Tag Archives: afterlife

Recovering Control in a Skid

This time of the year here in the Ozarks, when the wind gets out of the north, and as in most places, we instinctively hunker down for some cold weather. We see the clouds building on cold days and expect things like slick roads, frozen livestock water, and power outages, especially when the rain falls wet and freezes on things. I’ve noticed that red skies in the morning indeed means there’s a change coming in the weather. It’s odd, isn’t it, that something a truly wise man many years ago, still rings true: [Matt 16:3] ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

The weather is referenced in this passage, but only as an example so people might understand that we are usually unable to connect the dots from the events taking place in the world around us to the actions being taken by God in the Spirit world. Not only are we unable to see the connections, but Spiritual matters are also meticulously avoided in discussions about current affairs, possibly due to the reluctance of many of us to undertake the discomfit upon our worldly reputation for revealing ourselves as believers in Christ. That ain’t no way to be. In one place He said [Luke 9:26] Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I don’t know about anyone else, but for me, the last thing I want while standing before the throne of God is to find myself in the unfortunate happenstance that I had been ashamed of our glorious and loving savior, because He said He will be ashamed of those who were embarrassed to speak of Him in their lives. That’s going to be a sad situation to be in. Jesus went to the extreme act of giving His life at the tender age of around 33 years, just so we could be saved from this horrific world and the torment awaiting nonbelievers. We have opportunity to have eternal life with Him in His glory – how does it make sense that we would avoid talking about Him or intimating that we believed in Him? Why on earth do we refuse to give Him the Glory He deserves for that ultimate act of love, grace and kindness?

Lots of red oak waiting to be split

I’ve got a ton of firewood to split and stack, and from the weather reports, we are supposed to get some beastly winter storms this weekend. When black ice builds up on the road, it’s a lot different than just normal snow. There are places out here where the roads have slopes that are hard to move on when they are covered with it. What makes black ice a problem is that it’s so hard to see, and if you don’t know it’s there and are going too fast, by the time you realize how slick it is, you could easily be headed for the ditch – or a big old doe out there slipping and pitching trying to get traction to run. If you think about it, it’s kind of an analogy to many of our problems and pitfalls in life. How many times have you caught yourself neck-deep in mire before you even realized there was a problem? If you trace the situation back to where it started, it was invariably because of some choice(s) you made earlier, like stepping into the mud in the first place, or driving too fast and only realizing it when your car lets go of the road because you touched your brake pedal.

See related image detail. Snow Covered Road Free Stock Photo | picjumbo

Life is like that, for instance if one is prone to drink too much and too often, the choice to have a beer might seem innocuous enough, and true, it would be if he were a casual drinker, but for the heavy drinker, to pop a top is invariably the beginning of another perilous experience. The person should know full well that to imbibe is for him, a no-no, and sure enough he will end up paying whatever price is to be exacted for his slip up, so he once again becomes neck-deep in a mire of his own choosing. Like finding yourself flying down an ice-covered hill with no way of even slowing down. If a crash is to ensue, well God only knows how bad it might be. There are many other examples of bad choices creating havoc in our lives, but most folks know ahead of time what misfortune might be the result of a bad choice.

Even though we have some weather coming, today it’s not so bad. It’s around 45 degrees and that bright yellow object is high in the afternoon sky, probably trying to decide whether to hammer us with a CME, or just duck behind the clouds again and let the storm do its thing this weekend. This weather is getting fickle, and I’m talking about everywhere – floods, ice storms, landslides, tornadoes, you name it. Now a sane person might begin to think that He who controls the weather might be troubled about our behavior, since we have it on good information that He indeed became angered in times past and used His supremacy over the elements to reset human behavior. There are many who believe that mankind has developed ways to interfere with natural weather patterns and are themselves causing a lot of the weather-related issues, and they might be right to an extent, but God has the final say on the matter. Maybe He is just sitting back for now and watching men get involved in things that are way over their heads and letting them (us) suffer the consequences.

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All in all, I believe we are approaching the end of life as we have known it. From now on, we will increasingly find ourselves in uncharted places. God lives in the spiritual domain, but He knows where humanity is headed here in the world we occupy, but we – and I’m growing more and more convinced that scientists, medical professionals, and political leaders – don’t have a clue. Oh, except for the people in the “think tanks”, they belong to that elite group of human beings who know everything. For real, I honestly believe the “fellows” in think tanks are just men and women with connections who could never be trusted with any position where they might pose a risk to the order of things, so wealthy relatives or other associates give them a seat in a think tank to keep them away from the fire, but also to placate their desire for power so they don’t throw hissy fits. Problem is a lot of politicians who don’t know better actually listen to them and make decisions based on their recommendations. Then we get back to being neck-deep in the mire because of bad choices, ad infinitum, (i.e. Vietnam war, sanctions that invariably backfire, the incredible ignorance of sending weapons to bad guys, etc.). When you hear some politician speaking highly of some think tank or another, just be apprised that they are merely stroking the egos of some folks who didn’t have the moxie to be leaders or politicians – and are making them feel important. And like I said, fellows in think tanks always have connections that can funnel dollars or shekels in said politicians’ direction, which often weighs heavily on decisions concerning national policy, so there’s that. I did a post on think tanks here.

As we fumble and stumble around trying to get through this crazy world, there is a Way to do it right. No matter how crazy -or evil – things get, we have a Friend who is willing to help us navigate this perilous journey. He is the only Way through it, at least the only Way to a desirable outcome, and He waits for you to contact Him. Jesus Christ loves you, and that’s certainly not something you can say about very many people in this world. The enemy hates and seeks to destroy everything and everyone that God has created, and unfortunately, he has many people in his service, but Jesus Christ has and will continue to overcome all of them. The Lord also has (and gives us the resources we need to) overcome the evils of this world, if we but seek Him. Don’t wait for life’s threats like that that dark highway ice to cause you problems you can’t escape – slow down – get to know Him now. You’ll forever be glad you did. [1 Corinthians 2:9] “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him—” “What no human mind has conceived” means we never have, so we cannot even imagine what a joyful experience that life will be. Remember such promises – He will.

