Almost everyone now perverts the English language for “political correctness” (which is actually a form of mental illness). Those who meekly kowtow to it and comply are cowards without ethics other than securing their idolatrous paycheck.
Where have all the Christians gone?
—When will Christians come out of the closet?
? ? ? ? ?
In 1900, Europe was home to 70% of the world’s Christians. Today it’s less than 1%. The U.S. and the U.K. (and Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) and South Africa are following the same road to oblivion through perversion and apostacy and amalgamation (self-genocide) with the world.
Who will hit rock bottom first is anyones guess. The antichrist aliens are absorbing and consuming the peoples of Christendom to the point of extinction. Christ said that unless the Father draw the final days of vengeance short, no flesh of the elect would survive. It is about to that point.
“32Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in Heaven. 33But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in Heaven.” (Matthew 10)
After Christ comes back it will be too late for “Christians” to come out of the closet: for by being therein, they demonstrate that they are not His.
His true followers speak His Words and do what He did, rebuking evil... not cowering before it or smiling submissively and pretending not to notice it.
Where are all the so-called “Christian” pastors, singers, book authors, evangelists, teachers, professors, theologians and where have they been for the past 50 years...? Why don’t they speak out against evil...? Why don’t they rebuke and renounce and separate themselves from homo-perverts who claim to be Christian singers, pastors, authors? It seems quite clear that such “Christian leaders” they are not really of God. They merely found a nice little niche in which they could earn a comfortable living, have prestige and celebrity—but have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof—from such turn away!” (II Timothy 3:5) Christians need to stop supporting them and write to them and denounce them and explain why they will no longer listen to or support them: for they are traitors of Christ, Christianity, and Christendom! They are friends of the world and therefore they are the enemies of God. If Christians continue to listen to and support them they share in the evil and sins of those wicked wolves in sheep’s clothing, and they will also share in their judgment.
I call all so-called “Christian” pastors, singers, book authors, evangelists, teachers, professors, theologians to stand up now! Who is on the Lord’s side? How do you expect your congregation, your followers, your supporters to know the right way if you are too cowardly to lead them? Choose you this day! God or mammon (wealth). God or the world? You cannot have both. They are diametrically opposed. They are opposite sides in the War of Good against Evil. BOTH sides will view you as a traitor because that is what you are!
If you don’t stand up and speak out and choose what God commanded and choose Christ* then your refusal to stand up and speak out is powerful evidence that you are not of God and that all your “wonderful works” (in the eyes of the Apostate Church and the Antichrist world) will earn you the declaration of Christ: “depart from Me ye that work iniquity [lawlessness], I never knew you!”
[* You cannot choose side with Christ Jesus if you do not embrace His full and true Message. Christ’s Message is not your perverting of the “Gospel” to please a godless world though a modern “interpretation” making God’s Word to conform to sinful man’s notions of “good” and “evil” and making God’s Nature and God’s Plan compromise to reflect modern political correctness. God is Immutable. His Plan never changes; His Standard of Morality never changes; Christ never changes; the Gospel never changed from God’s original declarations. Anyone who preaches the modern altered Gospel is accursed, antichrist, and a humanist.]
Clearly you don’t care about your flock whom you have fleeced if you don't stand up. You allow the communities of your congregation to be flooded with aliens and perverts while you with your body guards live in your gated communities. There should be 50 million or more Christians who could stand up and oppose evil and the 3% of perverts would have to back down and the corrupt politicians inviting aliens into our land, burying us in unpayable debt and committing all sorts of Treason and war crimes while enriching themselves would be forced to stop and held criminally accountable. The so-called "Christian" pastors, singers, book authors, evangelists, teachers, professors, theologians are MOST-RESPONSIBLE; they are watchmen on the wall who have fallen asleep in apathy, are cowards (dumb dogs who cannot bark), or who are in league with the enemy. Those are their only choices to explain why they do not STAND UP NOW and why they have not STOOD UP for the past 50 YEARS.I indict you before a Holy God this day. CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY. WHO IS ON THE LORD'S SIDE? STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.
I indict you before a Holy God this day.
CHOOSE YOU THIS DAY.
WHO IS ON THE LORD’S SIDE?
STAND UP AND BE COUNTED.
If you don’t stand up now and do something then we all know whose side you are on.
----------------------
After titling my Rumination as I did, I could not help but to think of Irish Christian singer Sheila Walsh’s song “God Put a Fighter in Me”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyJwRdMgeGM
This song has some great elements. The verses and the beginning of the chorus are quite special, with an ancient British European Crusade classical-like flavor, dreamy, calling to arms, calling to our heritage. However, the second half of the chorus, to me, ruins the song, which I believe should have been kept pure with the classical theme. I realize what she was trying to do, attempting to mimic or create the rushing chaos of war. However, the “God put a fighter in me” by comparison, is a monotonous, fast-paced droning... but the song is worth listening to, even to the end, to get the full picture. The verses make a doughty effort, but seem to fall flat and while they have some good, vivid imagery, they seem to lack real substance and remain merely symbolic fluff—however, the first part of the chorus is spectacular and it is unfortunate that the entire song did not maintain the same theme (and hone the words to have a little more depth and true edge). Regardless, the first part of the chorus goes:
“Where have all the Christian soldiers gone?
Where is the resistance?
—will no one be strong?
When will we stand up tall and straight?
Rise up and storm the gate?
—
[While making an admirable effort the chorus here is the fly in the ointment rather than the feather in the cap... but bear through it at the link.]
—
How can we fail to get excited?
The battle is ours why don’t we fight it?
Battalions of darkness rise above me
But God put a fighter in me, put a fighter in me.”
[And I don’t say anything to be unkind, and of course it is just my opinion. The first part of the chorus is genius, and the verses could have been with more effort and clarity of Bible doctrine; the second part of the chorus gets honorable mention in words, but as a whole the music detracts as if the entire drum section, cymbals and all, and the guitar players fell down a flight of stairs in the middle of the song.]
She has been producing albums for about 3 decades, and she has an incredible depth, color, range, and purity of voice. Two of her most famous and lovely songs, well worth listening to over and over, are:
Star Song (There Is Born A Child)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLCYjBxk9FM
Turn, Turn, Turn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBmRt1fmXBQ
----------------
Also, another great song, this one by Texan singer songwriter Jeoffrey Benward,* which should give you goosebumps, is a fabulous, moving, emotional, anthem and call to battle.
[* —who decades after this album would form a duet with his son, called “Aaron & Jeoffrey” and produce several quality albums.]
Turn the sound up. The verses may be a little hard to hear, and you will want the sound up for the chorus.
“Let the Church Rise”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7ypcktjvPs
------------------
Also... though not related to the above theme...
I’ve listened to Steve Camp for decades, late 70s early 80s.
I haven't really listened to anything new by anyone for a few decades now, but he has an incredible voice, a very moody low register and a razor-edged, electric high register, very moving color to his voice and interpretation and his piano is excellent and his lyrics are often bold and with deep spiritual insight; not that I can say whether his theology is sound or not going from memory, but he has great merit and the below songs are recommended and even try others you see in the sidebar to the right at youtube once you listen to these songs. Many of his songs are very devotional.
