Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

Prophets Among Us part 6

“…wisdom brings caution while a fool just loves to hear his own voice.“

We have been talking here over the last several weeks about the prophetic gifts given to the church for the edification of the body, the body of Christ that is. Most prophetic words are given for individuals or for local bodies, but occasionally there are the big ones, the ones that affect a nation or even the world. And the church, at least those within the body who embrace the notion that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and still moving amongst His people, are often very eager to embrace those words, big and small, as trustworthy.

In fact, often to doubt a “prophetic word” is considered to be a lack of faith and may even contribute to God being unable to fulfill the prophecy, like somehow God is stymied by the doubt of a pessimist. “Get back nonbelievers, or the rain may never fall! Someone keep that fire a burning, someone beat the drum!” (Lizzie and the Rain Man—Tanya Tucker)

Well, God is not the rain man and if the doubt of one or two nonbelievers was enough to stop God from answering our prayers, or fulfilling His promises, then it would never rain, no one would ever be healed, and nothing that has ever been prophesied, from Genesis to Revelation, would ever have been, nor would be fulfilled. And we all know that is not the case.

Jesus came and was the prophesied Messiah no matter how many refused to believe, and He is returning to judge the earth and collect His bride whether we nor anyone else really believes it.

Yes we are to have faith in the promises of God and his power is often released in our world according to the measure of our faith. But, the key phrase there is have faith in His Promise. There are things God said that will happen, that will happen regardless of our faith. On the other hand there are things we can contend and believe for that will not happen simply because it was not God’s will, nor did He ever promise that it would.

Too often we confuse our desires with the heart of the Lord. We do not see the big picture nor do we know God’s plans and purposes amd how what we are contending for may affect those divine plans.

That is why Jesus taught us to pray, as He did; “Nevertheless Father, not my will, but Thy be done.” And personally, I trust His plans a lot more than my own, even if His may seem scary at first blush.

But, I’m getting a bit off track here. . . Prophecy—what if we think we know God’s will because we have the prophecy. The Pharisees and scholars of Jesus’ day thought they knew the prophecies also, and they did, they just didn’t open their eyes to the possibility that their idea of the fulfillment might differ from what they envisioned.

But that is not what I’m talking about. I am talking about those prophets among us today who give a “word” or an utterance that they claim to be from God. Those who deign to move in the prophetic, who give us promises that we are to accept unquestionably as though they are gospel truth and to doubt would be sacrilege.

That is what I’m concerned with for this teaching today. So, here is the bottom line: Not everything that is uttered in the name of the Lord, not every Thus saith the Lord!— is actually from the Lord.

How we got this notion that we are to accept everything spoken to us by the “godly” men and women within the church or in our holy club circles as truth is beyond me, when we have so many warnings and examples in scripture, both old and new covenant, warning us to be careful who we listen to and believe.

The Apostle John warns the early church quite plainly:

 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 John 4:1

The church has suffered great harm and still does, because false teachers have led the church In directions we were never supposed to go, while claiming divine insight. And many people have been left sorely disappointed, their faith shaken to the core, because they believed a prophetic word, a promise given them, that turned out to be false.

Hear this–It is okay to question the validity of a word given! In fact, it is our duty as citizens of the Kingdom of God just as we do, or at least should, the proclamations of those given us by the authorities here as citizens of the USA or whatever nation you dwell in. All laws, all promises, all interpretations of old or new proclamations, whether from Heaven or man, are subject to scrutiny because, short of the canonized Holy Scriptures themselves, they can be wrong—if they are being espoused by the lips of mere mortals.

Don’t believe everything you hear!

 Whenever you come together. . .   Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. But if anything is revealed to another who sits by, let the first keep silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, that all may learn and all may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 1 Cor 14:26, 29—33

Yes, I whole heartedly believe in the ongoing gift of prophecy. That’s what this whole series had been about, encouraging and teaching you to move in that gift, to be one of the prophets among us. But you also have to know that you need to use great discernment when listening to a prophetic word, just as you should use great discernment before uttering a word on behalf of the Lord. Because, the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets—in other words, you may mess up the message, or worse, as John warns, even be speaking on behalf of the wrong spirit. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God. 1 John 4:1

One of the things about having a prophetic gifting? You can discern when a prophetic word may be off the mark, or flat out wrong. So don’t be afraid to question and seek clarification from the Lord, or to seek confirmation in another form. It’s okay to put out the proverbial fleece, or seek another word from another brother or sister in the Lord.

We are commanded to judge, and to be subject to judgment, when we utter words on behalf of the Lord. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge. So don’t feel like you are being heathenistic when you don’t jump right onto someone else’s bandwagon whenever a prophecy is spoken that gives you pause, leaving you saying ‘Really? Because that just doesn’t seem right to me.’

It just may not be. Learn to discern. That is a gift we must seek and develop also. In fact, in Paul’s listing of spiritual gifts, it comes immediately after prophecy:

¹⁰ to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 1 Cor 12:10

Thus Saith teh Lord!

Thus saith the Lord!

Let me give you an example—a big one.

In the last US presidential election there was a prophecy given. It garnered a lot of attention within the church because it was given by a high profile figure, a Christian superstar, that President Trump would be reelected for a second term as president. In fact, I think there were numerous high profile Christian voices declaring the same thing.

Since a lot of attention was suddenly being focused on a recollection of earlier, at the time seemingly outlandish, prophesies that Mr. Trump would be elected president before he ran in 2016, everyone was putting a lot of stock in words being spoken this time around in 2020.

Personally, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the prophecies at either go around, just as I don’t spend a lot of time listening or putting a lot of stock in any high profile Christian superstar. I just flat don’t have time, nor the inclination to do so. I am too busy trying to earn a living. minister to those the Lord puts before me, and foster relationships, in order to feed or be fed, by those whom God put’s in my path.

I’m sorry, but a TV or radio preacher is just not on that list—at least not on my list.

But I certainly was hearing about this “prophecy”. Many in my church, and good friends, were excited and giddily proclaimed to me; “Donald Trump is going to be reelected because so and so said so!” My response was usually, Huh, I didn’t see that—who was this again?

After a while it just started to bug me, because as much as I wanted it to be true, I just wasn’t feeling it. My spirit was not bearing witness to me that this was true. And I worried that there would be an inordinate amount of disappointment, and even a questioning of God’s faithfulness, if this prophecy proved to be wrong.

Which, much to my chagrin, I feared it would.

And of course, it was. Last I check, President Trump is still the former President Trump. And now this country is swirling even faster around the drain, drawing ever closer to the point of no return in the septic tank of history.

But I digress… The point is, just because someone says it, no matter how badly we may want to believe it, we still must Test the spirits, judge and let others judge the validity of a prophetic word; tucking it away until we can confirm or discredit the word as truth.

This will save you a whole lot of heartache and disappointment down the road. God gave you a brain, an intuition and a spiritual barometer—an innate ability to know, what we might call “our gut” to keep us from being deceived. So don’t confuse gullibility with faith, discernment is a gift that must be honed by wisdom.

