Sunday, June 30th, 3013

Does anyone still wonder if you we have a “Christian Rights Issue” in this country?

Jailing for Bible Study – –

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/07/11/arizona-pastor-arrested-jailed-for-holding-bible-study-in-home-his-wife-says-it-defies-logic?fb_action_ids=10152966264080201&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210152966264080201%22%3A502365173146046%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210152966264080201%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that 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, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from 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.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

IRS tells ministry what they can and cannot talk about. 

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/06/irs-tells-ministry-you-cant-talk-about-that/#ZmwXih29xjZSUC0Y.99

This country has deep, deep spiritual troubles.

Do we really still have freedom of speech and religion in this country?

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that 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, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from 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.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Emotion – Insight – Empathy

These three simple words when manifest into the reality of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God can create either a blessing or a curse based on how the individual wears them, which can often be found within the countenance of their face.

Most of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God I have personally known carry within themselves a great capacity for all three; emotion, insight, and empathy when they are not suppressed out of fear, anger, wounds, or self-preservation. Properly managed and subjected to the regulation of the Holy Spirit, all three of these aspects of the Remnant’s emotional and mental being are both useful to God and mankind.

Over the next few posting, we will explore each of these emotional and mental faces which are worn by the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God; exploring both, the “blessing” side and the “curse” side of each. For now, we will begin with some basic understanding of what the definition for each word actually is, not what we might think it to be. With the dummy down of America which has taken place over the last twenty years we find many people have a very basic concept of what words mean, when in fact words are often rich with meaning and have many layers of meaning when truly understood.

Emotion = per Merriam-Webster’s Medical Desk Dictionary

1 : the affective aspect of consciousness

2 : a state of feeling

3 : a conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body —

Insight = per Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

1 : the power or act of seeing into a situation : PENETRATION

2 : the act or result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing intuitively

synonyms see DISCERNMENT

the ability to understand inner qualities or relationships — see WISDOM

Empathy = per Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary

the experiencing as one’s own of the feelings of another; also : the capacity for this

Empathy = per Merriam-Webster’s Medical Desk Dictionary

1 : the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it

2 : the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for empathy

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that 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, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from 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.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Ask yourself…Do you really want to be ever-increasingly an image of your Lord and Savior, the Christ, Jesus?

There are so many people who pray, ‘Lord I want to be like you.’ but they have no idea what they are praying for and the impact that prayer will have on their lives. If you are part of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God you either have already “got it” as they say or you will “get it” before too long.

Being like Christ is not something the Holy Spirit is going to do half way. We cannot just wake up one day and say to God, ‘Oh, sorry, I changed my mind.’ You can run and you can try to hide but if you are part of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God He is not going to let you go. You will find no peace until you accept the transformation within you that must take place, a transformation, which places you at the center of “understanding” the Holy and All-Encompassing Will of God. There will never be room again in your life for part of God; only God in His entirety will be an option.

I have watched and continue to watch many of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God try to run and hide from the very transforming process, which will set them completely free. Fear of what is on the other side of the transformation keeps them bound to what they can see and sense they have some control over in the now. That same bondage keeps them void of godly peace and they seek a substitute for a peace only God can bring to their lives. Why? Because a part of them knows that being like Jesus, truly being like Jesus, means identifying with what Jesus lived with during His earthy ministry.

In part six, I touched on some of what Jesus endured during His earthly ministry. I asked a friend and protégé a similar question the other day to the one I will now pose here; ‘Why do people [meaning the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant] expect to be treated better or different than Jesus was treated by the world or the religious community? Have these people who expect different actually read the Bible?’

How was Jesus treated?

† Jesus was rejected.

† Jesus was persecuted.

† Jesus was misunderstood.

† Jesus was maligned.

† Jesus was called a fake.

† Jesus was told He was not good enough.

† Jesus had to tolerate those who had no idea of His depth of understanding when it came to spiritual truths.

