The Blessings of Poverty – Thomas Koester

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The World gives, and the World taketh away.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The poor in spirit are blessed because they chose wisely.

Be blessed!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Vacuum of The Prayerless Church – By Thomas Koester

The prayerless Church creates a vacuous people, void of conscience and the heart of God.

It wasn’t that prayer was taken out of our public school systems, which harmed the Nation. Rather it was prayer removed from many Churches; from our homes, and businesses that pushed our country into the depths of paganistic hedonism.

A few minutes of silent corporate prayer is no substitute for a church on its knees. Prayer must once again become the culture of the church rather than a brief moment of liturgy.

While the Supreme Court decided favorably for Madalyn Murray O’Hair’s 1963 lawsuit against the Baltimore School System that public school prayer was “unconstitutional,” the opportunity and vacuum for which this lawsuit was created were missed by the Church and Christian families.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as front-lets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and your gates.” Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

“My son, obey your father’s commands and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. For their command is a lamp and instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to live.” Proverbs 6:21

We cannot blame a secular government for the failings of the Church and the lack of responsibility of “God-honoring” parents.

Yet the cure is not to politic or legislate but to dedicate and dictate God’s Word beginning from our homes and into our Churches, and out into the public square. To reinstate prayer, true repentant prayer, into our Churches, from our Temples, and our closets to family rooms and boardrooms.

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)

I don’t see any mention of school prayer here!

To blame our Nation’s moral tragedy on our children not praying?

This can only be because Churches and homes have lost their moral courage to do what is clear and accurate; humility, prayer, seeking God’s face, and repenting and turning from our wicked ways. Don’t blame the children or the ungodly and the unrighteous for our failure as a People of God. Just get it right and do the things which God has commanded and Christ has taught.

The prayerless Church creates a vacuous people, void of conscience and the heart of God.

Cry out to God so that prayer everywhere will be heard once again.

The Prodigal Father – Turning Your Heart Towards Your Children – By Thomas Koester

Don’t wait for your kids to find your heart, be brave and pursue theirs. It’ll change everything!

Before a nation collapses, the family collapses. Before a family collapses, the father collapses. Therefore, the fall of nations is the failure of fathers.

After a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Toni and I finally went to a movie theater in Angels Camp, California, to watch the sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” We watched it in 3D at 48 frames per second. Wow!

The movie’s subtitle should have read, “The Way of Fathers.”

While the cinematography, special effects, action, and acting were all superb, the portrayal of the father’s role was unmistakable and powerful! Matter of fact so was the mother’s role. The importance of parents and family is something we rarely see in movies produced in Holywood.

While James Cameron wrote a fantastic story and script, the importance of fathers taking responsibility for their children was something to behold. Just like in the world of Avatar, our world needs strong, uncompromising fathers to survive!

I see the role and importance of fathers in the Bible, from the first chapter of Genesis to the last chapter of the Book of Revelations. From the last book of the Old Testament, the final chapter, and the last two verses, and to the opening of the New Testament, in the Book of Luke, chapter one, verses fifteen through seventeen.

Malachi 4: 5-6 (Last Old Testament Book)

“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.”

Luke 1: 15-17 (One of the First New Testament Books)

15, ff “…And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even in his mother’s womb. 16 And he will turn many of the children of Israel to their Lord God. 17, And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the unbelievers to the wisdom of the just men: to make the people ready for the Lord.”

John the Baptist was the second Elijah spoken about in the Book of Malachi. It was his job to stir the hearts of fathers to their sons and daughters. Otherwise, the mission of Jesus to reconcile the lost sons and daughters of Israel to his Heavenly Father would have met hardened hearts.

Our roles as fathers are not only the most significant societal and cultural role; it is the single most important relational/spiritual role our children can have here on earth. Malachi is pointing out that a father’s estrangement (absence) from his children has the potential of cursing our land and creating avenues of destruction throughout our cities and towns. Estranged and absent fathers make ungodly and rebellious children. It also hardens the children’s hearts against the love of God, his Heavenly Father’s role, and ultimately His plan of salvation for them.

Do you fathers understand your role and responsibility in God’s plan of salvation for your children? You will be held to account. Do you want to stand before God as a deadbeat dad?

There can be no more significant failure in a man’s life than to turn his back on his marriage and children.

The career is not worth it. An affair is not worth it. Money is not worth it. One more drink is not worth it. Your girlfriend is not worth it. Even your “ministry” is not worth the sacrifice of your children.

