The World Without Light & The Enchanted Chair – By Thomas J. Koester

Somebody hit the dimmer switch in the Church on the hill, and I think we all know who that “somebody” is.

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – 1 John 2:15

… And so, for worldly lovers—it’s lights out!

The light of the Gospel shining brightly from your inner life must be fueled by a fierce and unquenchable love for God and others. This light, filtered through your brokenness, will displace enough darkness for the blind to see.

I’m not speaking of physical blindness, mind you, but that of spiritual blindness.

“In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.” – 2 Corinthians 4:4

“Although your people live in darkness, they will see a bright light. Although they live in the shadow of death, a light will shine on them.” – Matthew 4:16

We who call ourselves by God’s name must shine like beacons as the daylight is dimming and darkness is coming.

“You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of people who are crooked and stubborn. Shine out among them like beacon lights…” – Philippians 2:15

Can a nation be darkened in a day? Can the brightly lit torch of freedom be snuffed out without notice?

Yes, it happened while we were asleep in the light. All the while, consuming “Turkish Delights” and worshiping false gods and false teachers while sitting in enchanted chairs of passivity.

In the sixth book of C.S. Lewis’, The Chronicles of Narnia, titled, “Silver Chair,” the witch had placed a curse on the silver chair, so that when anyone sat on the chair they’d fall under the chair’s enchantment.

The Silver Chair was a magical device constructed by the Queen of Underland (also known as the Lady of the Green Kirtle), designed to keep Prince Rilian bound to a cursed enchantment…

“Every night, Rilian sat down on the chair to renew the manipulative magic. It made him susceptible to the witch’s lies and caused him to forget who he truly was.”

I think this is what’s happened to much of Western Christianity; we’ve become enchanted by worldliness, which has made us susceptible to the devil’s lies, and so, have forgotten who we truly are. And our forgettablness has ushered the world into darkness.

The Church was never to be about the “church,” but about Christ for the Nations, burning brightly as the light of God’s love and power over darkness. We were never meant to be bound to chairs, orbiting cathedrals, separated by a great divide between the clergy and the laity.

We’ve lost our place of influence because we’ve lost our identity, and in losing that, we’ve lost our mission! We have lost our identity because we’ve exchanged our First Love for second-hand worldliness. We have purchased the lie that if we look like the world, the world will come to us. How utterly foolish!

“If you belonged to the world, its people would love you. But you don’t belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind, and this is why its people hate you.” – John 15:19

Many Churches look so much like the world they have little to offer except a Savior without saving, a Lord without lordship, and a king without a kingdom. Who’d want to follow after that?

Somebody hit the dimmer switch in the Church on the hill, and I think we all know who that “somebody” is.

Our churches need to do what Motel 6 has done successfully over the decades:

“We’ll leave the light on for you.”

We need to rekindle our first love into a firestorm, recapturing God’s intended glory for the Church. Even our lives must reflect the glory of Christ and his good news! If you and I can do this, maybe we can light up the world again!

God Is Live Right Now — By Thomas J. Koester

I can’t think of any other time than now to pause and reflect on the God of the universe. Isn’t our country; for that matter, the entire world being overshadowed by abnormal politics and abhorrent behavior?

The spreading of evil in our world is beyond rumor—it’s boldly flaunted in our faces.

Where else can we go for wisdom and truth other than to God? All other institutions have failed us. Indeed, they’ve failed God and country!

But, there is still hope!

Did you know that God is wirelessly available at this very moment? He is, and he has unmatched bandwidth from Heaven’s Throne!

God has infinitely more knowledge than Alexa—more wisdom than Siri and has far greater influence than TikTok!

God does desire your worship of him, but worship is not an end in itself; it’s not the pinnacle of what you have to give the Eternal Lover of your soul. He’s after your heart. Your heart is what he wants from you. For without it, your worship is empty and unpleasing to him.

God is not happy with only raised hands, bowed heads, and pretty choruses—he’s not impressed with your Sunday’s best and part-time devotion!

He’s poured out all his pent-up wrath against sin on His very own Son so that he can pour out all his love on you! He’s found a way to make you his very own and desires to be the sole occupant of your heart. He wants your desire to match his Son’s desire to be in him so that together, Father and Son, may dwell within you!

What will it take for you to cut out and remove what is useless and self-destructive to your precious heart and soul?

Is not your life hard enough—empty enough—lonely enough that you’ll go on without God?

You want all these things; all the answered prayers and open doors, but are you really pursuing God, or simply what you want from him?

He’s not behind the doors for which you so wearily push against; earnestly seeking safety, comfort, and security. He’s not playing hide and seek with you. He wants to be found as your One and Only Lover and Everlasting Father.

Only in returning to him will you find everything you are truly seeking and desiring.

