Tag Archive | Isaiah 5:20

Life? Peace? Truth?

Apr19

     

     There was a day when it was relatively easy to be a Christian. But that’s not true any longer. And I believe that is a good thing. When it is easy to be a Christian, you don’t need to count the cost. Why? Because claiming we are Christian cost us very little. We grow apathetic. Much of the attacks on our Christian way of life happen without our even noticing. By the time we do notice, the job to reclaim our way of life seems overwhelming.

     It’s apparent with the pandemic, the governmental opposition to our judo-christian values, the loss of respect our country has experienced on the world’s stage that something is terribly wrong. Christianity is condemned at every turn. False assumptions and human reasoning about anything Christian, rules the day. Peace is in short supply. Life grows less valuable by the day and truth become unrecognizable. 

     Yet, I’m pretty sure that when things get bad enough, people will begin realizing that they have mislabeled right and wrong! When they get their fill of violence, anger, deception, and manipulation, they will begin an earnest search for life, peace, and truth. And since they have exhausted a search for such within their own current philosophies, they will turn to find life, peace, and truth right where they left it, at the foot of the Cross. 

                                                                     

Man walking to a cross and kneeling before it.

 

Teens and Fiery Darts

Jun18

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     Recently, I was invited to speak to a group of teenage girls on the subject of Fiery Darts. A subject we ALL are affected by, no matter our age. I was thrilled to be able to offer these precious young ladies advice that would prepare them to follow the path God has chosen for them. 

     They learned that every attitude or behavior (acceptable or unacceptable) begins with a thought. Unacceptable thoughts can originate from their own 1)sinful nature, 2)the World, and 3)Satan.  Satan uses all three to deceive and manipulate the formation of our thoughts to suit his purpose in ruining our witness.

     We compared God’s plan (Jeremiah 29:11), Satan’s plan to steal, kill, and destroy (fr John 10:10a) , and God’s plan to equip them to defeat the enemy (Ephesians 6:16) From 1 Peter 5:8 they were warned to take seriously the enemy’s attacks.

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     They were informed that without God’s filter of what is true;  lyrics, books, movies, websites, and even social media that is contrary to God’s truths, will begin to shape how they view sin. 

     It was impressed upon them that if they ignore God by spending little time with Him in prayer and His word, then the lies of fiery darts will infiltrate their minds and will begin to rule their thinking.  Eventually, they will see wrong as right and right as wrong.  

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…

 

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They were reminded that

God has plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.     

         Satan’s plans are to destroy you and your future. He will lead you to your destruction one fiery dart at a time

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         The following steps were given to counter Satan’s attacks

  1. Recognize the fiery darts of the enemy (absorb God’s word where you will become wise in recognizing the difference between thoughts that come from God and thoughts that do not) 

  2. Reject such thoughts immediately. (the longer you think about them the more their lies will take root)

  3. Replace fiery darts with God’s Truth Thoughts. (every time that thought enters your mind, quote a God Truth. 

By applying these lessons regarding fiery darts, the benefits of the following verse will be theirs to claim.

Do not be conformed to this world, but continuously be transformed by the renewing of your minds (as you spend time with God in prayer and His word) so that you may be able to determine what God’s will is—what is proper, pleasing, and perfect.  (and not be so easily manipulated and deceived by the enemy)  Romans 12:2 ISV

 

 

What can I do for my country?

Aug27

   I love my country, but I do not love the way she is behaving. I am a Christian and I believe that God created this world. (I seriously don’t see how any force other than God could pull off what He did in the Creation.)

   And I believe that God purposely provided a revelation as to who He is and what He did and plans on doing for the human beings He created, in the book we call The Bible. All for the purpose of revealing His plan for our salvation, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone!

   Most of our founding fathers believed in God, revered the Bible, and felt committed to establishing laws for our country based on the Truths of Scripture. But today, it is extremely difficult to find much evidence that our nation’s leaders believe in God and/or revere the Bible as our founding father’s did.

   There are prominent men and women who are declaring that our country is under judgement because our nation has turned her back on God. Considering the state of affairs in our nation, I hardly see how that could be denied. 

   But there is an aspect of the dilemma our country is facing that escapes most people.  I point this out on page 1 of my book:

   Scriptures are obvious in describing Satan’s plan in John 10:10a, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;…” (NIV) So what is it that the Enemy desires to steal, kill, and destroy? The answer is obvious – anything God has planned for us! 

