The old phrase “talk is cheap” is a common thread in today’s 24 hour news cycles and gossip mill we call social media. Words today are often spoken without reverence or thought to their consequences. They are commonly filled with deceit, malice and self interest with little to no truth or value in them. Contrary to popular belief words have real spiritual and physical consequences. The childhood phrase “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” is a bold face lie. Words can cut down to ones very soul. They have the power to exalt or destroy in a single phrase. Once spoken they can never be unspoken leaving behind a wake of sorrow and pain that can last a lifetime. Continue reading “Words have consequences”
The Sign of the Times
As an adolescent I was told the day would come when Jesus followers would be openly persecuted and ridiculed. At the time, I could not image such things. It was the early 1980’s in the US Bible belt and most everyone I knew went to Church on Sunday and claimed to be a Christian. Fast forward to today when everywhere I look foreign and domestic persecution of the Church is a daily occurrence. Today in many countries being a Christian is ultimately a death sentence that can even lead to public beheading. What has conspired in the last thirty years is nothing less than astonishing. The open animosity and vitriol demonstrated daily toward Christians appears to be escalating at a rate never before seen in the West.
You can blame many, but the fact of the matter is the age of the Church is quickly coming to an end and the rise of the anti-Christ is now here to start the next phase in the eternal sago of Good and evil.
Like it or not we are the last generation, and all this is expected.
This means that we will witness the coming of Jesus the Christ God’s one and only Son with our own eyes and we will see the world, as we know it, die before those same eyes. Over a third of the world will die from famine and pestilence. That is over two and a half billion people die in a very short period time. To put it in to perspective there are 331 million people who live in the USA. That is a fraction of the deaths to come. Meaning multiple countries will likely be no more and those who lived with be left with the after math of such a devastating disaster(s).
My first reaction is to pack it up and move to the woods living in a cave stocked up with all the food and water I need. This reaction is likely what most of us would consider irrational and on the side of silly considering no one will escape the the end of the age no matter who you are or where you hide.
The World will see the Spirit of God poured on the Earth creating a revival never seen before. Great wonders and miracles will be witnessed by all of the peoples of the Earth. This in my opinion is likely what escalates the mass persecution of the Saints. Forcing Jesus followers to choose Jesus over the god of government at the penalty of death.
The day is here when your beliefs will be considered too dangerous to ignore and the time will come when you have to choose your life or your faith. At that moment in time will you choose correctly? Without the power of God’s spirit in you it is very unlikely. This decision will shape your eternity. Faith is believing in God’s ability to provide over your own ability. Seek God in this through prayer now while you can. There is too much at stake to leave for the moment.
The Fall
I saw it! It came to me in a dream or was it a vision?
The bottomless depth of despair I plummet, nauseating vertigo envelops me in the sweet nothingness of the darkest of dreams. A realm of nowhere, fear consumes me as I struggle to remember, it begins to feed off of my hope so only despair remains. I desperately claw at the blackness as I fall, reaching for the light as it dissolves in to oblivion. The icy cold burns my flesh pulling me deeper into the dark ink like abyss. I choke on my guilt as my defiance suffocates me. A primordial rage escapes me filled with rebellion and laced with contempt as the deafening roar of an unquenchable fire draws near. My thoughts and senses are terrified by the pungent smell of sulfur, seared flesh and suffocating smoke. Every fiber of my existence begins to scream for mercy as I plummet towards the lake. The condemning words of the righteous one, “I did not know you” echo in my mind for an eternity.
Then I wake.
Thank God it is not too late!
Counting the Cost
On the evening of Easter Sunday I am reminded of the sacrifice my Lord made on an instrument of torture so long ago. For me to understand the end result of Jesus willingly laying down his life in place of mine I have to look back to the beginning. The beginning of creation when all was perfect and God was pleased with all creation including man. By man’s own hand sin entered the world and corrupted every fiber of it. Nothing was left untouched as men fell away from fellowship with God and what He had intended for us. From that time on God had prepared man for the day that he would make the ultimate sacrifice once and for all. To give His one and only son so that we may be rescued from the fate we chose and deserved. Jesus died on a cross for the sins of the world so that the world could once again have fellowship with God. He paid a price none of us were able to pay and without His sacrifice all would be lost. Today we celebrate the salvation God’s sacrifice brought us, but should never forget at what cost.
Salvation was not free, it cost Jesus everything.
Blind to the Truth
I find there are many distinct parallels in Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman and modern day Christians found in John 4. To start most Jews of the day would travel around Samaritan towns and certainly would not interact with a Samaritan woman during the heat of the day. This was clearly not a chance meeting, but a teachable moment orchestrated by a loving God. Continue reading “Blind to the Truth”