“Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one loses their faith and becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. Someone like that can ruin your whole group.” —Hebrews 12:15 (ERV)
A simple yet profound question from a friend has stayed with me:
“Tom, are you bitter or better?”
Life’s trials will come, but our choice determines our sense of peace. Bitterness isolates; betterness unites. By embracing God’s redemptive grace and forgiving others, we unlock a life of freedom, love, and meaningful relationships.
We are all confronted with hurt and pain from others. The choice to become bitter or better is available to all of us. The choice always comes down to two letters, the letter i or the e, b(i)tter or b(e)tter.
Bitterness is a collection of wrongs done by others, causing emotional constipation, psychological disfigurement, and spiritual disconnection from God and others.
The Holy Spirit wants to move us away from bitterness and leads us towards betterment. That is what God’s grace means here—the empowerment to avoid bitterness.
Matter of fact, the verse from Hebrews warns us to be careful that no one fails to receive God’s grace and that no one loses their faith. In other words, we need to watch each others back, rather than plunging knives into them.
Bitterness is the absence of God’s grace, as it displaces his presence, his wisdom, and conviction of the Holy Spirit. A bitter person is always looking to recruit people into their cesspool of bitter complaints. If you join them you’ll get drawn into their emotional quicksand with no one to rescue you!
We become bitter only when we reject God’s grace whispered to us by the Holy Spirit, and when we follow and listen to bitter people. Bitterness is a contagion; it is contracted through casual gossip and always corrupts the mind before it rots the soul. Bitterness has destroyed marriages, families, businesses, and especially churches.
Stay with God’s Word and his distinct and clear voice. Obey the Holy Spirit and become better. If not, you’ll destroy your faith, and walk away from God and the people who truly love you!
Even if you are bitter, you can become better. According to Hebrews 12:15, the antidote against bitterness is ensuring that not one person is missing out from God’s grace. Doing that leaves little time and opportunity for bitterness to take root.
When you stab yourself and others with bitterness, you also forfeit God’s grace that could be yours.
People will love a better you, but bitterness will drive even your closest friends away. Bitterness is a pill, whereby its side effect causes loneliness and detachment. Not only between those who love you, but even within yourself. Your bitterness makes you dangerous—a danger to yourself and others.
Bitterness grows within your heart and soul, like a destructive and evasive tree root. It enters into areas it doesn’t belong, causing emotional disfigurment, and psychological damage. But its damage is reversible. There is hope and healing!
Do you want to live a better life?
Then forgive the offense of others, and you’ll live a bitter free life.
I know—I know, you’ve been terribly hurt or offended. But your bitterness puts you in competition with God. You’re actually saying, “I know better than God,” and therefore you feel justified to condemn. That’s pretty tragic, don’t you think?
But the longer you hold onto bitterness, the more impossible it is for you to forgive. The longer you wait to forgive those who’ve hurt you the further away God’s grace becomes.
I don’t want you to miss out on God’s grace, I want you free and full of life, just like you used to be. I want you to find your faith again in God and to enjoy his presence in your soul.
I want you to love and to be loved again. I want you to stop the cruelty to your heart and soul!
Don’t you see?
Bitterness is not the cure—it’s a poison! The real cure may seem impossible, but it’s the only cure that will set you free and put you on the road to recovery.
The only cure to bitterness is forgiveness. Forgiveness is even more powerful if you were to lead in it. I promise that if you do, you’ll be right as rain and feeling better and not bitter.
It’s those forgotten little memories that can change everything!
Early in 1998, my brother called and told me that my dad was dying of cancer and that dad was asking for me.
When I heard this, I was very upset. Not that my father was dying, mind you, but that he’d asked for me. I needed him all my life, and now, he’s asking for me?
“Tell Dad I’m not coming!” I replied.
I have four brothers and a sister, and they all called me, urging me to visit Dad. A week or so went by, and I finally caved into the pressure.
I first visited my dad in the Contra Costa County Hospital, as the VA in Martinez, California, was short on beds. There, he lay in a bed surrounded by adjustable rails. My younger brother, John, and my mother were present.
My mom pulled me aside to tell me the seriousness of Dad’s esophageal cancer. She said, “It doesn’t look good, I’ve researched the prognosis, and he doesn’t have much time left.” By the time I had visited my father, he’d already been battered by chemotherapy and every other treatment.
The cancer had permanently closed up his esophagus, and he could no longer swallow but was fed through a feeding tube, which was surgically inserted through the side of his abdomen and directly into his stomach. My father was so frightened; I had never seen him so fragile and helpless.
Since things did not look good for my dad, I called one of my pastors from our church in Danville, California, called East Bay Fellowship, which I was attending with my wife and kids. I asked if Pastor Allan Shrewsbury could come by and pray over my father in the hope that it would give him some comfort.
Pastor Allan quickly arrived, praying with my dad and confirming my father’s faith and trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior.
It was getting late, and we began to ready ourselves to leave when I noticed tears filling my father’s eyes, along with the room filling with a sense of heaviness. It seemed as though this might be our last goodbye. I think the feeling of; “he may not make it through the night” hit all of us at the same time.
