Tag Archives: Jesus

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

One Fine Day in Eternity

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So here you are, and here you shall remain forever.  This place, if you can call it a place, it’s more like a nightmare, is utterly dark – there’s no hint of light, not a pinprick.  There is nothing here, you gave up trying to scream, even trying to breathe soon after you arrived, for there is no air.  You do not have lungs anyway, no body, nothing at all but your spirit and agony, fear, and memories.  Memories of former life on earth, friends, camping trips, birds singing in trees, but alas, those things, those people and events no longer exist but as ever-present after thoughts of that life, forever inscribed into your lonely consciousness.  The indescribable loneliness is the worst part, you’ll never again be in the company of another soul – anybody – forever

The agony is unbearable, you never dreamed that a being could undergo this torment you suffer.  You incessantly pray to God Who does not remember you, He no longer hears your piteous pleas, though there was a time when He patiently waited to hear from you.  There were preachers and even old hillbilly bloggers who tried to warn you of this existence, but you were too busy pursuing worldly lusts and decadent living to listen to them.  The Bible you kept on prominent display in your living room was rarely opened.  You mocked those who believed in Jesus as though they were crazy; most people did.  But where are all of your worldly friends now?  Though you will never know, for you’ll never see or hear from them again, you suspect they – at least those who shared your unbelief – are in a similar situation as you, utterly alone in darkness and agony for all of eternity. Some of them – especially your family and friends you loved are painfully missed.

There is no sound where you are, no music, no birdsong, not even the aggravating wail of the ubiquitous sirens that pealed through the city streets – there’s nothing.  If you were engulfed in an entire universe of sponge, it would not be quieter.  You’ll never hear a sound again, never taste an apple nor even have a single drop of precious water on your tongue.  The memory of water is one of the most agonizing, every time you think of it – beautiful, pure mountain springs of clearest blue water!

When you left your former life, you were allowed to experience another existence, one of abundant joy and serenity where angels sang in notes that the greatest composers through human history did not know.  Voices of unimaginable beauty sang praises of God with melody that you could actually feel.  You had an invitation that was personally sent to you by way of preachers, prophets, your unread Bible, and the Lord Jesus Himself whereby had you accepted, you could have stayed there forever in the indescribable happiness of the presence of the Almighty God and the Lamb.  You threw it out with your junk mail, too absorbed in the idolatrous life that the servants of evil kept before you.  You don’t remember how long you were allowed to experience that paradise, maybe an hour, a day, maybe a million years, but the whole time you were there, you knew you’d have to leave it, and when you did go you experienced the most horrific realization that a human could ever imagine – you’d never see that place again, though you will longingly remember it forever.  The presence of the Lamb of God was too awesome and wonderful to imagine!  How on earth could you have passed that up? Then, you were cast into the outer darkness – the privations of incredible agony and torment – a place, or state of mind, who knows?  Then it hits you that it will be your prison for all eternity.

God said the former things will be forgotten.  Once the harvest was completed and the new Kingdom established, there would be no more thought of those sins nor the people who lived in them.  Utterly forgotten, alone in agonizing darkness, all traded away for a few short years of that sinful and immoral lifestyle that you chose.  Now, with consummate regret, you realize just what an incredibly short time it was – in which you could have been preparing yourself for the grandest of homecomings in the other place.  That unimaginably beautiful, peaceful home of eternal joy and most of all, the presence and the love of God, which you could also feel – it was unbelievable!  And you passed up your chance to be there – forever.  Now, you are merely one of the former things which has become forgotten – not a soul in all of creation remembers you ever existed, and no help will be forthcoming.  But here you are, and here you will be – forever.  You cannot even look forward to death to end this torment.  This is death, the second death mentioned in the Bible.

If a person, or a spirit were to happen to come before you in this piteous state and offer you a way out of this predicament, you’d absolutely listen and plead for his help.  The anxiety you’d experience at the possibility of relief from this everlasting torment and darkness would captivate your attention as never before.  You’d be willing to do anything to get help out of this place.  You’d be utterly enrapt with hope at the prospect this fellow offered.

When you ask how this can happen, the man says you must be able to travel through time, and if you can do that, you can go back and learn about Jesus Christ and He could lead you to eternal life in that wonderful place you saw.  But you know that time travel is not possible – there’s nothing here, no materials to try and build a time machine even if you knew how, so you reply to the man that it would be impossible for you to travel through time.  To which he says, “Then there’s no help for you, but if there was some way for you to go back in time – say to the late summer of 2024, you could call on Jesus to save you from this torment”, and suddenly you are reading this post and realize – I’ve actually traveled back in time to the late summer of 2024 and I can go to Jesus and He can make my relief happen before I get cast into that abominable torment and darkness!  Thank you, Lord!

This is as real as it gets, folks – we all desperately need Jesus.

May God’s blessings find you all.

MK

Guard Against the Enemy’s Flanking Maneuver

The flanking maneuver is a time-tested technique on the battlefield. It has been successfully employed in many battles and if properly executed with ample surprise, is very effective in warfare. The surprise and deception of such a maneuver contributes immensely to its effectiveness. When an enemy is focused on an aspect of the battle, especially caught up in a head-on battlefront, he can be susceptible to defeat by surprise from unexpected directions and/or from undefended areas such as the flanks, or ends, of his columns. We can get so caught up in our abhorrence of in-your-face evil, we can get distracted from unexpected tactics, and our tendency to allow our anger to become hate is one that leaves us open to an insidious defeat if we aren’t careful.

The enemy has been around for a long, long time. He is wiser than us, but not wiser than our Master. Those who do not know or care to know the Creator, are destined to be a type of pawn of the enemy, even though they may consider themselves to be good, upright people. The enemy knows well that if people reject Jesus Christ that he already has a certain amount of control over them, it’s just a matter of how much of a toll he wants to exact on them in the meanwhile and creating situations that foment hatred in decent people is just one of the many ways he does battle. As far as Christians are concerned, one of our less defended areas may be our control, or lack thereof, of our anger.

