Owner's Manual

When you acquire a new power tool, do you read the owner's manual?  All of it?  I didn't think so.

I just purchased a new drill/driver because the batteries for my old one are dead and outdated.  The new one is the same brand and design, so I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the manual before I used it, although being the "rule follower" that I am, I did glance through the pages to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

Some people believe the Bible is the "owner's manual for life."  I will admit I have been among those who think that way, but is that really what God wants?

We have the Bible because the enemy was infiltrating the Body of Christ with many false teachings during the first couple of centuries after The Resurrection.  At that time, there had been a number of letters and writings floating around among believers, and the Church leaders attempted to filter out the bad ones and keep the good ones by creating the Bible.  Intentions were good, but the results were mixed, in my opinion.

Surely, it is good to have a record of what happened in the past, and the Bible serves that purpose well.  It tells us about Creation, the Fall, the Flood and the Patriarchs, and the source documents for those things are some of the only records we have available.  The Bible also tells us about Jesus, those who predicted his coming, and what people did after they experienced Jesus when he walked around on earth.  All of this is important stuff, and vital knowledge about God.

But the early New Covenant believers did not have the Bible.  The Old Covenant was in the synagogues, but the New Covenant was only available through the Holy Spirit.  The Gospels, Book of Acts and various letters had not been written, but God's Word spread like wildfire around the world by the power of the Holy Spirit.  It was only later, after people were experiencing the Holy Spirit, that anything was written about what was going on.  To put it another way, Jesus did not ascend to the Father and ask Him to send us the Bible.  He asked Him to send the Holy Spirit.

Please do not stone me, and please do not accuse me of being a heretic.  I absolutely love the Bible, and reading it has been the primary way I have learned about God and what He wants for me, but I don't really think it is the "owner's manual" we should be using.  It is great for getting us started, but it is not adequate.

The Holy Spirit of God should be our "owner's manual."  It is what Jesus had when he walked among us two thousand years ago, and it is the gift believers received when he ascended to the Father.  A book is finite, and can only contain a certain number of words.  God, on the other hand, is infinite, and he can, and will, give us far more, if we listen to him directly and follow where he leads us by His Spirit.  But, we must go beyond the paper manual and plug into His "online help."

Actually, I think the Bible can get us into trouble.  First, it is prone to interference by sinful men and deceiving spirits.  We only have fragments of copies of the Bible's original source documents, and most people do not understand the original languages¹.  On top of that, the original documents were written by fallible human beings.  Those who interpret the words and translate them into the plethora of versions we have today are fallible, too.  Yes, God oversees all of this and has influenced what ultimately is in the various documents we call "The Bible," but the "god of this world" also has influence, and our Creator will test us to see who we really follow.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I think the Bible often serves as a substitute Holy Spirit for those who do not actually have Him, or who are not hearing Him.  People can, and do, read the Bible and get things out of it without actually having a spiritual connection with God, our Creator.  Deceiving spirits will use the legitimacy of the Bible to lead people into thinking they are hearing from God when they are not.  The Bible gets misused all of the time.  How often have you heard someone claim something is good or true just because it is in the Bible?

A simple example is "Ezekiel Bread."  I did a quick Internet search and found this company at the top of my list:  Food for Life.  I know nothing about them, but it is plain to see from their web page that they are using Scripture to market their products.  In this case, they are claiming that their bread is healthy because its ingredients are like what is described in Ezekiel 4:9.  My screen-grab image is probably too fuzzy to read, so I will quote them here:

Ezekiel 4:9
Bread. And Better!™
Ezekiel 4:9 products are crafted in the likeness of the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9 to ensure unrivaled honest nutrition and pure, delicious flavors.

"Take also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils and millet, and spelt and put them in one vessel…" Ezekiel 4:9

It’s this special, unique combination of 6 grains and legumes that harvests benefits beyond what we normally expect from our breads, pastas, cereals, and other foods.

But, what is the actual context of Ezekiel 4:9?  Is this really a "good thing?"  Please take a few moments to read Ezekiel 4, in its entirety, and then decide if this kind of bread is really what God thinks is best for us.

The Food for Life folks also claim we should be eating what God told Adam to eat in Genesis 1:29, which would be fine, if that was the last word God gave us about the subject, but it is not.  For example, when Noah came out of the ark, God told him to eat animals, as well as green plants (Genesis 9:3), but I don't see that verse quoted here.  That's probably because the Food for Life people promote Veganism, but that's a different topic for a different day.

The point is, the Bible can be misused, misinterpreted and used by the darkness to deceive.  We need the Holy Spirit to truly understand it and use it properly, and if we have a healthy relationship with Him, we can move beyond the Bible, to understand far more and do far more than we can if we remain with our noses stuck in a book.  Holy Spirit will tell us where to go, what to do, who to befriend, and who to move away from.  He will tell us things a two-thousand-year-old book cannot tell us -- how to live our lives minute by minute.  He will guide us like he did the first disciples.

Again, please do not stone me, and please do not accuse me of being a heretic.  If you find what I have said disturbing, or in error, please take it to your prayer closet and discuss these things with God.  You should always do that.  We need to always test the spirits, those of others as well as our own.  Satan is crafty.  He lies, cheats, steals, kills and destroys.  Jesus has come to give life, and give it abundantly.  To have life, we must be with the Lifegiver, and He has not been chased into a book.

Come, Lord Jesus and give us true understanding, so that we may follow you, and you alone, in order to glorify your Name!

All glory to God!!!

 

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UPDATE, February 14, 2022...

¹ I was recently led to look up the Aramaic language on the Internet, and I found the "Jesus Spoke in Aramaic" website.  It turns out Aramaic was spoken by the common people in Jesus' time, and it is very likely He spoke Aramaic.  The case can also be made that Aramaic was the original language of the New Testament writings, and they were translated into Greek to reach a wider audience.  This website looks fascinating, and I may spend some time examining it.

 

UPDATE, August 20, 2022...

Here is a good example of someone using the Bible to justify their opinions.... in my opinion, of course! 😉

You can read the article at the website, but in case it disappears from the Internet, I am quoting it here in its entirety so I can critique it, below...

