My Own Prison – By Thomas J. Koester

Maybe you’re not aware, but you’ve always held the keys to your own prison.

The song, My Own Prison, written and sung by Scott A. Stapp, from the band, Creed; album, My Own Prison, released 1997.

The song’s lyric starts out:

“A court is in session, a verdict is in
No appeal on the docket today
Just my own sin
The walls are cold and pale
The cage made of steel
Screams fill the room
Alone I drop and kneel

Silence now the sound
My breath the only motion around
Demons cluttering around
My face showing no emotion
Shackled by my sentence
Expecting no return
Here there is no penance
My skin begins to burn…

… I cry out to God
Seeking only his decision
Gabriel stands and confirms
I’ve created my own prison”
Scott A. Stapp

The song is actually about self-condemnation and being tormented from past sins. I think that many of us suffer from the same struggle, only we’re not brave and honest enough to put it into lyrics for the world to sing.

No, we’d rather hide our self-hatered, lock it up inside our minds, and in our own prison, all the while holding the keys to our own cell. This is the definition of an unforgiving soul, a soul that hasn’t accepted forgiveness from God.

You see, the lack of forgiving others stems from an unforgiving self. When we refuse to forgive ourselves, we lack the ability to forgive others. More pointedly, we reject forgiveness because of shame, shame so deeply held within our being that it becomes our identity. Living too long with shame like that will soon turn your inner prison cell into a stronghold. A stronghold that will even lock out God’s forgiveness.

Did you know that your unforgiveness to yourself and the laundry lists of unforgiven people become building blocks for an inner fortress, where self-hatred will fester and thrive? It’s true, and it will keep you locked up for a lifetime!

We become deceived into thinking that our unforgiveness is justified due to the seriousness of not only our own sins but also the sins against us. So we die within our own prison cells due to a hunger strike, starving ourselves from God’s rich mercy and grace.

When we refuse to forgive, we end up owning the offense, or more accurately, the offense owns us. The offender, well, they may have moved on, yet we are the ones that are needlessly imprisoned because of our own stubbornness and pride.

Maybe you’re not aware, but you’ve always held the keys to your own prison.

Your forgiveness is the only key to unlocking your prison door. It’s the only way in which you, yourself, can be forgiven. Maybe you haven’t realized that God’s forgiveness is conditiononal. Maybe you don’t care. Maybe no one ever told you.

“Your heavenly Father will forgive you if you forgive those who sin against you, but if you refuse to forgive them, he will not forgive you.” Matthew 6:15 – Jesus of Nazareth

Don’t forfeit God’s mercy and grace any longer. Don’t remain shackled to self-loathing, loathing of others, bitterness, and anger.

There was a reason why the Inaugural Speech of Jesus was a scripture passage he read from in the Book of Isaiah, chapter 61, verse 1:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives, and to open the prison doors, setting them free.”

Do you see, my dear friend?

Jesus came to forgive you. He came to bring you good news for your sad and broken heart, to set you free from captivity, and to release you from your own prison.

It starts with you accepting God’s forgiveness of all your sins; all washed away by the sacrifice of Jesus, nailed to the cross. The Cross is where all your sins should forever be and not in your own prison of guilt.

The reason for this season is that you might forgive yourself, accept God’s forgiveness, and then you’ll be able to forgive everyone who hurt you.

Here’s what I humbly suggest…

Log off Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Nextdoor, etc. Quiet the noise in your head – let your heart speak for once. Listen carefully to its pent-up cries for help. Cry out to Jesus, God’s Son, to forgive you. Even asking for his help to do so. Confess with your heart and mouth of your failures and sins. Believe in your heart that Jesus was crucified and raised to life for you to seek you, save you, heal, and restore you. Ask him to help you turn from all your sins.

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. – Romans 10:9-11

Don’t give shame and pride another moment of keeping you in your own prison. Amen

Winning The Argument – By Thomas J. Koester

“The heart has arguments with which the logic of mind is not acquainted.” – Blaise Pascal

The greatest argument you must defeat is your indecision, not to decide. Letting your mind win all the arguments against your heart is no way to live – that’s how a coward lives, and you are no coward. Are you?

A brave soul follows their heart. You know, the place where God’s Spirit dwells.