Pray to receive him. Climb over every obstacle to find Him, and not what your flesh cries out for, which by the way are only temporal remedies of an eternal desire. God’s promise is that he will be found if you seek him and him alone with your whole heart.

But perhaps you haven’t done so, at least not with all your heart and strength, or else this note you’re reading wouldn’t be speaking so deeply to you. To honestly and sincerely turn towards God is, my dear friend, the only change and the most important decision that you must make at this moment—at this very second!

All other passions, concerns, and worries must be trained on the heart of your fierce Lover and only Healer of your heart and soul. All other methods are simply medicating you. Worldly tips and techniques are not healing you but masking the pain. “Time does [not] heal all wounds,” God does! God wants you restored and made whole—not medicated.

You want to talk about hands-free devices?

Did you know that God is wirelessly available this very moment with unmatched bandwidth from Heaven’s Throne?

God has infinitely more knowledge than Alexa. He has more wisdom than Siri and far greater influence than TikTok! We 21st-century Christians are so distracted, not with idols made of wood and stone, but with artificial intelligence (A.I.)!

We crave Idols that talk back and that hear our every word and answer our immediate questions. Yet the God of Creation, the very One who knows you by name, has counted every strand of your hair and has collected, like diamonds and precious jewels, every tear you’ve shed, is waiting patiently for your devotion and your “signing in.”

He has far greater connections than LinkedIn and has more excellent opportunities than Ziprecruiter. He wants more than your market share and algorithms—he wants all of you—body, mind, and soul, but especially your whole heart.

God can fill your heart and soul, but the Internet, well, it leaves holes in your heart and never absolutely never fills your heart as God can. The internet is designed to keep you empty, shallow, and alone, causing you to need and crave things more and more.

God is not after your money. He’s not marketing you—he’s trying to love you as you’ve never been loved before! He wants to update and download into the center of your being and fill your memory with images of Heaven that you’ll never find on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or WhatsApp.

Did I mention how much I needed to hear this?

My name is Thomas Koester, and I’m addicted to A.I. too. I need more than I’d like to admit the words I’ve written in this article. I, too, am convicted!

Close this post. Log off Facebook. Shut down your devices. Lower the lights and open your heart to God. Log into Heaven’s Throne, and tune into His presence, scroll up to His homepage so that you may truly see and understand. God is far more exciting than X! He has exceedingly more to offer than Amazon, eBay, or Temu!

God is live right now, and his live feed is where you’ll find real life and all that you’ve been longing for…

… I’m signing in!

Deception in Your Church? – By Thomas J. Koester

No one who is deceived will say, “I’m deceived!” Deception is the state in which one has been taken captive by falsehood and error.

Did you know that error is a spirit? It is parasitical and will weaken your faith and ability to discern truth from error. If you are in a church, which is preaching and practicing error and there is no repentance, no correction, and no apology, you should not stay. Your spiritual health and possibly your eternal state are at risk.

“Blessed (happy and to be envied) are those who cleanse their garments, that they may have the authority and right to [approach] the tree of life and to enter through the gates into the city. [But] without are the dogs and those who practice sorceries (magic arts) and impurity [the lewd, adulterers] and the murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and deals in falsehood (untruth, error, deception, cheating).” –Revelations 22: 14-15

When you tolerate error and biblical untruth, you will become party to the same eternal judgment on those who practice and teach such error. “Those who cleanse their garments” are those who have both authority and right to the tree of life and will pass through the gates.

Those who endure and tolerate error and falsehood are as guilty as sorcerers, murders, adulterers, and idolaters. Their’s is the same judgment.

There is no middle ground. Truth is not negotiable.

You can not, even in the slightest way, dismantle a portion of truth without becoming guilty of untruth, error, and deception.

You can not say that you hold and preach the “whole counsel of God” and at the same time ignore the command to love, cherish, and honor your wife. You might ask, what has marriage to do with truth and deception. It’s because the wife is the first to know.

You can not preach ecclesiastical unity and put your wife and marriage vows asunder. You can not hold to the New Covenant and ignore the marriage covenant. But far too many ministers do.

You shall not worship the anointing above the Anointer, who is God!

Did you know that you can perform signs and wonders; heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach the gospel and still end up in hell? Well, shouldn’t you at least think about it? After all, religious sin has got to be the most damnable and deceptive.

“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.

Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name?

And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].” –Matthew 7:21-23

I plead with you, my brothers and sisters. Do not put up with error, even though you sense the “Lord’s presence” and an “anointing.” There is no excuse for falsehood, error, and deception. You can not violate God’s commands, no matter how many miracles and wondrous signs are displayed.

Remember, the Man of Sin, or the Lawless One [the one who does so called “righteous acts” without God’s approval], is about to be revealed, and his spirit is already at work in disobedient minds throughout the world.

