Tag Archives: salvation

Remaining Steadfast in Troubled Times

I’m having one of those days where it’s hard to get going – to get my thoughts together well enough to make a coherent post that can persuade readers to honestly consider what I’m trying to get across. You see, I’m convinced that with all the ominous things that are going on in this old world of late are all pointing to some cataclysmic event(s) that are about to happen and for which many are wholly unprepared. Sure, we all know the world has been on the brink of this awful war we’ve all been dreading, and we’ve been here long enough that folks are turning their minds to other things, things that might normally merit concern of their own accord, but are probably things which might be better left on the back burner – at least for now, because some truly catastrophic times are ahead.

The world has been holding its breath for weeks now as the threat of a war between the US, Israel, and whoever else, possibly the EU, and Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, etc. If this one kicks off, it’s anybody’s guess how much of the world will burn up before it’s said and done. There are some really crazy people in high positions around the world who lack even the most rudimentary leadership ability or even a desire to avoid catastrophe. This is probably the most disturbing element in play and one that has the potential to do the most damage. As a result of the incompetence of this administration, almost all US institutions have lost all credibility. For example, I can remember a time in the not-so-distant past when the FBI was a generally trusted organization that had the genuine respect of most Americans. That’s all gone now, but to be fair, it was well on the way downhill when the FBI did the 9/11 cover up, and before anyone gets their panties in a wad, who can remember how many of the confiscated videos the FBI collected from security cameras at private businesses around the pentagon were eventually shown to the public? That’s right, none of them. Those videos might have shown clearly what kind of aircraft (or missile) actually hit the pentagon, so why was it so important to keep them hidden? But I digress – the point is that very few people with their eyes open trust any institution associated with the US government anymore – especially now that some of the elements of 9/11 are actually being exposed.

The truth is that most of the leadership of the world has been – and is being – exposed as being the corrupted servants of Satan that they have chosen to be. I think it’s quite interesting – but by no means surprising if one is actually a Christian – that much of the to-do going around that’s indicting more and more powerful people are caught up in disturbing and sordid kinds of evil, the Bible specifically points out corruption that involves sexual immorality of one kind or another. As the moral decay of Revelation’s description of the modern Babylon (let the reader decide what place that is) proceeds, the voice from Heaven says she is about to be punished for her acceptance of – and participation in – sexual deviancy: [Revelation 18:3]: “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the [b]abundance of her luxury.” Sounds like malevolence such as the Epstein events might well play a part in the decline – and destruction – of this “Babylon”.

The mighty men of the world have sold their souls to Satan, and as part of the deal, they are all willing to commit horrendous trespasses against God. All of the malfeasance they sign up for eventually includes them turning against their fellow men at some time or other. They will eventually turn against each other too, for their master Satan holds no allegiance to anyone.

The wealthy have no scruples, they sold their souls to Satan for that wealth, and they will do whatever the demons that possess them lead them to do. That’s one of the hardest things to get across to people – when a man signs on to serve Satan, he does whatever evil that’s put in his possessed heart to do. It’s easy to understand that people might think along the lines of – well, I know he’s crooked, but there’s no way he’d be involved in killing all those people on 9/11. That’s flat wrong! When Satan is in charge of a man, there’s absolutely no limit to the evil he will get involved in. He becomes willing to commit any evil. Think of those demonic personages that gather in all those secretive covens like the Skull and Bones or Bohemian Grove – these people are demon-possessed! We must all acknowledge and accept that Satan is totally evil and all who serve him have agreed to do whatever evil deed(s) their master lays on them to do. Including all kinds of sexual immorality. Including murder – especially when their wealth and social standing ensures they will not be held accountable.

This post is to awaken those who might be of a mind that the evil that is afoot in the world right now will somehow go away and things will go back to whatever our concept of normal might be. That is wishful thinking for we are well beyond the point of no return. The end of this age is rapidly approaching and even a blind person can see that we’re in the final stages of Satan’s foray into the affairs of God’s people. Make no mistake, it is God’s people on whom Satan has declared war [Revelation 12:17]: “And the dragon was enraged with the woman [the Church], and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”. Bind yourself to Jesus Christ for His protection from here on to the end so as to endure Satan’s attacks.

We might see brutal wars the like of which humanity has never experienced. Natural calamities, floods, huge landslides, volcanoes, and earthquakes are becoming more frequent and more severe. And yes, at some point Christians, even here in the land of the free, will be rounded up for our faith and service to our God. Pray as you’ve never prayed for His mercy and His guidance – we’ve come to a Spiritual minefield and the enemy is using everything in his arsenal to rob us of our salvation, of our dedication to Christ, and by this we know we are truly Jesus’ people, so hang in there – it won’t be much longer. Pray for the courage you need to remain faithful to whatever end that happens. By all means, remember the harvest and do whatever you can to help others who need to hear the Gospel. Help them get to know Jesus Christ and take your part in that great harvest whereby you’ll one day hear Him say: [Matthew 25:21]: ‘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.’

Absolutely the greatest and most wonderful statement to ever be heard by human ears and the very definition of success! When we hear that, we will realize that everything we endured, even in these trying times, will have been worth what we experienced! Those who have denied Him will be left out weeping in the darkness – by no means be among them! Find Him while there is time – take your place among His faithful and inherit your mansion!

