BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, NOV.13-15, 2017

Highly interesting, prophetic, liberating words in Psalm 68:17-20! The Word says: “The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of thousands; the Lord is among them as in Sinai, in the Holy place. You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, even from the rebellious, that the Lord might dwell there. Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits! Our God is the God of salvation; and to God the Lord belong escapes from death.”

‘Exile’ in the Hebrew Old Testament language is “galah” meaning to “uncover”, or to “remove”, suggesting “to be led into captivity”, which is Biblically certain where Satan led Adam and Eve out of the ‘Garden of Eden’ into willful, self-instituted, flesh-chosen bondage and slavery to the enticements and chains of their sin-natures!

Slavery? Bondage? Exile? Captured? Foreigner to the God-nature? Chained by the ‘flesh sin-nature’, chained by Satan and his demon armies, even by ‘proud’, self-assertive flesh and indifference to the will and Word of God, imprisoned to a world philosophy rather than yielded to the Voice of the Holy Savior and Lord? Despisers of “God’s pleasant land”? “Deaf to His Word, His calling, His instruction, His will and eternal purpose”? Blinded to His revealed intent? Rebelling to the Holy Spirit? Bound to the world, the godless spirit, and the demonic armies? ‘Minglers’, ‘mixers’, or the ‘mesmerized’ in idolatry and the waywardness of ‘flesh allegiance’?

And “exiled humans” often are so content in their state of devotion to the ‘flesh’ and not the Spirit that they are governed by deaf ears to the Voice of God! But in Psalm 106:44-45 we read: “Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, WHEN He heard their cry; And for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies.”

And, according to the multitude of His mercies, the compassionate, merciful, caring God is “knocking on the door of all the needy,” but, even though knocking, there are those who refuse to open the door of their hearts and minds and let Him in!

In Haggai 1:4-10, I pray you’re called to self-examination as to whether you are still an “exiled human” or an “evangelized holy one”! God spoke through Haggai saying: “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withholds its fruit.”

But hear me: In 2 Corinthians 6:16 Paul wrote: “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will DWELL IN THEM and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Was “your own house crucified with Christ”? If so, and you were graciously transformed into His temple of Holy Presence, then why do some ‘professing believers’ try to maintain “my house” allegiance while professing they understand, by His grace and mercy, they are now His Holy Temple of Resurrection Presence? Rather than “Evangelized Holy Ones”, do some desire to hold onto their “exiled humanity”? Are some content to hold onto their bowing before their idol of materialism in place of Spirit-Mastering?

Are there, yes, choices God gives to His chosen people like Israel or, yes, to the “blood-bought” through the Lamb of God’s sacrifice? In Psalm 78 there are highly informative and convicting words about “spiritual pilgrimages” even today, with some beginning but being horribly distracted! Psalm 78:32-33 says, “In spite of this they still sinned (that’s some of His chosen people!), and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear.” Verse 41 says, “Yes, again and again they tempted God, and LIMITED THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL.” [I believe I’d follow that trail of truth and see where it leads!!].

Get ready!! Examine Psalm 78:56-61! “Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, (Aren’t you glad we don’t have to be concerned about that today? Really?), and did not keep His testimonies, But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.

For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. When God heard this, He was furious, and greatly abhorred Israel, So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had placed among men, And delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hand.” WOW!!

“Exiled Humans Or Evangelized Holy Ones?” Paul the Apostle wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, and in 2 Timothy 4:1-5 we read: “I charge you (That’s one of his spiritual sons in the faith!) therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: (Kingdom of God in the future or, yes, the present Kingdom of God in the here and now?) Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

Do you understand that the “ministry to be fulfilled” is the calling on every true, born-again disciple’s life to be an “evangelizing holy one”, representative of the King of kings and Lord of lords, His appointed, anointed, assigned servants of expressing His love, touching the hearts and minds of the unredeemed around you? Every true disciple, every true follower of Christ, IS assigned the personal ministry of “ambassadors for Christ”!

In 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 the Holy Word gets clearer about out ministry roles! It says: ( Please remember: “Evangelized Holy Ones” are those “blood bought” and transformed to “new life” through the mercy and grace of God, but having been regenerated, we are re-assigned, not to pump our flesh, but to lift high the Banner of King Jesus to those around us!). The Corinthian passage?

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a ‘new creation’; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, AND has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, AND has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

NOW THEN, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He (God) made Him (Christ Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

“Evangelized Holy Ones”? Dare I tell you that the experience and miracle of “blood redemption” in and through Christ begins with “the conviction and convincing of the Holy Spirit” of the need to be reconciled to God? In John 16:7-11 the Lord Jesus spoke to enlighten His followers! (Hear me! “Followers” DO NOT ALWAYS REVEAL THE TRUE CHRIST AND HIS SAVING GRACE, MERCY, AND LOVE!):

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will (through you!) convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they do not believe in Me (or “trust” Christ!); of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; and of judgment, because the ruler of the world is judged.”

Oh, but then Jesus continued to magnify the ministry of the Holy Spirit saying in John 16:12-15, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” The Spirit is our “faithful Guide”, who grants us a “full unveiling” of Christ’s intent in us and through us, yes, releasing to us a “forceful, heavenly empowerment”!

This is why in 1 Corinthians 2:4-5 Paul educates young disciples in the ministry of the Holy Spirit! “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” Glory!!

“Evangelized Holy Ones?” Having been converted through the power of the Holy Spirit on the fertile ground of repentance and faith, Revelation 4:5b speaks of: “Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God,” or God in His completeness, birthing new sons and daughters of redemptive faith, now living, yes, in the full and complete brightness of the very Spirit of God, ready to be poured out as “drink offerings” to barren, thirsty, empty lives around you through YOUR Spirit-anointed witness!

Further, having been converted by the Spirit as “babes in Christ”, “new creations”, immature even in spiritual understanding, Merciful God sends the Holy Spirit to, as we saw in John 16:13, Jesus speaking, “…when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth..”!

Two verses from the old hymn copyrighted in 1885 entitled “Standing On the Promises” says: (Verses 4 & 5), “Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord, Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord; Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword, Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises I cannot fall, Listening every moment to the Spirit’s call; Resting in my Savior as my all in all, Standing on the promises of God.” As an “evangelized holy one”, are you standing, surrendering, yielding, resting in the “guidance of the Holy Spirit daily”?

“Evangelized Holy Ones”? Guided by the Spirit of truth, are you fully aware of Holy God’s intent of our deliverance from demonic and satanic bondage? In Acts 10:38 Peter said: “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

What an amazing word, but blinded to the majority of evangelical Christians who know NOTHING about the ministry of “deliverance” from demon presence, demon deceit, and demon binding! I’ll never forget an event in India of having a young lady with her husband asking to meet with me. I was in a hotel, and about 8am she and her husband knocked on my hotel-room door. I invited them in – almost immediately she was prostrate before me on the floor – I knew she was demon-possessed! I spoke to the demons, and they said, in a deep male voice, perfect English, “We don’t have to come out – and we’re not coming out!” It was about thirty minutes later, she opened her mouth, and out from her throat flowed a purple trail of demonic presence – she opened her eyes, and we led her in a prayer of faith and thanksgiving for our Lord’s ‘deliverance’ and salvation of her soul! There was a healing of that lady, because, though oppressed by the devil, Jesus is stronger! Amen?

