The difference between celebrity worship and hero worship should not be confused. Yet we confuse them every day, and by doing so, we’ve come dangerously close to depriving ourselves of all real models.
“We lose sight of the men and women who do not simply seem great because they are famous but are famous because they are great. We come closer and closer to degrading all fame into notoriety.” Daniel J. Boorstin – 1914 – February 28, 2004, American Historian
We have done the same thing in the Church. We make celebrities out of ministers, authors, and musicians, and then we call them “Saints.” True Saints are birthed out of trial and suffering and not out of fame and glory.
There is no “American Idol” for Sainthood.
Saints are known only in heaven. In earth, they are despised, rejected, and ignored. Saints will never be seen at the front of the line. To them, being last is first; being invisible is visibility; being hidden is being discovered.
Outward talent and “anointing” do not confirm Saints. The Anti-Christ and his crowd disprove this theory every day.
The hidden-indwelling Spirit of God; the silent character of Christ, beneath the skin of a Jesus-disciple, is the surest mark of a true Saint.
They are not mostly heard, not mostly seen, but are camouflaged in quietness and a godly poverty. You would more than likely see them ragged and without, even confusing them as homeless and wretched. They would be despised and turned away from most houses of worship.
They may indeed have wonderful talent, but for them, the stage of such worshipful expression is a darkened closet, the solitude of a lonely trail or an alley of a forgotton city.
True Saints are sojourners, not citizens of earth, but passer-byers. There’s no time to sit and enjoy furniture, a sofa, or even a soft bed. No roof or four walls to call their own.
Their investments are not of this world. Their deposits are unseen and unknown to institutions of earth. Their only debt is love. They’re always tirelessly paying it forward from unseen resources.
True Saints are in a ceaseless love affair with Jesus. It never grows cold or just warm. Their passion for Christ grows hotter and hotter until the religious snuff them out.
True Saints are unwanted in most “churches.” Their presence is a judgment, and indictment against worldliness – There are only two ways in which a Saint will leave such a church; by divine decree or crucifixion.
True Saints don’t form clubs, ministries, or groups. Their fellowship halls are clouds of witnesses, those who’ve gone before, who cheer them on from a distant world. Two or three saints together are a crowd. Each one walks with a thousand angels – not because of who they are, but because of their nearness to Christ.
The more I write, the more I realize how rare true saints are and how far off I am. They are more likely to be born in the third world rather than in free and industrialized nations.
Lord, how we need you to birth true Saints.
As our society crumbles and our nation wains, a time is coming when Saints will reign. As darkness falls and liberty’s light grows dim, Saints will be counted, but no less than ten. For if more than ten true Saints existed in this great nation, this nation would have been greater!
Father in heaven, bring down your judgment against your worldly church. Purge her, refine her, and beautify her for Christ. Don’t listen to our petty-prayers of revival – bring rather true fire from heaven and cleanse us by the zeal of Christ and make us once again into a house of prayer and sainthood.
Forgive us for degrading Christ and his true disciples – Make us into Saints, like Saints of Old, tested by fire and prison, molded by persecution and derision.
Purge your people of worldliness and religiosity. We repent of our churchy and celebrity ways. We renounce worldly wealth, fame, fortune, and house – to pursue a better kingdom in heaven than on earth.
In Jesus’ Name and Authority, as it is in heaven, may it also be here on earth. Whatever it takes, Oh Lord, make it so. Your ends justify our suffering – Let it begin!
Rise up O’ House of God – Wake up O’ sleeper. Let your righteousness shine forth, and your saints arise from ash and cinder.
If ever there were a time to get your house in order, it’s now!
Every generation before us has been born into its own mediocrity and narcissism. But never has there been a generation as indifferent and self-absorbed as the present.
These carcinogenic attitudes have eaten away the underpinnings of the Republic. The Left has split our nation in two, and this was no accident.
We must be the generation that breaks this cycle. We can no longer be bored with complacency or be distracted by consumerism and wokeism. 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 pull our children from all governmental institutions of indoctrination, known as public schools and universities.
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. Waiting 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, a few recommendations:
Belief In the empty tomb will surely strengthen you during the time of empty banks.
Absorb the Holy Scriptures so that you may become a beacon of light.
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.
Even in writing this, I am plagued with the thoughts of acclaim and “likes,” but I must admit that I am not worthy of the calling of God, nor am I capable of carrying it out. It is only with God’s grace and mercy on my life that this is written, along with learning from the mistakes I’ve made while being tested.
