Real Christianity

[See my post: Ron Paul, Follower of our Lord Jesus—For Such A Time As This]

Tags: 2012 Presidential Election, Judgment, Lord Jesus, Love Your Enemies, Real Christianity, Republican Party, Ron Paul, Spiritual Warfare, The Golden Rule, The Great Awakening

Election Day 2012: Heads They Win, Tails You Lose

Nov 5

Posted by RJ Dawson

November 6^th will be a sad day for America. Once again we have two less than ideal candidates from which to choose.

Actually, we have two lousy candidates. Really lousy. And the American voter put both of them in position to win. One guy has already messed up the country pretty bad. The other guy claims he will fix everything the first one messed up.

And America has been fooled yet again.

It happens every four years. And the ongoing result is that the Democrats and Republicans remain in power to continue taking this country to the very edge of destruction. Well, the edge has really already been crossed (quite a while ago) and America is stuck in mid-air off the top of a cliff like Wile E. Coyote, who about this time is looking at the viewer thinking, “Oh crud…”

UPDATE: I wrote the above before the election on the morning of November 5. After the election, Ron Paul said the following: “We’re so far gone. We’re over the cliff.”

The American voter will soon see this. The honeymoon period keeps getting shorter and after this election it will be about a nano-second because Americans are fed up and want real change for the better NOW.

Regarding that I will ask, “Then why did you vote for either one of these guys? What did you think would happen?”

Four years ago the country apparently thought good things would happen when it elected the new bright shining star. The previous guy in office before the bright shining star fouled things up so bad he paved the way for the current occupant. The current occupant has now done the same for the guy who hopes to become the new occupant.

I’m not making any predictions regarding the election because it doesn’t matter which of these guys gets elected. Very little will change for the better. Once you get past the outer veneer, these two guys are actually the same guy (What? Are you crazy? These guys are polar opposites!).

Right.

Just watch and see. If the new guy is elected, all the current haters of the first guy will dance in the streets, thinking happy days are here again and all will be well.

Yeah sure.

Before the current election process ever began, God had blessed America with an excellent choice, the way He always blesses with excellent choices, yet most voters rejected him. But guess what? The Freedom Movement has already gained great ground and though Ron Paul was trashed and most Americans believed the lies, what is more astonishing is that most Christians believed the lies, rejected a real Christian, and accepted a Mormon! Nevertheless, there are now many more Ron Pauls out there coming to the forefront. Just because the LSM is hiding the facts doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

And regarding predictions, whichever of these men gets elected on Tuesday, I will guarantee you this:

There will be judgment on his administration.

Some of the reasons are as follows:

(1) Neither one of them is a real Christian. It’s one thing to make no claims to being a real follower of the Lord Jesus. It’s another altogether to lie about it. The current guy claimed to be a Christian four years ago but has largely supported completely unChristian things since. You know them by their fruits. The new guy is not a real Christian either and anyone who studies the New Testament and the fantasy of Mormonism knows the two are not at all compatible. Remember, image and numbers mean nothing to God. He’s sees right through every façade though most people will always be fooled, and by His own words, the majority of humanity (by their own choice) will never make it to heaven anyway (Matthew 7:14).

(2) Neither one of these men fully honors the Constitution of the United States. Both have track records proving against it. Don’t get mad at me, just study their respective records. Candidates know the voters have very short memories and very short attention spans, and usually vote not their conscience but their emotions. How many are voting for the new guy because they hate the old guy? What’s that going to accomplish?

(3) Neither one of these guys has a pure record against baby killing. The new guy is a world class gymnastic flip-flopper when it comes to abortion, and merely says whatever may be convenient. Why have so many pro-lifers been fooled once again by mere rhetoric? If Ronald Reagan couldn’t/wouldn’t do anything about ending abortion, how in the world will the new guy?

(4) Neither one of these candidates is outspokenly against what the Bible refers to as the exceedingly grave and wicked sin of the original inhabitants of Sodom. If supporters of such sin are interested, they might want to study the Word of God to see what God thinks about it, but here’s a refresher:

Now the men of Sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners against the LORD. [Genesis 13:13]

And the LORD said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.” [Genesis 18:20]

Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. And he said, “Now behold, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said however, “No, but we shall spend the night in the square.” Yet he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he prepared a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter; and they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.” But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with man; please let me bring them out to you, and do to them whatever you like; only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shelter of my roof.”

But they said, “Stand aside.” Furthermore, they said, “This one came in as an alien, and already he is acting like a judge; now we will treat you worse than them.” So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break the door. But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the doorway… [Genesis 19:1-11]

If you think I’m wrong on the new guy’s real views on this subject, then I suggest you wise up and at least check out the following link: Romney’s Flip Flopping on Homosexuality

Whoever is NOT AGAINST abortion is AGAINST the Lord Jesus.

Whoever is NOT AGAINST the sin of Sodom is AGAINST the Lord Jesus.

Whoever claims to be a follower of the Lord Jesus but refuses to obey His teachings and commandments is a liar:

The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him… [1 John 2:4] [1]

And regarding the election of President, whoever claims to fully support the Constitution but does not is not only a liar but also a traitor.

Article 2, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution states:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

Few Presidents have actually obeyed their oath over the last several decades. Instead, they have sought ways to get around the dictates and restrictions of the Constitution, having no real honor for it, or love of their country, or respect for the people who put them in power. But most voters are simply not aware of this, apparently do not want to be aware, and do not care to be aware.

“I hate Jones! So I’m voting for Smith!”

“Well, I hate Smith and I’m voting for Jones!”

Track records simply do not matter to most voters, and as a result they always get something they did not think they were voting for. It will be no different this time.

So enjoy all the fake pageantry and false drama on election night. Both of these guys were already groomed to obey their voodoo masters. They were paid to play a role and are both excellent political actors. One plays the good Democrat standing up for “Democrat values,” and the other plays the role of the good Republican standing up for “Republican values.” But it’s all for show. The fix has been in for about a century now. The bad guys behind the scenes own both of them and if you want to believe otherwise it is your right as an American to do so.

But believe me; you will be most upset in the not too distant future. And you might start to see that these guys merely talk a good game but rarely follow through. And you might start to get a clue that beyond the mere outer shell, as fake and duplicitous as it is, there is no real difference between the two major political parties or effective distinction between the two candidates.

But they do have a hidden agenda. And it’s not godly, and it’s not Constitutional.

Therefore, Caveat emptor—Let the Buyer Beware.

RELATED POSTS:

January 07, 2012: You’re Being Scammed

January 26, 2012: Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 1)

January 27, 2012: Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 2)

January 29, 2012: Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 3)

January 30, 2012: The 2012 Freedom Movement (Part 1)

January 31, 2012: The 2012 Freedom Movement (Part 2)

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Especially in New York City.

Tags: 2012 Presidential Election, Democratic Party, Lord Jesus, Mormonism, Real Christianity, Republican Party, Ron Paul Revolution, The Freedom Movement, United States Constitution

New York City is the Undisputed Abortion Capital of America

Nov 2

Posted by RJ Dawson

Please continue to pray for those who are suffering as a result of Hurricane Sandy. There are incredible reports coming forth of great love and support all over the region. Neighbors are helping neighbors. Friends are helping each other. Sacrificial giving is taking place. It is very encouraging to see what is largely a purely American response to help one another—one stemming directly from our Christian heritage—that is relatively rare in other parts of this world.

While we are all greatly concerned about the extensive devastation and suffering currently taking place, we must stay on point in remembering possible reasons for such devastation.

Some are saying this is simply a cyclical change, and that the planet is merely going through the same cycles it has been going through over millions of years. The difference now, it is said, is that a lot of our stuff happens to be built in danger zones. It certainly appears that some kind of climate change is taking place, but the northeast has experienced massive storms like this before, just not this massive.

And the destruction from Hurricane Sandy has been off the scale. There is really no precedent for a storm this large and destructive. It would take years to repair the damage and rebuild, if indeed all will be rebuilt. No one wants to use the “K” word but is has already been floated by those on the scene when the monster storm blew in. Comparisons to New Orleans are obvious.

For those who insist on keeping this event on a mere natural plane and claim it is just nature being nature, you probably do not need to read any farther. The truth of the matter is that actions have consequences. Great civilizations have arisen in the ancient past and vast empires have been constructed. But they are all gone now. Nothing remains but ruins and historical accounts, some quite brief. They did not just come and go with no rhyme or reason. There were in fact perfect reasons for their demise.

And the number one reason was sin and rebellion against the Creator.

Speaking of sin, the most vile, disgusting, wicked, and perverse choice ever perpetrated by humanity is the act of violently reaching inside a mother’s womb and ripping an innocent growing baby out piece by piece (or using some other horrendous method, such as vacuuming the little one out, or even allowing the innocent baby to be partially born and then knifing it in the neck and splitting its skull and…)

People actually do this.

Every day.

In America.

And it’s all perfectly legal.

And not enough people care to do anything about it. For the most part we waste all our steam on political rhetoric and false promises. We are actually satisfied that some bigwig says he is against the practice and let it go at that. Or we continue playing the fool’s game of electing false pro-life presidents so they will appoint the right Supreme Court justices to change the law. It didn’t work with Reagan thirty years ago and it won’t work now.

The only thing that will work is repentance. And repentance requires a humble, contrite heart. And until enough people in America put forth some real repentance with the fruits of repentance to match nothing will change. Innocent babies will continue to be butchered.

There is such a huge disconnect in this area. If parents think of their own newborns they are horrified at the prospect. Grandparents think it the worst of all scenarios. But when it comes to all those other babies who have no advocate to save them from the worst form of child abuse ever invented, almost everyone goes silent.

Why so many abortions are performed there might have many reasons but the facts are clear: If you are a baby in the womb the last place in America you want to be is in New York.

Of course, there are many wonderful, loving parents in New York and births take place there every day all day long, and the little ones are perfectly cared for. But it’s like those men sitting in a briefing room about to go on a bombing mission during a war. The instructor tells them to take a good look at the men on either side of them. He then tells them there is a fifty-fifty or better chance you will never see them again, because many will not be returning home.

If you’re a baby waiting to be born in New York it is exactly the same: “Hey little buddy, you might make it, you might not. You have about the same chance of being tortured and cut up in pieces as you do being born healthy and whole.”

And that is simply the fact. Abortions in New York City almost equal live births. The metropolis has the most liberal laws in the entire country for killing your unborn baby (or terminating your pregnancy if you prefer).

Since science tells us that every action demands a reaction, and we all should know that our choices have consequences, what does one think the reaction or consequence might be for the worst sin ever committed by a human? Especially when the sin is multiplied a million times? Or about 54,000,000 times? That’s the number of babies legally killed in this country over the last forty years.

It was about this time of the year in 1972 that the Supreme Court was officially deliberating the verdict, but the decision had already been made. It was part of the world population reduction agenda by the globalist traitors in power. January of 2013 will mark forty years since the verdict was rendered. And when Roe v. Wade was decided on January 22, 1973, babies within the womb across the entire country were instantly denied every single one of their rights legally granted to them by the Constitution of the United States, most significantly their right to life. They no longer had a single viable advocate. Each of them was rendered a non-person, a gob of tissue, a nothing. And America has been awaiting the worst form of judgment ever since.