“Evangelized Holy Ones”? For some, there is the reality of, yes, having “Hell” scared out of them by the grace and mercy of God! The prophet Isaiah had a strong, convicting word in Isaiah 46:12-13 when God spoke through him! Holy God said then, and still does now: “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted, who are far from righteousness: I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel My glory.” [You do understand! There was and is a physical Israel and there was and is a spiritual Israel!].

But to the unbelieving, Jew or Gentile, God still speaks!! Examine Isaiah 47:6-11!! “I was angry with My people; (So you hear some say or even teach: “Thank God, that’s just God and rebellious Jews; no concern for compromising Christians!” Really?). I have profaned My inheritance, and given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; on the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily. And you said, ‘I shall be a lady (a queen) forever,’ so that you did not take these things to heart, nor remember the latter end of them.

Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children.’ But these two things shall come to you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness because of the multitude of your sorceries, for the great abundance of your enchantments.

FOR you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, ‘No one sees me’; your wisdom and your knowledge have warped you; and you have said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one else besides me.’ THEREFORE evil shall come upon you; you shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; you will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.”

Have you just heard words about “Exiled Humans”, and especially “church pretenders”? I’ve paraphrased words from Elizabeth Barrett Browning from her work entitled “The Image of God”; they go like this: “You! Are you likened to God? Are you likened to the Son, then darkness appears? In all your glory works the ‘worm’ decay – ‘harvest’ of godlikeness fails to shine – you are not like God!

Are you like God or more the image of a death-filled soul? Do your thoughts ‘alight’ and your ‘musings’ roll downward , and then you hear the Spirit say, “You are not like God!”

But, by Christ Jesus, you are not ‘like God’ but only the vessel that contains His Holy Presence! Jesus bore your shame, He bore your sin, and He bore your woe – and you are free from the law of sin and death through the preciousness of Calvary’s love!

We’re not like God, but by Holy Spirit conviction, conversion, and consecration, we become the vessels of Resurrected Presence, letting Him be Himself in us as He loves as only He can love, because, NONE save Christ Jesus unveils God!” One more great promise and living word filled with hope from the voice of God in Isaiah 45:2-7!! Hear God the Father through Jesus the Son by the leadership voice of His Holy Spirit! God says:“I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by name, am the God of Israel.

For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name. I have named you, though you have not known Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.” Where do YOU stand? Desiring the destiny of “exiled Humans” OR passionate, as the “Evangelized Holy Ones”, looking for, finding, and abiding in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”? Fanny J. Crosby and W.H.Doane wrote the hymn “Near The Cross”. It says: “Jesus, keep me near the cross! There a precious fountain; Free to all a healing stream, Flowed from Calvary’s mountain. Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me; there the bright and morning Star, Sheds its beams around me. Near the cross, O Lamb of God, Bring the scenes before me; Help me walk from day to day, With its shadows over me.

Near the cross, I’ll watch and wait, Helping, trusting ever; Till I reach the golden strand, Just beyond the river. In the cross, in the cross, Be my glory ever; till my raptured soul shall find, Rest beyond the river.” LET’S CROSS THE RIVER OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH INTO HIS FULLNESS OF THE BLESSING OF HIS RIVER OF ETERNAL LIFE, NOW! Not when you hope to get to heaven someday!! AMEN?

“KINGDOMS BURNING OR

THE KINGDOM BLESSED?”

By: J.Farrell Fisher, June 3-4, 2017

There is a very interesting passage of Holy Scripture in Matthew 4:1-11 informing us of Satan’s attempt to turn Christ Jesus away from His eternal mission and purpose, as well as Satan coming against all true believers and pretenders, and even the unbelieving from allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords, tempting us all with lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life, and with the lust of the eyes!

The one thing you must grasp and hold onto in your journey is that Satan is out to keep you in the throes, the troubles, and, yes, the terrors of ‘kingdoms burning’, and turning one away from “Kingdom Blessed”!

Notice the Word as a strong foundation for this teaching! Matthew 4:1-11 we read: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” (Lust of the flesh!).

But Jesus answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’. Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He (God) shall give His angels charge over you”, (Boastful pride of life!), and ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You fall down and worship me.” (Lust of the eyes!)

The Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Kingdom realities are something the devil himself is eternally interested in because in his ‘kingdom of darkness’ he longs to enlarge AND to pollute the “Kingdom Blessed” by King Jesus! (Boastful pride of life!).In Hebrews 2:14-18 the author of Hebrews enlightens us as to our Christ-given victory over “kingdoms Burning”, granting us a wide-opened Door into “Kingdoms Blessed”! The Word says:

“Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”

Yes, King Jesus Himself had before Him an open door to worldly temptations – it caused Him ‘great suffering’, but He never gave in to fleshly temptations! It was Oswald Chambers, in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest” (p.192), who wisely wrote: “Temptation is not something we may escape, it is essential to the full-orbed life of a man. Beware lest you think you are tempted as no one else is tempted; what you go through is the common inheritance of the race, not something no one ever went through before. God does not save us from temptations, He succors us in the midst of them.”

Later, in Hebrews 4:15-16, the Holy Word declares: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let US therefore come boldly to the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

When ‘kingdoms’ are burning around us or in us, is there no help from the Lord God Almighty? In Jeremiah 8:21-22 the prophet mourned asking, out of the overflow of pain and misery, “For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I am mourning; astonishment has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead, is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people?” But THERE IS!! His name is Christ Jesus, the Great Physician!

There’s an old Hymn written by J.H.Stockton and William Hunter published in the old “The American Hymnal.” It’s entitled “The Great Physician” – and I praise God that I learned it as a child, a teen-ager, and adult, and sang it as long as the old hymnals were published, then we came to the period of “new music” (?), much of it without solid foundations in the Word! The old hymn says:

“The great Physician now is near, The sympathizing Jesus; He speaks the drooping heart to cheer, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus.

Your many sins are all forgiven, Oh, hear the voice of Jesus; Go on your way in peace to heaven, And wear a crown with Jesus.

All glory to the dying Lamb! I now believe in Jesus; I love the blessed Savior’s name, I love the name of Jesus.

Sweetest note in seraph song, Sweetest name on mortal tongue; Sweetest carol ever sung, Jesus, blessed Jesus.”

But how much of modern society today recognizes, admits, or even tries to deal with “kingdoms burning”? To me, it’s so awakening to come to the Holy Word of God and find the Loving, Caring, Merciful God does not desire to punish, to sentence to death any man – He’s the Author and Finisher of true redemptive faith, blessing obedience but offering curses and eternal punishments upon those who live for the “flesh” and not to the honor of the Spirit and Truth of the Living God!