The following words fall heavily upon my soul and motives, and I hold myself to the same scrutiny and examination.
Being addicted to the approval of others is a nasty and deadly trap. Using people and ministry to satisfy my approval addiction is like a cocaine addict using heroin to kick his drug habit. The lack of significance can only be resolved by becoming insignificant to applause and accolades until your soul is so quiet that you hear only God’s approval. It is only necessary to have the confidence and support of your Heavenly Father. The applause of heaven is far greater than the applause from men. Heaven’s applause will echo for eternity.
Did you know?
1,500 pastors leave their ministries each month due to burnout, conflict, or moral failure.
Doctors, lawyers, and clergy have the most problems with drug abuse, alcoholism, and suicide.
70% of pastors don’t have any close friends.
75% of pastors report severe stress, causing anguish, worry, bewilderment, anger, depression, fear, and alienation. The list goes on and on.
This stems from the stress of being a resource and reservoir rather than a funnel. It is far healthier teaching people to hear directly from God and how to read and study the Bible rather than being the “Bible Answer Man.”
The movie, “Bruce Almighty,” comes to mind, staring Jim Carrey, Morgan Freeman, and Steve Carrel. Chaos ensues when God allows Bruce to take over for a while. Bruce, in his excitement with unfettered power of God, checks the “yes” box to everyone’s prayer requests throughout the entire world, causing global chaos! Bruce learns he’s not equipped to be God, and in the end, he surrenders the power back to the Almighty.
“All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:37. (NIV)
Perhaps all your yeses and nos came from the wrong place. And your ministry has become a coffin rather than a platform.
And this is exactly what’s killing our pastors at the rate of 50 per day. We’ve expected our pastors to be god and to answer all our questions with “yeses.”
We are like the wilderness children of Israel, who were too afraid of God and stayed, trembling in their tents, crying to Moses, “Speak to us yourself, and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us, or we will die.” Exodus 20:18-21.
Their “no” to God was a “yes” to Moses, and it nearly killed him. His frustration built up over time until he exploded with anger, disobeying God and striking the rock. Moses became disqualified from entering the promised land.
Not much has changed. And like the children of Israel, we’ve failed the test as a people and have burdened our pastors like they’ve burdened Moses. It is a two-way street, to be sure, but pastors need grace too!
However, clerical abuse is like domestic violence. The wife can not leave her abuser; his abuse validates her wounded psyche, body, mind, and soul. Our pastors need to relinquish power back to God. They need to allow The Almighty to be God to their congregations.
Pastors need to let their people feel the weight of God as He is, so they can genuinely encounter the Lordship Jesus Christ. God’s grace must become the motivator for both the pastor and the congregation. We need to bring our pastors back down from the mountain and directly seek the presence and heart of God as obedient sons and daughters.
And so, both the pastor and the congregation need to do their part. We must let our pastors off the hook and allow them to be human. And pastors need to cease their co-dependency and enablement of weak believers by usurping God’s role in their lives.
When the only acclaim sought after by the pastor and congregant is, “well done, my good and faithful servant…,” with no other obligations or legalities, the congregation can reach maturity. The workload becomes lighter and not heavier. If we are motivated by the applause of men, we have our reward, and it goes no further than the dust of the earth. The gravitational pull of pride keeps it from heaven and creates an imbalance in the life of the pastor, and so affects the entire body.
Your mission is not to be the “man,” the pastor, or preacher, but to be the son, in strict obedience to the Heavenly Father, and to carry out His work in His way, in Spirit and Truth. Your authenticity as a servant of God is your sonship to Him. The strength of your ministry flows from the depth of your belovedness in the Father-heart of God.
The burdens you receive from the heart of God, in Christ Jesus, are always light. The limitations and expectations from the people are always heavy. You are God’s servant and not the people. The people belong to God, and God belongs to the people. Ask God for balance and be brave enough to establish reasonable boundaries. Redistribute the ministry to the people so that the Holy Spirit can distribute and apportion gifts accordingly.
The Church is under a kingdom economy and not a democratic order. If you want the Prince of Peace, relinquish the governance to His shoulders. Isaiah 9:6.
Don’t settle on becoming a traditional church pastor, aspiring to build a Mega-Church, but rather, aspire to be faithful with the little God has given you. Therefore, allow His favor to exponentially grow the Kingdom of God and His Royal Economy in and through you. The Good News is the Kingdom of God, and it must be good news to you, too! Then, when Godly order has entered your own life, the reign of peace will begin, and the lost and lonely will hear and see its message.