Compassion began to rise within my heart. I leaned over his bedrail and gently kissed my father’s unshaven face. His prickly whiskers caused my lips to tingle. My brother John leaned in and kissed our dad, as did my mom, and then we all tried to convince and reassure him that he would be fine as we slowly left the room.
As John and I walked out together towards the parking lot, my lips still tingling, I said:
“John, there is something strangely familiar about kissing dad.” I continued:
“My lips—they’re still tingling!”
John responded:
“What’s up with you, Tom? Don’t you remember when we were little kids, we’d line up in front of dad’s favorite chair and kiss him goodnight on his cheek, and he’d say with a smile,
’… Don’t let the bedbugs bite!’”
All of a sudden, good memories came flooding into my mind. That gentle kiss on my father’s unshaven face was a key to my dungeon of despair and loneliness. All my years of anger, bitterness, and hatred; all my doubts and unforgiveness, all swallowed up from the tingly whiskers of my father’s unshaven face!
After that moment, I couldn’t wait to see my father. I saw him over the next several months as often as I could.
Several weeks before my dad passed away, a nurse came into his hospital room, asking:
“Who is your executor and healthcare director?”
My father lifted his feeble arm and pointed in my direction. I turned to see if one of my two older brothers was behind me, but there was no one.
For some, this would have been an unwelcome appointment, a burden, but for me, it meant I had my father’s complete and utter trust and respect. The significance of my dad’s appointment was a paradigm shift for me, possibly one of my most life-affirming events.
Later, I learned that my father had consulted with my mother about whom he should appoint as Trustee of his estate and healthcare. My mother agreed with my dad on his final choice. My sister, Laurie, was also named co-trustee. Simply amazing!
A few weeks later, my dad’s condition was worsening. His organs were beginning to show signs of shutting down. At this point, my siblings and I would trade off, spending the night with Dad alone.
Finally, it was my turn. It was October 7, 1998. I arrived shortly after the dinner hour. A nurse brought in a cot with a blanket and a pillow for me to sleep on. My dad and I talked for quite a while, mostly about politics, which was my dad’s favorite topic. Soon, it was lights out, which never happens in a hospital.
As I lay there, realizing the significance of this moment with my dad, I knew if I didn’t say what was indeed on my heart now, that this moment would be lost forever. You see, my father had never told me that he loved me. I was thirty-nine years old, and my dad was about to turn sixty-nine the next day. I wanted so much to hear those words from him; no, I needed to hear those words from him—something in me was guiding me and granting me the courage to say what I needed to say:
“Dad?”
“Yes, son?” he replied
Dad … I love you!” I said cautiously.
Only mere seconds passed by, but it felt like years.
“… I love you too, son,” Dad replied.
I exchanged “I love you” with my dad for what seemed like all night long! I said those precious and life-giving words, which he echoed back:
“I love you too, son.”
All my hate and anger against my dad had washed away, and now for good! I heard the three most important words every son or daughter needs to hear:
“I love you, son!”
“Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.” — Malachi 4: 5-6
The days of the “curse” were finally over for me. For a greater spirit than Elijah had entered that hospital room that night. The Spirit of the Living God had softened the hearts of father and son, and the mess I had made of my life suddenly became beautiful!
“His wrath, you see, is fleeting, but His grace lasts a lifetime. The deepest pains may linger through the night, but joy greets the soul with the smile of morning.” — Psalms 30:5
My dad, while broken with cancer, poured into me so much life and hope, and, in such a short time! The man whom I had despised all of my life was my dad, with whom I just fell in love but who is now leaving.
The morning came, with it, a smile and a “Happy Birthday, Dad!”
It was October 8, 1998, and my father wanted to get cleaned up for his Birthday. He said:
“Tom, get my shaving bag, it’s over there, in that cabinet.”
“Here it is, Dad,” I replied.
“Okay, get my Electric Shave lotion and my razor out,” my dad directed, and then he asked:
“Son, will you shave my face?”
This may sound silly, but this was the most intimate moment I’ve ever had with my father. The whiskers that tingled my lips and softened the hardness of my heart, the mouth that finally spoke: “I love you too, son,” was the face I was about to care for and shave.
“The deepest pains may linger through the night, but joy greets the soul with the smile of morning.”
… and I shaved my father’s face.
That is why I would not change a single moment of my life. The pain is swallowed up in the sweetness of heartfelt forgiveness and the “I love yous.” For what had become broken has now been given, and the mess of my life has now become beautiful!
Four days later, on October 12, 1998, my father passed away. At his right-hand side, I stood a restored and beloved son, loved and approved. As life was quickly draining from my dad, he looked up towards the ceiling, letting out his final breath; he smiled, his heartbeat stopped, and we wept loudly in the grief of our great loss! I then reached over his body and closed my father’s eyes.
He died my hero triumphantly and bravely; he faced death and passed from this life into the heart of God.
“Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now?” – I Corinthians 15:55
While this was both a painful and magical time for me, these events with my father were a new beginning and a paradigm shift for my present and future.
I can honestly say that God used the final moments of my father’s life to make me into a better man, a restored son, and a better father.
Letting my anger for my father go allowed love to come bursting in. Becoming my father’s beloved son made it possible for me to believe I could be God’s beloved son, too.