There is no other name / Wonderful Merciful Saviour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-O8cqjcCgA
Love That Will Not Let Me Go
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKCFa-l-2GI
and 2 of his classics:
He Is All You Need
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n34RKnLsPY4
He Covers Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWohxDEYGPg
See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Camp
He has sold over a million albums. Camp is a Dutch name (prob. originally van Camp or Vander Camp). He was born in Wheaton Illinois, so it is quite possible that having been born in 1955 in the bastion of Dutch Reformed northern Mid-west U.S. that he has sounder theology than most today Christian singers today (many of whom are universalist and pentecostal)... reading further I see I am correct,
“Camp is theologically Reformed, in the tradition of John Owen, Jeremiah Burroughs, Thomas Watson, Dr. John F. MacArthur, Dr. D.A. Carson, Dr. R.C. Sproul and the late Dr. Stephen Olford.”
Also, admirably, even as I said many of his lyrics are challenging to casual Christians,
“He is well known for his strong view that Christian musicians are called to make direct, uncompromising music that confronts the world with the message of the Scriptures. In the tradition of Martin Luther's 95 theses, Camp sent out his own 107 theses on Reformation Day (October 31), 1998, calling for a reformation in contemporary Christian music.”
He is also a senior pastor at a church in Florida.
With music like this—and many other excellent artists: Dallas Holm, Michael Card, John Michael Talbot, Wayne Watson, Twila Paris, Jonathan David Brown, Kelly Willard, Margaret Becker, 4Him, Joanne Hogg, (also with her group Iona), Will McFarlane, Geoff Moore, Buddy Greene, Don Francisco, Steven Curtis Chapman, Kim Hill, Susan Ashton, and a myriad of others, there is no reason for a Christian to listen to secular radio or buy albums of secular artists and fill your mind with filth and support godless people; fill your mind with truth.
Well, these other two classics of his might go well with the theme of this Rumination:
Where Are the Heroes Now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i9cnLXI1nc
Living in Laodicea
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDJNF6ys0fk
Stranger to Holiness
-----------------
After 900 years, still the greatest hymn ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xtpJ4Q_Q-4
----------------
See also John Michael Talbot’s superb song, “One Faith” with the London Philharmonic accompanying him and his classical guitar on his superb album The Regathering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzGqD_0EeWg
Though Catholic in his view of doctrine, he is an incredible troubadour, songwriter / singer / guitarist, who has produced dozens of albums well worth listening to.
-----------------------
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTf5VvpBa18 for an excellent song “Abba Father” by Michael Card,
whose father was a doctor and his grandfather was a Baptist minister; though he considers himself half-way between Baptist and Presbyterian. He has a B.A. and M.A. in biblical studies from Western Kentucky University (in 1997 received that university’s Distinguished Alumni Award). Having studied physics and astronomy led to his once having a job at a planetarium, which helped him to finance the rest of his education. He has also worked toward a Ph.D. in Classical Literature. A gifted musician and songwriter, he has produced 32 original albums;
one of his most famous songs was “El Shaddai”; popularized by Amy Grant, as was his song, “I have decided” which has a bluegrass sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnqwoM5z3ec .
He is a talented lyricist, and his songs often reflect deep understanding of Reformed Doctrine (as in the “Abba Father” song). He has distanced himself, to some degree, from the Christian music industry, due to its secular / carnal focus on the personality of the artist and making money, rather than producing Doctrinally sound music to glorify God and minister to His people.
See also his Now That I've Held Him in My Arms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12awl0WYH5g and This Must Be the Lamb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYdAekV1FcA
One of the best songs ever written and performed:
Janny Grein: We’ve Been Made More Than Conquerors — Count it all Joy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bG6m0_A5k8
I was again reading in the book of James (and Isaiah) this morning... I meant to look for this song online yesterday, but forgot, but made a note this morning, even though I forgot about the note for about 6 hours...
Turn up the volume.... put it on "repeat" and listen to it half a dozen times....
Read also the short testimony on the youtube presentation
I see that Janny passed away a decade ago.
https://www.crossrhythms.co.uk/articles/news/Janny_Grein_Dies/44163/p1/
That is sad... but I will say what I wished I could have said to her, were she still with us today:
I bought your album (1 or 2 of them) around 1978...?
I have not been able to not think of you or your song whenever I read or think about the Book of James... for the past 45 years or so...!
One of the most-beautiful and moving songs ever written.
“Perfect and entire” in every detail... “wanting nothing”...! a depth rarely equaled in Scriptural musical perfection, instrumentation, ripping, uncommon harmonies, and emotional realism—POWER—that only a few artists have ever achieved... a few songs by Jonathan David Brown (a friend of mine), Steve Camp, Margaret Becker, Dallas Holm & Praise (with Ladonna Johnson?), Jeoffrey Benward (“Let the Church Rise”), Wayne Watson, and some of Will McFarlane’s songs are the only ones that equal or come close.
Thank you for nearly a half century of memories in musical and Scriptural perfection, from the tickling of the tenor piano notes and the massive bass piano intro, to the words and harmonies and instrument subtleties and overtures... all the way to the last raspy, vulnerable vocal fade out, and the repeat of the same tender tenor frolicking notes interrupted by the deep, powerful bass piano notes to end the song as it began... but this time as a decrescendo to powerfully cause the listener stop and to reflect upon the whole, and the Biblical Truth, to the very last deep bass vibrations that resonate alone.
This song is like an addictive snack, to someone who truly appreciates rare quality musical perfection and Biblical truth (not just a pretty song about nothing), and is a song that should be listened to with the sound up and the repeat on... and be listened to half a dozen times... (I listened to it AT LEAST 7 times while writing this “Thank you”); a song you wish would never end..., a song that you can never listen to just once, a song that ruins you for almost any other song, for such perfection can never be surpassed... a song that gives you chills and nearly brings you to tears... from the perfect pairing of the vocals, the instrumentation, and the comforting POWERFUL Scriptural content.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! May God bless you in a special way for this song alone... a Rembrandt!
Robert
---------------------
Margaret Becker
O Come O Come Emmanuel
https://youtu.be/F9_QBF3HdZ8?t=58
-----------------
Margaret Becker, with Maire / Moya Brennan (sister to Enya) and Joanne Hogg of Iona)
from their superb album Irish Hymns
-----------------
Iona - lead singer, a medical doctor, Joanna Hogg
leading Christian Group in Ireland (though not all members are Christian)
blast from the past (c.1982/3), but timeless...
Michelle Pillar
and I believe with the author of this song (who takes the first solo), Lenny Leblanc
You were there all along
Will McFarlane
Born in California, Will McFarlane, gravitated towards music at the early age of 6 when he began taking voice lessons, adding piano just a year later. After he was inspired by the famous Beatles performance on the Ed Sullivan show, McFarlane decided to take up guitar at the age of 12 years old. He would soon develop a taste for R&B and Motown music in high school that would allow him to focus on his rhythm guitarist skills. Raitt discovered McFarlane in a club in Massachutes. After Will parted ways with Raitt, he has played on records for Bobby Blue Band, Little Milton, Etta James and Johnnie Taylor as part of the famed Muscle Sholes Rhythm Section. McFarlane has continued to work in secular and gospel music, both traditional and contemporary styles. He has moved back to Muscle Shoals, and plays there, as well as in Nashville, and other places around the country and world, doing sessions and live performances. He was just recently inducted into the Musician's Hall of Fame in Nashville as a friend of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (The Swampers).