May the abundant blessings of God find and keep you.

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MK

We Get the Life We Choose

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Whichever way you choose to walk through this life, know that all is binary – you are either walking with good or you have chosen to walk with evil, there is no third way. You were prewired to know right from wrong, so if it ain’t right, it’s wrong. If we seek to emerge into the next life with the highest expectations, then we must resign ourselves to lifestyles on this earth which most do not deem to be desirable – at first glance or first thought. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor…” and since we know He doesn’t just say things, every word He uttered in His short life on this earth had meanings we are able to understand, although sometime in different ways and even today we are seeing His truths being realized, we must diligently scrutinize His every word. So, if the Lord says the poor are blessed, then I need to take a bigger picture look at my childhood (I did) and find that blessing. Guess what. I found it. It’s really not that hard to figure out poor kids get shamed – even back in my day, kids are kids. So you look for things to do that might get you into trouble, but also that might get you some positive attention from the other kids. Slippery slope, indeed.

I was raised as a poor kid in the old pine thickets of East Texas as the youngest of ten kids our dad raised on the salary of a butane deliveryman. We were among the poorest in neighborhoods of poor folks, and if someone had told us back then that we were blessed, we’d at least have thought they were a bubble out of plumb – back then. Many years have passed since those days of waiting for the school bus in the frost on an old red dirt road, but having lived several lives since then, I’d have to remember those days as the most abundantly blessed of all my years and experiences. I can remember a time when the America I lived in was truly a free country. My dad told me he thought the antiChrist was communism. We said the pledge of allegiance on Monday mornings at school. When we finally got our first TV, I was eight years old and Bonanza was about the most adult of TV shows. In those days prior to “Operation Mockingbird”, we could, for the most part, believe our news people – Walter Cronkite was a folk hero. An innocent time in an innocent country. Then the same bad guys we are dealing with today killed President Kennedy. That incident lifted the lid off our pot of innocence, and it’s been downhill ever since, speeding along at a geometric rate. Little did we know back then how completely we were about to be programmed through that “hellivision”. It didn’t take long for that marvelous TV to become the greatest obstacle to our family togetherness. How can you get to know and stay in touch with each other when everyone’s mind, all their senses are out of the room? Every – single – night.

It all started innocently enough – TV commercials had little songs they called jingles – I can even remember some of the lyrics, “Winston tastes good like a cigarette should’, or “Aren’t you glad you use Dial – don’t you wish everybody did?” and countless others. These marketing techniques were just beginning to take root, and there couldn’t have been a more fertile population on which to foist a capitalist oligarchy takeover – of our nation, and then the world. The TV was in our living room, and although we were a close family in a small room, our minds, our thoughts, our entire beings were miles away from one another. Before when we had each other to talk to and to get to know and with whom we should have continued to grow closer, we, as millions of other families in America, were being torn apart and we relished it – we didn’t know what the underlying purpose of it was about, so were taken totally unaware. I wish there was some way to compare yesterday’s TV’s innocence with what passes for entertainment today in all it’s darkness.

Meanwhile, the Art of the Deal was taking root in dark halls and godless temples, casinos, government buildings the world over. Humanity was being auctioned, traded, sent to death in needless wars, all to appease a select few whom Satan had completely lured over to his side, and were willing to pool their resources to help him to destroy God’s creation and his people. Especially His people – if you are a Christian, that’s you and me. Some people have understood the potential ramifications of standing up to them but have done it anyway. Jesus Christ was the most prominent One of all. Though He stands eternally alone and above all others, there have been a few down through history who were willing to give it all for God. If you think about it, it’s part of the deal, understood over time as a follower of Christ. As we mature in the Spirit, and God knows I wish I’d started before I did, we come to understand concepts and precepts that apply to us as believers, the pre-eminent one being that when we decided to follow Jesus, we set ourselves on the journey of our intended lives so that in time we will have to make a decision as to whether we really believe with all our hearts that Jesus is exactly who He says He is and that the time will come when we will follow Him to the other side.

Deitrich Bonhoeffer is a name we should all remember as the modern-day martyr of Christ we aspire to be. He, as a protestant preacher living in NAZI Germany authored The Cost of Discipleship. It should be required reading for the believer in Jesus Christ. If you’ve not read it I’d advise you to grab a copy to read as this age winds down. Bonhoeffer was a unique man and probably the most faithful disciple you will hear of in modern times (WWII era). If the truth was known, and it will be one day, I’m afraid that a lot of my fellow Christians are going to drop out of the race just as things are becoming interesting! That’s the last course of action a Christian should even allow to pass through their thoughts. We are entering into the last days that we Christians know about, and we also know from prophecy that we’re going to go through some tough times ahead, at least for the near term. What I’m asking is this: What kind of Savoir would allow His followers to willingly go to the slaughter alone? Would He turn His back as we reached our fate? I’m here to tell you He will be there! In all His glory, in a few moments we’ll be forever His! We will not taste that death the enemy has worked so hard to get us to. That enemy is an enemy indeed – THE enemy of mankind, and we have people, our leaders, openly serving every malevolent purpose they can ignite in his service. How many humans, made in the image of God, can they kill? This purpose has become all-consuming for the servants of Satan who serve hm as world leaders.

