THE ECONOMICS OF A SON ...... "Resting in Time"

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The Stoning of Stephen

But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

Act 7:55,56


A Message of Encouragement and Hope
I may be like you in that of late there have been great wars waged in my heavens. We may not suffer the stone missiles that, our brother, Stephen did but never the less that which comes to achieve our death in Christ is every bit as horrific, painful and real. Surely, when all the stones have hit their appointed mark within us, there will be only a solid foundation left and it will be the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. The world has waited six long days to finally see Adam laid to rest that Christ might rise and say, "these are the first fruits of the man, Adam made into the image of God. These are my brothers, these are my sisters and they stand with Me ruling and reigning from the Heavens."

Today, while bad news abounds everywhere and the world travails, God is hanging a sign and it says, "it's alright, it's gonna be alright." Oh, how man full of fret and fear needs to hear such a message where the future seems so dark and and full of despair. I know within an office in Southern California this week, there were a number that heard the "it's going to be alright" message. They heard it from Joian after they received the news of her work and pay being cut in half because of the economic downturn. God hung a sign in that office. He hung it on a saint that had her eyes focused on Christ and her heart's desire for His peace and healing come upon the earth. I know, like Joian, there are many others that have been dispersed to diverse locales throughout the world that they carry that same sign of hope to a fretful world.

I pray in the next while as we get back to blogging we can hang a sign on each of you saying, "it's going to be alright." The world needs to see those signs and God is raising up saintly sign posts from which to hang His message of hope. From the ashes of our once selfish lives may the Father stand up a message of hope emanating from each of us, as He proclaims, "these are my sons, in whom I am well pleased."

Truly, "it's alright, it's gonna be alright." We can lay our lives on that!


Resting in Life and Death
and the Times Betwixt

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1Cor 15:55

"For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." Rom 14:7-9

It was a sunny day and while on my lunch break I stopped by to visit with a friend who was building a brick wall in the font of a school yard. As I was standing there conversing I was startled by a the deafening roar of an engine. Turning to identify this growing peace shattering noise, I was ominously introduced to the front end of speeding car. It seemed as though all of time began to move in slow motion, as I clawed and fought to stay above the hood of this roaring automobile. I rode this monster for, what seemed to be, at least as many yards as you would find in half a football field. This out of control beast seemed to carry me forever before it finally crashed into the brick wall. My legs were painfully pinned between the crumbling brick and a crumpled vehicle. So great was the impact, this brand new automobile ended up being totaled by the insurance company.

Unbelievably, in the midst of this chaos, all sense was about me and my reasoning was enheightened to a fine fever pitch. Still pinned to the wall by this full throttled beast, wanton to devour me, I shouted for my friend to reach through the window and turn off the ignition. (of course while all this was happening, it was the face of a woman driver staring at me from behind the steering wheel, and yes, I can never resist an opportunity for jest or joke. lol)

I share this first hand example of how, when I was faced with the imminent prospect of death, all of time slowed down and I would even say space conversely was increased.

Some months later I would revisit the scene of this accident and to my great surprise I would see that all of this horrific activity took place within an area consisting of but only a few yards. The distance from the parking place where the woman hit the gas pedal instead of the brake was maybe all of ten yards. The measure of space between where the automobile hit me and the brick wall to which it pinned me, was only two or three yards. Because of my altered perspective during this life threatening event, it felt as if my ride on the hood of the car had taken place in slow motion, and a hundred minute details were immediately etched into my senses. During the time I was riding the hood of the car I even remember looking into the face of the driver and wondering, "why is this woman is so angry with me.?" The time frame in which all this excitement took place, instead of filling minutes occurred in not more than a few seconds. And the time I spent clawing and scratching to stay atop the car rather than slip underneath it, could not of been but small fractions of one second.

This is my personal story of as close an encounter as I have ever had with, what is familiarly known as an "NDE" or "near death experience." Where as with my personal experience all seemed to slow down in the face of death, there are probably many more accounts by others, where everything instead of slowing down, seemed to speed up. The stories of the "flashing of one's life" before them speaks of memories consciously reconnected at breakneck speed. Then again we could also look at this "flashback" occurrence as a slowing down of everything external to accommodate the immense internal flow of those life memories. Either way, this manipulation of time is a strange phenomenon that often seems to take place at what would be termed one's transitional period from this world to another.

I've read where the doctors and scientists explain these strange occurrences, as the rapid increase of chemical paths made up of neurons crossing synapses even in unusual patterns. They say this is genetic and brought on by an evolved faculty for survival. I have no reason to think there isn't truth in this. It would seem in the natural, this altered and heightened sense of consciousness is part of the "fight or flight response in the face of danger" that is part of our human make up. I however must also believe that with such a phenomenon there is a spiritual lesson to be gleaned from the shadows of nature. Romans 1 declares, “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made ....."

There certainly must be mysteries to behold and Divine reasonings to be explored as to such a peculiar manipulation of time and space that occurs as a precursor to death. What might God be telling us, with such dramatic alterations of our earthly dimensions unfolding at the summation of our physical time on earth?

I have pondered that very question and I would like to share a lesson I may have found with regard to the alteration of time within the framework of "near death experiences" I would not write of NDE's unless there was possibly a practical application in our spiritual walk with our Lord. With that said, please also understand that I am not one that reads and relishes over the innumerable NDE's sensationalized in every kind of media with regard to the subject of God and the afterlife. If the truth be known, because of my lack of interest, I have probably only read or listened to, but a handful of NDE accounts in all my years. So what is the lesson I found in my experience and those of the others I am familiar with?