The first command of the ten commandments of Satan is:

“Do what thou will.”

This satanic command is behind many so-called ministries. When a ministry is not doing God’s will, His way, they are indeed doing what “thou will.” They are obeying demons and not the Son of God. Their lack of discernment is due to their lack of knowing Jesus Christ and that Jesus has no relational knowledge of them. They don’t belong to God. They belong to the Devil.

People, attending a church and being involved in ministry, performing acts of healing, deliverance, prophesying, and speaking in tongues doesn’t make you a Christian or validate you as one. It may make you feel like a saint, but since when does feelings make you a saint?

Only he, who washes his robe and who does the will of God, shall enter through the gates and into the City of God.

Not everyone who says; “Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…”

Check yourselves! Your pastor will not be standing next to you on the day of judgment, just you and the Lord. It’s you who must give an account as to what you have and have not done—to what you have believed while on earth.

The key to entering the city is to know and be known by God. You are known by God when your love is validated by obeying His commands and doing His will. There is God’s will, and there is rebellion. No other will exists.

Flee the house of deception and don’t look back!

Cover your ears to the flattery and tune into the voice of your True Heavenly Father. Don’t fall for favoritism of ministers and “important preachers” over the favor and approval of God.

Don’t exchange your identity of son or daughter of God, for position or title. Don’t marvel that you belong to a church or ministry, but marvel that your name is written the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Do not tolerate deception, false and new teaching, error, untruth or half-truth, do not accept the gospel of earthly prosperity at the expense of eternal life and heaven.

“Repent and live, why must you die, O’ house of Israel!”

Rather, worship God in the wilderness of this life and world. This world is our wilderness, and heaven is the promised land for all who obey—all who truly love and are truly known in the courts of heaven.

Pray for clarity and flee deception. Do it now!

The Blue Whale Prophecy — Thomas J. Koester

Photos, snapshots, and praise; the awing crowds come and go.

To the Shepherds and Pastors, write:

I see a large and beautiful Great Blue Whale in the middle of the ocean. The great mammal appears to have life, as it floats along the surface, but just beneath the water line, are Sharks and Killer Whales, ripping and tearing at her flesh.

The feast and frenzy is attracting other scavengers beneath. No one knows the whale is dead. The ships and tourist keep flocking the great mammal, but at a distance. Photos, snapshots, and praise the awing crowds come and go.

The life has left the great whale for some time. No one noticed when it fought and floundered against its mortal enemies. The great mammal was pulled beneath the surface, just enough, just long enough to drown the great mammal. That’s what they do—Killer Whales tire and then drown their victims.

She’s dead! The only life sustained now is by scavengers, which eat away the great carcass, eating away from beneath, so no one will notice.

Where has all the life gone? Where are all the people? The seats are filled, but the faces are all new! Photos, snapshots, a little praise, a little worship and the awing crowds come and go. Her spiritual body is being ripped and torn, but alas, no one notices—no one cares! All the religious busyness has weakened her; the earthly burdens and grand visions of men have weighed her down, tiring her, just enough, just long enough to drown her!

As the whale lives in the oceans and seas, it breathes air. My Church lives in the world, but it must breath heaven, it must come up to me for every word that proceeds from my mouth, or it shall die.

It all looks good. It seems real life is here, but if you get close enough, if you look beneath, you’ll see — She’s being eaten alive! Scavengers, Profiteers, Scammers, Whalers! What Jesus has brought together, man tears asunder!

We are being built into a spiritual house, brought together by Christ himself, so that we may become the habitation for His Spirit, that we may do greater deeds, deeds complete in His sight! But your acts only produce seedless fruit. It falls to the earth but does not reproduce! Why won’t you seek Heaven’s pollen?

Believe me, crowds do not constitute spiritual relevance. They may come to have their bellies filled—they may be curious or want to be entertained. They’ll feast and feed if you let them, but they have no heart to obey!

Scavengers, Spiritual Vagabonds, Drifters! If you pursue them, when your life’s work is complete, you’ll not go out with a “bang” but with a whimper! It may go “BANG!” on earth, but it will be a dud in heaven! Better to ally with those who’ve not soiled their clothes rather than those who bask in worldliness.

“To the angel of the church, in Sardis, write:

“These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard, obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief. You will not know at what time I will come to you.

Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life but acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” —Revelations 3:1-6

Be watchful and intercede according to the intercessions of Christ Jesus, lest all is lost.

I felt led to present this prophetic word to my pastor — he liked it so much that he had it published in America’s Good News, regional periodical. Sadly, the message was missed, and three years later, my beloved pastor died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his face. It was unknown to all of us that he had been fleecing the flock, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from many in the congregation, especially the elderly. His visions were far too large and too expensive for the small East Bay church.