As they say in financial circles, follow the money. In this case, follow the judgment. Unless America repents as a nation it will one day be judged as a nation. Until that time, keep your eye on certain states and cities. Those who reject God and consequently embrace the devil the most are first in line to receive their just fruits.

Forty is a very significant Biblical number. It can be defined as a generation or significant time period. Most of all, it is termed a period of probation. Just as it is that there is no longer any chance to repent once a person dies, it is often the same with this time period:

“So the LORD’S anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of the LORD was destroyed. Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning anger of the LORD against Israel.” [Numbers 32:13-14]

“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” [Deuteronomy 8:1-5]

“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” [Deuteronomy 8:11-14]

“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire. Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.” [Ezekiel 16:20-22] [1]

The most defenseless and innocent among us are the little ones. Only the heartless do them harm. Only pure evil is responsible for their deaths.

There will be hell to pay.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Abortion, Climate change, Hurricane Sandy, Lord Jesus, National Judgment, New York City, Partial Birth Abortion, Rebellion Against God, Roe v. Wade

Hurricane Sandy: A Super Perfect Wicked Storm

Oct 29

Posted by RJ Dawson

I just heard the above description tonight while listening to a live radio broadcast from New York City. Hurricane Sandy had been projected to be “The Perfect Storm,” but the above description is that much more accurate.

In August of 2011, Hurricane Irene was also projected to be a really bad storm but according to many people in the region, it failed to materialize into the monster tempest many weather experts had predicted it to be. This is very curious in light of the fact that Irene did billions of dollars in damage and cost many lives.

I wrote a series of articles last year regarding Irene and the eerie Virginia earthquake of August 23, 2011 that not only did damage to the Washington Monument but also the Washington National Cathedral. Both structures continue to undergo repairs to this day. I wrote of the strange numbers involved with this earthquake and its predecessor over a century earlier. You can access my first article, Twin Earthquakes in Virginia: An Interesting Coincidence here. In this article I wrote the following:

Another possible coincidence is in the works. The first major Atlantic hurricane is presently rebuilding strength in the Caribbean. It is projected to grow to a Category 4 storm and lessen to a 3 as it strikes the Carolinas, then move directly over Washington D.C. late Saturday night, August 27. On Sunday night it is currently projected to strike New York City as a Category 1. The last time that happened was in 1821. The Norfolk and Long Island hurricane was only the second hurricane to have ever passed directly over New York City. The 1821 storm happened exactly 38 years since the Treaty of Paris, slamming into Long Island on September 3 of that year. 38 is a multiple of 19. The hurricane just happened to have a 13 foot storm surge. Coincidence?

Though predicted otherwise, Hurricane Irene did not achieve such a high storm surge last year, but guess what? Hurricane Sandy has officially brought a thirteen foot storm surge. What Irene did not do Sandy has done. Regarding judgment then, it is now very clear that Irene, as bad as it was, was a mere warning of what would come later.

In the second article, YOU CALL THIS A STORM?! , I wrote the following:

In light of the fact that pretty much every American paying attention knows we have major problems in both our national government and religious life, the minor damage done in the quake to these two structures must at least be considered as beyond mere coincidence, and a possible wake-up call.

In the meantime, the latest track estimates have Hurricane Irene heading directly for New York City, though the storm is expected to veer a tad to the east. America in general may continue disregarding and rejecting God, but God’s people are pleading for His involvement and mercy. A few fissures in our national monument and several fallen doodads off the national cathedral might seem minor at first glance. Do they represent national schism and crumbling traditional Christianity?

Whatever the case, such coincidences sure seem to be piling up. And now Irene is here. Time for a showdown, Lieutenant Dan?

As of this writing on Monday night, October 29, 2012, millions of people are without power in the overall region affected by Sandy, which is currently being labeled a “Post Tropical Storm.” Dire warnings had already gone forth from New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut governors. Connecticut was hit very hard by Irene and looks to be hit even harder this time.

Almost all transportation is currently cut off in New York City. Bridges and transportation tunnels are closed. Major flooding is taking place. The Battery Tunnel took on fifteen feet of water. All subways are currently flooded with at least five feet of water. New York utilities run underground and much power was already turned off before the surge arrived for security purposes. Such flooding was predicted last year with Irene but never materialized. It is materializing now. As of this writing, we will not know how bad this will be, but it will obviously be the worst storm in recorded history in the area. No storm with this much energy has ever ventured this far north. Sandy is an even greater storm than the precedent-setting storm of 1938. And as I mentioned before, the last time there was a thirteen feet storm surge in New York City was 1821. The Sandy storm surge reached an incredible 13.88 feet!

After Irene hit last year I wrote a third article, A Lesser Hurricane Irene: The Evidence of Prayer? In this article I said:

Though many people were killed, almost five million lost power, huge regions were flooded and flooding is ongoing, and billions of dollars in damage took place, some curiously bitter people continue to insist that Hurricane Irene was a hyped event. Some are very thankful that the huge storm was not as bad as originally predicted. Some are arrogantly putting forth their opinion that the storm was nothing that couldn’t be handled, and that they handled it quite well.

Again, it is now apparent that Irene was a warning.

As a result, many people had become complacent and prideful and have not taken Hurricane Sandy seriously. A million people in the New York area are without power, the city that never sleeps is in darkness, and the Big Apple is underwater. Are people in the area taking Sandy seriously now? There has been a flooding “incident” at a nuclear power plant in New Jersey. Cell phones are not working. All of this is taking place in darkness and the full extent will not be known until the daylight hours of Tuesday morning.

I closed my third article last year with the following:

Lieutenant Dan eventually made his peace with God. For all those who did not during the opportunity that was Hurricane Irene, there will be another showdown in the not too distant future…

This was a clear prediction that something worse was on the way. That “something worse” is happening right now.

Again, Hurricane Sandy is the biggest, baddest, greatest storm to ever hit New York City. They are calling this a “Katrina-like disaster.” The normal high tides are also being affected by a full moon. Some will still insist that all of this is mere coincidence.

THIS IS NOT COINCIDENCE. THIS IS JUDGMENT.

For all those who do not believe in this kind of judgment, you have greater judgment to look forward to in the future. Yet even in the midst of this, real Christians continue to pray for this country and the good news is that the Lord Jesus is hearing our prayers and responding.

We are in the early stages of the greatest national Great Awakening this country has ever seen and nothing will stop it from coming to pass. Non-Christians and unreal Christians will hate this event and fight against it just as they hate the Lord and fight against Him. But for the sake of His people, God is doing everything He can to save and restore what can be saved and restored of this country.

Judgment is a greater degree of warning. It is designed as a last step effort to wake people up. Many are being awakened, but many others continue to insist on the opposite. This explains why Irene was a “Lesser Hurricane,” and why Sandy is the most “Super Perfect Wicked Storm” in the New York area in American history.

Over the next few days we will all see just how wicked. Perhaps it may even approach the wickedness of many people in America who continue to sin to their heart’s content with no remorse and no cure, except that of national repentance and a return to the Savior of mankind.

THANK YOU FOR READING. PLEASE HELP ME GET THE WORD OUT. BE BLESSED.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Connecticut, Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Sandy, Judgment, Lord Jesus, New Jersey, New York City, Real Christianity, The Great Awakening

A Lesser Hurricane Irene Revisited

Oct 28

Posted by RJ Dawson

In late August of 2011 I wrote a series of articles regarding Hurricane Irene and the Virginia earthquake that both occurred within a few days of each other. This particular article, “A Lesser Hurricane Irene,” relates very well to the current Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy that is expected to blast the East Coast in a couple of days, just as Irene did 14 months ago. In this article I state:

“Lieutenant Dan eventually made his peace with God. For all those who did not during the opportunity that was Hurricane Irene, there will be another showdown in the not too distant future…”

You may want to read all of these articles, especially since Sandy is supposed to be at least as bad as Irene, and some are projecting much worse. Thanks, RJ.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Embracing Suffering

Oct 22

Posted by RJ Dawson

Though the Lord has always provided a place for me to stay, I have been essentially homeless for seven years. I put my house on the market seven years ago this month and began living out of a suitcase.

I’m still living out of a suitcase.

My house sold three and a half months later. I only got two legitimate offers. The Lord told me what the final selling price would be at least a month before.

About that time, things were looking so bleak my realtor called to advise me it would probably be best to take it off the market. This was devastating news, especially since he was such an upbeat and optimistic guy. It was really bad news among an entire shipload of bad news. My life had by that time come completely apart but I kept manning the helm and being responsible. My heart was destroyed. I really don’t know how in the world I ever got through it all.

When I received that phone call from my realtor I was out of town, pretty far away, and was making inquiries into a new job and a whole new life. It just so happened I was in the office of the friend of a friend at the end of the day, just visiting. There were four of us. After exiting to take the call I went back into the room and told the others. This was a crisis point. It was one of those things where you either got it right and won a spiritual victory or lost it all. Everything was on the line.

The good news is these were godly men who knew how to pray. One of them had been on his deathbed in the hospital several years before with a very bad heart condition. He should have died but through the powerful prayers and faith of saints God healed his heart and raised him up. This man was always smiling. He wanted me to feel his grip and it was very strong. He was without doubt a living testimony to God’s greatness and love.

I asked him to lead a prayer. Four men stood in a circle in that office holding hands. Eyes were closed. We began to pray. In the midst of the prayer a miracle happened. I suddenly had 100% faith. My whole former life was quickly coming undone but I suddenly had the faith that my house would sell. I had been very positive about the process before but this was different.

God told me in no uncertain terms that the house would sell.

I must reiterate the fact that the house had to sell, and sell quickly, or nothing else would have worked. Bad news was stacked up against me like backed-up cars on a freeway.

After the prayer I quickly called my realtor and told him we were going full speed ahead and to keep working the deal. Exactly one month later on the exact day of the month I closed on the house at the exact price the Lord had told me about before. The selling price was not my asking price and there were counter offers, but everything got done just the way the Lord told me it would. Not only that, but it went right down to the wire. The closer we got to what would be the closing date the more it appeared that the house would never sell. The pressure increased dramatically. Everything hinged on the sale. But I had complete and total peace in my heart regardless of the negative circumstances because I knew what God had said. I kept telling others that it would be okay, that the house would sell, and that it would all work out.

This was not blind faith. It was pure faith. After that prayer with three godly men the Lord told me what would happen and I was merely acting on what He said. I had to keep the faith, of course. And I had to maintain the course. And I did.

It was an extremely difficult time. Everything was hitting me at once. Suffering seemed to be far too light of a word.

This brings me to the point of this article. There are times we have to embrace suffering no matter how counter-intuitive it may appear to be. On a related front, psychologists talk of “going back into the wound” (as painful and apparently stupid that sounds), or healing can never take place. It’s like going through powerful white water rapids in a wimpy canoe with no surface guarantee of coming out alive on the other side.

It is like going into the belly of the beast.

The counter-intuitive nature of spiritual suffering most often causes us to reject it and stay clear of its embrace. But the Word of God clearly states:

For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many. [2 Corinthians 1:5-11] [1]

Sometimes the pain is so great it does indeed appear unbearable. Sometimes we reach a point, like the apostle Paul, in which we despair of life itself. Sometimes the suffering is such that we consider life no longer worth living. But just as the sun goes down and brings on many hours of darkness, the sun will rise again. The long dark night will be over. The Comforter will come.