How I know
Today
That Your Grace May Abound
Number One Command
This is the Message
(great percussion on this one)
Unto the King
Samaritan
[Understand, not all Samaritans were aliens / mongrels; many were Israelites. See my booklet: Apologetic Expositions (#6) John 4 - Samaritan Woman at Well & Samaritan Leper —Israelites Living in Samaria, 46pp., 5.50 + P&H.]
You Call Me a Dreamer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUKoXcd0vkk
Kelly Willard (who has one of the dreamiest voices in the world)
Garden
You Laid Down Your Life
Who Will Bring the Children (to Your Throne)
Glad
Extremely talented group that started Acapella (for first 10 years I believe)
These first two songs will really surprise you... like nothing you have ever heard.
Acapella History
Variations on a Hymn (That Hymn Thing)
Be Ye Glad
Maker of My Heart
(new rendition; acapella) of the marvellous Wesley Hymn, And Can It Be
Bryan Duncan (one of the best voices ever) in his former band, Sweet Comfort Band
You Need a Reason
Never Should Have Left You (Prodigal's Regret)
Haven't Seen You
Hope of the Brokenhearted
I Love You With My Life (from the 70s)
Your Everlasting Love
Remember Me
I’ll Not Forget You
Lyrics
Sarah's waiting in a crown of silver hair
Maternal heart still aching
A Promised ray of hope, a child to bear
No child is here, is this not fair?
Her labor of love has no device
faithful in silent sacrifice(Bridge)
Has heaven forgotten? Is God still there?
He says, "Learn to trust me"
(Chorus)
I'll not forget you, I'll not forget you
I'll not forget you, I'll not forget you
Abraham is marking time as years go by
hiding his pain in "laughter" [the meaning of the name "Isaac"]
every night he's counting stars that fill the sky [stars, the promise God made, his seed so innumerable]
so sure his dream has passed him by;
doubting, his vision's not so clear
what did God say what did he hear?(bridge / chorus)
And every day in pain, I wait
I can't help but wonder why
You promise me your love and say goodbye
Please don't say goodbye
I'll not forget you, I'll not forget you
I'll not forget you, I'll not forget you, oh
When you walk alone
When you break inside
(I'll not forget you)
When a loved one dies
(I'll not forget you)
(I'll not forget you)
When your youth is gone
(I'll not forget you)
O Come O Come Emmanuel
“Mary Did You Know?” written and performed by Buddy Greene (music) and Mark Lowry (lyrics) (Buddy Greene, on top of being an incredible songwriter / singer, and guitarist, he is also a world-class harmonica player, playing in Carnegie Hall—and can play the guitar and harmonica at the same time):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L-8Dp9qVzQ
and here, performed by Buddy Greene (playing the guitar) and Michael English (Bill Gaither at the piano):
https://youtu.be/VZyT13K9mZg
Buddy Greene (also with harmonica)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4efKlTjamU
Buddy Green Harmonica (with piano and guitar)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywee8YA_tqM
Buddy Greene and friends "Medley of Bach, Mozart, and Rossini"
Harmonica, banjo, and accordion (and a little humor)
https://youtu.be/jBxtKJMoE0g
and this is an incredible song, from Buddy Greene’s first album, I believe;
Oh Lord How I Need You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Re4m-tBH7I
A Virtuous Woman
https://youtu.be/kPvqbEUSmt0
When I Die [this one is a heart tugger...!]
Harmonica Speed Playing - Buddy Greene Interview for BluesHarmonica.com Sample
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0fusOgxp_8
Mary did you Know Michael English with his own more contemporary version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oiw7hS4pzg
Mary Did you know by Mark Lowry
Every one a classic...! Phenomenal...! I've loved these for decades ... be certain to give each a listen.
My apologies if any are duplicated; I will have to go through the entire list and double check when I have time.
Harvest (Ed Kerr and Jerry Williams)
We Praise the Name of Jehovah
Know that I am God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_8W1lA4faI
Because I am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4h-DWknFoI
Court of the Gentiles (poorly named, but good song)
On the Water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpLCFsXwsPs
________________________
Dallas Holm and Praise
Here We Are
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPG02znsN1o
Jesus, He Means All
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJxPHH090Mc
________________________
Wayne Watson
Man in the Middle
One Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utcqg3tU9Bw
The Sacrifice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXTUjspT2qI
All the Kings Men
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NneoWPkaDA
When God's People Pray
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc9MqLRz6MA
Watercolored Ponies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp2ILyzhzwk
Jack and Jill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF2usSH62UE
Touch of the Master's Hand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trr_V20UjDk
Narrow Way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIiRgpdAOG4
Born in Zion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3pOTzGOlqQ
Peace that Passes Understanding
This group, David & the Giants, the drummer played Little Ricky on I Love Lucy, Keith Thibodeaux
the group was comprised of 3 brothers: Clayborn Huff, Rayborn Huff, and David W. Huff
The first song below became a hit when an "accident" occurred and their song somehow got placed on a "demo" assortment record sent around to like 100,000 radio stations nationwide... the song was getting air play all over the U.S. and people were calling into the stations saying this song is great who is it? and the DJs/radio stations replied, "we don't have a clue".
David and the Giants
Here's My Heart
This second song is more of a fun song with some catchy lyrics.
Pollution of Evolution
This one is interesting also.
Noah
and this one is really catchy....
One Less Stone
This one is a youtube I saw in the sidebar earlier today and thought it was quite interesting...
I've Never Heard Anyone Play Like This Before
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04nTmj3Z8pI
The most interesting segment is toward the end.
The Scotsman who seems to be the one who owns the guitar shop has an acoustic guitar (if I am correct) that had a special device installed in it that causes the cords to slide when the player tilts the front of the guitar down, and of course has to tilt it back up to stop it. He also turned his guitar into his own percussion backup, the way he played one song.
What I found interesting—and a perfect illustration of the importance of being "of one mind"*—once the other 2 guitarists (one exceptional, the other maybe not as so) heard the concept, then saw it in operation, it was like, not only a light clicked on, but a full generator, and their minds (moreso of the one) went spinning in high gear, understanding, appreciating, seeing the value of it, thinking of all the ways he could use it, etc. It is wonderful to see minds that have a true common univocality.
[* I saw this wonderful phenomena in a few other settings: a few times at the great science channel "Smarter Every Day", when Dustin and other scientists are talking, he sees the heart of the issue and sprints ahead in his mind; and one time when Dr. Ardis and Mike Adams were talking and Adams did the same thing; that is, when the other person began explaining something, and Adams interjected, like jumping on the moving train into the conversation as if he knew where the destination was. This is how my mind thinks; and it is wonderful to see it in others. THIS is how Scripture says that we are to be... in matters of doctrine and morality. This is the ONLY "Unity" of which Scripture speaks. We are NOT to be united with those not of like mind; we are NOT to compromise or fellowship with those who do not believe the same.
I added this thought last week to my book The Other Side, which I have completed (648pp.)