For instance, we all see what’s going on in Gaza, and most of us rightfully are disgusted by the murder of innocent people. Now the kind of people who support the genocide going on over there are already in Satan’s firm control, so that’s a whole nuther issue, but this post addresses folks who are repulsed by it. The problem comes in for us when we allow ourselves to hate these people doing the murder who are so completely under the control of the enemy. That’s his plan – to use his servants to perform evil, but equally as important, to invoke hatred from onlookers, because even though we are totally against what they are doing, we fall into his trap by hating them for it. When that happens, he wins on both sides of the battle, he controls those who commit murder, and when otherwise good people see the gross injustice and unmerciful treatment and allow hatred into their hearts, he has them where he wants them as well. That’s why Jesus admonishes us to love our enemies, to prevent us from falling victim to Satan by allowing hatred into our hearts. This may well be one of the most difficult things to avoid, even for good people.

Satan has complete control of many very wealthy people here in our country, who in turn have gained control of the leadership through bribery and extortion with the riches Satan has entrusted to them. These “elite” servants of Satan are the same ones who own all of our media organizations. They also own Hollywood and have tremendous influence over the content of entertainment, thus are able to influence many who are unaware of the power that entertainment has over their world views. When people see filth and violence, they tend to believe that because so many people are entertained by such, it must be ok. Of course, the wealthy do not see themselves as such, but in the grand scheme, they are no more than simple pawns for Satan to use as he sees fit – and destroy when the time is right. Animosity towards them is growing steadily as more and more citizens come to realize the degree to which they are manipulated and propagandized. For now, suffice it to say, the wealthy elites mentioned here generally support the genocide of the Palestinians, so their influence over our politicians tends to make them support what’s going on as well.

These same wealthy people completely own all but a precious and exemplary few members of our government and its institutions, especially including the military. They decide who gets to run for president, and it’s well known by now that no one can become president of the United States without showing proper fealty to them. There are required demonstrations of obeisance for a presidential candidate in the US nowadays and we’ve seen them. The same fealty demonstrated through various other rituals, is to be expected from legislators and from the benches of this country as well.

It looks as though Satan’s plan is to allow some light to shine on these individuals so that everyone sees who’s behind the evil that is apace in our country and the world. A lot of this has been practiced behind the curtain up to now, but normal citizens, including Christians who let their guard down, are starting to see who’s behind the rampant evil. That in itself is a good thing, but the enemy intends to use that knowledge to our destruction by causing us to hate these people. His wealthy servants? Sure, they don’t give it any thought, but he’ll drop them like a hot potato when it suits his purpose even though they are smug for now in the deception of their master’s loyalty. A perfect example is the French revolution and what happened to the elites of that day. The revolution itself may have been successful, but the devil won out when Louis and Marie were executed, because that resulted from the hatred he fomented and the ensuing sinful violence it caused among the French peasantry.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that as Christians we have to be careful to stay above the fray and not allow ourselves to be sucked into the maelstrom of hatred and violence that is bound to happen as the servants of evil are revealed. When we do that, we unintentionally do the bidding of the evil one and allow him to win a carefully conceived battle he planned out long ago and is once again setting up right now. We can certainly – and have a Christian duty to – disapprove of the evil that is going on, but we have to do it without falling into the trap of allowing hatred into our hearts, because when that happens, he wins both ways. Even though I firmly believe that Heaven will be an expansive place, nevertheless, there won’t be any room for hatred there.

Hate the sin but love the sinner. Pray for them – all of them, the oppressed, but just as importantly, the oppressors. It’s hard to do, but we have to give it our best shot, and with Jesus’ help we can prevail.

May God’s blessings find and keep us all in these trying times.

MK

The Final Day When Paupers Become Kings

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Today is Saturday, August 3, in the year of our Lord 2024 and things are shaping up to get really ugly in the Middle East – likely the whole world – as I write this post. The status of the world, though shocking to many, does not come as a surprise to Christians. We’ve long read about world events that are to come upon us in our Bibles. We know about most of the things that will take place because we believe the God-given prophecies of guys like Daniel, Ezekiel, and John, and if you haven’t read up on the things that are predicted, you should so you can get ready – it’s going to be quite the ride!

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When you decide to start checking into the events that are happening and are yet to happen you will undoubtedly encounter the undercurrent of it all which is the ongoing battle between the forces of good and evil – between God the Creator and His enemy Satan. There are way too many aspects of this enigmatic confrontation for any human still in the flesh to be able to comprehend. We cannot begin to enumerate nor understand all of the issues and their effects even though a lot of people, especially the charlatans that try to pass themselves off as preachers, would have you to believe they are able to. Suffice it to say there is an incomprehensible spiritual battle happening and like it or not, all of us – even those on this side of the void – are involved. We have to choose a side, and unfortunately most of humanity has already done so although many do not even realize they have. That’s where studying your Bible comes in.

Ignoring the words and the person of Jesus Christ is the same as opposing Him. Jesus Christ is the only Way we have out of this mess that the servants of evil have made of the world. There are many who claim to know how to confront Satan and his minions, but Jesus said that He is the ONLY way we can succeed, [John 14:6] “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but through me.” There are many people who try to reach God, but if we believe Jesus is truthful, we must recognize His authority as the Son of God and follow Him to get where we need to go. Once we submit our hope to Him, we begin a journey that will lead us to an unimaginably joyful and indescribable victory. It will be the ultimate victory over the evil that today plagues this world, and in the end all of those servants of evil who seem to be so invincible now will actually be the servants of Jesus’ followers. According to this doctrine, Netanyahu, Dick Cheney, Jacob Rothschild and all of the evil figures who have seemed to be so untouchable, will be bowed at the feet of those who are for now, humble and innocent travelers, those who trust Jesus to bring justice upon all who practice iniquity today, for the servants of Jesus will inherit kingship in the reign of Christ.