July 5, 2016
Why Pastors, Elders, & Husbands Are Not Your “Spiritual Covering”
by Jory Micah

When I first began blogging and doing ministry online, I wrote something controversial on Facebook (imagine that).  What I wrote offended one of my friends, and she asked me who my “spiritual covering” was.

In some recent movements in the Christian world, a “spiritual covering” is a person who supposedly has more spiritual authority than other Christians – normally a pastor, elder, or priest of some sort. I was taken aback by the question and at that point I did not know the biblical answer, so I wrote back and said,

“My dad is my spiritual covering. He has been a pastor and mentor my whole life.”

My answer makes me cringe now, because it’s not true.

The truth is that the Bible never mentions the need for any sort of “spiritual covering” to do ministry or to make life decisions. The idea of Christians needing a “spiritual covering” originated in the 1970s, out of the charismatic movement.

Many pastors, elders, and husbands have used the idea to manipulate, control, and spiritually abuse less knowledgeable and more vulnerable Christians.

Often, 1 Peter 5 is used to support the need for Christians to submit to their pastors, elders, and husbands as their “spiritual covering.” In the text, Peter is encouraging church leaders to care for their congregation, but there is no indication that leaders have more “spiritual authority” than other Christians.

Rather, there is indication that church leaders have been given a sort of “earthly authority” to do their job and Peter clearly writes, “Do not lord it over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3).” A godly leader leads by example and never seeks to control others.

“Spiritual authority” comes from the Holy Spirit who lives within every Christian (1 Corinthians 3:16). The Holy Spirit that lives inside of one’s pastor or elder is the same Holy Spirit that lives inside of all Christians.

Therefore, every Christian has an equal amount of “spiritual authority” to minister to the world and to make their own life decisions, with the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

Jesus commissioned and empowered all of us when He said,

“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed (Mark 16:15-18).”

God calls and equips certain Christians to be pastors, elders, evangelists, prophets, apostles, teachers, deacons, etc., but these are earthly roles, and the type of authority these leaders hold are no different than the authority a political leader holds or a manager at McDonald’s holds.

God certainly calls Christians to respect earthly authorities (Romans 13:1) and to seek out their godly guidance and wisdom (Proverbs 11:14; Proverbs 5:11-14); but ultimately, we are accountable to God alone (Romans 3:19), and we need only God’s approval to move forward in whatever we sense God calling us to do (2 Timothy 2:15).

Jesus Himself speaks against over-the-top earthly authority in Matthew 20:25-28. The Scriptures always point believers towards mutual submission and to Jesus alone as our “spiritual authority.”

In the Old Testament, only priests were permitted to enter God’s presence, which was called the “Holy of Holies.” The “Holy of Holies” was the core chamber of the inside of the sanctuary of the Jewish Temple. This small room was separated from the outer chamber by a heavy and thick curtain.

Only those who were considered “high priests” could enter the “Holy of Holies” on the Day of Atonement. These high priests went through a rigorous purification process before they entered, continuously sacrificing animals for their sin and being sure to obey the Torah (Old Testament Law) to the letter. If a high priest went behind the curtain, without being completely pure before God, it was thought he would die.

This tells us that God cannot stand to be in the presence of sin. Yet, it is evident throughout the Bible that God desires to have a relationship with humans.

This presented a problem, since all humans are sinful to some degree. So, as we know, God became flesh (John 1:14), so God Himself could die for all of humanity’s transgressions. Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and made it so anyone (John 3:16-18) who accepts Him as their Savior, is seen as pure in the eyes of God.

In other words, when God looks at Christians, He does not see sin anymore. No, friends, we are covered with the blood of Christ from head to toe, and we have been made spotless and blameless as children of God (1 John 3:5; Romans 8:1).

You see, something extraordinary happened the moment Jesus took His last breath on the Cross – the curtain that stood between humans and God was ripped down the middle.

“At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart (Matthew 27:51).”

Now, this was no ordinary curtain. It is likely that this curtain was about 60 feet in height and about 30 feet in width, and four inches thick. So, it is obvious that no human ripped the curtain in half. God ripped the curtain in half, and exposed the “Holy of Holies.” We no longer need a “high priest” to enter God’s presence for us.

The author of Hebrews says,

“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most (4:16).”

We don’t have to be afraid any more. We can enter God’s presence boldly, with all of our dirty sin, and the grace of Jesus Christ will cover us and show us mercy. We need no “spiritual covering” to enter God’s presence, to teach the Bible, to minister to others, or to make life decisions.

In fact, the Bible calls all Christians “a priesthood of believers.”

“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God (1 Peter 2:5).”

Therefore, no priest, pastor, elder, deacon, or any minister has any more “spiritual authority” than lay Christians. We all have equal and direct access to God and the only “spiritual covering” we need is Jesus Christ.

Her use of the term "spiritual covering" is a straw-man argument; it is a fallacy; it is not logical.  It is misrepresenting the position she is arguing against to make it easy to 'knock down.'

Jesus walked the earth as a man.  He referred to his Father and he called the Holy Spirit a "he."  All thirteen of the apostles he chose were men.  Going back further...  Adam was a man and the LORD God put him in charge.  Noah was a man and he found favor in the eyes of the LORD.  Abraham was a man; Isaac was a man, Jacob (Israel) was a man; Moses and Aaron were men; Joshua was a man; David was a man; Isaiah was a man; Jeremiah was a man...  I think I've made my point.

Discernment is being able to tell the difference between what is right and what is almost right.

I see the website is still available but the last blog post was made in May of 2020.  Doing a search for the author's name seems to produce interesting results.

Just because someone quotes the Bible does not make them right.

The Car

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”  (Luke 11:24-26 NIV)

A long time ago, when I was teaching my children and their respective Sunday school classes, I was inspired with the model I'm going to show you.  It is, of course, only an approximation and an illustration, but it helps me understand about things that are unseen.  I hope it helps you, too.

The Bible talks about the spiritual realm to show us that it exists, and to help us understand that it is a fundamental part of the Creation we live in, but it does not go into a lot of detail.  I think that is because we don't need to know the details, and, frankly, we can't handle knowing the details.  God knows precisely what is best for us, and I thank Him for that.

