Standing In The Gap – By Thomas J. Koester

Can one man or one woman make a difference?

Standing in the gap for our nation has nothing to do with complaining, talking, podcasting, or even simple prayers. The word “Intercessor” is made up of two words:

(Inter) meaning: “between” and (ced) meaning: “go.”

To intercede literally means to go and get between God and the need. It means to actually stand in the empty void until God steps in and fills the need.

It is real labor and a deep spiritual endeavor and undertaking of intense pleading, repenting, and even arguing before God on behalf of others, who are either unwilling or unaware for the need to repent or change. Sometimes, this means going to a logistical place and filling the breach in a wall until restoration and revival begins.

Several years ago, a pastor commented about his disappointment with the decision by the Supreme Court, which redefined marriage. His concern, as I’m sure is the concerns of many pastors across the nation, was lawsuits and possible jail time for refusing to officiate certain marriages.

“Maybe I’ll just refuse to do any marriages,” the pastor sadly opined.

Standing in the gap, or becoming a true intercessor is not to abandon culture or society, or to abandon marriage rites altogether, but is to “go between,” even if it means lawsuit or jail time.

Standing in the gap is costly, and true intercession is not a quiet and passive endeavor, but stepping in and between the offenses of men, or even the offenses of a nation and the God of justice, righteousness, and holiness. It is indeed costly!

Daniel was such a man, which bravely stood in the gap of his time.

If you recall, prayer and worship, in public or in private to Jehovah, or any other god for that matter, was outlawed by King Darius. Unscrupulous men of the King’s court had encouraged the King to enact a law (sounds familiar) forbidding any prayer or worship for thirty days.

Daniel, being a continual intercessor for the return of his banished people to Israel, refused to cease his prayers to God. He faithfully prayed three times a day towards Jerusalem near his window, as he had regularly done. But these crafty men had set up surveillance, waiting for the man of God to violate the King’s edict. Having arrested Daniel, they brought him before the King.

Regrettably, as the King had been unknowingly coerced by these evil men to enact the law, the King had no other option but to pass judgment on Daniel, sentencing him to death by caged ferocious lions.

Even in this, Daniel did not waiver in his commitment to intercede or to even apologize for his violation of the new law.

Spoiler alert — When Daniel was tossed into the lion’s den, the lions acted like kittens. When King Darius saw that Daniel’s God had saved him, the King realized that he was duped by the men in his court, and so orders the immediate release of Daniel. The King, now being furious with the men of his court, orders them to be immediately tossed into the lion’s den, where they were instantly torn apart and devoured by the lions.

God saves and protects his intercessors! Did you hear that? God saves his intercessors!

WHERE ARE THE DANIELS OF OUR DAY!?!

Where are the pastors who are willing to go to jail because they stood in the gap against the gods of our culture?

Where are the everyday men and women who’ll stand in the gap for the dismembered unborn!?!

Where are the men and women who will stand in the gap for the fatherless, homeless, or alien, illegal or not in need of salvation?

Where are the evangelists and preachers proclaiming God’s redemptive word in the streets and marketplaces?

Where are the voices of 70.6% of 318 million Christians in America!?!

The darkness is so vivid that even the smallness of true faith can brighten a single city!

WHERE ARE THE FAITHFUL OF THE LAND?

Where is the authority of the believer?

Our silence and passivity have reached heaven. The cries of the unborn and the blood of their partially born dismembered bodies have reached the eyes and ears of the God of Creation. The lost and abandoned children of our cities and towns have reached the courts of God. America’s sins will not go unpunished.

If the sinners will not repent, it is time for the people of God to repent in their stead and stand in the gap, even for the unrighteous acts of our great land!

In all of this, God is still looking for men and women to stand in the gap; to risk time, treasure, and talent; and, if necessary, blood, sweat, and tears for the Good News of the Kingdom.

Diabolic means to “divide” (di) and “abolish” (abolic) – di-abolic. To divide and abolish. It is literally the opposite of the word intercessor!

Can you not see what is happening before our very eyes? Every sector of our culture and society is being divided and abolished, including history, children, family, marriage, sex/gender, education, justice; race, religion, etc.