The Lord rose again.

We will rise again.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

10 Comments

Tags: Dallas Holm, Embracing Suffering, Lord Jesus, Pure Faith, Real Christianity, Resurrection, Rise Again, Spiritual Suffering, The Comforter Will Come, The Sufferings of Christ

Love is the Fulfillment of the Law (2012)

Oct 12

Posted by RJ Dawson

We are taught while growing up that there are certain borders we must never cross. There are boundaries established by the authority figures in our lives that are designed to protect us, but often do much more.

They stifle us. They destroy our dreams. They force us to conform to a very low common denominator in which everyone looks the same, acts the same, and lives in fear of the inevitable consequences of breaking the code.

It’s called culture. And the worst cultures are religious cultures.

There was a time in the American culture when almost everyone bowed to the dictates of a so-called religious moral code that superseded much of what our hearts were designed to experience.

Rather than being loved-based, it was fear-based. And the sad thing about it all was that it played right into the devil’s hands. Though there was undoubtedly limited success against sin in the code, there was also success against life. Proverbial babies were constantly being thrown out with the bathwater.

Have you ever wondered why the God of all creation made it so easy to sin? It did not matter how oppressive a culture might be, or how strict the mores of that culture might bind a person up into a little shell of being becoming too fearful to take a chance on venturing forth. If a person wanted to sin, a person could always find a way.

But while all the authority figures were displaying their very heavy hand at stopping any potential moral failure or embarrassing cultural code-breaking by the young deviants among us, where was God? Why didn’t God surround everyone with angels with big sticks ready to whack us all into kingdom come when we stepped out of line? Where was God when and if we decided to test the boundaries of our cultural arrangement?

Why does God seem to take the attitude that we can do whatever we want but He will get us in the end? Why does it seem as though God doesn’t seem to care all that much about our little lives but is taking big notes that He will use against us at our final trial?

And how in the world have Christians in general bought into this picture of God even though God’s great act of love blares out at us day after day and hour after hour through any one of thousands of reminders, most notably a simple cross?

God became one of us!

We must throw our false religious garbage and idiotic moral codes right out the window if they do not address this simple fact.

God became one of us, and He lived among us, and He knows how hard it is, and He knows how lonely people are, and He cries inside all the day long about how broken people have become and how our hearts are often destroyed by the very nature of this fallen world and the evil among us.

And He wonders how His wonderful perfect creation could all go so wrong…

But there was no other way.

There was no other way to create people just like Him unless He also blessed them with the freedom to choose their own path.

And that’s what this world is all about. It’s the simple answer to the philosophical problem from evil. Human choice creates bad stuff and sometimes some really, really bad stuff. And free will is why God does not stop us from making bad choices. Oh, He will try to convince us otherwise. He will try to reason with us. He attempts to tell us about the eventual fallout when what appears to be a good decision will turn into a complete disaster later on. He really does try to guide us and stop us from doing stupid things. That’s essentially what the Law of Moses is all about.

But at the end of the day He will not deny our free will. He will allow us to choose incorrectly. He will let us have the final say.

What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be!

For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. [Galatians 3:17-21]

But righteousness is not based on law. Tell this to all the moral cultural crusaders throughout history, especially in America, who tried to force compliance toward morality. Tell this to all the dimwitted quasi-Christians who refuse the fullness of a walk with God because it violates their religion and false Christian doctrines and stupid lame-brained attitude that continually attempts to force God to be like them, instead of surrendering their lives completely to be like Him.

Many people think America took a nose dive in the 1960’s but refuse to consider the actions of the previous generations that were the real cause of the cultural breakdown. The 1960’s in America was actually the time of a great Spirit outpouring and spiritual awakening in that Christians in all denominations and people everywhere were being filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues and engaging in miraculous works. But most churches were against it all, and fought it, and opposed the Lord Jesus because He didn’t do it their way! And many fake Christians continue to oppose God and insist on their lifeless religion, negative attitudes, and dead churches to this very day.

How much of this is based not on the unconditional love of God, his unmerited grace, and one’s total dependence on Him, but on a giant misapplication of Scripture? Sound familiar? Though the Law of Moses seems to be filled primarily with Thou Shalt Not’s and that the heavenly author is a negative NO! God always preoccupied with stifling the free wills of His creation, the truth is actually the opposite.

A parent tries to tell a child, “Please don’t do this because if you do it will hurt you,” but then must watch as the child does it anyway and feels just as much pain as the child does if not more when the bad results come forth. Yet parents know the child will eventually have the final say.

Is it any different with God? He knows we will mess up. He knows we will mess up repeatedly. But He has the ability, the strength, and the means to clean up our messes. And this ability, strength, and means stems from His great and powerful love for us. He is able to cleanse our hearts with His precious blood spilled on our behalf, no matter how much we may be stained with sin. And He has the power to raise us to new life!

So why does God seem to be aloof and uncaring even though the direct opposite is true?

Because living right is not about force or religious compliance.

It is about love.

And no one can make a law that forces a person to love someone.

And God will never attempt to force anyone to love Him.

It is not about living a perfect life but finding a perfect love.

God loves us just the way we are. He does not condemn us for the sins we have committed. His great desire is to guide us as the Good Shepherd He is into the green pastures of abundant life where His grace and perfect sacrifice cleanses us and allows us to be free. Things are the way they are on this planet because it is the only possible means of allowing free-willed beings to love God as much as He loves them.

God is love, and—

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. [Romans 13:10][1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: False Moral Codes, God is Love, Holy Spirit Outpouring, Jesus is God, Lord Jesus, Love is the Fulfillment of the Law, Real Christianity, Religious Culture, The Law of Moses, Unconditional Love

The Day of Atonement

Sep 26

Posted by RJ Dawson

He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. [John 1:11][1]

Many Christians have some semblance of an idea that Jesus was rejected by His people. But what most do not know is just how wicked and pervasive the rejection was.

And He is still being rejected today.

He is rejected by the majority of those who confess to be adherents of Christianity. He is rejected by most churches. He is rejected by most preachers. He is most often never welcomed in our so-called places of worship. Christians in general don’t want Him, don’t like Him, and most will never allow Him to be in control and be the Leader we all need.

I have written about this extensively but for the most part it always seems to fall on deaf ears. I have never been officially disfellowshipped from a church but I have been silenced and slandered and libeled and gossiped about. Many wished I would leave before the Lord released me. Though I have met thousands of wonderful believers with big smiles and great attitudes, I have also seen many dirty looks from so many so-called loving Christians and preachers I have halfway come to expect it. Some can think what they want, but others will identify with this. I have years of personal experience in this area and can relate, though on a smaller scale of course, to what the Lord went through.

The worst persecution comes from those you thought were friends.

But official churches do not care. The people within most churches have accepted a watered-down version of the original and have retained the right to hate and reject, and there is no doubt they would hate and reject the Lord if He ever showed up. We have glorified preachers and Christian personalities. We have allowed them the high place, the television studio chair, the radio broadcaster’s booth, and have lifted them up over and beyond the Lord. They claim His Lordship but don’t really know Him. If they did they would spend most of the time on their faces instead of soaking up the control, authority, and glory. These are pretenders who have not only accepted a weak version of the original but teach it as gospel. The time will come when the Lord will clean house but that time is not yet.

There are so many false doctrines being taught within official Christian circles it is laughable. There are many, though, who feel more and want more, and get inspired to act, but quickly withdraw once it becomes evident it will cause a problem in the local body. You can bet there will be scads of preachers and church officials getting creamed at the judgment for being so control-oriented and hateful toward God’s apostles and prophets and teachers, and all those who were earnestly doing the will of God but suffering for it.

Even this paper will go over the heads of some who read it. They cannot imagine that their lovely church could be guilty of rejecting the Lord Jesus, though the very clear evidence is all around them.

On this annual Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, how many churches and preachers and denominational leaders and church-going Christians even consider honoring that which is clearly put forth in the Word of God? Most have never even heard of it. Most would never bring it up, maybe because it is “too Jewish,” and “We’re not under the Law,” or some other garbage. Yet having dead services is fine. Rejecting the infilling of the Holy Spirit is perfectly okay. Wanting nothing to do with anything resembling the Book of Acts is perfectly acceptable.

Such have rejected the Lord. Such are embarrassed by “speaking in tongues.” Such refuse to take on the Name Above Every Name in water baptism. Such will not really love his brother unless he looks like them, acts like them, and believes like them. These people talk about love but violate every commandment concerning love. If they really did love it would show. If they really loved the Lord it would show, instead of insisting on dead, boring, lifeless churches where a miracle could not find its way in edgewise, even though there might be a great eloquent preacher or wonderful “worship” music.

Whoever takes the time to study real revivals and spiritual awakenings knows the usual order of things is wholly unlike the way the Lord wants it to be. But what can He do?

Most have kicked Him out.

Most don’t want Him.

Most have instead invented a worldly, religious substitute.

But the Lord will not be stopped. Just as He has always done, He will use the nobodies and those the official Christians think are idiots. Since He is not welcome in most church buildings, He will use living rooms and garages and shacks and barns and open fields and anywhere else He might find before the official Christians find out about it and shut them down or run them out of town.

I could quote Scripture forever but it won’t do any good. But, speaking of which, here’s a good one:

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. [1 Corinthians 1:26-29]

We are in the early stages of a national Great Awakening. But it will bypass most churches. Most preachers don’t get it and won’t get it. As He did in the beginning, the Lord will use the humble and the nobodies. There are many who have been in the process of being prepared for what is coming forth, and will come forth suddenly. These are the ones who had formerly been rejected, just as the Lord Jesus was rejected. And like Him, they do not fit within official church circles. And because of this, the Lord will generally work outside official church circles and most so-called Christians will end up missing out on the greatest spiritual movement this nation has ever seen.

And you know what else? They will even fight it, like rabid wolves, just as they have been doing all along. But this time there will be far too many real Christians, and they will be connected in fellowship, and they will not be so easy to pick on and pick off as before. And the Lord will be with them and among them because they have never rejected Him like so many others have, but have embraced Him, and suffered with Him.

Since real repentance always accompanies great spiritual movements, there is always the hope that opposing churches and preachers repent as well, overcome their spiritual pride, and get right with God.

On this Day of Atonement, consider the price that was paid to buy your salvation. Consider the One who was rejected but completed His mission anyway. And think about where you want to stand in the coming Great Awakening—within it or against it.

And start doing something about it now.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Baptism in the Name of Jesus, Book of Acts, Dead Churches, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Speaking in Tongues, The Day of Atonement, The Great Awakening, Yom Kippur

Happy Rosh Hashanah 2012

Sep 16

Posted by RJ Dawson

This is a great time of year. The Jewish New Year starts tonight at sunset. This is known as Rosh Hashanah, the “Head of the Year.” It is a traditional time for a new beginning, and those who take it seriously know that God still uses His calendar.