† Jesus spoke Truth and they called it a lie, false teaching.

† Jesus was accused of having a demon.

† Jesus’ insight scared people.

† Jesus was feared because He challenged people’s ideas, beliefs, and sin.

† Jesus was accused of being aligned with Satan.

† Jesus was hated.

† Jesus was considered to be a rebel.

† Jesus was considered to be mad, crazy, insane.

† Jesus was accused of being disrespectful and disobedient to the religious leaders of His time.

† Jesus was doubted by His own friends, co-labors, and followers.

† Jesus was betrayed by someone closest to Him.

† Jesus was abandoned by all those He had loved and cared for.

† Jesus was disobeyed.

† Jesus had to do the Father’s Will despite the fact that part of Him wanted there to be another way to accomplish the same goal – the inner compulsion to obey the Father was greater than any distress He might experience.

† Jesus could get no help or support from His friends, co-labors, and followers when He needed prayer and support.

† Jesus suffered terrible injustice.

† Jesus was arrested on false charges.

† Jesus was subjected to a kangaroo court.

† Jesus stood before His entire community while they sided with evil over good and chose Barabbas over Him to be set free.

† Jesus was physically beaten to the degree of torture.

† Jesus was publically humiliated; both mocked and laughed at by onlookers.

† Jesus was put to death in a torturous way for His Holiness.

† Jesus sought mercy on the cross and for a few moments seemed to find none.

† Jesus was not even left alone to die in peace.

Now for any of the faithful CURRENT Spiritual Remnant out there who can identify with their Savior and can feel the scares of being transformed into His imagine I leave you with this bit of Truth. Jesus did go through all of those things and suffer all of those injustices but what else did Jesus do.

Jesus overcame it all!

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that 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, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from 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.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

When doing some self-evaluation to determine whether you are part of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God and/or your spiritual health as one of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God ask yourself the following question and the answer to this question will tell you a great deal about your spiritual standing.

Which is more important to me, presenting and/or upholding God’s Truth or making sure I do not offend a brother, sister, or spiritual leader in Christ?

I personally would much rather have a person care enough about me, about my spiritual walk with Jesus, about the ministry God gave me, about my life – that they would be willing to offend me in order to keep me out of sin, away from danger, on the narrow path and true to my godly calling and/or purpose – than to allow me to go astray.

What does being offended look like, in this context?

“offend”

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

2 : to cause discomfort or pain : HURT

2 a : to cause difficulty, discomfort, or injury

b : to cause dislike, anger, or vexation

3 : to cause dislike or vexation : ANNOY

Synonyms affront, insult, outrage

3 : to cause to feel vexation or resentment usually by violation of what is proper or fitting

OFFEND need not imply an intentional hurting but it may indicate merely a violation of the victim’s sense of what is proper or fitting <hoped that my remarks had not offended her>.

I do not know about you but if I am confronted with the need to change, often, my first feeling is “discomfort” because change by its very nature is uncomfortable.

Jesus offended most of the religious people of His day. The CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God will find whether they intend it or not they will offend most of the religious people of our day. Why? Because they are going to call/cry out for Truth to be honored, Truth being God’s Word and Principles, in a time and religious society where it is not being honored. If they do not call/cry out, they are not at peace with themselves and cannot spiritually be at rest.

Here is an account where Jesus is shown as having offended the religious leaders of His day during His earthly ministry. The religious leaders did not think Jesus had the proper background or credentials and they did not like what He had to say. This was the reception Jesus got from His very own people. The religious leader’s lack of belief resulted in God not being able to work among them as He might have done had they been receptive.

Matthew 13:54-58

⁵⁴ When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶ And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ So they were offended at Him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” ⁵⁸ Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

This account can also be found in Mark 6:1-6.

Likewise, you as part of the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant must not concern yourself with your background or credentials and you cannot take responsibly for the work that remains undone among people because religion hindered godly spirituality. Jesus did not concern Himself with those who refused to listen to Him, receive Him, or attempt to understand the TRUTH[s] He was trying to impart to them.

