July 31-August 1, 2017

By J. Farrell Fisher

Don’t ‘crucify’ me yet or say I need to be “restrained in a mental institution” because I seek to expose “ungodly governments, dictatorial leaders, even, yes, conscienceless citizens and ‘church compromisers’ out to bind Truth, block the Light of Eternal Revelations, or wash out any evidences of God’s love, grace, and mercy, since ‘we are capable and enlightened enough in our own discernment to know what kind of community we want to live in, raise our kids by, and fulfill our natural natures and fleshly desires! So leave us alone and leave your biblical principles behind your homes’ closed doors. We don’t want your consciences, your beliefs, your Bibles defining for us a God-blessed city, state, or nation!’”

Do you remember Moses and Aaron going in to confront Pharoah of Egypt in Exodus 5? It says, in Verse 1-2, Moses and Aaron making a stand for the honor of God: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.” Pharoah said: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” Pharoah didn’t last long, but eventually led his ‘fleshly army’ into battle and died, which is the destiny of cities, citizens, or national leaders who resist Holy God and the Loving, merciful Savior and Lord! They do come to “nothing” but the torture chambers of ‘self-governing lives’ that ‘limp’ through eternity captured by Satan rather than liberated by God’s gracious government!

It was the prophet Jeremiah who recorded Holy God’s indictment of Israel in Jeremiah 2:11-13, “Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this, AND be horribly afraid; be very desolate,” says the Lord. For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, AND hewn themselves cisterns – broken cisterns that can hold no water. (Have you considered that Israel, nations, governments, families, and individuals have ‘broken cisterns’ with no water of the Word of God?).”

Later, in Jeremiah 2:17-19, compassionate God, yes, confronted their “sinful ways” because of His love for them! God said: “Have you not BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God when He led (Leads) you IN THE WAY? And now why take the road to Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? (Sihor means “blackness” or “darkness”). Or why take the road to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? (Or seek “help” other than God and His promises!).

Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God, AND the FEAR OF ME is not in you,” says the Lord God of hosts.

Are you aware of how easily men in our modern day, just like Israel, want to dismiss Holy God for any consideration of their need of Him, since, in and of themselves, they declare ‘fallen self and Satan’s lies’ the foundation of a good, promising, dependable source of “prosperous living”? Yet, faulty foundations of “faithlessness”, upon which unbelievers seek to live apart from redemptive faith, are like ‘houses’ built in a ‘storm region’ unprepared when hellish hurricanes, destructive winds of Wordlessness, and absent of the “storm-stopper – the Lord Jesus Christ”! Godless, Christless lives are like “impulsive thoughtlessness” with no answers in overcoming the irreparable past, destructive present, or doors of the future wide-open for only Hell’s way but not God’s Way, His Truth, and His Life in Christ!

“Cities, Citizens, and National Leaders” in “Opposition to God’s Government”? If the Holy Word speaks about lives and hearts and homes AND nations “transformed by the renewing of their minds, proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”, why is it sanctified, common sense, nation-leaders will ignore Divine Revelation as the “Guide” of their daily choses when many, like America, describe themselves as “one nation under God”?

At least Agur, in Proverbs, was ‘wise’ enough to state where he had stood when in Proverbs 30:2-9 he wrote: “Surely I am more stupid than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom NOR have the knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name, if you know? Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar. Two things I request of You (Deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches – feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny You, and sat, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of My God.”

How clear is it to you that men, yes, have the willful choice of ‘fleshly desires and fleshly interpretations, and “proud” of them, but willfully choose to reject the loving counsel, extended arm of mercy and grace and love, crucifying Christ on the Cross, when God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever trusts in Him would not perish but have everlasting Life?

In Isaiah 53:1-6 the prophet was given the view of the Coming Messiah and Savior of the world hundreds of years before He came, born of the Virgin Mary! It says: “Who has believed our report? (Still as relevant today as when Isaiah was given the vision!). AND to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground.

He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is DESPISED and REJECTED BY MEN, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs (sickness, sin-sickness, diseases) and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. BUT He was wounded for OUR transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one, to his own way; and the Lord (God Almighty) has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

And how do YOU respond when you read further in Isaiah 53:11-12 what else the prophet recorded, understanding “it pleased Father-God to bruise Him”? “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” [Do YOU understand “crucified with Christ”?].

“Cities, Citizens, and National Leaders” in “Opposition To God’s Governance”? It’s mind-boggling to me to read Jeremiah 29:11 and view those in opposition to our Lord and Savior! It says, God Himself speaking: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Yet many refuse to acknowledge Him, call upon Him, or pray to Him, satisfied with their ‘captivity’ to themselves, the world around them, and to Satan!

Oh, but then in Jeremiah 29:12-14a, God says, for “the scattered” today: “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, AND I WILL LISTEN TO YOU. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I WILL BRING YOU BACK FROM YOUR CAPTIVITY” to His warm embrace as sons and daughters of repentant faith trusting ONLY in the finished work of Christ in the empty tomb and eternal residence at the right hand of Father-God interceding for YOU AND ME!

“Cities, Citizens, and National Leaders” in “Opposition To God’s Governance”? Thank God for the “wisdom” of Proverbs 30:32 when we’re told: “If you have been foolish in exalting yourself, or if you have devised evil, put your hand on your mouth.” And, certainly, it is exposing the “self-righteous”, exalting God’s righteousness as our only hope, saying in Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”

Without a doubt, cities, citizens, and national leaders have a choice: Self-indulgence or “saved by grace through faith,” self-governing or affirming the declaration, dependence, and destiny of the Lord Jesus as the True Shepherd of your soul! Psalm 23 says, David singing, King David rejoicing: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with Me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me,” then declaring in Verse 6, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER!”

But, dare I tell you? Believe I will! Escaping Cities, Citizens, and National Leaders in Opposition to God’s Governance IS CONDITIONAL!! In 1 John 1:6-7 the beloved John wrote: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, WE LIE AND DO NOT PRACTICE THE TRUTH. But 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.”

Best effort citizenship, best effort contributions to ‘godless governments’, even best effort husbands and wives without the necessity of “God’s interference”, or best effort discipleship as “I believe in Jesus” but have no need of His Master-ship over my life, is a “dead-end street” empty of His abiding Presence and eternal will being fulfilled in available vessels! In Romans 8:12-14 Paul wrote: “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh (old sin nature), to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if BY THE SPIRIT you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

Don’t you find it extremely interesting to read 1 Peter 4: 17 where the Apostle wrote: “For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; AND IF IT BEGINS WITH US FIRST, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?”, followed by Verse 18, “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” Oh, and in Proverbs 11:31 the wise man wrote: “If the righteous will be recompensed on the earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner?”

“Blood Atonement” through Christ Jesus introduces a lost world to the reality of “a royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9), OR is it not also the “royal priesthood” introducing to their godless societies the King of kings and Lord of lords who IS the author and finisher of true redemptive, saving, transforming faith? There’s nothing strange, morbid, or ‘self-centered’ about the true gospel that births “a royal priesthood”! It was Oswald Chambers, in his writing, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.125-126), who wrote:

“Are we prepared to leave ourselves resolutely alone and to launch out into the priestly work of prayer? The continual grubbing on the inside to see whether we are what we ought to be generates a self-centered, morbid type of Christianity, not the robust, simple life of the child of God (and that’s under God’s awesome Fatherhood ministry!). Until we get into a right relationship to God, it is a case of hanging on by the skin of our teeth, and we say – ‘What a wonderful victory I have got!’ There is nothing indicative of the miracle of Redemption in that. Launch out in reckless belief that the Redemption is complete, and then bother no more about yourself, but begin to do as Jesus Christ said…,” which is COMPLETE IN CHRIST, LACKING NOTHING! Why limp when you can soar? Why doubt when you can trust? Why attempt if you’ve already been atoned for? Why struggle in doubts and fears when “in Christ you are more than conquerors”?

In Matthew 8:26 Jesus said to the disciples in the boat when the storm raged around them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Do you live with the victorious faith of an already won war over the powers of darkness in your daily walk or, like the early disciples with Jesus, do you live in fear like them or faith in Him who is able to calm the stormy seas of your life-circumstances?