Towards the end, he was discovered, and charges were filed in two Northern California counties. Rather than face his wrongdoings, repent, and accept the consequences, he ended his life, leaving behind hundreds of devastated believers. I was one of them.

“But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” —Matthew 6:25

Worship God and not ministry.

Don’t go out with a BANG on earth!

Beautifully Broken – By Thomas J. Koester

What stands between many of us and the life we’re supposed to live is our ability to bullshit.

No, this is not a treatise on global warming or climate change or the negative impact of cow flatulence on our environment—far from it!

This is about fleeing pretense and duplicity and becoming the real you. It’s about breaking down the fake areas in our lives and being honest with ourselves and others.

Wholeness can only be achieved by utter and complete brokenness. This is a universal principle. This is also the opposite of what the world thinks.

I like what Jerry Maguire said in his moment of a breakthrough:

“… Two nights later in Miami at our corporate conference, a breakthrough. Breakdown? Breakthrough. It was the oddest, most unexpected thing. I began writing what they call a mission statement for my company. You know—a Mission Statement—a suggestion for the future. What started out as one page became twenty-five.

Suddenly, I was my father’s son. I was remembering the simple pleasures of this job, how I ended up here out of law school, the way a stadium sounds when one of my players performs well on the field… And suddenly, it was all pretty clear. The answer was fewer clients. Caring for them, caring for ourselves, and the games, too. Starting our lives, really. Hey, I’ll be the first to admit it. What I was writing was somewhat “touchy-feely.” I didn’t care. I had lost the ability to bullshit. It was the me I’d always wanted to be.” —The Movie “Jerry Maguire”

You see a breakthrough, I mean, the kind of breakthrough we know we really need is always preceded by a breakdown. And, when we lose—no, rather, when we refuse to bullshit ourselves and others, we’ll become the people that we’ve always wanted to be.

You’re divinely purposed to become a living act of God’s love and glory. You can’t become what your Creator has intended until you surrender your own mess. That is, your constant self-effort to holding the broken pieces of your life together. Living in fear and dread that your secret life will be exposed at any moment to a live audience.

Living life on constant defense and acting co-dependently, or as a self-enabler, justifying the actions of your false self at the expense of your true self. This is the definition of what I’m referring to as a “mess.”

You can not become assembled in body, mind, and spirit, all the while holding everything together. You are robbing yourself of the very strength and energy you need by wasting it on supporting your falseness and phony facade. Stop being driven by voices inside your head, echoing the curses from your mother or father, or from the other significant persons in your life.

These curses are the voices of “false coaches,” driving you to repeat a cycle of self-destruction and family dysfunction. These curses are carcinogenic to your desire for wholeness and wellness. They are the cancerous agents eating away at the divine purpose for which God has created you.

“Gloria Dei est vivens homo,” wrote Saint Irenaeus, which means:

“The glory of God is a living man.”

The glory of God is you fully living, and not your daily self-destruction and learned dysfunction.

In the human body, you can not build muscle without first tearing down the muscle you have. Tearing down the muscle requires a determination to submit to the pain and deny yourself comfort. Likewise, you must have a willing determination to submit your very life and comforts to God.

James says it this way:

4-6 “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”

7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God, and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.” —James 4:6-10 (MSG)

Pride is self-destruction, low esteem, self-loathing, and such, is what’s been behind your self-effort of “holding it all together.” This is why pride always precedes a profound fall. There is nothing good in this kind of a fall because it’s always a fall from grace and not towards it.

Do you want God’s grace? Become truly humble. Oh yes, it is painful to stop your self-salvation and accept the truth, and act on it. But the light, which will come flooding into your darkness, will bring the wholeness and wellness you’ve been searching for.

The problem with bullshit is that it is no respecter of person, race, religion, or age—it flows from all of us! Far too many of us hide behind B.S.

“Men love darkness, rather than light,” this is true. But you can not become the man or woman you were meant to become all the while remaining in darkness. Just as painful as it is to build muscle, is it painful at first to step out from darkness into God’s marvelous light!

The gain from the pain of coming into the light is worth the life of wholeness and holiness.

Did you know that embracing your brokenness rather than hiding it will cause collateral beauty?

There may be a divine and strategic purpose behind your brokenness that, when shared with others, may cause a chain reaction of hope and healing in you and in them.

At this very moment, you’re standing at a crossroad—at a turning point; your next decision can create a paradigm shift of unprecedented emotional and spiritual change.

“The Lord said to his people…

“’You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not follow it!’” —Jeremiah 6:16 (NET)

Stop hanging out with the “We will not follow it” crowd!

You no longer belong to the crowd who refuse to follow the right path.

