If I were the devil

There are many things going on today. 2020 has been one for the history book. America has always been divided. Race and religion has always been a hot button since the beginning. Why? Pride. We look to be better than the rest. The one who works the hardest. Be the one who knows the most. We want to be the center of the universe. If we are not able to accomplish this as a king, we look to the next best person to fulfill our dreams by servitude to that person.

I’ve probably been the outsider of outsiders. I won’t lie and say I have not dreamed of being bigger than life. I won’t say that being socially different is what I personally dreamed of as a child. As I excelled as a child above my peers in knowledge, I found shame in that I could no more acknowledge my knowledge without feeling the imposter syndrome set in. That as I wanted to belong I absorbed knowledge to belong and I found it to be vanity. No, I didn’t want to Lord over others with intellectual knowledge. Therefore I looked to become a fool to belong. This too I found to be burdensome. In trying to belong I separated myself from the truth I found within the knowledge that I found. All of this I suppose is to acknowledge that I have been blessed not to have one man’s point of view on the world. I’ve sat with sinners. I’ve sat with saints. I’ve heard the folly of those who try to make known things that don’t make sense because not all has been made known yet.

Before I disclose my outlook on what I’ve been seeing, I would say that no man knows how the end times will truly play out. Things we know…. Jesus returns as a thief in the night, the church has not been completely faithful to him (revelation 3) and not everyone who calls him lord will be saved from the hour of trial coming. As of right now we are seeing the signs of the end as the signs of the changing of seasons (Matthew 24). We know that the bible predicted that there would be a great deception that would fool even the elect ( those who are chosen by God). People will have a appearance of godliness but deny the power thereof. (2 Timothy 3).

Polarization. The USA today is polarized. Those who are of the left want to do one thing and the right want to do the opposite. We know our history. It’s dirty. For both unbelievers and those who claim Christ as the Jews claimed Abraham as their father. In the last days we know it will be like Sodom and Gomorrah. There was one man righteous in the city. Not 100. Not 50. Not 10. 1. Lot thereafter being drunken and sudduced by his own daughters was the only one saved from the fire with his daughters(Genesis 18, 19 Luke 17:28, 29) somewhere in the middle of this mess is the elect.

I fully believe Satan to be the best of liars. The grandmaster of it. He says to the the unbelievers, that God is not real. He plants bad seed with the good. He accuses the church of its weaknesses. He counterfeits faith with religion and cults. He sudduces people into destructive ungodly lifestyles. He spreads misinformation both to unbelievers and believers alike. If I were satan, I would pit the church against those in need of compassion by threatening their comfort they’ve enjoyed. I would pit the world against the church by accusing the church of its hypocrisy. In turn, pride on both sides would cause either not to admit that there is sin within and without the church. That ungodliness and denying the power of the cross and the blood of Christ has led to the detriment of America and the whole world.

Something to think on.

Monday peace

Philippians 4:6-7 (esv) do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Uncertainty. We are living in uncertain times. Schools are in disarray, parents scared to send children to school. Public gatherings are a thing of the past. Politicians are out of touch with it’s citizens. The hallmark of free worship is being tested. People are reeling from disasters caused by changing climates. We see the fabric of a once religious society being turned upside down by those who seek equality in living lifestyles that at times we don’t always agree with. We see people rebelling from the burdensome chains local government has placed on its people by those who are charged with protecting and serving, yet are not infallible as they are only human too.

I’m not here today to debate science, politics, validity of suffering over another person’s suffering. I believe that everyone is feeling the Blues. In Christ, I find peace which surpassed all my understanding. It is but a small scripture in a rather large beautiful book which can be applied to every aspect of life. The early church often beaten and murdered by local authorities and zealous religious groups, angry pagans. The early church was not ignorant of suffering. You may get the idea that early followers had a unreal outlook on life. You may say they lived a totally different time. True, they lived in more uncertain times. While we are free to worship our creator in our homes, with unlimited supply of bible translation and online tools and sermons. We don’t even have to leave our homes to talk with each other. We haven’t been afraid of the authorities dragging us from our homes and families for our faith.

In close I do believe when we ponder what tomorrow looks like. We can pray to a father in heaven and lay our burdens on him. We do have strange and trying times coming predicted in both the bible and scientific community. But I know with all my heart all uncertainty is part of a higher plan to fulfill God’s purpose for us.

Philippians 4:9-13 KJVS
Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. [10] But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. [11] Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. [12] I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. [13] I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

May you find peace this Monday.

Forbidden Bible Verses — Romans 14:20-23

The three-year Lectionary that many Catholics and Protestants hear in public worship gives us a great variety of Holy Scripture. Yet, it doesn’t tell the whole story. My series Forbidden Bible Verses — ones the Lectionary editors and their clergy omit — examines the passages we do not hear in church. These missing verses are […]

Forbidden Bible Verses — Romans 14:20-23

Covid America Christianity

There is alot of things happening in America today because of covid churches are being tested in ways that haven’t been seen ever for many Christians. In the bible we see many examples of how people who had God’s word given specifically to them for the purpose of leading others into God’s will. I like to think of Moses leading the children of Israel into the promised land and how God spoke to him. How absolutely terrible the children of Israel were towards the hardships they faced. How over and over they lost faith in God’s plan for them. Over and over God instructions to Moses bring the people back to the right path. At times it took showing his power and righteous anger. Sometimes it took showing his awesome mercy, understanding and love.