It amazes me when I look to Matthew 8! A leper is cleansed because Jesus was willing to heal him, a paralyzed servant of a centurion is healed, Peter’s mother-in-law sick with a fever is healed, many demon-possessed are freed, stormy seas are calmed, two demon-possessed men are freed ! Oh, but notice, in Matthew 8:34, it says: “And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.”

It still happens today in modern-day America, yes, even in some churches! There are those who gather who are satisfied only with a “meek and mild Jesus”, but if He desires to be Himself in their gatherings, they’ll cast Jesus out and keep their demons!

Isaac Watts wrote long ago a hymn that asks: “Am I a Soldier of the Cross?” It says: “Am I a soldier of the cross, A follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own His cause, Or blush to speak His name?

Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize, And sailed thro’ bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend of grace, To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign; Increase my courage, Lord; I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain, Supported by Your word.”

IS THAT YOUR SONG OF FAITH IN THE MIDST OF CITIES, CITIZENS, AND NATIONAL LEADERS, FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH, YES, AGAINST THOSE IN OPPOSITION TO GOD’S GOVERNANCE AND REIGN THROUGH CHRIST JESUS ONLY?

By J. Farrell Fisher

September 2, 2016

There’s an interesting verse in Jeremiah 45:5 where the Lord Himself speaks: “And do not seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh,” says the Lord. “But I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go.” And, if God is no respecter of persons, (and He’s not!), then what He said through the prophet to Baruch, does the same hold true to you? Is YOUR “gutsy grit” what Holy God desires from you or a broken, repentant heart, and truly godly sorrow over the sinful state of your God-less life?

One of the saddest words in all of Scripture, so definitive of “fallen men”, is found in Proverbs 21:2 where the Word declares: “Every way of man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.” A gutsy, gritty heart or a heart of Godly sorrow? A gilded heart of showy appearances or a graced heart of Godly indwelling?

Do you sense any of “gutsy grit” around you, whether child, youth, young adult, or aging adult? Do you ever view the “culture of fleshly intellect” and shake your head as you visualize “cultural unbelief” and fleshly rejection of Holy God and His love and purpose for all fallen men?

Jonathan Edwards, in his writing, “The Freedom of the Will,” wrote: “The heart (that’s the heart of fallen men!) is like a viper, hissing, and spitting poison at God.” The hearts of “fallen men”, alienated and separated from Holy God, are yielded to the aim of pursuing and satisfying the ‘flesh’ and its indulgences with no consideration of eternal purpose or what pleases and honors Holy God with His desire that they be reconciled to Him through the blood of the Lamb of God!

“Fallen men”, large in prominence or known by few, are no different! Both are citizens of the kingdom of darkness and the devil, intent on satisfying all fleshly desires, accepting of “seeming shows,” indulging in vain delights, programmed by civilized ‘stupidity’, critical of true men of redeeming faith through the Blood, satisfied with mental allegiance apart from ‘heart-transformation,’ and certainly with “No fear of God” but only acknowledgement of His existence, even if that! Faith, to them, is simply an awareness of God, if even that by some, but absent from true repentance and redeeming faith and them becoming the temple of Holy Presence on earth! Faith, to them, is for far too many, even some pastors, the faith of possibilities, not the faith of divine realities, which is why ‘philosophy’, factual or fiction, at least governs some’s ‘mental allegiance’!

“Gutsy grit” is never able to translate or transform the ‘chord discords’ or ‘off-key’ fleshly realities into an ‘orchestrated-life-harmony’ apart from the grace and the mercy of God! It was Thomas Carlyle who once said: [“The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations,” edited by Frank S. Mead, Fleming H. Revell com., Westwood New Jersey,p.456], “There is but one thing without honor, smitten with eternal barrenness, inability to do or to be, and that is unbelief. He who believes nothing, who believes only the show of things, is not in relation with nature or fact at all.”

Do you remember Moses and Aaron going in to Pharoah of Egypt and telling him, (Exodus 5:1-2), “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’” And Pharoah said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.” Yet, in Exodus 14 we read of the destruction of the Egyptian armies AND Pharoah with Verse 28 telling us, “Not so much as one of them remained,” and certainly not “gritted Pharoah”! And, dare I tell you, FROM HELL PHAROAH STILL GRIEVES AND GROANS, BUT NOW VOID OF HIS GUTSY GRIT!

“Gutsy grit” by unbelievers and rejecters of Resurrection Life in Christ are men, past, present, and future, who will reveal to you, if you’re ever able to ask them, (I hope not!), “We know now only anthems of despair, the themes of avenging demons, the scary, constant, unyielding voices of devilish phantoms,” or Harriet Beecher Stowe’s words, “No one is so thoroughly superstitious as the godless man. Life and death to him are haunted grounds, filled with goblin forms of vague and shadowy dread.”

There is no evil so great as the evil of the rejection of grace, mercy, forgiveness, and life in and through Christ, just as Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:12b, “If we deny Him, He [the One True and Living God, the Resurrected Christ], ALSO will deny us.”

I find the anointed spirit of Paul so needed in this 21^st Century in our own journey of faith, and especially as one is cemented and grounded in the Holy Word, and fully aware of the fallacy of “gutsy grit”, and fully aware of the need of “godly sorrow”, “redemptive faith,” “and true repentance”! In 2 Timothy 2:23-26 he wrote: “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that THEY MAY COME TO THEIR SENSES AND ESCAPE THE SNARE OF THE DEVIL, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

Do YOU find that a frightening statement that unbelievers are those “snared by the devil”, functioning in their lives according to his wants, desires, and plans? Isn’t it amazing, shocking, awakening, alerting to you to even hear Jesus, in Revelation 3:9, even mention “those of the synagogue of Satan”? SO…let’s just call on “gutsy grit” to see us through in our earthly warfare with the devil and the powers of darkness – right? WRONG!

Examine Revelation 12:7-12! And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. AND THEY OVERCAME HIM BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND BY THE WORD OF THEIR OWN TESTIMONY, AND THEY DID NOT LOVE THEIR LIVES TO THE DEATH. THEREFORE rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”

But, hear me! Whether it’s the world, the flesh, or the devil, Psalm 50:15 tells us: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” What a promise! Dare I ask YOU? “Do YOU stand on the promises in “gutsy grit” or “REST” in the finished work of Christ “At Calvary”? What does the Holy Word tell us in Ephesians 6:10-18?

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord [ Does that sound like “gutsy grit” to you?] 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.

STAND THEREFORE, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [that’s imparted, implanted, imputed righteousness by the grace and mercy of God!], and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints –“

Dare I tell you that the day of your ‘helpless feeling’ can be, should be, must be, the day of full awareness of ALL God Himself wants to be and to do through you? Proverbs 3:1-6 is a powerful expression from God that should be the launching of your life of faith and trust through “Godly Sorrow” from a heart and life that does not lean on “gutsy grit” or “fleshly best” but God’s mercy, grace, and love! It says: “My son, do not forget my law (the wisdom and instruction from “trust” in the Lord!), but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life they will add to you. Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, And SO find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. [Look now at Verses 13, and 21-26]! “Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.” That’s the wisdom of God and the understanding the Holy Spirit gives to you as you faithfully feed on His Word! Verses 21-26 says, “My son, let them not depart from your eyes – keep sound wisdom and discretion; So they will be LIFE TO YOUR SOUL and GRACE TO YOUR NECK.

Then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.”

So…what does a fleshly, sinful, mortal man do to obtain his personal salvation? Do you remember Paul and Silas imprisoned for the faith in Acts 16 when the jailer came to them after a great earthquake, finding all the prison doors opened, and Paul and Silas still there! He was ready to kill himself, but went in to Paul and Silas asking, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And it wasn’t ‘saved from an earthquake but “saved from his sins”! And in Acts 16:31 Paul and Silas told him, “Believe [trust in, rely upon, adhere to] on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

That’s: BE FINISHED WITH YOURSELF AND ANY ATTEMPT AT BEING “RELIGIOUS”, AND REST IN THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS! Have you never received, rested in, or relied upon 2 Corinthians 5:17? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he IS a ‘new creation’; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

“In Christ” we sing a “new song”! “In Christ” we walk in “newness of life” and serve Him in “newness of spirit”! The Lord Jesus said in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I make all things new…!” We’re ‘clothed’ with “new garments”, we “LIVE” by a “new and living way,” He grants us a “new name”, He bestows upon us out of our death the reality of “new-born”, a “new covenant,” a “new heart and a new spirit,” and as “newborn babes in Christ” we desire, hunger for, rest in, and are assured of His able-ness to keep what we’ve committed unto Him and to keep what He has committed unto us!