One day, when I was driving my car, I realized that we often see all of the other cars on the road as the things we are interacting with, instead of the persons who are behind the steering wheels.  We often might say, "Hey!  That car just went through a red light!"  "That car is speeding!"  "That car cut me off!"  But, it is not the car that is in control or responsible for what happens -- it is the driver of the car that dictates behavior.  Without the driver, the car will be parked and do nothing.

So it is with us:  our bodies, soul and spirit.  Our bodies are what we see on the outside, but our soul and spirit are unseen, and they are actually in control and more important.  Many people have expounded on these topics, and I don't want to get into all that.  I want to talk to those who are like little children, in ways that a child can understand, because God makes it easy for us to understand the important concepts, and I think simple things like this are sufficient.  Then we can keep our eyes on the ball.

Let me introduce the players.  First, there is "the car," which you can see in the first picture, above.  That car symbolizes our natural bodies.  They are made to transport us around Creation during our natural lives.  They are ours, and we live in them.  When they are new, they are without blemish, but as they age, they get bumps and dents and wear out.  Actually, our real bodies were originally made to last forever, and they miraculously maintain and repair themselves, but in this corrupt world they age and decay.  Eventually they die, and like a car that ends up in the dump (or these days is recycled), our bodies decay and disappear.

The next player is "the man."  He symbolizes our unseen parts, the important parts, who we are and what we do.  He is our eternal self; he lasts forever.  He is the one who loves, thinks, hates, sins, repents, makes mistakes, sings, understands, makes judgments and controls the body/"car."  He is what matters.

When my dad died a number of years ago, I used this model to try to explain to people how my dad had "gotten out of the car."  I put this configuration on a table in the funeral home, in hopes that some would be comforted by it.

The most important player is the Holy Spirit.  This is God, and he is symbolized by a wooden cross.  He is who we want to be with us, of course.  He made us to live with him.

There are other players, as well.  Angels.  Lots of angels.  All kinds.  I recently ran across what David Pawson had to say years ago about angels -- both good ones and bad ones -- and I highly recommend you listen to all three messages he has available online here.

In this discussion, I am only going to talk about the "bad angels."  This little guy on the right symbolizes them.  He's kinda ugly, isn't he?  Did I buy that for my kids???  Yikes!

So, to begin the illustration, this is us, both our "seen" and "unseen" parts.  We are driving our car.  We take it where we want to go, don't we?  We can do good and we can do evil, and we don't need any help to do either.  Notice there is room in the car for others.

As we live our lives, we will be influenced by other things unseen.  Bad angels, otherwise known as "evil spirits" will give us ideas, tell us lies and do other things to steal and kill and destroy us.  They are all around us, and they watch what we do.  If we think we are hearing from God, it is probably them.  Jesus referred to the leader of the evil angels as the "ruler" or "prince" of this world, and the Apostle Paul called him "the god of this world."  We human beings are certainly capable of doing evil, but the evil angels do their part, too.

Sometimes the evil angels will join us as passengers.  They are along for the ride and go with us wherever we go.  When we are angry, or bitter, or evil towards others, or we are depressed, or discouraged, or unbelieving, it can be due to an evil spirit riding along with us.  They can make us sick, cripple us, and fill us with fear and unbelief.  Satan wants us to think that all of those things are due to natural causes and that doctors, and medicines and special foods and exotic healers can fix those problems.  He doesn't want us to know that all of those "solutions" can actually be counterfeit and ineffective, and more importantly, that JESUS can ultimately fix all of our problems.  Satan wants to be god of this world, and he directs his spiritual resources to attack us from both inside and outside our "car."  But Satan is defeated, and he is truly a fool, because he has the most knowledge of anyone but God, yet he aspires to be god himself, thereby rejecting the true God.  Now that's foolishness!  The battle is not complete, however, so we have to deal with unseen, disruptive passengers.

In some cases, our "unseen help" can actually take over driving the car.  "Oh, nooooo!"

They may even relegate us to the back seat!

God fixed our sin problem by sending Jesus to die for our sins, and if we follow the true Gospel of repentance, baptism in water and baptism in the Holy Spirit, we become equipped to deal with Satan and his demons and live our lives with God.  This picture is how it should be.  God should be with us in the car, and we should listen to him only and do what he tells us to do.

Some people, however, only have God on the outside.  They may dress the part, but they do not have the Gospel.  We need to work with the Holy Spirit to reach them and guide them to get the cross inside the car with them.

Some really sad cases exist where a person outwardly appears to have attributes of following God, but is actually controlled by evil spirits, with the person themself relegated to the back seat.  We must help them by praying for them and ultimately sharing the true Gospel with them, so they might become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

Can a person who has the Holy Spirit be influenced and hampered by evil spirits? Absolutely!  This is the normal spiritual life when we are in Jesus!  If we are not experiencing the Devil, then we are probably right where the Devil wants us!  Evil spirits will try to deceive us, trip us up, and, if possible, destroy us.  But, the Holy Spirit is on our side, and He will help us.  When I get bewildered, I turn things over to Jesus and have Him pray for me.  After all, He is sitting at the right hand of the Father and he knows what I need!  Hallelujah!

Can a person have both the Holy Spirit and evil spirits in them at the same time?  I believe that was my personal situation, so yes I believe the answer is a resounding YES!  This is what Satan tries to achieve because it binds up and makes that disciple ineffective.  And Satan will lie about this, so beware.  In these situations, the Body of Christ is critical, because the Holy Spirit will help them spot what is going on and help them restore the person to their rightful place.  Many people in ministry, and particularly pastors in institutional churches, are going to be vulnerable to this because Satan can control the whole group by controlling one person.  We must be discerning and listen to the Holy Spirit about these things, and take action as He directs.

Sometimes we do things that grieve the Holy Spirit, and he withdraws from our lives.  I'm sure I did that.  I knew things weren't right, and I pleaded for understanding.  I was prostrate on the floor, and I was like the persistent widow and prayed over and over and over again.  And God saved me.  He showed me where I was wrong and He guided me to deliverance.  Oh, thank you, Jesus!!!


Jesus told many parables to explain spiritual truths, and he did that as an example for us.  God created this world we live in, and it is full of parables.  I see parables all the time, every day.  This is just one of them.  The Holy Spirit will reveal all truth, if we listen to him.  He is the spirit of Jesus, living in us, to help us fight the battle, the one that really counts.