So, were these people who missed the mark on the 2020 election false prophets or spokesmen for the devil? I doubt it. Everyone makes mistakes, mishears or their zeal to hear gets them ahead of the Lord a bit. I know I sometimes hear something and am so ready to share it that I don’t tarry long enough with the Lord to get the rest of the message. That’s why we are warned and given the tools to judge and test what we hear—and to speak—carefully. Again, the reason for my own prophetic preamble; I believe the Lord would say to you. . . We must never presume to be infalible.

Parting thought— The prophets I usually listen to with great care and earnestness are those whose words are few and even reluctant. Because wisdom brings caution while a fool just loves to hear his own voice. More than once I have set aside the words of the prolific, even interrupting them, when I discerned that the slow to speak had something to say.

And I am always glad I did.

Don’t be a fool, and don’t be fooled. Test the spirits, before you speak or heed. God’s words always have eternal significance, we need to weigh them carefully. 

Be blessed my friends, you are among the wise.

Through His Eyes (Crucified)

We often gaze in wonder upon the cross upon which our Lord died in our stead. But perhaps we should contemplate the view from the cross now and then…

When Paul said he had been crucified with Christ, it was not word play, that is the reality of the believer in Christ. So, since Jesus became us on the cross, maybe it is not so radical to try and see the cross through his eyes. It is after all, not we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

On a Hill Called Golgotha

Jesus, the Nazarene, teacher, prophet and miracle worker, is being nailed to a rough hewn and heavy wooden cross, the kind the Romans use to cause a slow and hideous death that becomes a fear inducing spectacle for all to see. The sight of a cross struck fear and revulsion in all, because they knew what it was for—so did Jesus, and it loomed large in his vision just before he was forced to lie on it.

His arms are lashed to the cross beam with ropes and he turns to look at the soldier who has placed a sharp spike against his wrist. He sees the hammer rise and fall and he cries out in pain. He is startled by the sudden intensity of the pain that manages to override momentarily even that of his lash torn back pressed against the wooden beam, and the new puncture wounds being made in the back of his head, as he is forced to lay his thorn crowned head against the cross beam.

But what he sees as he looks through swollen eye lids at the soldier who is swinging the hammer is a man who has no idea the evil he is perpetrating and who it is that he is piercing with the nails. He is just a soldier following orders to execute what he believes to be just another Jewish rebel. Jesus looks at him, the one who sees him as just another worthless Jew to be rid of, and loves him, him and his fellow soldiers; and prays, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”

The next thing he sees is the soldier reaching over him to nail the accusation against him to the cross above his head. He feels the vibrations of every blow painfully transferred through the three nails holding his hands and feet.

He sees the dusty sandaled feet of those passing close by as they mockingly read the charge on the sign—“King of the Jews” And they laugh as they begin making jokes among themselves at his expense. He sees the hobnailed sandals of the soldiers as they push back the jeering mockers lest someone grab the pile of clothing that Jesus’ had just been stripped of—the sum total of his earthly belongings, now spoils to be gambled for.

To his left and right, he sees from the corner of his eye, other crosses and hears pained and hoarse voices alternating between curses and taunts as they too–mock him.

Lying on his back it is hard to see anything really, as He is forced to squint his burning eyes against the glaring overhead sun, a sun seemingly intent on adding to his misery. Suddenly his vision is swimming as he is quickly hoisted upright in one swift, well practiced maneuver, and he finds himself looking down on his world as the cross is lifted up and dropped with a flesh tearing thud into a hole in the ground.

Looking down

His vision soon clears as his dehydrated and blood loss weakened head stops spinning. He can now see the whole crowd, the same that has jeered and hissed at him all the way to this hilltop. He sees through the blood and sweat that flows unchecked into his tortured eyes, the Chief Priests who are now defiling themselves by looking upon the blood of a man who will soon be dead. Yet Jesus knows they must be there, the Chief Priests are the ones who must oversee this offering of the final Passover lamb.

Mark 15:31-32 –Likewise the chief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.”

Yet the taunts of the priests are like a knife to his heart, because he knows that they will suffer greatly for what they do, and they don’t have to —if they had only listened and believed. They were the first ones to be shown the truth; from the prophets, to his visit to the temple as a boy, and his many visits to the temple. God was speaking, and they were scheming.

He looks at the gathered crowd; he sees the faces in the crowd, and he sees into their hearts.

He sees the angry man who just lost all he owned to a crooked steward. He sees the hurting woman who just lost a baby girl to sickness and is despairing beyond words. He sees the horrified child peering out from behind his father. He sees the disappointed rabbi who really believed that he could be the Messiah, but is now angry that he was apparently duped—yet again.

Their taunts and jeers, rage fueled by disappointment and hopelessness, tears at his heart.

He sees the women who followed and cared for him looking on from a distance, horrified and confused. Their faces a mask of disbelief and pain as they weep into their hands and try in vain to comfort one another. He aches to be able to comfort them and tell them to not give up hope, ‘this is not the end’—but he knows that all they can see and hear now is death and despair.

Then he sees a sight that horrifies him more than all the rest—his mother, Mary,  standing next to his good friend and devoted follower—John. She desperately reaches out to him but is held back by John and the gleaming points of Roman spears.

The pain and anguish he sees in her eyes as they search his for some kind of answer, is another knife in his already aching and straining heart. “Mother,” he croaks between labored breathes “behold your son” referring to John. He then admonishes John —’this is now your mother’–care for her.

Everywhere he looks he sees and hears human pain, anguish, anger, fear and rage. All directed at, and magnified by his body pinned to this pagan cross.

But through it all, through the pain induced haze that causes his eyes to dim and nearly black out at times, through the taunts, cries and jeers, he still has a strength and a measure of peace; a strength and a peace that has been with him through all the years of his ministry, a presence he felt even as a child and recognized as a presence that he had known even long before that—a presence and oneness that had been his for eternity past—it was the presence of his Father.

His Father’s Will

He knows he has to do this. He knows the prophecies and the promises, that he is the promised one, the suffering servant, the seed of Eve—the Lamb of God, he knows he is in his Father’s will. And that is what gave him the strength and the will to face this day in the first place, to come back to this city knowing it would be his end.

His cousin John had confirmed his mission at his Baptism—”Behold the Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world” and his Father had sent his Spirit to affirm and empower him in his human and frail form. But what happens now, as he hangs there on that fated cross, he is not prepared for.

Although he knew it had to happen, there was just no way of being prepared for it—the Holy one, the one through whom, for whom, and by whom, all things were created—he who knew no sin, had no way to comprehend, or scale by which to measure, the darkness that He was about to become—in the eyes of his Father.

And he feels the darkness as much as sees it approach.

He turns his eyes heavenward as the bright sun that had earlier tormented him now inexplicably dims until he can see nothing, not with his eyes—but his heart and soul are witnessing things he had never been forced to look upon before, he is feeling things he had never felt, and hearing voices of pain, vileness, condemnation and curses in his head that drown out and overshadow the mocking voices and the angry and anguished cries that have besieged him all day.

