SONSHINE

Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus

2012-01-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

THE MISSING APOCALYPSE

2011-05-23T09:46:00.004-06:00

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HaHa!! The best I've read on "the end of the world", that just happened. And my friends, remember, always drink upstream of the herd! lol

Promises, Promises

May 22, 2011,

Anthony Sacramone

With the possible exception of Harold Camping himself, nobody wanted the world to end yesterday more than me. I’m thoroughly sick of the joint. War, rumors of war, politicians, lies (but I repeat myself), cancer clusters, unemployment, certified public accountants, season 7 of House. The whole thing could have exploded in a gargantuan ball of green flame, and I would have been there in the cheap seats with my popcorn (small, no butter) waving goodbye.

In fact, when the infallible date of May 21 was first announced, I was dismayed by all the naysayers mocking Brother Camping and his peculiar brand of narcissistic eisegesis. Could I at least have a few days of wishful thinking, please?

Well, the day has come and gone, and my AMEX bill must still be paid Tuesday. But before those of you who saw through this hokum have a good gloat, keep something in mind: Camping was just an extreme example of a scary form of idolatry that is very, very old and very, very prevalent in every denomination—namely, the cult of personality.

The rapture rap, after all, is newish but not new. It’s a product of the 19th century, popularized by Anglo-Irish Calvinist John Nelson Darby and sent coursing through the veins of American fundamentalist Christianity via the correspondence courses turned study Bible of the phony “D.D.” and dubious family man C.I. Scofield. But the fires of millennial apocalypticism tend to dim over time without fiery types to preach its eerie imminence. Granted, Camping has all the charisma of a coroner reading a Microsoft end-user licensing agreement, with that hangdog look and intonation just left of kill me now. Yet he proved over time sufficiently convincing in his “studies” to convince hundreds of thousands, if not millions, that his gimcrack methodology was sound, nay, properly prophetic. And he has been far from alone in preaching that the end is nigh: “Who can forget Herbert W. Armstrong, who started his own quasi-Adventist church dedicated to British Israelism and doomsday speculations. Trending more mainstream, I remember Pat Robertson spouting something on the 700 Club about 1988 being the year to end all years. Today John Hagee and, yes, Hal Lindsey are still going strong, only they’re smart enough to know that actually picking a date is bad for business. (Keep in mind that Lindsey’s bestselling Late Great Planet Earth was published more than 40 years ago—and he’s still on TBN covering events in the Middle East with all the joyful expectation of Robespierre at a gallows half-off sale.)

You might be saying to yourself, “Sure, a buncha fundy, dispensationalist cranks with clever marketing skills. Tough luck on their ignorant, desperate disciples.” But ask yourself something: If your pastor, preacher, teacher, elder, priest were to walk into an open manhole tomorrow, only to be replaced by some less-winsome personality, would you leave your church? If so, leave now.

Better yet: if your pastor, preacher, teacher, elder, priest were to be led out in handcuffs tomorrow, or discovered to have run off to Acapulco with the 16-year-old daughter of the youth minister, would you consider leaving the Church, full stop? If so, leave now.

Evangelical churches seem to be particularly susceptible to superstar preachers, because of the emphasis on preaching. We want to hear a new, fresh take on the old wooden Cross. We need some spiritual Red Bull to keep our enthusiasm up, but too often we wind up with just the bull.

But priests, too, can beguile, if less flamboyantly or on a lower scale. They too can usurp from their proper recipient the devotion and attention of congregants. But liturgical churches, those that emphasis not just our faith but also the Faith, the creeds, and the fact that the church is the bride of Christ and not a franchise, offer greater, albeit not infallible, safeguards against the cult of personality, not to mention the Armageddon clock-watching. (Perhaps the liturgical calendar, with its reassuring rhythms, provides its own kind of antidote.)

So the next time you hear that your guy (or, in some cases, gal) will not be leading worship on a particular Sunday, ask yourself if your heart sinks a little, and whether you even reconsider showing up for services until he/she makes his/her return. If so, ask yourself why — and in whom you have been putting your faith. May 21 may not have been the end, but of the making of many self-styled prophets there is definitely no end. ~ Sacramone

*great article if we can wink a little at the author's sleepy liturgical leanings ~ Jack

AMAZING!

2011-05-04T21:33:00.000-06:00

JOURNEY TO THE INWARD ROOM

2010-06-29T17:09:00.000-06:00

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How often, I have chided those that have taken their leave in this world, "Pick up thy cross pilgrim!" The secret is, we cannot assist in this journey, for this walk is all His. To attempt to pick up the cross, but only signals the advent of our pilgrimage of grace. For in lifting the cross, we discover there is only One, that can bear such weight.

With Ellie's series on "Leaving Bethel" I share this message as only an echoing supplement, to her encouraging word. As our sister has shared, we are leaving religion. Religion, is to believe man has a desire to die to self and with it, the ability to carry the cross. Modern Christianity, with it's whorish church system, is built upon the foundation, of this very very false premise. To the greatest contrary, the "cross", is a "God work", so awesomely Holy, man can have no part in it. Only Christ, within can carry the cross and with this, we die even to our effort. Let all Heaven and earth, bow to Him alone, who is Holy and Able!

CHRIST, THE INWARD ROOM WHERE IS
FOUND EVERYWHERE AND EVERYTHING

Pick up thy cross pilgrim. We are leaving the leeks and garlic of Egypt and are moving to the other side!

"And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. In the same way, none of you can be my disciples, unless you give up everything."
(Heb 11:13-16, Lk 14:33)

God's sons are sojourners, heaven bent. They are not here on earth, to gather and take their inheritance on this side. Daniel knew to refuse the pleasant bread and Jesus became the bread, worthy of all those that followed Him. These pilgrims had nary a place to lay their head, save Jesus, the Promise and Pattern Son. So it is, like Jesus, we die to our selves and die to the things of this world, to follow Him on into Resurrection Life. We cannot assist in this journey, for this walk is all His. To attempt to pick up the cross, but only signals the advent of our pilgrimage of grace. For in lifting the cross, we discover there is only One, that can bear such weight. He even stands before us at paradise gate.

Ray Prinzing wrote beautifully about the stranger and sojourner, we have become. Here is one of many inspired messages he wrote. It is entitled the "As a Stranger." I pray it will encourage and bless you.

“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as a stranger, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb. 11:9-10)

It was girded up with faith that Abraham sojourned in the land of promise. He was actually in the midst of that land, it was alongside of him everywhere, yet he kept the status of a stranger, with temporary dwelling of tents. He recognized where his citizenship belonged, even in his fatherland, a realm that was beyond this natural, temporal land, and he knew his seed would inherit it after him, he would not settle down as if this was his permanent dwelling place. He could believe for the promise, even swell in the midst of it, but it was not the totality of his vision. The natural promise and fulfillment were to him only the projection of a vision, and he desired the reality and fulfillment of the greater.

If one is content to live in the midst of signs and symbols, they will not go on into the fulfillment of what that sign was pointing to. Abraham looked beyond – he did not belong to the promise, the promise belonged to him. He belonged to the One that was able to fulfill the promise, and satisfy the inner desires of the heart. To be sure, there are a lot of “promises” which belong to us, but how much do we belong to the PROMISER? Belong to Him Who shall work a total redemption!

God has promised us many natural blessings – they pertain to this LAND, this earthen vessel. Food, clothing, etc., your Father knoweth ye have need of these things. But for all these natural blessings, those who have caught a vision of the greater realities, become a stranger to these things. We will not drive our stakes down and settle for present portions – certainly not for the natural blessings, nor yet even for the spiritual blessings of the “in part.” We look for a greater, “when that which is perfect is come.” (end quote)

My friend, "Heaven on Earth" is a paradisaical realm of unimaginable glory and it lays closer, than the nose is to your face. Only Jesus can unlock the gate, to this paradise. He is even the Gate and Paradise Himself, the Supernal Garden that rests within each of us.

Adam, which be you and me, has left the external paradise for greater still. This new paradise is Christ and He is within. For when we see Him, we'll not care to keep the lesser, which stands without, but instead give all, for the better that rests within.

And now good-morrow to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room, an everywhere
~ Donne

"O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments. and His ways past finding out! For from Him every thing comes; through Him everything exists ; and in Him everything ends! Glory to Him forever! Amen." Rom. 11:33,36

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Leaving Bethel part three

2010-06-25T18:36:00.000-06:00

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Part 3 ..... “The Inward Bethel....feeding on His life”

In the original story found in Genesis we see how man is given the instructions that he is free to partake of all the trees of the garden EXCEPT from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ....”And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.'” (Genesis 2:16-17).

Again, as there are wheels within the wheel, there is an external dimension of Bethel I see as being a place prepared for those that have heard the call ‘to come out of her my people’. This call to leave the man- made church system can be for some, traumatic and for others, liberating. It is a time of questioning everything that one has ever been taught from that system. Up to this point the believer has endured much stripping and purging in order to bring them to this place where they are able to see and HEAR what the Spirit is saying.

Now is the time where the realization hits them that they have been lied to by the Babylonian system and that many things that they have learned are false and this creates such a shaking within their earth. It not only shakes them to the core but it also creates a hunger for THE truth. This hunger is a good thing and the Lord wants to satisfy it with Himself for He is the Spirit of Truth .... and this nourishment can only come about through the eating of His flesh (word) and drinking of His blood (spirit). This is why the Lord leads his called out ones to Bethel/Eden for it is here that they are given a place to rest and be fed. The Shepherd leads them to this garden of
green pastures and once again they too are told that they can eat of every tree of this garden EXCEPT one.

They are given many trees to eat from (trees are symbolic in scripture of representing people). These trees represent the celestial teachers that the Holy Spirit has provided to those who have made the journey to Bethel. They are free to eat from the fruit of these teachers lives. This is a glorious time of eating, drinking, and fellowshipping and this that I speak of is in the Spirit, not literal eating and drinking natural food but partaking of spiritual food and drink. The Lord delights to give us the Kingdom, he delights in our communion with one another for He is the
LIVING BREAD which has come down from heaven....and all those that are joined to Him also become that living bread in the earth.

Let us hear the word of the Lord ... “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world ..... Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by
the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. (John 6:51;53-58)(emphasis mine).

I find it interesting that the Lord instructs us that in order for us to live we must do two things, eat his flesh AND drink his blood. He makes it very clear that those who eat of His flesh and drink of His blood He will raise at the last day. Those that are DWELLING IN HIM are those that HE DWELLS IN .... these are they who are eating of His flesh and drinking of His blood. The Lord explains that just as He lives by the Father so too as we eat of Him we will live by Him. Now this is a mystery indeed. This is not a work that we can do but that He does in us. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Phil.2:13).
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph 2:10) He gives us the appetite for His word and gives us the thirst for His Spirit .... He is the one who will “make you perfect in every good work to do His will, doing in you that which is well-pleasing before Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom is the glory -- to the ages of the ages! Amen.” (Heb.13:21). This is rest, knowing that He is the one who brings this about within us. He is the one who gives us the grace to utter the prayer “Lord help me to yield today to your workmanship” and “Lord help me today to learn what it is that you want to teach me”.

Brother Prinzing shares so beautifully this point of how it is all HIS WORK, HIS LIFE that brings this about within us ..... “Though all natural illustrations have their limitations, yet they also give us glimpses into principles of truth. In those areas of our country where we have the change of seasons, with summer and winter, we find there are certain trees, rose bushes, types of shrubbery, etc. that seem to often retain their leaves in the fall -- brown, dead, yet clinging to the branch. The winds and snows of winter cannot remove them. But come spring, with the upsurge of NEW LIFE, the inner life that flows outward through the branch will force the old leaves to fall off, that the new leaves might appear. It does no good to condemn the tree in the fall, the brown leaves hang on. You might carefully try to pick them off one by one. Or, you can wait till that NEW LIFE FLOWS, and then the INNER LIFE accomplishes what all the exterior condemnations could never do.

Furthermore, as the new life emerges, it does not carry on with harsh inditements, "get out of my way, you ugly, dead leaf." It simply LIVES, it quietly expresses its life, and everything that bespeaks of death falls away.

The more we are POSSESSED BY THE LIFE OF THE CHRIST, we will not condemn ourselves, nor anyone around us, concerning the things of the flesh, for HIS LIFE will cause them to drop off, while all the more HE is manifested in the positiveness of His victory.” (End quote).

I love that quote ... it is so beautifully true. How gentle are His ways....truly it is His gentleness that makes us great. How glorious and good is our Father! It really is all about the simplicity of Christ. Did not our Lord teach us how to pray? He instructed us to pray for our DAILY BREAD. Each day I ask my Father to give me His daily bread that He has for me and my family. I also ask for His grace to see it (his daily bread)...for the grace to recognize it when it is given .... and for the grace to learn what it is that He wants to teach me so that I am NOURISHED by Him. He is so good to hear and answer this prayer....for once again it is HIM that is working in me to will and to do ..... all praise to His most glorious name!

What does this daily bread look like to you my beloved? I will tell you what it looks like for me in this season that the Lord has me in. I see his daily bread in the four little loaves that He has given me to raise, these four loaves are my precious little children. I see, taste, touch and experience His daily bread in the glorious gift that He has given to me in my beloved husband. Truly, these five precious loaves that the Lord has given to me is His daily bread that brings nourishment to my body, soul, and spirit. I find His expressions, His words, His tenderness, correction, joy, comfort, encouragement, love, truth, wisdom in the lives/bread of my husband and children .... I am nourished by my Lord through their voices, their hugs and kisses, their laughter, their tears, their questions, their trials, their triumphs ..... many lessons are taught to me through my family....the Lord uses them in such intricate ways to process me and conform me INTO His image. I give you praise Lord ..... oh how I love you so. Oh yes, the Lord also gives to me His daily bread found in the lives of many others as well....those that have shared in His cross, that know Him and His ways. These are those that not only know the written word but have had the breath of the Spirit write it upon their hearts and are now BECOME His living epistles that are read by all men. I praise you Lord.

As we eat of His flesh(Word) and drink of His blood(Spirit) we shall dwell in Him and live by Him. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”(Jhn.15:5) This is UNION. This is the union that Jesus spoke of when ‘Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (Jn.5:19). I am amazed at how the Lord will allow circumstances to touch our lives to not only show us the truth that APART FROM HIM WE CAN DO NOTHING but also to let us EXPERIENCE this truth in our daily lives. I can testify to the truth that I have been learning this lesson daily and I dare say it has been quite painful...for it has been a year of new emptyings, new strippings, new purgings and yet all of this has happened for my GOOD in order that He can FILL me with His strength and BE my strength. It is one thing to quote the verse “The Lord is my strength” .... and quite another thing to KNOW HIM AS STRENGTH....truly this is when the scripture becomes REALITY within. He would have our eyes so singular upon Him that whatever He is gazing at we would be too. He would have our hearts beat in such rhythm with His that whatever moves His heartbeat moves ours too. This is what He is doing within us as we feed on His life....as the old saying goes .... ’you are what you eat’ ..... so true indeed ..... we are becoming ONE in His life.

It is in eating of His flesh that we are renewed in our mind and are able to discern the difference between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (soul) and the tree of life (spirit).

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Heb.4:12).

There are many within the ekklesia that have yet to come into the understanding that the Word is LIVING .... the WORD is Jesus Christ Himself .... ”The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). Not only does He dwell among us but He dwells WITHIN us .... ”Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21).

Just yesterday a dear friend of mine retold a conversation she had with another christian lady. In this conversation my dear friend was retelling how this lady spoke of her love for the Word (the letter) and how she loves those that also see the Word as very black and white. My precious friend was troubled by this statement but didn’t really know why .... I then explained to her the reason she had a check in her Spirit was because THE WORD is living...and COLORFUL .... He is Spirit and in Him is LIFE. “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (2 Cor.3:6).

These beloved children of God, like this precious lady mentioned above, know Him as the letter. He is the man that walked the shores of Galilee two thousand years ago, the man that fed the five thousand with only a couple of loaves of bread and a few fish. They have read of this man in the holy scriptures and believe in this man. They have even put their trust in this man for their salvation but they still don’t really KNOW this man. They still have not really come to know His voice within. They look to their daily devotional to hear ‘a word’. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a daily devotional, I enjoy reading one too and yet I am very much aware that the Lord uses it as he does with other writings including the scriptures to CONFIRM what He has been speaking WITHIN.

All we have to do is remember back to the dark ages, a period of time where Father’s holy sons and daughters were not permitted to read the scriptures on their own. These saints were not given access to the holy scriptures, they certainly did not have access to any lexicons or a concordance either, and yet it was during this time that some of the greatest REVELATIONS of God were given. How did this happen? Jesus was the LIVING WORD .... they came to know His voice within. As Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). These precious sheep of the dark ages sat at His feet and heard Him. He would then open up their spiritual eyes to see some of the most glorious mysteries hidden in the scriptures. I have been enriched by the broken bread found within the life of a precious daughter of the King that lived in the 1600's. I sit in awe as I read what the Lord allowed her to see and experience. She knew THE WORD on such an intimate level as very few have known Him. She knew His voice WITHIN. This is true for all those that FEED ON HIS LIFE .... I give Him praise even now.

Continued in Pt. 4 “The Inward Bethel .... Sinking Into”

Leaving Bethel part two

2010-06-23T08:55:00.000-06:00

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I would like to touch upon the external dimension that I have seen and experienced regarding how this test unfolds within the sojourner’s life as they encounter Bethel/Eden for the first time.

As I have stated in the previous article there is an external dimension of Bethel where it is known as the place in time where one leaves the man-made church system and they come into the realization that they are the ‘church/temple/house of God’.....they don’t have to GO to church....but that they ARE the church. I really don’t like to use the word ‘church’ for its meaning is derived from ‘circus’ (and how true that is and sad at the same time) so I would prefer to use the original word when referring to the Lord’s called out ones and that is the greek word ‘ekklesia’(strong’s G1577).

It really is a liberating time on so many levels when one finally arrives spiritually at Bethel. I remember how freeing me and my husband felt when we finally cut the chord of the ‘church’ and entered into enjoying our weekend. No more having to hurry up and get the family dressed for ‘church’...no more feeling like we had wasted an entire day with church activities and not having enough time to enjoy our family, really all of it was nothing more than works of the flesh and saying good-bye to that was joyful and freeing. It was also a time of child like wonder...of the Holy Spirit introducing us to new teachers...those that have been born OF HIM...established BY HIM... those of HIS KINGDOM. How delightful it was when the Holy Spirit gave to us these heavenly teachers to help us learn of deep kingdom truths.

These teachers are His hidden ones. They are hidden from the masses and shun the spotlight. They have been trained on the back side of the desert for many years and have no desire to build an empire. They only want to please the Father. You will not find their teachings being sold in the market places of Christendom either for they have come to understand that freely they have received so freely they must give. No, you will not find His hidden ones, period; unless they are given to you from ABOVE. This is the time where one comes into the experiential understanding of what John meant when He said, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.”(Jn.3:27). Wow is all I can say.....and I continue to be in awe of all those that have traveled further up Mt. Zion. I honor the Lord in their lives. I appreciate what it has taken and the deaths that they have died in order to manifest more of His life and truth in their earthen vessels....of BECOMING the broken bread that enriches so many.

I love what Ray Prinzing writes about all those that have been called to BECOME HIS BROKEN BREAD..."God is preparing that which shall become “bread for the hungry”. Jesus is the ‘LIVING BREAD which came down from heaven”, (John 6:51), was broken for the world. And now, that which is becoming HIS BODY, becoming in Him “one bread”, (I Corinthians 10:16-17), is also being bruised, broken, as a living sacrifice which shall become the ministration of His life for all of His creation." (end quote).
I give you praise Lord even now for all of your hidden ones, your precious saints that have endured the cross, and are BECOMING ONE with you, to BE your BODY/BREAD that is given for many.

It is during this time of being introduced to new teachers and dining on the richest of fare that the child of God is brought right back to the first test given in Paradise. Yes, this test is still given today. This test is given (and I believe will continue to be given as long as necessary until eventually we pass it) and enter into HIS REST. “ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.” (Heb.4:9-11).

Many within Bethel begin to eat from various trees and this is good for God created these trees and called them good. Trees in scripture are symbolic for people. It is from the fruit found within the lives of these holy teachers that Yahweh has given, that the saints of Bethel eat from and enjoy. These precious lambs that are being raised within this lush garden begin to have a very discriminating palate. They no longer are drawn to the shallow and corrupted teachings they once were fed while dwelling in the Harlot’s house, but now have come to relish the table set before them by the King himself. They are growing up in Him and their inner man is becoming stronger by the day. This is the time where the test begins to unfold to find out what is in the heart, the appetite of the heart.

It is here that one can be drawn away by the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. It is here that gluttony can begin to crouch at the door. Gluttony for more and more knowledge. This is where the temptation comes to allow oneself to be given over to epicureanism found within the soul. The dictionary defines epicurean as one “devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure, especially to the enjoyment of good food and comfort.”
Yes, the soul will always look for comfort. It will shun the cross. The gluttonous appetite will take and take. The glutton has no patience to wait upon the Lord, to wait to receive from the broken bread of His life. The broken bread can only be received from His hands....His nail pierced hands. It is in the waiting of life’s circumstances (the cross), the yielding, the
processings, the inworkings, that we BECOME crucified with Christ and have our eyes opened to SEE HIM.

This is where the spiritual glutton misses it. For the glutton only wants more and more knowledge, wants to hear more and more revelation and has no desire to be decreased so that the Lord can be increased. They are enticed by the pride of life to tell and show off all of their new found knowledge and wisdom. Sadly, this is true even for those who have heard the call to sonship. There is a temptation to go and tell others and share all the glorious revelation that they have received in the garden. The motivation of the heart is really about promoting self in order to gather a following. Did not Jesus warn us of this when He said “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.” (John 7:18). This is the ego that has now made Bethel into the golden calf. The fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has now been ingested and SELF has become the idol.

Ah, but those that wait upon the Lord, those that deny self and say yes to His cross, for them there is an entirely different outcome. They become the TREE OF LIFE people.
The truth is that those that say “Yes Lord, not my will, but yours be done” these are those where the message received and ingested becomes the MESSENGER of His life that is manifested.
They become ONE in the message. Christ is now their life.
It is at this point where Bethel is no longer and external dimension of being a place where one is fed, but becomes and internal place of Christ being the source of living water, that flows from the very throne of God.

To be continued......in pt.3.... ‘The Inward Bethel....feeding on His life”

Leaving Bethel part one

2010-06-20T16:10:00.000-06:00

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I honor my Father today by sharing this message that He has given to me. My desire is for the Lord’s Kingdom to be increased within all those that read these lines. I have come to learn that I can only give out of what I have received from heaven and that I am to let my light shine so that what I have experienced of His Kingdom advances in others and is multiplied. This is a five part series entitled “Leaving Bethel”. Being prepared for His fullness one has to leave all that they have known to come into all that they have not known. This is leaving Bethel to come into the land of promise.....THE GREEN MOUNTAIN of His life. May the Lord bless you deeply and richly as you journey on with Him to Zion.

Leaving Bethel...for ‘my’ Vermont.

It has been over a year since I wrote my last article ‘Prepare the Way’. There is something so precious about the anointing when one writes...for one understands that they are just the vessel and it is the Holy Spirit that is writing through them. “My heart is overflowing with a good theme; I recite my composition concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” (Psm.45:1). Little did I know at the time how prophetic that article was and how generous the Holy Spirit was in sharing some deep mysteries. I am humbled and so thankful to my Lord and King. When I speak of it being prophetic I am referring to the Spirit of Prophecy, the Lord Himself, opening up more of HIS WAY within my life and the lives of His people. I look back now and see that it was the Holy Spirit that moved within me to write about the mystery of Bethel knowing that I would only be seeing it from one facet of the jewel.

Bethel means ‘house of God’and just as there are wheels within THE WHEEL the Lord has begun to enlarge my understanding to the deeper truths regarding Bethel and why His sons and daughters must leave it, in order to come into His fullness. I love it when the Lord brings us to that place of hindsight....of looking back, seeing, and understanding His ways. It truly is a precious time of surveying the ground that has been covered and appreciating the intricate details of the journey. That is how I feel today, as one who has come to the mountain top with a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation of how my Lord has led me through the plains and valleys in order to arrive at where I am at this point in my journey IN Him. I also am very keenly aware that there is still an upward ascent to an even HIGHER mountain.

This last year has been a tough one for me as I have been allowed to go through some areas of shaking that I have never encountered before. The Lord is in control of all things that touch our lives and so I take comfort in knowing that He is using everything for my good so that I BECOME His will and purpose in the earth. I have been made more tender this year to people that struggle with health issues. I have been made more tender this year toward seeing my own need for the Lord’s mercy and His deliverance. I am amazed at what the Lord uses within our lives to process us and conform us into His image...for it seems that much of this year has been used to conform me into His mercy seat....and it has been painful but I praise Him that He has given me the grace to say ‘yes Lord, not my will but your will be done.”
My beloved precious brothers and sisters in Christ... my prayer is that what I have been learning over this last year and am about to share will be a blessing and will encourage and strengthen you to leave your Bethel(s) so that you can move onward to’ your’ Vermont.
What do I mean by ‘my’ Vermont?

Vermont is derived from two french words....vert (green) and mont (mountain)....literally meaning green mountain. If you were to ask me where I would like to live in the United States of America my quick reply would be Vermont. I have never been but I have this romantic vision of what living in Vermont would be like. Since fall is my favorite season of the year I am captivated by the glorious beauty of the fall foliage that Vermont is renown for. I love how the citizens are commited to preserving and restoring the architecture of their charming villages. I love to read about their organic farms and how the state is known for its maple syrup. I love that the green mountain state seems to take great delight in ‘swimming upstream’... for I sense that the citizens of Vermont are very open minded people and yet grounded.
So, as far as I am concerned with living on this natural plane, this is what ‘my vermont’ looks like.

On a deeper spiritual level my Vermont....my GREEN MOUNTAIN....is the Lord Himself....my inheritance....my promised land...of complete UNION in spirit, soul, and body with Him. Even as I write those words I am aware that I really have no idea as to what that is going to be like....I can peer only so far with the eyes of my spirit for I am still seeing through a glass darkly....and yet I am amazed as He continues to draw me onward to Himself by giving me the grace to follow His light as He leads me to His Holy mountain....all praise to His most Holy name!
“Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, the Sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established,” (Exodus 15:17).
“Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.” (Psalm 43:3).

In “Prepare the Way” the Holy Spirit unfolded this truth....

“The Lord wants HIS BODY/HIS BRIDE to be prepared.....and He has His ministers, His HOLY CHAMBERLAINS that minister to only Him that He will send to those virgins that are still camping out.... these chamberlains are those that know the King’s likes and dislikes....they know His tastes. Some of these virgins are still camping out at Passover....others are camping out at Pentecost....then there are those that have heard the feast of trumpets but are still camping out at BETHEL. Bethel is the place/house that has become VERY COMFORTABLE for them.....for this is the place where usually their beloved earthly teacher is residing....and this is the place where they have learned many deep and profound kingdom truths....but just as Abraham they too must LEAVE THEIR FATHER’S HOUSEHOLD and go to a place I will show you.....a place of the UNKNOWN.....the feast of Tabernacles.
The journey of the Feast of Tabernacles begins at Jordan....the place of descending....this is the place of dying to all that you have known, to come into all that you have not known. This is the INWARD JOURNEY. “

As I wrote that above about Bethel I was writing from the perspective of those that have left the Harlot’s house (the church system of man) and have heard the call of sonship and been given the understanding of the restoration of all things. These are the ones that have had their eyes open to the REAL HOUSE OF GOD... “Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16) and for them it is a time of great delight and feasting. All those that have made the journey to Bethel have found that truly there has been prepared for them a place in the wilderness, “And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.” (Isaiah 25:6) Not only is it a place laden with fat things but they also have been supplied with glorious celestial teachers to aid them in their understanding of great Kingdom truths that have been hidden from the masses. It truly is a time of rejoicing, rich fellowship, and FEASTING.
This feasting begins at Bethel. I have come to understand that this place is really a journey back to Eden, for Eden is where we see the first environment given for man to dwell...and this environment of feasting is necessary so that the appetite of man can be tested. For it is in Eden where once again we are given the opportunity to CHOOSE....we can either take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.....or we can receive the broken bread from the TREE OF LIFE.

As one makes their selection from which tree they will eat from their EYES are opened. If one chooses from the tree of knowledge of good and evil their eyes are open to see self, the soulish life....if however they choose to wait upon the Lord and receive from Him, from the broken bread of His life found through the sharing of His cross, their eyes will be open to see HIM and in so gazing they will see, know, understand and find their TRUE LIFE hidden with Christ in God... “for ye did die, and your life hath been hid with the Christ in God;” (Col. 3:3 Youngs).

To be continued in “Leaving Bethel....the external dimension”....pt. 2.

SWEET SURRENDER, SWEET JESUS

2010-05-31T19:17:00.000-06:00

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The Bible is a book of war. “The Lord is a man of war” (Ex. 15:3). Heaven is a realm of war, as well as the earth. “And there was war in heaven” (Rev. 12:7). Jesus is a man of war. “Think not that I am come to send peace of the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Mat. 10:34). “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them” (Rev. 17:14). David was a man of war. “Thou (Absalom) knowest thy father (David) and his men that they are mighty men, and thy father is a man of war” (I Sam. 17:8). David faced Goliath and took his sword. He was a man of war before he met Goliath. David is a type of Christ. His followers were men of war. “And there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker” (II Sam. 3:1). The sons of God follow a man of war! Thank God! as the battle rages the Christ within is waxing stronger and stronger, and the kingdom of the flesh is waxing weaker and weaker. So shall it be fulfilled — the natural man shall be subjected to the spiritual, the flesh shall be ruled over by the spirit, and then shall we see “all things in subjection under His feet” (Heb. 2:8). (author unknown)

All the violence, from the Amalekite baby dashed upon the rocks, to Jesus at Calvary, to the first church martyrs. All sacrificed their lives, that we might know "the Kingdom of God is within." The great and last war is fought within and blessed is the man, with a soul, that has raised a white flag in sweet surrender.

Jesus is Victor. When He rose on the third day, Jesus made death, and all the enemies of our soul His footstool. Those enemies aren't outside, they are within and how very few know this.

With the world in travail, many today are involved in eschatological discussion, searching for apocalyptic signs, to know how and when it will all go down. I personally have not time for discussions of eschatology except to proclaim, I have met the risen Christ and Jesus is Victor. He has taken my rebellious soul captive and laid it to rest in Love. That is my "apocalypse" and my eschatology is "only an eye for Him." Today, I no longer even bother to follow Jesus, for He has swept me off my feet and now He carries me as His surrendered captive in Love.

Ah, Sweet Surrender, Sweet Jesus. For me, they are the same.

