AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY?“EARTHLY VOICES OR HEAVENLY PROCLAMATIONS OF DIVINE TRUTH?”

Has there ever been a moment in your life when you hear or read something, and you ask yourself: “Is that man’s thoughts, his interpretations, her opinions, or is what I heard, read, and, maybe, wrestled with: “The Proclamations of Divine Truth?” And, of course, those questions, doubts, hesitations, have to be answered, responded to, or just denied a response: “Who cares?” God cares how you respond because He understands your wrestling with earthly voices or His heavenly proclamations of divine truth, your struggles with fleshly acceptance of others or divine approval of God, or even your desire to know only eternal truth or drawn by the powers of darkness to his devilish philosophies! And our world is filled with “earthly voices” that has no resemblance to the Voice of God or His proclamations of Divine Truth!

“Earthly voices”, yes, bound by the first opposer to Divine Life and Divine Truth, “the devil or Satan”, or as Genesis 3:1 entitled him, “the serpent”, cooperate with all new-born life in the ‘flesh’ without God, encouraging early in Adam and Eve’s life, “You will not surely die,” but they did – Why? “Because the wages of sin IS death” though the devil denies it! He told Eve in Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it (forbidden fruit) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Oh, God may “know” of “good and Evil”, but His choice is that you know Divine Life apart from good and evil! But the devil, unbelievers, ‘pretenders’, even some ‘preachers’ without regenerated hearts through the birth of the Spirit, affirm with their earthly voices, “Accept your good and evil, you will not die”, yet “The wages of sin is death!” Do YOU, with the devil and earthly voices around you, accept that ‘good and evil’ is OK?

The devil, the powers of darkness, the deniers of the reality of even God’s existence, the compromisers of Holy Truth, the inventors, perpetrators, even, yes, ‘liars’ about the need of hearing, receiving, and certainly not walking in any claim of the need of obedience to “the God of uneducated, brain-dead believers”, has gotten to the day and time of ‘scandalous, nonsensical claims’ about Christ Jesus and salvation by grace through faith! Many men, women have “washed their hands, minds, and hearts of the need of God in our lives!” You’ve seen them, heard them, witnessed them ashamedly make light of, yes, the only Lord and Savior who IS “the Light of the world”, but they call Him ‘darkness’ through their own blinded eyes!

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-20 we read of historic proclamations as to the reality of Christ Jesus and our relationship to Him. Paul wrote out of the overflow of his own heart under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, saying, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: THAT CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as one born out of due time.

For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but THE GRACE OF GOD WHICH WAS WITH ME.

Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed. NOW if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up – in in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. BUT NOW Christ IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Though dying and dead and buried, three days later, “Up from the grave He arose, With a mighty triumph over His foes; He arose a Victor from the dark domain, And He lives forever with His saints to reign. He arose, He arose, Hallelujah! Christ arose!….Death cannot keep his prey – Jesus My Savior! He tore the bars of death away, Jesus our Lord!”

But “earthly voices are still influenced by the devil himself or his demon forces”! This is why in Ephesians 6:11-13 Paul instructs and inspires us saying: “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

True disciples understand the necessity of daily equipping and dressing one’s self in the full armor of God to withstand the strong assaults from the world, the flesh, or the devil that we once belonged to and entertained! The devil doesn’t cease his attacks because you surrendered your allegiance to Christ, but the brother of Jesus said in James 4:7, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” That’s more than just resistance to temptation, but the active, alert, aimed resistance to the devil’s attempts to open any window or door in your ‘house of a redeemed, blood-bought life’, yes, devoted to Christ and His honor alone!

Your faith in Christ’s resurrection and His ascension to the right hand of God on Heaven’s throne as YOUR INTERCESSOR means more than most Christians have been discipled in – ‘sins forgiven’, yes, He watches over you, but according to N.T. Wright, in his strong book, “The Day The Revolution Began,” (p.5), “According to the book of Revelation, Jesus died in order to make us not rescued nonentities, but restore human beings with a vocation to play in God’s purposes for the world.” WOW! Are YOU a ‘rescued nonentity’ or a true disciple of Christ, a soldier in His army, yes, fighting the good fight of everlasting faith? If so, you’re busy daily being equipped in the “great warfare” against Satan and the powers of darkness!

