“CARE OF THE CARNAL MIND

OR CARE OF THE SPIRITUAL SOUL?”

Is a ‘carnal mind’ the merely human effort of one’s ‘best’ at discerning for himself/herself what one is looking for in life because there is in ‘fallen flesh’ no desire to know what Holy God is up to concerning one’s earthly purpose? I don’t think there is any doubt about that!

Many of the lives birthed in our modern world are strictly ‘fleshly’ in orientation without any consideration of God’s eternal purpose of men willfully choosing their lives as “vessels” of His divine Presence and extensions through them to amazingly touch the world around them with His mercy, grace, and love! They’re “busy” about the “care of the carnal mind” and all it supposes or proposes or imposes!

If there are great, spiritual events in one’s ‘carnal mind’, “it’s all ‘circumstantial’, not providential”, they think! And if anything “great” occurs, it’s from the ‘heart-spring’ of personal initiative not Holy intent! If “dark doors” are before them, carnal minded men ‘might’ say, “Well, that must come from lower powers out of hell”, never sensing ‘godlessness’ is fertile ground for demonic activity without God’s protection against the powers of darkness because they have no intent of being dependent upon Holy God for anything in their fleshly nature since they’re perfectly capable of taking care of themselves!

Natural-minded men are blinded concerning “the lusts of the flesh, the lies of Satan, or the blinded deceits of a world population”! How many ‘natural men’ do you know who discern Holy God as the Author, Creator, and Celebrator of His world, its purpose ordained in Him, and His power and love seeing it come to full fruition in His timing? “God’s on His throne, and all is right in His world?” How many do you know who discern THAT for themselves?

How much of the comprehension of, at least, the care of the carnal mind relates to ‘fleshly comfort’, ‘earthly success’, or a ‘worldly dream or ambition’, imprinted by only ‘self-relevance’ independent of Holy God? Do you even think the masses of earthly-minded men controlled by ‘self-intent’ even care about what Holy God thinks? Personal pride “in my potential” is the ‘self-strutting peacock’ more proud of his ‘feathers’ than his Creator!

Oh, but then, there are the ‘religiously proud’ through the ages, like William Warburton, Bishop of Glouchester, that Charles Churchill wrote about in his article entitled “Independence”: “He was so proud that should he meet the Twelve Apostles in the street he’d turn his nose up at them all and shove his Savior from the wall.” I’d call that “The pride that captured Satan and shamed the ‘fallen angels’!

The cultivation of the mind void of the desire and intent of Holy God is like an automobile without an engine, or birds without wings, or, yes, human populations void of the awareness that the Creator-God came, birthed by the Virgin Mary, sacrificed His own Life on the Cross in “Blood Redemption”, but they continue ignoring Biblical History, just blindly trying to find their way without any consideration why Holy God sent His Son or why, under the Sovereign Administration of Holy God, “Why am I here?”!!

Is it possible that “the care of the carnal mind” rules over many because its finiteness has its own self-imposed limits, and one in that phase of existence only has no interest in God’s boundless, limitless, exceedingly great and unending infinite mercy and grace, especially if it costs them their independence, “if your God expects ME to obey Him”? And, is it possible, that to the extreme, there are those human beings, to the extreme point of pain, troubles, heartaches, despair, troubles, unhappiness, loneliness in the ‘inner man’, strongly twisted together to the point they come to the place to say to themselves, “Not even God cares about me”?

“Care of the carnal mind”? Could such devotion to ‘flesh’, to the ‘temporary’, to the ‘world scene’, to ‘human achievement’ without any need or even a ‘thought’ about God, or a ‘thought’ about the Savior, or a ‘thought’ about ETERNITY and one’s role in it, become so dominate one ends up ‘poverty stricken’ rather than “rich” in the Savior’s love? It’s not an accountant’s ‘ledger’ that will reveal what has the human heart, mind, and soul, because the “kingdom of God’ is not based on men’s bank accounts, investments, stock dividends, royalties, but the eternal reality of ONENESS with the Savior, Master, and True Lord of life that blesses and blesses and blesses, and keeps on blessing ! The richest man in the whole world, past, present, and future, is not the man with huge stocks, bonds, or bank accounts, but the man rich in redemptive faith, the recipient of a transformed life and new heart, and the man entrusted with Heaven’s Good News”, the Gospel, gain, and grip of King Jesus on his heart and mind, and HE’S NOT ASHAMED OF IT!

Will Carleton, in “The Ancient Miner’s Story”, wrote: “But I have learned a thing or two; I know as sure as fate, When we lock up our lives for wealth, the gold key comes too late.” One wonders if the ‘ancient miner’ ever knew or had any inkling at all about “true wealth” that only comes, lastingly, in one’s oneness in Christ alone as Lord, Savior, and the Master of, yes, Eternal Life!

Paul wrote challenging, enlightening words in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:5, so ‘eternal-life-instructing’! He said: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

“Temporary”? Does that mean not permanent to you or those around you? Does temporary mean I don’t have to be serious about my ‘present’, though my ‘present’ may be the key to what Door or door I walk through as ‘eternity’ calls my name? Some have never even considered that the ‘temporary’ IS only a stepping stone toward the ‘eternal’, blessed or unblessed, good or bad, fleshly or spiritual, Satanic or Master-Jesus oriented – it seldom enters some minds, though they see themselves as a very ‘profound person’. “I operate on ‘common sense’, not like those Christians who talk about ‘spiritual sensitivity’ to the things of God and obedience to what He reveals – not me!”

“Temporary”? “The sower sows the word.” That’s Christ Jesus speaking in Mark 4:13-20, and He’s explaining “cares of the carnal minds” AND “the care of the Spiritually-Re-born Soul in oneness with Christ”! Jesus said: “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear Satan COMES IMMEDIATELY and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have NO ROOT IN THEMSELVES, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble.

Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. BUT these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit; some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”

Is the word of God being sown by the wayside of the earthly population on any and every continent of our world? It’s happening! But is it received by every citizen of all nations? Of course not! “Few there be who find it,” Jesus said, but, yes, there are those who hear, receive, repent, and obey, yielding themselves to the Lordship of Christ!

And, receiving Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior of some lives in some countries has cost them their lives – having traveled to India and other countries in Asia, I knew those who became ‘martyrs for the faith’! But, with Paul, (Acts 20:21), they were willing “to testify…repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ”, even if persecuted or killed!

There was a particular time when in Madras, India, I was preaching on the streets before my conference there started, when two young men confronted me, threatening me that if I came back tomorrow, they would come and kill me. I told them of the time and place where I would be preaching the next day. When the time came, our church musicians were singing, but my translator, Pastor Anand, came and said, “If you’re going to preach, you better do it now, because there are ten to twelve men close by headed this way, each one carrying a machete. I preached, prayed, extended an invitation to trust Christ, and when I finished my prayer, I saw the two ‘mob leaders’ on their knees before me. They prayed to receive Christ, and were baptized by Pastor Anand and became a part of his local church!

Yes, there are those who hear the word, accept it, repent, are baptized, and begin to bear the fruit of the Indwelling Christ! And there MUST BE “the care of spiritual souls”! In Matthew 18:2-5 Jesus said: Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”

And, in the care of spiritual souls, I’m sure there are those who endorse ‘sinning’ as THE option every believer has, even if Christ Jesus Himself said: “Go and sin no more”! What does Matthew 18:6 tell us, again, Jesus speaking? “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea!”

The evidence that a man or woman, boy or girl, has been delivered FROM SIN is their sorrowful heart over what their sin nature cost Christ on the cruel Cross! And they have no desire to shame the “Blood Atonement” but to live only the overcoming life in and through Christ’s Resurrected Presence within them – they die daily to themselves and the old sin nature that Christ may be honored through them! In 1 John 1:7 the beloved John wrote: “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanses us from all sin.”

In his book “My Utmost For His Highest,” Oswald chambers wrote: “If I walk in the light as God is in the light, not in the light of my conscience, but in the light of God – if I walk there, with nothing folded up, then there comes the amazing revelation, the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin so that God Almighty can see nothing to censure in me. In my consciousness it works with a keen poignant knowledge of what sin is. The love of God at work in me makes me hate with the hatred of the Holy Ghost all that is not in keeping with God’s holiness. To walk in the light means that everything that is of the darkness drives me closer into the center of the light.”

Do you believe Jesus when He said, “And, lo, I am with you always…”, and because of His promise one can sin if he/she chooses? Walking with Him in one’s spiritual pilgrimage day by day, feeding daily on His Word, relying upon the Holy Spirit to guide us only in the way that honors Christ, does not open a door of ‘fleshly choices’ to do as I please, even sinning if I can’t help it. Where does that come from? What “strange gospel” is it that grants “do as you please if you since a desire to sin – Jesus understands.” No! He doesn’t understand ‘flesh’ ever choosing consenting to sin if He’s Captain of one’s Ship of Faith and Obedience! He’s given you the Holy Spirit to “guide you into all truth”, not to concur with your desire to do as you please!

In “The Pastor’s Guide to Effective Ministry”, (Edited by William H. Willimon, Beacon Hill Press, 2002), there’s a powerful word from the Puritan Thomas Watson. He said: “The first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God. “When I awake, I am still with Thee” (Psalm 139:18). The thoughts are as travelers in the mind. David’s thoughts kept heaven-road. “I am still with Thee.” God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart. By this way we may test our love of God. What are our thoughts most upon? Can we say we are ravished with delight when we think upon God? Have our thoughts got wings? Are they fled aloft? Do we contemplate Christ and glory?…A sinner crowds God out of his thoughts. He never thinks of God, unless with horror, as the prisoner (guilty prisoner) thinks of the judge.”

Revelation 5 speaks of “The Worthy Lamb of God”, with Revelation 5:12 and Verse 13 saying: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing” with Verse 13 following: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

Would YOU dare say that’s your hymn of praise to the Reigning Christ in your life because your “Life-Walk” IS testimony He has inspired to “the caring of your redeemed soul” honoring Him daily?

Rev.E.A.Hoffman and Rev.J.H.Stockton, in the “American Hymnal” of the early 1930’s wrote a hymn entitled “Glory To His Name.” It says: “Down at the cross where my Savior died, Down where for cleansing from sin I cried, There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His Name.

I am so wondrously saved from sin, Jesus so sweetly abides within, There at the cross where He took me in; Glory to His name.

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin, I am so glad I have entered in; There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean; Glory to His name.

Come to this fountain so rich and sweet; Cast your poor soul at the Savior’s feet; Plunge in today, and be made complete; Glory to His name.

Glory to His name, Glory to His name; There to my heart was the blood applied; Glory to His name.”

Do YOU sing the “Glory Song” to Jesus because He applied His shed Calvary blood to redeem you from your bondage in sin? It’s time – there is no promise of ‘tomorrow’! Romans 15:13 declares: “NOW may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” ARE YOU A SPIRIT-FILLED DISCIPLE ABOUNDING IN ETERNAL HOPE IN JESUS?

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, DEC. 2-4, 2017

In Proverbs 23:4-5, 12, and 17-19, are extremely wise, necessary words for all men, but especially to true believers! It says, Verses 4-5, “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”

Verse 12 says, “Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.” (Would you think that means ‘turn your hearts and minds TO God’s Word’ and ‘your ears to “Biblical Truth”?’).

