Watch Closely

I watched a movie tonight about magicians and illution called "the prestige", very well done film. and michael caine has no equal. it got me thinking about the real master of illution, the father of lies.
Our enemy employs trickery greater than any earthly magician, but in the end, truth prevails. Pharoah's magicians were no match for the power of God, and Christians today have access to that power. It is the power of Love,..the wisdom and discernment and many other gifts only His children are recipiants of.
In reality, what the best illutionists do, david blaine, copperfield , whoever, is decieve. make you think something is real when it isn't. since reality is greater than illution, then truth is greater than trickery. so that we as God's children have a distinct advantage when dealing with the angel of light. the bible says we are mindful of his devices, and our heavenly Father dispenses wisdom and discernment from above that acts as a defense and security , protecting us from satan's lies and tricks no matter how sinister and deceptive. God can play the game too though, and in the end times He will send a strong delution that they should believe a lie (2 thes 2:11) ........This isnt because God is cruel, but God will hasten the end and those who are willingly blind will be quickly snared and lost,.......... matthew 24:24 says there will arise false christs and false prophets with great signs and wonders that if it were possible, even the very elect will be fooled. the "if" implies that it is not possible for those who love Him to be fooled. His sheep know His voice and they will not follow the voice of a stranger. Eventually the anti-christ himself will be able to do miracles and call fire from the sky.(rev 13:13-14)
Also tonight i encountered, as i have a thousand times, one who was naming the name of Christ but denying the power. this made me think in connection with the father of lies,..how there is a deception perpetrated on us so often. One will "come into your love feasts and sit with you" as jude puts it,..yet they are a wolf in sheep's clothing, seeking to rend the flock as wolves do, and doing it covertly. In 2 corinthians 11:13-15 paul speaks deceitful workers who are satan's servants, saying "why should it come as a surprise to you?,..isn't their master the angel of light?"
I've taken notice tonight of something very insidious and evil, that these satanic messangers who feign to be Christians have certain tricks they play every time. they will say they are Christian, and when you call them on the carpet for their rotten fruit,.immediately they turn it back on you and say you are the one who isnt showing love, judging, out of your mind, or a false Christian yourself. this is deliberate. it is meant to take you off your game and get you thinking about yourself instead of focussing on the Spiritual battle at hand. it's the magician's slight of hand. getting your attention away from what's really taking place. its a divertion. a common tactic of the devil to confuse you and derail you.
Chrisitans are called clearly in the scriptures to expose error when those who name the name of Christ are shaming Him. We're taught by God in His word to point out heresy and rebuke it. But the illutionist of light has the agenda of using jedi mind tricks to heap distracting emotional comments on you and disrupt the Godly message you bring. dont let him do it.
The curtain will soon come down on this magic act from hell we witness here on earth every day, and WE will be the ones doing the disappearing act. The magician might tell you the hand is quicker than the eye, but Jesus will return like lightning coming out of the east and shining to the west He said (mat 24:27), in the twinkling of an eye. and He also said that's how fast the grand illutionist falls from heaven when His children boldly work in His name. (luke 10:18)
Glory and honor and power to the Lamb.

Yeah, Jesus IS God.....in the flesh bro

For my fellow trinitarians who wrestle with the unitarians or muslims telling you Jesus never said He was God, first of all , I think He did to ears who can hear, and clearly never denied it even faced with death because of the issue.
But here's ammunition if you need it next time they throw that one up. :

Although Jesus never denied it, the reason Jesus's main message wasn't to proclaim His deity is,..at that time in palestinian history, saying you were God meant instant rejection and probable capitol punishment. several times, even by force they wanted to take Him and make Him king. It wasnt for fear of His own death He resisted , for He did not fear death.
Instead He was able to extend the length of His ministry on earth to 3 & 1/2 years by, and for the purpose of, teaching servanthood and demonstrating by His actions the nature of God, rather than directly proclaiming it by words. It is clear all throughout scripture anyways to believers who have eyes to see who He was and is.
And when it came to the time HE chose, He allowed hateful men to execute Him for the very reason of His obvious insinuation He was God, not knowing themselves, the greater meaning of His death and what it would accomplish.