But then, the worst pain of all—the heart ripping, spirit killing, bone chilling feeling of sudden emptiness, scorn and abandonment, as all things good, all things right, his very sense of self and his very identity is suddenly ripped away—his Father has turned away—all of heaven, has turned away.

He has become sin, he has become darkness, he has become death. He is totally and utterly alone as all the heinous and vile things mankind has ever done or imagined doing is now in him. He is living it, breathing it, it is emanating from his very pores like the blood he had sweated out just the night before as he anticipated this moment.

He who knew no sin—has become sin. And his Father has forsaken him for it.

He looks down for a moment, forced back into the present by the painful reality of having to pull himself up against the nails just to take a breath as the pressure on his hanging torso makes it impossible to breath normally, and he sees, in the light of a few hastily acquired torches, the faces of his sheep—the ones he has promised to shepherd even if he has to go looking for them, and he knows—he knows, a sense from somewhere deep in his tortured core, that he has to endure this—for them.

But the anxiety, the rising feeling of panic, the bottomless pit of despair that has taken the place of the fullness and love he had always sensed from his Father is almost more than he can bear, and before he even realizes he has decided to speak, the anguished words of his ancestor King David are ripped from his cracked and bleeding lips—spoken in the language he learned at his mother’s knees “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” — “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

And still, the darkness grips him. He vaguely sees a sponge lifted before his face, he smells the sour smell of wine but it is soon withdrawn as those below shout something about Elijah.

He sees in his minds eye the brief image of Elijah as he was on the day that he and Moses had come to prepare him for this day, on the mount of transfiguration. And he is reassured just a bit, just enough to keep him from cursing the day he was born into this vile planet.

And he continues to fight to remember why he is here. To bleed for the sins which continue to course through him, and he understands the darkness of the sun. The Father had turned away from the sin he has become and the light of the world has departed, the Father has looked away and the Life and the Light of men is being extinguished.

Then suddenly, it is done. Three hours of torturous outer darkness separated from the love that is his Father, eons of compiled sin—blasphemies, perversions, murders, greed, vile and heinous acts of every nature, all crammed into the longest three hours ever lived by anyone on this earth—has ended.

He is still on the cross, he is still bleeding and fighting for every breath, still racked with pain and heartbroken for those he loves—but he sees the sun began to shine again and he hears the voice of his Father as coming from a distant place, and it whispers—it is finished.

‘It is finished Son’— words that Jesus quietly repeats. He looks down and sees the wide eyes and expectant faces of the now silent crowd and he knows that he has completed his mission. He senses his Father drawing nearer and he cries out— a cry of triumph mixed with pain and fury as from a warrior who has vanquished his foes yet still bleeds from the fight that was fueled by a need to finally and utterly destroy the enemy.

The body still wants to fight, his muscles quiver with the effort and his mind races with the implications of it all but he knows he is finished—for now. There is nothing left to do here and he releases himself from his battered flesh, he gives up his spirit, with the words, “Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit.”  

 He is leaving his battered body behind, the shell of the man he had become for thirty three years, but he knows he will return because he knows he has defeated death on that Roman cross—no one else knows it yet—but they will—soon, very soon.

Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid. Mark 15:46-47

(Reposted in part from last year) Have a blessed resurrection day! Your brother in Christ, Dan.

Just Drink

I want to share with you, whom I consider part of my family in Christ and dare I say, my church, another part of the final message I gave last week to my church in Red Lodge. After 11 years of ministry there I am taking a sabbatical, the first in 20 years, to rest and seek the Lord for my next assignment.

I will continue to blog. . .

This message is based on the letter of Christ to Laodicea as found in Revelation chapter 3.

Pure Water

A few years ago I went fishing with a young friend on Deer Creek. It’s in the Beartooth Mountains west of here a ways. The creek runs real fast and cold through a narrow canyon where there is little place to walk along the shore in the places we wanted to fish so we left most of our stuff on the bank down low and started wading in the water. Although the water was ice cold the day was real warm. And after the long hike in, and a few hours of fishing, my canteen was empty.

So, after taking a good look up the mountain and discerning where the water was coming from and seeing the clean gravel creek bottom I scooped up some water up with my hands, tasted it and it was wonderful. I then refilled my canteen from the creek.

I knew it was run off straight from the glacial snows just above us and as cold as it was and as fast as it was moving there was little chance of it being contaminated–it was liquid ice splashed over some rocks, and it tasted like heaven. There is nothing more refreshing than pure high mountain creek water.

After fishing for several hours I worked my way back down to where we started and came across my fishing partner sitting on a rock playing with some test tube looking contraption. He was swirling water around in as he held it up to the sunlight. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was purifying water because he was really thirsty. This contraption he had was supposed to radiate the water using sunlight.

“Do you want some? I can make some more after this.” I pulled out my canteen, took a swig of the water I had gotten from upstream and said, “No thanks, I’ve already been drinking the water straight from the creek all day.”

Her looked at me like I was a crazy and said—aren’t you worried about Giardia? I said, “No, I’ve been drinking the water from these mountains for decades, you just have to know what to look for.” “Well, what about the cows? I saw cow manure down there.” “I didn’t get my water down there, there are no cows up here!”

And I went on my way while he kept swirling his little test tube for his few ounces of lukewarm water.

Guess what, I didn’t get sick—much to his amazement.

Simple and Pure

Pure and simple is always best in my book.

 That’s all I have tried to do here over the last decade and more, share the pure water that I freely drink from straight from the source and to continually fan the flames of love and passion for Jesus in the hearts of those who have tasted and seen that he is good.

To encourage and challenge those who have drank straight from the streams of living water, and know that all the complications and paraphernalia of religion and ritual and programs only slow down and hinder the life that comes straight from a relationship with Jesus Christ, and to give them opportunity to worship him without fear of judgment.

I strive to bring you to that life giving water to drink deeply —unfiltered, unhindered, unafraid and unapologetic. I have been drinking straight from Jesus’ stream since the day he offered me water from his well and I don’t intend to stop, nor will I do anything to prevent others from drinking it as well.

And if your water is stagnant, well, start the fires a burning and boil that brine, Jesus is not going to live in your swamp. He will come wading in their after you, invite you to leave the swamp and drink again from the living streams, and he’ll lead the way out—whether you choose to follow is up to you.

Too many people just stay behind thinking their stagnant swamp quite comfortable. I have all I need right here! Smell? What smell? The smell of death and decay hidden beneath brilliant green cattails, Lilly pads and moss. It might look great from a distance, but you’ll die of thirst in the middle of it and become fertilizer for more toxicity to thrive.

¹⁷ Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— . . .

Rev 3:17 

Apart from Jesus we are nothing and have nothing.

I said earlier that my love for Jesus is manifest in my love for his children, That has often tried many, as many that I have loved were the unlovely. And if you have a church full of those who may be hard to love, you are going to chase away those who’s love is lukewarm.

But those who have been a part of this ministry for a season have been a big part of that loving atmosphere that has allowed Jesus to heal hearts here. I have heard just that over and over again from so many.