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us to the end!

MK

Where to Go When the End is Upon Us

Here we are folks, on the fourth day of this new year and things are about as dismal for the country – indeed for the whole world – as I’ve ever seen in my 72 and 1/2 years here. As of this post California is enduring some of the worst flooding and coastal erosion they’ve ever had. The Pacific Ocean seems to have declared war on the whole west coast. Even as far up as Alaska, there have been record snowstorms that have actually dropped so much snow that sailboats are sinking in harbors from the sheer weight of the accumulations.

Arrival of heavy rain means risk for structures, boats and avalanches ...

The north central parts of the US are experiencing snow squalls and blizzards the like of which have not been seen in our lifetimes. The UP of Michigan, and much of the rest of the state are buried in feet of snow, as are Upstate New York and other areas around the lakes. For some odd reason(s) no one seems to be able to explain, the water level of Lake Erie is dropping drastically.

Lake Erie lowest water levels, seiche

In other parts of the world, the massive time bomb of Campi Flegrei in Italy keeps cooking inside and raising the land of Pozzuoli as it threatens to explode in what might be a cataclysmic super eruption. If it goes off, no one knows how much of the western flank of Italy will be obliterated, nor what effects it will have on the rest of the world. Volcanoes, many of which were deemed to be dormant have exploded with unexpected eruptions. There have been some 60 eruptions around the world in the past year. Many extremely powerful eruptions such as the Hayli Gubbi in Ethiopia, the big volcanoes in Kamchatka, and Sumeru and others in Indonesia are currently erupting or have recently. I’m no geologist, but if the Tambora eruption of 1815 could create atmospheric conditions that caused an entire year without a summer, is it too farfetched to imagine that dozens of big volcanoes going off simultaneously such as are today might do the same thing? Might that be why we’re seeing such extreme winter weather in the northern US, Europe, and Russia?

Image result for free pics of volcano eruptions
Image result for free pics of volcano eruptions

Widespread droughts, such as the ones in the southwestern US, Iran, and places in Africa are making water a valuable resource. Rivers around the world, many being lifelines through nations, are drying up at a phenomenal rate. Even the Mississippi has seen periods in recent years where it has become unnavigable for the volume of traffic it has served. Perhaps runoff from the voluminous snows in the high Sierra this winter will help with water shortages next spring in Lakes Mead and Powell, but that’s not a permanent solution for the huge requirements of agriculture out west that keep increasing with populations.

Light colored “bathtub ring” around the edges of Lake Mead as the water level drops

As if weather-related or other natural phenomena weren’t enough to foment worldwide pessimism, we also have war, pollution, and other man-made issues that do not bode well for humanity’s future. If a fraction of money and resources were dedicated to improving our lot as are to destroy each other’s nations and kill people, I have no doubt that mankind could drastically improve our collective world, but as long as wealth can be concentrated into the hands of the few who crave more and more, that’s not going to happen. The recent invasion of Venezuela in preparation for massive oil theft won’t be the last act in this production. Satan has a plan for all of humanity, and it doesn’t look good at all for those who opt to face the last days of our future without the benevolent guidance of Jesus Christ – rich or poor.

We have a great and passionate Savior who desires our fellowship and is willing to give us the support and compassion that will take us safely through these troubled times. He promises to give us rest, to give us a reason to hope, not especially for this time of trial, but beyond it. We too often make the mistake of imagining the end of this life to be a huge dark wall representing the end of all things, but there is hope on the other side and we need to be thinking about the other side of it and not about the piteous remains of this side. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that we are facing problems in this world that are of such monumental proportions that we cannot overcome them – neither the natural ones, nor the manmade. Jesus Christ promises that He has something reserved for us on the other side of the big fearsome wall. There is a gate through it, a narrow gate that we must direct all of our energy towards finding. It can be found, but only if we but listen and heed the words of Jesus, but if we continue to ignore His offer of salvation, there is indeed a dark future ahead.

As the darkness approaches, we have crucial choices ahead of us – we can continue to hope to survive whatever the world throws at us, but whatever existence we might come to, no one in their right mind could imagine it to be a prosperous, enjoyable existence. At best we might all become beggars or slaves, watching our loved ones perish for lack of food or medical help, or become tribal hunter-gatherers with hardly a chance at long-term survival, or we can resolve to follow the only One who offers us real hope of an eternal future. Jesus came to save the world, but only if we give Him the keys and let Him take us where we need to go. That’s the only way to real survival – in a very real paradise of eternal joy where there will be no worrying nor suffering of any kind. Jesus is preparing a mansion there for each of us who choose to answer His calling. [John 14:2-4]: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

With the condition of the world deteriorating around us like it is, it’s beyond irrational to continue to hope for things to get better here in the world, but if we set our sights on the promises of Jesus, we have every reason to hope for the (long-term) future. Get right with Him today – for a far brighter future than anything we can hope for here.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us as the time draws near.

