Hype-eractive

In these days of information access, people who want your attention for whatever reason seem to always go to the extremes to get it.  Fear mongering and over exaggeration have become the means of advertising by which they draw people in to watch their show or click their link.  Often these hyped up headlines are used to deceive as well. 


In a way, the internet has turned into this side show carnival with all of the callers out there trying to get you to stop at their booth and play thier game....  maybe you will win a prize.  If you enter their tent, you just might see the most amazing freak you have ever seen.  Go to the big top and see all the entertainment to excite and amaze you.  You will be amazed by what you see.


A lot of these hype headlines are hooks to draw you in.  See this little puppy.  What he does next is amazing.  then you waste 2 minutes of your life watching some dog play with a bird or something or other.  Or in the political realm you might see something like, what Obama just did will make you mad.  Then of course you have to click and find out what it is.  Sometimes it is not even a story, but just a headline.  Other times you find out, maybe after believing it, that it was a fake story put out by some sort of "satire" page.  Yet other times it ends up being a propaganda piece trying to convince you of the evils of the other party.  There is so much bull it is hard to tell where the grass is.


The problem with this sort of thing is that it makes people jaded.  It all begins to look alike and people tune it out.  Then when something comes along the really IS important, nobody believes it, nor are interested in it.  They just think it as being more bologna.
 

Most people just buy their own brand of bologna.  They believe what they want to believe and any evidence to the contrary is just denied offhand because they see it as just a different brand of bologna that they don't like.  The left will never believe anything from Faux news, nor will those on the right accept an MSNBC description.  It is all the hyped up and dishonest propaganda that makes people like this. 


Similar things happen in my favorite genre of weather.  News outlets put out scare tales of some impending doom coming from the next storm that never come to pass or live up to the hype.  Then after a while, people just stop believing it.  That can cost lives. 


Perhaps it was the memes that began this whole thing.  I remember when people first started using them.  A picture with a little phrase on it seems to hold more sway on peoples thoughts than any television advertisement ever could.  People pass them around like crazy in the social circles.  It doesn't matter whether it is truth or not, just that it sends out the right messages and puts thoughts into peoples heads.


Most of it really boils down to money.  All those clicks and reads generate revenue for the things being promoted.  Money is power.  Power is control.  Control is money.  It is an endless circle, just as any carnival is, to separate you from your money... and control. 


Ephesians 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

Coming Attraction

There is something that I notice from time to time, that every time I see it, amazes me and perplexes me. I will see ads in the help wanted section for a pastor, or youth pastor in a church.  I suppose they have positions to fill to.  The ads themselves are not what gets me, but it is in the qualifications.  You need a college degree. 


Now, maybe I'm just a simpleton, but I do not ever recall there being a University set up by God.  Oh, sure, there are universities set up in his name that will usually espouse a particular sect of religion that one can get a degree in.  One can even get a theological degree from a non religious institution.  Those generally give you an overview of all religions in general, or so I am told.


Now, I am not saying that education is a bad thing.  Education is a good thing.  But, with God, a school education is not what He is looking for.  If you look throughout the Bible, what you will find is that God often calls seemingly the least qualified people to do His work.  He chooses the people least likely to be chosen by society at large.


Obviously, there is Jesus himself.  He was from the wrong family, wrong class, and had no known formal education from the accepted schools that the little San Hedryn children attended.  He was just some guy, and not to attractive of a guy according to the Biblical description.  Who was he?


His disciples, all chosen from the dregs and working class of society with probably little formal education.  Nothing about those men were exceptionally honorable in the elite class view.  They were just common ordinary Joe's...  Well except for the highly educated and learned disciple... Judas.


I guess what happened is that churches have gone away from trying to find someone with the wisdom of God, and are seeking after the knowledge of men.  Is it any wonder that church membership is falling and church influence is dwindling.  I know so many people who are believers, but they have no place to go to worship simply because so many churches have been corrupted by man's wisdom.  I know so many people who have left the faith because they only saw a religion operated under man's wisdom (and the hypocrisy thereof) and never experienced a body of true faith that trusted on God.


Soon coming will be the beginning of a new move of God.  It will not be led by those in established churches.  It has been being prepared for some years now.  It's message will not sound like the soft message the churches preach today.  It will be preached with authority and power.  It will be manifested in love.  It will come from people who would not be expected.


1 Corinthians 1:18-29
18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

 19For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

 20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

 21For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

 22For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

 23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

 24But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

 25Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

 26For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

 27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

 29That no flesh should glory in his presence.

The Babies Bathwater

Often times we wonder where it is that we strayed.  Not just personally, but collectively.  There was a time where the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in His word the Bible was the foundation for us as individuals, families, communities, regions, states, and as a nation.  It was such an infused part of most everyone lifestyles and our overall culture that Christianity and the United States were seen as inseparable.  


