Untapped Spiritual Power of The Resurrection – By Thomas Koester

The Most Powerful Event In All History, The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

It is undeniable that America is in a post-Christian Era. The culture of death and darkness is everywhere. I truly believe the lack of preaching on the single most important event in history has created a vacuum for evil to flourish and death to prevail.

When eternal life is unoffered, uncelebrated, and relatively unknown, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ diminished to a mere annual holiday, overtaken by pagan ritual, the power of the resurrection becomes unknown and untapped.

Target, Walmart, Macy’s, and Hallmark are not to blame for the commercialization of the most powerful event in all human history, this is Christianity’s doing. For they are the arbiters of this most important truth, not department stores!

The sad thing about what this Sunday has become in many churches across America is summed up in one word, “powerless.” Matter of fact, the title Resurrection Day has been replaced with the title ‘Easter Sunday.” The Gospel replaced with Easter eggs, chocolate bunnies, colorful baskets, pastel dresses, and shiny shoes.

It’s not the world offering Easter egg hunts. No, it’s thousands and thousands of churches.

In their minds, it’s the ends justifying the means. A marketing strategy, if you will.

However, I see no such market strategies in the Bible, by either prophet or apostle, preacher or evangelist.

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the central theme of The Gospel!

For Christianity to impact the world and chase the demons and devils of death back onto the shadows, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ must once again become the central theme of The Gospel.

Immediately prior to Jesus’s crucifixion, he appeared as a failure; deserted by his closest followers, deceived by one of his disciples, and rejected by his own people that he came to save. Silent before his accusers, no one spoke on his behalf.

His Father let him suffer a naked and terrible death on a cross. He was buried in a borrowed tomb, which was carefully guarded by nearly a dozen Roman soldiers. He certainly was despised and rejected.

Yet, Christianity finds its roots in the single and most important act:

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“…and if Christ has not been raised from death, then we have nothing to preach and you have nothing to believe.” – 1 Corinthians 15:14

It is the power of Christ’s resurrection, which should both compel and propel churches and not budgets, charismatic preachers, or in-vogue programs, pageants, and parades.

“The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all.” – Acts 4:33

The focus of a Church living from the roots and foundation of the resurrected Lord of Life is to seek and save the lost rather than a mausoleum of inactive Christians.

To the early Christians and First Century Church, the Resurrection was their main message. For us today its become an annual holiday.

“I want to know Him inside and out. I want to experience the power of His resurrection and join in His suffering, shaped by His death, so that I may arrive safely at the resurrection from the dead.” – Philippians 3:10-11

If you want a vibrant and alive Church, preach the Resurrection of Christ throughout the year.

If you want a dead church, stay with your religious tips and tricks, and keep following those mainstream, so-called Christian fads and fashions. You may get your numbers and budgets, but you’ll have no real spiritual power.

Without real spiritual power, you’ll have no real spiritual fruit.

The Church was founded and propelled by an Outlaw, and today, the Church is held back by its bylaws.

Get back to the message of Resurrection, and not just on once a year on “Easter” Morning.

Preach powerfully the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing will be upon you all.

The greatest critic and deniers of the resurrection of Christ are not disbelievers and atheists, but those who refuse to preach and live it.

True spiritual success still comes from the most powerful event in all human history…

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“Do you believe this?”

If you did, you’d be full of life and full of power, and no worldly or spiritual force could stop your message.

Tap into it and live it and gain true spiritual power, power the Lost and the Broken are waiting for.

Get Your House In Order – By Thomas Koester

Sweep out all that is unnecessary, as there will be an inspection.

Every generation before us has been born into its own mediocrity and narcissism.

We must be the generation that breaks this cycle. We can no longer be bored with complacency or be distracted by consumerism. We must shake off the Corporate Mongrals that only see us as algorithms. We must deny them their marketing strategies of profiting from our blood and sweat.

We must break free from the enslavement of debt and instead learn to be independent and live with less so that we can become more. They don’t want us to become more, their power is in our becoming less human and woefully dependent.

Our greatest hour is quickly approaching — if we are to be the greatest generation, we must wake up from apathy. The ending of our way of living will require more from us than at its beginning. You will become either an Overcomer or a Deceiver. If you cling to the junk in your life you’ll fall prey to their trickery and deception.