Not meaning to tease you, before I share what that lesson might be, please allow me to recount my once held belief of our existence beyond the grave. Because of the common mixture of the term "eternity" with the place of the dead it seems I had built up a belief system that framed a state of being, where the dead did not experience time. I thought the grave and the Kingdom of Heaven as some kind of timeless zones, utilizing other unknown dimensions. This misconception was because I was ingrained by church tradition to think of "eternity" as dealing specifically with the concept of "time." Today, I realize "eternity" does not deal with time per se', but instead "eternity" describes the overall concept of God, who is infinite in His being and nature. We must note also that the Kingdom of Heaven is synonymous with the Kingdom of God with regard to Bible usage. Adding, let us go further in pointing out the Kingdom of Heaven is the dwelling place of God. Where God is, there is Heaven. The wonder of this is that we are God's Heaven. And did you know, scripture more than half the time speaks of "Heavens", as in the plural. The plurality of the heavens would only make sense as you work out the progression of who and where God is. Contemplate all that is taking place in Him and all that is happening in you and you get a picture of the Heavens. I hope I haven't confused you and if you are, allow me say, "so great is our God, that He truly is immeasurable to any possible or reasonable degree. We have a really big God, and if you are like me the more you know about Him, the more you realize how much you don't know." So it can also be said of Heaven. Thus is born the cry of our hearts to know Him more fully. Is there a greater desire today in you and in me. Do you awake with that desire and is this not also your last thought as you fall asleep. It truly is with me and I cannot escape it. I so want to know Him!

"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." Ps. 17:15

Getting back to this message on "time" let me say that because of some diverse experiences I had while in the Spirit I found a real conflict, with the idea that our post-mortem environment was "timeless" or "beyond time." I prayed concerning this and the Lord brought to me a number of scriptures giving evidence of the use and passage of time in the next world and the Kingdom of Heaven. Possibly, you have always known that time still has it place and purpose in the realm of the "hereafter" but for those that didn't know, or have possibly never even contemplated the subject, here are a few Bible passages that speak to the dimension of "time" in the Heavenly realm." I have taken the liberty to share a comment or two introducing each passage.

Years speak to time. Do we know God has "years" and they have no end,

He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee. Psa 102:23-28

or that God "birthed" Wisdom before the worlds were even made? What's up with that. An event such as a birthing is a process and it takes time doesn't it. Then we have Wisdom at God's side and filled with delight "day after day." Proverbs 8 is not only a chapter poetic in it's beauty, but it also speaks to the passing of time before the worlds were even formed.

"Wisdom's Shout"
"The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be. When there were no oceans, I was given birth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was given birth, before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth. I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in humankind. Prov 8:22-30

We have silence in heaven for a "half hour" as the seventh seal of the book is opened. How many times have we read that one.

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. Rev 8:1

Notice the passing of time with regard to growing fruit and the healing of the nations. The tree of life puts forth its fruit "every month" and "healing" is a process or an event.

And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Rev 22:1-2

The Kingdom of Christ shall see "no end." Does that not speak to time. Is "time" an everlasting dimension of the realm of God. Is there no end to time in the Kingdom of God?

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Lk 1:30-32

His Kingdom must be everlasting, as there is "no end to the increase" of His government and His peace. Increase speaks to change and change takes place in the framework of time.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. Isa 9:6,7

These are just a few scriptures that I know of, that speak to the continuance of the dimension of time beyond the grave and within the Kingdom of Heaven. You might ask, "why is it important to know that time still works in the next realm?"

Rest

I believe it is utterly important to know that the "ages and times" are not only made for this world but they will ever frame His purpose in my life, your life and the lives of our neighbors, even on the far side of the grave. Knowing this, we can "rest" and not rush haphazardly through our earthly existence thinking we must get such and such accomplished lest the opportunity be lost and our experience be lacking.

By our physical and mental labors both conscious and subconscious we can find food, water, shelter and even survival in the direst of circumstances. However all of our labor will not find for us the space of another hour in our predetermined existence in this world; an existence that even passes as a vapor or a puff of smoke. The times of our carnal and earthly entrance, endurance and departure are set and I personally believe they were perfectly set even before the foundations of the world. I believe we actually had a part as we shared in God's plans and purpose of our natural life. Those well laid plans are all but forgotten now, however I believe there is deep within each of us an obscure remembrance of such and this premonition grows as we experience the increase of His anointing.

"He has made everything fitting in its season; However, He has put obscurity in their heart So that the man may not find out His work, That which the One, Elohim, does from the beginning to the terminus." Ecc 3:11

"But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." 1Cor 2:10,11

So do I also believe as our life plans were set, we as the Elohim of God, gave out a joyous "Yea" and an awe inspired "Amen." I pray, "e

ven in the midst of great trial, Lord, help us each to recall within our spirits, that the events of our own times on earth were laid out with perfect knowledge, measure and intent, resulting in the eternal reward of the fullness of Your Glory.

When all seems still, and movements nil,
God works His purpose rare,
The measured rhyme of slowest time
Performs its task with care.

Thus ages past their lot have cast,
In patience to abide
The final hour, when vict'ry's pow'r
Possessed a greater stride.

He knew the pace redeeming grace
Could move to reach its goal,
He could proceed with utmost speed
To transform every soul.

Prinzing

God planned and purposed out each and every age and in addition, planned He each and every life ever to be lived. He purposed that which each should accomplish, allotting enough time to complete each detail and event. We can also rest knowing everything is moving according to His divine time-schedule which we can neither slow down nor speed up.

"But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say "You are my God." My times are in Your hand "Ps 31:14

So we might ask, "instead of resting why do we rush?"

I would almost say, "to rush is possibly a sign that we are out of wack with God's timings or better said "His anointing." Have you ever noticed that when you walk in the anointing there seems no urgency nor rush.