The evil in our nation is diabolic and is a serious spiritual virus, spreading like an airborne pathogen, infecting the very soul and foundations of our nation and people.

Intercessors in our nation, cities, towns, and villages must stand in this gap and reestablish what darkness has divided and abolished. Fill in the gaps of the moral and spiritual holes in our nation’s walls.

“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30

Can one man make a difference? According to Ezekiel, one man or woman can!

Christ made the difference by his standing in the gap between the just wrath of God against the sins of mankind. Christ was hung on a vertical alter, pointing all people towards the God of Heaven.

Because of what Christ achieved, God exalted his Son to the highest honor and now sits on the right side of God’s throne.

You, too, are seated in heavenly places with Christ and because of Christ.

Do you know how much authority you have in Christ at this very moment?

Be that man or woman, young or old, and stand in the gap on behalf of the lost and our land.

Silence the diabolic and divider with the heart of an intercessor and stand in the gap! AMEN

Courage vs. Reluctance – Thomas J. Koester

My wife, Toni, and I had a short but great conversation about the subtlety of compromise.

The story of the wayward prophet, Balaam, son of Beor, came to mind during our conversation from the book of Numbers, Chapters 22-25.

I truly believe this story of how a wayward prophet was able to cause God’s blessing to be removed from the Israelite Nation is so relevant for today.

It is happening right before our eyes!

Some would say, “but that’s Old Testament. There’s no contemporary relevance.”

Well, the unfortunate actions of Balaam, son of Beor, is herald, not only in several other Old Testament books, from Numbers to Psalms, and from Psalms to Micah, but also in the New Testament; in 2 Peter 2:15, Jude 1:11, and the Book of Revelations, 2:14.

When prophets, as they are doing today, align themselves with divination, the occult, etc; when they are touted and listened to; when they cause God’s people to act and worship as the pagans do, God’s blessing is removed from our Churches and Nation. Evil will then run rampant, as it so obviously is today.

When we are reluctant to do what honors God, our reluctance is a dishonor to his Name. It’s a dishonor to Jesus!

When we place the pleasure (feelings) for others above the holiness and righteousness of God, we’ll experience his displeasure and disfavor.

God’s favor is on the one, or the many, whose zealous but humble actions bring honor to his Name, even in the small things.

Take Sydney McLaughlin, for instance. She sets a new world record and wins the gold metal for the USA in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

“Records come and go, but the glory of God is eternal. And, I no longer run for self-recognition, but to reflect His perfect will that is already set in stone. I don’t deserve anything. But by grace, through faith, Jesus has given me everything.” – Sydney McLaughlin

Do not align yourself to the subtle compromises of others or the rantings of false prophets, If you do, you’ll share their horrible fate. It is a dangerous thing to rob God of his glory and sovereignty.

Haven’t we compromised far too much as individuals, and especially as a nation?

Haven’t far too many Churches lowered their standards of Godliness and righteousness?

Evil runs rampant, but not because evil is powerful but because we lack the zeal of the Lord. God is all powerful, and evil is not. Complacency and passivity however empowers evil by weakening holiness and righteousness. The Church is to be a radiant expression of Christ and not a redundancy of worldly compromise and passivity.

It only took one man, named Balaam, a wayward Prophet, to cause a nation to compromise. It only took one man, Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the grandson of Aaron, whose zealous act turned away God’s wrath.

Where are the Phinehas’ of our day?

Where are the Sydney McLaughlin’s of our time that without compromise, give glory and honor to God?

“Courage, dear, heart…” … defy reluctance! Be zealous and passionate for our Father’s house!

Inspired by the Book of Numbers, Chapters, 22-25.

Absent Parents = Absent America – By Thomas Koester

“Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” – Vladimir Lenin

Our Nation’s future is only secured in how well we parent and educate our children.

The sixteen points I’m about to layout are not opinions or political theories long forgotten. They are based on observations, news broadcasts, lawsuits, and current events. While many were first published in manifestos, books, etc., long ago, they have become daily mainstream news and the topic of many podcasts and publications.

Now, sadly, it’s our turn to witness the collapsing of a once great nation. You and I, regrettably, have a front-row seat.