Jack

WHAT DO THE STARS TELL US

2010-05-20T20:21:00.000-06:00

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In the summer, I love to look up at the stars in the night sky. Partaking of such a heavenly view, I find myself raptured by the random and prodigious thoughts, giving rise in my mind. I even enjoy more, the the rare occasions, upon which I write of the discoveries, scientists have made as they have searched the heavens. With that, allow me to share the thinking of a couple of familiar characters, as they gaze the night sky.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto went camping in the desert. After they got their tent all set up, both men fell sound asleep. Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says, "Kemo Sabe, look towards sky, what you see? "

The Lone Ranger replies, "I see millions of stars."

"What that tell you?" asked Tonto.

The Lone Ranger ponders for a minute then says, "Astronomically speaking, it tells me there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three in the morning. Theologically, the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What's it tell you, Tonto?"

"You dumber than buffalo. It means someone stole the tent."

BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US

2010-05-18T08:27:00.000-06:00

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"Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is Himself the way." Barth

To those liberal Christians, that look beyond Christ, I sometimes want to scream. "DO YOU EVEN KNOW HIM?!" This outrage arises from the very Truth, that above all, Jesus embodies the nature of intimacy in God. God through Jesus, saves all of men. He saves all men, one soul at a time, giving all of His love and all of His life, personally, to each of us.

It seems my outrage turns to sorrow, knowing, the soul that looks beyond Jesus, for his or her needs, has not been made aware of God's intimate care and affection through Jesus, yet.

"We love because he first loved us." 1Jn 4:19

Wesley writes, " We love him, because he first loved us - This is the sum of all religion, the genuine model of Christianity. None can say more: why should any one say less"

The paradox is, that while Jesus died for the whole world, He gave His life for me alone. Those that constantly liberalize Christianity, to where it has no bounds, know nothing of the nature of God's intimacy revealed through Jesus. I am sorry, they do not know this. I, however, am joyous that one day they will. With that my initial outrage turns to sorrow that is finally tempered with joy.

I hope you spend some time alone with Jesus today, and come to know, how very special you alone, are to Him.

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FREE WILL MEETS YOU WON'T

2010-05-04T00:09:00.000-06:00

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FREE WILL, listen to it's vain voice:

"I WILL ascend into heaven, I WILL exalt my throne above the stars of God. I WILL sit upon the mount of the congregation... I WILL ascend above the heights of the clouds; I WILL be like the most High." Isaiah 14:13-14

I saw that scripture rendition of Isaiah. on Roach's new paper and put it together, with some emphasis, while also adding the state of man's vanity. Elwin also succinctly writes of man's mythical free will:

"Such madness makes man's will more sacred than God Himself."

The belief in "free will" comes from the vain spirit, that is ingrained in man. Eventually, we are made to fall by God's hand, that we might recognize our vanity, along with our overwhelming futility. We come to see our true state, as being descendant from the first Adam.

"For the creation was subjected to vanity and futility, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it, in hope." Rom 8:20

Yes, FREE WILL eventually receives a vanity crushing YOU WON'T, served up as humble pie, by our creator. Oh my, I well know the taste of that bitter meal. O Lord, I indeed do!
Today, that which was once bitter has turned into pure sweetness, and rest to my soul.

When we finally recognize God's absolute sovereignty, we do find glorious rest. We also become a new creation, after the likeness and substance of the Last Adam, our Christ Jesus. Bless His Most Precious and Holy Name!

Just thought to share a new way of illustrating the frustration, that man is born into, that he might know God. The old maxim, "experience is the best teacher" rings true. We must experience the opposing natural carnal nature, with which, we are able to measure, appreciate and hold Holy, the spiritual nature of God. Following our frustration, we are relieved, as we recieve the call to share in the Divine Nature. First the natural then the spiritual (1Cor.15:46).

Jack

THE CIRCUIT OF VANITY, FUTILITY AND FRUSTRATION

2010-04-25T20:10:00.000-06:00

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"The creature was made subject to vanity ..... " (Rom 8:20). So of course, the creature would think himself, a free moral agent (laughing out loud).

Another translation reads, "the creature was made subject to futility." Finally, some render the verse, as "the creature was made frustrated."

So, we might say, by using all three renditions, we have the vain creature chasing his tail in futility and becoming frustrated. Thank God, He pulls us out of this maddening circuit and to Himself, where we find glorious rest in His will, the one and only will.

"Why do we suffer such?" you might ask. One reason is, that in order to measure and realize selflessness, we must know it's opposite which be vanity. The same would be instanced, with futility and omnipotence, also, frustration and rest. So it is, we first suffer, for which to know the glorious well being in God. Thank you Father, for the One, come suffer for, with, in and through us. Thank you God, for Your Christ Jesus and our Christ Jesus, Bless His Most Holy Name!

"Then I realized how bitter I had become, how pained I had been by all I had seen. I was so foolish and ignorant. I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to you; you are holding my right hand. You will keep on guiding me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do." Psalm 73:21-28

"For it is GOD who works in you both to WILL and to DO of His good pleasure" Php 2:13

Yes, it is God, who works in us and His good pleasure is always, toward Love,

Jack

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STAND BY ME

2010-04-24T09:36:00.000-06:00

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Christ has stood by you and He has stood by me. He has stood with is, by us and within us from all time, suffering and rejoicing, living and dieing, as man and as God. Christ died as the first Adam, to be raised as the last Adam. He stands His ground and raises it to Heavens farthest reach. We are Christ's earth, become Christ's heaven. What a plan, what a purpose we find in our Christ as He stands.

Today, many know Christ stands by them, tomorrow they will know He stands in them, and one day they will know they stand in Him. Most importantly, all will realize before Christ stood, Christ stooped. Such is the Love, we know as Christ. All praise be, to man's Christ and to God's Christ!
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THE SPARROW AT STARBUCKS

2010-04-23T21:43:00.000-06:00

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I am blessed to study and contemplate, what I think, some deep things of God. However, my heart is always moved by the simple testimonies, where God just shows up unexpectedly in someones life. These kinds of stories always bring to me tears of tenderness. Be blessed with your reading of this beautiful account, of His grace bestowed.
Jack

The song that silenced the cappuccino machine....

It was chilly in Manhattan but warm inside the Starbucks shop on 51st Street and Broadway, just a skip up from Times Square . Early November weather in New York City holds only the slightest hint of the bitter chill of late December and January, but it's enough to send the masses crowding indoors to vie for available space and warmth. For a musician, it's the most lucrative Starbucks location in the world, I'm told, and consequently, the tips can be substantial if you play your tunes right.

Apparently, we were striking all the right chords that night, because our basket was almost overflowing. It was a fun, low-pressure gig - I was playing keyboard and singing backup for my friend who also added rhythm with an arsenal of percussion instruments. We mostly did pop songs from the '40s to the '90s with a few original tunes thrown in. During our emotional rendition of the classic, "If You Don't Know Me by Now," I noticed a lady sitting in one of the lounge chairs across from me. She was swaying to the beat and singing along.

After the tune was over, she approached me. "I apologize for singing along on that song. Did it bother you?" she asked.

"No," I replied. "We love it when the audience joins in. Would you like to sing up front on the next selection?" To my delight, she accepted my invitation. "You choose," I said. "What are you in the mood to sing?"

"Well. ... do you know any hymns?" Hymns? This woman didn't know who she was dealing with. I cut my teeth on hymns. Before I was even born, I was going to church. I gave our guest singer a knowing look. "Name one."

"Oh, I don't know. There are so many good ones. You pick one."

"Okay," I replied. "How about 'His Eye is on the Sparrow'?"

My new friend was silent, her eyes averted. Then she fixed her eyes on mine again and said, "Yeah. Let's do that one." She slowly nodded her head, put down her purse, straightened her jacket and faced the center of the shop. With my two-bar setup, she began to sing,

"Why should I be discouraged? Why should the shadows come?"
The audience of coffee drinkers was transfixed. Even the gurgling noises of the cappuccino machine ceased as the employees stopped what they were doing to listen. The song rose to its conclusion.

"I sing because I'm happy; I sing because I'm free. For His eye is on the sparrow And I know He watches me."

When the last note was sung, the applause crescendo to a deafening roar that would have rivaled a sold-out crowd at Carnegie Hall. Embarrassed, the woman tried to shout over the din, "Oh, y'all go back to your coffee! I didn't come in here to do a concert! I just came in here to get somethin' to drink, just like you!"

But the ovation continued.. I embraced my new friend. "You, my dear, have made my whole year! That was beautiful!"

"Well, it's funny that you picked that particular hymn," she said.

"Why is that?"

"Well . .." she hesitated again, "that was my daughter's favorite song."

"Really!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," she said, and then grabbed my hands. By this time, the applause had subsided and it was business as usual.. "She was 16. She died of a brain tumor last week.."

I said the first thing that found its way through my stunned silence. "Are you going to be okay?"

She smiled through tear-filled eyes and squeezed my hands. "I'm gonna be okay. I've just got to keep trusting the Lord and singing his songs, and everything's gonna be just fine." She picked up her bag, gave me her card, and then she was gone.. Was it just a coincidence that we happened to be singing in that particular coffee shop on that particular November night? Coincidence that this wonderful lady just happened to walk into that particular shop? Coincidence that of all the hymns to choose from, I just happened to pick the very hymn that was the favorite of her daughter, who had died just the week before? I refuse to believe it. God has been arranging encounters in human history since the beginning of time, and it's no stretch for me to imagine that he could reach into a coffee shop in midtown Manhattan and turn an ordinary gig into a revival. It was a great reminder that if we keep trusting him and singing his songs, everything's gonna be okay.

Gentle Shepherd.......Come and Lead Us

2010-04-18T13:28:00.000-06:00

Above~April 2010~Joian in Arrowhead at Chuck and Leanne's home for the holiday.

Thank you all for your prayers and love for me over the last months. The journey has been amazing. I abide in a deeper rest as a result of all I have experienced. I especially want to thank my beloved Jack. I have never been so continually touched by prayer, love and support from another. You have been a gift Mr. Hennessey, sent of the Lord. I and my family thank God for you.

I also found a new dimension in the love of my children and friends. I was privileged to see over and over “Christ” as he came through their lives to me. Our Father has mixed the bitter and sweet together and uses it as he wills……..he is God, I am the clay………in that knowledge I have learned to be content.

My trip to the pit of hell started in ER. I had endured a series of blood tests and lots of poking and prodding in the previous weeks as they tried to determine why I was not getting better. I was scheduled for a sonogram the following Monday. Early one morning awakened by pain, I questioned when deliverance would come. I finally heard the Lord clearly say; this time it is necessary to “go through” what lies ahead. I had no idea what “going through” fully meant but it sounded like it had a beginning and an end…….with that, I began to lean back and trust.

It has taken over two months to come to grips with all that happened during that time. A cancerous tumor was located in the intestine, just above the colon and was removed, along with a third of my colon. Fifteen lymph nodes and my appendix were also taken for good measure. The blockage was so critical it nearly burst my small intestine. We were later informed surgically removing the tumor released cancer cells throughout the rest of my body via blood cells. In my surgeons’ opinion, I would require chemo therapy to stop the spread of cancer.

I awoke with tubes everywhere and in the worst pain I had ever experienced. I would taste an ongoing, kind of hell for the next three days. I felt like my bed had been placed in the center ring at a circus, with all the sites and sounds of the same.........lol

One morning I woke with my daughter Melody’s hand over my ear. She had been trying to block the noise so that I could sleep. A hospital is no place for recovery unless you are in a coma!!!.......lol. Each day, I would wake to find a daughter, son or grandchild vigilantly on duty in my room, sometimes two or three and in the beginning all of them at once…..lol. I still cry remembering their tender care. Miraculously, three days after surgery I was released, surprising everyone. I had no pain to speak of and took only an occasional Tylenol over the next days to help me sleep.

The second afternoon home from the hospital, I awoke from a nap feeling a tangible presence of the Lord. It was almost as if I lay curled in his arms. We talked of the recent events and my fears. I told the Lord I was willing to go through the chemo therapy and that if I lived or died I trusted him. His reply was that I would not die and that I was not to go through chemo. In such a weakened state it rather frightened me to think of bucking the Drs. and possibly my family. I thought “whew” if I miss your voice I could be in big trouble. To which he answered, “Honey, I will send messengers who will make the way plain, you will not miss me once.” Then he added, “I will lead you in the gentle way”. Just then my daughter knocked at the bedroom door to let me know my brother-in-law and sister-in-law had just stopped by, and did I feel like seeing them? Thus began a most remarkable journey as the first two messengers had arrived.

My sister-in-law is a three year survivor of breast cancer. She refused radiation after the removal of a malignant breast tumor. Her prognosis was 2-5 years. Yet today she remains cancer free. They began to share the journey of the past three years with me and my family. Before they left they had pointed me to the beginning tools of my recovery. I took everything they said, as if they had been angels sent from the Lord. They introduced me to a foundation called Hallelujah Acres and left four DVDs. One from Hallelujah Acres, two by Dr. Lorraine Day and another called “Healing Cancer From Within” from the book, “The China Project”. I would spend the next two months learning how to……live again.

The next messenger would be a close family friend. Maria is almost family, as her brother married one of my daughters. She is also a professional masseuse. I have referred dozens of clients to her and go as often as possible myself. She has always been the frosting on the cupcake of life…..lol. When she heard I had cancer she began to pray for me. That same night she had a dream from the Lord. Among other things, he told her to anoint me with a specific oil for my healing. The next morning she searched through her essence oils and was surprised that she had an unopened bottle of those very oils spoken of in the dream, a blend of frankincense and myrrh.

It would be weeks before either of us could meet as she was suddenly taken to the hospital the next day with what they thought was a mini stroke. As we both recovered I searched out more information on frankincense and myrrh. I found that Moses was instructed to mix a small amount of myrhh into the frankincense that was used for incense in the temple. Myrhh is described as bitter, while frankincense is called sweet. I was struck by the symbolism to life’s mixture of bitter and sweet. It is in the bitter; I find the deep parts of HE himself.

I also found that myrhh is used for embalming. In my heart I began to understand some of the meaning of her dream. I couldn’t shake that I was to be anointed for my own burial, a burial that signified, I would never again use self effort to accomplish anything. It filled me with awe and brought me to tears.

A month passed before I was able to meet with Maria. We both cried as she anointed my head with oil. As she moved to anoint my feet; I felt the presence of the Lord just as if he were standing physically in the room, his hands on my head. Maria was massaging my feet as the power of his being went through me. It touched her so strongly she needed to lean against the wall to remain upright. I believe we both experienced healing that day….three hours would pass like a minute as we shared in the Glory of his presence. Truly….Living is IN and through Christ ~ to DIE will be nothing but GAIN!!!

One final hallelujah before I close. Two weeks ago my daughter Amy sent me a link to an alternative cancer site she found. It was founded by a 78 year old man named Bill Henderson. Bill authored the book “Cancer-Free”, which was written several years after losing his wife to the disease. It exposes the ignorance practiced by medical doctors and alternatives to the poison called chemo therapy.

The website contained a newsletter that is filled with encouraging stories and links. There is also a podcast site where Bill interviews doctors and cancer survivors. It is literally packed with information and links to other sites including the protocol I am using for healing. I read for several hours and was in the process of saving the site address to my favorites when I saw its name, http://www.beating-cancer-gently.com/. I burst into tears, the Lord had left another sign post along the way……..how faithful is our Father who intertwines us each with the other, and oversees our lives down to the smallest detail, GENTLY leading us.

Forever His,
Joian

"WE ARE BECOMING WHAT WE ALREADY ARE!" ..... a eulogy for Dad.

2010-04-15T02:09:00.000-06:00

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Rest in Christ
Rest in Peace
We rejoice with you, in your perfect never ending day.

Please be assured my SONSHINE friends, I have not bailed on our blog. Instead, I have only been called, to spend a season in a another place. That place, where I have writing of late, is Facebook, which has turned into fertile ground for the publishing of the real "Good News" and the deeper truths of God. It has been a tremendous blessing and if you frequent the verdant pastures of Facebook, please make a friend request of me.

With that report of my whereabouts. allow me to share, that for some time, Ellie and myself have been enjoying weekly phone visits, whence we are blessed to share His anointing. Our conversations are filled with the telling of the events of our everyday lives, lived in Christ. Also, we share the glad records. of that which we both are learning of our precious Lord. Ah, my friends these visits have truly been times of blessed refreshment as our Lord fills our thoughts. It is indeed wonderful, to dwell with brethren and as we go deeper into God, it seems we tread a common path with fewer and fewer of the saints. I can only say, "God bless, those of you, that are being drawn to highest reaches of God's Holy Mount, where New Jerusalem rests.

Now, before getting back to Ellie, let me interject, that this week on Facebook, I have been telling of my Father's burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The formal ceremony took place Monday, while my Dad had died in October. Because of my illness, I was not able to attend the burial, yet still, our good Lord made a way that I would have a part. It seems the attending Navy Chaplain had asked my Father's wife, Lois, if the family might have a few scriptures they would like read at the burial. This request in turn, gave way to Lois asking me to think of a few verses that I thought would be meaningful and appropriate for the occassion. Seems, I soon discovered, I had received a much more difficult assignment, than first envisioned. I also appreciated that difficulty, because I knew of One that thrived in difficult places and He has a way, of doing all things well.

Yes, what seemed a simple chore, became difficult as I realized that "the sea" should of course be the theme of a eulogy, fit for a career Naval officer. If you understand types in the Bible, you already know, "the sea" in scripture represents tumultuous humanity. So as I previously reported, I was completely stymied. Finally, after a time and with repeated calls as to the where abouts of these sought after verses, I sat down to type. I called on the Lord and instead of a couple scriptures or even a Bible passage, we wrote a book (lol). Of course I kid about the "book". However, let me say, that which I felt led to write was way more than I think anyone expected, including me.

So truthfully, I was surprised and even more so pleased, that my message was actually read by the Chaplain. I was equally edified, with the repeated reports, saying my part of the eulogy was the most moving. In writing these words, I felt empty of self and at a loss, only praying this message would be His. When I typed out the closing sentences of this message, I thought, "oh my, this is much too esoteric."
Then I thought, "I don't expect this to be read, so what the heck."
After all, my father's widow had only asked me for a couple scriptures to be recited.

So back to Ellie, it was today, she asked that I might share this message on SONSHINE. Bless her heart, the great encourager, she is. I had earlier E-mailed Ellie, the message and she thought it grand. So without further adieu. let me get to the message, First please allow me a prelude, by quoting the following excerpted words, from the whole of the message. These are thoughts, that surprised me, when I typed them. By the way, "Charles" is my Dad and following this excerpt, is my explanation of this which I quoted.

"Be assured, dear family and beloved friends, today, Charles enjoys the unimaginable beauty of still waters, full of peace, joy, love and mercy. And in a most mysterious way, all that have known and loved Charles in this life, are there enjoined with Him. So glorious, so grand and beyond description is this Mystery, we know as Christ ...... 'Christ', the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End of all things. Amen"

So it is, dear reader, I believe that, in the highest heaven, where time is of a different rhythm, God's purposeful plan is finished. With such a blissful state, even you and me are found complete in Him. We sit, even today, in the highest place, resting as complete in Christ. That is indeed "esoteric", and as with the meaning of the word, this truth is only known in this present world, by the initiated and enlightened of Christ. What a wonder, this Christ of ours and what mystery, that today, WE ARE BECOMING WHAT WE ALREADY ARE!

Yes, on Monday afternoon I had tears, when I was told such wondrous words of hope were read at my Dad's burial. It was a good day, because God is good. The following, is that which was recited in it's entirety and I am pleased to say, I still continue to receive more calls and mailings telling of how moved everyone was by this, which I believe was penned by His hand. Many said they wept, as they felt God's comfort come from out of this message. Bless His Holy Name!

Commander Charles A. Hennessey, US Navy retired (1920-2009)

The following thoughts are taken from the sacred scriptures found in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 21. This message was recorded by Jack, son of Charles, at the bequest of Charles' wife, Lois and on behalf of Charles' family.

Charles, husband and father, as we knew him, was a career oceanfarer, well acquainted with the storm driven, tumultuous sea. In the Holy Bible, the unruly sea is well used, as a descriptive metaphor, for our unsettled humanity. Each of us has been assigned a space of time, in the midst of humanity on earth. In this time, even a long life is measured, as but a fleeting breath in the face of eternity. In this short life, even the best of days enjoyed on earth, carry with it a subtle tension, for want of the perfect endless day in a perfect world. So it is, a perfect day in such a world, we are all given. With this life's duties end, we will all come as Charles has, to find and enjoy the perfect rest. Such wondrous bliss, is found besides Heaven's still living waters, poured forth for us, by our creator and redeemer, Christ Jesus.

Today, we bury the remains of Charles' body in honorable remembrance, knowing. his seafaring soul has departed. The spirit and soul of Charles, was called to home port and to Heaven's restful leave, in the fall of last year. Dust and memories, only, were left to remain. Charles' homecoming, was made the perfect day, when he was met by His Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus. Ages ago, Jesus, had gone before Charles, to make all things new. So it was on Heaven's entrance, just before Charles took his rest in paradise, Jesus stood and wiped away the tears from this seafarers face. With that Jesus assured, there would be no more death, sorrow, or pain in this new and perfect world. All the old things had passed away, upon entrance to this glorious rest, prepared for Charles, by Christ, his Redeemer.

Be assured, dear family and beloved friends, today, Charles enjoys the unimaginable beauty of still waters, full of peace, joy, love and mercy. And in a most mysterious way, all that have known and loved Charles in this life, are there enjoined with Him. So glorious, so grand and beyond description is this Mystery, we know as Christ, Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End of all things.

Rest in Christ, Charles. Rest in Peace. We rejoice with you, in your perfect never ending day. Amen.

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CHRIST IS RISEN !

2010-04-04T08:17:00.000-06:00

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Father, gives us this day, the time to ponder the

awesomeness, of Your Son, Christ Jesus risen.

The Hope of the Resurrection
by Vachel Lindsay

Though I have watched so many mourners weep
O'er the real dead, in dull earth laid asleep—
Those dead seemed but the shadows of my days
That passed and left me in the sun's bright rays.
Now though you go on smiling in the sun
Our love is slain, and love and you were one.
You are the first, you I have known so long,
Whose death was deadly, a tremendous wrong.
Therefore I seek the faith that sets it right
Amid the lilies and the candle-light.
I think on Heaven, for in that air so dear
We two may meet, confused and parted here.
Ah, when man's dearest dies,'tis then he goes
To that old balm that heals the centuries' woes.
Then Christ's victory cry in all the streets is rife:—
"I am the Resurrection and the Life."

A risen Christ shares victory over, our every hard and broken place. Life out of death; how would life or death, take upon meaning, would one be absent from the other. So we come to know them both, finally settling and resting upon life, His Life, Precious and Eternal.

May we find the occasion, of every day, to settle and rest our hope upon You, dear Jesus,

Our Christ and Life Eternal,

Jack

NUGGETS OF PRECIOUS GOLD; a "Let Go, Let God" prayer

2010-04-01T15:37:00.000-06:00

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"If anything about my salvation or right standing with God depends on my faithfulness, I'm toast, damned to hell." Gavazoni

As of late I have been writing and contemplating the "matter of man" and it was a few days ago, that Joian sent to me, an amazing prayer. This prayer, quoted below, expresses that which I believe I am making a strong case for with my "matter of man" messages. That objective is , that man is purposed as utterly futile, in the face of God's almighty power and all knowing wisdom. Although not by the same words, I have prayed this very prayer. I would describe this below, as a creed of complete surrender or better yet, and with more of a catch, a "LET GO, LET GOD" prayer.
Be blessed dear reader.

A Personal Prayer of Faith

Over the years of Christian publishing it has been popular to issue collections of prayers. I will share a prayer with you that you’ll probably not find in one of these collections.

God works to bring us to a place of weakness, so that we might be totally abandoned to Christ alone as our life. On many such occasions the Father has so moved in my life as to pray a faith-emboldened prayer similar to what I will now share with you. I do so for the encouragement of our many dear readers who have experienced this same working of Dad in their hearts and lives as well.

The following prayer is based on Philippians 2:13:

For it is God Who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Father,

I seem so lost most of the time. My life and heart appear to be such a big mess. I have no idea what I am doing or where I am going, let alone what I should be doing, or where I should be going, or even who I really am. My heart aches and is so heavy. I give up!

After all, it’s not about me anyway, right? I can’t live the Christian life. I never could. I never will. It’s You or nothing – but, the mess of my life is You working in me. You said so! You said that I was Your workmanship; You started me, You will complete and finish me. I am the workmanship, You are the worker. I am the clay, You are the potter. That’s all there is to it.

I know that You know what You are doing, and Your Word is true. So, if You want to make a complete mess out of my life – have at it. I am Yours, and I am Your work. So I quit. If anything is going to get done then You’ll have to be the one Who does it. After all, that’s what YOU said, right? So, You must want this mess. Therefore by faith I will quit and let You do whatever You want with me.

You said that You work in me to “will” and to “do.” So, I don’t “want-to” anymore. So, I quit. All I know to “do” anyway is what I have been taught all my life to “do” from the religious system; and if I know anything, that is all empty and vain, and it doesn’t even work. Yet it is all I have known. So, I quit – and since You work in me to “will,” I am not going to “do” anything else with my spiritual life unless I “want” to, and right now I don’t “want” to do anything.

My heart is so heavy, it is so empty, and You are responsible. After all, You are God, not me. You are the Potter, not me. You are the Father, not me; and God, the Potter, and the Father are all responsible agents!

So, if You do give me a “will” to do what You want, You also are just as responsible to “do” it in me. You said so! Then even if You work the “will” in me, I will make a mess out of everything, because even if I have the “want-to” I can’t “do” it either. I don’t even know how. So, You’ll have to do both parts, just like You said you would do. Therefore if I don’t “want” to do anything, and nothing gets “done” then it will just be Your fault, because I am just a creature – You’re the One Who is the Creator. So there, I quit. Now it’s all up to You. I am just going to trust You; You are all that I have, and I am going to rest in You. My quitting is going to be, for me, an act of faith. I am going to rest in this quitting, because my quitting is trusting You. I am NOT trusting You to help me; I just quit. I am trusting You to do it all Yourself. After all, You are God, and You’re responsible.

If by chance You don’t follow through with what You said, I am going to hold You responsible on the Day of Jesus Christ. When I stand before You, You’ll see what You made, and if You don’t like it – well, I’m Your workmanship, I’m Your creation, so you can’t blame me. If my life is just a big mess, it will be Your big mess, because I am just Your creature, and You made me weak and subject to vanity. I didn’t even ask to be here; I am a product of Your Own making. It all happened on Your watch. If You expected anything different out of me – in the weakness of who I am without You – then You were supposed to provide the “will” and the “do.” You said so!

Clyde L. Pilkington, Jr.
http://godsforgottengift.wordpress.com/

THE MATTER OF MAN IS THE MATTER OF THE WORLD 3

2010-03-25T20:36:00.000-06:00

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LIFE IN THE HOOD, "The Culinary Adventures of Monsieur Hennessey"

My two French dogs staged a sit in, today. They had been sitting and barking all day below the kitchen counter with the simmering pot of Beef Bourguignon. I took pity and dipped a few milk bone treats in the du jour for them. Burning my fingers, I accidentally dropped one into the mix, amidst the baby potatoes, onions and carrots. Try as I could, I never located it. So now, I repeatedly circle the doggies in the kitchen. Occasionally bowing my head to them , I exclaim with my best Julia Child voice, "BONE APPETIT !!"

Next time you see a dog and it is wagging it's tail, know the dog is laughing. They laugh with the wrong end but hey, it's all good in the neighbor hood, where children shout, dogs wag their tails and Aunt Sally sits in the parlor cracking the seal of a second bottle of gin.

Someone once wrote, "laughter is an instant vacation" and I am blessed to have a lot of friends and a few animals, that I think of as travel agents. My life has been bit tough as of late and I don't want people to cry for me, but instead laugh with me. Seriously. lol

So let's really get serious now, as we pick up again, our series on the "Matter of Man." Before we look at the natural law and the sense of mortality, placed in Adam, from the get go, let's explore the first man's overall nature. Keep in mind, this nature is "the matter of man, which is the matter of the world."

Genesis 3
The Fall of Man?

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

Some say it's the oldest trick in the book, man reaching to become like God. Is it really a trick? Heavens No! It is not a trick, but instead a plan, purposed according to the will of God. And as Adam before us, we each must experience the same "reaching to become as God." It is all according to plan, purposed in a mysterious love called, Agape. Maybe instead of the "fall of man" it should be called "God's plan for man."

Romans 8
The Cursed Creation?

20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it . . . . . "

This is an incredibly important scripture, should we care to understand Adam and his progeny, which includes you and me. It also includes Aunt Sally, in the parlor breaking the seal to her second bottle of gin, today. Yes, this verse in Romans paints the original picture of man, the natural man, Adam, you and me and also the drunk lady in the parlor. In the context of this verse, the creation or "creature", as some translations render it, is created to "frustration." This word "frustration" comes from the Greek word, "mataiotays" and in other translations, it is rendered "futility" and "vanity." I often share this verse, in this way (below), to give greater meaning to Adam's sore plight, which is man's sore plight.

"For the creation was subjected to frustration/vanity/futility, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it ...."

One commentator explains, that this term "mataiotays" applies to our "inward vanity or emptiness of the mind." So the creature, Adam, as created is "non rational and empty of mind." This emptiness is as far from the "mind of Christ", as one can get. I won't go as far as the aforementioned commentator, with regard to "Adam's emptiness", because I believe, Adam, is not really empty but filled with an unbearable tension and I will get into that subject in proceeding blogs, Lord willing. As for now, let us look at Adam, the first man, as having a form of child like innocence, not knowing good from evil. However, there is a plan, and Adam's eyes will be opened shortly and try as he can, Adam will never be able to rid himself of that which he will see and experience, because of his reaching for the forbidden. This reaching for the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, is the beginning of all dead works and these works, will fill Adam's life, as it did, each of our lives. The vain futile works, born of frustration, will take their deadly toll until "the wondrous hope" is first glimpsed and finally fully realized. This glorious hope is the fullness of life, obtained from, in and through Christ Jesus, the last Adam and man's Creator, Saviour and Lord.

"For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,"

Yes, there is a second part of this all important verse, we know as Romans eight and twenty, and it speaks of "hope." With this most high and supernal of all "hope", meaning is given to the "curse of creation." The curse, all along has had a plan to it. And with the realization of the perfect plan, the curse is miraculously made into a blessing. Such is the "mystery of Christ", who makes all things good in time. Thus it is, I believe, that "frustration, futility and vanity", gain purpose and are necessary , to understand and measure their opposites, found in "peace, strength, and fulfilment." Every created thing in the cosmos, must have it's counterpart, in order to take measure and render rational meaning, to our existence in God. There is no rest without frustration, there is no selflessness without vanity, there is no fulfilment without futility. The antonyms are endless and before Adam and all his children will be through, they will fill the book of life with all the opposites. And in the end all the antonyms will be reconciled, finding meaning within a solitary and single synonym, "JESUS."

