Category: Spiritual

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I’d Be Remiss Not To Use Today’s Utmost Reading…

…regardless of how good whatever was scheduled, and especially so since yesterday we with Ozzie’s help centered on “we taking the initiative to be practically obedient where we are now, and not in some future theoretical venue where we’ve not even been yet.

The Habits of Enjoying Adversity

 …..that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. —2 Corinthians 4:10

I know we have to develop godly habits to express, better yet demonstrate, what God’s grace has done in us. It’s not just a question of fire insurance, but of being saved so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” And it is adversity that makes us exhibit His life in our mortal flesh.

Is my life today exhibiting the essence of the sweetness of the Son of God, or at best, just a basic irritation of “myself” that I demonstrate when apart from Him? Ouch! Listen, the only thing that will enable us to enjoy adversity ( such as all these transitions I keep telling you to prepare for) is the acute sense of eagerness of allowing the life of the Son of God to give evidence of itself in me. No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, “Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this.” Instantly, the Son of God will move to the forefront of my life, and will manifest in my body that which glorifies Him.

We must not debate. The moment we obey the light of God, His Son shines through us in that very adversity; but if we debate with God, we grieve His Spirit (see Ephesians 4:30). We must keep ourselves in the proper condition to allow the life of the Son of God to be manifested in us, and in no way can we keep ourselves fit if we give way to self-pity.

Our very daily circumstances are the means God uses to exhibit just how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure His Son is. Discovering a new way of manifesting the Son of God should make our heart beat with renewed excitement. It is one thing to choose, or even allow adversity, but quite another to enter into adversity through the orchestrating of our circumstances by God’s sovereignty. And if God puts us into such circumstances of adversity, He assuredly is adequately sufficient to “supply all your need” (Philippians 4:19).

BOTTOM LINE:

Keep your soul properly conditioned to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on your memories of past experiences, but let the Word of God always be living and active in you.

PS. If you desire more real deal inspiration about keeping your soul properly conditioned, or why it isn’t, I suggest you take a few minutes to read or view this clip from Christianity.com Daily Inspirations May 14 Running Through Rebellion – iBelieve Truth. Remember the song Carl reminded of us Sunday? “Be careful little eyes what you see; or feet – go, hands – touch, ears – hear, etc. A powerful story by this young lady who saw too much.

NEXT UP: I give up. Third try the Charm? Perhaps. It’s been a great day… I prefer living in the moment more than….

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Century Old Words On Prayer. New Twist on the Limitations of our Personalities.

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayers of the Righteous”. Proverbs 15:29. Prompted by and adapted from David Jeremiah’s devotional Destinations: Your Journey With God, Jan 19

In developing a stronger prayer life, it’s often helpful to read books about prayer, and the older ones are usually the best. For example, more than a hundred years ago, Samuel D Gordon published Quiet Talks on Prayer, which is still in print today. He opened his book by reminding us, “You can do more through your praying than through your personality.”

Most of us try to do things through the force of our personalities. We persuade. We cajole. We brownnose. We maneuver. We make exotic promises. We compromise. We bait. We push. We sweet-talk. We urge. We hint. We arm-twist. But you know, too often we just forget, or are too preoccupied to remember that the foundation of our faith, such that, we need to be reminded once more, that we are Spirit Empowered to do so much more through prayer than we ever could through our puny too often mis-directed quirky personalities.

Dr. Gordon goes on to say, “You can do more than pray after you have prayed. But you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed.”

BOTTOM LINE:

I’m curious. Do you have any issues today in your life you’ve been trying to resolve but which, on reflection right now, you better realize that you must ask the Lord to intervene? So why not try the force of prayer where your forces of personality has failed?

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:3-32

If anyone should have been able to help Peter with good counseling or teaching, it would have been almighty Jesus. Yet His solution was to pray. Just meditate on that for a moment, better a week or two!

PS: I ordered Dr Gordon’s book yesterday after adding my twist to the above devotional, which as usual, I write first to myself, before offering it to you. I next opened my favorite book by a former mega church pastor, Francis Chan, titled “Letters to the Church” detailing his journey from leaving his mega creation and called to go to Asia with his growing family to build house fellowships and then five years later,was called to return to the Tenderloin subculture of San Francisco to further develop that church growth model in the states. I’d be remiss not share his prayer insights here.

In Chapter Six Francis identifies eight pastoral identities and speaks these inspiring words in the Praying Pastor portion, saying “I once told my staff to let me know if they were not praying at least an hour a day. This way I could replace them with someone else who would. I would much rather hire someone who prayed and did nothing else than someone who worked tirelessly without praying. That may sound harsh, but prayer is that critical. Prayer is not merely a task of ministry; it is a gauge that exposes our hearts’ condition…. Regardless of position: whether in the pulpit or the pew! It unveils our pride, showing us whether or not we believe we are powerless apart from God. When we pray, it is an expression of surrender to God and reliance on His infinite wisdom and sovereignty. Even Jesus Himself would not take matters into His own hands when His disciple Peter was being attacked by Satan.

Prayer is the mark of a lover. Those who deeply love Jesus can’t help but pray often. To love God with our entire being is the greatest command in Scripture. Pastors who are not drawn to prayer should not be pastors. It is in prayer we seek the Lord and the welfare of our people. I have joining my elders to pray Ephesians 3:14-19 over our people, begging God that they would long for Jesus as we do.

A pastor from India once told me he was researching movements and noticed a common thread: movements of God always start with a leader who knows God deeply and they always end when the followers only know their leader deeply. Pastors, we must know Him deeply and make disciples whose primary attachment is to Christ himself.”