Every fallen nation before us has encountered these destructive trends:

State and federal controll of education. To educate or re-educate the children away from national and religious morals, tuths, and foundations; to inhibit the royalty of self-governance, personal responsibility, and patriotism; to destroy parental authority and autonomy.
Democratization of the Republic. To replace our representive structure of government, “for the people and by the people,” to a mobocracy, whereby government is ran by mass-appeal and populism; to progressively usher in a Socialistic State; to pave the way for dictatorial, communistic governance.
Seizure and polarization of the Free Press. To control all communications for the purposes of the state and federal governments; to either control or be controlled by partisan means.
The loss of journalistic integrity. To control and create narratives; the abeyance of fact; to avoid exculpatory evidence, fact, and truth that may enforce or promote the counter party’s ideals and positions; to simply distort and twist narratives for party gain.
Cancelation of patriotism and everything that promotes healthy nationalism. To pervert anything that promotes unity, the American way of life and liberty; to distort national pride, ingenuity, achievement, and excellence.
The refusal to teach American, Constitutional, and World history. To create ignorance; to lessen or eliminate the impact and importance of the past; to control future outcomes by eliminating historical fact and evidence.
Destruction of relational norms, i.e. family, sexuality, maternity, and paternity. To attack and destroy the very fabric of society. To corrupt mother and father archetypes, whereby either sex can occupy the opposite roles; to distort and redirect offspring from normative and healthy relationships; to destroy future generations.
Sexual deviation and exploitation. Normalization of pornography, pedophilia, and gender dysphoria. To corrupt and destroy all morality, sexual boundaries; to inhibit and reduce reproduction; to control population; to distort mankind as God’s image bearers.
Destruction of free, fair, and open elections. “Those Who Vote Decide Nothing Those Who Count The Votes Decide Everything” – Joseph Stalin. To control the outcome of all elections, ensuring and maintaining a one-sided control.
Persecution and imprisonment of political dissenters, detractors, and rivals. To create a one-sided control of all political power, including every sector of state and federal government; to put fear in the minds of political and ideological detractors and dissenters; to dissuade political rivals.
The creation of a State and Federal controlled surveillance system. To monitor and track dissenters for future arrest, persecution, and imprisonment; to set up a social scoring system by use of personal algorithms on social media platforms.
State and Federal control of all forms of transportation. To control and limit freedom of movement; to corral people into manageable classes, sectors, regions, or groups.
The creation of a programmable digital currency. To control personal and corporate financial freedom; buying, selling, profiting, and distributing. A form of financial rewards and punishment.
The rise of a cancel culture of anything that defies progressivism and primitivism. To crush, marginalize, and destroy common decency and common sense; to promote un-American ideals, trends, and philosophies; to essentially and fundamentally change America into a fascistic society.
The perversion of the judicial system and law and order. To create chaos and confusion; to allow for injustice, political favoritism, cronyism; to pave the way for political and corporate evil and lawbreakers.
The exploitation and manipulation of racial differences, i.e. race wars. To cause disunity and societal fragmentation; to exploit for political needs; to create mass distraction, hysteria, riots, etc., for political means; to gain thought and mind control, useful to maintain political power and control over minority groups.
The destruction of our Second Amendment Right Keep and Bear Arms. “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” To keep the citizens from having the power and the means of protection against a tyrannical government; to thwart any domestic power from dictatorial control or governance: to throw off the restraints and infringements of a rouge and renegade government; to provide for personal defense and safety.

I could literally go on and on. But I think by now you can clearly see that America is so far down the river that I’m afraid the current has become too strong to paddle against.

“If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” – Psalm 11:3

God’s children should never be the people with their heads in the sand. But, sadly, our American history shows that we are!

If you carefully consider the sixteen articles I’ve written above, you can see what has happened during our absence as godly vanguards of culture, classroom, church, and Constitution. We failed, but not as politicians and patriots, but as Christians commissioned to teach, preach, and baptize the nations, beginning with our own. The antidote to all the corruption, darkness, and evil is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do you realize that it took evil intentioned men and women only eighty years, that’s two generations, to flip Western civilization, culture, and society upside-down?

“Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.” – Vladimir Lenin – Founder of The Russian Communist State.

Where do you think the evil Vladimir Lenin got this principle from?

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6

Yes, that’s right, from the Bible! Don’t forget, evil men read the Bible too!

You see, to the fact that our children have been co-opted and re-educated by the State is our fault. We willingly gave them our children, and sadly, most still do.

People! The government has had our children since the 1830s, when the government officially inacted compulsory public education. In my estimation, that day was the beginning of the end of America. If there were an autopsy on the death of America, the report would read cause of death: abdication of child education and parental authority to the state.

Many religious people have long since given up their parental, religious, and patriotic duty for a pre-tribulation rapture theory. This theory has taken care, custody, and control from their vocabularies. The darker it becomes, the more it ensures an eminent exfiltration. Pre-tribulation, Dispensational rapture theory is another gospel, and its pontificators and false teachers should be avoided.

This destructive theory has played into the hands of evil-minded, secular cultists, secret societies, evil politicians, and educators. Coincidentally, pre-tribulation and dispensational premillennialism came on the historical scene within the same mid 19th century as compulsory education theory, John Dewey, Evolutionism, Charles Darwin, Communism, Karl Marx, and Religious Humanism, John H. Dietrich. I do not believe that all these new theories and philosophies were mere happenstance, but may be demonic implantations.

“Nevertheless, even if we ourselves or an angel from heaven preach any gospel to you other than that which we have preached to you, hold him as accursed.” As we said before, so say I now again: If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that which ye have received, let him be accursed! – Galatians 1:8-9

A perverted gospel curses culture, children, church, and country.

Parents, rescue your children! Get them out of public schools! Maybe, if you do, you can save your family’s future, and America’s too.

I pray, it’s not too late!

The Wasting of Humanity – By Thomas Koester

Narcissus: “a youth who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool and wasted away from unsatisfied desire, whereupon he was transformed into the flower.” Greek Mythology

Several months ago, I watched the movie “The Giver,” with my wife, Toni. While this movie was about a futuristic society, it is relevant and a wake-up call for all of us today. We are quickly becoming the society depicted in this film as emotionless, colorless, and vaccinated against thinking and reason. Yes, the film depicts families performing daily and routine vaccinations before leaving their “family units” for predetermined vocations on behalf of the Collective.

I recommend watching the movie trailer before reading on…

We have allowed ourselves to become programmed by the programmers. Whenever we accept “truth” from others without research and discovery we enter into another level of being programmed.

Not only are we losing our critical and analytically thought processes, but we are losing our language, and therefore our ability to communicate clearly and creatively.

In a similar way, we are losing our spirituality. Rather than connecting directly to God, through Jesus Christ (The Word) and the Holy Spirit (Teacher, Comforter, and Guide), we limit our connections to the Godhead by extensions of corporate worship of 15 to 20 minutes per week. Our spirituality is lived vicariously through our spiritual leader’s personal intimacy with God.

We’ve abdicated our inherent rights as sons and daughters of God to personally hear His Voice, not as “new revelation,” but rather a deeper intimacy. We value pastors as to how well they can hold our brief attention, rather than teaching us to feed ourselves on the Word and voice of God. Too many pastors have assumed the role of the Holy Spirit, which further alienates us from the Third Person of the Trinity. Whom, by the way, is the real Gift-Giver.

There is no process to practice ministry, as the ministry has become nothing more than spectating and being ministered to. There is little, to no outlet for functional ministry being practiced by the average believer, and so we remain giftless.

This reminds me of the days long ago when the government removed wood shops, metal shops, mechanic shops as well as home economics from public schools. Children are left with no physical application or the opportunity to learn a trade. The advantage of tactile learning has vanished.

Many churches have done the same thing. They’ve removed all of the application and ministerial outlets for members to exercise their gifts as they learn the truth, therefore becoming perpetual students and not masters of their unique spiritual gifts and service to others.

Many teachers, not all, have become programmers also. They dispense pre-selected and government-approved curricula to the masses. Classrooms are no longer a place of free-thinking of free ideas and ideals. God is not welcomed there, also. Excellence is shunned and replaced with fairness, and high standards are lowered to mediocrity, so no one fails.