   The second half of John 10:10 reveals an aspect of God’s plan for His children, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (NIV) p. 1, FD

   I strongly believe that Satan’s first step in stealing, killing, and destroying the good plans God has for us (as individuals and as a country) is to direct our attention away from the Bible’s Truths. Once he has accomplished this then we become easy prey for his fiery darts (negative thoughts). 

   By removing the guiding force of the Truth’s contained in the Bible, Satan is free to manipulate us into destruction (again, individually and as a country). 

   And because we as individuals and as a country have been manipulated to turn our thoughts and attentions towards the World’s concept of truth instead of the Holy Bible, then we find we are no longer capable of recognizing or even respecting God’s Truths. Instead, of combating fiery darts with Truth thoughts from God’s Word, we find individuals and our country’s leaders defining right as wrong and wrong as right. (which by the way is described in Isaiah 5:20)

So what are we to do?

   First and foremost we must return to the Truth’s of Scripture. That is the only weapon that can successfully fight the fiery dart thinking with which Satan uses for our destruction. IF we truly desire for our nation to be healed then as individuals we must:

14 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. 2 Chronicles 7:14

Truth vs Lies!

Nov12

Lies, Truth

The lies of fiery darts are attempting to place you in bondage.

Hope

But Hope in God’s Truth will release you from its bondage,

Jeremiah 29:11

But you must acknowledge that God is Truth!

How can a country know Truth when they have rejected the source of Truth–God?  Of course, you can’t know Truth apart from God. (John 18:37)  But apparently there are many (too many) who believe that it can be done and down through the ages they have attempted to do so. The results of their efforts have given birth to a definition based on lies.  For those who have rejected God’s Truth, darkness has become a way of life for them. They have become so accustomed to the dark that they see the darkness as light and the light as darkness.  Ooh, that sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  (Isaiah 5:20, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,…)  And the resulting man’s truth has created a climate of fear and bondage throughout our land.

Unless,

we are willing to acknowledge God as the source of Truth, then and only then will the Light of Truth shine down upon us, exposing the fiery darts that we have allowed to plunge us into darkness.  When we acknowledge the Light of Truth, then Hope, and Faith will return and we will be released from the bondage of the lies and the fear they produce.

Take heart Christians,

in the following verse:

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

I write this post because America is in serious trouble. And because so many of our leaders are blinded to the Truth, we must be careful not to be caught up in their deception. We must not allow the lies of their truth to destroy our Hope. Instead we must dig deep into God’s Word and arm ourselves with God’s Truth.  And in obeying that Truth, we will discover that God is in control and man is not. (Daniel 4:35 and Isaiah 14:27) We will discover there is nothing to fear.(Isaiah 41:10)  We will discover He has good plans that we can place solid hope in now and for our future (Jeremiah 29:11).  We will discover that no matter what may come our way God will cause it all to work out together for our good. (Roman 8:28)  I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point!

So, Keep the Faith.

And remember, that other’s lack of faith in God and their disobedience to Him, in NO way diminishes God’s Truth. 

Until next post,

When bad looks good!

Aug30

In recent days the headlines have been buzzing with the performance exploits of a certain young entertainer.  She presented herself onstage as someone who was not constrained by any sense of right or wrong, proper or improper public behavior.  And much of the nation was shocked!

And why were we shocked?

Why, because this young lady started out portraying a wholesome image, and parents (many of them Christian) put their stamp of approval on her by encouraging the idolization of their young daughters for her.  Her motivation for wholesomeness apparently wasn’t based in pleasing God, therefore did she ever get off track! Then when she went to the ‘dark side’ suddenly these same parents were horrified at the influence this young lady might now have over their daughters.

Consider this.

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Isaiah 5:20 HCSB

A commentary on this verse nails it when it comes to describing what is going on in our country today:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil,…. That call evil actions good, and good actions evil; that excuse the one, and reproach the other; or that call evil men good, and good men evil; Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let’s face it, we live in a country that is seeing the verse in Isaiah 5:20 played out in almost every level of society and in every venue.  How did we get so far off track?  A quote from my book should shed some light.