In Deuteronomy 28:15 we read, “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you,” and that’s because men and women, boys and girls, (Verse 14), “go after other gods to serve them.”

In fact, we live in a time period of human history when speaking of “fearing God” results in fierce opposition to a faithful messenger! Yet in Psalm 25:12-22, “Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way He chooses,” yet fallen mankind decides for himself what has his heart, and he/she isn’t interested in what Holy God has to say! But one who is tired of ‘kingdoms burning’ can, by the grace and mercy of God, enter the “Kingdom Blessed”!

Didn’t Christ Jesus teach His early disciples and us to pray: Matthew 6:9-13, “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. (Or so be it, Lord!).” Does YOUR prayer ministry include, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”?

In Ephesians 1:15-23 Paul encourages us in the “Kingdom Blessed”! He said: Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

If YOU are “in Christ” and “Christ in you”, are you walking in “the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ”? “The man who fears the Lord?” Back for a closing moment in Psalm 25! “Who is the man who fears the Lord?”

Psalm 25:12b, He’s a learner! “Him shall He teach in the way He chooses!

Psalm 25:13, He’s blessed! “He himself shall dwell in prosperity, and His descendants shall inherit the earth.”

Psalm 25:14, He’s fearful! “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them (unveil in them) His covenant.”

Psalm 25:15, He’s able by God’s grace to fulfill God’s purposes through him! “My eyes are ever toward the Lord, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”

Psalm 25:16-17, He’s aware of his own weaknesses! “Turn Yourself to me, and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. The troubles of my heart have enlarged; bring me out of my distresses!

Psalm 25:18, He knows God’s heart! “Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.”

Psalm 25:20-22, He knows where and with Whom to yield himself! “Keep my soul, and deliver me; Let me not be ashamed, for I put my trust in You. Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.

Redeem Israel, Oh God, (or redeem Bedford, Texas, Tennessee, New York, California, every state, every city, every home!), redeem us out of all our troubles!”

One last Verse of Holy Scripture: 1 Corinthians 2:11b-12, “Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” AMEN? REJOICE IN: “KINGDOM BLESSED!”

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S SPIRITUAL DEMANDS?”

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, AUGUST 19-20, 2018

Have you heard it on your TV or radio or from a casual friend saying, “Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong, I’ve got to be me,”? How sad when you realize that many in the world around you are captured, deceived, and enslaved to the ‘flesh’ (old sin nature), to the ‘flesh’s’ Satan-inspired leanings, and to “the fallen world’s blinded opinion” about the loving, merciful, caring, out-reaching Holy God, ready to be ‘wrong’ rather than saved, healed, and delivered by “merciful God”!

OR

THE MIND FULL OF GOD’S MERCY?”

BY:J.FARRELL FISHER, JUNE 6-7, 2019

IT WAS JOHN BUNYAN WHO WROTE YEARS AGO IN HIS “PILGRIM’S PROGRESS”, “AS FOR MY FEEBLE MIND, THAT I WILL LEAVE BEHIND ME, FOR THAT I HAVE NO NEED OF THAT IN THE PLACE WHITHER I GO; NOR IS IT WORTH BESTOWING UPON THE POOREST PILGRIM; WHEREFORE, WHEN I AM GONE, I DESIRE THAT YOU WOULD BURY IT IN A DUNGHILL.” SORRY BUNYAN, BUT YEARS AGO YOU ALIGNED YOURSELF WITH ‘SPIRITUAL STUPIDITY’, NOT WITH SOVEREIGN GRACE & MERCY & LOVE! “THE MIND-FULL-NESS OF MISERY”?

IN “THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS QUOTATIONS” (PUBLISHED IN 1964 BY FLEMING H.REVELL COM., WESTWOOD, NJ), RICHARD CECIL WROTE THIS: “A PERFECTLY JUST & SOUND MIND IS A RARE & INVALUABLE GIFT. BUT IT IS STILL MORE UNUSUAL TO SEE SUCH A MIND UNBIASED IN ALL ITS ACTINGS. GOD HAS GIVEN THIS SOUNDNESS OF MIND BUT TO FEW: & A VERY SMALL NUMBER OF THESE FEW ESCAPE THE BIAS OF SOME PREDILECTION PERHAPS HABITUALLY OPERATING; & NONE ARE AT ALL TIMES PERFECTLY FREE. AN EXQUISITE WATCH WENT IRREGULARLY, THOUGH NO DEFECT COULD BE DISCOVERED IN IT. AT LAST IT WAS FOUND THAT THE BALANCE WHEEL HAD BEEN NEAR A MAGNET; & HERE WAS ALL THE MISCHIEF. IF THE SOUNDEST MIND BE MAGNETIZED BY ANY PREDILECTION, IT MUST ACT IRREGULARLY.”

‘PREDILECTION PERHAPS HABITUALLY OPERATING’? A ‘GODLESS MIND’ THAT FUNCTIONS ON THE BASIS OF HIS/HER OWN THOUGHTS,WILLS, OR EMOTIONS, IS A TRUE PICTURE OPERATING HABITUALLY ON ‘FLESH’, THE ‘WORLD’S OPINIONS, &, YES, THE SATANIC & DEMONIZED MIND SET’ FULLY OPPOSED TO GOD! BUT J.B.PHILLIPS, IN HIS WRITING ENTITLED “NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY”, SAID: “THE MODERN INTELLIGENT MIND, WHICH HAS HAD ITS HORIZONS WIDENED IN A DOZEN DIFFERENT WAYS, HAS GOT TO BE SHOCKED AFRESH BY THE AUDACIOUS CENTRAL FACT THAT AS A SOBER MATTER OF HISTORY, GOD BECAME ONE OF US.” BUT MINDS,YES, HELL-BENT BY SATAN, THE PROMOTER OF “HAS GOD REALLY SAID…?”, HAS SAID,BECAUSE SATAN, AS ‘lord’ over the kingdom of darkness, had no desire to honor God’s Word,BUT SOUGHT TO DISTRACT EVERY HUMAN POSSIBLE FROM HEARING THE “GOOD NEWS OF BLOOD-BOUGHT RECONCILIATION THROUGH CHRIST THE LORD, THE VERY EMBODIMENT OF HOLY GOD IN THE NATURAL ESTATE OF LIFE POISONED BY THE ‘FALLING AWAY FROM GOD” STUPIDITY”,& SATAN, A FALLEN WORLD SYSTEM AWAY FROM GOD, & CEMENTED-SELF-SUFFICIENTLY OF GOD, SEEK TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY OF HIM, NOT EVEN KNOWING THERE IS A ‘DAY OF ACCOUNTABILITY’ WHEN THEY’LL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF KING JESUS!!