Stop staring at the crossroad in front of you and follow the right path. Stop saving yourself and fall into the grace, mercy, and love of God, and you will become the man or woman you’ve always wanted to be. After all, God put the desire to be his love and glory in you so that you may be fully living, fully alive to a world content with dying and taking you with it.

A breakdown is always before a breakthrough. God is waiting if you are willing. Open up to God or find a trusted friend to help lead you to God’s grace.

God can turn the ugliness of your brokenness into something beautiful!

May I be honest and a bit crass?

… It’s my prayer that you’ll lose your ability to “bullshit!” – Amen

The Great Recession – The Sequel –By Thomas J. Koester

I can’t emphasize enough how tragic and significant the upcoming economic rest will be. We all must become aware and prepare ourselves and families.

I had a very vivid and story-like dream. People were panicked, filled with hysteria, fear, and confusion. It could be the same in a matter of weeks and months. Some are saying in ninety days or less. Either way, enough news and evidence are out there to warrant our attention and to at least evaluate the possibilities of an economic collapse.

Interestingly, banks began collapsing almost exactly one year from the date of my April 16, 2022, dream. Since early April of 2023, banks have been closing at a rate that has surpassed the bank failures of the 2008 Great Recession! If you haven’t been paying attention, the economic forecast over the next upcoming months will be nothing short of apocalyptic! Are you prepared?

Okay, here’s my nightmarish dream…

I had dreamt that I was driving in town with two of my youngest children. Suddenly, traffic slowed to a stop. Civil unrest and pandemonium were everywhere, chaos—on the streets and sidewalks.

I rolled down my window and asked what was going on?

Someone shouted:

“The banks are closing, and the ATMs won’t work!”

I immediately turned my truck around and headed to my bank, Wells Fargo. When I arrived, people were lined up in front of the bank, restless, panicked, and afraid. Nobody was prepared for the chaos—everyone just wanted to withdraw their cash. The police tried to control the crowd, but they, too, were concerned and worried about what looked like a financial collapse.

[In reality, I’m the well-informed type of guy. I’m like a watchman when it comes to political and financial news, but in my dream, I was taken by complete surprise like everyone else.]

I stayed at the bank for what seemed like hours, pounding desperately on the door, demanding our money. Finally, a manager poked her head out from behind the glass door, saying, “Sorry, we’re closed, there’s no money inside—please, please go home!”

I got back into my truck. My kids had fear and confusion written on their faces, saying,

“dad, please just take us home!”

Instead, I drove to our other bank, Umpqua. The manager was outside and politely speaking to the crowd. We all pleaded for our money, but she said, “There’s no money here.”

I stuck around until most of the crowd had dispersed. I asked the bank manager what was really going on? All she knew was that she was ordered to close the bank.

I got into my truck, assuring my kids that it would be alright and started for home.

As I was waking up, during the brief moment between dreaming and awakening, a message scrolled across my mind, like a news chyron, during a televised breaking news event…

… The Feds Have Just Announced The Dollar Has Been Replaced With Federally Issued Digital Currency.

Moments later, I heard Toni, calling me down for breakfast.

I got up from bed, still sleepy, processing my dream, and wandered downstairs for a cup of coffee.

Toni was at the table, enjoying the breakfast just delivered to our beach cottage in Mendocino. I shared my dream with her and said it was an unusually realistic dream.

As a matter of fact; I had awakened a few times during the nightmare only to drift back asleep, stepping right back into the dream where I had left off! Typically, my dreaming is abstract and meaningless, but not this dream, folks.

Several things come to mind…

Our faith must be 100% in the Lord and not in the world or in the world’s systems.
We must get our financial affairs in order. We must get out of debt and cease our dependence and addiction to credit.
We must get our relationships with one another in order. We must not withhold forgiveness. We must become one people, one family, united in truth and in faith.
We must prepare for persecution and severe trials. (If I read any comments, “don’t worry, cause we’ll all be raptured,” please unfriend me).
We need to walk in peace and confidence, being solidly in Lord now, or we won’t when calamity and pandemonium strike.
This collapse will indeed arrive sooner than later and without expectancy. Therefore, we must be prepared to shine brightly, holding forth the Word of Life.
Belief in the empty tomb will strengthen you during the time of empty banks.

“‘Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.’” —Philippians 2: 14-16

The world is crooked and warped. The opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics should be clue enough! To those who believe in the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, we must prepare ourselves to shine among them “like stars in the sky.” We can only do that if we have an unbreakable grip on the Word of Life—the resurrected life of Jesus Christ.

I’ll say it again; Belief in the empty tomb will strengthen you during the time of empty banks—You’ll soon understand the meaning.

You’ll need to stock a lot more than toilet paper in the coming days.

Encourage one another while the lights are still on. Darkness is coming. Your day of shining is fast approaching. “Be brave and courageous—be very brave and very courageous—for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” —Joshua chapter one.