One Final Note about “Unity”—
On pages 86,87 of The Philosophy of Gordon H. Clark: A Festschrift (1968), Ronald H. Nash, editor, Dr. Clark expressed, “... the ecumenical unity approved* by the New Testament is unity of doctrine and knowledge. There is no great command to establish organizational unions... but... ‘I beseech you that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment’.” To expound further on this, God’s Command for unity does not contradict or violate, but only compliment other Commands. We are not to be united with those with whom He forever forbade unity (aliens, perverts, abominations, unrepentant kinsmen and troublemakers, those who reject Sound Doctrine, the Doctrine of Christ). Amos 3:3, likewise, informs us that Biblical unity is disunity with those who are not of like mind. True unity has no place for compromise—only complete conformity.
[* more properly, commanded. Note mine. R.A.B.]
These older songs made me think of 2 others
Andrus Blackwood & Company
Stones Throw Away
... a blast from the past
This one contains many other great music links
new rendition (eastern flavor in minor key?)
4-Him
The Love of God
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAkAgPc88Vo
also
It is Well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXflMVGb2i0
and a few of their classics
Basics of Life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij2TQ1NKm70
Where there is faith
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE0Dh-cogcU
a strange way to save the world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu2e6oEEHjk
Stay forever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBZ_T8rzCjA
Freedom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UrfSc2yxK8
-----------------
Classic Hymn masterfully redone
INCREDIBLE and MOVING rendition of a famous hymn...
Crossroads music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Bx1UwLc0U
originally written by Latin scholar and English poet and Anglican hymnist William Cowper (actually, pronounced Cooper) in 1774; one of the most popular poets of his time.
--------------------
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRTKLvyFeR0
So His Honor sung by Truth, 1985, more contemporary with greater orchestration version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIjoGuxE8Dg
New “Department of Farmland Security” Mandates
—Effective Immediately
It is interesting that the homo-club was called “pulse” which is not only obscene in the way they intend it (as in “throb”), but apropos in that this event is an indicator of the “pulse (life / health) of the nation” and the majority of the public are probably feeling sorry for the homo-perverts who were partying and committing acts of perversion through the night into the late morning hours when it happened...
Below follows a discourse between someone reading for the first time the doctrines of God's Sovereignty and Predestination in my book God and Evil and also in my book The Sovereignty of God. This information is all new to him, but he is beginning to see God's Majesty while it will take time to work out the kinks of unlearning humanistic false doctrine and the wrong ways of looking at things, as we all must so unlearn in many areas.
Person X:
I am reading your books that you sent and finding them full of information. I am currently reading God and Evil and understand where evil came from and how it is God that chooses what eyes are opened and whose eyes remain shut.
On the matter of choice what did joshua mean when he said to the israelites to choose you this day whom you will serve when it is God who chooses whose eyes are opened and whose eyes are shut? these are just questions that keep popping in my head striving for understanding.
------------------
my reply/comment:
Understand, we all make decisions, and in that context, we all make choices, but that is entirely different from having a free will independent of God's Will.
If I tell someone to pick up that granite boulder weighing 6 tons and he uses a crane to pick it up, did he or did he not pick it up? He did pick it up, but by another power; also, it was his will, but he was operating under someone else's will (order), his boss who told him to do it.
-----------
Person X:
i don't know if you have addressed the questions on choice in your book for i had to ask before i forgot what i would be asking for there is so much knowledge in these books i don't know if i can store it all sure hope so back to reading. alan breitenstein
--------------
my reply/comment:
Well, often when there is something new (that is, new to a person's first learning of it and then studying it), the sheer amount of information and how it harmonizes with other truth may seem overwhelming, but the more you study and see the logic of it, you will see how it all fits together as your mind learns to draw associations and it will be far easier to remember, because you will see the destination, not merely the directions. Furthermore, the situation is compounded when what one has been taught from childhood, is largely in error; then one has to compare everything one learns with what one already knows, and if two things are blatantly contradictory, the spurious idea has to be discarded and truth rightfully put in its place. This can be difficult, for we are creatures of habit. We are used to walking into the bathroom and switching on the light switch without even thinking about it. When the power goes out for whatever reason, I will find myself walking into the bathroom and hitting the light switch even though I know that the power is of, and even though I remember (a half second after I hit the dead switch) that the previous 4 times the light did not come on because the power is out. Eventually I remember (just before the power comes back on). Even more difficult, it is, if this same "curve ball" of change is instituted in the work place or in school. If your boss or instructor tells you, "Okay everyone, I know this ______________ is the way we have always done this..., but that all is going to change and from now on, we are going to do it this way _______________ instead." It takes a little time for old habits to "extinguish" and the new to become natural. This can be clearly understood in dozens of areas of life. If there is a route you drive daily, and you find that one section of the road is closed, it may take a little time for you to remember (especially if there are lots of other things on your mind competing for that spot of "forefront priority" in your thinking). This is simple "Classical Conditioning". So realize that there is a "learning curve" and period of time of adjustment, as one learns new information and inserts it into ones mind construct, replacing old, invalid ideas. Keep at it. As you read, pray, "God, teach me truth; lead me into all truth and engraft it to my heart and mind so that I may better obey, serve, and honor You."
------------------
Person X:
Robert, i want to see if i got this right on predestination. God has His chosen people, He also has His chosen people of perdition.
-----------------
my reply/comment:
God predestined the elect to salvation and the nonelect (everyone else) to perdition (that is, all those others who actually have spirits that survive the death of the body).
----------------
Person X:
So of His chosen people {not of perdition} He has His elect and they are just a remnant and the others He has divided into two groups , those whom He has blinded and put a deluding influence in their mind and those who are slumbering. The elect are the hot and the ones with a deluding influence are the cold and those that slumber are the lukewarm. Now the lukewarm can begin to see if they listen to those that are hot and if they don't they will be spit out of God's mouth.
------------------
my reply/comment:
It is not as easily compartmentalized as this. Clearly somewhere between hot and lukewarm are the majority of the elect. Were it not so, there would be no one who would (as Christ revealed) be called "least" in the Kingdom.
There are different levels of honor among the elect. We cannot dissect such things as only God's Holy Spirit can discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. Clearly there may be some of the elect, who are yet unconverted, who are the "cold"; while there may be some who think that they are converted, who are cold, who are not truly converted; they are spiritually dead.
Those of the elect who are not converted are not merely slumbering, but are dead in their trespasses and sins until Christ by His Holy Spirit, quickens them. Those who are lukewarm, likewise, may be either those who are of the non-elect, or those who are of the elect who have not yet been converted. If they remain unconverted, they will be rejected (spewed out) and have no part in Christ.
The wind bloweth where it listeth (determines).... so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Revelation 3 informs us:
14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
First of all, understand that this is a parable or analogy, and therefore, by its very nature, it is not intended to be a blanket truth that applies to every conceivable element in every possible situation. Most often parables and analogies are intended to convey truth in a few specific, limited areas.
It appears that all 3 groups of which Christ speaks are truly converted. This indictment is written to the Church of Laodicea. However, the "church" does not refer to the church building, or any modern fictitious entity of a "corporation". The "corporation" to which the letter was written was the corporal body of believers. Again, cold and lukewarm appear to be referring to believers. As I initially expressed, if all true believers were hot, then there would be no one who would be considered "least" in the Kingdom. If the cold referred to those who were unconverted, then why would Christ wish that the lukewarm were unconverted?