Some have thought me too tolerant of those they deemed unclean. But I love from a heart of honesty and understanding. I understand your failings because I too am a sinner saved by grace, and afforded much grace. But I love you, and the Lord too much to not preach the hard truth. But when I do I let Jesus speak through his word and I let the Holy Spirit deal with your heart.

Rebuke?

I don’t need to rebuke or chastise, I am not discerning enough nor wise enough, I do not know the big picture, have full access to your heart to make the call whether you deserve to be publicly shamed, rebuked, excommunicated or whatever—maybe there are some that are, but I was called to love, to only love, and to allow the Holy Spirit to do any convicting that needs to be done.

If you think you are perfect and discerning enough to judge and condemn others for God, then you go have fun with that, your fruit will bear witness to your wisdom in the end.

I prefer to let God do the judging— he will and does.

That said, if he asks me to speak a word to you I will, in private, and only what is necessary for restoration while assuring you that you are still part of the family, and loved. And the very few that I have taken serious issue with are those who saw it as their job to correct and rebuke me or you, who decided that they were the Holy Spirit.

They are not, and neither am I.

Conclusion

I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a born again, Spirit filled disciple who has been called to share the gospel and to love and feed his lambs. As a follower of Jesus Christ, who strives to live in obedience to his Spirit, I am taking a break from formal ministry for a season, but not from loving with all my heart and soul, my God and his people.

So I urge you as we ultimately go different directions, while it may seem that we are living in Laodicea, and worse, as we look at the state of the world and much of his church around us, know that in your heart you can choose to keep the fire burning bright and God will always lead you to the proper hills from which to let your light shine.

For the very word we swore that we would die for, must not be forgotten, and fear the world become a friend.

So while we’re living in Laodicea
Keep the fire burning bright, don’t let it grow dim
For the very Word we swore that we would die for, it must not be forgotten
Fear the world become a friend

For the very Word we swore that we would die for, it must not be forgotten

–Steve Camp, Living in Laodicea

I am a Jesus Freak, and this may be my last sermon here, (In Red Lodge as Hope Chapel) but I am far from finished.

The Resistance

Many in the resistance don’t understand what they are resisting, how critical it is, and that they are not alone in the battles.

In his Revelation letter to the early church of Pergamum Jesus wrote in part:

 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me. . . . Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: Rev 2:13,14

“Where Satan has his throne…” sounds like a fun place… I think he probably has thrones in many cities, places where he has complete control over the governing entities and the culture. Where the resistance has been, and is being, crushed.

For the last few centuries western civilization has largely prevented Satan from having such a reign in much of the “free” world. But as the church has been diminished both in numbers and influence, almost nonexistent now in Europe, and doing a slow fade in America, that deterrent capability is fading also.

That which holds the enemy at bay, is losing its power and the enemy is becoming bolder, and his influence taking hold in the hearts of more and more people, compelling them to be agents of hate and destruction while under the delusion that they are in the right, as the church–who is a stark and uncomfortable reminder that they are not–becomes the target of their scorn.

And they have no problem finding justification, nor do they have a problem with the virtual and literal destruction of the church and all who hold to Godly values and morality.

The Holy, those who remain true, find themselves outnumbered and forced to make the decision; renounce your faith in Jesus Christ or face cancelation—ostracization— which soon becomes imprisonment and then—Satan’s ultimate goal— death. All in hopes of stopping the Kingdom of God from advancing and diminishing his power to destroy all that God loves, the God whom he tried to usurp in an arrogant and ill-fated heavenly insurrection that turned a third of the angels of heaven into what we now call demons.

Even so, his power is restrained—

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 2 Peter 2:7

So what is it that holds the enemy at bay, that restrains him? What is it that keeps the devil from having total power and sway over our land and our families, from setting his throne up unopposed in the middle of our Nation and allowing lawlessness to reign supreme? Not much it would appear. But it is still enough. And there is more of it than his agents of death would like us to think.

The resistance against the darkness is greater than you would be led to believe, but discouragement plagues us. Many in the resistance don’t understand what they are resisting, how critical it is, and that they are not alone.

What is that resistance, or rather who? Who’s refusal to conceded, to stop fighting the good fight, to turn our world over completely to the devil and his minions? Ours, we who remain true to the name of Jesus.

It is the church that holds the Devil back. The church and the power of heaven that resides in their midst, those who remain faithful and true to God and his word, those who are willing and desirous to live in holiness, keeping themselves clean in the midst of a culture that never ceases to sling filth at them. Those who are willing to pray, whose collective prayers empower the heavenly warriors that are fighting on our behalf to prevent the devil and his demons from totally destroying us.

The Holy Spirit, loosed on the earth in the authority of those entrusted with him by our Savior and King, keeps the Man of Lawlessness from ruling the earth. We are the resistance—so we must be destroyed.

Consider this from Paul:

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. 2 Thes 2:1—7

No church, no Holy Spirit empowered resistance to the enemy’s plans for mankind. Lies get sucked into the vacuum created in a heart devoid of truth.

The falling away that precedes the revealing of the man of sin who sets up his throne in the temple of God, is the demise of the church.

It is the abandoning of that which equips and nourishes the souls of those who are called to fight for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Falling away from the church means they will be more likely to fall away from God’s ways and his word, separated and destroyed, the oldest and most effective war strategy there is.

No church, no holy warriors, no faithfulness, no opposition, no prayers empowering the angels of God fighting on our behalf, no Holy Spirit moving amongst the sons of Adam, that which restrains the man of sin, the son of perdition—the Antichrist—from becoming the god of all of this earth, as has always been his goal, is gone; watered down, disarmed, deceived into thinking they were fine without all that Jesus stuff, and defeated.

And the few faithful who remain, now a minority, will be beheaded— martyred—to end up watching and waiting from heaven for their Lord to avenge their deaths as the armies of heaven prepare to return and seize the Serpent of old, toppling his throne and reclaiming the earth, and all of creation, for himself and his children.

Crossroads

And that my friends, is the reality of the crossroads we stand at as a church, as a nation, as a species. Resist the seductions of the enemy to conform, or become one of those who reject truth, complacent in the enemy’s crimes against God’s children, and suffer his fate. Jesus continues in his letter to Pergamum:

Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. Rev 2:12

It’s really that simple—follow Jesus and receive your crown, or succumb to Satan and find out what that sword in the mouth of Jesus can really do .

We must resist the seductions of the enemy to conform.

Everything else, the politics, the hysterical talking heads, the wokeness, global warming, transgender chaos, racism, pandemic fearmongering—it’s all just a distraction to keep us fighting among ourselves— submitting, compromising, heeding the siren call of Jezebel who seduces, induces and strips away the faithful and turns them into the fallen away until there are no true prophets, no one who hears and heeds the voice of God, left in all the land—so she thinks.

For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water. 1 Kings 18:4

Jezebel was the Queen of Israel during the reign of the spineless whipped wimp, King Ahab, a king in ancient Israel, who tried to replace the God of Abraham with Baal at her urging and was foiled at every turn by the faithful and true prophet Elijah. She lives in infamy and has come to represent for all time, compromise, adultery and idolatry.