Common grammar school literature of the 16th century could not be read, nor comprehended by the average high school student of today.

Progressively, technology and the internet are replacing fundamental human contact and interaction. Technological corporations are sanitizing the meaning of life and are reprogramming the masses to “living” for pleasure and consumerism. Our lives and interests are becoming nothing more than algorithms, measured by impersonal machines, reporting to corporate mongrels who fight for a greater market share of our existence.

Our divine purpose and uniqueness have been replaced by political usefulness; mere polling data for those in power to gain greater control over our individualism until it too vanishes.

Utopianism is impossible in a fallen world. As soon as it is politically achieved, it immediately turns into despotism. But the tyrannical of every generation wants its opportunity to do it better; with utter ignorance of past failures and abandoned hindsight, they press forward with backward thinking and demonic ideology. Their deranged ideology creates a deranged society and a warped and selfish culture.

And so, are there any humans out there? Do you feel anymore? Do you love people, or only the device, which you use to connect yourself to them?

Is your skin stained with enough ink yet? Do you have any more natural skin left? Are you pierced enough? Are you satisfied with all your selfies plastered throughout social media? Are your relationships about what you can get until you can’t get anymore?

We have made our outer bodies into billboards of our own inner selfishness and self-worship. Our self-absorbtion has absorbed most of our humanness.

It would appear that the more technologically we’ve become as a society, the more primitive we’ve become as a culture. It seems that technology, as wonderful and useful as it is, is diminishing our humanity towards one another and to nature.

The number of tattoos, piercings, abortions, and Botox is not an indicator of a progressive technological society, but a society that is regressing into tribalism and primitivism.

Are people, you know, humans; are they disposable, like the unborn, infants, and the elderly? How about relationships? Are you a dumper, or are you a dumpee?

People are challenged to dump ice-cold buckets of water on themselves and others or ingest Tide pods or dance outside their moving vehicles, which are appearing more and more unintelligent. I challenge you to think and act for yourselves so that you may act wisely and think kindly towards others.

Our humanity is at risk, and if it is lost, our humaneness towards one another will end. Our loss of humaneness always starts with a loss of saneness.

Narcissus: “a youth who fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool and wasted away from unsatisfied desire, whereupon he was transformed into the flower.” Greek Mythology

Our culture is fast becoming a collection of “flowers.”

“She looks at herself instead of looking at you and so doesn’t know you.” – Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black) by Marie-Henri Beyle

As a society, we can not peer into the mirror for too long before we’ve become wasted and unsatisfied. When we spend too much time looking at our own images, we tend to build our lives around ourselves. We merely seek relationships with people who remind ourselves of ourselves and that look and act as selfishly as we do. The over adornment of tattoos, body piercings, self-obsession, and body emphasis is proof that our culture is transforming into nothing more than a bouquet of flowers.

And this is how historians will say America was lost.

The more we look at and emphasize ourselves instead of each other, the less we know one another.

We can only rediscover our original humanity in the Creator and in Jesus Christ. God created us in his image, which time and again we’ve lost, but Jesus Christ is the Image Restorer and the Restorer of Life.

Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Deuteronomy 8:3 (NLT)

We can do this. We can become less distracted with ourselves and become more attracted to God and to one another.

If we feed ourselves more on what God is saying than on what others are texting or tweeting and preaching, maybe, just maybe we can save America again.

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

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

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

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

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

I asked them all a question:

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

They all replied loudly:

“I’ll take a broken leg!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“God’s children are not for sale!”

Killing Religion – Thomas Koester

Religion has never raised the dead. To the contrary, religion puts people in the grave.

Religion is the focus of human effort. That kind of focus leaves no room for faith. It leaves no room for the divine power of God.

You can not change the truth of who you are on the inside by your actions on the outside. Your heart must be changed. Religion can not change your heart; only a relationship with God can do that.

Religion is a ritual of observances that can lead you away from God to a god. This is why religion in and of itself is dangerous. It can lead to an empty life full of observances, rituals, and legalism.