2 Corinthians 5:21 declares: “For He (God) made Him (Jesus Christ) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God In Him.” ARE YOU “the righteousness of God IN CHRIST JESUS”? Hear me!

“In Christ” we are no longer ‘mere men’ but sons and daughters of redemptive faith birthed by God to bear, share, unveil His Name!

“In Christ”, by God’s mercy, grace, and love, we’ve been set apart to be “a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special, blood-bought people”!

“In Christ”, ‘born again by the Spirit into the Holy Family of God, we are declared by Him to be the “righteousness of God in Christ Jesus”! We’re now “sons and daughters” of our Heavenly Father!

Our lives, now “in Christ”, are “hidden with Christ in God”! We’ve been “raised up to be seated with Him in heavenly places at the very right hand of God the Father!

Our lives “in Christ” are now identified as “ministers of reconciliation” and “ambassadors of Christ”! We’ve been counted worthy to walk with Christ, entrusted with His Gospel!

Christ Jesus is the Bridegroom – we’re “the bride of Christ”! We’re now “trustees of the ‘mysteries’! We’re “witnesses” of His Redeeming Grace! God even says of all repentant believers that they are “priests and kings unto Him.”

To God, we are the ‘fragrance of Christ,’ His ‘peace-makers’ in a troubled world, His disciples and disciplers, His “soldiers of the Cross”! We’re “more than conquerors” – we’re “new creations”!

“In Christ” we’re “living sacrifices”, eternal epistles, poems of the grace, mercy, and love of God! Doesn’t the Word declare the truth and reality, and visual presence of “apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, or ‘disciples’ meaning “Followers of Christ”?

“In Christ” we’re “servants” of the King of kings and Lord of lords – we bear the image of the Heavenly Man, because WE ARE ‘the called, the separated, the anointed, indwelt by all the very fullness of God”!

“In Christ” we are His messengers, His proclaimers, the heralds of His gospel or ‘good news’! “In Him” we ARE the “glorious Body of Christ,” members of the Holy Body in particular!

“In Christ” we’re “vessels” through which God Himself reveals His Son, we’re “salt” and “light”, we’re the “Symphony” God sings about, the music of His heart, and over us He sings the sounds of joy and sweet pleasure!

It’s time to settle it for Eternity! Are you a ‘mere man’ or “the anointed, appointed, affirmed holy man of God, infilled by the Holy Spirit to be His holy messengers?

Are you a ‘mere man’ or the biblically-declared “mighty men of valor”? Are you a ‘worldly, anxious ant’ or an “ambassador of Christ”? Are you a ‘mere man’ or a son or daughter of the family of Father-God?

Are you a ‘mere man’ or a “true minister and servant of reconciliation”? Are you simply a ‘mere man’ or a true witness of Saving Grace, Master-Full Mercy, and overflowing in Calvary’s Song of eternal love and Christ-Alone “Blood Redemption”?

Are YOU a “witness” of “Saving Grace”? Are YOU “the elect,” the “set-apart”, the “chosen of God”? Are YOU “the apple of God’s eye”? Are YOU His “workmanship”? Are YOU a “partner with God”, a “vessel of honor before Him daily”, available for Him to do as He pleases through YOU?

Are You “clay in the hands of the Potter, being sculpted into His Holy Image and Likeness”? Are you a “partaker of the divine nature”, one with Him, the fullness of Him who fills all in all?

You do realize that a ‘roller coaster’, at least once in your life, ought to be fun to ‘play on’, but the “ups and downs”, the “around and around” moves you nowhere in life in relation to Holy God! A ‘ferris wheel’ at the State Fair will get you ‘up’ momentarily to look “over” for a brief glimpse of the beautiful side, but then it’s down again and around again to the same old circumstances!

And anonymous writer penned these words: “Do you know what makes man the most suffering of all creatures? It is that he has one foot in the finite and the other in the infinite, and that he is torn between the two worlds.” Are You “torn” or “settled” on the True Foundation of Eternal Life, Christ Jesus, our Lord, Savior, Redeemer, Reconciler of men to God?

HEART OF HOLY GOD?”

BY: J.FARRELL FISHER, SEPTEMBER 13-15, 2018

Humanity’s History? The Random House Collegiate Dictionary of 1975 defines history in several ways: “the branch of knowledge dealing with past events,” yet makes NO COMMENT related to humanity’s Creator, humanity’s Savior and Lord, and without any mention related to God’s intent for men, spiritually lost or spiritually “blood-bought” through the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary several thousands of years ago!

But, though useful for ordinary ‘existence’, it blatantly omits the eternal intent of ‘fallen mankind’ being reconciled to God through the blood of the Lamb of God, the historic crucified Christ, resurrected from the dead, and presently reigning at the right hand throne of Father God!

I love Sir Francis Bacon’s comment in The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations entitled “Essays: Of Atheism”, stating, “They that deny a God destroy a man’s nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts by his body; and if he is not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.” So True!

Yet fallen humanity’s history of life without God strongly supports its light, limited, ludicrous thinking, high-lighting superficial thinking, when its nothing more than the strongest kind of spiritual unbelief! Unbelief shatters spiritual hope! Unbelief deepens the darkness of the human mind and builds greater destruction of the heart in its moral darkness! Unbelief is the ‘dark art of demonic blindness’, easily substituting ‘moral deserts’ for the Master’s Presence!

Humanity’s history, void of “the heart, mind, intent of Holy God”, built on the faulty, fleshly, finite foundation of ‘self-determination’, is a ‘criminal act’ against the merciful, loving, holy God, like a handful of sand blown back by the Holy Spirit into the faces of stubborn, independent, self-seeking individuals!

In Romans 1:18-25 Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God (Himself) has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His 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, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God FOR THE LIE, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”

Humanity’s History? A ‘history’ without God? A ‘history’ of men at their ‘best’ (?) and worst without God? A ‘history’ of godlessness that releases the ‘wrath’ of God rather than His mercy, love, and grace? A ‘history’ of ‘fallen men’ that doesn’t seem to change but becomes, at least, a little more acceptable and intelligent about ‘living’ (?) apart from Him?

And, ‘because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,’ (Romans 1:28-2:2), Paul also wrote: ‘God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;

Who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them. 2:1-2, Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things’.

Humanity’s History? “Inexcusable before Holy God!” “Given over by God to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, dishonoring their bodies among themselves, and exchanging the truth of God for the Lie (one can ‘sin’ and not die!), and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.”( Romans 1:24-25). Since Creation it has always been the spiritual warfare of sinful men against Holy God! It still is! Unredeemed, ‘fallen away’ humanity, has always been, yes, enemies of gracious, merciful, and loving God, proven in and through the sacrificial death of His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and further into human history in ‘our day’, still many, many people worldwide live with no interest in the Resurrected, Reigning Christ!

Humanity’s History? Do you remember Peter writing about “the stumblers”, or those “being disobedient to the Word”, “warriors against the soul” in “fleshly lusts”, “like sheep going astray” from the True Shepherd? But in 1 Peter 4:1-3 he warns the believers about insuring and protecting themselves in walking in the will of God, not in the lusts of fleshly men. He wrote: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has CEASED FROM SIN, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles (or the worldly) (or the unbeliever) – when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.” YES! AND THE WORD DECLARES: “ENOUGH OF YOUR SINFUL WAYS! HONOR GOD WITH A HOLY LIFE!”

But “Humanity’s History” is about ‘self’ – GOD’S “HIS-STORY” IS ABOUT THE “SACRIFICIAL LAMB AND HIS BORN-AGAIN CHILDREN OF THE BLOOD ATONEMENT”!! And the history of true believers? In 1 Peter 4:19 the converted fisherman wrote: “Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.”