Good night. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. I’ll see you in heaven. I love you, dad!
Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. – Apostle Paul
The years 2024 and 2025 are promised to be filled with unprecedented crisis and political and social upheaval such as this country has not witnessed. How will you stand during such infamous days?
Picture our nation’s birth pangs and struggle during its war for independence of 1775 through 1783. Remember America’s Civil War of 1861 through 1865. Recall America’s Great Depression of 1929 through 1939 and two World Wars, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In spite of all these calamities and crises, our nation still stood its ground and overcame.
No, these historic events didn’t happen in the space of time of your favorite sitcom or blockbuster movie. These struggles took years and even decades to reach their climatic ends. All of these events caused an incalculable loss of life, loss of comfort, ease, and prosperity. But, still, America overcame.
How about today, tomorrow, and next year?
Will you be an overcomer or be overcome with fear, anxiety, and panic?
It is likely that as many watchers, prognosticators, pundits, and forecasters have predicted, we’re in for the greatest economic and societal crash of all times. Economists and financial experts that accurately predicted the Great Recession of 2007 through 2009 are predicting financial crises exponentially greater than the Great Depression of the late Twenties and Thirties of the twentieth-century.
I’ll ask again, how will you stand in such perilous days ahead?
Is your trust in government, politicians, police agencies, the FBI, CIA, Home Land Security, and our borders?
Tens of thousands of Americans in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Florida have recently learned in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene that FEMA was late to the seen, ill prepared, and unfunded.
Hasn’t all of these institutions failed us with broken promises, broken policies, bad operators, and bad agencies? Do you sense, as many people do, that our once trusted institutions have become weaponized?
If all hell breaks loose, where will you go, and to whom will you trust?
Now, not later is the time to ask yourself, am I an overcomer, or will I be easily overcome by chaos?
I’m not trying to scare you, but to prepare you! I’m reminding you that all we once placed our faith and confidence in is gone. Yes, you heard me, it’s all gone! We’re all on our own!
Just look at our nation’s largest cities in red and blue states. New York, Detroit, Chicago, Memphis, Dallas, Huston, San Francisco, and Oakland, just to name a few. How about all those smash-and-grabs? They have now become crash-and-grabs, using stolen vehicles to crash open storefronts, allowing not just a few looters but mobs of them in and out in a flash!
We’re intrigued by watching movies displaying crazed dystopian societies, with brazing lawlessness, cold-blooded murder, mayhem, and continuous looting.
Folks, we’re living in it!
If the recent debate between Biden and Trump wasn’t unsettling, how about the Whitehouse’s cover up of President Biden’s stage five dementia? Did you enjoy being lied to by all mainstream news outlets?
It’s here, not just in Hollywood’s latest blockbuster, but in many of our communities, cites, schools, and shopping centers. You don’t see it because you’ve been enchanted by MSM; lying politicians, bureaucrats, and technocrats.
I believe that Hollywood has purposely desensitized us by its endless portrayal of apocalyptic and dystopian doom. You see, Hollywood’s programming has programmed the masses to accept chaos as near normal. It’s an age-old tactic called, “normalcy bias”
“Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a cognitive bias which leads people to disbelieve or minimize threat warnings. Consequently, individuals underestimate the likelihood of a disaster, when it might affect them, and its potential adverse effects. The normalcy bias causes many people to prepare inadequately for natural disasters, market crashes, and calamities caused by human error. About 80% of people reportedly display normalcy bias during a disaster.” Source: Wikipedia
I want you to understand that the surest way to defeat an overcomer is to normalize calamity, i.e., lull you into unpreparedness, which, in turn, sets you up to be easily defeated.
And that is exactly where we are today!
We have been propagandized and programmed through an elaborate PSYOP.
“Psychological warfare involves the planned use of propaganda and other psychological operations to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of opposition groups.” Source: RAND Corporation
If you’re a true conservative, patriot, Bible believing, child-rearing, faithful American, black, white, red, or yellow, a certified “basket of deplorables,” then you’re their “opposition group.”
We’ve all seen what public pandemonium looks like, either on the streets during riots or in blockbuster movies. No one really stands out, as everyone is in a state of shock, and all are overcome by panic and fear.
You see? Unpreparedness robs you of the mentality and fortitude of an overcomer.
Do you know how Jesus Christ withstood all the torture and the ignominious death on the cross?
He was prepared!
Jesus was zeroed in and fully cognitive of what he was to suffer. The Holy Scriptures says that Jesus set his face like a flint. Which, means, Jesus could not be detoured. This is because he had the spirit of the Overcomer before the ordeal of the cross.
“For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.” – Isaiah 50:7
My friends, we must be strong in the power of God’s might; understanding the days in which we live; be rock-solid in our faith and with full determination, preparing ourselves to pierce through the darkness!
If you understand anything, understand the utmost confidence that Jesus Christ had in God the Father to vindicate and honor him in his death and resurrection.
That, my dear, brothers and sisters is the Overcomer’s spirit that you must believe and secure deep within your heart and soul, now, and not when all hell breaks loose here in America!
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” – Hebrews 12:2
And that my friend is how you become an overcomer and stand during the evil days ahead! Your family is going to need you to show them how and all those that have allowed themselves to be programmed by the programmers.