The bad guys want Christians’ hides with which to adorn their trophy rooms. The only real enemy of Satan on this earth is the reverent Christian with a heart full of God’s love to spread around and damage his (Satan’s) reputation in front of his followers. Satan’s pride was his downfall, and pride is not a pretty defect to have to deal with, but when the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ shows you that it’s a problem for you, I can tell you from experience, you’ll know it. Lust of the flesh, Lust of the world, Pride of life. Pride and vanity bring to men insanity and bring down nations – we’ve seen it – look at Nero, Caligula, Hitler, and now Erdogan and Netanyahu – Benjamin Netanyahu, aka Benzion Mileikowsky. He’s a European of Polish descent, not even a Jew, but that’s how servants of Satan operate – deception. I personally can’t stand to hear his voice, I love him in a spiritual sense, and I have prayed for him – probably not as much as I should, but that man is doing some next-level evil over there in the Holy Land. God’s not going to deal with this man’s blasphemy for long. Netanyahu: in Hebrew it means – The Lord has given... Blasphemous names, anyone?

As you read this post, there are dark characters in secret places, dark characters that haunt places like the Bohemian Grove and the Gaudy Buildings of Westminster or Langley, VA who are plotting the course of the world they hold in their grasp (for only a little while longer). They no longer own their souls, if they ever had souls, some are demons from hell and they’re walking among us, holding joint sessions of congress for their illustrious leader, second cousin of Satan, Netanyahu himself. They control everything in the Western world and are encroaching on Asian Lands like some kind of black cloud of evil, consuming everything, destroying everything. They kill and destroy because that’s what their father the devil has them doing in his service. Do not think you are insulting any of these men by calling them Satanic, for the ones up the food chain take it as a compliment, like you’re putting in a good word for them to their boss. They know they are evil, we don’t have to point that out to them. Destroying works of man, even beneficial ones like hospitals or ancient architecture some hold sacred, it’s all on the list for destruction. I’m convinced that Revelation 18 speaks of the destruction of the US. The descriptions of decadence, wealth, and lavish lifestyles of wealthy Americans fit the description to a T. There are a couple of other places it might be, such as London, or maybe somewhere like Jerusalem, but the overall passage describes the US, and it says it will be destroyed in an hour – wonder how they could do that? The dark guys who control things are going to hand their boss over 250,000,000 million dead human beings, and that’s just in this country. Europe, Africa and Asia will have their numbers too. The vast majority of them will not have been saved, because not enough people like me are out there screaming and hollering for their attention. And not enough of our fellow travelers are listening to those of us that are hollering.

Yes, we’re rapidly approaching the precipice and there are few who will be willing to fall into it’s gaping maw, so when that time comes many will renounce their faith. Even though they’re trading away their eternity, they will pledge themselves to what’s left of their lives in his service. Many Christians will face harsh times because of this requirement to worship some insidious son of Satan while he’s having his hour of fun. To be fair, it’s going to be a tough decision for those who are unprepared for that moment. That’s a critical juncture for us, because without His companionship to give us heart, none of us would be willing to cross that bridge, but my friends, He will be right beside us. Of course He is with us all the time, but in those perilous days, I believe His presence will be so strong as to consume our fear and His love will be exhilarating relief for our troubled souls as we slog through those tribulations and once this thing is over. I’ve written this on earlier posts, but I love to imagine being before Him in His Almighty Glory and hearing Him say “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into My Kingdom.” The definition of success indeed!

Do not be afraid. Be of good cheer, Jesus overcame it and He’s going to make sure we have everything we need when we need it so we can overcome this mess we’re in too. Stay strong, keep the faith. We’ll be in His blessed company soon.

As I said at the beginning, we get the life we choose. If you haven’t begun to trust Him yet, you don’t have to be shy about coming to Jesus Christ for His provident blessings. He stands ready to forgive any and all sins on your record and He will love you and stand by you forever. If you’re not a believer in Jesus Christ, there are Christian ministries all over the world with whom you should get in touch. There are loving people in the Christian ministries who will take you into their lives and teach you about Jesus. You will look back at that decision with the greatest sense of relief you can imagine. You’ll be in His Kingdom!

There are evil people and demons afoot – Jesus can and will help you navigate all the way until you reach your new home – He prepared it for you Himself. The best part of it all is that we’ll all be in the blessed presence of the Father and the Lamb of God – Forever.

May the abundant blessings of God the Father find and keep us all.

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MK

Finding Light in the Appalling Darkness

A lot of the world is in shock right now, and I suppose it should be, owing to all the evil things happening right out in the open. The enemy and his servants are doing what he intended all along, it’s just that such blatant evil as intentionally killing innocent people has always been rightfully unacceptable to society at large, so such behavior has been kept more or less under wraps until now. Things have changed, and it’s rather surprising to see this darkness and its adherents so openly challenging the moral limits we have always recognized, but maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised after all because this kind of behavior has always been a big part of the human psyche, at least for some.

Although we are witnessing the sudden unraveling of social norms in a lot of places, to be gob smacked by the ferocity with which it is occurring is to be somewhat uninformed of the extent of evil, and this tendency of folks is precisely why decent people are in shock to see it. In other words, there is no limit to the depths of moral depravity to which men will immerse themselves once they abandon the commandments of God, and we’re experiencing that very behavior in these latter times. We’ve read about it happening before – how entire societies can be transformed into bastions of repulsive wickedness like Sodom, for instance. Now our generation can see it first-hand. And those of us who recognize it for what it is are rightfully appalled.

Though we are present in this age to witness the moral depredations of the society in which we live and the despondence they evoke in our hearts, all is not lost. Amid the destruction of cities and the failure of human resistance to successfully thwart this inclination toward hopelessness, if we but look in the right direction, we will be able to discern a light – the Light – of salvation. If we don’t realize it by now, there’s a very slim chance we will ever understand it, but we, as physical human creatures, do not possess the capacity to defeat this darkness of evil that is rapidly overcoming our world. But there is One who does. He is the Author of the salvation of mankind, and He offers us the only Way out of this desperate situation we are in. He is Jesus Christ, who at the culmination of this human existence, will take up His scepter and His eternal crown. He will also take us, His followers with Him, to ever reign as our King.