MK

Need to Pack Up to Head to Our Real Home

Thank God I am finally beginning to emerge from what has been one of the darkest, most painful experiences of my whole time here on earth. Without going into a lot of detail, I’ll just say I had to have two of my best friends euthanized. One of them was my old Dusty girl of whom I have mentioned on posts from the past and if you are a long-time follower, you’ll likely recall some things I’ve said about her. She was my loyal friend for fourteen years and losing her was almost more than I’ve been able to bear. I plan to do a tribute post to her when the sorrow ebbs to the point I can. The other was Chewy, Dusty’s brother of the same litter as her. They came into this world on the same day and left it within minutes of each other fourteen years later. There’s a lot of sadness in my heart for him too – he was technically my daughter’s dog, but somehow love doesn’t stay within ownership bounds. He was a very good boy. Both of them were old and very sick – he had severe breathing problems and she had begun to exhibit signs of extreme pain. I had to do it. Yall pray for me.

Though I have to take more time to grieve them, I feel that the Lord has given me a task to send out a post in light of recent events in the world – suffice it to say that the end of our age is upon us as is becoming more and more obvious. Those who waste their time waiting for things to “return to normal” are about to miss a very important boat – things will never be the way they were earlier in our lives. Those days are gone forever. Things won’t even go back to the way they were a month ago! The age of innocence has passed, and a world of rampant evil controlled by the prince of power of the air has been thrust upon us. Take heed, as the end approaches it is becoming increasingly impossible to ignore.

[Matthew 24:45,46]: “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food [i]in due season? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.” Those of us who believe are called to help with the harvest, no matter our station in life; whether we be a great evangelist with the faith of Reverend Spurgeon, or a person with a wonderful voice who sings hymns to inspire the brethren, or a lowly message poster on the internet, we all have a job to do. The time is short, and the Son of Man is already on the cloud with the sharp sickle thrusting it in to gather His harvest and we must be found doing His work when He gets back.

I’ll not give the enemy the satisfaction of speaking overly much about his intimidation of our world at large. It’s safe to assume that everyone who is interested already see his actions; wars, rumors of wars, persecution of the saints, famines, and earthquakes in diverse places. The true servants of Jesus Christ must prepare to endure some tough times ahead. Contrary to the end times prophecies a lot of “preachers” are telling people, it’s not going to be easy to endure what we are about to face. Tribulation is a threatening word that speaks of a horrible set of circumstances that we must gird ourselves to suffer through to our final victory.

There are different schools of interpretation about the chronology of events of the end times. Some believe the rapture will take place before the real seven-year tribulation takes place, but Jesus said something that makes me think this interpretation is off. He said [Matthew 24:22]: “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.” The way this reads, if those days to which He is referring are indeed the difficult times of the great tribulation, then the elect will still be around to suffer, so there’s that. Another thing I think about is that if Christians through the ages have suffered persecution, starvation, and torture, what makes folks think that for some reason us believers in the latter days should expect to be able to avoid such things as the end draws nigh?

Folks, things in this life don’t look good for us – any of us. Satan has put servants of his own choosing into the highest positions of power worldwide and they are all advocating for death and destruction. That recent speech by the Secretary of Insanity to the generals and admirals was but a glimpse of the merciless behavior they are preparing to mete out to people, but at some point – probably after the mark of the beast has been assigned to the unsaved – the focus will be on Christian believers, we should count on it.

Why am I saying all this? Because when those days get here in their fullness and we become enshrouded in this already increasing darkness, we who love the Lord must shine with the brilliance of His glory. We must show ourselves to be the beacons of hope to our brethren and to any who might choose to join us as followers. Indeed, we must absolutely rejoice in the face of the threats of the enemy, for when these things come about, our time to join our Lord will be fast approaching.

I don’t know about anyone else, but with the condition of this world over which Satan has dominance getting into the mess it’s in, how could folks of right mind even want to survive in it? Being watched with cameras everywhere, even our home conversations being eavesdropped on, being forced to take dubious vaccinations, eventually being told we must worship some evil dictator, etc. What kind of life are we facing? We are being forced to finance war, genocide, starvation of innocents, and in most government decisions, we have no choice now but to go along. Not to mention the threat of nuclear war and its attendant poisoning of the world hanging over us. We are rapidly approaching that point where our decision to follow Jesus Christ will earn us a death sentence, but if we are true believers, we will welcome our departure from this world which has come to be overtly ruled by Satan.

I guess the bottom line of this gloomy post is that our time here is getting very short. The message is, or should be, only dark for those who have refused the Lord or those who have yet to decide. Make your move of faith now before it’s too late. Jesus offers us eternal life of unimaginable joy and peace, totally opposite to what the enemy has in store for his followers. [1 Corinthians 2:9]: “Eye has not seen, nor ear hear, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

This world was never intended by its Creator to be our permanent home so we need to stop considering how to survive in it. Preparation for survival in this world is a waste of time that could be spent in helping with the harvest. This whole world will be destroyed along with all of our works – the future for believers is ONLY with Jesus Christ, so everyone needs to get to know Him ASAP, the days are short.

Please send comments for the encouragement of all of us. We need each other now more than ever.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us through these troubled days.