In Proverbs 12:1-2 Solomon steers all mankind toward the wisdom of God, but not all men are even interested in what Holy God says – they monitor and share their own opinions, but true “seekers” want to know what God says! Solomon wrote: “Whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who ‘hates correction’ is stupid. A good man obtains favor from the Lord, but a man of wicked intentions He will condemn.” Flesh-bent, Hell-bent, Satan-deceived men have no interest in God’s “fruit of the righteous that is a tree of life” because their ‘life-slant’ is monetary wealth, not the wealth of knowing, pleasing, or honoring God, certainly seeing no need of a “savior”! Yet Proverbs 11:30 declares, “The fruit of the righteous IS the tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” That’s wise, righteous, fruitful men who win souls for Christ, while unwise men are out to take care of themselves in satisfying their ‘flesh allegiance’, unaware of a God-ordained “Spirit-allegiance” under the Lordship of Christ!

How alerted are YOU to the matter of, yes, showing personal favoritism, which is so opposite the nature, the character, the ministry of Holy God in His relationships? In James 2:1-12 there is a powerful word of instruction about relationship to God, relationship to others, warning about “personal favoritism” rather than the will, mind, and heart of loving, merciful, caring God! It says: “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there”, or “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”, you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.”

Humanity’s History, BUT WITHOUT THE HEART OF GOD? ‘Judged by the law of liberty’ rather than “graced by Holy God through Christ’s Blood Sacrifice”? What powerful words from James, Jesus’ brother, who wrote in James 2:23-24, And the Scripture WAS FULFILLED which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted (credited) to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

No faith – no works! But truly redeemed by “the blood of the Lamb”, a life “redeemed” is a life “released” in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ, ready to serve, serving, and blessing others with the Truth of the eternal Gospel of Christ: “Blood-bought through the sacrifice of Christ “At The Cross”!!” “Humanity’s History?” Jesus died for ALL, but not all for whom He bled and died choose to be “servants”, but feel ‘justified’ in at least being a ‘believer’! That’s ‘phony’ “Humanity’s History”! Which caused James to add in James 2:26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” He majored on the “royal law of liberty” which clearly defines ‘true believers’ as, yes, “servants of Christ” extending His ministry and expressing His love to others!

When Christ Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, “Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Is that ‘freed’ with nothing else expected of “born again believers”? Give me a break! What did Jesus say right before His ascension in Acts 1:8 to His disciples (including us in this 21^st Century?): “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.” Why not examine Acts 2:32? “This Jesus God has raised up, of which WE ARE ALL WITNESSES.”

God raised Jesus up? But YOU are not sure He’ll raise you up? Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in her book entitled “The Poetical Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning”, the last part of a lengthy poem, said, (p.290), about ‘unbelievers’ who just couldn’t “Trust and Obey”,

“And well may the children weep before you; They are weary ere they run; They have never seen the sunshine, nor the glory Which is brighter than the sun;

They know the grief of men, but not the wisdom; They sink in the despair, without the calm – Are slaves, without the liberty in Christdom – Are martyrs, by the pang without the palm – Are worn, as if with age, yet unretrievingly No dear remembrance keep -, Are orphans of the earthly love and heavenly; Let them weep! Let them weep!”

I cannot even begin to fathom the utter despair of those who hear about Jesus, turned away from Him with deafened ears, but ‘live’ eternally in Hell, hearing, hearing, hearing Truth, but no way now to appropriate His love, His grace, His mercy, deaf ears, hardened hearts, deceived minds, that are the strong tools of Satan keeping them eternally bound from, yes, the Savior of Calvary and the empty tomb!!

“MENTAL MISTAKES OF MISGUIDED MEN”

I don’t know how anyone can read Paul’s message in Romans 1 and not understand the “mental mistakes of misguided men”! Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote in Verses 16-26, and Verse 28, the following:

Romans 1:16-26,28 says: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every who believes (or trusts in!); to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (or the African, the Arminian, the European, the American, the South American, the Asian, any man on any continent of the entire world!!);

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith (or “trust”)’. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Because that which may be known of God IS MANIFEST IN THEM; for God shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they (all mankind then and now!) are without excuse: BECAUSE THAT, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were they thankful; but became vain in their imaginations (or ‘speculations’), and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore GOD ALSO GAVE THEM UP to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause GOD GAVE THEM UP unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

Verse 28, 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..”! AND THEY GOT FILLED UP! LOOK AT VERSES 28b-32!

“…and God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

OH!! Then in Romans 2:4-16 Paul tells us about the “captured by Christ” or the “contentious ones opposed to repentance and faith in Christ alone”, saying, “Or do you despise the riches of God’s goodness and forbearance or longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you TO REPENTANCE? But after your hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life:

BUT unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, and wrath, Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that does evil, of the Jew first, and also the Gentile; BUT glory, honor, and peace, to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile; BUT glory, honor, and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles; (Every man working good? Honoring, yielded to, surrendered to the King of kings and Lord of lords, being the “temple” in which the eternal Christ dwells to extend His Kingdom, express His love, and prove His power, THROUGH YOU?).

For there is no respect of persons with God. (Although many feel God ought to respect them concerning their “best effort”, even when it has nothing to do with “True Faith”?). For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be justified.

For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”

The mental, yes, and the ‘blinded, darkened, unbelieving heart’ explain, expose, and uncover the personal, religious, and, for many, the national indifference to Divine Revelation and Unveiling of the One and Only Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus! BUT, the “captured by Christ” no longer live under the bondage of unbelief, religious pretense, or religious ‘best-effort’ mentality! They accept “crucified with Christ” and “raised up in the newness of His resurrected, reigning ministry”, daily taking the sentence of death to the “old man”, yielding daily to His Indwelling Presence in the “new man”, again, extending His Kingdom, proving His power, and expressing His love, THROUGH THE TRUE, REPENTANT, YIELDED BELIEVER TO HIS EVER ABIDING PRESENCE IN YOU, HIS “NEW TEMPLE”, having repented, and willfully choosing to allow Jesus, yes, to be Himself through you!!!

MERCY is the measure of the very heart of God told to all of fallen humanity, but not all of fallen humanity even know, care, or are out to find God’s mercy – they say,“In our best effort we’re OK”! REALLY? But this is why the Holy Word says, in Hebrews 4:15-16, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let US therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, THAT WE MAY OBTAIN MERCY, AND FIND GRACE TO HELP IN TIME OF NEED.”

To be without Christ Jesus, abiding within, ruling and reigning, expressing Himself as “the Light of the world” in you and around you and through you, is willfully choosing to be your own lord, striving to overcome only what is overcome through the blood of the Lamb of God, infecting your world more and more with the radical consequences of a ‘sin-loving’ but ‘religious, empty, self-serving life’, convinced by deceived religious thinkers that “best effort” is all Holy God is concerned about, never considering His “Temple Presence” in true repentant, yielded choice of “Christ in me, for me, through me”, extending His eternal Presence, in the avenue and street of the “born-again believers”, those believers willing to choose death daily to their old self , that His Resurrected Life in you might be, not simply prominent for a world to witness but preeminent in HIS SELF EXPRESSION IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU DAILY!!!

Do YOU really know the “cost of true faith”, the “cost of true religion”, the “cost of true abandonment of the best of fleshly effort”? In Luke 14:25-27 we read, And there went great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto them, “If any man come to Me, and hate not his father; and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever does not bear His cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple.” How clear is that for you?

Christ Jesus comes! Receive Revelation 3:19-22!! “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous therefore and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hears My voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and him with Me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.”

Christ Jesus comes! And as He comes, through the witness of the Holy Spirit and His awesome Word, He exposes the unrestrained sinfulness of men AND unveils the unrestrained love of God!

Christ Jesus still abides in the repentant heart and trusting mind that says “No” to the world, one’s old sin nature, and even to Satan himself, but true believers say “Yes” to the resurrected, reigning Christ! In 2 Corinthians 1:19-24 Paul enlightens us even more, saying, “For all the promises of God in Christ are ‘yes’, and in Him ‘Amen’, unto the glory of God through repentant, trusting believers;

Who Now He which establishes us with you in Christ, (establish means “makes to stand”), AND ‘anointed’ us is God Himself; who has also ‘sealed us’ and given the earnest of the Spirit (the guarantee, the abiding treasure, the never-ending pledge) of the Spirit in our hearts.

Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth. Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy; for by faith you stand.”

Dare I ask you? Do you believe? Are you trusting in Him, His Word, His ever abiding Presence? Is it by Faith in Him you stand, walk, live, unveiling His Resurrected Presence in your daily journey through life wherever it carries you?