Okay, I get it. It’s so much safer listening only to your mind. Logic and reason may be safe and comfy, but you weren’t made simply for a comfortable life. And I’m sure all your “what if this” and “what if that” are normal …

… Really?

… Are you just normal, or are you just afraid?

After all, your mind can conjure up excuse after excuse — heck, your mind is an excuse factory. But you know you can’t build a life on excuses. You’re beating down your own heart with excuses! Stop bullying yourself and ignoring God’s call to action, obedience, and adventure.

Following after God requires more than your mind; he also wants your body and heart. It’s a joint exercise of body, soul, and heart. Living that way will prepare you for life now and in the hereafter.

But, living a life stalled on “what ifs” will keep you from a life of what could be. You’ll simply be a person without legend, story, or belonging, which would be a tremendous waste of a life.

The mind lives for knowledge, but the heart, well, it soars on faith.

“There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so that you’re no good for anything else. The last and final word is this: Fear God. Do what he tells you. For this is your whole duty.” — Ecclesiastes 12:12-13

So, don’t! Don’t waste your life. Rather, lose your life with Jesus; your heart will finally win the argument. Oh, and do what He says with all your heart and gusto.

I love the exchange between Rocky Balboa and his son, Robert Balboa Jr., in the film “Rocky Balboa,” released in 2006.

Robert complains to his dad that he’s fed up living under his shadow. Well, in Rocky’s own style, he rocks his son’s world with a fatherly motivational speech:

“Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done! Now, if you know what you’re worth, then go out and get what you’re worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you ain’t where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody! Cowards do that, and that ain’t you! You’re better than that! I’m always gonna love you no matter what. No matter what happens. You’re my son, and you’re my blood. You’re the best thing in my life. But until you start believing in yourself, ya ain’t gonna have a life.“ — Rocky Balboa.

Balboa’s advice is so universal! We all need a motivational “punch to the face” at least once or twice.

Back to reality…

… I’m writing this to you because you’ll need a brave heart and stout mind for what’s coming in the weeks and months ahead. No, it won’t be about you, so don’t worry. Nope, it will be about what you have to offer to others who’ll be confused and afraid. They’ll need your brave heart and clear mind. They’ll also need your motivational speech. So, be prepared.

Decide to be a brave person and lead with your heart and your mind filled with wisdom. Then, you’ll be the person who makes leaders and not followers. Leaders who’ll know how to win the argument and live from their heart.

Beautiful Scars – By Thomas Koester

Don’t Hide Your Scars, They Just May Save A Life!

If you’ve seen the football movie, “The Replacements,” then you may be familiar with Shane Falco’s (Keanu Reeves) iconic quote:

“Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory lasts forever.”

—Vince McKewin

Scars, are for some people, important symbols of heroism, bravery, and sacrificial achievements. But for many, scars are unfortunate circumstances of abuse, violence, rape, and simply being in the wrong place at a wrong moment.

The truth is, scars, whether bourn on or inside our bodies can, become a force for good. We all know and have experienced healing from pain, pain of broken bones, cuts, wounds, and emotional hurt. Thank God that he designed our bodies to heal itself. But not completely, right? Many wounds leave scar tissue. Even emotional wounds, wounds of the heart and mind can leave scarring.

Our scars all have stories behind them. For example, during the years of my youth, I played outside every summer break, doing dangerous stuff that kids do. Falling from trees, crashing bicycles, jumping ramps, doing all sorts of daredevil stuff, had scarred me up from head to toe! But I wouldn’t want to grow up any other way! Many of those childhood scars are still visible and still to this day tell many stories and fond, but painful memories.

Your scars, physical or emotional, also has stories. Some stories, I’m sure you don’t want to remember. But nonetheless, they happened, good or bad. But here’s something to give a little thought to; beneath your scars may be a hidden glory. How can that be? You may ask. Yes, I know you may not be a former all-pro football player; you don’t have to be a sports star or hero for your scars to add glory to your life.

Scars may be indicative of a well lived life or an indication of being human and vulnerable. A mother, for instance, bears the scars of childbirth, and each stretch mark represents the growth of new life within her, which she selflessly endured for her child. Her children, born to her, arrived during painful, agonizing labor, and, are a significant glory to her life. I don’t understand it as a man, but as soon as that baby is born, a mother’s face lights up with joy. Her joy miraculously replaces the pain and labor of birthing.