Verses 17-19 says, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope (in Him and His Word!) will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way.”

What ‘way’ do you choose to walk in? “Mindful indulgence or Mastered independence?” In Matthew 6:19-21 the Lord Jesus said: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Is there a reason for what Christ said? In Colossians 3:5 Paul wrote, “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.”

All unbelievers and ‘sons of disobedience’ WALK in “mindful indulgence” completely unaware of the consequences! In Romans 8:8 Paul wrote, “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God”, meaning that those who live ‘in the flesh’ dominated by their old sin-natures cannot please God, emphasizing even more in Romans 8:13 saying, “For if you live according to the flesh you will die…”, unveiling unregenerate people who are, yes, hostile to God, and in the ‘flesh’ cannot create, invent, manufacture, or idealize ‘holy living’ – that takes a miracle of the love, grace, and mercy of God!

‘Mindful indulgence’ is the result of the birthings of perverted generations as Romans 3:23 clearly announces, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!” Natural man “misses the mark” and needs “Blood Redemption” by the purely innocent shed blood of the Son of God who knew no sin yet willfully took our sin natures to the Cross with Him!

In Romans 3:10-18 Paul quoted Old Testament passages to open men’s eyes, minds, and hearts to the need of their “blood redemption through Christ” saying: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.

They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

“Mindful indulgence” is ‘self-effort’ denying the need of ‘sovereign provision’ in any form or any Person, seeking to ‘justify’ one’s life by ‘grit’, refusing the grace of God; and, of course, there are those who believe by ‘working at it’ their effort ought to be “passed” with flying colors, rather than “Resting” in the finished work of Christ at the Cross and the empty tomb, making available Resurrection Life, Resurrection Hope, and Resurrection Power!! Romans 3:24 clearly tells us, “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, WHOM GOD SET FORTH AS A PROPITIATION BY HIS BLOOD…!!!”

It’s so convicting and heart-breaking to become aware of, yes, multitudes who truly believe their ‘working at being a better person’, or for some, they just don’t care what God thinks about them – but…Romans 4:4 is clear: “Now to him who works (at making himself/herself acceptable before Holy God), the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.” Is ‘true salvation’ “working at it” or “RESTING” in Christ’s “finished work at the Cross”?

In John 5:38-40 Christ Jesus exposed the “religious Pharisees” of His day, as He does today with ‘modern-day’, religious activists who, yes, major on “self-effort” rather than His “finished work”! John wrote: “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe (trust in, rely upon, adhere to!). You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

In John 17:11b-19 the Lord Jesus prayed for His new disciples that He’d soon be departing from, saying, “…Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition (Judas), that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify (Set apart) them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”

Question! “Have YOU been ‘set apart’ for the glory of God alone? Do YOU live to unveil the Indwelling Christ to the ‘lost world’ around you? Are YOU His messenger, His ambassador, His witness of saving grace, mercy, and love? Do YOU by “life example” reveal to your world your allegiance to King Jesus?

“Mindful Allegiance” is a life “too busy” with one’s natural surroundings to be concerned with, involved in, or a messenger of “King-dom Allegiance”! Some in church fellowships that, as disciples, the Lord Jesus said to them and us in Matthew 16: 17-19, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, (Farrell Fisher, David Clark, T.Roy Jones, anointed wife of a strong, trusting husband, medical doctor “So and so”, banker, car-washer, educator), for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, AND ON THIS ROCK (OF FAITH, TRUST, AND OBEDIENCE!) I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR “BINDING AND LOOSING MINISTRY!” Do YOU realize that YOU are either binding kingdom ministry on the earth around you OR you are loosing the Kingdom of Christ around you by, yes, your faithful ministry as an appointed, anointed servant of the Master or is it just an ‘imitator’, ‘do nothing’ church member?

Are YOU a “kingdom minister”? In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”, with more enlightment for true believers and servants of the Master coming in John 18:36-38 when Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Right before His ascension, in Acts 1:7-8, the Lord Jesus said to His new disciples, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. BUT YOU shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Witnesses, messengers, ambassadors, proclaimers, servants in the Name and for the honor and glory of Christ in us and through us, because in you the Word reveals a redeemed life filled with the Holy Spirit, being, yes, guided by the Holy Spirit in being a faithful witness to the unredeemed around you?

But, sadly, the Holy Word of God reveals the truth that there are those who, according to Romans 2:4-11, should have God’s holy judgment against them clearly revealed! Paul wrote: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? BUT in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, ‘who will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; BUT TO THOSE WHO ARE SELF-SEEKING AND DO NOT OBEY TRUTH, BUT OBEY UNRIGHTEOUSNESS – indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who seeks what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.”

I’m sure that at least most ‘professing believers’ know what is commonly called the “Lord’s Prayer” as He taught His new disciples in Matthew 6 unveiling it with powerful instructions in Verses 5-8 followed by the “Lord’s Prayer” in Verses 9-13! Receive our Lord’s powerful ministry AND instruction through His teaching!

Matthew 6:5-8, “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites (or “play actors”). For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words. Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

Verses 9-13 follows – Receive our Lord’s Prayer! It says: In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

“Mastered Independence”? That’s a life conquered by the love of God, set free from the law of sin and death by the blood of the Lamb, governed by His Kingdom rule and revelation, freed from the “chains of Satanic bondage”, issued the “Master’s instruction of heavenly independence from the worldly aims of godlessness, from a world system of self-dependence, from the ‘flesh’ stronghold of sin and death, and from the darkness of demonic activity”, and discerning of what, yes, fallen mankind and, sadly, some believers are influenced by as John was inspired to write in 1 John 2:15-17,

“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 – the lust of the flesh, 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.”