What the first Adam's vanity could never realize, the Last Adam's selflessness will reveal. This has all been planned, purposed and reconciled, within the perfect care of an unfathomable love called Agape. So it is, we will come to rest in the last day, when all things are realized and measured perfectly in Christ.

But hold on! Even when all is perfect, there must come, the dawning of a brand new day and a more glorious day. This is because, an "unfathomable Love" must always spread it's wings further and more perfectly, encompassing all the more, for ever and ever. Selah. O Lord, let us forever enjoy the thrill of experiencing a new and greater measure of your unending love. You are immeasurable and beyond wonderful!

"Love is life's end, but never ending. Love is life's wealth, never spent, but ever spending. Love's life's reward, rewarded in rewarding."
Herbert Spencer

In His Sweet Lord Jesus,

Jack

HE MAKES UP THE MISSING

2010-03-17T15:06:00.000-06:00

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Might you feel like you have missed something in life? Maybe you share a painful longing for someone, or you fear missing a future event. Some of you may even suffer the loss of a facet of your living. In other words, you can no longer enjoy living as you once did, because of a present situation. If so, I thought to share one of my favorite messages of encouragement, that it seems, I rewrite in the spring of every year. I am ever the consummate perfectionist when it comes to sharing my writings, because they firstmost, are gifts of love to God and He deserves the best. Secondly, His saint's are the body of my God's Son, so I write with care toward you.

It happens that today is St Patrick's Day, which is my daughter's very favorite day of the year. Her name is Erin, which is the Gaelic rendering of "Ireland" and the home of St. Patty. So it is no wonder, my Erin should proclaim March 17, "the best day in all the year." The following is a story surrounding a miraculous event that took a place some years ago. This tale speaks of an occurrence of profound intimacy between Erin, God and myself. This recounted experience is one reason, I can write fearlessly on the subject of death, as I have been of late on our blog. With the reading of the last paragraph of the following message, I sincerely hope you will find encouragement in life's disappointments. I have red fonted this particular section, for it is profoundly pregnant with the hope, I wish you to share with me. Be blessed dear reader.

INTO A DAUGHTER'S HEART
If you have ever laid in bed and wept because of a person you will forever miss or occasions and enjoyments you have been deprived of due to one hard circumstance or another, I pray this story will soften your pain. I wrote this account a couple years ago and even today, it is one of my favorite writings ever. It seems even the original emotions, once so deeply felt as I originally typed this story out, have been made afresh as I read through it once again this morning.

I want to share a most extraordinary experience I had a few years ago, when God for one second took me out side the parameters of this world and deep into the heart of my daughter.
My only daughter Erin, upon entering the University of Kansas, received a letter from the Athletics Dept. inviting athletic freshmen women to try out for the KU Women's Rowing Team. Having been a recreational runner through out high school and being bold of spirit, Erin decided to give it a try. After many challenging hours of painstaking training, she was accepted onto the Novice Rowing Team. The following year for all her hard work, Erin was then elevated to the Varsity squad and awarded a full four year athletic scholarship.

It seems almost four years had gone by, since Erin had entered college and because of the distance and my lack of funds I was never able to visit my daughter on campus nor see any of her races. I knew that it was a "must" that I at least attend the last home rowing regatta of her senior year. This last race was an event, which included the KU Athletics Dept. putting on a large BBQ for all the rowing fans. Also included, was a ceremony honoring the parents of the graduating senior crew members, along with their daughters.

My ex-wife and Erin's mother, not being able to attend this event, just raised the stakes higher for me to be there. Three weeks away and after much prayer, I still saw no way, that I was going to be able to afford a flight to Kansas for the race. I was just heart broken and I was letting God know in prayer, how disappointed I was, when in the midst of my petitions, I received a phone call from my sister. She offered to fly me out to Erin's race. It seems, Jill, along with her partner and two of my other sisters were all going to be flying in for Erin's celebratory weekend. For a surety, they wanted me there also.

Lest I take from my dramatic event, I will tell you now, that we ended up with about fifteen Erin supporters in our crowd. When we left Lawrence Kansas following the big weekend, we found we were the talk of all the girls and their parents, as they marveled at the fun and exuberance we had in loving and rooting for our girl, Erin. All of us in the group were stone sober during our whole of our stay but because of our joy we were often asked what magic elixir, we might be drinking. lol

One other exceptional event I want to share, that lends support to God's miraculous ways, concerns an oversight of mine that became apparent at the Kansas airport. I found myself in a trying dilemma, when upon securing my reserved rental car, it was noticed my drivers license was expired. This negated any use of one of their rental automobiles. My daughter's apartment was a long forty miles away. As I was standing out on the curb, contemplating how I was going to complete my journey, a woman in a van drove up. She asked me if I had notice particular group of people waiting for a shuttle. I replied, "no" and then asked her where she might be going. She told me Lawrence, which is where my daughter lived and where the university is located. The driver, then told me to hop in, after I told her of my destination. Now, that's God's curb side service and it sure seems He knew, I would never once, be in need of an automobile the whole time I was in Kansas..

I spent five days in my daughter extra bedroom that week and I would accompany her each afternoon to the river for rowing practice. In those five days, I was blessed to enjoy all of her day to day activities, meet all her friends and visit all her haunts. It could not have been a more enjoyable and precious time, even without my miraculous experience which was soon to come.

So the big day of the race and celebration has arrived and it is an absolutely stupendous day to spend on the river. The weather was warm and still with not a cloud in the sky. We watched all the early races, with Erin in our company, while anxiously awaiting the final and most important race of the day. I am weeping right now, as I begin my account of what shall take place during this next event; Erin's last ever home race of her rowing career.

Being an ex-professional photographer I had brought my old 35mm. camera with all the lenses so I might capture the events of that day. I was set up on the shore about fifty yards in front of the finish markers, in anticipation of getting that perfect shot. This was where Erin and her team mates will absolutely be giving it their all, during the final yards of the course. It was so amazing to feel the heightened anticipation within the crowd and more so myself, as the boats came into sight, a mile away. The closer they came the louder the crowd cheered and as the teams closed in to where I was, every one was standing, shouting and clapping as loud and as hard as they could. Just as the Kansas boat, which was in a narrow lead, barely passed where I was standing, I readied my camera with it's long telephoto lens on Erin, for that planned shot. Looking through the lens, it was hard to comprehend the beauty of the rhythm of eight girls rowing together, while exerting every last ounce of their energy and strength for the last few meters of their final race.

I tightened in my focus and moved from the whole of the boat to where I could just view Erin's form, filling up the frame. I fine-focused and as I hit the shutter button it happened! In one single, incredible mind altering, fraction of a second, God took me deep into Erin's precious heart and I experienced every moment she had given to rowing in the last four years. I felt in my own heart, every ache and blister she had ever suffered during those years. I gloriously experienced all the joy she had received and also the whole of the disappointment she had endured during her four long rowing seasons. I tasted deeply the spirit of camaraderie she shared with her many boat-mates along with the encouragement, sisterhood, and closeness that had grown strong between them. Incredibly, I also was given understanding, of all the days Erin had gotten up at five in the morning to train in the cold and rain plus all the evenings she dragged herself home after a second practice to do piles of homework. Piercing my heart, was also the pure pleasure she enjoyed, knowing how very proud her Dad and everyone was of her, on this day. I could truly go on page after page describing what I experienced and saw in that smallest increment of time, when my camera shutter opened and closed during that perfect shot.

I believe I was the only parent that day that had tears in their eyes at the finish of that race. My sisters and our group of friends really gave me some razzing hell, upon noticing my face awash in my tears. If only God would have allowed me tell them the reason. It seemed this miracle I had just experienced, was just too precious for Him, also.

So I end by telling you, until I have left this earth, I shall never forget how God took me beyond the dimensions of time and space that incredible and amazing day. Miraculously, He allowed me to enter into my daughter's heart and experience all that I had once feared, I had missed. I can't help but believe this most miraculous occurrence was a foretaste of what we will all experience on that day, when we are made complete in Him. Since that miracle, I have been assured many times in payer, that I need never feel sad that I have missed anything of this world, because it is all being kept in store to be enjoyed throughout eternity.

And people wonder why I cry sometimes when I tell them how much I love God. Who could ever give you a gift like that!

Jack

PS. There is a rain storm taking place over my key board right now, but I want to also tell you that Erin went from a walk-on to being named 'captain of the rowing team" and "Oars Woman of the Year." Today a plaque in Erin's honor, along with many photos of her rowing, hang on the walls of a brand new state of the arts boat house and training center. That new boat house stands in the very spot, where once, for the smallest instance of time, a glimpse of eternity was experienced. God is good.

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A REMARKABLE SOUL

2010-03-09T11:59:00.000-07:00

THE MATTER OF MAN IS THE MATTER OF THE WORLD 2

2010-03-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

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“Be anxious about nothing” Phi 4:6

"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Matt 6:25

Why is man anxious? Is there a root cause to man’s anxiety? What does man fear?

With the further probing of this series, “The Matter of Man is the Matter of the World” we will try and discover the answer to these questions. However first, allow me to forewarn you. "The carnal man will make many inventions, rather than deal with the root cause of all his fears, all his phobias and all his anxiety. The dark rebellious soul hides in frustration and carries a vain bent toward corruption. The carnal soul within man can only embrace Truth, only when it is laid low. Thus there are many trials and much tribulation produced by the world of the soul to be reaped by the soul. Truly, in this regard, the bite of the serpent is its own antidote.

So, what is the corruption, which is the root cause of all the anxiety and all the fear in our souls? The root cause my friend, is “physical death” and man is, as uncomfortable looking at physical death, as he is staring into the brightness of the unobstructed sun." I write tonight with the hope, we might overcome the fearful soul, as we look at my death, your death, Adam’s death and the death, which visits all men of the earth. With this joint venture, just maybe, we might alleviate and dash away some of our fear, dismiss a few of our phobias and find relief from lot of our anxiety. Maybe, we will even be able to realize the reward of a greater rest and a truer peace. I believe we can do this, with an understanding of “physical death” within the framework of God’s plan and purpose for man. That is our goal. I hope you might stay with me as I share that which I have been blessed to see, as I have gazed through death's shadow and into my Saviors face.

Before continuing with some well hidden truths, on the subject of “physical death” and “man’s mortality,” allow me to share something of my incredible month of February. In an amazing journey of sorts, I have enjoyed a most wondrous and peaceful month. Whereby, God has taken me to a new and deeper understanding of his purpose in “physical death.” All the while, that I was being blessed, I knew this February was the very month a Christian lady prophesied, I would die. According to this misguided soul, I was to die in the second month of 2010, in judgment for my sins.

Well Jeepers! By Golly George,! I am here to tell you I made it! I am still breathing and it’s March, the other side of February. I should let you know, this one came to me last year and prophesied my demise, for taking apart some demigods with elitist names like Pastor, Apostle and Doctor? It seems some one got a little contrary, as you don’t turn the religious chaste system, upside down and not expect to get a few religious curses in return. Obviously, this sweet gal was really angry, upon seeing her idols cast under aspersion. So like any power hungry false prophet, she pronounced the worst of all judgments she thought she could, over me, “YOU SHALL DIE.!” Now, because this sweetheart believes, she has a real in with God. Plus she believes these God awful formulas put together by the doomsday prophet/teacher Doctor Stephen Jones*, she confidently picked the exact month, I should die. This was done in accordance with one of Jones' mathematical time formulas. So, within the time frames of this one of many judgment formulas, it was decreed “YOU SHALL NOT ONLY DIE. YOU SHALL DIE IN FEBRUARY!” Of course with these formulas, if the subject does not die in the predicted month, there is always the back up, of some kind of Ezekiel clause. This escape clause invented by Jones, proclaims, if a prophesy fails to find fulfillment in the predicted month you’ll damn sure get it the month after. So please my friends please continue to pray me, at least into The Fool’s Day of April (lol). I kid of course, however, if Jesus chooses to take me in March, please instead rejoice in my good fortune as my leaving this physical realm will be my gain. I think the Apostle Paul wrote something along that line, didn't he? The end of such matters is that, God is good in all He does. I believe that. I believe that, even when life’s events bring sorrow and despair, because our understanding vision is yet incomplete. Yes first and foremost, above all, GOD IS GOOD!”. In the utmost Divine wonderment, God is good toward all His creatures and we love Him for that!

Moving on with this doomsday prophesy, let me say it has been all kinds of comical, this last half year and no more so, than with my predicted demise, Seems whenever there has been a discussion of any future plans or events concerning me, I and those in the know, laughingly quip, “best get it done quickly, best hurry because February's end is in site” (lol).

Not surprisingly, this sweet prophetess came over to the blog many times the last many months to see what the skinny was on SONSHINE. Best I could tell, over the last year, she would visit once or twice a month. She surely did not want me dieing in October or January, so she had to check and make sure her gallows prophesy was still swinging. Yes, this little lady had her money on February, so I was not surprised to see her visit the blog twice in the closing three days of that very month, just past. Now, I can't help but think her visitations make up a very sick kind of voyeurism. This sad sickness is oft embedded in the natural mind and has also been groomed well within most Christians, by the religious doctrines of man and the practices of the organized church. Heck, we might as well go the whole nine yards and say the idea of physical death, as the worst judgment possible, is deeply ingrained in the carnal minds, within us all. So in reality our sweetheart prophetess of doom was only speaking out of that which was in her heart. And that heart, which is Adam’s heart, is in us all. The whisper of, want of judgement by death, is part and parcel of the dark call of our souls. Truth be known, that whisper, that was in Cain, has sounded at some time, within us all. Well maybe, with the continuation of our series on the “matter of man”, I can help you understand and overcome Cain's whisper, should you still suffer it.

Before we begin looking at physical death, in that which I consider a right light, let me clean up the residue of my friend’s misplaced curse. Let me reiterate, this, the month of February has been far from cursed. It actually has been a glorious month filled with the mixture of thrill and rest as I have been pulled deeper into the amazing grace and love of God, through Christ Jesus. This last month, I have also realized many pieces come together as I catch, what I believe, the true measure of Adam’s nature, which is the measure our own human nature. I know many of you have experienced the "beyond delightful phenomenon", that comes with Christ revealing another facet of His ways. That which I speak of is the wonderment of the occurrence of being shown a new and deeper Truth in Him, Who is before all things, the holder of all things, and after all things. How often with the first glimmer of such a mind altering truth, we come to see that very truth illustrated every where we look. In God's goodness, evidence and confirmation brings affirmation to that which we were first given to ponder. So it is with my pondering of Adam, being mortal from the very get go, even before the curse. This finds its levity, because, maybe with this truth, we can look upon God’s purpose of physical death, in a more correct fashion. Also comes the possibility, we will no longer look at another human's physical demise as only wretched and the worst of all curses. Now wishing to let my dear false prophetess off the hook, let me ask a question for all of our consideration. Who upon hearing of the death of an enemy has not thought, "yep, he or she got what was coming." We think, “do dirty, get dirty!” Well that’s WRONG!, and hopefully with the furtherance of our series, we shall come to understand why it is wrong. For the child of God the curse is always turned into the blessing, just as February was one man’s cursed month, it was made my blessing. Ain’t God, just the best, when you know the goodness in all His ways. What a wonder it is, that He shares such with us!

I will now, make a supposition that might give you, dear reader, a glimpse into the gravity of of our exploration into Adam’s state, which by commonality of our humanness, is our state. In particular we seek the truth and significance of Adam's physical death, which is as our physical death. Again let us broach the question, “Why is it beneficial for us to understand the occurrence of death in the physical realm?” Well let’s try on the premise “by the rid of fear in our lives we make gain of peace and rest in our lives.” That is certainly good enough reason, so I will proceed by telling you, I believe all fears or phobias find their origin in the fear of death. Death is the very foundation, from which all fears arise. By the way “phobia” is actually the Greek word for fear. Today there are even secular psychologist and psychiatrists coming to realize the foundational fear in man is "fear of death." I am sure, we have all experienced the alleviation of a particular fear. That alleviation comes by an understanding or even the experiencing the object of our fear. In other words, how often, we find understanding or even the experiencing of a situation, event or object, alleviates the very fear of the same. I think it is likewise with the “fear of death." Thus, how much to our good, it would be, if we could presently, better understand "death, the mother of all fears." Even moreso how much better to would be, should we understand something of this state, before experiencing it. For the elect, the option of "understanding death" sure beats going into the "experience of death," crying and kicking in fear. Simply said, if we can understand God’s use of death, we can possibly, be made free from the fear of death. We might even recognize physical death as a necessary and good thing used by God in His purpose and plan for you and me and all of mankind. Also knowing, “Death’s Prophetess” will be reading this message, just maybe, with a possible new understanding, we can alleviate her, throwing any more death decrees at someone else, in the future. That alone would be a good thing :-))

So with the presumption of death as the mother of all fears let us look at a scripture that illustrates how the fearful soul is dealt with.

“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Rev 21:8

How often the church goers, pass on by the “fearful,” in the aforementioned scripture, as if not even seeing it. For sure, the “eternal torment” guys, never mention the “fearful” in the group of sinners they want to see fried forever. Of course not, as that subjected group would surely include themselves. We, that have had our minds renewed to understand the “lake which burns with fire and brimstone” is God himself and "the second death" as being, baptized into the death of Christ Jesus, see a solution to fear, rather than a never ending punishment for fear. Hopefully this series can even hold a bit of the "Lake of Fire" in it, that our fears might be miraculously transformed into peace and love. I myself, along with many of you, have been cast into this awesome lake of fire and we are learning to float rather than struggle against it's insurmountable current. Some of you, doing this today in your lives, are even my inspiration.

Please bear my repetition as I report, it was some weeks ago, the Spirit began to stir within me and I began to get an inkling that the fall of Adam, is not as we have been taught and come to accept. As a result of that stirring, I gleaned over the last month a new understanding of Adam’s nature and resulting sin. I believe a great beneficial practicality can occur, when one begins to realize the discovered evidence, I am going to share with you, in the following weeks, Lord willing. I really believe we can come to a right understanding of death and thus alleviate much stress, angst and anxiety from our lives as mortal humans. Lord, we thank you in making all things good in time. You are truly amazing, as is also is amazing, your plan and purpose for each of us.

By God's grace, I will attempt to share with you, dear reader, a number of views and truths concerning death, as I have come to see them. Lord willing in our next blog we will explore further the “fear of death.” With the understanding of death, I believe we will certainly live better. Amen.

“The ancient Greek philosopher, Epicurus, believed it to be, our omnipresent fear of death was the root cause of misery. The frightening vision of inevitable death, he said, interferes with one’s enjoyment of life and leaves no pleasure undisturbed.”**

"It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death, should ever have been designed by Providence as an evil to mankind."
Jonathan Swift

In His Sweet Lord Jesus,
Jack

* Dr. Stephen Jones writings were some we used to recommend in our blog sidebar. Many of his writings are wonderful but as it is with many with great knowledge, he has overstepped the bounds and become even megalomaniac in his thoughts and practices. I believe this sadly, to be the current state of Dr. Jones. His date setting prophesies of doom and gloom are anything but of God. Instead they are tools of the enemy, that would cast a false sense of power into the hearts of those that hold them. Basically, the guy has some very foul spirits at work in him right now, as he promotes himself and gathers a following. God help the man, and yes, with this, I’ll probably get another death curse. That curse will find is rightful and original place in the dust, that was cursed even before Adam.

** I rephrased a quote. taken from Dr. Irvin D. Yalom, professor of psychiatry Emeritus at Stanford University

HE DID IT IN SIX DAYS

2010-02-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

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Dr. Gerald Schroeder, reveals how creation can occur in 6 twenty four hour days. This is not to be confused with the "new earth paradigm" held by the organized church. Although lengthy, this is an amazing talk. Please visit this link and see how Dr. Schroeder aligns science with creation. It's pretty incredible. But of course there is the rebuttal. lol

I have long felt the dimension of time is such that it will not be understood until we come face to face with the Timeless One. Still the conjecture and theories give threshold to greater fascination of our great God and His ways.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7143844201875642538#

Here is a shorter version of the same talk with illustrations.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7143844201875642538#docid=2846284361709250986

Rebuttal:

http://www.talkreason.org/articles/schroeder.cfm

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HE'S COMING TO GERMANY AND HE IS GOING TO STAND UP !

2010-02-19T03:55:00.000-07:00

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"This guy's poor wife has no life. All she does, is follow him around the house cleaning the walls."

and

"Watch out Florian! He's coming to Germany and he is going to stand up!"

Oh my, what would ever possess a man? lol

He Might Even Carry You

2010-02-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

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"Rush Into the Ark!" There it was, the four short words, making up the title of his latest grand expose. The author, who is a whirl wind of activity, gave clue to why his concocted message was of an unsavoury mixture. He had never learned the lesson that God never rushes and thus when we are truly called to follow Him, we will mostly certainly slow down. Believe me, God knows how to slow down ..... even stop. And one thing else, you don't rush into the ark, He carries you. For the best effort can never be ours.

Dear reader are you feeling harried and rushed today. A little time of silence, sitting at the Master's feet may be in order. Try it and see if things don't slow down in the rest of your day. He might even carry you.

"The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord," reads Psalm 37:23.
On the margin of his Bible at this verse George Mueller had a notation, "And the stops also." It is a sad mistake for men to break through God's hedges. It is a vital principle of guidance for a Christian never to move out of the place in which he is sure God has placed him, until the Pillar of Cloud moves.--

Must life be a failure for one compelled to stand still in enforced inaction and see the great throbbing tides of life go by? No; victory is then to be gotten by standing still, by quiet waiting. It is a thousand times harder to do this than it was in the active days to rush on in the columns of stirring life. It requires a grander heroism to stand and wait and not lose heart and not lose hope, to submit to the will of God, to give up work and honors to others, to be quiet, confident and rejoicing, while the happy, busy multitude go on and away. It is the grandest life "having done all, to stand."--J. R. Miller

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THE MATTER OF MAN IS THE MATTER OF THE WORLD

2010-02-15T20:45:00.000-07:00

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”For the creation was subjected to vanity, futility and frustration. not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation will be set free from its slavery to corruption and death” (Rom 8:20,21 paraphrased)

He lay in a hospital bed, shut off from those whom he loved. His wife and daughter were just a few feet away, however, they might just as well have been a world away. He could not speak to them, nor could he hear them.

For ninety years, this man had prided himself, in his battle to stay alive. He had fought and survived three wars, although he suffered the lingering health effects that such wars bring. Still furthermore, he had overcome these war wounds with medicines and operations. The victor was still ticking, while lesser men of his generation had gone by way of the grave. On this day however, this proud old warrior would meet his Waterloo.

The old man in bed mumbled with incoherence and listened with out perception. Angst, born of frustration covered his strained face. The proud warrior would turn his attention from his tearful family and he would pick up his limp left arm with his right hand and the look of angst would turn to horror. The left side of his body was paralyzed, as was also part of his brain. The death stroke had done that which no war had been able. The frustrated old man, with the view of his lifeless arm was coming to the realization he was all but dead. The Commander was caught in the edge of the inescapable eddy, where life mixes with death and the quality of one’s living would measure the quality of one’s dying . No amount of conjured up will over matter would serve death’s angry victim any longer. The tried and tested Naval Officer had no choice but vacate the sinking ship, of his dieing body. His fearful angst would soon be over as God’s heavenly beckon would be heeded, as it is with all dieing men.

Sometimes I cry when I think of my Dad, just a few months ago suffering in this way, However after my cry, there is joy found as I realize my father’s sojourn is over and his soul enjoys the rest of Heaven's home port.

I shared this sad and horrific story of my Father’s demise, that you might understand something of why the experience of physical death prods me. I am confronted with a desire to know more of God’s purpose in using the frustration of corruption in His great plan and purpose for man. As it would be, I myself, must awaken each day, with the realization this could be my last day on earth because of the mortal disease in my body. The subject of mortality is close at hand, however unlike my suffering Father, I am at peace, as to whether I live or die. Hand in hand with my peace, I have long lost the illusion of my will over any matter. So enjoyable is my current peace, I have not even the beginnings of a bucket list. In my heart there is not one wishful “to do before I die.” This in turn, brings me to the subject of today’s blog, where we will explore the subject of corruption in the matter of man, which is the matter of earth. This subject broached, will hopefully show us physical death was universal, even before there was an Adam. We will try to at least free Adam, the earliest member of our family, from the title of “the bearer of death.” When I speak of this "death", I address the physical version.

God formed man out of the earth. He then took this earthen form, made of the corruptible substance of the world and God breathed the pure breath of His very life into it. With my use of the word “corruption” and its derivatives please don’t mistake me as an old Gnostic, who believes the entire material world is evil. Far from it, the world with its corruption and disorder, when viewed with His purpose in mind is indeed full of His glory and to even be enjoyed. So with task at hand, I must now propose that Adam, the first man had death and corruption already working in him, even before he would eat of the cursed tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Death and the propensity to sin was already in Adam’s form.

I must also remark, that it is of late, I found out once again the organized church had failed me, and most likely you also, by teaching us falsely concerning. “the fall of Adam, which they say, brought the fall of the world.” The truth is, the first man was already fallen by his substantive nature, and he could only manifest into action his fallen nature. Simply put, Adam was made for such action. As I like to say, regarding the church’s faulty suppositions, “if the church teaches it, you can bet it is wrong.” There is but one reason to teach such wrong things and that being, there is a lying spirit within us and a false reality in the world, that ever entices us to seek lasting comfort in the temporal chaos and corruption of the material realm. The modern “Prosperity Gospel” and the old “Protestant Ethic” are built upon this very false reality and fed by the aforementioned lying spirit. Instead of living the lie, may we each come to realize, we are but sojourners, having left our first estate to realize through an earthly human experience the measure and increase of God’s Love.

In our human sojourn, physical death is but the shadow of our greater death, which is spiritual. Yet, through the enticing lure of the world, we are apt to focus on the physical rather than the spiritual. So it is, man has embraced the erroneous and traditional teaching of the fall of Adam. It seems, the enemy of our soul would like us to believe our natural physical death is the great penalty for sin’s action, when in reality it is spiritual death. The hidden secret is that disorder and death was already within the very nature of the world, and likewise in man, who was made from the very substance of the world. God saw in His omniscient wisdom that with His clean breath would come forth the inkling of His nature of which is immortal. So it is, God's pure spirit within the corruptible form of man supports the greatest of tensions. It is the unbearable itch that begs a bloody scratching. The immortal life of the Spirit is set within the being of the natural man that marches to the mortal song of the cosmos. The mortal man is made to seek immortality which only God possesses. Man must reach and he does so toward the appointed tree. With his reach Adam becomes astutely aware of his corrupt nature. "Grab anything to cover up!", He thinks and in a rush a few fig leaves are reached for. On and on man will reach, only to be thwarted in his desire to be saved from his wretched condition and cursed fate. The great Truth is man’s salvation is top down and comes not by man reaching but by God stooping. Oh, how many of us have learned this and we learn even a bit more with each passing day. To look upon the pitiful face and marred visage of Jesus is to know the stooping love of God. To know God coming as a Servant and coming as a Man to bear all of the sin and corruption in you and in me is to hear our souls primal cry, “HOW GREAT A LOVE, WHO CAN EVER MEASURE SUCH WONDER !”

In the past weeks I have attempted a number of times to free Adam from unwarranted blame with regard to “physical death.” I have written some lengthy messages and even posted one on SONSHINE for a day or two before removing it. Hopefully by sharing a small portion at a time, I can sufficiently convey why “physical death” is not to be feared. With this, I hope also to show, how life in every form is to be cherished and even enjoyed. Maybe we will then be able to read these words of Paul and realize this is, NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIVING.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.

Paul in his epistle to the Philippians

HOW PRECIOUS WAS THAT !

2010-02-08T08:38:00.000-07:00

Drew Brees is a man that knows the value of a Superbowl. The winning quarterback and "Most Valuable Player" of the victorious Saints, was seen by millions after the game, sharing a moment of a life time with his one year old son. This man of God wept before the world as he did this. How precious was that!

JOIAN REALIZES THE GREATER PART OF HER FATHER'S ESTATE

2010-02-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

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Oh, how this temporal world entices the souls of men, in their forgetfulness of their origins in Christ. We each, have been lowered from our first estate in God, that we might be humbled by the disorder of this world. The forgetful man, not knowing God, becomes as a stranded sailor holding to the remnants of his sinking ship. So it is given to man, this world of corruption, with the respite of a bit of heaven sowed into it. It is given to teach each of us in this world, the opposites of Father God's enduring substance which is our real and ever enduring substance. Of no greater place, than in our facing down of the shadow of death do we find the greater substance of Father's life, through Christ Jesus. Father, help us all to realize our physical death is but only a shadow of the greater spiritual death that is put away upon our remembrance of our Saviour and Lord, Christ Jesus, God's Lamb slain even before the foundations.

Our life's journey can be likened to that of the prodigal son that goes through his substance only to measure the greater substance of his original estate, kept in waiting by the love of his father. So it is today, that our good friend and dear sister, Joian, sees more clearly her original estate, found in a Father's love for His child. Joian has been through a tremendous trial this last week as she has come face to face with death's shadow. How wonderful it was this morning, to read her victorious words as recorded in a short message to a friend on Facebook.

"Life is a circle of repeating, but each circle spirals upward ever closer to Him who we love.....the Lord has said this is not unto death at this time so, I will go on. But departing this world is no longer a fear of mine.......and so stay or go I am his.....I am remarkably well, more deeply touched by God's presence through the love poured out by others than I ever thought possible.....dumbfounded really! I will not be doing chemotherapy as the Lord has directed in the most amazing way to assure me he is taken me gently though this ......"
Joian

Dear reader, you can view something of Joian's recent experience in the "Prayer & Praise" section on our blog sidebar. We also pray, you have the realization that in the face of Jesus, which is the very countenance of Eternity's Love, our physical death loses it's sting. Father's gift to us of the fullness of His eternal estate, through Christ Jesus, is far beyond even our greatest imagination. The wonders of His infinite Love, do we enjoy even today.

Jack

Ps. We continue to lift Joian and her beautiful family up in prayer. May God's restful peace, through Christ Jesus, flow into their lives with greater measure with each passing day.

NEVER ENOUGH TO DESCRIBE HIM

2010-01-26T21:17:00.000-07:00

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So I have a page on Facebook. Don't hold that against me though, as the redeeming fact is I have very few friends there and I am even about to delete some of them. I can't send those friends that offend me to hell any more, but on Facebook I damn sure can annihilate them with but a push of the "Delete Friend" button. Lately upon waking up in the morning ,the first thing I think of, is, who will I delete today. Shoot, some times I even make friends so I can delete them. Then they gotta wonder, "now why would he do that?" I do this to those that have Pastor, Bishop or Prophet in front of their name, just to add to their confusion.