FIRST, WHAT DID PAUL TELL US IN EPHESIANS 6:11? PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD! The reason? In order “that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” In Ephesians 6:16 Paul told us about “taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

“Fiery darts of the wicked one”? It begins in the home faith-filled or faithless; it extends to, yes, the school rooms and universities, where godless teachers become tools of Satan to spoil minds, wills, and emotions concerning loyalty to the God who made them, lost them, then bought them with a price, the blood of the Lamb of God, even to neighborhoods or city gatherings where “your God isn’t welcome here!”, or even national governments that spurn God’s word and spin their ‘godless rhetoric’, or even, biblically criminal pastors and churches who promote their religious opinions rather than the eternal Truth of the Holy Word!

And dare I tell you that ONLY “the whole armor of God” withstands the wiles and wickedness of the devil and the powers of darkness? Sad to say, but even “Hollywood” accepts, promotes, and uses “the wiles of the devil” to capture, to trap, and to ‘entertain’ with the devil’s intent of overcoming the Godly truths, Godly lives, and Godly intents of “the Kingdom of God on earth” – they prefer the kingdom of flesh, darkness, and the devil!

SECOND, DID THE BELOVED JOHN INFORMS US AS TO HOW SATAN ENTICES THE GODLESS TO BECOME HIS SLAVES OF DARKNESS? OF COURSE! And – In 1 John 1:5b-6, the beloved John wrote: “… God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

In 1 John 2:15-17 the Holy Word through John exposes the ‘traps’ Satan uses to turn men from God to his kingdom of darkness and kingdom of slavery to the devil’s passions and evil ways! “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world (AND the kingdom of the devil’s darkness!) – the lust of the flesh (or sin-nature), the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

A slave of darkness is a prisoner of the kingdom of religious indifference! In 1 John 2:22-23 the faithful John declared: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges (or gives Jesus His rightful place as Lord and Savior!) the Son has the Father also.” And THIS TRUTH does cause major or minor religions across the entire world serious trouble because Christ Jesus is not a partner with their deception! Jesus said: “I AM the way, the truth, and the life – no man comes to the Father but through Me!”

THIRD, DIDN’T PAUL EDUCATE TRUE DISCIPLES ABOUT OVERCOMING WHEN SATAN ATTEMPTS TO SWAY ONE FROM THE KINGDOM OF LIGHT INTO THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS? That’s 2 Corinthians 10:3-6! Paul trains us as true soldiers of Christ against His enemy and ours – Satan! He said:

“For though we walk in the fleshly body, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal BUT MIGHTY IN GOD FOR PULLING DOWN STRONGHOLDS, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

Oswald Chambers wrote powerful words about our spiritual warfare against the devil’s onslaughts against true believers! In his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (pps.185-186), Chambers wrote:

“Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by violence, i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God’s Spirit. There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God; but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not by fleshly endeavor or compromise. (v4).

It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered into the experience (or step!) of sanctification that the fight begins. The warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never done easily, nor does God intend it to be done easily. It is done only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to glory.”

FOURTH, AND LAST, YES, THERE MUST BE THE DAILY DISCIPLINE OF EXERCISING THE WILL OF OUR LIVES TO HONOR HIM, NOT SATISFY ONE’S OLD SIN NATURE THAT WAS CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST! Back to 2 Corinthians 10:4-5! “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…!”

2 Corinthians 1:9 clearly states: “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…!”

Arguments against God’s thoughts or submission to Christ’s Truth, fleshly speculations or the Savior’s eternal remedy, world accusations or the redemptive knowledge of God, high things of lofty philosophies or eternal truths of divine revelation, ‘my thought life’ or the Savior’s offer of “new life in Him”?

There’s possibly or probably that every day you live satanic invitations will come for you to ‘satisfy’ your flesh nature, OR, you can clothe yourself in the Savior’s presence, purpose, and power, to daily honor and give glory to God alone!

There may be assaults by Satan and the powers of darkness, but if Christ is in you, you can rest in His eternal presence, promises, and power! “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.”