It will be much easier in the darkness as an Overcomer. The Truth already blinds a Deceiver; light or darkness means nothing; he’s lost. Overcomers do not stumble in dark times; they are surefooted because Truth guides them and lights up their path.

Overcome your obstacles now. Later won’t afford you the time to untangle your bad choices. Correct decisions matter now more than at any other time in American history.

Get your house in order. It will be helpful for you and others that you are clearheaded and not a cluttered mess. In the coming months, you’ll need to act decisively and with purpose. Timing will be crucial and maybe the determinant factor of your survival.

Pray for wisdom, the kind of wisdom that only God the Father can give. You’ll need it to discern right from wrong, and to avoid the great delusion that is coming and is already here being broadcasted over the airwaves and internet.

We’re headed into a time when sight won’t matter. Faith must become your eyes. Trusting in God’s Word and His promises will be the only surety left.

You might not be aware, but America has gone bye-bye.

Don’t rely on politics or politicians — We went from a Representative Republic to a Democracy and now to a Communist State, while you had your faces buried in your smartphones.

And now, for a few recommendations:

Belief In the empty tomb will surely strengthen you during the time of empty banks.

Sweep out all that is unnecessary, as there will be an inspection. God wants you to be sharp, sure, and confident when the collapse begins.

So, get your body, mind, and heart in order, and not just your financial affairs. Unbelievers and doubters are going to need you clearheaded and hopeful.

America is soon to become either Америка or 美国这个名字 or perhaps both.

Those Are The Things Worth Believin In – By Thomas Koester

It’s not the type of groom we were at our weddings. That’s the easy part. That day was fanciful, romantic, and ceremonial.

No, it’s the kind of man that we’ve become in the crucible of marriage, and while the ceremony has long since faded, romance and passion are still alive and well. That’s the sign of a good marriage and of a good man. We need more good men and healthy marriages.

A good man brings out the best in his woman. Likewise, a good woman does the same for her man. A marriage becomes ugly when we forget these things.

I love the movie “Secondhand Lions,” staring Robert Duvall. It’s a movie rich with quotable dialog.

“…True love never dies. Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not. A man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believin in.”

True love never dies. It’s certainly true of our faith, isn’t it? Christ’s love for his Bride will never die, neither his love for you, if you believe in those things, and in Him, because, “those things are worth believin in.”

Matter of fact, it’s Christ in us, which makes us into a good man and a good woman. And the trinity of Christ Jesus, a man, and a woman together as one, creates an invincible marriage.

The reason why so many good marriages fail is when one or both walks away from Jesus Christ as the center of their individual lives and the center of their marriage. The reason why the world hates marriage is because it is the physical manifestation of the Holy Trinity. It is a Living example of Christ loving the Church and giving up His life for her, His Bride.

“I’m Hub McCann. I’ve fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I’ve seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I’ve won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED MANY MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That’s who I am!” The movie, “Second Hand Lions”

Who are you?

What kind of Man are you?

What kind of woman are you?

When you have no firm identity, you have only weakness against the things out to destroy your love for your wife or husband. You have very little strength to fight the enemy of your relationship with God.

So goes your relationship with God, so goes everything else.

A good and lasting marriage vitally depends on your relationship to God through Jesus Christ. Remember? It’s the three-fold cord, of Christ Jesus, a man, and a woman. That’s your superpower against the enemy of your marriage.

Don’t have the passion of a flea. Have the passion of a ferocious lover, willing to surrender and sacrifice your life for the one whom you love, and for God, the Lover of your soul.

I know that so many of you, even my close friends, have given up on their marriages and on God. You’ve simply just walked away, searching for meaning, significance, and identity. You’ll not find it in another lover, if you never had it with the one you left.

You’ll only find meaning, significance, and identity in God. Not in sex, romance, and one nights. Turn back to Him, and turn back to your First Love.

“These are the things worth believin in.”

So, don’t be a flea brain!

Dying To Self – The Secret to The Fountain of Life – Thomas Koester

In the Fall of 1984, Toni and I joined Youth With A Mission in Canada. While there, a young Canadian woman handed me a folded white sheet of lined paper as though she was on a clandestine mission. I unfolded the paper and found the following poem written in pencil. I read it every now and then to remind me and ground myself in the significance of true living through the death of self.

I confess that this is a huge struggle in my life, saying yes to God and no to self. As a matter of fact, it is my biggest daily battle, and many times, the battle is lost. On those days that I lose the battle of wills, I realize that I am saying no to the abundant life that God offers me.