“Let your light shine like that in the sight of men. Let them see the good things you do and praise your Father in Heaven.” – Matthew 5:16
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, They did not love their lives so much that they were afraid of death.” – Revelations 12:11
The world needs more overcomers to help those who’ll soon be overcome with grief and despair.
We can’t live a happy life with an unforgiving soul and a stubborn heart.
When we refuse to forgive ourselves and others, we split our identity. One part loaths the offender, and the part hates self. It is the inner voice of self hatred and toxic unforgivness, which curses the outer self of life and the inner self of peace.
I know you know what I’m saying. I’m not trying to gulit you, but to help you!
I don’t want you to end up with two personalities in one body. That’s a horrible way to live!
One world is real, full of life, hope, and dreams. The other is false — filled with lies, masks, and illusions. Sure, you can survive in your false world, but you were made for so much more than surviving…
… and I think you know that!
You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong. You don’t know what it is—you feel trapped inside—imprisoned by offense. Maybe you feel like a hostage, only it’s you that holds the key to your own prison cell.
In the movie The Matrix, Neo asks Morpheus a question:
“If you’re killed in the matrix, you die here?”
Morpheus:
“The body can not live without the mind.”
The book of James puts it this way:
“The splinter of a divided mind shatters your compass and leaves you dizzy and confused.” —James 1:8
Do not yield to thoughts of condemnation for others and hatred of self, for the end of such thoughts are self-destruction and death. You need to yield to, and desire wisdom from God, who understands both the body and the mind. But if you reject his wisdom and truth, your inner thoughts, no matter how untrue and false, will become reality. For either the wisdom from God and the belief of self-hatred are both initiated by faith. You see, faith activates the power of both truth and lies.
If you believe in the truth and wisdom from God, you will live and thrive. Conversely, if you believe in self-hatred and unforgivness, you will become lifeless and die. For the body obeys the mind, and a double minded person is unstable, confused, and lost.
I don’t want you lost—I want you found and freed!
The standard of God’s Word, Wisdom, and Truth never changes, so anchor all your thoughts, fears, and doubts on him, and you will find your way again.
This very moment, you are standing at the crossroads—as Jeremiah puts it:
Yet the Lord pleads with you still: Ask where the good road is, the godly paths you used to walk in, in the days of long ago. Travel there, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, “No, that is not the road I want!” —Jeremiah 6:16 (TLB)
Don’t yell an angry, “NO!” Cry a humble “yes,” and find rest again.
If you will not turn to God, The Holy One of Truth and Wisdom, not even your loved ones can help you. Until you’re willing to expose your false self and cease your fake salvation, you can’t be helped. Until you ask to be rescued, you’ll continue to drift further and further away.
Unrelenting unforgivness hurts no one but yourself. The one who offended you is unharmed by your hoarding of anger and offense. They’re free, but you’re not!
I plead with you, turn to God and be honest. Be brave. Be loving to yourself again and live! You may not realize it, but you’ve had the keys to your own prison all along.
“… You will weep no more. He will be gracious if you ask him for help. He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.” —Isaiah 30:19
Jesus Christ died that you may live and was raised to life that you may never die.
For there is no peace and no rest in wasting your life being unforgiving. There is life and peace in Jesus Christ.
Here, please read Psalms 23 — it’s a beautiful passageway to life!
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” —Psalm 23
Trust Him—He will give you rest for all your weariness and heal your splintered mind!
Maybe you’ll be restored enough to even feast in the presence of those who once hurt and offended you.
A while ago, I was awakened in the middle of the night, deeply troubled about the potential results of the 2024 elections. I got up to use the bathroom, and on my way back to bed, I distinctly heard a voice say:
“And this too must come to pass.”
I wrestled with those words for a few moments. And then I understood what the Lord was saying. If you truly trust and believe in my Word, then you must understand that these things must come to pass.
While nothing more would please me, and possibly you as well, would be a change in the moral and economic condition of this great nation. Even if for just a few years of reprieve, so that some of us can get back on our feet again and reengage the “American Dream.” Or perhaps finish our education and land a career. Or enter retirement with a full nest egg and an adequate 401k.
Now, as it must prophetically roll forward, the future seems unclear. But is it as unclear as we think, or have we forgotten, as we so easily do, what the scriptures have said?
“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” –Mathew 24:6
“If you examine the past, you will find direction for the future,” has always been a reliable saying. However, we must examine our future and God’s promises to understand the times we live in and the days in which we’re all heading. Then we can understand what the Spirit is saying to the Churches:
“And this too must come to pass.”
This is our greatest opportunity to meet the tremendous needs unfolding before us. As our forerunners of old, we must declare that the Kingdom and the Economy of God are at hand. This hope must replace the hope we have in our politicians—in the American dream—in our careers and in our retirement. All these things are mere shadows of the bigness, brightness, and expansion of the Kingdom of God! Don’t we want this to come to pass?
The Kingdom of God is where all our hopes and dreams should be focused!
It is, and always, will be necessary for us Christians to engage in our civic duties and be good citizens of whatever country God has placed us in. But we must remember that we are also citizens of the Eternal Kingdom and a better place called Heaven. Our lives must reveal our eternal hope in God’s promises and the future he plainly marked out for us in his Holy Word.