Fruits

"By their fruits, ye shall know them"

It's interesting that love is so often the measuring rod,..the benchmark, the litness test for those who enter into conflict...and it serves as a clear and IMMEDIATE red flag when those speaking , speak in words that are unloving. eph 4 : 29-32

The diference between a conversation of argument and strife where insults fly and charachter shots are fired,....and a pleasant , respectful, back and forth exchange of ideas we can grow and learn by enguaging in,.....is love.

It truly grieves my heart to see so many who claim the name of Christ,..or say they know God,..or confess that they are saved,....are so flagrantly lacking discernment about how to conduct themselves in love. ( they put the "rant" in flagrant ).
(1 Cor 13 : 5...Love doesnt behave itself unseemly, seeks not it's own,.is not easily provoked. )

A pastor this morning literally blew his cork at me because i dared to challenge his ideas about a verse. Challenge respectfully though, in the sense of trying to bounce another idea off him diferrent from his intrenched,dogmatic, arrogant stance. that in itself is bad enough, but soon the personal attacks started being hurled. Thats so sad,..its worldy behaviour, unbefitting of anyone calling themselves a servant or pastor.

Therein lies the flag, you are going along chatting and exchanging views, when suddenly,..name calling,..emotionally driven sidetracking of the issue, and character assaults start flying at you.....woah....and we wonder why the world looks on and says,.."i dont want it if thats what they call love"
mm,..sad

Ears To Hear

A sower went out to sow, and some seeds fell on good ground, others didn't. what made the difference?
The quality of the ground, has to do with its readiness to receive a seed. Hosea 10:12 tells us to break up our fallow ground, to till the soil. we're born into the world with one set of ears,..we need another set,..

Jesus spoke things that made some people offended while at the same time made perfect sense to others,...the difference lied in the ability of the hearing hearts to receive it. it is given us to know the mysteries of God Paul told the Corinthians. I'm seeing more and more people arrogantly coming in and demanding God "prove" Himself to them...doesn't work like that does it.

Jesus said you have to come like a child because that's what His kingdom is made up of. children are those who have been cleansed and washed of the muck they once knew,..and started over with God in humility, trust,..and subjection to Him, with unconditional obedience.( sure wish that described my little blighters)
we need to have the crusty top soil stripped off, so that seeds of love and truth can take hold and flourish. ..casting away all pre-conceived notions about God, His word, and the religious hooey of the world.
Lord thank you for the gift of faith, and .."ears to hear"

Enter Quietly

I wanted to share a revelatory experiance i had. Many times when I'm going to the Lord in bedtime prayer, i will take a deep breath and try to clear my head. I try to be as still and quiet as i can, try to not think, but only listen. Try that... its not as easy as it sounds.

The idea is,..i want to come into His presence humbly and reverant,...able to listen first,..then speak. in the culture we live in those principles are being lost, ...in Job 32 this cat Elihu speaks up to confront Job, after that he waited forever til the other three "comforters" were finished yammering because he said, they're older than me. This generation of ours is disrespectul,..irreverant and without dignity and class.

How much more insulant is it, when we blunder into the throneroom of the almighty God with ritualistic prayers and sanctimonious shopping lists, not stopping to see if just maybe He wants to speak first. in Esther , she had to touch the outstretched sceptor of the king in order to approach Him , risking her life going there without being summoned. And we see soloman saying "watch your step when you go to God's house, ..mind your manners,..be more ready to hear, than to blurt out foolish things....God is in heaven , you are on earth, therefor let your words be few." Ecles 5:1-2

The guy in luke 18:13 smote his breast and wouldnt even raise his eyes to heaven, saying Lord be merciful to me a sinner.
Besides wanting to be respectful in His presence, i also wanted to be quiet enough to hear Him, and until recently i was always hoping that if i had the right attitude, and was quiet enough i might hear a small voice especially from Him to me, . Elijah thought at first God should speak to him in a dramatic fashion 1 kings 19:11-12 then He learned to "be still and know He is God" psalm 46:10 . I became frustrated when i never seemed to hear it. maybe i did,..but didnt recognise it,..as samuel didnt at first. i figured ,.."Lord,..why not just once in a while give a small nod, a token, a confirmation?", or like tongues when they bear witness to His Spirit with groanings that can't be uttered, a connection. i always felt like, "shouldnt prayer be a "two-way" thing really?"...i hate feeling like all i'm doing is submitting the requisition form and making flowery orations, then saying amen and on my way i go. and i would ask,.."Lord how come if you stood by paul in the night and spoke to Abraham and mary and others, why not with us today?"
then one day the light came on.