Your Hour Has Come – Time To Wake Up Your Faith – By Thomas J. Koester

Misery and slavery are certain for those who ignore the warnings

I will post and repost this article until enough of us wake up to reality.

There is no doubt that we’re living in the time of Joseph and Elijah. A time when it’s wise to gather and store. A time when it’s wise to trust the Lord for ravens and hidden streams.

Gather for your friends and family. Gather to be in a position to give and provide. Trust the Lord to guide you and marshal unexpected resources that He sends. Move closer to the Lord than ever before, and be ready to tap into His presence for strength.

Be ready to let go of life as you know it, and cling to the Lord as never before. Bolt yourselves to God’s Word. Anchor yourselves to God’s promises. Dig deep into the Holy Spirit. Train your hearing on the voice of your Shepherd. Discern and obey God’s commands.

The Years 2020 and 2022 were dress rehearsals for what lies ahead in the remaining months of 2024. A “Great Economic Reset” is coming and it won’t be pleasant. The rumblings began in our financial institutions at the close of 2022, and fissures are now undeniable present throughout domestic and international banking. Commercial real estate is crumbling as I write.

The Far Left and its shadow government has revealed its insidious plans and is poised to do whatever it takes to hold onto power.

Government is not your God. The Feds are not your Lord. The Network News Agency isn’t the Holy Spirit. Stop acting as though they are!

Turn back to The Lord God Almighty!

Prepare and train yourselves for endurance. Ready yourselves and your families to do with little and live without. Your value was never in what you owned or in your career. Your value and worth are your identity as a child of The Most High God and not as a son or daughter of this world.

Remember, our warfare is not against flesh and blood. Our enemy is unseen and entrenched in high powers and principalities. Therefore, remember to whom you belong and the might and majesty of our God. Saints of God, stand firm in your calling. Heroes of our Faith are watching. Angels are positioning. Demons are strategizing. Something is breaking out.

Remember, you’re on the winning team, no matter what you see or hear. God is well pleased with His sons and daughters. Act like it and know it to the core of your being, deep within your heart. They will try to demoralize, defame, and demonize us. Many will doubt and fall prey to their wicked schemes.

Protect your minds with the Helmet of Salvation. Guard your hearts with the Breastplate of Righteousness; wear the Belt of Truth firmly; take up your position with the Shield of Faith, and your feet dressed with the Readiness and Power of the Gospel. Grip tightly the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God! Ephesians 6: 10-17

Stand firm and sure in your faith.

Jesus never promised safety and security; rather, he said;

“For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it; but if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it.” Matthew 16:25

… You will soon learn what this means.

Your belief in the empty tomb will help you during the time of empty banks. Memorize that!

You were not saved for an easy life but were chosen and equipped to become Saints. The world will soon be paying attention to those whose God is the Lord. Let the Daniels, the Josephs, and Elijahs of our time rise up!

Evil is rapidly burgeoning beyond belief and it must be met with unyielding devotion and allegiance to God.

Wake up your faith ~ you’ll not survive without it!

Culture of Life vs. Culture of Death – By Thomas J. Koester

If nothing changes in your life after facing death, then nothing will ever change while facing life.

While the Spirit brings life, the flesh and all its desires bring death. And this is why when so many face death, nothing changes because they already live in a culture of death.

Instead, walk in the Spirit, and you’ll not satisfy the desires of a death culture but an active community of spiritually alive people.

Being hope-filled makes you attractive to those that want to live, but to the death culture, you’re bad news! Your hopefulness points to heaven, a place unfamiliar to them. Their paradise is boozing it up and partying like it’s “1999.”

They celebrate the flesh; plump it up here, tuck it in there, lifting it to the top, and stretching out the wrinkles. They’ll pay thousands of dollars on their temples of doom. But im afraid you can’t “nip and tuck” your way to eternal life. There’s no fountain of youth, and Nirvana, well, it’s a myth!

Life is not what you are on the outside but who you are on the inside. All that body emphasis stuff keeps you from from really enjoying life while your soul rots away. A joy-filled and hopeful life changes you from the inside out! It causes your insides to radiate life.

Proverbs 4:23 tells it this way…

“… Guard your heart above all else, for from it flows the wellspring of life.”

Your heart is where the issues of life flow from. Live from your heart and you’ll become a life-giver.

It will change you from a sourpuss to a sweetie pie. Just ask my friend, Paul Spaar. He has all the reasons to be sour but instead chooses to be hopeful, upbeat, and positive. Sure, he’s had bad days—heck, we all do. But we wouldn’t know what a good day is without the bad days to measure against. Oh, and the ladies, well, they see Paul as a handsome dude. He radiates from the inside out. Psst, that’s Paul’s superpower…

… I’ll have what he’s having!

