BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 10-12, 2018

It is absolutely amazing to me that in our world, even as in the day of Adam and Eve, that men and women, just like them, embrace the “darkness” and cannot, in their minds, consider or give credit to Holy God for, not only the reality of “day-light or darkness”, but that there is an eternal difference in all of our spiritual worlds, and for some, like them, yes, hold onto the selfish indifference to God’s “Light”, choosing to “embrace one’s spiritual darkness, and hold onto it, when God graciously, mercifully, and lovingly, grants freely “The Light of the world” whose name is Christ Jesus the Lord!

It’s also amazing to me that, worldwide, men will CHOOSE to “embrace the darkness”, while Holy God extends the spiritual eyesight to see “the Light” or continue to embrace the darkness! God forces no man to ‘walk in the ‘Light’ if his mind, heart, and will wants to “walk in the darkness” and chooses to ignore God’s Light’!

It was Joshua who once said: “Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”! And the eternal choice a man makes about his earthly life and his eternal residence is determined by his/her response from the mind and heart to the eternal will, plan, and provision of merciful God “in Christ” or a continual commitment to the deception of the world, his open fallen flesh, or bondage to the powers of darkness instructed by Satan himself!

The heritage eternally of the unredeemed who ‘rest’ their lives in ‘fleshly’ commitment, ‘spiritual’ blindness, and demonic domination, is Satan’s ‘prison cell’ in place of God’s Paradise! One’s ‘life journey’ is either a ‘fairy tale’ of ‘best effort’ or the Sovereign history of the yielded, believing, trusting surrendered life to the Lordship of Christ made real by the Holy Spirit unveiling the “Lamb’s Blood, His Resurrected Presence, and His Spirit-Anointing Power and His Resurrection Presence” as a testimony around those and for those who are not “new-born”!

Alonzo B. Bragdon, in his writing, “When the Day is Done”, wrote: “From fibers of pain and hope and trouble And toil and happiness – one by one, – Twisted together, or single or double, The varying thread of our life is spun.

Hope shall cheer though the chain be galling; Light shall come though the gloom be falling; Faith will list for the Master calling Our hearts to His rest, – when the day is done.”

But in Hebrews 3:7-15 the anointed author wrote Hebrews 3:7-15, says, Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: (I have to ask! “Do YOU listen to the Holy Spirit guiding you and enlightening you to the Lord’s precious Word?”): “Today, IF YOU WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” HOW SAD THAT SOME HAVE ‘SHARED IN CHRIST’S “REST”, AND THEN CHOSEN TO WALK AWAY, YES, DECEIVED AGAIN BY THE WORLD, THE OLD-SIN NATURE, AND SATAN HIMSELF!! Right now, WHERE AND IN “WHO” DO YOU STAND?

Have you seen the TV Ad where a professor is on a tall ladder in his classroom finishing up a huge blackboard of his ‘present inspired’ writing for his class – all original, unfolding in his mind moment by moment, but then becoming aware of a school janitor back at the beginning of the class blackboard erasing his classical, highly informative statement that would have made him an international star in higher education, but the initial foundational statements were washed away, and he KNEW he couldn’t remember what he wrote?

The lost world citizens, your own condition, at times, find yieldedness to the ‘old man’ as alluring influences, AND the deceiving influences of Satan himself, CAN & WILL, at times, seek to impact your memory to WHO and to WHAT you committed yourself to!! Don’t ever “FORGET” Jesus and His “daily Bread” for continuing sustenance ,not sudden suffocating of His purpose THROUGH YOU!!

Highly interesting and convicting passage in Luke 12:35-40! Christ Jesus said: “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you, that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

BUT know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

NOTICE!! VERSE 41!! Then Peter said to Him, “Lord, do You speak this parable only to us, or to all people?” Oh, don’t overlook, by-pass, or willfully ignore Verses 42-46!! And the Lord said, “Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.

But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”

Do you take accept the Truth of Old Testament words as important to a New Testament disciple’s walk with the Lord, the Savior, the Author of both Old Testament and New Testament? What was the Apostle Paul talking about when he wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17? “ALL SCRIPTURE (BOTH OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS!!!) is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (Of course, there are some things ‘set aside’ because of the New Covenant – but there are some Old Testament truths that never are set aside because of, now, the New Covenant. As in the Old Testament some were “set aside”, so in the New Testament, Peter talks about a ‘servant’ betraying his calling, and “being cut into and appointed his portion with the unbelievers.”) And the unbelievers are assigned an eternal place of bars as well as the ‘believers’ who can’t decide between the Savior and their fleshly desires? In Hell itself – a God-appointed place for the devil and his angels along with the betraying sinners and careless, shameless disciples who “thought they could eat the ‘cake’ of their own desires”, and still have a chair at the Lord’s Table in eternity, ‘servants of the Lord’ living carelessly, selfishly, more in tune with the world and their old sinful selves but assuring themselves, apart from Divine Truth, that Heaven will still be their eternal home because they’re ‘in church’ a lot of Sundays but compromising lifestyles during the week?