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Imagine the shock and disappointment of those who would control the world today when they discover their whole earthly existences were no more than that of the grass of the field, and when they get to the Great Day of God’s judgement and see their master groveling before the True King. Those who wield the great swords of war, the dark and powerful weaponry that destroys nations, will be struck with fear and awe at the inimitable power of the real King when He appears in His unimaginable glory. In that moment they will realize the futility of their former allegiance to Satan, his wealth, his earthly control. If they had the mind to do so, they could look through those powerful telescopes and see great stars exploding, destroying everything in the millions of miles of space all around – that’s only a sample of the kind of power the Lord has. Their servitude to the evil one will all mean nothing, but those of us who have been faithful to our Lord Jesus will attain kingship and share His inheritance of all things.

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Just in case you haven’t noticed the world powers coalescing around the middle east and the open and unabashed slaughter of all those innocent people in Palestine, the warships congregating, and all the other portents of destruction and annihilation gathering like some dark cloud, you might want to open your eyes before it’s too late. It’s going to get really ugly, but when it’s all over, those who will be left standing will be our King Jesus Christ and His followers – and ONLY them. Everything He said would happen has either already happened or is happening now – that should be all the evidence we need to understand the Truth of what He says. Get on the right side of things before it’s too late. The clouds are rapidly closing in…

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God bless all.

MK

Gold That Glitters Only in the Heart

We have a tendency to try and ignore things that either don’t make sense to us or things that take a little cogitation to properly understand. Maybe a psychologist could determine if this is normal human response when things get a bit confusing or uncomfortable to ponder, but whatever the reason, folks tend to shy away rather than confront whatever reality is swinging at them. If such a reality was a gunny sack full of bricks, it would be perfectly understandable, but often enough those issues can be seen as bits of potential experience that might work out better for us if we manned up and confronted them – kind of like that proverbial schoolyard bully – and if we still do not act on such things, at least we can try to make some kind of sense of them.

As this post materializes, and as the reader who is familiar with folkpotpourri articles is no doubt aware, once again the subject tackles how the lack of knowledge and/or awareness of the causes of some of our problems always exacerbates the negative effects of them. Most especially if our ignorance is intentional. Specifically, this post will attempt to address how the ignorance of some issues and their causes allows us to assuage our consciences with unconscionable perceptions of, and therefore positions we take on, “realities” that may not necessarily even exist, but still, we often endure negative results because of the ignorance itself.

Before this gets too far into the weeds, it must be acknowledged that all too often, our perceptions are born and cultivated by less benevolent influences than mere ignorance, such as hatred, prejudice, greed, and other vices and if some of these are the motivation for our positions, then we stay where we are as a result of actual desire to remain ignorant or misinformed. If a person is on the wrong side of an issue for no other reason than because he wants to be, then there’s little chance of him acknowledging, hence acting on, his lack of understanding. If these types happen to be people who claim to be Christians, they would be the ones who can often be found up late at night poring through the scriptures, but instead of trying to better their spiritual knowledge, they’re looking for Bible verses they can snatch out of context, or twist in whatever way they can to support some pre-conceived position they choose in their headlong, ignorant and misguided attempt at appearing (always to other people) to serve God. These folks love to argue, sounding clever like theological lawyers, but always with Pharisaic interpretations of the Bible.

This post is getting into the territory addressed in the first paragraph and is becoming a piece of the mindset mentioned of folks who would prefer to turn away rather than give thought to an issue that makes them uncomfortable. It’s not by accident that we arrived here, because misinformation and deception are running like great unchecked rivers flooding through the nations nowadays, and many studiously ignore those of us who propound truth that can serve to help avoid becoming swept away in the deluge. Some few can see that multitudes of folks today choose whatever rickety bridges they can find on which to try and cross the raging torrent. “Choose” being the operative word here – whatever willful choices they can make that might comfort their confused desire (or lack thereof) for spirituality but invariably be of no real benefit at all. For instance, there are literally hundreds of thousands of people, men and women who consider themselves to be Bible-believing Christians, who pack the pews of deceptive temples of blasphemy and listen to millionaire hucksters who lead them to, among other things, support avowed enemies of Jesus Christ. They go home thinking they are on the right side of the spiritual equation because some charlatan quoted them a few verses out of context, usually some totally incongruous Old Testament event out of which they pulled up and tactfully spun a perverted applicability to their followers, and which invariably teach every Sunday that all non-Jews (except them), and especially Moslems are horrible people deserving of the greatest of condemnation. Some mythical Jesus they say they know, (but true Christians don’t) says it’s okay to hate and kill them all, but the good reverends conclude meanwhile that it’s okay to pause their murderous rampage long enough to kick more money in today’s offering – an act which itself will suffice to get them and their Zionist friends to, and indeed into, the promised land – so they dutifully, publicly, and with highly visible and reverent sincerity throw down a few bucks.

There was a time in my life, back when I erroneously thought that sometimes God made mistakes, I held the notion that God was unfair in that when Jesus was judging people there would be those who would try to convince Him that they had a clear conscience toward Him. He said they would talk about all of the things they did – even casting out demons – but He will tell them to depart from Him, that He never knew them. What!!?? What kind of God would allow people to go through their lives thinking they were doing the right things, just to find out when it is too late that they were doing it wrong?

Once I arrived at the incontrovertible truth, the absolutely immovable Gospel truth that God does not make mistakes, He ALWAYS does the right thing, I was able to figure it out. Those people aren’t innocent at all. They don’t think they’re living right – they don’t even give thought to such uncomfortable notions. They are self-deceived. They do not listen to Jesus Christ, they listen to the John Hagees and Kenneth Copelands and their ilk, pushing their fraudulent messages in this world of deception, they are demonic seekers of wealth who convince their audiences that satisfying worldly desires and prosperity on this earth is of more value than the promises of Christ.

This example has been used in other posts, but it bears repeating. It’s one of those precepts mentioned above about taking the time and effort to think about things – connect the dots yourself – in this case rather than letting some serpent behind the pulpit explain them. The disciple Peter, a humble fisherman turned greatest of Christ’s apostles, was the man on whom Jesus bestowed the incomparable honor and responsibility for receiving leadership of His church. Of all the human beings mentioned in the New Testament with the notable exception of John the Baptist, there can be no doubt Peter was the greatest of them. Now, in your mind, compare Peter to some of the big-name evangelists of today, and keep in mind that these men have arrogated to themselves the positions of shepherds of Jesus’ flock, the role appointed to Peter by Jesus Himself.