Then they have a Facebook function that allows you to hide your friends. This is kind of a purgatory type measure, as these friends are hidden from view, however while even lurking around in darkness they can still see what you are doing. Problem with this "hidden purgatory state, is everyone once in a while a "hidden friend" will pop back up into the light of your page and say something stupid. Yes stupidity will place you in purgatory faster than a speeding crawfish.

Now, Joian, who is much more a Facebook master and a bit more of a private person than me, tells me there is even another button at one's disposal. Push this one and it seems you can send your friends to a metaphoric hell. There they are not only hidden but so great is the darkness they can no longer see what you are doing. Joian must have most of her friends there, because the majority of those on her friends list never appear. So it is, in the strange world of Facebook. And now I wonder what fate I must suffer because of my critical report on Joian. Will I be assigned to annihilation, purgatory or hell? lol

All nonsense aside, there are always hidden treasures to be found when He sends you into a place. On Facebook, Joian and I have certainly enjoyed the messages and fellowship of Terry Crisp, whose writings are linked in our SONSHINE sidebar. We also get together and laugh and cry and pray with a number of other SONSHINE readers. And then on occasion, we actually do add a new friend, of whom we find commonality in the Love of Christ. So it was today that I added Robyn Green to my friends list after reading her anointed message. I found this short writing on another friend's page, where he was talking about "praising God, while not feeling like it." I thought how this older woman must share the my same path as she wrote beautifully and truthfully on the subject.

How many of us in years past sat in a church service feeling as out of place as a three legged cat in the middle of pack of dogs while in a worship service. We honestly, didn't give a flying hoot about dancin and clappin, and singin some joyous "you got the victory" chorus. Well, Read on dear reader. If you know the out of place and undone feeling you will be blessed. If you groan today you will even be comforted.

Robyn Green: I think Psalm 137 was written from that place. It's a prime example of how it's OK to be transparent and honest through even song before God when you are in a grievous situation. Only the Holy Spirit can resurrect you from these rounds of death. God honors honesty. He already knows how tough this is for you, and He does NOT expect you to act like it ain't happening. He will work through it with you. It's just another round of death to self....and intercession for humanity really. You are carrying the "groanings" that the Sons of God have to carry in their pruning and maturing process. So, if you can't work up joyous praise, that's ok. Your lips can still speak praise, even if your heart mourns. Eventually, your heart catches up. The people who may tell you to just push through in praise until true joy breaks out have NO idea what the inner life of a true prophet or apostle is....how intense the burdens are, and how God will not allow us to work our own way out of the grieving. We have to wait on Him to lift us out.

Ps. 137:1-4 A Psalm of Being Out of Place
By the rivers of Babylon,there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.
We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.
For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.
How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land?
Ps 137:1-4

Psa 126:1-6 A Song of a Return Home
When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
Then our mouth was filled with laughter
And our tongue with joyful shouting;

Then they said among the nations,
"The LORD has done great things for them."
The LORD has done great things for us; We are glad.

And so I thought, why not make this "a two for Tuesday bonus blog" by sharing Terry Crisp's Facebook message from this morning, along with my comment. This below doesn't find it's way into the "alien category" nor the "resting at home" position but gives hint that His increase is forever for such is the nature of a Love, which ever grows.

Terrry Crisp: awoke this morning with a vision in mind, almost too great to articulate...of a people coming forth who are positioned in the heavens, who have as their foundational worldview a sea of glass, mingled with fire, & clear as crystal...DOWN THROUGH WHICH they see all things transpiring in the world beneath them. Everything is perfectly clear & transparent to them, because they've gotten victory over the beastly mindset.

Jack Hennessey: That is a beautiful vision, Terry

It just makes me want to stand in awe and I do. Even though we are seeing through the Crystal River I would think we would suffer the tension of Love til the last soul see through the same Clear River which is Christ.

I think of His Love constantly and I think I shall never find the ends of it. Such is the nature of the Infinite Love we call Agape.

Bless you Terry, and keep the adjectives coming, for you know like me, there are never enough to describe Him.

Jack

JUST BEING, THAT HE MIGHT BE

2010-01-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

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Our grandma of the last blog surely has nothing on me, as far as driving. As long as I can remember, friends and family have always winced whenever I have offered to drive. Shame on them, because I offer up my driving skills or lack there of, only at great sacrifice and a sign of my dieing unselfishness.

Did you know that upon my last vacation with my now departed mom, I would let her do the worse part of the driving. She lived on Coronado Island and whenever we would be going to or coming from San Diego I would tell my mom, "you know the drill." Then we would find some obscure place on the side of the highway to trade positions, whence I would become passenger and she the driver. Even in her late seventies, I felt she was better equipped to drive over the fearfully high, death defying Coronado San Diego bridge. That monstrosity was not only high, but so fast did the five lanes of cars travel, the bridge surface was banked like a race track. And then to make the driving completely unbearable you could see over the thirty inch railings into the watery abyss below. So yes, mom and I had our familiar spot on each side of the bridge where she would man up and I would climb into the back seat, wring my sweaty hands and begin to labor in breath.

When I first moved to Jackson Hole, I had Oklahoma license plates and I would have traffic backed up over a mile on my way home from work. I knew the impatient line of drivers behind me were thinking, "stupid Oklahoman tourist #@!%#*&*!." I was so insecure, I would never take more than quick glance in my rear view mirror because I knew if I looked very long I would surely see the angst of the traveler behind me mouthing a long line of profanities. I'll tell ya, the date upon which I got my Wyoming plates was an Alleluia day! With local plates, I actually felt comfortable enough to subtract five more miles per hour on my speedometer, as the homeward bound line of cars behind me grew even longer. I would then grin and tell my antsy disgruntled helpers that were riding with me, to think of this spectacle as a celebratory parade, where we were leading all the weary pilgrims into the city and back home. lol

I wrote that above, as an introduction for a letter from a SONSHINE reader and friend, I wanted to publish. It seems I was maybe having so much fun reminiscing, I took my eyes off the road ahead and forgot why I writing. Or maybe I had my foot on my oxygen line while typing. Either way, please note that cray intro has absolutely nothing what so ever to do with the following.

Now, with my second attempt at an introduction, I pray this dear saint's correspondence blesses you, as a possible road side marker of our amazing journey into the depths of our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus. I do believe our sister, Cherri, is coming to the place called "JUST BEING, THAT HE MIGHT BE." This is where we give up the work and He takes over. Although my friend might have shared regrets in her letter, of a possible avenue missed, I know she will find she has always been perfect in God. You see, it is in our surrendering recognition of God's overwhelming sovereignty, we find all of our steps have been pre-ordained perfectly for His greater purpose in Love. Ain't He the best and still He is better yet when we rest and let Him be all He can be. All is wonderment and joy in the Holy Ghost, when we let God be God and we go along for the ride. His fiery chariot ain't bad, when we know He's the driver.

Hi Jack,

Hope you are doing well.

I loved the story of the Grandma with the new bumper sticker. It made me laugh. My mother-in-law just turned 93 years old and drove until two years ago. I am quite certain she experienced some of those intersection worship services a few times and I’m not certain that she didn’t even learn the new Hawaiian language referred to.

I am going though a time of trying to understand what possible good I can be to God’s plan and purpose in the state that I am. I feel so isolated but it isn’t really the isolation that is bothering me as much as the lack of vision and direction.

I know the futility of “the knowledge” of Cherri and I have placed that carnality on the cross where it belongs. I recently read an article that spoke about “coming up higher to get direction”, but I don’t know how to do that.I don’t know what is preventing me and I don’t know what is holding me captive. I want to be totally free yet I can’t seem to get there.

I am remembering a place of knowing that I could walk away within me. I was in a very difficult situation and had come to the end. I went into my room and slid down the bed to the floor facing the wall and all of a sudden I knew that I knew that somehow I could just walk away on the inside of me. I don’t mean walk away from the situation or the people and I knew that my body would not cease to live but I would not be there.

It was a tempting knowledge, however, fear of not knowing where I was going and perhaps a fear of leaving what I thought was reality prevented me. Maybe had I turned loose that day and walked away from life as I perceived life to be at that time I would have been sitting with Him in that higher place.

Now I want to walk away and I don’t know how. Now that foolish ego that desired to make a difference or be of value has been exposed as a selfish desire to be as God. Now I just want to be with God.

If I can’t vacate this body Christ cannot occupy this body. I don’t know how to vacate. I understand how to move out of a structural house (Lord knows I have done plenty of that). I just open the door, get in my vehicle and drive away and the next occupant moves in. I don’t understand how to move out of this physical house (body). I don’t know where to go. I don’t have a direction and I don’t have a vision.

I am willing to walk away from my body but I don’t know where to go or even how to get there. I don’t know where the vehicle is for me to get into and drive away. How do I go there so He can come here, and where is there?

I know this is kind of heavy but I thought you would probably understand this place. I know the answers can only come from God but sometimes it helps just to bounce it off of another.I hope this is okay to share with you. I know that you are walking your walk as well.

Blessings to you my friend,
Cherri

Did you know Cherri is a Latin variant of Charity. Seems our sister's letter and name have that commonality. Thank you Cherri.

My Mentor...........My Friend

2010-01-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

God has been in our midst from the beautiful beaches of Coronado Island to the purple hills in Wyoming. I and my family have loved being with you and sharing the little snippets of time and vacations we’ve had together……We’ve shared in the good times and the bad. I have seen or spoken to you almost every day for three years, which at times still amazes me. We have experienced the mighty workings of God both in healing and provision……..but the things that have moved me most are the wrestling’s of the Lord that you have shared…….thank you for letting me and oft times those on Sonshine see your heart. It has encouraged us to pick up our cross and move on.

It has been an wondrous journey as the writings of Sonshine have been compiled……..YOU, prolific in your writings, ME, pensive and cathartic……….YOU, plunging deeper and deeper into the revelations and sovereignty of God……..ME, trembling to believe it so……….YOU, unmovably sure of God’s direction……ME, trying to grasp all that had been sown in me in error………shocked at the traditions of men that lay in my foundation….For sure we have been put together and held together by our Lord. The landlocked surfer and the x-pastors wife....never two more unlikely to be friends except by the grace and providence of our Lord.

Becoming your friend was an unexpected gift..…….as I no longer believed in the transforming power of our Lord in this life.....Lord knows I needed to see what real looked like.........and you Mr. Hennessey sure fit the bill.......lol

Thank you for your constant prayers. It is so true that one who loves much prays much and we (all of us on Sonshine) have felt your prayers.

So we go forward into a New Year………..trusting, praying and loving our Savior, our everything, who is All and IN ALL……whatever is ahead……….I know he planned it before the foundations of the earth…….and so I rest in his grace and love……..

Love you my friend,
Joian

NUGGETS OF PRECIOUS GOLD ..... "Keep Your Hands Off"

2010-01-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

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"Neither know we what to do; but our eyes are, upon thee" 2Chron 20:12

This morning, I am blessed to write our three hundredth blog on SONSHINE. It is not something I take personal pride in, as I know it is only by His hand that this blog, which Joian and I began almost three years ago is still sustained by His grace and at His pleasure.

With that said, how often it seems, I visit an Internet site, that begins with much lofty vision and hoopla, only to discern the purpose of such is motivated by some carnal desire, where the glory of Christ plays second fiddle. Months later, I will visit this same site and find all the excitement and activity has wained to almost nothing. So it is that the carnality of man, that ever walks in it's own selfish motivation, upon finding it's endeavor lacking, moves to the next new thing. The way of the untethered and restless soul is ever to and fro, to and fro thus the plow handle is never firmly grasped nor held straight.

You might ask, "what was Joian's and My motivation three years ago March, when we began this little blog? Well, it seems last week, I unknowingly stumbled across a small paragraph, hidden away in an old post, and it succinctly speaks to that. This below, was used as an epilogue for a writing and I believe it addresses the sustaining method, nature and motivation of our work here, which we sincerely hope is His work here. Please allow me:

"I certainly didn't expect to write all the above this morning, as I was feeling a tad bit battered when I awoke. As I contemplated going back to bed and pulling the covers over my head I thought, "No, I am close to empty but there is still a few grains of meal in the barrel and a splash oil in the cruse, so in a gift of worship I shall write. If there was none that ever read my words I am convinced, I would still type them for He whom I love above all. For me writing has become worship."

Occasionally, we also like to give to you a chuckle so we share that which causes us to giggle. With that overview, I am also reminded of how, I have written on at least a couple of occasions, that we at SONSHINE are not attempting to re-invent the wheel, so we share also the writings of others,. We do this with accompanying prayer, that their words will speak hope and encouragement into your souls. Today, I publish a short message from Lettie Cowman's daily devotional with that same goal in mind. Whether it is politics and world affairs or even the affairs of a loved one that rends your soul, we often must stay our eager hand that God might accomplish that, which we would only hinder, in our efforts to effect change. I loved this writing, even for the scripture with which I opened this blog. It certainly seems, we are beginning to see that Christ is carrying His elect of this age into new places of trust, where we have only a single eye for Him, as He reveals within Himself vistas of God rarely partaken of by man. Oh, how my heart has been stirred of late, as expectation builds to the discovery of new facets of God's being, in Christ Jesus. I pray you have been sensing the same, as expectant wonderment fills our hearts anew with the dawning of each new day. May you be blessed dear reader, as you join us in the spirit of worship with your reading of His SONSHINE blog.
John

Keep Your Hands Off
"Neither know we what to do; but our eyes are, upon thee" 2Chron 20:12

A life was lost in Israel because a pair of human hands were laid unbidden upon the ark of God. They were placed upon it with the best intent, to steady it when trembling and shaking as the oxen drew it along the rough way; but they touched God's work presumptuously, and they fell paralyzed and lifeless. Much of the life of faith consists in letting things alone.
If we wholly trust an interest to God, we must keep our hands off it; and He will guard it for us better than we can help Him. "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."

Things may seem to be going all wrong, but He knows as well as we; and He will arise in the right moment if we are really trusting Him so fully as to let Him work in His own way and time. There is nothing so masterly as inactivity in some things, and there is nothing so hurtful as restless working, for God has undertaken to work His sovereign will. --A. B. Simpson

Being perplexed, I say, 'Lord, make it right!

Night is as day to Thee, Darkness as light.

I am afraid to touch

Things that involve so much;

My trembling hand may shake,

My skilless hand may break;

Thine can make no mistake.

Being in doubt I say,

'Lord, make it plain;

Which is the true, safe way?

Which would be gain?

I am not wise to know,

Nor sure of foot to go;

What is so clear to Thee,

Lord, make it clear to me!

It is such a comfort to drop the tangles of life into God's hands and leave them there.

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NEW YEAR PROPHESY !

2010-01-04T23:33:00.000-07:00

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Yeah right! Prophetic word for 2010, you have got to be kidding me!
And I bet you knew that before you looked. lol

I think these "New Year prophesies" are but a silly exercise straight from the soulish realm. And don't these appeal to the flesh. Almost all these predictions are sensationalized and look to events in the world and the organized church, rather than target the workings of the Kingdom within. That should be our first hint at their falsity. I actually believe one might do better to view their Horoscope chart for the year rather than cast their eyes and ears upon the hype delivered by these wannabe prophets. At least it is clearly known, the spirit behind the Hororscope, whereas these "New Years Words"are sly counterfeits. I know some of you have to be be sensing in your own spirit, the complete lack of anointing in these New Years absurdities. And then the sentence leading, "I say", as if the edict is God Himself speaking to me, just rubs me six ways to wrong! With those, I overcome my inquisitiveness real quick, as I quit the very moment I spy the first, "I say." This stuff isn't even milk for the immature nor is it pure blasphemy. In most cases, it is just plain ol' foolishness! So I ask, "is the prophet a bigger fool than the audience of such?" Nah, they both fall in the ditch. And so it every year, the ditch is filled anew.

The restless soul, ever anxious, wants to know what tomorrow holds. Conversely, Jesus calls a few to Himself, that trust Him with such implicity, they have no need of a program or menu. These are those that are so in love, they follow their Prize wherever He goes. For where their Love is, they are content to sup from His plate. Truth be known, Jesus carries His trusting lover, wherever He goes and they have no need of map nor plan. This is called, His glorious rest, and it is.

Let's just rest in Him folks and bid the soulish prognosticator, "go bother someone else." Guarantee, you trust Him in love and you will find yourself resting in God's perfect place which is the very destination the restless prophet desires, but can never see.

Dear reader,the greatest realms of God's are unknown, so He takes our trust into the unknown, to give us the greater part of Himself.

"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." Prov 3:5

"In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, 'flee as a bird to your mountain?'" Ps 11:1

I pray you experience a wondrous year feasting off His plate while you bask in His love,

John

THE MEASURE OF THE CROSS .....

2010-01-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

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"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" Gal. 2:20

The measure of the Cross, is the measure of Christ, which is the measure of Love. In this world such measure is impossible, so we are given Eternity which is Christ, which is the Cross, which is Love and God Himself. Such is the mystery of Christ, Cross and Love which baffles and bruises the intellect as it attempts to encompass it. You can never encompass that which consumes you and the Good News is, all will be consumed by the Love of Christ through the Cross. God gives us the Cross, and the Cross gives us God and Love is shed abroad in our heart.

After a bit of a walk with Jesus, and He sharing a few things, I have to believe the Cross is at the very core of this universe and even the center of God's heart. Also, I perceive the Cross ageless, as the Lamb was slain before the foundations of the world. As far as the dimension of time, which incidentally, neither scientist nor theologian has ever understood, the Cross is, was and will ever be. This makes me ponder the Cross, our Cross, as even being time itself. I think so, for patience brings forth it's perfect work as does the Cross. So it is in addition, while the Cross lays within the center of world, the world is made our Cross, as we each are heaven sent and heaven bound. This world is not our home, so this earthly pilgrimage is to our humiliation and our Cross to bear. Man's earthly life is as Calvary's path, yet Christ walks the Via de la Rosa within the very dimensions of man. Thus the Cross is within and the Cross is without.

You know, I tried over and over to carry that Cross and for the life of me, I couldn't budge it. So I gave gave up and then Jesus came along and lifted it for me. Today, my precious Yeshua carries the Cross within me and how amazing to find I am also on it. Christ carries the Cross within and I am on it, yet I am hidden in His side as He carries me home. Oh, the wonder of it all. Praise Jesus, praise His name, for He is carrying me back home and into His resurrected life. My only struggle today, is to learn to rest and even that is by His doing and it will done in His way and in His time. Yes, I have discovered something of the Cross, however, it's dimensions I have barely begun to plumb. So the Cross is, was and will ever be, till I and every other man has realized the fullness of Christ. Then we will know Christ, Cross and Love are surely the same.

To the uninitiated such language is folly but alas, the Cross Bearer has always been discounted and scorned. Didn't creation hang the creator on the cross. And wasn't creation made for such that we might know the love of God, where the creator suffers the Cross for His creation with the sure hope that creation will return the favor. So the circle of Love grows, as the Cross grows. Yes, for a surety, such Love has no dimension thus eternity is given for it's measure. I stand in complete awe of the Cross tonight. I hope you stand in awe of Christ too. And together, while lost in Love, we are able to find wondrous delight in measuring the Immeasurable.

In the Cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time.
All the light of sacred story
Gathers around it head sublime.

(poem by John Bowring)

SILENT NIGHTS & AMAZING GRACE

2009-12-19T20:47:00.001-07:00

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"The outward symbols disappear
From him whose inward sight is clear;
And small must be the choice of days
To him who fills them all with praise!

"Keep while you need it, brothers mine,
With honest seal your Christmas sign,
But judge not him who every morn
Feels in his heart the Lord Christ born!"

The Christmas holidays for some strange reason have most oft for me, been filled with feelings of melancholy. Oh I tell ya, I suffered some excruciatingly sad ones growing up and maybe it is that which haunts me. And then again, maybe there is a thousand unknown reasons why I have found little joy in the celebratory season. Well, this season has been different, in that I suffer a joy mixed with sorrow and a glory stirred with suffering. Such are the ways I believe, when one has even surrendered his emotions to the Lord. Surely it is His joy and sorrow, glory and suffering that are precious parts and golden parcels for the making of a priest after the likeness of Jesus. There is always the paradox in the Kingdom, so in keeping such my soul wrestles the spirit. The two parts of the inward man grapple dizzily, one mixing it up with the other, often times leaving my awareness in a pleasant slow motion bliss. It is in this state of surrender, where it matters not whether tears fall or laughter erupts. One might even describe this experience as an oblivious pleasant dream state of not knowing where spirit meets soul, but resting in a deep trust that there is sacred union taking place beyond any of our efforts. It is almost as the place, I have heard women, who have suffered labor, describe. They talk of the setting, where the foreign pain is so great, one finds escape in an out of body realm. There, the expectant mother feels like she is looking down on the scene of the workings of the birth of a child. So it seems, God has made wondrous escape for me this season. I have been miraculously translated from melancholy to the state of being a peaceful observer of the ongoing union and birthing process of spirit and soul bringing forth the mature son in Christ image. Tonight, with pleasant cleansing tears, born of a menagerie of emotions, I write in wonderment of God's ways with me. Bless His Name, for there is none like Him and He is good ........... so very very good.

Just so happened today, I enjoyed a lovely phone visit with the lady, in who's home I met Jesus, some thirty five years ago. She is a most wise and compassionate soul and she tells it like it is. I so love that kind of person. And what a wonder, my friend and I should be close after all these years and further more, miraculous is it, that we would know the same Sovereign God of Love that saves all. What are the odds on that!

So Caroline and I were catching up and I was sharing my strange and unique pleasant state, when she was quickened to a poem. She gave a little synopsis, after sharing the title and author. This was one of those eureka moments, as I was looking for the missing part for the blog I wanted to publish. I felt there was something out there that I would come across to introduce some video songs that reflect my many emotions these last few days. So with out further adieu, I share a most incredible gift of poetry and then some songs that really moved me this week. Be blessed my dear friends and I pray your Christmas season is as wonderfully filled with Him, as mine.
Jack

With this poem, just the title alone grabbed me, as I believe to really know Christ, one must enter the mystical realm of understanding.

The Mystic's Christmas
by John Greenleaf Whittier

"All hail!" the bells of Christmas rang,
"All hail!" the monks at Christmas sang,
The merry monks who kept with cheer
The gladdest day of all their year.

But still apart, unmoved thereat,
A pious elder brother sat
Silent, in his accustomed place,
With God's sweet peace upon his face.

"Why sitt'st thou thus?" his brethren cried,
"It is the blessed Christmas-tide;
The Christmas lights are all aglow,
The sacred lilies bud and blow.

"Above our heads the joy-bells ring,
Without the happy children sing,
And all God's creatures hail the morn
On which the holy Christ was born.

"Rejoice with us; no more rebuke
Our gladness with thy quiet look."
The gray monk answered, "Keep, I pray,
Even as ye list, the Lord's birthday.

"Let heathen Yule fires flicker red
Where thronged refectory feasts are spread;
With mystery-play and masque and mime
And wait-songs speed the holy time!

"The blindest faith may haply save;
The Lord accepts the things we have;
And reverence, howsoe'er it strays,
May find at last the shining ways.

"They needs must grope who cannot see,
The blade before the ear must be;
As ye are feeling I have felt,
And where ye dwell I too have dwelt.

"But now, beyond the things of sense,
Beyond occasions and events,
I know, through God's exceeding grace,
Release from form and time and space.

"I listen, from no mortal tongue,
To hear the song the angels sung;
And wait within myself to know
The Christmas lilies bud and blow.

"The outward symbols disappear
From him whose inward sight is clear;
And small must be the choice of days
To him who fills them all with praise!

"Keep while you need it, brothers mine,
With honest seal your Christmas sign,
But judge not him who every morn
Feels in his heart the Lord Christ born!"

I have listened to these two renditions of "Silent Night" over and over again and each time I cried for different reasons. This first song video brought a ticklish joy to my heart mixed with some sorrow. Oh, how I wish I had some children come to visit some times. How I miss the innocent magic they possess.

Here are fifty three little angels of Nagasaki with Andrea Rieu. Please enjoy.

Wow, what can I say about this next one and to say too much would be a shame, as I would wrongly color your experience in measuring this awesome song. I wept deeply with this one, as it made me think of my father, whom I lost some weeks ago. In reality, Dad was lost from me before I was even born. His overwhelming distance from my sisters and me, I believe was, in part, wrought from the ravages of war. He fought three of them as a career Naval Officer. The most damaging to Dad, I believe, was as a submariner in the Second World War. Could you imagine the harrowing horror of depth charges being dropped on you, as you lay at the bottom of the sea. How very tragic these wars and we sometime loose sight of the post traumatic ramifications that effect the many that love these warriors. May you be moved.

SILENT NIGHT IN NO MAN'S LAND 1915

The truce began on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium, for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols, most notably Stille Nacht (Silent Night). The British troops in the trenches across from them responded by singing English carols.

The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were calls for visits across the "No Man's Land" where small gifts were exchanged — whisky, jam, cigars, chocolate, and the like. The artillery in the region fell silent that night. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently-fallen soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Proper burials took place as soldiers from both sides mourned the dead together and paid their respects. At one funeral in No Man's Land, soldiers from both sides gathered and read a passage from the 23rd Psalm.

The truce spread to other areas of the lines, and there are many stories of football matches between the opposing forces. The film Joyeux Noël suggests that letters sent home from both British and German soldiers related that the score was 3-2 in favour of the Germans.
(Wikipedia)

And then, how could I not end this heartfelt and emotional writing without a most beautiful rendition of the song of all songs. I pray, you might reflect on just how amazing His grace is and how it has been so uniquely and lovingly extended to you.

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2009-12-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

A MOST SACRED INTERSECTION IN GOD

2009-12-04T21:38:00.000-07:00

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Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. 2Cor12:10

I cried some days ago when I received an E-mail from Florian, as I knew he was dying. His state of impending mortality is not in the sense of dying as the world knows. No, it is a state of his soul dieing to this world and himself, that Christ might ever live and reign in and through him. There are so many beautiful souls I know, that are currently in this very same process, as our dear brother. One way or another, diverse trials seem to abound but each that is counted as elect of this age, are finding that there is a supernal contentment in the midst of these fires. So it is, that we should all occasionally weep, as we view the death of a son. For as it is with the Lord so it is with us as we witness pure and beautiful souls in the making.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. Ps 116.15

And we are not afraid, but are quite content to die, for then we will be at home with the Lord. For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. After my skin is destroyed, this I know -- that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain,
for the former things have passed away.
2 Cor 5.8, Job 19.25-27 & Rev 21.4

Here, in the E-mail mentioned, our brother Florian describes his death and his appointed fire between the bookend thoughts concerning others which I have omitted.

"I am working two jobs at the moment and the money is barely enough to pay the bills. Sometimes I'm so tired that all I can do is fall on my bed and say 'Papa meet me' just before I fall asleep. We are going probably through one of the toughest times of our lives right now but we also experience Father's provision in new ways. The worst thing I guess is not really getting around to pray and the lack of vision. On the other hand we sense we are entering a new realm of intimacy with Him and a level of compassion for the broken and hurting. In other words, I have no clue what is going on. I just know that He is holding on to us even if we let go of Him."

An hour or so after being moved by Florian's letter, I happened upon a writing by one of his favorite teachers. I knew then, I would share his letter and part of this writing below, that others might gain strength and encouragement. You will love how this author describes the Divinely appointed tension we often feel. Better yet he gives the "why of it."

Designed Tension

"There is a strange tension involved as we walk along the Jesus-Way. Though the tension has been designed by God to bring out His best in us, a feeling that this ought not to be persistently dogs us. One of the marks of spiritual maturity is the recognition and acceptance of this tension as a dynamic necessary for the believer to come to an intimate knowledge of "the glory of His grace."

If we are to know God, we must come to know Him in His glorious givingness. Grace is just that---God's givingness. God is glorious in His givingness. It is by His givingness that we know His glory. "The glory of His grace," literally means "His grace's glory." That's His nature, to pour out Himself into us from within us. He is, in Christ, the artesian well in us springing up into aeonian life.

The goal of that up-springing is that the artesian well in us should become rivers of living water flowing out of our innermost being as we become extensions of the out-pouringness of the Divine Nature, that is, to love as He loves, to give as He gives.

God gives out of His infinite supply, and the supply, paradoxically, is infinite because God is always emptying Himself into His Son, and His Son into others, and by that emptying, His own fulness is always a fresh supply. I dare say that God's fulness in the aeonian flow of His life, grows by the dynamic of His self-emptying.

His fulness is not a static condition. From out of His eternal infinitude, within our creaturehood, He increases Himself so that in the interplay of His eternality with His aeonian immanence, the eternality of God gives increase to creation, and draws forth from itself increase in the process.

This is seen clearly in Mary's exclamation, "My soul doth magnify the Lord...." The Greek word translated as "magnify" most essentially simply means to make large, to increase. The word can include the idea of extolling God, and though we usually think of that in terms of saying great things about God, more essentially, we extol the excellence of God by His increase in our soul-life.

So enters the strange-feeling tension. We are called to walk the Jesus-Way conscious of BOTH infinite supply, and extreme need. Even God by His Spirit in the aeons experiences this consciousness, for He, with us, and us, with all creation, groans for the revealing of the sons of God ......

So enters the strange-feeling tension. We are called to walk the Jesus-Way conscious of BOTH infinite supply, and extreme need. Even God by His Spirit in the aeons experiences this consciousness, for He, with us, and us, with all creation, groans for the revealing of the sons of God.

We are often made to feel, by unbalanced teaching, that we ought to walk only in the consciousness of infinite supply, so when those times come when we are engulfed in a sense of need, we are made to feel that we're so lacking in divine consciousness that those who preach this perception to us must certainly live on a much higher spiritual plane.

Jesus didn't live that way. Paul didn't. John didn't. They prayed for God's supply. They prayed from a consciousness of infinite supply AND profound need. That's what prayer is. We have religiousized it, and turned it into a formula. In fact, prayer is living in the Presence of infinite supply with a consciousness of neediness. Prayer, dear ones, simply is having the eyes of our human need fixed on Jesus.

The process often involves being exhausted from drawing out of our own resources, from a deceived expectation that our own endurance is up to life's challenges. Just naturally, our existential state is a state of neediness, when deception enters in, things become really complicated as we egotistically try to be to ourselves what we need.

That's what creation is all about. God has brought into existence a dimension of neediness as a complement to His provision, and then He exacerbates the situation through the lie of the serpent about our capabilities. Read Paul carefully, and you meet a man keenly aware that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him, but you meet a man of weakness also; a man in whose weakness, God's strength is perfected.

