WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?

"What is the way forward?" Over the last few years, I have heard that question asked many times. Some "ask" it in an attempt to avoid dealing with the spiritual reality of what God is doing in HIS Church and some ask it in all honesty because they have a certain sense that life in the Body of Christ is not going to be "business as usual" any more. They really do want to know because it is a question in their hearts.

That is a valid consideration when considering that what God may very well be doing in our midst is stripping down to it's bare essentials what we are accustomed to "knowing as church" but the real question is "What is God saying?"

We are living in a "day of preparation" for a move of God where Jesus takes His rightful place of exclusive preeminence in His Body, the Church (not an organization but the assembly of the saints on earth). We want to know the way forward but God want's us to prepare for the journey by stripping us down to the bare essentials that we will be able to carry with us on this path. He isn't, in many respects, giving us much information on where we are heading much like the children of Israel we only told that they were heading towards the promised land without a map of where they were physically going.

Surely the Israelites wondered about the same question "What is the way forward" but what God gave them instead of a road map was a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day to guide them in the way to where He was taking them. (being representative of Christ)

We want to know by our natures all the details before we embark on such a journey.

Jesus, when some asked Him where He lived, didn't give the men the address of where He was living. He merely responded to them, "Come and see." That set a right relationship between He and those men in that the only way they would find out where He was living was to "follow Him."

All over the scripture it is plain as day and so simple that a child can apprehend. "Follow Me."

Christ is the road map for us and has always been but we, in our insistence of being in control and our rebellion against that dependency upon the preeminence of Christ have always sought to know more than we needed to know in any particular day so we built roads to where we "thought" Christ should be heading rather than being satisfied with His daily directions and provision via the Holy Spirit.

Christ is our ONLY reality in this journey and there is no doubt that He is stripping down what is known as His Church to it's bare essentials leaving us with only one option. "To let Him lead us."

The reality of the answer to the question is "Today, if you hear my voice, follow Me..."

In many respects we have "been going around this mountain long enough." What is that mountain? The same thing it was to the Israelites that had been going around that mountain in the wilderness for so many years that they just -presumed- that they would do the same thing the next day as well.

It is would be fruitless to know the details of the way forward if we have not heard deep in our hearts the reality of the fact that we will be leaving what we are comfortable with behind.

When that reality hits the depth of our hearts, that there will be no turning back without God's displeasure and no other way forward apart from Christ, that reality will drive us into deeper communion with Christ than we have ever been in.

That is the way forward.

The "Papal Root"

There is an expression rumbling around in my spirit the last few weeks that I have never heard... "The Papal Root."

There are so many traditions, understandings and practices of even the modern day "church" that are rooted in essence to Rome. Over the last 40 years I have seen men of God and various groups attempt to remove those false traditions, understandings and practices and seem to succeed for a while only to see that a few years later those things have reappeared and established themselves - even in their own lives. They do not die easily. To me it has always been a mystery.

There is a plant here called "Blackberry Bush" and from just one plant an entire acre can eventually be filled with it. It grows prolifically to about 4 feet tall and branches out everywhere through it's root system - so thick that no one can pass through it. The branches have huge thorns and if one tries to pass through it the thorns catch onto the garment and soon the person cannot move away from it. They are trapped. They have to call for help for others to try and carefully remove the branches that have trapped them.

The other thing about the Blackberry root is that even if all the vine branches are cut to the ground and seemingly the plant is pulled up by the roots, the root goes so deep that it breaks off leaving a part of the root deep in the ground. Soon the Blackberry root is sprouting shoots and begins to take over the entire area again.

The only known way to permanently kill the Blackberry bush is to kill the root. But what exactly is the "root"?

The Papal root is the lie that a singular man has been appointed by God to rule over the Church as his sole authority and emmisary. It is the child of the fallen Church at Rome committing fornication with the "kings of the earth." The result was the Papal root - an Emperor (or sole authority) clothed in religious garments - a religious Empire. That root has branched out and, even though it has taken on different names and identities, that concept has elevated itself in almost all of what is known as "Christianity" till today.

The concept of a "singular pastor" in today's church follows it's lineage back to that "Papal root." There is nothing in the New Testament that remotely upholds that concept. The early church appointed elders (or more accurately recognized in the Holy Spirit those that were indeed elders in the faith.) Some of them had pastoral gifts. It was not a heirarchy of authority with one person at the top over all. It was all about common servanthood to the other believers with the resurrected Christ as the sole authority.

Now a little advice here for those who find themselves in the position above. Years ago working on an old house, I went around between the bushes and the back of the garage with my back to the bushes started working on something. Suddenly when I tried to move I realized that one of the branches of the bushes thorns had embedded in the back of my jacket. The more I turned and stretched to free myself the more other branches' thorns began to cling to me. I was soon completely unable to turn in any direction or to free myself. I was stuck! I had to wait and pray that another worker would come back to the jobsite to help me carefully get free. It was over an hour till someone came and helped me. The lesson in that is that if you are entangled in the blackberry branches, be very careful how you attempt to untangle yourself and if at all possible, get help from others you trust not to get entangled themselves.

ps the fruit of the Blackberry bush is very tasty and sweet despite the fact that it is a very agressive.... WEED.

LEARNING FROM THE BIRDS

Yesterday thousands upon thousands of birds flew in V-formations going south. There was almost a constant stream of them all day. They know that something is coming and their survival instincts tell them to flee from it to a place of safety. They know that Winter is coming.

We recognize the signs of natural times and seasons yet we fail to discern when signs are placed right in front of our eyes that the "season" we have lived in for decades is about to change. Why is it that we can understand the drastic changes that go on between summer and winter and yet cannot comprehend that our lives and the society we live in can undergo just as drastic a change.

We are in the "FALL" (or transition period) right now. The once pretty leaves of the trees that gave shelter and protection to the biirds are now dying and falling off leaving the tree trunks bare and naked (and hopefully ashamed). Winter is coming... we should not be spending time lamenting the bareness of the trees. We should especially not be spending time getting caught up in admiring the changes in the colors of the leaves before they die. We should be trusting our spiritual instincts and begin to send out the call, getting into formations and fleeing to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. He alone has all the answers for the times we are living in.

If you don't know Jesus, now is a good time to get alone and pray to the Living God for mercy and unearned favor to change the direction of your heart. God has given us His all in His Son Jesus but we have to reach out to Him in faith and accept all He has for us.