And “Mastered Independence”? That’s pastors, churches, families, individuals, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, then loosed in a fallen world, yes, “mastered independently” to BE “salt and light” in one’s darkened world, not making sure the “salt and light” is protected by the four walls of a church building, but poured out faithfully in the streets of one’s city, state, nation, and its world!

I’ve often wondered if pastors and churches today “rest” in the Word of God, then find themselves “released” to touch the World God loves with the message of His Son. In Isaiah 54:1-3 merciful God is touching His ‘barren people’ who’ve failed to be “poured out drink offerings” to a thirsty, dry, unredeemed world! Receive His Word!! “Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall EXPAND to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited.”

It’s time for “stained glass curtains” hiding too many disciples faith to be removed, maybe, allowing the “True Light” to shine in the streets where they walk, work, witness, worship, and willfully share their faith in Christ! Our Lord and Savior willfully left the “Throne Room of God” to pour out His life to our needy world, and I believe He wants us, yes, laying down our lives in the streets of the cities of our world! Great witnesses are mortal men and women touched and taken over by Jesus, tutored by the Holy Spirit, and commissioned by Christ to see transformed lives by faithful witnesses who share God’s eternal love, grace, and mercy for, yes, ALL of fallen mankind!

Grace E. Uhler once wrote: “For God so loved the world, not just a few, The wise and Great, the noble and the true, Or those of favored class or race or hue. God so loved the world. Do you?”

It’s time for modern-day churches, faithful pastors, families of faith and biblical mission to lose themselves in a flood of Calvary’s love, faithfully becoming “poured-out drink offerings” to this spiritually dehydrated world! Amen? Sadly, some ‘professing disciples’ are the result of a ‘dead faith’ that isn’t worth sharing, so they don’t, because their ‘faith’ isn’t of any value in them or around them because they’ve never comprehended the end result of Christ-less living! “God, help us, convict us, prepare us, and pour us out to our thirsty world!” Amen?

J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 1-2, 2019

QUANTITATIVE CHOICES OF MANKIND? THE DICTIONARY DEFINITION OF ‘QUANTITATIVE’ IN THE RANDOM HOUSE COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY OF 1975 BY RANDOM HOUSE INC. SAYS OF THAT BIG WORD, “THAT IS OR MAY BE ESTIMATED BY QUANTITY”; & WHEN IT COMES TO “QUANTITAVIVE CHOICES OF ‘FALLEN’ MANKIND”, ALIENATED & SEPARATED FROM GOD BY THE WILLFUL CHOICE OF THE MIND & HEART, ALL MANKIND WAS BIRTHED WITH THE CHOICE OF ‘SELF-WILL’ OR “DIVINE WILL”, & FROM ADAM & EVE ONWARD THROUGH ALL HUMAN HISTORY THE CHOICE HAS BEEN ‘SELF-WILL’, ‘SELF-RULE’, ‘SELF-MASTERY’, ‘SELF-INDULGENCE’,& ‘SELF-PLEASURE’, “AS I OR WE DETERMINE FOR OURSELVES”!

HOLY GOD WAS NOT INTERESTED IN MANUFACTURING “ROBOTS” WHO, WITHOUT CHOICE, WOULD AUTOMATICALLY DO WHAT HE DESIRED; SO “FREE WILL” CAME INTO PLAY, & WE ALL KNOW ADAM & EVE’S CHOICE & YOUR CHOICE & MINE! DO YOU REMEMBER JOSHUA 24:14-16 WHEN JOSHUA SAID TO THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, “NOW THEREFORE FEAR THE LORD, & SERVE HIM IN SINCERITY & IN TRUTH: & PUT AWAY THE GODS WHICH YOUR FATHERS SERVED THAT WERE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FLOOD, OR THE GODS OF THE AMORITES, IN WHOSE LAND YOU DWELL; BUT AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD”?

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY GOD BLESSED TO ENLIGHTEN THE “CHOSEN PEOPLE” BECAUSE, ALREADY, IN HUMAN HISTORY THE “GREAT FALLING AWAY” FROM GOD CONTINUED! IN DEUTERONOMY 10:8 WE READ, “AT THAT TIME THE LORD SEPARATED THE TRIBE OF LEVI, TO BEAR THE ARK OF THE COVENANT, TO STAND BEFORE THE LORD TO MINISTER UNTO HIM, & TO BLESS HIS NAME, UNTO THIS DAY.” THEN IN VERSES 12-13 WE READ, “AND NOW, ISRAEL, WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU, BUT TO FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD, TO WALK IN ALL HIS WAYS, & TO LOVE HIM, & TO SERVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART & WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, TO KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, & HIS STATUTES, WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY FOR YOUR GOOD?” (BUT THAT’S OPTIONAL?).

TO AMERICANS TODAY, I ASK YOU, “WHAT DOES THE LORD GOD REQUIRE OF YOU?”, AND A LOST, PERISHING, DYING HUMANITY, LIVING FAITHLESS KEEPS DIGGING A DEEPER HOLE TO BE BURIED IN! BUT COMPASSIONATE GOD DIDN’T CHANGE THEN & DOESN’T CHANGE NOW! IN DEUTERONOMY 11:26-28 WE READ, “BEHOLD, I SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY A BLESSING & A CURSE; A BLESSING, IF YOU OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY: AND A CURSE, IF YOU WILL NOT OBEY THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, BUT TURN ASIDE OUT OF THE WAY WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY, TO GO AFTER OTHER GODS, WHICH YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN.”