In Philippians 4:6-9 we read: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Yes, thank God for the God of peace who is able to keep you, even against the wiles of Satan himself! Martin Luther wrote the old hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”. The first verse only says: “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; Our helper He, amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe Does seek to work us woe; his craft and power are great, And, armed with cruel hate, On earth is not his equal.”

But out of Heaven to earth came the Conquering King, Jesus, and His truth and His kingdom IS the forever conqueror over sin, over Satan, over death itself! In Christ, yes, “we are more than conquerors – we’re sons of the conquering King Jesus!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY?

THE KINGLY REIGN OF CHRIST!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

“AWAKENINGS’ NECESSITY? …………..THE CONFIDENCE OF COMPLETION!”

……………………..CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

………………… “ADAPTABLE CHURCHES OR

APOSTOLIC ASSEMBLIES?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

“AUTHENTIC SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP!”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

“CAPTURING THE VISION!”

MAY 23,2019, BY: J.FARRELL FISHER

HENRY WARD BEECHER ONCE SAID: “THERE IS NOT A HEART BUT HAS ITS MOMENTS OF LONGING, YEARNING FOR SOMETHING BETTER, NOBLER, HOLIER THAN IT KNOWS NOW.” AND WHEN I READ THAT STATEMENT LONG AGO, IT WAS A STATEMENT I COULD NOT LET GO OF, BECAUSE WITNESSING, AT TIMES STRONGER THAN THE LAST, EITHER THE ACCEPTANCE OF DIVINE TRUTH OR OPPOSITION TO IT, I ‘SAW” & “RESTED” IN WHAT I KNEW TO BE DIVINE, ETERNAL TRUTH THAT ALLOWS ONE TO OPEN “GOD’S DOOR-KNOCK” ON HIS HEART & HIS MIND & HIS WILL & “REST” IN THE LORD JESUS’S “FINISHED WORK” AT CALVARY AS HE SHED HIS INNOCENT BLOOD TO WASH AWAY “GUILT” & MANIFEST THE GRACE OF GOD UPON THE TRUSTING, RESTING, RELIANT FAITH OF A SINNER IN THE SAVIOR’S MARVELOUS WORK THROUGH HIS CROSS, DEATH, BURIAL, & RESURRECTION!

BUT IN THE MIDST OF A “FALLEN WORLD OF MANKIND” WHO SEES NO NEED OF A “SAVIOR” &, CERTAINLY, “NO NEED OF SERVING SOME MAN-MADE GOD ‘BIRTHED’ IN THE MINDS & HEARTS OF RELIGIOUS ‘FREAKS’ WHO ARE BOUND IN FALSE FAITHS, FICKLE RELIGIONS, & FANATICIZED PRETENSE, YES,PRETENDING WHEN THERE IS NO ‘REAL GOD’, THEY, IN THEIR INFANTILE, MISGUIDED MINDS & HEARTS, GIVE US FOLKS WHO SAY, “GOD WHO LOVES THE WORLD HE CREATED, BUT NOT THE FALLEN MANKIND HE ‘BIRTHED’? WE MAY BE ‘GOD-LESS’, BUT WE’RE NOT STUPID!” SO, SPIRITUALLY BLINDED BY ‘SELF-WILL, SELF-LOVE, SELF-APPROVAL’, WHEN THE HOLY WORD OF GOD DECLARES, THAT CHRIST CARRIED ‘FALLEN HUMANITY’ ON HIMSELF ON THE CROSS, OF PAST,PRESENT, & FUTURE MANKIND, (WHICH IS WHY, IN ROMANS 6:6, PAUL WROTE, “KNOWING THIS, THAT OUR OLD MAN IS CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, THAT THE BODY OF SIN MIGHT BE DESTROYED, THAT HENCEFORTH, WE SHOULD NOT BE SERVANTS OF ONE’S OLD SIN-NATURE!!”), UNBELIEVERS DEBUNK, DENOUNCE, & DEGRADE “THE LOVE OF GOD”, LAUGHING AT IT, DENYING IT, & RIDICULING THOSE WHO “TRUST” IN JESUS’ FINISHED WORK AT THE CROSS & HIS EMPTY TOMB!!