The Sin Of The Church of America

Perhaps 40 years ago a move began in Christianity in this country. The inaccurate expression, "The Moral Majority" seemed to catch Christians on a political fire. It all seemed great for a while. The trouble is it was based on the erroneous concept that most Americans are moral beings. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." "There is not one righteous." There has never been a "Moral Majority" in this country. In God's eyes it was a tremendous sin for us to promote the deception that if one is a "moral person" one is righteous before God. We know that is scripturally not true.When that movement promoted joining forces with the Republican party we never questioned it. If we were to look at the reality of that time, the "majority" of the Church leaders that spearheaded that effort were very wealthy men. Their financial inclinations and loyalties were already towards the Republican party. Unfortunately when the vast majority of professing Christians placed their loyalty in the Party, it took away a certain amount of their loyalty to God. It also left the Democratic party almost entirely unguarded and without much Godly influence.It also alienated over half the population of this country in a way that was extremely divisive. The fuit of which we are living with today. It eventually gave an excuse for over half the population to not be open to the gospel because they are "Democrats." Are all Repulicans saved? We have committed the sin of creating a hybrid entity that is in spirit at emnity with God. It has the appearnace of godliness but denies the power and authority of God. Oh the Republican party talks the talk but when in 40 years have we seen them walk the walk? From what is apparent, the party has influenced (and disarmed) the Christians spirtually more than Christians have influenced the party. It is the same sin that caused some church leaders in the 3rd and 4th centuries to merge with the political power of Rome. The "Christianity that evolved out of that time is a hybrid Christianity. Having the appearance of godliness but lacking the power of the Holy Spirit. Both parties are ruled by the powers and principalities of the air. By greed and the lust for ultimate power. They are the right and left hand of evil. The "Good cop" and the "Bad cop." Both have a mutual contract with unelected principalities and powers to imprison the people into another form of government. That "government" is standing at the door... "God's hand is not shortend at all that it cannot redeem." but "Make no mistake, Given the choice between the purity of His Church and the longevity of this nation, God WILL choose the purity of His Church." I truly hope I am wrong but I do not see another president of the United States of America (at least not the USA or a president as we have know it)

FORNICATION WITH THE KINGS OF THE EARTH

It is not "Christianity" (in it's truest essence) that is the problem but the fact that in the first few centuries, some of the "bishops" of the gatherings committed fornication with the kings of the earth and merged a deviant "Christianity" with the power and consent of political government. That deal was cinched when Constantine was proclaimed "Head of the Church" (which was not the Church of Jesus the Messiah but a group that had fallen away from the Messiah in Spirit.) That false "church" "has the appearance of godliness but denies the power" of God Himself replacing that power with earthly political power and identity. (Replacing a relationship with God through the Messiah with a relaltionship to the politically created religious entity and identity.) Instead of identifying with the Messiah (the Christ) they mearly took His name/title (the Christ) but were actually identifying with their own false image and earthly power. They traded the power of God for earthly power. That entity later had daughters who came out of her womb and committed fornication with the "kings of the earth" in the same way that their mother the Harlot had done. In that sense the name "Christianity" was hijacked and kidnapped. Those daughters birthed their own daughters and they birthed their own, etc. etc. etc. but the sin resident in their lineage of committing fornication with the kings of the earth is passed down generation to generation. It is not Christianity itself but the organizational sin of fornication with the kings of the earth. That pattern of the Great Whore and her daughters replaced the missing Holy Spirit and the giftings of the Spirit with outward forms and positions (priests, "pastors (so called)," "bishops(so called)," etc.) Men created "church" identities and images solidified by the consent and authority of earthly governments. That trend has been passed down to "Christianity" even to this day - so much so that the inherited sin is viewed as righteousness. "The day of denominationalism is over. That which is highly esteemed in the sight of men is an abomination to God." But we need to be careful because God has always had a remnant in the midst of it all. "Man looks on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart." We need to be careful about pulling the weeds out and damaging the roots of the fruitful plants in the midst. God has times of harvest when the wheat and the weeds are harvested at the same time and He will separate the wheat from the weeds and the wheat from the stalk that supported it.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD

Years ago I had the pleasure and priviledge to observe something for about 6 months. We were back in Hawaii for 3 years living in an apartment building that was once housing for farm workers about 2 miles off the highway near some farms. In between two apartment buildings was some grass that a young lady kept her sheep fenced in. She loved her sheep.

One day a neighbor was hunting pigs nearby and his hunting "dog" (that was half wolf) got wind of those sheep while we were all gone and jumped over the fence and attacked them before his owner got him under control. When we came back those sheep were laying out in the grass with severe wounds. Some had gouges chewed out of them 2-3 inches in diameter and over 1/2 an inch deep. It didn't look good for them to live. The vet told her to put them down but she just couldn't do that to her sheep.

I watched that young lady nurse those sheep for quite a few months before enough growth was able to cover over those huge gapping gouges. Every day putting new dressing on them and trying to win the battle over the flies that would congregate around the wounds. Finally though they were all healed. It was slow and arduous progress.

The apartments faced that grassy area and their decks were about 6 feet off the ground. One day I was out in the parking lot (also facing that fenced in grass and the sheep) while fixing a car early in the morning I witnessed something that was utterly precious. The sheep were in there eating grass as usual but every minute or so they would all stop and stare the deck in front of that young lady's apartment. She hadn't woken up yet. This went on for over a half an hour every minute or so.

Suddenly, the young lady came out of her apartment and surveyed her sheep from the railing of the deck. I saw something amazing. From the second she stepped out on the deck those sheep stood motionless for quite a while staring at her in what appeared to be utter admiration for their shepherd, their healer, their protector. It was like they were in awe (and so was I) locked into their gaze of her appearance on the deck. It was as though they worshipped her and lived for her appearing every morning on that deck.

I couldn't help but equate what I saw to Jesus and His sheep. He will never leave or forsake us. He will never abandon us no matter how wounded we are or what it takes for us to be healed - even if others give up on us. And we should be watching and patiently waiting for His appearing and awestruck at even a glimpse of Him. The whole experience was such a wonderful picture of the Good Shepherd.

Now this was a beautiful picture of spiritual reality but I have to be honest and also mention that quite some time later, there came a day when this precious young lady had to move elsewhere and had to turn over her sheep to the care of another. That must have been really hard for her.

Now if you were God and you had some human "sheep," what kind of a shepherd would you pick to take care of them?

Well I better end this story but I should tell you that a few years later, at about 19 years of age, God called her to a mission field in a South American country where she has been ever since, working with young people and adult villagers. (over 15 years now)

I hate to even tell you how many times in my life I have given up on people only to have the LORD later prove me utterly wrong. He never gives up on us. That is a lesson each and every one of us should consider every day.

"Christ died for ALL sin, for ALL mankind, for ALL time."

Willing To Ask? To Truly Hear The Answer?

© 2013 - 2016 ClipArt Best (altered by PDR)

What is God's desire for HIS CHURCH?