I’m thinking of a Bible verse, located somewhere, I think, in the book of Hebrews. Okay, I found it…

Hebrews 12:2 tells very clearly:

“… He who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

This verse says Jesus focused on “the joy” that was set before Him as He endured the agony of crucifixion. He knew of the glory that was to be set upon him for his sacrifice. And he was crucified publicly. Wow!

I’ve spent too much time and energy trying to hide my scars, especially my emotional scars – scars of inner pain deep within the womb of the heart; scars of hurt, betrayal, and abuse. I’ve learned that healing isn’t the removal of such scars but accepting them and humbly wearing them like chevrons or stripes on my shoulders, indicating my rank and experience with pain.

My scars, hidden or not, are my carte blanche, approved by God. When God permits, my scars allow me to act as someone else’s wounded healer. Don’t be ashamed of your scars. Scaring means that you’ve survived, and maybe your survival and scars have a divine purpose for others. In other words, perhaps God masterfully ordained your hurt and pain so that your body, mind, and heart may produce abundant life and healing beyond yourself.

One day, as we pass from this life, we will see the scars planted on Jesus because of our sins. We will know then the significance of his scars as never before. We will have perfect clarity that our ultimate healing has come from those scars, and all our present pain and tears will be wiped away forever.

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes, we are healed.” – Isaiah 53:5

Have you heard the song, Scars?

Lyrics By: I Am They
from the album: Trial & Triumph

“We came up to a new sunrise
Looking back from the other side
I can see now with open eyes
Darkest water and deepest pain
I wouldn’t trade it for anything
Because my brokenness brought me to You

And these wounds are stories You’ll use

So I’m thankful for the scars Because without them, I wouldn’t know Your heart, And I know they always tell of who You are

So forever, I am thankful for the scars

Now I’m standing in confidence
With the strength of Your faithfulness

And I’m not who I was before
Now I don’t have to fear anymore

So I’m thankful for the scars
Cause without them, I wouldn’t know Your heart, And I know they always tell of who You are

So forever, I am thankful for the scars

I can see, I can see
How You delivered me
In Your hands, in Your feet
I found my victory
I can see, I can see
How You delivered me
In Your hands, in Your feet
I found my victory

I’m thankful for Your scars Cause without them, I wouldn’t know Your heart, And with my life, I’ll tell of who You are

So forever, I am thankful

I’m thankful for the scars Cause without them; I wouldn’t know Your heart, And I know they’ll always tell of who You are

So forever, I am thankful for the scars

So forever, I am thankful for the scars.”

Are you scarred body, mind, and heart? If so, you are in good company.

Learn to be thankful for each scar, and suddenly, without notice, what was meant for your harm, will instead produce a harvest of life and healing for others.

Your scars are beautiful!

Superman – A Message For Pastors & For Those Who Love Them – By Thomas Koester

Are you exhausted? Running on empty? Has your physical and spiritual odometer cycled over too many times?

If so, you may be a Superman Pastor.

Your identity and significance must be in your sonship and not in your pastorship. Being a son and a brother in Christ is far more relatable. Being relatable keeps you grounded, humble, and approachable. “Leaping tall buildings in a single bound, being more powerful than a locomotive, and speeding faster than a bullet,” is for Superman, not pastors.

“Look! Up in the Sky! It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane… It’s… …No, it’s just Pastor Dave.

Just be who you are, a beloved son, father, brother, and husband. If you’re going to be a faithful shepherd of God’s children, you need to be faithful to your wife and children first. You need to be faithful to your sonship as God’s beloved son and protect that relationship. Let God do all that superhero stuff.

Never use your intimacy with God as a vicarious impetus for others to synthesize. In doing this, you and your congregation will both become lost and distant from God. People will hunger for your intimacy at the sacrifice of their connection with God.

Instead, teach them how to be intimate with the Father-heart of God until their Father-hunger for God surpasses their father-hunger for you.

Won’t this lighten your load?

Won’t this save your marriage?

Won’t this free you up to be your children’s daddy?

If not, maybe your cape is showing.