OH, BUT UNSAVED, UNREDEEMED, WORLD-SPIRIT-BLINDED, SATAN-BOUND PEOPLE,DEMONICALLY CONTROLLED INDIVIDUALS, “BET” THEIR LIVES ON ‘DARKNESS NOT LIGHT’, ON ‘SELF-INTEREST NOT THE SAVIOR’S LOVE’, ON ‘SELF-ACCEPTANCE & SELF-AGGRANDISEMENT & SELF-EVALUATION’, YES, WILLFULLY BLINDED TO THE JUDGMENT & MERCY OF HOLY, LOVING, INTENTIONAL GOD, IN RECONCILING FALLEN MANKIND BACK TO HIMSELF THROUGH HIS “AMAZING GRACE”!!!’ THERE IS AROUND YOU INDIVIDUALS, COUPLES, FAMILIES, THAT KNOW NOTHING ABOUT SOVEREIGN INTENT, THE SAVIOR’S LOVE, OR THEY WILLFULLY IGNORE THE HOLY SPIRIT’S “KNOCK” ON THEIR HEARTS’ DOORS!!

HAVE YOU READ GENESIS 3:1-8 LATELY? “NOW THE SERPENT (SATAN!) WAS MORE SUBTIL THAN ANY BEAST WHICH THE LORD GOD HAD MADE. AND HE SAID UNTO THE WOMAN, ‘YES,HAS GOD SAID, YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN? AND THE WOMAN SAID,WE MAY EAT OF THE FRUIT OF THE TREES OF THE GARDEN:BUT OF THE TREE WHICH IS IN THE MIDST OF THE GARDEN, GOD HAS SAID, YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF IT, LEST YOU DIE.AND THE SERPENT SAID UNTO THE WOMAN, ‘YOU SHALL NOT SURELY DIE: FOR GOD KNOWS THAT IN THE DAY YOU EAT OF IT, THEN YOUR EYES SHALL BE OPENED, & YOU SHALL BE AS GODS, KNOWING GOOD & EVIL.

AND WHEN THE WOMAN SAW THAT THE TREE WAS GOOD FOR FOOD, & THAT IT WAS PLEASANT TO THE EYES, & A TREE TO BE DESIRED TO MAKE ONE WISE, SHE TOOK OF THE FRUIT OF THE TREE, & DID EAT, & GAVE ALSO TO HER HUSBAND WITH HER; & HE DID EAT. AND THE EYES OF THEM BOTH WERE OPENED, & THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED; & THEY SEWED FIG LEAVES TOGETHER, & MADE THEMSELVES APRONS. AND THEY HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD WALKING IN THE GARDEN IN THE COOL OF THE DAY: & ADAM & EVE, HIS WIFE, HID THEMSELVES FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD GOD AMONG THE TREES OF THE GARDEN.”

AND SINCE THOSE HISTORIC DAYS THE “ADAMS & EVES” OF FALLEN MANKIND STILL WALK ‘SPIRITUALLY NAKED, UNCLOTHED, & FOR MANY, UNAWARE OF THE NEED OF “BEING CLOTHED”, & RECONCILED TO HOLY GOD THROUGH HIS SON & SAVIOR, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST!’ BUT ‘FALLEN HUMANITY’, STILL SPIRITUALLY BLINDED, REMAIN ‘UNCLOTHED’ BEFORE HOLY GOD, &, YES, EVEN THO’ THEY THINK THEY ARE ‘CLOTHED’ IN THEIR ‘SELF-MADE,RELIGIOUS ATTIRE’, BUT ARE STILL FAR FROM THE “BLOOD ATONEMENT” THAT GOD PURPOSED IN & THROUGH HIS SON, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, GOD’S SACRIFICIAL “LAMB”, WITH MANY BEING ‘RELIGIOUS’, BUT NOT “RE-BORN”!