Some years ago I read a wonderful book on "sonship" that I have often quoted from and even do so on occasion today. It is amazing that one can write so beautifully and truthfully in some areas and yet completely miss it in others. That's surely the case with all of us that write, as we see and know only in part. Nobody, I know of to date, has a full grasp on all Truth and that is why I love the humble "tongue in cheek exclamation" by the highly respected theologian, Karl Barth.

"The truest rallying cry that can be used by any leader is , "I don’t know where I am going; follow me!" Barth (lol)

So the author of this "sonship" manual wrote a chapter on overcoming and he made a most glaring error. He wrote that the only thing standing between us becoming overcomers and manifested sons is the issue of "time." Now that in itself is not incorrect but the context of the author's usage makes it so. He wrote as if "time" were an enemy to be conquered through our own efforts. In so many words, he encouraged the reader to urgency in "getting it done" while there was still time. Have not many of us already attempted this, only to find, in our failure of progress, that God is sovereign and only as we surrender to His plans and purpose, is fruitful gain made. It truly is "all Him" and with our failures and weaknesses we come to recognize the totality of His strength in both His purpose and plan for our lives. Thus, we finally give up in surrender to find "rest with His works now performed within and through us.

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" Eph 1:4,5

"For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren" Rom 8:29

"for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" Phil 2:13

Now, we who have walked a bit far with God, know that there is nothing under the sun that we can do to add even one cubit to our stature. There is no urgency nor emergency in regard to our efforts toward God, but quite to the contrary we know it is Christ who accomplishes His increace in our lives and that increase comes as we rest and abide in Him. We must relinquish our strivings and our self efforts becasue all they can do is produce "dead works" from which arises a "self righteousness." Let us only walk and work the preordained ways and works set before us by God and in our Lord and Christ Jesus. The days of our "burning out for God" are over with, as we discovered another erronious Chrsitian admonition and practice that has been used to build the walls of Babylon, which are now falling. Yes, if you are like me, you well know the "burn out for God" mentality that produced only a ruse and a charade of Godliness. Today, I stand in awe at the amount of the hay and stubble of dead works that I now see aflame at the end of the age ........... and yes I certainly left my contribution. Along with the flames arising from the refuse of dead works, if you listen closely you might hear an accompanying phrase in God's voice, "I know you not." For those that have ears this phrase of sad denial seems of late to permeate the atmosphere surrounding the "do goods" of the organized church. Only the Lord knows the pain of hearing such an admonition, as our hearts ache for those we loved and those we had to leave behind in the harlot's clutches. We all probably at one time or another tried to sit with the pretenders thinking we could eventually open their eyes and their hearts to Real Good News. After all, we at one time had been pretenders ourselves. Eventually we found we could not change them by co-mingling. Thus we were driven outside the gate to suffer afar from the camp the loneliness and reproach of our demeaned Christ. With pained hearts, as the Day of the Lord settles in, we are witnessing the beginnings of bewilderment and loss in the eyes and movements of so many in the organized church. Surely this will become only more prevalent as the age closes and His Great Day grows. Although intially sad, this surely is to become a good thing, because accompanying such perplexity and frustration comes a seeking of a sustaining answer which be as simple as, "Jesus, our Rest."

This, the advent of the seventh millenia from Adam is surely the dawning of His Day, the Sabbath Day and the Day of Rest. This, that has come and is coming upon us is the Awesome Day of the Lord and it comes either as a terror or as a reward depending upon one's state of being. My sincere prayer is, "Help us to rest and abide in You Lord, knowing all we have, and all that we are, is yours and for your keeping."

In this we can be free from the darkness that has come upon the world to signify, what is the state of man without Jesus. We have been blessed to find the secret pavillion of Chrsit's Light and Life in the midst of this great darkness. What is dark to the world is light unto His sons. Just as in the wilderness the cloud of His glory was light to the Hebrew children while it was darkness to their enmies. So shall it be in the coming days and I believe great will be the harvest, as we reach across into that gulf of darkness to pull many a spent and tired soul into His Light and His Life. Can you you see in your minds eye, the arm of Christ reaching out from you and into the dark abyss to gather terrified and tired souls, pulling them to your bosom where they will find Christ at rest? I know you can!

I began this blog by sharing my near death experience and some characteristics of other NDE's. Getting back to that theme, interesting enough we can see that if there be a place where time seem manipulated, it is at the edge of life and death. In each of our lives, time often seems to crawl to the point of almost standing still while there are those periods where time screams by and we barely noticed the transpiring events. This phenomena of stretching and shortening time seems to reach a crecendo at the approach of the grave and the next world. The lesson I draw from this, is that as we approach the last throes of our self life and spiritually enter fully the Kingdom of Heaven, will God not manipulate and use time in the most extraordinary ways. I believe He can and will. He will accomplish even in minutes what took years. He will accomplish much even in the twinkling of an eye.

"For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night." Psa 90:4

"But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 2Pe 3:8

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1Cor 15:52

Dealing with God's diverse ways with time, please allow me one more short personal account. One night while deep in prayer I heard a departed loved one share with me a familiar greeting only known between her and me. With that salute I knew in my Spirit that which God had not accomplished within the confines of my Mother's life on earth He had in Heaven. Yes, I believe the great cloud of witnesses are ............... , well, you pray about whom that great cloud may include, lest I be accused of being wishful and overly sentimental. [wink]

Today I have one less wonder about our times in Heaven, as I am convinced God still uses time and even uses it more mightily in the Kingdom of Heaven and even the realm beyond the grave. Does not the Tree of Life grow on both sides of the river and is not that tree Christ and His Cross. I think so and thus my hope is full.