Peter and another of the great disciples, John, were going into the temple one day and were stopped by a crippled beggar who asked for alms. It’s immensely important for every Christian to consider this next part – keeping in mind today’s millionaire false preachers. Peter told the beggar, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”, and he did. Here is Peter, to whom Jesus Christ personally bestowed His Church, gave him the very keys to the Kingdom – and he had no money!!! This cannot be stressed enough!! How do the charlatans of today’s temples of decadent splendor possibly claim to be of ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and still justify being millionaires? How do the thousands of parishioners justify their presence at those places where these men (and women) “teach?” Will they all hear “Depart from me, I never knew you”? Wow!

There was another incident that occurred, this one during Jesus’ ministry when He was approached by a wealthy young man and Jesus discussed with him what he needed to do to be saved. Apparently, the fellow had been living according to the commandments and all he lacked was to get rid of his wealth and give it to the poor – but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. As the young rich man dejectedly walked away, Jesus proceeded to give a sermon on how unlikely it would be for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom, which according to what He told them, and for all practical purposes, will indeed be impossible. But each and every Sunday folks shout “Amen!” when millionaires Osteen or Copeland preach their “prosperity gospel”? What people are accomplishing in those “churches” is way worse than just wasting their Sunday mornings.

Maybe for those multitudes of people of the elegant pews – who definitely need to sort things out, this will be one of those things they will studiously avoid thinking about. Ignore it and it’ll surely go away, and it will – for now, but not forever. Y’all need to think about things you might wish to avoid confronting. Maybe a little reconsideration for now can lead to a better eternity later.

If some of y’all are not of the Christian faith and you are reading this, I hope you understand there are a lot of phonies out there that claim to be followers of Christ, you can find multitudes of them in those megachurches – Jesus warned us the gate is wide that leads to destruction. Please don’t judge all Christians by those who mislead and those who choose to be misled. Some of us – the ones who opt to enter by the narrow gate love our fellow human beings – even and especially the poor ones – and would love to share Jesus with all of you.

If you’d like to get to know Jesus, it’s quite simple. Even though the gate that leads to life is narrow, there’s plenty of room to go through it for the pure of heart. If you carry a burden of hate, lust, or pride, you can just leave it outside – the gate is definitely too narrow for those, and such things are not to be found in the Kingdom. Jesus is standing at the door waiting for you to invite Him in, and if you do, hang on, because you’ll be in for the greatest ride of your life, and you’ll never regret a moment of it. Draw near to the Lord and He promises He will draw near to you. Find a faithful preacher and get yourself baptized and assume your place on the path to glory. Jesus is willing to lead us there, but we have to follow Him.

God Bless all,

MK

Intricacies of Living the Right Life

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courtesy pilgrimwatch.com

How far removed are you from the pervasive evil of the world? Surely you recognize it, we all do, but how do we know we are not part of it? Do you sleep well at night knowing that the life you live or the livelihood you pursue is far removed from rejection of God’s will? If so, then good, but if there is a nagging doubt that the weapons factory in which you work only makes a profit when there is a war happening, or the pharmaceutical plant where you work is involved in the production of specious “medicines” that kill people, or highly addictive drugs that only pad the accounts of wealthy stockholders. Maybe you work for a banking organization whose usurious practice creates poverty, or maybe you’re in law enforcement, stealing from citizens under the malevolent and criminal “asset forfeiture” arrangement. Maybe you’re a legislator who passes such abominable (and unconstitutional) laws.

It should be incumbent on all of us to examine the part we play in the evil that overwhelms the world in which we live. How many degrees of separation does it take for us to be confident the role we play in the immense sins of the world make us innocent bystanders? Is the money you donate to the megachurch sufficient to absolve you of complicity in the depredations upon the innocent peasants being slaughtered in Gaza? Are you sure the financial support your church is sending to the Palestine occupation isn’t going towards aiding in the work of Satan? Are your hands clean?

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courtesy guideposts.org

Regardless of what a lot of people think, if one claims to be a Christian, one must do their best to live according to how Jesus taught us, and that does not mean simply throwing some cash into the offering plate and going on about living a decadent, immoral lifestyle. What’s the difference in depending on your financial support to make nice with God while continuing to live a sinful life, and the practice of indulgences practiced by the Roman Church? If you live an immoral lifestyle, or if you contribute in any way to those who murder children, you are not living a Christian life, no matter your financial “sacrifice”. How hard is that to understand?

As you look up and down the pews, or tiers at all the people surrounding you in the luxurious temples of blasphemy that pass for churches, you undoubtedly see hundreds, perhaps thousands of like-minded people, ostensibly in the service of God, but you are deceiving yourself. Just because there are many folks there like you, it doesn’t mean you are truly serving Jesus Christ and there is no strength in numbers – get real! Jesus Christ will deal with every one of us individually during the judgement. It doesn’t matter if the queue is a thousand, or a million miles long, each of us will have our turn, God has no need to rush, we will be thoroughly scrutinized. Whatever deeds we did in our lives will be examined, and for those who have rejected Jesus, it will be a terrifying experience.

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courtesy blogspot.com

Lives will be replayed, and every sinful incident, every theft, every shameful immoral act, every time we hurt another human or even mistreated an animal will be there like some horrible video for all to see. Maybe your advocate will be the likes of Joel Osteen or Judas Hagee, feebly trying to convince God that your contributions to the church are enough to see you into Heaven, but to your eternal consternation, God won’t take your debit card. Those false prophets will receive a much greater damnation too – count on it.

Many of us – those who have rejected the abominable lifestyle and repented – will have an infallible advocate, none other than Jesus Christ. In the court of the Almighty, Jesus will never lose a case. Our misdeeds in this life will mysteriously be gone – there will be no exhibits with which to determine our guilt of transgressing God’s law, because when we accepted Jesus as our Savior and Friend, those sins were washed away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ Himself – the Father will need no further convincing – our sins will be at the bottom of the ocean, never to be found again, and we will be will be accepted into the most marvelous Kingdom imaginable, in fact it is unimaginable, a tranquil, wonderful place where a mansion of indescribable splendor awaits those of us who love the Lord. The overwhelming joy and peace that undoubtedly will be emotionally and physically felt, will be there – forever.