NEXT UP!

Possibly the script of a unique Mother’s Day sermon delivered here in Wayne Co this morning.

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So, Do You Gravitate Toward Quality, or Quantity?

It depends….

For a righteous man may fall seven times, and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity. Proverbs 24:16

There’s a story about a ceramics teacher who divided his class into two groups. One group would be graded on the quantity of their work. They were to make as many pots as possible.

The other group would be graded on the quality of their work. They were to make as perfect a pot as possible. When the day came to grade the students, the professor was amazed to discover that the group being graded for quantity also had the best quality. The group churning out the most vessels made the finest pieces.

The reason? They were learning from their mistakes, so their work was constantly improving. The “quality” group spent all their time working on a single pot, but without the benefit of failures, mistakes, or experience.

BOTTOM LINE:

Simply profound! Think of all your unique applications where this, may I say the “opportunity to fail”, could be be applied to enhance your future transitioning. Not to mention, as for all the others in your sphere of influence anxiously awaiting and preparing for life’s transitions; simply the opportunity to fail in the arms or under the watch of an attentive loving community. BUT, be invitational, just as we’ve been invited by the Master. Don’t be afraid to fail, or allow others to fail. Key word for the “watchful involved mentor” in Proverbs 24:16 is “godly”. If otherwise, wisdom dictates establishing incremental boundaries, opening upon proof of performance, with ample interactive communication as skills are perfected. Proverbs 24:16 (NLT) says, “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.” So if you’ve made a mistake or encountered a failure, don’t stay down. Failure is often the back door to success.

NEXT UP:

Thinking it only fitting on so many fronts, that I not post Sat eve or Sun AM. Rather, perhaps we ought to be preparing ourselves for corporate worship, free of any unnecessary distractions.

David Bayles and Ted Orand, Art and Fear (Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1993), 29.

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SIMPLY TRUST THAT YOUR INTEGRITY WILL REPRODUCE

“The righteous man walks in his integrity: His children are blessed after him.” Proverbs 20:7

One night around a campfire Dr. Robert Brandt (“A Heritage of Honesty” in Decision Magazine, July-August 1991, 8-9), told his sons about a workman injured by a sliding boulder. He was dirt poor, and he feared losing his job. Because he couldn’t afford a horse, he walked everywhere; so his injured foot was a constant trial. When payday came, he limped to the general store for groceries. Back home, he discovered the he’d been given too much change. Despite the searing pain, he limped back to the store to return the change.

“What do you think, guys? Asked Dr. Brandt. “Did he do the right thing?

The boys discussed it, then Brandt finished the story. “Before he died, (the young father) had passed his values in honesty to his children and his grandchildren. Even his great-grandchildren still hear about his honesty… He was my grandfather and your great-grandfather!”

As parents and as people, we model our integrity after that of our heavenly Father. Indeed, “The righteous walk in their integrity, and their children will be blessed after them.”

Merlin from here on:

With Mother’s Day in the wings, I suggest we each reflect on our mother’s if possible, considering perhaps one or several events of your choosing that your memory over the years as flagged and pretty much now has direct access whenever so triggered. Have you ever contemplated its significance and why it’s now a default recall? Significant yet today?

Perhaps it is an event in your family tree as the story above. Perhaps it is yet as vivid as I remembering the summer day in ’54 or ’55 when my mother packed up my sis and I up in our recently acquired ’49 Dodge pickup and drove 5-6 miles to the location of her birth home farm in a MN wilderness. Although the buildings were gone and the 35 acre opening in the woods, much of which Grandpa had cleared, reminds me of Laura Ingalls Wilder book The Little House in the Big Woods but not in Wisconsin, but rather, in Height of Land township of Becker Co. in west central MN. Strange, but my fifth grade one room teacher read us at least three from that series to restore order amongst the 25 of us after the chaos of lunch and recess.

Sorry for the digression. The field was indeed becoming smaller, not that mother told me, but that within a few years I myself had witnessed how the prolific ever reproducing sapling popular trees could in 10 years move 100 feet into a field if it were not under cultivation or pastured hard to keep the new growth at bay. We entered the woods and soon came upon a one room schoolhouse, in the middle of no where so it seemed. No playground remained as the trees had proven victorious; its windows mostly broken, door open, but some of the desks were still there. But what I remember most was the blackboard, the alphabet letters across its top tier, and above that, the maps that you could pull down, though I certainly couldn’t reach them, and the pole with a hook for such maneuvers was long gone, perhaps repurposed as a fishing pole by one of the neighboring Hansen boys whom I later rode the bus with when in seventh grade when we all went to school in town, necessitating an 11 mile 25 minute commute.

Next on our outing, mother took us to the Height of Land Lake and its puny little dam, which is the source of the Ottertail River, all of which is within 65 miles from the source of the mighty Mississippi River where it flows from Lake Itasca, which now reminds me to encourage you all to read Holmes Co. author Paul Stutzman’s book “Stuck in the Weeds: Pilgrim Stories from the Camino De Santiago and the Mississippi River,” a most delightful encouraging adventure read with his bonus spiritual insights.

We and other relatives returned to the site of that schoolhouse in the years following but by then basically only a few stones of the foundation remained. Not being on a township road, it couldn’t survive for back then, it was just located between likely 4-5 small subsistence farms connected by logging or farm trails accessible then best by horses.

