Faith In The Fiery Furnace – By Thomas Koester

Is your faith ready for the fiery furnace?

“If our God, whom we honor, can save us from a blazing furnace and from your power, he will, Your Majesty. But if he doesn’t, you should know, Your Majesty, we’ll never honor your gods or worship the gold statue that you set up.” Daniel 3:17-18

As the banks fail, global economies collapse, and protests around the world turn into violence; we believers everywhere must cling to God and His Word and never cease from honoring our God. We must resist men who threaten to seize control over our lives and who are progressively replacing the God whom we worship, with false gods and ideologies increasingly infesting our sacred institutions.

We will never bow to a false president, nor accept fraudulent elections. We will not honor any decrees which dishonor God or the sanctity of life. We will never worship the government or live by every word from the mouth of Washington DC.

We refuse to listen to fakers and thieves, whether in Church or government, cable news, or podcasts.

So, even if our God delays, our most sincere prayers and longing for a New Heaven and a New Earth, we’ll never honor false gods or fake news broadcasts, nor will we honor their czar-gods, or worship “the golden woke programming” that they continue to force us to watch.

Why? Because the Church will be too busy caring for the lost and reaching them in the four corners of this darkening world.

Rise O’ Bride of Christ, your finest hour has dawned this year of tragedy, our window of opportunity to exploit the last rays of freedom’s daylight is closing. Otherwise, the day of our persecution and times of trouble spoken about in the Scriptures will soon provide the contrast which should have been there all along.

Our listening to glorious Sunday morning messages, talk radio; Christian branding, and marketing of worldly delights have forfeited the grace and culture that could have been ours. We’ve lost our Nation not because we adhered to our Christianity, but because we did not preach its redemptive messages outside of our pretty Church buildings and corporate structures.

We’re losing our Nation not because we’ve not read enough Christian authors, or followed each crazed Christian fad, but rather because we chose passivity and embellished ourselves on “Turkish Delights” of Worldliness, and gazed too long at the bewitchment of the Queen of Goodies and new Technologies. (For which, I too am guilty).

Because we used our freedom to form and fashion false gods of tolerance, gods of laughs and giggles; thumbs up, and “Likes” to our sins and compromises. So we branded our Golden Calf with the name “Yahweh” to ease our guilty consciences and silence the voice of God’s whispering Holy Spirit of repentance.

Our Nation’s ruin is not our failed politics, or lack of political might, but rather our refusal to preach the Gospel of a better order, and of an eternal and expanding Kingdom. A Kingdom led by the King of kings, Lord of lords, and the Presidents of presidents, that is Jesus Christ, The Righteousness of God!

But there is still Hope. And, the God of all hopes dwells within you. The time is NOW to declare the Hope which is inside of you. For how can it be hope unless you speak it out to the hopeless and the hope-lost?

Put down the false gods of our age, and thus brighten the future of America. Our liberty was won by people whose God is the Lord.

Get your faith and houses in order. Decide now, not later what you will do when the world crashes around you.

“Fear nothing—not wild wolves in the night,
not flying arrows in the day,
Not disease that prowls through the darkness,
not disaster that erupts at high noon.
Even though others succumb all around,
drop like flies right and left,
no harm will even graze you.” Psalms 91:5-7

Face the coming firey trials like Daniel and his friends did. Obey God. Defy the false gods. Stand firm in your faith. Be courageous!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay, now that poem I had spoken about…

The poem – Dying To Self

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Highway to Hell – By Thomas Koester

Good intentions won’t save you; far too many people have learned too late that that’s just the devil’s pavement to hell.

“As missional Christians, we don’t want to be stuck in the past, speaking to where culture was 10 years ago—we need to be relevant today.” – Alex Early

I disagree with Alex Early, and here’s why…

There is a difference between customs and culture. When Toni and I were missionaries in Puerto Rico and Dominica Republic, we were very careful about their customs and were trained to respect them. It was our intent to bring the culture of the Kingdom of Heaven and the power of the Gospel through word and actions to the Caribbean people.

Communism was rampant throughout Dominica. One night, I was even picked up by Dominican soldiers at gun point and led away. We were not there to adopt their culture but to invite them into the amazing and life giving, soul saving, world changing, person of Jesus Christ; him crucified, buried in a tomb and raised to life!