HOW SERIOUS-MINDED ARE YOU WHEN YOU HEAR HOLY GOD SPEAK ABOUT “TURNING ASIDE, OUT OF THE WAY, WHICH I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY, TO GO AFTER OTHER ‘gods’, WHICH YOU HAVE NOT KNOWN”? IN THE END OF ISAIAH 45:20 THE PROPHET EXPOSED THOSE “WHO PRAY UNTO A ‘god’ THAT CANNOT SAVE”! THEN, OF COURSE, THERE ARE THOSE WHO NEVER PRAY BECAUSE THEY DON’T NEED “FALSE GODS” & THEY SURE DON’T DESIRE TO TRUST THE GOD WHO MADE THEM, LOST THEM, BOUGHT THEM WITH THE PRICE OF HIS OWN SON’S BLOOD, BUT THEY REFUSE HIS MERCY, HIS GRACE, & HIS LOVE – “WE’RE OK WITHOUT YOU, BIG GOD!”

JOB HAD ‘FRIENDS’ WHO MADE ‘LIGHT’ ABOUT SERIOUS-MINDED FRIENDS LIKE HIM, YES, DEVOTED TO HOLY GOD. IN JOB 13:1-11 JOB RESPONDED REPROVING “HIS FRIENDS”, SAYING, “LO, MY EYE HAS SEEN ALL THIS (FABRICATION OF FAITH!), MY EAR HAS HEARD & UNDERSTOOD IT. WHAT YOU KNOW, THE ‘SAME’ DO I KNOW ALSO; I AM NOT INFERIOR UNTO YOU. SURELY I WOULD SPEAK TO THE ALMIGHTY, & I DESIRE TO REASON WITH GOD. “BUT”, YOU (IN THE FLESH) ARE FORGERS OF LIES (PRETENDERS), YOU ARE ALL PHYSICIANS (OR DOCTORS) OF NO VALUE (HAVING NO PRECRIPTION FOR YOUR RELIGIOUS PRETENSE!). O THAT YOU WOULD ALTOGETHER HOLD YOUR PEACE! & IT SHOULD BE YOUR WISDOM. (BUT SADLY MANY ‘WORLDLY-MINDED’ ARE MORE IN TUNE TO THE FALLEN SIN-NATURE THAN SAVING GRACE, BUT DESIRING BOTH, THEY STILL “SING PRAISES TO GOD AS, YES, AT THE SAME TIME THEY SHAME THE SACRED NAME OF THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS!!). JOB CONTINUED:

VERSES 6-11, HEAR NOW MY REASONING, & HEARKEN TO THE PLEADING OF MY LIPS. WILL YOU SPEAK WICKEDLY FOR GOD? & TALK DECEITFULLY FOR HIM? WILL YOU ACCEPT HIS PERSON? WILL YOU CONTEND FOR GOD? IS IT GOOD THAT HE SHOULD SEARCH YOU OUT? OR AS ONE MAN MOCKS ANOTHER, DO YOU SO MOCK GOD? IS IT GOOD THAT HE SHOULD SEARCH YOU OUT? OR AS ONE MAN MOCKS ANOTHER, DO YOU SO MOCK HIM? HE WILL SURELY REPROVE YOU, IF YOU DO SECRETLY ACCEPT PERSONS. SHALL NOT HIS EXCELLENCY MAKE YOU AFRAID? & HIS DREAD FALL UPON YOU?

QUANTITATIVE CHOICES OF MANKIND? ARE THEY STILL ALIVE ON GOD’S ‘PLANET-EARTH’? PAUL LEFT TITUS IN CRETE TO CONTINUE THE MINISTRY OF FAITH & IN TITUS 1: 9-16 HE CHALLENGED THE LORD’S AMBASSADOR OF THE TRUE FAITH, SAYING, “HOLDING FAST THE FAITHFUL WORD AS (A BISHOP) HAS BEEN TAUGHT, THAT HE MAY BE ABLE BY SOUND DOCTRINE TO EXHORT & TO CONVINCE THE GAINSAYERS (A DISPUTER OF BIBLICAL TRUTH WHO WOULD CONTRADICT THE HOLY WORD!) FOR THERE ARE MANY UNRULY & VAIN TALKERS & DECEIVERS, SPECIALLY THEY OF THE CIRCUMCISION (LEGALISTIC ‘JEWS’): WHOSE MOUTHS MUST BE STOPPED, WHO SUBVERT WHOLE HOUSES, TEACHING THINGS WHICH THEY OUGHT NOT, FOR FILTHY LUCRE’S SAKE.

ONE OF THEMSELVES, EVEN A PROPHET OF THEIR OWN, SAID, THE CRETIANS ARE ALWAYS LIARS, EVIL BEASTS, SLOW BELLIES. THIS WITNESS IS TRUE. WHEREFORE REBUKE THEM SHARPLY, THAT THEY MAY BE SOUND IN THE FAITH; NOT GIVING HEED TO JEWISH FABLES, & COMMANDMENTS OF MEN, THAT TURN FROM THE TRUTH. UNTO THE PURE ALL THINGS ARE PURE; BUT UNTO THEM THAT ARE DEFILED & UNBELIEVING IS NOTHING PURE; BUT EVEN THEIR MIND & CONSCIENCE IS DEFILED. THEY PROFESS TO KNOW GOD; BUT IN WORKS (WALKS) THEY DENY HIM, BEING ABOMINABLE, & DISOBEDIENT, & UNTO EVERY GOOD WORK REPROBATE.” WOW!!