If we truly live as citizens of Heaven and declare to this needy world that the Kingdom of God and its glorious economy is here, now, then we’ve lost nothing but have gained everything!
I love politics. I love to watch its unfolding — the potential of good vs. evil. I love to see good men and women statesmen stand against evil and the injustice of our time. These are the vanguards of our society, suppressing the evil power against the weakest among us. But wokeism, Leftest ideologies, and the sexual exploitation of children are too much to bear.
“And this too must come to pass.”
I don’t like this—not one bit! But again, God’s word and his promises drive us all forward and set the stage for what will soon be. If we engage our citizenship of Heaven, what lies ahead is to be welcomed—not feared!
I say, let us be like the people of Whoville; while Christmas had been stolen, they still gathered as a village and celebrated Christmas anyway, and even to the Grinch’s shock and surprise:
“How could it be so? It came without ribbons!—it came without tags!—it came without packages, boxes, or bags!”
Rise up, O People of God! Rise up! “Greater is He within you than he in the world!” Act like a people whose God is the Lord and declare that a far better political order has arrived! It is The Lord God Almighty, Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace! And the government shall rest upon his shoulders, and his kingdom shall know no end.” This is our true heritage, our future, and our true identity!
We may fail with political might. But, let us succeed with true spiritual power by loving each other so that the world may see and hear the True King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and President of Presidents!
Let us welcome all of it and fear not but rejoice because nearer are the days of our Lord’s return than when we first believed.
Remember and have faith, as “this too must come to pass.”
Somebody hit the dimmer switch in the Church on the hill, and I think we all know who that “somebody” is.
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – 1 John 2:15
… And so, for worldly lovers—it’s lights out!
The light of the Gospel shining brightly from your inner life must be fueled by a fierce and unquenchable love for God and others. This light, filtered through your brokenness, will displace enough darkness for the blind to see.
I’m not speaking of physical blindness, mind you, but that of spiritual blindness.
“In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.” – 2 Corinthians 4:4
“Although your people live in darkness, they will see a bright light. Although they live in the shadow of death, a light will shine on them.” – Matthew 4:16
We who call ourselves by God’s name must shine like beacons as the daylight is dimming and darkness is coming.
“You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of people who are crooked and stubborn. Shine out among them like beacon lights…” – Philippians 2:15
Can a nation be darkened in a day? Can the brightly lit torch of freedom be snuffed out without notice?
Yes, it happened while we were asleep in the light. All the while, consuming “Turkish Delights” and worshiping false gods and false teachers while sitting in enchanted chairs of passivity.
In the sixth book of C.S. Lewis’, The Chronicles of Narnia, titled, “Silver Chair,” the witch had placed a curse on the silver chair, so that when anyone sat on the chair they’d fall under the chair’s enchantment.
The Silver Chair was a magical device constructed by the Queen of Underland (also known as the Lady of the Green Kirtle), designed to keep Prince Rilian bound to a cursed enchantment…
“Every night, Rilian sat down on the chair to renew the manipulative magic. It made him susceptible to the witch’s lies and caused him to forget who he truly was.”
I think this is what’s happened to much of Western Christianity; we’ve become enchanted by worldliness, which has made us susceptible to the devil’s lies, and so, have forgotten who we truly are. And our forgettablness has ushered the world into darkness.
The Church was never to be about the “church,” but about Christ for the Nations, burning brightly as the light of God’s love and power over darkness. We were never meant to be bound to chairs, orbiting cathedrals, separated by a great divide between the clergy and the laity.
We’ve lost our place of influence because we’ve lost our identity, and in losing that, we’ve lost our mission! We have lost our identity because we’ve exchanged our First Love for second-hand worldliness. We have purchased the lie that if we look like the world, the world will come to us. How utterly foolish!
“If you belonged to the world, its people would love you. But you don’t belong to the world. I have chosen you to leave the world behind, and this is why its people hate you.” – John 15:19
Many Churches look so much like the world they have little to offer except a Savior without saving, a Lord without lordship, and a king without a kingdom. Who’d want to follow after that?
Somebody hit the dimmer switch in the Church on the hill, and I think we all know who that “somebody” is.
Our churches need to do what Motel 6 has done successfully over the decades:
“We’ll leave the light on for you.”
We need to rekindle our first love into a firestorm, recapturing God’s intended glory for the Church. Even our lives must reflect the glory of Christ and his good news! If you and I can do this, maybe we can light up the world again!
I can’t think of any other time than now to pause and reflect on the God of the universe. Isn’t our country; for that matter, the entire world being overshadowed by abnormal politics and abhorrent behavior?
The spreading of evil in our world is beyond rumor—it’s boldly flaunted in our faces.
Where else can we go for wisdom and truth other than to God? All other institutions have failed us. Indeed, they’ve failed God and country!
But, there is still hope!
Did you know that God is wirelessly available at this very moment? He is, and he has unmatched bandwidth from Heaven’s Throne!
God has infinitely more knowledge than Alexa—more wisdom than Siri and has far greater influence than TikTok!