One need only look at the news and at the destruction being levied upon so many places in the world to begin to fathom the reality that this world will not be able to repair itself. This war which mendaciously wends itself through regions of the world and hearts of men is different from those great wars men have waged in the past, for this one, in addition to the devastation being wreaked on nations and for indiscernible causes, is one which demands that we take a moral stand, either we watch the evil taking place, knowing fully of the wrongfulness of it but take a supportive stance nevertheless, or we reject any possible moral justification for what we see happening, for it is only within the constraints of this choice that we may be able to discern that great Light of Jesus Christ.

One of the great revelations God gives us is the understanding that, contrary to what we’ve always been misled to believe, wars are only waged to kill and destroy. They are not waged because of territory, or because of resources. Wars are not fought in order to conquer nations. Wars are fought because when men, created in God’s image, are killing each other, Satan is at his highest pinnacle. All of those other excuses might sound reasonable, but the evil one is the author of war and destruction, and he doesn’t need oil. If he wasn’t in charge of men’s behavior, we might be able to figure out how to share resources, but by his direction, we prefer to kill over them. We do not have to, and we’ve never had to.

We must recognize and understand the situation we find ourselves in, and if we would seek a way out of it, we have to find the Light. It’s not hard and His burden is not heavy, but if we haven’t made the decision to seek Him, we’d be well advised to do so, for time’s a wasting and we probably don’t have much left.

Find a church with a devoted preacher and get to know Jesus Christ. Get out that Bible, read it, and pay attention to what it says. You’ll find an inexplicable peace of mind in His kingdom, no matter the state of the world.

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May God’s blessings find and keep us.

MK

Called and Chosen to be Faithful

Called, chosen, and faithful. When Christ finally drops the hammer on His enemies, He will be accompanied by His army of followers who will be called, chosen, and faithful. [Revelation 17:14] – They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

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This is where we fit in, fellow believers. Remember, my beloved brothers and sisters who follow these posts in Malaysia, in Kenya, Myanmar, Mexico – all of you from the far reaches of the world and regardless of any former belief system you have held, you who seek to discover your place in the grand scheme in which Jesus Christ will be the Sovereign – this is how we get where we need to go. Isaiah 41:9 – [Isaiah 41:9] I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. Therefore, we are called by the Lord to come into His Kingdom. Yes, we have a standing invitation from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself – a calling – which we must not ignore! If we do not give our utmost attention to properly answering this call, we risk the most horrific eventuality that can come upon our souls, which is the dreaded fate of not being chosen for His mighty army.

When we take His invitation lightly, and are careless in our response, we become bound to a horrific and eternal fate. One fellow was observed at a reception who was not properly prepared to be attending, and this was his lot: [ Matthew 22:13,14] “Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  “For many are invited [called], but few are chosen.”

To be called, and chosen, are great honors bestowed upon us by the Lord Jesus, but the faithful part is all on us. Are we being faithful to the calling to which He beckons us? Are we being faithful to Him? In the big picture, nothing else matters at all. It doesn’t matter if our designated existence in this life requires us to be a woodsman in Bavaria or a rickshaw operated in Mumbai, a hairdresser in some New York salon, or maybe even an old hillbilly blogger in the Ozarks, our number one objective in this life should be to do whatever we can to please our God, our Creator. For by doing so, once He calls and chooses us, we satisfy that “faithful” part of called, chosen, and faithful.

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Today is a blessed, rainy day here in the Ozarks. We’ve had hardly any rain for about six weeks or so, and things were getting dry enough around here that everyone was starting to worry about fires, but maybe that fear is allayed for the time being. One of my biggest fears, though, is looking at the state of the world we’re living in and realizing how many people are living with their attention turned to world events and away from the God to Whom we need to bring our cares for His consolation. As the golden hickory leaves become rain-sogged and drop to the ochre ground, so our fellow humans fall to the merciless swords of war, plagues, and all sorts of evil, souls bound for lesser places because they do not answer the call. For how can we be chosen if we do not answer the call?

[Revelation 3:20] – Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. It’s a standing invitation, all you have to do is open the door for Him and He’ll take care of the rest.

May the blessings of God find and keep us.

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MK

Avoiding the Dead-End Need for Vengeance

Sometimes I find myself battling against frustration over the things that are going on in the world today and I know I’m not alone. There is comfort to be had, though it might not be where we think, where we look. How can a person look at the horrible pictures of butchered children, young children intentionally injured and/or killed? Is this what humanity has become? My own answer to this is a resounding NO! At least for the humanity of humans, this is not who we are, nor who we were created to be, and we do not have to accept any presumption that we are part of the evil we see but cannot stop.

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Of course, frustration ensues when we have to witness our whole existence turned upside down. The human psyche was not designed to accommodate this level of evil. Witness the soldiers who take part in it, coming home to live in drug abuse or even suicide! It’s too much for anyone with a shred of conscience to endure, but of course they don’t think about lying awake at night listening to the screams of toddlers being massacred, of mothers begging for their lives to be spared while they’re busy impressing their buddies with their ruthlessness. God did not create people to act like this, and many of the actors who play the roles of butchers of innocent human beings pay a steep price even before this life is over, but surely and forever in the next.

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As I’ve written before, and shall continue to remind people of conscience, there will be a reckoning for all of this. The Almighty God sees every detail of what’s going on, and every drop of innocent blood is duly noted for the judgement of those who shed it. There is not, nor can there ever be, any justification or rationalization for the inhumanity of killing innocent people – especially children. I know our ancestors here in America were guilty of the same behavior towards the Indians, and I’d like to think I’d be of the same mind about their treatment as I am about the Palestinians and Lebanese today. In fact, I know I would – I don’t think that as a Christian, a true follower of the Covenant of Jesus Christ, anyone could believe otherwise, murdering innocent people is wrong! it’s a horror wrought by Satan himself, and people who commit such barbarism are undoubtedly possessed by the evilest of demons from the bottomless pit. But therein lies the rub – if we allow ourselves to be overcome by hatred and the desire for vengeance, the same enemy wins against us as the one who is in charge of the atrocities being committed.