MK

How To Become Victorious Over A Wretched World

Image result for free pics of mumbai slums

I watched another one of those videos on You Tube that showed what life is like for those folks in places like Mumbai and Dhaka – and so many others – and it’s really gut wrenching for me. I don’t watch them to gloat – not by a long shot. I’m fascinated and horrified to see things like the mountain of trash 70 – meters high outside the confines of Delhi. The toxic and polluted waterways in the areas of the slums of Lagos and in the Philippines are a sad sight to see. Some of the documentary visited cities in the US where the homeless people try to survive in tents or just out on the sidewalks, but the tent cities of Los Angeles are luxury condos compared to some of the morbid slums of giant cities in Asia and Africa. There are literally hundreds of millions of souls on this planet scrapping for everything they can get/use to survive. Some of the video shots showed people in more than one of the places where the garbage trucks bring the city trash just waiting for the truck to dump so they could be the first in line to start rummaging through the garbage for recyclables – and food scraps – anything!

The air in Lahore, Pakistan is so polluted the narrator said just breathing the air there for one day is equivalent to their lungs as smoking 50 cigarettes. There’s a lot worse things than nicotine in that smog too. As the video shots run in the documentary, I find myself praying for those poor folks, people who will never in their whole lives get a breath of clean air or feel the joy of hearing wild birdsong out in a secluded forest. Folks who don’t even have clean water to drink or to cook with, much less able to stop by one of the cold Ozark springs for a draught of pure water. No, every moment of their lives is consumed in a never-ending struggle to just survive another day, surrounded at all times by sweat-soaked fellow travelers who are fighting the same hunger.

Here in America, we can’t imagine what it’s like to be in constant competition with other people for a claim to a plastic bottle, a used one, not one filled with clean water but simply an item having some pittance of value anyway. There are places in those packed slums where a single toilet is shared by dozens – in some cases hundreds – of people. In some of the slums in Africa and the Philippines where people exist on floating villages or stilt hovels, folks just relieve themselves in the water that surrounds them. There’s no other place to throw the trash either, so it goes into the waterways too. If they are to get a bath, they must use the same water. This is the case in India where the Ganges River is the predominant water source. They inter their dead in the same water they bathe in.

I don’t know of any answer to this dilemma. Over population is the root cause, but what can they do? Reproduction is indelibly etched into the genetic code of humans as with other life forms, so on it goes. There is an ultimate answer for the unfortunate poor of the world however, and it is to get to know Jesus Christ, but alas, there are too few people interested in working to harvest these manifold cities. But with such tools as we can get our hands on, those of us who wish to help in the harvest must do what we can. These people need to know there is a better place awaiting beyond their noisome and overcrowded existences. That would have to go a long way towards giving meaning to their struggle. Working toward the promises of Jesus, His Kingdom, His gift of eternal life to those who simply believe in Him – would be for them, as it is for all of us, a hope for something infinitely better, but in their case maybe more urgently and desperately needed, and in this hope they can live and mature with the steadfast promise of Jesus.

According to scientists, people of the earth are able to discern around 93 billion light years of our observable universe. One light year is an unfathomable distance. Even one light minute is unimaginable. We don’t have a clue how many universes there may be either, or if Heaven is even part of – or completely something different from what we are able to see, so at any rate God has a lot of room for his servants – there’s plenty of room in the Heavenly Kingdom for each and every one of the people of the earth. It won’t be crowded – we’ll each have our own majestic mansion there, prepared by none other than Jesus Christ Himself. There’ll be plenty of fresh, pure, clean water flowing through the new paradise – the River of Life. We’ll have wonderful fruit from the Tree of Life which produces different fruit every month. Being in His blessed presence is going to occupy our whole existence there, and being in His presence and the beloved presence of the Lamb is going to be an absolutely unimaginably joyous experience and we will be able to enjoy it forever! The way the apostle put it: [1 Corinthians 2:9]: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” That’s a promise from our Savior and He will keep it, but we must believe in Him and be faithful to Him, and love Him.

When our belief in Jesus grows into actual expectation, our hope becomes manifest in our hearts and all of a sudden, we come to understand why the effort is worth our time and energy. Peter mentioned in one of his epistles about the morning star rising in our hearts and I’m convinced that’s what happens when we get to that blessed revelation – our faith grows into knowledge; believing becomes knowing! [2 Peter 1:19]: “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts…”

If this post makes it into your hands, take heart, there’s a better life beyond this one. Although this site doesn’t get a huge volume of traffic, folkpotpourri nevertheless has readers in several of the countries mentioned in this post, so please share this with someone – maybe it can get to some of those folks I’ve been talking about who so desperately need hope for a better existence. If you follow folkpotpourri, you already know this site isn’t monetized so I’m not after clicks nor for any selfish reason – when I ask you to share this, it’s because I sincerely want to use this website to help people to learn about Jesus. And I’d like for my readers to experience the spiritual lift we get from knowing we are serving Him by helping others get to Him. Our true reward will be when He says: “Well done, my good and faithful servant” – the very definition of success in victory over this life!

When we get to the end of our journey here, there awaits a door we must enter. Every human being goes through that door, but only the called, chosen, and faithful will be greeted by the Savior and invited into His blessed Kingdom where we shall live forever! In that moment we will understand that what we always thought was life here wasn’t really life at all – we’ll begin a new life, the real life at last, with no worry, no pain, no sadness – only perfect peace and above all, love – and it will be a love we can feel, I believe kind of physically, like stepping into a great tidal wave of love and joy to forever be immersed in, except it will be spiritual and much more predominant in our new life than we could ever imagine. God is love, and we’ll finally realize how profound that Love is!