I haven't written anything for some time now while focusing on other edeavors but I was reminded of something this morning. May you be blessed in the reading of this in Jesus name. 

Years ago I had found a severely fire-damaged house and purchased it with the intent of restoring it. A dear friend of mine and brother in the LORD had decided to help me by financing the restoration of if in which I would do the work.

One day he, some other brothers and I were meeting in a restaurant discussing this investment and the brother asked me what would seem like a normal question. He asked me, "What do you want out of this house?"

For some strange reason, when I tried to answer that, I found very powerful emotions rise up inside me so much that before I could speak even a word, I would break out in uncontrollable tears to the point of having to fight back the urge to break into deep sobs. Each time I collected myself, I would try to answer and the same overpowering emotions would overwhelm me. This went on for perhaps five minutes and it was a mystery to me and them. (and quite embarassing)

I finally managed to collect myself and gave an "answer" but it was not one from my heart. What was really wanting to come out from my heart was, "Nobody has ever asked me that." but in the context of our fellowship that didn't make any natural sense.

I pondered this for several days as I was left with two things:

1) A question - "What do you want out of this house?"

2) An answer accompanied by deep emotions - "Nobody has ever asked me that."

To understand my true answer to that question, one would have to understand the background. Over the prior perhaps 30 years we had moved many, many times and lived in many dwellings of all kinds. We have never really had a "certain dwelling place" for very long in our lives. (ie for many years)

When I found the house I would have to say that despite that fact that it was severely fire-damaged, I was notably drawn to it. I saw it as our home not just another house. A "certain dwelling place" for me and my family.

Circumstances were, however, that I couldn't finish it by myself so we had decided we would have to sell it after it was restored. That was our agreement with my friend the investor so when he asked the question I felt hindered from saying what was really on my heart. (I didn't realize that at the time.)

Now I have got to say here that brother loved me and I'm sure he would have had no problem with me expressing my inner desires at all. I am firmly convinced he wanted nothing but God's best for me so what was this all really about?

I have many more times than once lived in circumstances that God orchestrated to reflect something that He was saying. This was what I was left with in this instance.

We are all "investing" in building God's house which is in all actuallity consists of human beings touched by His Spirit and saved by the shed blood of His Son. God's house on earth is not a physical building, a collection of organizations or even a collection of ideologies and imperfect understandings.

We are all eager to "invest" in restoring it but have we truly ever asked Jesus what He wants out of this "house" and what would be his answer if we were even remotely willing to hear it? Are we really investing in it only for the one who will rightfully occupy it or are we inwardly working towards our own gain?

Throughout the history of the Spirit of God's revealing of Jesus to human beings, that movement and work of the Holy Spirit has moved from "house to house" and over the centuries has not had a "certain dwelling place" (external) that anyone who is truly honest can point to. (there is a long list of organizations who would claim they have always been the ones but by and large the Spirit of God has moved on to where there is greater openness. He always has.)

This is especially true since the inception of what is called "the Reformation" which is an ongoing thing and at no point since can we point to anything along the way and say "It is finished!"

The Spirit of God moves on when we reach a point when we are unwilling to hear the answer of Jesus to the question of "What do you want out of this house." I dare say that in all reality we have never truly asked that question of Him in totality without reservations. I'm not ever sure if we are totally capable of hearing His complete answer.

Part of that answer is that ALL external houses (organizations and movements) that Jesus has resided in over the entire history of "The Church" are nothing more than temporary dwellings.

Even though there has been movement from house to house over the centuries, Jesus is building His house out of human beings who have followed him. They are chosen and faithful. That is the house He is building.

The other part of that answer is that it has been a long time and a long history of moving from external house to external house. Jesus is longing to be with his WHOLE family in one place. That longing has been growing for centuries.

His answer: "I want a CERTAIN, PERMANENT dwelling place for Me and my family and I am coming back soon to live with them. No one will dare lay claim to them. They are mine."

Jesus has a very large family and the vast majority are now "asleep." He has all along been building a living, ever expanding building not made by human flesh. He is coming back to resurrect those that "sleep" and transform those yet alive to dwell with them forever.

Everything else is temporary....

The earth is being harvested by the sickle of choice. If any man or organization of men is laying claim to the people of God, henceforth let them fear the judgement of God to come.

OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS LIKE FILTHY RAGS

"The day of denominationalism is over. That which is highly esteemed in the sight of (religious) men is an abomination to God."

One night in 1980 I had this desire burning in me to stay up late to read the scriptures. As I was reading, it was like the Holy Spirit took over and suddenly I found myself opening the scriptures randomly and my eyes focused in the dim light of the oil lamp on the words, "To the Church at _____ (a locality)" then just as quickly I found myself opening the scriptures to yet another passage with the same words.... Over and over and over again until I had opened to every passage in the new testament with those words. I could not have possibly done so in the natural.

While this was going on the thought was burning inside me, "Lord, what does this mean?" "What are you saying?"

A Dream/Vision I also had In 1980...

In this dream/vision I was suddenly caught up very high in the air overlooking what appeared to be a subdivision of houses. The houses were all basically the same and were on both sides of a straight road. There were many, many of them. All of them had driveways that led to the road but I couldn't see where that road went to. Being a builder, I was somewhat impressed with all this.

I found myself observing this scene from high above for a time then just as suddenly as I had been caught up in the air, I found myself inside another huge house in the midst of a large crowd of believers worshiping God. I didn't recognize any of them but we were all caught up in the presence of God so much so that it was beyond anything I had ever experienced. I had been ushered into the presence of God many times before this in gatherings of believers but nothing anywhere near like this.

The presence of the Jesus was so powerful, so real, so permeating that if anyone had a question in their heart towards Him about something while they were worshiping , the answer was instantly revealed. As I looked around in awe at all this, a question came into my heart. "Where did all these people come from?" Instantly the words came into my mind,

"These are the ones that have come out of the houses you saw." (in the subdivision) [Note: I much later realized that this coming out was in our hearts]

I looked around in awe at the multitudes that were gathered in the presence of Jesus. He was there in the midst of it all. The gathering went as far as I could see. The house was like no house I had ever seen. God was the foundation and the floor. He was the very roof of the building. It was expandable for as many who would come to gather in His presence because the building had no walls. The foundation was laid on the earth but the roof was suspended from above so it didn't need any walls to hold it up. It was built by God and held together by Him and it was filled with the Glory of God Himself.

Then as quickly as I had been caught up, I was back from where I had been before the dream/vision.

The houses of men are built for the pride of men but the House of God in Jesus the Messiah is built for the glory of God Himself. There are no walls in His house. There is only the glory of God that fills those that believe from every nation on earth.