For example, biblical scholars know that the spring feasts have already been fulfilled. The Lord Jesus was the spotless Passover Lamb and then rose again from death on First fruits. He was the first perfect offering ever made, in that He had no sin, but became sin on our behalf:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. [2 Corinthians 5:21]

The Feast of Pentecost was also fulfilled fifty days later. It marked the day the Torah was given through Moses on Mount Sinai, but instead of Law, Pentecost established a day of Love and reconciliation for the simple fact that a long list of do’s and do not’s without faith merely reveal the perfect standard by which we must live. The infilling of the Spirit of God grants us the power and the ability to live:

You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? [2 Corinthians 3:2-8]

Many Jewish rabbis teach that the Old Testament actually speaks of two Messiahs. One Messiah was known as the “Son of Joseph” and would come to earth in the person of a suffering servant. The second Messiah was known as the “Son of David” and would burst onto the scene as a powerful conquering king. They did not perceive that these two were actually the same Messiah, and many Jews in the first century misidentified the Lord as an imposter because He was not the conquering king they were looking for. Yet, the Scriptures are filled with the idea of going downward to go upward. Humility must precede exaltation. If one cannot handle the former, there will be no latter. The Lord Jesus fulfilled this perfectly. He arrived as the Sacrifice Lamb to pay for sin 2,000 years ago as a suffering servant and will soon return again.

And it will be in the autumn of the year.

Pay attention to Rosh Hashanah, which runs from sunset on Sunday night, September 16 to sunset on Monday night, September 17. Ten days later is the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). It begins at sunset on September 25. These are the ten “Days of Awe” when we all should take our walk with God very seriously, engage in spiritual introspection, repent of sin, and do our best to present a pure sacrifice on Yom Kippur. What follows in the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), or Sukkot. It is a seven-day feast commemorating the time the Hebrews lived in temporary shelters in the Sinai desert.

This time in autumn was in all likelihood the actual time of our Lord’s birth and will also mark the season of His return! Sukkot has not yet been fulfilled. We get a tantalizing clue regarding the Lord’s physical birth in the following:

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. [John 1:14]

The usage of the word “dwelt” in the above passage indicates the fact that the Lord tabernacled among us, in a temporary shelter, spreading His tent, so to speak. He spent forty days here after His resurrection in His glorified state, and ascended to heaven bodily ten days before Pentecost.

He will return during a future Feast of Tabernacles, and will then set up a permanent dwelling for all:

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” [John 14:2-3] [1]

The Lord Jesus will return very soon. May we all prepare our hearts this Rosh Hashanah.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

5 Comments

Tags: Day of Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, Hebrew Calendar, Jewish New Year, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, The Second Coming, Yom Kippur

Hope Island

Aug 20

Posted by RJ Dawson

About a decade ago, there was an award-winning television show I really liked on the old PAX TV channel. It was called Hope Island and ran from 1999-2000.

The critically-acclaimed series was about a young minister who was sent to the Pacific Northwest to fix up an old church and restore a ministry that had been neglected for 30 years. It featured a cast of distinct and unique characters who somehow came together under the young man’s leadership and how a wonderful sense of community was restored under the guidance of the Lord.

I believe this is a dream that many believers have—to live within a loving and accepting community that allows each person to walk in the fullness of what God created them to be without any religious pretext or close-minded attitudes.

We must continually remind ourselves, as if we needed reminding, that our churches are not very close at all to the original model created by the Lord, and also remind ourselves that we keep perpetuating a false model that does little compared to the prototype.

In fact, we have become quite comfortable with much less than the best and resist any real change with a passion.

But God still knows our hearts. And He knows we are really not so happy but possibly merely satisfied with an essentially dead routine that never changes. Christians are some of the worst people on the planet regarding change for the better, and are ever fearful of some such calamity or losing control.

But the young minister discovered that the paradigm he was taught in ministry school simply did not work among the people of his new flock and that he must do things differently if he would reach them and allow the Lord to bless their lives.

This is something that has always been on my heart, that we might do as the people of the show did in this regard, and begin doing things the Lord’s way.

We forget that the Lord’s way is off the map. We read the Gospels but refuse to see that His way flew in the face of established, traditional religion. It is because His way is the right way as opposed to our structured and their structured dead religious ways.

His way is the way of the heart.

He was and remains all about reaching us on a heart level and setting us free from whatever bondage we happen to find ourselves within, especially religious bondage. He shows us that there is a way to have our hearts set free and fulfilled while also walking in holiness with Him. He wants us to be filled with His joy to overflowing and His faith to the nth degree.

And it is not at all that difficult to achieve.

The reason so many people liked that show and were saddened to see it cancelled was because it spoke to their hearts about what Christian community could and should be.

Last night I happened to see if I could find it posted anywhere and actually discovered part of one show. And it blessed me. The young man had been given a great opportunity to leave Hope Island and secure a “better” ministry position at a big church with much greater perks and position. He had decided to take it since it was obviously “better” for his career.

But then at the last minute he changed his mind. One particular individual was devastated by the news, telling him in so many words, “You come here and enter our lives and we all fall in love with you and then you leave us?” The people in the small locale needed someone to help bring them closer to God and one another, and he had done that, but did not realize how much of an impact he had made.

He decided to stay.

I must confess, after all these years, I maintain an idyllic dream of actually doing what this fictional young man had done. I long to be part of an eclectic ensemble of real people trying to be real Christians free of all the trappings of the usual Christian dead order and decorum, where people are often bored to tears and don’t know it, and whose hearts are rarely touched or fulfilled.

How long must we persist in, “Just do what you’re told. That’s the way we do things here and we ain’t changin,’” and how long must we wait to decide on taking a chance at having real life with the Lord?

Hope Island is a mere fictional account of what some people did to love one another under the Lord’s guidance. Yet it is closer to spiritual reality than that of most churches. Why do we long for such but rarely do anything about creating such a place?

The Lord Jesus wants to touch your heart today and every day. And I want to be a part of that. Are there any others out there who feel the same?

And, as long as I’m dreaming and take literally the words of the Lord about all things being possible, is there any potential Christian community in the Pacific Northwest that might appreciate someone to help bring it to pass?

Must Hope Island remain a mere myth?

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: All Things Are Possible, Book of Acts, Christian Community, Hope Island, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, The Way of the Heart

I’ll Be Busy For a While…

Jul 18

Posted by RJ Dawson

Hey everyone,

I appreciate all of you for helping make this blog what it is. Thanks to those of you who recently subscribed and for all the comments and “Likes.”

I’m going to be really busy for a while starting a new job and I won’t be able to correspond as much as I have been. I have already set my comments to “on hold” because I would like to reply properly. So when you see that your comments are not yet posted it is the same for everyone. Please feel free to comment as before. Your input is much appreciated.

Also, please continue to check out my past articles if you like. I will try to get back as soon as I can at intervals. I would appreciate your prayers.

Keep up all the great work. We are winning this battle. The Great Awakening is coming forth and real Christianity is breaking out all over.

Later,

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

11 Comments

YOU CANNOT SERVE GOD AND WEALTH

Jul 15

Posted by RJ Dawson

Oklahoma State Representative Rebecca Hamilton has recently posted an eye-opening series of articles on her blog, Public Catholic. I encourage all to take a look at it and see what is really going on behind the scenes of our political process regarding issues of great consequence for real Christians, especially the way money and influence corrupts our elected representatives and why nothing ever changes regarding legalized abortion.

I warn you in advance that these articles are brimming with truth and will give you a front row center view of American political corruption in action. For those of you who know all this has been going on but never saw it from the inside, this is your opportunity to advance your education. I have personally been writing about the religious side of such corruption for years, and my book Real Christianity is saturated with this theme and exposes the compromising dirty deeds of Unreal Christianity. So pay special attention to the love fest between political and religious leaders captured in these posts. If you have any heart for God at all you will see what a bunch of spineless sell-outs many of these people are, and that you could be very close to such sell-outs on a local level.

(Update: June 2016. The article links I had provided when I wrote this post four years ago are no longer functional in part beause Rebecca has moved on to a different website. My apologies. I have done a rudimentary search and have not been able to locate them but that doesn’t neessarily mean they do not exist somewhere. Thank you.)

Thank you, Rebecca, for an inside look at our corrupt money-first political process that confirms everything so many others have been saying for decades regarding the puppets America continues to elect to positions of power. You have proven from the inside that there is no difference whatsoever between the two major parties when it comes to righting the course of this country and standing up for the principles of our Constitution. Most people simply do not see or do not want to see what is really going on behind the scenes.

When the Lord Jesus used the term mammon/mamonas (wealth), He was referring not simply to money, but to the god of riches. He stated that a person will hate one and love the other, and that it is impossible to serve both. Ask a three-year-old to count the elected reps serving the Lord Jesus. Before they get to elebenty-twelve they’ll have the number about right.

I had a long exchange once with a very strong Pro-Life advocate who believed the key to overturning Roe v. Wade was electing Republican presidents. I told him we have already done that, starting with Ronald Reagan almost 32 years ago and nothing ever changes. We keep electing “Pro-Life” Republicans who nominate Supreme Court justices and nothing ever changes. It seems the electorate can only remember what happened a few months back at best and is continually brainwashed by the media.

Is “brainwashed” too strong a term? Then how is it that the majority of supposedly Pro-Life Catholic voters in this country supported and voted for the president in the 2008 election? And now they’re upset because he’s pro-abortion? And has anyone noticed we have six Roman Catholics on the U.S. Supreme Court?

During the 2012 Republican nomination campaign we had a very clear choice in a candidate that had a very long record proving he was not bought by anyone and never would be, had always been 100% Pro-Life, and is on record as being a real Christian who attempts to honor the Lord Jesus and His teachings in all he does.

But he was soundly rejected by Pro-Life Christian Republicans who helped nominate a guy who is the king of flip-flopping puppets.

I believe everything Rebecca said in her post. I’ve been trying to say it to whoever will listen (very few) for years. Watch what happens if the Republican candidate is elected—nothing.

But I am encouraged for this country because a few real Christians figured out a long time ago (and the numbers are greatly increasing at present), that current elected reps will do nothing to right our course, but the Lord Jesus will do everything if we only get on our faces before Him, humble ourselves and pray, and dedicate ourselves to do His will.

And He has heard and is hearing our prayers! We are currently in the early stages of a national Great Awakening. The political process no longer works because almost everyone is bought off. But the Lord honors His people by granting their petitions. When people realize that putting their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus instead of political puppets actually changes things for the better, they quit wasting time and effort on a losing game.

The game simply cannot be won if He is not involved. When He is involved good things happen. I am therefore resolutely optimistic about the future because God is being granted more and more control through our free will submission to His leading and authority.

It will be costly. Christian persecution in America continues coming forth and will rise exponentially. But such persecution always goes hand in hand with Great Awakenings. We cannot have one without the other. Persecution is merely a sign (a big giant sign all lit up like a Christmas tree) that individual believers and Christian communities are strong, effective, and doing the job the Lord commanded them to do.

Unreal Christianity, on the other hand, avoids persecution at all costs, has made friends with the world, serves the devil without even knowing it, and is content with just enough “Christianity” to be satisfied but never so much that demands a real personal cost or invites attack. Such unreal Christians know they would get creamed anyway, so they are only acting in their best interests.

But real Christians simply can’t help themselves. They are anointed and trained by God to attack the enemy. They rise to the occasion. They speak up. They engage in spiritual warfare. It is part of their DNA. They are persevering fighters one and all, just like their Father.