BUT RATHER THAN THE “QUANTITATIVE CHOICES OF FALLEN MANKIND”, WHAT ABOUT EXAMINING “THE ETERNAL, QUALITATIVE CHOICE OF GOD FOR MAN?” WHAT DID JOSHUA SAY? “AS FOR ME & MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!” AND “YOU” HAVE A CHOICE! I PRAY IT’S FULL REPENTANCE BEFORE HOLY GOD & TRUE FAITH & FULL SURRENDER TO THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST JESUS!!

IN 1 KINGS 18:21 WE READ, “AND ELIJAH CAME UNTO ALL THE PEOPLE, & SAID, HOW LONG HALT YOU BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS? IF THE LORD BE GOD, FOLLOW HIM; BUT IF BAAL, THEN FOLLOW HIM. & THE PEOPLE ANSWERED HIM NOT A WORD.”

RATHER THAN HOUSES OF NATURAL ‘BEASTLINESS’, HOW ABOUT HEARTS & HOMES OF DIVINE PRESENCE, DIVINE POWER, & DIVINE PRIVILEGE, EMPOWERING MAN & WIFE & PARENTS & CHILDREN HONORING THE KING OF KINGS & LORD OF LORDS? ‘HOUSES’ “CHOOSE” AS WELL AS “HOMES”, BUT ‘FLESHLY’ BEST HAS NEVER HONORED HOLY GOD! IN ECCLESIASTES 11:5-8, POSSIBLY AUTHORED BY SOLOMAN, WE READ: “AS YOU KNOW NOT WHAT IS THE WAY OF THE SPIRIT,NOR HOW THE BONES DO GROW IN THE WOMB OF HER THAT IS WITH CHILD:EVEN SO YOU KNOW NOT THE WORKS OF GOD WHO MAKES ALL.

IN THE MORNING SOW YOUR SEED, & IN THE EVENING WITHHOLD NOT YOUR HAND: FOR YOU KNOW NOT WHETHER SHALL PROSPER, EITHER THIS OR THAT, OR WHETHER THEY BOTH SHALL BE ALIKE GOOD. TRULY THE LIGHT IS SWEET, & A PLEASANT THING IT IS FOR THE EYES TO BEHOLD THE SUN; BUT IF A MAN LIVE MANY YEARS, & REJOICE IN THEM ALL; YET LET HIM REMEMBER THE DAYS OF DARKNESS; FOR THEY SHALL BE MANY. ALL THAT COMES IS VANITY.” FLESHLY BEST IS VANITY & DARKNESS! HOMES OF DIVINE PRESENCE ARE VICTORY IN JESUS, FULL OF HIS ETERNAL LIGHT!!

ALSO, RATHER THAN HOLLOW HEARTS, WHAT ABOUT VIBRANT HEARTS WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE LIVING CHRIST? IN COLOSSIANS 1:27 WE READ PAUL SAYING, “TO WHOM GOD WOULD MAKE KNOWN WHAT IS THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY AMONG THE GENTILES, WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY.” ALSO, EXAMINE FOR YOURSELF 1 JOHN 3:16-24!!! “HEREBY PERCEIVE WE THE LOVE OF GOD, BECAUSE, HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US; & WE OUGHT TO LAY DOWN OUR LIVES FOR THE BRETHREN. (AND THAT’S “SAVED BRETHREN OR LOST BRETHREN”!)

BUT WHOSO HAS THIS WORLD’S GOOD, & SEES HIS BROTHER HAS NEED, & SHUTS UP HIS BOWELS OF COMPASSION FROM HIM, HOW DOES THE LOVE OF GOD DWELL IN HIM? MY LITTLE CHILDREN, LET US NOT LOVE IN WORD, NEITHER IN TONGUE; BUT IN DEED & IN TRUTH. & HEREBY WE KNOW THAT WE ARE OF THE TRUTH, & SHALL ASSURE OUR HEARTS BEFORE GOD. FOR IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US, GOD IS GREATER THAN OUR HEART, & KNOWS ALL THINGS.

BELOVED, IF OUR HEART CONDEMN US NOT, THEN WE HAVE CONFIDENCE TOWARD GOD. & WHATSOEVER WE ASK, WE RECEIVE OF HIM, BECAUSE WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS, & DO THOSE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN GOD’S SIGHT. & THIS IS THE COMMANDMENT, THAT WE SHOULD BELIEVE (TRUST IN,RELY UPON,ADHERE TO)ON THE NAME OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST, & LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS HE GAVE US COMMANDMENT. & HE THAT KEEPS HIS COMMANDMENTS DWELLETH IN HIM, & GOD IN HIM. & HEREBY WE KNOW THAT HE ABIDES IN US BY THE SPIRIT WHICH THE FATHER HAS GIVEN TO US.”

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO ALSO KNOWS ‘WARPED SPIRITS’ WERE CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST, & THAT THROUGH REPENTANCE & TRUE FAITH, THE “BORN-AGAIN HEART & LIFE” THE HOLY SPIRIT WANTS IT TO BE HIS EARTHLY TEMPLE, TABERNACLE, WHERE HE LIVES IN RESIDENT-LIVING & PROVIDES OVERCOMING POWER FOR THE “TEMPLE” THAT FACES UNCEASING CHALLENGES FROM ‘THE POWERS OF DARKNESS’! THERE CAN BE, IS, & MUST BE “YIELDEDNESS” TO THE WILLFUL SPIRIT OF HOLY INTENT!

OH, THEN CONSIDER: “BUSINESSES ONLY FOR PROFIT” OR “LIFE-BUSINESS FOR THE PRAISE OF THE LORD”? EXAMINE THOROUGHLY YOUR OWN HEART & MIND BEFORE HOLY GOD AS YOU LISTEN TO, RESPOND TO, & REST IN COLOSSIANS 1:16-29!! PAUL WROTE: “FOR BY HIM WERE ALL THINGS CREATED, THAT ARE IN HEAVEN, & THAT ARE IN EARTH, VISIBLE & INVISIBLE, WHETHER THEY BE THRONES, OR DOMINIONS, OR PRINCIPALITIES, OR POWERS:ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY HIM, & FOR HIM. AND HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, & BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST.

