‘PLAYED FOR THE FOOL’

OR

“PURCHASED BY GOD”?

Beyond the shadow of any fleshly doubt is the reality that there is not a man or woman who has ever lived without an awareness of the presence of God, even if it’s only the acknowledgement He HAS KNOCKED ON THEIR HEART’S DOOR! AND, IF HOLY GOD BIRTHED MANKIND WITH AN AWARENESS OF HIM, what is it that blinds one to what he/she already knows? Would you be bold enough, truthful enough, to admit, though now you deny Him, that you have been possessed and over-run by a strong spirit of “natural individuality” that says, “For me, NO NEED OF GOD”? Could it be ‘deceived by Satan’?

“No need of God?” Psalm 14:1 clearly declares, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” But, at least for true believers, understanding spiritual identity as ‘new-born sons and daughters of God’, one is aware of the warfare that does exist in the unbeliever’s heart as one truly ‘deceived by the powers of darkness’! Most unbelievers being ‘played by the powers of darkness’ as “fools” are blinded to, yes, the grace and mercy and love of God as “new-born sons and daughters by the Holy Spirit”, having been “crucified with Christ”, old sin-natures done away with, with Satan and his demons telling folks, “That’s just impossible – natural sin-natures done away with and Resurrection Life manifested in you? Impossible! Be satisfied with your sin-nature; God will still love you.” Really?

In Galatians 2:17-21 Paul illumines the “crucified life” that has now been “justified” by Christ’s death on the Cross. He wrote: But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME; and the life which I now live in the flesh (the old man!) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.” WHAT AN AWESOME, LIBERATING, CHRIST-HONORING WORD!

Yet the fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ Really? In Exodus 5:1-2 the Word tells us, Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh (of Egypt), “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’

And Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” He bought his personal ticket to the eternal Hell, choosing separation from Him as his personal choice.

Yet how many unbelievers do you know who live casually, comfortably, supposedly convinced “life without your God and His Son is a life I choose that is superior and more satisfying than your walk as a disciple of Christ”! There is a spiritual war related to the true saving of souls in and through Christ only, but the spirit of a darkened world, the independence of a self-sufficient soul, and the vainness of a proud ‘self-made man’ pumped up by Satan and his demons deceives the minds of many of “no need of faith in your ‘saving’ God – we’re sufficient in ourselves”!

But in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 the Apostle Paul wrote: “For though we walk in the flesh, 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.” Know anyone exalting himself/herself against the knowledge of God?

Yes, many are “played for the fool” by Satan, demonic forces, the world spirit, and a strong, self-independent, soul existing life, they think, with no need of merciful God! Yes, though many are “played for the fool” by Satan, at the same time there ARE multitudes who understand that “in Christ” one no longer has to be enslaved to the old sin nature because, by His “blood-purchase” Jesus set us free from the law of sin and death, freed us from the world’s deceitful bondage and slavery, and, yes, freed us from the chains of fleshly death into the ‘Kingdom-Crown of liberty, freedom, and the peace that passes all understanding – through the “Lamb’s Blood” we were washed, birthed, and indwelt with the fullness of the blessing of His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power!

Through His “blood purchase” we were delivered from bondage to WALK IN THE NEWNESS OF LIFE, to WALK IN OUR NEW IDENTITY, and to WALK EMPOWERED BY THE MIGHTY HOLY SPIRIT AND OUR TRUST AND OBEDIENCE TO HIS ETERNAL WORD! YES, “IN CHRIST” WE “BRING EVERY THOUGHT INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE OBEDIENCE OF CHRIST”! WE “quit trying” and learned “to trust His ever faithful Word and His abiding Presence in us being Himself through us to honor, glorify, and BE the LIFE” THAT HONORS MERCIFUL, LOVING, COMPASSIONATE, ENABLING GOD!!