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courtesy wallpaperboat.com

The fact of the matter is this; God does not need your money – He has all of the wealth in the universe. If you contribute to the synagogue of Satan, remember, these are avowed enemies of Jesus Christ, who, if you read your own Bible, you will find are not even the people they claim to be. The occupation of Palestine is being carried out by imposters – Jesus said this Himself – so if you think your financial contribution to this evil entity is going to make you any points with God the Father, you are sadly mistaken. You will find yourself among the ones whom Jesus will tell, “Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, I NEVER KNEW YOU!” What a horrible thing to hear Jesus Christ saying – especially when it’s you to whom He’s speaking!

Indeed, it will be a shocking thing to hear the Lord cast you away, never to enjoy the abundant glory that will overwhelm us in the presence of God. Being told to depart from Him will absolutely be the most horrible, the most terrifying words a person will ever hear in all of eternity, not least because of the alternative, but to be cast away from His glory is going to be unimaginably horrific, once an unrepentant sinner has seen what it will be like in paradise, afterwards forever to be denied access. The tormented souls will suffer anguish alone in outer darkness where their misery will cause gnashing of teeth – forever – and the sinner won’t even be able to look forward to dying to get out of it, even if we can’t wrap our heads around the concept – forever means forever. The human soul is eternal – it cannot be destroyed, so how does God deal with this paradox? He forgets you ever existed. Let that one sink in – you are suffering in torment in absolute darkness for all of eternity, and no one even remembers you ever existed – but you know, and there you are!

There will be a small (comparatively) group of folks, however who will hear the most comforting, joyous words ever to be heard by man, “Well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.“! These people will be the ones who listened when He called, the ones who decided that earthly pleasures and sin cannot be compared to what He offers. Can you imagine the sheer exuberance, the victorious reverie that will come into your heart to hear Jesus Christ say that? To all who think they know what success in this life means – that will be SUCCESS!

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courtesy ar.inspiredpencil.com

Take a good look at where you are, and how far removed from the sins of the world you choose to be. There are many places and pursuits that can be justified and/or rationalized but which are snares of Satan. A paycheck does not justify a man compromising his principles, or the principles of God. We all have to understand that – separate ourselves from the malevolent vagaries of the world – far enough so that we don’t have to wonder if we’re far enough or not. A few extra bucks in the offering can be a good thing, but if your support is going to enemies of Jesus – or if you’re trying to buy yourself a ticket to Heaven, you’re wasting your time.

It’s not too late, but it’s looking like it soon will be. Please get to know Jesus – He’s the best Friend you could ever have.

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courtesy pixabay.com

God bless all,

MK

The Insanity of Warriors and False Prophets

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courtesy bnn-news.com

I guess the whole world has to be destroyed.  People don’t seem to care about it anymore, and that’s a shame.  God created something wonderful here, and people only think of it in terms of how they can profit from it – or destroy it.  It looks like Satan’s plan is to completely eradicate everything God made, and by using greedy and immoral people to do his bidding, it looks like he’s getting it done.  

I cannot tell whether or not the ongoing demise of things natural are a result of abuse or neglect by mankind, but I suspect it is, at least to some degree; certainly, the shredded forests on the Ukrainian battlefields testify to the extent to which they are able that mankind’s aggressive behavior tends to create havoc for the environment.  It’s a sad thing to see, those big old innocent trees with all their leaves and branches blown off and gnarled, sad boughs looking like some kind of perverted chipping machine ripped through them.  Did you ever wonder how many birds and squirrels die from bomb and artillery blasts?  How about fish and sea creatures when a big underwater explosion happens?  I didn’t think so.  They call it collateral damage, but it’s sad – and totally avoidable, nevertheless.  There are vast swathes of the planet that are polluted with depleted uranium, poisons from defoliants, and radiation.  The burning brush land of Galilee is especially heart-wrenching to me because Jesus Himself lived in that part of the world, and now we watch – and He watches – as the countryside of what was once His earthly home is ravaged by fires of war.  All these losses are unnecessary, but the human beings that are slaughtered by such malign offenses are the saddest of all.

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Fire in Galilee
courtesy jta.org

When the hell that is war visits a city, or a nation, everything that transpires until it is over can rightfully be seen as tribute being paid to Satan.  He is at the pinnacle of his power when human beings, once created in the image of God, are killing each other in mass numbers.  The Bible tells us his time here on earth is short, so he creates as much havoc as he possibly can for the short time in which he has control, and I believe war is one of his primary objectives among men.  Of course, his main focus is the destruction of the true Church of Jesus Christ, for when believers come to be without hope, without love, he wins.

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courtesy lapcoc.org

For some ridiculously inexplicable reason, there are people, many people, who are able to convince themselves that there is some imaginary limit to the evil that can be perpetrated, but don’t believe that for a second.  For instance, when discussing the possible involvement of the government in the 9/11 debacle, some folks argue that our government wouldn’t do something that malevolent – the event was just too evil.  A lot of these same people seem to recognize that Satan holds the reins of power of our government, so how evil is too evil for them?  Nothing, no sin or evil deed that could be committed or even imagined in all of creation is too evil for Satan.  Whether or not the government was involved in 9/11 will one day be determined, but if it turns out that they were not (which I highly doubt), it won’t be because it was too evil of a deed for them. Once leaders of nations have signed on to serve the devil, nothing is too evil for them.  It is preposterous to believe otherwise.

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WTC on 9/11
courtesy catholic.org

It’s a horrible sin to kill people, especially innocent people, a sin of which many world leaders are guilty, and one aspect of that, the ramifications of which do not seem to occur to a lot of folks is that when someone throws a war, innocent people always die.  That happens because wars are designed by Satan, and he always goes after the innocent.  In the Nuremburg tribunal at the conclusion of WWII, the concept was established that whenever a country engages in a war of aggression, the leader(s) of that country are guilty of all of the war crimes that are committed in that war, including the deaths of civilians, and to a reasonable person that would seem to be a fair judgement.  If God uses that measure, then there are a lot of past and present leaders – especially in the 20th and 21st century west – who will have much for which to answer.