AND HE (CHRIST JESUS!) IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH:WHO IS THE BEGINNING, THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD; THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MIGHT HAVE THE PREEMINENCE. FOR IT PLEASED THE FATHER THAT IN HIM SHOULD ALL FULLNESS DWELL; & HAVING MADE PEACE THROUGH THE BLOOD OF HIS CROSS, BY HIM TO RECONCILE ALL THINGS UNTO HIMSELF; BY HIM, I SAY, WHETHER THEY BE THINGS IN EARTH, OR THINGS IN HEAVEN. & YOU, THAT WERE SOMETIME ALIENATED & ENEMIES IN YOUR MIND BY WICKED WORKS, YET NOW HAS HE RECONCILED IN THE BODY OF HIS FLESH THROUGH DEATH, TO PRESENT YOU HOLY & UNBLAMEABLE & UNREPROVEABLE IN HIS SIGHT: IF YOU CONTINUE IN THE FAITH GROUNDED, & SETTLED, & BE NOT MOVED AWAY FROM THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL, WHICH YOU HAVE HEARD, & WHICH WAS PREACHED TO EVERY CREATURE WHICH IS UNDER HEAVEN; WHEREOF I PAUL AM MADE A MINISTER;

WHO NOW REJOICE IN MY SUFFERINGS FOR YOU, & FILL UP THAT WHICH IS BEHIND OF THE AFFLICTIONS OF CHRIST IN MY FLESH FOR HIS BODY’S SAKE, WHICH IS THE CHURCH: WHEREOF I AM MADE A MINISTER, ACCORDING TO THE DISPENSATION OF GOD (GOD’S ‘STEWARDSHIP’!) WHICH IS GIVEN TO ME FOR YOU, TO FULFILL THE WORD OF GOD; EVEN THE MYSTERY WHICH HAS BEEN HIDDEN FROM AGES & FROM GENERATIONS, BUT NOW IS MADE MANIFEST TO HIS SAINTS: TO WHOM GOD WOULD MAKE KNOWN WHAT IS THE RICHES OF THE GLORY OF THIS MYSTERY AMONG THE GENTILES: WHICH IS CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY: WHOM WE PREACH, WARNING EVERY MAN, & TEACHING EVERY MAN IN ALL WISDOM; THAT WE MAY PRESENT EVERY MAN PERFECT IN CHRIST JESUS; WHEREUNTO I ALSO LABOR, STRIVING ACCORDING TO HIS WORKING, WHICH WORKS IN ME MIGHTILY.”

“THE ETERNAL, QUALITATIVE CHOICE OF GOD FOR MAN”? I WANT TO SHARE HERE WORDS FROM ERIC METAXAS IN HIS BOOK “7 MEN & THE SECRETS OF THEIR GREATNESS.” HE WROTE IN THE INTRODUCTION,(PP.19-20) THE FOLLOWING: “BUT BECAUSE MEN HAVE SOMETIMES USED THEIR STRENGTH SELFISHLY, THERE HAS BEEN A BACKLASH AGAINST THE WHOLE IDEA OF MASCULINE STRENGTH. IT HAS BEEN SEEN – & PORTRAYED – AS SOMETHING NEGATIVE. IF YOU BUY INTO THAT IDEA, THEN YOU REALIZE THE ONLY WAY TO DEAL WITH IT IS TO WORK AGAINST IT, TO TRY TO WEAKEN MEN, BECAUSE WHATEVER STRENGTH THEY HAVE WILL BE USED TO HARM OTHERS. THIS LEADS TO THE EMASCULATED IDEA OF MEN. STRENGTH IS DENIGRATED BECAUSE IT CAN BE USED FOR ILL. SO WE LIVE IN A CULTURE WHERE STRENGTH IS FEARED & WHERE THERE IS A SENSE THAT – TO PROTECT THE WEAK – STRENGTH ITSELF MUST BE WEAKENED. WHEN THIS HAPPENS, THE HEROIC & TRUE NATURE OF STRENGTH IS MUCH FORGOTTEN. IT LEADS TO A WORLD OF MEN WHO AREN’T REALLY MEN. INSTEAD THEY ARE JUST TWO KINDS OF BOYS: BOASTING, LOUD-MOUTHED BULLIES OR SOFT, EMASCULATED PSEUDO-MEN. WOMEN FEEL THAT THEY MUST BE “EMPOWERED” & MUST NEVER RELY ON MEN FOR STRENGTH. IT’S A LOT LIKE A SOCIALISTIC IDEA, WHERE “POWER” & “STRENGTH” ARE REDISTRIBUTED – TAKEN AWAY FROM MEN & GIVEN TO WOMEN, TO EVEN THINGS OUT. OF COURSE IT DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY. EVERYONE LOSES.