Even though we don’t have any way of knowing how deep God’s love is, we should nevertheless pray for Him to show us how to love – our neighbors, but mostly Him. We should set our hearts to love, even our enemies, and I believe the harder we try to love others – and God – we can begin to understand deeper things about the Lord and His ways. Of course, this also requires spending time in the Bible, so if you don’t have one, there are Christian ministries in every country, contact one, the Bibles are usually free. If you can’t get your hands on a Bible, leave your contact information in the comments and this site will do whatever I can to help you get one even if I have to send one myself.

Live in the assurance of His promises and never doubt for an instant that He will keep them for Heaven and earth will pass away but His Words will stand forever. Today is the time to pass His gospel on to others – time is growing short and the harvest is ripe – jump in!

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

MK

A Promise for the Poor – the Salt of the Earth

This post is to reach people with no hope to convince them that they have good reason to hope. The key to understanding this is to be able to zoom out, as it were. We have to exercise the vision that the Almighty has so generously given us and see that the life we are caught up in right now is but a small part of a reality that is difficult – but not impossible – to comprehend. At least we have the opportunity to comprehend enough of it to understand where we fit in the grand scheme.

God, our Creator, left us a road map so that we can find Him. He also left us with the promise of another life after this one. There are many religions in our world, and they teach many differing accounts of our existence and our future, and I don’t want to get too far into what their adherents believe, because the intent of this post is to share what I have been taught by the Spirit of God. What I believe is real – God has brought me through storms in this life that I don’t see many others having to endure. I understand we all have our own bumpy roads to travel, and I can only speak of my own experiences. Following the road map that God left us has worked for me, and since it has, I’m bound to share what I have learned.

We all have a need to connect, a yearning in our hearts to learn what our lives are all about, and it’s like we all walk around with this electric cord in our hand looking for a place to plug it in. Once we locate the correct receptacle, we expect to be able to power up our inquisitive minds and find the answers we all seek. Ok, maybe that’s a weak analogy, but you get the idea. Please hear me out – I’m writing to tell you that the only place you can connect to find the meaning of life is Jesus Christ. He is the only Being in all of this crowded universe that can direct our paths to the Kingdom of the Almighty God. In the Holy Bible, He tells us: [John 14:6]:”Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.“

This passage gives us a lot of information if we study it. The Christian religion, for those who faithfully follow it, recognizes Jesus as the source of all truth. The religion of Islam even recognizes Jesus, who they call Isa, to be a great prophet, so if He is indeed a prophet, and prophets don’t lie, then when He says He is the only way to God, He is giving us the greatest bit of information a human being can embrace. I do not consider Christianity to only be another religion of many in the world. Jesus Christ stands triumphantly upon the top of all of the world’s religions. The very last thing I want to do is to offend anyone of any other faith, but I’m here to tell you that if you’ll just look at how the world is shaping up in these later days, you can easily see with which faith that Satan, from whence all evil emanates, has chosen to do battle. It is Christianity – faithful Christians are being persecuted and executed in several places in the world.

It’s painfully obvious that many peoples of all walks are dying in diverse places by the sword, but as opposed to ethnicities who have been historically persecuted because of their behavior, Christians are dying because of their faith. This has happened throughout history – Christians died before the crowds in the Roman coliseum. The Catholic church, in the dark ages a bastion of evil, burned Christian believers at the stake for heresy if their beliefs were not approved by the “church”. The Bible, in Revelations 12 metaphorically speaks of a woman giving birth to a male child and a vicious dragon (Satan) was standing before her to kill the child as soon as it was born, but the child (Jesus) was taken up to Heaven and the dragon waged war on the woman (the true Church) thereafter. The dragon is indeed waging war on Jesus’ people, but we do not fear him, for our Lord is greater. We may end up leaving this life as He did, but our reward awaits us in the next. When you’ve been around in this world as long as I have, you realize this world has nothing to offer – regardless of what the decadent wealthy people would have you think. Our time here is short, but the next life will last forever.

Jesus referred to us common folk as the salt of the earth, meaning we have more value than we realize, but we must keep our “flavor”. We must accept our stations in life, no matter how humble – in fact, the poor will inherit eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven. [Luke 6:20]: “And he (Jesus) lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.” When we get caught up in the lusts and the desires of the world and choose to follow after the ways of the worldly people – the rich – we start to lose our flavor; our saltiness, and when this happens, we become worthless to Him. We are good for nothing anymore other than to be trampled underfoot by those people we want to be like. [Matthew 5:13]: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

You, no matter how poor, how hopeless, or destitute, are exactly the person that Jesus Christ is seeking to invite into His magnificent Kingdom. If you are burdened with a heavy load of sins from your past, He stands ready to forgive you and wash your sins away with His own precious blood. It is not humanly possible to understand how much He loves you. He died for you so that you would get this opportunity to accept His offer of eternal life, such is His desire to have fellowship, companionship with you. What a Friend! All authority on earth and in Heaven has been given to Him, and one day He will return to collect His people who will be given kingship with Him. The evil ones who run the world now – in service to Satan – will finally see justice. Unfortunately, a lot of people who are not in leadership positions but have lost their saltiness to desires of the flesh, will not be allowed into the Kingdom either.