The Church needs to cease its favoritism of the attractive and wealthy and its addiction to celebrities. They may give you resources and bodies to build a cathedral, but the Spirit of Christ will not inhabit it. We have had many King Sauls as pastors and desperately need King Davids.
It’s all about the fulfillment of Isaiah 6 and those humble yet daring souls who’ll serve the least and the last.
I was in a meeting several years ago in Antioch, California. There was a long line of men and boys waiting for a sumptuous buffet. Naturally, it was always the teenagers that fought to be at the head of the line. We offered our thanks for the food, and then I announced:
“Okay, the beginning of the line is at the end.”
You should have seen their faces! I will never forget it. The following week, the line formed again, and all the boys were clamoring to be last! So that night, the first became the least, and the last became the proud. The guys at the end of the line revealed their foolishness, and the guys at the head of the line showed their humility as they gained understanding.
Are you a good, bad, or phony pastor?
And this is how God works. He’s constantly changing things up, even though He remains the same. We want greatness or the privilege of being first, but genuine humility will always prefer anonymity and silently promote others rather than themselves. A humble man is always searching for the will of God and is brave enough to obey it, even though it comes with risk to his reputation.
“… but emptied himself by taking on the form of an enslaved person, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:7-8
Pastors, we are called to the way of the cross and not just lectures behind the lecterns.
Church, we are called to the way of the cross and not just benchwarmers or spectators.
If you settle for doing things you do not need God to come through, you are burying the talent that He’s entrusted to you. Raw talent and seminarian training are not an indication of true anointing. True spiritual talent and anointing are birthed in a humble heart and a contrite spirit. His effort is not to be seen or even heard, except for the character and nature of Christ being exalted through his humility.
There is more power in the death of reputation because it leaves room for God’s power. It allows the Church to become transformed into the radiant bride, and the world will see her beauty through her actions. But egotism stops the process of authentic spiritual transformation. When the body of Christ engages the Great Commission, doing all the work of the ministry, true maturity reaches every soul that participates.
True pastoral talent and anointing are to serve and equip the children of God to do the work of ministry, which you tirelessly and at a high cost, hoard for yourself and your glory.
You may think you are carrying the weight of the Church, but it is the weight of your ego, which is weighing the Church down and keeping her from her beauty and spiritual growth.
A lingering question remains: will all your work stand the fiery test? Will it burn up like wood, hay, or stubble?
“Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually, there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you’ll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won’t get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn’t, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won’t be torn out; you’ll survive—but just barely.” I Corinthians 3:12-15 (MSG)
As goes the pastor, so goes the congregation!
The answer to this question is between you and God. Just understand that your church is a vehicle, and where you are headed in your private life is where the church will end up.
It is better to be ashamed before men than to be ashamed before God.
Be the good, not the bad, and certainly not the phony.
Of all the things that may be fake, fake faith is the most dangerous.
Fakery is all around us these days. Fake news. Fake politicians. Fake protests. Fake accusations, and so on. But what about fake faith?
“God grant, if we must have two eyes, that they may be both clear ones – one the eye of faith wholly fixed on Christ, the other the eye of obedience equally and wholly fixed on the same objective.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon
Faith that does not lead to transformation and greater trust in The One True God is not faith at all, but a naked belief in a deity or higher being with no real power.
People who believe in such lesser deities are no better off than demons and devils. While demons and devils believe in God, they shudder in fear, as they have no gift of faith to change their destination, yet are fully aware of their impending doom.
Belief is not enough to save you, no matter how many church services or masses you attend and how many bibles you read or podcasts you listen to.
The love of God is not enough to save you! The God of Creation is no Love Guru. He’s not a razzle-dazzler. He’s not an alluring and hypnotic hipster. God is not a love cult leader. NO! The expression and identity of God’s love is Jesus Christ, and Jesus is our only Savior. Only salvation in God’s Son will assuage the just wrath of God against our sins and crooked souls.
Salvation is still through belief and obedience to God’s Son. Salvation is for those who put their faith in all the works of Jesus Christ.
If your belief doesn’t awaken your faith, you’re still dead in your sins. If your little faith doesn’t move you towards the impossible, then it’s better to judge yourself now and evaluate your condition. For a great and mighty God creates great and mighty people, and even those of little, but true faith gain His attention.
