Where Miracles Happen

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." Romans 12:14 Sharing personally again, hoping to touch hearts with encouragement... I have been receiving a form of persecution and this yet, from a believer! Highly annoyed, I complained to the Lord. Well, isn't that always our first reaction ...to complain? And I knew better, but most of us start in our humanness before we get to the real matter, IF we pursue it - - - and I say we can't afford not to pursue it! So after a couple days of my human reactions telling the Lord what I think, I calmed myself down and settled in before him, cleared my mind, and made my case before him in a calm and realistic way. "She has no business hurting me like this," I said. As I waited on the Lord, he spoke to me words that I did not expect. He said, "I love her." Well needless to say, this certainly was not the response I expected. "I'm bringing my wounded soul to you and you tell me you love her?" If anyone doesn't want to take the time to work things out with the Lord, oh HOW they miss out on the depths of wisdom and counsel and grace and help that he's only too willing to give if only we'll take the TIME to seek him. How would anyone be so foolish to not press on until they receive the treasure from him that he's always waiting to give to those who truly want it? So I began to think on her life and the reasons she is the way she is. I can't say my heart softened toward her, the wounds in my own heart were too sore. But I did realize that in spite of her heart, God LOVES her. He LOVES her. So ...I decided to receive that, and work with it. And out of it came ...not surprisingly, big changes in me. As I received his love for her, he began to open up to me why what she is doing hurts ME so much. Why can't I just overlook it? Why is my anger so deeply provoked? Why is my reaction so strong? And friends, this has led to a whole new subject opening up which has gone very deep and is going to change me forever, because the Lord began to tap into long-stored-away memories that have remained unhealed to this day, things too painful to look at. I haven't wanted to "go there," and have just shoved those things off and locked those doors because I couldn't deal with them. When it's overwhelming like that, we know we can't deal with it so we don't. We can't. It's far too painful. So we shove it into a dark closet in a hidden-away attic room, close the door and lock it tight. And it's not wrong to do that. There are things that we must not touch until the time when the Lord says, "it's time to go there." In fact, it could be dangerous to try to deal with those things when we're not ready. For me, the only way I can know it's time, is when the Lord himself says it's time. And so now I'm walking into that attic room WITH the Lord, and HE is holding my hand as he unlocks the doors and leads me in. Actually, he's picking me up in his arms and carrying me in. And I'm not afraid. It's the most amazing thing, I'm not afraid. He is so gentle. So very non-threatening. So willing to heal ...if only we will do things HIS WAY. You don't even have to be ABLE, just willing, just responding as he leads. Thinking of this woman who is continuing to hurt me, it frightens me to think of how the story would have gone if I had just given in to resenting to her, feeding on bitter feelings toward her, all the things I WANTED to do in my humanness. But for anyone who wants to walk in close relationship with the Lord, you just can't do that because he won't let you. He'll take you aside and say, "Come on into my chamber and let's talk about this." "I don't want to, Lord! It hurts too much. I want to savor hating her." "I know. I understand that. But I want to talk with you about it, come on, let's go in together." Have you ever been alone with the Lord in his chamber? This is the place where you will find the love of God, the compassion, the mercy, the patience, the place where he gives you the freedom to express the deep things of your soul, even the terrible things, your hatred, your own sin that comes out of that hatred, your weakness, all the rot and decay within you, this is where he lets you put your head against his chest and "spill your guts." He gives you plenty of time, he doesn't interrupt, and just holds you as you cry on his chest. And then ...HE begins to speak. And what he speaks to you will come across in a gentleness you have a hard time to believe because of the seriousness of the subjects you're talking about. And it heals you. It sets you free. It totally changes the way you think about things. Oh brothers and sisters, all this is available to you if only you're willing to go into that chamber with him and open up to him while sobbing on his chest. It's scary to think of, but in that secret place alone with the Lord miracles happen. Jesus said: "He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;" Luke 4:18 Come to him. He is patiently waiting for you.