“FOLLOWING THE LIGHT”; Jesus said: “I AM the LIGHT OF THE WORLD” – and some know He Is the True Light, but they willfully choose to “Profess the Light” for their ‘flesh’, but “embracing darkness” that they can’t seem to let go of, and, at the same time, it’s as if there is the path of “darkness” they have one foot in, and, at the same time, step over to “follow the Light”! Paul was very clear when in Ephesians 5:8-15 he wrote: “For you once were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. There He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from (or out of) the dead, and Christ will give you light.” (Sadly, there are precious people in the Lord, who, yes, for a short time, will camouflage who they are “in Christ”, pretending to be their former selves, momentarily putting on a worldly ‘coat’ of flesh-indulgence! Then the convicting Holy Spirit comes to correct the dark path they chose temporarily, and put them back on the Highway of Holiness and the Street of the Holy Spirit-led journey!

Paul actually said in Ephesians 5:15-21, “See then that you walk circumspectly (If “off the chosen path”, “if carelessly indiscreet, or momentarily deceived”, WAKE UP, EVALUATE, “turn back” if necessary, because indiscreet spiritual behavior can lead to “cast from the kingdom-rule if the sin-nature becomes more important to you than the gifted divine nature of Christ in us our only hope of glory” – back to Paul, “walking circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation (Could that ‘drunk with wine’ even be “Drunk on the wine of self-indulgence in the old fallen sin nature? Just asking!); BUT BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT,( not flesh spirits or over-indulging in real wine!), speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.” NO FEAR OF GOD, THEN ONE IS OPEN, YES, TO A CONTINUAL “Flesh Indulgence” as a believer that does lead to tragedy!!!

To Holy God, to your Loving Savior, to the convicting Holy Spirit, though ‘fallen away’, to return, yes, to the blazing Light of His glory, no longer to live with traces of shame, sadness, and dissatisfaction with one’s fleshly acts that do bring shame on the name of Christ one professes he/she is following! Most disciples, at some point in their journeys, have sinned while one with Christ in their hearts and minds, but temporarily led astray by Satan, the world, or one’s own weak flesh they thought to be strong, not aware in their “disciple’s understanding”, that old man was carried to the Cross by Christ, and there your ‘old man’ died, but Satan knows how to fool you and release your crucified self to a darkened spirit, darkened attitude, and the darkened world around you!

THERE MUST BE A RETURN TO THE “ADMISSION” THAT, YES, CHRIST JESUS BOUGHT YOU, OWNS YOU, AND MEANS TO RULE OVER YOU, but the world, the flesh, and Satan, put up a major warfare with Truth, surely informing you, “It’s OK. Jesus understands”, when He has no desire to see any child of faith who IS His straying from Him – His heart is broken, but He comes to pick up His shamed child of faith who temporarily fell into a moment of self-indulgence. Jesus knows it could become fatal if not confronted, fatal if not confessed, and fatal if the “fall” led one further and further and further away from Him!! If there’s presently unconfessed sin in YOU, you better run to the Lord’s Throne and be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

THERE MUST BE A RENEWING OF ATTITUDE AND ACTION IN ONE’S WALK OF OBEDIENCE AS HIS DISCIPLE! In 1 Peter 2:21-25 Peter wrote, “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep (not goats!) going astray, but HAVE NOW RETURNED TO THE SHEPHERD AND OVERSEER OF YOUR SOULS!” [Are you presently “embracing darkness” or RETURNING TO “THE EVERLASTING LIGHT OF CHRIST” FOR YOUR SOUL?]

THERE MUST BE A CONSTANT, NEVER-CHANGING, CROWNING OF THE TRUTH WITHIN YOU OF THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST JESUS, YES, “JESUS ONLY” AS THE EXPLANATION OF A VICTORIOUS LIFE AND WALK!

In Colossians 1:9-18 we read, “For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father WHO HAS QUALIFIED US TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN THE LIGHT.