I realize that physical death is, and always will be, the final threshold we must cross over one day. For some, this crossing will take us into the very eternal presence of God, and for others, into eternal separation and darkness. I have witnessed both my parents crossing the threshold of death into the everlasting joy of God.

We can practice dying to ourselves and self-importance. We can choose those things which promote life in others and for others. If we begin living in eternity now, we can therefore experience the Father’s everlasting joy in our present life and even in our suffering.

In other words, by living as Jesus lived and being made conformable to his death, we can become living fountains of life. Through our daily dying, we are reborn into his daily living. It opens us up to hear the same words Jesus heard from his Father and inspires us to do the same things Jesus did in obeying his Father’s wishes.

“This is my beloved Son, said God, in him, I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

True Christianity is a daily battle of wills. We either obey the Father’s will and find life, or we obey our will and find death (separation). Dying to self is the proverbial “Fountain of Life” because it makes us into that fountain, a spring of Living Water, which is the Spirit and nature of Christ bubbling up from within us.

Okay, now that poem I had spoken about…

The poem – Dying To Self

“When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don’t sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ, that is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed. You refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patience with loving silence; that is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, irregularity, impunctuality, or annoyance; when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility – and endure it as Jesus did – that is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God, that is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, record your good works, or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown, that is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are more significant and in desperate circumstances, that is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one more petite stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising within your heart, that is dying to self.” – Author Unknown.
.
Are you dead yet?

In these last days, the Spirit would bring us to the cross. “That I may know Him…being made conformable unto His death. Phil 3:10

It is exchanging our will for God’s will, whereby we die to our will, which is no easy thing. But the rewards outweighs the difficulty.

If you let your own will and life go, you’ll become a fountain of life, and the Lord of Life will bubble up from within your heart and into the lost and lonely.

Let Jesus become that Fountain of Life within you by dying to self.

A Home for Your Wounded Heart – By Thomas Koester

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” Psalms 147:3

“A wound where there is no weeping, writes, John Eldreged, is a wound that cannot be healed.” Your wounded heart can be healed. But you must share your wounded heart with God.

Wounds and scars, whether physical or emotional are essential to being human. It happens to all of us. The following is written on the back of my business card:

“Living a scarless life is not living at all. Sometimes our greatest triumphs lie in our greatest defeats. In all things, I am a child of God and never a victim. I do not, therefore, interpret tragic circumstances as mishaps, but a divinely scheduled trip to God’s beauty salon.”

If we only see ourselves as a victim in every crisis, loss, or betrayal, we deny the very instrument and tool for which God is doing his best work in us. When you refuse to become the victim and instead respond in praise and thanksgiving to God, you, therefore, thwart darkness and defeat the devil.

The devil wants you to wallow in bitterness and anguish. He wants you paralyzed, frozen in time and eternity with a wounded and broken heart. He knows that a heart not healed will keep you from God, keep you from salvation.

The old saying, “time heals all wounds,” is not from the Bible, it’s from the devil!

This is why Jesus of Nazareth read from Isaiah 61: 1

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to heal and bind up the brokenhearted…”

Matter of fact, Jesus’ reading of the Isaiah passage was the official announcement of his earthly ministry.

The Psalmist, King David, penned:

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” Psalms 147:3

Job 2:9-10

“His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”

God is in control – He’s not only our Creator, but He’s our Father also. He touches our lives with wisdom and cares for us greater than our earthly fathers. He’s preparing us for eternity with Him and His actions are always with this in mind.

The devil wants you, if possible, to never meet your Heavenly Father. If he can’t prevent that, he’ll at least pervert it, by causing your earthly father to wound your heart and soul. When our hearts bare the scars of father’s wounds, it is so hard, if not impossible to trust God as our Everlasting Father.

And this is the central theme of Jesus’ ministry; to rescue you from the penalty of sin and the grip of the devil, and to heal your broken heart so that salvation can come to you.

“No one can come to the Father, said Jesus, except through me.” John 14:6

Your heart must be healed because it is to become your Heavenly Father’s dwelling place.

He alone is the home for your wounded heart. Trust him, He’s making you beautiful inside and out.

The Blessings of Poverty – Thomas Koester

Today the choice is yours. Go, sell all that you have, give to the poor and you will have riches in heaven.