Losing the chance to receive eternal life in the Paradise of God will be an unimaginable loss, and it is very easy to avoid. The only thing we have to do is to accept Jesus Christ for who He says He is, repent and be baptized into His Church. We must live for Him, and if the situation requires it, we must be prepared to die for Him as have so many martyrs before us. It might look to be a fearsome fate, but death is something we all must endure anyway, and it would be much easier to endure when the time comes, knowing that we are but moments from joining Him in Paradise.

Regardless of what Satan would have you believe, living for Jesus ain’t half bad. Choosing to live a Spiritual life gives us an opportunity to appreciate God’s creation in ways that worldly people don’t understand. We learn some meaningful things about our lives and the lives of others that we wouldn’t have explored without the Spirit to reveal them to us. Jesus said: [Revelation 2:17]: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” That hidden manna nourishes us spiritually and gives us knowledge that is only reserved for Jesus’ people, and it can only come from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Wherever you are, whatever your station in life, Jesus stands at the door of your heart and knocks. He said if you but open the door for Him that He would come into your heart and dine with you – and you with Him. That means He is ready to walk with you – all the way to that magnificent Kingdom He promises you – and Jesus Christ keeps His promises. Will you open the door?

Forget this world – there’s nothing here for decent people anyways. Look to the light of Jesus Christ’s salvation. I can promise you’ll be eternally glad you did. Please share this post with friends, relatives, and people you don’t know – our time here is getting very short and our love for Jesus and each other is all that matters now. This site is not monetized, so I don’t need the numbers – not on this earth anyways, but I would like to help the message of salvation get spread far and wide – especially to the salt of the earth in places like Appalachia, the Ozarks, and as far as the Tondo in Manila, Khayelitsha in Cape Town, Kibera in Nairobi, Dharavi in Mumbai, Ciudad Neza in Mexico City, Orangi Town in Karachi, Kangari in Nairobi, Mathre in Nairobi, Rocinha in Rio de Janero, Makoko in Lagos, and folks in Indonesia and Malaysia. Jesus loves you all! Remember that great angel flying across the world with the Gospel! [Revelation 14:6]: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people…”

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

MK

The Great Spiritual Inheritance

There’s a thing in my closet, and to tell the truth, I’m usually at odds with myself on the best way to deal with it. I certainly can’t get rid of it, nor do I wish to. It was passed down to me by my dad, and he told me he got it from his dad and his dad from his grandpa, and so forth from many generations ago. It’s not really anything very impressive, maybe just a thing made out of some kind of unknown material, but if it’s as old as I’ve been told it is, I’m pretty sure they didn’t have man-made materials that can do what this thing does that long ago, so it’s anyone’s guess. Whatever it is, it has held up well over the years. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear it gets in better and better shape as the years pass. Old stories have been passed down of years gone by during which the object got twisted around and distorted, but it always seemed to get back to its original shape, especially when the owners really studied it and wielded it, and tried to learn as much about it as they could.

Dad told me this thing is of utmost importance and to take care of it with my life. Each of my forebears was told the same thing by their fathers, and that although we only have a relatively miniscule understanding of the significance of it, and may not see what it portends in our lifetimes, there will come a time when its true value will be revealed, and we should hope that we are the ones alive and in proper care of it when that happens.

I’ve talked to people about this thing, the care of which I am currently entrusted, and doing so has taught me that there are folks who listen to the tale of this thing, but most think I’m some kind of nut and change the subject when I mention it. For some reason I’m still compelled to tell people about it, and when someone actually listens and hears the story of it, I seem to get a lift and so the listeners, I don’t know why, but it’s as if I’m obligated to inform people about it.

When the story of this thing began, as has been passed down through the years, there was some kind of itinerant preacher who came to some villages in another part of the world and spent some time there speaking to anyone who would listen about another life that folks would arrive at when this one is over. He wasn’t a wealthy man, a fact which didn’t allow him much regard form the better-off townsfolk, so most of that kind of people didn’t pay him much attention. There were some, though, who came to him and listened attentively as he spoke words of profound wisdom – those who listened to him received a gift of being able to perceive his messages to be of ageless importance, they all seemed to feel blessed when he spoke, and no one could explain or understand why.

Throughout my life I have pondered the stories about this fellow and have been amazed that the people I try to talk to about this thing have the very same reactions to the stories as those guys back when he spoke to them. Some want to hear more but most others turn away. Anyways, the story goes that a select few men were chosen (by him) to hear him out and learn of his message. He gave instructions such as how they should behave towards each other, but outside his group not very many seemed to want to hear that part of his message – they certainly didn’t take it to heart, and to this day they still haven’t. He also told them how to care for this thing he left behind, this thing of which I find myself in possession.

He left the object of which in my time I have been entrusted with very specific instructions as to how to care for it, in fact it was his own idea that whoever would be in possession of it was obligated, as part of his or her stewardship, to tell as many folks as were willing to listen about the thing. Even though it’s an old story shrouded in the supernatural, I believe it with all my heart and that is why I feel compelled to speak out about this object of which I have come to know is of special magnificence, this thing of which I speak. I often wonder though if the guy who left it in the first place already knew I would end up with it in my lifetime thousands of years later, but then deep in my heart I realize that of course he did. He spoke words long ago most of which I fully understand today. He must have been the greatest of prophets.