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. Rev 2:20

Don’t fall for the seductions of Baal, Satan, Jezebel, or whatever name he chooses to fit the bill. Keep yourselves holy, remain true-be the resistance. God always preserves a remnant, those who remain faithful.

Pray it does not come to that in our lifetime—I don’t really want to live in a cave on bread and water as those who ran from the first Jezebel had to. I don’t care how good a prepper you may think you are, it will not be a picnic. Ask Elijah. While running to his own cave, he despaired of his life and laid down to die. (1 Kings 19) But God took care of him and Elijah did what he had to do.

So will I…

Freedom -Be Faithful part II

In the Lord’s letter to the church in Smyrna from Revelation we can glean this message to them, and–us? It would seem, we should probably pay attention because, well, here we are:

‘You think things are bad now? Just wait, it’s going to get worse. You’re being maligned, lied about and accused by those who claim to be enlightened and sophisticated, wise and learned, you are being tried and challenged, oppressed and financially stretched—and have endured bravely and patiently—poor, but rich in spirit, and I know your struggles and fears, but take heart for I am with you, I am the First and the Last, I have overcome death and am alive with a life I give to you.’

Now, I’m not saying all is doom and gloom and we all must suffer until martyrdom when we wake up in glory. We are all, in this time and place, very blessed and enjoy an unprecedented amount of freedom and opportunity.

We are blessed to be Americans living in the most prosperous and powerful nation the world has known. Even the poor among us eat better and have more hope of a better tomorrow than the wealthiest of any age or place gone by. We are a country that was founded on the idea that all people should be able to worship God freely when and how they choose and to enjoy the fruits of their own labor, no one having the right to take or deny our property or our freedom. And we have been blessed as a result.

But those rights are continuously being challenged from within and without and we have seen the freedom to worship and speak freely of our faith systematically attacked and stripped away, but for the most part we still are able to proclaim that Jesus is our Lord without fear of being jailed or physically attacked.

We have been and largely are still free to work, earn, and prosper, as the Lord blesses the work of our hands and gives us favor. And that is why it has been tempting and easy for so long to preach a sunshine and roses prosperity message to tickle the ears of the hearers who want more and more of this “the world is my oyster if I’ll just believe it and claim it” message.

But I fear we have taken the blessings of our freedom and subsequent prosperity for granted, we have not used it to do all that we can to advance the kingdom, using our resources to affect change for the good, to bring the good news to all of the world, to bring relief to so many, Christian and non, around the world who so need help whether it’s a meal, a medicine, a safe place to lay their heads, or an opportunity to see their children escape slavery and abuse.

Maybe I’m wrong but I have a problem with believing and praying for a shiny new car or a chance to vacation on some exotic beach when my brothers and sisters in the middle east are praying that they survive the night as they are being hunted by the Taliban and that their children are spared the horrors of slavery. A scene being repeated around the world in one form or another as the devil seeks to destroy God’s people.

And here we are, blessed beyond compare. We should be thanking God every day for allowing us to live in this time and place of plenty and security. And never take them for granted.

 What have we done with our blessings? And are we willing to fight to keep them so that we have opportunity to be a light to the world, not just a stage for Christian superstars to showcase their talents and promise the moon in return for their financial support?

I said during the last administration that we were being given a reprieve from the attacks of the enemy who wants to destroy the church, and if we did not recognize and take advantage of it or we would lose it—well we did.

We allowed the blasphemers, the slanderers to win out, to steal and undo all the ground that was reclaimed the last few years and now the devil is bolder than ever in his attacks. And if we don’t reclaim it, if we allow the true church of Jesus Christ to go silently into the night, those tribulations, imprisonments and sufferings will surely come to us on a terrifying scale.

No Fear

If we don’t stand up as citizens of no mean city, and reclaim our rights as the American church and citizens of heaven, refute and reject the blasphemes and slanders of those who think themselves righteous but only seek to be heard and to matter to others like them, if we don’t teach our children what is right and what is wrong based on the word of God and why this country who’s God is the Lord matters, we won’t last another generation.

If we stand for, and on Jesus, we have nothing to fear, no matter what the enemy throws at us. Jesus said, Do not fear any of those things! Fear is what the enemy counts on to keep us silent, to keep us down, to render us impotent.

Remember who you are, children of the king who will receive the crown of life, and even death does not scare nor end us.

‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life:  “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); Revelation 2:8-9

For we are rich in him, him who is the First and the Last, who sees our sufferings, who always has the last word, and that word is always, Arise.

Look it up, you’ll be shocked at how many times we are told to arise; from the ground, from our seats, from our sick bed, from our anguish, from our graves. We cannot be kept down when he who was dead and is now alive calls us to Arise, fearless and ready for anything.

Dear Smyrna–Be Faithful

Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Rev 2:10

How’s that for a recruitment commercial? ‘Sign on with me and you’ll face prison, tribulations, testing and maybe death—but, there’s a crown of life at the end of the road, if you make it that far. So be faithful.’

You want to tell Jesus he needs to hire a marketing consultant? ‘Um, maybe tone it down a bit, focus more on the crown part—and, maybe skip over that suffering part altogether—and the devil; really? Can’t we just ignore him, he really doesn’t poll well in the focus groups. He’s too, you know, evil and creepy—he is a charmer though, maybe we can use some of his tricks.’

Unfortunately, that has been the mindset and the tactics of the market driven church for many years now. “Give your life to Jesus and everything will be good!”  Well, yes and no. Everything inside you will be good, everything outside you—well, it might be a train wreck.

But there is always a light at the end of the tunnel that we are ever moving toward and is guaranteed to be worth whatever the devil does to try to keep us from moving towards it. Sometimes the harder he tries the brighter that light becomes. Lord, I can see that light a-coming and this darkness is fading fast—pain? What pain?

That’s the reality, and it is a hard lesson the church in America is suddenly having to wake up to. Not because Jesus hasn’t told us—it’s right here in Revelation for one—but because we have not had to face a lot of persecution and hardship.

Fake church

If we’re honest, it’s always there in our personal lives, but not as a church where all seems to be good—the songs and messages are happy and so are all the perfect people around us.

And we’re loath to admit personal struggles because it’s supposed to all be good once we say yes to Jesus. It’s been too easy to pretend all is sunshine and roses and that we can have heaven on earth when we can freely drive our own car to a big beautiful church, in our Sunday best, and see a perfect and well-rehearsed spectacle that makes it easy to pretend that all is well for an hour or so anyway.

‘Surely I am the only one here struggling, I just need to have more faith, to keep smiling. The Pastor and the worship leader said it’s all going to be fine, blessings will fall from the sky like Skittles from the rainbow in Candy land, and all I have to do is raise my head to heaven and open my mouth. Umm, nummy!’

¹⁰ Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Rev 2

“What? About to suffer—how about ‘just don’t fear?’ Suffer? Wait, what? Who wrote this? It’s like the worst Hallmark card ever!”

Oh wait, Jesus wrote this, the Author of Life, so maybe we should listen.