THE KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR WHO DOES ALL HE CAN TO PROTECT OTHERS, THE GENTLEMAN WHO LAYS DOWN HIS CLOAK OR OPENS A DOOR FOR A LADY – THESE ARE CHRISTIAN IDEALS OF MANLINESS. JESUS SAID THAT HE WHO WOULD LEAD MUST BE THE SERVANT OF ALL. IT’S THE BIBLICAL IDEA OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP. THE TRUE LEADER GIVES HIMSELF TO THE PEOPLE HE LEADS. THE GOOD SHEPHERD LAYS DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS SHEEP. JESUS WASHED THE FEET OF THE DISCIPLES. JESUS DIED FOR THOSE HE LOVES. THAT IS GOD’S IDEA OF STRENGTH & LEADERSHIP & BLESSING. IT’S SOMETHING TO BE USED IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS. SO GOD’S IDEA OF MASCULINE STRENGTH GIVES US THE IDEA OF A CHIVALROUS GENTLEMAN TOWARD WOMEN, NOT A BULLY OR SOMEONE WHO SEES NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIMSELF & THEM.” SO TRUE!

“THE ETERNAL, QUALITATIVE CHOICE OF GOD FOR MAN?” WHAT ABOUT 1 SAMUEL 3:10? “AND THE LORD CAME, & STOOD, & CALLED AS AT OTHER TIMES, ‘SAMUEL, SAMUEL’. THEN SAMUEL ANSWERED, “SPEAK, LORD; FOR YOUR SERVANT HEARS.” BUT DOES GOD COME, DOES HE STILL KNOCK, DOES HE STILL CALL AS HE HAS FOR SO MANY MULTITUDES & YET WHEN THE “WISDOM OF GOD CALLS, THERE ARE THOSE WHO REFUSE TO ANSWER OR RESPOND TO HIS PASSIONATE INVITATION! IN PROVERBS 1:22-33 WE READ, “HOW LONG, YOU SIMPLE ONES, WILL YOU LOVE SIMPLICITY? & THE SCORNERS DELIGHT IN THEIR SCORNINGS, & FOOLS HATE KNOWLEDGE?

TURN YOU AT MY REPROOF, BEHOLD, I WILL POUR OUT MY SPIRIT UNTO YOU, I WILL MAKE KNOWN MY WORDS UNTO YOU. BECAUSE I HAVE CALLED, & YOU REFUSED; I HAVE STRETCHED OUT MY HAND, & NO MAN REGARDED. BUT YOU HAVE SET AT NOUGHT ALL MY COUNSEL, & WOULD NONE OF MY REPROOF; I ALSO WILL LAUGH AT YOUR CALAMITY; I WILL MOCK WHEN YOUR FEAR COMES; WHEN YOUR FEAR COMES AS DESOLATION, & YOUR DESTRUCTION COMES AS A WHIRLWIND; WHEN DISTRESS & ANGUISH COMES UPON YOU.

THEN SHALL THEY CALL UPON ME, BUT I WILL NOT ANSWER; THEY SHALL SEEK ME EARLY, BUT THEY SHALL NOT FIND ME: FOR THAT THEY HATED KNOWLEDGE, & DID NOT CHOOSE THE FEAR OF THE LORD; THEY WOULD NONE OF MY COUNSEL; THEY DESPISED ALL MY REPROOF. THEREFORE SHALL THEY EAT THE FRUIT OF THEIR OWN WAY, & BE FILLED WITH THEIR OWN DEVICES. FOR THE TURNING AWAY OF THE SIMPLE SHALL SLAY THEM, & THE PROSPERITY OF FOOLS SHALL DESTROY THEM. BUT WHOSO HEARKENS UNTO ME SHALL DWELL SAFELY, & SHALL BE QUIET FROM FEAR OF EVIL.” THE ETERNAL,QUALITATIVE CHOICE FOR MAN?” FANNY CROSBY & W.H.DOANE, IN THE OLD “THE AMERICAN HYMNAL”,(PUBLISHED IN 1933, BY THE BROADMAN PRESS, NASHVILLE, TENN.) WROTE A HYMN ENTITLED “SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS”. IT SAYS: “SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS, SAFE ON HIS GENTLE BREAST, THERE BY HIS LOVE O’ER-SHADED, SWEETLY MY SOUL SHALL REST. HARK! IT’S THE VOICE OF ANGELS, BORNE IN A SONG TO ME, OVER THE FIELDS OF GLORY, OVER THE JASPER SEA.

SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS, SAFE FROM CORRODING CARE, SAFE FROM THE WORLD’S TEMPTATIONS, SIN CANNOT HARM ME THERE. FREE FROM THE BLIGHT OF SORROW, FREE FROM MY DOUBTS & FEARS; ONLY A FEW MORE TRIALS, ONLY A FEW MORE TEARS!

JESUS, MY HEART’S DEAR REFUGE, JESUS HAS DIED FOR ME; FIRM ON THE ROCK OF AGES, EVER MY TRUST SHALL BE. HERE LET ME WAIT WITH PATIENE, WAIT TIL’ THE NIGHT IS O’ER; WAIT TILL I SEE THE MORNING BRREAK ON THE GOLDEN SHORE…..SAFE IN THE ARMS OF JESUS,SAFE ON HIS GENTLE BREAST, THERE BY HIS LOVE O’ER-SHADED,SWEETLY MY SOUL SHALL REST. AMEN?” ARE YOU AT REST?

“Will Fisher, son of Ben and Brooke, sent by the Father, not to be a ‘wisher,’ but a son of God called to be a giver.

That’s Will as the giver of God’s grace, and mercy, and love, indwelt by His Spirit, as a “messenger dove”.

Well-trained by his parents and raised like a star to carry God’s Truth near and far.

Will, led by God’s Spirit and taught in God’s grace, will touch many men, regardless of race.

God’s Spirit, His gift to Will, of the fruit of love, and peace, and power, will be God’s extension and Holy expression of eternal intent to free men around him of ‘fleshly’ depression.

Men touched by Will with Calvary’s message of grace will also be instruments to touch every race – red, yellow, black, or white, Will will lead them to God’s Dawning Light – Jesus is His Name, forever the same, and Will will not be one of the lame!