The Apostle James said: “…faith without works is dead.” James 2:26
The writer of Hebrews said: “And without faith, it is impossible to please God…” Hebrews 11:6
The Beloved Apostle John explains: “He who knows my commands and obeys them is the one who loves me. And my Father will love him who loves me. I will love him and will show myself to him.” John 14:21
Religion is belief without relationship and without faith. Without a relationship to God, there is no need for faith and obedience.
Your faith must take you further than simply visiting the Church down the street.
See to it that your belief brings action to your faith or stop pretending you believe.
“Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” – Vladimir Lenin
Our Nation’s future is only secured in how well we parent and educate our children.
The sixteen points I’m about to layout are not opinions or political theories long forgotten. They are based on observations, news broadcasts, lawsuits, and current events. While many were first published in manifestos, books, etc., long ago, they have become daily mainstream news and the topic of many podcasts and publications.
Now, sadly, it’s our turn to witness the collapsing of a once great nation. You and I, regrettably, have a front-row seat.
Every fallen nation before us has encountered these destructive trends:
State and federal controll of education. To educate or re-educate the children away from national and religious morals, tuths, and foundations; to inhibit the royalty of self-governance, personal responsibility, and patriotism; to destroy parental authority and autonomy.
Democratization of the Republic. To replace our representive structure of government, “for the people and by the people,” to a mobocracy, whereby government is ran by mass-appeal and populism; to progressively usher in a Socialistic State; to pave the way for dictatorial, communistic governance.
Seizure and polarization of the Free Press. To control all communications for the purposes of the state and federal governments; to either control or be controlled by partisan means.
The loss of journalistic integrity. To control and create narratives; the abeyance of fact; to avoid exculpatory evidence, fact, and truth that may enforce or promote the counter party’s ideals and positions; to simply distort and twist narratives for party gain.
Cancelation of patriotism and everything that promotes healthy nationalism. To pervert anything that promotes unity, the American way of life and liberty; to distort national pride, ingenuity, achievement, and excellence.
The refusal to teach American, Constitutional, and World history. To create ignorance; to lessen or eliminate the impact and importance of the past; to control future outcomes by eliminating historical fact and evidence.
Destruction of relational norms, i.e. family, sexuality, maternity, and paternity. To attack and destroy the very fabric of society. To corrupt mother and father archetypes, whereby either sex can occupy the opposite roles; to distort and redirect offspring from normative and healthy relationships; to destroy future generations.
Sexual deviation and exploitation. Normalization of pornography, pedophilia, and gender dysphoria. To corrupt and destroy all morality, sexual boundaries; to inhibit and reduce reproduction; to control population; to distort mankind as God’s image bearers.
Destruction of free, fair, and open elections. “Those Who Vote Decide Nothing Those Who Count The Votes Decide Everything” – Joseph Stalin. To control the outcome of all elections, ensuring and maintaining a one-sided control.
Persecution and imprisonment of political dissenters, detractors, and rivals. To create a one-sided control of all political power, including every sector of state and federal government; to put fear in the minds of political and ideological detractors and dissenters; to dissuade political rivals.
The creation of a State and Federal controlled surveillance system. To monitor and track dissenters for future arrest, persecution, and imprisonment; to set up a social scoring system by use of personal algorithms on social media platforms.
State and Federal control of all forms of transportation. To control and limit freedom of movement; to corral people into manageable classes, sectors, regions, or groups.
The creation of a programmable digital currency. To control personal and corporate financial freedom; buying, selling, profiting, and distributing. A form of financial rewards and punishment.
The rise of a cancel culture of anything that defies progressivism and primitivism. To crush, marginalize, and destroy common decency and common sense; to promote un-American ideals, trends, and philosophies; to essentially and fundamentally change America into a fascistic society.
The perversion of the judicial system and law and order. To create chaos and confusion; to allow for injustice, political favoritism, cronyism; to pave the way for political and corporate evil and lawbreakers.
The exploitation and manipulation of racial differences, i.e. race wars. To cause disunity and societal fragmentation; to exploit for political needs; to create mass distraction, hysteria, riots, etc., for political means; to gain thought and mind control, useful to maintain political power and control over minority groups.
The destruction of our Second Amendment Right Keep and Bear Arms. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” To keep the citizens from having the power and the means of protection against a tyrannical government; to thwart any domestic power from dictatorial control or governance: to throw off the restraints and infringements of a rouge and renegade government; to provide for personal defense and safety.
I could literally go on and on. But I think by now you can clearly see that America is so far down the river that I’m afraid the current has become too strong to paddle against.