Yet, still, many ‘believers’, many ‘followers of Christ’, many ‘disciples’, have those ‘lapse moments’, having, yes, sinned then doubted whether they can ever again see themselves as sons or daughters of Holy God, living in immense frustration with the ‘old self’ blinding, clouding out, or thinking they’ve lost their identity as a true servant of Christ Jesus! Dare I tell you? Believe I will!

IF GOD BIRTHED YOU INTO HIS KINGDOM, IF ONE ‘STEPS AWAY’ IN A MOMENT OF SELF-INDULGENCE, DOES “FATHER-GOD” DISOWN A CHILD OF FAITH, BECAUSE IN A MOMENT OF IMMATURE, CHILDISH ABANDONMENT, HOLY GOD WRITES THEM OFF AS UNWORTHY, NOT TRUST-WORTHY ENOUGH TO BE CALLED HIS SON OR DAUGHTER ANY LONGER? SATAN WILL TELL YOU THAT – BUT NOT YOUR LOVING FATHER!

There was a time in Paul the Apostle’s life when in the ‘present tense’ he called himself ‘a miserable man’, and that was a time period in his life as merciful God was pouring the Word through him, yet he KNEW those ‘moments’ he’d strayed away – but he learned, “God wouldn’t let me go where I foolishly had chosen to walk for a time, but held on to me, and wouldn’t let me go”!

Holy God uses ‘life-walk-failures-as-disciples’ TO BE MOMENTS OF ETERNAL EDUCATION IN THE MERCY, LOVE, AND GRACE OF GOD! Receive Paul’s inspired testimony in Romans 7:21-8:14!! “I find then a law, that evil is present with me, THE ONE WHO WILLS TO DO GOOD. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I THANK GOD – THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Romans 8:1-14 follows: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (New Covenant!) has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors –not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” How SPIRITUALLY CLEAR IS THAT TO YOU?

“Led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God?” Sons of God, birthed by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, guided by the Spirit, gifted by the Spirit, are blessed with “the glorious liberty of the children of God”, no longer pawns of the powers of darkness! It’s so interesting to read in Jeremiah 17:10, God speaking, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS WAYS, according to the fruit of his doings.” A difference between ‘the fruit of a man’s doings’ OR is there an opportunistic way of things that please and honor Holy God blessed by the Holy Spirit in a yielded vessel’s life?

In Galatians 5:22-25 Paul wrote: “But the FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. AND those who are Christ’s HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH (DAILY!) WITH ITS PASSIONS AND DESIRES. (SO…) IF we live in the Spirit, LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.”

‘Best effort’? OR “SPIRIT-BLESSED”? ‘Trying’ OR “TRUSTING THE SPIRIT TO HONOR CHRIST THROUGH YOU AS YOU DAILY CHOOSE TO LIVE THE LIFE HONORING CHRIST JESUS BY THE BLESSED FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ALLOWED TO BE HIMSELF IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU?

The third verse of the old hymn published by The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, in 1940, says: “Come, Holy Comforter, Your sacred witness bear In this glad hour: You who Almighty ART, NOW RULE IN EVERY HEART, and ne’er from us depart, Spirit of power.”

I.H.Meredith in the same hymnal wrote “Seal Us, O Holy Spirit.”

“Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Grant us Your impress, we pray; We would be more like the Savior, Stamped with His image today.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Help us Your likeness to show; Then from our lives unto others Streams of rich blessings shall flow.

Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Make Us Your own this hour; Let us be useful, dear Master, Seal us with witnessing power.

Seal us, seal us, Seal us just now, we pray; Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Seal us for service today.”

Concerning YOU in your present path of ‘faith’, as if misguided, diluted, or truthfully a lack of faith, choosing for yourself again the mortal sphere of misguided men, OR have you willfully stepped over into the immortal sphere of the redeemed, the “blood-bought”, the “new-born”, indwelt by the Spirit of the Resurrection Life of Christ, anointed by the Holy Spirit sensing more and more every day of, yes, the “fruit of the Spirit” as God’s Holy Word verifies it? Does “the tree of your life of saving faith” flourish with the “Fresh Fruit of the Holy Spirit”?

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?