My dad also told me that there are others – and have been through the ages – who rightfully lay claim to this same object – they have it too and keep it in their own personal places, and the ones who can legitimately claim it are under the exact same obligation to tell people about it. Don’t ask me how several people can be able to claim the same thing, but I’m sure this thing transcends any physical constraints of which humankind is aware. Somehow, I understand that the others who own it are not only co-owners of the same inheritance but are also beloved brethren and instead of being jealous or envious of someone else claiming something that I know is rightfully mine, the original fellow who left us this thing taught his followers to help each other to share it boundlessly and heartfully support its equal ownership by their brethren.

There’s an interesting thing about this object of which I speak, and this is perhaps the biggest reason there are so many detractors of the truth of it – it’s invisible – to know it’s real you have to believe it exists, but you can feel it if you try to hear and learn about it. One can hear it with the heart, so to speak, but not everyone can – only those who are willing to stop their worldly pursuits long enough to listen. It’s like someone knocking at your door, you hear the rapping, but unless you open the door you never have to admit anyone was there, much less listen to what he might have had to say. Now even though you can argue that no one was there and there was no message delivered, you can’t honestly argue that you didn’t hear the knocking.

The closet I mentioned earlier is actually the vault of my own heart, and there are many things in there – some if not most of which I really, really need to get rid of, but I’m afraid I’m stricken with the remembrance of them, at least until that time comes. But even though its invisible to the human eye, the valuable object is in a prominent place there. A valuable lesson I’ve learned is that the more time I spend studying and meditating on that blessed thing, the less time I spend regretting the bad things – things that someday will be gone forever. Which brings this story around to the object again, if you can really call it an object – I don’t think there are words in the languages of men to do it justice. The story that has been passed down also relates to that time I mentioned earlier when the one who left the object said he’d return. I believe He will return; He will want to see His blessed object on earth and how well I (we) have cared for it. He will already know how or if we listened to the part of His message about caring for each other, and at that time we will realize just how well He knows. If things stay the way they are going there will be plenty of rubble and debris around to testify as to how mankind listened.

He spoke of a wonderful reward for those who shared the object with their neighbors, He spoke of the new life to come, and of the joy and wonder of a place we have yet to see, in which the owners of His beloved gift who nurtured it will spend in eternal paradise.

If you enjoyed this, by all means share it with someone, by doing so you will show your desire to assume your share of ownership of our inheritance.

May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us.

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MK

A Raft of Truth in a Sea of Deception

You’d think the state of affairs in the world today would at last reveal who the servants of evil actually are, but it looks like even here in America a lot of people are able to read about the horrors that are Gaza while they eat breakfast, because they are sufficiently misled to believe “God’s Chosen People” are committing it. There are actually so-called pastors of huge flocks that stand in front of their assemblies and spout absolute lies to the flocks about how we (America) must stand with Israel because of God’s promise to Abraham that He would bless those who bless his progeny and curse those who curse them. The way modern pastors have twisted this promise into these monstrous falsehoods by omitting relevant changes from one covenant to another beggars belief. These lies, mostly of omission, which are eagerly consumed by thousands of people who put on a righteous show but actually prefer not to serve God, are used to justify their choice to support the ongoing tragedy that is Palestine. In fact, it is precisely the reality that “evangelical Christians” so steadfastly support the monsters that call themselves “God’s chosen” that allow their genocide to continue. If the American political world were to realize that this huge bloc of constituents was against the massacre of Gazans, it would no doubt cease. For your information – and do not forget this – God’s chosen people under the new Covenant are those – Jew and Gentile – who believe and have chosen to follow Jesus Christ, God’s beloved Son. The spiritual descendants of Abraham. That’s right – even if one happens to be a genetic descendant of Abraham, if he is a nonbeliever in the New Covenant that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and does not live his life accordingly, he cannot legitimately make the claim to be of God’s Chosen People, but it would be nigh impossible to convince the patrons of Judas Hagee of this truth. Please remember that because it makes for easier understanding of who God’s people really are.

If the reader is a fence-sitter, or even someone who is torn over the notion that God’s people could be committing the atrocities that are happening in occupied Palestine, remember when John the Baptist was baptizing people in anticipation of Christ’s arrival and he was approached by Pharisees and Sadducees and he said [Matthew 3:7].“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” Consider this carefully – here is John the Baptist whom Jesus Himself declared to be one of the greatest men to have ever been born of woman, [Matt 11:11], “Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist…” speaking to those who considered themselves – as do Israelis of today – to be God’s Chosen, calling them a brood of vipers! What an antisemite!