Dear God,
Please open our eyes, so that we may see...  that it is all about the driver of the car, and where they will spend eternity.  Help us discern the voice of your Holy Spirit from the voices of others, and help us follow His leading only.  In Jesus' mighty Name!

All glory to God!

Funeral

[This post was updated the day after it was published, 8/16/2016.  See the comments, below.]

I attended a funeral for a dear friend recently.  He believed in Jesus and the family treated it as a celebration of his life.  It was nice.

Funerals are a time for personal reflection, and I have been taking the opportunity to do that.  When I stand before Jesus, what is he going to say to me?

A while back, I had some revelations about my walk, and I wrote about them in some earlier posts.  God knew what I needed and I am so thankful he equipped me to follow him more closely.

Recently, the name "Watchman Nee" was echoing in my head.  I had heard it mentioned somewhere, but I can't recall where.  I looked it up and learned he was a man who lived in China during the first half of the Twentieth Century.  He had learned about God by studying the Bible and reading what others had written, but he was not formally trained.  God raised him up.

People who knew Watchman Nee had lots of good things to say about him, but he also had many critics, particularly among those in established church denominations.  If you read some of the things he wrote, it is easy to understand why.  He saw the various denominations as fruits of division.

Right now, I sense a call to spend time studying Watchman Nee, in order to learn how he lived, and also to continue studying Torben Sondergaard, who started the Last Reformation movement. These are the disciples Jesus wants me to emulate, at least for now.

UPDATE 8/16/16:  Having looked into some things about Watchman Nee, I've concluded that his pattern is not one I think we should follow because I don't think he kept his eyes on the ball.  In particular, his co-worker, Witness Nee, wrote a piece about "casting out demons" in 1992, and it is blatant error.  You can read it here.  I will stick with following Jesus.  I do identify with Nee's views about the denominations, but he never spoke in tongues and he seemed to live a defeated life.  Yes, Jesus calls us to empty ourselves of the world, but he also wants us to be victorious.

I was suspicious when I heard Nee's name in my head, and now I'm pretty sure I know who I was hearing.  As a matter of fact, when I was hearing Nee's name, I was using the chipper.  Interesting.  I am not judging Nee, but I don't think Jesus wants me to follow his pattern, and Jesus will be my Teacher.  I will do what He did, not what Nee did.  (Oh, that rhymes!)

By the way, the chipper has been sold, for the same price I paid!  I was ready to give it away, and a few minutes later someone came to my door wanting to buy it.  God is so amazing!

I need to keep my eyes on the ball.  I need to get out more and look for persons of peace, so I can heal the sick and share the Gospel.  I have much work to do.  Consequently, I will probably not be posting as much on this blog as I have in the past.  It has been useful, but only for a season.  The Bible does not record that Jesus ever wrote anything, and he did not tell his disciples to write books.  He told them to go out, heal the sick, cast out demons, preach the Gospel and make disciples.  He did those things in person, and so did his guys.  That is what I must do.

The Internet is a very useful tool, but it is also a tool for the other side.  The Holy Spirit can do anything, and the less we are of this world, the more He will do.  Jesus, the first disciples, and Watchman Nee all emptied themselves so they could have more of God.  That is what I must do.  How I do that, I do not know.  Yet.

I doubt I will be able to stay away from writing because I enjoy it and it is a way for me to express what I am hearing, but what I truly want to do is be with disciples of Jesus who are obsessed with conforming themselves to Him.  Those are the people I need to be around, and it must be in person.  The Internet allows us to instantly communicate with anyone who is anywhere around the world, but it only allows for superficial contact.  We need to actually be together, to break bread, hug, weep, rejoice and love each other in ways we can only do when we are together in person.  That is how God designed us, and He will honor those relationships.  Perhaps it is time for a persecution that drives the followers of Jesus from the Internet, similar to what happened soon after Pentecost.  We get stuck in our comfort zones and God usually has to do something drastic to get us to change our ways.  I pray He will be merciful when he does it.

So, after saying all that, I still might post some testimonies in the future, if they are worthy, but I am going to use this post to remind myself that I need to crucify my flesh, and this blog is flesh.  At times, I think it can even be a "pheasant."  It needs a funeral.  Please pray for me.  Pray I will do God's will and stay with Him until the end.  Thank you.

May the peace and grace of God be with you all.


All glory to God!

-------------------

UPDATE, August 6, 2022...

Changed the color of the former updates to make them not so harsh on the eyes.

Burned Toast

Fearing our Creator is the beginning of wisdom.

 

 

I'm going to tell you some things because I love you and want you to have the joy and the life that I have.  I'm going to talk about why I fear God.

As I said in previous posts, I have read the Bible many times because I love God and am chasing after him with my whole heart!  The Bible is not God, but it gives us insight into who God is, his character, and how we relate to him.  It tells His story from The Beginning, and provides us with everything we need in order to start a new life with Him.

Many people like to grab onto the fact that "God is love," and they like to tell people that "Jesus loves us."  Yes, God is love and yes, Jesus does love us, but there is much more to it than that.  God is also righteous and holy, and he hates sin.  All sin.  If we¹ have the full Gospel, then we have been saved from our sin and we can have the kind of relationship with God he wants us to have, but it cannot be on our terms.  It must be on His.²

I am not writing this to unbelievers; I am writing to those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, those who have the Holy Spirit.  Please have Holy Spirit help you understand what I am going to talk about, below.  If you do not have Holy Spirit with you, please get Him; then come back and read this, if you like.  You will not understand if you don't.

In a previous post, I briefly summarized a story that happened to me fifteen years ago.  What I am going to tell you is the truth.  Jesus is the Truth, and I chase after him.  If I was not telling you the truth, His Holy Spirit would immediately convict me of sin, and I don't like being convicted.  I am nobody special.  Jesus is special, and I just follow him.

I told you about a vacation our family took to Washington, D.C., where I prayed for the Capitol while standing on the Speaker's Balcony looking down Pennsylvania Avenue, and I prayer-walked twice around the White House.  In each of those cases, I was praying for their protection.  From what, I did not know.  I am now going to give you a few more details about that whole incident, and in particular I am going to talk about the "theme song."