“The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.” [Exodus 15:3] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

19 Comments

Tags: Christian Persecution, Lord Jesus, Political Corruption, Real Christianity, Rebecca Hamilton, The Great Awakening, The LORD is a Warrior, United States of America, Unreal Christianity

Reject God’s Prophets At Your Own Peril

Jul 12

Posted by RJ Dawson

The Watchman On The Wall

The preceding link will direct you to an incredibly timely post from the blog, Manoah’s Wife, and for me, one with clear and current prophetic overtones. Many voices have been going forth from the Lord over the last several years warning this country of what is coming. Without repentance there is no way to hold back the tide. Our national and personal sins have demanded judgment. This passage is a perfect word to each of us, to our “churches” and spiritual communities, and to the nation of America itself.

The good news is that many are not only hearing the prophetic word but are acting upon it. Our former righteousness will not save us in the day we sin, yet the wicked that turn from sin will be saved. This is happening right now. Many sinners are turning to God but many “righteous” are falling away and do not even know it. These “believers” have closed their hearts and minds to prophetic warnings and the full truth of the Lord’s message. They have substituted false doctrines that appear perfectly Biblical and subsist on dry formalism, dead religion, and watered-down “Christianity light” instead of embracing the Lord Jesus in all His power and glory.

It is an exact rendering of the Lord’s words from so long ago directed to His own people:

“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not;’ but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.” [Matthew 21:28-32]

Many Christians have fallen asleep and insist on playing games and engaging in mere dutiful routine because they have rejected the prophetic word and disfellowshipped every prophet whom the Lord ever sent their way. The passage in Ezekiel reveals exactly the heart of God but many “Christians” insist that such is mere “Old Covenant” drivel and that God is no longer like that, in that the New Covenant has transformed God into an uncaring and worldly pansy who would rather we all act like a bunch of Sunday School kids and go through mere motions every Sunday morning. Those who have adopted this false view of God have no chance, because they refuse to listen to prophetic warnings and strong teaching, and instead substitute a fleshy, worldly, and wimpy “Christian” outlook devoid of spiritual strength and power.

What a sad state of affairs it is when most “Christians” would rather reject God for their own “Bible-based” religion or simply live in sin with no conviction or desire to honor the Lord Jesus properly.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” [John 14:15]

Based on this, most “Christians” do not love the Lord and therefore do not show His real love to others. They are dealing with a substitute. They “say” but do not “do.” They cannot possibly send forth the seed of the Gospel simply because they do not possess it, nor want to possess it.

“But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizens who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now and hear what the message is which comes forth from the LORD.’ They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them. So when it comes to pass—as surely it will—then they will know that a prophet has been in their midst.” [Ezekiel 33:30-33] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America In The Balance, Ezekiel, Judgment, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Rejecting God's Prophets, The Great Awakening, The Prophetic Word, The Watchman On The Wall

The Declaration of Independence 2012

Jul 4

Posted by RJ Dawson

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of the Virginia House of Burgesses introduced a resolution that essentially became the actual Declaration of Independence. The short document stated thus:

Resolved, that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances.

That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the respective Colonies for their consideration and approbation.

The resolution was debated the next day and then tabled until July 1. In the meantime, a committee was formed to consider the question of independence. It was composed of five members: John Adams, Ben Franklin, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was enlisted to write the document. After editing, the Declaration was voted upon for acceptance by Congress on July 2, and formally accepted on July 4, 1776. It is interesting to note, however, that it was not actually a declaration of independence. That honor belonged to the resolution of Richard Henry Lee. The original title of the formal document written by Thomas Jefferson was the following:

A Declaration by the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in General Congress assembled

The final draft adopted on July 4, 1776 contained the more familiar title of:

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: A Nation Blessed by God, American Revolution, July 4 1776, Richard Henry Lee, The Declaration of Independence, The United States of America, Thomas Jefferson

Choose For Yourselves This Day Whom You Will Serve

Jun 30

Posted by RJ Dawson

The invisible war rages. There are two competing kingdoms. Real Christians know the real fight is between the Lord Jesus and Satan. These two are the only leaders of the only two kingdoms that exist on the planet.

Thus, the fight is not between this country and that. It is not a fight between Christians and Muslims. It is not a fight between Republicans and Democrats. And it is not a fight between Catholics and Protestants.

The devil has authority over the entire world of unregenerate sinful mankind:

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [2 Corinthians 4:3-4]

The Lord Jesus is the King of His kingdom:

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen. [1 Timothy 6:13-16]

The devil offered the Lord all the kingdoms of the world as his second in command, which means the devil controls all the kingdoms, nations, and countries of the world, or he could not have made the offer. This means he even controlled and sat atop the powerful Roman Empire.

If one purports to honor and believe the Word of God, one must believe this. Therefore, if a person wants life and real freedom, he must at some point leave the devil’s kingdom and join the Lord’s. Otherwise, do nothing. The Lord Jesus is only in authority over those who have confessed His Name and bowed before Him. He is the Father of those who have accepted His sacrifice on their behalf and have been released from their bondage to sin.

According to His teachings, everyone else is under the authority of Satan.

Thus, the devil creates sub-battles within his kingdom to deceive the lost and even Christian believers about the real battle. He divides us through political parties, culture, race, denominations, and a myriad of other subsets in order to take our focus off of him.

This is why the only real change takes place when the Lord Jesus is able to rule in an area where the devil had previously ruled.

In the present battle, Jesus gains authority through the submission of a human being to Him. It is the only way He gains authority. And it must be through a person’s free will and love for Him, and not by coercion. He has only ONE kingdom. He has only ONE community of believers. And He is the ONE leader of His community. Everyone else within it is on equal footing with one another. He created no hierarchies or clergy-laity divisions. He created no men ruling other men within His kingdom. He is the only Ruler.

It is the same in Satan’s kingdom. Though it appears on the surface to be ruled by many different and disconnected leaders, rulers, presidents, dictators, financial kingpins, and religious quacks around the world, all of these are under his command whether they know it or not. If one has not submitted to the Lord Jesus, then one does not belong to Him and one does not have salvation. Such a one remains in His sins regardless of his station in life and receives his or her motivational feed from the original Beastie Boy.

If sin rules a person’s life (and it will unless the Lord is allowed to remove it and its power), then one is prone to powerful deception. Sin is blinding, and those who live in sin are subject to it, controlled by it, and are easily deceived by the devil into believing any number of lies.

And the devil is a master liar.

When one submits to the authority of the Lord Jesus and accepts His only payment for sin, then one is released from the power of sin and the blinders come off. This is a very, very powerful event, and one becomes an entirely new creation. Old desires pass away and new desires come forth to serve God and live a holy life. This is why the Lord referred to a true conversion experience as being “born again.”

This does not happen by merely converting to some branch of “Christianity.” It does not happen by merely joining a church or submitting to it and its particular doctrines. It happens only by submitting oneself to the Lord Jesus with one’s whole heart. He is the only One who can set a person free from the disease of sin, and give a person power over sin.

In fact, His Name means that very thing: YHWH-Salvation, or YeHoshua. The real meaning of salvation is being set free. It is the granting of freedom. Everyone wants to be free, but sin is the one thing endemic to mankind that one will never be set free of without the Lord. He lived a perfect sinless life and thus gained power over sin, and shares that power with whoever will join Him. There is no salvation without Jesus. He is the only One who can bestow spiritual life.

Yet, the devil has a field day dividing up Christians. It was not the Lord who created a million different Christian denominations. It is not the Lord who advocates hating one president and loving another, or siding with one political party and hating the other, or fighting for one Christian denomination and hating all others. The Lord’s community is in perfect unity, and is composed of all those who have bowed the knee to Him and no other.

If the Lord Jesus could be president, then real Christians would vote for Him. Otherwise we should vote for a real Christian. If neither candidate is a real Christian then it doesn’t matter which one is elected, since both belong to the kingdom of the other guy and nothing significant will change.

When the Lord Jesus is in charge there is liberty and blessing. When He is not in charge there is very little liberty and blessing. It should be obvious to Christians, since they supposedly know God’s written Word, that when the Lord is honored, the land of the people who honor Him is blessed. When the land is otherwise cursed, then…

Ask yourself if America is presently in good shape. Does it look like the Lord Jesus has been given governing control of Washington D.C.? Does it appear that He has been given governing control of the fifty states?

Some states are certainly in better shape than others, but most have very serious problems. People have been warning for decades that America is going in the tank, that the nation is filled with sin and murder, and that things are regressing ever faster. Yet, what do we do? We think a particular non-real Christian candidate is better than another? We think sinful human beings will somehow make the necessary gargantuan changes that are required?

We need to look at the big picture. Look back at the last 100 years and one will see a steady downhill slide that keeps accelerating. Yet we do nothing to actually change it. We engage in a bunch of cosmetic garbage that has no effect. The Word of God even predicts that things will continue to grow darker:

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [2 Timothy 3:12-13]

But there is a reason for this. It is not set in stone. It is because most people refuse to give themselves wholeheartedly to the Lord. We as a nation refuse to repent and submit to His authority so He can fix things.

And why is this surprising? The majority of churches don’t want Jesus in charge!

Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain. [Psalm 127:1] [1]

So, with all the constant drivel on the airwaves and the ongoing political process, Americans are fools if they think anything other than our submission to the Lord Jesus will change things substantially for the better.

Until then, the devil is in control of all those who refuse to bow the knee to the Lord, and if such people are in high office, the devil has that much more control.

At the end of the day, whether we like it or not or understand it or not, each of us will either serve the devil or serve the Lord Jesus. There is no in-between. There is no third party.

It may be the devil

Or it may be the Lord

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody [2]

WATCH VIDEO: Gotta Serve Somebody [Won Grammy Award in 1980]

[2] Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody, from the album Slow Train Coming 1979.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Bob Dylan, Choose For Yourselves This Day Whom You Will Serve, Gotta Serve Somebody, King of kings and Lord of lords, Kingdom of Satan, Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Spiritual Battle

The Great Pretenders

Jun 27

Posted by RJ Dawson

At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico. But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.

And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number, to such an extent that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them. Also the people from the cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.

But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail. [Acts 5:12-18]

And this is how it always happens. The clergyites in control will always fight against the Spirit of God until they get off their high horses and get on their faces before Him.

Why have we not seen revival? Why are most church services so dead they might as well be funerals? Most churches are so cold you could ice skate down the main aisle.

The Sudducees in the above verses had their own version of “The First Church of the Refrigerator” and were so incensed on losing control to the Spirit of God they threw His guys in jail. Modern religionists in America don’t do this anymore. They just treat believers with supreme indifference, keep them out of their “private clubs,” and never allow them to come close to expressing their hearts and revealing truth. These are religious control freaks one and all, and the majority of churches in America remain under the control of such fleshly fruitcakes who fight revival and the manifestation of God’s Spirit.

And that’s the main reason we as believers find ourselves in such a predicament. There always has to be certain people who are so in love with themselves and their power they will always stifle any possible move of God.

When there are no Book of Acts manifestations you can be sure humanity is in control.

I mentioned in a previous post that if a poll was conducted among church leaders to sign a pledge allowing the Lord Jesus to have absolute total control in their churches that very, very few would ever sign it.

And the reason why is simple—they would lose control. Life would become a challenge. They would likely lose their perks, and most of all, they would lose their high horse reputations. God would fix it so no one would henceforth want to kiss their “hand” and bow down to them anymore. As it is, most believers worship their preachers and reverends and priests and church buildings and non-Biblical doctrines and all the other stuff the Pharisees and Sadducees were guilty of, instead of worshipping the Lord Jesus in Spirit and truth.