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Me too, my friend, me too

Frustration at the evil we witness in the world can overcome even the staunchest of believers, so it is imperative that we trust in God who has the power to – and undoubtedly will – bring justice upon the perpetrators. Satan uses this very frustration to serve his purpose – especially against believers – for many are sure to be overcome by hatred. We must not let this happen – the very evil we abhor is a powerful and multifaceted weapon – that hatred, because it ultimately has the same effect on our spirit as the evil itself. No matter how horrific their behavior, we must bear in mind that they are still human beings, even though for the duration of their barbarity they are under the control of Satan.

Jesus warns us of that very danger when He admonishes us to love our enemies, because even the vilest of people can turn away from their evil and repent, and if God can forgive them, then we must be able to do the same. No other religion outside of true Christianity teaches this level of forgiveness and even compassion for one’s enemies and this is one of the end products of Christ’s love for all people. He gives everyone every chance to come into His kingdom, and He sees both the evil of those who slaughter innocents, AND those of us who have allowed hatred to get the better of them, an act of submission to the same devil. He said the Father makes His rain fall on both the good and the wicked, and if we’d like to be in the same mindset as Him, we must learn to love our enemies. Love is the key to being a faithful servant of Jesus, and it is disturbing to hear public speakers from politicians to (even “Christian”) preachers advocating war and violence spurred on by the very hatred they should be condemning.

The Bible says in more than one place that God is love. If we could begin to fathom the depths of His love, we’d certainly have a better understanding – and appreciation – of Him. He is merciful beyond anything we could ever imagine, and when we would like to get close to Him, we must always remember to call on Jesus – no one can serve the Father who rejects the Son. That’s important to know, especially when you take into consideration that Jesus died on the cross of His own free will, so that we could be saved from the damnation of this world and that lake of eternal fire that ultimately awaits all who reject Him. This is as real as it gets, folks. The end is getting close, get to know Jesus and be prepared for what’s coming upon us. You’ll be eternally glad you did.

And don’t ever let the stranger cause you to hate people.

May the blessings of God find and keep us all.

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MK

How to Obtain Comfort for Palestine

Pervasive helplessness – that seems to be what’s going on. We see injustice, evil in high places, yet we feel powerless to do anything about it. We watch leaders of nations speak out against the unspeakable atrocities of Gaza and now Lebanon and do nothing to stop it. Maybe one more sternly worded letter or one more denunciation of the IOF for bombing hospitals will serve to stop it.

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Erdogan of Turkey keeps speaking out against genocide, so does Egypt’s Sisi, and Abdullah of Jordan, but when it comes down to actually doing something, anything, to help, well we just hear a bunch of empty words. The Middle East desperately needs a hero, but alas, none are to be found outside Yemen, Lebanon, and Iran. I guess Erdogan will just live in his Walter Mittyesque daydream of being the heroic sultan of an imagined new Ottoman Empire, though not lifting a finger to help those over whom he would reign.

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The Zionist occupation entity has scored a lot of success lately. At least it seems like they think turning the entire world against them with their practice of mass murder is strategic success. I remember some of the WWII propaganda that was still around when I was a kid – we were still immersed in it even in the fifties and sixties. One of the things that stood out about the Nazis, in particular the SS, was one of their founding principles for membership and it went something like this: If a man cannot put a gun to the head of a young child and without mercy kill him/her, then there’s no place in the SS for him. When this was circulating back in the day, we all thought, as any human being would, that this was one of the most atrocious things we had ever heard of. That tidbit alone turned a big part of the world against the Nazis, yet we see the exact same attitudes happening in occupied Palestine with the habit of the IOF soldiers these days of killing Arab children with head shots and laughing about it. What’s the difference? When the Nazis did it, it was total horror, but when the IOF does it, it’s Israel exercising their right to “self defense”.

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There’s no doubt some horrific behavior happening, but we’re not totally helpless. We have at our disposal one thing which will ultimately turn the tide of this atrocity, and it is prayer. God hears our prayers, and He will take vengeance on the perpetrators of this murder of innocents when He decides the time is right. Don’t waste your time writing letters to congressmen, they are bought-and-paid for servants of an evil regime and will do nothing to stop even the overt murder of children. Jesus Christ said it would be better for someone to have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the ocean than for them to face the wrath of God for harming the little children, so they have theirs coming. That will surely apply to those who support this evil from the safety of their dens of iniquities in the Rayburn and Russell buildings and the white house, et. al.

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Or more precisely
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No, we must take our petitions to the Almighty God at His throne where our prayers fill the heavenly censers. Above all, we must tell Him we are not a part of this evil and we do not support it, even if we live in the country where the evil comes from. The serpents who purport to run this country are doing so because there’s a lot of money to be made in the service of Satan. That, or their name might just be in a certain little Epstein book. Either way, what they are doing is treason of the highest order against America and against God. Now, I do not for one second believe that they are working against God as a result of treason to America, for I do not think God holds America any higher than He does Somalia or Greenland. He is not a respecter of persons. No, the serpents in Washington just happen to be enemies of America in addition to being enemies of God. They will answer to God in due time.

When we pray for the children of Gaza, for the innocent people who are defenseless to the onslaught of powerful bombs being dropped on their homes, we are showing our compassion for the helpless. Just because He doesn’t act according to the timetable we desire – like right now – doesn’t mean he is ignoring the situation; He most certainly is not. God has an infallible plan, one which is not restricted nor constrained to the limitations or time constraints of this world. He knows of another life, another realm, one in which those children who have been martyred in Gaza and taken out of this world, now are in the care and indescribable comfort of the Lord Jesus Christ and the angels of Heaven. We who are left here shall miss them, but we must keep in mind that they are in good hands now, never to be afraid again.