Now we look around today and see all manner of ungodliness occurring and accepted as normal.  Our own leader has even declared that we are no longer a Christian nation, and he is right.  In the void left by peoples lack of personal responsibility as forged by their fear of the Lord, government has stepped into that role as God and savior of the people.  Because of peoples immoralities, government has had to make laws that infringe upon every aspect of our lives.  We as a people can no linger be trusted to do what is right.  Sadly though, those same people are in the government trying to tell us what is right.


We know the situation we are in, but we do wonder how we got here.  The last couple of weeks and a little light bulb action from above and I think I can put a finger on a least a good portion of what happened.  I've talked to a lot of different people from a lot of different churches and other beliefs as well as no belief at all.  It seems like everyone has their own doctrine, and it has gotten to the point where unless you are in lock step with what the other believes, you are a heretic, a false teacher, someone to be shunned.  The Love of God does not reside with many any longer.  The Gospel of Christ has been replaced with doctrines of men.  We are full of pride and arrogance.  We are backbiters, and lovers of self.  I say these things with great shame.


This I don't believe is an accident.  The enemy has always set about to divide and conquer.  Many of the divisions are like long lasting feuds that linger on and on even to the point where no one remembers what really started it, but they all know their talking points and have their preconceived ideas to label each other with.  It's gotten to be a free for all or a witch hunt where everyone is pointing fingers and yelling FALSE TEACHER!  


I think this goes on because we are so woefully illiterate biblically.  Many folks know the scriptures... the ones that support their church doctrine.  Show them some others that contradict that and hoo boy, thems fightin words.  Others know so much that they literally can't see the forest through the trees.  They have gone to colleges and were taught under liberal professors who sliced and diced, shaked and baked that Bible so much that it was left looking like a lump of unrecognizable slop.


This fear of false teachers is a big one.  We have whole segments of the gospel torn away because we are afraid of false teaching.  This is where we throw the baby out with the bathwater.    Many folks are horribly weak in faith because they threw out the scriptures about faith because there was a word of faith false teaching.  So as to avoid going anywhere near there, they throw out the teachings on faith.  Because we have charlatans running around with their miracle circus', many throw out completely that God can and does work supernaturally in our lives and will heal and deliver us.  People are so afraid to be under the law that they want to throw out the law completely as if it did not exist.  then there are others who throw out everything God says about prospering us in our lives because they are afraid of the false prosperity gospel.  And it goes on.


The only way to safely navigate oneself through all of this mess is by getting into the word themselves and setting aside the teachings of the church or a particular teacher and do so with a sincere heart in asking God to reveal the truth to you.  The Holy spirit will guide the sincere heart in the path to take and safely guide us through the dark and dangerous forests of doubt, disbelief, and skepticism. 


Will it be an easy journey?    No.  Friends, family, strangers, everyone might accuse you, negate you, get mad at you, deny you, abandon you...  and yes, there are times where they could even hurt or kill you for the sake of the truth of the Gospel.  Remember that it was the religious folks that put Jesus to death.  Jesus assures us that for His sake people will indeed hate you and persecute you.   He tells us to count it all joy when this happens.  The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is all that matters though.  Jesus said He is the way, the truth, and the life; no man going to the father but by Him.  You won't get to heaven following a church doctrine or a teaching of men.  


Read your bibles, and talk to God as you do.  Let your questions and concerns be known to him.  His spirit will answer a sincere heart.

Did God Just Say That? pt 3

A few weeks ago I shared the story of how God talked to me and gave me a parking spot in the front row of the grocery store.  I took a lot of grief sharing that tale.   Some people don’t think God talks to people.  Others think God would not be so trivial.  Still others questioned why me and why not some elderly person.  I could not answer those questions, nor did I even try.  God does what God does for reasons only He knows.  It is not for us to wonder why, it is for us to obey and live.

There was one person who gave an interesting perspective.  They brought up Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  They were thinking that God used something insignificant to see if I was listening and faithful and that down the road there would be something bigger.  They were right.

A little over a week ago, I found a receipt for a certified letter in my mailbox.  It said that I needed to go down to the post office to sign for it and pick it up.  Now, normally I don’t do certified letters.  They almost always mean bad news.  Suddenly I had that familiar thought in my brain.  It was the same way as the parking event.  “Go and pick it up.  It will be ok”.  

 
I gave pause, just like I did before.  Did I just hear that?  Did God just speak to me again, or am I just wishful thinking.  I went back and forth in my head as I drove down to the post office.  Was it me?  Was it God?  But I did know from the parking incident that following through brought a blessing.  Perhaps this too would end up being a blessing?  There was only one way to find out; be obedient and go get the certified mail.

