Hallelujah Going Home Soon!

To all my sold out born again blood bought believer friends on facebook:

One day in heaven we will all be together at the biggest happiest reunion ever, the marriage supper of the Lamb, never to be parted again.

THEN, we will return with Christ in the most exciting clean up effort ever, the wrath against sin on this earth. Christ will do all the fighting and we will be with Him.

Raise your hand if you are champing at the bit waiting for this to happen.

Salvation is Sealed by the Holy Spirit

The false teaching of those who claim one can lose their salvation is a denial of Christ.

The Holy Spirit was sent to us to be our seal, the Promise of our salvation.

The Holy Spirit was sent to guide us into all truth, to discipline us when we stray and to comfort us when we are in trials.

To say that we could lose salvation in Christ is to negate all that the Holy Spirit does within us.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 "…21 Now it is God who establishes both us and you in Christ. He anointed us, 22 placed His seal on us, and put His Spirit in our hearts as a pledge of what is to come. "

John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you."

Hebrews 12:5-7 "…5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” 7 Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?…"

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 "3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.…"

Do they not see that everything in us is about the Holy Spirit! Christ does all the work in us after we have confessed and trusted in His finished work on the cross, after which He begins His lifelong cleansing of our souls, while keeping us until He comes for us.

Any amount of trust in self is devilish and pompous. Our only glory is in Christ, not in ourselves.

A Nation Without Honor

As a nation we have been favored by God, not because of America, but because of the believer who came here with God's permission and blessing!

We are a nation with far fewer believers in Christ than ever before. There are many pretenders who have a form of religion for their own comfort, but want nothing to do with Christ Himself, even being embarrassed at the mention of His name.

Those in power have spurned the righteousness of God, attempting to remove Him from everything, even perverting justice to accomplish their goals.

The children of this nation have become rebellious and self absorbed, tolerating nothing that is not what they want, while having no honor in their actions or attitudes.

Isaiah 26:8-10 "…8 Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD, We have waited for You eagerly; Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls. 9 At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10 Though the wicked is shown favor, He does not learn righteousness; He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness, And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.…"

Do Not Believe Those Who Say You Can Lose Your Salvation

1 John 5:13-14
"13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us."

Anyone who says to you as a believer, that any sin is a "matter of salvation" is spreading a false gospel of works.

No sin keeps anyone out of heaven, only refusing to trust Christ does that. Yes, sin is wrong and Christ told us not to do it. Yes, there are consequences in this life for sin, some very severe and God will deal with His children who are stubborn.

However, our sin was dealt with on the cross in terms of salvation. No level of the absence of sin could earn us heaven. Our assurance of salvation is in the finished work of Christ on that cruel cross. If that was not enough then His death was silly.

God clearly states in His word that He disciplines His children, He silences the Holy Spirit when we are in sin and He brings us back to obedience.

Those who claim one can lose their salvation at the same time they say we do not sin after salvation are speaking irrationalities. If we did not sin after salvation we would not ever lose salvation. Both ideas are patently and Biblically wrong.

If we did not sin after salvation then we would not need an advocate.

1 John 2:1 "1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father — Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours alone, but also for the sins of the whole world.…"

I had children, when they were naughty I disciplined them, if they continued to disobey and spurn my direction then I turned a deaf ear to their desires, God does that too. I never rewarded rebellion and neither does God. However, they still remained my children just as we remain God's children when we sin. There is one main difference between our relationship with children and our relationships with God. He said He never leaves us or forsakes us, we have been sealed with His Holy Spirit of Promise as a Guarantee of our inheritance. Ephesians 1:13-14

The difference between human relationships and God with His children is that the believer is only in relationship with their children if those children have trusted Christ. If they have not then they are not in the family of God and are therefore enemies of Christ and enemies of their Christian parents. We do not want this to be so, but we cannot deny that we have no fellowship with those who walk in darkness, willfully rejecting Christ through denial of His Word.

James 4:3 "3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures."

Psalm 66:18 "18 If I regard wickedness in my heart,
The Lord will not hear;"

For pretenders God has this to say: (those who claim to be Christians but spurn any instruction from the Word or correction based on the Word.)