“If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3
God’s children should never be the people with their heads in the sand. But, sadly, our American history shows that we are!
If you carefully consider the sixteen articles I’ve written above, you can see what has happened during our absence as godly vanguards of culture, classroom, church, and Constitution. We failed, but not as politicians and patriots, but as Christians commissioned to teach, preach, and baptize the nations, beginning with our own. The antidote to all the corruption, darkness, and evil is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Do you realize that it took evil intentioned men and women only eighty years, that’s two generations, to flip Western civilization, culture, and society upside-down?
“Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” – Vladimir Lenin – Founder of The Russian Communist State.
Where do you think the evil Vladimir Lenin got this principle from?
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
Yes, that’s right, from the Bible! Don’t forget, evil men read the Bible too!
You see, to the fact that our children have been co-opted and re-educated by the State is our fault. We willingly gave them our children, and sadly, most still do.
People! The government has had our children since the 1830s, when the government officially inacted compulsory public education. In my estimation, that day was the beginning of the end of America. If there were an autopsy on the death of America, the report would read cause of death: abdication of child education and parental authority to the state.
Many religious people have long since given up their parental, religious, and patriotic duty for a pre-tribulation rapture theory. This theory has taken care, custody, and control from their vocabularies. The darker it becomes, the more it ensures an eminent exfiltration. Pre-tribulation, Dispensational rapture theory is another gospel, and its pontificators and false teachers should be avoided.
This destructive theory has played into the hands of evil-minded, secular cultists, secret societies, evil politicians, and educators. Coincidentally, pre-tribulation and dispensational premillennialism came on the historical scene within the same mid 19th century as compulsory education theory, John Dewey, Evolutionism, Charles Darwin, Communism, Karl Marx, and Religious Humanism, John H. Dietrich. I do not believe that all these new theories and philosophies were mere happenstance, but may be demonic implantations.
“Nevertheless, even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven preach any gospel to you other than that which we have preached to you, hold him as accursed.” As we said before, so say I now again: If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which ye have received, let him be accursed! – Galatians 1:8-9
A perverted gospel curses culture, children, church, and country.
Parents, rescue your children! Get them out of public schools! Maybe, if you do, you can save your family’s future, and America’s too.
Narcissus: “a youth who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool and wasted away from unsatisfied desire, whereupon he was transformed into the flower.” Greek Mythology
Several months ago, I watched the movie “The Giver,” with my wife, Toni. While this movie was about a futuristic society, it is relevant and a wake-up call for all of us today. We are quickly becoming the society depicted in this film as emotionless, colorless, and vaccinated against thinking and reason. Yes, the film depicts families performing daily and routine vaccinations before leaving their “family units” for predetermined vocations on behalf of the Collective.
I recommend watching the movie trailer before reading on…
We have allowed ourselves to become programmed by the programmers. Whenever we accept “truth” from others without research and discovery we enter into another level of being programmed.
Not only are we losing our critical and analytically thought processes, but we are losing our language, and therefore our ability to communicate clearly and creatively.
In a similar way, we are losing our spirituality. Rather than connecting directly to God, through Jesus Christ (The Word) and the Holy Spirit (Teacher, Comforter, and Guide), we limit our connections to the Godhead by extensions of corporate worship of 15 to 20 minutes per week. Our spirituality is lived vicariously through our spiritual leader’s personal intimacy with God.
We’ve abdicated our inherent rights as sons and daughters of God to personally hear His Voice, not as “new revelation,” but rather a deeper intimacy. We value pastors as to how well they can hold our brief attention, rather than teaching us to feed ourselves on the Word and voice of God. Too many pastors have assumed the role of the Holy Spirit, which further alienates us from the Third Person of the Trinity. Whom, by the way, is the real Gift-Giver.
There is no process to practice ministry, as the ministry has become nothing more than spectating and being ministered to. There is little, to no outlet for functional ministry being practiced by the average believer, and so we remain giftless.
This reminds me of the days long ago when the government removed wood shops, metal shops, mechanic shops as well as home economics from public schools. Children are left with no physical application or the opportunity to learn a trade. The advantage of tactile learning has vanished.
Many churches have done the same thing. They’ve removed all of the application and ministerial outlets for members to exercise their gifts as they learn the truth, therefore becoming perpetual students and not masters of their unique spiritual gifts and service to others.
Many teachers, not all, have become programmers also. They dispense pre-selected and government-approved curricula to the masses. Classrooms are no longer a place of free-thinking of free ideas and ideals. God is not welcomed there, also. Excellence is shunned and replaced with fairness, and high standards are lowered to mediocrity, so no one fails.