God does desire your worship of him, but worship is not an end in itself; it’s not the pinnacle of what you have to give the Eternal Lover of your soul. He’s after your heart. Your heart is what he wants from you. For without it, your worship is empty and unpleasing to him.
God is not happy with only raised hands, bowed heads, and pretty choruses—he’s not impressed with your Sunday’s best and part-time devotion!
He’s poured out all his pent-up wrath against sin on His very own Son so that he can pour out all his love on you! He’s found a way to make you his very own and desires to be the sole occupant of your heart. He wants your desire to match his Son’s desire to be in him so that together, Father and Son, may dwell within you!
What will it take for you to cut out and remove what is useless and self-destructive to your precious heart and soul?
Is not your life hard enough—empty enough—lonely enough that you’ll go on without God?
You want all these things; all the answered prayers and open doors, but are you really pursuing God, or simply what you want from him?
He’s not behind the doors for which you so wearily push against; earnestly seeking safety, comfort, and security. He’s not playing hide and seek with you. He wants to be found as your One and Only Lover and Everlasting Father.
Only in returning to him will you find everything you are truly seeking and desiring.
Pray to receive him. Climb over every obstacle to find Him, and not what your flesh cries out for, which by the way are only temporal remedies of an eternal desire. God’s promise is that he will be found if you seek him and him alone with your whole heart.
But perhaps you haven’t done so, at least not with all your heart and strength, or else this note you’re reading wouldn’t be speaking so deeply to you. To honestly and sincerely turn towards God is, my dear friend, the only change and the most important decision that you must make at this moment—at this very second!
All other passions, concerns, and worries must be trained on the heart of your fierce Lover and only Healer of your heart and soul. All other methods are simply medicating you. Worldly tips and techniques are not healing you but masking the pain. “Time does [not] heal all wounds,” God does! God wants you restored and made whole—not medicated.
You want to talk about hands-free devices?
Did you know that God is wirelessly available this very moment with unmatched bandwidth from Heaven’s Throne?
God has infinitely more knowledge than Alexa. He has more wisdom than Siri and far greater influence than TikTok! We 21st-century Christians are so distracted, not with idols made of wood and stone, but with artificial intelligence (A.I.)!
We crave Idols that talk back and that hear our every word and answer our immediate questions. Yet the God of Creation, the very One who knows you by name, has counted every strand of your hair and has collected, like diamonds and precious jewels, every tear you’ve shed, is waiting patiently for your devotion and your “signing in.”
He has far greater connections than LinkedIn and has more excellent opportunities than Ziprecruiter. He wants more than your market share and algorithms—he wants all of you—body, mind, and soul, but especially your whole heart.
God can fill your heart and soul, but the Internet, well, it leaves holes in your heart and never absolutely never fills your heart as God can. The internet is designed to keep you empty, shallow, and alone, causing you to need and crave things more and more.
God is not after your money. He’s not marketing you—he’s trying to love you as you’ve never been loved before! He wants to update and download into the center of your being and fill your memory with images of Heaven that you’ll never find on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or WhatsApp.
Did I mention how much I needed to hear this?
My name is Thomas Koester, and I’m addicted to A.I. too. I need more than I’d like to admit the words I’ve written in this article. I, too, am convicted!
Close this post. Log off Facebook. Shut down your devices. Lower the lights and open your heart to God. Log into Heaven’s Throne, and tune into His presence, scroll up to His homepage so that you may truly see and understand. God is far more exciting than X! He has exceedingly more to offer than Amazon, eBay, or Temu!
God is live right now, and his live feed is where you’ll find real life and all that you’ve been longing for…
No one who is deceived will say, “I’m deceived!” Deception is the state in which one has been taken captive by falsehood and error.
Did you know that error is a spirit? It is parasitical and will weaken your faith and ability to discern truth from error. If you are in a church, which is preaching and practicing error and there is no repentance, no correction, and no apology, you should not stay. Your spiritual health and possibly your eternal state are at risk.
“Blessed (happy and to be envied) are those who cleanse their garments, that they may have the authority and right to [approach] the tree of life and to enter through the gates into the city. [But] without are the dogs and those who practice sorceries (magic arts) and impurity [the lewd, adulterers] and the murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and deals in falsehood (untruth, error, deception, cheating).” –Revelations 22: 14-15
When you tolerate error and biblical untruth, you will become party to the same eternal judgment on those who practice and teach such error. “Those who cleanse their garments” are those who have both authority and right to the tree of life and will pass through the gates.
Those who endure and tolerate error and falsehood are as guilty as sorcerers, murders, adulterers, and idolaters. Their’s is the same judgment.
There is no middle ground. Truth is not negotiable.
You can not, even in the slightest way, dismantle a portion of truth without becoming guilty of untruth, error, and deception.
You can not say that you hold and preach the “whole counsel of God” and at the same time ignore the command to love, cherish, and honor your wife. You might ask, what has marriage to do with truth and deception. It’s because the wife is the first to know.
You can not preach ecclesiastical unity and put your wife and marriage vows asunder. You can not hold to the New Covenant and ignore the marriage covenant. But far too many ministers do.
You shall not worship the anointing above the Anointer, who is God!
Did you know that you can perform signs and wonders; heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach the gospel and still end up in hell? Well, shouldn’t you at least think about it? After all, religious sin has got to be the most damnable and deceptive.