Is it possible that everything we are so proud of about "where we gather" and "who we gather with" named or unamed, that very thing to God is an abomination?

Even the Roman soldiers, when Christ was being crucified did not take a meat cleaver and chop HIS Body into pieces yet we think nothing of doing so ourselves.

Before this, I used to think that "ecuminical unity" was the unity that God desired but ecuminical unity is the upholding of the concept of the "subdivision." God's unity of the Holy Spirit is given to all believers in our hearts. The two are diametrically opposed to each other. In the one we endevour to create a unity but in the other the unity IS and we are commanded to maintain it.

I Once Had A Dream

I once had a dream that as I understand it, the outward form of what is known as the church fell into a bottomless chasm leaving us totally reliant on the pure light of Jesus to carry us across that chasm. That day the Lord spoke a confirming sign: That the doors to Russia were going to open... But someday they would close as quickly as they had opened. That was in 1987. In 1991 or 1992 the doors to what was formerly the USSR suddenly opened to everyone's shock. I'm not much of a betting man but the relationship between the USA and Russia has of late relatively soured and that door is being prepared to slam in the face of the USA. 

If my understanding of all this holds true (we see in part and know in part), the non-profit corporation that the "church" has been leaning on is about to pierce our hand. It will either not exist or we will be forced to choose between keeping it and denying God or following Him and letting it go. My sense from another vision is that the decision to hold on or to let it go will not have any in-betweens but comes with serious eternal reprocussions. It will be like a fire that will force us to one side or the other.

I am not by any means saying that we should at this time abandon the outward form and the non-profit status but rather to be very vigilant in the coming times and allow God to teach us how to do without it. We do need to recognize though that it will be God allowing these things to prepare us for the 2nd coming of the Messiah. That is very important so we can keep our discernment sharp. If we are all bent out of shape and blaming governments, political parties, Muslims or even other "churches" we will not see the day of our visitation coming. It is in spirit much like 9/11. A few saw it for the warning to this nation that it was (God's hand lifted for a second) and unfortunately many were found (and still are) blaming scapegoats to avoid the conviction and have totally missed the warning of the LORD at that time..

There is something we need to understand about God's ways. If it comes down to it He WILL sacrifice a nation to accomplish the purity of His Church. If we don't understand that we will stumble. Jesus is not coming back for a Church that looks like it just got chopped up at a butcher shop. He is going to have His way with His Church and our flesh is NOT going to like that one bit.

The Church is going to enter into this time of refinement as a huge ocean pleasure cruise liner with lots of room for passengers but it is going to come out of this time we are entering into as a sleek, much smaller fighting ship and everyone on it will be a functioning part of it's crew.

The Basis of Marriage and the Church

This is not perfect but then we should never presume anything written as perfect except the scriptures. Please consider this in that light. I did not really feel comfortable altering it from the way it came out. Also as the the last section on "marriage", let it not be abused and taken as license to sin....

"My sheep hear my voice and they follow me." 

A brother and I were praying in the spirit one day in an old fire damaged house I had bought back in 2002 when suddenly there appeared a line of fire between us. It was forcing us to choose what side of the fire we were going to be on and then it got so big that there was no way to jump over it. Then the vision was over.

I worked on that fire damaged house for four long hard years and by using older materials from houses that had been torn down and some new material was able to not only restore it but it was the most beautiful structurally stable house in the neighborhood inspiring many others to improve their houses.

But the cost of restoring the house became so great that My wife and I struggled to make the payments to the bank and though we lived in it about 5 years, we finally had to put it up for sale for far less than it was worth.

When we walked out of that house after it was bought by two homosexuals all we had left was enough to start over. So for all my hard labor to build that house, the house was then occupied by what I detested (not the people themselves).

He who has ears to hear let him hear...

 I didn't understand how God was using all this prophetically. I just lived through it and He formed the situation. The external "houses of God" and country that we have built after 9/11's warning from God went unheeded by both the country and the church as a whole is about to be divided between the profane and the holy.

I do know that "the spear that we are leaning on is going to peirce our hand." with sorrows. That the decisions that He is going to bring us to will also force us to choose between the "houses of God" built by men and the "HOUSE OF GOD" He is building in Spirit.

Years ago the LORD showed me that the non-profit status in relationsionship to the government of churches and ministries was going to change dramatically and that those who were not willing to "compromise" with the "fire" he was going to allow would not retain that status and that the boy scouts of America would be the first one to fall by either compromising or losing their NP status by standing against an immoral and unlawful demand.. At the time decades ago I didn't know what that would be.

According to law a non-profits disolution [disolving] ] (funds, building, etc) has to go to another NP corporation. Many will not be willing to count that cost as true gain.

But the beauty of all this was that the True church connected by the Spirit would rise up in that day and be seen in it's true form and glory.

But then knowing that eventuality, why are we so relying upon political influence and power? What is wrong with us that we embrace something that should not even once be named among us. Our connection to the government is the very thing that allows us to divide endlessly into 10's of thousands of legal independent identities - something that is no different than the world system we now live in.

So that being said brings up an important point:

Are we married when we have a "ceremony" saying so or the government says so or is it the decision to come together as one as God designed even in our physical beings to be outfitted and honored not for our external status with the world or even our status with an external church that itself is living in adultery with it's own governments but rather our faithfulness to live out our lives together unto death.

Then much more so should the CHURCH and those of us who believe rely upon our status with HIM and faithfulness to HIM unto death and NOT our status with the government or even the external religious form of the church?

When JESUS died upon the cross and shed HIS blood, HE said, "IT IS FINISHED!" HE set indelibly the relationship between His church and Himself forever. No ceremonial or legal status can ever "further" or deny what he has done. We are saved solely by faith in the shed blood of Jesus and His Promise (or binding betrothal) that He will keep His word to us.

So if a marriage is not determined by ceremony or legal governmental status but by faithfulness to one's promise unto death, so it is with God's Church.

The Ingathering Of The Sheep

One of the most beautiful animal things in nature I have ever seen happened years ago when we were living in the center of Oregon. It's sheep country and almost everyone who lives in that area has sheep. I used to do a lot of carpentry for a huge sheep ranch (30,000 acres) and one day the manager who was a friend of mine told me to come with him to see something.

Mitchell is known for it's hills and highlands with a few canyon-like lowlands.

My friend pointed my attention to a hillside which is actually the edge of a highland. As a watched for a while the most amazing thing I have ever seen animal-wise in my life happened. The side of that very long hill suddenly was becoming covered with sheep coming over the top and down into the lowland. Over 3000 of them. All at once together decending the steep side of the canyon. It was like a wave of sheep decending until the whole side of the hill was alive and moving. I can't even begin to describe the suddeness or the beauty of it or how massive it was.