See, to know God's strengthening, you must be in touch with your weakness. God strengthens the weak."
(excerpted from a writing by John Gavazzoni)

"Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2Cor12:10

Hopefully, as I add to the anointed message of Gavazzoi, we might see, there is even a deeper revelation of our need meeting His supply. It is even a rest from tension and He is bringing some into it, by varying degrees. One day this freedom from care of self will fully overtake us and like Enoch we will be found no more. Lord help us to judge the glorious meaning of "no more."

Considering our weakness, as it lays before His almighty strength, I believe the starting place of pure faith is found with the surrender of our soul mixed with a trust that God is good in all His workings toward us. Our futility is so complete, we cannot possibly ever find faith. Instead, faith is given to us, as an unmerited gift. It is only given, as we are caused to recognize our need. So it is, in recognition of our futility, we learn to trust Him to carry us through the times that try our souls and rend our flesh. After suffering my fare share of trials, I have deduced, that there is a most sacred intersection, in which Christ is found in His greater glory. This Holy place is located where "I don't know" meets "I can't". With tears flowing, I will tell you, this is where one finds direction for life and rest for one's soul. And it is, that from the Holy place we enter into the Holy of Holies and the very ark of God's Christ. I know you, like me, are learning it is all Him and when we have come to the point of having nothing to offer but the sacrifice of the whole of our self, there we find in return, our personal setting at His table, overflowing with Heaven's bounty.

If I might share one other thing; standing in the middle of "I don't know" and "I can't" is truly the closest thing I know, to being translated to another world. Really! For those that trust not in themselves, but only in Him, He is taking them into that which I might term the "unknowing." This blessed state, more fully described as the "unknowing of self" is where one senses he or she is blissfully adrift and being carried by the Spirit above the cares of life. It is an almost subconscious state, where one easily entreats that which satiates real goodness within our soul. Even in the midst of great trial this can be experienced. And in such, it is all the more greatly needed.

The world with it's people and it's circumstances will try us with the taunt, "Can God spread a table in the desert? Ps 78:19
And while it may not be fully perceived by others you will feel the latter rain falling about you and refreshing your soul.
In the wilderness the latter rain of the Spirit will be poured out and there will be justice, righteousness, peace, faith, and rest in the Lord. Til the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest. Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness; and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence for ever. And my people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. Isaiah 32:15-18

If you are like me, you probably scratched your head when you first read of Paul and Silas singing in jail. I mean, how in the world could these crazy loons possibly be happy?! Now you know and may you cause others to scratch and think lunatic as you demonstrate that unspeakable joy in the middle of trouble. I know I have family that looks at me and I have heard the whispers, "Jack's not right. Because of his sickness he is not right in his head as he seems to throw care to the wind. So they gather to care for me in my blissful state. And my bliss only increases. lol

Please now suffer me, an unexpected rant. God! I am so dang tired of those that prophesy, for the world, "end time predictions of doom and gloom" or worse yet "it is finished and this is as good as it gets." Yeah, I am sick of it and I bet some of you are too! It all strikes my spirit wrong, as I believe these self appointed prophets of doom either love the sensational, are bored or want for others their portion of fire and the sooner the better. And the "it is finished" crowd seem to care little for anything resembling personal judgement as they would rather illusion their ease and thus pretend ease for all. Well, I say take a safari in Congo or a trek through Gaza and then tell me how easy it is there! There is great gloom and doom in this world today and there always has been. Such is the nature of this world for man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward*. Yes, I am sick and tired of the voices that walk the ditch on both sides of the narrow. However, even in this I can take solace, knowing one day, both the gloomy prognosticator and the New Age illusionist will find full surrender and be dragged up hither. There, they will wish good for all, knowing all will eventually find the Christ of the Cross and shelter in His side. Rant over

Anyway, with rant behind, I am overjoyed because some I count as friend, are learning like me to say, "where ever and when ever, Lord. I am all Yours, to be moved by and also into Your almighty, all knowing and immeasurable goodness."

So in closing let me say , it is the Spirit of God that translates us from the darkness of our fallen world into the peaceful radiance of the Kingdom of the Son**. For a surety our salvation is realized on Christ's path where our ignorance bows before His omniscience, our weakness reveals His strength, and our emptiness is replaced by His fullness. What an amazing journey God has set before His prized pilgrims of this age. These selfless sojourners are those who are not afraid to forsake all and follow where ever He goes. Truly, the heaven bent soul is moved by His careful hand along a sparsely traveled path, found in this world but not of this world.

Dear reader, as we find sweet surrender and rest in Him, we are being raised, and being TRANSLATED into His Kingdom NOW. You will never be able to explain this, for it is in the experience, we realize the wonderment of resting in Christ. So,I pray you find the sacred place of surrender, for out of your weakness, He will carry you into the dawning day, of the fullness of His power and glory. And there you will find that all that was once lost and marred is now made new and perfect. There is no more glorious hope in Christ, thus I share with you and I hope you share with others, that GOD IS GOOD!

Jack

* Job 5:7
** Col 1:13

TOOTHPICKS AND DIRTY DOGS

2009-11-29T23:42:00.000-07:00

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So living with my sister has been quite humbling. You know, I always took pride in my clean house when I lived alone and Joian, having visited me, will attest to my cleaning abilities.. But jeepers, the other day my sister went on a tirade berating my housecleaning skills. While she continued to rail on me, I was made to watch as she showed me how to clean, to her standards. When she pulled out a couple toothpicks and began to clean with them, with horror I proclaimed, " HOLEY MOLEY! That is some fine cleaning!".

With toothpicks in hand, I sadly report my future time on SONSHINE will be limited. For I am the house keeper of a professional housekeeper. A fate worse than hell!

Yes, my sister house keeps for the rich and famous of Jackson Hole, while I find humility keeping her house spotless ........ with toothpicks.

Does anyone need a roommate?

And then we have the dogs! Some nights there are four of them sleeping over. I'm not necessarily a dog person and when I crawled into bed the other night and found the old hair shedding, foul smelling lab sleeping on my pillow, I wanted to cry. Up til then I refused to even smile at him, as he also loves to lay his hundred pounds of dead wight right on my oxygen line while I turn six shades of blue. And if he isn't laying somewhere, this beast and his twin daughter love to follow me down the hall, stepping on my line which drags behind me. Oh, that is just so much fun, as the O2 line they step on is connected to my nose. It's almost like I am their puppet and they got me by the nose, jerking me at their whim. Shoot the other day they got me three times in one single trip down the hallway. Talk about a nose job, just paint mine swollen and bright red!

So to improve my attitude toward my new canine housemates, I have watched this video a number of times. I am sure it will warm the souls of the you dog lovers, and entertain Ellie's kids.
God bless,
Jack

TOO CUTE

2009-11-22T22:46:00.000-07:00

Raphael Berndt finishes his

morning session on SONSHINE

Florian and Clare, our German friends,

believe in starting 'em early, learning

the computer and reading English.

{wink}

FLESHLY PHENOMENON & THE LATENT POWER OF THE SOUL

2009-11-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

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Why is it, that they who have left, yet still pine for the church have nothing in return, when I say, "they who worship the tormenting hellfire God, worship a false Deity"?
They can not refute it!

This video, I share below, was taken about the time I quit going to church and fled the ghost of hell. It was the so called, "dancing in the spirit" that had overtaken our congregation and if you didn't dance you were considered as quenching the spirit. Have you any idea, how uncomfortable you would feel as you sat, rather than cut a rug with the rest of the congregants!?! If you didn't dance, the following sermon castigating the wall flowers, would surely cause you to want to crawl under your pew. Of course with the dancing, came along side the fund raising for a new auditorium that God was going to fill, if we would but build it. So it was, that I was appointed the "point man in charge of motivation" with our new building program. Being a well know Gideon that rubbed shoulders with the wealthiest Christians in our city, surely I would lead in selling bonds for building the new church. Wrong! For the life of me and might I say, "supernaturally", I could not sell even a single dollar's worth of bonds. I was more than mortified! I didn't dance, I couldn't sell and I sure wasn't laughing about it!

At the same time all this shenanigans was taking place in my church , an incredible undertaking was happening just outside the doors. In the church parking lot, a quiet little widow woman was clandestinely placing the writings of George Hawtin on the seats of a few selected automobiles, while we were in service. Oh my God! I had never read such anointed material, speaking to "the inward Kingdom of God", "all men saved", and "mystery Babylon." I'll tell ya, the handwriting was on the wall! And I would leave the church and spend twenty years dieing and losing next to everything, before I would realize what had happened. Then a still small voice, from deep within, would arise and begin to guide me. My oh my, how far is this still small voice from such as this video proclaims. Dear sweet reader all I can say is, "today, it is so good to be alone and still ..... with just Him."

The church leader in the video, Papa Hagin, is considered to be the "father of the modern faith movement" and the pioneering promoter of " the word of faith and the prosperity gospel." His drunken side kick and protege', Kenneth Copeland, is even at it today, binding men, woman and children to the fallen world while he fleeces them for all they are worth. Here in the video, is an amazing example of fleshly phenomenon and the latent power of the soul. While I believe there are the true manifestations of the Spirit, even being drunk, joyous and laughing with New Wine, this is the counterfeit.
Why is this soulish and false .......... because the fruit gives evidense and this type of meeting would be the last place I would ever want my chidren or your children.

(excuse the written lines within this video
as they are written by some who are yet to meet
their Saviour. Their motives do not distiguish the
ekklesia from the harlot church)

SHALL I TAKE AWAY PAIN

2009-11-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

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"The self is so self-confident that unless it is totally discouraged it will not give up."

So it is, we suffer at first
Then we suffer for others
The latter is mixed with joy

So it is, we die to our self
And in this we also die for others
For we are the offerings of God

"The cry of man's anguish went up to God,
'Lord take away pain:
The shadow that darkens the world Thou hast made,

The close-coiling chain
That strangles the heart, the burden that weighs
On the wings that would soar,
Lord, take away pain from the world Thou hast made,
That it love Thee the more.'

"Then answered the Lord to the cry of His world:
'Shall I take away pain,
And with it the power of the soul to endure,
Made strong by the strain?
Shall I take away pity, that knits heart to heart

And sacrifice high?
Will ye lose all your heroes that lift from the fire
White brows to the sky?
Shall I take away love that redeems with a price
And smiles at its loss?
Can ye spare from your lives that would climb unto Me
The Christ on His cross?"

poem by Lettie Cowman

THEIR CROWNS ARE OURS, AND ALL ARE HIS

2009-11-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can't tell 'em. Tis good to just be, even until the times of remembrance, when Jesus reveals to our wayward friends and loved ones, Who He really is. Oh, to dream what it will be like to stand in His Glory and extend our arms to those who were blind and now see. And then, to take them, hand in our hand, to bow and lay our crowns at His feet. Surely, our delight will signal their crowns are as ours and all are His. What wonder, we sometimes get to see our dreams fulfilled even today, as His order is played out and one or another answers the supernal call from Home.

This morning, I have to believe Ellie was moved by Ray's daily devotional, as was I. Be encouraged dear reader, as you read and contemplate this anointed message.
Jack

TRIED BY THE WORD

“Until the time that his word came: the Word of the Lord tried him,”
(Psalm 105:19).

This is the experience of those who are to be firstfruits of the new creation. While we wait for the time of our own deliverance from this bondage of vanity and subjection to corruption, we are “tried by the Word.” There is no justifying of your vision in the eyes of those around you. There is no visible form of manifestation that what God has spoken into your heart concerning the ages to come shall ever be realized. The bondage of vanity is yours to experience just as much as for all the rest of groaning creation. The moments of glory when you see into the realms beyond, and your spirit knows the certainty of the things which the Holy Spirit reveals to you, these moments, I say, are interlaced with long periods of dryness and times when “THE WORD OF THE LORD TRIES YOU” deep into inmost core. Yet the Word of the Lord is sure, its fulfillment is secure, and as an anchor deep within, its “wisdom and knowledge become the stability of thy times, and the strength of thy salvation,” (Isa. 33:6).

Joseph was no different then us, when he received his dreams he had to tell somebody. There was still a distinction made between the messenger and his message. He told his brethren, and they hated him. He told his father, and his father rebuked him. Thus one learns to ‘limit’ the telling. Self-proclaimed visions are not the reality. When the vision becomes reality it needs no telling. Eventually the message and the messenger become one! When Joseph became the embodiment of his dreams, he ceased telling them, and simply LIVED THEM. Let others recall the message they have heard, let them acknowledge the truth, but he who has been thoroughly tried by the Word till he becomes the message, has no need for self-defense, nor self-proclamation, his state of being is the message. Reality is its own declaration.

Tried by the Word till all error is removed,
We stand in His presence, message approved,
Steadfast in the truth we cannot be moved.

Ray Prinzing

JESUS OF THE SCARS

2009-11-13T11:59:00.000-07:00

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"Is He willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is impotent. Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both able and willing? Whence then is evil?" Therefore, how can an all powerful and all knowing God who loves his people permit evil to exist on His earth?”
David Hume 1711-1776

I have had a glorious morning in Him, as I pondered the subject of Hume's questions. I can but think, is it no wonder the Bible calls such, the "Mystery of Iniquity." Along side my contemplations, I read many awesome things and I believe, even shared some awesome things with others. However, above all, I found this below, to be the most awesome and is it no wonder, that it speaks to the Cross of Christ, a place I am bound never to leave, until I find myself in His likeness.

May God bless you with the reading of Edward Shilito's poem, "Jesus of the Scars", penned as he found himself sickened by the tragedy of suffering and death in the "great war". As an epilogue, are the thoughts of Olsen and Piper. I took the liberty to enlarge the latter by removing one word, "Calvinism" and then adding a phrase.

Oh, that Calvin, might himself, have added "all men" to the determinism of God. For God is determined to see "all men saved." Thank God, we have and share the greater hope and the real "Good News!"
Jack

Jesus of the Scars

If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow,
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the Scars.

The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy Scars, we claim Thy grace.

If, when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know to-day what wounds are, have no fear,
Show us Thy Scars, we know the countersign.

The other gods were strong; but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God's wounds can speak,
And not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.

Our belief in God's sovereignty does not offer a "seemingly simple answer to the problem of evil." Rather, it bows in humility to what God has revealed. And it gazes with faith and hope at the zenith of that revelation in the crucified Savior. When understanding fails and questions remain, we look at the Jesus of the scars and remember that our God--the only God there is--was wounded for us, and we let His wounds speak to ours.

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A JEW RAPS JESUS TO JEWS

2009-11-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

This should put a big smile on ya. Be blessed.

CHRIST PAYS A VISIT TO A CHRIST HATER

2009-11-10T03:42:00.000-07:00

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A friend sent this testimony to me yesterday. I know it will encourage you that still hold hope for someone that resides in the deepest of darkness. In one swift swoop, the light of His face brings marvelous love to the most unlovable. Such is it with Byron's story.
Jack

Byron's Story
Before my re-birth I was totally lost in spiritual darkness - an atheistic, God concept hating, Christianity loathing type person. How that led to what I am today makes no natural sense at all. It happened alone in a deserted room after losing the woman I loved and falling into a deep depression for over two years. At rock bottom for months on end, I finally ‘lost it’ one night, rolling around on the floor and spontaneously screaming out for help (to no one in particular) and basically wishing to die very badly. My spirit was crying out over and over and over "What's wrong with me? what's wrong with me?!!". Finally, out of the clear blue I heard this voice inside calmly say "You're starving... to death". A voice??? This was a first. I was absolutely stunned and thinking "wow, did I imagine that?!! What the heck is going on here?" A strange calm came over me. There was a love, a compassion in that voice and as I dragged myself up into bed and drifted off to sleep my memory echoed softly those words over and over again "You're starving... to death, you're starving... to death, You're starving... to death.....

The next morning I started putting 1 and 2 together: 1. I was crying out 2. a voice answered ... so could it be like.... (gulp) maybe... God? Answering? Like a prayer or something? I began to tremble thinking “This is impossible”. I got up and decided to go see a friend whom I hadn't seen in months. Not seeing him was on purpose because he was a Jesus freak who would sometimes tell my friends and I that we needed to 'seek God' and 'know Christ' etc. I was a nice person, but inside it would anger me and I remember wishing that he would just shut the - bleep- up. But now I'm thinking maybe he could shed some light on what had happened. "You're starving... to death"? What in the world was that supposed to mean? It was driving me nuts! So I show up at his door early in the morning, knock, and he is very surprised to see me and says something like "Hey there stranger, what's going on?" All I said was "I think God might have spoken to me last night". That's ALL I said. He invited me in and I was ready to explain what I meant but before I could say another word, He told me to sit down and he'd be back in a minute, and he scurries off into his bedroom. Keep in mind, all I'd told him was "I think God might have spoken to me last night" and I mentioned nothing at all of the "starving to death" thing.

After about ten minutes he comes out of his bedroom with an open bible, and while pointing down to a particular spot on the page he says "Read this". I looked down and read where he was pointing. It said: "I have food to eat that you don't know anything about". (John 4:32) Can you imagine what went through my head? How could he have known??? "Why did you show me that?" I demanded. He replied "I just went back and prayed and felt like you needed to read that verse." And so I start asking him "How did you know?" and he says "Know what?" I was speechless. The stunning truth became clear, it WAS God who had spoken - it had to be. There was no other possible explanation. All the sudden this love came washing over me like waves. I can't explain it - love, forgiveness, compassion. I had done nothing to cause/deserve this. I was crying, couldn't speak, and left back to the deserted room - but now I was in the presence of perfect love. The depression disappeared INSTANTLY, just vanished. I was flying inside - it was like a dream, a fairytale. That night I did have a dream. In the dream I could see underground, a side view, (mmm.. like remember in Jurassic Park - the illustration of the diggers going down into the cave to find the amber? Like that). I saw a man, whom I knew to be Jesus, buried, lying under the earth just below the surface in the darkness. All the sudden he started to glow and then broke upright through the ground and stood (floating) a few feet above the ground in the open air, now shimmering in white light. A voice spoke and said "This is you" and I replied "No it's not... that's Jesus" and I woke up.

I pulled out a bible that my former lady friend had given me from under a pile of junk and started reading - it had opened to Romans. Again a shocking moment came when I got to 6:4 "just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" and later in Colossians "having been buried with Him in baptism, you were also raised with Him through faith produced within you by God who raised Him from among the dead". All the sudden the "This is you" thing started making sense. For the next couple of weeks I was in the presence of Deity, really, it was like He was in the room with me. Intense Joy had replaced the sadness and emptiness. Physical food became optional as I devoured the scriptures for several weeks and soon saw the "big picture" ie: creation being made subject to vanity - but only for a season, all of creation groaning for the manifestation of the Sons of God, The ultimate restitution of all things etc. I was still in a daze though, why me? I had been basically lazy and self serving my whole life, and yet this all knowing, supernatural ‘person’ is treating me like I was the best thing there ever was. IT MADE NO SENSE AT ALL! I realized one thing for sure: God is sovereign. He planned all this and has great plans for all of His creation, to bring all out of darkness and into His marvelous light. Just as the first Adam chose death for all mankind, Jesus, the last Adam, has now chosen life for all mankind, to be manifested in due time.

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THE PERFECT SACRIFICE SULLIED

2009-11-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

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The other day while sharing on a forum, a participant used 2Cor 5:21 KJV in a treatise she had written. By the Spirit, I knew she didn't understand the true meaning of this scripture, as few have ever questioned the sloppy rendition found in most popular translations.

It hurt my heart to think how many ways God's most perfect sacrifice can be sullied. Then I again realized, how He has even sewn the errors in our Bibles, knowing it is for kings, in the making, to uncover Truth by the Spirit. I then began to search out an old writing by Preston Eby, in which he lays the record straight concerning this scripture. After much searching, I just could not find it. However in God's goodness last night, I stumbled across another article exposing the truth of the matter.

I pray that from now on, when you see this familiar verse, you will see the missing word "offering", which should be placed at the end of "sin". Let us ever hold high and pure God's sacrifice of His precious Son, Jesus. A Savior, in Whom sin never entered, for ever perfect was He!
Jack

Jesus Made Sin?
Though much can be said on the subject of sin, permit us to deal briefly with a specific aspect of the topic of sin, namely Jesus being made sin for us. A common translation states "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Corth 5:21 KJV). In fact, there are other translations which state basically the same idea. Young's Literal states "make sin"; Moffatt reads "to be sin"; the Living Bible states "took sinless Christ and poured into him our sins"; and the Jerusalem states "made sinless one into sin". From these, many have come to the conclusion that Jesus BECAME sin. But is this really so? Does scripture teach such a doctrine?

First, let us state that there are other translations that would have us read the verse differently. The Williams quotes "He made Him who personally knew nothing of sin to be a sin-offering for us...". The Diaglott states "For Him who knew no Sin, he made a Sin-offering on our behalf...". Again, the Literal Concordant has "For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes...".

Secondly, many are familiar with the words of the Old Testament prophet Hosea "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge". However, only two verses later it states "They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity" (Hosea 4:8 KJV). It is a story of the priests eating the sin offering, yet the King James Version uses the word "sin" rather than "sin-offering". I have read that in Hebrew, the phrase "sin offering" is often called "sin". In other words, if we were speaking in that language and referring to the animal offering, we would refer to it as "sin" and all would know what was meant. Regarding the words of Hosea, it should be easy to understand that the priests did not eat up the SIN of the people but rather the sin-offering. So, as with this old testament verse, the same idea applies to II Corinthians 5:21 as Jesus was made a sin-offering and not made sin!

Thirdly, there are several other verses that bear witness to the fact that Jesus was without sin. Peter describes Jesus as a "lamb without blemish and without spot" (I Peter 1:19). The writer of Hebrews states "how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Heb 9:14). A lamb without blemish? Without spot? Notice that neither apostle qualifies their statement that Jesus was without blemish or sin "except while hanging on the cross". Why? Because they said what they meant and meant what they said! He was without blemish, spot or sin, period. Without, never, not even once!!

Last, how can sin make atonement for sin? Can you do away with sin by offering up a sacrifice of sin? No beloved, the entire unregenerate race of mankind has been slave to sin and by nature was born into sin and shapen in iniquity. In accordance with Old Testament teachings, only a blameless sacrifice could atone for the sins of the people.

In conclusion, Jesus never became sin at any point in time and never in the eternal realm of spirit. To even think the thought that the sinless one was made into sin grieves my spirit. The doctrine of Jesus becoming sin is a terrible idea and contrary to sound biblical teaching. We pray that all who teach "Jesus becoming sin" consider what we had to say and adjust their theology accordingly.

T.D.C

Timothy D Carroll is a good brother and his writings can be found here:
http://www.ariseministry.com/

THE GOOD PART, THE BEST PART .... "He is Enough!"

2009-11-07T08:43:00.000-07:00

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And Jesus answered and said unto her, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." Luk 10:41,42

Some years ago, Joian and I would meet for the first time and share a most anointed time on one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, located on Coronado Island. My new friend, and soon to become my best friend, while sitting in the sand, would converse and touch on the deepest things in God. However, we could not delve deeply into these things, for a sustaining foundation was being laid for our growing relationship. You might ask, what was that foundation? To which I would reply, "Jesus is enough .... He is more than enough." A number of the hardest questions were queried that day and in a most unique way, they were subconsciously answered without words. Instead the difficult quandaries were laid to rest by a flowing supernal peace, reserved only for the communion of the saints of the Most High God, with Jesus in their midst.

Later as months would pass, Joian and I would entertain the thought of marriage. We would pass over this idea however, with a recognition that such a union would detract from our growing relationship with our Lord and our imputed Spirit led quest to realize time alone with God. We had realized this quest was not only the better part but the very best part of our lives. I believe, even in the divine union of marriage, should we grow in God there will be the Holiest places, where each must lay husband or wife, children and friends upon the altar, to find, that God in Christ is enough, more than enough. For a certainty, one must experience the sacred sacrifice, of the giving up of all one holds dear in this world to Him, no matter our state or vocation. And how amazing, that when a couple arrives at such a place of forsaking of all, including each other, they find the sacred marriage union between man and wife becomes what it could never be, beforehand. This is the principle of the multiple becoming One. And as it is with man and wife so it is also with Christ and His bride, the church. How truly wonderful is the great paradox of the Kingdom, where all must die, to live anew in Oneness with Him. This is for a surety, the path to Heaven on earth, where all that is Good is found enjoined within Him!

So it is today, that I share a message for those that might be struggling amidst a trial or tribulation. Whether single or with husband or wife, this message holds the deepest truth, one will ever find in the Kingdom and it is simply, "God in Christ, is enough. He is enough for every situation and every union. For even when all seems broken, tired, old and thrown askew, Jesus is able to pick up the pieces and put them together, anew. Even that, which seems as sure as dead, will bloom afresh with the full vibrancy of New Life. You might ask, "when will this be? What is the key to such glory?" I know of only one answer,"when we have come to the end of ourselves and to the end of all, that is about us. It is there, and only there, that we will learn, 'He is enough... more than enough.'" This I believe, is the deepest truth of all truths and should God have His hand on you, you will find yourself pulled into this Truth. And that Truth, above all truths, will carry you over every mountain and through every thing, this world can ever throw at you. The best part, is that once realized, this Truth ever grows as God brings other battered and pillaged souls to you and you are able to share the remedy to all that ails the tired and torn soul. God is good, He is good like that! Oh, to be able to share and even demonstrate such before my children, your children, and for that matter, all His children. This is our great commission, for which we were sent into this fallen world. To know and to proclaim and to demonstrate, JESUS IS ENOUGH!

With that said, as an introduction, please allow me to share a confirming word taken from Chip Brogden's devotional this morning. And to that, I would love to bless you with a couple of anointed songs, hoping you might lift your hands and praise Him, Who alone is worthy to be called "Enough".

In His Sweet Lord Jesus,
Jack

What is the "deeper Christian life"? It is nothing more and nothing less than Christ Himself. To be deep is to be simple, focused, and devoted to the One Thing that is needed But even here, some believers seek the deeper Christian life as a thing, a teaching, a certain way of acting spiritual. The "deeper life" becomes the goal instead of Christ as Life. They become profoundly mystical and spiritual, but it is death because they do not touch Christ, they touch spirituality. There is no life in spirituality, or mysticism, or religiosity; there is only Life in Christ. Anything less becomes a distraction.

I came to the Lord in the midst of the Charismatic movement. The emphasis was on Spirit-filled living, restoring spiritual gifts, the power of God, and so forth. We find no fault with walking in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. But what is the purpose of all this fullness? Why tongues, and prophetic words, and other spiritual gifts? Why the manifest power of God? All of these things are given us by the Lord to draw us deeper into Himself; to repeat, they are means to an End, but they are not the end, for the End, the Purpose, and the Reason for all things is Christ.

NUGGETS OF PRECIOUS GOLD ..... "Fenelon"

2009-11-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

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Of all the old mystic's writings that I have read, I found Fenelon's maxims, the clearest and most practical. Last night, I stumbled across a fellow by the name of Fred, who has made a friend of François Fénelon. Below Fred and Fenelon share some wonderful insights for our advancement in God. I have highlighted that which I thought exceptional. As a last note, if there be anything I would hope others to know, it would be, "seek the map maker instead of the map." So many fretting souls are about figuring out what's going to happen, when we can be satisfied to know "God is happening ...... and He is happening within our lives right now!"

FRED'S FRIEND FENELON
1. The Presence precedes the plan.
For years younger people have asked me how they could know God's plan for their life. While reading Fénelon and other saints, I find they are not concerned with that question. Their concern is not with the plan but with the Presence. When we have a guide, we don't need a map. Without the Presence we attempt work for God instead of letting God work through us. Fénelon said: Put aside your self-interest and simply let God's will unfold around you. Everything he does for you is for your good. Worship him without having to know and see everything. Continue doing the good things that you do since you feel that you should and you can do them so easily. Be careful that all your extra energy does not lead you into trouble and, above all, live in the present moment and God will give you all the grace you need. He continues, Live your daily life out in the presence of God. He will give you all that you need. God's glory and his purpose are the end of all things. You will find happiness and salvation there but not as an end in itself. It is all for God.

2. Self-love is subtle.
"You will be tempted to speak out in a humble tone of voice to tell others of your problems. Watch out for this. A humility that is still talkative does not run very deep. When you talk too much, your self-love relieves his sense of shame a little."

Fénelon goes on to say: "Self love is proud of its spiritual accomplishments. You must lose everything to find God for himself alone. You won't begin to let go of yourself until you have been thrown off a cliff. He takes away to give back in a better way." "Self-interest and pride cause you to reject the gifts of God, because they do not come in a way that suits your taste. He asks for nothing but death, and you desire nothing but life." "Selfishly loving yourself shunts your spirit. You put yourself in a straitjacket when you are enclosed in self. When you come out of that prison you experience how immense God is and how he set his children free. Be humble. Do not trust the old nature."

He probes even deeper: So to strip self-love of its mask is the most humiliating punishment that can be inflicted. You see that you are no longer as wise, patient, polite, self-possessed, and courageous in sacrificing yourself for others as you had imagined. You are no longer fed by the belief that you need nothing. . . . You no longer think that your greatness and generosity deserve a better name than self-love. However, you are further tormented because you also weep and rage that you have cried at all. What your old nature fears the most is necessary for its destruction.

3. Suffering is useful.
Fénelon speaks of suffering as God's exercise program, his gymnasium: Suffering is necessary for all of us. You will be purified by dying to see your own desires and will. Let yourself die. You have excellent opportunities for this to happen. Don't waste them. . . . God never makes you suffer unnecessarily. He intends for your suffering to heal and purify you. The hand of God hurts you as little as it can. The yoke that God gives is easy to bear if you accept it without struggling to escape.

4. One test of relation with God is peace.
Fénelon recommended Guyon: "Encourage peace, become deaf to your overactive imagination. Your spinning imagination will harm your health and make your spiritual life very dry. You worry yourself sick for no good reason. Inner peace and the sweet presence of God are chased away by restlessness."

Or, consider, "Peace and comfort are to be found only in simple obedience. Remain at peace, for peace is what God wants for you no matter what is happening. There is in fact a peace of conscience which sinners should enjoy as they are repenting. Suffering should be peaceful and tempered with God's comfort."

And regarding the future: "Live in peace without worrying about the future. Unnecessary worrying and imagining the worst possible scenario will strangle your faith."

He warned "there never is peace in resisting God . . . . Allow yourself to be humble. If you are silent and peaceful when humiliating things happen to you, you will grow in grace." And "The point of trusting God is not to do great things that you can feel good about, but to trust God from a place of deep weakness. Here's a way to know if you are actually trusting God with something. You will not think about the matter any longer nor will you feel a lack of peace."

5. Silence brings blessings.
Fénelon: "Try to practice silence as much as general courtesy permits. Silence encourages God's presence, prevents harsh words, and causes you to be less likely to say something you will regret. Silence also helps you put space between you and the world. Out of the silence that you cultivate you will get strength to meet your needs."