As some of you have retired or have left the pastorship, you may find yourselves lost because you’ve been trapped in a service and performance role with God and others. This was never God’s doing, but the writ of men and the corporate structure of many churches.

Did you know that the word “religion” actually means to “re-bond” with God? The Latin word comprises two parts, “re” telling again and “ligare,” pointing to bind or to bond.

We Protestants are constantly harping against other religions that faith in God is not a religion but a relationship. But, in tossing out the word religion, we’ve tossed out the significance of the word. Rather than genuinely encouraging and leading people into intimacy and sonship with God, they’ve learned by our actions as pastors and enter into performance roles, as presented by the World’s false religions.

So many pastors have lost their intimate bond with God because of the performance and service trap. So, they end up helplessly modeling burnout, depression, and, believe it or not, loneliness.

Many pastors feel they must keep up the “superhero” role at all costs; that is, they must appear spiritually superior and altogether when in the public view. And, if he’s incredibly talented, he will maintain this unrealistic role even in front of his family. Being a “Clark Kent,” or just a normal guy is too risky for the sake of his job.

What happens to a man when he calls his darkness light?

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your vision is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness—how deep is that darkness! – Matthew 6:22-23

When a pastor calls his darkness light, he cuts himself off from God and others, and the duplicity becomes more and more costly. He loses his support from is family because the hypocrisy becomes unbearable.

If a pastor, and for that matter, any of us, satisfies our father-hunger with God and not with the ministry or titles, we will grow as true sons and daughters of God. It will therefore be the fruit of our lives, which will benefit others, and encourage them to bear their fruit by connecting to the True Vine, Jesus Christ.

The average pastor cannot maintain a pastor’s schedule, manage all the demands of human needs and interaction, attended meetings, weddings, funerals, and remain human. He’ll either suck it up, put on his cape and pretend to soar, or he’ll take on the humility of Christ.

A good and wise pastor will understand that his heart and identity is far more important than is superhero reputation and notoriety. His true strength is in allowing his humanness to be seen from time to time and not his cape.

In other words, take on the humility of Christ and the burden of Christ. Did you know that bearing your cross is a very public affair? Jesus bore the weight of his cross in public, and, at the moment where he had lost his strength, a simple man aided him and carried his cross for a distance.

Pastoring is not maintaining an Olympic-style dash from crisis to crisis, and it’s not meant to be a solo act. It’s teamwork; it should involve the aid of well qualified and faithful elders and deacons. After all, the ministry of the Church is meant for the Church and not because of the Church. By each of us, you and me, joining in the ministry, we will grow in our faith and collectively reach maturity in Christ as a healthy body.

A superhero pastor has no time for teamwork, it’s just easier and less complicated to do it all himself.

Since scripture has defined the Church as a body, the concept of real and healthy ministry is when the entire body functions together, when each member does its intended and gifted part.

When we act properly like a body, we can create a safe and healthy community where pastors can thrive within healthy boundaries. Maybe then pastors can cease leaping tall buildings in a single bound.

There is so much more to talk about on this subject. But, until then, pray for your pastors. Become more involved. Give them grace. Take better care of one another. Visit one another. Pray for one another. Support your pastor, and not just with financial gifts, but with your time too.

After all, aren’t we all children of God?

Only in DC Comics will you find a Superman.

God’s Children Are Not For Sale – By Thomas Koester

Toni and I saw the movie “Sound of Freedom” a few weeks ago. If this movie doesn’t move a person to action, I really don’t know what will. Child abduction, abandonment, child sex trafficking, and enslavement are horrible stains on America. I can’t think of anything worse!

The title of my article is a direct quote from the Sound of Freedom. “God’s children are not for sale” is a powerful statement that must be heralded worldwide! Yet, there are other statements just as vital that must also be broadcasted; God’s children are not to be aborted! They are not to be abused! They are not to be abandoned! They are not to be molested!

Several years ago, I was invited to speak at a retreat for underprivileged boys. I enjoyed speaking and sharing my message and testimony to the camp. Anthony Vasquez and Jordan Koester also shared their testimonies. I talked about the Father-heart of God and how to become a redeemed and true son. Our Father-God is no dead-beat-dad. He is faithful and true always. These boys needed a positive message about God’s heart for them.