Photo from www.raisingsheep.net/

Sheep are wonderful creatures. Unless they are restrained by man-made fences, they naturally do certain things well. They know how to search out food and as a general rule will eat together. They also do not have to be encouraged to reproduce. A small flock over some years can become quite large and yet remain together. Some may wander off and get into all sorts of trouble but by nature especially when they begin to spread the alarm amongst each other over a danger they will flock together. They are natural flockers.

But I would be cheating you out of a part of the picture of those sheep I saw coming over that huge hill if I didn't tell you about the shepherds that guided and cared for them. Unlike the other sheep owners in the area, these men came from generations of sheepherders. Many of them were Basque's who were brought in. They ate together and lived together and worked amazingly well together. They knew that there was only one flock and that flock belonged to their master. I never once in over 5 months saw them quarreling over whose sheep were whose. They were men who would spare no lengths to go out and reflock those who had wandered off.

But if I might take the liberty to express. There was one sad thing about that day. Unlike the sheep over thousands of acres who gathered together, the sheep who were fenced in by their shepherd's claims were unable to attend. All they could do was stand longingly at the fences that held them from gathering with the rest of the sheep. Because men had fenced them in they were unable to join the others...

...in that Great Ingathering of the Sheep.

* In case you didn't notice, all the sheep in the picture above are looking in the same direction. The same thing is happening with the flock of God's sheep. They are all starting to long to gather together as one flock and their attention is being drawn longingly in the direction of their coming Master. If you get in the way of that or start building new fences (or refusing to tear down old ones) you may end up on the side of a hill somewhere tending goats... And that my friends is a warning of things to come... Claiming God's sheep as your own in the day that is coming is to risk the wrath of God...

THE LAST WORD TO AMERICA

Left unheeded, this is the final word to the nation called "America."



I listened to this in tears yet a certain joy of expectancy. This is the FINAL word to this nation. If it goes unheeded the judgement is set. 

But I was very clearly reminded of a vision I had when we were praying in a fire damaged house one day. I was shocked for a minute when a ditch with fire appeared right in the living room we were praying in. The fire was so hot that no one could ever cross over it to the other side. As the Church in America, we have underestimated the day we are living in and the ONE whom we say we are serving. 

The other thing that came to me was a fearful sense that the day is coming soon that the "spear that the church is leaning on is about to pierce it's hand." Our reliance and confidence, even our own church identities is leaning on the strength of our relationship to the government but that is about to pierce our hand instead. 

We have invested in politics, our worldly strengths and our non-profit status with the government but all that is about to fall into the pit. We will be faced with doing without it and our politics, worldly strengths and organizational strengths and retaining our relationship with God or falling into the pit with those things we are holding onto. Oh the image of the "Church" may still remain but it will not be God's Church - it will be another's. 

The remnant Church is about to be stripped naked of it's unclean garments and given another - one that is holy and acceptable to God - but it will be substantially smaller than the one we perceive as God's today. It is that fear that will drive many "leaders" to lead many astray to save their outward form instead of preparing those they have influence over to face the day that is fast approaching.

What Jesus is counseling us to do is to "buy gold refined in the fire." Those who have suffered for the Lord's name sake, overcome and prosper, by nature will have greater wisdom of God...

MUSIC: SECULAR OR SACRED?

A brother posted a really nicely done worship song recently and I found myself posting this in the comments:

"Whatsoever things you do, do them with all your heart 

as unto the Lord and not as unto men."

Such a guideline for us who listen to and perform music that in all things we do them to glorify God and not for the admiration of men!

When the Lord touched me and saved me decades ago, I was a musician playing in clubs in the hotels in Hawaii. That was my life but it was also my emptiness because performing in the secular world (and unfortunately in the "modern christian pop world" is a barren life craving for the attention and admiration of men.

When I first started going to a gathering sometimes they would sing a song out of the old "hymn book" and I couldn't appreciate the words because I just couldn't stand the music. Three months later, I had no desire at all to play or to listen to secular songs (and never did again after almost 40 years.) BUT I started loving to play and sing those old hymns and worship choruses and it didn't matter if people cheered the music or admired my person, whether there was a whole crowd or just me before the Lord.

I discovered that the whole reason God placed that desire in us to sing and appreciate music was solely to express worship and to glorify God.

There was one song from my secular musical past that I used to sing with all my heart in my early years. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Find The Cost of Freedom." but I had changed the words to glorify God.

"Find the cost of freedom... 

Nailed upon the cross.. 

Jesus Christ has won it all. 

Laid my burden (of sin) down."

That is the only secular song I ever performed (besides "happy birthday to you".) in almost 40 years. Nobody influenced me or taught a "rule". It is just what God did from the beginning of my walk and I love Him for it.

It's funny because I have never shared that part of my testimony in words before today. I just found myself blessed with the living of it. Nobody ever taught on the subject. It was just pure grace and still is. It wasn't a "Thou shalt not." it was a "thou shalt." The work of God in us in that way can be expressed so beautifully in the scripture:

"Old things are passing away.Behold, all things are new!" 

- (2nd Co. 5:17)

Gathered Together In Him

If the West will not respond to God's call for this hour we are living in, Africa and other 3rd world nations will...

What has been coming on my heart for some time now is that God's moving in this nation (USA) is more dependent on we who are followers of Christ (Messiah) in that we are the ones that need to humble ourselves before him. And perhaps it will help us in seeing that Africa and other places are exploding with the Gospel and moves of God's Spirit to ask ourselves honestly why that is not happening here. We have massive buildings, 10's of thousands per gathering of audio visual equipment, Billions in funding yet we are not able to produce before God the fruit that simple poor third world countries are producing. It is time for the Church in America to realize that we are no longer the head but rather the tail of the donkey that Jesus is riding into Jerusalem on...But we need to realize that even the tail of the donkey has a purpose and we need to humble ourselves before God, find out what that true purpose is and walk in it.... There is much meaning in the word "SERVANT" of God. God has given us this opportunity to be the tail of the donkey to save us from our pride... Pride in our name, Pride in our ministries, Pride in our churches, Pride in our political parties and pride in our nation. They must all go, to bow down and make way for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords to ride into Jerusalem once more... No one will be left standing when Jesus returns... We will all be on our knees...

The picture above is almost overwhelming I still cannot get over such a sight. That is how God looks over the entirety of the Body of Christ. 

This morning I had a flash of this picture in my mind out of the blue and the Holy Spirit said, "How many people do you see?" The thought was staggering to imagine how to count that many people and before I could answer (I am not sure I actually could) the answer came from Him and overrode everything in me. The Father's answer:

"I see ONE..."

