Hanging in There

The closer we get, to going home, the harder it's getting to just hang in there. Temptation to stray from the foundations, is in our very churches.

This is not the time to rest, it's the time to sharpen the discernment and watch every word and action. Our adversary attacks constantly, from within and without.

More and more, we find ourselves not going through the valleys and back to the mountain top but rather in a constant, none stop battle. It's surely not going to let up now.

Carefully watch that spirit of gossip, as it spreads into and blends with so many other evil spirits, keeping our eyes on the ground instead of in the air.

It's time to rely on the Lord, absolutely and totally. It's time to gird yourself up and learn what it is to run the good race.

The church age, what was once a mystery to the Israelites, is coming to a close and as the bridesmaids, we need to keep ready.

God bless you all.

Talking about the job of the Church and its Pastor

This is an excerpt  from a recent email I sent. I thought the message was good enough to share.

People are confused about this idea of judging. If you read it again, you'll see where Jesus was saying 'judge not lest ye be judged by the same measure'. I'm not a prostitute and could easily stand up to judgement by that measure, so I'll judge it all I want. He wasn't saying not to judge, He was saying you'd be a fool to judge something, if you yourself are also guilty of the same sin.

When it comes to protecting your home and children, you most definitely stand up and judge. You don't let evil into your home, just because you think it's bad to judge it.

Even Jesus judged the churches. You read it in Rev. He judged them to chastise them. True believers are to be accountable one to another. That helps us keep on the straight and narrow.

We have a commission, read in the end of Matthew. A commission is a commandment and the commander is Jesus. As an army of Jesus, we are to carry out His orders, as good soldiers. We can't carry out His orders without first knowing what they are and then standing on the narrow line, judging whether we are still on that line and what threats there are.

We must remember to shake the dust off our feet. Jesus never demanded people to believe Him. He left that up to the Holy Spirit and since Jesus is our model to follow, we do the same. 

We are to let our light shine. We cannot force people to see it. Therein, lies the commission to the church. The church is to let it's light shine. How can the light shine, if it is buried in a mountain of flash and noise?

We, as a church, must keep the coming threats in mind, and remain steadfast. These church bodies, making loud noise, to attract the unbeliever, is chasing away the believer. That's not what the church is all about. We are not to seek popularity,we are to uphold one another and be there for the edification of the believer.

Just as in Paul, James and the others, we have evangelists that travel and teach and help to keep the church bodies in line. As a church body, the church is not expected to become evangelists. The church is the edification of the believer. That's it's job!

So many, have confused the lines, trying to be all things to all people and that means it's no longer the church. It's just become a popular local club.

Yes, the One World Church is already forming. We as Christians, must draw the line.  The line in the sand, is so easy to step over. So easy to obscure the line and make it hard to distinguish it. We have to keep our discernment sharp, our eyes open, our hands open but our minds must be guarded.

The attack on the church, is coming from outside as well as inside. If we had stuck strictly to the teachings, those things would have been cleaned out of the church, as fast as it showed up but....instead of standing fast, the kind hearted church has shown leniency toward blasphemy, giving it one more chance to become a part of the church. In other words, when someone in the church tried to bring in false doctrine, even when reported to the pastor, the pastor would advise and think all is well. Instead, it was up to the church heads to rid the church of this evil. They did not. They forgot they were dealing with evil spirits and not that person's face.

When I see a church built like a massive castle, I wonder. Remember that God's design for His Temple was big for sure but it was also a simple design. It was not to flatter the world but to house God.

When the Temple was opened to all mankind, it was then housed in us. We too, are not designed to flatter the world, God in us, is a hidden treasure. Those who would have Him, are to seek Him. If not, they don't belong to Him.

The hardest thing for Christians, is turning others away. They forget to understand all that Jesus taught us. All. Not just the flowery parts.

True love does not let the child play with the snake. The child is admonished, punished until he understands not to play with the snake. For his own good. We don't stand by and hope the child will understand, before it's too late, for fear of hurting his feelings.