In the old “Broadman Hymnal”, published in 1940 by The Broadman Press of Nashville, Tennessee. It says: “O come, all you faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come you, O come to Bethlehem; Come and behold Him born the King of angels;

Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, O sing, all you bright hosts of heaven above; Glory to God, all glory in the highest;

Yes, Lord, we greet You, born this happy morning, Jesus, to You be all glory given; Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;

O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ, the Lord.”

This Easter Sunday! Is it your declaration of submission to His earthly reign through His abiding presence in you? Or do you need to open the door of your heart, maybe for the first time, saying, “Christ, be Jesus in me; No longer me but Thee; Resurrection Power, fill me this hour; Jesus, be Jesus in me”? Can you say right now: “Make ME this day another earthly residence where you reign as King of my heart and life”?

OF HELPLESSNESS IN ONE’S SELF”

I’m not sure that even many ‘evangelical Christians’ will agree with my deep conviction about “suicide”, but I must share my despair over “suicide”, and especially when some “professors of faith” see it as a door to heaven! They say, “One doesn’t lose his/her salvation,” revealing that they don’t believe true salvation is believing in Jesus without any concerns about one’s obedience to Him or not, refuting His Word: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord’, but you do not do what I say!”

I say to you without any hesitation that “ suicide”, professing believer or not, is a chilling reality of unbelief and disobedience, a ‘cheap imitation of surrender and obedience,’ a dark shadow of death not life in the Spirit, and is nothing more than a spiritual famine, an inadequate supply of biblical faith, and a famine of true surrender and yieldedness to the King of kings and the Lord of lords! It is a devastating picture of the absence of Holy Presence and eternal purpose!

Suicide is a strange word and language to true people of faith, an enemy of Resurrection life, Resurrection power, and Resurrection hope. Suicide is a godless decree of Satan and a sad remnant of either unbelief or a decaying faith! It was Frank T. Marzials, in his writing: “Death as the Fool”, who said: “God help the fools who count on death [or suicide] for gain.”

What does Romans 8:6-11 tell us? Paul had just said, by God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin or because of its ruthless treatment of His created, that He condemned sin in the flesh, {but you believe you can ‘sin in the Spirit”? Give me a break!}.

Verses 6-11, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind IS enmity against God; for it (asserting its ‘self-will’) is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh (even as a professing believer!) cannot please God.

But you (In Christ) are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, IF INDEED THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN YOU. Now if ANYONE does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you {Big “IF”!}, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit {IN YOU} is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him [God Himself] who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Even the word ‘suicide’ in any man, believer or not, leaves me with the deep conviction that unbelievers or professing believers do not understand, have no conviction about the very sacred nature of physical life but more important the gift of Resurrection Life, and even contemplating ‘suicide’ reveals a ‘train of faith or faithlessness’ both off the “tracks of God” as chief engineer!

Yes, to BE suicidal is the act of rejecting the “Author of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ,” yielding not to Him but the act of imitation ‘priests’, muted, blinded, unyielding to His Spirit and Word! As Christ Jesus is the Deliverer from death, ‘your salvation experience’ is either the modeling of His life and hope, or your oppression, deception, and blindness by the devil.

But, Yes, to be “in Christ” is to possess the Divine Spirit, Life, and Hope within, ruling and reigning, not to extinguish one’s life but extend and express His eternal life in you and through you. There’s nothing formidable or instructive about ‘suicide’ other than ‘pumping up’ the devil and his demons! They celebrate a suicide! Suicidal death is nothing more than an extreme expression of obstinateness and indifference to the will and Word of God and His honor. Suicidal deaths diminish, for far too many people, the Truth of Christ and His victory over spiritual death and spiritual strangulation!

Suicidal death is not a “master-piece” print-out of Resurrection Life but a cheap imitation of His promises. Self-death by human, willful means is one’s rejection of “spiritual life” by Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross. Suicide is not “done with sin” but an open and willful celebration of sin in fleshly cares, woes, and pains!

Suicide is the door to the land of darkness and the shadows of that darkness, the door to the hellish celebration of the dead, the demons, and ALL of Hell’s constituents, plus the absence of any “fruit of the Spirit” but only the “rotten fruit of a misspent life”, honoring ‘flesh’, unbelief, disobedience, rebellion to the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God. Suicidal death is an announcement of darkness and one’s ‘changed mind’ or desire for it, and a rejection of “Life, Liberty, and the eternal Spirit and His fruit: Galatians 5:22-24, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law, AND THOSE WHO ARE CHRIST’S HAVE CRUCIFIED THE FLESH WITH ITS PASSIONS AND DESIRES. IF WE LIVE IN THE SPIRIT, LET US ALSO WALK IN THE SPIRIT.”

Is suicide loving God or loving ‘dust’, loving the Savior or loving the sensual flesh and its never-ending disappointments, or loving the foolish setting aside Redemptive Faith? Suicide “sinks the soul, the spirit, the very life of true faith”! Suicide is being overcome by fleshly domination, being blinded to the God who saves, heals, and delivers; it is the exaltation and submission to the fleshly manifestations of fear, faithlessness, and the futility of ‘self-effort discipleship’ apart from His promises!

James 4:7-10 says, (This is from the brother of Jesus!), “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Please, let me highlight, underscore, enlighten you more about “willful suicide”:

FIRST, IT IS SELF-ASSERTION RATHER THAN TRUE TRUST IN GOD’S CARE. In Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord God spoke: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Suicide is, yes, the act of willfully rejecting the Author of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ, and giving the devil himself more right to your life than the blood-redemption of Christ Jesus.

As Christ Jesus is the “Deliverer from death”, your salvation experience and continual event is taking the sentence of death to yourself daily that He might rule and reign in you, with you aware of the necessity of giving room daily to His model and eternal reality of divine life and eternal hope, not your oppression or deception by the devil that suicide is spiritually legal.

Suicidal death is honoring flesh, honoring a misspent life, honoring indifference, unbelief, and hopelessness! It’s the extreme manifestation of ‘self-will’, rejecting divine will, trusting my deception more than His Truth and His Trust, and more trust in my misspent mind than His peace, His design for me, and His future hope for me ‘In Him.’

SECOND, SUICIDE IS SELF-DETERMINATION RATHER THAN SOVEREIGN CARE BY HOLY GOD. Romans 6:23 is so clear! “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“The gift of eternal life”? But some disregard His gifts, His provisions, and His fruit, and substitute or give way to ‘best effort’ or a slavish indifference to His revealed truths!

It’s so interesting that in Hebrews 4:14 – 16 the author magnifies Jesus, the Son of God, and us ‘holding fast our confession’, then saying, “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.” Obtaining mercy and finding grace is not God agreeing one’s suicide is “OK” with Him!

There was a time in the psalmist’s life when he found “trouble and sorrow.” Psalm 116:4-9 is a powerful testimony. It says: “Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “Oh Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul. For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you."

Further on, in Psalm 118:5-17, there is a song, the psalm, of exalting and praising God for His everlasting, All-sufficient, and never-ending mercy! It says: “I called on the Lord in distress; the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.

THE LORD IS ON MY SIDE; I will not fear. What can man do to me? The LORD IS FOR ME among those who help me; therefore I shall see my desire on those who hate me.

It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. All nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.

They surrounded me like bees; they were quenched like a fire of thorns; For in the name of the Lord I will destroy them. You pushed me violently that I might fall, but the Lord helped me.

The Lord is my strength and song and He has become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.”

And true believers, born the second time through the blood of Jesus, are raised up, not to give in to the devil’s suggestions, but to expose him and his evil ways – suicide IS an evil way of the powers of darkness! “In Christ”, we have the Great High Priest from whom we obtain mercy and grace to help in the times of need and our greatest ‘stress moments’!