"I see my SON..."

God has gathered us from many nations and kindreds into His Son. He is in us and we are in Him. And we are all ONE in HIM. The Father looks out over the expanse of all of us gathered together in HIS SON and sees only ONE!!! He sees Jesus! Let us all see ourselves together as ONE in HIM. 

Because anything else is SIN...

My Early Testimony

40 years ago...

Trapped and drowning in a car turned upside down in a ditch. No hope. I'm going to die! Fear. No air left. No strength to try to get out anymore. I pass into the unknown. I am ushered into the presence of God. You know. The one I cursed and ignored. The one I didn't believe even existed. The one when others mentioned Him, I would laugh to scorn. The brunt of my jokes is now my judge. I have no lawyer. I am not allowed to speak. Every breath I have taken. Every thought, every motivation. Every secret wrong I have done. All played out in living color. I cannot hide. I realize I am a condemned man and there is no hope. There is no escape from the truth. It is utterly terrifying.

Suddenly there is great indescribable power displayed. I am whisked from certain death to life. I have a new breath of air. My body passes through a space that only a few minutes before I couldn't even get my arm through. All within less than a split second. My two passengers are sitting on a rock above the water. Their backs turned to the wreck. They are sad. The tow truck driver arrives. He looks shocked when I pop up to the surface. I didn't tell a single soul for years. I had no words to describe. I know now it is called, "The Mercy of God..."

I had a back injury from the accident so no one would hire me so I went up to Alaska to work. I tried to clean up my life but I kept falling on my face in the mud. No matter how I tried I knew that it wasn't enough to please God. I finally gave up but I was so empty. Came back home. Played in a band in the hotels. On the surface everything was great but inside I had no life in me and had to deal with constant back pain.

One night we had a 45 minute break and I went outside in the garden between two hotels and I stood there alone, empty, wondering if there was even any real meaning to life. Suddenly everything around me was filled with the presence of Jesus. Yes there was a certain fear but I was numb to it now. I knew I was a condemned man. I had nothing to look forward to in that way. But His presence was so beautiful, so loving and life was pouring out of Him towards me. I was awestruck. Then He said to me,

"Come into My Kingdom..."

 and those words were so full of life and forgiveness that all I managed to say was, "YES!" as I stood there basking in His presence. Then as I was standing there, the same power that had ushered me out of that car and out from the water that night went through me like a bolt of lightning and my back was instantly and permanently healed and my life was turned upside down in a wonderful way.

I was thinking today how sad it is that this generation seems to have turned it's back on God but then can we really blame them? Have they ever seen even one miracle (in "church" or out on the street) Have they heard the Gospel go out in power where man stands out of the way and let's Jesus run the show? (He is very good at it!). I think God is hearing a heart cry inside this generation. One that by and large we are ignoring. They want the real thing. They want evidence.

For decades now, by and large people have been hearing the Gospel of 2000 years of defiled churchianity but soon they will hear the Gospel of the Kingdom of God preached in power. Power to save. Power to turn people's lives around. Power to heal and all that will be found in God's power to forgive and cleanse from sin. That is one purchase that has already been made for us and it was Jesus that paid the price to make it possible. People cannot see that because often we are obscuring their view. But that is all about to change...

Jesus is saying something but with all the noise we are not hearing Him.

"Come into My Kingdom or get out of My way!. There isn't much time left and I am not willing that even one perish..."

The Missing 12 Smooth Stones

I am reminded of when the children of Israel were exhorted in their crossing of the river Jordan into the promised land that they were to take from the river 12 smooth stones to remind them of all that God had done for them in bringing them through the wilderness and crossing the Jordan. (And they had many more difficulties to go through and overcome so would need those reminders to prevail.) Their instructions were to take those 12 smooth stones and tell those stories to subsequent generations.... And, they were commanded that for a reason.

Even though the Acts of the Apostles (Actually the Acts of God through and witnessed by the Believers at the time) ends where it ends in the scripture, the book of Acts in the Church is not intended to end until the Coming of the Lord. Throughout history there have been saints of God who have walked in incredible grace. When we leave all those smooth stones of God's moving through His people back in the Jordan river of History that the Church has passed through, when we have sentenced them to be forgotten by subsequent generations, we are doing a vast disservice to future generations of Christians. Christian converts who will accept a life in Christ far less than He has intended or is capable of working in us.

Much of the present generation of newer Christians lack a certain foundation of those smooth stones of the continuity of the LORD's work in and through His Church throughout history. I have never seen a generation like this that so much seems to need to be entertained to come to and remain in Christ as opposed to realizing the deep and constant need for conviction of sin and the need to submit out lives to Christ and bear our own cross. That our lives are no longer our own. We have been purchased with a price. Part of that reason is that we have all but erased the testimony of God in prior generations and by doing so have shortchanged ourselves and this generation....

And They Were One

From the heart and mouth of the Lord Jesus:

"and there shall be one flock and one shepherd (Jesus)." John 10:16
"I and my Father are one." - John 10:30
"And the glory which You gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one." - John 17:22
"And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father [GOD], keep through Your own name those whom You have given me, that they may be one, as we are."- John 17:11
"By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another." - John - 13:35

And affirmed by the Holy Spirit upon His outpouring on the disciples:

"And all that believed were together and had all things common" - Acts 2:44
"And the multitude of them that believed were of on heart and of one soul." - Acts 4:32

---

Is it wrong to desire such a thing if Jesus himself desired it to be so??? Do we dare to entertain such a thought that seemed so prominent on the mind of Jesus prior to his crucifixion??? That after Jesus ascended the promised Holy Spirit came upon them became so apparent???

That those who follow Jesus would be ONE.

What is it that hiders us? Is it the desire to rule our own kingdoms as in the world? How is it that there are endless splits within what is outwardly known as the "Church" to the point now that we have 10's of thousands of independent organizations all claiming our own identities.

Is identifying with Christ insufficient to our hearts that we find ourselves chasing after strange fruit to satisfy some carnal desire within our ranks and in our own hearts to "have our own?" Can we possibly see that desire as sin that Jesus died on the cross for? Something that needs repentance? What is the call to repentance that so many have heard and professed really about?

"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." - 2nd Chronicles 7:14

It is not "America" (or any other country) that God is calling out to be saved. It is His Church splintered in spirit like a broken sheet of glass mirror, shattered into thousands of pieces all reflecting to some degree His image yet unable of it self to reflect that one quality of God that seems to have escaped our convictions: "Hear Oh Israel. The Lord your God is ONE God."

Jesus is not returning for the pieces of a shattered mirror but a perfect mirror image of his own likeness. We will either in our repentance finding ourselves being restored by Him or we will have to face the tremendous heat necessary to melt the shattered mirror that we have become to make us that perfect mirror image once again.