It occured to me that whatever thing the Lord might possibly say to me in a prayer, will only be a reitteration of what He's already layed out for us in His word. His word is alive. It's the complete and ultimate source for everything God wants us to know and hear from Him, and through the Holy Spirit's guidance as we read it, He speaks to us through it. God speaks in extrabiblical ways yes,...in our prayers, dreams, visions, thoughts, and things other say to us,...yet all of them will and must be totally in line with the written word, and ulitmately will only be the same principles and wisdom found in scripture , couched in diferrent ways.

God doesn't oppose Himself, so if we have His complete and final word, what reason is there really to reveal things to us privately in redundance, accept as reminders and encouragements.
There needs to be a final authoritative and perfect standard, which is what the bible is. otherwise, if each one of has Our own little "God voices", then how would you know, even among closeknit souls, if a brother isn't misunderstanding, hearing incorrectly, misinterperating, skewing to his own bias, or even deliberately lying, distorting, fabricating, embellishing on, or falsifying what he's claiming God said to him. we have to have a central, standardised way for all of us to get the same message.


The apostles were blessed to have had more personal encounters with the Lord after He assended , but they did not yet have the bible as we know it. I wonder sometimes if they had any hint of how their writings were to eventually be bound together with the scrolls they knew, and become a final and complete set of God's words for man on earth for the rest of time. I'm gussing no, because imagine THAT kind of performance anxioty!..

Bible Thump

There's this kinda cool song in an old 70's Christian rock lp by "servant" called..."Holyroller blues"
In it is the line "they call me a bible thumper, yes i do believe that it's true,.....if they knew what was in the word of God,..they be thumpin that bible too."
.." they call me a Jesus freak, i do beleive it's true...i wanna ask you one last question before i go, i wanna know......whos'....freak...are ...YOU"....
....CANT HELP IT,..LOVE THAT JESUSMUSIC

Goodly Words

I've noticed a new trick of the enemy of our souls. he seeks to confuse God's children about what the application of forgiveness really should be.
What i mean is,...some have confused unforgiveness for a righteous reaction to an attack. it's not wrong to have emotions,..emotions are neither good nor bad,.they just are. what makes forgiveness an issue is when you harbor something or carry ill feelings. a grudge,..an offended and wounded spirit.

When a person attacks your character or offends you with words,..you are NOT the one who is responsible for reconciliation provided you have made the attempt to quell the hostility . Scripture tells us to try and win back our offended brother,..but if they refuse to reconcile with you, you've done your part and should have a clean conscience with God. Unless you have refused to let go of a hurt and it effects how you feel towards someone, it is the OFFENDER who needs to get it right, NOT YOU, ........as long as you continue to render love for hate,..and kindness for insult, you are in right standing before God.....no matter how much fury has been generated in the discourse.

I see time and again when two are enguaged in something heated,..another will jump in and rebuke both parties or even the one who's been injured without cause, alone. This is where Spiritual discernment is gravely lacking.....again,..given the good guy isnt party to the same kind of mean-spirited strife and arguing.

But where was it written that you are to remain as a sheep to the slaughter as if Jesus doing that was an example to every situation?..it wasnt. We're told not to render evil for evil or railing for railing, but rather blessing knowing you yourselves were blessed..(1 peter 3:9) . You cant render a blessing verbally if you're a silent lamb headed for slaughter. .... we're told to be an example in word and conversation (1 tim 4:12)

If we're challenged on your faith, we're called to give an answer for our hope,..we're told to uphold the righteous standard we live by and not be shy in speaking it in love.....just because your fellow is at odds with YOU,..doesnt mean you are somehow guilty of contention and argumentiveness...or not "forgiving".

People are way too hasty to throw out a quick rebuke to contending chatters before they have information enough to know who is attacking and who is making a righteous stand (proverbs 26:17)....arguments if they are respectful are not wrong,...paul argued daily in the temple. It's ok to have a courtious exchange of ideas back and forth, although i admit that its mostly fleshly contention motivated by pride that is going on in there. We should be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater and lash out at the poor brother who was trying to give his counterpoints respecfully.

The enemy wants to confuse and put us at odds with one another,..and, at least in the chat rooms,..he's certainly delighted with his success no doubt.

( genesis 49:21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.)