“A MIND OF ONE’S OWN”? OF COURSE, GOD SAID OVER & OVER, “YOU CHOOSE WHOM OR WHAT YOU’LL SERVE!” SO, GODLESS HUMANITY EMERGED, GODLESS SOCIETIES SICKENED WITH THE ‘DISEASE OF SIN’ EMERGED, THE LAWLESS BECAME BLAMELESS, THE ‘RELIGIOUS’ BECAME ‘BRAIN-WASHED’ WITH A MORAL DESERT OF ‘GOD UNDERSTANDS KNOWING WE CAN’T DO ANYTHING BUT SIN’, & THE ‘CHURCH-ITES’, THE ‘PRIEST-ITES’, THE HIGHLY EDUCATED IN MANLY FLESHLINESS, COOPERATED TO TRY & BLIND GOD’S “REMNANT” TO THE ETERNAL TRUTH THAT FALLEN MANKIND WAS “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST”, BUT RAISED IN POWER & GLORY TO OFFER THE ETERNAL REALITY OF “CHRIST IN YOU YOUR HOPE OF GLORY.”

“THE MINDFULNESS OF MISERY?” IT WAS WALTER LIPPMANN WHO ONCE SAID, “IN THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS TO INTOLERANCE ARE THE SEEDS OF UNBELIEF.” SEEDS OF UNBELIEF? BUT THEY SOON ERUPT IN SERIOUS OPPOSITION TO HOLY GOD! SEEDS OF UNBELIEF BIRTH RADICAL, YES, CRIMINAL OPPOSITION TO HOLY GOD, ALWAYS BIRTHING THE MINDS OF MISERY BECAUSE IT UNVEILS & EXPOSES THE CORRUPTION OF A CHRIST-LESS CONSCIENCE, SELFISH EMOTIONS, & ‘DRUNKEN’ HABITS THAT ‘BLIND’ ONE TO THE SOBERNESS OF YIELDEDNESS TO GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY, HIS AMAZING LOVE, & HIS ETERNAL GRACE!

“THE MINDFULNESS OF MISERY?” UNBELIEF WAS ‘BIRTHED’ BY SATAN & THE ‘POWERS OF DARKNESS’ TO PROMOTE, BUT DEMOTE MEN, TO SATANIC SUPERFICIAL THINKING THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE AWESOME MIND & HEART OF HOLY GOD. ‘THE MINDFULNESS OF MISERY’? IT’S ONE MAJORING ON HIS/HER INABILITY AS A ‘SUPERFICIAL THINKER’ TO EVEN TRY TO DEAL WITH ETERNALLY BIRTHED, SOVEREIGNLY SUPERINTENDED, GRACIOUSLY TAUGHT BY ANOINTED MEN OF GOD, THE REALITY OF “BLOOD REDEMPTION THEOLOGY” THROUGH THE BIRTH, LIFE, DEATH, RESURRECTION, & PRESENT REIGN OF KING JESUS!

“THE MINDFULNESS OF MISERY?” DENYING GOD’S GRACE & MERCY IS THE ‘PLATFORM’ OF A SELF-GOVERNING CANDIDATE WHO ‘MOCKS’ AT GOD’S ETERNAL TRUTH AS HE/SHE SPOUTS IGNOBLE UNBELIEF! HAVE YOU EVER VIEWED A ‘DESERT’ THAT IS BARREN, A ‘DESERT’ THAT DENIES ‘SOVEREIGNTY’, A ‘DESERT’ THAT SEES ‘TRUE FAITH’ AS A BOARDING ROOM IN HELL, A ‘DESERT’ THAT IS SURELY ‘CRIMINAL’ BECAUSE IT SETTLED IN DEFILED HEARTS & NOT SOVEREIGNLY BLESSED, REPENTANT SINNERS, CONVERTED TO EXTEND GOD’S KINGDOM, EXPRESS HIS LOVE, & PROVE HIS POWER? IN ISAIAH 59:1-10,NOT ONLY ABOUT ISRALEIS WHO LIVED IN DARKNESS, BUT WE READ, YES, ABOUT THE ‘FAITHLESS’, THE SPIRITUALLY INDIFFERENT, THE ‘MIND OF MY OWN PRETENDER’ THAT EVERY THING IS ‘OK’ BECAUSE HE/SHE IS IN CONTROL, & HOLY GOD UNVEILS THAT PERSON OR THAT PEOPLE’S ETERNAL DEATH SENTENCE UNDER SATAN’S CONTROL:

“BEHOLD, THE LORD’S HAND IS NOT SHORTENED THAT IT CANNOT SAVE;NEITHER HIS EAR HEAVY THAT HE CANNOT HEAR: BUT YOUR INIQUITIES HAVE SEPARATED BETWEEN YOU & YOUR GOD, & YOUR SINS HAVE HID HIS FACE FROM YOU, THAT HE WILL NOT HEAR. (WHY?), FOR YOUR HANDS ARE DEFILED WITH BLOOD, & YOUR FINGERS WITH INIQUITY; YOUR LIPS HAVE SPOKEN LIES, YOUR TONGUE HAS MUTTERED PERVERSENESS. NONE CALLS FOR JUSTICE, NOR ANY PLEADS FOR TRUTH: THEY TRUST IN VANITY, & SPEAK LIES; THEY CONCEIVE MISCHIEF, & BRING FORTH INIQUITY. THEY HATCH COCKATRICE’EGGS, & WEAVE THE SPIDER’S WEB; HE THAT EATS OF THEIR EGGS DIES; & THAT WHICH IS CRUSHED BREAKS OUT IN A VIPER (SNAKE).

THEIR WEBS SHALL NOT BECOME GARMENTS, NEITHER SHALL THEY COVER THEMSELVES WITH THEIR WORKS: THEIR WORKS ARE WORKS OF INIQUITY, & THE ACT OF VIOLENCE IS IN THEIR HANDS. THEIR FEET RUN TO EVIL, & THEY MAKE HASTE TO SHED INNOCENT BLOOD (BE SURE & TELL THAT TO THE PARENTS & DOCTORS & HOSPITALS & ADMINISTRATORS WHO ALLOW PRECIOUS BIRTHED BABIES IN THE WOMB OR OUT OF IT TO BE ‘KILLED’! SHAME ON YOU!).