It seems that both the cold and lukewarm in this analogy are those believers who are nearly spiritually dead, carnal, worldly, disinterested in the things of God, God not being in their minds, selfish, sin-laden, self-interested... and it appears that they are so because (as in our current age, as as we will consider elsewhere in this discussion) they grew fat and lazy and indifferent because of all the blessings that God bestowed, and they then apostatized.
However, the difference between the two appears to be that while the cold make no pretense to spirituality, living utterly secular as if God and His Word and Holiness and Judgment do not even exist, the lukewarm feign a facade in maintaining a false appearance of their continued servitude to God through a thin, watered-down ritual, going through the motions, pretending to do what was required just enough and no more, to squeak by and fool themselves into thinking that they were actually pleasing God and hoping to fool God also. These are Pharisees, in a sense: white-washed sepulchres full of dead men's bones. This can be compared to many of the dead-hearted Israelites in the Old Testament who merely went through the motions of obedience, when their hearts were not in it. For this reason God declared that He hated their Sabbaths and New Moons and Feasts and even sacrifices of animals. God commanded and instituted all these things, So God was not declaring that He hated those things in and of themselves, but He hated the Israelites' dead-hearted false observance of them, a mere "compliance" rather than true conformity and true conversion, making those things an integral part of their lives, joyfully (even as some gave begrudgingly only that merest amount that was required, while God says that He loves a cheerful giver).
Christ declares that He wishes that the lukewarm were cold, for in reality, spiritually, they are no different. However, the Lukewarm are an added insult to Christ, in that they show clearly that they know what is right and they know how to do it and they can even go through the motions of doing it, but they really don't want to, they really don't care, and they only do it minimally to hopefully prevent being scolded.
Thus, in closer examination of the analogy of hot, lukewarm, and cold, it appears that all 3 groups are those who are converted, though only those who hot are honorable and are the only ones who will receive honor.
While indeed there are others who are unconverted, who appear no different than those who are cold or lukewarm believers, we really cannot discern whether they are converted or not, because only God knows the heart.
Therefore, this analogy does not appear to be differentiating between the elect and the non-elect, but different levels among the elect.
-----------------
Person X:
For you see i just keep seeing this as a choice even though it really isn't a choice for who in their right mind would willingly go for destruction over the grace of God?
-----------------------------------
my reply/comment:
exactly, and those in ignorance cannot truly choose that which they are utterly ignorant concerning.... those who are dead cannot choose to come back to life. God declared that there is none that doeth good NO NOT ONE and that there are NONE who seek after God. Those who believe otherwise call God a liar and wallow in the delusion of their own self-goodness. Anything in us that causes us to seek after God and do good is only because of the quickening of the Holy Spirit. Christ said that no man cometh unto the Father except through Him; and that no man cometh unto Christ except the (Spirit of) Father draw him. Humanists do not like to submit to God on both knees, they want some "bragging rights" and they refuse to prostrate themselves before the Lord of Creation, and instead merely "curtsy" out of feigned recognition, while retaining the false notion of their own sovereignty or the delusion of "co-sovereignty".
------------------
Person X:
for if this isn't the right reasoning then what is the elect's job[,] for isn't [it?] rebuking and getting the Word of God out to the [yet uncoverted or sinful members of His] chosen [so that they can know and follow] His will?
----------------
my reply/comment: [brackets above mine for attempted clarity?]
??? will guess at what you are saying
Our job is to obey God. He controls the harvest. We are to be faithful in all things that He has commanded. Yes, we are commanded to preach and teach, to be instant (ever ready) in season and out (all the time) and exhort and admonish our brethren who are in blindness and/or rebellion and lead them to the Mercy Seat and Throne of God. But we do and can do nothing other than to be faithful. God's Holy Spirit is the animating and convicting force that will enlighten and bring any person to repentance and obedience. However, God uses His children who are honorable vessels to play a minor role in the accomplishing of His Will, and thereby, receive blessing and reward and honor of God in the Kingdom and even in this life. However, this is entirely different than the some rabid individuals of certain demon-inations (who are deluded into thinking that they are hot) who think that it is their job to go out and "save everyone"—but this is not Biblical. We are to be faithful to preach to truth to Christ's sheep, and not to the dogs or swine—but God controls the harvest.
----
Person X:
When I was growing up there were ten children in our family and dad was the only one who supported us and now two parents are working just to make ends meet for even 1 child .
------------
my reply/comment:
yes, what are considered "priorities" have changed... and all the factors that have manipulated this delusion and change result in God's people now having to "make bricks without straw (being provided for them, that is, collecting ON THEIR OWN TIME the straw needed to make the bricks, without the daily tally of bricks being dimished)". Many of the factors that result in having to work so hard to have so little to show for it are: over-taxation by a corrupt government, importation of aliens and deportation of our jobs and wealth overseas, seduction of individuals and corporations into debt; seduction of individuals into thinking that we need so many things that we do not need (the confusion of luxuries with needs; and a corrupt, illegitimate government mandating a plethora of things that it has no authority to require, to individuals or business); the overcharging by doctors, drug companies, and insurance companies who are all in bed together with the government to keep prices artificially over-inflated to cripple the common man, keep him in fear, in subservience;* lawyers like greedy scavengers feeding off the bodies of those who are not even dead yet, who participate in reducing freedom to a legal fishing snarl of an obstacle course through which each individual must attempt to transport himself; godless, immoral humanism in the schools, media, an government brainwashing the populace from youth upwards, blind or evil shepherds from the pulpit preaching the same evil, godless humanism and twisting the Scriptures in the attempt to make it look palpable, etc.
[* I talked to a guy in town just the other day and he said that it takes about 40% of his paycheck just to pay for all the insurance he carries: health, life, car, home, etc. He said, it didn't used to be this way, not even 15 years ago.]
----------------
Person X:
What led to this downfall of grace [and the many symptoms of it, such as the taking of] Prayer out of schools,
-----------------
my reply/comment: [brackets above mine for attempted clarity?]
??? will guess at what you are saying
God's people grew complacent on the abundance of blessings that He gave us and they began to compromise [that is, they became lax and began to obey God less and less, serving themselves and/or other gods more and more), which continually leads to more compromise which eventually leads to what we have in our generation—utter apostasy.
-----------
Person X:
the wars being fought especially the civil war when our people are killing our own brothers all at the satisfaction of the antichrists, or men having it so well that they actually believed their success was do [due] to there [their] own accomplishments rather than God's.
---------------
my reply/comment: [brackets above mine for attempted clarity?]
??? will guess at what you are saying
Again, we took God's blessings for granted, worshipped the blessing rather than the Blesser, became complacent, then sinful, thus judgment from God results according to the Law of the Harvest: You reap what you sow. Continuing within the analogy of sowing and reaping, even if you sow nothing, you will reap. If you do not sow good seed and do not weed your garden—it will become overgrown with weeds, even noxious ones, and it will soon choke out and kill all the good seed in the garden. Sowing bad seed, of course, speeds up the inevitable of sowing no seed at all.
------------
Person X:
I also understand that God gets the glory and not man ,for man is arrogant enough to take all the credit for a change and that is why God just has a remnant and He will choose who becomes unblinded for He tests the heart and mind to see who is humble or proud.