A few years ago I met a homeless man, named Aaron. Aaron wouldn’t say he was homeless but instead, he’d say he’s houseless. He and his dog were used to living outside and on their own. In other words, Aaron had chosen poverty as his lifestyle. He didn’t yearn for more, but only just enough to get by each new day. He had little to no envy for guys like me or even a desire to acquire more than he could carry in his backpack or bedroll.

Maybe Aaron had chosen a better way. He chose poverty long ago.

As our economy is slipping away, banks failing, and baby formula scarcity, Aaron has learned to live without, while we cling to what we have. Now, he’s watching men like us lose everything. He’s witnessing our agony and hearing our complaining and woes.

For Aaron, he has known no difference and no loss, because he had little investment in the world, and therefore, the world has taken little from him. Amazing! Now, it is Aaron who speaks wisdom. Not necessarily with words, but with his life. He chooses a better way. He’s become, my counselor, cheerleader, and advocate.

Our pain and hardship are not the sharpening of steel or the clanging of iron; it’s not the heated furnace, the violent remaking, reshaping of our lives, but the hand of correction ripping the world out of us.

Why? It is because we are true sons. It is because God is our True Father, and he desires that we live no longer in the World. We stink of worldliness. Our attics, garages, storage rentals, living rooms, game, and family rooms are witnesses of this fact.

We are in it deep. Oh man, does it hurt to watch these things disappear; house-by-house, boat-by-boat, car-by-car, credit-card-by-credit-card; life!?

The World gives, and the World taketh away.

The truth: because we are true sons, and God our True Father, he is choosing for us. We stinketh of the world, we stinketh of “flesh,” and if we truly want the presence of our Father, we must be baptized in the Fire of His Holiness! We must be pure because he is pure.

We must repent of our worldliness, the sooner the better. To chose poverty is a better process than being overcome by poverty. You will like it better.

“If you want to give it all you’ve got,” Jesus replied, “go sell your possessions; give everything to the poor. All your wealth will then be in heaven. Then come follow me.”That was the last thing the young man expected to hear. And so, crest-fallen, he walked away. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and he couldn’t bear to let go. Matthew 19:21-22 (The Message)

The virtue of poverty is more beautiful, more stunning to Poppa God than the finest fashions the world offers. For through a lesser garment, He can see the radiance of his Son, Jesus, and, therefore, so can the World.

Before, the World could only see the world in our lives. Heaven was at a loss because of the riches we adorned ourselves with, masked the greatest gift a father could bestow, the Glory of the Son. The radiances of Jesus are muted by our worldliness.

We shall soon be better dressed. Poverty is the latest fashion but seldom chosen. Not the poverty of what the world would think. But, the poverty of Christ. The setting aside of all his rights as God, to become a simple man, shows us that simple men can change the world. To confound the Wise. To sap the strength of the Strong. To confuse the Sophisticates. To baffle the Wealthy. To enrage the Religious. To magnify Christ. To point to Heaven. To reveal True Life, Real Living. To unveil True Freedom. To bring us to our True Father.

This world is not our home, never was, and never will be. We’re Evangelical Sojourners. The sooner we evangelize, the sooner we will journey home, our True Home.

“If the walls of your life have boxed you in, then kick the walls down, and make a dance floor!” – You Got To Keep Dancing – By Tim Hansel

Oh, how freeing it is to dance in open spaces. How much more we can see God when our lives are less cluttered with junk? Let’s get changed, let’s dance!

Don’t confuse worldly poverty with spiritual poverty. They are not the same. Those who choose spiritual poverty, are the wealthiest of all. Their investments are held in the security of heaven’s gates. Their wealth will never end and will never know depreciation or recession. It will not rust or wear out. No government shall confiscate it nor tax it.

Even if one were to choose physical poverty, blessed are we, for:

“Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous–with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!” Matthew 5:3 (Amplified Bible)

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and his rule.” Matthew 5:3 (The Message)

Being needy is the state of poverty, which profits us the most. It is more easily attained by choice, rather than theft, confiscation, or repossession. The former comes by release and opened hands, the latter by ripping, tearing, and white-knuckled gripping.

Why is it “…more blessed to give than receive?” Because in giving, we increase our capacity, we make more room for the kingdom of God within. In receiving, we crowd and burden ourselves with more earthly responsibility and possession. Soon our possessions possess us, and not the Spirit of Christ.