First of all, and as foretold by Jesus, the people who call themselves Jews in the last days (now) are not even Jews at all. There are ample articles that point out the inconvenient truth that the occupation is populated by descendants of Eastern European ancestry and are not Hebraic at all, but this post does not go into them. Jesus says in His letter to the church of Smyrna [Revelation 2:9] “…I know about the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan”. And what did He say of the claim to be Jews? Blasphemy! This verse is extremely important and applicable today. These people are not Jews, neither genetically nor spiritually, but actually are servants of Satan claiming to be Jews! If one chooses to believe Jesus, they must recognize this fact. Secondly, and this is also a very important point to keep in mind, the title of – and promises to – “God’s Chosen” has passed to Abraham’s spiritual descendants, and this includes all peoples of all nations who have accepted the Son of God, and never let those charlatans who pose as preachers tell you any different, there’s just too much evidence in the Bible, old and new Testaments, that support that fact. Once again, look at what John the Baptist says to the Pharisees, [Matt 3:9] “and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.” The implication here is that God is able to raise up servants to Himself from other places (nations) than the physical lineage of Abraham – it’s quite clear and in the same vein as [1 Corinthians 1:2] “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours…” Corinth was a gentile city, but the apostle says they are called to be saints (His holy people), showing that the title of God’s Chosen has been passed to all who believe in Jesus in every place. There are countless other scriptures in the Word of God that support the title of God’s Chosen being (exclusively) extended to all who follow Christ, with clear warnings in some of them to those who reject the Son, regardless of who they claim to be. Why does that have to be so hard to understand? The bellwether of being one of God’s people is whether or not he believes in and follows Christ and not whether or not he is of genetic lineage to Abraham, even if he was actually of that lineage instead of just claiming to be, as do those in occupied Palestine today.

As for how these arguments are shaping world events, I believe there are a whole bunch of people who are in for the shock of their lives when they find out for sure the “chosen” ones not only aren’t who they claim to be, but also when it sinks in that they have been intentionally supportive of a rogue and murderous regime. Not everyone who thinks these people are really Godly do so because they are evil people themselves, but due to close-mindedness, and/or being too lazy to study the Word of God, they choose to support a Satanic nation. It is extremely important to understand, however that on that great Day when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, the claim that they were deceived isn’t going to cut them any slack. Those people are deceived because they choose to be deceived! They are deceived because they got all their information from sources like mainstream news, where deep down they know is a never-ending stream of lies. They watched evangelists who make tons of money from preaching the “gotta support Israel” sermons knowing these guys are swindlers and charlatans. And on that Day, Jesus will say the most heart-rending and terrifying words ever to have been heard, to the everlasting condemnation of the soul, [Matthew 7:23] “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” My friends whom I try with all my heart to convince, you do not want to find yourself on the receiving end of those words! The absolute shock, the utter horror that will come upon the heart will be unimaginable – to hear Him say, “I never knew you”, and it will reverberate in that soul for all of eternity, made more horrific by the knowledge that it could have so easily been avoided – simply by standing in the shelter of the Rock and refusing to listen to Satan’s lies coming from evil governments through the news and from millionaire preachers who lie to us for their own riches . We all need to open our eyes and our hearts before it is too late, and the time is near.

I just watched a video that claimed China is now supplying the Houthis with weapons they can and are using to hit the occupied territories. Even though the Houthis continue to surprise everyone with their tenacity, bravery, their unabashed loyalty to the Palestinians, and their willingness to go toe to toe with the military might of Israel, the UK, and the US, it has been a stretch to believe they possess the technical expertise to develop hypersonic missiles without outside help. Once they launch the missile towards Tel Aviv though, it really doesn’t matter whether they made it themselves or got it from an ally. It looks like Xi might be sufficiently disgusted with the genocide in Gaza to be willing to back the Ansar Allah (Houthis). There’s a verse in the Bible prophecy in Revelation that mentions something happening to the Euphrates River to cause it to stop running and make it possible for the “kings of the east” (Asian countries like China?) to pass through enroute to the gathering of armies for a great battle, so it’s not inconceivable – in fact it’s quite likely – that China will get involved. It will be a big event, and I believe all the world powers will eventually get involved. Two hundred million of the armies will be killed. That’s a lot of soldiers!

When the big battle happens, it’s going to be the greatest loss in all of history for humanity, but it will also be the seminal point in which we can begin to look for the long-awaited return of our Lord Jesus. At some point either prior to or during that consummate battle, people whose riches are tied up in arms manufacturing will reach that point where they realize their wealth can do them no good in a world that has been, or will be completely destroyed. When that reality hits home, their own panic will ensue, but until that time, they will cheer on the war and destruction. So enjoy your Raytheon, Lockheed, Boeing, et.al. profits while they last. These stockholders will vote for AIPAC sponsored, warmongering politicians in their headlong rush to satisfy Satan, and ever pursue the blood of (non-wealthy) humankind, and meanwhile, the soon-to-be pointless money will continue to pour in, but in the end, Wall Street will not avail them.

If you are currently under the spell of Zionist-supporting evangelists, this post is for you. If you have not yet considered looking into the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ, this post is likewise for you. For reasons of His own, God has blessed this site with a readership that extends into many other nations, so as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter if you are a banker, a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker or a crew member on a ship. If you are a rickshaw driver in Mumbai, a shopkeeper in Haifa, or a tent maker in a Cairo suburb, or a fisherman in Madagascar, remember the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is a big tent and you are warmly welcomed into His fold. By all means, get right with the Lord before the bottom falls out of this world we live in. There are Christian ministries in every corner of the world, find one and join it. Learn about Jesus, you’ll be eternally glad you did.

Don’t believe everything they say – a key point to look for is whether they support the ministry of Christ and His teachings, if they do not, they are headed in the wrong direction, do not give them the time of day – no matter how much money they have or represent. Also be wary of those who try to hide their deceit behind false claims of serving Christ. He said, [John 14:6], “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Pay attention to what He said – He did not say “A Truth”, He said “The Truth” – there is only one.

May the blessings of God the Father find and keep us until that Day.

MK

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

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