-------------
my reply/comment:
Those who are dead cannot choose to come back to life. God quickens them. A fetus does not choose to be conceived, and an infant does not choose to be born. A doctor or midwife or father delivers the child, and then even gives him a slap on the hind end to cause him to take the first breath of life, whereby he cries out and receives new life. So it is with any individual upon conversion. God chooses, God quickens / imparts life whereby, the person, in profound recognition of his own futile and fatal sinfulness and depravity, cries out in repentance unto life, confessing his unworthiness and sin and asking for mercy and forgiveness and new life.
God determines all... it SEEMS to man as if man chooses his own way, but that is the true crossroads: whether a person continues in delusion thinking that he rules his own life; or whether he realizes that God is Sovereign, and submits to God and endeavors to walk in the Spirit where God is going. Deluded 5-year old think that they are in charge; even when they play "house" or "doctor" they really think they are doing those things. It is no different with "spiritual 5-year-olds"; who constitute the majority of Christians, never progressing from the milk of the Word, never maturing beyond infantile spiritual thought.
----------------
Person X:
Maybe i answered my questions just not 100 percent sure but i will continue until i know the Truth.
----------
my reply/comment:
You're getting there... the more you read, study, meditate on God's Word it will sink in and the pieces will fall together, as you pray that God leads and teaches you and that He reveals Truth and causes it to become part of you. Robert
------------------
Person X:
that answer [concerning God determining all] is what despairs me for why did that all come about ? was it through our choice or was it God hardening our hearts as He did pharoah? for if it was God hardening our hearts that is what i fear the most for in revelations [The Book of Revelation] He said that even some of the elect would be deceived by the signs coming. and if it happened by our choice then we do have a choice . you know after thinking about this i don't know if i could call this a choice for if it was a choice then we would be contemplating on God's laws of which obviously that didn't happen. now as i write this i remember that in times when i was about to do things i shouldn't have God's law did come to mind and i did not follow the law and the reason the law came to mind was because God put it there. this is where confusion sets in.
---------------
my reply/comment: [brackets above mine for attempted clarity?]
Actually, no, it is not in Revelation, but Matthew 24:24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
when read correctly, it is saying that their deception will be so convincing, that IF IT WERE POSSIBLE [that is, if God did not preserve them] the very elect would be deceived. This, however, is a very specific passage and the deception is in the key area of believing in a false christ who will pretend to be the real Christ having returned. But as Christ said, His sheep KNOW HIS VOICE and the VOICE OF A STRANGER they will NOT follow. Those who are not truly converted, who don't truly know the Word of God (only knowing disjointed bits and pieces out of context, on the superficial level of "verse of the day" on a calendar". However, Scripture also informs us that those mindless souls who will follow the false Christ, will do so because GOD HIMSELF will send them strong delusion to believe a lie SO THAT THEY MIGHT BE DAMNED (II Thessalonians 2:11,12).
If you continue to "DESPAIR" you will continue to be emotionally overcome. Despair in this matter is HUMANISM. You can't increase your stature by one foot nor change your hair's color by sheer will power of your mind. GOD IS SOVEREIGN, whether you despair or not. Unless you plan on changing sides and joining with Satan in the attempt to overthrow God, then stop despairing and start TRUSTING in GOD'S GOODNESS, MERCY, WISDOM, HOLINESS, OMNIPOTENCE, and PERFECTION and trust that God will bless you as you, by the Grace of His Holy Spirit, walk in obedience to what you know His Word says, while you continue to study His Word so that you better understand it so that you can better obey Him.
When you were 1 day old, did you understand the world? would it have been rational of you to DESPAIR at one day old because you could not understand the world or even because to you it seemed to be unfair or had evil or injustice? (let's just presume you could understand anything at day one, or fast-forward to age 5).
God is in control. He said that He has done all things for His OWN Pleasure, so if you despair, you DOUBT HIS GOODNESS. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Understand, YES, we are to be DISGUSTED at the evil in this world. However, that is what God wants. God commanded us to HATE EVIL. God commanded us to be holy as He is Holy. Thus, if we are truly holy, if God's Holy Spirit is truly in us, it will result in righteous indignation, offended holiness, and cause us to cry out to God to deliver us from evil, and to destroy this evil from off the face of the earth because it is an affront to HIS Holiness. Unlike most immoral people who delude themselves into thinking that they are moral, they only care about evil when it affects them personally, when it kicks in the door of their house and ravages them; but they don't care about evil in general or in principle or in theory and they don't care about all the lives of their kinsmen that it is destroying and they don't care about its very existence and how it is an affront to a Holy God. As I have long written, "Why should God deliver us from that which we are willing to tolerate?" He won't. He will GIVE US MORE AND MORE OF IT until either we DO HATE IT, or until it destroys us. Thus is the pathology of the invasion of the Third World from whom God commanded us to be separate and not seek their peace or prosperity forever. Since we refused to obey and put a difference because God put a difference, and be holy because God made us holy and different and separated us at creation even as He separated clean from unclean animals (none evolving from any other) by the very act of distinct creation--therefore, God is inundating us with the sin we embraced, to the point that it acts as a polarizing element to cause His people to turn from it and cry unto God in repentance, or to die in the pestilence that was sent in judgment.
Whether God hardened 1 Pharaoh's heart or the hearts of everyone on earth is not the issue. God is Sovereign. ALL THE SOULS ARE MINE, He declared, and THE EARTH IS THE LORD'S AND THE FULLNESS THEREOF: THE WORLD AND ALL THEY WHO DWELL THEREIN. He foreknows everything because He planned it. His foreknowledge cannot be passive, because He is not passive, and if God's Foreknowledge was passive then God would be reactive and God is not reactive; and if reactive, God would not be Immutable.
God determined ALL. He does not usually interact directly, but uses various methods to achieve what He determined as He determined to achieve it. One of those means is to ordain for man to do everything that man does, and to also believe that he did so by his own choice. He does do it by his own choice, in that, in most cases, no one puts a gun to his head to make him violate the sabbath or eat a ham sandwich or lust after a woman. But hypocritically, arrogant man does not even understand that his choice is actually not his choice, while at times, that choice may be little more than being caught in the path of a gigantic mudslide or when the mighty Mississippi overflows its banks and carries everything in its path along with it. The powers which are unseen (God and the agents that He often uses) are far-more powerful than those elements that we do see.
However, clearly, in all those areas, many other persons are involved. A godless employer demanding his employees work on the Sabbath, corrupt politicians overtaxing and businesses overcharging, parents and the media and others teaching people to buy now and pay later and overextend themselves, a person's buddies wanting him to play ball, or friends inviting him over for a sports party, etc. all contribute to his choosing to break the Sabbath. God also uses Satan to tempt him and all the others involved. Yes, an individual himself makes the actual decision in his plane of existence, and in most cases, no one puts a gun to his head (but even if someone puts a gun to your head and orders you to do something that you know is wrong, you can still say "no"). But that decision any individual makes at any given time is not independent of God's Will, God's Determination, what God has ordained from the foundation of the world before anything existed other than God: no space, no time, no matter.