"On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Rev 22:2

Far beyond the confines of this earthly existence God still works His pupose in the making of sons with the use of time. We can rest knowing that time works on either side of the river. Even greater rest can be realized knowing "time is on His side, thus time is on our side." Although the grave seems to give another message to the world we know the Author who is also the Finisher and the Alpha who is also the Omega of the times of our lives.

"O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1Cor 15:55

"For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself."

"For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."

"For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." Rom 14:7-9


"AND THE TIMES THAT WENT OVER HIM..." 1 Chr 29:30

Someone once wrote, "Thank God, every fragment of "the times that go over us" are in His sovereign control. The length of each testing, and the glory of each blessing are all beautifully entwined to fulfill His plan for us, and bring us into our destined place in Him."

Aren't you glad you know Him who cares for, and even shares your times,

Jack/John



Lord willing, I hope to continue this theme by sharing
a short message on "the miraculous anointing and unction
of Christ Jesus" and how it controls not only our time but
also prioritizes our earthly chores. These are wonderful
lessons that frees us from our sense of urgency and
feelings of anxiety.

Please understand that I write these messages not only
for you but also as much, to encourage myself in the Lord.

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THE 42 JOURNEYS

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I have been quickened of late to the number 42 and particularly to the words of the Apostle John regarding the 42 month time period that the 'Church of the Wilderness' will go through that is found in the 12th chapter of the Book of Revelation. I have seen this number everywhere recently and I feel it is as though the Holy Spirit is wanting to reveal that this 42 month period is fast approaching for this woman that has birthed the Manchild and is now being led to a place of refuge from the dragon. " And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male Child. But the woman was supplied with the two wings of a giant eagle, so that she might fly from the presence of the serpent into the desert (wilderness), to the retreat where she is to be kept safe and fed for a time, and times, and half a time (three and one-half years, or 1,260 days). Then out of his mouth the serpent spouted forth water like a flood after the woman, that she might be carried off with the torrent. But the earth came to the rescue of the woman, and the ground opened its mouth and swallowed up the stream of water which the dragon had spouted from his mouth. So then the dragon was furious (enraged) at the woman, and he went away to wage war on the remainder of her descendants--[on those] who obey God's commandments and who have the testimony of Jesus Christ [and adhere to it and bear witness to Him]." (Rev. 12: 13-17 Amplified)."

I am not an expert in eschatology (for I hardly understand the word at all) and yet I do know that I have been given an understanding and an unction of anointing that is like an alarm clock that has started to RING WITHIN that it is TIME for the unfolding of these things in the natural realm. I am one to believe with all my heart that the Kingdom of God is within and so for many of us we have experienced these 42 months over a period of time in our own private lives....for some these 42 months have lasted only a brief period and for others it seems as if the years just drag on in this state of being provided for and protected and even pursued. I also am very aware that as these mysteries are being unfolded within they also at the appointed hour have a place in time where they will be lived out outwardly for all those that have not had the understanding of the work of regeneration and the true NEW BIRTH that must take place within every believer's life. This glorious new birth is brought forth by the work of the cross. It is only after the cross has done it's work that THE CHRIST within will declare "It is finished" and this is when the birth of the new creation man will come forth. This is when one can truly declare..." I have been born again, I am of the second adam, the Lord from Heaven, I am from above and not from below." This cross is experienced through the various circumstances that Father brings into ones life. It is only by His grace that one can even begin to yield to His workmanship and embrace the cross that has been given. For many in this day and hour the cross has come to them in various forms such as being laid off of their job, a home that has now come into foreclosure, a death of a loved one, an illness or medical condition that is slowly eating away all hope and finances of a person's life, and many other situations. All these are the CROSS....and all these when embraced and surrendered to will bring forth the very FRUIT of the TREE OF LIFE for the cross is that tree. It is in dying to old adam within that we are given the resurrection life of Christ....CHRIST in you the hope of glory. It is in the sharing of His sufferings that we will be given the honor and reward to share in His glory.

Why the cross? Why does one have to endure the cross if Jesus already endured it for them? Ah, that is the question and a good one. He was not your substitute but He did atone FOR YOU....He was and is the forerunner of your faith and has made the way so that you now can come all the way His way into the very Holy of Holies.

I love what Ray Prinzing writes about substitutionism...."there has been a very insidious weaving of deception in a doctrine of substitutionism, and because men were taught that Christ became their substitute, then they always look for a "substitute" so that they might escape everything that comes their way, which they feel might cause some distress to the flesh. The very teaching that the preacher sowed, he is reaping, and it is killing him. They preach a total substitution, Christ paying our debt, His cross did it all, and we ought to be free from all suffering, etc. And so rather than the congregation learning to bear their load, and becoming an OVERCOMER IN CHRIST, they all cast on their preacher their load, while he has to bail them out of trouble, pray them out of all their distresses, and he ends up with a nervous breakdown. God did not call men to become substitutes for their congregation, to absolve people from being developed and processed by all these circumstances which He sends to them.

Always we want somebody to "bear it for us", but the promise is given this way, "When THOU passest THROUGH the waters, I will be with thee; and THROUGH the rivers, they shall not overflow thee..," [Isaiah 43 :2]. No escape but to GO THROUGH, and to find that HE is with us all the way, to give us grace and bring us into the fullness of His victory.

"IN ALL THESE THINGS we are more than conquerors through (by the means of) Him that loved us," [Romans 8:37]. Not "out of" them, but IN all of these things. In all of what things ? The previous verses list them like this-tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and the sword, until "for Thy sake we are killed all the day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." We thought we were to pray, "Lord, take me out of all these things," but we discover that we really need to pray, "LORD, BRING ME THROUGH ALL OF THESE THINGS, and accomplish all of your purpose, and then make me an overcomer.