“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name?
And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].” –Matthew 7:21-23
I plead with you, my brothers and sisters. Do not put up with error, even though you sense the “Lord’s presence” and an “anointing.” There is no excuse for falsehood, error, and deception. You can not violate God’s commands, no matter how many miracles and wondrous signs are displayed.
Remember, the Man of Sin, or the Lawless One [the one who does so called “righteous acts” without God’s approval], is about to be revealed, and his spirit is already at work in disobedient minds throughout the world.
The first command of the ten commandments of Satan is:
“Do what thou will.”
This satanic command is behind many so-called ministries. When a ministry is not doing God’s will, His way, they are indeed doing what “thou will.” They are obeying demons and not the Son of God. Their lack of discernment is due to their lack of knowing Jesus Christ and that Jesus has no relational knowledge of them. They don’t belong to God. They belong to the Devil.
People, attending a church and being involved in ministry, performing acts of healing, deliverance, prophesying, and speaking in tongues doesn’t make you a Christian or validate you as one. It may make you feel like a saint, but since when does feelings make you a saint?
Only he, who washes his robe and who does the will of God, shall enter through the gates and into the City of God.
Not everyone who says; “Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…”
Check yourselves! Your pastor will not be standing next to you on the day of judgment, just you and the Lord. It’s you who must give an account as to what you have and have not done—to what you have believed while on earth.
The key to entering the city is to know and be known by God. You are known by God when your love is validated by obeying His commands and doing His will. There is God’s will, and there is rebellion. No other will exists.
Flee the house of deception and don’t look back!
Cover your ears to the flattery and tune into the voice of your True Heavenly Father. Don’t fall for favoritism of ministers and “important preachers” over the favor and approval of God.
Don’t exchange your identity of son or daughter of God, for position or title. Don’t marvel that you belong to a church or ministry, but marvel that your name is written the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Do not tolerate deception, false and new teaching, error, untruth or half-truth, do not accept the gospel of earthly prosperity at the expense of eternal life and heaven.
“Repent and live, why must you die, O’ house of Israel!”
Rather, worship God in the wilderness of this life and world. This world is our wilderness, and heaven is the promised land for all who obey—all who truly love and are truly known in the courts of heaven.
I see a large and beautiful Great Blue Whale in the middle of the ocean. The great mammal appears to have life, as it floats along the surface, but just beneath the water line, are Sharks and Killer Whales, ripping and tearing at her flesh.
The feast and frenzy is attracting other scavengers beneath. No one knows the whale is dead. The ships and tourist keep flocking the great mammal, but at a distance. Photos, snapshots, and praise the awing crowds come and go.
The life has left the great whale for some time. No one noticed when it fought and floundered against its mortal enemies. The great mammal was pulled beneath the surface, just enough, just long enough to drown the great mammal. That’s what they do—Killer Whales tire and then drown their victims.
She’s dead! The only life sustained now is by scavengers, which eat away the great carcass, eating away from beneath, so no one will notice.
Where has all the life gone? Where are all the people? The seats are filled, but the faces are all new! Photos, snapshots, a little praise, a little worship and the awing crowds come and go. Her spiritual body is being ripped and torn, but alas, no one notices—no one cares! All the religious busyness has weakened her; the earthly burdens and grand visions of men have weighed her down, tiring her, just enough, just long enough to drown her!
As the whale lives in the oceans and seas, it breathes air. My Church lives in the world, but it must breath heaven, it must come up to me for every word that proceeds from my mouth, or it shall die.
It all looks good. It seems real life is here, but if you get close enough, if you look beneath, you’ll see — She’s being eaten alive! Scavengers, Profiteers, Scammers, Whalers! What Jesus has brought together, man tears asunder!
We are being built into a spiritual house, brought together by Christ himself, so that we may become the habitation for His Spirit, that we may do greater deeds, deeds complete in His sight! But your acts only produce seedless fruit. It falls to the earth but does not reproduce! Why won’t you seek Heaven’s pollen?
Believe me, crowds do not constitute spiritual relevance. They may come to have their bellies filled—they may be curious or want to be entertained. They’ll feast and feed if you let them, but they have no heart to obey!
Scavengers, Spiritual Vagabonds, Drifters! If you pursue them, when your life’s work is complete, you’ll not go out with a “bang” but with a whimper! It may go “BANG!” on earth, but it will be a dud in heaven! Better to ally with those who’ve not soiled their clothes rather than those who bask in worldliness.
“To the angel of the church, in Sardis, write:
“These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard, obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief. You will not know at what time I will come to you.
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life but acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” —Revelations 3:1-6
Be watchful and intercede according to the intercessions of Christ Jesus, lest all is lost.
I felt led to present this prophetic word to my pastor — he liked it so much that he had it published in America’s Good News, regional periodical. Sadly, the message was missed, and three years later, my beloved pastor died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his face. It was unknown to all of us that he had been fleecing the flock, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from many in the congregation, especially the elderly. His visions were far too large and too expensive for the small East Bay church.
Towards the end, he was discovered, and charges were filed in two Northern California counties. Rather than face his wrongdoings, repent, and accept the consequences, he ended his life, leaving behind hundreds of devastated believers. I was one of them.