That day of extreme heat is fast coming upon us. Never underestimate the passion of a holy God for the purity of His Church. Individually, organizationally, locally or nationally...

No form of government either political or religious will save us from that day. We need to decide, each of us individually, organizationally, in our locality, nationally, to not break faith with one another other. To live in Christ as one. Rather than being puffed up about our differences to mourn before God over them until they are settled. To decide whom it is that we will truly serve, God or the shattered outward form. The failure of those in authority "above us" will be no excuse for us in that day.

"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." - Isaiah 53:6

I will leave you in this with a last thought to consider from Jeremiah 18:1-6

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear my words."

Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter?" saith the Lord. "Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel."

The day of denominationalism is over. 
"That which is highly esteemed in the sight of religious men is an abomination in the sight of God." - Luke 16:15

We need to be careful that after 2000 years of religious traditions we are not found "choking on a gnat" yet having been tricked into "swallowing a camel"...

The "Oneness" of Cooperation

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that any of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. - Acts 4:32

Wikipedia is a non-profit effort formed to provide a knowledge forum where people can work together on any subject to enhance knowledge about it. The restriction is that they agree to allow others to use it freely and without restriction and that in passing that knowledge on they do not restrict others from using it or passing it on freely as well endlessly. The goal is to enable the passing on of knowledge not to profit financially from it and to insure that continues to be the case. It has always been upheld by that discipline and the contributions and financial donations of others whether small or large.

The same principle drives the working of the Free Software Foundation which cooperatively birthed the Linux operating system into existence worldwide as an alternative to Microsoft's which was produced solely on the basis of market control and financial gain. Microsoft shares nothing of it's advances unless it absolutely has to therefore it is often very slow or negligent to correct them. The free software and knowledge community shares with and cooperates on everything so that all benefit and can continue to develop and pass it on. We might be more familiar with the "Android" system, a somewhat derivative, that powers some phones and smaller computer devices as an alternative to Apple's potential monopoly.

Even though such efforts are prone to occasional error it is notable that correction or improvement of those errors can come by way of the most seemingly insignificant member/participant very often far quicker than those commercial systems can produce. It is inherent that because no one cooperating can claim exclusiveness in anything that there is tremendous openness to correction (rather than the hiding of errors and unwillingness to have them be corrected from the "outside" inherent in more commercial efforts.) The level of cooperation and selflessness is quite often astounding considering the dog eat dog world we live in.

When I built the software that powered the INCN site years ago, I learned what I needed to know from the freely available and correctable programing efforts of others in that cooperative world. In addition, the servers were running on Linux system created and maintained by the cooperative effort of others. The Christian news articles were all produced or passed on by various cooperative efforts. I only supplied (or at this juncture in my life prefer to say "funneled") the means to publish them efficiently on the web. I found myself cataloging them first and foremost according to country or locality rather than by organization, something that I partook of earlier in my walk and certainly not my own exclusively. How else could a carpenter with a GED and no experience accomplish something like that by himself. I can never say I did it or designed it because ultimately it was formed on the backs of others before me.

One day at my desk when I was finding myself overwhelmed by the awareness of all the cooperation that went before me, I was reminded of the scripture and warning from Jesus, 

"And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." - Luke 16:8"

What if the Church, the followers of Jesus in Christ was originally designed to function like that in utter selfless cooperation and willingness to be corrected. Where the greatest among us is as a servant. And, if so, is it possible that the Creator of the Universe who has His hands in every event that unfolds upon the earth, speaking to a Church which has fallen to the state of many independent Balaams that desire to prophesy for personal gain. Speaking to that Church through the very donkey that it is riding on? "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6

How about a revival of Holy Spirit led "oneness in cooperation" among all the believers in Jesus Christ?

Lessons From My Dad

I will give thanks unto thee 

for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are thy works and 

that my soul knoweth rightfully well.

Some people get what they need from the supermarkets and malls and some people are forced to get it from the garbage dumps. When I was a kid in Hawaii, the dumps (just like this picture) was a viable option. Think I'm going to borrow this picture from a friend. If nothing else to remember from whence I came.
(cont. below)

A child scraping out a living in the dumps - probably in Mexico

When I was very young, about the age of that young child in the picture above, my dad used to take me to the dumps where in addition to his regular job, he would collect scrap metal along with a host of other things. To be honest, I hated going there. It was humiliating and a nasty environment that if I described it in detail I could with utter certainty guarantee that you would lose your breakfast. I don't have to imagine much what that child's life is like.

My dad was the son of a sugar plantation worker who himself was the son of a sugar plantation worker. My dad probably hated that plantation culture as much as I hated being in those dumps. When he was in about the 8th grade (possibly earlier) he was pulled out of school to work in the plantation store to help support my grandfather's very large family. That was plantation life. It wasn't always very fair.

He managed to escape that life when he signed up for the army during WWII in the pacific for about 5 years. When he came back, his eyes were open to many new things and many new people. He got a job as a welding equipment repairman and later in sales. He also married my mom, a nurse from Nebraska who worked at the plantation dispensary - something that was not exactly looked upon with favor by some people. My mom could have had a place with the elite, the managers and doctors hired from the mainland US but she chose to marry a "local" instead, come what may. He could have ended up cutting cane and she could have ended up at the "Yacht Club" with the rest of the "haole" manager class from the mainland.

My dad wanted better for us kids and his job couldn't pay for that so he would spend every day after work and saturdays at the dumps gleaning for scrap metals. He got pretty good at it. Later in life the dumps people used to call him "the King of the Dumps." Out of that extra they managed to send us kids to private school. They wanted better for us. It costs money to send your kids there. Up until the 8th grade, I went to school with the children of parents who were much better off financially. When I was about the age of this little girl in the picture, my dad started taking me to the dumps with him on Saturdays and in the summer, sometimes on weekday afternoons.

I utterly resented it because I lived in the utter fear of the humiliation I would suffer if one of my friends from private school were to ever come down to dump their rubbish and see me there in the midst of it all. (Again I will spare you a graphic description.) There was a tremendous stigma attached to being among the dumps people - the extremely poor. I had no idea as a child that those dumps were paying for my education and exposure to the very friends I had come to know in my life. I honestly didn't realize that until I was a young man in my mid 20's. I was somewhat spared humiliation when for some reason when I had finished 7th grade my parents took us out of private school and put us into the public school closer to where we lived.