You'd Never See Them On A Donkey

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.'” Matthew 16:6 This is a stern warning and it needs to be a warning to all of us concerning the religious leaders we listen to. What IS the leaven of the religious teachers? vs 12: “Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the DOCTRINE of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Jesus called the religious leaders hypocrites. Hypocrites use religion for their own selfish purposes. People flock to them because they’ve made a name for themselves and usually have a large following, but they are filled with hypocrisy, seeking money, fame, and the praise of men. Jesus solemnly warned to beware of this. “But all their works they do to be seen by men… …They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’” Matthew 23:5-7 Jesus had the harshest, scathing rebukes for them. He called them “white-washed sepulchres.” A sepulchre is a fancy tomb. Full of what? Dead men’s bones. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.” Matthew 23:27 They craft their “teachings” for money, twisting Scripture to back themselves up. “For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother…’ …But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God,’ then he need not honor his father or mother.” Matthew 15:4-5 In other words, they taught that believers should take whatever they would have spent on their parents’ care, and give it to the Temple as “a gift to God,” meaning, to themselves of course, for that was their intent. In using Scripture, they actually changed the meaning of the Word of God to their advantage. Does it sound familiar? Do you know any teachers or preachers who make you promises if only you will send them money? Do they tell you that what you send is “a gift to God,” for which God will return to you a great blessing? It is true that when you give to a ministry it IS a gift to God, so that that ministry can survive. But first you have to examine the motives of the ones conducting the ministry. Do they live in mansions from the proceeds of your giving? Do they stay at first-class five-star hotels when they travel? Do they travel in their own multi-million dollar jet? Take a look at the lifestyles of those you listen to, and if you see this kind of shenanigans, understand that these are wolves in sheeps’ clothing. BEWARE of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:15 The deceit is fostered by their charismatic personalities and powers of persuasion. They make themselves look good, so it’s usually hard to recognize it. They have pleasing personalities. All smiles. They know how to present themselves before people in order to get money out of them. They make fake promises using Scripture to convince you. They are con men, plain and simple. And it’s hard to discern a con man. Jesus Christ entered the city of Jerusalem ...on a donkey. One thing you can be sure of, you’d never see them on this generation’s equivalent of a donkey. Before you decide whom to support, make it a matter of serious prayer, otherwise your money may be going to support their lavish lifestyles. Any minister of the Gospel who lives in a mansion and flies in his own jet, staying at the best places wherever he/she goes, is always going to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Run from these. You’ve been duped. RUN.

The Ecumenical Heresy

"Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior." Isaiah 43:10-11 There is a great "ecumenical" move going forth throughout the world, mainly driven by the pope of Rome who is gathering leaders of all religions together saying we all worship the same God, and that there are many paths to god so let us all join together as one. Is it true? Do we all worship the same God? Are there many paths to him? Whether or not the pope will succeed in his efforts to "make us all one," the fact remains that Christianity CANNOT be included, because the Christ of Christianity has said that there is NO OTHER WAY to the Father, BUT THROUGH HIM. “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6 Read that again. That is a totally exclusive statement made by the Christ of Christianity. Stated another way: "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given among men by which we MUST be saved.” Acts 4:12 There is NO OTHER NAME. No other way. No one can access God through Allah, or through the Hindu gods, or through "the blessed virgin Mary," or through any name or person or "saint" or anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ. If one truly understands this, then the conclusion drawn is that those following other gods or other names CANNOT access the one true God. There are NOT many ways to him, no, there is ONLY ONE way. This is the exclusivity of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Scriptures reveal to be “the offense of the Gospel,” and "the offense of the Cross." If you do not believe this, then you are in opposition to the one true God. You are refusing his Word, just as Eve refused his word when Satan challenged her with, "Indeed, has God really said ....?" Then Satan gave her the lie, and she fell for it. And the rest is history. And so I ask the question: Indeed, did God really say: "I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no savior." and "Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after me." Islam has a saying written on the mosque that sits on the Jewish Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It says, "God has no son." Hear what God has to say about that: "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; HE WHO DOES NOT HAVE THE SON OF GOD DOES NOT HAVE LIFE." 1 st John 5:12 "He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son." 1st John 2:22 Mary, the mother of Jesus did not proclaim herself as the "co-redemptrix," meaning co-redeemer, as the Catholic church teaches. It is the Roman Catholic religion that made that heretical statement about her. Mary herself called Jesus her SAVIOR. When one claims a savior, that means that person is admitting their need for a savior. Mary was NOT born without sin, and one cannot get to God through her. Those are lies fostered by the church of Rome. Friends, we are so obviously in the "last days," and one of the prophecies concerning the last days is that there will be a great "falling away," just before the Antichrist comes onto the scene. "Let no one deceive you by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first..." 2nd Thessalonians 2:3 It's happening right now, before our very eyes, as the religions of the world are joining together to worship "the same god," and in doing so, they are rejecting the Word of the true God who says those other ways are heresy. Be careful whom you listen to.