OH, & THEN GENESIS 3:24 SAYS, “SO GOD DROVE OUT THE MAN; & HE PLACED AT THE EAST OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN CHERUBIMS, & A FLAMING SWORD WHICH TURNED EVERY WAY, TO KEEP THE WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE,” & THAT’S DIVINE,HOLY PROTECTION,BECAUSE HOLY GOD PROTECTS “THE WAY OF THE TREE OF LIFE” FROM HUMANITY’S ‘FALLEN-AWAY-ATTEMPTS IN THEIR FLESH-INVENTED,YES, ATTEMPTS OF BEING RECONCILED TO GOD IN “BEST-EFFORT-RELIGIOUS ATTEMPTS” TO BE RECONCILED–NO INTEREST IN “BLOOD ATONEMENT”! ACROSS THE KNOWN WORLD OF THE 21^ST CENTURY, HAS THAT CHANGED? ARE MEN TODAY STILL ‘RELIGIOUSLY INCLINED’,BUT WITH NO DESIRE TO BE RECONCILED TO GOD GOD’S WAY?

IN ROMANS 15:13 PAUL WROTE: “NOW THE GOD OF HOPE FILL YOU WITH ALL JOY & PEACE IN BELIEVING, THAT YOU MAY ABOUND IN HOPE, THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.” DOES THAT EXPOSE “BEST-EFFORT-RELIGIOUS ATTAINMENT” THAT IGNORES THE MERCY OF GOD IN & THROUGH CHRIST ALONE? IN VERSE 29 PAUL SAID: “AND I AM SURE THAT, WHEN I COME TO YOU, I SHALL COME IN THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST,” WHICH, YES, RULES OUT ‘TRYING RELIGIOUSLY’ APART FROM “TRUSTING IN, RELYING UPON CHRIST’S BLOOD ATONEMENT”!!!

TO THE CHURCH AT COLOSSAE, IN COLOSSIANS 1:9, PAUL ALSO SAID, “FOR THIS CAUSE WE ALSO, SINCE THE DAY WE HEARD IT, DO NOT CEASE TO PRAY FOR YOU, & TO DESIRE THAT YOU MIGHT BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS WILL IN ALL WISDOM & SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING.” HOW TRUE IS THAT OF YOU, IF AT LEAST YOU HAVE SOME ‘RELIGIOUS LEANING’?

IN PSALM 91:1-16 WE LEARN OF “THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH” & WHERE OR “IN WHOM” YOU SHOULD BE HIDDEN AWAY, YES, FROM THE WORLD, THE OLD SIN-NATURES, & FROM SATAN HIMSELF! THE WORD SAYS: “HE THAT DWELLS IN THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH SHALL ABIDE IN THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY. I WILL SAY OF THE LORD, HE IS MY REFUGE & MY FORTRESS; MY GOD; IN HIM WILL I TRUST.

SURELY HE SHALL DELIVER ME FROM THE SNARE OF THE FOWLER, & FROM THE NOISOME PESTILENCE. HE SHALL COVER YOU WITH HIS FEATHERS, & UNDER HIS WINGS SHALL YOU TRUST: HIS TRUTH SHALL BE YOUR SHIELD & BUCKLER. YOU SHALL NOT BE AFRAID FOR THE TERROR BY NIGHT; NOR FROM THE ARROW THAT FLES BY DAY; NOR FROM THE PESTILENCE THAT WALKS IN DARKNESS; NOR FOR THE DESTRUCTION THAT WASTES AT NOONDAY. A THOUSAND SHALL FALL AT YOUR SIDE, & TEN THOUSAND AT YOUR RIGHT HAND; BUT IT SHALL NOT COME NEAR YOU.

ONLY WITH YOUR EYES SHALL YOU BEHOLD & SEE THE REWARD OF THE WICKED. BECAUSE YOU HAVE MADE THE LORD, WHICH IS MY REFUGE, EVEN THE MOST HIGH, YOU HABITATION; THERE SHALL NO EVIL BEFALL YOU, NEITHER SHALL ANY PLAGUE COME NEAR YOUR DWELLING. FOR HE SHALL BEAR YOU UP IN THEIR HANDS, LEST YOU DASH YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.YOU SHALL TREAD UPON THE LION & SADDER: THE YOUNG LION & THE DRAGON SHALL YOU TRAMPLE UNDER FEET.