While we traveled from Michigan to Virginia, my younger daughter, who was nine years old at the time, played the Newsboys compilation album, Shine: The Hits, over and over and over on her CD player.  In particular, she played the song Breakfast.  The only Newsboys song I knew at the time was Entertaining Angels, so I didn't know what she and her sister were doing.  They kept laughing about some "breakfast" song, and apparently said enough about it that I took notice.

The weather was lousy most of the way to Washington.  It started raining³ as soon as we left our driveway, and it at least drizzled most of the way.  In southern Michigan I had to stop at a rest area because it was raining very hard and I was sleepy.  I took a nap, and when we got back on the highway we saw there had been an accident not too far past the rest area.  I remember thinking we had avoided being involved in the accident because we stopped at the rest area.  Later, it rained particularly hard when we traveled through the mountains of Pennsylvania and into Maryland, but the sky finally cleared up when we got past Washington the next day.

We went to Williamsburg in Virginia before we headed back to Washington from the south.  We stopped and visited Mount Vernon, President George Washington's estate.  While there, I stood in front of the manor house looking at the Potomac River and realized that I was probably standing right where the owner stood before he went off to experience the many things Providence had in store for him.  It was a strange experience.  While there, I kept hearing the scream of airplane engines above, as flights turned to approach airports in the metropolitan area.

Our hotel was right in the middle of Washington, D.C., between the Capitol and the White House.  During our stay, I kept hearing airplane engines over the street noise, and it made me uneasy that airplanes would be flying so close to a city of such importance.  Reagan National Airport provides much convenience for travelers, but its runways require planes to descend over the city, depending on the wind direction.

Our congressman's office had arranged for us to visit some sights in the city, and one of them was the National Cathedral.  I didn't know the United States had a "cathedral," but apparently it does.  While I was up in a high point of the building, probably the steeple, I looked out a small window and saw an airplane approaching Reagan National to land.  Again, I had similar thoughts about the planes.

A few days later, when we were headed home, we stopped for lunch at a service area near Somerset, Pennsylvania.  We went into the restaurant and the food-purchase area was completely clogged with people.  It was going to be a long wait.  While we stood at the back of the line I became quite troubled and said to my wife that I could not stay there; I had to leave.  She went to look for some food elsewhere and I went back to the car.  While I was there, I prayed about my troubled feelings to gain peace and I believe the Spirit came over me as I did so.  I then decided to listen to the "breakfast" song on my daughter's CD player, just to check it out.  Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

When the toast is burned,
And all the milk has turned,
And Captain Crunch is waving farewell;
When the Big One finds you,
May this song remind you,
That they don't serve breakfast in hell.

I thought it was rather catchy and listened to it several times before my family rejoined me in the car.

When we got home, I ended up quitting my job because I strongly believed God wanted me to do so.  I had taken on a new role for a new boss four months earlier, but there was strangely no work for me to do.  The place had also become increasingly "dark," and I strongly felt in my spirit that God wanted me to get rid of some idols in my life:  steady income, health-care insurance, retirement savings and pride of accomplishment, to name some of the main ones at the time.  He wanted me to follow Him, so I did, and my wife was okay with it.  She had not had a job that paid money since right after we got married, so her demeanor helped confirm that this was a major "God thing."

One day, within the first month of leaving my job, while I was waiting for God to show me what he wanted me to do, I shredded a lot of papers from my old life, and played the Newsboys album over and over and over again while I was doing so.  About half of the time I played Breakfast.  That day was my daughter's birthday, and also the day God called me to pray about what I described in my other post.  The Breakfast theme song was running through my head.

Three weeks later, on the morning everyone remembers, I was awakened by a voice.  I don't recall what it said -- probably my name.  I got up and started my routine.  While in the bathroom, I recall hearing the phrase in my head, "In God we trust," and I spoke aloud, "No, we don't."  When my wife left for her Bible study class, I went into my prayer closet, per my usual routine.  While in prayer, I began to sense something I had never experienced before.  The best way to describe it is it was similar to what Obi-Wan Kenobi described when the Death Star destroyed Leia's home planet, Alderaan, in the fictional movie, Star Wars Episode IV.  Something significant was happening, but I didn't know what.  Then my wife came back into the house through a door just outside the room I was praying in.  I went out to see what was wrong.  She had forgotten something.  After she left again, I went back to pray, and hoped to pick up where I had left off, but what I was praying about was gone.  It was similar to waking up from a good dream and not being able to continue it again, even though you want to.  I decided to quit and went to the kitchen to load the dishwasher.  The time was a bit after 08:45.

Before I started working on the dishes I started the CD player with, you guessed it, Shine: The Hits.  During the first song my sister called and she was distressed.  She told me what was going on and I remember saying to her something like, "That's really interesting," as I recalled my prayer experiences.  I told her to go pray, and after we finished I decided to finish loading the dishwasher before turning on the TV.

Once I saw what was going on I was shocked and confused, like everybody else.  As the music played on the CD player I saw the second structure get hit as the chorus of Breakfast played.  I strongly believe the phrase, "When the toast is burned," played at the very moment the flames erupted, at least that is how my spirit remembers it.  I watched in agony, like everybody else, as events unfolded, and the music played on through the album.  I had not opened up the curtains to the room so it was rather dark, even though the morning had progressed and the sun was shining outside.  Eventually, the first structure fell and the Breakfast chorus of the Mega Mix track played while the dust and ashes climbed into the air.  Then, when the second one fell, I was suddenly struck by what had happened and I fell to my knees.  The song coming from the CD player was Entertaining Angels.

Entertaining angels,
By the light of my TV,
Twenty-four/seven, you wait for me;
Entertaining angels,
By the time I fall to my knees,
Host of heaven, sing over me.

I was absolutely astounded.  And afraid.  I figured out the time between the incidents, and did the arithmetic to add up the song durations on the CD, and determined that the timing was perfect.  The chorus of Breakfast played in my house during both events, and the timing for the last song fit, too.

It took me years to come to terms with this, not that what I had done was wrong, but with realizing the character of God and how profound it had all been.  I still tremble in my spirit, to this day.  God is the one who made this event happen, and He let me know about it ahead of time.  I tried to tell others, but my wife was the only one who truly heard me.  If you hear me now, blessed are your ears.