The pilots who drop those bombs on innocent civilians, as well as the snipers who murder the women and children will face a special place in hell. These are the most cowardly of all – the drone operators who slaughter people as though they are playing video games will especially answer for their atrocities. All the people up the chains of command including to the pentagon and the white house will answer to God for their support and participation. There is no justification or excuse for this evil being perpetrated on defenseless children. This includes intentional starvation and those who shut off the water.

Take whatever comfort you may: [Isaiah 41:17, 18]

“The poor and needy seek water, but there is none,
Their tongues fail for thirst.
I, the Lord, will hear them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in desolate heights,
And fountains in the midst of the valleys;
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
And the dry land springs of water.

God is watching. He’s watching the perpetrators of the evil of Gaza and all who support it. Bot don’t forget – He’s watching you too. How will you react to these days of iniquity? Pray without ceasing.

May the Mercy of God find and keep us.

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MK

Are There Benefits to Being Turned Down?

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Rejection. Wow – what a desolate feeling! It’s probably the most damaging blow to human pride of all the many depredations we can experience. Rejection affects different people in different ways, some people deal with rejection by doubling down, working harder, and sometimes this is the correct response, others simply cannot endure it and turn to drugs or booze, and some even take the permanent way out, but most of us learn somehow to cope and thus become able to endure the damage to our psyches. It can have a marked influence on our lives though.

There are examples before us to learn how people have dealt with rejection, such as when a young Adolph Hitler was turned down by the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. He was an aspiring young artist and had submitted some of his work for consideration, but the acceptance committee didn’t think he had what it took. Needless to say, he didn’t take it so well, but what if? What if he had been accepted – he was a pretty good artist, and who knows how good he might have turned out to be? Could you imagine walking into an art exhibit with expensive Hitlers for auction? How the history books would be different today! But he was rejected, and that very rejection could have well been the seed of all the death and destruction of WWII.

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Painting by Hitler

Consider that beautiful girl back in high school that you would have treated like a princess if only she would have responded to your advances. What a bummer to see her hooked up with some nerd from the debating team who obviously could have never given her half the affection you were prepared to lavish upon her. The fact that they eventually married and had half a dozen kids and stayed together for scores of years notwithstanding, she would have been much better off with you – right?

Rejection takes many forms and none of them are in any way desirable, at least for the time being, but sometimes if we look at things from a different viewpoint, we might see that we’re better off for the way things turned out, even if we had to spend some time buffing out the dings to our pride to get over it. Think about famous people. There’s that human envy in which we often find ourselves immersed that says we’d like to be able to sing like Elvis before adulating mobs in great auditoriums, and it does seem like it’d be quite the trip, but maybe God gave us the voice we have precisely so that we wouldn’t ever get rich or famous because He had other plans for us. Maybe the less than perfect eyesight that prevented us from becoming a fighter pilot was bestowed on us so that we’d never have to give an account of ourselves for mass-murdering innocent people during some “war”.

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When I walk out in the woods in the fall and immerse myself in the breathtaking beauty of autumn – an exercise in which I delight more than anything else – I sometimes wonder where else I might have ended up if I had been “successful” in some of my early endeavors. If I had become a famous artist, would I be somewhere I could walk in the woods and enjoy nature like I do now, or would I be ever on the run from unwanted people, ducking for cover when the mobs of newspaper reporters and paparazzi photographers found out where I was, all the more so if I was in some personal setting? I guess most of those folks who have to live like that either enjoy the attention, or at least have learned to tolerate it, but for me, I couldn’t imagine an unhappier lifestyle, never mind the wealth.

I believe that success also comes in many forms or iterations, and most of us don’t have a clue what “success” actually is. We hear the word used a lot when people discuss a person’s financial status, but we only accept it as such because that’s what we’ve been trained to think. When you get to the truth of the matter, success has to be whatever makes a person happy – be it those things which can be experienced or owned in this life, or be it the satisfaction we experience in the knowledge that we are prepared to enter into the next life fully enlightened and that the Lord will approve our conduct in this one. That satisfaction only comes as a result of determining to seek God and live according to His judgements and that of course, will entail an endless stream of “rejections” – both of us and by us.

We will be rejected by the world because our interests are different than those taught by the world – different because there is a Spirit who guides us that does not guide those who reject Jesus Christ. We are rejected by our fellow humans when we write posts they don’t want to read – too much going on for them to bother with learning about Him who created them. We are constantly rejected, as mentioned earlier by those who could inject wealth into our lives, ends up for our own good, although that’s not why they reject us. Those kinds of rejections are normally the result of financial considerations.

There was a funny song by a musician/comic named Jerry Reed about a guy who was a talent scout who rejected this aspiring musician who called himself the Tupelo Mississippi Flash (a reference to Elvis) and the musician went on to become famous and the scout got canned for rejecting him. Sometimes the person doing the rejecting might be making a mistake, but that’s beside the point. The financial consideration was the reason for the rejection, and only through hindsight he learned of his mistake. If the person who suffers whatever rejection for whatever reason were stop feeling sorry for himself long enough to apply hindsight similarly, he might understand how his rejection served to benefit him. Look at all of the folks who became famous in their pursuits living decadent and immoral lifestyles or that came to tragic endings.

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Perhaps the most well-known rejection of a human being was that of Jesus Christ. His rejection served to benefit humankind, but it must have been a desperately humiliating experience for Him. How painful it must have been to look out at the people He had been teaching, loving, and healing as they now chanted for Pilate to release Barabbas, a criminal, rather than Himself as they scorned, spat, and beat upon Him. He knew and understood that what He was doing was something that had to be done to save the world, but still the despondence must have been immense. Can you imagine how painful it would be to endure having big nails driven into your hands and feet, watching through tears and blood in His eyes as His “friends” turned away? He died an extraordinarily painful death, hanging on that big, magnificent cross – an incredible act of selflessness during which His concern was not for Himself, but for the souls of the men who were doing this to Him. As His precious life ebbed, He pleaded with God, HIs Father for forgiveness for those men. How is that for responding to rejection?

