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Preserving our beloved USA…

Oct14
A way of participating in the saving of America!

I keep thinking about my fellow Christians who live in countries that persecute them for professing faith in Jesus Christ. What are their thoughts as they ponder their new found faith in Christ? Will they be kicked out of their homes? Will they loose their means of income? Will their spouse or children be taken from them? Will they be able to continue attending the college they have enrolled in? Will they be on the run to be relocated to a safe place due to the threats from their own families? The cost of making a decision to follow Christ means harassment, rejection, torture, and even death for many in our world today. 

I receive an email every Saturday with information on how to pray for individuals who are enduring persecution for their faith. It is a sobering read and raises so many questions for me. Would I continue to profess my faith if I knew I could suffer such persecution? I would hope so, but I would not find such strength apart from God! As I am confident is the means whereby our brothers and sisters in Christ continue to endure. Therefore, I am compelled to faithfully pray for the persecuted.

America’s Christian population can’t imagine such oppression.  Yet, the evil that is the source of such affliction is rearing its ugly head within our own boundaries. The challenges to our faith come under the label of discrimination at this point in time. Yet, there are those within our borders whose reported plans are to force their godless ideologies upon us.

In Jeremiah 7:8-10 we read how the Israelites were warned about placing their security within the structure of the Temple. They misunderstood how their behavior was linked to God’s favor on them. They had the Temple, after all. Therefore, they could misbehave as they chose. It took the destruction of their beloved Temple and exile to a strange and godless nation that enlightened them to the price they had paid for rejecting God’s standards.

The enemy, Satan, is actively deceiving American Christians today with similar misconceptions. The deception that because we call ourselves a Christian nation, God will not allow the terrible persecution that occurs in Communist and Muslim countries. So we sit in our comfortable pews or homes and give little thought to the type of persecution some are enduring. For we are a Christian nation and our safe keeping is dependent upon God. He will do all the work of protection. We don’t have to worry about it.

Listen Christian America, if we don’t stand solidly upon the Christian principles our beloved United States was founded, what happened to the Israelites could very well happen to us. The persecution Christians are enduring in other countries could reach our shores.

But REMEMBER,

voting for those who take a stand against anti Christian ideologies, is part of God’s plan for America’s protection.

Think about it!

What does it mean to show Christlike love to others who have rejected God and/or His ways?

Sep21

Even as we lived a life of disobedience, even as we rebelled against God’s standards of living, even as we rejected the existence of God, even as we refused to take God and Christ’s death seriously, God allowed Christ to be sacrificed for us. He didn’t wait for His ways to make sense to us before He offered us a solution.

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8

Admittedly, it’s hard to have loving feelings toward those who boldly reject God and His ways. Our world is upside down these days. Right is wrong and wrong is right! And what is more alarming is this deception has seeped into some of our churches! We Christians struggle to figure out how to stand strong in our faith without alienating those who have rejected God’s ways.

This is a prime dilemma that Satan eagerly takes advantage of. Ever hear the silent voice that says, “If you are kind and accepting of this person who lives in a way that mocks God and His ways, then that’s the same as condoning their sin.” You see, Satan has us focus on this fiery dart in order to deter us from verses like Romans 5:7-8.

What we fail to understand is that we can be kind and forgiving towards those who have fallen prey to the enemy’s deception, without compromising our faith values. How can we be kind and forgiving? By understanding the complex truth of separating the person we have issues with from the sins they have embraced!

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,… Matthew 5:43-44

It’s a slippery path to find ways to separate the sinner from the sin, of course. And our upside down world has made it even harder. But acknowledging that God loved us while we were still living in our sin, should empower us to do the same for others living outside of God’s will. This will provide us with the motivation to care enough about that person to deliver God’s truth to them with kindness and compassion. (Perhaps, we have been guilty of delivering the truth without the compassion?)

While we may be rejected and even persecuted by those we have attempted, with loving kindness, to be honest with, we must be prepared for this. Courageous love demands that we be truthful, whether they reject us or not or whether they reject God’s truth or not.

Personally, I don’t think there’s ever been a time when God’s truth has been so distasteful to so many. And these days we must count the cost before delivering His truth, for we could be made to suffer for it. We must keep in mind this world is not permanent; eternity is. And where we spend eternity is determined by what we do about God’s truths while we live here on earth.

Tempted to fear? Then read on!

Sep14

These are perilous days in which we are living!

      Over the weekend another beheading took place and an attack on an US embassy by a terrorist group was foiled in a major African country. U.S. citizens there are being asked to be watchful and careful!

      Fighting in Israel has disrupted daily life now for months. In my own country, a Jewish friend fears for her safety when attending the synagogue to celebrate upcoming holy days. I understand that it’s typical to have armed guards surrounding the synagogue during these events.

        All over the world, persecution of Christians is on the rise. Much of it originating within terrorists cells, not only targeting Christians but Jews as well.

        I have friends in the city where the US embassy was put on guard. They are okay at present but have been warned to be careful and alert. I also have family members living in a not too distant area from there.

Am I tempted to fear? You bet, I am!

Do I give into fear? Not as long as I do the following:

First, as soon as the temptation to fear enters my mind, I RECOGNIZE it as a fiery dart.

Second, I put up my shield of faith and RESIST it.

Third, I REPLACE the fearful thought with a Truth thought, and in this case it’s 2 Timothy 1:7,For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Every single time a fearful thought seeks to embed itself into my thinking, I shift into Recognize, Resist, and Replace mode of behavior.

What is the effect of this behavior?

God tells me that fear is not something from Him. So on that fact alone, I reject it! ! ! ! ! 

   God tells me He has given me the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind, instead. Therefore, any action I take, any words I speak, or thoughts I think, having to do with the evil running rampant in this world today should be defined by what God has given me–

NOT FEAR! ! ! ! ! ! 

Based on the following blog post:  https://fierydarts.wordpress.com/2014/02/17/the-3-rs-of-fighting-fiery-darts-revised-plan/

Hope or Despair? You get to choose!

Aug26

He will return!

He will return!

 

     With the alarming rise of Christian persecution, many are looking up–searching the skies?

Why?

Revelation 1:7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, ” says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    The purpose of my blog is not to discuss the 2nd coming of Christ. (The scriptures are pretty clear about that event!) I just want to highlight a few of the fiery darts related to Jesus’s return and expose the schemes behind them. Scriptures highlight one of the most common of these fiery darts:

2 Peter 3:3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is the ‘coming’ he promised?

     Ah, the fiery dart of doubt. Just add a little of that into the thinking processes and like yeast it will expand and increase. Leaving those who have succumbed to it, weakened and vulnerable!

     And in the light of the horrors broadcast over the internet and news stations of the persecutions and beheadings of Christians in Iraq and around the world, without the assurances of God’s Word, we become fearful.  Now we are dealing with doubt AND fear. 

     And good Christian knows that trials and troubles when dealt with according to God’s guidance will produce increased faith and trust in Him. Therefore, our ability to resist fiery darts such as doubt and fear will be strengthened and they will not succeed in victimizing us and holding us captive. 

John 16:33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

    Therefore, dear reader. Resist the temptation (fiery dart) to not spend time in God’s Word. Things may get a lot worse before Jesus finally returns, so protect your mind and your faith with the Truths from God’s Word. 

 Knowing the words that proceed from the mouth of God, in other words The Bible, then we have those TRUTHS with which to contrast the fiery darts from Satan. During times of weakness our vision is not always clear and we find ourselves vulnerable to fiery darts. It is in such times that we need to be able to call upon the strength available to us. FD, p. 36

IT’S YOUR CHOICE!