Matthew 15:12–14 (NKJV)

¹² Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”

¹³ But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. ¹⁴ Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

Religion and the apostate congregations, which participate, are filled with blind leaders leading the blind into spiritual emptiness and spiritual death. Sadly, just as in Jesus’ day there are more of them than they are TRUE Believers in Christ.

When a person refuses to accept TRUTH, they make the choice to be offended. You, the person presenting the Truth, do not offend them, they chose offense over truth.

In the above passages of Scripture, the Greek definition for the terms used is as follows:

“they were offended” and “were offended”

4624. σκανδαλίζω skandalizō, skan-dal-id´-zo (“scandalize”); from 4625; to entrap, i.e. trip up (fig. stumble [tran.] or entice to sin, apostasy or displeasure):— (make to) offend.

NSDHGW

The presentation of godly wisdom and spiritual truth when received properly brings about the greatest form of godly peace. True godly peace born out of godly wisdom can be very controversial [James 3:17 and Matthew 10:34].

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that 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, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from 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.

Saturday, June 8^th 2013

This part of the series will address another “mark” which identifies the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God. This mark involves motive, specifically, their motive for addressing the issues found within the Body of Christ and the apostate church congregations.

Keep in mind once again the meaning of “apostate” while this topic of motive is being address.

Apostate is defined as one who commits apostasy.

Apostasy is defined as:

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1 : renunciation of a religious faith

2 : abandonment of a previous loyalty : DEFECTION

a renunciation or abandonment of a former loyalty (as to a religion)

one who betrays a trust or an allegiance — see TRAITOR

Nelson’s new illustrated Bible Dictionary states the following regarding apostasy:

Please note the areas I have underlined.

“In Acts 21:21 Paul was described falsely as one who taught the Jews living among the Gentiles to commit apostasy (forsake, NKJV). Second Thessalonians 2:3 declares that the Day of Christ “will not come unless the apostasy comes first” (NASB). This great apostasy will be the time of “the final rebellion against God, when wickedness will be revealed in human form” (2 Thess. 2:3, REB).

Apostasy is generally defined as the determined, willful rejection of Christ and His teachings by a Christian believer (Heb. 10:26–29; John 15:22). This is different from false belief, or error, which is the result of ignorance.”

Even though Paul was clearly innocence of partaking in apostasy, apostasy is something that starting being taught and acted upon very early on in the establishment of the Christian Church. Today we see apostasy and apostate teachings in record degrees like no other time in history.

Apostasy will/would be a hallmark sign before Christ returns. Widespread apostasy will/would be mankind’s final rebellion against God before the end; apostate being that “willful rejection” of either Christ or Christ’s teachings/the Word of God or both by Believers. Not by the world, but by those who started out as Believers. Whereas these individuals started out sincere they have now perhaps renounced true faith, abandoned loyalty to Christ and/or the Word of God, betrayed their allegiance to Christ by betraying the Word of God – distorting it, dismissing it, and making it of no effect.

Another “mark” which identifies the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God is that they cannot stand this apostate/apostasy, which is taking place within their Christian community. They have a very hard time staying silent while they watch their beloved Church fall apart. They grieve, as Christ grieves, what they see among people who where once dedicated brothers and sisters in Christ.

The CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God is motivated by love for the Body of Christ to speak up, speak out, and speak against what they see taking place within the Body of Christ and with apostate church congregation. Just like Paul, their actions and motives are wrongly assessed. They desire to see the apostate congregations return to true allegiance to Christ and the Word of God. They desire to see the Body of Christ stay on track when they see them veering off into dangerous territory. Many I have talked with have been wrongly maligned as having a wrong spirit and/or having an anti-christ type of spirit. Maligned through the misuse of the scripture, which addresses “accusers of the brethren” [Rev. 12:10]. They are in good company however, since Jesus Himself was accused of having a wrong spirit and being motivated by Satan [Mat. 12:22-30]. Love and allegiance to Christ and the Word of God are their only motive for addressing the issues found within the Body of Christ and the apostate church congregations.