Yes, I remember mother well, as do many of my cousins, as my siblings and I are now frequently told. She possessed integrity, rooted in love, expressed in quiet kindly compassion in her small sphere of influence, always faithful to encourage, ever following Him. Following Him, not to get or accumulate, but only to give, to share; all from His warehouse and dispensed to her recipients with the understanding that He was the Source of all good gifts…

FYI, in hindsight now, I realize how remote and emotionally unavailable I was during the passing my mother. What was the deal with me anyway? Mother passed Labor Day weekend ’72 after Dad and Mom earlier that June had celebrated their 25th anniversary. Labor Day Monday was a beautiful day with the service at 2 pm, and by 4:30 pm, Dad was baling and I was on the wagon stacking bales, trying to get done before the 5 PM milking, and you know, back then, I always considered we were a functional normal family. After all, the hay was ready, and the cows did indeed need to be milked, all of which provided more than enough fertile ground to produce a a long term dysfunctional workaholic son.

Fortunately, we did have 18 months to prepare from the diagnosis, and she did spent most of her last months viewing the farm’s activities from her bed in front of the picture window, where she did physically transition to her new Home, finally free of all her pain, years before hospice was available. Understand though, her eldest son, for whom she had sacrificed so much, was off battling his own battles, solely created by me. They were not inherited, or given me by any luck of the draw, but, entirely by my choices. I was clueless and oblivious to the emotional needs and wishes of my prematurely dying mother and grieving father. I hope only a few of you can relate to this stark narrative of my experiences. If you’re familiar and need a listening ear, contact me by personal email. Perhaps that is why I was so attracted to the Dr. Brandt story above….

BOTTOM LINE:

Again as I said yesterday, I say to myself as well, WAKE UP! Life is passing us by. I just remembered the biggest disappointment for mother after that wonderful day exploring her childhood schoolhouse with us in tow, occurred was some weeks later when the film was processed, and it had somehow been double exposed so we had nothing as proof. Perhaps that is our bottom line for today. Though we’re totally surrounded and immersed in digitalized sights & sounds, be advised all such proofs may someday just go “poof and be gone,” whereas the relationships that we enjoyed in times past, or are now, or will be in the future, will grant you safe passage seeing you through all of life’s hurdles preparing you for transitioning into eternity. So invest well today!

NEXT UP: No idea yet. I only have a dozen such as today’s clip prepared to choose from, which often opens the door for the creative juices to begin flowing. If you are enjoying this blog, a gift from my three sons after an accident forced my retirement in ’18, please invite your friends to read it, and if they desire more of the same, to subscribe. The more the merrier. Yes, I know. It depends.

I am certainly not here to entertain you or write books. I believe I’m only here to get us ready to transition to whatever is next for each of us. Continual transitioning is the way we grow, whether physically, mentally, and especially, spiritually. Perhaps being a blog writer is not the most honorable pursuit, certainly not rewarding financially, but it’s mine for now, at least, until I’m transitioned to whatever is next. For example, after 41 years at the same address, the past 8 months of transitioning has been a brutal firestorm, but we survived, and are now even beginning to thrive as never before! Perhaps I am finally able to connect the dots on the MM header; Retooled & Thriving. Now it is perhaps exhibiting a smidgen of truth! You should know God gave me that banner back in ’18, and until very recently, I often considered the banner to be a hypocrisy to be so used .

Also, FYI, you should know last week while in Panama we were given our permanent visas, so now we can come and go as we choose.

Blessings on your life journey ever building your personal integrity’s visible latticework that indeed supports your internal silent repose drawing those persons and their unique personalities into your sphere of influence as you emulate The Master, especially now as we go toward Sunday, first to Worship, then to honor the Mothers we’ve been blessed to experience. Now simply decompress. Write. Share. Communicate as prompted.

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Are You Awake? Are You Aware We Each Have A Mandate To Live for Christ Today!

Warning: the following is intensely personal!

Consider Romans 14:8 “If we live, we live unto the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” As a Christ Follower already 75 years young in this apparently out of control chaotic world, I’m thinking the confusing “sights & sounds” literally overwhelming us today are only a clever deception to keep the masses “distractingly entertained” while traveling on the “prince of the air’s fast moving broad road interstate to destruction.” We are assured in Ephesians 2: 1-2 the prince is “now at work in the sons of disobedience” (those who have not yet trusted and confessed Christ as Lord and Savior) and that he has authentic power in the world (I John 5:19) as given him by God ( Luke 4:6) and the reason he is called a prince rather than a king is because there is only one King – Jesus Christ (I Timothy 6:15)

The demons are also under the rule of Satan (Matt 12:24) and one of his titles is “prince of demons” (Matt 9:34), possessing a kingdom (Matt 12:26), and a throne (Rev 2:13) and the power to manifest evil in the world through influencing people and commanding demons. Although Satan has power and authority in the current world system in which we exist, his power is limited, always under the sovereign control of God (Job 1:12), and it is temporary (Romans 16:20). God has not revealed all the whys and whens concerning Satan’s rule, but He has made it clear that there is only one way to escape the power of Satan’s dominion, and that is through His Son, Jesus ( Acts 26:18, Col. 1:13-14). It is Jesus who, speaking of the impending Cross, declared victory: “Now the prince of this world will be driven out” (John 12:31).

Now for some early church His-Story. In Acts 17:6 we read that “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.” FYI, consider the following death accounts of the Twelve Apostles. Realize you may not be called to die for Christ but you are certainly called to live for Him, our resurrected Lord.

Starting with Peter:crucified upside down. James: beheaded, John: natural causes. Andrew: crucified on a X – shaped cross. Philip: crucified. Bartholomew: skinned alive, beheaded. Matthew: stabbed to death. Thomas: speared to death. James: stoned, crucified, beaten to death. Jude: crucified. Simon: crucified. Matthias (replacement for Judas Iscariot): stoned and beheaded. And Paul: beheaded. A compelling track record for our reflection and motivation.