Religion must die; after all, it murdered the Messiah. But God made good use of it to usher in redemption through the death of His Son. However, religion does not belong in any actual house of worship, nor does it belong in the life of any faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

Lately, there’s been many “religions” being thrown around, bullying lost and broken souls, for which Christ came to heal and rescue. Don’t become infected by religion or traditionalism as I did. Get cured of it and become Agents of Grace instead of Religion.

Some people invest their trust in doctors, scientists, and vaccines. At the same time, others invest their faith in a miraculous cure, prayer, and repentance. God can work in both because God is not confined to religious institutions. Religion wants to own God; it wants to control our perception. It seeks to become the sole arbiter of biblical interpretation and, therefore, regulates God.

So don’t be a pushy religionists. Be an agent of hope and grace. Exercise your faith in the explosive power that raised Jesus from the grave. Religion has never raised the dead. To the contrary, religion puts people in the grave.

Jesus Christ conquered religion the morning he rose from the grave. He left the grave clothes of the old religious order in the tomb and provided us direct access to God the Father through his glorious risenness.

The best way to kill Religion is to love the Religious into a relationship directly with our Heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, his son.

In The Gospel of Luke, chapter 12, Jesus warns the crowd:

“Guard yourselves against the yeast that puffs up the Pharisees—hypocrisy, false appearance, trying to look better than you are.”

You see, your goodness is not good enough. Only the goodness of Jesus is good enough to save you and change your life. You can not change the truth of who you are on the inside by your actions on the outside. Your heart must be changed. Religion can not change your heart. It can change your outer appearance, but not your heart.

God’s grace is sufficient to save the Religious out from their Religions.

Because Jesus lives, we live — free from religion and free from the traditions of men.

My Failed Masquerade – By Thomas Koester

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Inconvenient Truths vs. Reassuring Lies – By Thomas J. Koester

Because reassuring lies are not so convenient.

The reason reassuring lies are so popular is because lies are safe and convenient. But the world and Church are out of time for safety and convenience.

There is no other important message to the Church in America today than repentance. I’m not speaking about the lost repenting, but Christians repenting for the sins of omission. A retreating Church in a culture war is the death of any nation.

We’ve forgotten how important the Church was to the Founding of America, not only to its formation, but also to its influence on politics and education.

America dosen’t necessarily suffer from bad politics, as bad as they may be, but more so from thousands of Churches suffering from disassociative disorder.

Symptoms of a disassociative disorder:
“feeling disconnected from yourself and the world around you.”

There’s far too many Christians and Churches disconnected from their identity as true disciples of Jesus, and therefore, they lost their witness to a lost world around them. A self-focused Church is not the work of Heaven. It’s symptomatic of a lost identity and purpose.

So, I gotta ask, why all the self-focused Churches? Where did this philosophy come from, if not from Heaven?

So, here’s the inconvenient Truth that many of us are avoiding, repentance from omission and disengagement.

Somewhere along the way we ceased being a missional Church to something else.

Early Protestants accused the Catholics of making big business out of Christianity. The Roman Catholics had fused a business concept to its ecclesiastical order and to soteriological precepts. They used to sell religious stuff, like trinkets, souvenirs, even selling indulgences, a monetary payment of penalty which, supposedly, absolved one of past sins and/or released one from purgatory after death.

Sadly, today, many mainstream Evangelicals have made Christianity into big business. They kept the business concept of church structure intact from the Catholics. While mega-churches and TV Evangelists are the extreme examples of “church business,” many mainstream Protestant and Charismatic Churches are structured like business.

How do you tell if a Church or ministry is a business?

“If someone ceases to be valuable to you because they no longer attend your church — you’re not in ministry — you’re in business!” – Author Unknown

Many Churches want large buildings, big budgets, catchy names, and viral exposure. Heck, many rebrand themselves every decade or so, just to stay on the cutting edge of marketing. Yep, there’s a lot of competition out there for those parishioners! Hmm, kinda sounds like a business to me. But is that model that Jesus wanted?

Well, we know He didn’t want a seeker-friendly, money focused Church.

He wants a Kingdom seeking Church. A Church that sets its priority seeking first God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness.