6. Growth and change are the work of the cross.
Fénelon has helped me to think of the work of the cross--redemption--as the constant tension of growth and change as the old nature gives way to the new. It is a process that starts with the new birth and ends at the close of our earthly journey, by which time we are hopefully more mature in the likeness of Christ.

Fénelon said to Mme. Guyon, "Bear your cross. Do you know what this means? Learn to see yourself as you are and accept your weakness until it pleases God to heal you. If you die a little every day of your life, you won't have too much to worry about on your final day."

Then with assurance he says, "You and I are nothing without the cross. I agonize and cry when the cross is working within me, but when it is over I look back in admiration for what God has accomplished. Of course I am then ashamed I bore it so poorly."

7. The focused life is the simple life.
"Our hidden agendas can poison the simplicity of a situation. The desire to do a work for God is simple enough, but I greatly complicate it when I add the hidden agenda of wanting to be recognized and appreciated while doing it."

8. Give grace to yourself and others.
I can almost hear Fénelon say, "Lighten up." He wrote: "Do not be surprised to find yourself overly sensitive, impatient, proud, and self-willed. Realize that this is your natural disposition. Bear with yourself, but do not flatter yourself into thinking you are better than you are but wait on God's timing to transform it. Stop at once when your activities become too hurried."

Madame Guyon, a rich and beautiful widow and close friend of Fénelon, woke many souls to share her love for God. For this she was vilified, harassed, imprisoned, and her writings condemned. Fénelon stood by her at great personal cost.

For a brief biography of FENELON

JESUS CRIED TOO

2009-10-26T11:28:00.000-06:00

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This morning, as I experienced the Master adding another flower to His heavenly bouquet, these songs helped me have a good cry. Jesus, cried too ..... as He carried that flower to Our Father.

"Who plucked that flower?" cried the gardener, as he walked through the garden.

His fellow servant answered, "The Master." And the gardener held his peace.
TL Haines

NUGGETS OF PRECIOUS GOLD ..... "The Steps Leveled"

2009-10-25T03:49:00.000-06:00

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So it has been these last two nights, that God has awakened me in the middle of the night to thrill my heart with a selected reading and add it to a new blog. This today, which I quote below in its entirety, is Jan Antonsson's newest writing. We have the Antonsson's link in our sidebar as Joian and myself have grown to love Jan and appreciate greatly the telling of that which she is seeing in the Kingdom. Of all the authors and teachers I read today, I believe Jan comes the closest to seeing that which I see. She has also taken some real beatings later in life as have I. When you suffer you see. No other way about it.

I came into the "sonship" message almost thirty years ago and if I was to complain of some unnecessary baggage, many proponents of this message carry, it would be the pride one takes in knowing they are elect. I even include myself, as I have at times fallen into the trap of thinking myself, one step up on others who know not God. The great theologian, Karl Barth would say, "we all are on the same step before God." I would go as far as to say, "we, the elect of this age, are in actuality one step below unregenerate humanity, for one must first descend before they may ascend."

Now this, He went up, what is it but that he first went down into the lower parts of the earth? Eph 4"9

Such is the way of UNMERITED GRACE through Christ Jesus, where all men shall know and receive it's fullness, each in his own order. And be it known, the last will be first and the least the greatest until all the steps have been leveled and we rest perfectly in God, All in All. Oh my, what a Gospel ........ what a God!

Jack

WE SHALL ALL BE CHANGED (part 2)
Given for the Saints of the World, 10/25/09.

"First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation" (II Peter 1:20).

We always appreciate feedback and a number of you wrote about last week's essay, "We shall All Be Changed." What I write is firstly for me, and if anyone else gets anything out of them, as some apparently do, then God be praised. We're all on the path home to God from whence we came and to whom we all go, but we've each come through different "filters," which influenced us and shaped our thinking, be it our cultural heritage or denominational background. That matters not to God, who called us from the foundation of the world, out of our own Ur of the Chaldees to the Land He has Promised, the Land flowing with milk and honey. He has promised victory over the giants in the land which stand in our way home to Him.

A friend we met when we first got on the Internet commented about this recent writing, indicating that he differs somewhat from what I wrote and he wanted my opinion, saying that "iron sharpens iron." Others may be interested in what he said. We'll call him Bob (not his real name). Here's a portion of what he wrote:

"I don't believe these manifested sons of God will include everyone on earth, as your friend suggested. Maybe in the next age, but not at the "twinkling." I believe Scripture is clear that only those who are His at His coming are included in that manifestation. The "all" means all who are His.

"So unless you expect to see 5 or 6 billion people suddenly come to Christ, I can't see how all mankind will be changed at this time. Only those who have the Holy Spirit get the new body. "But if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him" (Rom. 8:9).

"Think about it. If all people are changed, how can there be a "remnant?" Or a "chosen people." Or an "elect?" For "it is the remnant that will be saved" (Rom 9:27). So it seems clear that only those who are His are changed. After that He/we will put down all opposing authority to God's rule on earth, including death, then will He/we turn the kingdom over to the Father. And then comes the judgment." End Quote.

This brother has seen God's reconciliation of all, but like many others, he puts conditions on how it will happen, and gives the manifested sons a little credit for the triumph of the Gospel on earth. It reminds me of the foot note in the NIV Study Bible which dilutes Paul's emphatic, inclusive, and unconditional salvation for all Israel:

"Now I don't want you, my brothers, to be totally ignorant of God's secret plan. And I should not wish you to have ideas of your own which may be false. No, the partial insensibility which has come to Israel is only to last until the full number of the gentiles has been called in. Once this has happened, all Israel will be saved, as the scripture says: There shall come out of Zion the deliver, He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom. 11:25-26).

The foot note: "The salvation of the Jews will, of course, be on the same basis as anyone's salvation: personal faith in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead."

The "good news" is so good that many cannot believe it. They have to trim it down, cut it short, make it conditional upon man's obedience, something that has characterized church doctrine throughout the ages. Yet, by the Spirit, more and more Christians are seeing the all sufficiency of the blood sacrifice that God made in Christ on the cross to reconcile THE WORLD to Himself (II Cor. 5:18-19), that we might "become the righteousness of God" (Vs. 21). If ANYTHING about that process depends upon man's action or response, the whole outcome is damned from the beginning, because man has NEVER been able to obey the Law.

When Abraham walked through the blood with God, the text indicates that he was sore afraid, as well he might have been (Gen. 15:12), because the one who broke that blood covenant agreed to have his own blood shed like the animals whose blood was spilled in the ditch. Abraham knew that he would not be able to keep the covenant, and he was correct. The sacrificial blood of the lambs, goats, and bulls slain through the centuries, from the Law of Moses to Christ, were a reminder to the people of Israel of that blood covenant God made with Abraham. When they saw the blood spill down the side of the altar, they thanked God that they could offer an animal instead of their own blood as a sacrifice for their sins (Link to The Blood Covenant is at end).

What a God we serve, what a loving Father we have, who on the cross said, in effect, "You have broken the covenant thoroughly, completely, and totally, but instead of demanding your blood as payment, I give you My blood. You demand blood; you require a sacrifice. Take my blood. I will be Your sacrifice."

Would such a God then, turn around and say, "And oh, by the way, you'll have to be good enough and faithful enough and obedient enough to deserve the reward." I think not, but the extant church still teaches that, and thus falls short of the mark of the high calling of Christ.

Brother Bob spoke of the "elect," the "remnant," and he was correct in assuming that God has always served the many through the few. Abraham was the first "elect" of God, chosen that in his seed would all nations be blessed (Gen. 22:16-18; Gal. 3:8). That it all depends upon God is everywhere in scripture when He opens our eyes to see it. In Gen. 22:16, God said, "I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore." Before you jump to the conclusion that God could only bless Abraham because he was willing to sacrifice Isaac, as many have down through the centuries, remember the Hebrew writer's assertion "For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself" (Heb. 6:13). Abraham could only have been willing to sacrifice Isaac by the faith God implanted in him. God depended upon Himself, not upon Abraham, to fulfill His promise.

Israel was the "remnant" through whom God displayed Himself to the surrounding nations, and Paul said that God is still using the elect in that way: "So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer BY WORKS, if it were, grace would no longer be grace" (Rom. 11:5-6). Hosea saw God's grace at work in the heathen, and Paul quoted him: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one. It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God'" (Hos. 1:10; 2:23; Rom. 10:25-26).

Paul also quoted Isaiah's bold statement: "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me" (Isa. 65:1; Rom. 10: 20). While this certainly answers the question of how could 5 or 6 billion people could come to Christ in a "twinkling," it also asks the question, why do so many Christians have such trouble with this concept?

Paul had seen it all. He wrote about Israel's rejection of the Gospel, "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith, but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the 'stumbling stone'" (Rom. 9:30-32). It certainly appears to me that most Christians are still stumbling over the 'stumbling stone' which is Christ in us, the hope of glory. That, of course, is by God's design as well. Isaiah saw it and Paul quoted him: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame" (Isa. 8:14; Rom. 9:33). God is the active force in these verses; man is only the passive recipient.

Paul concluded, "For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved'" (Rom. 10:12-13). Moreover, anyone who sees Him as He is shall be like Him (I John 3:2). That's enough for me to rest in God's ability to change us all into His likeness whenever He wants.

Brother Bob based his conclusions on the manifestation of the sons of God and the thousand year reign of Christ on earth. I no longer resonate to, nor have faith in, the thousand year reign of Christ on earth. I believe it is symbolic, as is most everything else in the book of Revelation. Some have created an elaborate end time scenario, pieced together like a patch work quilt from Old Testament prophecies found also in Revelation. As many have noted, John's Revelation is the unveiling of Christ. It was written to comfort Christians who were being tortured and killed by Roman Emperors, often for the entertainment of the blood thirsty masses. For John to have written something that wouldn't come true for 2,000 years or more, certainly wouldn't have been much comfort to a man about to be thrown to the lions. The man about to die needed to know Christ NOW as the One on the White Horse who rode forth conquering and to conquer (Rev. 6:2).

The martyrs drew strength, even as we do today, from knowing "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever" (Rev. 11:15). Any who are being tested and tried, tribulated and tempted to doubt, are raptured to the Throne of God by the words "NOW have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ" (Rev. 12:10). We don't have to wait for some future date to experience victory in Christ, for these things are true right NOW! The truth that "no scripture is for private interpretation" saves us from the hyperbole of the doomsday prophets.

Another brother wrote in response to last week's essay. "In recent years I have become less and less enchanted with the standard UR take on "manifested sons." It seemed to segregate the "haves" from "the have-nots" just as surely as the Fundamentalists do between the saved and unsaved. Harry's assertion that "the sons will include everyone" is a kind of bomb. He seems to be saying, with Karl Barth, that we are all on the same step before God." End Quote.

Since Jesus said that "no man knows the hour" when this world will pass away (Matt. 24:36), it is futile to speculate how it will happen or when. We trust in Him who will keep us from falling and present us without fault before the Throne, with great joy, knowing that even trust is not from us, but a gift of God.

Father, we fall on our faces in worship to You, who brought us out of the pigpens of this world into fellowship with You. Make us be light bearers and peace bringers to a dark and fearful world. In the Name above all names, amen.

Jan Antonsson

NUGGETS OF PRECIOUS GOLD ..... "Ye Sall Never Die?"

2009-10-24T03:12:00.000-06:00

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A year and a half ago, we published a blog that addressed the passing of a good brother. In that writing, I mentioned that this dear saint had been purposed of God to teach us a valuable lesson. I never exactly shared the lesson at that time, knowing the opportunity would present itself later. Today, that opportunity seems ripe.

As to some background, it so happens that I was used as an God's instrument to lead this Word of Faith preacher, into the truth of Universal Salvation. However, I was never able to share with him, "God's absolute sovereignty" with any success.

So it happens, that over the many months we traded thoughts on "free will vs. One will", this brother was working on a survive forever plan. He built a compound in the country, where no matter the conditions of the world, he could independently sustain himself and his family. Along with this, our brother also eschewed the use of doctors while in addition possessing an "I will never die" doctrine. He had the faith and he was putting it into action. So he thought.

You see, just about the time he had everything set in order, our brother became ill. Having been healed on a number of occasions without the assistance of a physician, he refused to seek clinical care. He even pinned the term,"Babylonian witch doctors" on the lot of physicians. Weeks dragged on and his illness worsened. Our friend, even refused the behest of his wife, to seek medical help, and more time passed. Finally, our brother acquiesced and upon medical examination it was determined a simple infection in one of his organs had spread to other organs and through out his body. Over time, the treatable infection had turned into his death knell. A few weeks after the doctor's exam, our brother was dead, but not before he mentioned to Joian and myself that his theology had been amiss.

And I would be remiss If I didn't share my belief, that our good brother in his passing taught many an important lesson. Such was his life ordained for, by the hand of the Sovereign God. I know in my heart, upon entering paradise and meeting the Father, this saint of God was received with a, "well done, my son!" With that, I am sure our brother laid his accolade at Jesus' feet.

With that introduction, I want to share a most remarkable writing by Elwin Roach that addresses this very "never die" philosophy, which our good brother had grasped onto. Joian sent this article to me today and I thank her for that. What a blessing to see the truth of the matter stated so clearly.

Blessings,
John

YE SHALL NEVER DIE?

O.K. folks, it's time to listen up. It is time to come to the knowledge of the truth. It's time to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches; namely, what is being said to this church called the lukewarm church of (1)Laodicea. Frankly, it is time to face reality, adjust, and be ignited by the fire of revelation.

I know the above heading alone is enough for some to read no farther in this short, clear, easy to understand article. Nevertheless, since this subject seems to have been a somewhat confusing matter to a number of those who embrace present-day teachings, we will cover ground that's been plowed before, and hopefully, break again some fallow soil. In addition, repetition is often beneficial; for I believe it to be true as one author has written: "There may be more to learn by climbing the same mountain a hundred times than by climbing a hundred different mountains."

This issue of never dying has become a driving force for quite a number of sincere saints who have laid down their lives for the groaning creation, and this concerns me. There is nothing wrong with the thought in itself. The problem is one of perspective. When the vision has been diverted, it can lead to a hopelessly frustrating journey, and their long, sought after goal is never reached.

A couple of scriptures have, no doubt, already come to mind, so let us gird up the loins of our spirit and see what is being said by them.

"And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:26).

First, to qualify and be numbered in those ranks, it is necessary to be experientially living and believing into Him, which cannot be done in the confines of the carnal mind. Second, to whom was Jesus referring when He said, "whosoever"? Do you suppose it was the person, the identity, the spiritual man, i.e., the sons of God who shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid? (Job 38:4-7). Could it have been those foreknown by God, and predestinated to be conformed to the express image of His first begotten Son? And could it possibly have been the ones He called, and justified, and whom He also glorified before there was ever a man to till the ground? (Rom 8:29-30, Gen 2:1-5).

Or are you thinking the whosoever might be the tangible, the dust laden body by which the elect of God are temporarily veiled? Could the whosoever remotely be the old carnal being which lumbers around in a proud body of dirt, that Adamic body with the pronouncement of death upon it by virtue of being joined to the walking dead man? Could it be that image which was formed from the earth, the dust which will return to the earth as it was? (Eccl 12:7).

If you do not believe it is that one, then you understand well that the "whosoever" speaks of the ones born from above, those from the heavens! They are the ones Jesus was talking about, and not those whose make up is the elements of the crusty, temporal earth that lies on the earth-plane.

But You say, "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:53. And I whole-heartedly agree. I believe the same. Yet I also note the meaning of the two words, put on. They come from the Greek word, enduo. Both Thayer's and Strong's Greek Dictionaries give the definition as: "to sink into, in the sense of sinking into a garment." Therefore, the mortality must SINK into the garment of immorality. It is not that mortality suddenly becomes immortal, no, not by any means. Mortality does not forever stand up tall and strong. It is swallowed up! It sinks into oblivion like a man being pulled down by quicksand. Mortality sinks into obscurity as it is swallowed by immortality.

The true man who shouted for joy long before the sun's first advent rises in victory. He is literally turned inside out. "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day" (2 Cor 4:16). Hear it again -- though our outward man perish (sinks), yet the inward man is renewed (stands taller) day by day.

Since we know from whence we came, since we know our origin, since we know our heavenly Father and substance -- can any one of you tell me why we deny the perishing of our outward man of crusty clay? Why do we hold on to these carnal vessels as if that is who we are and all we are? I believe I know why. It is because we do not like the pain of growing old, and especially the pain and embarrassment of death; but more than that -- we have heard the voice that is twists human desires together with the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. By listening to the subtle wind of the serpent, and by taking that fruit, we have taken it to ourselves unto death, and in dying -- we die.

With the lying wind of the serpent in mind, let me borrow a thought from one of our previous articles (#02.151). This will, hopefully, dispel the idea that the devil has been destroyed, is only an illusion in men's minds, and all we have to do is to realize it.

Hebrews 2:14 is the only verse I can recall which is used for believing that the devil has been destroyed. Although it was surely the case for Jesus, this verse does not say that the devil was destroyed at the time of the cross for the whole world. Let us remove our doctrinal eyeglasses for a moment and note a simple statement: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb 2:14). Did you notice the simple statement? "...That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. It does not say, that through death He destroyed him, but might destroy him. There is a difference, you know!

It would not seem possible to miss this point, but many do. While these dear ones are aging by the day, and literally dying, they say, "The devil who has the power of death has been destroyed. I will, therefore, never die. Sadly, they do not see that their words are often inspired by the very thing they say is dead; namely, the devil, the adverse spirit which sets every carnal mind against God in the interest of human reasoning, the spirit which presently works in the children of disobedience (Eph 2:2). Moreover, their claim indicates that they deny the obvious. Some, however, maintain that the obvious is merely an illusion, that death and aging are nothing more than the result of a mistaken identity, and if people would simply realize it -- they will stop the aging process and will never die. Forgive me, please, for being the bearer of sad news; but I must say -- your realizing is not real, and it is not working. That which you call illusions are becoming realities. You are growing older by the day. Your bodies are falling apart. Not even the supplements you are consuming will prevent it. They will slow it down, but being natural, the stroke of death is in them as well, and they have no power to induce immortality. The reality of your illusions continue to demand food, medications, doctors, shelters from the elements. In a nutshell -- you are dying, that is, your temporal houses, your bodies, are dying. If they are not, then you need none of the natural amenities of life. Therefore, if you are a guest in our home -- we will not set a plate for you. We will not expect you to use the shower or toilet. For you see, only a dying body needs food to sustain it, and only a dying body emits sweat and odor and has the need to use the toilet.

To help settle some dust in this arena of conflict, we will delve into a short Greek lesson. It is in reference to this Greek word, which was translated might destroy (Grk Katargese). This was shared in Part 1 of this series; but it seemed to be difficult for some to grasp what was being said. Therefore, I will be as clear as I possibly can.

According to the Analytical Greek New Testament, might destroy (katargese) is an aorist active verb in the subjunctive mood. In simple terms, The aorist subjunctive does not refer to the past. It speaks of the future. The aorist subjunctive is an action without any reference to progress or completion. (rf. Beginner's Grammar of the Greek New Testament, Harper & Row Publishers).

Simply put, the subjunctive aorist of might destroy is not a statement which declares a completed act. It speaks of an ongoing desire with no definite end in sight. Therefore, Hebrews 2:14 is not declaring that Jesus destroyed the devil in every person. However, since it was completed in Christ our Lord, we are in Him and He is in us, and He is not only the author, but also the finisher of our faith -- we can rest assured He WILL destroy in us that dark power of death. In doing so, mortality will helplessly sink forever into the grand garments of immortality.

Now that we see the mood of the subjunctive aorist, and how it relates to might destroy, the essence of the verse becomes evident. Namely, that the rendering idle of the devil is not an experientially completed fact for every man. Although it was completed with Jesus, it is not necessarily so with all others.

I pray that your spirit is not dashed or dampened by this understanding, for there is no need to be discouraged, but rather encouraged. We can be encouraged by knowing that there is a time when the serpent has no power or influence whatsoever. It is when we are caught up to the throne of God, war is waged in heaven, and the dragon is cast out (Rev 12:5-9). He will then have been rendered idle. When there is no carnal mind, Satan is found cast into the bottomless pit, having no foundation upon which to stand. He is destroyed, fired from his job, rendered totally useless. Until then, he will be seen manifesting his subtlety in religious minds everywhere.

Let me quote a couple of statements, One will be a lie, and one will be the truth: "You shall not surely die," (Satan, the serpent) and "You shall never die" (Jesus, the dove). Which one is a lie, and which one is the truth? That is easy to answer; but we may not know why one is a lie and the other the truth.

It is common knowledge, or least should be, that from Satan's very beginning his lie murdered the man and woman. At no time has he ever stood in the truth. There is no truth in him. When he speaks, it is a lie, because he is the father of lies (John 8:44). Therefore, it is easily said that his statement is the lie. And since we know Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and He cannot lie, we know He spoke the truth. But why is one a lie while the other is the truth? Both statements are primarily the same, so if one was true, why wouldn't the other be true?

The difference is in the source of the word and whether it is taken or received. When it is taken, as the woman took the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we know ourselves and we die. When we receive the blessed, broken bread from the hand of Jesus, we know Him and we live. For He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

If we take to ourselves the word, "You shall not surely die," we shall die. It matters not that we declare our aging and dying to be an illusion, we will die just the same. It matters not if we muster all the presumptuous faith possible and profess that we will never die; we will die. And it matters not if we name and claim immorality night and day upon these mortal bodies -- when we have been inspired by the subtle serpent, we heed the tempting voice, and we take from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil -- we will die!

It is simply amazing to me that mortals are attempting lay claim to immortality upon their temporal bodies. They preach it, teach it, sing it, and proclaim it, yet nothing changes. Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science, failed to eradicate what she called illusions (sickness, death, mortality), and that failed revelation is now purported as new revelation. It didn't work then, and it won't work today.

Nevertheless, let me say this. I will not dispute that for some, the devil, the one who has the power of death, has been (2)destroyed, or at least has lost his job and has been rendered entirely idle. If this is the case, then you will certainly never die. For you see, when the cause is removed, so is the effect. When the cause is removed, the mortal will sink into the immortal, and there will be a change. Don't expect to keep your seventy year old wrinkles forever. Let me say this as well, if you go to a funeral and see the claimant's dead body lying motionless in the velvet-lined casket, you can pretty well conclude the devil had not become unemployed and was still a very real power in the person's life. Personally, it does not bother me to hear others say that their devil has been destroyed, he has nothing to do with them, and they will never die; for it may be true. Moreover, many who say this do not have their focus on the devil. They are not expecting to see him around every corner just waiting to pounce on them.

Truly, there is a time, a day, a moment -- at the twinkling of the eye, at the change of vision -- when death is swallowed by life, and temporal mortality sinks into age-abiding immortality. There is a generation who will know this by experience, and with the vision of life we have today, I expect this to be the generation. If not, the foundation for the manifestation of the Sons of God is certainly being laid for another generation.

Incidently, the twinkling of the eye, i.e., a change of vision, does not come by a "positive confession." This vision comes when the focus of that which is seen is changed to the unseen, when that which is fitted for the temporary occasion is changed to the eternal reality. This change comes by the lightning bolt of pure revelation. It is not conjured by man. He is not the origin of it, the function of it, and he is certainly not the end of it.

FOR THE OCCASION

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor 4:17-18).

[temporal: proskairos, From G4314 (pros) and G2540 (kairos); for the occasion only, that is, temporary" (Strong’s). Thayer's gives this: kairos 1) due measure 2) a measure of time, a larger or smaller portion of time, hence: 2a) a fixed and definite time, the time when things are brought to crisis, the decisive epoch waited for 2b) opportune or seasonable time 2c) the right time 2d) a limited period of time 2e) to what time brings, the state of the times, the things and events of time ]

It may not seem to be a "light affliction"; but in relation to the eternal reward, it is light. The Amplified expresses it as being a slight distress: "For our light, momentary affliction (this slight distress of the passing hour) is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory — beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness never to cease!" (vrs. 17).

What a working! What a process! What an exchange! The slight distress of our bodies of humility, our momentary natural affliction of carnality, our assorted obstacles and occasional burdens — work toward and are exchanged for a glory that is beyond all measure, a glory of incalculable riches that transcend all things human! Brethren, I believe we can say that this is a fair exchange! It is well worth enduring the slight distress! When we see this, we can stop complaining about all those slight things we all suffer.

I have yet to write or teach on a subject that has been on my mind for a few years, and I may never; but if I do, it will be called: "Whiners, Criers, Moaners, and Groaners." Sort of a catchy title, don’t you agree? Even so, it may be enough to make us pause to consider just how we react to our moment of slight distress.

Do we fit into one or more of these categories? Are we among the Whiners, those who are never content and see only the woes in their lives? Perhaps we fit in with the Criers? At the slightest provocation or discomfort the wailing begins. Or could it be with the Moaners we find fellowship? They moan about this, and they moan about that; they deplore this, and they deplore that; they lament over this and lament over that. Or on the better side, maybe we are in company with the Groaners.

None of the first three I have listed should be confused with the groaners. These know about the Spirit that makes intercession for us with deep groaning and cannot be uttered. There is the groaning of oppression that turns God’s ear to his people. There is the groaning that accompanies godly sorrow that works repentance unto salvation, the groaning of the prisoner, and the groaning in the spirit that genders compassion to deliver the oppressed and raise the dead. The whole creation groans to be released into the same liberty of the children of God. And we ourselves groan with within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body; for we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Such groaning is a very real, working process which is instrumental in moving us from the temporal into the eternal. But the whining, crying, and moaning of the carnal emotions and flesh should be far from those called to reconcile the world.

Notwithstanding, let us draw again our attention to the meaning of temporal, which is: for the occasion only. Since that is the case, why then, would we want to drag our carnal bodies into the realm of eternity, that which is formed only for the occasion of slight distress? First, although many believe it can be done and are attempting to accomplish that insufferable feat, it can’t be done. Second, if it could be a remote possibility, those with understanding wouldn’t want to do so and shortchange themselves. Regardless of how our bodies of earth are pampered, preened and pomped, those temporal elements cannot compare to the eternal, and could never survive in such a holy environment.

Let me share an undergirding thought which was related by one of God’s heralds of truth, J. Preston Eby:

"The things which are seen are temporal. The things which are not seen are eternal. Temporal is an interesting word. The word is from the Greek which means for the occasion. The things which are seen are for the occasion. But the things which are not seen are enduring. And you know, we are all here today for the occasion. We’re here in God’s appointment. And we’re here in His purpose, His plan, fulfilling precisely what he ordained for this very day.

"For example, when you’re having a party and you go buy the paper plates and the streamers and the table cloth, all these paper things that you have for a birthday party, and you decorate everything, it’s so beautiful. And yet it is just for the occasion. Only a couple of hours and the occasion is over, and these are all gathered up and put in the trash. It’s gone. It is just for the occasion.

"If my origin had been in this world, then I would be very concerned about what happens to this part of me that is dust. But my origin was not in this world. My origin is out of that which is eternal. Praise God! And this body is for the occasion. It’s for the occasion.

"God predestinated that every one of us would be here for this occasion. And I don’t mean just for today. From the time that we were birthed in this world – and whether God chooses that we go by way of the grave or whether we come to that transformation by which we walk into an incorruptible body right where we stand on our two feet, there’s going to be a change.

"As Brother Ray said, ‘There’s going to be a change in life-style, whether it’s by the grave or whether it’s by transformation.’ Even of this body, there will be a change. And where we are today is for the occasion. And what I’m looking at this morning, as far as the physical, will pass away. It will pass away. But we look for that house which is from heaven, which is eternal. I’m convinced that God is raising up that house within us.

"I believe that as a partaker of Christ that I am not only a partaker of the Spirit of Christ, but that I am a partaker of the very substance, the very body of Christ, and that everything that Christ is, is being raised up within me and you to bring forth the totality of the expression of Himself to creation." — End quote.

With such a clear and beautiful picture so masterfully drawn, is there anyone who is still set on carrying their cumbersome baggage into the age of surpassing glory? If so, it will be good to take a moment and notice some additional points in reference to that which is for the occasion and that which is eternal, or rather age-abiding, as it is in the Greek.

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man (for the occasion) is perishing [to rot thoroughly, i.e., to ruin, decay utterly. (Strong’s)] , yet the (abiding) inward man is renewed day by day (2 Cor 4:16). Or it could be said this way: For this cause we faint not; for though our outward man, our temporal body, that which is for the occasion only, is perishing, decaying and wasting away, rotting, if you please, our inner man, that which is ever abiding, never dying, is renewed day by day.

You see, that mortal which was formed around us for the occasion should not be the focus of who we are, nor should it be an object we cannot lay down and let it sink into and be swallowed by immortality. Truthfully, I believe if we have a hard time in letting our bodies continue the processes of decaying, even in the grave, it is doubtful that we would feel any differently if we began to lose our identities by being transfigured. For you see, either way, we would be losing that carnal, outward expression of our temporal house which is for the occasion only. Can it be that we have fallen so in love with our physical frame that regardless of how it is changed, we won’t like it and will do anything, believe anything, claim anything with feeble hopes of preventing it? Sadly, I believe for some, the answer is yes.

Again, "And whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:26). The whosoevers do not consist of the tangible, dust laden body, that carnal thing which is for the occasion only.

The whosoevers are the spiritual man, they who shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid; those foreknown by God, called, justified, glorified and predestined to be conformed to the express image of His first begotten Son. The whosoevers are not the old carnal beings who strut about in this body of dirt claiming to be God who will never die.

Strangely, regardless of how far from the truth they are, they believe their own thoughts and claims can change reality. With this they believe they are the captains (gods) of their own destiny.

The corruptible, no matter how convincing it is, will never possess incorruptibility. It will put on, or sink into and be swallowed up by the garment of immortality; but it will not be immortal itself. That outward man will sink and perish, while the inward man will rise and be renewed day by day. By knowing our origin, by knowing who we are, let us no longer listen to the lying wind of the subtle serpent which presently works in the children of disobedience.

Let us not bemoan that our bodies of earth are growing older day by day; but let us rejoice that our tabernacles from above are being renewed day by day. Also, whether or not we understand the subjunctive aorist of might destroy the devil, we should know there is still the very real negative power of death in the earth, yet it has no power over the everlasting man from above. We want to always keep in mind — our natural frame is not who we are, and it is for the temporal occasion only.

It is true that we shall never die; but remember who are the true "WE." Let us not mistake our identity as being our heart attack and disease prone bodies. We date back much further than earthen huts. We come from a far superior place than earth. Therefore, let us cease from naming and claiming immortality upon these temporal bodies, and with patience, let us wait for the moment, for the twinkling of the eye, for the change of vision when death is swallow by life, and temporal mortality sinks into age-abiding immortality and everlasting weight of glory; into that which is beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory which will never cease.