THEIR THOUGHTS ARE THOUGHTS OF INIQUITY; WASTING & DESTRUCTION ARE IN THEIR PATHS. THE WAY OF PEACE THEY KNOW NOT; & THERE IS NO JUDGMENT IN THEIR GOINGS; THEY HAVE MADE THEM CROOKED PATHS: WHOEVER GOES THEREIN SHALL NOT KNOW PEACE. THEREFORE IS JUDGMENT FAR FROM US, NEITHER DOES JUSTICE OVERTAKE US; WE WAIT FOR LIGHT, BUT BEHOLD OBSCURITY; FOR BRIGHTNESS, BUT WE WALK IN DARKNESS. WE GROPE FOR THE WALL LIKE THE BLIND, & WE GROPE AS IF WE HAD NO EYES; WE STUMBLE AT NOON DAY AS IN THE NIGHT;WE ARE IN DESOLATE PLACES AS DEAD MEN.” AND, DEAR FRIEND, THAT’S FOR THE UNBELIEVER, THE ‘PRETENDER’, THE ‘CHURCH FOLK’ WHO’VE NEVER DIED TO ‘SELF’ THAT THE RESURRECTION PRESENCE OF CHRIST MAY BE MANIFESTED IN & THROUGH THEIR MORTAL BODIES!! NO LONGER PRETENSE – BUT HIS PRESENCE! NO LONGER TRYING – BUT TRUSTING! NO LONGER ‘BEST EFFORT’ – BUT GLADLY ACCEPTING “CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST” SO THAT HE’LL KNOW HE WILL BE COMFORTABLE IN A BODILY PRESENCE THAT PLAYS NO ‘RELIGIOUS GAME ON SUNDAYS’ BUT KNOWS HIS ETERNAL, RESURRECTED, SPIRITUAL PRESENCE UNVEILED BY THE INDWELLING HOLY SPIRIT!!!

OH, YES! THERE IS “THE MINDFULNESS OF MISERY”, BUT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN OF A DARKENED LIFE? IT IS “THE MIND FULL OF GOD’S MERCY”!!! PSALM 103:17 DECLARES, “BUT THE MERCY OF THE LORD IS FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING UPON THEM THAT FEAR HIM, & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO CHILDREN’S CHILDREN.” WOW!! JEREMY TAYLOR ONCE WROTE: “MERCY IS LIKE THE RAINBOW, WHICH GOD HAS SET IN THE CLOUDS; IT NEVER SHINES AFTER IT IS NIGHT. –IF WE REFUSE MERCY HERE, WE SHALL HAVE JUSTICE IN ETERNITY.”

HOW CLEAR DO “YOU” FIND TITUS 3:5 AS PAUL ENCOURAGED A SPIRITUAL SON AS WE SHOULD TO EVERYONE AROUND US TODAY! HE SAID: “NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH WE HAVE DONE, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION, & RENEWING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.” THE MIND FULL OF GOD’S MERCY IS AN AMAZED ‘OBSERVER’ WHO WITNESSES CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION & RECOGNIZES, AS HE SHEDS HIS OWN BLOOD, SEES HIS LIFE OFFERED AS GOD’S MOUNTAINOUS MERCY FOR ALL ‘SINNERS’, & EVEN AS THEY CRUCIFIED HIM, THE LORD, FROM THE PAINFUL CROSS, PRAYED, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY HAVE NO UNDERSTANDING ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE ALLOWING IN MY SUFFERING, MY SHED BLOOD, & MY DEATH”, BUT HE KNEW, AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, THERE WOULD BE MULTITUDES WHO LEAN NOT TO THEIR OWN UNDERSTANDING, BUT LEAN ON CHRIST’S MERCY!

IN “THE BROADMAN HYMNAL” OF 1940 (PUBLISHED IN NASHVILLE, TENN., BY THE BROADMAN PRESS, (P.112), IS A HYMN BY ISAAC WATTS & R.E.HUDSON ENTITLED “AT THE CROSS.” IT SAYS: “ALAS, & DID MY SAVIOR BLEED, & DID MY SOVEREIGN DIE? WOULD HE DEVOTE THAT SACRED HEAD FOR SUCH A WORM AS I?

WAS IT FOR CRIMES THAT I HAVE DONE, HE GROANED UPON THE TREE? AMAZING PITY! GRACE UNKNOWN! AND LOVE BEYOND DEGREE!

WELL MIGHT THE SUN IN DARKNESS HIDE , & SHUT HIS GLORIES IN, WHEN CJHRIST, THE MIGHTY MAKER DIED, FOR MAN THE CREATURE’S SIN.

BUT DROPS OF GRIEF CAN NEVER REPAY THE DEBT OF LOVE I OWE: HERE, LORD, I GIVE MYSELF AWAY, IT’S ALL THAT I CAN DO!

AT THE CROSS, AT THE CROSS WHERE I FIRST SAW THE LIGHT, & THE BURDEN OF MY HEART ROLLED AWAY, IT WAS THERE BY FAITH I RECEIVED MY SIGHT, & NOW I AM HAPPY ALL THE DAY!”

THIS IS WHY IN HEBREWS 12:28 WE READ, “WHEREFORE WE RECEIVING A KINGDOM WHICH CANNOT BE MOVED, LET US HAVE GRACE, WHEREBY WE MAY SERVE GOD ACCEPTABLY WITH REVERENCE & GODLY FEAR.”

“THE MIND FULL OF GOD’S MERCY”? I THINK THAT WOULD SET ASIDE WHAT ONE BELIEVES ABOUT “A MIND OF ONE’S OWN”, BECAUSE A MIND OF ONE’S OWN IS ‘GRASPING’ & ‘GRIPPING’ & SEEKING TO ‘GOVERN’ ONE’S OWN MIND APART FROM GOD’S INTERFERENCE! THAT’S WHAT PAUL UNDERSTOOD THROUGH, YES, THE ‘TUTORING’ OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO “GUIDES US & GOVERNS US IN ALL OF GOD’S HOLY TRUTHS”! IN ROMANS 1:28 HE WROTE ABOUT HIS OWN PEOPLE, THE ISRAELI ‘RELIGIOUS-SPIRITUALLY-ELITE’, AT LEAST IN THEIR OWN MINDS, SAYING OF THEM, “AND EVEN AS THEY DID NOT LIKE TO RETAIN GOD IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND, TO DO THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE NOT CONVENIENT,” ADDING IN ROMANS 8:7 THE REALITY OF, “BECAUSE THE CARNAL MIND IS ENMITY AGAINST GOD: FOR IT IS NOT SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF GOD, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE.”

OH, PAUL DIDN’T SLOW DOWN AT ALL! IN EPHESIANS 4:17 HE WROTE: “THEREFORE I SAY TO YOU, TESTIFYING IN THE LORD, THAT YOU HENCEFORTH WALK NOT AS OTHER GENTILES WALK, IN THE VANITY OF THEIR MIND.” IN HIS COLOSSIANS LETTER, CHAPTER 2,VERSE 18, HE SAID: “LET NO MAN BEGUILE YOU OF YOUR REWARD IN A VOLUNTARY HUMILITY & WORSHIPPING OF ANGELS, INTRUDING INTO THOSE THINGS WHICH HE HAS NOT SEEN, VAINLY PUFFED UP BY HIS FLESHLY MIND, VERSE 19, & NOT HOLDING THE “HEAD”, FROM WHICH ALL THE BODY BY JOINTS & BANDS HAVING NOURISHMENT MINISTERED, & KNIT TOGETHER, INCREASES WITH THE (VERY) INCREASE OF GOD (HIMSELF) (IN ONE’S MIND, HEART, & SPIRIT)!!” (I’D ALSO ENCOURAGE YOU TO SPEND SOME GOOD TIME IN PSALM 37,ONE OF THE MOST ENLIGHTENING, CONVICTING, DRAWING PASSAGES OF HOLY SCRIPTURE ABOUT “THE GOOD MAN WHOSE VERY STEPS ARE ORDERED BY THE LORD”!).