Suffering is not what you normally hear about when a preacher preaches a salvation message hoping to lead many to Christ, to get the hands raised and the membership rolls fattened. Or to make sure you keep coming back week after week and bringing your friends.

It’s not what the big name Christian authors put in their books or their Podcasts—“Come to Jesus and the devil will throw you into prison! Hallelujah! And for a suggested donation of just $49.99 we’ll send you a copy of Pastor Blessame’s latest book—’Ten Days of Tribulation‘, an inspiring lesson in how you can claim the hardship that you deserve leaving you leaner and wiser than you ever thought possible—if you survive.”

Has the American feel good church become fake church? We have to ask. Yes we want to be encouraged, and we do have hope, we always have hope. But that hope, as the scripture tells us, comes from having persevered through the sufferings and realizing that we are still standing, standing in the grace and favor of our God, and his Spirit still resides in us. And his love overcomes all.

         

That’s the reality, hope in the midst of tribulation, our spirits untouchable even as the world around us comes unglued.

We need and want to come together to celebrate and be encouraged in the goodness and love of our God, but we need to understand that the battle still rages for the souls of those who have not heard, and to keep our message of hope and power from being silenced.

So we have to know the truth, to read the devils’ playbook, the Lord reveals it to us in his word. This letter to Smyrna is just a small part and a very specific warning for a particular church, but the tactics of the enemy revealed here are the same ones he uses over and over again so we have to pay attention.

I for one don’t want to be blindsided. I would rather know the truth. I want to be prepared, and I have told you often, in so many words; if we are not ready for the troubles and temptations that are sure to come, if we are promised only blessings and rescues at every bump and turn in the road, we will not be equipped to finish, our lamps will be empty, our houses built on sand and our roots in shallow rocky soil, and we will be left behind—before, during or after the tribulation—whenever Jesus returns for us, in the hour no one knows but the Father.

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Mat 24:36-37

We have to be ready for the long haul. The smooth parts and the rough parts, rejoicing in them all, knowing that every step is one step closer to home, and that we are in this together, if we’ll just be honest with one another.

Only the faithful get the crown at the end. Having faith when things are going well is easy, that’s not faith, it’s presumption. And worse, it may just be the devil leaving you alone because you are not a threat to his kingdom. Just keep snoozing, and keep singing happy lullabies to all your friends.

And when I pounce on you in the end you’ll crumble like a gingerbread house in the rain.

—Evil laugh ha, ha, ha.

Every Eye Shall See

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. Rev 1:7

Jesus is returning, of that we can be certain. That promise has been the hope of the church, the assurance of justice served and wrongs made right, the triumph of good over evil, and the comfort of tortured hearts since the day that the resurrected Jesus first departed from that hill outside of Jerusalem to return to His rightful place alongside the Father on the throne of Heaven.

We have the promise made by Jesus himself both before and after his resurrection, as he stood before the Sanhedrin on the day of his murder proclaiming that he would return on the clouds of heaven, and as he assured his disciples on that same night that he was going to prepare a place for them and that he would return for them to be with him there. A promise that holds true for all who believe.

John 14:3

This is a promise that has been echoed throughout the New Testament, and again by Jesus himself, as he reveals the events to surround his return to his Apostle John in the Revelation, who is a prisoner on an island rock quarry that serves as a forced labor camp for enemies of the state.

John is an enemy of the state because his hope and his allegiance is given to a King and  Kingdom that is not subject to Rome or its Caesar, a kingdom that resides in his heart via the Holy Spirit of the King he has chosen to follow, a kingdom which is more than just a memory and a promise, a kingdom that is very real and very close although it cannot be seen with the natural eye.

Yet John, the Apostle and friend of Jesus the Messiah, is going to get a glimpse of that Kingdom and be encouraged to write of what he sees so that all who call on the name of the Lord and King of Heaven, the Alpha and Omega, the First Born from among the dead, will know that this kingdom is real and that there is indeed a place there, prepared just for us. A Place secured and prepared by the man we knew as Jesus, who turned out to be the Son of God, who loved us with an unimaginable love of which we will never fully fathom, but can only benefit from.

And on that day, every eye, including ours, will behold the glory of the coming King as his Spirit within us rejoices at the grand reunion of the entire family of God with their Lord, the Groom, coming to gather us for his wedding feast. Proving to all once and for eternity, that He is the way, the Truth and the Life—the only,  way, truth and life.

When will this be? Soon and very soon.

 I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.  If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. Rev 3:11—12

Patience

It may seem that having waited for two thousand years now, that his return has been far from soon. But when he returns, the span of eternity that is suddenly before us, with the realization of eternity past, and the blip that our lives were in light of that, those years will be but a blink of the eye in the context of our forever reward in the Temple of our God—in the house of our Father.

In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.  John 14:2-3

Love built this house, and love will get us there. In the fullness of time.

Love is patient; the Lord wants to give all a chance to return his love and find their place in that house.

So today I am pondering the first chapter of the Book of Revelation. The opening verse refers to it as “the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants”. Thus this book is indeed a revelation, given to us from our Lord Jesus Christ to share with those who love him, just what his Father has planned, how the victory that Jesus won on the cross and in the tomb is fully and finally implemented, and just exactly how he intends to return.

But it is more than just a revelation of things to come and a tantalizingly marvelous look into the throne room and the workings of heaven itself, it is also a beautiful and magnificent revelation of our resurrected Lord in the fullness of his glory. A glory that, when revealed to all, will bring even the hardest of hearts trembling to their knees in fear, awe and worship. 

A glory that can overwhelm and terrify, yet is beautiful even in that brilliance for us who know him, because we’ll see through that magnificence, the man who came to live and die for us, we’ll see the heart of love and the burning desire and passion that drove him to shed his blood, to be pierced, for us, his creation, his children, his friends. We’ll see the scars that he chooses to still carry to remind us of his love and devotion to us for whom he became flesh and blood and died.

Rev 1

He also carries the scars so that even those who mock and deride him, his message, and his people, will know just exactly who it is that is coming on the clouds on that great and terrible day when every eye shall see the one whom we call Lord. And blessed are those who have not seen, who have not placed their fingers in the scars, and yet believe.

For we who believe now are a kingdom of priests—kings and priests—and we who serve and honor him now will rule with him when he places all the world’s thrones under his feet. But even until then, we are his and we bow down to no other on this earth or in the heavens.

We are his bride; we are the church. The church built on the rock of our confession that Jesus is the Christ. The church for whom he cares enough to send us–even as we await his return–words of encouragement, correction, warning and promise; to reveal to things to come, things to watch for, and our place in all of it. If we dare or care enough to hear with our ears and to see with our eyes and to set our hearts to understand what the Spirit is saying to the church–to you.

Every Eye Shall See

Stop, and See the Trees

Every tree has a story to tell, if we’ll stop and ponder—try to understand.

“Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand;
And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,

And their eyes they have closed. Acts 28:26-27

Swaningson Lone Cone

There’s an old saying—“I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.” It has to do with not being able to see the big picture because you are focused on the one or two things right in front of you. And those things  become your overwhelming concern. But I think it works the other way as well, we often can’t see the trees for the forest.