Prayer is the answer—long, hard times of prayer—intense prayer, intercessory prayer, and prayer of no pretense that rightfully moves the heart of God.

Repentance is the answer—solid, heart-rending, sobbing, snot-dripping repentance that proves one is seeing straight, knows one is nothing without God, and desires to do anything to have all of God and His direction.

The Lord, however, is truly a Gentleman and will never force His way upon us. That’s why He waits for us to get down to spiritual business. There are so many saints of God with pure hearts who remain under the control of some fleshly, proud, I’m-better-than-you-and-deserve-my-place-in-the-spotlight pinhead who will fight the Lord all day long in the guise of serving Him. Until someone challenges these people they will always remain in control.

This is what the Lord said about these future Christian pretenders:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.” [Matthew 23:13]

“Woe to you lawyers![1] For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering.” [Luke 11:52]

In other words, if your fearless leader refuses the full Spirit-filled kingdom of heaven and key of knowledge attained by the apostles and first century believers, then so too will you, who have bowed the knee not to God but to a fellow human being in the form of God. The apostles were very humble men and suffered greatly for their faith. But they were also great stalwarts in that they learned to live in hardship and carry the banner of the Lord courageously despite their loss of social standing, monetary gain, and religious position.

Unlike the highly vaunted religious leaders they suffered the loss of all things but WALKED WITH GOD AND POSSESSED THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. They shook the devil’s kingdom to the core instead of joining it like so many unreal Christians and Christian leaders do so today.

Instead of living as the apostles did, however, we treat them like disconnected museum pieces to admire from afar but never think or desire to have what they had.

There are actually millions of such real Christians on the planet today who have learned to live for God and will always live for God regardless of powerful persecution and indifference toward them. They will fight any God-directed battle for the spiritual freedom of humanity regardless of dire circumstances, and reject anything that compromises their walk.

You will know the Lord Jesus is in charge when you see everyone in the vicinity taking a backseat and hitting the deck, especially the high and holy ones who previously thought it would all fall apart if they did not keep their grip on control. Anything not of God will be burned up, of course, and good riddance. But real leaders understand fully that they are nothing and that the Lord Jesus is everything, and every part of the spotlight belongs to Him and Him only.

Let the Spirit of the Lord be in charge!

Let Him do what He wants!

Get the heck out of the way!

Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed,

Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God;

And not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

Nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen. [1 Peter 5:1-11] [2]

[1] Greek—Nomikos: Relating to law, learned in the law, experts in the Mosaic Law. Torah teachers. Those consumed with the letter of the Law but completely missing and neglecting the Spirit of the Law.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Apostles, Book of Acts, Dead Churches, Healing and Miracles, Kingdom of Heaven, Lord Jesus, Prayer and Repentance, Prideful Church Leaders, Real Christianity, Revival

He Steadfastly Set His Face To Go To Jerusalem

Jun 16

Posted by RJ Dawson

Mount Everest (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are times in our lives when we have to make tough decisions.

We must decide to obey God.

I remember hearing a relatively well known preacher several years ago make a statement regarding such tough decisions. In all honesty he said, “I’ve rebuked the Holy Ghost so many times…”

What he meant, of course, is that there was no way what he was hearing was from God. It was too hard. Too difficult. Impossible, even. No way could it be God. He would never ask (command) me to do such a thing.

But, of course, it actually WAS the voice of God…

Not only does the Lord have “hard sayings,” He also has very hard things for us to do at times. And this portends the theme of this article, that God, in all His grace and love, commands us to do impossible things that put our lives in peril and sometimes destroy our comfort zones.

A lazy, lolling river suddenly becomes fast and filled with white water and giant boulders. But instead of simply getting over to the bank ASAP, the Lord directs us to enter headlong into the churning, violent rapids and commands us to ride the wave of the future.

Right.

These are some of the stepping off points in one’s walk with God. How many Christians are there in this world who are no longer real Christians because they refused such commands? How many are merely playing games, fooling themselves and almost everyone else in an attempt to live for God in disobedience?

It can’t happen, you know. Would that you were hot or cold…

You get the picture. Refusing God’s commands while claiming to be right makes one a veritable dab of spit at best and pool of vomit at worst.

Yes, the Word of God actually says that. As Yogi Berra would say, “You could look it up.”

The title of this post illustrates such tough obedient choices. The Lord knew all along He would make that fateful trip to Jerusalem one day and enter into the mouth of the dragon. He would drop His defenses, lose all protection, and become the object of not only the wrath of mankind, but the wrath of God.

But how is that possible? Jesus IS God.

And again, that’s the point. The strong must support the weak. The strong must do very difficult things on behalf of the weak. The strong must carry the day.

Now, in English, the phrase Set His Face To Go makes no sense. We think it makes sense but only because we have discovered what it means. This phrase is an obvious example of a Hebrew idiom that found its way into the literal translation. It comes to us from the KJV translators and is over 400 years old. However, it is based on the earlier English translation of William Tyndale which is going on 500 years old. I do not think those people had any clear understanding of Hebrew idioms. Later translations give a clearer understanding in English. The following is from the NASV:

He was determined to go to Jerusalem… [1]

Young’s Literal Translation states, that he fixed his face to go on to Jerusalem.

The Hebrew idiom, from an original Hebrew Gospel, means that the Lord Jesus could not possibly be swayed from facing His fate. He was resolutely determined to complete His mission. He set His face like a flinty rock to enter the belly of the beast. This was not only sheer determination and willpower to do the job He was called to do; it was also the determination to face the greatest physical, emotional, and mental torture ever suffered by anyone in taking on the massive burden of our sins, and actually become sin on our behalf.

He had every reason, in the natural, to reject such a trip. How could it be God’s will for me to face such a horrible fate? Anyone else would have found a way out, and would have justified his disobedient behavior.

But not the Lord Jesus.

He wasn’t thinking of Himself.

He was thinking of you.

So, we must set our minds at ease in that whatever difficult circumstances He is commanding us to undertake, He will never ask us to go to the cross the way He went to the cross.

But we must go to the cross. We must be crucified. We must destroy our sinful and selfish human nature through real repentance and allow His life to course through our born again veins and arteries, and allow our hearts of stone to be transformed into living hearts of spiritual love and mercy.

He made it relatively easy for us, you know. There is a place in each of us reserved for His Holy Living Spirit. The key to being like Christ, therefore, is not to engage in some ascetic attempt to be “holy” and Christlike through our own power and religious methods, but to unlock the door of our hearts, open the door wide, greet the Lord who waits patiently on our doorstep with a gracious smile and a loving hug, invite Him in, and give Him the best room in the house.

Whatever price we must pay to get us to the point of accepting such a visitation is worth it, don’t you think? And so is anything else He asks us to do, no matter how scary or difficult.

We must all Set Our Face to do the will of God. We must go to our own version of Jerusalem. We must swim across the ocean and ford every stream and climb every mountain (including Everest) and dream the impossible dream.

We must sacrifice our lives in the greatest act of giving for the sake of His abundant life.

It’s what people do when they’re in love.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Determination To Do The Will Of God, Hebrew Idioms, Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Original Hebrew Gospel, Real Christianity, Real Repentance, Set His Face To Go, The Blood Covenant, The Sacrifice Lamb

Baby’s Room

May 30

Posted by RJ Dawson

I don’t normally write about what I am about to write about.

I usually write about the proper application of Scripture and what the New Testament actually says as opposed to two millennia of man-made additions.

But you can’t read that kind of thing all the time. One needs some lighter fare to lighten the load.

I have noticed that many of you write about your own personal stories. In fact, this is probably what blogging was originally intended to be—keeping a daily web log on the events of one’s life.

In that light, I have decided to tell a personal story to bring glory to God. It happened almost a quarter century ago:

We were attending a local fellowship in a town I once lived in. One day, a good friend and spiritual brother in our church approached me with a need. This young man was somewhat new to the church and was a member of my church-based home group, a collection of about ten or twelve people, mostly couples. My family usually held weekly meetings in the small house we were renting, though we sometimes met in the homes of others. It was a good group, and we all got along great and had fun. I did a little teaching, we shared a meal, and we took prayer requests. It was mainly about being with like-minded believers and enjoying each other’s support. You might say most of us were not made of money, though we worked hard. I did carpentry work. Steve was a roofer. Another Steve and his wife did whatever they could including taking care of a large paper route.

Ricky and his wife were young professionals and an older man in the group sold hospital equipment and did quite well. I remember his wife didn’t want to have meetings in her home because she didn’t feel like her home was good enough, even though it was better that what the rest of us had. In particular, she didn’t think her furniture was up to par. Yet, the couches we all sat on at my house had been given to us. We had recently moved to town and were in the process of starting over. A kind couple in the church had wondered if we wanted a little bit better furniture and we were thankful to trade in our older set.

It was Ricky who had called me one day with his request. Knowing he was a member of the group and that we were all trying to live for God the right way, I listened intently and took to heart the story he told.

It seems a young unmarried woman had just had a baby. The baby was born with a terrible skin condition that had no cure. He was covered with sores. The young lady lived with her mother and at least another older relative in a mobile home. The baby would need a special bed usually reserved for burn patients. The good news is that the very expensive bed had already been donated. The problem was the mobile home floor would never support it.

Would I be willing to build a room addition for the little guy?

Lots of thoughts ran through my head. I’m struggling for money. We were both working hard. I only had one vehicle. And yet, I felt like I had no choice but to meet Ricky at the baby’s house and at least take a look.

The material would be donated. All they needed was my labor. Someone else would build a cinder block perimeter wall about two feet high to build the floor on and meet the floor of the trailer. I would take it from there.

I decided to do it.

Over the next few weeks I concentrated on building a room addition for a little baby boy who came into this world in really bad shape in an effort to relieve a portion of his suffering. He was really a cute little guy, quick to smile, and despite his painful condition seemed very willing to live. He was much loved and cared for by his young mother who had a very sweet disposition.

To solve the car problem, we arranged to borrow the grandmother’s little car so my wife at the time could use it for work, while the grandmother carpooled.

After the cinder block wall/footings were constructed, I began building the floor. It was very important that the floor be strong enough for the bed and was the main reason for the new room. Though I can’t remember, I probably went a little overboard and used 2x12s at least 16 inches on center. I decked it, built the walls, and completed the roof. I installed two or three windows to make it bright and cheery, included a sizeable exterior door, and trimmed it all out.

At completion, the floor was level with the mobile home floor and provided a seamless transition to the new room. The big new bed was delivered and installed on one end of the addition. I will never forget that room, all painted with light flooding in from spacious windows (as opposed to the rest of the house which was quite dark). It was a big room.

When the little guy was put in his new bed I knew it had all been worth it, though it caused quite a strain on our lives and finances. I received no pay other than the joy of seeing that little baby with all his open sores smiling broadly as he lay in his new bed, giving him whatever relief it could muster.

I quickly lost touch with them. They lived pretty far away. I have even forgotten the baby’s name, but will never forget him or that time. I don’t remember sharing too much about what the Lord had accomplished for the little one with our home group, but no one else in the church knew what we were doing. It was a big sacrifice, but I knew the Lord was in it and would take care of us. It is interesting that some people in that church looked down on us regarding our financial condition at the time, and seemed to think we were not working hard enough to rectify it.