Suppose you’re on the fence about your marriage and your responsibility for your children. Suppose you’ve walked out of your marriage and your kids’ lives. Suppose you’re in an affair or about to enter one. Even the promotion in work or ministry could take you away from your wife and kids. Consider the impact on their lives and future and our culture before you walk off the cliff of selfishness. It is not worth it, men!

Go back home to the wife of your first love. Go back home to the family you’ve left behind. Go back home to the most extraordinary life a man can live. Rescue your wife, save your children and save your legacy!

Reconciliation becomes possible when fathers turn their hearts back towards their children, taking responsibility and becoming accountable for them. To reverse the curse, which is undeniably present in our culture, we fathers must turn back to God and walk in His ways so that we can again point our children to a greater Father to embrace, love, and walk with throughout their lifetime.

The success of marriage and unconditional commitment to our wives and children must exceed the failure rate of broken families and absent fathers. If this tide cannot be turned, then as Malachi has prophetically declared, our land will indeed become cursed and worsen rapidly.

Repair the breach, men! Turn your hearts back towards your sons and daughters. Repair your marriages and live up to your commitments. Turn your hearts back to God and walk with Him as your True Father and listen to His advice and wise counsel. After all, He is the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Wonderful Counselor, and Prince of Peace. God is everything we need as men to become the fathers our sons and daughters need and our land requires.

To those sons and daughters that have lost their fathers due to death, you can still turn your hearts back towards him. Forgiveness is your most significant path to a new life, to a new future, and to become healed from your heartache.

This is the only path to a cure; to reverse the curse and restore our great Nation through restored families! Get it done, men!

…It may only take “20 seconds of courage.”

Make this your New Year’s Resolution, a Revolution For the Love of your children.

Prodigal fathers, come home!

“Just Do It!”

Put Your Faith In God and Not Politics – By Thomas Koester

A 2023 Forecast…

Judgment is approaching, and it’s just around the corner. But it’s not for the world. No, its time has been reserved for a day yet coming. This impending judgment is not for the lost but for the so-called righteous who condemn and toss out people of poverty, of thirst, with no coat nor cot…

… They failed to see the less fed and less dressed as Jesus in their midst.

So, our homes and our houses are spitting us out. Strangers and foreigners pick through our belongings and move in while we’re out. Our treasures and trinkets were collected and sold, carted by strangers who brag of their gold.

Church buildings, sanctuaries, temples, and steeples are auctioned and sold to other people. Coffers and budgets are empty and bare; velvet-lined plates are far less of cash, coin, and fare.

While worshiping in style of pagan delight, God’s Word came and went while we slept in the light. Prophets and priests proclaimed prosperity and health; we forgot about holiness and exchanged it for wealth.

Judgment can be averted but not with mere prayer; there must be repentance and dust in the air, sackcloth for clothes and ashes for hats, tears of repentance and confession ne’er held back.

To avoid the perpetual crushing of God’s fair assessment, far better to repent than go down in besetment.

“Dear Children, keep yourselves from idols,” warned John. But none took him seriously, so we fashioned and formed them one after another till our houses became filled up to the rafters!

The window is closing; the door has long since shut. No politician, talk show, or New York Best Seller can reverse all we have glut.

Now that the coffers of both State and country are emptied and spent, the people rise in loud cries and lament:

“Give us our water, our dirt, and our hay, and we’ll work even faster, and bricks we will lay — our sons and our daughters will pay, Pay, PAY!”

The party is over — It has been for some time. Only God can help us in judgment. He will refine. He’ll not listen to our cries and our whimpering whines but only of a bride, forthcoming in beauty divine.

Put you faith In God and not political might; His Kingdom is here within you, so fight, Fight, FIGHT!

Not man and his flesh do we engage and embattle but the kingdom of darkness in principality and power.

So ready your hearts; your homes get in order; God’s coming down, but not for the rapture hour!

A Living Body or The Tired Minister – By Thomas J. Koester

“Here lies a faithful parishioner that never missed a Sunday morning service.”

Matthew 18:19-20

Amplified Bible

“Again I say to you, that if two believers on earth agree [that is, are of one mind, in harmony] about anything that they ask [within the will of God], it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in My name [meeting together as My followers], I am there among them.”