He has DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS and conveyed us into the kingdom of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (or are “held together” – be assured, if it’s falling apart around you, it’s man in charge, not King Jesus!!). And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from that the dead, THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PREEMINENCE.”

THERE MUST BE HONEST HEARTS, MINDS, AND WILLS, FULLY SURRENDERED TO CHRIST’S LORDSHIP!

1) IT CANNOT BE, MUST NOT BE, INCLINATION WITHOUT APPROPIATION! 2) IT CANNOT BE THOUGHTS ABOUT A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LORD AND SAVIOR IN THE MIND APART FROM DIVINE TRANSFORMATION IN BOTH HEART AND MIND FULLY SURRENDERED IN ONE’S WILL!

3)IT CANNOT BE VERBAL ARGUMENTATION WITHOUT WILLFUL ACCEPTANCE IN HEART, MIND, AND BODY OF CHRIST WITHIN YOU AND YOUR BODY AS HIS EARTHLY TABERNACLE AND ETERNAL, HOLY TEMPLE!

4) IT CANNOT BE A UNIVERSITY -PROFESSOR’S THEORY, OR A SCHOOL TEACHER’S RELIGIOUS THOUGHTS, OR EVEN A PARENT’S IDEAS ABOUGHT RELIGIOUS THOUGHT! IT MUST BE THE AUTHOR OF TRUTH, JESUS HIMSELF, GUIDING, UNVEILING, REVEALING, BLESSING HIS TRUTH IN YOU!

5) IT IS NOT ‘THIRST’ FOR RELIGIOUS IDEAS BUT THE HUNGER AND THIRST FOR THE “LIVING WATER”, FOR CHRIST’S ABIDING PRESENCE WITHIN, FOR “THE FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST” AS TAUGHT AND GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT!

From an old Greek Melody Whitfield wrote these words: “I saw the cross of Jesus, When burdened with my sin; I sought the cross of Jesus, To give me peace within; I brought my soul to Jesus, He cleansed it in His blood; And in the cross of Jesus I found my peace with God.” Because you “tried” or because you “trusted” in Christ’s death, resurrection, and reigning throne Presence over sin and death?

” HEAR ME!

You (”In Christ”) are the salt of the earth; but, if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under the foot of men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.(Are you SET on Calvary’s hill and Christ’s empty tomb?) Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a basket (a church building?), but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house (of human civilization?). Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

Dare I tell you? Believe I will!! “The ‘Eternal Morning Light” never has a day it doesn’t dawn – bright or cloudy or stormy or rainy – Jesus, the Eternal Morning Light still shines – Are YOU in the ‘darkness’ or do you and yours ‘Radiate’ the Eternal Light WHO IS CHRIST JESUS?

Are YOU “Fear-filled OR Fearless in the Faith?”

By James F. Fisher, June 25-27, 2017

It is so good and gracious that God inspired Psalm 103:19 saying, “The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.” And that “reign of the Lord God” is over the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of darkness AND the Kingdom of the Savior and “Light of the world”!

It’s interesting to read Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 7:10 when he wrote: “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but THE SORROW OF THE WORLD PRODUCES DEATH.” How clear is that to you?

“The world of darkness” is a Satan – authored and inspired song- and- life-situation of enslavement to the world, the old sin-nature, and Satanic rule, or at least, an attempt at deceiving and darkening your God-ordained life and eternal purpose! We just read, “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted,” but there is a “cloud of sorrow” that most men have no understanding about why it hangs over them!

But at the same time, as the world of darkness reigns over and in a fallen man’s existence, so does the “world of eternal Light “ shine to unveil Christ Jesus as one’s only hope!

Jude was described in Scripture, his letter inspired by the Holy Spirit, as “a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, (writing to) those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ.” [Does that include you?]. And HE certainly contended against and opposed those who walk in darkness, even in ‘religious’ darkness! Jude contended “earnestly for the True faith”!

In Verse 4 he described ‘certain men’, no doubt deceived by Satan, who “crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Oh, and then in Verses 5-7, Jude instructs us wisely to be aware of spiritual darkness and spiritual blindness in the world around us today! He wrote:

“But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but LEFT THEIR OWN ABODE, He (God) has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange gods, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

I pray you saw “the world of darkness and the kingdom of Light” colliding! Jude went on in Verse 12 speaking about “those who are spots in your love feasts”, describing some as ‘trees without fruit, twice dead’, ‘raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame’, ‘wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever’.