Jesus warned His original disciples before He was killed, “If they persecuted me, they will also you” (John 15:20). And when their faith was finally tested, when Jesus was arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, “…they all forsook Him and fled” (Mark 14:50)

What ever happened to turn that group of cowards into the core of courageous couriers of the Gospel who turned the world upside down and were willing to die for their beliefs? One thing: they witnessed the resurrection. This event had a transforming effect on the disciples, transforming them into apostles – “sent ones.” When they saw the risen Christ  (Confessing & Believing in the birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus Christ providing you the Holy Spirit for your continual Transformation & Empowerment as you too become on some divine future day, also a “sent one,” by having rejected the “temporary earthly pleasures” choosing instead to enjoy daily His Fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control) Galatians 5: 22-23.

Blessings my friends as you implement any needed changes in your life and then invite others to join His Family on our journeys to real living while communing and thriving at His Table of Abundance. Again, “You may not be called to die for Christ, but you are called to live for Him – the resurrected Lord.” And to enjoy His “Peace and Safety.”

PS:

Do we really fully understand how mere man, as the United Nations has displayed so well in the first words of their charter “To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” (that now has been broadened to include health, climate, racism, religion, opportunity, resouces, one world government, etc.) all of which flies directly in the face of God, desecrating the orderly intentions that God put forth when He created man and woman in the Garden as He establishing His perfect Kingdom prior to Sin ? I think not. The UN uses the words “Peace and Security.” Who are they kidding? Sorta like building sand castles, or the parable of the wise & foolish men in Matt 7:24-27).

NEXT UP: Perhaps we’ll pursue more truths along today’s coveted hot button line “Peace and Safety,” an awareness defined so well by Dr Henry Cloud in his epic book titled “How People Grow: What the Bible Reveals About Personal Growth.” This book needs to be in every Christ Follower’s personal library and understood for its monumental revelations in the academics of psychology and theology, as a spiritually practical bridge builder too long ignored.

Perhaps. Or, maybe we’ll do a short simple clip on the word, INTEGRITY.

“The Christian church has RESURRECTION written all over it. DO YOU? F. G. Robinson

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Now, chew on these no nonsense get-ready predictions from II Peter 2 after chapter one’s consolations/encouragements….

2 Peter 2:1-22 (MSG) 

1. But there were also lying prophets among the people then, just as there will be lying religious teachers among you. They’ll smuggle in destructive divisions, pitting you against each other—biting the hand of the One who gave them a chance to have their lives back! They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction,

2. but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong. They give the way of truth a bad name.

3. They’re only out for themselves. They’ll say anything, anything, that sounds good to exploit you. They won’t, of course, get by with it. They’ll come to a bad end, for God has never just stood by and let that kind of thing go on.

4. God didn’t let the rebel angels off the hook, but jailed them in hell till Judgment Day.

5. Neither did he let the ancient ungodly world off. He wiped it out with a flood, rescuing only eight people—Noah, the sole voice of righteousness, was one of them.

6. God decreed destruction for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. A mound of ashes was all that was left—grim warning to anyone bent on an ungodly life.

7. But that good man Lot, driven nearly out of his mind by the sexual filth and perversity, was rescued.

8. Surrounded by moral rot day after day after day, that righteous man was in constant torment.

9. So God knows how to rescue the godly from evil trials. And he knows how to hold the feet of the wicked to the fire until Judgment Day.

10. God is especially incensed against these “teachers” who live by lust, addicted to a filthy existence. They despise interference from true authority, preferring to indulge in self-rule. Insolent egotists, they don’t hesitate to speak evil against the most splendid of creatures.

11. Even angels, their superiors in every way, wouldn’t think of throwing their weight around like that, trying to slander others before God.

12. These people are nothing but brute beasts, born in the wild, predators on the prowl. In the very act of bringing down others with their ignorant blasphemies, they themselves will be brought down, losers in the end.

13. Their evil will boomerang on them. They’re so despicable and addicted to pleasure that they indulge in wild parties, carousing in broad daylight.

14. They’re obsessed with adultery, compulsive in sin, seducing every vulnerable soul they come upon. Their specialty is greed, and they’re experts at it. Dead souls!

15. They’ve left the main road and are directionless, having taken the way of Balaam, son of Beor, the prophet who turned profiteer, a connoisseur of evil.

16. But Balaam was stopped in his wayward tracks: A dumb animal spoke in a human voice and prevented the prophet’s craziness.

17. There’s nothing to these people—they’re dried-up fountains, storm-scattered clouds, headed for a black hole in hell.

19. They promise these newcomers freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for if they’re addicted to corruption—and they are—they’re enslaved.

20. If they’ve escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they’re worse than if they had never left.

21. Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command.

22. They prove the point of the proverbs, “A dog goes back to its own vomit,” and, “A scrubbed-up pig heads for the mud.”

BOTTOM LINE: Anything above sound familiar to you considering our current events? I suggest you continue on into chapter three and then enjoy rereading both I & II Peter every month or so. If I recall, I’ve heard some theologians infer that these two epistles were written expressly for the “suffering church.” I’m thinking perhaps the American remnant may soon qualify. Are we ready?

NEXT UP: You ever hear how the Twelve Disciples transitioned to their eternal rewards? I’m sure you did, but if not, here goes… Blessings on your journey to sainthood… mle 050824

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Just notice here how the Apostle Peter so succinctly speaks Life Giving Truths after yesterday’s AmericanMinute barrage of 3000+ words….