Lots of prayers went out for these boys and the counselors throughout the rest of that week. Many of them do not have dads. I just wanted to bring them home with me and love them as sons, but I told them that God can love them, heal their pain, and father them in the way they should go.

I asked them all a question:

Which would you rather have, a broken leg or a broken heart?

They all replied loudly:

“I’ll take a broken leg!”

This is because most of these boys, unfortunately, already know the pain of a broken heart and how difficult it is for a broken heart to be healed. Our job that weekend was to reveal to these precious lost boys the Healer and Redeemer of the Brokenhearted, which is none other than Jesus Christ.

I shared with them Isaiah chapter 61 and explained how Jesus Christ proclaimed good news to the poor, that he is the Healer of the brokenhearted, and that He came to set the captives and the prisoners free! And that through Jesus, we can become saved, healed, and restored. How good is God’s Word, and How awesome is our God?

God is good, trustworthy, and true! He never fails and is no dead-beat-dad!

He is a True and Faithful Father to lost Sons and Daughters everywhere!

Jesus did amazing work that weekend. He wants you to join him in doing the same work wherever he sends you. Wherever you work, shop, or play. Lost and broken boys may not be born to you, but they can be mentored or even fathered by you.

It doesn’t take a college degree to be a big brother, mentor, or father-type to a fatherless boy. There are also men in their twenties, thirties, and even in their forties that are in desperate need to be fathered and mentored. These boys and men need good father types to help them triumph over the evil that cursed their lives.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke

Evil can only triumph in lost boys if you and I do nothing. Boys become lost because their dads did nothing, or worse, ran out on them. Let’s stop evil’s triumph as much as we can. One lost boy at a time!

“God’s children are not for sale!”

The Miraculous Power of Pain & Suffering – By Thomas Koester

When I get strong, I get lost. When I get busy, I get independent. When I get successful, I get lonely.

I was down and out from October 11th, 2013, through mid-January 2014. Life had been hard and painful, but God has never been closer than he’s been with me through those difficult months. I’ll tell you, my dear friends, I’d rather be laid up and laid out with God by my side than lonely but successful in the world any day.

I had gotten to the point in my suffering that I began to thank God for my injuries and sicknesses. I began to see the blessings and the beautiful breaking to my stubborn heart and the fresh and living water flooding into my dry soul. My pain in a miraculous way allowed God’s voice to become magnified, and the whispers of “I love you son” filled my troubled mind in those long and dark, painful nights.

I truly want God, but he’s not necessarily in my busyness, nor is he in my business. He’s not in my self-imposed deadlines, or in the deadlines of others, which weary my body and mind, and cause me to strain and to force my goals above Gods’. He’s not in the coulda, woulda, or shoulda’s, nor is he in my goals of independence and worldly success. God is definitely not in my confused tantrums, my sulking, or complaining.

God is in the midst of suffering; he’s nearby the crushed and the weary, the sick and the lonely. Our God is with the widowed; he’s with the fatherless and alien. He hears the cries and prayers of the broken, the injured, and the weak.

“He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.” Isaiah 42:3 (NLT)

When I get strong, I get lost. When I get busy, I get independent. When I get successful, I get lonely.

I want God, and therefore, I welcome the pain and suffering so that I might gain all that he has for me through it. This is the process that can get us found in God, which can make us strong in the right things and focus on eternal values, which can bring contentment during our seasons of affliction.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not looking for pain and suffering, only that when it comes, the goodness and presence of God is magnified through it, and therefore, I can revel in it and celebrate because of it. Through it, I have learned that our greatest changes can result from what we suffer. Pain and suffering are powerful for our good!

So, while my body was aching and writhing in pain and anguish, my soul was soaring with God. I worshiped God and thanked him through so much of my illnesses and injuries. The pain still lingers, and the scar, which I now bear on my left leg and knee, will always remind me of God’s faithfulness to me all the way through it.

And so, I thank God for all of it.

One day, I was complaining to my wife, Toni, about a difficult client. I was through and ready to cut the relationship and take a significant loss just to get out of the misery.

Then, Toni pulled the “Book of Job” on me:

“Has not God provided through this person?” she said, and then continued: “Do you really to
throw people away because they sometimes cause difficulty?”