An extremely important aspect of all of this – at least for believers who profess to be Christians, is the involvement and/or the support of the “church” in the malign activities of some world governments.  I just read a post that expressed how many “Christian Zionists” are at large in this country, and the number is staggering – in the tens, possibly hundreds of millions.  This fact alone proves without question what Jesus said about the gate being wide that leads to destruction.  It also proves that very few of these “Christians” read their Bibles.  These people are the ones who are making the slaughter of innocent people in Gaza possible.  If the mega-churches in the United States were to stop supporting the evil – certainly unChristian – mass-murder of innocent women and children and publicly proclaim that position, it would stop quickly.  You see, the politicians in DC support the Zionist regime because of the vast number of voters who support it (not to mention the vast sums of money that come their way).  A big chunk of those voters are avowed Zionists who haunt the mega-churches, so the occupation regime gets unlimited support – mostly in the form of weapons and money.  In turn, the church leaders get millions of shekels and dollars, so what’s not to like?  Incredibly, these folks seem to actually believe there is even such a thing as a Christian Zionist, or Judeo Christian.  There ain’t.  But then, Judas sold Jesus out too, for 30 pieces of silver which must have been a handsome reward for the greatest treason in human history which, by the adherence of mega-churches to these irresponsible doctrines, is reappearing in spades.

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courtesy Ancient Origins

Folks who have read the Bible understand that there have been times past when people turned away from God and the results were always horrible for them.  In Noah’s day, the world was flooded and only he and his family were saved.  The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were utterly turned to ashes.  The followers of Moses turned away from God and were abandoned by God to die in the wilderness.  We are at another pivotal time in human history in which the vast majority of people have turned away from Him, so what can we expect?  People have become evil, vile, greedy, theft and immorality abound in every form.  There is no love to be found, with the exception of Christian believers who choose the narrow gate to the Kingdom.  What can we expect indeed?

There are passages in the book of Revelation that describe, as well as can be elucidated by a first-century prophet, some awesome things that are about to happen.  They speak of the fearsome wrath of an angry God who hears the prayers of His people seeking deliverance from the evil that permeates this world.  There is no way this writer could begin to describe the horrific fear and dread that will overcome the hearts of all peoples of the earth who have denied the Son of God.  It will be an unimaginable fear that people will feel in their bones, and it will not go away – God will wreak terrible vengeance on all who have shunned and turned away from Him, from His beloved Son who was sacrificed for them.  The heavens will tremble, the earth will shake, horrific fire will come down from the sky, and the much-adored leaders of men, mighty men, generals, celebrities, and all those who have been wealthy in this life – will be trying to find holes in the ground to hide from His face, but that won’t happen.  When all of this happens, the poor, the peacemakers, and all other true followers of Jesus, His sheep, will not be afraid, they will rejoice to see their beloved King and friend – which side of this do you choose to end up on?

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Benevolent Shelter from an Insidious Maelstrom

Where is your vision? Where is your confidence? Are you among the multitudes who have been deceived into the notion that it’s still okay to accept the horrible things that are going on in this world and say nothing for fear of attracting the attention of the enemy? I’m not sure how things will evolve from here, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to be able to tell that things have gone beyond any point of return to “normalcy”, in fact, if you are a rocket scientist it might be harder for you to see it.

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As I’ve mentioned in other posts, it’s abundantly clear that we are living in the last days of our existence as humans on this planet. People are dying by the thousands from the record heat in places around the world. Floods are occurring in places that have till now hardly ever even received much rain. Slaughters and wars are taking the lives of hundreds of thousands. At this writing, the Campi Flegri super volcano in Italy is shaking the ground in what many scientists are saying is a pre-eruptive phase – if this one goes off, there’s going to be a whole new basket of problems with which Europe, maybe the world will have to deal if it’s powerful enough, it might be the last.

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We sit on the razor’s edge of nuclear war and the guys with their fingers on the button are itching to get it going, but the Lord is giving people like this old Grandpa time to get the messages out before it all happens to give everyone a last chance to come to grips with the reality of Jesus Christ and what he means to us in these troubled times. There are those who laugh at this notion now, but I’m thoroughly convinced that everyone will stop laughing quite shortly. God sees a world that is behaving as it has in times past, such as in the days of lustful decadence that consumed the world prior to the flood of Noah’s time. God was so angered that He was ready to completely wipe out all of mankind but decided to give us another chance. Another time His anger was on display was during the destruction of that immoral and sick bunch of people in Sodom. Think about what that must have been like, seeing fire raining down from the sky and having nowhere to hide from it. Now imagine it on a scale of the whole planet instead of just one or two perverted towns. The world is just as immoral today as it was in the days of Sodom, and I’m pretty sure He is just as angry as He was back then. It ain’t gonna be pretty folks.

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Courtesy googodministry.com

We can all see and feel it coming. It’s just a matter of how long He chooses to wait. When the very last sinner on the earth that will be saved is saved, that’s when He’s going to light the place up and it will be an event of unimaginable terror. Nobody’s going to be thinking about their bank accounts or whatever luxurious properties they have, that big old multi-million-dollar mansion, their stash of gold, or even all that freeze-dried food they stored away. They’ll all be horrified – in total shock at the absolutely awesome power of an angry God, an indescribably irate Creator of the universe, and the ones who will experience the greatest fear will be those who rejected Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Who actually died at the hands of people of the same mindset as is throughout the world today. It will be a fear of such magnitude that you will be able to feel it in your bones. Many will be scrambling into their holes that they’ve carefully carved out of the ground and stocked with non-perishable foods and water and such, as if that would help them in any way from the angry God. For crying out loud, He created this world, does anyone not think He knows how to destroy it?!! When that Day comes, they will recognize the futility of all their preparations.