It matters not what we profess and claim about our mortal bodies. That is not what makes it so. God has not put His immutable plan of the ages under the dictates of every man who is a liar. If he did such a thing, it would cause me to despairingly sing the old song — "Stop the world and let me off. I’m tired of going round and round...." However, since I know it is not left in the temporal hands of man to usher in God’s indissoluble Kingdom, I sing with great rejoicing — "I will abide in Thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of Thy wings. Selah" (Psa 61:4).

Elwin Roach

WHO IS THAT FOURTH MAN ?

2009-10-22T13:31:00.000-06:00

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Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Dan 3

In scanning the news this morning, my eyes fell across an article speaking to the accounts, of the day twenty years ago, when the Berlin wall fell. I remember being glued to the TV at that time, as I cheered the East Germans and West Germans tearing down the wall together, that they might finally be reunited. It was as glorious a demonstration, as any in this world's political arena. On that memorable day, freedom rang loud and separated family members hugged each other with long held tears of joy flowing from their eyes and hearts. For two decades, the world has given Gorbachev and Reagan all the credit for this earth shaking reunion. Now it seems, other's want their share of the accolades. Isn't that the way of carnal men.

Below is the article that thrilled me, not for the whole of it's content, but for the last line, where the "fourth man" is mentioned. I couldn't help but think that the fourth man in this writing; the one who stood on the sidelines, could very well have been our Jesus.

Oh, let men clamour and strive for recognition, when we realize only One is worthy. He came as a lowly servant, a man from the disparaged Nazareth to free us from our vanity and lift us all to a different glory. It is only when we finally conclude we have no claim, that the real glory comes to us in the form of the Forth Man, the Son of God and our beloved Jesus.

Did Brinkmannship Fell Berlin's Wall? Brinkmann Says It Did

By Marcus Walker -- Almut Schoenfeld contributed to this article.

BERLIN -- The world believes Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev or peaceful protests brought down the Berlin Wall 20 years ago next month. But for those who had front-row seats, the argument boils down to Ehrman vs. Brinkmann.

Riccardo Ehrman, a veteran Italian foreign correspondent, and Peter Brinkmann, a combative German tabloid reporter, both claim they asked the crucial questions at a news conference on Nov. 9, 1989, that led East German Politburo member Günter Schabowski to make one of the biggest fumbles in modern history.

Mr. Schabowski was supposed to announce a temporary bureaucratic procedure that would make it easier for East Germans to travel abroad, a tactic aimed at shoring up the Communist regime in the face of mass demonstrations.

Instead, he inadvertently opened the Berlin Wall.

When his fellow Communist leaders decided on new travel regulations, Mr. Schabowski was out of the room. Later that evening he skim-read the executive order, stuffed it in his briefcase, and headed off to meet the world's media.

Pressed on the meaning of the new travel policy -- When did it come into force? Did it apply to West Berlin? Did people need a passport? -- the flustered apparatchik rustled his papers and gave confusing answers that led the news media to believe the border was open, with immediate effect.

The result, once East Berliners had seen that night's news on West German television, was chaos at border crossings across the city.

At Bornholmer Strasse, one of the main checkpoints in central Berlin, confused border guards couldn't get clear orders on how to deal with the crush, and debated whether to open fire. Instead, they opened the barrier, and the Berlin Wall was history. The events have been chronicled by Hans-Hermann Hertle, a historian who specializes in the fall of East Germany.

As the anniversary of that tumultuous night nears, a dispute is heating up over who flummoxed Mr. Schabowski.

Among those who are aware of the incident, Mr. Ehrman generally gets credit. In 2008, Germany's president awarded Mr. Ehrman the country's highest honor, the Federal Cross of Merit. "His persistence at the press conference finally elicited the crucial statement" that brought down the Wall, the citation said: "His name stands for...German unity."

"The surprising fact is that I apparently was the only journalist in the room who understood the meaning of Schabowski's words," Mr. Ehrman says.

He remembers quickly leaving the press conference and sending his employer in Rome, news agency ANSA, the headline: "The Berlin Wall has collapsed." His editor there said he had gone pazzo, crazy, and at first refused to run the story.

That heady night, cheering East Germans queuing to pass through the Wall recognized the Italian from TV and hoisted him onto their shoulders.

But Mr. Ehrman is puffing up his role, says Mr. Brinkmann, who worked for Bild-Zeitung, Germany's mass-selling tabloid, famous for its shrill headlines, short articles and topless front-page models.

Mr. Ehrman merely posed a question about a previous travel proposal, Mr. Brinkmann says. The crucial questions about timing and West Berlin were his alone, he says.

And while Mr. Ehrman was being feted that night, Mr. Brinkmann, by his own account, wasn't yet done bringing down communism. He says he secured the opening of Checkpoint Charlie, the Wall's most famous crossing, by arguing with its guards.

When his rival got a medal, a decision Mr. Brinkmann calls "nonsense," Mr. Brinkmann wrote the German president to set the record straight.

"The annoying thing is you can't see me on the TV footage -- you can only see Ehrman and Schabowski -- but you can hear me," says Mr. Brinkmann. He adds, for anyone who thinks it is the Italian posing questions, that it is "funny how Ehrman suddenly develops perfect German" during the exchanges.

Mr. Brinkmann thought he had picked the best seat in the house: front row and center. The German tabloid reporter occupied the chair with his jacket three hours before the news conference in East Berlin began.

Mr. Ehrman arrived so late that all seats were taken, so he sat on the edge of the podium, in full view of the cameras.

Mr. Brinkmann, now 64, is trying to fight his way into the history books with a public-relations offensive. He has persuaded some historians and TV documentary makers of his story, and he is spreading the word on Twitter.

"Am angry that Riccardo Ehrman falsely gets the credit for calling out 'When? Immediately?' when the Wall fell in 1989," Mr. Brinkmann tweeted recently.

Mr. Ehrman counters that he has never even heard of Mr. Brinkmann. "Anybody is free to claim whatever they like, but the record is clear," Mr. Ehrman says. "It was a sort of conversation between Schabowski and myself. This, Schabowski admits."

Mr. Schabowski, now 80, has been in and out of hospital this year and is too sick to give an interview. Mr. Brinkmann is trying to get the ailing former East German Politburo member to sign a statement backing his version. "Then I can show everyone," Mr. Brinkmann says.

Mr. Ehrman says he is offended that some German media and historians have recently cast doubt on his role in 1989. "Some said it was just a fluke, while others said I was a tool of the [East German] regime," he says.

Archive footage from East German TV packs some surprises that nobody quite remembers. For an hour, the press conference is a nonevent. In a cramped room clad in the Soviet bloc's regulation brown paneling, Mr. Schabowski rambles on about the party leadership's deliberations that day.

With time running out, Mr. Ehrman asks about travel restrictions. Mr. Schabowski drops the bombshell that the regime has decided to allow East Germans to travel west or emigrate.

Three reporters launch a rapid-fire cross-examination: Mr. Ehrman, Mr. Brinkmann -- and Krzysztof Janowski, a political refugee from Communist Poland who worked for Voice of America (and who now says he doesn't remember details of the day). Together, the trio cause Mr. Schabowski to scratch his head and read his brief aloud, learning its content himself as he goes.

Finally, a fourth voice draws Mr. Schabowski's eyes to the opposite side of the room. The voice repeats the key question: "When does that go into effect?" The Politburo member scans his papers and quotes words out of context: "Immediately. Without delay," he blunders.

The fourth man has never been identified.

Who Is the Fourth Man?

Let me tell you who He is in every book of the Bible.

In Genesis He is the Seed of the Woman.

In Exodus He is the Passover Lamb.

In Leviticus He is our High Priest.

In Numbers He is the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night.

In Deuteronomy He is the Prophet like unto Moses.

In Joshua He is the Captain of our Salvation.

In Judges He is our Judge and Lawgiver.

In Ruth He is our Kinsman Redeemer.

In I and II Samuel He is our Trusted Prophet.

In Kings and Chronicles He is our Reigning King.

In Ezra He is our Faithful Scribe.

In Nehemiah He is the Rebuilder of the Broken Down Walls of our human life.

In Esther He is our Mordecai.

In Job He is our Dayspring from on high and our Ever-Living Redemmer.

In Psalms He is the Lord our Shepard.

In Proverbs and Ecclesiastes He is our Wisdom.

In the Song of Solomon He is our Lover and the Bridegroom.

In Isaiah He is the Prince of Peace.

In Jeremiah He is the Righteous Branch.

In Lamentations He is the Weeping Prophet.

In Ezekiel He is the Wonderful Four-Faced Man.

In Daniel He is the Fourth Man in the burning fiery furnace.

Who is the Fourth Man?

In Hosea He is the Faithful Husband, forever married to the backslider.

In Joel He is the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost and Fire.

In Amos He is our Burden-Bearer.

In Obadiah He is the Mighty to Save.

In Jonah He is our Great Foreign Missionary.

In Micah He is the Messenger of Beautiful Feet, of carrying the Gospel.

In Nahum He is the Avenger of God's Elect.

In Habakkuk He is God's Evangelist, crying, "Revive thy work in the midst of the years."

In Zephaniah He is the Savior.

In Haggai He is the Restorer of God's Lost Heritage.

In Zechariah He is the Fountain Opened in the House of David for sin and uncleanness.

And in Malachi He is the Sun of Righteousness, rising with healing in His wings.

Who is the Fourth Man?

In Matthew He is the Messiah.

In Mark He is the Wonder-worker.

In Luke He is the Son of Man.

In John He is the son of God.

In Acts He is the Holy spirit.

In Romans He is our Justifier.

In Corinthians He is the Gifs of the Spirit.

In Galatians He is the Redeemer from the curse of the law.

In Ephesians He is the Christ on Unreachable Riches.

In Philippians He is the God Who Supplies All Our Needs.

In Colossians He is the Godhead Bodily.

In ! and II Thessalonians He is our Soon-coming King.

In I and II Timothy He is our Mediator between God and Man.

In Titus He is our Faithful Pastor.

In Philemon He is a Friend that Sticketh Closer that a Brother.

In Hebrews He is the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant.

In James He is the Great Physician.

In I an II Peter He is the Chief Shepard who soon shall appear with a crown of unfading glory.

In I, II, and III John He is Everlasting Love.

In Jude He is the Lord Coming with Ten Thousands of his Saints.

And in revelation He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

(The words above are taken from a sermon preached by Oral Roberts.

It thrilled my heart when I heard those words almost four decades ago)

CLIMB INTO THE ARK (cute)

2009-10-21T19:22:00.000-06:00

And if you can't find the ark, a raft will do in a pinch.

But, then it's back into the angry sea.

Every day is the "Day of Lord."

Climb into the ark which be Christ and be lifted above

the turbulent sea which is unregenerate humanity.

Salvation Without a Saviour............New Age, Exposed and Debunked!

2009-10-17T15:43:00.000-06:00

I met Jack Hennessey face to face in 2006. It was the Fourth of July weekend and he was in Coronado, California for his mother’s memorial services. For the past year we had read and responded to each others posts on a Universal Reconciliation Forum called Tentmaker. I had been drawn to several brothers and sisters on Tentmaker. Many used pseudonyms, such as Kept, RedLetter, Reb, StainedGlass and Sparrow. Then there was JACK whose favorite quote seemed to be. "What you see is what you get!" And truly we did "get" what Jack said.........lol

My greatest scriptural interests at the time were the teachings on the lake of fire, hell, Hades, eternal torment and outer darkness. At Tentmaker these topics were dissected and discussed with thoughts I never heard in my Charismatic, Word of Faith, Kingdom Now, world!

The Lord himself finally showed me the truth that “ALL” would be saved, using the parable of the lost sheep. How dear was the day he asked me, if he left the 99 sheep and went to find the one lost sheep how many would he have when he got back? My answer… was 100. He said, well change that to 100%...it was shouting time!!!!.......I was finally able to see other scripture that bore that same truth. My whole world rocked and changed ….as did my love and view of my Heavenly Father.

By 2008, I began to see a shift at Tentmaker as the first new age teachings began to emerge on the forum. The Administrator resigned after months of refuting the blood of Jesus and the work of the cross. Then many others left embracing the teachings of NEW AGE. I felt like I was in a Tidal Wave. Over and over Jack pointed to the error. I struggled to see what was being said. I cried, prayed and wondered if I too would be deceived. I could not seem to understand what newagers believed, contrasted with what I believed, as they used some of the same words and concepts I used.

I finally found Terry Crisp’s website where I would immerse myself in articles dealing with the error of the New Age. Terry is gifted as no other in detailing the error.

I still longed for something I could put in my children's hands that was simple and to the point. I found that summary this past week in an Elwin Roach article titled, "And Their Eyes Were Opened and They Knew" Part 3.
I have copied that part below.......

Be Blessed. Joian
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Elwin Roach~

"The New Age terminology can be mistakenly taken for Kingdom Truth. They speak much of the kingdom of God within man, of Christ within man, of love, mercy, goodness, and spiritual perfection and oneness with God. The ancient serpent is wise, shrewd, crafty and subtle, and he knows that the most effectual way to instill error into the minds of the unwary is to use old and precious words and put a new meaning into them. So when his messengers, masquerading as ‘ministers of righteousness,’ seek to lead, if possible, the very elect astray, they use the old precious words, but put an entirely different and false meaning. When they talk about God and our heavenly Father they don't mean the God of the Bible, the personal God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They mean the impersonal energy that is resident in all things animate and inanimate. They talk of atonement, but they do not mean at all the redemptive death of Jesus Christ on our behalf by which we are reconciled to God by His blood. They mean the at-one-ment in which we recognize our oneness with all things, a cosmic unity, not with the Creator, but within ourselves and with the creation. Jesus has nothing to do with it at all, except as a great Teacher, a Way-shower, revealing to us the divine potential inherent in every man. They believe there are many ways to God - Jesus is merely a way given to Christians - one of many ways to God.

"What do the New Age people look to for salvation? A complete or perfect union with this ‘inexorable principle’ or ‘divine energy’ permeating all things, which is their god! It is the same thing as Nirvana of the Buddhist, Brahma of the Hindu - an imaginary god-consciousness, into which all will finally be absorbed. And this is attained by discovering and developing your ‘inner self’ — which ‘inner self’ is the corrupted soul rather than the regenerated spirit! And when they talk about Christ, they do not mean at all our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the actual historic Jesus who lived and died for us, who rose from the dead, ascended up to the right hand of God, and came back again in mighty spirit-power. Oh, no! They mean an ‘ideal Christ, or a ‘Christ principle’ that is in every man! They mean the ‘inner self’ of the soul! They see God as the life principle of every man and Christ is the name that is given to man once he has awakened to his godhood. Now, it is true that the seed of God is in every man! But no man is ‘Christ,’ that is, an anointed one, until the seed of God in him is quickened, germinated, and empowered by the infusion of God's Holy Spirit! Jesus, in the New Age view, was no more the Son of God than the drunk in the gutter. He was simply a good man, a highly developed man, a ‘Master-Spirit’ who developed the Christ principle within him and showed men how to awaken to their true inner self. According to their teaching Jesus was a man who went through many incarnations. These incarnations of Jesus took the form of Confucius, Buddha, Moses, David, and many others. These lives were his days at school, and he arrived at a state of consciousness, while manifesting as Jesus of Nazareth, where he remembered his past lives. They see no need for Jesus as the Lamb slain, for redemption, justification, regeneration, new birth, sanctification, baptism in the Holy Spirit, or any other New Testament experience. Men don't need to be saved, reconciled to God, or cleansed by the washing of regeneration - just awakened to the god within! What the New Age movement has done in America and other western nations is to combine Christian terminology with the tenets of various eastern religions, wrap them all up in a new package, and put a label on the package which guarantees everyone salvation without a Saviour! And what some in this Kingdom walk have done is create their own hybrid strain of sonship, speaking Kingdom truth deadly laced with pagan New Age concepts!

"The New Age movement is a modern form of eastern pagan religion — mingled with the darkness of the occult. While they do espouse some principles that contain truth, these are at best but half-truths, which are more deadly than the outright lie! All true reality of the living Jesus Christ is missing - they know not the Lord Jesus as Saviour, nor the cleansing power of His blood, nor the quickening, regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, nor the authority of His name, nor the baptism in His Spirit, nor the fellowship of His body, nor the truth of the Holy Scriptures — in short they are at best bastard sons, subtle counterfeits, and there is no light in them for the light they do have is darkness, merely their own supposed inherent godhood, unquickened and unregenerated, which is the godhood of the self, old Adam - not the true and living God! This ‘inner self’ of all men is the ‘Cosmic Christ’ of the New Age!

"No truer words have been penned than those by Bob Torango wherein he writes, ‘I don't care how much it grieves some to think about having a Lord over themselves, no matter how much it makes their flesh to rebel, there is only one Lord over all heaven and earth, and that is Jesus Christ. It is not your perceived higher self, your I Amness, your shifted consciousness, your universal oneness, your metaphysical self, neither is it your egotistical, sinless, Adamless, fleshless self. Let me go down on record and say that there is only One worthy of honor and glory and adoration, only One to be worshipped and exalted, and it is not YOU. It is Him. If you cannot see Him beyond YOU, then you have a problem, and we need to talk. We don't have to exalt ourselves to feel better about our status in the kingdom. If we would only exalt Him, then He would lift us above our woeful self and bring us into His glory and crown us with everlasting joy. Isn't that enough? Do you really need to lower Jesus in rank and file in order to set yourselves up as kings? Must you continue to try to find another door, another way into God? He is the door, and it is wide open for all. Walk through Him, sit down with Him and drink the new wine and eat the bread of the kingdom. It is enough.’

"The book of Revelation is not the revelation of this Cosmic Christ, nor of a Christ principle, nor of the old inner self of unregenerated men - it is the revelation of the crucified, risen, ascended, glorified, spiritualized, universalized JESUS CHRIST who is Saviour of all men and Lord of all! It is the revelation of Jesus Christ as Head and body in the earth by the power of the spirit of His sonship! Remember, dear ones, that there is no truth beyond Jesus Christ! He has been given the name which is above every name in the heavens and in the earth! To Him has been given all power and all authority in heaven and in earth! Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved! He is the Head of all principality and power! He is the prince of the kings of the earth! He is the firstborn among many brethren! He is King of kings and Lord of lords! He is the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father! In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily! We are the body in which His fullness is revealed! Those who seek an ultimate truth beyond Jesus Christ, an ultimate reality beyond Him, will discover to their dreadful dismay that they have taken a fearful detour into the realms of outer darkness!" — End quote.

GOD ABANDONED HIMSELF

2009-10-12T21:45:00.000-06:00

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There are but two truths; the All and the Nought. Everything else is a falsity.
Madame Guyon

I sense the mind of Christ when I find myself being disturbed by the term “balance” when used to speak of the things in the Kingdom. It is like saying neutral grey is good, when Truth is always painted in black and white. And I can’t settle for partiality either, when the "Alpha and Omega" are the measure of Christ. Furthermore, the "nought and the all", even fall short in describing the infinite wholeness of God. For He is truly the Immeasurable One.

I’ll tell ya, the carnal soul of man loves ambiguity and confusion thus the "black and white" and the "nought and all", can never be accepted as characteristic of God and His Kingdom.

However, for you, man and woman of God, allow me to share, that a number of years ago my Lord began to have me measure Truth with a few rules in mind. First, everything in the Kingdom, is encapsulated in the "nought and the all", which be the boundaries of God in creation. Secondly, everything in creation is also moving toward the "One", which be the Glory of Christ. Lastly, His Spirit always has me choose the simplest of concepts, because Truth is not complex nor confusing when viewed through a Jesus focused, single eye. With regard to the person of God, I will choose one over three any day.

It seems, I always find myself sharing on one forum or another and I have noticed that those that build their theology, primarily with carnal reason and intellect, always slip up somewhere, in their message. It may be just a sentence, or even a phrase, hidden in the midst of unending paragraphs of confusion and falsity, but it will always be there. The hidden truth will somehow find it’s way into the mixture. This often makes for a great invitation to show the prideful intellectual, the hypocrisy within their view. I don’t know why God does the following with me. Normaly, I quickly peruse written material that lacks anointing. And I will see the hypocrisy and then spy the hidden mention of Truth in the unsavory mix. God has given me this gift and I am so grateful for it, as it saves much time and even frustration. Thank you, Lord!

This below is a forum response to an intellectually bent trinitarian that slipped up, when writing of the atonement and the cross. In the mix of his silver dollar words and lofty ideas, this vain philosopher inserted the phrase, “the whole fullness of the Deity is the one doing.” Is that not a great invitation when spouted by an orthodox trinitarian churchman. I certainly thought so. You must understand a trinitarian distinctly divides Deity into three instead of seeing God as one. We, who have learned to be still in prayer, should know the Father is Jesus outside the eons, while Father is Jesus in the world. Once someone has this revealed to them, things become much simpler and all Truth starts moving toward the One. Conversely, those with a trinity view, are ever in the division mode and this precipitates even a greater division between God and man. Allow me to share once again the progression, in this neat little poem. We move from divided to One. Think of atonement as, "at one ment."

How strange it should be,
That we who seemed four,
Are now become Three.
And We Who are Three
Are yet become One,
Father, Spirit and Sons in the Son.

My reply is below and hopefully you can see that which I am conveying. Lord willing, I will do better in a future blog, as the Lord reveals more and when I have time to embellish and clarify the thought, “GOD GAVE HIS VERY ABSOLUTE ALL AT CALVARY.” To lend some aid in your understanding, take note that we are discussing the topic of “abandonment” conveyed in these most sacred of scriptures, quoted just below. May Our Dear Father give you the heart and mind to comprehend a measure of the cost of ALL, that He gave through His Precious Son, Christ Jesus. Oh, to think of how dark it must have been that ninth hour, when God spoke of abandoning His own self, before He died a very human death. I weep now, as I recollect, He carried all my despair and all of yours, for they were surely His very own. Oh my, I am completely undone in the telling of it! There is a God that so knows and understands our infirmities, because they are His. Who has such a God? Who knows such a God. I am so smitten, because you and I, dear reader, can answer, “WE DO!”

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Mat 27:45,46

FROM THE FORUM:

In a long post, my trinitarian friend slipped out of his theology by using the phrase, "the whole fullness of the deity is the one doing". He was speaking of the "the crucifixtion" and in trying to make his point that the Father never abandoned His Son. He had to resort to using such a phrase which is at complete odds with the orthodox trinity view. His phrase makes Christ and Father one. I will emphasize that point and even share, because Jesus and the Father are one, God abandoned all of Himself for our sake. He completly, without measure, gave of Himself, to us that He would, at the fullness of the ages, be All in All that we are made up of. This is the full-fill-ment our souls groan for.

Responce:

Yes, "the whole fullness of the deity is the one doing" Amen!

Thus, the the fullness of the Father, in Christ, suffered the cross. I tell ya, this "Christ and Cross" is veiled in much mystery! The intellect can never discern it, as only the "heart" can know it ....... that is, the indwelling heart of the Father and the inward mind of Christ. The fullness of God even rests within us. We just haven't realized it yet.

For so it was ordained between God and man from all eternity, that Man should be God, and God, Man, neither without the other; that is, as God Himself is, and will be, the Paradise, garden, tabernacle, mansion, house, temple, and Jerusalem of man, so also was Man created for the same end, that he should be the Paradise, garden, tabernacle, mansion, house, temple, and Jerusalem of God; that by this mutual union and friendship of God with Man, and of Man with God, all the wisdom, power, virtue and glory eternally hidden in God should be opened and multiplied. For, God once made all things for Man, but Man for Himself.

Valentine Weigelius.
SAPIENS DOMINABITUR ASTRIS
1649

I love that by Weigelius and I have shared it often, illustrating the glory, God has invested in man. My friend, allow me to share with you also, another favorite quote that often strikes the ire of those who believe that intellect and reason can open the mysteries of the Kingdom.

"Reason should not undertake to comprehend the last destructions; they are ordained expressly to destroy our reason." Fenelon

Let it be known, Jesus only spoke that, which He heard of the Father. Only by Jesus speaking to, through, and by the Father and vice versa, could we ever see the great truths of the Kingdom, where all is being made ONE.

"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works." Jn 14:10

Surely the Father's words through Christ, speaking of "abandonment" was the language of the last destructions. How can reason measure such Love, that God would abandon Himself for our sake, Selah! On that rugged blood stained cross, did we not witness the very end of God Himself and His love toward man. He gave to us, all of Himself. Oh, how this magnificent God of ours stooped in servitude, even to becoming nothing to Himself, that we might be entreated with His very All. Yes, the Father in Christ Jesus gave His all for the very purpose Weigelius stated, "that Man should be God, and God, Man, neither without the other." This unreasonable God of ours, is truly made up of the Nought as well as the All ! Who can comprehend such, save the mind of Christ and the heart of God, which are one and the same.

Lord, grant us each, such abandonment that we might experience the NOUGHT of You, to know the ALL of You that we might be ONE.

John

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THE CAGED BIRD SINGS

2009-10-11T01:05:00.000-06:00

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A little bird I am,
Shut from the fields of air,
And in my cage I sit and sing
To Him who placed me there;
Well pleased a prisoner to be,
Because, my God, it pleaseth Thee.

My cage confines me round,
Abroad I cannot fly,
But though my wing is closely bound,
My soul is at liberty;
For prison walls cannot control
The flight, the freedom of the soul.

Lettie Cowman

As most of you know, I have been quite sick. It has actually been two and half months since I was diagnosed with my disease and was first tethered to an oxygen machine 24/7. Nowadays, I sneak out of the house once a week to run a couple errands. However just an hour away from my concentrator can make me quite ill, and it actually has at times. So it is with my life, today. But that aside, I am here to report all is well with my soul.

I think, how amazing to live in one of the most beautiful spots in all the world and not be able see it. Yet, I am far from sorrowful and since my infirmity I have not suffered depression. Sadly, malaise and melancholy is the damnable fare for most, upon being introduced to such a drastic new course of life. But, you know, I am quite different from the average "failing heart guy", in that I have a realization that God has perfectly planned and purposed even the minutest details of my life. More so, I trust the immaculate care and overwhelming love of which He used, to do this. Yes, God so loves me and He loves you as much.

If you, dear reader, were to go back to my first post on SONSHINE, I shares a vision God gave to me concerning my life, some years ago. That being, "I would learn to live in a secluded Enochian type of an existence." Sounded romantic then, and it really turned out so. To be shut away, just me and my Lord. However, surprise, surprise! I never would have dreamt such seclusion with Jesus and contemplation of my lovely Lord, would come about in the way it has. That is just like Him, isn't it. He certainly is a Jealous Sort. lol

That said, I feel led to share part of an E-mail I sent this last week to the dearest of old friends. Truly, today my soul is well and I pray, that if you are in the midst of some tribulation you will be encouraged by these words. Be it also known dear brother, sweet sister, He has perfectly planned and purposed your life with the greatest of all care and unimaginable love. You can find rest in that. You can bank on it.

My life is almost as being translated. I believe Enoch must have felt this way before he was, as the Bible says, "no more." Some of the old contemplative and prayerful mystics called this state "the Enochian way", although they never described it quite the same, as I do. By the way, when God dragged me back to himself, He placed before me the story of Enoch found in Jasher. He spoke to me that I would live much like Enoch. Today, because of my infirmity I indeed find myself very much shut away with God, as was the old venerable patriarch.. Please excuse me, but I can't help but share these verses that have been of great inspiration to me for a number of years.

JASHER

2 And the soul of Enoch was wrapped up in the instruction of the Lord, in knowledge and in understanding; and he wisely retired from the sons of men, and secreted himself from them for many days.

18 And Enoch did so, but did not entirely secret himself from them, but kept away from the sons of men three days and then went to them for one day.

19 And during the three days that he was in his chamber, he prayed to, and praised the Lord his God, and the day on which he went and appeared to his subjects he taught them the ways of the Lord, and all they asked him about the Lord he told them.

20 And he did in this manner for many years, and he afterward concealed himself for six days, and appeared to his people one day in seven; and after that once in a month, and then once in a year, until all the kings, princes and sons of men sought for him, and desired again to see the face of Enoch, and to hear his word; but they could not, as all the sons of men were greatly afraid of Enoch, and they feared to approach him on account of the Godlike awe that was seated upon his countenance.

Not many get an opportunity like I have with my seclusion. And although my current state may seem as difficult to many, I am blessed in it for so many reasons. God is so good.

______, I guess, I have said all this, to but encourage you to just rest and know He will, in an almost unperceived way, fill your heart with joyous things to do. Of course I speak of a different joy, than that which the world knows. It is as an inward seated peaceful joy that often becomes as deep still waters to swim in. I know you have experienced this before.

Surely, there is less doing but more being, for those that advance in the Kingdom. Such is my prayer for you and of course _ _ _ also. I would be remiss if I didn't request the same from you, towards me.

Father God, grant us, that we might ever know more of Your joyous and peaceful rest, through Your Precious Son, Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jack

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ARE YOU A LOSER ?

2009-10-08T23:59:00.000-06:00

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The man bent on self aggrandizement could never comprehend the anointed words of this old poem. Those that jeered Jesus, on His way to Calvary, thought Him a loser. And should you walk deep in God, the world will mark you the same. This is the holy pattern where the last is made first and the the least the greatest. Such is the Kingdom, where the Creator stoops and the Servant wears the crown.

"God's glory is a wondrous thing,
...Most strange in all its ways,
And of all things on earth least like
...What men agree to praise.
For He can endless glory weave,
...From what men reckon shame;
In His own world He is content
...To play a losing game."

Dear brother sweet sister, should you be marked a loser in this world, take hope for you are in the very best of company. Count it also joy, for only a rare few out of each age are chosen for such. This is the little hidden flock to whom the Father promises the Kingdom.

John

Note:poem by GD Watson

ABSOLUTELY CONQUERED

2009-10-07T01:15:00.000-06:00

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When one first steps into this deeper walk, one takes lightly the reports, that suffering is the way to the throne. It just does not register when one still holds to the comforts of this world and suffering seems far past or even further ahead. However, cast one into a session of suffering followed by another and topped with even more. Then one learns "the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! of losing our own strength, and wisdom, and plans, and desires, and being where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the omnipotent feet of our Jesus."

That which is in quotes above is from the message below. I haven't a clue where I found this excerpt, but it is beautiful in it's truth. I share it with those who suffer today, that you might be comforted. I share with those who will suffer tomorrow, that you might remember, the way to your crown is by way of the cross.

Our precious Jesus is our pattern not our substitute. And how very few in this age are called to know this.

In His Sweet Lord Jesus,
Jack

"SOUL FOOD"
A Book By G. D. Watson - A 19th Century Deeper-Life Author
CHAPTER 7: "THE BENEFIT OF DEEP CRUCIFIXION"

"The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me" (Ps. 138:8).