So then, what about budgets, buildings, and ledgers?

Well, Jesus thought of that. He tells his followers that all those things, which the world toils and sweats after will be freely given to us!

Yep, Matthew chapter 6: 25-34. This is a great passage to read in unison as a congregation.

I dare you to try it!

Yes, yes, I know these are indeed hard words, but they are necessary. Sometimes Truth is inconvenient. It certainly was for Jesus and His Father. Speaking Truth cost Jesus His life, but look what it won for us — look what He’s done for the World!

You remember, John 3:16 don’t you? Let me ask you; has it simply become a catchy phrase, a lovely cliché you like to recite? Don’t you think if we truly believed John 3:16, we’d be out in the world seeking out and speaking to the “whomsoevers?”

The truth is, if God’s people do not repent of these evils, as subtle as they may appear, God’s judgment will begin with His House. If it begins with God’s House, what of the world? Where is your compassion of them?

I’m sure you remember the story of Jesus, as recorded in John chapter 2, chasing out the moneychangers, you know, the sellers and buyers and money managers inside His Father’s House?

Yep, and it goes onto imply that Jesus was not a happy camper; taking the time to brade a whip, afterwhich, he stormed into His Father’s House a whippin and a thrashin, knocking tables and chairs over, while chasing the prayerless and money focused from His Father’s House!

“… and the Zeal for your house shall consume me!” John 2:17

So, don’t hangout with moneychangers and so-called business focused ministries.

So, to wrap things up…

You have the Light of the Glorious Gospel for a world going darker day-by-day.

Simply repent from retreating and being AWOL (Absence Without Leave) from your duty to King and Kingdom. Then go shine God’s Light into the darkness. Cancel out the reassuring lies with the inconvenient Truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Once they believe, Truth won’t be so inconvenient. Especially, after you show them how to repent.

The Power of History – By Thomas Koester

I was asked by a friend what inspires me to write and what resources do I use?

Five things that influence and inspire me:

Lifetime of reading Scripture.
Reading and understanding Church history.
Observation of current events, (watching and listening to reliable men and women, and paying attention).
Observation of the spiritual and political times/climate in which we live.
Application of these fundamentals determines probable outcome, i.e. cause and effect.

These are the five things that impact me everyday. However, there is one other impact in my life, and since it is not a thing, it’s on its own list and category. It is none other than the Holy Spirit, the Voice of Scripture and the Whisperer of God’s heart.

God’s Spirit makes alive the Holy Scriptures, in an almost four-dimensional way. Speaking at times, to the center of my being; awaking my conscience, convicting my mind, easing my worries, and wooing my heart. So, there it is, six areas of impact and influence.

Aside from the Holy Spirit and Scriptures, History is a very reliable teacher. History truly does repeat itself. It’s not hard to look at the past to understand our future. The old saying is true:

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905

This explains the Cancel Cultural. They want to forcibly cancel and erase the past to assure the past will repeat itself. More pointedly, their objective is to implement the Marxist past into our current reality without notice and without resistance. But if the masses knew the past atrocities of Marxism and Communism and the failure of Socialism, we would still be a free nation. I say this with meaning and unfortunate intentionality, as we are no longer a free nation.

Sadly, our “freedom” is a mirage, an illusion. We lost it some time ago. What we perceive as “freedom,” is what “they” tell us. Most of what is broadcasted are lies, misstruths, misstatements, well crafted and expertly produced propaganda.

If Christians knew Church and secular history it wouldn’t be stuck and steeped in Romanism, Hinduism, and paganism. If American Christianity didn’t sell its birthright of light and salt to the nations for the warm stew of a 501(c)(3) tax advantage, Christianity would’ve been an enormous and effective influence over culture and politics. Freedom would still be a reality.

If Christianity would’ve understood the impact of unbiblical eschatology and the recent emergence of premillennial dispensational theory of the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Gospel would have singlehandedly changed our nation and the world.

So I write to inform. To inspire. To alert and to awaken curiosity and hopeful action.

Interestingly, when I write on my favorite topic, matters of the heart, and the Father-heart of God, it gets little attention. But when I write on political issues or commentary, it gets much more notice and conversation.