THIRD, SUICIDE IS YIELDING TO ‘THE THIEF’ (SATAN) RATHER THEN YIELDEDNESS TO GOD’S PROMISED OVERSIGHT. In John 10:9-10 Christ Jesus declared, “I am the door. If anyone enters (the Kingdom of God) by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief (Satan) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

And in strenuous times, dark clouds, heavy winds, testy storms, some who ‘professed’, like some ‘church-attenders’, yet, sadly, never ‘possessed’ the resurrected Christ, identified themselves, though loyal ‘Temple-attenders and observers’, as what Jesus described as “sons of the devil”! In John 8:43-47 Jesus said of, yes, the ‘religious elite’ of His day, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He (Satan) was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for HE IS A LIAR and the father of lies. But because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

FOURTH,SUICIDE IS THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF DISAVOWING THE SACRIFICIAL DEATH OF CHRIST AND HIS LORDSHIP, DETERMINING, THOUGH PROFESSING, ONE IS REALLY HIS OWN AND CAN DO AS HE/SHE PLEASES. In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Paul challenges every ‘professing believer’,

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and YOU (In Christ) are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

No “believer” has the right, the privilege, the choice, of choosing on his/her own what pleases or displeases God, what is “my decision” related to life or self-imposed’ death, or what road or path “I” am to walk on! “In Christ” is not a license to do as one pleases!

FIFTH, IT IS THE CLEAREST ACT OF BETRAYAL OF THE BODY OF CHRIST, OR ALL BELIEVERS, AND AN ACCEPTANCE OF THE WILL OF THE AUTHOR OF DEATH, REBELLION, AND DISOBEDIENCE.

Psalm 33:18-22 declares: “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, just as we hope in you.”

The lack of the reverential awe of Almighty God, Christ’s Lordship, and the Holy Spirit’s authority and power, is the “open door” to what you believe satisfies you, not God, not the Spirit, not the Lord Jesus, and certainly, NOT HIS WORD: “You shall not kill.”

Colossians 1:19-23 is an awesome warning from the biblical word “if”. Do you know that word in your own spiritual journey? Paul said: “For it pleased the Father that in Him [In Christ!] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight – (“GET READY”!), IF INDEED YOU CONTINUE IN THE FAITH, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister [or a Messenger].”

“IF” means “conditional” or “will you show Me your devotion by doing My will?” Paul had explained in Colossians 1:18 that Jesus is YOUR author in life decisions! “And He is the head of the body, the church, [all believers], who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, THAT IN ALL THINGS HE MAY HAVE THE PREEMINENCE.” [And you believe it’s permissible to do as you please as a disciple, even committing suicide?].

SIXTH, SUICIDE IS A SUBSTITUTION OF PERSONAL DEATH FOR CHRIST’S RESURRECTION LIFE, RESURRECTION POWER, AND RESURRECTION HOPE! What did Christ Jesus Himself declare in Matthew 11: 28-30? “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and {by coming to Him rather than the devil, the flesh, or the world spirit!}, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

SEVENTH, SUICIDE IS A SUBSTITUTION OF FLESH RATHER THAN THE VICTORY OF CHRIST’S FINISHED WORK! There is a dramatic convicting passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 where again, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote: “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 against them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.”

The old has passed away? The old things of flesh indulgence and self-will, or self-determination of life choices, even suicide, has passed away? Is ‘self’ the controlling spiritual influence or “the Christ in you the hope of glory”? And If Christ is the hope of glory in the “new man” in Him, where does the “new man” find, in Christ, an open door to suicide? If God says that by willingness and obedience to Him, He gives the precious privilege of “eating” the good of His land, then its ‘OK” to indulge in the ‘flesh’, even “feeling good” about ending it all by suicide?

“In Christ” one is not granted the fleshly right to do as he/she pleases? “In Christ” one doesn’t have to discern “divine will”? “In Christ” is a lie and one is allowed, though saved, to choose for himself whether to live or die by his own hand? Even though ‘professing Christ’ is a legitimate expression, having done so, have I then the right and rule to determine for myself whether I choose to live or whether I choose to die by my own hand, and it will please the Savior and Lord and honor Him if I betray His Lordship and shorten, end, or cancel His eternal purpose He determined to fulfill through me?

Suicidal death is not the door to eternal life; suicidal death is not a hymn of one’s devotion to His Savior and Lord, but an ‘off-key’, un-tuned horns, phony words of ‘OK’ by the choir director of darkness, evil, and the satisfactions of all indulgent demons! It is corruptible, it is a devilish substitute for the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God, it is ‘the end of life’, not a divorce from its sorrowful bents and turnings and witness, and it is not ‘debt paid for my failures, my rebellion, my indulgences, my rejection, and my determination, and loving God ought to be pleased that I won’t shame Him anymore, because I end my failing life?

Suicide is the devil sealing his ownership by default of trust, obedience, or honor of the Savior and Lord! Suicide is a “mastered piece of hellish art” by the devil of darkness who claims ‘light’!

“Unashamed the devil stands and claps his hands over the suicidal man. ‘Goodness’ to him is you ending your pain, sorrow and suffering in your estimation of your failures, worthy only of ripping your painting of your life off the wall, and letting him celebrate your rejection of God’s help!’”

If the devil walks about seeking whom he may devour, do you believe his invitations are those by which you dishonor God, destroy yourself, giving him room to celebrate another battle won?

It was Shakespeare, in his “Hamlet”, who once wrote: “The spirit that I have seen may be the devil; and the devil has power to assume a pleasing shape,” and in his “hellish, pleasing shape”, promoting his darkness, ‘suicide’ becomes for ‘doubters’ the open door to rest, peace, and good feelings! Give me a break!

Why not “rebuke the devil and he will flee from you”! Expose him not explain him! Resist his demonic temptations rather than receive his deathly trouble! The “suicide-tempter” IS the “unmasked devil” with the intent of one’s horrific death, dishonoring the God who made him, to the devil’s pleasure! You don’t keep the devil in your house – you kick him out! “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer – I (Jesus) have overcome the world and the devil!” Amen?

And if the Lord Jesus has “chosen” us, that is not the “choice” of freedom in Christ to do with myself as I please but yielded to His sovereign will in all circumstances of one’s life, and, be assured, Holy God doesn’t give His “Amen” to any believer’s choice of killing himself/herself but challenges all believers to “LIVE” for His glory, His honor, His praise!

By J.FARRELL FISHER, SEPT. , 2017

‘Soul Travel?’ Is that one person, maybe, leaning toward God or leaning further away from God? ‘Soul Travel?’ It was Aristotle, in his writing “Nocomachean Ethics”, who wrote: “As sight is in the body, so is reason in the soul.” And when I read that statement I wondered if Aristotle’s writing was “No-Common-Sense-Spiritually- If-God’s-Truth-Is-Avoided”? Reason in the soul can be the ‘traveling’ PhD professor who desires to live intellectually as far from God as his dense and empty and dried-up and rebellious mind will allow him, but he ‘travels’, and daily his ‘bright light’ of intellectualism grows darker and darker each step he takes!

‘Soul Travel?’ “Fate will carry me wherever fate wants to take me”! Would that be ‘soul-stupidity’ speaking? “I roll the dice, go with the flow of the world around me, determined by my own soul to succeed in life, yes, without your God!” ‘Soul Travel becomes Soul Tragedy’ when one has heard and determined ‘Soul Transformation’ by the blood of the Lamb of God is his/her only hope but is unnecessary for a man who knows he can prove himself worthy by his “best effort” way of life, saying, “Jesus didn’t have to die – we all have ‘worthiness’ in our bones!”

Would it amaze you to learn that most astronauts are true believers , that early mathematicians, even scientists of their day before our space crowd, saw God as the mathematical genius He is, and sought the mind of God in what they were unveiling in space travel, even in its infancy? Yes, there are still many like David’s song of praise in Psalm 19:1-2 that say: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork; Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge.”

“Soul Travel” is not a new thing, although modern, spiritually blinded men and women still try to omit Holy God and a Loving Savior from “their world”, from the beginning of earthly humanity, through Old Testament days, even still in New Testament times, down to our modern day! In Romans 1:16-32 the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wisely and with a broken heart for the unredeemed, shared the Truth! He wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for IT IS the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for 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, 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 His 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, they did not glorify Him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, [The lie? “You can sin, it’s OK, you’ll not die!”], and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason GOD GAVE THEM UP TO VILE PASSIONS. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

AND even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, THAT THOSE WHO PRACTICE SUCH THINGS ARE DESERVING OF DEATH, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

That, my dear friends, ought to “scare” Hell right out of you, if even a ‘hair’ of Hell hangs around your head or heart! It’s sad when, whether public or private, fallen mankind insists on thrusting their fists in the face of God, unaware of the Judgment Day that comes, and Jesus Himself faces them to say, “Depart from Me – I never knew you, you who continue in your sin!”