As I demonstrated above concerning all the factors and dynamic forces that may go into someone being tempted to violate what God commanded, it is far more complex than one person sitting on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean and choosing to break the Sabbath—so why is it so hard to believe that God orchestrated it all, even as He says that He did and even as logic proves that He did? God is Immutable. He does not change. He cannot react (otherwise, He would be mutable). Therefore, nothing writes its own script. God created everything that exists and nothing exists except that He created it... so nothing can evolve and come into being on its own (hence, sin and evil did not merely "happen" originally in general neither do they specifically in any situation in anything that man does or anything that any other thing does).
Perverse advertisers advertising what is sinful (ham sandwich 50% off on Saturday) and using sex and lust to sell everything, sinful and ignorant friends, family, food producers and servers endeavoring (with or without evil motive) to get others to eat pork and even HIDING pork in many foods that one would not think would contain pork, and a woman dressing and acting provocatively all influence (temptation) that person's decision to violate the dietary laws or commit adultery, etc.
Again, it is far more complex than an individual alone on an island. God ordains all and writes the script and casts the characters and directs the Drama and all perform exactly as He determined, not with strings like puppets by outward force, but by inward desire to think and do what He determined. Each person makes choices and is responsible for those choices, even though God determined what their choice would be, even as God hardened Pharaoh's heart and then punished him for having a hard heart. It is God who worketh in us to WILL and to DO of HIS GOOD PLEASURE.
Confusion sets in because you are more concerned (at the time that confusion sets in) with WHY you obey or disobey rather than your actual obeying or disobeying. Concentrate on "the what" of obeying by God's Power of the Holy Spirit in you and leave "the why" of the running of His universe up to Him.
You don't need to wonder whether it is your choice or God's Choice, it is BOTH—and yours is subservient to and dependent upon His, whether you are aware of that fact or not. All you need to concentrate on is obeying God. If you fall and sin, get back up, repent, confess your sins, and return to obeying by God's Grace in you. Ask God to change your choices if you make the wrong choices; ask Him to change your desires if you have the wrong desires; ask Him to change your thinking if you have the wrong thinking.
I would LOVE to have God tell me what to do in each and every situation so I make the right choice. Should I buy this washing machine or that washing machine or should I buy no washing machine but continue to "wash" and agitate by hand in the old washer that will only fill with water and empty with water and then wring the clothes by hand as I have been doing for nearly 2 years now...? I really would like to know because all I want to do is what He wants me to do and I certainly don't want to waste money on something that He does not want me to buy. But having God inform us of each and every specific thing that He wants us to do each day (even which clothes to wear for that day, when to eat, and what we should eat, if we should even eat at all or spend the day fasting) would not require any dedication in seeking His Will, meditating in prayer to learn that will, wanting to know His Mind, trusting in Him, drawing close to be able to know His Will in any given area. God does not want robots but sons. He wants sons that He can be proud of. Sons who make the right decisions and serve Him from the heart, desiring to know His Will and seeking it.
IT IS IRRELEVANT in terms of your daily living that God determined each step you make.
Before you make a single step, do you stop and realize that a neuron in your brain ignites and shoots an electrical spark from an axiom across a synapse to a dendrite (if I remember bio-chemistry properly, even crudely), which then sends an impulse to your arms and legs to move and your brain in the same manner sends another impulse to your heart and lungs to breathe and pump the oxygenated blood required for you to make those steps at the speed and under the circumstances that you make them? ...while also a complex bio-chemical-electro-magnetic symbiosis of minerals and hormones regulate a host of other processes, while your eyes focus in the direction that you are walking and the fluid in the Eustachian tubes in your ears help you to keep balanced, while your ears are alert to sounds around and your nerve endings are even sensitive to any abnormal vibrations or air currents in your environment so that you walk safely, while fluid in your body transmits with the minerals, electrical sparks in a complex array throughout each cell, and each cell is washed with water, bringing in nutrients and exporting waste material from each cell and cleanses your body through your liver, kidneys, and lungs so that your blood and bodily fluids are healthy so that your brain and heart and lungs and muscles and other organs can continue doing their jobs so that you can walk? That is just the tip of the iceberg.
Do you consciously think of all that before you take a step?
—or before you take a single step do you also think of all that went into making the shoes that you are wearing, the socks, the pavement under your feet, etc.? Before you take a step do you contemplate what the weather will be, whether Islam will invade, whether a dog will chase you or a criminal will mug you or whether there will be an earthquake or a flood?
God has ordained all and your understanding HOW he did and WHY He did and HOW that interfaces with you and what seems to be the choices that you make have to do with the SECRET Will of God which is none of our business because He has not revealed it to us. God informs us that we are to operate on a need to know basis... what He tells us we are to concern ourselves with and what He has not told us we are not to concern ourselves with. Yes, we can meditate on WHAT POSSIBLY may be some things that He has not told us, but that speculation is not to govern our lives in any way and it is not to be used to establish any doctrine (such speculation presented as fact is Mysticism).
Focus on Christ, not the wind and the waves. Focus on what the Master has commanded you and not what He has not commanded you and not what He has commanded other of His children/servants (like when Christ told Peter the death that Peter should die, and Peter looked at John who was following at a distance and asked whether John would likewise be martyred, Christ essentially told Peter that such information was none of his business and to concern himself with what Peter's revealed job was).
-----------
Person X:
Thanks, it helps tremendously
When i used the word despair i really didn't mean to use that word for as soon as i wrote it i stopped and said to myself that he is going to put a lot of emphasis on that and i just let it go. so am i in despair no i am not i am enjoying everything that i read and hear.
what i was trying to say where you had question marks is what triggered the downfall of our nation but i am probably sure there were a number of things, the things i mentioned. thank you for answering i am understanding more each day...
--------------
my reply/comment:
Again, those things that contributed to our downfall are, but not limited to: our growing complacent because of our blessings and not being diligent to obey God, and our "cutting corners" and becoming liberal and tolerant, which only leads to more disobedience and then total apostasy. Blindness as to our national identity was then easy to manipulate, since most "Christians" think that the "jews" are Israel and that we must help them or God will curse us (when the opposite is reality), and not understanding that God's Command concerning our being kind to strangers refers only to kinsmen; and thinking that God abolished His own Law, which keeps us in perpetual sin so that not only does God not hear our prayers, but He will chasten us to repentance (even through invasion of our enemies and destruction of the true church and nation from within)... we then adopted humanistic interpretations of the Word of God... then utterly secular and immoral pseudo-philosophies replaced the modernistic humanistic pseudo-interpretations of God's Word... all these things were vile ingredients that went into the apostasy stew that is destroying Christendom as a result of God's Judgment upon us until we truly repent (and God's people cannot repent if they do not realize that they are in sin, and if they don't read God's Word and realize that from cover to cover it is God's Will for us, not 3/4 of it being mere antiquated literature).
------------
Person X:
Robert i am 62 yrs old and i have read books and gone to churches and listened to tapes of churches and i have never caught the message that you bring... and now i am finally understanding what i have been looking for. have you ever gone browsing in stores and when asked what are you looking for and my answer is i'll know it when i see it.
-----------------
my reply/comment:
yes, and just yesterday I was browsing in town to kill time for a few minutes and was asked if I needed help and I said that I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but I will know it when it jumps out and grabs me.
