sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
See his footprints all the way.

Soon he's coming back to welcome me
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown;
I shall reign with him on high.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Sweetest name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.

I prayed, “Fill me, Lord, with your peace and joy today. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.” I read Luke 19:28-44:

The Triumphal Entry
28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

41 As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it 42 and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. 43 The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. 44 They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

My Understanding: I saw four primary and significant aspects of this passage of scripture:

1. Preparing the way for the Lord
2. The declaration of the Word
3. Weeping over the sin of unbelief
4. Peace with God vs. divine judgment

Preparing the way for the Lord - The disciples were asked by Jesus to go into the village ahead of them, to find a certain colt, and to bring it to Jesus. Jesus then rode that colt, apparently in the direction of the Mount of Olives, which was Jerusalem’s watchtower, and it was where Jesus went with his disciples to pray before he was arrested and then crucified on the cross. So, Jesus’ riding on this colt was symbolic of his preparation for the cross, so it represents that journey to the cross.

When I read in v. 32 “Those who were sent ahead…” I immediately recalled that John the Baptist was one that was “sent ahead” of Jesus, too. And, I thought how this story of the disciples going for the colt paralleled over to the story of John the Baptist, as both were making preparation for the Lord and for the cross. John’s message was one of repentance from sin and declaration of the nearness of the kingdom of God. His job was to prepare the way for the Lord by calling people to repent so that they could enter into God’s eternal kingdom by way of the cross and God’s grace. The disciples also made preparation for this journey to the cross and by declaring that Jesus is the king who brings peace in heaven.

Jesus is coming back one day soon and he will take his true disciples to be with him forever. There are many people in this world who don’t know Jesus or who have never heard the gospel message. There are many who have heard, but have rejected Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior and Messiah. There are those who profess to believe, but who are not walking in fellowship with God due to sin and rebellion in their lives. And, there are those who are truly disciples of Jesus Christ who are walking in faith and obedience, not with absolute perfection, but that they are obeying what they know, holding nothing back. Jesus has called his true disciples to prepare the way for when he comes back by telling others about him, by sharing the gospel message, by living out the life he has given us and by being a light for him in this dark world. This is how we are those “who are sent ahead.”

The declaration of the Word – When Jesus was riding the colt and when he came near the place where the road goes down to the Mount of Olives, the scriptures says that the whole crowd of disciples began to joyfully praise God in loud voices, calling him blessed as the king who comes in the name of the Lord, and by shouting “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” They were declaring that Jesus was of God and that he was God and that he was the promised Messiah who had come to the earth. I like the part where it says that they joyfully (they wanted to do this) praised God in loud voices where everyone could hear. They were not ashamed of the gospel or of their Lord and did not keep their faith hidden.

The Pharisees, who were the religious leaders and ruling body of the people, chastised these disciples for their loud display of praise and adoration of their Lord Jesus Christ. They wanted Jesus to rebuke his disciples for this. I love Jesus’ response to these religious leaders. He said, “I tell you, if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” There must be the proclamation of the Word and of Jesus as our Lord and Messiah and of the salvation he brings due to his death and resurrection for the sins of the world. We can’t keep silent!! We must proclaim the Word of God and the message of the cross and of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ preached in its fullness. We must tell the world about Jesus and we must call sinners to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ, because we are all going to have to face God one day, but not for that reason only. Jesus did not die just so that we could have life after we die. He died that we might have life now, i.e. that we would be free not only from the ultimate penalty of sin but that we might be free from the control of and bondage to sin on a day to day basis, and we must proclaim that truth.

Weeping over the sin of unbelief – Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because they failed to believe in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Lord. They had God in the flesh with them and yet they did not recognize him as God coming to them. Jesus grieved in his spirit, he wept, he mourned and he lamented the fact that his own people did not believe in the only One who could bring them true peace with God. And, he grieves and mourns over those even today who have turned a deaf ear to the message of the gospel and who have refused to believe in him and to receive salvation through Jesus Christ.

I believe Jesus also mourns, grieves and weeps over believers in Jesus Christ who are also suffering elements of unbelief due to holding on to sin, rebellion, going their own way, and refusing to accept God’s words to them, etc. These are the ones Jesus spoke of as living in spiritual rebellion or as living in spiritual adultery, i.e. they are following after other gods of the flesh and Jesus is taking a back seat in their lives or is barely even considered at all. When we do not follow God’s teachings and we choose to go our own way instead, not only are we committing specific other sins, but we are also perpetrating the sin of unbelief because we, by our actions, show that we don’t believe Jesus is who he says he is, that he died to set us free from sin, and that he has the power to conquer sin in our lives, etc. Jesus grieves over this and we should, as well, mourn over the sinful condition of our world and of our brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord, who are living in open rebellion against God.

Peace with God vs. Divine Judgment – “Peace” is a word that has multiple meanings from absence of war and conflict, harmony and unity with others, freedom from strife, the end of hostilities, used to tell someone to be calm or silent, etc. to the meaning of peace in this Biblical context, which has to do with rest, inner quietness, assurance of salvation, being made right with God via belief in Jesus Christ, contentment, and loss of fear and anxiety.

The people in Jerusalem were most likely looking for the absence of war and conflict kind of peace and a king who would deliver that for them. Yet, the kind of peace Jesus was offering is not of this world. It does not necessarily mean absence of war or conflict, harmony with other people, the end of hostilities, and/or silence of voice, etc. When Jesus told the people of Jerusalem that if they had only known on this day what would bring them peace, he was referring to the peace that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, belief in God’s provision of grace and forgiveness, and faith and trust in God’s promises for us in this life each and every day and in the life everlasting in heaven with God. Yet, they refused to believe, so now the truth would be hidden from their eyes.