You’re aware in our natural world of government relationships with the general public, if a citizen fails to file their tax returns, that impending judgment is close at hand! I was reading again Chuck Colson’s book, “Burden of Truth”, when he said: (p.241-242), “Finding psychological disorders to excuse human behavior has become a cottage industry in America today”, and he was speaking of lawyers filling out tax returns for their clients, but failed over and over to file their own returns! Could it be that some pastors are faithful in teaching “being reconciled to God through repentance and faith” yet in themselves confession and forsaking sin seldom occurs?

As a result, yes, across America, in ‘church life’ today, numberless pastors “preach the Word” while they practice acceptance in the sinful world, doing what God has already condemned! Would you even, as an American citizen today, think that our spiritual, social, political, economic, religious liberty hangs by a thin thread? If you don’t, you’re descending into the deep grave of death to all Holy God holds onto for you, yes, Him reaching out to you to pull you, your family, your business, your city, county, state, and nation out of the grave of despair in the hands of Satan, intent on bringing you and yours down with him, but compassionate God proving His love for you and yours in the sacrifice of His Son as, yes, our only Savior and Lord!

A life, a family, a government, a business, a school, a church even, can find itself ‘divorced’ from union with Holy God and His eternal purposes! And the heavy majority of those being dismantled from His eternal foundations have no awareness at all of being “reconciled to God” – they think they’ve already determined the best way: “Us at our best for Him”, when He crucified ‘us’, ‘our worst and our best’, with Christ at the Cross, and they live ‘blinded’ to the “fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ” and absent of the redemptive truth, “Christ in you the hope of glory”!

Are you aware of spiritual jaded times when, for many, there are no consequences to human godlessness, or even no consequences for ‘church-member’ emptiness of an independent heart, and a lack of spirit loyalty to the Lordship of Christ? Are you aware of the ‘self-declared-intellect’ of man who assumes he’s “redeemed” because upon his soulish mind upon which he, not God, has printed, “I’m a believer”, while in his so-called ‘walk of faith’ he rejects God’s “Highway of Holiness”, and God responds, “I never knew you”?

Are you aware of the masses of humanity, world-wide, who major on the importance of the education of the mind but never consider the condition of the heart? As a major representative of King Jesus, in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, Paul wrote: “For though we walk in the flesh, (that’s the human body), we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience (in yourself!) when your obedience is fulfilled (in your constant yielded-ness to the Indwelling, Resident Christ!).”

Our “old man sin-nature” was “crucified with Christ”! But Satan, the world around us, AND our own crucified sin-natures will seek to impose upon the lives He purchased with His own blood, and will seek to “take you down” to the disaster of “old-life domination”! What did Paul say in 2 Corinthians 10:5? “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

SO…!! Rather than “Soul Travel”, there must be in our hearts the reality of, yes, “Soul Transformation”! If, which all fallen men live with, there is the deep, devilish, and demanding ‘natural’ fallen nature, is there “Hope” for lives that are slavish to the natural, enslaved to a ‘world spirit’, and bound by the power of Satan and his slavish demons? And when you do come to Christ in repentance and redemptive, saving, regenerative faith, are the wars over? Hate to tell you, but they’ve just begun!

But in Galatians 6:14-15 Paul gives us a strong word for the foundation of our ‘born-again-lives! He said: “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. FOR in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” There’s an amazing word from Oswald Chambers in his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.266), where Chambers wrote under the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit great Truth. He said:

“The Gospel of Jesus Christ always forces an issue of will. Do I accept God’s verdict on sin in the Cross of Christ? Have I the slightest interest in the death of Jesus? Do I want to be identified with His death, to be killed right out to all interest in sin, in worldliness, in self – to be so identified with Jesus that I am spoilt for everything else but Him? The great privilege of discipleship is that I can sign on under His Cross, and that means death to sin. Get alone with Jesus and either tell Him that you do not want sin to die out in you; or else tell Him that at all costs you want to be identified with His death. (JFF: I dare to ask you: ‘How many ‘church folk’ do you know who understand the ‘old sin-man was crucified with Christ’?’ Not many, because they’ve been convinced they can’t do anything but sin until they get to heaven!).

Chambers wrote on: Immediately you transact in confident faith in what our Lord did on the Cross, a supernatural identification with His death takes place, and you will know with a knowledge that passes knowledge that your “old man” is crucified with Christ. The proof that your old man is crucified with Christ is the amazing ease with which the life of God in you enables you to obey the voice of Jesus Christ.” WOW!

Do you rest in the reality of Biblical Truth? Colossians 3:3 says, Paul declaring, “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Glory! My Holman Study Bible (NKJV) says in the footnotes of Colossians 3:3, “The Greek verb form of “hidden” connotes that God fully completed the action in the past with permanent results.” Are YOU ‘exposed in your old sin nature’ or “hidden with Christ in God”? Are YOU accepting of the historical fact that YOU “were crucified with Christ, nevertheless you live (victoriously)” because the Resurrected Christ resides, reigns, and continuingly raises you up in His fullness? Were you, through Christ, delivered from the domination of the world, the flesh or old sin nature, and from Satan’s deceit and domination of your ‘former’ life without Christ?

Do you know “the peace that passes all understanding”? Do you know “I am more than conqueror through Christ”? Have you “been raised up into heavenly places”, yes, living in His Kingdom under His Sovereign reign? Have YOU, because of His shed blood and resurrection, because of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, been made free from the law of sin and death? Are YOU ‘spiritually minded’, living in His life, His peace, and His purposes in you and through you? Are YOU “led by the Spirit of God”, unveiling you as a true son of God?

What was it Paul recorded in Romans 8:28-32? “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

What HAS God GIVEN TO US WHO REPENT AND REST IN CHRIST ALONE? I close with Ephesians 1:3-14 where Paul defines our “gifts”, not our “trying our best”: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which HE MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED (THE LORD JESUS!).

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.

In Him (In Christ Jesus) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth – in Him.

In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

In Him you also “trusted”, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” CAN YOU SAY “AMEN” TO WHAT YOU’VE JUST HEARD?

In the old “Broadman Hymnal” of 1940, there’s a hymn entitled “Seal Us, O Holy Spirit.” It says: “Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Grant us Your imprint we pray; We would be more like the Savior, Stamped with His image today.

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

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

Seal us, seal us, Seal us just now, we pray; Seal us, O Holy Spirit, Seal us for service today.” I ask you: Do you daily choose the altar of sacrifice to your “old man” that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested daily in you and through you to His honor, His glory, and His praise? Let’s choose “empty tomb” living releasing Christ in us and through us!

By: J. Farrell Fisher, July 23-25, 2017

Would you describe a created world as an unexplainable, freak event of nature OR the handiwork of God who is able to create as He pleases? Would you also describe human beings with free wills to choose whether they want to rule over their own minds and hearts or be surrendered willfully to the God who ordained their human existence for His heart-plans of rescuing the perishing as their Heaven-ordained ministries?

There’s a huge difference between men who speak of the positive awareness of and availability of the God who made them, birthed them, and calls them to join Him in world redemption or join the crowd of negative spiritual intents, always leaning strongly on their ‘mindfulness’ of self-ability to rule over self even if, at times, they, yes, do question if their rebellion against God is justified!

And, certainly, there are strong-willed dads and arrogant, self-centered moms who unitedly or dividedly teach, promote, insist on “our children, our sons and daughters” walking their paths or ‘my path as a dad or mom’ of ‘wondering if God really exists’! Sadly, those parental premonitions, for some sons and daughters, births within them even ‘half-truths’ about unbelief, but for many sons and daughters under stiff-necked moms and dads, it’s full-bore because they were ‘cut’ from the ‘same cloth’ of demonic, worldly, and self-centered overseers!

Wondering? Is it really true? Does God exist? Is it inevitable that fallen mankind, or some of them, may open the wrong door and choose ‘godlessness’ why some never bend, bow, or give in to unbelief about God’s reality! In fact, in Psalm 14:1, out of a ‘song’ of David, we read: “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” But ‘the fool’ who denies God’s existence often is only standing up for his right to do wrong, sure, “if there is a God, He isn’t concerned about what I choose to do”! It’s more likely than not that the ‘foolish unbeliever’ is “sure” if there is a God, “that God isn’t concerned about what I choose to do – I’m a free man,” which is true that he/she is free to destroy their lives rather than choose to live by the Life of Another – “even your God, Messiah, or Savior and Lord”!