2 Peter 1:1-21 (MSG)

  1. I, Simon Peter, am a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. I write this to you whose experience with God is as life-changing as ours, all due to our God’s straight dealing and the intervention of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
  2. Grace and peace to you many times over as you deepen in your experience with God and Jesus, our Master.
  3. Everything that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received!
  4. We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.
  5. So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given, complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding,
  6. alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder,
  7. warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.
  8. With these qualities active and growing in your lives, no grass will grow under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus.
  9. Without these qualities you can’t see what’s right before you, oblivious that your old sinful life has been wiped off the books.
  10. So, friends, confirm God’s invitation to you, his choice of you. Don’t put it off; do it now. Do this, and you’ll have your life on a firm footing,
  11. the streets paved and the way wide open into the eternal kingdom of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ.
  12. Because the stakes are so high, even though you’re up-to-date on all this truth and practice it inside and out, I’m not going to let up for a minute in calling you to attention before it.
  13. This is the post to which I’ve been assigned—keeping you alert with frequent reminders—and I’m sticking to it as long as I live.
  14. I know that I’m to die soon; the Master has made that quite clear to me.
  15. And so I am especially eager that you have all this down in black and white so that after I die, you’ll have it for ready reference.
  16. We weren’t, you know, just wishing on a star when we laid the facts out before you regarding the powerful return of our Master, Jesus Christ. We were there for the preview! We saw it with our own eyes:
  17. Jesus resplendent with light from God the Father as the voice of Majestic Glory spoke: “This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of all my delight.”
  18. We were there on the holy mountain with him. We heard the voice out of heaven with our very own ears.
  19. We couldn’t be more sure of what we saw and heard—God’s glory, God’s voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.
  20. The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion.
  21. And why? Because it’s not something concocted in the human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy Spirit prompted men and women to speak God’s Word.
    • NEXT UP: Peter takes off his gloves in the next chapter (2) and gives us the bottom line just as he forsees it. Warning: May be offensive to many…. Blessings
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There is a controversial new label the mainstream media is using, CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM? What is it? What did it used to be called?

To answer that, there are three points to consider:  
The first is, that nationalism is the opposite of globalism; 
second, that nationalism is defined by the integrity of that nation; and 
third, that Christian nationalism was formerly called Christian patriotism, and past Presidents, Democrat and Republican, encouraged it.  

1.) Let’s look at the first point: nationalism is the opposite of globalism.   
Did you know there are people called “globalists” who want to do away with nations and set up a one world government, which, of course, they will control. Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum produced an Agenda 2030 video, which had the line: “You will own nothing and be happy.”    This sounds a lot like Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto: “The theory of the communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.”   “Abolition of private property” means “you will own nothing”! How do globalists plan on getting you to give up your property and freedom? –The Great Reset!

Jack Posobiec of Human Events Daily, stated on OAN, November 24, 2022: “The Great Reset is very much like communism … They’ll tell you it is about diversity … equality … climate … But … what they want is … total government.” People will not give up their property and freedom if everything is fine, but if there is a crisis, they will trade freedom for security. (Consider past covid as a trial run, perhaps computer hacking will be next? )  

The Great Reset is an orchestrated global crisis to produce dependency on international government.  Michael Rectemwald wrote in Imprimis “What Is the Great Reset?” December 2021: “Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret write that “if the past five centuries in Europe and America have taught us anything … it is that ‘acute crises contribute to boosting the power of the state.’”    Peter Thiel, founder of PayPal, warned in a lecture at Stanford’s Classical Liberalism Institute, November 18, 2022: “The zeitgeist [or mood] on the other side is ‘we are not going to make it for another century on this planet and therefore we need to embrace a one world totalitarian state right now’ …  Whatever the dangers are in the future we need to never underestimate the danger of one world totalitarian state …”    Thiel continued: “First Thessalonians 5:3, the political slogan of the antichrist is ‘peace and safety’ … I want to suggest … we would do well to be a little more scared of the antichrist and a little a less scared of Armageddon.” In other words, don’t be afraid of the world ending, be afraid of the people who promise to save you from the world ending. Henry Mencken wrote in Notebooks, 1956: “The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.”   

2.) The second point is: nationalism is defined by the integrity of that nation. Most nations have an “honor-shame” culture, where an individual’s worth is based on what group they belong to, for example:   – Ancient Egypt’s social classes with the Pharaoh’s family on top;   – India’s caste system has four major castes and many minor ones;   – Imperial China had the Hundred Family Surnames;   – European classes divided royalty from peasantry;   – Islamic communities consider men worth more than women, who are worth more than infidels;   – Communist Party members are worth more than common people;   – Atheistic utilitarianism gives more value to those contributing to “the state.”   The latest rendition of this is “intersectionality,” where a person’s worth is based on how many minority groups they belong to, with “trans” being superior to all others, resulting in those on the left wanting to impose a “transgender-nationalism.” Where nationalism is bad in totalitarian nations as they deny individual rights, in America, nationalism has been preserving a nation where you have worth regardless of what group you belong to.   

President Roosevelt explained, June 14, 1942: “The belief in man, created free, in the image of God — is the crucial difference between ourselves and the enemies we face today.” President Truman said in his Inaugural Address, January 20, 1949: “The American people … believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God.” President Eisenhower said November 9, 1954: “Democracy is nothing in the world but spiritual conviction … that each of us is enormously valuable because of a certain standing before our own God.” Lincoln stated in his Gettysburg Address, 1863: “Our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal …  That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” 

Nationalism is bad in socialist and Islamist nations where governments do not guarantee to individuals inalienable rights, but in America, “nationalism” is supporting a nation whose very purpose is to guarantee to each individual their God-given rights. These rights include freedom of conscience, religion, speech, press, assembly, self-defense, impartial trial, no cruel and unusual punishment — the freedom to determine their own destiny.” Eisenhower said February 20, 1955: “The Founding Fathers … recognizing God as the author of individual rights, declared that the purpose of government is to secure those rights.”   