If it all must go, let it go, that we may gain Christ. Only let it be done for love, not for ambition, recognition, title, or position, but simply because of the love of God. Less of me, my wants, desires even hopes and dreams; more of Christ and what pleases him, so that in all of our potential emptiness, we fully contain all of Christ.

Christ was cursed on his own because he chose a better way. He chose not the kingdoms of the world as offered by Satan. Not the leap off the temple heights, to attain a spectacular ministry of men and angels, nor independence by commanding stones to become bread.

Rather Christ chose to live in simplicity, neither owning nor possessing. He chose silence before accusers, seclusion instead of acclaim, prayer instead of food, and sinners instead of the righteous. He accepted the ignominy of the cross, and the poverty of a borrowed tomb, and left justice to his God. In seclusion, angels ministered to him when he was starved, naked, and thirsty.

Brennan Manning, the celebrated lover of God and author, wrote:

“I think moments before Christ gave up his spirit into the embrace of his Father, his Father whispered the following words:

“Come away with me my love, my lovely one come. For you the winter is over and gone, the snow has melted. The cooing of the turtle doves can be heard on the land, the flowers are in bloom. Come away with me my love, my lovely one come. Your face is beautiful your voice is sweet. Come away with me my love, my lovely one come.”

At that exact moment the weary and impoverished son, bloodied and beaten, naked and pierced, inhaled his last and final breath and said; “It is finished!” He hung his head and died. His broken body swept up into the loveliness of his Father.”

Because he chose poverty, he has made us all rich. Because he chose death we now live.

Today the choice is yours. Go, sell all that you have, give to the poor and you will have riches in heaven.

Your retirement is in heaven not here on earth. You may have earned it and saved for it, but there is a higher call, a higher law, and a higher love. Only a few find it, and less than a few stay with it. Those who endure, understand that their reward is not here, but in an eternal kingdom that’s not of this world.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus of Nazareth.

The kind of poverty Jesus is speaking about is seldom understood and even less seldom lived.

According to Jesus, no poverty, no Kingdom. If you have a problem with this, take it up with the King of kings.

The poor in spirit are blessed because they chose wisely.

Be blessed!

Turn Back To God – The Day of Darkness Is Fast Approaching – By Thomas Koester

“Today, if you hear God’s voice, do not harend your heart.”

Our Nation is suffering from terminal cancer, which has metastasized throughout its culture, society, and every sector of government, education, corporations, media, and institutions.

Do you think any president, left or right, or political party can heal her?

If you do, you’re part of the problem, and I think you need a second opinion.

Our Nation is at stage-4 cancer, and very few are on their knees in intercession to our only Healer and Redeemer.

“…So it will be when the LORD begins to heal his people and cure the wounds he gave them.” Isaiah 30:26.

But this promise to heal and restore only comes after the Nation confesses and morns their sins and turns from their wicked ways.

Our Nation and its people are in denial about its moral rot and spiritual decay.

We are crying for just a man, a just political solution to a problem of profound spiritual and moral loss.

However, the True and proven Man, Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, is rejected as our only King and Sovereign, and His Lordship abandoned in exchange for earthbound political might of lessor gods.

There is no man whereby his promises, no matter how lofty and spiritual, can bring about true peace and national redemption.

Only the contrite heart of a broken nation and acknowledgment of our corporate and individual sins as a people will real spiritual change come. Only the True God of Heaven, who’s no politician and whose power and authority are not dependent on the elections or political whims of any people or nation.

The prophets are pleading for repentance and a return to holiness, or all is lost, and our only hope for healing will come from a dark season of judgment.

Prepare yourselves and get your houses and churches in order. We’ve not much time. Those whose God is The Lord and are found on their knees before our Great King will survive.

Our finest hour is upon us, but you’ll only shine in the coming darkness if your heart is right with God and if he is your only God and Savior.

God bless and heal America, but only if we as your people turn from our selfishness and rebellion.

Turn back to God so that our national cancer can be healed.

Breaking An Orphan Mindset – Rightly Interpreting Your Hardship – By Thomas Koester

Nothing can be more meaningful or powerful as the Father Heart of GOD.

The reason you feel like a victim is because you do not feel like a son or daughter. Having an “orphan mentality” makes you vulnerable and an easy target of doom and gloom.