APART FROM GOD’S PRESENCE IN A REPENTANT, TRUSTING HEART & MIND, MEN ARE ‘WANDERERS’ IN THE “STRANGE LAND OF GODLESSNESS” WITH “NO SOUNDNESS IN THEIR FLESH”, BUT ONLY “DIS-CHORDS”, “OFF-KEY”, “WILD-TUNES” OF SELF-TRUST THAT WINS SATAN’S ‘HELLISH AWARDS FOR SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTMENT” WHICH IS NOTHING MORE THAN SPIRITUAL STUPIDITY HEIGHTENING THE SINFUL HEART & MIND OF UNBELIEF OF RELIGIOUS PRETENDING! OH, BUT THERE IS FOREVER THE REALITY OF “THE MIND-FULL-NESS OF GOD’S MERCY”!

IN PSALM 103:17 THE PSALMIST ENLIGHTENS ALL WHO NEED TO BE ENLIGHTENED! HE SAID: “BUT THE MERCY OF THE LORD IS FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING UPON THEM THAT FEAR HIM, & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO CHILDREN’S CHILDREN.” SO “AWE-INSPIRING”! WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, IN HIS WRITING, “THE MERCHANT OF VENICE,” (ACT IV, SC.1,L.184), WROTE: “THE QUALITY OF MERCY IS NOT STRAINED, IT DROPS AS THE GENTLE RAIN FROM HEAVEN UPON THE PLACE BENEATH:IT IS TWICE BLEST, IT BLESSES HIM THAT GIVES & HIM THAT TAKES: IT IS MIGHTIEST IN THE MIGHTY: IT BECOMES THE THRONED MONARCH BETTER THAN HIS CROWN…IT IS ENTHRONED IN THE HEARTS OF KNGS, IT IS AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD HIMSELF.” GREAT WORDS, BUT LIMITING GOD’S MERCY ONLY TO KINGS DOESN’T PRESENT THE REALITY OF UNCHANGING TRUTH – GOD IS MERCIFUL TO ANY MAN WHO NEEDS MERCY & ASKS FOR IT!!

DIDN’T CHARLES WESLEY HAVE A “CHRISTMAS HYMN” IN WHICH HE’D WRITTEN THESE WORDS? “HARK! THE HERALD ANGELS SING, ‘GLORY TO THE NEW-BORN KING; PEACE ON EARTH, & MERCY MILD, GOD & SINNERS RECONCILED!” HAVE “YOU” BEEN RECONCILED TO GOD?

SEVERAL VITAL,ENLIGHTENING VERSES IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES!

• 2 CORINTHIANS 5:18, “AND ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD, WHO HAS RECONCILED US TO HIMSELF BY JESUS CHRIST, & HAS GIVEN TO US THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION.”
• EPHESIANS 2:16, “AND THAT HE (CHRIST JESUS) MIGHT RECONCILE BOTH (JEW & GENTILE) UNTO GOD IN ONE BODY BY THE CROSS, HAVING SLAIN THE ENMITY THEREBY…”
• HEBREWS 2:17, “WHEREFORE IN ALL THINGS IT BEHOOVED HIM TO BE MADE LIKE UNTO HIS BRETHREN, THAT HE MIGHT BE A MERCIFUL & FAITHFUL HIGH PRIEST IN THINGS PERTAINING TO GOD, TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE.” AMEN?

I CLOSE WITH WILLIAM WORDSWORTH’S WORDS IN HIS WRITING “THOUGHTS SUGGESTED ON THE BANKS OF THE NITH”:

“SWEET MERCY! TO THE GATES OF HEAVEN THIS MINSTREL LEAD, HIS SINS FORGIVEN; THE RUEFUL CONFLICT, THE HEART RIVEN WITH VAIN ENDEAVOR, & MEMORY OF EARTH’S BITTER LEAVEN EFFACED FOREVER.” AMEN?

EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE, IF YOU ARE “IN CHRIST”, SHOULD BE A DAY OF TRUE WORSHIP, AWESOME PRAISE, & UNCEASING ADORATION FOR THE MERCIFUL SAVIOR, LORD, & LIBERATOR OF FALLEN MANKIND OUT OF ‘DEATH’ INTO “ETERNAL LIFE” BY GOD’S LOVEM HIS SAVING GRACE, & HIS EXTENDED HANDS OF MERCY!

HAVE “YOU” BEEN RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH CHRIST JESUS, THE REDEEMING “MEDIATOR” BETWEEN GOD & MAN THROUGH HIS “SHED BLOOD” ON CALVARY’S CROSS? I PROMISE YOU, I’M CLOSING THIS MESSAGE WITH ANOTHER OLD HYMN OUT OF THE BROADMAN HYMNAL ENTITLED “WHY DO YOU WAIT?” (P.170). IT SAYS: “WHY DO YOU WAIT, DEAR BROTHER, OH, WHY DO YOU TARRY SO LONG? YOUR SAVIOR IS WAITING TO GIVE YOU A PLACE IN THIS SANCTIFIED THRONG.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE, DEAR BROTHER, TO GAIN BY A FURTHER DELAY? THERE’S NO ONE TO SAVE YOU BUT JESUS, THERE’S NO OTHER WAY BUT HIS WAY.

DO YOU NOT FEEL, DEAR BROTHER, HIS SPIRIT NOW STRIVING WITHIN? OH, WHY NOT ACCEPT HIS SALVATION, & THROW OFF YOUR BURDEN OF SIN.

WHY DO YOU WAIT, DEAR BROTHER? THE HARVEST IS PASSING AWAY; YOUR SAVIOR IS LONGING TO BLESS YOU, THERE’S DANGER &DEATH IN DELAY. WHY NOT? WHY NOT? WHY NOT COME TO JESUS RIGHT NOW?” REPENT BEFORE HOLY GOD, & REACH OUT TO THE VICTORIOUS CHRIST WHO, YES, “WON” OVER SIN & DEATH, & PRESENTLY REIGNS, EVEN AS HE CONTINUALLY KNOCKS AT YOUR HEART’S DOOR,ASKING, “PLEASE, LET ME IN TO BLESS YOU BEYOND ANY MEASURE!!!” AMEN?777777777

I want to lay the foundation for this chapter in Romans 1:16-24! Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for IT IS THE POWER OF GOD TO SALVATION FOR EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES (trusts in, relies upon, and adheres to!), for the Jew first and also the Greek. For IN IT the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written: ‘The just shall live by faith.’