There is a Divine mystery in suffering, a strange and supernatural power in it, which has never been fathomed by the human reason. There never has been known great saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering. When the suffering soul reaches a calm sweet carelessness, when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering, and does not even ask God to deliver it from suffering, then it has wrought its blessed ministry; then patience has its perfect work; then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown.

It is in this state of the perfection of suffering that the Holy Spirit works many marvelous things in our souls. In such a condition, our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand of God; every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last subdued; a quietness of eternity settles down into the whole being; the tongue grows still, and has but few words to say; it stops asking God questions; it stops crying, "Why hast thou forsaken me ?"

The imagination stops building air castles, or running off on foolish lines; the reason is tame and gentle; the choices are annihilated; it has no choice in anything but the purpose of God. The affections are weaned from all creatures and all things; it is so dead that nothing can hurt it, nothing can offend it, nothing can hinder it, nothing can get in its way; for, let the circumstances be what they may, it seeks only for God and His will, and it feels assured that God is making everything in the universe, good or bad, past or present, work together for its good.

Oh, the blessedness of being absolutely conquered! of losing our own strength, and wisdom, and plans, and desires, and being where every atom of our nature is like placid Galilee under the omnipotent feet of our Jesus. –Soul Food

CHERUBIM ARE IMAGINATIONS

2009-10-05T12:30:00.000-06:00

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So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. Gen 3:24
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And so it is today that the old man, Adam, in you and me is kept from partaking of the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is Christ, from Whom all the fruit of the Spirit grow. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith and this fruit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. (Gal 5:22 & Eph 5:9)

Adam is afraid to meet God. He is really unable, because of his faulty reasoning which is every bit imagination. Because of that which he imagines, Adam is not able to accept the New Covenant, which is also the oldest covenant, even before the foundations. This covenant of love and grace opens up access to the Tree of Life, with all its good, joyous and peaceful fruit. It is only in the vain mind of Adam, that man imagines and suffers alienation from God and His Eden. “And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled” (Col. 1:21).

It seems of late Joian and I have been sharing with friends and family a series of messages written by Elwin Roach. In this series Elwin opens up the idea that the Cherubim, guarding the Tree of Life are our imaginations. Sounds right to me and this must hold water also with Joian. For upon finishing this five part series, she was so moved, that she decided to read it all again.

Dear sweet reader, If you are being buffeted from every side by the enemy and suffering anxiety, I strongly urge you to read this anointed series. I know it will help subside the unsavory thoughts and replace the warfare in your mind with a gentle peace. The link to Elwin's papers follow a few of his introductory words. I have also added some scripture. my friend Cindy put together in her short writing on vain imaginations. I found her choice of translations for these verses quite anointed.

"THE CHERUBIM ARE IMAGINATIONS which find their roots in the imaginative mind of man.
Perhaps we can see why the cherubim were sewn into the veil, that which represents man's mind, and is the obstacle which separates him from the Most Holy Place. The curtains of the tabernacle also contained cherubim, as well as the two doors of the temple, not to mention the walls. Everywhere in the tabernacle and the temple cherubim were sewn and made. This was for the purpose of keeping carnality out of the Holy of the Holies, which is the same as the midst of the Garden.

....... The curtains and veil speak of the physical makeup of man (his body of flesh) and his soul (mind, will, intellect, and emotions.) The cherubim are sown into the very fabric of man: in the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. He can no more escape them than he can the serpent that feeds upon the dust of his makeup." (Roach)

http://www.godfire.net/cherubim_seraphim1.html

2 Corinthians 10:5
Inasmuch as we refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ, the Messiah and the Anointed One"
AMP

"These weapons can break down every proud argument against God and every wall that can be built to keep men from finding him. With these weapons I can capture rebels and bring them back to God and change them into men whose hearts' desire is obedience to Christ" (TLB)

"For we overthrow arrogant 'reckonings,' and every stronghold that towers high in defiance of the knowledge of God, and we carry off every thought as if into slavery--into subjection to Christ" WEY

And a few other verses ....

Romans 1:21 "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened"

Acts 4:25-26 “Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.”

Jeremiah 7:24 “But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward”

Hebrews 4:12 "For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power making it active, operative, energizing, and effective; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and the immortal spirit, and of joints and marrow of the deepest parts of our nature, exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Dear brother, sweet sister, "He works all things for good" and the heartfelt knowledge of this, buries our fretting and despair. May God grant you today His wonderful peace and may He fill you with a quiet heavenly joy,

Jack

IRON FOR GOLD

2009-10-02T00:51:00.000-06:00

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Lately, I have been busy either giving away to friends or selling to strangers most all that I own. Often, I am caught back and in my mind, I exclaim, "Wow!, to think of the time and effort spent in procuring all this in a lifetime." For those that gather this weekend to buy, it will be but another garage sale but for me it is an estate sale ..... an estate that I have found all too fleeting.

Sure it is sad, especially as I dispose of the old photos with their memories, or when I tag a ridiculous price on an old heirloom. However, the saving grace is that I have a greater hope. It seems I myself, have been tagged by God's hand with a growing desire for a city where nothing is bought nor sold, and all is gain and never lost. This life has been good, very good, in that I can see it's purpose now. In reality the whole of this wordily existence is but iron fetters set before the throne of gold, which shines ever brighter with each succeeding day. Never more so, than this morning, do I look forward to the approaching day when I can stand before the full glory of my King and throw my earthly crown before His lovely feet. Those precious nail pierced feet have tread the path, not only before me, but aside me and even within me. Never, for even a moment, has my Lord forsaken me. He has walked my every step, and most of them, without even hinting, a want for acknowledgement. JESUS, THROUGH THICK AND THIN, IS TRULY THE FRIEND THAT STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER. HE CAME TO ME AS A SERVANT AND NOW HE IS MY KING. IN THE BEGINNING I WANTED FOR MYSELF, WHILE NOW I ONLY WANT FOR HIM. HE TRULY IS MOST PRECIOUS, A TREASURE BEYOND PRICE.

As I have labored hard, these last few days, I still cannot help but find time to read and write of my Lord, and all of that, which He has won for me. I can't recall whether I read, this quoted message below, yesterday or even this morning. For it seems, the individual days for quite some time have lost their distinguish. My time is, ever more so, measured in glimpses of Him, Who is as a restful home and a prize yearned for.

With that said, I loved the beautiful metaphor and lovely language used in the following message of "the making of a worthy priest and a servant king." How often, when my soul was surrendered and seemed as dead, yet I still suffered. On these painful occasions, "why?" has entered my mind. It is then, that He has, with both empathy and encouragement whispered, "We suffer for others."

Be blessed precious reader,
Jack

"Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress" Ps 4:1

This is one of the grandest testimonies ever given by man to the moral government of God. It is not a man's thanksgiving that he has been set free from suffering. It is a thanksgiving that he has been set free through suffering: "Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress." He declares the sorrows of life to have been themselves the source of life's enlargement.

And have not you and I a thousand times felt this to be true? It is written of Joseph in the dungeon that "the iron entered into his soul." We all feel that what Joseph needed for his soul was just the iron. He had seen only the glitter of the gold. He had been rejoicing in youthful dreams; and dreaming hardens the heart. He who sheds tears over a romance will not be most apt to help reality; real sorrow will be too unpoetic for him. We need the iron to enlarge our nature. The gold is but a vision; the iron is an experience. The chain which unites me to humanity must be an iron chain. That touch of nature which makes the world akin is not joy, but sorrow; gold is partial, but iron is universal.

My soul, if thou wouldst be enlarged into human sympathy, thou must be narrowed into limits of human suffering. Joseph's dungeon is the road to Joseph's throne. Thou canst not lift the iron load of thy brother if the iron hath not entered into thee. It is thy limit that is thine enlargement. It is the shadows of thy life that are the real fulfillment of thy dreams of glory. Murmur not at the shadows; they are better revelations than thy dreams. Say not that the shades of the prison-house have fettered thee; thy fetters are wings--wings of flight into the bosom of humanity. The door of thy prison-house is a door into the heart of the universe. God has enlarged thee by the binding of sorrow's chain. --George Matheson

If Joseph had not been Egypt's prisoner, he had never been Egypt's governor. The iron chain about his feet ushered in the golden chain about his neck. -- Lettie Cowman

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THE END OF OUR WORLD IS NIGH AT HAND !

2009-09-28T08:29:00.000-06:00

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"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” 1Jn 2:15-17

I had to laugh at this below, taken from Preston Eby's latest writing. The last paragraph just slayed me. Oh, how we used to fast and pray when things in our world, were finding their death. Nothing like a good ol' religious fast to show God we were serious. Yes, we were serious alright, but oops, we found One that was more serious.

But, hey now, lets not get serious, let's get dead ....... let's get dead to the old world within us. Most importantly, our death is His work. It is His hand at work and we will neither, stay it nor remove it, until there be the total dissolution of our old heaven and old earth. In return, by the same hand we are lifted from the ashes into a new heaven and a new earth, which be our Resurrection, which be Christ. Let us know, from start to finish our death and resurrection is God's work, a work of grace. Day by day, we die a little more, and day by day, we are raised in proportion to our dieing, until Christ be All in All. In this we can REST.

Enough said, let's read a little Eby and discover something of this passing world of ours:

"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (I Jn. 2:15-17). The “world” is here discovered to be just three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That’s the whole inspired definition! The world is really in the heart of man! It is man’s lust after, and pride in, the natural, physical, corruptible, valueless, transient things of earth instead of His love for God and things spiritual and eternal. John says that these three things are “ALL that is in the world” or the sum total of everything the world is. And the most interesting thing of all is that everything the world is — is WITHIN US!

........ We always thought the end of the world would be quite a dramatic event. Let me tell you something. The end of our world is indeed quite a dramatic event! Once our heaven and earth pass they are gone forever, they are not coming back. Go and fast for forty days to get them to come back. They still won’t show up! "
Eby

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Breakfast With Mom

2009-09-26T09:43:00.001-06:00

Center: Mom (Hope Mills)

This past month has been filled with peace regarding my future days in this earthly realm. I do understand how precarious things are becoming and can’t deny God is on the move to very possibly wrap things up. In spite of my natural inclinations to try to prepare for all eventualities, I find myself almost unable to care.

Last weekend after considering several articles on swine flu, listening to speeches from the current government summit and partaking of numerous articles meant to make us wake up to what is happening in America, I threw up my hands and said, Lord it is certainly all out of control. So, I decided to go to the beach....lol My thinking was this fall sure could be a turning point for this sorry old world. If so, I would sure like to smell and feel the ocean before the storm hits……lol

The Lord woke me up early the next morning and reinforced that we should have a day at the beach…..I enjoyed the thirty minute drive to the Harbor House Café where I spent almost two hours reading from Lettie Cowan’s, “Streams in the Desert”…….. I found her book last year while sorting through some of my mother’s old things. Most of the pages were underlined and some had small notes in her handwriting. It seemed everything I read impacted me, as if mom and I were having breakfast together, sharing different parts of our life. I cried several times almost unaware of my surroundings. Yes, we both had come to understand, late in life, that God is in charge and that his plans are for our eventual GOOD. Regardless of the pain we each suffered. Finally, spent on the thoughts of our mutual struggle, my mind cleared of any lingering forebodings. I finished my beach adventure free from care.

This morning I found this by John Gavazzoni in one of Jan Antonsson writings…it drove home last weeks thoughts and reinforced my peace.......He wrote:

Gavazzoni~

"Daring to extrapolate the full implications of Jesus' statement,"Without Me, you can do nothing," I reached the conclusion years ago that the point of intersection of the sovereignty of God and the collective believers' subjective state is an intersection of the Father's decision to act, and our fully recognized state of utter helplessness until He does.

"I expect to see indication of the impending, final, consummate move of God in an accelerated realization of our poverty of spirit; that is, of having no autonomous spiritual resources in ourselves. As long as we imagine that God is awaiting our facilitating of His purpose, we deceive ourselves into thinking that we are not, in fact, spiritually bankrupt in and of ourselves and bereft of any ability to contribute to the doing of God.

"Nowhere are we told that we are to be God's helpers, but rather, "God is our help in time of need." But we must face how great our need is. Does the Lord simply step in to add His strength to ours? Is that the meaning of the Lord as our Helper? No, certainly not! He is the Helper of the utterly helpless, not of those who merely need Him to supercharge their efforts...

"There is no positive place in the administration of God for joint-enterprise; no place for, 'If you will do your part, God will do His'; 'God helps those who help themselves'; 'God is waiting for you to......'; 'You need to let God....';'

"The Lord has granted us in Christ a noncontributing, fully participating partnership in the fulfillment of His purpose for man for His glory, a glory that He freely gives by grace to us without any element of meriting the same. Thus, nothing can substitute for a good dose of failure to qualify one for this mode of participation. The world exalts those whom it judges to 'have the right stuff,' but it is very apparent in scripture's record of the history of the men and women within whom God worked, that their preparation for service brought them, not to a place where they said, 'I'm ready, Lord; I've got the right stuff,' but rather, if I may paraphrase a rhetorical collage of their combined attitude: 'What, me? You've got to be kidding, Lord. I don't have what it takes'." End Quote.

John has given us another excellent way to understand that everything we have and do is only by God's grace: "Grace is the gift of Christ, who exposes the gulf which separates God and man, and, by exposing it, bridges it." (Barth)

Love you and pray his keeping grace grows until we are aware it has no bounds, in our precious Lord Jesus……..
Joian

IT'S GOING TO GET HAIRY

2009-09-24T13:48:00.000-06:00

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Ha ha. I bet you thought I had a message on the events of the world with such a title.

No my freinds, I'm talking about, being pretty much house bound these days and needing something to do. These gentlemen have inspired me!

If the blogs are slow coming you know where all my energy is going.

IS GOD GOOD ?

2009-09-20T13:15:00.000-06:00

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As believers, the basic dilemma we are ever confronted with, can be simply identified in the question, "is God good?"

Joian's and my friend Roy, aka Reb, is a saint of God that has suffered greatly in this world. Still, with every correspondence, I have ever received from him, Roy would find a place to share the three words, "God is good." If it wasn't in the message it was in the salutation. I am not much of one to mimic others, but with Roy's example, I hope to follow suit.

Beloved, if God has come to you with a great trial of faith, it is that you might understand God is good. 'Tis the great paradox of the Kingdom ...... we come to know the inexplicable goodness and love of our Father God, through the experiencing and being delivered out of tribulation. This speaks even to the whole of our lives, trodden out through a fallen world.

For a surety God is good, even to the sacrificing of His only son for us, in the greatest trial, any has ever known or even imagined. In this God sets the standard of love. It is one thing lay down your life ......... yes, it is one thing, to lay your own life on the altar, but it is altogether another thing, to give up your child's life as a sacrifice. Who amongst us doesn't love our child more than our self. So it is, that all that is dear to us must eventually find it's place, given unto God, because we believe one thing above all else ...... God is good.

Joian coined the saying, "It's his life for ours. We die, he lives, and then the mystery is that we live again."
So it is the same with our children and to believe that for their lives, certainly is much harder. I personally, know what it is, to come to the place, of actually believing this concerning my two precious children. Oh, the angst, the agony and the unbearable pain I suffered before I finally came to the realization, God is good ..... God is good enough, even for my children.

Dear sweet reader, have you given all to God? Have you like our father of faith, Abraham, placed upon the altar even the promise you thought was yours? Precious brother, gentle sister, all that you have, must become His. To realize this, is the path to peace, an endless life and God All in All.

Friends, Joian sent this video to me this morning. We pray it moves you to know in greater measure, "GOD IS GOOD"

For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in Him may not come to destruction but have eternal life. Jn 3:16

Note: For an embellishment of this message we have an
older blog titled, "EVERYMAN A CROSS"

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CHARADES OF A DIFFERENT SORT

2009-09-18T21:01:00.000-06:00

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Thought, maybe to give you a chuckle after dealing with the serious matters in the previous blogs.

The E-mail message I sent to my friends and family yesterday:

I am tired of being cooped up.
I am finally going out with my oxygen cylinders .......... thought I would walk at a snail's pace with a slump while barely dragging my tank cart and I will tap along with my five foot walking stick. Hopefully, some pretty young thing will feel sorry and want to assist me with my cart, upon which I will straighten up and with my rod in hand, crossed at my chest, I should look quite impressive rather than handicapped. To the gawkers, I will lift my sunglasses while I explain in a sophisticated accent, "I don't breath the common air." lol

While I was sending the E-mail above, my daughter was experiencing her own charade of sorts:

Throwing all humility aside, let me say, my daughter Erin is quite striking as is also her dog, "Petunia Pickle." Where ever Erin and Petunia go as a couple, people stare. They also want to pet and know about the big white dog, a pure bred American Bulldog.

So yesterday, Erin decides to try a new method of giving Petunia exercise. She will take her dog for a run while she rides her bike. With Erin riding, leash attached to the bike, Petunia runs at her side. Erin thinks this is too wonderful. She further deduces this will be a great way to give Petunia her exercise, as she can ride rather than walk, or run. Who would have thought this could be so grand!

As it would happen, Erin and Petunia pass in front of a restaurant where the patrons are outside dining. Of course all eyes are caught by the pretty girl riding the bike with the awesome dog, running beside her. I mean this is a beautiful picture. Then the unexpected takes place.

Seems, in front of the restaurant was a pole, and yes, when the tethered together Erin and Petunia came upon it, Erin went around it on one side and the dog the other. Erin flies over the handle bars of her bike and Petunia does a back flip as the audience gasps. Erin gathered herself and checked her pup. When she saw they were no worse for the wear, the blushing Erin bowed to the then, laughing patrons.

My embarrassed daughter told me, that was the last and only time she will ever do that!

Below is a pic, of Erin and the one year old Petunia Pickle. It was taken this summer when they paid me a visit. I like everyone else, fell in love with the Pickle. Although dumb as a bag of rocks, she is the sweetest and friendliest of dogs. That said, I'll be darned, if I didn't get left behind to babysit the dog on the fourth of July. Petunia was terrified by the booming fireworks and the only place she felt safe was in my bed next to me. It was a long night because this dog likes her head on the pillow!

Erin and her Petunia Pickle

Erin, after a walk up the town ski hill, just a few blocks from the house. The Tetons are in the background.

WOULDN'T THAT BE HEAVEN ON EARTH ?

2009-09-16T19:38:00.000-06:00

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Dear sweet reader, have you like me, had your inspired plans and dreams dashed. Well, our Good Lord appeals to us, not to lose heart, for He giveth and He taketh away and then He giveth back anew, with the fullness of Life, Love and Glory. Following are some gems I have gathered on my journey. I pray you might see a bit of your reflection, which is His reflection, in some of the facets of these jewels. I have mixed in a few thoughts of my own.

At the turn of the last century, Adelaide Pollard was a toiling itinerant Bible teacher. She believed God wanted her in Africa as a missionary, but she was unable to raise funds to go. In an uncertain state of mind, she attended a prayer meeting, where she heard an elderly woman pray, “It’s all right, Lord. It doesn’t matter what You bring into our lives, just have Your own way with us.” At home that night, much encouraged, she wrote this inspired hymn.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit ’till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

From early in my walk, I had no desire to follow the rising bright stars of Christendom. I speak of the lauded preachers and evangelists, that played to the largest of crowds. Something in me told me, these stars would burn out long before they reached the celestial heights of God's throne. Instead, I desired only to share a cup of of coffee with a hidden away one ..... even a lonely widow woman that had learned in her solitude the power and glories of prayer. Surely, it shall be these that seem as forgotten, who will rule and reign in the Kingdom come. May we seek His reward deferred and prefer, today's deliverance upon others.

Blessed is he whose faith is not offended,
When all around his way
The power of God is working out deliverance
For others day by day;

Though in some prison drear his own soul languish,
Till life itself be spent,
Yet still can trust his Father's love and purpose,
And rest therein content.

Blessed is he, who through long years of suffering,
Cut off from active toil,
Still shares by prayer and praise the work of others,
And thus "divides the spoil."

Blessed are thou, O child of God, who sufferest,
And canst not understand
The reason for thy pain, yet gladly leavest
Thy life in His blest Hand.

Yea, blessed art thou whose faith is "not offended"
By trials unexplained,
By mysteries unsolved, past understanding,
Until the goal is gained.

Freda Hanbury Allen

For who could ever explain the Love of God, only realized through ideals and hopes rescinded and suffering given in return. J Preston Eby comes, oh so close with this anointed poem. Might we realize the Cross of Christ is the very Tree of Life.

Yes, I was living to myself was dead:
Self with its hopes and dreams was all I had;
But soon the Lord fulfilled my prayer to know
The power of His cross ’twas death below.

I asked contrition He sent me pain;
For purity but anguish came again;
I asked I might be meek He broke my heart;
I asked I knew not what the better part.

I asked to know what death was to the world,
And quickly all my living hopes were spoiled;
I asked to be like Him His image bear
He placed me in a furnace, sitting there

Like one refining silver, till He see
The reflex of His image bright in me.
I asked that I the daily cross might bear,
It lacerated me the wounds I wear;

I blindly prayed, not knowing how, nor what,
He took me at my word it mattered not.
Then I began to shrink from following near,
And well-nigh prayed Him to depart through fear.

To suffer was not pleasing to the flesh,
I feared to pray lest suffering come afresh;
But I had gone too far on I must go
The virtues of His cross had pierced me through.

In me His promise now fulfilled must be
Suffer with me, and you will reign with me!
Ah, I had only heard of love but now
I feel it, Oh! I feel its living glow.

He fastened on me such a look of love,
Withering to self tender, all words above;
Follow I must, whatever may betide;
I love the cross I shelter in His side!
Eby

Surely, as He is so are we in this world. And as we are so is He in this world. His wounds are ours and ours His. So identified we are with our Saviour His shadow becomes His very being. We once followed, walking behind Him but now we walk as One. As a follower of Christ we once walked where He was, now we walk where He is.

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot or side or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land.
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star.

Hast thou no scar? Hast thou not wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers spent.
Leaned me against the tree to die and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me I swooned.

Hast thou no wound? No wound, no scar.
Yes, as the Master shall the servant be,
And pierced are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole. Can he have followed far
Who has no wound or no scar?
Eby

My brother, my sister, from deep within my oft broken heart, I believe, somehow, someway, many of our dashed dreams, that seemed so surely given of Him, shall be realized in another time and another place. Wouldn't that be Heaven on Earth?

“God’s purposes are so vast and glorious, beyond all guessing now, that when they are achieved and consummated, all our sufferings and sorrows of today, even the agonies that nearly break our faith, the disasters that well nigh overwhelm us, shall, seen from that fair country where God’s age long dreams come true, bulk as little as bulk now the pieces of a broken toy upon a nursery floor, over which, thinking that all our little world was in ruins, we cried ourselves to sleep.”

Dr. Leslie Weatherhead (a Christian Universalist)

We never ask for suffering, however, we know it cannot be avoided. We eventually learn for sake of the Gospel and the increase of the Kingdom suffering can be embraced.

These promises below are yea and amen for the Kingdom has come and will continue to come until the last man knows no death, nor pain nor sorrow. Your children, my children and their children's children shall all follow in His footsteps and our footsteps until we be One in Love.

"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation..." Hebrews 5:8-9

"Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" Luke 24:26

"For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings." Hebrews 2:10

"Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will grieve, but your grief will be turned into joy. Whenever a woman is in labor she has pain, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy that a man has been born into the world. Therefore you too have grief now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you." John 16:20-22

"Those who are victorious will come from Mount Zion to rule Esau's mountain. The kingdom will belong to the LORD." Obediah 1:21

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.'" Revelation 21:3-4

Saint of God, should your plans or dreams have been thwarted, or you feel broken and discouraged today, I pray this message brought you some solace and hope.

John

BLAME TURNS TO JOY

2009-09-14T10:39:00.000-06:00

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I was on a trip, when I heard my best friend and brother in the Lord had committed suicide. This death was the proverbial last straw and it left me crushed at the side of road, in tears so great, I could not see to drive. I had just gone through a divorce, and suffered my two young children being torn away from me and taken to a city, hundreds of mile away. I had been serving God the best I knew how but these sad occurrences were just too much. After crying a storm I actually got out of the car and lifted my fist to God and shouted, "THIS IS IT! ........ NO MAS! ..... I AM FINISHED WITH YOU! Even then, long before I would understand the whole of God's sovereignty, I knew who to blame.
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Twenty something years later l found out, although I was finished with God, He was not finished with me. He took my blame and turned it to joy.

In our last blog I shared a word on how God, in Christ, suffering as our scapegoat, even says to man "blame me. He says, "Blame me for your plight, brought about by the sinful flesh and the fallen world I have placed you in."

As far as "blame", some might think that in the way I have used the term, I might have taken a bit of liberty or exercised hyperbole. With this in mind, I would be remiss if I didn't share the progression and end of the matter.

All our shortcomings are but the acts of walking in a suit of sinful flesh that God placed our spirit in. Upon realizing our futility, which is never made more evident than in severe trials, we begin to enter into the real battle, which is our Armageddon. Understanding God's sovereignty, we initially blame Him for the trials that engulf us. I mean come on, who hasn't murmured and complained to Him as His hand seems to weigh so very heavy upon our body and soul. With this we wrestle Him, and this match seems to go back and forth. One moment we have peace and the next angst. The Victor, never in question, wears us out and then He overcomes us. He overcomes us and takes His place over the trial and within us, as Christ on the throne. This overcoming is of course progressive, with many diverse trials to follow. Slowly, we learn to find peace and joy even in the midst of darkness as we identify with our beloved Saviour. In this trial to trial cascade, we come to realize Christ is becoming the All, in All. We start seeing Him in ALL our situations and more importantly we are realizing that He is becoming ALL that we are. With this Divine work, the soul comes to an IN-STILLed knowledge, that all God does is reckoned for our good. And tribulation and trials can be encountered with joy, for by them we know we are not little unforgotten bastards running free but disciplined sons of the Almighty and overcomers in the making.

"Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials"James 1:2

"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2Cor 12:9

"This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." Neh 8:10

And don't anyone tell me they can pull up a real joy out of their own self! Joy, held in the midst of a trial, like all things is God given. This joy it is not giddy and rarely is it emotional. Instead, this joy is deep and still ....... peaceful. It is truly a joy unspeakable. Who could ever come to such, save it be given of God through that which we call "faith" ... the "faith, born of Christ and not of our self." Truly this is the path of realizing God, All in All and entering into His rest.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:

“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
Heb.12:2-6

O Lord, IN-STILL within us the grace to "give up and let God." Jesus, grant us Your joy as we embrace Your cross, which is our cross. And Lord, even help me to walk more surely in all that I write.

Jack

Note: For a fuller understanding of this message you might want to read these previous blogs that explore "Christ, as our scapegoat"
http://jack-sonshine.blogspot.com/2009/09/god-in-christ-blame-me.html

http://jack-sonshine.blogspot.com/2009/04/economics-of-son-embracing-jesus-as.html

http://jack-sonshine.blogspot.com/2009/05/economics-of-son-embracing-jesus-as.html

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GOD IN CHRIST SAYS, "BLAME ME"

2009-09-11T15:59:00.000-06:00

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Please allow me to share the story of my introduction to God's sovereignty and my futility.

Some years ago I was praying and I was cut to the very core of my soul. I was beside myself with grief for the way I had raised my children. I just knew I had done them irreparable damage by my sins, more sins of omission than commission (IE. neglect). I was a complete puddle and when my pain became almost unbearable, God spoke to me as clearly and as tenderly as I have ever heard Him. He said, "you couldn't have done anything differently." In my heart was awakened a knowledge of my futility. " Whoa, did that change my tune, and yes, my theology also.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Rom 8:1,2

A few weeks following my epiphany, I would be led to call my son, with whom I always felt a bit of an estrangement , and I believe he with me. This, even though I mostly raised him as a single parent. I told Tyler, I had come to see him in a new light , I was proud of him and I would be in his corner no matter what. Because I had often been a scolding hard task master, I spoke to him about my negativity and asked his forgiveness. The asking of forgiveness was for both of our benefit, with unity the goal. A few weeks later, Tyler wrote a wonderful letter reminiscing different events we had shared. He ended by telling me how he thought of me as the best father a child could have. Today, I can joyfully report,we have a most wonderful relationship. I no longer impute sin against my son, even knowing he still lives under the law.

Let me add, that I also began to see my father, who was lacking in many a parenting skill and quite abusive, in a different light. Miraculously, I seem to have aquired a bent to see only the good he did for his children, which I have at times found myself tearfully appreciative. Such is the way of love for me.

Now, some years later, I believe I have been granted a deeper understanding of God's sovereignty and man's overwhelming futility. The following is a part of that which I am seeing. I pray you and I can get a hold of this, as it goes a long way in helping us love not only our neighbor but our enemy.

He was despised and rejected by people. He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering. He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces, and we didn't consider him to be worth anything. Is 53:3

The veil had been rent and Jesus had played out the drama of the innocent scapegoat right before our very eyes. Here is the holiest, purest, most spotless man that ever lived. What does the world do?
Blister Him,
Blast Him,
Bruise Him. *

He was the outcast of all outcasts; this Son of God. This Jesus, who opened not His mouth, took upon Himself the role of the despised scapegoat as people kicked Him, mocked Him, reviled Him, spat upon Him and finally killed Him.

Through the ages this world has known a thousand Gods, but there is only One that came to rescue man as an innocent scapegoat. As a scapegoat, He came, to carry away all of man's abuse, all of man's angst and the whole of the burden of man's sin. For Love's sake, the Creator became an outcast within His own creation. Surely, only by grace and on bended knee, might we ever even begin to fathom this!

And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. Isaiah 25:7

God, in Christ Jesus, stooped and became man's scapegoat. By His atonement, He not only becomes our scapegoat but He says, "I am responsible, blame Me." As always a paradox in the Kingdom; here the blameless One carries the blame. And while Jesus carries away from us the blame, He brings to us in return, justification. salvation, sanctification and resurrection. By and through His justifying, saving, sanctifying, resurecting life we are delivered from self blame and condemnation wrought by the law of sin and death. This is the "hope" birthed even before the foundations. Even before the world was created, Christ died to give forth to us His Life. As we realize this we return to Paradise, our home.

"Creation was subjected to frustration but not by its own choice. The one who subjected it to frustration did so in the hope." Rom 8:20

In summation, it is God that placed man in sinful flesh, this sinful flesh that ever frustrates man. He is responsible for the purpose and plan to frustrate and humble man by the same. Owning up to this, God, through the demonstration of Christ Jesus suffering the cross, not only takes the blame but in addition He also humbles Himself and suffers as, for and with you and me.

Jesus suffers as man .... Jesus suffered for man .... Jesus sufferd with man .... Jesus even suffers man today ..... For the cross and the love of God know no bounds of time nor space.

Oh, what a Saviour, what a Worthy Priest, what a Servant King , is our God in Chrsit and our Kinsman Redeemer!

John

*(Ravenhill)