The third point to consider is: Christian nationalism was formerly called called Christian patriotism. It was as American as football and apple pie. The word “nationalism” was not even in use in America when Noah Webster compiled his 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language, –yet the word “patriotism” was. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary gave the definition: “Patriotism is the characteristic of a good citizen, the noblest passion that animates a man in the character of a citizen …   Love of one’s country; the passion which aims to serve one’s country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institutions in vigor and purity.” Past Presidents, Democrat and Republican, encouraged Christian patriotism. George Washington referred to both “Christian” and “patriot” in his order to troops at Valley Forge, May 2, 1778: “To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to laud the more distinguished Character of Christian.” Washington wrote, July 9, 1776: “The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavor so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country.”   

Republican President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and pushed through the 13th Amendment, freeing four million slaves. He stated in his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861: “Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him … are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.” Lincoln mentioned the words “patriotism” and “Christianity” right next to each other in his Inaugural Address! In the Post-Reconstruction era, Republican President Theodore Roosevelt condemned KKK mobs in Democrat southern states, December 3, 1906: “As Bishop Charles Galloway of Mississippi has said: ‘The mob lynches a Negro … Every Christian patriot in America needs to lift up his voice in loud and eternal protest against the mob spirit.” 

Republican President William Howard Taft had stated in 1908: “No man can study the movement of modern civilization … and not realize that … the spread Christianity [is] the basis of … modern civilization in the growth of popular self-government. The spirit of Christianity is pure democracy. It is equality of man before God — the equality of man before the law.” Democrat President Woodrow Wilson warned in 1923: “We call ours a Christian civilization, a Christian conception of justice … Our civilization … can be saved only by becoming permeated with the spirit of Christ and being made free and happy by the practices which spring out of that spirit.” Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt, an Episcopalian, wrote the prologue of a Gideon’s New Testament and Book of Psalms that was given out to millions of soldiers and sailors during World War II. Roosevelt stated October 6, 1935: “The printing of the first English Bible is an event of great significance … We trace … the widespread dissemination of those moral and spiritual precepts that have so greatly affected the progress of Christian civilization.”   

Roosevelt stated September 1, 1941: “Preservation of these rights is vitally important … to the whole future of Christian civilization.” FDR stated November 1, 1940: “Those forces hate democracy and Christianity as two phases of the same civilization … They oppose democracy because it is Christian. They oppose Christianity because it preaches democracy.” Would today’s mainstream media label Roosevelt a “Christian nationalist”?    

Democrat President Truman said, August 28, 1947: “This is a Christian Nation … As a Christian Nation our earnest desire is to work with men of good will everywhere to banish war.” Truman lit the National Christmas Tree, December 24, 1952, saying: “Through Jesus Christ the world will yet be a better and a fairer place.” Would today’s mainstream media label Truman a “Christian Nationalist”? 

Republican President Dwight Eisenhower said, November 9, 1954: “This relationship between a spiritual faith … and our form of government is … obvious … ‘Man is endowed by his Creator’ …   When you come back to it, there is just one thing … man is worthwhile because he was born in the image of God…   Any group that … awaken[s] all of us to these simple things … is … a dedicated, patriotic group that can well take the Bible in one hand and the Flag in the other, and march ahead.” Democrat President John F. Kennedy wrote to Brazil’s President, January 31, 1961: “To each of us is entrusted the heavy responsibility of guiding the affairs of a democratic nation founded on Christian ideals.” Would today’s mainstream media label Kennedy a “Christian Nationalist”? 

Americans have historically been patriotic and a majority Christian. Patricia U. Bonomi, professor emeritus of New York University, wrote: “The colonists were about 98 percent Protestant.” J. Tobin Grant wrote in Measuring Aggregate Religiosity in the United States, 1952-2005, that in 1965, America’s population was 93 percent Christian, consisting of 69 percent Protestant and 24 percent Catholic, with 3 percent of the population Jewish. Jeffrey M. Jones wrote: “According to an average of all 2021 Gallup polling, about three in four Americans said they identify with a specific religious faith. By far the largest proportion, 69%, identify with a Christian religion, including 35% who are Protestant, 22% Catholic and 12% who identify with another Christian religion or simply as a ‘Christian.’”   

In America, religious tolerance evolved from Pilgrims and Puritans to all Protestant Christians, then to Catholics, Jews, liberal pseudo–Christian groups, then to monotheists and polytheists, then to just about every religion, and finally Islamists, atheists, and satanists. Ironically, the last ones in want to kick the first ones out. They are intolerant of the beliefs that tolerated them. Ronald Reagan stated August 23, 1984:  “The frustrating thing is that those who are attacking religion claim they are doing it in the name of tolerance. Question: Isn’t the real truth that they are intolerant of religion?” Bob Unruh wrote in WND.com, April 1, 2024: “The state … attacks Christians with a so-called ‘non-discrimination’ agenda that actually discriminates against people of faith.” 