I’m not saying to deny reality; I’m just encouraging you not to make your reality about serving Death rather than serving Life. The difference is to stop worshiping that which is dying and start honoring the One who’s giving Life.

Jesus faced a terrible death so that you don’t have to. Eternal life starts as soon as you cancel your temple-of-doom worship and allow Him to make you into His Temple of Life!

When physical death comes, as it inevitably does, you’ll face it, not with bargaining but with a triumphant entrance into heaven. That’s where the real party will be.

Choose life and leave the culture of death behind.

Oh, and be like Paul Spaar. He dishes out doses of joy, gratitude, and positivity, to anyone tuning into his FB Live Broadcasts.

Make America Great in God Again! ☆ By Thomas J. Koester

Many years ago, August 4, 1984, to be exact; God called Toni and I to Youth With A Mission (YWAM). We needed $4,500.00 tuition for the Discipleship Training School and traveling money from California to the city of Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, some 3,500 mile distance.

We embarked on our cross-country journey with our two small children, Josh and Jordan. Toni and I had only $300.00 cash, and a gas and oil guzzling, 1973 Chevy station wagon. Needless to say, we were over $5,000.00 short. Yet, we truly believed that God would provide.

On our way to Canada, and after driving all night, the following morning, an 18-wheeler hit our car clocked by a Nevada State Trooper doing 90 miles per hour. The truck burst into flames on impact, skidding 600 feet before it exploded, catapulting debris 100 feet in the air! The truck driver jumped out safely, seconds before the explosion onto the center medium. Later, the State Trooper told us that the truck driver had dosed off, which was why he collided into our car. Miraculously, none of us were seriously hurt, even though our Chevy station wagon was totaled. Our trip to Canada appeared to be cut short.

I put my family up in a Motel 6 in Elko Nevada, using part of the $300.00 we had started out with to cover the hotel expense. Within 24 hours, a knock on our hotel room door. It was an insurance adjuster, representing the trucking company responsible for the accident.

The adjuster wrote Toni and I a check for $25,000.00. Way more than enough for our YWAM tuition and travel expense. We then took a bus ride to the airport in Salt Lake, Utah. While staying at another hotel, It was the next morning that God took me to a passage of Scripture:

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences…’ — Ezekiel 23:35

This verse popped up three times within 24 hours. It took me a while, but I understood what God was saying because we had received such a large sum of money that our faith and trust shifted from God to the money. In other words, we put our trust in the gift and not the Giver.

Later that morning, I lost my wallet with all the money in it! That Ezekiel verse kept echoing in my mind. Fortunately, I had kept part of the $25,000 settlement in the form of a certified check for $4,500.00, the rest in cash. But the certified check was also in my wallet.

You see, it is so easy and subtle to shift our trust and focus in God to other things. Because God loves us and that he’s a good and faithful Father, he won’t leave us in our sins. He corrects every son and daughter he loves.

Two weeks after we had arrived in Canada, the Salt Lake Police Department in Utah sent me a letter, asking me to call or write back and describe the wallet’s contents. I want you to know that I didn’t have time to file a lost wallet report, and nothing in my wallet could’ve led the police to our temporary stop in Quebec. It was an absolute miracle that the Salt Lake Police Department found Toni and I while staying on a farm in Quebec, Canada! I still, to this day, do not know how they found us.

Everything was still there in my wallet, except the $20,500.00 cash. Fortunately for us, the Canadian exchange rate in 1984 was 130%. Turning that certified check from $4,500.00 to $5,850.00! Because we had repented and adjusted our hearts, God gave us back just enough. As a matter of fact, because of God’s faithfulness, we were the only students who paid the required tuition in a lump sum!

I believe what we’re all going through as a nation is that God won’t leave us in our sins, and as a faithful and good father, he’s chastising America. He remembers our commitment as his people and as his nation to follow in His precepts and laws. After all, our country is founded on His principles.

In reality, we’ve all chosen to worship America and all its bounty, rather than the God of Heaven, Earth’s only Redeemer.

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” — Psalms 11:3.

Unfortunately, the 21st-century Church has been too preoccupied with leaving the world. If the Church would’ve been occupied with the Kingdom of God, as an occupying force for good, we would not be this far down the river! Perhaps the “foundations” could’ve been repaired. I believe our nation’s fondations can be restored, as I hope and believe you do, too.

Our task is to occupy until He comes back—to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom to all the world for a witness. Not hasten the day of destruction because of our misguided disengagement and our pre-tribulation, premilienial exfiltration focus.

We need to individually and corporately acknowledge our sins and turn away from them. We need to shift our trust and dependence on America and on our government and place our faith and trust back to God.