Wow! I was called out and convicted. Thank you, Toni!

I had set aside, not only heaven’s provision for me, but I had set aside God’s provision of grace and mercy towards the one whom God set up to bring such needed financial provision.

“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not also receive evil?” In all this, Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:10

I am not deformed, but I am being transformed. The more we complain and lay blame, the slower our remaking through our braking goes. In my recent story with my client, God used my wife to get me back on track and with God’s program.

Our complaining always works against God’s transforming work, and so we fail to see how God masters evil for our good. Our complaining and blaming causes us to only see the badness of evil, rather the goodness of God in spite of it and His creative use with it.

“I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I The Lord do all these things.” – Isaiah 45:7

Ha, I’ve not heard that verse preached in Church!

So, if God masters light, darkness, peace, and evil, how can we be destroyed in the day of pain, sickness, and disease? How can we lose if what we fear can not keep us from winning? How then shall we live, if even evil and the day of disaster, is under the control of such a loving and caring Heavenly Father?

I’ll tell ya how we should then live – in Total Victory and with an Overcomer’s Spirit!

Hey, there’s power in what we suffer, no matter how miserable or deadly! But you gotta put away the complaining and start the thanksgiving and praising.

I was just a young teenager of 14 years old when I got a hold of a book titled “By What Standard” by the late Dr. Rousas John Rushdoony, the father of Mark Rushdoony.

Like the late Dr. Rushdoony, the life and story of Job, set the standard of who God is and His power over evil. Page 185 through page 205 of By What Standard is what impacted me most in my life as a teenager. The Book of Job established my foundation for all my understanding of the ways of God and the ability of God. The Book of Job became my standard of biblical understanding and godly comfort.

Like Job, it is blind faith and trust in the Almighty, whereby God shall succeed in spite of our lack of understanding and even confusion. Our suffering is not the end of the means, but the means to an end, forewhich Satan’s must comply with God’s will over our lives and our wellbeing.

So, the key is to invest all of your faith and trust into God’s will, and pain and suffering will become allies to your transformation and glorification.

“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.” – Hebrews 2:10

Was it not God who invited Satan to consider His servant Job?

Did not God establish the boundaries after he invited Satan to afflict Job?

The Book of Job, chapters one, and two.

God masterfully controlled darkness, sickness, and disease over His servant Job, but He also displayed His power over the Prince of Darkness.

The Book of Job reveals how Satan must obey the very boundaries that God sets up, leaving Satan and all evil under the power of the God of the Universe and Creator of all things. And yes, including all angelic beings, and even those who’ve failed at the Heavenly coup d’état of God’s throne and power, and dare I say, they failed miserably!

‘God spoke to Cain:”Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you; you’ve got to master it.” – Genesis 4:6-7

We can master sin because God has mastered evil, and his Son, Jesus Christ, has vanquished our sin. He destroyed death and conquered the grave! But tantrums and sulking leave you vulnerable, and instead of victory, you’ll end in defeat.

So, we can thrive in pain and suffering, in loss and betrayal, and evil shall not destroy us. Evil becomes a weapon in the hand of God, disarming our enemy and thwarting evil’s plan for our destruction.

Do you want to disarm the Evil One? Then, praise God in the midst of all that hell has unleashed and bask in the suffering with thanksgiving. Trust fully in the God who knows what He is doing and the limits for which evil must obey.

Can we lose?

“No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37

Put your faith and trust in God and become transformed and not deformed by all that you suffer.

Your pain may be your breakthrough into victory and validation that you are a true son or daughter of God and not a fatherless victim.

As a victor, you, too, will see The Miraculous Power of Pain and Suffering.

My Failed Masquerade – By Thomas Koester

God Wants Us As We Are And Not What We Pretend To Be.

It’s been a long season of letting go and stripping down. It’s been a time of pruning and preening, until all the old feathers are removed and the old eagle remains perched, cold, vulnerable, and flightless. It’s a time of humility and powerlessness. It’s a time whereby I’ve become blind, deaf, and mute. I long for even the faintest whisper from the Almighty; a glimpse of his existence, and acknowledgement of my prayers.