Jesus speaks of this kind of peace of being in a right relationship with God through faith in Christ, but there is another aspect of this peace that we, as believers in Jesus Christ, can know and experience on a daily basis. It doesn’t necessarily mean absence of war or conflict, or lack of trials or tribulations. This song, for instance, suggests that we will face difficulties in this life, and sometimes our walk of faith will have some rough and steep spots, yet we are to see Jesus in every one of them and to know that God is absolutely sovereign over all things in our lives and he allows what we experience for our growth and maturity and to make us into holy vessels that he can use for his glory. So, we are not to fear or become anxious when we are up against great odds at times, but rather we are to allow Jesus to fill us with his peace even in the midst of our storms, and we are to be content in whatever circumstances he places us for his glory.

I admit that I am a work in progress in this area of learning to trust in his peace and to not become anxious or fearful, so when he said “Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,” he was talking to me, too. He is encouraging me that he can handle the tough and rough places of my life and that I am to come to him and to lay all my life’s circumstances at his feet and to allow him to work.

Jesus told the people of Jerusalem that because they had failed to recognize what could bring them true peace with God Almighty and because they failed to recognize God in the flesh among them and that he had come to them as their Savior, Lord, and Messiah, that judgment is what they had to look to ahead instead of eternity with God. And, God is still saying the same thing to all who would reject Jesus Christ, his provision of grace and forgiveness and his gift of peace with God for eternity.

Sometimes we just want to tell people the nice parts about Jesus Christ and we want to present Jesus as all grace, yet Jesus is both a God of grace and a God of justice and judgment, because he is a just God. We certainly should not tell people that their reasoning in believing in Jesus Christ should be merely out of fear of hell, nor should we tell them that a mere acknowledgment of him that is not followed up by genuine faith (repentance and obedience) is enough for them to have their ticket into heaven. God’s grace is not cheap. It came with a cost, and the cost was the cross of Jesus Christ. He did not die so that we could continue in our sins. That makes a mockery of his sacrifice for us and for our sins. So, we should neither paint Jesus as all grace nor should we paint him as all judgment. He is both a God of grace and a God of justice and he will most certainly keep to his promise and he will judge the earth and the people on the earth because of their unbelief.

So, whereas we should believe in Jesus Christ because of who he is, and because of his grace and mercy to us in providing us with salvation, and thus we should desire to live for him in all we do, we should also not take God’s grace for granted or to think that we can continue to sin and still hold on to a promise of his grace. God knows who are truly his. Don’t make the mistake of miscalculating God. Know that he takes sin seriously and that he grieves over our sin and rebellion and he longs for us to come to him and to enter into his rest. May we all find peace with God – the kind of peace that assures us of his presence within even if the world is falling apart all around us.

Lord, may I continually rest in your presence and know your peace in my life and in all my life’s situations, trials and testings. In Jesus’ name I pray these things, amen!

Forgiving Others

Saturday, December 25, 2010, 4:26 a.m. – When I woke this morning, this song was playing in my mind:

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven / Henry F. Lyte / John Goss

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who, like me, His praise should sing?
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the everlasting King!

Praise Him for His grace and favor
To all people in distress;
Praise Him, still the same forever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Glorious in His faithfulness.

I’ve just recently gone through a situation in my life where I was called upon to confront sin in someone I love and to forgive someone who had hurt me deeply. By God’s grace I did forgive and will continue to forgive, also by God’s grace. What concerned me most is that this was someone who kept falling into the same pit of sin over and over again. I knew that there had to be a root cause for why he kept going back to that same pit, so I asked him if he would examine his heart before the Lord to see if there were any roots of unforgiveness or bitterness that might be sending him continually back to that same hole.

The Lord reminded me, in the process, of the pits in my own life that I had fallen into over the years, and how he had lifted me out of them. I recalled going through a process of revival and of reading a book called “The Bondage Breaker,” and how I had gone through a process of examining my heart before the Lord and how he had shown me then that I was under the influence of demonic oppression, but that how the Lord had delivered me, especially as I forgave each person in my life who had hurt me, and even those who I perceived had hurt me but had done me no wrong, namely Jesus.

So, my loved one decided to go through the same process of confession and forgiveness so that he could be cleansed and renewed in his faith and commitment to serve our Lord. Praise Jesus!

God is giving me much love and grace and is increasing my determination to live a holy life, as well. I pray that I and those I love will continually walk in humble obedience daily to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; to walk uprightly before Him; and to forgive as he forgives. Lord Jesus, only you can do this amazing work of grace in our hearts, amen!

The Lord encouraged me much yesterday as he kept filling my mind with songs and hymns of praise to Him, of deliverance, of salvation, etc. throughout the day. He, as well, has been filling my heart with his peace and joy.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts. See what wicked way is in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening – correct, rebuke, encourage, instruct and train me in righteousness, I pray. Order up my day for me today, I pray in Jesus’ name. I read Luke 17:1-10:

Sin, Faith, Duty
1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 So watch yourselves.
“If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4 If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.

7 “Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

My Understanding: I am always amazed at how God knows exactly where I am reading in scripture and how he often even plans out my life’s experiences to coordinate with where I am reading so that he speaks to my heart the words I need to hear for that day that apply to the specific situations I am going through at that moment.

Today was another of those days as I read these words in Luke 17 and realized how they were speaking right to the issue of what I was writing about here in my journal.

Jesus takes sin seriously and we should, too. We should view sin as he does and we should have the same attitude toward sin that he does, too. There are four main aspects of this passage of scripture related to this subject of sin, confession and forgiveness that I would like to examine:

1. Those who lead others to sin – Luke 17:1-3a
2. A brother who sins – Luke 17:3
3. Forgiveness of that brother – Luke 17:3-4
4. Our own attitudes of heart – Luke 17:5-10

First of all, this passage of scripture addresses the thought of those who lead others to sin. It is bad enough to sin ourselves, but how much worse it is if we lead others into sin. The call is for us to “watch ourselves,” so that, not only do we not fall into sin and rebellion but that we do not lead others to follow the same sinful path we have chosen.