The truth is being connected to God and deriving our core identity as his beloved children should supercede politics, religion, health, and beauty. But it does not. This is a very sad and unfortunate commentary of 21st Century Christianity. It is being replaced by humanism, the occult, sadosexism, gender disforia, and the sexulization of children, all being done in broad daylight!

The Church is to be about the Father’s business not about Church business. We’re left to expand and preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. But alas, Jesus’ Great Commission to the Church has become the “Great Recommendation,” and so our culture and the world suffers.

There is preaching going on in the world and culture, don’t get me wrong, but it’s the antithetical gospel of heathenism and hedonism. The Kingdom Gospel is to the world and not to the Church. The Kingdom of God is meant to expand into the world and nations from the Church.

So, the opposite happened. Instead the world has entered the Church, taken over its mission, the proclamation the Kingdom’s righteousness to the proclamation of their unrighteousness. Therefore, unrighteousness has entered into and metastasized throughout culture and society more rapidly and deadlier than a virus.

Jesus didn’t leave us behind to simply hold-on or to hold-out until he comes back — quite the opposite!

This word “occupy” means to be busy, it literally means “to carry on business of investing and trading. Jesus’ meaning is not too difficult. He is telling us to “TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS,” TO KEEP BUSY UNTIL HIS RETURN. It means to carry on with his work, his commands, and his commission. He came to save the world not to condemn the world. He showed his disciples (us) how to carry on his plan of redemption. But instead, we’ve condemned the world with our silence and our misunderstanding of occupying.

The Roman army didn’t confuse the concept of occupying when they sacked kingdoms. They knew that to occupy was to culturalize the conquered territory; to make it Roman, to Romanize the people, politics and religion. Roman generals were also called apostles.

Did you know that the term apostle, oringally came from Greece? Jesus borrowed the term “aspostolos” when he declared his twelve disciples as “apostles.”

“And He Himself gave some to be apostles…”
— Ephesians 4:11

“During the time of the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes (384-322 BC), the word apostolos was a naval term that described an admiral, the fleet of ships that traveled with him, and the specialized crew who accompanied and assisted the admiral.

The fleet would be sent out to sea on a mission to locate territories where civilization was nonexistent. Once an uncivilized region was identified, the admiral (called the apostolos) — along with his specialized crew and all their cargo and belongings — would disembark, settle down, and work as a team to establish a new community. Then they would begin the process of transforming a strange land into a replica of life as they believed it should be. Their purpose was total colonization of the uncivilized territory.” Source: https://renner.org/article/the-historical-meaning-of-the-word-apostle/

Do you now have a better understanding of the concept of occupying until he returns?

You see, if Christianity does not see itself as a spiritual and cultural occupying force, another force will occupy and it won’t come with “healing in its wings.” It comes with a spirit of devastation and destruction in its horns.

“But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall” (Malachi 4:2, ESV)

I don’t think we, or our neighbors, are “leaping like calves from a stall,” these days.

“But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.”

“But for you…,” but, who is the you?

“…who reverence my name,” thats the “who!” The “who” can also mean the unsaved. It is our responsibility to bring about reverence of God’s name and rule to the nations, so that they too would have reverence for the Creator-God.

The point is that Christianity has so far, failed its mission, and, among many other things, has disobeyed Jesus’s commands. Christianity is fragmented, into what some are reporting, as many as 44,000 denominations among Evangelicals, Protestant, Pentecostal, and Charismatic churches. Talk about ignoring history, how about Christianity ignoring His Story? Ignoring the power of history has affected the unity of Christianity.

What must we all do?

Repent, believe and obey the Gospel!

Re-engage community and culture with the Kingdom Gospel and stay busy occupying every sector of society in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Let’s create a better history together!

Until Jesus returns. Amen

Thank you, Cor Dolor, for your inspiration!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who’s to blame?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where was Adam when the serpent was deceiving Eve?

He was standing right there, next to her!

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

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

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

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

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

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

It is happening here, now, in America!

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

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

Or…

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

Don’t be a Mr. or Mrs. Scarecrow!