BECAUSE HE HAS SET HIS LOVE UPON ME, THEREFORE WILL I DELIVER HIM: I WILL SET HIM ON HIGH, BECAUSE HE HAS KNOWN MY NAME. HE SHALL CALL UPON ME, & I WILL ANSWER HIM; I WILL BE WITH HIM IN TROUBLE; I WILL DELIVER HIM, & HONOR HIM. WITH LONG LIFE WILL I SATISFY HIM, & SHOW HIM MY SALVATION.” WOW! WHAT A WORD OF WONDER, ADMIRATION, & CELEBRATION!!

BUT MASSES OF PEOPLE WORLDWIDE HAVE SUBSTITUTED A RELIGIOUS ZEAL FOR SOVEREIGN GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE, CALLING IT ‘BELIEF’ THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”, ‘BELIEF’ THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A “NEW CREATION”, ‘BELIEF’ THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SOVEREIGN TRANSFORMATION OF A REDEEMED SOUL, OR ‘BELIEF’ THAT HASN’T NOTHING TO DO WITH REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD & FAITH IN CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK AT THE CROSS & HIS EMPTY TOMB, & ASCENSION TO THE ETERNAL THRONE OF GOD WHERE HE STILL CALLS THE SHOTS!! THOMAS PAINE,IN HIS WRITING, “AGE OF REASON,PT.1”,STATED, “INFIDELITY DOES NOT CONSIST IN BELIEVING OR DISBELIEVING; IT CONSISTS IN PROFESSING TO BELIEVE WHAT ONE DOES NOT BELIEVE.”

THE EVIL OF UNBELIEF, OR THE EVIL OF BELIEF BUT IGNORES BEHAVIOR, IS THE QUANDARY, THE MISERY OF SPIRITUAL SUPPOSITION APART FROM “SPIRIT RE-BIRTH”,& SO MULTITUDES OUT OF THE CHURCH, EVEN IN THE CHURCH, IGNORE: “YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN”, ASSUMING IF ONE RETURNS TO A CHURCH REGULARLY THAT HE/SHE MUST BE O-K SPIRITUALLY, WHEN GOING TO CHURCH REGULARLY DOES NOT UNVEIL ONE AS “TRULY BORN AGAIN” – IT’S THE WALK, THE WILL, THE WISDOM OF ‘DAILY TAKING THE SENTENCE OF DEATH TO THE OLD MAN, THAT THE “NEW MAN IN CHRIST” MAY BE CLEARLY REVEALED TO AN UNSAVED INDIVIDUAL, COUPLE, OR FAMILY WHO NEED TO BE “RECONCILED TO GOD.”

IT’S AMAZING BUT SO TRUE, THAT AS PAUL WROTE IN ROMANS 10:2 OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE “A ZEAL FOR GOD, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE,” THAT THAT IS SELF-MOTIVATED RELIGIOUS,BIBLICAL KNOWLEDGE, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRED REVELATION & UNDERSTANDING, THE MOTIVATION BY THE SPIRIT OF THE DYNAMIC INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY WORD, NOT THE WEAKNESS OF ‘FLESH-EFFORT’ OR THE HEART&MIND DEADNESS OF “I TRIED” RATHER THAN “YES, I’VE TRUSTED LEANING, NOT TO MY OWN UNDERSTANDING, BUT YIELDING TO THE LORD DAILY AS I, YES, INVITED HIM INTO MY LIFE TO REIGN IN ME, OVER ME, & THROUGH ME TO THE LOST, NEEDY, ALIENATED & SEPARATED FROM GOD CROWD THAT IS AROUND ME NEEDING CHRIST’S BLOOD REDEMPTION & RECONCILIATION TO THE GLORY OF GOD”! THE WILL & THE WONDER OF THE,YES, MYSTERIOUS MIRACLE OF AN ETERNAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON, & GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT “IS” THE MIRACLE & THE MERCY & THE MAJESTY OF GOD’S AMAZING GRACE!