The wonderful, undiluted, non-world-conforming, uncompromising, inerrant, ever constant, and eternal truth of God needs not be relevant to the world. Rather, the world must pursue the relevance of Heaven through Christ.

Didn’t Jesus teach us to seek His Father’s will and Kingdom as it exists in heaven for earth and not the other way around? Relevancy originates in Heaven and not on the shiftiness of earth.

The spirit of political progressivism has spread into the Church. It is a leaven and is working its way through the body. This is the unfortunate philosophical message in Mr. Early’s quote. While in the wilderness, didn’t Jesus reject the temptation by Satan to be relevant?

“Bow down and worship me,” said Satan, “and I will give you all the kingdoms of the world.” Matthew 4: 8-9

Cultural relevancy, that is to adapt the Gospel to contemporary culture is demonic.

The Gospel, as it was proclaimed in the beginning, requires no repackaging or homogenization; it requires no modernization or Hollywood sensation; it does not require special effects or celebrity endorsement. It finds its power working best in the weak, in the poor in spirit, in the persecuted, in the merciful, in those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and in the pure of heart.

These types of missional Christians need not be relevant to the in vogue culture. No, the world is not worthy of these types of Christ followers. If their message is rejected; let me say again, if their message is rejected, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and more tolerable for Gomorrah then it will be for that town, or, for that culture in the day of Judgment.

The culture and people must be relevant to the Gospel or reject it. To do so otherwise is to progressively reduce the Gospel’s message into politically correct and palatable speech. While it may produce a form of godliness, it will deny its power.

The ends justifying the means is not a biblical model. It is a key principle of the secular humanists, radical socialists, and Leftest revolutionaries.

We do not use the methods of the world to win the world! Rather, we use divine weapons to dismantle every thought and argument, which raises itself against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ, and not culture.

Christ must become our culture, and we therefore must preach Christ as he was, as he is; as he will always be. Christ is constant and current in any age as himself.

We do not need to dress Jesus as hipsters or in saggy pants; braid his hair or tattoo images of angels on his shoulders or forearms. We don’t need to pierce his lip, his chin, or brow; they’ve already been pierced on our behalf. One day, we’ll all see Him whom we’ve pierced and out of fear and reverence we’ll all fall to our knees.

Yes, Christ is always relevant, in every age and in every culture. After all, He is the Alpha and Omega; the First and the Last; the Beginning and the End. He is our constant and our Rock.

If you recall, everyone, even Jesus’ own family, wanted him to both conform and be relevant. Jesus’ only relevance was his Father’s will and his Father’s ways. Anything more would be pride; anything less would be rebellion.

The war is over our minds and thoughts. It seeks control over body and soul. It has been lurking around for thousands of years. Now, in these last days, it has crossed the threshold of many churches, colleges, universities, and even our seminaries.

We must return to the scriptures and stop elevating what man says and thinks. “On Christ the Solid Rock [we] stand – All other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.”

Good intentions won’t save you; far too many people have learned too late that that’s just the devil’s pavement to hell.

Believe in Jesus Christ as he is or don’t believe at all. Relevance is the highway to hell, and narrow is the way to life, and few find it.

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 Secret Psychological Weapon – By Thomas Koester

Don’t fall for the secrpet weapons of psychological warfare. They’re after your mind.

This may be one of the most important articles that I’ve written. Copy, paste, and share, or better yet, print this out while you can.

The Psy-war is WWIII in broad daylight and without bullets. Don’t be mistaken. WWIII has already begun!

Political Psy-war:

This is the weapon our government and the alphabet media organizations use to inflict fraud after fraud upon the American people. Inflation, presidential elections, wokeism, cancel culture, January 6th, green energy, the border crisis, etc., just to name a few.

Through their “psy-war,” they’re also responsible for creating a two-class society of the jabbed and non-jabbed – the unmasked and the masked, the rich and the poor, etc.

“Psychological warfare involves the planned use of propaganda and other psychological operations to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes, and behavior of opposition groups. RAND has studied military information support operations (MISO) in many countries and war zones and has provided objective and supportable recommendations to policymakers on methods and tactics to employ or defend against these operations.”