Secondly, the writer here addresses what to do if a brother sins. It says we are to rebuke him. Now, other passages of scripture tell us how to do that – with humility, with gentleness, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted, etc., and with the goal to restore the person back to a right relationship with Jesus Christ. The rebuke is not for the purpose of a scolding or a slap on the wrist, and it is especially not for the purpose of giving the person a piece of our minds, but it is to offer the person the opportunity to see his sin and to have the chance to change his course. This should always be our goal. And, we should be willing to stay the course with that person, too, to bring him back and to restore him.

Thirdly, we are called upon to forgive others who have sinned against us no matter how many times they sin against us. Here I have to continually remind myself of how God has forgiven me and that I am so unworthy, and that it is only by God’s grace that I have been set free, so I have no right to ever not forgive another person, because I have been forgiven so much! To forgive someone means to not hold it against them. It does not mean we just give them a pat on the back and say, “It’s ok,” especially if there has been a pattern of sin that must be dealt with. Forgiveness means we don’t want to get even and we are willing to restore that person, but it also does not walk away if there is any way we can help bring that person back into a right relationship with Jesus Christ. To forgive as Jesus forgives can sometimes require that we see the person through to victory, as well. This is not always possible, though.

Lastly, we must examine the attitudes of our own hearts. First of all was the admonition to “watch yourselves,” which means to keep guard of our own hearts, minds, speech, behavior, and attitudes. Then, we are called upon to forgive even if another person sins against us over and over again. We are to forgive them as many times as they sin against us. Next, we are reminded to “increase our faith.” This is especially needed when we are the ones caught in sin or repetitive sin and we need to have the faith to believe that God can deliver us from the control of and the bondage to that sin once and for all. We also need it as the ones who have been sinned against in order to have the faith to believe that God can heal, he can deliver, and he can restore those who are caught in habitual sin patterns of behavior and that they can be set free!

This last section speaks to the issue, I believe, of humility versus spiritual pride. This basically says that when we have done what the Lord has told us to do, we should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” I think the reason for this is so that we don’t take pride in ourselves over another.

I know the pit God brought me out of, and I know I have no right to take pride in myself over another, because it is only by God’s grace that I am where I am in my spiritual journey. I would still be in that pit if it were not for God’s grace in lifting me out of that hole I had dug for myself. So, I am no better. I, too, am a sinner saved by grace, who is so thankful that God forgives me seven times a day if I need it. Lord, help me any time I might begin to take pride in myself above another or to think of myself more highly than I ought, to be reminded from where I came and the pit I was in when your love lifted me up and out and into your arms of grace and love and mercy.

Jesus Paid It All / Elvina M. Hall / John T. Grape
… your sins… they shall be as white as snow… Isaiah 1:18

…For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb…

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

The Hole in the Fireplace

Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 4:54 a.m. – I woke this morning from a dream.

THE DREAM: I lived in a house with three children. This house had a fireplace with a huge opening inside that went straight down to the furnace. This house also had a huge rectangular-shaped register on the floor with only a thin piece of screen laid on top of it. It was completely open with a very deep dropdown. Most likely if anyone fell down there it was certain death.

One day one of the children disappeared. I discovered that she had gone into the fireplace and had fallen down the hole into the furnace. So, I called 911, and they came and rescued her out of the furnace. While they were still at the house, I showed them the fireplace with the huge hole and dropdown to the furnace, as well as I showed them the large open air register on the floor with the thin screen laid on top and the deep drop dropdown.

After the 911 responders left, I discovered that another child was missing and had also fallen down into the furnace, only it was too late for this child and the child was dead.

Then, all of the neighbor children, who were all on some kind of riding toys, showed up at my children’s bedroom, which looked like an individual unit standing by itself in the backyard. The bedroom had an entry door on the left (west) side and an entry door on the right (east) side.

I was trying to block these children from advancing into my children’s bedroom at the east door, but they were insistent, so I closed the door on the east side. One or some of them may have slipped inside the bedroom via the door on the west side while I was busy blocking the children from entering on the east side, though. So, I was headed over to the door on the west side to close that one, too, I believe. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Luke 14:25-35:

The Cost of Being a Disciple
25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. 27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

My Understanding: I read these news articles: Christmas Miracle Nearing for 9/11 Health Bill - http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/Christmas-Miracle-Nearing-For-911-Health-Bill-112156554.html; 9/11 responders' $4.2B aid package called miracle - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_HEALTH_ATTACKS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-23-06-31-55; Gays ousted from military now hoping to return - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAYS_IN_MILITARY_REENLISTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-23-06-32-33; Obama signing 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GAYS_IN_MILITARY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-22-03-38-33; US poised to approve nuclear arms pact with Russia - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_RUSSIA_NUCLEAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-22-03-02-24; Senate ratifies nuke pact, delivering win to Obama - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_RUSSIA_NUCLEAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-22-16-15-17; Deal reached on aid package for 9/11 responders - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_HEALTH_ATTACKS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-22-16-16-34; and Obama toasts 'season of progress' after big wins - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-22-20-06-16.

Sorry about the number of news articles, but they represent the progression of the process that these bills went through throughout the day yesterday. I have taken extensive notes on all the news articles and have identified them with the symbolisms in the dream, but I just have not sat down with the Lord yet to let him put it all together for me, as best as I understand it. I will mention one extremely significant symbolism, though, that I believe the Lord has shown me here and that is in the article where the US-Russia New START Treaty was ratified by Congress, it stated that the treaty “reins in the nuclear weapons that could plunge the world into doomsday…” Then, it said, “The question is whether we move the world a little out of the dark shadow of nuclear nightmare.” Immediately here I made a connection between these two statements with the fireplace with the huge hole that went straight down to the furnace, that one person (or group of people) was rescued by the 9/11 responders, but after they “left,” the next person (child/group) died. A similar story was in a dream I had today called, “He Was Dead.”

Thursday, December 23, 2010, 10:00 p.m. – I am going to begin by looking at what I believe to be the key words and/or phrases in this dream and how I see them relating potentially to these news articles and then see where the Lord takes this.

