The Devil is Politically Correct

Just think about for a moment…….

He pitches “many truths” (which of course is a lie) instead of “Absolute Truth” (who is Christ)

He pitches “many paths to God” (another lie) instead of “The Way” (which is Christ)

He pitches “reincarnation” (a string of endless “do-overs) instead of “it is appointed unto man once to die and the judgement.” (one life, no do-overs)

He pitches “tolerance” for every belief and lifestyle, except for belief in the Creator and His Word which instructs us how to live (which Satan deems as intolerant)

He pitches “you are control of your own destiny” without regards to God, instead of “God is in control and in His sovereignty chose to give us free will, but being omniscient knows the future” (all of it)

He pitches “self-sufficiency & self-dependence”, instead of “casting your cares upon God, and my God shall supply all your needs…..”

He pitches “your choice without consequences”, instead of [13] “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. [14] But 

small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

So you see, to align yourself with “Political Correctness” is to align yourself with the father of all lies, Satan.

Who in their right mind would do that? Only those who have succumbed to the “Strong Delusion” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12) Choose you this day who you will serve….as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!

Am I Self Centered?

We all know what the obvious signs of self-centeredness look like. The general attitude is, “if it doesn’t benefit me directly, I don’t want bother with it”, or how about this one: “how dare that person inconvenience me, I’ve got the favor of God” (that one REALLY rubs me the wrong way!)

Nobody likes it when somebody else cuts them off to get the closer parking space, or races to get the “last one on the shelf”, or sits in “their” pew/seat, but I will maintain that these are possibly only manifested signs of a deeper sense of self-centeredness.

Many times in life, we are dealt a situation, incident, or condition that seems anything but fair; anything but what a “child of God” should have to go through. The scripture instructs in many places, and many scenarios to petition God through our prayers, the prayers of many, and intersession on someone else behalf. What most of us fail to realize is the term intercede does not mean we go before God with our demands, with a “He’s gotta do this or that”, all the time mis-quoting scripture completely out of context. Let’s get one thing straight, God is not subject to our whims, or even our understanding (or lack thereof), of His will.  God is sovereign and is not governed by anyone or anything external. The creation has no right to demand anything from the Creator.

So when we face the unfair, un-just, and just plain awful things in life, we should not view these situations as God being mean to us, or not caring; “He wills in us to do His good pleasure”, and the emphasis is HIS good pleasure. God’s greatest desire is not our comfort in this world, but to draw all men unto Himself, to have that restored fellowship with fallen mankind.

Miracles, the miraculous is a testimony unto the resurrection power of Christ Jesus, and in that fact there is no doubt. But the greater witness is the comfort given to us by the Holy Spirit, God's sustaining power being worked through us in the midst of life’s most difficult and gut-wrenching situations. There is more is more testimony through standing for Christ in adversity, than there is in a miracle soon forgotten by the unbeliever,

You see, to think that this life is all about our pleasure, our comfort, our desires, is self-centeredness; it’s a big fat lie from the pit of Hell! Our redeemed life in Christ, is all about Him, and His good pleasure, His will to draw all mankind unto Himself. Our reward is not in this life, but after-words in eternal life that He promises.

So next time you find yourself in a “situation”, ask God to “work in you to do His good pleasure”, that He may be glorified in whatever goes before you, in whatever He leads you through. For whatever He leads you to, He will lead you through.

9  Use hospitality one to another without grudging. 10  As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11  If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 12 ¶  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 1 Peter 4:9-16 (KJV)

What is Success?

The English Dictionary has many expanded definitions for the word “Success”, but here is the primary definition: “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.”

The question arises, what is the picture of a successful ministry or church? The question probably should be, “What is the aim or purpose of the ministry or church?”

In the book of Ephesians, Chapter 4, verses 10 through 16 we are given a snapshot of what the mission, aim and/or purpose of what the church should be:

10  He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11  And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14  that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15  but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — 16  from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.  (NKJV)

Sadly, a good many institutions referring to themselves as churches, neither, look anything like this, or remotely fulfill the purpose stated here.

The emphasis of the church internally, is to teach, instruct, disciple if you will, those who have come to Faith in Christ.

While it is permissible to use appropriate recreational venues, and yes even some levels of entertainment, to draw people, those venues should never, ever be the aim, purpose, or focus of the church. The teaching of the Word of God, worship, prayer, good old fashioned discipleship is the focus!

Building a “spiritual” environment or institution founded on recreation and/or entertainment, is shallow, trendy, and will have no lasting value.

I will maintain that if a person has no interest in studying God’s Word, learning to walk in obedience to God’s Word, and learn to worship with their whole life, it is very possible they have never had the genuine experience of Salvation.

A true experience with Christ, will cause to “hunger and thirst after righteousness”; it will cause us to want to be “in the world and not of the world”; It will cause us to feel like “sojourners in another land”.

When we measure the “church” by these standards, our success is found lacking.

I am not generally a fan of very large or Mega churches; my reasoning is that generally, to grow to these proportions, generally requires compromises from what scripture defines as the mission of the church.

So is there not room for recreation and entertainment in the church? There may be some in the setting of the ultimate function of evangelism, but nowhere in scripture, are we ever instructed to provide a “stage of entertainment” for the saints, within the function of the church.

So am I attempting to be a “kill-joy”? No, I like a good time as much as anybody, but it has no place being my focus, when (1) People’s lives are falling apart because they have not been taught to live according to the scriptures (2) Followed by in-fighting within the body of believers (3) followed yet again by a grave lack of evangelism which is supposed to happen naturally, if believers have been disciple according to the Word of God.