When I’m hiking down a mountain trail in my beloved Beartooths, surrounded by majestic trees, brush and undergrowth where it all seems like one or two large brush strokes of shades of green and grey have just been tossed onto a canvas just to block the view of what’s behind it, I am often struck by the sight of a single tree that may stand out to me for one reason or another. I like to look at the trees.

It may be a huge ancient looking Ponderosa that seems to be so much larger than those around it, and I stop to ponder how this tree survived when all its contemporaries apparently did not.

Was it the sole survivor of a fire? Or was it just a lone tree, a seed from a pine cone that a now long dead squirrel had for lunch one day, that took root here in a high mountain meadow that became the nurse tree of what would eventually become a forest?

Or I’ll puzzle at the strange kinks and bends in what should be an arrow straight Lodgepole pine and try to imagine what traumatic event this tree survived to be twisted such as it is. Or the great Douglas fir that seems so full and sturdy that turns out to be two trees that have grown so close together that they appear to be one.

Or the stand—offish Quaking Aspen that, with numerous others of it’s kind, has taken over a bare spot that seemed fit only for rocks and wildflowers otherwise, creating a quivering spectacle of shimmering leaves as the breeze makes the copse come to life in brilliant contrast to the stoic still pines beyond.

I love the high mountain trees because the extreme environment they grow in creates such unique and interesting configurations in many of the trees, in what from a distance just appears as a uniform carpet of green waiting with outstretched branches to receive their yearly blanket of brilliantly white, crystalline snow.

Every tree has a story to tell, if we’ll stop and ponder—try to understand.

Such is God’s word, and the ways of the Holy Spirit and his prophets. We, as God’s people can become so immersed in the forest of his word, the lessons, the promises and the warnings, both written, spoken and impressed on our hearts, that we no longer see and hear the import of the things that are spoken to us, and for us, as individuals and as a people.

Things that we need to focus on here and now. and not just say, “well isn’t that something”, and move on, forgetting what we just heard or saw as we just keep blundering ahead, blissfully ignorant and unmoved by the majesty around us. Or perhaps even annoyed at the obstacles of deadfall and rocks or the discomfort of dew dampened shoes and the maddening whine of mosquitos and deerflies, hoping to get through the forest to wherever it is we think we need to get to on the other side of this woods.

“I know where I’m going. I don’t need to be bothered by any of this, or wonder if I missed a turn somewhere. There’s a quiet lake and a fishing pole waiting for me up ahead. Don’t distract me!”

“What, did you say something? Who are you anyways? Get out of my way!”

The Lord warns against this dangerous attitude:

“The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah,

 ‘Go to this people and say,
You will indeed listen, but never understand,
    and you will indeed look, but never perceive.
For this people’s heart has grown dull,
    and their ears are hard of hearing,
        and they have shut their eyes;
        so that they might not look with their eyes,
    and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
    and I would heal them.

Acts 28:26—27 NRSV

“I’ve seen it all and heard it all, and I’m fine.”

No, you’re not. You were supposed to sit on that rock back there under that big Ponderosa and let the Spirit of God reveal to your heart just were it is you’re supposed to be going next, and what it is you might need to be letting him work on in your heart.

Swaningson Be Still

You need to stop, and remember why you started walking through this forest in the first place. And while you’re here, ponder why that lodgepole is bent like a bow, and how it survived the crushing snowfall or the wind sheer that nearly broke it, and how it managed to keep growing and pointed back toward heaven again.

You need to understand how that Doug fir is stronger because it is paired to another and what made all those trees lying on the ground— that you have to keep stepping over—fall. Seek to understand why are they dead and fallen in the first place.

And consider what makes that Aspen tree unique even though it seems lost in a crowd of others who all seem to be trying to get noticed. Yet for all their efforts look just like the trees next to them. And notice the treasures that grow among the broken granite beneath their quivering limbs, the short lived Columbine, the delicate mountain daisy and the glorious Indian Paintbrush.

Swaningson Mountain Daisy

Look at the trees and consider that our God knows the story of each and every one and the richness of the life they influence, enrich and even enable. And be encouraged.

Because, says the Lord, when I look out at my blessed creation and see all my beautiful children, I don’t see a sea of humanity, arms lifted to me for uniform blessings, I don’t see a distant sick forest of trees being overtaken by dying Pine beetle infested trees slowly dying off. I see you.

I see you striving and reaching, seeking the sunlight as the shadows threaten to overtake, clinging to the precious and thin top soil as the winds threaten to uproot, and desiring to be one who is strong enough to nurse others along into straight healthy individual creations, whom together are a beautiful sight.

I see you as the beautiful and unique creation that you are even when you feel like you are invisible, lost in a delirious blur of shining leaves that you think you must be an integral and conformed part of to be accepted.

I see you as beautiful, says the Lord. But never more beautiful in my sight than when I see you looking back at me—when it’s just the two of us—you seeking understanding and actually hearing what it is I would say to you. Just—

Be still, and know that I am God… Psalm 46:10

When you do that, says the Lord, then you will turn and find your healing, then you will be as an oak of righteousness planted by streams of living waters. Then you can see the forest again for what it is, a beautiful living kingdom of which you are a precious and essential part.

When you look into my eyes, unashamed and unhurried, then you will understand. Then your despair will turn to joy.

Swaningson MN Woods

Here, Hold My Wine

Are you kidding me with this? You think this is going to stop me? Pass the marshmallows and let me tell you a story about a man, three days dead, who walked out of a tomb and into my heart.

Castaways

So our band of castaways from the shipwrecked Edward Spitsherald finds themselves on the shore of an unknown island. They are greeted by a band of natives who are amazed to find this group of foreigners amidst a scattering of broken boards, barrels, and oars. They were amazed because, the big lake it’s said, never gives up her dead when the skies of November turn gloomy.

Hours before the captain had wired in that they had water coming in, and the good ship and crew was in peril. But since electronic communication had not yet been invented their Mayday pleas went unheard. Fortunately the Lord was watching over them and they all made it to shore, cold, wet and exhausted, but alive and glad of it.

Yet here they are, mysterious miracle men from the sea and they are ushered to a place where it’s dry enough to build a big bonfire and try to find some comfort and relief from the weeks of cold, wet, and terror they have been experiencing on that storm tossed boat.

No doubt these islanders are a little nervous about this bunch. Seasoned sailors, Roman soldiers, prisoners, all looking pretty haggard and desperate. Yet they are given great favor by the Lord and shown, in Luke’s words, unusual kindness.

No doubt all these castaways are grateful for anything that doesn’t involve the threat of drowning. Just hours earlier as the ship was breaking up on the rocks offshore the captain had said, Fellas, it’s been good to know ya. But now here they are, safe and sound, absorbing the heat of a blazing fire on a beach surrounded by all those they thought they would never see alive again this side of eternity. even with the continued rain and wind, it must have seemed like heaven.