A house – Congress; Washington D.C.

Three children –

• 3 bills under consideration in Congress that day or waiting for Obama’s signature – 1) Repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell;” 2) New START Treaty, and 3) 9/11 health bill
• Three expected victories, one of which was the approval of the tax compromise

Fireplace with hole leading to furnace –

• Ground Zero in NYC
• Nuclear weapons that could plunge the world into doomsday
• The dark shadow of nuclear nightmare
• The Christmas miracle (Santa comes down a chimney into a fireplace) has arrived

Rectangular-shaped open air register on the floor with deep dropdown –

• Homosexuals serving openly in military (register for military service)
• A large auditorium at the Interior Department – many gay rights activists present there for signing ceremony of repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
• A hefty yearlong record (register) of legislation
• A long, rough year in Washington for Obama

Thin piece of screen on top of register but not attached –

• Guidelines that must be finalized that cover a host of practical questions before actual lifting of ban against gays serving openly in military
• The ban on gays serving openly in the military
• The New START Treaty “capped” a hefty yearlong record (register) of legislation

A fall down this register would mean certain death –

One child disappeared, went down hole in fireplace to furnace –

I called 911 who rescued the child from the furnace

• 9/11 health bill used to help rescue the New START Treaty?
• A big comeback for Obama’s arm controls efforts – treaty appeared all but dead just weeks ago
• 911 responders are those who were there for America on 9/11/01 in its hour of greatest need

I showed the 911 responders the fireplace opening to the furnace and the open air register

After 911 responders left, another child was missing

The child had fallen through the hole in the fireplace down to the furnace but died –

• Obama had to ensure the ban’s end (death) is carefully prepared for

Children’s bedroom with west and east entrances –

• The treaty exposed divisions within the Republican Party that could stretch into the 2012 presidential and congressional elections
• A timetable with the present on the left and 2012 on the right

Neighbor children on riding toys at children’s bedroom trying to get inside -

• The heroes who rushed to the towers on 9/11
• Courts waiting in the wings in relation to repeal of Don’t ask, don’t tell

I was trying to block the children from getting inside

• 9/11 health bill was blocked in the Senate
• “Don’t ask, don’t tell” was a roadblock to full acceptance of gays in military

The children were persistent

• Pressure from liberals who complained Obama was not acting swiftly enough on signing bill to repeal “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
• The signing ceremony was a breakthrough moment for the nation’s gay community
• Obama is persistent

I closed the door on the east side –

• Closed the door to 2012 elections?

Was heading to west side to close that door, too –

• On my way to close the door to the present Congress?

Conclusion: This dream is troubling for me, yet I know it is very significant. The bottom-line I see here without understanding all the symbols is that this year of legislation in Congress has been covered with some kind of thin screen (concealment), that what we read in the news is mostly lies, that the New START Treaty is not about protecting Americans, in fact it is just the opposite, that this is about nuclear weapons being used against us, and it is about doomsday, and it is about betrayal and the shutting down of America and Congress so that the New World Order can rule the world. I don’t know when this is going to happen or how, but the Bible tells us it is going to take place and the Lord keeps showing me over and over again that this time is soon.

It appears to me that the child that was rescued was this New START Treaty and that the child that died was this ban on gays serving openly in the military, yet I also see that the child that died is America because God will judge us for the decisions our government has made, especially for this past year. We are becoming more and more like Sodom and Gomorrah every day, so with this killing of this ban on gays serving openly in the military I felt also came judgment, i.e. doomsday. Yet, even this open air register represented this year of legislation in Washington and anyone who fell into the register (record) was to face certain death, i.e. God is going to judge our nation for turning its back on Almighty God.

Jesus is calling out to his children and is telling them the cost of being his disciples. We must love God/Jesus with such love and passion in our hearts to serve him and to obey him that our feelings toward our family members will be like hatred in comparison. We have to be willing to leave our parents, adult children, brothers, sisters, etc. in order to follow Jesus. It is required that we take up our cross daily (die to sin), that we “hate” our own lives, i.e. that we do not hold on to our own selfish desires, and we must give up, i.e. lay all our desires, our will, our possessions, our relationships on the altar before God, allowing him to decide what he wants in our lives, etc. if we want to be his disciples.

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear…
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

He Was Dead

Thursday, December 23, 2010, 7:12 a.m. – I woke this morning from a dream.

THE DREAM: I was in a room that looked like a hospital room. I decided to get inside something that looked somewhat like an incubator. It was filled with a kind of liquid, but it had a breathing tube inside. So, I got inside of it and then I sealed it from the outside just like I was sealing a lid on a Tupperware dish. So, I was inside of it, yet I was also on the outside looking at myself on the inside. I found this interesting and humorous to look at myself this way. I held the container up in the air with my hands as I examined it from various aspects. I enjoyed this process.

I am not certain of the order of this next part, but in real life I had a very close friend who died of cancer 12 years ago. Her initials were B.H. In this dream, she was dead, yet there was someone who was alive who had the same name as her, only this other woman had another name in front, so her initials were something like G.B.H.

Anyway, there was a child present who loved B.H. like I loved B.H., and the child was confused as to why this other person had the same name. So, I explained to the child that even though this other woman had the same name, she was not the B.H. that we had known and loved.

Back to the hospital room, I was now out of this incubator-Tupperware dish and now a man I knew decided he would go inside the dish-incubator. I was there with him for a while, observing him on the outside to see any signs that he might be losing oxygen or that he may be experiencing difficulty in breathing, but he seemed fine.

I needed to go somewhere, so I left for a while. When I returned, the man was dead. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Luke 15:11-32:

The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

My Understanding: I read these news stories: 2 wounded in blasts at 2 embassies in Rome - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_ITALY_EMBASSY_BLAST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-23-12-11-31; Storm lashes California and leaves polluted water - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CALIFORNIA_STORM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-23-06-31-45; Obama hoping for low-profile Hawaiian vacation - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_VACATION?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-23-07-04-24; and 9/11 responders' $4.2B aid package called miracle - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CONGRESS_HEALTH_ATTACKS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-23-06-31-55.