Today we have also been untrusted to reveal to the world his great plan started as soon as Adam sinned, passed onto Abraham, eventually being fulfilled his great plan of mercy to redeem man through Jesus Christ by working threw the children of Israel. We have all of his instructions clearly in the gospels and epistles on how to walk in his ways to lead as moses lead. How we show God to be is how unbelievers perceive his righteousness, love, mercy. Do not weary of doing good because of the unrighteousness of non believers. Much love to everyone reading and happy sunday!

Numbers 20:8-12 KJVS
Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. [9] And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. [10] And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? [11] And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. [12] And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

Society Sensory overload

In ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and ADHD(attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), there is an overlapping symptom of the inability to process an over abundance of information on the neurodivers mind. Too much information that the mind can not process properly. The result to the outsider observing is a meltdown, a tantrum. As annoying to the observer, it is worse for the person living through these times of overstimuli.

This brings me to my conclusion for today and for a long time really. America is in deep sensory overload. It is not that people haven’t experienced hard times throughout history. Since as long as history has been kept, people have endured hard struggles. I cannot think of a time in any other generation that mankind has such an overabundance of information. Some embrace knowledge as a defining attribute. Some take from the spiritual interpretation of life. Some view the hardships as what is, is. Some see injustices that have plagued us since Adam and Eve left the garden and are starting to regurgitate. All of this is from a Christian point of view; the wages of sin. We are currently being served our tab.

War, police brutality, climate change, excess living, and certainly turning from christ like morals. Loving the wealth God blessed our nation with to certainly further his word through making widely known his love for us through his son. I see though that like the servant that believes the master is not returning, America began to beat his fellow servants. To abuse and forget about others. Surly for those who were forcefully brought to America never shared in this reward. After slavery was abolished, black men and women were and still to this day being asked to take the blame for the shame of slavery and racism. Which for the most part slavery wasn’t a unique experience but did America not make a sickening art of it. Though we see the laws change, evil hearts never do and complacent viewers have made the stench speak loudly, until a boiling point is being reached.

Descrimination and domination is not only ascribed to race, and brings me to the next subject. Man being created by God with strength, has long lorded over God’s gift to him, women. I know that in a patriarchal society that we men were charged with protecting the fairer sex by God. Because of man’s arrogance and domination of women instead of cherishing and loving, seeing them as equals to ourselves not in differences but completing each other. We see the leaving of the old ways of patriarchal society and the abandonment of children. God’s gift to men and women. Even more wicked than anything man does. Racism, war, abuse of his fellow man. Pedophilia is the ultimate sin that has be shoved in the closet by men of power, and common families alike. I don’t honestly know which is the greater sin. The pedophile, who is wickedly abusing children or those not partaking but enabling by silence, then shaming the victims to protect the offender. This is not different to grown woman (or men) who have been victimized but especially wicked when done to the truly powerless and innocent.

Lastly I come to the least of what the world is going through. A pandemic which is stripping people of their gluttonous lifestyles. Really? Is it so unbearably hard to swallow your pride and wear a mask if you are a healthy adult? I acknowledge that it is a inconvenience. But the truth is it is just another sign of people’s hubris and selfishness. A real virus, man made or not kills and spreads. And all man can think of is his money. Which there is no value in, the value resides in the resources. Perhaps this is not as bad as it is made out to be, or it is. All I know I am not a good armchair scientist. Used to be that trusting anything that was on the internet was considered ignorance and warned against. Now days anything on YouTube is heralded as gospel.

All this in conclusion is the birth pains of the social breakdown of society. We are bombarded daily with so many facts and lies we can’t discern. Unlike when we spoke in our churches, in bars, in barbershops, truth or lies stayed with those people. Now when say something in one place and it rings across the planet. The is a overload of information and no wonder that we see people agonizing over the wall of noise.

All of these subjects I have overly simplified but all of these subjects are important just like many others. We should not downplay some matters because we value others more or think their are more more pressing matters. Thank you for reading.

Fresh beginnings

I started this blog a couple of years ago, thought it was a good outlet primarily for myself before I knew what was adhd, before understanding depression feelings. I find it it interesting that as the world seems to be hitting a wall, that I find myself starting to hit my stride, understanding God’s grace and faithfulness to finish his work started. One of my favorite songs was written by Bob Dylan, and musically perfected by Jimi Hendrix. All along the watchtower was and still today one of the most profound Christian songs ever written, yet finds obscurity within the christian community. Mainly because of the drug use of the days it was written, the push back against rock music in general. I do find it to be though, that the rocks do cry out and praise the name of God in the absence of awareness of God in the culture we live. That all said, the song does start from the end and begins with the last verse. Seems to me a frequent theme in life. We struggle through out life, and toward the end we find out that really if we listen, after however long it takes, our existence on earth, which is minuscule in the eyes of God is only the beginning of life. To lose yourself is to gain. I know much of this to the unbeliever, and really to those “born” into Christianity as far as family ties can be hard to grasp. For what reason do I need to be saved, and from what if I have no understanding of what I need to be saved from?

We do live in crazy times. I do believe time draws near to the end and I believe that the earth groans in longing for peace, or more so maybe just for absence of continual drain of merely existing for the abuse mankind. I know that as a Christian that the end is not the end but a beginning. We cling still though to an idea that we are entitled to certain rights that we must have or else. I do believe God intended us to do his will till the end as much as possible. We can’t simply give up, but should be encouraged to be good stewards. Love God Love truth, love peace, love your neighbor. Lately though I’ve wondered how truly that much of what we cling to is christ or merely vanity as Solomon would say.

Hopefully this will be a good place to inspire thought, challenge ideas, encourage believers and bring more people to christ. If nothing else be an expression of what God has shown me. If anyone reads this cool if not nothing lost. If it’s not in God’s plan it will end and something new will begin.