[The RAND Strategy Assessment Center (RSAC) is an ambitious multiyear effort to improve methods of strategy analysis by combining the best features of war gaming and analytic modeling].

The Secret Weapon:

“Reversive Blockade”

Here’s how they do it…

This mechanism is called “reversive blockade.” The secret psychological weapon of psychopaths in power. Hitler revealed it bluntly because he knew it would work anywhere and on any people.

“Reversive blockade: Emphatically insisting upon something which is the opposite of the truth blocks the average person’s mind from perceiving the truth. By the dictates of healthy common sense, he starts searching for meaning in the “golden mean” between the truth and its opposite, winding up with some satisfactory counterfeit.

People who think like this do not realize that this effect is precisely the intent of the person who subjects them to this method. If the counterfeit of the truth is the opposite of moral truth, at the same time, it simultaneously represents an extreme paramoralism and bears its peculiar suggestiveness.” Paramoralisms are moral-sounding statements that seek to blame, manipulate, or mislead. Paramoralism is used to achieve political evil upon the masses for political control.

Source: Andrzej Łobaczewski, “Political Ponerology: A Science on the Nature of Evil Adjusted for Political Purposes,” page no. 151

Does it make sense to you now, why the government and the news media tells you what you see with your eyes and what you hear with your ears are lies? They do this to control and shape information and ideologies. They want to control all sources of information, including what you see and hear over social media. Their agenda must succeed at all cost. They’ll lie about, deceive, and character assassinate their opponents, or worse.

We must reject their psychological warfare and their usurpation of our right to free speech, freedom of thought, and our God-given use of common sense.

Usurpation: “to seize or exercise authority or possession wrongfully, to seize and hold (office, place, functions, powers, etc.) in possession by force or without right.” Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster

Don’t fall for the secret weapons of psychological warfare. They’re after your mind.

They do this so that their wretched and godless ideology becomes your ideology. This is all done without your awareness or permission. Look around, we’ve already lost two generations due to reversive blockade and paramoralism.

Our ignorance and indifference are causing us to lose the psychological war!

SNAP OUT OF IT!

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!”

Set Yourself Free – By Thomas Koester

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

Did you know that our lists of unforgiven people become building blocks for an inner stronghold where hatred will fester and thrive?

We become deceived into thinking that our unforgiveness is justified due to the seriousness of the offense against us.

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

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

Your forgiveness is the only key to unlocking your prison door. It is the only way in which you, yourself, can be forgiven.

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

In Jesus’ Name, let it go; forgive them, and set yourself free!

The Power of Inner Peace – By Thomas Koester

Your inner peace expressed outwardly is a greater force than a sword or spear.

Inner peace equals outer peace. You can’t have one without the other. The world’s peace is fragile and flimsy. You’ve not been given worldly peace.

Jesus’ Gift of Peace

“Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful.” John 14:27

Jesus tells us that his peace transcends the world’s concept of peace. So much so that our hearts must not be troubled or fearful. To be troubled or fearful means that our focus on Jesus has been compromised. We’ve allowed something other than the peace of Christ to work its way into our hearts and minds.

This doesn’t happen overnight. A slow and steady diet of false peace that the world offers; that is, peace in persons, places, and things, is nothing but empty calories, so to speak. We think that if we live in the world that we must act like the world. But honestly, we are no longer of this world. Our hearts and minds should be in heaven, the same place our treasures ought to be.

It’s the world’s trouble and fear which makes us think that way. Closeness to Jesus, resting in his authority, his Holy Word, and abiding in the Holy Spirit (The Comforter) is how we have peace when the world and our Nation are in turmoil.

Are you aware that turmoil and chaos are just around the corner?

Are you ready?

Will your peace weather the storm?

The world has its warriors, but you men and women are sons and daughters of The Most-High God. Heirs to Christ and possessors of the Holy Spirit. You have no trouble like the world has and nothing to worry about.

I’ll repeat it; you have no trouble like the world has and nothing to fear. Instead, quiet the world with the peace of Jesus Christ.

Your Savior is the Prince of Peace, and he resides in you! But you also must live in the Words of Jesus, in his promises and commands.