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Courtesy freepic.com

Today we look to our scientists for information concerning things like asteroids or Yellowstone erupting, or even what to expect following a nuclear war. Think about this – whenever an “authority figure” tells you what will happen after such an event, he is smart enough to know that if and when a cataclysm of this nature occurs, he might be dead wrong about what the world will be like, or if you took the correct survival strategy, but who cares? After such an event, who’s going to be around to hold him to account for being completely wrong? They can say anything, no matter how preposterous, and it won’t matter one whit after such an event – whether they were correct or whether they were dead wrong! Curiously, the one thing all of them are studiously avoiding is to warn you about being right with God – that’s the answer to all the dilemmas we will face, if we are unfortunate enough to survive the coming apocalypse.

We must learn of Jesus Christ and take that all-important decision to follow Him in order to be safe from that which we fear, but there are other tremendous blessings to be had in taking shelter with Him from the impending storm. For one thing He has a special place in His heart for the poor, so if one happens to be a worker in an African diamond mine, or a rickshaw driver in Mumbai, or (and these are near and dear to Him) a simple fisherman, He is already in a favorable position with Jesus. Don’t get the wrong idea, He is perfectly willing to accept a person with wealth into His Kingdom, but the wealth will have to go first. He spoke with one wealthy young man and told him that he was right with God in every other aspect of his life, but he’d have to give up his wealth in order to follow Him, and the fellow couldn’t bring himself to part with his riches, a choice which prompted the Lord to say, ” [Matthew 19:23]  “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Any wonder why the wealthy of the world don’t like for us to tell folks about Jesus?

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Courtesy fineartamerica.com

It is beyond the purpose of this post to engage in any kind of argument over religion or sectarian dogma – in all honesty, we don’t have time for that sort of thing. It is my purpose to tell all of y’all (ok, I’m from the south) about the Lord Jesus and just how much you mean to Him. Y’all seriously need to know about Jesus Christ and if I’m getting cross-threaded with you because of your current religion or religious practice, I ask you to at least look into the possibility of serving Him – He’s the only One who can promise us eternal life in joy and peace. For now though, we don’t have much time left, He’s gathering His people right now. The Bible says in Revelation, “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 [j]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.

Courtesy ids.org

Folkpotpourri been blessed to have readers from many nations with whom I can share, and if I’m speaking to those who do in fact practice other faiths, I implore you to check out the Kingdom of Christ – you’ll find there is no other way to serve our God, who as mentioned will be extremely upset with all who rejected His Son because they rejected His Son. Jesus is the Centerpiece of salvation, the Key to our becoming a servant of the Almighty. Believe in Him now, and when we get to Heaven we will have all of eternity to argue the merits of any faith (other than the faith in Jesus Christ) you will need to leave behind – if you still so choose to argue them.

We face catastrophic times and events and we all know it. There is little we can do to avoid them because the power of the evil one is greater than our power. We have an opportunity to become a part of that great harvest, but we must come to Him who wields the sickle, repent of our sins, get baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. For all who are hesitant to believe because of there being Three, trust me, they are all one – I don’t know how, no one else does either, regardless of what they say (unless they are a prophet), because there are a lot of things about the spirit world that God did not give us the ability to understand, however we will know one day. God can take as many forms or identities as He chooses. He’s still God.

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Courtesy renewalchristiancenter.org

How wonderful it will be to stand tall in the face of the coming catastrophes, fully aware that we have absolutely nothing to fear because we are safely in the care of the Son of God! Yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need fear no evil, for He is with us – that means everything, friends! Let those who walked without faith be the ones to fear and tremble at His wrath and His astonishing glory when He comes back – instead of fear, we who trust Jesus shall be filled with unimaginably joyful exuberance. So, learn of Him, know Him, love Him.

God bless all,

MK

Our Promise of Glory to Be Revealed

I don’t understand why He has put it on my heart to say the things I have to say, but I do honestly feel – I KNOW – that our time here is growing very short, and the words He has given me need to be said, and considered, and quickly if the readers of this are to be able to avoid or endure the tribulation ahead. There are those who scoff as unbelievers, others who get uncomfortable when they think their world is threatened, but this post is not a threat to our existence, it’s an admonition, a recognition that our existence is indeed threatened, but not by this writer. It is witness of a Way through these troubled times we must endure here at the end.

Who is He? How could a person begin to say, within the confines of a website post or the limits of mortal language? I’m speaking of Jesus Christ and am thankful and amazed that He gives a mere human being the authority and the confidence to speak of Him – with such words as we have. He is Jesus Christ and He is very much alive and aware of our hopes, our needs, our fears.

He is the only begotten Son of God, born of a virgin woman and He’s the inheritor of everything in all of creation. He is in the night sky filled with stars, in each raindrop that falls to grace the earth, in the hearts of men, and His love is what holds all of creation together. He can be found in silent, peaceful places in the woods or in crowded bus stops, and in the hearts of people who share their money with strangers. His precious Spirit guides us through difficult times in our lives and shares our joy in times of peace and happiness, such as those wonderful moments when He allows a glimpse of His wonder into our souls. He shares our sorrow when we grieve as only the Man of sorrows could. He knows sorrow and grief as few of us ever will.

His Father is our Father, and He spent those precious few years while He was on the earth telling us just that, and that if we would like to come to the Father, we must go through the Son. He fulfilled a Covenant under which His earthly ancestors had lived for hundreds of years, and established a new one that will last until the very end. After we successfully emerge from the cocoon that is this existence, He will bestow kingship upon His faithful, those who follow Him will have overcome the world.

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Courtesy annamariestrawhand.com

He taught those who would listen that our lives on this earth are short, and we need to spend our time in preparation for the next one, which He promises us will be magnificent and joyful beyond our imaginations if we but follow Him. He is a Friend in need, and the most gracious and loving Friend we could ever have. He is our Rock of Ages, our Shelter in the storm. He is at our side in good times, and in front of us during troubled times. He is our Banner, our Victory over this world!

If we are to attain to that victory, we must first realize that there is indeed a battle occurring and understand that there are no non-participant onlookers – we are all in this thing, so we have to pick a side. The question is, do we choose the side (on which we wish to be) based on the promise of a new boat, a private jet, or pickup truck or lots of money for this short time, or do we choose an unseen promise? Are we willing to allow this life to bloom and fade with only a few earthly possessions which will someday be left behind, but with a heart that overflows with joyful love for Him and for our fellow man which we will be able to take with us? Only Jesus can bestow that kind of heart to us, and He will give us what we need to achieve it.