I want to celebrate the victory of salvation of one who we all have been praying for; I want to celebrate the victory in the life of the church who is growing in grace, and ministering that same grace to others. Now that’s a good time!

Success is the Salvation of the lost, and the Church growing in Grace to accomplish that mission!

Something to ponder….

With Your Whole Heart!

Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Ah to see more of the family of God growing in the fruit of the Spirit; if there was an emphasis on this teaching in discipleship, we would have fewer conflicts amongst the “family members”.

But there is one fruit I would like to expand on a bit, and that is “Self Control”. The fruit of self control, is that fruit that teaches, helps and guides us, in walking in the way of the Lord, learning and applying the right responses to trials, and temptations, learning to apply God’s Word in those difficult situations. It is in that sense, restraint.

What self control is not, is restraining yourself from fully engaged worship! David worshiped the Lord with all his might, he got excited! (he got emotional, gasp!)

True and unadulterated praise and worship before God, is allowing the truth of His Word to engage our whole being, yes even our heart (or emotions) to the point where hardness, bitterness, anxiety, unforgiveness, mistrust, and stubbornness are broken, and we can experience the freedom God desires us to have in simply trusting Him. This kind of deliverance effects the whole person, emotions included; it’s ok to worship with your whole heart!

If a person’s pride cannot allow them to enter into unrestrained worship, then the physical ailments that are caused by hardness, bitterness, anxiety, unforgiveness, mistrust, and stubbornness, probably will not go away, they probably will get worse. A quick, meaningless “ceiling level prayer” for healing, is pointless, if you’re not yielding to Christ, and unlocking the door to freedom in Christ, through worship.

Are you ready to shed the cares of this life and find freedom though worship? I am!

At the end of the day......

I have accomplished a few things in my life…………but I realize that what I have accomplished is only with the strength of the Lord, and by His Grace.

My own efforts, as well intended as they may be; with as much planning that can be had; with as many opportunities that may be presented to me; With as much intelligence that has been granted me; with as much fortitude I can muster, can only flourish in an eternal sense by the grace of God, and the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through me.

Am I being “negative” about myself? No, by scripture I am being honest. Isaiah 64:6 states: “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”  So anything that is good and righteous that comes out of me; anything that has an eternal lasting value, can only be because I’ve been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, and clothed in His righteousness, alone.

So, at the end of the day, all my earthly accomplishments, really are meaningless, unless they have been a component of serving the Lord and the “Great Commission” He gave to us to "go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

At the end of the day nothing in this present life outside of what we do in Jesus name, has any eternal value, but at the same time, everything we do has eternal consequences.

This should cause us as followers of Christ to adjust our priorities in life to reflect our understanding that everything we go through now is temporary, and our eternal reward is awaiting us, when we leave this life.

Don’t worry about becoming “so heavenly minded, that you are of no earthly good”; Oh that we could keep our minds on Christ and His mission……

Something to ponder…..

Have a blessed day! 

On Honesty......

Sometimes we deal with things in life, that are unpleasant, cruel, sad, maddening, oppressive, sickening, painful and even a failure.


We must recognize these things and situations for what they are, identify them as such, without some paranoid notion that we are somehow "proclaiming negativity"....no it's called being truthful (an attribute of God by the way)....All the denial in the guise of "positive confession" can only cloud a person's ability to recognize reality. (Denial is lying)


While there is great power in speech, remember only God, the creator of the universe has the ability to "speak" things into existence from nothing; His word has the power to change, not ours!


Something to think about!


Have a blessed day!

Prayer - the perfect model

In Luke 11, the disciples ask Jesus to "teach them to pray", and Jesus then shows them a "Model Prayer" which contains all that is needed.

Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name (We begin with Praise and worship before and to God Almighty), Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven (we are to pray that God's will be done everywhere and always), Give us this day our daily bread (we petition God for our needs), and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us (confession and repentance), Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil (pray for God's guidance, wisdom, deliverance and power in our life), For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory forever (Praise and worship, end the same way we started). 

Now there is the sinners prayer "God be merciful to me a sinner, and save me!", but as we grow in Christ, we should follow His example, always!

We may not pray these exact words, but this should be our exact model. What would possess anyone to think they can improve on the prayer Jesus modeled?

Have a blessed day....

Another Gospel

Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8)

The Scripture says this, can’t argue this!

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” Matthew 24:35

Christ’s words are never failing…….None of them!

So why aren’t the “mega churches” preaching these verses? (see below)

And he said to them all, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me”. Luke 9:23 (KJV) [& Matthew 16:24]

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (KJV)

Answer 1: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables ” 2 Timothy 4:3-4

Interesting that this is how even Wikipedia describes this passage: “Itching ears is a term used in the Bible to describe individuals who seeks out messages and doctrines that condones their own lifestyle, as opposed to adhering to the teachings of the apostles.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itching_ears

Answer 2: 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (KJV)

[1] This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. [2] For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, [3] Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, [4] Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; [5] Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The Apostle Paul’s Warning to False teachers:

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” Galatians 1:8

If your church or minister is not preaching the whole truth of scripture, in context, separate yourself from that which is apostate, regardless of how much it makes you “feel good about yourself”, repent, and seek out a fellowship where the focus is salvation through Christ, and a call to sanctification, you know,  Holy living, obedience to God’s Word.

It’s not about what we accumulate in this life, but what we store up in heaven; and that is our witness to God’s great love, His sacrifice for us, not the material things. Go to heaven, but take some people with you; tell them of God’s great love!

Matthew 6:19-21 (KJV) [19] Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: [20] But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: [21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.