We humans can be very adaptable to circumstances given the time and consistency. My dad took me to the dumps until I was about 16. I did manage after a while to find some solace in it all. It's amazing what people throw away. As long as I was gleaning for scrap metal I was also free to pick up anything else I wanted. By the time I was barely a teenager I had amassed quite a collection of bicycle parts and had my own little bicycle shop in a little corner of my dad's garage/warehouse. I was pretty good at piecing parts together to make complete bicycles. I easily had over a dozen of them at one point in time. So, I started learning something my dad had been trying to teach me all that time. Oh the stench was still there. The humiliation was still there but I found out what most dumps gleaners find out at least at some point in their lives and learn to appreciate. "One man's junk is another man's treasure."

When I was about sixteen I was old enough to go out and get jobs to make any money I needed doing odd jobs and yard work. I never really went back to the dumps after that except to dump the rubbish. Honestly, I would have been happy to never have seen those dumps again. My dad continued to go there for most of the rest of his life. He loved finding those treasures that other people had discarded, taking them home and cleaning them up and placing them on the shelves in their living room. In my later years as an adult I had the pleasure of knowing him and I realized that he could look past the grim and filth covering something he had found and he could see past all that to see the treasure that was underneath. When anyone would visit, he would watch their eyes and if he saw them paying a particularly appreciative attention to one of his treasures, he would reach up on the shelf when they were leaving and say, "I want you to have this."

I would love to say that I saw all this right away but I still had a certain distaste for the dumps and almost an embarrassment of my dad. It wasn't until after my mid twenties that I was utterly delivered from that resentment and shame. When I became a Christian, after a few years I had gotten to know quite a few people who were well endowed with the gift of the Spirit. Among them I noticed with a certain internal respect was a pastoral couple (Mr. and Mrs. Day) of a small gathering that most people seemed to have nothing to do with. I seemed to always take note of them as being a little different.

To make the point, one night a friend of mine was working as a security guard in the Psyche ward. He had a particular anointing to walk into that ward and bring a certain calm to all the patients, so much so that the nurses hoped he would be on the same duty roster. A young man had been brought in a few days before and they misdiagnosed him and mismedicated him so he fell into a coma. Apparently there wasn't much they could do so they were just waiting for him to die. Suddenly, that night, the double doors to the ward burst open and Mrs. Day, like a battle axe, burst into the ward, motioned to my friend and immediately proceeded into the young man's room to pray for him along with my friend. That young man suddenly sat up in bed alive and well. To say that I was impressed would be an understatement.

One day, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, "Go to the dumps." To be honest, as I said before, I wanted nothing to do with the dumps for quite a few years but because it was so clear, I reluctantly got in my car and went there. When I got there, I parked the car wondering why I was sent there because I had no urge to get out of the car. As I looked around, out there quite a ways was an older couple standing facing each other and holding hands and praying before they began to glean the fields. It was Mr. and Mrs. Day! There was a certain aura around them as they prayed. They were there to pick through used clothes to take home, clean and likely give them away the same way my dad used to do all those years.

I never looked at the dumps or my dad the same way again.

So in closing I would have to say something having lived some years on this earth. That there are some things that God wants to speak to us about. He wants to speak to us about the dumps and discarded treasures hidden in human filth. The same human treasures that He sent His Son Jesus to die for. He wants to gift us to see past all the human filth and recognize the treasure being concealed by it. To take them home, clean them up and treasure them.

He also wants us to see that underneath all the imperfections of our life long before we actually are aware of Him that He has hidden His treasures all along the way in our lives. Before we were ever born, He knew us in our mother's womb.

Above it all perhaps even warning us that we need to be more careful who and what we discard and toss in the trash heap. After all, somebody may just come along and see the treasure that we rejected. Just how will we feel then? God's greatest treasure, Jesus the Messiah, was also rejected of men.

If we feel like Jesus is strangely missing from our lives or our fellowship, it may very well be that He has gone dumpster diving for the lost and discarded treasures of humanity. If you really want to find Him, you may very well have to go to the dumps as well...

The Love Of God

This story was relayed to a group of us assembled together to hear our Jewish brother Art Katz speak many years ago. Art was a different sort of brother. He was very Jewish yet as convicted of Christ as any of us if not more so. He definitely brought a certain Jewish flavor of gospel with him. He NEVER spoke unless there was something God wanted to impart into us.

He had traveled to Japan to meet with a Japanese brother who went by the name of Professor Tashima. During WWII, the Christians particularly in leadership roles had to hide up in the mountains for the duration of the war. It was a dangerous time for them and as a result spent much time in earnest prayer. Many times God was Professor Tashima's only companion. After the war was over, Professor Tashima returned to ministry but there was something about him that made others uncomfortable around him so he could not find a pastoral position open for him. He was later assigned to the leper colony because nobody wanted the assignment.

During his first day at preaching there, he stood at the pulpit which was quite high above the gathering of lepers to keep the speaker from "contamination." He began to preach to them about the Love of God. He looked down upon the crowd of lepers below him and his heart was filled with the love of God for them. So much so that he was compelled to leap down off that high platform and went about hugging tightly each one of them telling them that God loved them. As he hugged each one of them with the Love of God in him for them, each one of those lepers was completely healed. Leprosy in the scriptures is a symbol of sin, of uncleanness. Those lepers had been set free by the Love of God in Christ to go about their lives free from the restrictions of the leper colony, free to live their lives in the freedom and gratitude of the Love of God.

After that Professor Tashima would go about street preaching and telling people of the Love of God always miracles accompanying his preaching. As he would go about preaching a woman who had been used by the Japanese soldiers for sex against her will during the war would stand in the back and cry out with a loud voice, "Where is the love of this God? I was used sexually all these years and I have sexual diseases that have disfigured me and my beauty and ruined my life. Who is going to love me? Tell me how can you preach the "love of God" when I have to live with such a thing? (This was before antibiotics were available for those diseases) She was very disruptive at all his meetings and would cry out each time so he prayed and prayed to God about how he could show this pitiful and bitter woman the Love of God. The Lord finally spoke to him. "I want you to marry her to show her my love..." So he went to her and married her to show her the love that God had for her. He never caught those sexual diseases.

When Art Katz was visiting and spending some time with them years later, he noticed that she was radiantly beautiful, almost embarrassingly so. He went behind a pillar so he could observe her better to understand how she could be so radiant (It was troubling him). To his surprise, her face was still very disfigured. Her radiance was the Love that she had received from God. She was literally radiating with the Love of God.

A simple message with such powerful results: "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life." "Of a truth, Jesus Christ died for All sin, for All mankind, for All time."

Now days there are so many people seeking after the "power of God" and the conviction of others when we should be seeking Him for His Love for ourselves and for others. Conviction will follow, miracles will follow but what good is it if we don't have the Love of God in our hearts for others? Jesus went about preaching the Love of God but He was driven in compassion to demonstrate it...