Common grammar school literature of the 16th century could not be read, nor comprehended by the average high school student of today.
Progressively, technology and the internet are replacing fundamental human contact and interaction. Technological corporations are sanitizing the meaning of life and are reprogramming the masses to “living” for pleasure and consumerism. Our lives and interests are becoming nothing more than algorithms, measured by impersonal machines, reporting to corporate mongrels who fight for a greater market share of our existence.
Our divine purpose and uniqueness have been replaced by political usefulness; mere polling data for those in power to gain greater control over our individualism until it too vanishes.
Utopianism is impossible in a fallen world. As soon as it is politically achieved, it immediately turns into despotism. But the tyrannical of every generation wants its opportunity to do it better; with utter ignorance of past failures and abandoned hindsight, they press forward with backward thinking and demonic ideology. Their deranged ideology creates a deranged society and a warped and selfish culture.
And so, are there any humans out there? Do you feel anymore? Do you love people, or only the device, which you use to connect yourself to them?
Is your skin stained with enough ink yet? Do you have any more natural skin left? Are you pierced enough? Are you satisfied with all your selfies plastered throughout social media? Are your relationships about what you can get until you can’t get anymore?
We have made our outer bodies into billboards of our own inner selfishness and self-worship. Our self-absorbtion has absorbed most of our humanness.
It would appear that the more technologically we’ve become as a society, the more primitive we’ve become as a culture. It seems that technology, as wonderful and useful as it is, is diminishing our humanity towards one another and to nature.
The number of tattoos, piercings, abortions, and Botox is not an indicator of a progressive technological society, but a society that is regressing into tribalism and primitivism.
Are people, you know, humans; are they disposable, like the unborn, infants, and the elderly? How about relationships? Are you a dumper, or are you a dumpee?
People are challenged to dump ice-cold buckets of water on themselves and others or ingest Tide pods or dance outside their moving vehicles, which are appearing more and more unintelligent. I challenge you to think and act for yourselves so that you may act wisely and think kindly towards others.
Our humanity is at risk, and if it is lost, our humaneness towards one another will end. Our loss of humaneness always starts with a loss of saneness.
Narcissus: “a youth who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool and wasted away from unsatisfied desire, whereupon he was transformed into the flower.” Greek Mythology
Our culture is fast becoming a collection of “flowers.”
“She looks at herself instead of looking at you and so doesn’t know you.” – Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) by Marie-Henri Beyle
As a society, we can not peer into the mirror for too long before we’ve become wasted and unsatisfied. When we spend too much time looking at our own images, we tend to build our lives around ourselves. We merely seek relationships with people who remind ourselves of ourselves and that look and act as selfishly as we do. The over adornment of tattoos, body piercings, self-obsession, and body emphasis is proof that our culture is transforming into nothing more than a bouquet of flowers.
And this is how historians will say America was lost.
The more we look at and emphasize ourselves instead of each other, the less we know one another.
We can only rediscover our original humanity in the Creator and in Jesus Christ. God created us in his image, which time and again we’ve lost, but Jesus Christ is the Image Restorer and the Restorer of Life.
Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3 (NLT)
We can do this. We can become less distracted with ourselves and become more attracted to God and to one another.
If we feed ourselves more on what God is saying than on what others are texting or tweeting and preaching, maybe, just maybe we can save America again.
The reason reassuring lies are so popular is because lies are safe and convenient. But the world and Church are out of time for safety and convenience.
There is no other important message to the Church in America today than repentance. I’m not speaking about the lost repenting, but Christians repenting for the sins of omission. A retreating Church in a culture war is the death of any nation.
We’ve forgotten how important the Church was to the Founding of America, not only to its formation, but also to its influence on politics and education.
America dosen’t necessarily suffer from bad politics, as bad as they may be, but more so from thousands of Churches suffering from disassociative disorder.
Symptoms of a disassociative disorder: “feeling disconnected from yourself and the world around you.”
There’s far too many Christians and Churches disconnected from their identity as true disciples of Jesus, and therefore, they lost their witness to a lost world around them. A self-focused Church is not the work of Heaven. It’s symptomatic of a lost identity and purpose.
So, I gotta ask, why all the self-focused Churches? Where did this philosophy come from, if not from Heaven?
So, here’s the inconvenient Truth that many of us are avoiding, repentance from omission and disengagement.