I am struggling somewhat to understand this in its entirety, so I will share with you what I do understand. The word “package” was used both to describe bombs in Europe and a 9/11 responders’ aid package that Congress voted to approve and that Obama said, according to this last article, he was eager to sign. In the dream, I was inside what I saw as a package or a container of some kind that was small and hand-held yet I was also on the outside looking inside. A man later entered the same or a similar package (container), only he did not survive. He died.

The article about the storm mentioned contaminated water. There was a liquid of some kind inside this container that I was inside of. The beaches were closed in CA. Jonathan E. Fielding, “director of the Los Angeles county public health department” said: “It could well be (a nice day at the beach) but we will be monitoring and testing water and we won’t recommend people go back there until we’re sure it’s safe.” Here I thought how I was monitoring myself inside this container (incubator; Tupperware dish) from the outside and later I monitored the man both inside and outside the container before I left and then he died.

Then, there is the article about Obama on vacation. It said that he was politically rejuvenated, that he began his vacation on a high note, he was victorious with the approval of several bills in Congress before he left to go on vacation, he felt as though he and Congress had made progress, the last weeks before his vacation gave him a “much-needed boost”, and it said that the president was looking forward “to spending a few days outside the glare of the Washington spotlight.”

Here I saw how I was in this process of examining myself inside this incubator and how much I was enjoying the process of this examination. I also thought here about how I left but before I left I stayed to make sure that “the man” was doing ok inside the incubator. I often symbolize Obama in my dreams as he represents America and I represent America in my dreams because that is where I live. And, Obama stayed an extra few days to make sure things were taken care of in Congress before he left.

The picture I am getting here is that the “incubator” is Washington, D.C. since Obama said that he was looking forward to spending a few days outside the glare of the Washington spotlight, and I was looking at myself inside this incubator and was examining (on the spotlight) myself, but then I got outside of the incubator and I left. I see the man inside the incubator as Congress or as the government of D.C. that I stayed to make sure was ok and in good standing before I left. In the dream, when I returned, the man was dead. I am not sure what that means yet, whether it is literal death or if it means political death because of a change in administration, so I will wait on the Lord for that one.

Sandwiched in between these examinations of myself and of “the man” in the incubator was a child who had loved B.H. and was now confused because another person, who I also felt was myself but outside myself at the same time, had the same name only with one additional name. This confused the child. When I saw the initials B.H. I thought immediately of Barack Hussein (Obama). Then, when I saw the initials G.B.H., I thought of George H.(W.) Bush as well as George Bush Hussein. One of the bills that Congress passed before Obama went on vacation was a bill that would extend George Bush’s tax cuts, etc. This upset some of Obama’s people because they felt that he was siding with “the other side.” So, I saw the “child” as those who put their faith and trust in Obama to be who they thought he was when they elected him, so they are confused because he is starting to act like George Bush in many ways. The idea I am receiving from this is that the Barack Hussein (Obama) that was elected is dead and now George Bush/Barack Hussein/George H.(W.) Bush is the one that is alive.

Ok, this leads me then to the article about the 9/11 responders’ aid bill that Congress passed and that Obama is “eager to sign” before Obama went on vacation. It spoke of a “smaller aid package” than “originally envisioned.” Here is I saw this incubator (government of D.C.) that I was holding in my hands that I was inside of but that I escaped from. The package supposedly provides money “to monitor the health of rescue and cleanup workers…” Here I saw how I was “monitoring” myself and then I was monitoring the man inside this incubator that was filled with liquid. Liquid can mean “easily converted to cash.” There was money involved in all these bills that were signed. A lawyer for the 9/11 responders said his clients were “ecstatic.” All I could think of was how I was so elated at monitoring myself inside this package and how humored and joyful I was in the process.

The lawyer said, “This is the recognition, compensation and health care they so richly deserved.” Here I thought how this package is being represented by this incubator that I was inside of and that was filled with liquid (cash?) and how I was enjoying so much looking at myself, which makes me think that this is about Obama enjoying the recognition, compensation (the liquid), etc. that he feels he deserves for a job well done.

The article said that “Democrats also produced a video showing former Republican President George W. Bush and other GOP lawmakers praising the heroism of first responders in the days right after the attacks.” Now, I know that 9/11 was an inside job and that our government is to blame for the events of that day, as well as their cohorts in crime from other nations in the world. So, when George W. Bush was praising the responders, it was hypocritical because he helped to sign their death warrant. He and his dad and the powers that rule the world are responsible for the deaths of all the people who died that day. So, even though he survived, many, many people (Americans) did not. And, I am getting the same picture here with the use of G. for George in front of Barack Hussein (Obama) and the B. for both Bush and Barack showing that Obama is following in their footsteps and that the plan is for the destruction of the government of the USA so that the New World Order can take over and rule the world. I believe ultimately this is what it means when I returned and “the man” (America; the government of America; the constitution) was dead.

I had another dream yesterday that I am still struggling through which also ends with someone dead, and I am getting the same sense from that one as I am getting from this one and it has to do with some kind of “doomsday”. I don’t know the timing.

In this passage in Luke, we have the very familiar story of the prodigal son. I believe that America has been like a prodigal son to God for some time. God is waiting for us to come back home, to realize that the things of this world will never satisfy our deepest longings, and to be willing to humble ourselves and to seek forgiveness for going astray before it is too late. Time is short. Don’t wait until it is too late.