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Now I don’t know about you, my friends, but in my book, Jesus Christ has suffered enough rejection. That horrible day on the cross was enough for all eternity, and no one in their right mind should ever choose to reject Him anymore. From today until the end, however, there are people who still opt to try and live without Him, to their eternal shame and damnation. There is still time, though no one knows how much, to get things right with Jesus; do it, whatever it takes, just get on your knees and let Him know you are sorry for the life you have lived and are willing to hand Him the keys to your life. He knows where you need to go and will gladly take you there.

When and if you decide to accept His generous offer of eternal life, you can expect rejection from the world, but that’s okay – that’s Satan’s doing and it’s worth all the rejection the world can throw at you to know Jesus has your back and that you will ultimately be with Him in paradise for all of eternity. You will also be doing some rejection of your own – you can reject a world in which innocent people continue to be murdered, you can reject immoral lifestyles and those who relish hatred and malevolence. You can reject those who continue to reject our Lord Jesus – you are in no way obligated to conform to their ways. Once you make up your mind to join Christ, you become free with a freedom that the human mind can scarcely imagine!

I don’t think there are many who would argue that time is growing short for us. The world as we know it will never be the same as it was yesterday, last week, last year. This chaos is the new normal. There is still some time though. Time to give a hungry person something to eat. Time to help a child by donating to a reputable charity. Time to walk in the woods, enjoy the colors of fall, and thank Jesus for all He has done for us. If you are not already in touch with Him, I cannot stress enough how important it is for you to find Him – He’s not that far away, right at the very door of your heart. Call on Him before it is too late. No more rejection.

May the blessings of God find and keep us.

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MK

Weaving the Tapestry of Faith

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Over the years, over the centuries, Christianity has gotten a bad rap. Our predecessors were fallible human beings, as we all are, and as such were vulnerable to attacks from the enemy. Obviously, they didn’t always win. In order to be able to gain some appreciation for the power of evil that has ever been arrayed against us, it would be prudent to understand that this enemy has a plan – a plan that has been developed and fine-tuned for millennia, and he is wise and cunning. Things that are happening today are not happening by any kind of coincidence, they’ve been planned out for ages. We’re temporary beings who are playing our parts in only one act of the great play. There were others yesterday. There were others in the first millennia, the first century, but the plan was in progress for the whole production.

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Satan obviously took control at various times through the years in order to give Christians a bad name. The Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and other times and efforts were perpetrated so that in the end days there would be people who could point out those eras to disparage Christianity. He’s been working on this for a long time. Although one of the goals of his plan seems to have been to alienate the Islamic faith from the Christian, God has maneuvered events so as to bring believers together, and ironically, if we look closely, we are finding it possible to be able to see God through each other’s eyes. Many of us Christians see the devotion of Moslems with their daily prayers and the way they teach their children in righteousness and wish our fellow Christians would do likewise. Islam also teaches of Jesus Christ, some sects say He was a prophet, but some recognize His Divinity as the Son of God. This is important – we’re not all that far apart. Conversely, Talmudic Judaism teaches that Jesus was an imposter, and His soul is in torment – that’s way apart from what Christian Gospel or Islam teaches. Christianity is no threat to Islam, we believe differently, but neither religion teaches that murder is acceptable, although some of our predecessors on both sides have ignorantly thought it acceptable to kill to “protect” our faith. Come on, y’all – if our God is indeed Almighty, He doesn’t need any of us to kill someone to defend Him. Especially when Jesus Christ Himself teaches us not to harm others.

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Today’s iteration of humanity is currently being inured to death and destruction on a scale not witnessed since the last world war, but this time things are different. When people become sufficiently apathetic to this genocide, they will be prepared to accept anything, no matter how evil, although one would be hard-pressed to expect anything any more evil than the murder of children. Today’s Christians are being asked to accept the notion that the deaths of innocent people on this incredible scale is somehow justified so that we can rationalize an acceptance of it taking place. For the Christian who reads and understands the Gospel of the New Covenant, for the few who seek the narrow gate, the murder of innocent people cannot be justified, period.

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Those defenseless victims who are undergoing this inhumane slaughter are obviously hard-pressed to connect the barbarism levied against them with the will of God, but as with all things that happen in the course of mankind’s occupation of this earth, God knows what’s happening. It is of utmost importance to understand and believe that the Almighty God who created us has not abandoned us! He is intimately aware of each wound, of each drop of blood of every child, and His wrath on the Day of His vengeance will be a terrible thing to behold! Imagine the very heavens being shaken with His fury, His immeasurable anger at those who have perpetrated this unspeakable evil upon poor and innocent women and children. The “leaders” who send bombs and death shall be horrified, seeking holes in the ground, rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from His face, but on that Day, they will face their reckoning.

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It is also of utmost importance to bear in mind that there is another life after this one. This is the one concept that can make our suffering bearable so that we may endure the evil that is upon us. Those innocent peasants who are being mercilessly slaughtered will undoubtedly be greeted and welcomed into a magnificent kingdom of peace and joy, unimaginable joy in which the tribulations of this life will be forgotten. Mothers who have lost their children, be comforted in the knowledge that those little ones are in a new home of serenity and that God shall wipe the tears from their precious little eyes. Only God knows the pain and despair you are undergoing, but God does know – believe that! The day of reckoning approaches, and justice will be visited upon those who brought this horror upon you. Jesus Christ will Himself lead an army that will utterly destroy those servants of evil who actually think they are in charge now.