THE CHRISTIAN FAITH A FALSE ATTEMPT? YES, WHEN ‘RELIGIOUS MEN’ TRY RATHER THAN TRUST, BEST-EFFORT RATHER THAN THE BLESSED ENTRANCE THROUGH THE ‘DOOR’ OF CHRIST ONLY, ‘RELIGIOUS EMOTION RATHER THAN SOVEREIGNLY RELEASED PEACE THAT PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING’, OR EVEN THE ‘SPIRIT OF THE ANTI-CHRIST’ THAT ‘PRETENDS WITHOUT HIS PRESENCE’, THAT DAILY DENIES FATHER, SON, & HOLY SPIRIT, THEIR RIGHTFUL PLACE OF MINISTRY IN THE “BLOOD-BOUGHT” HEART – CHRIST’S BLOOD, CHRIST’S HEART, HIS MIND, EVEN HIS ABLENESS TO DO EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL WE ASK OR THINK!!!!!

THE CHRISTIAN FAITH A FALSE ATTEMPT? YES,LIKE SYDNEY J.HARRIS’ WRITING IN THE CHICAGO DAILY NEWS WRITTEN YEARS&YEARS AGO,SAYING, “THE REAL HERETIC OF OUR TIME IS NOT THE ATHEIST OR THE AGNOSTIC (WHO ARE OFTEN GOOD & DECENT PEOPLE WITH A RESPECT FOR REALITY & HUMAN DIGNITY) BUT THE FAITH-IN-FAITH FANATICS WHO MURMUR, ‘IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT YOU BELIEVE, AS LONG AS IT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD.’ THIS TURNS RELIGION INTO A WHOLLY SUBJECTIVE MATTER, LIKE TASTE IN FOOD OR FURNISHINGS, & THUS ROBS THEOLOGY OF ITS CLAIM TO ULTIMATE TRUTH.” SO TRUE!!

THE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS NOT AN ATTEMPT AT IMITATION – THE TRUE CHRISTIAN FAITH “IS” “CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY”! THE TRUE CHRISTIAN FAITH IS: ONE TRUSTING IN THE GRACE, MERCY, & LOVE OF GOD, & AS HE, BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT, KNOCKING ON ONE’S HEART-DOOR ASKING TO ‘COME IN’, FAITH-FULLY OPENED,& WILLING FOR THE “INDWELLING CHRIST TO ESTABLISH HIS HOLY PRESENCE”, WILLING FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT TO BIRTH IN US THE LORD’S RESURRECTED PRESENCE, THEN GUARDING & GUIDING US IN ALL HIS HOLY TRUTH! IT WAS AN ANONYMOUS QUOTE IN THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS (PUBLISHED IN 1965 BY FLEMING H.REVELL COM., WESTWOOD, NJ) THAT DEFINED CHRIST JESUS AS: “COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CELESTIAL ARMY, KING OF ZION, ETERNAL EMPEROR, PONTIFEX MAXIMUS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, ARCHBISHOP OF ALL SOULS, ELECTOR OF TRUTH, ARCHDUKE OF GLORY, DUKE OF LIFE, PRINCE OF PEACE, DEFENDER OF THE GATES OF HELL, CONQUEROR OF DEATH, HEREDITARY LORD OF ALL NATIONS, LORD OF JUSTICE, & HEAD OF THE SACRED COUNCIL OF THE HEAVENLY FATHER,”! & SHOULDN’T I ADD: SOVEREIGN LORD & KING OF KINGS, ESTABLISHING HIS RESIDENCE IN EVERY REPENTANT, TRUSTING, SURRENDERED HEART & MIND TO HIS KINGLY REIGN, BEING GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO ALL HEAVENLY TRUTH?

IN THE “BROADMAN HYMN” OF 1940, (PUBLISHED BY BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.) IS A HYMN ENTITLED “OUR TIMES ARE IN GOD’S HAND”, BY HOMER HAMMONTREE. IT SAYS: “OUR TIMES ARE IN YOUR HAND:” FATHER, WE WISH THEM THERE; OUR LIFE, OUR SOUL, OUR ALL, WE LEAVE ENTIRELY TO YOUR CARE.

OUR TIMES ARE IN YOUR HAND, WHATEVER THEY MAY BE; PLEASING OR PAINFUL, DARK OR BRIGHT, AS BEST MAY SEEM TO THEE.

OUR TIMES ARE IN YOUR HAND; WHY SHOULD WE DOUBT OR FEAR? OUR FATHER’S HAND WILL NEVER CAUSE HIS CHILD A NEEDLESS TEAR.