To Know You / Casting Crowns

To know You is to never worry for my life
To know You is to never give into compromise and
To know You is to want to tell the world about You
‘Cause I can’t live without You

To know You is to hear Your voice when You are calling
To know You is to catch my brother when he is falling
To know You is to feel the pain of the brokenhearted
‘Cause they can’t live without You

More than my next breath
More than life or death
All I’m reaching for, I live my life to know You more
I leave it all behind, You’re all that satisfies
To know You is to want to know You more
To know You is to want to know You more

To know You is to ache for more than ordinary
To know You is to look beyond the temporary
To know You is believing that You’ll be enough
‘Cause there’s no life without You

All this life could offer me
Could not compare to You, compare to You
And I count it all as loss
Compared to knowing You, knowing You

Who is Santa?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 2:19 p.m. – the past day or so the Lord has given me an image in my mind of Santa Claus in relation to mankind that I believe he would want me to share with others, especially with those who profess Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord.

So, I believe the Lord would have me to examine the question of “Who is Santa?”

1. He is an aberration – “A departure from what is normal or desirable; a defect in a lens or mirror, causing a distorted image or one with colored edges” – Encarta.

2. He is a lie – “to say something that is not true in a conscious effort to deceive somebody” – Encarta.

3. He is a bad imitator of God’s attributes of all knowing, all powerful and all present as he knows when you are sleeping or awake and he knows if you have been bad or good and he is able to deliver what the children of the world ask for all in a single night all over the entire world, but only to children who have been good. Imitate - “to adopt somebody else's behavior, voice or manner, sometimes in order to make fun of him or her” – Encarta.

4. He is a comedian – “an entertainer who amuses an audience with comedy; an actor who plays comic roles; somebody who is or tries to be amusing” – Encarta.

5. He is imagined – “to form an image or idea of somebody or something in the mind; to see or hear something that is not there, or think something that is not true,” – Encarta – i.e. he doesn’t exist. He is merely an image created for the purpose to deceive and to imitate God in a bad way and to steal the hearts of God’s children.

6. He is a created being – “to bring something into existence; to use imagination to invent things or produce works of art; to result in something or make something happen” – Encarta.

My husband and I were having our devotions together last night. We had read Psalm 51 the night before, so he read to me Psalm 52: (quoting vv. 1-5):

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man?
Why do you boast all day long,
you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
2 Your tongue plots destruction;
it is like a sharpened razor,
you who practice deceit.
3 You love evil rather than good,
falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
Selah

4 You love every harmful word,
O you deceitful tongue!

5 Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living.
Selah

I believe the Lord would have me to look at some of these definitions in light of scripture.

An aberration is a departure or a deviation from a course or standard. The Bible gives us that course or standard by which we are to conduct our lives and by which we are to lead others to the knowledge of the truth. As well, the Bible warns us against such deviances from the course or standard that God set before us in His Word.

Acts 20:29-31:

“I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

II Co. 4:1-3:

“Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.”

When we teach our children about Santa Claus, we are lying to them. A lie is a non-truth with a conscious effort to deceive somebody. We are deceiving them, and it is for the purpose of drawing disciples unto Santa Claus whether we will admit it or not. We are also teaching our children that this made up figure has the same attributes as Almighty God so that makes Santa a false god which then means that we are leading our children to believe in a false god.

John 8:43-45: (Jesus speaking)

“Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!”

Ever wonder why the name Santa looks a whole lot like Satan? Just move the “n” to the end. And, Satan is a liar and the father of lies, so since Santa is a lie, he is of Satan.

Proverbs 6:16-19:

There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

I find it interesting that two out of the seven things the Lord hates have to do with telling lies. If he hates lies it means he doesn’t want us to lie, especially to our children who believe what we tell them.

Lastly, Santa is an actor, i.e. someone playing a role. He is an entertainer as jolly old saint nick with his “Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas!” He is made up in people’s minds and in the minds of his creators, which are Satan, the media, greed, marketing, sales, the church, the government, businesses who can make a profit off of him, and parents who tell their children about him. He is a fabrication of the worst kind because he dares to imitate Almighty God, to take on his attributes (bad imitation), etc. Who wanted to be God? Satan! And, that is why he (Lucifer) was thrown out of heaven. He was exalting himself to be God.

And, this continues with this imagery of Santa as a poor imitation of God whose purpose is to distract the minds of young children from the true and only God. Think about it. Young children are not going to get all excited about a baby in a manger who they don’t see as doing anything particularly tangible for them when they have Santa Claus and his sleigh full of presents and reindeer flying through the air and sneaking into their houses at night to deliver them what their hearts desire materially. How is that going to make them put Jesus first or think about who Jesus really is. Jesus gets second billing, I guarantee you! And, he is not even a close second to Santa Claus in the minds of young children. Someone who has to sneak into a house is someone regarded as cunning and deceitful. And, it is no mistake that we celebrate Jesus’ birth on the same day we celebrate Santa. God has a lot to say on the subject of mixing the worship of false gods with the worship of the true God.

Although the main focus of this so far has been the lies, deception, distortions of truth, imitations, acting, entertaining, etc. associated with the image and the promotion of the image and the lie of Santa Claus, the Lord gave me an illustration of how mankind can be just like Santa Claus. When we, as mankind, depart from God’s standards, when we lie and deceive in a conscious effort to mislead others, when we distort the truth in order to gain approval for ourselves or approval for an image we want to present of ourselves, when we are bad imitators of what a follower of Christ is supposed to be in order to make people think we are living rightly when we are not, which is called hypocrisy, when we make jokes and entertain people so that they will like us and so that they won’t see what we are really like underneath, and when we promote ourselves to be something we are not for some type of selfish gain at the expense of others, we are being just like Santa Claus, which is a BIG FAT LIE! And, God hates lies! And, Satan is the father of all lies.