The doctrine of escapism produces a weak, impotent, selfish type of people who shrink from pressure and testing which is sent their way, They know nothing of OVER-COMING, and it is high time that this nonsense was stripped away, and people faced up to the process of being developed and growing up in Christ, No more to say, "how can I get out of this," but rather to affirm, "by the grace of God I can come through this thing, and not just somehow, but triumphantly," Amen!

There is a continuity in the work of the Lord, where we are not wavering and double minded in our understanding. We begin to realize that "If we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him," [2 Timothy 2 :11-12], God is bringing His remnant into that place of having a SINGLE EYE unto the Lord, and they are determined by His grace to GO THROUGH and gain the victory."

Whew....makes me want to stand up and shout "Preach it BROTHER!" What a glorious anointing our brother Ray sat under as he wrote that....I still feel the fire through his pen. To Father be praised!

Let us be reminded of these verses.....""That I might come to know Him in an experiential way, and to come to know experientially the power of His resurrection and a JOINT-PARTICIPATION in His sufferings, being brought to the place where my life will radiate a likeness to His death, if by any means I might arrive at the goal, namely, the out-resurrection from among those who are dead." [Philippians 3:10-11, Wuest Expanded Trans.]."And if we are His children, then we are His heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ-sharing His inheritance with Him; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory." [Romans 8:17 Amplified].

My beloved, if you are reading these lines right now I am one that is here to encourage you to set your face as flint and to cry out with all your heart for Father to give you grace to endure the cross and to let you know that HE IS FAITHFUL who has called you and He will bring it to pass. His grace is sufficient and you will BECOME a well watered garden in the midst of a dry and weary land. I bless you with PEACE even now in the innermost parts of your being. You are loved and you are seen. You are precious my beloved brother and sister.

As I mentioned above I have been quickened to the number 42. This number is a very unique number in the scriptures and it points prophetically towards the glorious work of regeneration that takes place within a believer's life. There were 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus Christ. Abraham was given the promise by Yahweh "And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." (Gen. 12:2-3; 17:4-7) "As for Me, behold, My covenant (solemn pledge) is with you, and you shall be the father of many nations. Nor shall your name any longer be Abram [high, exalted father]; but your name shall be Abraham [father of a multitude], for I have made you the father of many nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting, solemn pledge, to be a God to you and to your posterity after you." We then see this promise fullfilled in Christ for Galatians 3:16 states "Now the promises (covenants, agreements) were decreed and made to Abraham and his Seed (his Offspring, his Heir). He [God] does not say, And to seeds (descendants, heirs), as if referring to many persons, but, And to your Seed (your Descendant, your Heir), obviously referring to one individual, Who is [none other than] Christ (the Messiah)." The glorious promise then permeates from the HEAD into the ENTIRE BODY for we see in verse 29 this statement..."And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed], then you are Abraham's offspring and [spiritual] heirs according to promise." HalleluYah!

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I write all of that to point to the prophetic symbolism of how we have seen the fullfillment of that promise take place within the 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus Christ. I now believe we are entering into that period of time where the fullfillment for the BODY OF CHRIST is taking place on the earth's stage. Those that belong to Christ. The firstfruits have been going through this process for some time already....and as our glorious brother John Hennessey loves to say ....'the elect are those who get to be dragged through the cactus patch backwards first'....lol.....the firstborn are called to bless the latter born....and it is with that understanding that all those that have come to share in His cross are now coming along side those who have just now been made aware of what price must be paid to come into the adoption as SONS. "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12). The cross is what is used in the process of BECOMING a son. Many have received Christ but few have BECOME sons. Now is the time for the message of BECOMING...of true regeneration and NEW BIRTH to be understood and apprehended.

It is my hope to share with you what the Lord has quickened to me regarding the STAGES of the journeys that we all must go through in this process of regeneration as seen in the type/shadow of the children of Israel in the 33rd book of Numbers. This will be a on-going series .....examining all 42 names of the places that Israel camped before entering into the promised land. "Now these things befell them by way of a figure [as an example and warning to us]; they were written to admonish and fit us for right action by good instruction, we in whose days the ages have reached their climax (their consummation and concluding period)." (1 Cor. 10:11 Amplified).

Truly we are those in whose days the ages have reached their climax.

Shalom dear friends......to be continued.

Eliyah

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THE CROOKED PATH OF ETERNITY

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One day, through the primeval wood,
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew,
A crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then three hundred years have fled,
And, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail,
And thereby hangs my moral tale.

How could God be so remiss as to not give the ancients a word denoting "eternity"? As we mentioned in our last blog on "time" there has never been found before the time of Christ any word in the ancient languages, artifacts, writings, philosophies or theologies denoting the concept of "timelessness or endless time." To think our omniscient God would have forgotten to give that concept to the Hebrews is amazing don't ya think. How short sighted of Him not to match "eternity" with "punishment" in regard to those that are found to be at enmity with Him. Come on God, what is religion without the whip of "eternal suffering" for those that don't play by the rules.

One author put it this way with regard to such great an omission.

I pause here long enough to raise this question: Is it possible that our heavenly Father had created a world of endless torture, to which his children for thousands of years were crowding in myriads, and that he not only had not revealed the fact to them, but was so shortsighted that he had not given them a word to express the fact, or even a capacity sufficient to bring the idea of the eternal suffering to which they were liable, within the compass of the cognition? He created the horse for man’s use, and created man capable of comprehending the horse; he surrounded him with multitudes of animate and inanimate objects, each of which he could name and comprehend, but the most important subject of all-one which must be believed in, or eternal woe is the penalty, he not only had no name for, but was incapable of the faintest conception of the mere fact! Would, or could a good Father be guilty of such an omission?