When the Church comes together in perfect unity, we form an abode or a habitation for the presence of God. It is our connecting and unity that creates the Church and not a building. What fills the Church is, therefore, not sinners but saints. Each is filled with the Holy Spirit and the likeness of Christ. We know we have achieved this when we have unconditional love for one another and respect and honor for those who are our servant-leaders.

This is not about the perfection of both the saints and those who lead. It’s about perfect love and devotion to Christ and his teaching. When we are devoted to Christ and his ways, grace, mercy, and love prevails. When we focus on the failings of one another, and especially those who must give an account to the Lord for their servant-leadership, there is no abiding presence of God. Unity is thwarted, the glory of God departs, and we simply become a building of brick and mortar.

Christ will not fill a building, no matter how pretty or architecturally pleasing it may be. He fills his people and, in a special way, when they gather in unity of faith, love, and sound teaching.

When we have unconditional love and forgiveness towards one another, and when we honor those in authority over us who must give an account to God, Christ dwells in our midst. Even when our gatherings are as few as two or three and have no building to gather in—we are the Church.

The concept and identity of the Church, which, by the way, is living and active, is not summed up by Sunday services. The reason why Christ said, “where two or three are gathered in my name there am I in their midst,” is not meant to be concealed by a building or regulated by a 90 minute service, but to become a mobile spiritual habitation of the glorious presence of God. Therefore, we are to be missional, just as Christ was during his earthly ministry. Right? Jesus didn’t set up shop at some local corner with a sign on the window, advertising, “open for business.” No! He went to where people gathered!

Stop “going” to Church and become the Church! Start loving, honoring, and preferring one another. Keep forgiving and loving one another as Christ has forgiven and loved you. Serve one another, as actually serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Do everything out of love and respect for the Lord. Devote yourselves to studying and reading the scriptures and practicing the presence of God within your own hearts and souls so that you may become a whole and a holy people when you gather. When the world sees your love for one another, they will believe your message!

Ministry is not meant for the minister. Rather, ministers are to teach the Church to minister first to one another and then to the world. Our individual and corporate maturity depends on each person operating in the spiritual gift given them by the Holy Spirit. The gifts given by Christ to the Church are offices, such as apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers. These offices are to train and equip the Church to do the work of ministry.

The officers are not meant to do all the work but to empower the church to carry out the work of ministry so that we all may reach maturity. An immature Church is one who produces spectators, which only increase from transient, church hopping attendees that are only devoted to themselves, and introverted church programs.

To the immature church, tithes, gifts, and offerings are only needed for self-sufficiency and to sustain the ministry strictly for the ministered. The tragic reality is that many churches simply send 10% of their revenue from tithes to missionaries rather than sending out people on a mission. Jesus Christ didn’t die to create token churches. Churches are not meant to become cemeteries of dead saints, scattered in the landscape, or sitting in church pews disengaged from ministry.

Did you know that recent studies have shown that sitting is more deadlier than smoking? Sitting around as Christians and as a church community is deadly to our testimony and our future glory.

An alive church is one that reproduces apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers. An alive church recognizes the expansion of the Kingdom of Heaven rather than the expansion of their sanctuaries. The alive Church sends people out and evangelizes new converts to take their place.

Time, talent, and treasure are outwardly focused on inwardly spirit-filled saints, gathered with an outward, unified conscience of obedience, and a call to “mission impossible,” rather than a mission for dead saints.

Letters in Red (said by Jesus): “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.” – Matthew 18:18-20 (NKJV)

Become alive in Christ. Live life to the fullest in Christ. Aid and pray for your pastors. Pastors, train your congregations, and do not just preach at them.

Could you imagine if all churches became equipping, training, and sending churches?

I think Christ died outside the Temple, so the entire world would see his atonement and would know of his sacrifice.

I think Jesus wants the whole world to see his Church, also outside the Temple, outside of brick and mortar buildings, so all the world would see and know of his love.

We must become more than a location, more than a building on East 3rd and West. 4th Street. We must become a living body.

If not an active and living body, we’ll become nothing more and a pretty building with a tired minister of perpetual ministering to over-ministered people with no mission; landscaped with clusters of graves and headstones. The epitaphs will read:

“Here lies a faithful parishioner that never missed a Sunday morning service.”

That sounds a little, like the servant, who buried his master’s talent into the earth because he was afraid and so risked nothing. Matthew 25:14-30

Be a living body and not a tired old minister preaching to the chior.