OUR TIMES ARE IN YOUR HAND, JESUS, THE CRUCIFIED! THE HAND OUR CRUEL SINS HAD PIERCED, IS NOW OUR GUARD & GUIDE.”

I’M SURE IT’S WHY J.WILBUR CHAPMAN WAS QUOTED IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS”, (P.51), SAYING: “I KNOW OF A WORLD THAT IS SUNK IN SHAME, WHERE HEARTS OFTEN FAINT & TIRE; BUT I KNOW OF A NAME, A PRECIOUS NAME, THAT CAN SET THAT WORLD ON FIRE; ITS SOUND IS SWEET, ITS LETTERS FLAME. I KNOW OF A NAME, A PRECIOUS NAME, IT’S JESUS.”

THERE IS A JUDGMENT DAY COMING WHEN EVERY MAN, WOMAN, BOY,OR GIRL, WILL STAND BEFORE HOLY GOD, & HE’LL ASK YOU: “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY SON & YOUR SAVIOR & LORD, JESUS CHRIST?” AND “YOU” WILL ANSWER! THERE WILL BE TWO DOORS TO BE OPENED, BUT THE ONE YOU ENTER MUST TO HAVE BEEN SETTLED BEFORE GOD’S CALL TO UNVEIL FOR YOU EITHER THE DOOR OF LIFE FOREVER IN THE PRESENCE OF CHRIST OR THE DEVIL’S DOOR TO ETERNAL DAMNATION BECAUSE YOU REJECTED CHRIST JESUS AS LORD & SAVIOR OF YOUR LIFE, HAVING DETERMINED THE ‘BAD FRUIT’ OF THE WORLD, YOUR OLD SIN-NATURE, & SATAN’S DECEPTION!

JOHN MILTON WROTE IN HIS “SAMSON AGONISTES”, (1.293),SAYING: “JUST ARE THE WAYS OF GOD, & JUSTIFIABLE TO MEN; UNLESS THERE BE WHO THINK NOT GOD AT ALL.” TELL ME! YOUR LIFE’S JOURNEY, GODLESS OR GOD-BLESSED, REPUTABLE OR GOD-BIRTHED, SURPRISED IN YOUR JUDGMENT HEARING BEFORE HIM, OR CELEBRATING WITH JESUS, HIS REDEEMED, BLOOD-BOUGHT SAINTS,& HAVING BEEN GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO THE GATES OF CHRIST’S BLOOD-BOUGHT KINGDOM RULE, YOU’RE READY, DAILY, WHETHER ON EARTH OR IN HEAVEN TO BE SINGING PRAISES TO THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS?

DO YOU DAILY CLIMB THE ALTAR STAIRS TO FELLOWSHIP WITH KING JESUS? IT WAS DWIGHT BRADLEY, IN HIS WRITING, “LEAVES FROM A SPIRITUAL NOTEBOOK,” (HARPER & ROW, PUBLISHERS INC.), THAT SAYS:

“FOR WORSHIP IS A THIRSTY LAND CRYING OUT FOR RAIN, IT IS A CANDLE IN THE ACT OF BEING KINDLED, IT IS A DROP IN QUEST OF THE OCEAN…IT IS A VOICE IN THE NIGHT CALLING FOR HELP, IT IS A SOUL STANDING IN AWE BEFORE THE MYSTERY OF THE UNIVERSE,…IT IS TIME FLOWING INTO ETERNITY,…A MAN CLIMBING THE ALTAR STAIRS TO GOD.” TRUE, TO AN EXTENT! SOME DO CLIMB THE ATAR STAIRS DAILY TO GOD, WHILE SOME, IN SELF-WILL & SELF-PLEASURE CHOOSE WHAT APPEARS TO BE AN EASY WAY OF LIFE, SLIDING DOWN BUT THEY DON’T KNOW TO WHERE, UNTIL,YES, THEY VISUALIZE SATAN OPENING “HELL’S GATES” WHERE “CHRISTLESS” THEY LIVE BOUND ETERNALLY IN THE DEMONIC CHAINS! YOU DO HAVE A CHOICE!

“CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE, BUT AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE, WE WILL ETERNALLY SERVE THE LORD”!! AMEN?