But Ricky was very happy. God worked through that young man to bring a miracle to pass and it was a privilege to be part of it.

We continued struggling financially in a down market for over another year or two. But then the Lord blessed us with an opportunity to gain our own miracle house, a pretty big house on acreage that just kind of dropped out of the sky.

I have always believed these two events were connected.

God is faithful.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Baby's Room, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity

Sivan 7: The Day Of Pentecost

May 28

Posted by RJ Dawson

The View of Jerusalem from Mount Zion 1849

The following is an excerpt from Real Christianity, The Nature of the Church:

THE UPPER ROOM

Why did Jesus create His community of called-out ones in the humble upper room? For starters, He had to have a place off the beaten path, so to speak. It would have to be owned by a disciple or a disciple’s family who was sympathetic to the cause. It could not be a public place, such as the temple complex, but private, to allow for complete unity of spirit and purpose. It had to be a place big enough for 120 people to pray and seek God for about ten days without interruption. In short, it had to be a house. In reality, it was a house.

Though we cannot yet be positively certain, particular statements in Scripture lead one to the strong conclusion that it was located on Mount Zion, Jerusalem’s highest southwestern hill, and that it was probably the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark.[1] If placed on Mount Zion, this house would be located roughly a half mile due southwest of the Temple Mount, approximately five hundred feet south of the present Zion gate. At the time of the Qahal’s creation, however, this house was within Jerusalem proper since the southern wall of the city was located further to the south. Therefore, though Jesus was betrayed, died, was entombed, and rose again outside the city walls, He created the Church inside the city. Not only that, He created the Church in a house.

Why did He create the Church in the city that condemned Him to death? If it had to be within Jerusalem, why didn’t He create the Qahal in a place of high honor, such as the temple? Was it because He was rejected by the ruling hierarchy? Was it because there was no place of high honor for the Lord of all Creation? Or was it because Jesus simply created His community in the most appropriate of all dwelling places, a place which had been foretold in Scripture?

You will bring them and plant them

in the mountain of Your inheritance,

The place, O LORD,

which You have made for Your dwelling,

The sanctuary, O LORD,

which Your hands have established.

The LORD shall reign

forever and ever. [2]

THE HOUSE OF GOD

From the untold millions which had descended from Abraham by the first century A.D., only the upper-roomers were present when this scripture was fulfilled. Each and every one of these original 120 were Jews. On the birthday of the Lord’s Qahal, Jesus established a sanctuary, a dwelling place on His own mountain—Mount Zion. On this mountain, the 120 were planted, both in the Lord and by the Lord, and functioned as the ovum fertilized by the Holy Spirit which would eventually develop into a body—the body of Christ. Before the sun went down that first day, the original 120 grew by twenty-five times to three thousand—all Jews, all descendants of Abraham, all devout and God-fearing, from every country under heaven to which they had been dispersed. Even though Luke, the author of the book of Acts, doesn’t say so specifically, can there be any doubt that each tribe of Israel was represented in the initial outpouring?

This was the mysterious destiny of the house of Israel—to one day become the actual dwelling place of YHWH!

When Abraham was first called forth and told he would be the progenitor of many people, God had His own future residence in mind. Later, He revealed this truth to Moses, who led God’s people to the land of promise. The house of God would only be a home for the obedient, however, since they would be sharing quarters with God Himself. The structure of the tabernacle of Moses reveals to us The Nature of the Church. The tabernacle was a tent, mobile, following after the Lord as He moved onward into the future. It was filled with His presence. It was where the ark of the covenant was kept. The priests would minister in its midst. Sacrifice was called for. Repentance, baptism, and the infilling of His Spirit were all typed into its construction. It was pliable and moveable, built for eternal purposes.

The tabernacle and all the rites associated with it continued to the time of David. It was then that God revealed to yet another generation the purpose of the tent, and the great revelation of its underlying meaning. After building his own house, David desired to build a house for God. But the Lord would not. God’s plans had not changed, nor would they ever. His eternal purpose was wrapped up in the illustration of the mobile tent. In the future, His dwelling place would be similar—it would be within humanity. [3]

[1] Acts 12:12

[2] Exodus 15:17–18

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Israel, Jerusalem, Lord Jesus, Mount Zion, Real Christianity, The Church, The Day of Pentecost, The House of God, The Infilling of the Holy Spirit, The Qahal, The Upper Room

The War On Truth (HIS NAME IS JESUS)

May 25

Posted by RJ Dawson

The War on Truth is the War on the Lord Jesus.

It is the ongoing attempt to relegate Him to a far lower stature than that which He actually possesses, and than that which He has rightfully won. It is a slanderous attempt to deceive the world about His true identity, to conceal and not reveal His exalted status as Supreme Being, the Alpha and Omega, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the very God of the Universe.

Not content to merely fool the world of unrepentant sinners, the War on Truth is an ongoing and sinister effort to hoodwink believers into believing a lie.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. [2 Thessalonians 2:7-12]

Most Christians believe God and Jesus are two different people.

How does one suppose this came about? Are Christians somehow above Satan’s deception?

But much more, are Christians somehow above God’s deluding influence upon them?

Selah. . .

The outer identity of the Lord Jesus has been reformed and refashioned. His perceived persona has been transformed into a graven image by the devil as a way to lead people off the trail, and onto a deluded road to nowhere. This has been done through a partnership with Pharisaical pretenders and theological eggheads—those who can only see with their heads and never their hearts, and who insist on rationalizing spiritual truth and relegating it to formulas and philosophical nonsense. It is the taking of knowledge about God and attempting to cram it into tiny brains and make revealed truth scientific and formulaic.

“I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” [Isaiah 42:8]

The word LORD in the above verse is actually YHWH.

And the final and highest compound Name of God is YHWH-Salvation, or the Name Above Every Name, or Yehoshua, or JESUS.

It is nothing more than the specious casuistry of the Pharisees in the guise of theological higher learning to take the Lord’s Name in vain and make it secondary, which can only be pure slander.

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” [Exodus 20:7]

This slandering of the name of God is taught by those who wouldn’t know God if He was standing right next to them, and by those who never allow themselves a Book of Acts Spirit-filled experience if their lives depended on it.

These are religious intellectuals in love with themselves, their religious authority, and their contrary spiritual views which do not lift up the Lord Jesus (THE TRUTH), but exalt instead their heady and rationalistic perspective at the expense of the glory, majesty, and honor of the One who came to set the captives free.

And as I mentioned in my preceding article, these teachers would never allow the exaltation of the Name Above Every Name in water baptism in a million years.

And they call themselves followers of Jesus?

And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.” [Mark 7:6-9]

What always drove the scribes and Pharisees crazy? What was the one thing that always caused them to become enraged? It was nothing more than being proven wrong by the Man Himself, and consequently losing their exalted religious status and control. Has anyone wondered why the Lord was always acting the servant? Why He is so humble? And why the Pharisees never were? Does any of this look familiar?

“Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly of the Father.

In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf…” [John 16:24-26]

These disciples of the Lord had not yet perceived who Jesus really was, and could not comprehend the concept of YHWH becoming a Man, and thus, the Lord was relegated to speaking in “figurative language.” But such language was merely a method He had to use until the full truth of His identity could be absorbed. This would not happen in its entirety until the infilling of His Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’” [John 14:6-9]

How more evident can the tactic of hell be? The pinhead in pinstripes knows he must deceive people concerning the Lord because it is the only chance he has. He must lie. He must fool. He must dupe. He must cheat.

Humanity must fight back.

Christians must especially fight back.

Real Christians are fighting back.

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. . . [Matthew 10:32-34] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: God With Us, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, The Everlasting Father, The Lord Almighty, The Mighty God, The Name Above Every name, The War On Truth, YeHoshua, YHWH-Salvation

Water Baptism in the Name of Jesus

May 19

Posted by RJ Dawson

There’s power in the Name of Jesus.

But apparently not in baptism.

The vast majority of Christians worldwide for the last two-thousand years have absolutely refused to invoke the Name Above Every Name [1] in water baptism.

By this, at the very onset of their Christian walk, they have failed to honor the Lord Jesus though simultaneously claiming a very close walk with Him.

Most are simply unaware. Many have been taught an alternative method and have accepted it, though it violates Scripture. Some simply do not care.

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.

“Baptism doesn’t matter. So back off.”

“Baptism is very important, of course, but the first Christians obviously got it wrong.”

“Baptism in the Name of Jesus is heresy.”

“Oh that. Yeah, there’s some weird people out there doing some weird stuff, especially those guys. The verse at the end of Matthew is very clear on the right way to baptize.”

Despite the fact that every single reputable Biblical encyclopedia, dictionary, ancient source, and denominational historical record states flatly and clearly that the original water immersion method taught and administered by the apostles included invoking the pure and holy Name of Jesus, about 95% of all Christians continue to refuse to use the Lord’s Name in baptism. And most conduct baptism in a man-made non-Scriptural manner.

This disses the Lord.

If a Christian believes in and honors the Holy Trinity, (a non-Biblical term), his or her water baptism will certainly reflect it. He or she will honor these three distinct Persons by invoking their Biblical titles. He or she will honor the first Person of the heavenly Godhead—the Father. He or she will honor the second Person of the heavenly Godhead—the Son. And he or she will honor the third Person of the heavenly Godhead—the Holy Spirit.

There’s only one little problem.

This is something the first followers of Jesus never did.

And the reason why is simple: They recognized Jesus the Messiah as YHWH Himself. And they honored the one God of the Hebrews and showed their allegiance to Him by invoking His Name, the Name Above Every Name, in water baptism. They were taught by the apostles themselves, who set the precedent, and who were themselves taught directly by the Lord Jesus.

The record in the Book of Acts and throughout the epistles is clear—there is absolutely no Scriptural historical evidence whatsoever for title baptism. It never occurred. It was a much later development.

Now, why does one suppose this happened? Why was it officially changed, though the Word of God continues to loudly declare it openly and exclusively? Who could possibly be responsible for removing the powerful and holy Name of the Lord Jesus from baptism?

Regarding the Word of God, which Christians claim to honor, here is the overwhelming evidence that demands a verdict:

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” [Mark 16:15-18]

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. [Acts 2:38-41]

But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. [Acts 8:12-17]

So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; [Acts 9:17-18]

“A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’” [Acts 22:12-16]

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?” And he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay on for a few days. [Acts 10:44-48]

It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. There were in all about twelve men. [Acts 19:1-7]

Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. [Romans 6:3-4]

Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. [1 Corinthians 6:11]

There is a reason such verses of Scripture bring strong reactions. If one studies the Book of Acts, one discovers that the enemies of the Lord hated His Name, and they hated His followers’ use of His Name. They knew there was great power in the Name of Jesus, and they knew it greatly superseded their power.

Demons were cast out by the Name of Jesus, not mere titles.

Miraculous healings took place by the Name of Jesus, not mere titles.

People were being made free from the wicked power of sin by the Name of Jesus, not mere titles.

Concerning the command of the Lord regarding water baptism, why have most Christians agreed with the enemy?