Somewhere along the way we ceased being a missional Church to something else.
Early Protestants accused the Catholics of making big business out of Christianity. The Roman Catholics had fused a business concept to its ecclesiastical order and to soteriological precepts. They used to sell religious stuff, like trinkets, souvenirs, even selling indulgences, a monetary payment of penalty which, supposedly, absolved one of past sins and/or released one from purgatory after death.
Sadly, today, many mainstream Evangelicals have made Christianity into big business. They kept the business concept of church structure intact from the Catholics. While mega-churches and TV Evangelists are the extreme examples of “church business,” many mainstream Protestant and Charismatic Churches are structured like business.
How do you tell if a Church or ministry is a business?
“If someone ceases to be valuable to you because they no longer attend your church — you’re not in ministry — you’re in business!” – Author Unknown
Many Churches want large buildings, big budgets, catchy names, and viral exposure. Heck, many rebrand themselves every decade or so, just to stay on the cutting edge of marketing. Yep, there’s a lot of competition out there for those parishioners! Hmm, kinda sounds like a business to me. But is that model that Jesus wanted?
Well, we know He didn’t want a seeker-friendly, money focused Church.
He wants a Kingdom seeking Church. A Church that sets its priority seeking first God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness.
So then, what about budgets, buildings, and ledgers?
Well, Jesus thought of that. He tells his followers that all those things, which the world toils and sweats after will be freely given to us!
Yep, Matthew chapter 6: 25-34. This is a great passage to read in unison as a congregation.
I dare you to try it!
Yes, yes, I know these are indeed hard words, but they are necessary. Sometimes Truth is inconvenient. It certainly was for Jesus and His Father. Speaking Truth cost Jesus His life, but look what it won for us — look what He’s done for the World!
You remember, John 3:16 don’t you? Let me ask you; has it simply become a catchy phrase, a lovely cliché you like to recite? Don’t you think if we truly believed John 3:16, we’d be out in the world seeking out and speaking to the “whomsoevers?”
The truth is, if God’s people do not repent of these evils, as subtle as they may appear, God’s judgment will begin with His House. If it begins with God’s House, what of the world? Where is your compassion of them?
I’m sure you remember the story of Jesus, as recorded in John chapter 2, chasing out the moneychangers, you know, the sellers and buyers and money managers inside His Father’s House?
Yep, and it goes onto imply that Jesus was not a happy camper; taking the time to brade a whip, afterwhich, he stormed into His Father’s House a whippin and a thrashin, knocking tables and chairs over, while chasing the prayerless and money focused from His Father’s House!
“… and the Zeal for your house shall consume me!” John 2:17
So, don’t hangout with moneychangers and so-called business focused ministries.
So, to wrap things up…
You have the Light of the Glorious Gospel for a world going darker day-by-day.
Simply repent from retreating and being AWOL (Absence Without Leave) from your duty to King and Kingdom. Then go shine God’s Light into the darkness. Cancel out the reassuring lies with the inconvenient Truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Once they believe, Truth won’t be so inconvenient. Especially, after you show them how to repent.
I was asked by a friend what inspires me to write and what resources do I use?
Five things that influence and inspire me:
Lifetime of reading Scripture.
Reading and understanding Church history.
Observation of current events, (watching and listening to reliable men and women, and paying attention).
Observation of the spiritual and political times/climate in which we live.
Application of these fundamentals determines probable outcome, i.e. cause and effect.
These are the five things that impact me everyday. However, there is one other impact in my life, and since it is not a thing, it’s on its own list and category. It is none other than the Holy Spirit, the Voice of Scripture and the Whisperer of God’s heart.
God’s Spirit makes alive the Holy Scriptures, in an almost four-dimensional way. Speaking at times, to the center of my being; awaking my conscience, convicting my mind, easing my worries, and wooing my heart. So, there it is, six areas of impact and influence.
Aside from the Holy Spirit and Scriptures, History is a very reliable teacher. History truly does repeat itself. It’s not hard to look at the past to understand our future. The old saying is true:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905
This explains the Cancel Cultural. They want to forcibly cancel and erase the past to assure the past will repeat itself. More pointedly, their objective is to implement the Marxist past into our current reality without notice and without resistance. But if the masses knew the past atrocities of Marxism and Communism and the failure of Socialism, we would still be a free nation. I say this with meaning and unfortunate intentionality, as we are no longer a free nation.