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, (sponsored by Satan!) who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for GOD HAS SHOWN IT TO THEM. For since the creation of the world the invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God (knew He existed!), they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Darkened by the willful rebellion of Satan in heaven BEFORE THE WORLD WAS EVEN CREATED?).

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and (in cooperation with Satan!) changed the glory of the incorruptible God into ‘images’ made like corruptible man (and Satan himself!). Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves (as Satan does with his demonized partners!), who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, (“The Lie?” “Satan said, YOU CAN SIN AND NOT DIE!”), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Though fallen man does not realize it, he ‘worships’ Satan and his ways, even in the “best of ‘flesh’ adoration”! So… God gave Satanized-mankind up “to their vile passions,” “to debased, devilish minds,” ignoring “the righteous judgment of God” against Satan and his ‘disciples’!

“VICTIMIZED LIVING OR A VICTORIOUS LIFE?”

The Random House Collegiate Dictionary, Revised Edition, 1975, by Random House, Inc., says ‘victimized’ means, “to make a victim of, to dupe, swindle, or cheat; to slay as or like a sacrificial victim.”

And “victimized living by the masses of unbelievers in Christ’s Blood Atonement” live, yes, like many ‘church folk’, deceived, demeaned, distressed, yes, led astray from the victorious Truth of “crucified with Christ”, and following repentance toward God and a vibrant faith and trust in the Blood Atonement, those of true repentant, trusting minds and hearts are “New Born” by the Holy Spirit into Heaven’s gracious gifting of “everlasting life”!

BUT “Victimized living” is deception accepted from the world around you that easily blinded even Adam and Eve from the ‘flesh’ that deceives you and keeps the door of one’s heart and mind opened to the world, the flesh, and Demonic, Devil-constant temptation, so wanting to keep those doors opened, so one loses sight of the fullness of the blessing of Christ as their deceit, the gift of Satan himself, leading them on in yielding to devilish deceit while professing allegiance to Christ’s revealed Truth! It was John Wesley who once said: “All the works of our evil nature are the work of the devil,” but some ‘professing believers’ live their ‘faith-walk’ consenting, yielding, and for a time enjoying their satanic deception!

It was William Shakespeare, in his writing “Twelfth Night”, (Act 111, sc.4,l.108), who wrote: “What, man! Defy the devil: consider he’s an enemy to mankind.” But far too many keep their doors open to Satanic invitations blinded by his hellish ways!

What was it Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:10-13? “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

Yet, many ‘believers’(?) professing Christ have no mature, scriptural understanding that Satan’s aim is to deceive true disciples, seeking, yes, daily, to ruin your witness, your testimony, and your surrender faithfully to Christ’s Lordship, leading YOU down the pathway of his “darkness”!! If you’ve ever read St. Augustine’s “The City of God”, XV, remember, he said: “The Devil often transforms himself into an angel to tempt men, some for their instruction and some for their ruin.” He IS a “master deceiver” out to hold captivity captive under “the wiles of the devil”!

Oh, have you ever read Alexander Brome’s writing called “New Montebank”? Brome wrote: “The devil’s ever kind to his own.” So, there are multitudes of worldly folk who “know the kindness (?) of Satan” as he leads them, deceives them, distracts them from the “true salvation in and through Christ only”, even substituting ‘fleshly best’ for the fullness and fruit of the Holy Spirit! And, dare I say it? Believe I will! “Every temptation of Satan to citizens of God’s world of divine opportunity are temptations DOWNWARD, not to turn you TO God, but away from Him!”

Satan IS “the birther of lies, the author of deception, and the Hollywood-imitator of a sincere ‘religious’ soul”, as he leads you down the pathways of self-indulgence rather than knowing you were crucified with Christ, that your old man, yes, deserved death but Christ Jesus took your old man to Calvary so that no longer he (or YOU) could be manipulated by Satan’s powers of darkness, disbelief, and distraction away from God’s gracious pull on your heart, mind, and spirit. Satan loves, adores, appreciates “falling stars” who were birthed “in Christ”!!

Are YOU aware how Satan so easily sways people, serving them devilish consequences rather than divine rewards? It’s a sad, sad day when one is blinded to his, yes, gentle, calm, but corruptive ways! An old Dutch Proverb said: “Never was hood so holy but the Devil could get his head in it;” and, sadly, far too many ‘religious folk’ are blinded to his occupation in them and around them through their wide-open acceptance of all Christ Jesus died for, Satan wanting to maintain his deceitful and misleading occupation around them, even for some ‘in them’ with his dark presence trying to dim the Light of Christ and His Word!

“Victimized living”? Satan BINDS, Satan BLINDS, he BRUISES, he BELITTLES, he ‘BLESSES’ with his ‘happy, self-satisfying bits and tastes of diseased honey,’ he BETRAYS promising one thing that seems so ‘blissful’ but is BEDABBLED with the ‘paint’ of his satanic artistry, he BEFOULS, he BITTERS every word and every promise of God assuring his enchained that it was God who BOUND them over to Satanic care! Really?

It was Cotton Mather, in his “A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World”, who wrote: “That there is a Devil is a thing doubted by none but such as are under the influences of the Devil. For any to deny the being of a Devil must be from an ignorance or profaneness worse than diabolical.” WOW!

What about what Shakespeare wrote in “Troilus and Cressida”, (Act 111, sc.4,l.108)? “Sometimes we are devils to ourselves When we will tempt the frailty of our powers, Presuming on their changeful potency,” no doubt understanding that, yes, true believers can “play-act”, willfully betraying the Christ within to indulge the old crucified life in fleshly, demonic, worldly desires and unfulfilling fantasies that cannot, will not honor the divine within!! Satan’s portrait of a life professing both faith in Christ and a consistency with hell’s intentions is a life that loves being blessed by God, but quietly, privately, indulges darkness not knowing their ‘dance partner’ is Satan himself or one of his assigned demons to ultimately take you down again to his dark domain!

“Victimized living”? Can true believers, at times, be overtaken by spiritual carelessness, even being unconcerned about demonic activity? In 2 Peter 5:6-11, the beloved disciple of Christ wrote: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; Casting all your care upon him; for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

But the God of all grace, who has called us unto eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. OR “SO BE IT, LORD”, as you daily take the sentence of death daily to your old self that Christ in you, for you, and through you, wages war against Satan for Christ’s honor through you as Christ’s servant, not Satan’s slave!!!

Jessie Brown Pounds wrote a hymn entitled “A Place in the Ranks for Me”, in the old “American Hymnal” of 1933! It says: “Listen! The trumpet of God is sounding, Is sounding from sea to sea; On the field where the brave are falling, There’s a place in the ranks for me.

See, the army of God advances, In strength of His holy might; See the flash of the moving lances, And the glitter of helmets bright.

Like the trumpet of God is sounding, Is sounding for victory; I must go, for the brave are falling, And the Captain has need of me.