Why does the mainstream media insist on calling Christian patriots “Christian nationalists”? For the same reason they call Pro-Life supporters “anti-abortion.” No Pro-Life group labels itself “anti-abortion.” Yet every mainstream new article that covers the subject labels Pro-Life people “anti-abortion.” Why? Negative word association. They want to malign public opinion against them. What is happening is called psychological projection. Intolerant activists accuse Christians of being intolerant, when in reality, they are the ones who are intolerant of Christians. It is a narcissistic response called blame-shifting, where the attacker blames the victim. They accuse the innocent of what they are guilty of. Little children instinctively do this, saying, “I didn’t start the fight – you did!” A cheating spouse will accuse the faithful spouse of being unfaithful. In the Bible, Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of lusting after her when she was lusting after him. Nero reportedly set fire to Rome yet blamed it on Christians. Democrat Political advisor David Axelrod said on NPR, April 19, 2010: “In Chicago, there was an old tradition of throwing a brick through your own campaign office window, and then calling a press conference to say that you’ve been attacked.” Nancy Pelosi called it “the wrap up smear.” Harry Reid accused Mitt Romney of not paying his taxes, causing negative press which perhaps cost him the election. TIME magazine fact checked and found Romney actually did pay his taxes. When questioned, Reid responded, “I lied about Romney, but he didn’t win, did he?” 

Left-wing activists use Critical Race Theory, DEI, ESG, to force an irreligious nationalism; an unprecedented satanist theocracy; a transgender-dominionism, to censor and cancel Bible–believing Christians and Pro-Life Catholics. They employ a “fear mongering” technique. The Telegraph’s article, December 12, 2023, exposed a Hollywood producer using fear mongering:   “Rob Reiner is deluded about ‘Christian nationalism’—The God and Country movie trailer presents ordinary religious Americans as nationalist boogeymen”: “Reiner’s … examples of Christian Nationalism … are so broad that even the late Queen Elizabeth had a brush with it … [and] … Billy Graham …   The inescapable conclusion is that average Christian beliefs and average Christian engagement in the public sphere is exactly what Reiner and his abettos [collaborators] hope to target. They want to shame followers of Jesus from taking part in the very same political activities their secular counterparts do.” 

TheGatewayPundit.com reported February 23, 2024:  “Heidi Przybyla, a reporter for Politico, appeared on MSNBC this week and fretted as she explained that Christian Nationalists believe that Americans’ rights are granted by God and not Congress or the Supreme Court …   The rights of Americans DO come from God and not the government, which anyone knows if they have read the country’s founding documents. TheGateway Pundit.com published Mike LaChance’s article, February 29, 2024:  “Last week, a reporter for the liberal outlet Politico … suggested that if you’re an American who believes that your rights come from God and not the government, that you’re a Christian Nationalist … 

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and Catholic Vote President Brian Burch fired off a letter … to Politico …  demanding an apology … saying …   Politico’s reporter failed to acknowledge ‘that our own Republic was founded on the belief that our rights come from God, not earthly kings or government,’ a revolutionary idea ‘clearly articulated in the Declaration of Independence …   Perkins and Burch called out Przybyla for “an attempt to spread misinformation about Christians.”    Ed Martin of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles, responded, March 1, 2024: “Heidi Przybyla … isn’t railing against ‘Christian Nationalism,’ she’s railing against the American Founding.” 

Mainstream media accuses Christian patriots of wanting to “force” their beliefs on others, but how can you force freedom on people? Instead of “dominionism,” patriots want “freedomism.” Patriots don’t want to force their beliefs on anyone, they just don’t want government forcing its progressive beliefs on them. They want the government to stop legislating immorality. 

So to simply review, what is Christian nationalism? The three points to consider when answering that question are: 

  1. nationalism is the opposite of globalism;
  2. nationalism is defined by the integrity of that nation; and 
  3. Christian nationalism was formerly called Christian patriotism, and past Presidents, Democrat and Republican, encouraged it.

Provided by the American Minute. Contact Bill Federer, www.AmericanMinute.com, for more information.

BOTTOM LINE: As my childhood trusted radio commentator was frequent heard to quip, “and now for the rest of the story,” is sorta how I view this document from a group with whom I possess no history, pro or con, and indeed as the above article depicts, we are now witnessing “the rest of the story.” just as predicted. Considering my Anabaptist moorings, how I now long for conversations with the likes of my EMC profs from the later sixties as they had released their newly birthed Gen Ed series in the science auditorium in September 1968, right on the heels of the two assassinations, (Martin Luther King-April 4, Bobby Kennedy-May 6), the summer riots, etc. I am thinking particularly of then EMC’s two extraordinary contemplative historians: Albert Keim, birthed Amish in Holmes Co. and his Lansdale PA counterpart, John Lapp, for their comments today on the above document and its historical snippets. Little did we know back then during Fall Term ’68 while sitting in our cozy auditorium theater seats safe from the Vietnam atrocities, that the deception birthed in the later 19th century in the US and western Europe was well rooted and even already “flowering,” and that these episodic events of the sixties were not merely random, but an integral piece of their historical strategic march ever gaining diverse allegiances in their wake to culminate in global domination by 2030, citing now from their recent public narratives from the WEF quoted above…

Actually, the rest of the story is continuing to unfold now in plain sight, as declared from the predictive Biblical and ancient manuscripts, offering us opportunity to declare allegiance to His kingdom, OR otherwise. Either way, monumental eternal consequences await each of us…. even as the stringed quartet is playing beautiful music as the deck of the western civilization is slowly listing, reminiscent of the Titanic…

My Utmost for His Highest devotional reading for today, April 21, aptly summarizes our response to the Kingdom allegiance question: “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Phillip?” John 14:9. The readings last two sentences are: “God never guides us at some time in the future, but always here and now. Realize that the Lord is here NOW, and the freedom you receive is immediate.” Indeed a most timely profound reading …

NEXT UP: No idea. You only got this today because its been waiting in the wings since before vacation and I broke my computer screen on the flight. Much to share, dwindling time, eternity awaits, God is not mocked! >>>mle050224

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How Come Churches Often Lag Behind the Business World Providing Us Examples Of Unity Like We Read Below?