The Grasshopper and The Giant – By Thomas Koester

Remember the story of the twelve Hebrew spies that Moses sent into the promised land?

“Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses, and said, “Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.”

“… But the others said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the people of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them, we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.” Numbers 13: 30-33

It’s your faith in God that gives you a proper perspective. Joshua and Caleb’s faith in the ability of God convinced them:

“Let’s go up and take the land—now. We can do it.” – Caleb

For many, the microscopic COVID-19 virus had become their giant. But even here and now, in the 21st century, we have a similar choice.

Do we become paralyzed with fear?

Do we spread rumors and fake news?

Do we so easily forfeit our rights as citizens?

How does our faith work in this situation?

Is an unseen pathogen beyond the ability of God, stronger than God?

Is Governor Cuomo right in what he said?

“The number [deaths] is down because we brought the number down,” he told the press. “God did not do that. Faith did not do that. Destiny did not do that. A lot of pain and suffering did that…” – Governor Cuomo, New York

Are we on our own, left to our own demise?

Certainly not!

Are you a Joshua and Caleb, or are you easily intimidated by giants?

If we could be convinced that the giants we face in our darkest days are only grasshoppers, then we’d realize that our faith in God actually makes us into giants.

Faith changes our perception of what is impossible or immovable, to what is possible and moveable. This is true of those with the smallest of faith. Even our smallest faith in God can bring us our biggest triumphs in life.

As a matter of fact, when you actuate your faith in God, the Devil and his minions see you as a giant. Their perception of you changes as your faith is exercised.

So, believe the Eternal One who is in you so that you may defeat the Evil One who is in the world. It should always be faith over matter and not matter over faith. Faith in God always triumphs against evil. Faith triumphs against our fears. Against our sicknesses; our diseases, our losses, and against our loneliness. Faith moves us to do the impossible for God.

I’ll say it again…

…faith in God always triumphs.

He triumphs over everything, even in death. So, shout at your giants in the Name of Jesus; being yielded to God and while standing firm in your faith, and the giants must flee, and they’ll scurry away like grasshoppers!

Your faith is a bold proclamation of your sonship and authority in Christ, and it sends giants packing and shrinks them down to size.

The 14 year old singer-songwriter and poet, David, son of Jesse, knew it. And, now you know it.

You are not the grasshopper. Your faith makes you the Giant!

Here’s the Church, And Here’s The Steeple, Open The Doors And Where’s All the People? – By Thomas J. Koester

The COVID-19 virus caused the emptying of 21st-century Christianity’s churches and cathedrals.

While the empty tomb of our Lord and Savior is, and forever, will be the main power source of Christianity, the Social Distancing edict might have inadvertently caused a miracle. Due to COVID-19, maybe empty church buildings will also become, in a small way, (a) power source for modern-day Christianity. Maybe our closed buildings will mean an opening to global evangelism.

The empty tomb meant that the old religious order of continual animal sacrifices was over. It means that the old order of the priesthood was over. It meant that the veil, which separated you and me from direct access to God, was torn down. And very importantly, it meant that where two or more are gathered, there in their midst is the very presences of God, and no longer confined to the temple made by man. It means that even when we are alone, and without each other, that God is with us and in our very own hearts.

God’s people no longer needed priests. God’s people no longer needed animal sacrifices to make atonement. God’s people no longer had to experience His favor and presence by proxy. And, God’s people no longer were confined to a temple made of bricks and mortar.

Because of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are free of all the religious trappings and traditions of men and of the consequences of the law. We are free to be the Church wherever we gather, even as few as two people!

Let us capitalize on our present situation and be convinced, once and for all, that we, as God’s people, are the Church. We are the living church. We, you and I, are the bride of Christ. Our church buildings, plain or palatial, were never meant to be the representation of the world.

Although, sadly, Church buildings had become the identity of Christianity. It is my hope that God’s people will be recognized as the Church and regain her position as the living bride of Christ and the center of Christianity.

One Sunday, Toni and I visited a church in Oakdale, California. When we arrived, we walked in and learned that the Church was emptied except for a few people who were preparing a luncheon, later to be enjoyed by the returning congregation. Rather than their typical service, the Church was in the downtown square, assisting their local community. We were actually pleasantly surprised and not at all offended by the empty sanctuary.