------------
Person X:
I NOW SEE IT. I have been praying to God to wake His people up and He is starting with me.
------------------
my reply/comment:
Great
-----------------
Person X:
I feel why why couldn't i see this earlier in my life and now i know that it wasn't the intentions of my King.
-----
my reply/comment:
Exactly, all operates according to His timetable... and as Scripture says, we are to be renewed by the washing of the water and the Word. One quick dip in the pool cannot cleanse a lifetime of accumulated dirt, and likewise, a casual reading of the Word of God every now and then will not cleanse the mind; it has to be bathed continually in the truth, as the waves of the ocean wash upon the shore, polishing and refining and removing all debris and honing off all sharp edges of shells and even glass, until they are smooth and shine.
-----------------
Person X:
I have never seen this message and i mean never . I have always looked elsewhere for explanation of the Bible and some of what i got i know now it was nothing but false doctrine and i filled my mind with it because it seemed right. i thank God that He has led me to you and others for i was dormant for awhile and now i feel alive.
----------------
my reply/comment:
Glad to hear it... but understand, Satan will do his best to deceive you, turn you from the path, persecute you, trouble you, derail you and God uses that to test your resolve and strengthen and refine you; even as gravity on earth is the pressure that makes our bones and muscles strong; if we were raised on the moon, our bodies would be like jellyfish. So it is with character and so it is with the true spiritual man. Robert
Someone emailed:
Hello, Robert, Here is a simple question which could result in a book as a response, but the real challenge is to refute it in a quick and straightforward manner.
“Christian rock-star Trey Pearson comes out as gay to fans in emotional letter” — that is the headline or key words of various stories on the internet.
IT IS ILLEGAL. THAT IS THE POINT ABOUT ALIENS. IT IS ILLEGAL. It DOES NOT MATTER that they are “only seeking a better life for themselves”.... IS THAT NOT WHAT CRIMINALS DO BY MURDERING AND ROBBING OTHER PEOPLE? It is no surprise that 40% of the over 2 million prisoners in the US are ILLEGALS....
The new Amazon-like store called Jet had advertised on a home page:
"Many parents can't afford diapers: Learn how you can help."
My answer to this:
THEN THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BABIES. People on welfare have no right to reproduce. That is a luxury of people who actually work and earn a living. If they were not immoral thieves, they could afford diapers, if they did not selfishly spend their money on new cars, computers, flat screen t.v.s, cable, going out to movies, restaurants, buying food other than the necessities (beans, rice, potatoes, etc., that you cook yourself; not tv dinners, box meals, chips, candy, cereal, soda, etc.), cell phones, ipads, tablets, mp3 players, game-boys, stereos, riding mowers, air conditioners, going on vacations, playing the lottery, beer, tobacco, etc. All those things are not God-given, Constitutional rights--they are luxuries rightfully enjoyed solely by those who earn a living. They shouldn't have babies if they rely on robbing tax-payers to pay for their pre-natal, birthing, and post-birthing medical expenses and to then have the taxpayers pay for those babies through adulthood. It is GRAND THEFT and subversion, the giving of our wealth and nation to another people, so that they can reproduce, outnumber, and then unconstitutionally outvote us in our own land. Clearly, they are irresponsible, and have no right to have children and should be deported to their nation of origin and they can go back to living in mud huts and then they will learn that they can easily afford a cloth diaper and they will have plenty of time to wash the diaper by hand in a local mud hole without a computer or tv or cell phone to take up so much of their time.
If they weren't lazy, they would buy cloth diapers and soak them in bleach and wash them in soap and water like civilized people did for 2 centuries (and for millennia before that, before bleach was invented), until the modern irresponsible age of buying plastic diapers and throwing them in a landfill because they the majority of people are too lazy and irresponsible to be good stewards before God.
Do you buy a car if you can't afford gasoline? do you buy a dog or cat if you can't afford to feed it? It really is amazing that people who believe in evolution violate left and right the foundational principle of their religion: "survival of the fittest". Likewise, hating God, they help those not fit to survive, to survive in violation of God's Law of the harvest ("you reap what you sow"; those who sow nothing by God's Law, will reap nothing, and die out).
The rules for helping those in need, according to Scripture, are not indiscriminate. Only those BELIEVERS who live godly lives, who have been faithful in church, are deserving of help. This is the "Divine insurance policy" practiced traditionally for centuries by the Amish, Mennonites, Dutch Boers of South Africa, and other God-fearing folk. The "down payment" and "monthly premiums" are paid by faithfully chipping in and helping all other godly kinsmen in the community when they are in need. If the down payment and premiums are never paid, then when tragedy strikes, he is not to be helped. You reap what you sow--GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED. In such a situation God is seeing to it that such a base individual reaps what he has sown (nothing good). To help him (without any signs of his true repentance, and an appropriate amount of time for him to demonstrate real fruit) is a sin against God.
Those who live godlessly, who not only have not been faithful in the church-community and who have not been faithful in helping other kinsmen-believers who may be in need (who qualify for help)... do NOT qualify for help. Such persons probably never go to church (or if they do, it is to a "feel-good" church and they sleep through the aura-fluffing sermonette-lite, plunk a tiny token of a donation in the plate, sing a hymn, and think that they are spiritual and God is delighted in them)... such are not worthy of help and it is a violation of God's Word to help them. How will they ever learn without hardship, if they neglect to learn in the midst of blessings?
Not only are kinsmen-believers who live godlessly disqualified from receiving help from the church and brethren, but so are all aliens from whom God commanded us to be separate and to not seek their peace or prosperity FOREVER. God NEVER commanded us to "build our enemies up" so that they could then destroy us. He commanded the very opposite. They have their gods—let their gods deliver them from their troubles (whether flood, famine, tribal warfare, or not being able to afford diapers). Let the world take care of its own. It is COMMUNISM to tax everyone to pay for those unfit to live so that they can continue to breed more of the themselves. There are plenty of communist nations, let those who like that form of government PICK ONE AND MOVE TO IT. I refuse to participate in communism and I never will give my consent to be so ruled or to support such evil.
Furthermore, if the corrupt government elite did not rob the people of their hard-earned money--which is theirs and no one elses--then the poorest of our kinsmen could afford diapers; especially if they did not frivolously waste their money on luxuries, foolishly thinking those things are necessities. Here's a hint: If our ancestors lived without certain things for centuries, milliennia, THEY ARE NOT NECESSITIES. While life is CERTAINLY a lot more pleasant, and easy, and comfortable with many of the inventions of modern society, they are not necessities, but luxuries and if someone wants either necessities or luxuries it is his responsibility to WORK HIS BUTT OFF so that he and his family can have them. I've put in 80 to 90 hour weeks for the past 28 years (while also observing the Sabbath, but still serving God by writing and research and preaching and teaching). Most anyone who is a success has done the same thing or close to it. Those who become successful in bettering themselves don't work a mere 40-hour week and watch tv and play the rest of the time--and those who work only 40 hours a week or who don't work at all have no excuse and deserve no sympathy.
The Welfare State has one purpose: to destroy Christendom and steal it and give it to our enemies.
Finally, if some of the antichrist aliens unlawfully among us would take the diapers off their heads and put them on their babies, then indeed they could afford diapers and if they would have fewer babies, there would be more diapers to go around.