It’s a time where others are making my decisions, not because I am a king (my time of reigning has deminised) but, because God’s interest are sonship and not kingship at this time in my life. God must have his way, or I will become too strong, too hardened, and too important. While my flesh yearns for such strength, independence, and self-importance; yet, His Spirit calls me heavenward.

So, I am sent back into the womb; into seclusion; into the hands of God to be reformed, kneaded, and made pliable, until my obedience becomes instinct, and my quality becomes refined. The purest gold is crystal clear and what we call beautiful, God calls dross.

In our human fragility and stubbornness, we cease the process of humility way too early. If it’s our own deconstructing and demolition, we blame it on the devil. If it is a friend or neighbor facing such travails, we jump in to save and to fix, and so short-circuit God’s best work in them. As singer/songwriter, Jill Phillips has so artfully penned into song,

“…God is both the builder and wrecking ball.”

And this truth gives good reason I cling to hope; amazingly, through it all, our God is in control. My deconstructing can be a good thing, if it is God swinging the wrecking ball.

Religious-populace thought, has dwarfed my perception and need for God. The extractible biblical principles and acquirable blessings “by cause and effect,” granted me the promised land of goodies without intimate relationship with Yahweh. I have become an idolater and have joined the ranks of “Christians,” who have reformed and refashioned their gold and silver into objects of worship. We call it “Yahweh,” and have found a way to satisfy our itch for deity worship and maintain our addiction to sin.

We’ve even learned to worship our worship! And crave “the anointing” more than the Anointer.

We’ve convinced ourselves and others that God as “Love,” trumps God as Justice, Holiness, and Righteousness. Oh, but how many of us do cry out for true justice, righteousness, and holiness?

Mainstream Christianity has reinvented God. He’s become a benevolent and tolerant God, full of winks, giggles, and thumbs-up at our sins.

So, I’ve been quiet and introspective. I’ve taken a look under the hood and it’s time for rebuilding and rethinking. Twenty-first Century Christianity is finally equivalent to First Century Phariseeism, only without the dark and flowing robes and phylacteries.

We’ve convinced ourselves that observances and the mastering of principals and rote make us acceptable to God. We are all white on the outside, but dead and dirty on the inside. We shut our ears and mouths to our own inner immorality and conflict; we direct the attention of others to our outward achievements and ministry appointments. We protect our own duplicity at the cost of our own identity.

We prefer to live in the shadows; not too much in the light or too much in the darkness. In the end, it is God we must convince, and He sees through our masks and into our hearts. There are no shadows with the Almighty!

We’ve become the generation who’d see to the arrest of Jesus; treat him as an imposter, a fake and a phony; his presence an annoyance, and his outspokenness a disturber of our traditions. We’d cast him out of our carpeted and high-tech sanctuaries and chase him and his homeless faction back to 73rd and West MacArthur.

We simply would not recognize Jesus of Nazareth, nor agree with his lifestyle and “unsuccessful demeanor” and lack of corporate-ness.

I’m on a quest to find the simplicity of what Jesus taught. To archeologically excavate and rediscover what decades of religious debris has covered over, like the sands of time.

So, that’s what has been going on in the inside. The outside is a different story. It must be mastered, or it will become my master. And this is my battleground. It’s an ancient battle fought by many, and won by so precious few. My prayer is to join the few, by relying on God’s grace and power, through Jesus Christ.

Our Sunday morning masquerading must come to an end. The pretense and fakery must be replaced with humility and honesty, or else we’ll become master Pharisees. We must capture our first love again and shed our sophisticated and false adult-selves and become God’s children again.

God wants us as we are and not what we pretend to be. Jesus didn’t come for fakers or liars, but for the broken and humble.

Pretenders pretend that their sins and shame are covered behind their false personas. Their so-called salvation is their masquerade, which, by the way, only assures them a full dance card outside with sweaty dogs and demons.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.” – Revelation 22:14-16

I pray, that we as a redeemed people, can leave all the religious fakery behind and get back true redemption and rejoin God in redeeming this world. Because, if you haven’t noticed, this world is headed full speed towards hell.

Blessed are those that remove their masks and cease their love affair with living a lie.

My prayer is that God will also help you fail at your masquerade. Amen

If We Only Had A Brain – By Thomas J. Koester

If you were an alien arriving to earth from a far faraway galaxy, what would you report back to planet Vagus, located deep within the Andromeda Galaxy?