“Woohoo! We’ve made it! We’re alive! Remember how we had almost given up? Lost all hope? Wow, God is good!”

I can only imagine the relief Paul and Luke must have been feeling, high on the very goodness of their God who had seen them through the storm of the century and spared them from becoming just another song of lost voyagers on a stormy lake.

But this is not heaven and they are all soon reminded. This island is a haven for false gods and the devil knows full well that his newest nemesis Paul is going to stir things up. So he stirs up his kin, the local snakes.

Snake!

But God just laughs and says, snakes and goddesses my eye, I’ll show you who’s in charge, this one belongs to me.

When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” Acts 28:4

Paul, who is still a prisoner, is standing there among the group huddled around the fire as those in charge try to explain to the Malta natives who and what they are. Apparently he decides more fuel is needed for the fire and he turns to Luke; “Luke, hold my wine, I’m going to get some more wood for the fire, I saw some dry brush over there under that overhang when we walked up here.”

So Paul grabs up a big armful of the brush and as he approaches the warmth of the fire he’s about to toss some of it on to, he feels a sudden sharp pain in his hand-Thorns? Aahh!–are you kidding me? A snake!?

Dr Luke, a man who has been around and no doubt has treated his share of snake bites calls it a viper, a deadly poisonous snake. Also known as an Adder.

So much for God’s favor—well, not so fast.

Seriously?

Imagine if you were Paul-‘I’ve survived a weeks long storm, a shipwreck, many attempted assassinations including being nearly executed by my guards just before the ship broke up, plunged into a stormy sea, tossed over the rocks and onto the shore in the dark on a piece of busted wood only to be bitten by a stupid snake? Come on!’

No. That’s not what Paul said at all. He simply shook the snake off into the fire, took back his cup from Luke, sat down and made himself a smore.

He was apparently not concerned in the least. He knew his Lord had not brought him this far simply to forget his promise to him about witnessing in Rome simply because some random snake, probably another desperate attempt by the biggest snake of all, to kill him once again.

How frustrating it must be to be the enemy. But it’s, no doubt, not a lot of fun to be Paul either. He seems to be living rent free in the mind of the enemy who constantly sees Paul through the scope of his 50 caliber apostle blaster gun. But he just can’t seem to do any more than irritate or at best wing him.

But Paul is feeling the heat, yet he keeps pushing on, confident that he is doing what he is supposed to be doing and that he is where he is supposed to be every step of the way.

Let the enemy huff and puff, he’s not blowing Paul’s house down. He is built on the rock and he still has work to do. His days are numbered yes, but they are numbered by God and not one of them will be taken away until his race is run.

The enemy keeps trying to stop him but he just keeps arriving at the next stop along the way.

Here’s just a partial list of the attacks he has endured to keep bringing the gospel to the world:

 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,  I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. ²⁸ Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.  1 Cor 11:24-28

Paul has suffered and toiled mightily for the gospel. But that’s what Apostles, evangelists and pastors do. The kingdom often advances with violence, but advance it does.

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. Mat 11:12

So this little old viper—Are you kidding me with this? You think this is going to stop me? Pass the marshmallows and let me tell you a story about a man, three days dead, who walked out of a tomb and into my heart. And by the way, he promised his followers that neither poison nor snakes would harm them.’

And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” Mark 16:17-18

Paul’s life is a living sermon illustration, and he takes full advantage of it. ‘Yeah, this and this happened—but let me tell you why, you see there is this Son of God they called Jesus of Nazareth… and he said this snake thing would happen but we were not to worry about it, so I’m not.’

Paul is doing here just what he has been commissioned to do, what we all have been commissioned to do; “Making disciples of all nations.” Even if you end up in nations you never intended to go to and aren’t even sure where you are when you arrive.

Just keep preaching Jesus.

I Think Myself Happy

“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews…” Acts 26

“I think myself happy.” As we talked about last week, Paul has found his happy place, and it is in his heart where the Holy Spirit of his Savior dwells.

Now, Paul is happy because he gets to once again tell the story of how he met his Savior and gained eternity, the assurance of resurrection and a passion and a purpose to share that news with all.

His persecutors think him mad. Those who dare to listen with their eyes and their hearts open think him wise. His Lord thinks him loved and Paul thinks himself happy, or fortunate, as other translations read. And Paul is never happier, or feels more fortunate,  than when he gets to tell someone about his Jesus, when he gets to tell his story. Because his story is now Jesus’ story.

We all, anyone who has met and received Jesus Christ as Lord has a story, a Jesus story, that ties your heart to his and makes you bullet proof against the lies of the enemy who would kill your spirit with accusations and slanders. The enemy cannot touch our spirits if we keep reminding him and ourselves of where our hope lies, of the life that cannot die and the Father that loves us so that he would give his Son for us.

The Testimony

What is Paul’s story? He stands before King, leaders and governors and tells of his Jesus encounter. The blinding light experiance on the road to Damascus. In part:

 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’“ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. Acts 26:15

These words from Jesus, the resurrected Jesus, jumped out at me. Who was Paul actually going after? The church. He was seizing men and women who were suspected of believing that Jesus was a resurrected Messiah and bringing them before the powers that be in the temple to be excommunicated or stoned to death.

So Jesus is telling Paul, you mess with my people, you mess with me. I find that encouraging actually. The Lord takes the persecution of his people personally. And no one will get away with it indefinitely. There will be a day of reckoning. Fortunately for Paul, his day led him to believe in and receive the Lord whom he had mocked and rejected.

Grace truly is amazing, and Paul lives to share the story.

Paul recognizes that his testimony, his own personal experience, is powerful. The other apostles had the personal stories of having walked with Jesus, of having seen him crucified and then resurrected. That is their testimony, the good news that saves us all if we accept the truth of it.

But Paul, although he knew and told the story himself, as all who hear it should, it was not his personal experience and thus didn’t have the power of a firsthand account.

Paul’s own conversion story did. And combined with the Holy Spirit’s testifying to the hearts of those who hear as Paul speaks, it was powerful.

The thing is, we all have those stories. We all know the gospel— the amazing story of how Jesus came from heaven, lived as one of us, laid down his life and was resurrected and returned to glory. And if we have been born again, filled with the life giving, healing and loving Spirit of our God, taking us from hopelessness to hope, light to dark, death to life, then we have that story, we have that testimony that is irrefutable—because we lived it.

And there is power in that because the same Holy Spirit that gave Paul and the other apostle’s stories credence, goes before us and touches the hearts of those who hear. We plant the seeds, the Lord sends the rain that waters those seeds.

The fertility of the soil that receives those seeds, well we cannot control that, but we must keep planting, we must keep looking for opportunity to tell the stories and consider ourselves fortunate for each and every chance no matter how unexpected, or what type of duress we might be facing.

Whether it’s being dragged out before Kings, governors and rulers as Paul is here, or just a chance encounter at work. We have to be ready, looking for opportunity and trusting the Holy Spirit to guide our stories.

I think often of Peter’s words in his letter to the church.

 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.”  But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 1 Peter 3:14—25

Keep telling your stories my friends.