Sadly, our “freedom” is a mirage, an illusion. We lost it some time ago. What we perceive as “freedom,” is what “they” tell us. Most of what is broadcasted are lies, misstruths, misstatements, well crafted and expertly produced propaganda.
If Christians knew Church and secular history it wouldn’t be stuck and steeped in Romanism, Hinduism, and paganism. If American Christianity didn’t sell its birthright of light and salt to the nations for the warm stew of a 501(c)(3) tax advantage, Christianity would’ve been an enormous and effective influence over culture and politics. Freedom would still be a reality.
If Christianity would’ve understood the impact of unbiblical eschatology and the recent emergence of premillennial dispensational theory of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Gospel would have singlehandedly changed our nation and the world.
So I write to inform. To inspire. To alert and to awaken curiosity and hopeful action.
Interestingly, when I write on my favorite topic, matters of the heart, and the Father-heart of God, it gets little attention. But when I write on political issues or commentary, it gets much more notice and conversation.
The truth is being connected to God and deriving our core identity as his beloved children should supercede politics, religion, health, and beauty. But it does not. This is a very sad and unfortunate commentary of 21st Century Christianity. It is being replaced by humanism, the occult, sadosexism, gender disforia, and the sexulization of children, all being done in broad daylight!
The Church is to be about the Father’s business not about Church business. We’re left to expand and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. But alas, Jesus’ Great Commission to the Church has become the “Great Recommendation,” and so our culture and the world suffers.
There is preaching going on in the world and culture, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the antithetical gospel of heathenism and hedonism. The Kingdom Gospel is to the world and not to the Church. The Kingdom of God is meant to expand into the world and nations from the Church.
So, the opposite happened. Instead the world has entered the Church, taken over its mission, the proclamation the Kingdom’s righteousness to the proclamation of their unrighteousness. Therefore, unrighteousness has entered into and metastasized throughout culture and society more rapidly and deadlier than a virus.
Jesus didn’t leave us behind to simply hold-on or to hold-out until he comes back — quite the opposite!
This word “occupy” means to be busy, it literally means “to carry on business of investing and trading. Jesus’ meaning is not too difficult. He is telling us to “TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS,” TO KEEP BUSY UNTIL HIS RETURN. It means to carry on with his work, his commands, and his commission. He came to save the world not to condemn the world. He showed his disciples (us) how to carry on his plan of redemption. But instead, we’ve condemned the world with our silence and our misunderstanding of occupying.
The Roman army didn’t confuse the concept of occupying when they sacked kingdoms. They knew that to occupy was to culturalize the conquered territory; to make it Roman, to Romanize the people, politics and religion. Roman generals were also called apostles.
Did you know that the term apostle, oringally came from Greece? Jesus borrowed the term “aspostolos” when he declared his twelve disciples as “apostles.”
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles…” — Ephesians 4:11
“During the time of the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes (384-322 BC), the word apostolos was a naval term that described an admiral, the fleet of ships that traveled with him, and the specialized crew who accompanied and assisted the admiral.
The fleet would be sent out to sea on a mission to locate territories where civilization was nonexistent. Once an uncivilized region was identified, the admiral (called the apostolos) — along with his specialized crew and all their cargo and belongings — would disembark, settle down, and work as a team to establish a new community. Then they would begin the process of transforming a strange land into a replica of life as they believed it should be. Their purpose was total colonization of the uncivilized territory.” Source: https://renner.org/article/the-historical-meaning-of-the-word-apostle/
Do you now have a better understanding of the concept of occupying until he returns?
You see, if Christianity does not see itself as a spiritual and cultural occupying force, another force will occupy and it won’t come with “healing in its wings.” It comes with a spirit of devastation and destruction in its horns.
“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2, ESV)
I don’t think we, or our neighbors, are “leaping like calves from a stall,” these days.
“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”
“But for you…,” but, who is the you?
“…who reverence my name,” thats the “who!” The “who” can also mean the unsaved. It is our responsibility to bring about reverence of God’s name and rule to the nations, so that they too would have reverence for the Creator-God.
The point is that Christianity has so far, failed its mission, and, among many other things, has disobeyed Jesus’s commands. Christianity is fragmented, into what some are reporting, as many as 44,000 denominations among Evangelicals, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Charismatic churches. Talk about ignoring history, how about Christianity ignoring His Story? Ignoring the power of history has affected the unity of Christianity.
What must we all do?
Repent, believe and obey the Gospel!
Re-engage community and culture with the Kingdom Gospel and stay busy occupying every sector of society in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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 1st 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!”
Call To Courage 