There’s a place in the ranks for me! A place in the ranks for me! On the field where the brave are falling, There’s a place in the ranks for me.”

Whether YOU are aware of it or not, Satan is alive, he is active, and he so longs to reinstate demonic bondage! He comes as a thief in the night to steal every rich blessing Christ has promised, given, and will protect if we give Him His rightful place as Lord, Savior, Master, Conqueror over every evil we face including Satan and his demon forces that are just as active today as they were in the days of our Lord and Savior thousands of years ago!

In Luke 22:31-32 the Lord Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for you that your faith fail not; and when you are converted, strengthen your brothers.”

There is a “strong-arm commander-in-chief” of the forces of darkness, desirous that God’s created world should be a kingdom of darkness, even challenging Jesus as he does us, so desirous of leading us astray from loyalty to our Lord and Savior to a supposedly sanctified life of good AND evil, of the Savior and Satan, and of Heaven’s best and Hell’s imitations! Luke 4:1-13 is an insightful Word of preparation for all believers! It says:

“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost (Do YOU understand for Christ to be in You is also for YOU to live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit?) returned from Jordan, AND was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto Him, If You be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

And Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word of God.” And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And Satan said unto Him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

And the devil, taking Him up into a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, All this power will I give to you and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me (by every birthed man, woman, or child? It doesn’t take long for every birthed baby to instantly ‘cry’ for what they want!); and to whomsoever I will I give it. If You (Jesus) therefore will worship me, all shall be Yours.

And Jesus answered and said unto Satan, Get behind Me, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord God, and Him only shall you serve. [What about YOU? Are YOU still “serving” the world, the old sin-nature, AND Satan? OR are YOU fully submitted to the King of kings and Lord of lords?].

And he brought Jesus to Jerusalem, and set Him on a pinnacle of the Temple, and said to Him, “If You be the Son of God, cast yourself down from here. For it is written, He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You. And in their hands they shall bear You up, lest at any time You dash Your foot against a stone.” And Jesus answering said, “It is said, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.” And when the devil had ended all temptations, he departed from Him for a season.

How illumined are you in your mind, your spirit, and your walk, as YOU LEARN that YOU are a prime target of Satan, understanding he’s out to turn YOU away from ALL JESUS IS for you, in you, through you, substituting fleshly failure for full obedience, or momentary pleasures for eternal obedience, or “ONLY ONE LITTLE FALLING AWAY”, when the demonic activity can be fatal to faith, obedience, and love of the Savior, because obedience to Satan introduces again that fatal darkness?

Again, receive Peter’s incisive, illumining, liberating words! 1 Peter 5:6-11 we read: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you. Be sober, (serious minded!), be vigilant; because YOUR adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brothers (of faith) that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”

I have to share Shakespeare’s words in “Comedy of Errors”, (Act IV, sc.3,l.65), “He must have a long spoon that shall eat with the devil.” Oh, and Martin Luther’s words in “Table Talk”? Satan has two manner of shapes, as he disguises himself: the shape of a serpent, to affright and kill; or else in the form of a silly sheep, to lie and deceive; these are his two court colors.”

Satan IS the world’s principle author and boastful egotist as he lies about himself, lays traps for all, ‘hires’ the brain-dead, the self-fulfillers, and the ‘flesh –world’, bound by his chains of darkness, immorality, and self-pleasure in sensual fulfillment that ‘smells’, self-idolatry that ‘binds’ and ‘ruins’ even some ‘professors’ of religious faith! In his writing, “Handbook of Proverbs”, Henry George Bohn wrote: “The Devil entangles youth with beauty, the miser with gold, the ambitious with power, the learned with false doctrine.” Is it possible that you, a ‘professor of faith in Christ’, having been blinded to victory over Satan because, for you, his ‘poisonous delights, worldly pleasures, and self-indulging, was just too delightful to turn from, that you refused “Christ’s knock”, and kept on being deceived in “Satan’s lock” though broken by Christ Jesus on the Cross, through the Cross, for the glory of His Name, not Satan’s fame?

What was it Elizabeth Barrett Browning said in “Aurora Leigh”? “The devil’s most devilish when respectable.” Are you still “respecting” Satan as he leads you joyfully in his deceits and lies and imitation-spiritual-skills? There IS a hell to gain and a heaven to lose if you choose to play with him on his terms, willfully choosing to shut God’s door to His never-ending, freeing, yes, emancipating, liberating, disengaging ministry of, yes, His victory and conquest over Satan’s devilish, demeaning, destructive, disuniting activity, but you ‘think’ it’s OK to ‘play’ around with Satan and his army, like children with their birthday play-toys, but Satan is not a ‘play-toy’ – he’s an enemy of God, of the Holy Spirit, of Christ Jesus, including the ‘church’ Christ Jesus births and keeps on birthing! Satan ‘loves’ to disguise himself and his hellish co-laborers called ‘demons’ because he’s out to literally crucify Christ but to nail His ‘children of faith’ to the same cross of cruel suffering!

But Jesus Christ IS our “more than conqueror” – He’s our Victorious Liberator over sin, over Satan, over death itself! William F. Sherwin wrote the song, “Sound the Battle Cry” found in The American Hymnal of 1933! It says:

Sound the battle cry! See, the foe is nigh; Raise the standard high For the Lord; Gird your armor on, Stand firm, every one; Rest your cause upon His holy word.

Strong to meet the foe, Marching on we go, While our cause we know, must prevail; Shield and banner bright, Gleaming in the light; Battling for the right We never can fail.

O! You God of all, Hear us when we call, help us one and all by Your grace; When the battle’s done, And the victory’s won, May we wear the crown Before Your face.

Rouse, then soldiers, rally round the banner, Ready, steady, pass the word along: Onward, forward, shout a loud Hosanna! Christ is Captain of the mighty throng.”

Are YOU strong in the grace of God? AND – Are YOU “a soldier of the Cross of Christ, yes, His spiritual army fighting the good fight of faith, and knowing your field of spiritual warfare,ready to daily show up warring against Christ’s enemies in the spiritual realm with the armor of the Word and the lead of the Holy Spirit ? Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:3-15 the following words of encouragement saying,

“You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hard-working farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This IS a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself. (So, Paul warns “the wages of sin IS death”, even if you’re a consenting disciple in sinful participation!).

Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Were YOU crucified with Christ? Have YOU repented and turned from your sin nature and its practices? Were you “enlisted” by the Spirit as a soldier in the Lord’s spiritual army? Tell me: Just how faithful does your heavenly report card reveal about your honorable walk as representative of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Are YOU “duty-ready”, having died with Christ, raised by the Holy Spirit, equipped by the Word and the Spirit, and, yes, daily fighting the good fight of faith in uplifting Him, honoring Him and His Word, His purpose for your life, and His desire to use YOU to free “the prisoners of sin, of Satan, of a dark world”, igniting in YOU the Light of His Glory?