When this conflict is rightly seen as a great battle between good and evil, and when the parties involved are rightly identified as to which is good and which is evil, it is interesting to observe who Satan is going after. He doesn’t seem to be worried about any of the great American megachurches – none of the “faithful” or false prophets of the congregations appear to be having any abnormal conflicts, the government isn’t bothering them. Of course, the wealthy seem to be living high on the hog – no earthly conflicts to deal with. People who profess to be atheists or even Satanists aren’t being bombed and massacred. Why is the devil assailing the poor Palestinians? Could it be that they are the true Semitic peoples? Are they the last ancestors of Abraham and Moses, et. al? Are the few Christians among the Palestinians all that remain of the true Church? After all, some of the oldest Christian churches in the world were in Palestine and Syria. I don’t know the answers to those questions, but anyone can see that for some reason, Satan is intent on destroying all that are left of those people.

Jesus gave us the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5. Read them and see if you can see the Palestinians – I can:

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the [a]earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Do not give up hope – it’s one of the greatest gifts we have. Trust in the grace and mercy of the Almighty to see us through these troubled times. Allow Jesus Christ into your heart and experience the faith that you need to look forward to a better time. Tears are abundant now, but they will not always be. Christian people who have Jesus in their hearts cry for you – pray for you. There’s a better life beyond us. Do not give up on love – it is the greatest of all gifts, for God is love.

[1 John 4:8] He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

May God bless all whose hearts are broken – may Jesus Christ give us strength to endure.

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MK

Certainty Of Death, Taxes and the Hereafter

While strolling through the late-summer countryside yesterday, as I looked over the lustrous patches of early goldenrods, several thoughts simultaneously bombarded my aging senses, not the least of which were things us folks alive regard as certainties. Some of them are indeed certainties, but many we regard as being so may not actually be. As interesting as it would be to hop a ride on that train of thought, maybe for the sake of brevity it’d be better to stay with those we know to be things that will happen. For instance, we have every reason to believe the sun will set this evening, and every other evening for that matter, and as this autumn weather coalesces around the foliage in this holler, we’re going to see some beautiful colors. As most of the readers of this site already know, autumn is an event which stirs the affinity for this aging soul’s eternal attempts to describe nature’s botanical metamorphosis with my own version of insane prose, which as you know will also be forthcoming, although I wouldn’t categorize that obsession with subjects of the degree of certainty to which this post attempts to allude.

As surely as we know the deciduous hardwoods will turn into immaculate subjects of magnificent beauty, some of us also know that an event of even more grandeur, of indescribable splendor will soon grace our senses with an experience we’ve been blessed to KNOW shall transpire. That event will be the glorious return of our Savior, Jesus Christ. We can know this will happen because He has bestowed on us the faith to believe He’s coming back. When folks decide to believe in Him, the process of growing into that very faith begins – and will until we meet Him.

Before I started this post, I prayed that our Marvelous Creator would afford me with words, with thoughts that could accomplish two purposes. The first would be to encourage the brothers and sisters who might, as a result of the horrible, depressing events happening in the world, find themselves becoming discouraged in their own faith, seeing the rampant and overt injustice being perpetrated upon innocent folks, and just generally experiencing the hopelessness with which the stranger visits our souls. To those of you who find your hopes flagging, remember what He told us about having patience. [Rev 14:12] “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.“ and [2 Thessalonians 3:5] “Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.” Patience is therefore important for believers – those who choose to keep the commandments, and as hard as it is to practice, we must remain patient, otherwise we leave open another door to the machinations of Satan.

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The second purpose of this post is to speak a truth to nonbelievers, to encourage those who do not know Christ to look into that thing which we believers KNOW to be a certainty. The thing of which I speak is the return of Jesus Christ to gather His children and to take up His sceptre, that symbol of Kingship and justice which we anxiously await. To you I say He was here in human form performing miracles unheard of, both in His day as they would also be in ours today – that history of all the things He accomplished during His appearance alone should be sufficient to pique the curiosity of the staunchest agnostic, and give people cause to look into His teachings. Another aspect of His life’s experience is His unassailable wisdom – the human race could probably continue indefinitely just by practicing the humanity, the love and generosity He taught, as opposed to continuing as we are to the cataclysmic ending we can all see coming.

We plainly see the evil that has overtaken the world – we know it’s evil because one of the few decent human traits we all possess is that conscience that allows us to differentiate between good and evil. While it’s true that we as humans are by nature far short of attributes that separate us from spiritual virtuosity, if we but open our eyes we can still understand that human evil, greed, immorality, ad infinitum, are direct causes for our impending demise. Therefore, we should, simply as a matter of the continuity of our species, be able to comprehend the source(s) of our destruction and avoid those behaviors. But it goes deeper than that – without Jesus Christ in our lives we are forever bound to repeat those accursed things. They are the essence of human behavior – behavior that identifies that which we must strive to overcome, which is impossible without His guidance.

There are things we fear will happen that may or may not come to pass, things like the nuclear holocaust most of us fear that could indeed happen if we stay on this trajectory. Just plain conventional war on the other hand, may be one of the practices we humans can’t avoid, although I hesitate to say it has to be a certainty. This site has proposed before, and I see no reason to change that belief, that Satan is at the pinnacle of his power when there is war in our world. War breeds all kinds of sinful behavior – hatred, greed, immorality, and others. We often hear justifications for war – resources, and other forms of wealth, territorial disputes, etc., but these are incorrect – these excuses are among the many lies birthed to accommodate war. Such justifications get the means and ends of war swapped. The reason for war is war. Satan doesn’t need resources – he needs people to be killing each other. When you understand that people always lie to justify throwing a war, you see what the Lord was talking about because Satan was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. Jesus had some choice words for such followers, [John 8:44] “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

War itself may not necessarily be one of the inevitable things this post is about, although in reality because of our human fallibility, it sure seems to be. We hear the old saw about death and taxes and for all practical purposes they may be correct, but one thing is for sure – Jesus is coming back for us. He said He would.

[Revelation 14:14-16] Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Some of us are trying hard to stay on the leading edge of that sickle, making sure everyone knows they have an invitation to the Kingdom. To those who see themselves there, keep up the good work. To those who hear the invitation, don’t let it pass. RSVP now! Get to know Jesus, you’ll forever be glad you did.

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May God bless all.

MK