“But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” —Matthew 6:25
What stands between many of us and the life we’re supposed to live is our ability to bullshit.
No, this is not a treatise on global warming or climate change or the negative impact of cow flatulence on our environment—far from it!
This is about fleeing pretense and duplicity and becoming the real you. It’s about breaking down the fake areas in our lives and being honest with ourselves and others.
Wholeness can only be achieved by utter and complete brokenness. This is a universal principle. This is also the opposite of what the world thinks.
I like what Jerry Maguire said in his moment of a breakthrough:
“… Two nights later in Miami at our corporate conference, a breakthrough. Breakdown? Breakthrough. It was the oddest, most unexpected thing. I began writing what they call a mission statement for my company. You know—a Mission Statement—a suggestion for the future. What started out as one page became twenty-five.
Suddenly, I was my father’s son. I was remembering the simple pleasures of this job, how I ended up here out of law school, the way a stadium sounds when one of my players performs well on the field… And suddenly, it was all pretty clear. The answer was fewer clients. Caring for them, caring for ourselves, and the games, too. Starting our lives, really. Hey, I’ll be the first to admit it. What I was writing was somewhat “touchy-feely.” I didn’t care. I had lost the ability to bullshit. It was the me I’d always wanted to be.” —The Movie “Jerry Maguire”
You see a breakthrough, I mean, the kind of breakthrough we know we really need is always preceded by a breakdown. And, when we lose—no, rather, when we refuse to bullshit ourselves and others, we’ll become the people that we’ve always wanted to be.
You’re divinely purposed to become a living act of God’s love and glory. You can’t become what your Creator has intended until you surrender your own mess. That is, your constant self-effort to holding the broken pieces of your life together. Living in fear and dread that your secret life will be exposed at any moment to a live audience.
Living life on constant defense and acting co-dependently, or as a self-enabler, justifying the actions of your false self at the expense of your true self. This is the definition of what I’m referring to as a “mess.”
You can not become assembled in body, mind, and spirit, all the while holding everything together. You are robbing yourself of the very strength and energy you need by wasting it on supporting your falseness and phony facade. Stop being driven by voices inside your head, echoing the curses from your mother or father, or from the other significant persons in your life.
These curses are the voices of “false coaches,” driving you to repeat a cycle of self-destruction and family dysfunction. These curses are carcinogenic to your desire for wholeness and wellness. They are the cancerous agents eating away at the divine purpose for which God has created you.
“Gloria Dei est vivens homo,” wrote Saint Irenaeus, which means:
“The glory of God is a living man.”
The glory of God is you fully living, and not your daily self-destruction and learned dysfunction.
In the human body, you can not build muscle without first tearing down the muscle you have. Tearing down the muscle requires a determination to submit to the pain and deny yourself comfort. Likewise, you must have a willing determination to submit your very life and comforts to God.
James says it this way:
4-6 “You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way. And do you suppose God doesn’t care? The proverb has it that “he’s a fiercely jealous lover.” And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you’ll find. It’s common knowledge that “God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble.”
7-10 So let God work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God, and he’ll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the only way you’ll get on your feet.” —James 4:6-10 (MSG)
Pride is self-destruction, low esteem, self-loathing, and such, is what’s been behind your self-effort of “holding it all together.” This is why pride always precedes a profound fall. There is nothing good in this kind of a fall because it’s always a fall from grace and not towards it.
Do you want God’s grace? Become truly humble. Oh yes, it is painful to stop your self-salvation and accept the truth, and act on it. But the light, which will come flooding into your darkness, will bring the wholeness and wellness you’ve been searching for.
The problem with bullshit is that it is no respecter of person, race, religion, or age—it flows from all of us! Far too many of us hide behind B.S.
“Men love darkness, rather than light,” this is true. But you can not become the man or woman you were meant to become all the while remaining in darkness. Just as painful as it is to build muscle, is it painful at first to step out from darkness into God’s marvelous light!
The gain from the pain of coming into the light is worth the life of wholeness and holiness.
Did you know that embracing your brokenness rather than hiding it will cause collateral beauty?
There may be a divine and strategic purpose behind your brokenness that, when shared with others, may cause a chain reaction of hope and healing in you and in them.
At this very moment, you’re standing at a crossroad—at a turning point; your next decision can create a paradigm shift of unprecedented emotional and spiritual change.
“The Lord said to his people…
“’You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not follow it!’” —Jeremiah 6:16 (NET)
Stop hanging out with the “We will not follow it” crowd!
You no longer belong to the crowd who refuse to follow the right path.
Stop staring at the crossroad in front of you and follow the right path. Stop saving yourself and fall into the grace, mercy, and love of God, and you will become the man or woman you’ve always wanted to be. After all, God put the desire to be his love and glory in you so that you may be fully living, fully alive to a world content with dying and taking you with it.
A breakdown is always before a breakthrough. God is waiting if you are willing. Open up to God or find a trusted friend to help lead you to God’s grace.
God can turn the ugliness of your brokenness into something beautiful!
May I be honest and a bit crass?
… It’s my prayer that you’ll lose your ability to “bullshit!” – Amen
Call To Courage 