In Dr. Henry Cloud’s book 2023 book Trust In Life & Business: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken, he identifies the five essentials of trust: Understanding, Motive, Ability, Character, and Track Record. In Chapter Five, while exploring the second essential, Motive, he relays this experience with a client corporation.

“One of the most powerful drivers of trust is knowing that someone’s motive is rooted in a higher calling principle or value that transcends their own interests. I recently conducted a retreat for the executive team of a major US company. Their accomplishments were legendary, outpacing their competitors exponentially and returning massive equity growth for their stockholders. The team had just emerged from successfully managing the worst of COVID, and it was time to set the next season’s strategy.

To begin the retreat, I wanted to see how the team of executives grasped the strengths that had driven their success in the previous couple of years and how well they understood what had happened and why. I gave them a simple assignment to begin: Take a few minutes and write down what you think is the greatest strength of this team.”

When they turned in their answers, I was astonished. I have never seen such unity among a group of executives. Unanimously, they said their greatest strength was one thing: “our commitment to our corporate purpose.” Not one person said it was their marketing savvy, their innovation, their creativity, or their research and development. They all said their greatest strength was their unity around the corporate purpose. And here’s the real magic: their corporate purpose is centered around serving others.

The fact that they all served a higher purpose allowed them to behave and to execute in a manner that everyone could trust. There was no silo behavior, no pushing of department agendas, no careerism to be found. They were all devoted to the higher purpose they had come together to achieve.

This resulted in an unprecedented level of collaboration – sharing resources, people, information, power and the like. These people truly worked together. Certainly, they had different opinions at times, but in a way that was always in search of “the best answer” instead of “my best interests.” These were not people who didn’t care about profits or accomplishments; they did. But they weren’t only motivated by profits. Their driving force was serving others and the purpose of the company.

As a result, the employees of this company trusted each other. When someone did something another person might question, the question wasn’t rooted in suspicion. Instead, it came from an attitude of “I wonder why she did that? I know she must have had a good reason.” This kind of trust goes a long way to avoid politics and division.

Trust is a powerful force, and as we’ve seen, it yields powerful results in everything from brain development to marriage to economics. In fact, trust is the fuel for all of life. The takeaway here is that trust increases when we know that someone’s motive is just not about themselves, but rather, about us and about a higher purpose that we all value as well.

Bottom Line: So why then are our “fragmented” friendships, relationships, marriages, families, churches, communities, states, and nations, so lacking in their “Unity of Purpose?” Especially since God wired us biologically to trust from infancy, learning that trust followed by satisfaction builds more trust, that we by placing our trust in God and other persons makes every system about us develop and ultimately thrive, and that for us to trust is human… and when we can’t trust, we handicap much of our future potential for His rich and rewarding human experiences….

My first thought after reading this account, was just how could a congregation ever begin to exhibit this level of unity in their purpose? And that was followed rapidly by the second thought to me personally, how can I contribute to such a unity being lovingly exhibited “in & around, out & about” as we live & build His Kingdom Today? Perhaps after being Unshakable in ’24, 2025 will focus on TRUST as being our fuel for all of life.

Next Up: We’re planning to be in Panama for two weeks finalizing our visas so we’ll see what else transpires, written or otherwise. Blessings…

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Radio psychiatrist Frazier Crane (from the TV show Frasier) has had a long, rough day. Finally, when a man steals his waited-for seat at the local coffee shop, Frasier has had enough. Grabbing the man by the collar, he runs him out of the shop, shouting, “What you need is an etiquette lesson!”

Later Frasier chastises himself for allowing his more animal nature to momentarily rule. He prefers, he says, to settle his disagreements like an adult, with words and reason. But the newspaper hails him as a sort of folk hero. And to his dismay, people begin to follow his example, giving little etiquette lessons of their own. A caller, who used a leaf blower a seven AM, brags about smashing the leaf blower into a tree. Another shoves a pound of rotten shrimp into a rival’s air conditioner.

After dozens of callers describe their vigilante exploits, Frasier exclaims that they’ve gone too far. “I displayed a minor bit of force to just make a point. I didn’t go around smashing windows or torching lawns! Where does this end?” His caller replies, “Are you saying that what I did was wrong?” “Of course I am!” shouts Frasier. And the caller responds, “But what you did was ok?” This stops Frasier in his tracks. And then – and this is one of the reasons I really love this show – Frasier realizes what the right thing to do is, and does it. “Come to think of it, what I did was just wrong. I mean, who am I to draw the line at the acceptable level of force?”

Frasier realizes in that moment what God has provided for all along: righteousness must be complete to be worth anything at all. Any sin, whether more or less socially acceptable, is evidence of a root problem. Anger and murder come from the same place. It is only God who can draw the line, and it is only God who can toe it.

Today, remember that you’re worse than you think you are. But remember also, that God’s gift of righteousness to you is greater than you could ever imagine.

UP NEXT: In his Dr. Henry Cloud’s book 2023 book Trust In Life & Business: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken, identifies the five essentials of trust: Understanding, Motive, Ability, Character, and Track Record. In Chapter Five, while exploring the second essential, Motive, he relays this experience with a client corporation excelling in their UNITY OF PURPOSE…

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