Stop interpreting your hardship as a series of mishaps. If you begin to embrace all hardship as an established fact of your son-ship, suddenly you’ll gain strength you’ve never thought possible. Our God is no dead-beat dad; those whom he loves, he inflicts hardship, and his hardship for your life comes from a good place, his heart.

“My child, don’t reject the Lord’s discipline,
and don’t be upset when he corrects you.
For the Lord corrects those he loves,
just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding.”
Proverbs 3:11-13

GOD is fathering you into the best son, or daughter you can be, because that’s what a good father does.

Nothing can be more meaningful or powerful as the Father Heart of GOD.

Maybe you’re simply misunderstanding your difficulties. If you can accept difficulties as a test from God rather than bad luck, you’ll want to past the test instead of complaining about it.

Maybe you’re not an orphan after all, maybe God is fathering you because he’s in love with you, just like a real daddy.

So, snap out of it!

You’re not an orphan. You’re a son or daughter of The Most High God!

The All-Encompassing All-Consuming OtherWorldly Life – By Thomas Koester

Full-Time Pastors are no justification for part-time Christianity. Neither is Christianity simply a vocation of the elite and educated clergy.

It is a radically new culture and community; a new way of life and living, it is not a compartmentalized life, whereby God is public on Sundays, but private on Mondays through Saturdays; not an alternate-parallel lifestyle – that is, one foot in Church and one foot in the world. It is an all-consuming, all-encompassing otherworldly life.

True Christianity is so radical, so alien that your only way to survive in it is to suit up in complete faith. Natural laws and physics are without limits and barriers; economy and dominion are infinite and ever-expanding. Sickness and disease are opportunities and victories for growth. For the believer, death is but a brief nap and an instant passageway from a lesser glory to full glory.

However, someone suggested that to reach the world, we must act like the world and, well, that’s backfired!

Somewhere along the way, we’ve become the world, and therefore the world has nothing to see; there’s no contrast. The world is left without a testimony. Jesus himself said before he ascended into heaven:

“When I return, will I find faith on earth?”

Let’s stop our part-time Christianity and make it our full-time life. Let’s not leave our Christian duties and responsibilities to our pastors, but all do the work of ministry.

Doing nothing to very little with our faith stunts our growth as a godly people. Serving others and doing the work of ministry causes us to flourish and reach maturity in the faith.

The world needs grown-up Christians and not another worldly-religious order.

There’s no doubt that tribulation can be a useful tool for the Refiner’s fire; purifying our body, soul, and mind. But, if we reject the Holy Spirit’s conviction of God’s Word, expect all pleasantries to disappear.

Worldly comforts are not a sign of godly favor. No sir — They are an indicator that you may not be a true son or daughter of God. True sons and daughters are purified by the things they suffer. They know it is the hour of chastisement, bringing about true repentance; so rather than pout and complain, they act with dispatch to be renewed and rejoined. They don’t get bogged down with shame, they get lifted with praise!

They become consumed in the life of Christ. He is the reason they triumph through tribulation and suffering. Their suffering is purpose-driven, that is to become closer to Jesus and the all-encompassing, all-consuming, otherworldly life He offers.

Final thought…

Remember, your pastor will not be standing in for you on your behalf at The Judgement Seat of Christ. Nope, it’ll be just you, and what you have, and have not done to the least of one of these.

You’re not saved by your works, but your works validate your faith. Faith without works is dead and works without faith and love is nothing at all.

I challenge you to show off your faith to the unseen world so that the world in which we live will see your faith and believe. Make your Heavenly Father proud, and give him many reasons to say: “Well done, my faithful son or daughter.”

When your faith lights up, it shows off the incomparable brightness and weightiness of God. Because God is all-encompassing and all-consuming, there is no room for worldly compromise.

The Great Financial Collapse – My April 16, 2022 Dream – By Thomas Koester

I had this nightmarish dream about eleven months ago, and it now seems more relevant today than April of 2022.

I had a very vivid and story-like dream during the early morning hours of April 16, 2022.

I dreamt that I was driving with two of my youngest children. Suddenly, traffic slowed to a stop. Civil unrest and pandemonium everywhere, 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, assured 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 thought 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 to this; there is no argument. 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 one more time; Belief in the empty tomb will strengthen you during the time of empty banks.

Don’t give into panic; panic is not an attribute of a true and faithful believer.

Encourage one another while the lights are still on. Darkness is coming. Your day of shining is fast approaching. Shine brightly!