There IS the reality of “apostates” who are “professors without possession of the Indwelling Christ”, but Jude 14b-15 speaks about “apostates” who are depraved and live in a doomed state though they “primp up” as if they were truly “stars in the production of Christ”! “Behold, (the day comes when) the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints (metaphorically speaking), to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Christ Jesus.”

And you don’t think “ungodly sinners” speak against Christ Jesus inspired by Satan? You’re not aware of a despicable meanness, inspired by Satan, in attempting, by the world, the flesh, and Satan himself to dishonor Christ Jesus and befuddle ‘disciples’ about their ‘empty gains in Christ’? Satan himself LIVES in a state of rugged, ragged, ruthless impatience, because, as hard as he tries, Christ Jesus gains more and more of what ‘he thought’ was his world!

Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.131), said, “The characteristic of the life to begin with is that it is maimed… There never has been a saint yet who did not have to live a maimed life to start with. But it is better to enter into life maimed and lovely in God’s sight than to be lovely in man’s sight and lame in God’s,” but saying also that through the finished work of Christ, “You shall be PERFECT, even as your heavenly Father is perfect,” assaulted by Satan in the flesh, but resurrected into the fullness of Christ in the Spirit!

If “the Son sets you free”, free from what? And, of course, what a blessing to be freed from the law of sin and death! But you’ve never considered, since the Fall, all men, yes, have been enslaved under Satan and the powers of darkness? Though Holy God made us for Himself, He knew he wanted sons and daughters of faith, free to be His or not be His, when, at the same time, Holy God understood fallen men would face the onslaught of Satan and demonic armies! But, Holy God wanted us “free to choose” – and, praise God, after the tenure under demonic powers, some want to be free of their chains in spiritual enslavement, living as liberated sons and daughters of the Most High God!

If, “the Son sets you free,” understand, it’s the mind and heart of God to see you tired of your natural individuality and ready to be “raised into newness of life,” yes, ready to be freed from Satan’s deceitful darkness into the Lord and Savior’s “Kingdom of Light”! In Galatians 2:20-21 Paul wrote: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the live which I now live in the flesh (earthly body) I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God…”!!

The ‘world of darkness’, ruled over by Satan and his kingdom of darkness, is out to enlarge his kingdom numbers, enslaving people proud of that natural individuality but unaware they have no need of God and just living ‘satisfying’ their fleshly enslavement under the deluding influence of Satan’s army of deceiving demon powers!

Satan kindles “fires of deception” in fallen mankind for sure, and, at least, attempts to inflame deception and a falling away of disciples (like Judas) from “grace living” to “grit at its best” for ‘disciples’ (?) of Christ, totally avoiding the “Victorious Path” over sin, temptation, and self-centered living, promoting the carnal rather than Spirit-Truth and Spirit-Life in Christ alone, and ending up, yes, as ‘slaves of darkness’ though the sin-filled, Satan-dominated walk is darkness in his brightest ‘light’ (?)!

A few words of Satan’s deception: “Easily kindling without Christ’s presence, the dark fires of Hell are easily resident; souls of the flesh are easily deceived, and the dark spirits of Hell reside indeed. But souls of flesh and evil spirits, as enemies of Christ, are nailed in the world as insignificant ‘rivets’, holding hearts and minds to interests of darkness, slaves to the one who would give them a room, forever cursed by his torture and gloom! But here came Jesus, the Savior of men, and shed His own blood “to save us from sin”, plus putting nails in the coffin of our enemy, releasing us fully from Satanic dilemmas!” [By James Farrell Fisher.]

Did I say, “Worlds of darkness Colliding with the Kingdom of Light”? But a godless intellectual community, evidenced sadly in many school settings today, openly ridicule, resent, even reprimand anyone who promotes the Word of God, preaching salvation by grace and faith in Christ alone, or exposing Satan’s, yes, works of darkness, will confine Biblical Truth about Satan or the Savior, determined that the Truth be “hidden by invisibility”, not allowing any Biblical Truth: “Not in our schools!”, even though “Satan walks about seeking whom he may devour!” And though those “teachers or professors” have long tenures in their schools, the day will come, when escorted by the devil of darkness, they’ll “wake up in Hell’s classroom”, never to leave!

I had to laugh when I read Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s writing in “Aurora Leigh,” (Bk. V11, l. 105), “The devil’s most devilish when respectable.” And do you realize how “respectable men (who are unbelievers and totally deceived by Satan) but ‘wise in their own hearts’ toward God’s “saving Grace”, are like Elihu who at least said to Job, (Job 37:24), “Therefore men fear Him; He shows no partiality to any who are wise of heart.” It’s true! Some, most, of unbelieving men, ‘wise in their own eyes’, priding themselves with their own ‘superior wisdom’, will, at least, reverence God in their wise hearts, yet never turn from their thrones of self-importance, self-centeredness, and, yes, self-rule, not knowing they already have their own seat-assignments in the classroom of Satan’s “school of death under Satan’s eternal tenure of teaching his darkness of unbelief “!