Here are the complete lyrics to Breakfast.  I have underlined some parts I find fascinating and connected to all this.  I still tremble; tremble at the privilege of knowing such a magnificent and amazing God!

"Breakfast"

Hold the milk, put back the sugar
They are powerless to console
We've gathered here to sprinkle ashes
From our late friend's cereal bowl.
Breakfast Clubbers, say the motto
That he taught us to repeat:
"You will lose it in your gym class
If you wait 'til noon to eat."

Back when the Chess Club said our eggs were soft
Every Monday he'd say grace and hold our juice aloft
Oh, none of us knew his checkout time would come so soon
But before his brain stopped waving, he composed this tune:

[Chorus]
WHEN THE TOAST IS BURNED
AND ALL THE MILK HAS TURNED
AND CAPTAIN CRUNCH IS WAVING FAREWELL
WHEN THE BIG ONE FINDS YOU
MAY THIS SONG REMIND YOU
THAT THEY DON'T SERVE BREAKFAST IN HELL

Breakfast clubbers, drop the hankies.
Though to some our friend was odd,
That day he bought those pine pajamas
His check was good with God.

Those here without the Lord,
How do you cope?
For this morning we don't mourn
Like those who have no hope

Oh, rise up, Fruit Loop lovers -
Sing out sweet & low
With spoons held high
We bid our brother, "Cheerio!"

[Chorus]

When I was delivered in Jacksonville, I had a lot of sorting out to do.  Realizing I'd had unclean spirits in me was disconcerting, but I never felt that my involvement in the above story was wrong.  Satan wanted me to think so, but God was faithful and gave me three witnesses the day after my deliverance.  It has taken some time for me to realize it, however.

The first witness was a dear sister who was sitting, and praying and glorifying God on the stage in the conference center.  I had been talking to a number of people, and I ended up having her pray for me again because I wasn't sure the demons were gone.  She asked me if I had any unconfessed sin in my life, and I told her about the above story.  She ended up saying that God does these kind of things and had no condemnation for me at all.

The second witness was a young lady my family and I were with until the building was closed, and we remained with her in the parking lot after that.  I told her the story, and she had the same message.  God does these things, and at times he takes away what is holding the darkness back, and things happen.  (My interpretation:  See the first two chapters of Job.)

While we were with her in the conference center, and as I was telling her the story, she saw, and pointed to, the number "11," written on the wall behind me.  It was in the lighted area between the black boxes on the white wall.  To her, it was confirmation that our appointment was God-ordained, and it gave me confidence that God was with me.

The third witness was Holy Spirit, Himself.  He has been with me more and more clearly every day, and He testifies that what I did was right, and that God is the one who led me in all of this.  Doing these blog posts has been very helpful for me, because it has helped me recall and remember the things I did all those years ago.  I am back again where I was in many ways.  Things I did then I am doing again, but it is much easier for me now.  God's spirit has been with me for a long time, but never as strongly as He is today.  I am free, and God is with me!  Yippeee!!!

Again, I am nobody special, but we certainly have a very special God!

To summarize, I am terrified of God -- in a good way.  I am terrified of being separated from Him, and I love Him and want to follow him more than anything.  And I love you, too, and want the same for you!  Please pursue Him.  He is limitless; and he is the only way to salvation.  All other ways lead to where they never serve breakfast!  Make sure you don't miss yours!

Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear!  All glory to God!!!

-----------------

UPDATE, March 15 and 22, 2022...

This experience was given to me alone, although my family did experience some parts of it.  Perhaps it is still only intended for me, but I do believe it is a sign for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.  I also believe it indicates how I fit into the Body of Yeshua's Bride.

People do not like to be labeled a "conspiracy theorist."  That term was invented to be used as a weapon to shut down debate and isolate those who are seeking the Truth.  Yes, there are erroneous ideas circulating in the culture, especially on the Internet, but it is foolishness for us to quickly dismiss someone as a "conspiracy theorist" just because we have cognitive dissonance about what they say, especially if they have corroborating evidence to support their claims.

I have learned a lot since I wrote this post.  There is much evidence the 9/11 attacks were a false flag, and it was used as an excuse to implement policies like the Patriot Act and establish the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), as well as justify invasion of Afghanistan and re-invasion of Iraq.  The narrative about Islamic hijackers fed emotions to support war against those countries, but it was actually all about money... and crime.  ...and Satan worship.

I believe the towers were designed to fail.  Some people think missiles were used and demolition charges were necessary to bring them down.  Maybe.  I can see that a controlled situation might have made it possible to perfectly time the destruction.  Who knows?  Perhaps it was all coordinated to fit a Newsboys album! 😉

For the record, aviation fuel fires will weaken steel enough for it to fail.  Chemical plants and refineries are designed to protect the structural steel in the event of a hydrocarbon fire.  As far as I am concerned, the actual mechanisms don't really matter.  What matters is those who were responsible for protecting the people of this country failed to do so, and some of them must have been involved in planning and executing the event.

Other things that point to it being a false flag are the Occult aspects.  The numbers of the airplane flights, the design of the towers, and the date chosen for it to happen all point to occultists.  Do a search for "occult aspects of 911" and you will see for yourself.

Click to enlarge.

By the way, the service area we stopped at near Somerset, Pennsylvania, is only about five miles west of the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel near Shanksville, where the plane went down as it was heading east.  Notice that Flight 93 never reached its target, whether it was World Trade Center Building 7 in New York City, or some important building in Washington, D.C.

 

Isn't that interesting?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where's my corroborating evidence?  I have contemporaneous documents from that time period.  My wife kept all of her wall calendars from the time we were married, and she made many notes on them.  The time period we were in Washington, D.C. is marked on the relevant calendar.

 

Click to enlarge.

I also highlighted routes we traveled in my road atlases when we took long and significant trips.  I often circled where we stayed or stopped.

 

We were there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE, April 6, 2022...

³I have noticed a frequent correlation between inclement weather and significant spiritual events and activities.  That is why I mentioned the rain here.  There are biblical references to this.  Noah's Flood is an obvious example, and so is the people's confession of their sins in Ezra 10 (verses 9 and 13).  The spiritual realm and natural realm are connected and sometimes things manifest through the weather.

 

 

UPDATE, July 27, 2022...