It can be easy to get caught up in the belief that the majority must be right. However, more times than not the majority is exactly whom you do not wish to follow if you are wise. Remember God made it clear that the narrow road was the correct road and that few would find their way to, and on, it [Mat. 7:13-14 & Lk. 13:24].

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that 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, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from 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.

Friday, June 07, 2013

These are the types of young people we need to encourage and support, for they are part of what and who will make a godly difference in our society.

Courage – it takes courage people!

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/06/06/roy-costner-iv-south-carolina-valedictorian-rips-speech-and-recites-lord%E2%80%99s-prayer

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

All too many religious congregations believe that they can compromise God’s Standards for how things are to be done; thinking God will look the other way because after all, they are trying to use their compromised methods to reach people for Jesus. This is something that appalls the CURRENT Spiritual Remnant of God because they know God is Holy and does not sanction such compromise.

I will use an event that took place with the Ark of the Covenant as an example to explain this point.

The touching of the Ark of the Covenant was really the secondary sin that resulted in Uzzah’s death [2 Samuel 6]. Had God’s original commands been followed, the Ark would have never tilted and Uzzah would have never reached out to touch the Ark. The greater sin was in the breaking of the original instruction, which was that the Ark was to be hand carried on the shoulders with poles;[Exodus 25:10-16 and Numbers 4:5, 4:15] it was not to be transported via a cart with animals pulling it. The Ark was to be transported by man carrying its weight.

This is what is referred to as the greater and lesser degrees of sin. Many times, we are both effected and affected by what might be referred to as a secondary sin in our lives, when really the greater sin is that we did not follow God’s first command.

Usually sin can be traced back to a root. Often we can recognize the weeds of sin that are growing and we know they are sin. What we tend not to realize is the root of the sin, which would be the first sin, the original sin, that produced the weeds in our lives. The original sin in the tragedy of the Ark of the Covenant was that they did not transport it as God commanded. The secondary sin was that he touched the Ark, because of the fact that they did not transport it, as they should have.

The CURRENT Spiritual Remnant recognizes that the end result does not justify the means by which one gets there. Many congregations now justify much of their behavior as being Seeker Sensitive. They say they are trying to get people to God, they are trying to lead people to Jesus, they are trying to introduce people and have them arrive at a relationship with Christ. These congregations take the attitude that God is not so much concerned anymore with how they got the people there, the method so to speak. God is and has always been concerned with the method. The event, which took place with the Ark of the Covenant, is a great example of this truth.

Sin can be found in the method. Even if you are attempting to do a great thing, a godly thing, if there are sins in the root of that godly thing or that godly effort, God is not pleased. If there are sins in the roots, there will be sins in the weeds, in whatever it produces. What does sin do? Sin always kills, destroys and/or causes something to die in some manner – either literally or figuratively, meaning in either a literal sense or the spiritual sense.

We have to remember God that is not harsh; God is Holy. Therefore, the end result is not good enough, how we get there does matter! Ungodliness around us, whether in a secular or religious setting is no excuse before God or man for personal ungodliness. Public opinion or religious rules are not our Standard in life; God’s Word, God’s Standard, should be our standard in life.

Spiritual/Political Disclaimer:

This blog will not be for the faint of heart or the easily offended. It will not be in any way politically correct. It will make every effort to share the truth in love, [Ephesians 4:11-16], to a decaying and dying society and church. I share what I share not to hurt, harm, or offend any person[s] or group; I do it because Christ’s Standard and Truth is not being represented by enough of His Followers and I do it out of love. I love enough to tell His Truth.

Ephesians 4:11-16 NKJV

¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, ¹³till 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; ¹⁴that 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, ¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from 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.