Individual self-importance and pride sadly missed God’s eternal purpose of human vessels who would give Him the place He desired to extend His love and prove His power, yes, over Satan who still says: “Has God really said…?”, but most, like Adam and Eve, didn’t and still don’t, have burning hearts to give God room to be Himself in and through them.

Satan, some unbelievers, some pastors, and some ‘church folk’, rather than taking the sentence of death unto themselves that Christ’s resurrection Life would be manifested in mortal flesh, never take the sentence of death to themselves but ‘accept’ that if they mindfully believe, the heart, the self-will, and the fleshly plans of self-importance will not be set aside but ‘religionized’ – and they can have, they think, “the best of both worlds”!

Satan thrives on unbelievers but also on pretenders! Satan rejoices that men call themselves “Christians” or “disciples of Christ”, but never receive “crucified with Christ”! Satan celebrates ‘emotional impressions’ without biblical Truth! Satan loves “high levels of emotions” that touch or impresses one’s mind but leaves the sinful heart unchanged! Satan gets excited when he knows, though never “born again”, that unbelievers often feed on their ‘imitation’ of Christ! Satan is uplifted when he sees “professing believers” in awe of their own honoring of their mortal flesh or sin natures without any concern at all of “Be holy, for I am holy” says God!

Satan, yes, encourages fleshly “grit” in all religious circles – while Christ Jesus celebrates the souls who rest only in His grace and mercy, and allow Him to establish His Holy Temple in their hearts! Satan will erupt in mindful pleasure when he sees “ believers who THINK ‘pure’ thoughts of ‘right’ or wrong”, but Christ Jesus said, “BLESSED are the pure in heart; for they shall see God”! A man can be ‘innocent’ related to civil law or innocent because he at least knows the difference between ‘right and wrong’ in the general public, but related to “the kingdom of God”, impurity shuts the door to the gates of Heaven because only the “blood bought” have an acceptable “pass” into Christ, the Holy Spirit, or to the Throne of God the Father!

Do you remember Christ Jesus “weeping over Jerusalem”? In Luke 19: 41-44 we read, Now as Jesus drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “IF YOU HAD KNOWN, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because YOU DID NOT KNOW THE TIME OF YOUR VISITATION.”

It was Oswald Chambers who said in his famous book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.67), “Jesus had entered into Jerusalem in triumph, the city was stirred to its foundations; but a strange god was there, the pride of Pharisaism; it was religious and upright, but a “whited sepulcher.”

Dare I tell you? Satan gloats over “whited sepulchers”, Satan is gleeful when ‘darkness’ in one’s walk takes precedent over the Light of Christ, Satan celebrates when even ‘seekers’ are easily turned away, blinded to the Truth that liberates, but they accept Satan’s bondage to the Lord’s liberating grace and mercy! Do you understand? Satan can ‘blind’ your seeing eyes, contaminate your mind and heart, imprison you to his ways, even ‘darken’ your eyes if you’ve seen in the past, and NOW, “Now you don’t see, now seeing only what you want to see, he uses your culpable carelessness and sinful, selfish choices, to live with the awareness you choice, your selfish ambition to satisfy the old sin nature, and, as a result, came to a dangerous stage of life with the heavy heartache of “What Might Have Been!” I want you to follow John 16:25-33! It says: (Jesus speaking),

“These things I have spoken to you in figurative language, but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about that Father. In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. I came forth from (or out of) the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father.”

His disciples said to Him, “See, now You are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this, we believe that You came forth (or out of) from God.”

Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Darkness and Light HAVE COLLIDED in the hearts and minds of all men – even now, in our ‘modern day’, Satan is busy trying to insure many will love his darkness and refuse “The Light of the world” whose name is Christ Jesus! As Christ Jesus has come into your world, is He gathering you to Himself or, sadly, you are turning away to the dark world of your ‘flesh’, your sinful ambitions, or your ‘pride’ of being in Satan’s “Hall of Fame” of “disregarders” to the True Faith?

Christ Jesus’ one desire is that YOU and all men “may have My joy fulfilled in themselves”, but far too many settle in to the world, the sinful flesh, and Satan’s kingdom of darkness! Don’t let it be you and yours!