Proverbs 1:24-28
24 “Because I called and you refused,
I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;
25 And you neglected all my counsel
And did not want my reproof;
26 I will also laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your dread comes,
27 When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,

The Light Shines Bright

When we live to please Christ within ourselves, it shines the light on the evil deeds of those around us. They want to live in secrecy and darkness, so they get angry when the light exposes them.

A Fool Delights in Lies

John Edwards once said this:
"The problem with nostalgia is what we tend to do is only remember what you liked and you forget the parts you didn't like."

Mr. Edwards got it partially right, often children forget what their parents did that was good and a blessing, while remembering what they didn't like. However the things they didn't like were not based on knowledge or wisdom, but rather on their childish desires and a rebellious nature along with only scanty partial knowledge of circumstances.

They like to say, "you ALWAYS did this or that", when that event happened once or twice in 18 years. Children have selective memories especially when they are in revolt against authority.

It is human nature to interpret information of the past based on how we felt rather than the all the details of the event. There is even a propensity to interpret things in terms of our personal feelings about what happened rather than the actual events themselves.

Another interesting phenomena is the inclination to remember things based on how we would act, thinking that everyone else acts that way too. A narcissist believes everyone is lying because he/she lies. A narcissist accuses others of affairs because the narcissist fantasizes about affairs. A narcissist will accuse us of the very things they are doing or would like to do, because they believe everyone else does or thinks the same way they do. One of the biggest "tells" of the narcissist is what he/she accuses others of doing or being.

Memories are faulty at best, often being evaluated on an impressions and assumptions rather than accurate factual information.

When there is resistance to hearing from those who have been wrongly evaluated, there is a deliberate desire to believe falsehood. When we love truth, we seek to discover the reasons for actions, the reasons for expressions rather than jump at the inclination toward our own feelings.

The saddest of all situations is when false memories drive someone to turn others against those whom they have judged.

Not only does the narcissist contrive their own interpretation of events, they must work to cause others to reject their target. Because their motives are not pure and honest, there is the need in themselves to gather groups of people on their team of haters.

The narcissist is never satisfied with hating all by themselves, they must gain the praise and empathy of others toward their deceptive and fictitious cause of self exaltation. Only through the ability to ruin the one for whom they have the greatest contempt will they be satisfied.

Proverbs 18:2-4 "…2 A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind. 3 When a wicked man comes, contempt also comes, And with dishonor comes scorn. 4 The words of a man's mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.…"

One of the clues of the unrepentant contemptuous heart is the love of gossip and the lack of interest in finding the truth.

2 Timothy 3 describes these types and instructs us what to do about them. When we have to encounter them, then we act with the mind of Christ, depending on Him to work in us, on our behalf, until we can escape them, as is commanded in verse 5 of this passage.

2 Timothy 3:5 "5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!"

Matthew 7:6
"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."

Proverbs 23:22
"Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old."

When we see the Scripture being violated on a regular basis with frequency and contempt, then we are to remove ourselves until Christ tells us when to resume again with someone like this. We may find ourselves never returning to the company of these people. As long as they remain in rebellion against God, working nothing but trouble because of that rebellion, then we must obey God and stay away.

The phrase, "from such turn away", is not a suggestion but a command. We bring unnecessary trials on ourselves by disobeying this mandate of God, even perhaps thwarting the lesson God has for them by remaining. If these people are to come into our lives again, that is God's business, in the mean time we need to be very discerning through the Holy Spirit.

2 Chronicles 36:16
"but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy."

We must ask ourselves the question; "DO I LOVE CHRIST MORE THAN ANY OTHER PERSON." If we find ourselves compromising the principles of God because of another human being, then we must repent and start again to trust Christ alone.

We must love people God's way, if we do that then Christ will always come before any other relationship. If the relationship cannot last because of Christ, then we choose Christ over that relationship.

2 Peter 3:3
"Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts,"

2 Peter 2:10
"and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,"

There are those that we cannot get away from, an employer or co-workers, a spouse or children still living in the home, but we can continue to act the way the Holy Spirit leads in spite of their presence, while allowing their tantrums to roll off our backs the way water rolls off of a ducks back. It is possible to live like this until Christ removes us or them and do it with great joy and freedom in the Spirit.

People, no matter how much we love them must never be our idols.