 “… allowing society to have more of an influence on our understanding … than we allowed God to have.” pp. 76-77 Fiery Darts

In chapter 7 of Fiery Darts: Satan’s Weapon of Choice, I make the point that loving God and pleasing Him (not the world) is the best motivation in determining how we should behave.

When we have a clearer understanding of true love then much will change in our lives depending on the extent of our level of what we have misunderstood. We will want to change things like our dress, our attitudes, our activities, our speech and the manner in which we behave towards others.  When we are motivated by a pure love for God, then we will want to please Him in all our ways as 1 Timothy 4:1a points out, “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God,…” (NIV) Therefore, when we identify things in our lives that don’t please God, we will desire to eliminate those things.

If you identify things in the lives of others that do not please God, why would you want to give them the preciousness of your focus and admiration?  When you choose your objects of admiration, make sure their ways please God.

So parents and young people alike.  Your focus and admiration is a valuable commodity and it should be directed toward those who are worthy.  Don’t throw away your admiration on someone who has fame and fortune just because they have fame and fortune, Duh!.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. Proverbs 14:12, HCSB

Remember, fiery darts are designed to make something that is bad look good.  Just like it says in Proverbs, it may look good to man but it’s a dead end path.

So what must you do as parents?  Model for your children what is worthy of our admiration and what is not.  Talk about why it’s worthy or not worthy.  Be smart about what the Word says about those seeking our children’s attention and direct them towards those whose ways please God.  And most of all:

Dig deep into the Word of God so you will not be deceived by fiery dart thinking and pass what you learn there along to your children.  

Truth = Genuine Freedom!

Jul5

Proud of my country's flag!

Proud of my country’s flag!

Today my country is 237 years old.

Two hundred and thirty-seven years ago today, a bunch of ordinary men got together and did something extraordinary and here’s how they went about it:

Before they signed the Declaration of Independence, they went to church for four hours. Then they went to the hall and prayed an hour before they signed it. Several ministers were involved in the decree for independence.

These men knew that freedom wasn’t license to do whatever you wanted to do. They knew that TRUE freedom came through Faith, with Morality, Law, Education, and Liberty, based on Christian values and principals and steeped in the love of God. (Matrix of Liberty)

Our country’s forefathers were fresh from prayer and sacrifice as they signed that Declaration of Independence.  Therefore, the fiery darts had little chance to interfere with or manipulate their attitudes and/or actions.  Most of those men were Christians and I dare say ALL of them respected the Word of God.  Men like this didn’t give the fiery darts much room to mess with their minds.

But through the years this has changed.  No longer is America led by men and women who have a healthy respect for God and His Word.  Many don’t even believe He exists.  Personal agendas trump God’s agenda more often than not. How did we get from 1776 to 2013 and wind up so far from the principals we were founded on?

There are so many ideologies floating around in the halls of our leadership, and each one of them proclaim they want freedom.  Yep, you heard me freedom!  BUT it’s not freedom they really want.  Their freedom is just the fiery dart of license dressed up to look like freedom.  The enemy is so-o-o cleaver, I’m sad to say, and many of us have fallen prey to his deceptions.   

But we do have hope!  Our land can be healed.  It will require something rather dramatic of us, though.

14 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. 2 Chronicles 7:14

 

This is what is all boils down to:

We need to humble ourselves

Pray

Seek God

Turn from our wicked ways

And there’s something  quite significant as to whom this verse is directed:

My People

(That’s Christians, people)

No fiery dart will tell you to start solving our country’s problems by humbling ourselves in prayer, seek God, and repent!  Nope, it will tell you to demand your rights, deny God, assert yourselves and don’t you dare call it ‘wicked’ (even if God does).  And if anyone comes against you for that, then the fiery darts will convince you that whatever you have to do to shut them up is acceptable.  Do you know why they think like that?

I think the Bible nailed it in the following verse.

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” Isaiah 5:20

So, fellow Christians we have our mandate.  Don’t expect those who have rejected God to start acting right.  It’s not going to happen.  It’s not their fault our country has strayed so far away from our beginnings, for they are just acting as people like them have always acted.  We allowed it by not standing up for the principals our country was founded on.  We got away from God’s Word, and the further we drifted the cloudier truth became.  

We must get back into God’s Word and allow His Truth to dictate our attitude and actions.  Our country was founded and built upon the Truths of God.  Therefore, no other truths will produce what God’s Truth produces, 

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Romans 8:32