ENTER TERTULLIAN, JEROME, AUGUSTINE AND JUSTINIAN TO CORRECT GOD'S OMISSION

Tertullian (160 to 220) set system of theology in Latin replacing the accepted Greek form.

Jerome (347 – 420) translator of the scriptures into the Vulgate, an early Fifth Century version of the Bible in Latin.

Augustine (354 – 430) made eternal torment the 'official' church doctrine, which contributes mightily to the continuance of today's dark age theology.

Justinian (483 – 565) Eastern roman emperor who strengthened the Roman church and Holy See (papal authority) with it's dual hierarchical chaste system of clergy ruling over laity. Eternal reward and eternal damnation were powerful tools in keeping obeisance strong in the church.

These are the main culprits or church fathers that were responsible for the conception and furtherance of that horrendous doctrine we know as "eternal torment in hell." We won't get into the misapplications of the word "hell" for Hades, Sheol, Tartarus and Gehenna but will limit ourselves to the misuse of "eternal" with it's derivatives in regard to God's workings. I will say this. Eternal torment is another glaring example of how everything the church teaches today is wrong. Yes, it is all the opposite of truth; so great is the darkness and so subtle is the wicked heart of the natural and unregenerate man that turns Life into religion. So a word describing the environment of God's dealings with man becomes an antonym, as "aion" in Greek, "olam" in Hebrew and "aevum" in Latin become erroneously "eternal". That which denoted time and age (aion, olam and aevum & derivatives ) now become endless, forever and everlasting. Why was this done?

It is always about power and these brilliant church theologians knew from the get go that you raise the ante for church members by making greater the reward for faithful service and more horrific the punishment for slothfulness and rejection. Of course with this come a "works" mindset that sets in motion "self righteousness" for those that work the hardest. Can there be a better way to build a religious organization. I think not and my personal genealogy stretching back centuries testifies to the natural allure and subsequent captivity by this religious organization. I imagine so it is with many of your family backgrounds also.

So with all that said I want to center my attention on the first of the culprits to promote the concept of "eternity in relation with reward and punishment." I speak of Tertullian and if you share with one still caught in the throes of "hell" of the harlot church this little history is a good one to know and recite. With this lesson, we are getting to the origins of the terrible "hellfire doctrine" that has taken love and grace and and replaced it with fear and dead works. Thus religion is born counterfeit to all that is truth in Christ Jesus. To recognize and know the workings of such deceitful spirits binding and moving men in false religion is to stand in awe, as I am sure John the Revelator did while describing his vision of Mystery Babylon.

On a side note, knowing the apostasy that came in by way of the Roman Church it is not hard to understand why many Protestants would believe Babylon, as being the Roman Catholic Church itself. Sadly those that would make that identification blindly carry no recognition of how their own protestant creeds and beliefs are but a facsimile of that which was laid out by the early Roman Church fathers. Sadder yet is, that these deluded protestants have no clue that Mystery Babylon speaks first and foremost to a heart condition wrought in all carnal men. Yes indeed Babylon is a great mystery to most and one has only to read the words of Revelation 18 to view the wondrously wicked nature of this beast system of carnal soulish worship. We all have felt, glimpsed and experienced the whore and as we walk deeper in the liberty of His light and life does not our vision of the painted lady of religion only grow more incredulous in her allure and power. Oh, the battles we have suffered both within and without as the whore has fallen in our lives.

So without further adieu allow me to share a few paragraphs on Tertullian along with a short word on Justinian as penned by Alexander Thomson in his book "Whence Eternity Slipped In." As I alluded to earlier, should you share with the disbelievers of "a benevolent Father God that reconciles all in Love" this is powerfully good material to mark their error in espousing "eternal torment." How often I sit with Christian men and women brilliant in their fields of knowledge yet they have never taken the time to see where by, the origins of "hell and damnation." The inexplicable nature of such slothful and willful ignorance only proves the power and hold of Babylon the Great!


TERTULLIAN
At this point we must turn to Carthage in North Africa, and in particular to Tertullian, and take careful note of their profound and lasting influence over Christendom. Tertullian lived from about 160 to 220 A.D. Born at Carthage, he became a well-read scholar, an attractive orator and writer, a keen controversialist, and a clever lawyer. What Origen was, about the same period, to Greek or Eastern Christianity, Tertullian was to Latin or Western Christianity. He was the first one to set about systematically to explain the Scriptures in the Latin tongue of North Africa, and the first theologian to establish a technical Latin terminology for Christianity. It is no exaggeration to say that the choice of terms of this Latin scholar has profoundly affected all succeeding theological thought. It is to Tertullian that we owe such terms as trinity, substance, person, redemption, justification, sanctification, sacrament, and many more, including probably such as perdition, perish, destroy, punish, torment, damnation, dispensation, predestination, revelation, priest, mediator, minister, congregation, propitiation,—all terms from the Latin, although it is possible some of these may be due to Jerome. These terms are all different from the Greek words used, although some of the meanings correspond fairly well. Tertullian was the first writer to set out to expound the difficult doctrine of the "trinity," and to use this term, which, however, he does not use as a name for God. Dr. Glover says, "He was the first man of genius of the Latin race to follow Jesus Christ, and to reset his ideas in the language native to that race." Archbishop Benson says, "When Tertullian began to write, theological Latin had to be formed." Harnack says, "What influenced the history of dogma was not his Christianity, but his masterly power of framing formulae." Up till his time Roman Christianity had been essentially Greek in form, but when he embraced it, Latin terms and thoughts were introduced, which gradually but steadily altered the whole character of its teaching, and paved the way for the Roman Catholic system of dogma. Dr. Swete says, "The Church in North Africa was the first Christian community so far as we know which offered the Eucharist for the benefit of the departed." One of the terms introduced by Tertullian was "satisfaction." Harnack says, "He was the first to regard definitely such ascetic performances as `satisfaction' as propitiatory offerings by which the sinner could make amends to God." According to Tertullian, a comparatively brief ascetic punishment inflicted by the believer on himself took the place of what the damned were awarded—eternal punishment. It should prove instructive to glance at some of his other views.