If we do this as a nation, I sincerely believe that God will restore America. Only God can make America great again.

It is better to have God and just enough than to have more than enough and no God.

It’s really not about making America Great Again it’s about making God Great In America Again!

Not A Shot Was Fired – By Thomas J. Koester

Whether you realize it or not, we are in a bulletless revolution.

Did you know that our liberty is directly tied to our economy?

“He who controls the money controls the world.” — Henry Kissinger

The W.H.O. the C.D.C. and the Federal Bureaucrats, along with Corporate Mongrels, got their teeth into the heart of our Great Nation. Rogue governors, mayors, and district attorneys are destroying the rule of law and justice.

The Blue States and Blue cities wouldn’t release the masses to go back to work until they caused irreversible financial damage and civil unrest. But, they’ve released murderers, rapists, thugs, and thieves into our cities and towns without a thought.

The Oil Barrons are involved, too. Our crude oil dependency must also be destroyed, according to them. So they’ll raise the price of crude until we can’t afford to drive our vehicles. They’ll even sabotage the Petrol-Dollar just to create hyper inflation here in America and abroad.

Their lust for power and financial gain, all willingly granted to them by the scared masses, in exchange for the people’s security and safety.

‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.’ — Benjamin Franklin

The perfect trifecta is happening: Destroy health, wealth, and our monetary system and capitalism will collapse. The Left has avoided a bloody revolution by using the over-sensationalized and politicized COVID-19 virus and the creation of a digitized currency to be controlled by a centralized Federal Banking System. This new monetary system will be known as the Federal CBDC, Central Bank Digital Currency.

All of us have proven to the world rulers how easily we gave up our liberties and how willingly we allowed them to disregard our Constitution and Bill of Rights. All for the avoidance of a virus that has been present among us during every flu season. They just picked the COVID-19 virus to scare us all into submission. Now their planning on replacing our currency to programable digits.

The “pandemic” was the dress rehearsal, preparing us for the next emergency, the ruination of our currency. And, yes, the federal government will step in and save the day because that’s what they do.

“We create the chaos, and then we move in and capitalize on that chaos.”

At first, you’ll love all the incentives they’ll provide so you’ll give up your dollars, your gold, and silver in exchange for a fiat digital currency that you can’t see, hold, or feel. “You’ll own nothing and be happy,” as the World Economic Forum, puts it.

Our foolish COVID compliance was the “test-run” that showed those in power how easily it was to control our lives and suspend our liberties. The crisis of that most dreadful hour has assured the powerful that any hyped-up crisis can be a useful tool against useful idiots. (I hope this offends you into action and not passivity).

Big Pharma, Hollywood, Big Tech, and politicians told us all to get injected with an mRNA vaccine cocktail. These are the very people that argue for population control, they are the pro-abortionists, and pro-euthanasia; they are the main purveyors of The Green New Deal and a Global Economic Reset.

Now, their next agenda is called: “Project Icebreaker.”

“Project Icebreaker is unique in its proposition. It first allows central banks to have almost full autonomy in designing a domestic retail CBDC.”

President Biden signed Executive Order No.14067, back on March 9, 2022.

In part, “The Order calls for interagency coordination to implement the Order, and it articulates the “highest urgency” to research and develop the design of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency (“CBDC”) that is consistent with the priorities outlined in the Order, to ensure the global financial system has appropriate transparency.”

It is likely that the up and coming Great Financial Collapse beginning early 2023 and exploding into 2025 will make it difficult to govern no matter who wins the presidency.

“Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy,” cause America, well, it just might be going bye-bye!

I hope not!

Are we a nation of sheep and cattle? Have we so easily forgotten the miracle of our liberty and the price for which it was won?

Liberty first won and then lost is far costlier to gain back, as those that have taken it keenly understand the significance of their long-awaited goal.

Honestly, people, do you not see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears what’s happening even the day before July 4, 2024? A former president being prosecuted by a sitting president, that’s about to be tossed out by his own party! This is unprecedented, and is driving America towards a constitutional crisis!

The Democrats have painted themselves into a corner. They have trapped themselves with their own trap! Trump must be defeated at all costs, but their “lawfare” has granted him the keys of the Kingdom.

The Left’s hatred for Donald Trump has nothing to do with his orange tone, awful tweets, or salty character. They hate him because he’s ant-CBDC and an outspoken opponent against their Marxist-Socialist ideology and agenda.

Will the America we love be lost without a shot fired?

Yes, because COVID-19 compliance is all the proof the Marxist-Socialists needed to confirm our passivity. They are hidden within our government, news media, and multibillion-dollar corporations. They are the ones secretly pulling the levers of power. The Bident / Trump debate should have made that crystal clear to both parties.

They’ll try to win at all costs because they know you can’t shoot an enemy that you can’t see!