I pray that we will each examine our hearts before Almighty God and allow him to show us the lies and deceptions of our own hearts that are a cover-up for who we really are inside. I pray that we, as a people of God, will be shown where we are just going through the motions and where the image we are presenting on the outside (like the image of Santa) of ourselves is a lie, i.e. that the image we present of ourselves, just like Santa, doesn’t exist in reality. I pray that we will discover where we are actors and comedians and entertainers for the purpose of deception and to cover-up our true nature underneath. And, I pray that we will put off those lies, deceptions, cover-ups, etc. and that we will put on the truth and will begin telling the truth to ourselves, to God and to others. Many people believe the lies they tell themselves and they tell others, which falls into the category of denial. If we are to be truth tellers instead of liars, then we need to stop believing the lies ourselves, and we need our Lord Jesus to reveal to us His truth.

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer / Thomas O. Chisholm / W. J. Kirkpatrick

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

The Big Guy

Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 10:15 p.m. – I woke from an hour-long sleep and out of a dream or else when I awoke I had a vision. This is the image that was in my mind when I awoke: I saw a very big guy with his arms stretched out left (west) and right (east) and I was over his left (west) shoulder. END

The Big Guy - http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b58/Christsfreeservant/Image7.jpg

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Luke 14:

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House
1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.
5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?” 6 And they had nothing to say.

7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

My Understanding: I read this news story: Obama secures GOP votes for US-Russia nuclear pact - http://apnews.excite.com/article/20101222/D9K8LHVO1.html and US poised to approve nuclear arms pact with Russia - http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_RUSSIA_NUCLEAR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-22-03-02-24.

These quotes from the articles stood out to me: “President Barack Obama locked up enough Senate Republican votes Tuesday to ratify a new arms control treaty with Russia…” “START” (as in the New START treaty) “stands for Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.” “We are on the brink of writing the next chapter in the 40-year history of wrestling with the threat of nuclear weapons…” “In a fresh appeal for ratification, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that the treaty would "strengthen our leadership role in stopping the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and provide the necessary flexibility to structure our strategic nuclear forces to best meet national security interests." “The approval would mark a big comeback for Obama's arm controls efforts after the treaty appeared all but dead just weeks ago. It also would allow Obama to continue efforts to improve relations with Russia.”

Ok, look at my drawing of the big guy with me (USA/Obama) over his left shoulder. See the size of his arms in comparison to the USA. I don’t think this treaty is about “reducing” arms. The image itself is the opposite of what the news media is projecting with regard to this “arms control treaty.” The arms are very powerful and yield much control and they stretch west to east world-wide. “We are on the brink…” I saw as us being over the west arm of this treaty, so in a position of honor and importance and self-exaltation. This is how we are strengthening our leadership role, only it is not in stopping or reducing these arms but in strengthening them world-wide, i.e. this is about the New World Order having power and control over the entire world. The “Big comeback” I see as a revival of a Hitler-like regime or the Roman Empire or the USSR with the “US” at the beginning meaning U.S. So, the “Big Guy” is the New World Order which is a revival of an old order only now on a world-wide scale.

The book of Revelation says this in Revelation 17:7-8: Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.”

I believe this is what this “Big comeback” is really all about. And, God is saying to America that he who exalts himself will be humbled. We need to humble ourselves before Almighty God in submission, surrender and obedience to his will before this day finally arrives.

Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven / Henry F. Lyte / John Goss

Praise, my soul, the King of heaven,
To His feet thy tribute bring;
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who, like me, His praise should sing?
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise the everlasting King!

Praise Him for His grace and favor
To all people in distress;
Praise Him, still the same forever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Glorious in His faithfulness.

Fatherlike, He tends and spares us;
Well our feeble frame He knows;
In His hands He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Widely as God's mercy flows.

Angels in the heights, adoring,
You behold God face to face;
Saints triumphant, now adoring,
Gathered in from every race.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise with us the God of grace.

The Computer Connection

Tuesday, December 21, 2010, 8:00 a.m. – I woke this morning from a dream.

THE DREAM: I was planning to have a party and to invite all the people who had been in our college group that had previously met in our home over a course of seven years (and which had ended, in real life, in 2006). I did not have the people’s current mailing addresses, and I was quite sure that many of them had moved by now, gotten married, changed names, etc.

I decided that I would get on my computer and that I would email the people of the group, even though I knew that many of those old email addresses may not be good any more, and I knew that some of those emails would probably come back to me undelivered. I figured that I could get through to some people in the group, and that some of them might have the current mailing addresses of some of the other group members and that I could get those addresses from them.

When I arrived at my computer, though, I realized that someone had moved it and that it had a different connection at the top, i.e. the power (or connection) cord from the computer went above the computer to a group of wires connecting above my computer and into which my computer was now plugged. There was some way that my computer was also connected to something to the right (east) of it, but that is not as clear.

So, I sat down to write the email and to let the group know that I needed their mailing addresses so that I could send them a party invitation. I decided I would take a picture with my cell phone to send with it and I did take several pictures of people in groups, maybe family groups. There was something here about taking a picture of people they had not seen before, though.

I finished taking the pictures and then I realized that I had left the wire (used for recharging the cell phone, too) at home that I use to connect between the computer and my cell phone, and that is used to transfer photos or files from the cell phone to the computer. So, I was not able to include a picture with my email, yet I did intend to do so later when I sent out the actual invitation. END

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Luke 13:22-35:

Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’

26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’

28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”

Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem
31 At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”
32 He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 33 In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! 35 Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

My Understanding: I read these news stories: Iraqi lawmakers approve new government
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAQ?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-21-08-33-45; and Support builds for approval of US-Russia nuke pact - http://apnews.excite.com/article/20101221/D9K865LO3.html.

When I read the article about Iraqi lawmakers approving a “new government,” it immediately brought to mind how I went to my computer and now it was connected to a power source of connected wires above (overhead) my computer and was somehow also connected to something in the east, though that was not clear. I also thought about how, in this dream, I was reconnecting with a group that had met in our home over a course of seven years, which brought to mind how the USA entered Iraq in 2003 and it has been seven years that we have been in Iraq, so the impression I am receiving from this is that this “new government” is not of the people of Iraq (not by their choice), but that their “computer” has been moved (changed direction) and that they are now plugged into a power source above them, yet there is also a connection with an old group.