Would you report that intelligent life exists? Would you find anything of value to justify your 2.5 million light year journey?

The truth is that after careful study of earthlings, you might conclude that earth’s prime species is in a quick and steady course of de-evolution. The prime species had long ago reached its pinnacle and is quickly reverting into primitivism and tribalism. You may even report back that the earthling’s three-pound central organ had lost its use like their appendix. No faculty of learning. No intelligence, and absolutely no commonsense!

I think your data would prove there’s no reason to be introduced to earth’s brain dead leaders, especially if you were planning on invading North America!

I love the story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by Frank L. Baum in 1900. I love the characters he developed; the homeless Dorothy, the heartless Tin Man, the cowardly Lion, and the brainless Scarecrow. It almost seems as though Mr. Baum was writing prophetically, a fitting allegory of 21 Century North America!

But today, due to our current sexual and culture war, I’m going to focus on the Scarecrow and his quest for a brain.

If the average American could have the same drive and quest that Mr. Scarecrow had, maybe we wouldn’t be a nation in decline and a de-evolved species. “If I only had a brain,” would become America’s quest and desire, maybe then, she could survive the 21 century.

Brain inactivity is rampant. Not only society in general, but in our institutions, such as grammar schools, universities, colleges, governments, corporations, and yes, even in many religious organizations. The evidence is indisputable and is absolutely inexcusable!

Who’s to blame?

All of us! Left, Right, Atheist, Saint, Pastor, Priest, Parishioner, and Patriot, we all are culpable and guilty for America’s decline. You and I are responsible for the current cultural absurdities. Our passivity is killing America, just as it has destroyed many kingdoms, nations, and civilizations.

“Bullies may be the perpetrators of evil, but it is the evil of passivity of all those who know what is happening and never intervene that perpetuates such abuse.” -Philip Zimbardo

“Passivity is fatal to us. Our goal is to make the enemy passive.” – Mao Zedong

So, there it is in plain view! We’re all guilty of passivity. And, yes, we were lulled into passivity by an evil enchantment cast upon us by an unseen enemy.

Don’t you recognize what’s been going on? Have you so easily forgotten our original story? Don’t you remember Evil’s entrance into paradise? Its enticement to cause earth’s first parents to doubt God?

“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” – Genesis 3:1, 4-5

Where was Adam when the serpent was deceiving Eve?

He was standing right there, next to her!

“The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. Genesis 3:6 [Emphasis mine]

You see, Adam was actually the first of the brainless scarecrows. His brainless passivity ruined it for all mankind. (Whoops, I meant “people-kind” how insensitive of me!) Adam concluded that God had been holding out on him. It is that thought that gave rise to Adam feeling offended by his Creator.

Mao Zedong’s quote above, about passivity, is as deadly today as it played out during his dark evil reign over the Chinese people. “His rule was from the 1^st of October 1949 – 27 September 1954. Mao’s government was responsible for vast numbers of deaths, with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims due to starvation, persecution, prison labour, and mass executions, which drew criticism for being considered totalitarian rule.” Source, Wikipedia.

All offenses find their origin in the unfortunate story of doubting God’s goodness and His generosity. And so, Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, becomes offended by Abel, and so kills his brother. This stupidity of offense has spread throughout our planet more rapidly and deadlier than a virus.

Is it possible that our fate will be that of China’s?

No one can accuse the Chinese people of being ignorant or unintelligent. To the contrary. However, they were conquered by the Marxist and Communist. Their enemies were passivity and brainless tolerance. Their captors brilliantly used these psychological tools to lull the Chinese nation into slavery and death.

It is happening here, now, in America!

We have become a nation of cultural pacifists and controlled, whether you admit or not, by a brainless tolerance, allowing the moral and political destruction of the greatest nation in modern history!

So, the moral of the story – Go get your brains back! Before it becomes too late!

Or…

…Buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, cause [America] is going, bye-bye!”

Don’t be a Mr. or Mrs. Scarecrow!

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 lost the battle of wills, I realized that I was saying no to the abundant life that God offered 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.
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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. –Philippians 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 outweigh 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.

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.