Renumbered the footnotes to maintain proper order in the main text.

¹Changed the pronouns in this paragraph from second person singular ("you," "your") to first person plural ("we," "our"), to sound more inclusive and less accusatory.

 

UPDATE, July 28, 2022...

Renumbered the footnotes to maintain proper order in the main text.

 

²Added the link.

 

UPDATE, October 6, 2022...

UPDATE, January 7, 2023...

I just re-watched the movie United 93 (2006).  Many of the key characters were portrayed by the people who actually participated in that day's events.  The people who were in the Newark airport control tower the morning of 9/11/2001, who saw UAL175 fly up the Hudson River and hit the South Tower, played themselves in the film.  They knew what they saw.  Were they "crisis actors?"  Unlikely.  The film implies there were other people in that tower who saw the same thing.

Some people believe the whole event was staged by Hollywood using computer graphics and that cruise missiles or remotely-piloted military tankers were actually used to attack the Trade Center.  However, I do not think the facts support any of that.  There were too many witnesses spread out across the country who actually saw what happened, and some of them ended up in the movie.

False flags have been used to influence the public, and some have been perpetrated by actors.  Not all.  Criminals have used horrific false flags to drive their narratives, and Trump used Tweets about celebrities to undercut those narratives.  A ruthless war of information has been happening, and most of what is in the Media is propaganda and misleading.

I still believe much of the story about 9/11 happened as it has been portrayed, especially what happened with UAL93.  That plane did not reach any target of value, and my experience near the crash site prior to the event, as I described above, cements my belief that it really happened.

 

I believe the Darkness has targeted and attacked my family since we made that trip to Washington, D.C. in 2001, and I don't think what happened to UAL93 was "per their script."  But Mammon-worshipers being what they are, I think they saw an opportunity to make money through the emotion of that story and they optimized their cash flow by producing and distributing that film five years later.

On a different note, I also noticed the gematria of the date as I watched the credits...

9/11/2001

9 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 14

1 + 4 = 5

5

Yup. Occult.

UPDATE, November 1, 2023...

Our experience at the Somerset service area and my prayer on my daughter's birthday occurred after I had made my identification with spiritual Israel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  I believe that commitment grafted me into the Israel "tree," and I began receiving the nourishing sap.  I believe this is very biblical, and very important.

Who Is It?

I love you, and want to tell you something that happened to me, so we both might learn from my mistakes.

Before I was "set free," I bought a used garden chipper from a neighbor.  I had been wanting one, but could not justify the cost of buying anything new.  My wife saw a classified advertisement in the newspaper stating one was for sale, and the seller was right down the street from where we live!  I thought, "Wow! God is providing me with a chipper!"  We didn't know how much money the seller wanted, or what kind of chipper it was, because it was being sold at a garage sale, and was one of several things in the brief advertisement.

As I was getting ready to go look at the chipper with my wife, something told me to take $20 with me.  When I saw the chipper, it was bigger than I had expected, and was just what I was looking for.  They wanted $150 for it and said that they had just used it, so it was in working condition.  I trusted them, and had faith that God had organized this for me, so after briefly consulting my wife about how much to offer, I told them I would buy it for $100.  They thought for a moment, and then countered with $125.  I said $120, and they agreed to sell it.  I went back to my wife to get the money, and all she had was $100.  I had the rest.  Wow, this must be God!  We wheeled it down to our house and I was elated.

I had accumulated a significant pile of garden waste, and was eager to chip it all into mulch for our perennial gardens.  I wheeled the chipper to the pile and attempted to start it.  After one or two pulls of the starter cord, it chugged a few times and then stopped.  I pulled the cord a few more times and nothing happened.  Soon, I started to smell gasoline, so I figured I had flooded the engine.  Then I saw gasoline dripping from the air filter, so I got some tools.  Eventually I realized the fuel supply valve needed to be shut each time the engine stopped, or all the gasoline would run onto the ground.

I pulled the spark plug, and it was wet, but looked to be in reasonable condition.  I started to worry.  Had I made a mistake?  Soon, I had looked up appropriate maintenance manuals on the Internet, had my tools spread out around the garden and had the thing in pieces.  There was a loose wire, and I could not see how the throttle mechanism grounded the ignition system to shut the machine off.  Were parts missing?  Did I need to order parts?  None of the maintenance manuals on the Internet matched my machine.  And on top of all that, the starter kicked back on me once when I pulled the cord and jerked my right arm enough to injure it at the elbow!

Yes, I had been praying all this time, but I was getting hot and frustrated.  Eventually, I decided to work on it another day, so I wheeled it back into the garage and arranged all the parts so I could find them again.  Then I walked away.  In the weeks that followed, an oil stain developed underneath it on the garage floor.  Great...

I asked my neighbor if he knew much about small engines, because I thought, "Perhaps God wants me to work with him and witness to him about my faith.  Yes, that's probably it.  I'm carrying my cross so I can do the Lord's work!"

Then, I went to Jacksonville and learned I had had a number of spiritual friends living inside me.  When I returned, I postponed doing anything with the chipper until I had sorted through my situation.

The other day, while mowing the grass, the Holy Spirit told me to get rid of the chipper because I don't need it.  By the time I was done with the lawn, I had taken the chipper to the street in front of our house and put a sign on it saying, "Free to good home."  Well, I had done that in my spirit.

Yesterday, with a calm mind, I went to the garage and began to reassemble the chipper, since I wasn't going to be able to get rid of it if it was in pieces.  While I was at it, I cleaned and gapped the spark plug.  Once the chipper was back together, I decided to try running it, so I could tell prospective new owners whether or not it worked.  Two pulls, and it fired up.  It sounded great.  I decided to try chipping some branches, so I wheeled it to the garden and started learning how to use it.

Six hours later, I finally got through my pile of sticks.  Much of it required cutting up further in order to get the pieces down the chute, and by the time I was finished I had decided that it would have been far easier to simply drag the branches to the street so the city could pick them up and haul them away in their trucks.  Yes, I got some chips for mulch, but I could have probably bought three bags from the store and had as much, and it would have looked nicer.  Yep, I don't need this thing.  It's a burden and I need to get rid of it.