I wish I could say that things went as smoothly and quickly as getting a parking spot and whizzing through a checkout line.  It has not.  What was uncovered with that certified letter was years of underhanded sneakiness and deceit that has been going on behind my back.  It exposed some dark dealings meant to rob me of what was rightfully mine.   Those who have been exposed are not just going to step aside either and are digging in to fight tooth and nail. 

Normally, what has been uncovered and the subsequent fallout would be very stressful.  It would be a normal reaction to be angry.  While it is taking some effort on my part to further uncover things and do my due diligence to rectify the wrong; there is a peace in me about this.  The matter is already settled.  God already said it will be ok.  It is already finished.

While I was at work before getting home to write this, God spoke to me in another way; through a preacher.  The program I was listening to came from Joshua chapter 1.  He was explaining how Israel was about to go in and possess the land that was already theirs.  It was already a done deal.  God had already given it to them.  Certainly it was not easy.  Israel fought many battles along the way before they actually owned the land.  But, while they fought the battles, the outcome of the war was a foregone conclusion.  It was theirs.  They just had to root out those who were there.

The Devils Deception

I Peter 5: ⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:


Nowadays you don’t hear a lot of sermons about the devil or what he is up to.  I don’t really hear a lot of discussion about him either.  I think it is important to be reminded sometimes that we have an enemy out there; an enemy who wants to destroy us.  Many of us are not even engaged in the battle, unaware of what is going on.  Let’s take a look at what he is up to.


In Isaiah 14 it is written of the devil, ¹³ For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  That closing phrase holds the key to most of what the devil is up to.  He wants to be like the Most High.  He is a counterfeiter, a knock off brand, trying to duplicate the original.


He has two intentions, either to take you with him into the pit, or if you are saved, to make you as ineffectual as possible.  It is the latter that I intend to deal with.  The Devil want to strip you of your power, your authority, and your protection.  He wants you to not believe what is true, and fall for a lie.  He wants to keep you off your knees, out of the word, and in denial of what God has promised for us.


The most likely place you would find the devil and his demons is probably not where you would expect.  They don’t need to spend time down at the local tavern, or brothel.  He already has those people and they are no threat to him.  The most likely place to find him is at the church.  He might be behind the pulpit or in the leadership of the church making sure the message is all gobbledygook.  He’ll take what god has said and promised and pervert it.  In doing so He knows that not only will he fool those who fall for the perversion, but also get those who are not to then reject what God offers because they think it is perversion.


For example, the devil has taken a perfectly legitimate gift of tongues and perverted it into a bunch of over-emotional diarrhea of the mouth gibberish that looks to the outsider like a scene from a loony bin. The real gift of tongues is found in Acts 2:6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.  This is quite different than the crazy babbling we hear in some circles today.  Yes, I know I am stepping on some toes here.  This topic often gets into heated discussions.  But the devil likes that too when he can get Christians acting hateful toward one another instead of loving as Christ said.  Some people, because of the perversion, deny the gift of tongues even operates today. 


And this is how the devil operates; a point by point copycat perversion of everything God has set in place.  Healings is another.  We see ministers slapping people around on stage and people falling out and flopping around like a fish out of water.  This isn’t healing.  This is perversion.  Because of this perversion, many don’t even believe in divine healing.  Another tool stolen away from us.  More arguments and divisions among Christians. 


Dreams, prophecies, prosperity, and other doctrines that have been twisted and perverted by the evil angels of light sent only to deceive and divide the family of God.  Any more you get attacked by other Christians if you say you believe even the true biblical gifts.  It is even to the point where people don’t even think God communicates to us any longer.  How ineffectual can we get when we even deny the voice of the Father?  Satan has his people out there doing evil deeds claiming “God told them” it was ok.  It has become so common and widespread that when someone does really hear from God, they are not believed.  They might not even believe it if it happened to themselves, they have become so gunshy because of the perversion.


And of course there is the word.  If the devil can pervert and distort the word, he can destroy the standard by which we measure all things.  If he can get us to doubt its authenticity, or authority; question what it says or just plain not believe what it says, he can manipulate us into perversion.  Every year there seems to be some new translation coming out, each one more removed from the original text and meaning.  Some of the newer translations have verses that use words that change the meaning of the verse 180 degrees.  If he can make us think the word is unreliable, than anything goes after that.


If we can be made to believe that God no longer communicates with us, what is the point of prayer?  Disrupting the communication between God and man, getting them to believe a lie, dividing the body, isolating the individual, then going in to devour them as a ravenous and roaring lion; this is the plan of the devil.