The ‘wonderers’ are usually extremely busy people, enthroning their ‘jobs’ or ‘occupations’, highly committed to ‘stay busy’ because “who needs relaxed time to consider whether God is real or not”! And enthroning their work means little time to wrestle with, “What about God”? “Self-reasonable, self-explainable men” understand they don’t have to busy themselves concerned about God because “our sensibleness is our argument God doesn’t exist” but blinded to Satan’s deceit, “Did God really say if you sin you will die? You won’t die!”

Yet the Holy Word declares: “The wages of sin is death!” So ‘wonderers’ live in their doubts, buy the devil’s lies, and darken their minds and hearts to the reality of God’s amazing love and grace and mercy! It was Spurgeon who once said, “It is never worthwhile to make rents in a garment for the sake of mending them, nor to create doubts in order to show how cleverly we can quiet them.” So true! Your doubts never cloud the reality of God’s eternal existence, but open wide-doors to an invitation to live one’s life without God! And doing so, many choose to live with nature’s goods with no desire to live under nature’s God! That’s like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s writing entitled, “Fiftieth Birthday of Agassiz”, saying: “Come, wander with me,” she said, “Into regions yet untrod; and read what is still unread in the manuscripts of God.”

That’s why Psalm 19:1 says: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” Few earthlings, if any, see what ‘space pilots’ see as they fly to realms most of us only get a small glimpse at, but ‘space pilots’ who do come home, upon arrival, are still AWED by Creator-God!! Most of them are not ‘wonderers’ (?), but worshippers of God and adoring what they viewed in His awesome Creation!

Wonderers? “Is there a God? Should I know Him? Am I accountable to Him for what He has entrusted to me? How should I respond to what I see Him do?” In Mark 1:25-28 you’ll find Christ Jesus casting out a demon (or unclean spirit)! The unclean spirit had said to Jesus, “What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are – the Holy One of God!”

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.” And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.”

Questioners are more often than not ‘wonderers’ who are consumed by ‘fleshly intelligence’ only without little, if any, spiritual discernment! Would it shock you for me to say that I sincerely believe, yes, even fallen men are, at least at times, aware of the reality of Holy God?

And the ‘wonderers’ who are aware of God’s presence will turn more inward to their continuing destruction or upward to their “Rescue”! Paul’s description in Ephesians 2:1-4 is so on target: He spoke in Verse 1 about those “who were dead in their trespasses and sins, Verse 2, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we ALL once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and WERE BY NATURE children of wrath, just as the others.”

In Ephesians 2:11-12 He heightens what ought to be greater conviction of living without Christ as Lord, Savior, Healer, and Deliverer! “Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands – that at that time YOU WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, being ALIENS from the commonwealth of Israel, and STRANGERS from the covenant of promise, HAVING NO HOPE, AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.” Does that description break your heart? Are you stirred at all about how Holy God sees you without Christ in your ever-darkening world??

Oh, but then, beside the chasm ‘wondering’ digs in you, ARE YOU AWARE THAT WONDERING WILL LEAD TO “WANDERING”, SADLY, EVEN FURTHER FROM THE GOD OF THE CROSS AND EMPTY TOMB!

I’m not sure if you’re aware of Biblical history as it related to the Israelites and their journeys from the ‘wilderness’ into the Promised Land, but the Word tells us that there were those Israelites who wandered away, even after “spying out” the Promised Land! In Numbers 14:27-38 we read: (The Lord speaking to Moses and Aaron), “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:

The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in the wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty-years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.

But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness. And your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and bear the brunt of your infidelity, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years, and you shall know My rejection.

I the Lord have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.’” Now the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report of the land, those very men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before the Lord. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive, of the men who went to spy out the land.”

Would you say that following the directions of the Lord is essential and necessary? Well, of course, you’ll hear verbally from a lot of pulpits or Sunday School classes, “Well, of course, obedience is an option in the age of grace,” when the Lord Jesus said, “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, but you do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46!).

Many ‘believers’ in churches today across America will ‘profess faith in Christ’ and willfully then choose to do as they please, without a word of, “Lord, what would You have me to do?” Pretending is not lending any credibility to one’s “profession of faith”! I’m sure the angels of Heaven are shocked by “deaf-eared professors” in a lot of churches professing faith while they willfully and consistently disobey divine revelation! Often in New Testament Scriptures the “wanderers” are referred to as the “anti-christs”!!

In 1 John 2:15-19 the “beloved John” wrote: “Do not love the world or the things of 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 (BOASTFUL) 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.

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, EVEN NOW MANY ANTICHRISTS HAVE COME, by which we know that it is the last hour. (Immediately, just a few years later it was the destruction of Jerusalem by invading armies!). John continued:

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with is; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

And John went on to say, “But you, true disciple, you have an anointing from the Holy Spirit, and you know all things.” The Spirit of God guides you into all truth, and you know it’s Truth by the very witness of the Holy Spirit!

In the spiritual world, as well as the natural world, it’s affirmed: One knows the difference between wild wolves and peaceful sheep, except for some in the church who have no discernment biblically but only personal opinions; and there are those in the church who’ll call sheep wolves or wolves sheep – doesn’t matter to them as long as they are not bitten by ‘wild animals’, though at times because of poverty of spirit, they’ll affirm wolves who attack innocent sheep! Our “last days” of modern-day ‘Christianity’ is being invaded by “the wild side”!

BUT, LAST OF ALL, THERE ARE THOSE WHO LIVE A LIFE OF REDEMPTIVE FAITH WILLFULLY WORSHIPPING! In Colossians 3:1-12 Paul builds a strong foundation defining the “true worshippers”! He said: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, (which, sadly, rules out a lot of ‘church folk’!),not on things on the earth. For you died (Did YOU?), and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. THEREFORE put to death your members which are on (and of) 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.

BUT NOW you yourselves (professing faith in Christ!) are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another (all liars go to Hell!), since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering…”, eternal evidences of a reigning Savior and Lord! A “dill pickle” ‘believer’ is so opposite of a “sweet pickle” unveiling the Christ he/she knows they trusted in! Oh, I know our ‘salvation walk’ is a process, but from infancy, through childhood and teen years, to young adults, maturing adults, and mature “seniors of faith”, every person is not to lean upon himself/herself but learn to let Christ “reign” in and through your journey of maturing in your faith-walk to honor Christ by the daily sentence of death to ‘self’ that He might reign supremely and superbly through you!

Redemptive reality is not a ‘reflection’ of Jesus but a release from within of His abiding Presence since through “new birth” He established His “Holy Temple” IN YOU! What did Paul say in Galatians 6:14-15? “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

Tell me about your personal awareness of your life “crucified with Christ” and how His Resurrection Presence is easily identifying for you ‘death without Him’ OR “eternal Life and Holy Presence in you”! What did Joshua say? “Choose for yourselves whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we choose to be His earthly temple or tabernacle” through which He extends His LIFE, expresses His love, and proves His power!

Have YOU died? Is your life hidden with Christ in God? Are YOU His “new creation”? Do YOU live for the glory and honor of Christ ONLY, or are you determined to “make a name for myself”? In Christ we do not live to elicit fleshly obedience to human inclinations – but day by day taking the sentence of death to ourselves that His presence will be manifested in us and through us for the glory of God alone! Can YOU say with Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, OR whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”?

Fanny J. Crosby wrote an old hymn entitled “I Am Thine, O Lord” that says: “I am Thine, O Lord, I have heard Your voice, And it told Your love to me; But I long to rise in the arms of faith, And be closer drawn to Thee.

Consecrate me now to Your service, Lord, By the power of grace divine; Let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, And my will be lost in Thine.

O the pure delight of a single hour That before Your throne I spend, When I kneel in prayer, and with You, my God, I commune as friend with friend!

There are depths of love that I cannot know Till I cross the narrow sea; There are heights of joy that I may not reach Till I rest in peace with Thee.

SO…Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To the cross where You died; Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, To Your precious, bleeding side.” Amen?