Like many today, he could never come to grasp the important yet elementary fact that God is spirit. That God was conciliated was quite unknown to him and to those who followed in his steps. Being well trained in Roman law he looked on God much more as the Judge who gives the law and must be obeyed, than as the Father of all. All relations between God and man partake of the nature of legal transactions, and thus a good act by man brings satisfaction to God and merit to man. But the fundamental relationship is that of fear on man's part. The great difference between the Greek Church and the Latin Church consisted in this, that the Greek Church looked upon revelation as expressing God in His relation to man, while the Latin Church began with man, and saw primarily man as in relation to God. God's measureless love and grace were viewed as at the disposal of man, or man was viewed as the fallen and guilty rebel measured up before the Judge. The one commenced with God and His love, operating all things in accord with the counsel of His will from past ages for the ultimate good of the race, ever seeking to draw man to Himself and instruct him with a view to his well-being and growth in grace. The other saw man as on probation, and God as the magistrate. Instead of men being gradually instructed in the ways and mind of God, they must subscribe without question or discussion to the Creed, the rigid and crystallized expression of the Latin Church's views. As Farrar says, the centre of Origen's system was God and hope, while that of Augustine's was punishment and sin; whereas Origen yearns for a final unity, Augustine almost exultingly acquiesces in a frightful and abiding dualism.

It was reserved for three great Carthaginians, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine, so to influence the Latin Church that it deflected and declined into a system of dogmatic hierarchy and spiritual despotism. But Tertullian was the individual who set this current in motion. Through his powerful instrumentality Christendom, at the critical juncture, took the wrong turn, and his influence still prevails. Neander says of him, that his mind was often at a loss for suitable forms of phraseology, as he had more within him than he could express, and for this purpose he was obliged to create a language for the new spiritual matter, out of the rude Punic Latin. It has been said that Tertullian often makes use of words not found in general use outside of the very early writers, and that he often imparts to words a new or unusual force.

This, then, is the man in the hollow of whose hands lay the clay which was to be moulded into concrete Latin dogma. This is the man in whose hands reclined the fate of the word eternal. What meaning did he give to it? Its old meaning, akin to the Greek eonian, or something beyond that? Being quite devoid of any understanding of the eons of Scripture, destitute of a real perception of the fact that God is love, unable to view God but as a stern Judge who must somehow or other be "Satisfied" or placated, how was it possible for him to look on the mass of mankind otherwise than as damned? Augustine, who later outdid Tertullian and his doctrines, maintained that the whole human race was "one damned batch and mass of perdition" (conspersis damnata, massa perditionis), out of which a few are elected to salvation, while all the remainder are lost for ever. He beheld evil as a force integral in a universe apart from God, while Origen believed that all is out from God, even evil, which God must undo and banish. One who has no place for eons to come must needs look on the future as a shoreless eternity. Having failed to grasp what God had revealed concerning the eons, Tertullian had no alternative but to impart to the Latin word eternal that sense which it now bears. Not only so, but this special meaning of the Latin word, taking advantage of the steady decline of Greek as the language of theology and the rise and ascendancy of Latin, reacted upon, and was imposed upon, its Greek equivalent eonian, which henceforth in theology was "made to express" the meaning of everlasting.


JUSTINIAN, Emperor Constantinople 6th century
........... he wished it made very plain that the life of the saints was to be everlasting, and that the doom of the lost was to be likewise. Yet he did not argue that the word eonian meant everlasting. Nor did he claim that the word eonian had hitherto been misunderstood. In setting forth the orthodox position of the Church of that time, he did not say, "We believe in eonian punishment," as this was exactly what Origen, three hundred years before, had maintained and believed. In fact, Origen, who exulted in the truth of the reconciliation of the universe, definitely used the word eonian with reference to fire and doom as meaning a limited time. But writing in the very expressive Greek language, Justinian says, "The holy church of Christ teaches an endless eonian (ateleuteetos aiõnios) life for the just, and endless (ateleuteetos) punishment for the wicked." Justinian knew quite well that by itself eonian did not signify endless, and he therefore added a word the meaning of which is quite unequivocal, a word not found in the Scriptures. This letter of Justinian, which is still in existence, ought to convince anyone who is in doubt, regarding the true scriptural meaning of the word eonian. It may be added, that the Council, though expressly convened in order to stigmatize the teachings of Origen, one of which was that punishment was only temporary, condemned his views generally, but did not anathematize his teaching regarding the reconciliation of all. It was not until the year 696, at Constantinople, that a Council publicly condemned this doctrine of Origen for the first time, the glorious teaching being called "drunken ravings as to the future life of the dead."

So it is what it is. A talented disputatious teacher, orator and lawyer Tertullian picks a path and sets a golden calf a trodden. Two millenia later the majority follow that crooked path and you and I will pay hell and high water to convince the crowd, the broad path is destructive and full of death. It was only a couple weeks ago, with tears, I shared with a table full of tradition laden Christians, the message of "the Big Cross that reconciles all". This message of Love and Life was received with eyes glazed over and discomfort filling the air. It seems, as still yet I am not ordained to preach.