Ok, then I read the story about the US-Russia nuke pact (treaty). The treaty is called “New START.” This brought to mind this reunion with our old college group that was being planned that was going to be a “party” invitation. The article said:

“The United States and Russia negotiated the New START pact to cap nuclear weapons and restart weapons inspections in the spirit of U.S. efforts to reset the relationship between the former Cold War foes.”

Here I saw this invitation to a “party” for the purpose of reuniting old friends as this “resetting” of “the relationship between the former Cold War foes.” I saw the “New START” as this reunion, and I also saw the “cap” as this new connection to a power source above our heads. In other words, this is about the New World Order, a political party similar to the Hitler Nazi party or to the communist party of Russia, and that is what this treaty is really all about. The “New START” is really the rule of the New World Order (the connecting wires above my computer) over the entire world.

The article terms the treaty or the pact as an “accord.” Here I saw this connecting cord (power cord) between my computer and these connecting wires above as this “accord.” The article also stated that Adm. Mike Mullen, “chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent a letter to lawmakers reiterating support for the accord.” This made me think of the email I was sending to the members of our old group which was an invitation to a party and how my computer was now connected to these connecting wires above my computer. So, the “support of the accord” has to do with first of all sending emails via my computer which is now connected to these wires above, and it also an invitation to a reunion of an old group and to a party, so Mike Mullen was sending an invitation basically to join this “party” and to regroup with this old group of former friends, so he is supporting this New World Order.

Then, the article said:

"This treaty enhances our ability to do that which we in the military have been charged to do: protect and defend the citizens of the United States. I am confident in its success as I am in its safeguards. The sooner it is ratified, the better," Mullen wrote.

Ok, Mullen says that the treaty represents protecting and defending the citizens of the United States, which for me would be “home.” Only, when I sent the email, I was not able to send a photograph (image) with the email because I had left my “charge” cord for my cell phone (communication device) which also transfers images from my phone to my computer at home. Basically, this means that I am representing Mullen and I have left this “charge” to “protect and defend the citizens of the United States” at home, so I am not able to include that in my communication and in this request for addresses so that I could send out this invitation to this party reuniting old friends in a “New START.”

In the dream, I knew that I did not have all the current addresses for the old members of the group, so I asked others that I did reach to get me that information. “Address” can mean “to say something to somebody, or make a speech to an audience.” What I saw here mainly is that Hillary Clinton spoke to Republicans (supposedly) opposing the treaty and her talk with them convinced them to support the treaty so that one Republican ‘sent the strongest signal’ which made me think of the ‘signal’ necessary to have a connection in the wireless world of computers and cell phones. If the computer being used to send these messages is connected to the New World Order, then it sounds like some people are being strong-armed into agreeing to this new treaty, and though the article speaks of it being between Democrats and Republicans, what I see is that it is about the governments of the world submitting to the New World Order and being strong-armed into submission.

The article lastly indicated that the treaty “would establish a system for monitoring and verification.” The article was speaking of U.S. weapons inspections, which is the cover-up, I believe, for the real purpose of the treaty, yet in the dream there was a “system” of connected wires (cords connected together to make an accord) over top of my computer, and over my computer monitor, that now everything I sent went through this system. This “system” thus is The New World Order yet it is also connected to who rules and monitors the Internet and it is a system of monitoring and verification of the citizens of the world as so many people today are connected to the Internet and can be monitored. A system that involves verification, though, sounds like a precursor to the Mark of the Beast.

This is not the first time the Lord has shown me that this treaty with Russia is really and truly a treaty of the New World Order and that it is not about restricting nuclear weapons but it is about a one world order of government and monitoring and identification like took place with the Hitler regime, only world-wide. This is a forced connection, i.e. it is not by choice. It appears then that the government leaders of the USA are now voting to approve this treaty and to fully come under the rule of this one world government which will ultimately lead to the rule of the beast of Revelation and to the persecution and killing of the saints of Almighty God, i.e. it is not about protecting and defending its citizens.

In this passage in Luke, our Lord is letting us know that the path to heaven is not broad but it is narrow and that few find it. So many people think that God’s grace through Jesus Christ is an easy path, i.e. that Jesus’ grace does it all and he requires nothing of us other than to “believe,” and yet they water down the meaning of that word and reduce it to mean nothing more than an acknowledgment of who Jesus is and that he died for our sins, yet their very lives and walk prove that they do not truly believe that Jesus died to take away their sins for they continue to live sinful lifestyles. Yet, Jesus is letting us know that this kind of approach and attitude toward his grace is going to result in us hearing the words, “I never knew you.”

The book of James makes it clear that faith without evidence of faith is dead. The book of I John makes it clear that if we say we believe and yet we continue to live in our sin that we lie and we don’t really know God. We are all going to sin, but there is a difference between a single act of sin from time to time and a lifestyle of sin and rebellion against God where we plot, connive, and purpose in our hearts to sin in open rebellion against Almighty God fully knowing that we are doing the opposite of what he says and yet thinking that doesn’t matter to him because of his grace. A narrow road involves obedience, it involves taking up our cross daily and following Jesus where he leads us.

Yet, Jesus is still calling out to us while there is still time and he is inviting us to come to him and to allow him to gather us under his wings of protection, yet he is saying that so many are not willing. Another understanding of this computer being connected above has to do with a connection to the Holy Trinity of God – Father, Son & Holy Spirit – and the messages of invitation that are going out through those communications are ones of inviting people to an obedient relationship with Jesus Christ, but that many of those communications sent will come back “undelivered” because the people have moved on and are no longer even available to get the invitation. Please don’t be one of those whose invitation to truly believe in Jesus Christ comes back “undelivered”. Hear God’s voice calling to you today to walk that narrow path of faith in Jesus Christ – true faith that is accompanied by repentance and obedience and following our Lord wherever he leads us.

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer / Thomas O. Chisholm / W. J. Kirkpatrick

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.