Do not be overcome because we cannot presently occupy a building, but celebrate that with or without buildings that we are the Bride of Christ, and that we’re meant to deliver the Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation and to every people. In doing so, our proclamation will hasten the ending and will launch the new beginning that we’ve all been longing for.

For the past 1700 years, Christianity created and built ornate cathedrals with spires and steeples pointing to the heavens.

Let the truth be known:

“Church steeples can be traced back thousands of years to Egypt and pagan worship. Roman Emperor Constantine and his “Edict of Milan” in 313CE made the Empire officially neutral with regard to religion. Eventually, Pagan and Christian symbols were eventually merged at the Council of Nicea in 325CE, and new doctrines and dogmas were set up by the Holy Roman Catholic (meaning universal) Church, and strictly enforced, under penalty of death.”

Since then, this building emphasizes that along with Christianity, continually orbiting ornate and palatial constructs, we’ve ceased going into all the world with the Gospel and instead invited all the world into our buildings. Over time, the contrast between Christianity and “worldlism” diminished. Rather than the world becoming more influenced by Christianity, the world’s influence had crept into our churches and has negated our need for faith and the Great Commission.

Let’s pray that this COVID-19 virus heals Christianity from its obsession with buildings and steeples and instead goes out, even as few as two-by-two, to all the peoples.

God’s blessings and power to the true Living Church and Bride of Christ – Amen

The Intentional Collapsing of America Through Tolerance – By Thomas Koester

There is an unseen force, which has corrupted all seven pillars of our culture and society.
1. God/Absolute Truth/Freedom to Worship.
2. Traditional Family.
3. Morality/Ethics/Rule of Law.
4. Sanctity of all Human Life/Civility.
5. Independent Private Education/Ungoverned Learning.
6. Work Ethic/Entrepreneurial Spirit.
7. Freedom/Liberty/Self-Governance.
It is the progressive spirit and its gradualism, which had accomplished this in a free and opened society by utilizing the same freedoms guaranteed us by God and afforded to us through our Constitution. The single most deadly word which historians will ascribe to the loss of such a Great Nation as ours is “tolerance.”
Tolerance is the perfect atmosphere in which progressivism and gradualism are required in order to corrupt the Seven Pillars of any culture, society or nation, and religious institutions. Once it takes root, it slowly and patiently corrupts each pillar like rust or dry rot slowly and inevitably destroys foundations.
“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalms 11:3
The Spirit of the Age knows this. And, it is the Church, more than any other institution which has permitted this corruption through a single, most basics and simple word called “Love.”
Once we allowed the Spirit of the Age, through our tolerance to exclude from God all other attributes except His divine nature of Love, the World and Spirit of the Age only had to emphasize and exploit the benevolence and tolerance of God to neutralize the Churches obligation and calling. And, we therefore forfeited our mandate of being both the salt and the light of every generation and to every nation.
What will it take in this our Nations most desperate hour?
The Righteous must repent of their own unrighteousness and return to the God of Heaven and Earth and destroy the Golden Calf of the “False Yahweh,”
which we allowed the Spirit of the Age to form in our presence in exchange for worldly relevance.
For who needs to be saved from a loving God? And, what Christian would need to fear such a benevolent and tolerant God?
For God has not changed, His Just and Righteous Wrath and all its fury is being stored up.
Christ Jesus becomes the perfect Lamb of God. The blood of Christ is divine and uncorrupted, and because of the immaculate implantation of the Seed of God into the womb of Mary, a perfect substitute for all mankind was born.
This New Covenant, which God had ordained, expanded the love He had already demonstrated to the people of Israel for centuries past before the birth of Christ. God did not become more loving. His great and amazing love does not trump His other attributes. Rather, God expanded His amazing plan of salvation to all mankind.
“No man can come to the Father except through me,” said Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the only access, the only door and the only relevance for all mankind. Belief through faith and obedience in and to the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved from the wrath of God against all men of every race and creed Yes, God is a loving God, but until you believe through faith and act in obedience, you are under His just wrath.
Trust and believe in Christ Jesus today. And begin a new year with a new life, and so restore the pillars of our culture, society, and nation, one man and woman at a time. Jesus Christ remains our only hope and our only Savior.
There are things that only the righteous can do that no president or politician can. Reveal the True and whole Counsel of God. Exalt the one and only Living God as He is and not what the world wants.
Our God is no love guru. He is God Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth. His love and tolerance are only found in Jesus Christ. He is our only remedy against God’s wrath.

Only God can stop the collapsing of America.