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Courtesy mungfali.com

I’m an old man now and I’ve seen many lives bloom and fade. I’ve experienced misbegotten admiration for those famous musicians, actors, businessmen, and others who appeared to be “successful” in this life, then I’ve watched as their flowers faded. Each and every one of us will fade. Unless you’re famous, in two generations, no one on earth will even know you existed. If the world lasts that long, your great-grandchildren will look upon your grave marker and not have even the remotest idea of who you were. Jesus, however, will know exactly who you were, and at the judgement, which is coming, He will require an account of how you spent your time here. Those famous rock stars and actors we all admired will be there, most of them in great fear of what is to come, but none of us considered this eventuality while they were performing in the glitz, nor did they. All lives fade away, and at the end, what is important isn’t how much money we made, it’s how we spent our time.

Freedom Cemetery

Jesus Christ is our King, and we need to recognize that and serve Him as good and loyal subjects. Our reward will be great if we do. Still, there are many who will spend their lives in pursuit of wealth and power, only to part with it at the end and become worm food, with a horrific future ahead for their souls. Then there are those who understand the need to drop whatever few mites we have into the alms collection, bend a knee once in a while and thank Him for His love and His grace, knowing we have a tremendous reward awaiting. We have to get it in gear, folks, our time is growing short to do so.

God bless y’all.

MK

When There’s a Flood on the Road

There’s a bridge down the road from here, they call it a high-water crossing- it’s a big concrete culvert shaped to allow the water in the creek it crosses to flow up and over it when there’s a lot of rain. When the creek is at or below normal levels, there are some big tubes or culverts that go right through the concrete for the water to run through. The little creek is especially pretty in normal times with the clearest Ozark water gently running through the greenery of the summer woods, or my favorite, the pastels of autumn.

Looking up the gentle little creek – picture taken from the crossing

The road running over it is just a two-lane blacktop – back where we came from in a previous life in East Texas, we called these “Farm to Market Roads”, just a low-traffic paved road through the country. Most of the back roads around here though, are not paved at all. These are dirt, or gravel roads, and they can get kind of rough, especially in the dry days of summer when they grow a series of ridges that form perpendicular to the direction of travel and are evenly spaced about a foot apart. They cause your vehicle to rattle and at the right speed, you can lose traction and actually skid on them as you navigate through a silent forest of dusty goldenrods or brilliant trees of autumn.

Maple and hickory on Timberline Road

My favorite arteries through the backcountry are the many foot trails that wind in the woods out here. No roads at all, you just hoof it through the woods and listen to the birds and insects and feed the ticks. When the weather’s bad though, you are relegated to travel by automobile, and if the rain is really crazy, the high-water crossings become inundated and you either find another way to where you’re going or just stay home. Here in the hills, the drainage through the hollers is such that a lot of water can collect in the many creeks and rivers, and I guess the county budgets don’t have enough funds to build real bridges on all of the back roads. The crossings can be dangerous to attempt when the water’s up though.

Same creek as top picture on a less benevolent day

When you come to one of those crossings when the water’s high, it gives you pause to think about situations we come upon in life where things get difficult for us. Like the ravaging flood waters, we often find ourselves in situations in which we have to consider our options, which during times of high water, are limited.

I suppose the first thing to consider is whether or not we really need to get across, how important is our destination? Do we need to get there badly enough to risk the peril of getting washed down the creek if we were to try to cross? Can our destination wait – usually a few hours – until the water goes back down? Is the trip worth going, often several miles, back and around a different route? Difficulties like this we encounter on a road trip bear a similarity to hazards we get into on our life’s journey.

Where are we going, and what kinds of risks are we prepared to take to get there? Seriously, if we’re on life’s road and we are required to make a decision in difficult circumstances, can we do so with a degree of confidence that we might get through, or on the other hand, might our choice lead us to a catastrophe? Is the threat of going through our obstacle at what might turn out to be a high cost worth the threat of not getting where we are going? If we’re trying to get to a fishing hole, maybe it would be prudent to turn around and try again later or maybe not at all. But if we have a family member down that road in dire need of help and whose life is depending on us getting to them, it might be more incumbent to try to get through.

As this old grandpa sees it, we are all on an important mission traveling down this road we call life. It is of the utmost importance that we understand what’s at stake at the end of this road – which for mankind is everything – we must get there with our spirit intact! But in this journey of which I speak, there is only one Route we can take, and unfortunately there will inevitably be some serious hazards. Those hazards will be placed before us by that wily old Devil himself. To mention a few, i.e., the promise of wealth can get in front of us (in so many ways), an inopportune high water of immorality that appears before us, and that one is particularly insidious, given our human nature, or any other of a myriad of earthly distractions. Whatever your flooded high-water crossing, on this trip you have no choice – you absolutely must get beyond the hazard, but how? How do you face that raging torrent of fear, anger, lust, pride – all of which are set before you to hinder your journey?

The answer is already in your heart, and all you have to do is listen to it. He said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” – He’s already there. He will face that obstacle with you and take your hand and lead you through it. There’s no doubt He can do it – He was observed by eyewitnesses shutting down a major storm at sea! There’s no need to fear even the most intimidating dark cloud of discouragement when the Son of God is with you. There’s a lot of chaos and evil in the world today and it’s getting worse by the hour, but there is no threat He is unable to overcome – He’s the best Friend you can have and the only One you need.

Please don’t go trying to drive through a flooded crossing – this whole story is obviously a metaphor for problems we encounter on our life’s journey, and the answer is Jesus Christ – the answer to all distractions and dilemmas that might hinder our progress. At this point in our world, we could be annihilated to vapor in any given instant of time, or worse, we might find ourselves having survived a cataclysmic occurrence looking forward to a horrible future, but nevertheless, we have to get and stay right with Jesus and I’m serious as a heart attack, if we want to come out on the other side of this – to our destination – as we must. I can promise you’ll never for an instant be sorry you did.

God Bless,

MK