-------------------

So, why have I told you this story?  Because we have to be careful who we are listening to.  I thought it was God, creator of the universe, but I think it was actually the god of this world.  In fact I'm sure that's who it was, and this is why:

First of all, I know I had been "compromised," that I had spies in me.  I have talked about that in other posts, and it is actually very common, although most people don't know it's going on.  So, when I think back about it all, it was "lying spirits" that suggested I take $20.  They knew how much money my wife had with her, and they knew I wanted this thing because they had been with me all the time and knew my desires.

Secondly, and more importantly, having a chipper is not the will of God.  Yes, God provides for our needs, and he wants us to enjoy life, but the life He is talking about is not what we typically think of in this fallen world.  We think that physical wealth, and accomplishments and the things of this world will make us happy, but that is our "flesh."  God knows that what we really need is spiritual connection with Him.  A chipper doesn't get me that, nor does a new car, or accomplishment, or fame or even success in ministry "working for Jesus."  If the attention is on me, then I am on the wrong track, and the voices I am hearing are probably not God.  I have probably been deceived.

God's will is that we give up the things of this world.

Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven.  Then, come and follow me.  (Matthew 19:21)

God's will is also that we let Him work through his Holy Spirit, but we are often enticed into making it all about us and doing things ourselves.  We make it about what we are doing for Jesus, not about what Jesus is doing.  Satan went after Jesus' flesh and tempted him in the same way:

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.  (Matthew 4:8-11 NIV)

We must recognize who is talking to us.  Satan owns the world, and we live in enemy territory.  We like to think that we know God, and maybe we do, but when we hear from "god," it may not be the one we believe it to be.

I still need to get rid of the chipper.  It worked well, but I don't need it, and more importantly, I must discard it, and many other things, if I want to experience the Kingdom of Heaven.  If you are so moved, please help me by praying that I follow through and do this.  Thank you!

Hey!  Wanna buy a chipper?


All glory to God!

Eyes on the Ball

Many sports require hand/eye coordination, and baseball is one of them.  You must watch the ball with your eyes in order to hit it with your bat.  If you don't hit the ball, you are unlikely to score runs, and if you don't score any runs, you will lose.

Once again, I need to make it clear that my intentions are to come to you from a place of love.  I love you and want us all to become a single body, the Body of Christ.

Have you heard of Michael Servetus?  He was a Spanish man who lived during the sixteenth century, and he correctly described how the heart and lungs work together to put oxygen into blood.  He also wrote a lot about theology, and got into arguments with the Frenchman, John Calvin.  In particular, Calvin did not like Servetus' views about infant baptism and the Trinity, and both men perpetuated the argument until Servetus was burned alive, with the approval of Calvin.

So, who won?  Both men are dead, and some of Calvin's opinions have formed the basis of doctrines in some protestant denominations, but I'm not sure either of them actually won anything.

Perhaps the real question is, did they "keep their eyes on the ball?"  Did they keep their eyes on Jesus and obey his commandments?  Did they follow in the footsteps of the people Jesus taught personally, and whose actions, practices and techniques are described in the Book of Acts?  I think the answer is no.

Calvin and Servetus argued about doctrines, things taught by men.  Calvin argued for baptism of infants and Servetus for baptism based on personal faith and repentance.  You won't find anything about infant baptism in Scripture, but there is plenty about baptism based on faith and repentance.  They also argued about whether the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are separate persons, or separate roles of a single God.  Servetus was concerned that taking the Gospel to Muslims and Jews would be hindered by conflict over perceived multiple gods, which is probably a valid concern, and Calvin had valid reasons for his positions, as well.  It's an interesting discussion, but certainly not one worth killing each other over.  Both men were probably¹ vile towards one another, and it is hard to believe that either of them were under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  Given my recent revelations about the unclean spirits that were in me, I strongly suspect these guys needed deliverance, which, by the way, is something Jesus commanded us all to do.  But the Church of their time did not help them, and as a result I'm sure Jesus wept ... again.

Scripture has some things to say about the kind of behaviors these men exhibited:

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ [an Aramaic term of contempt] is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell."  (Matthew 5:21-22 NIV)

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.  (Galatians 5:19-26 NIV)

I tremble for Servetus and Calvin, especially Calvin, since he is the one who saw to it that his opponent was put to death.  Satan may stir the pot and influence what happens, but men and women are responsible for their own actions.  You can't blame the Devil for what you have done.

Thankfully, the death of Servetus eventually led to the ideas of Locke, Jefferson, the United States Declaration of Independence, and ultimately the religious tolerance we have in the West today.  But even though we no longer burn heretics, we still argue about many things, shun each other and live fractious and divisive lives.  We perpetuate multiple flavors and teachings of Christianity, some of which are more Biblical than others, and we are more divided every Sunday morning than we ever are during the rest of the week.  It is very, very sad.  Why has this happened?  I think it's because we have "taken our eyes off the ball."

I think we need to ask ourselves, am I following Jesus, or am I following the teachings of men?  Is my allegiance toward Jesus, or some denomination?  Do I measure people by what doctrines they hold, or by their humility, contrition and love for their brothers and sisters in Christ?  Am I living under the New Covenant, or the Old?  I think these are critical questions, and how we answer them will determine whether we hit a home run, or strike out.  Our Manager is watching us from his dugout.

Batter up!


All glory to God!

 

--------------------

UPDATE, July 26, 2022...

¹I inserted the word "probably" here because I was not privy to their discussions and have not read their works or correspondence.  I do not really know what happened and can only surmise.  It is important I do not imply more knowledge than I actually have.

The Holy Spirit led me to some contemporary articles about Servetus and He used the situation as a premise for what He wanted to show me, which ultimately led to my conclusions at the end of the post.

Why do I make seemingly pedantic adjustments and corrections to my blog?  Because I think integrity matters and I love the Truth.  Credibility is also important, as is trust.  I try to maintain the context and reliability of what I have written because many of the dates and details contain, what seem to be, astounding coincidences.  I no longer believe in "coincidence."  God is fully in charge of all things, and I believe the mathematical improbability of many of my experiences are evidence of His Kingdom.  I do not want anyone to think I am making anything up because I am sloppy with my facts or loose with my modifications.  Consequently, I have learned it is important to provide some form of a "history log," and that is one reason why I make these updates.