Why does the Army, punish traitors? Is it not for the sake of the army? And more so, for the country? Should we let one misbehaving soldier cut the throats of millions of people, for his own selfish good? That's the kind of love we have from Jesus.

He gave us all the same chance. Just as He said, many times, concerning the parables, those who have ears will hear, meaning there are those who will never hear.

Christians, have the hardest time understanding there are few of us and that most of mankind will go down the tubes, by their own decision. We cannot stop them. We can only spread the Word, let our light shine, be an example and let the Holy Spirit do HIS job. None of us, have the shoulders to carry such a burden. Some are lost. Plain and simple.

Have you ever thought why the great flood? You remember the sons of god mating with the daughters of man? Doesn't that imply that something super natural happened on this earth? Something that infiltrated the blood line of man? Wouldn't that be a good reason to wipe it all out and try again?

And later in recorded history, these giants showed up again. There was something unnatural about them-their size and demeanor was different. It was said, these giants killed just to kill and consumed humans. They were that kind of 'feared'.

If this unnatural thing happened again and infiltrated mankind again, doesn't it make sense we have those descendants among us today? And if we acknowledge this, doesn't it also make sense there are humans who are not of God and never will be?

We accept these words, because they are mentioned in the Bible: principalities, angels of darkness, evil spirits and demons. And yet we somehow dismiss these things, as though they are fable. If we can acknowledge the power of these things, and their reality, maybe then we can see this world in the right light. Maybe then we can realize they may be sitting right next to us in church.

If not for these unseen things, we wouldn't need discernment. But we do need discernment and should rely on it heavily and trust it.

God calls us His 'peculiar people'. That's not just the Jews. We will always be seen as peculiar. That's fine with me. :)

I know what you mean when you yearn for a Holy BATH!!!!! Those seem few and far between. I wonder if it's not because of what the world thinks about it. That would be sad.

I happen to know the Assembly of God does believe in this. Must they always wait for the next evangelist? Are the evangelists still making the rounds???????

Remember this is the blessed generation. We got to see it forming, while knowing what it is. That's really something. It's heart breaking and exciting, at the same time. But remember what the first believers lived through and count it all blessings. They saw the beginning. We see the end. And just think, that ties us to them.

The church age is drawing to a close. What comes next is far beyond our expectations. And  for me, this is so exciting because I get to go to the millennium with stories of what I witnessed. We know the history of the church, right up to the end. We will be the story tellers, for those born under Jesus' rule.

Think about it. Children born into a perfect world, who will still be alive when the devil is loosed for a short time. Won't it be up to us to teach these children, in the face of no evil on this world? Won't it be hard to convince them of what temptation is like, what it feels like, what it looks like and what it really means? It will be like trying to teach a 3 year old about the sins of this world. How will they conceive of it? It will be up to us to convince those children to stand strong, when the final test comes.

So just for our own sakes, we better learn to stand on the straight and narrow, but we better be strong now, so that we will have the backbone to teach a whole new generation. Not too many think that far into the future. I sure do.

Just think. This will be like teaching a child that his loving pet snake, will one day turn on him and kill him. If the snake had never done such a thing, how would you convince that child to watch for the signs? A child who has never experienced a thorn, never been sick or wounded, never heard a harsh word, had never been threatened by anything.

We will be telling them stories about a world they've never seen and would have a hard time believing us. Some of them will be 1000 years old, when the temptation is unleashed on them, one last time.

So, whatever you do today, let it be steadfast in the Word, regardless of what the world is doing.

You remember that song about the day of rapture? The one describing people still sitting in the church? Cry for those. I'd say the largest left behind congregations will be listening to rock music. Sorry, it just popped out.

Oh, something I just thought of. A Pastor is a shepherd. Hard for him to keep up with his own flock, while tending to his neighbors strays. Strays will, by nature, mingle with the tended flock. They feel safe in numbers. So a pastor should remember what he's all about and what his job is. We have evangelists for the job of recruitment.