The Calf Path
by S.W. Foss

One day thru the primeval wood
A calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail, all bent askew,
A crooked trail, as all calves do.
Since then 300 years have fled,
And I infer the calf is dead.
But still, he left behind his trail
And thereby hangs my mortal tale.

The trail was taken up next day
By a lone dog that passed that way.
And then, a wise bell weathered sheep
Pursued the trail, o'er~vale and steep,
And drew the flocks behind him too
As good bell weathers always do.
And from that day, o'er hill and glade
Thru those old woods, a path was made.

And many men wound in and out,
And dodged, and turned, and bent about,
And uttered words of righteous wrath
Because 'twas such a crooked path,
But still they followed, do not laugh,
The first migrations of that calf.
And thru the winding woods they stalked
Because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane
That bent, and turned, and turned again.
This crooked lane became a road
Where many a poor horse with his load
Toiled on beneath the burning sun
And traveled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half
They trod the footsteps of that calf.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
The road became a village street.
And this, before men were aware,
A city's crowed thoroughfare.
And soon the central street was this
Of a renowned metropolis.
And men, two centuries and a half
Trod the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a 100 thousand route
Followed the zig-zag calf about,
And o'er his crooked journey went
The traffic of a continent.
A 100 thousand men were led
By one calf, near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way
And lost 100 years per day.
For this such reverence is lent
To well establish precedent.

A moral lesson this might teach
Were I ordained , and called to preach.
For men are prone to go it blind
Along the calf paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun
To do what other men have done.
They follow in the beaten track,
And out, and in, and forth, and back,
And still their devious course pursue
To keep the paths that others do.

They keep the paths a sacred groove
Along which all their lives they move.
But how the wise old wood gods laugh
Who saw that first primeval calf.
Ah, many things this tale might teach,
But I am not ordained to preach.


Ah but the good report is, that if by the growing pain in my heart for the blind followers of the calf path be any indication the time to preach is close, even on the horizon. That excites me and I hope you also. A new aion is dawning in Christ Jesus!

Jack/John

Note: thanks to Joian for sharing
with me the poem "The Calf Path"
Where as I was once the one that brought
to her good gleanings she has of late
repaid me twice fold. Surely the Holy
Spirit is her guide and I am blessed.

Note:
From Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, the Greek word aion is said to mean age or a human lifetime.

The Analytical Greek Lexicon (Pub. Zondervan), the Greek word aion is said to mean "a period of time of significant character; life; an era; an age."

William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich's A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, the meaning of aion is "time, age."

Lexicons in Young's and Strong's concordances, the Greek word aion also is indicated as meaning an age or time.

The word "Aionios" by itself, whether adjective or substantive, never means endless" Canon Farrar

"The conception of eternity, in the Semitic languages, is that of a long duration and series of ages." Rev. J. S. Blunt-- Dictionary of Theology.

"Tis notoriously known, that the Jews, whether writing in Hebrew or Greek, do by 'olam' (the Hebrew word corresponding to "aion"), and aion mean any remarkable period or duration, whether it be of life, or dispensation, or polity." Bishop Rust

The word aion is never used in Scripture, or anywhere else, in the sense of endlessness (vulgarly called eternity), it always meant, both in Scripture and out, a period of time; else how could it have a plural--how could you talk of the aeons and aeons of aeons as the Scripture does? C. Kingsley

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TURNING THE PAGE

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We are turning the page with the advent of a New Year. Truly we can sense in our spirits that this new year will be like no other. May His grace ever abound in your lives and His peace ever increase in the hearts of those you love.

We at SONSHINE have long time come to see and experience in our lives that God brings before us situations that seem impossible and insurmountable. Then in the midst of patience and endurance He presents the solution that is simply and easily entreated unto our deliverance. So has it been, with our schooling in Christ, that we have suffered and been healed. This has all been given in the purpose of our makings into worthy and empathetic priests. We believe so shall it be in 2009, where as the world finds perplexity and frustration when faced with the impossible and insurmountable, we shall carry a message of hope, peace and healing with our lives illuminated as God's epistles read of men. The light emanating from "the saviours on the mount" must needs great darkness to contrast His Light and Life in a world of sin and death. So with feelings of sorrow and gladness mixed we say, "so be it, Lord!"
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Creation today groans for God's sons to bring Heaven to earth. We can only pray, God grant us the grace to not shrink back from the "greater works promise" which all of the great cloud of witnesses, born out of season, looked forward to. Surely, the hour cometh and now is the Great and Awesome Day of the Lord. Come dear Lord Jesus ...... come quickly!

Jack and Joian


“The eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.” Deut. 11:12


In retrospect I gaze once more
Upon the things behind,
Remembering how God hath led,
And how our paths did wind
Around the many circumstance
Which He did send our way,
With good and evil synchronized,
His ordered interplay.

He knew the fires that must burn,
A purifying flame,
The darksome path where faith is tried,
For this – He knew our frame,
And did not test beyond the scope
Of that which we could bear,
But with each trial gave His strength,
And worked for good each care.

What joy, what blessing, too, He gave,
Rare moments filled with song,
Which more than balanced all the time
When nights seemed dark and long.
For there is naught that can compare
With that deep sense of peace
Which He imparts to thus sustain
And work its blest release.

From year’s beginning to its end
His mercy I can trace,
Upon each turning page I see
The wonder of His grace.
What He allowed He used withal,
How precious are His ways!
For all that’s come to pass – O Lord,
I bow to give Thee praise.

Ray Prinzing


Note: the scripture and poem above
were submitted by Eliyah as a comment
to our last blog. They begged repeating
along with Eliyah's salutation:

"Truly intersting, powerful, life changing days are ahead for everyone."

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