What can make your trouble troubling is when you forget that Jesus has made you an overcomer. Jesus never said if we believed and belonged to him that, we’d have no problems. On the contrary, here’s what Jesus has said:

“I have told you this so that through me you may have peace. In the world you’ll have trouble, but be courageous—I’ve overcome the world!” – John 16:33

Your inner peace expressed outwardly is a greater force than a sword or spear. If you have faith, trust, and obedience, your true enemies will know of your qualities well before you arrive — well before you pray and before you speak. You will be known as God’s Peaceful Warrior.

Being a peaceful warrior devastates the devil and his wretched plans. It reminds him of the Messiah’s resurrection, and he scurries away, instantly defeated.

“Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might.” Ephesians 6:10

…And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7.

“For unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” – Isaiah 9:6

Rest in the Peace of Jesus, and join the army of peaceful warriors.

Say What You Need to Say – By Thomas Koester

Don’t let silence kill your life, joy, or your future. Speak from your heart and live.

You may agree that the three most powerful words are “I Love You.”

Can these three little words indeed be so powerful and significant?

After all, for many, these words fall from our mouths so casually and regularly that we miss their true meaning and worth. But what happens if, for some of us, we’ve never heard those words from our moms or dads; or the most important people in our lives?

Well, that was my story…

I lived through nearly four decades of silence from my father. I hated my father because of his silence and uninvolvement in my life as a boy. His career and extreme work ethic took him from me when I needed him.

When I heard that my dad was dying from esophageal cancer, I initially refused to visit him. My anger held me back for a little while until my siblings ganged up on me.

Four days before my father passed, I had the opportunity to stay overnight with him at the VA Hospital in Martinez, CA. (My father was wounded in action by a missile attack during the Korean War on September 19, 1951). He had served in the Army as a Private, 1st Class Medic.

After the lights went out in my dad’s hospital room, courage rose within my heart, and I spoke the three most important words that I could say to the most important man in my life:

Dad?

“Yes, son.”

Dad, …I love you!

It felt like an eternity of silence orbited the darkened hospital room…

…Then, from my dad’s weakened condition, I heard what my heart and soul had so longed to hear during the 39 silent years I had lived:

“I love you too, son.”

Suddenly, unspeakable joy filled my heart, and tears rolled down my face. I called out to my dad several more times that night, saying:

Dad?

“Yes, son.”

Dad, …I love you!

“I love you too, son.”

I heard my father say he loved me, which washed all the years of hurt, anger, and loneliness from my body, soul, and mind. My father’s words were a healing balm that would change my life from that day forward.

My father’s words also helped me to accept my Heavenly Father’s love for me.

“I am my beloved, and he is mine; his banner over me is love!” Songs of Songs

“See, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreaded day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest when I come, I strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5-6

Jesus came to me late on October 8, 1998, at night in that VA Hospital room in Martinez, California. He bound up my wounds and healed my broken heart. He freed this captive and released me from a prison of loneliness, despair, and anger. He lifted the curse from my life, and by becoming my father’s beloved son, I became God’s also!

“Come away with me, my love, my lovely one, come. For you, winter is over and gone. The snow has melted, and the flowers are in bloom; the cooing of the turtle doves can be heard throughout the land. 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.” Songs of Songs

My Dad became my hero and went away to be with the Lord of Life on October 12, 1998. I stood at his right side, holding his hand until he breathed his last breath. He looked up to the ceiling, smiled, and then was gone. We all wept so loudly as a family that our cries could be heard throughout the hospital wing.

A few moments later, I stretched my hand over my father’s face, and I closed my father’s eyes.

Yes, words do matter. Be brave, be courageous, and allow your heart to speak its words before it is too late. The “I love you, dad,” unlocked my father’s heart, which echoed those desperately needed words from him into my hungry and hurting heart and soul.

There is unspeakable power in the three simple words; “I love you” or “please forgive me.” While these words are simple, it takes great courage to say them. Please, don’t be stubborn and don’t be afraid, dare to speak and listen for the reply; “I love you too.”

Scripture says, “If you hear God’s voice today, don’t be stubborn. Don’t be stubborn like those who rebelled in the wilderness.” Hebrews 3:15

Don’t let silence kill your life, joy, or your future. Speak from your heart and live!

Watch this John Mayer Music Video and

“Say What You Need To Say”

…And let your heart speak.

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 then 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!