“There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4:12]

This is why Peter said what he did at the conclusion of the first prototypical message of the Church Age. Immersion in water in the name of Jesus signified the giving of oneself to Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior. It signified an extremely undignified and all-embracing act—dying completely to self—performed in the open and recorded in public for all to see. It signified the burial of the repentant (dead) person and total surrender to the Lord Jesus.

Instead of dissing the Lord in baptism, it was the highest possible form of praise.

Real Christians are constantly on the move toward greater spiritual growth and maturity, the gaining of more revelatory knowledge, and a closer walk with the Lord. We learn new things all the time. Life with the Lord Jesus is a spiritual adventure. It is productive and fruit-bearing, though there are times of severe struggle and trial.

However, resistance against new revelation is often on the surface, ready to emerge. In light of that:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. [2 Timothy 2:15]

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. [Acts 17:10-11]

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. [Colossians 3:17] [2]

[1] Philippians 2:9

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Baptism in the Name of Jesus, In the Name of Jesus, In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, New Testament Baptism, Real Christianity, The Name Above Every name, The Trinity, There is Power in the Name of Jesus, Title Baptism

The Image of Deception—Legacy of the Unreal

May 15

Posted by RJ Dawson

The following is an excerpt from Real Christianity, The Nature of the Church:

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. [Ephesians 4:4-6] [1]

Each of the principle foundation elements of the first Qahal were counterfeited by the Church of the Reversed. Specifically, Jesus became characterized as someone much less than God. He lost His place of total, absolute dominion. He was no longer honored as King of Kings, except possibly in name only, and there was no spiritual kingdom. Repentance became ritualized, and was replaced by the paying of homage to the new Christian Pharisees and the institution they controlled. Unreal Christian adherents no longer repented to the Lord, did a 180 degree turn toward righteousness, or changed their way of thinking to reflect their new spiritual nature (since no real change had taken place).

The correct water baptism method employed by the first church was corrupted entirely. Candidates were no longer even required to be immersed, for example. Like counterfeit repentance, water baptism evolved into a ritual practice which had much more to do with honoring one’s particular “Christian” culture and traditions rather than honoring the Lord.

In fact, to illustrate the true nature of the woolly wolves, the “name which is above every name”[2] was no longer invoked in baptism, but banned from the process entirely, and the doctrinal truth of the Spirit of Jesus living within believers continued only in a religious, conceptual sense, and was otherwise thoroughly denounced and disestablished. All four doctrinal points taught by the apostles on the first day of the Church morphed into ritualized practices with no spiritual meaning, and the truths from which they morphed were eventually declared heretical. The new Christian melting pot also contained the adulterated forms of fellowship, bread-breaking, and prayer which were presented as legitimate, though hidden behind each was the salivating, snarling visage of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

In the final analysis, we discover that the unreal church possessed little more than the fossilized remains of the practices which turned the world upside down in the first century. As a result, the Lord had little authority over its powerless and non-relational members, and church life became a routine practice with little or no life-changing purpose or ability to minister beyond mere human capabilities. But as in many locations in the world today, the Lord’s persecuted church continued to function just as it had in the beginning. Like the remnant of Israel spoken of by Paul in the book of Romans,[3] Jesus has always maintained a remnant of true believers within the earth. His Qahal has never ceased to exist.

Though only a small minority compared to the vast collection of Christian adherents in the world, its members continue to honor their Messiah as did the upper-roomers. However, since the Lord’s community has never been concerned with geopolitics, the forced subjugation of people groups, or the writing of very subjective chronicles, it has faded from historical view. Even if this knowledge cannot be satisfactorily documented for the skeptics among us, the fact of the matter is that the characteristics of the first Christian community, the prototype, remain extremely different from most of the churches and church organizations throughout history and modern times, both in practice and doctrine. Christians continue to be tied to structures promoting dual class division and institutional formats which have little to do with real Christianity. Christians have largely rejected the work of their most distant ancestors, and have lost due respect for the truths they taught, and the One who taught them.

Will we continue to be so blind and arrogant that we place the blame for this fact on them, rather than ourselves? They are the ones who built the foundation. They are the ones who paid in blood to set the example which all successive generations were to follow. If their very immature spiritual juniors of the present continue in this vein of quiet mockery and religious complacency, the Unreal Church of the Conformed will grow even larger with greater determination against truth. In fact, the bloody persecution of real Christians will expand from the present hell-holes of this world and will soon go international. Every nation will take part. The greatest enemy of the present day community of called-out ones, however, are not modern Herods and Neros, but modern religionists intent on protecting their turf.

And who are these chief persecutors? Who are the new Christian Pharisees? In what form do they exist today? Who are the ones influenced by the same spirit that gave Saul of Tarsus his commission to fight the Church? Such deceived ones are much closer to all of us than we think. Through their resolute and unwavering stand for their chosen form of Christianity, they have allowed themselves to become the very image of the unreal.

Our greatest enemy wears virgin wool.

[2] Philippians 2:9

[3] Romans 9:27

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Christian Pharisees, Correct Water Baptism, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, Deception, False Prophets, Lord Jesus, Qahal, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Saul of Tarsus, Wolves in Sheep's Clothing

You Can Trust Your Heart With God

May 12

Posted by RJ Dawson

If God is anything at all, He is faithful. He won’t let us down. He’ll always be there. Betrayal is the farthest thing from His mind. And though we might not be able to figure out why, He really does love us all, and it hurts Him to have those He has created reject Him.

And we think, how in the world can God be all-powerful and strong and yet so easily hurt by mere human beings? Maybe it’s because He’s not the big bad unfeeling ogre some people think He is. He really can be touched by our pain and feelings of helplessness.

But He also knows that freedom comes with a price and He can’t be there every five seconds to protect us from every little happenstance. There is no growth in that. God puts a very high price on maturity and maturity demands pain. There is simply no other way.

Now, He does watch over us, and He often protects us, but His goal for us is to grow and be like Him. He is not in the business of having perpetual children who never grow up. Why in the world would He want that? WE don’t want that. So the way things are make life tough.

But He wants us to be up to the challenge. He has chosen that we enter this world in a completely helpless state. He has chosen the way of growth. Any intelligent person would eventually discover that if he or she was in God’s shoes it would be done in the same way.

But whatever happens, because God is loving and kind, it never means that anything lousy is permanent, or else He would not have made a way for miracles. He would not allow the possibility of a sunrise chasing away the darkness of night. And he has made His Holy Spirit available to help and comfort us.

Christianity 101 is this: Our Lord Jesus is God, and God is Love, and Love is good.

There is no doubt that the circumstances of this life can be bad, but God is not bad. And when God is summoned in faith He shows up, and He chases away darkness and a lack of hope. He blesses us with strength and will often help us open a door, so we might go in where the life is.

I have found that when we are serious about God, God will be serious about us. There is a clear connection between giving ourselves completely to God and God giving Himself completely to us. He is a lover, and He believes in love. And He knows love is a 100% commitment and never anything less. Therefore, if someone wants to mess around on God and give Him anything less than what He has already given to us, that someone better not expect anything from God.

If you have never been hurt in love you have never lived, so why would we expect to treat God in such a way? If it isn’t fun for us, why would it be fun for Him?

We are truly made in the image of God, and if anyone loses track of this, our Lord Jesus is the perfect image of God in human form to always remind us. Jesus is God. Did He not provide the greatest expression of love in paying our way out of sin?

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” [John 15:13] [1]

If that’s not love, there is no love. The greatest love is giving oneself for another. One will find that when he does for God what God has done for him, he will know God.

Such giving creates a pure heart. Selfishness, however, creates a cold and evil heart. This pretty much explains everything, doesn’t it?

Our Lord is 100% Love, 100% faithful, and a 100% giver, and these are the kind of people He relates to.

One will never go wrong in giving his or her entire heart to the Lord Jesus.

In fact, one could never do anything more right.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

7 Comments

Tags: Blessed are the Pure in Heart, God is Faithful, God is Love, God is the Greatest Giver, Jesus is God, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Spiritual Maturity, Trust Your Heart With God

Happy First Birthday, Real Christianity

May 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

It’s been one year since I started this site.

And what a year it has been. I somehow came up with 110 posts, almost all of them 2 to 3 page articles. You can access the full list through the Article Archives Tab in the header if interested in hopes that a title might stand out to meet a need.

I began with Fight the Good Fight of Faith on May 10 of last year. Thanks to my friend Jo Rae who made the first comment and often shared my posts on FaceBook. You can access her site here.

A few of you have added this site to your blog roll and I greatly appreciate it.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed, especially Don and Susan who have been here since early on, Don in May and Susan last July, and have supplied me with consistent support in the form of faithfully reading and commenting. I wondered if this deal was ever going anywhere since hits were so low for so long, but these two have been especially encouraging. You can go to Don’s site here, and find Susan’s site, Manoah’s Wife, here.

My friend Tom has been a great friend and support. He is a wonderful teacher and story teller. I encourage everyone to check out his site, Tom Graves Bookbites.

I want to thank my friend Ann who said my book was Francis Chan’s Crazy Love on steroids!

Thanks to Patricia and Anthony for all their support.

Please forgive me for not being able to mention everyone. I try my best to connect with all your sites. Some of you probably wish I didn’t connect and comment so much! Many thanks also to all my friends and new acquaintances who have subscribed. Please note the “Likes” and comments and check out all the cool people associated with this blog. There are some incredible people out there doing great things.

You can also check out the long list on the lower right hand column filled with comments and their authors, and gain access to their sites (keep scrolling down), along with the most popular posts.

Thanks also to my email subscribers, some of whom are long time friends.

Regarding traffic, things have picked up, starting primarily with the post on April 13, The Miraculous Red Sea Crossing. I prayed a special prayer on that day of blessing and the Lord answered it.

As a minister of the Gospel, my desire is to get the word out regarding that which the Lord puts on my heart. I am largely self-taught, but that obviously includes all the Lord has taught me and what I have learned through many decades of Christian experience. Those who know me know I have a wealth of knowledge and, like so many of us, can hold my own with degreed seminarians, college graduates, and seasoned ministers of the Gospel. The nature of this ministry is such that I get few opportunities to write or speak, though the message the Lord has given me is vital and very necessary. I must use alternative means to earn a living, but my real work has always been ministry.

I recently added an excerpt from my book on the ABOUT THE BOOK/AUTHOR tab. Read it when you get the chance. I was told and felt in my heart that Real Christianity, The Nature of the Church was ahead of its time when I wrote it. If you are interested in a book written in the 1990s that is more topical than most Christian books written today, I encourage you to purchase a copy. If anyone out there wants to add a review, please let me know.

Thanks to everyone associated with this blog who have purchased books. Believe it or not, all of them are still my friends (I think). Special thanks to my good friends Terry and Linda, and Forrest and Katy, for buying several of my books and distributing them to their friends.

I appreciate all of you—readers, subscribers, those who click the little “Like” button to express appreciation for a particlar post, all who have made comments, the many of you who have reblogged this site, and those who shared it on other sites.

Most of all, I want to officially thank the Man upstairs who has supplied all the ability, anointing, and inspiration. I hope above all things that this effort has brought glory and honor to my Lord Jesus, our great conquering King and Hero, loving Savior, and Everlasting Father. He’s the greatest.

The immediate and not too distant future will continue to usher in the early stages of our national Great Awakening currently taking place. Let’s all do our part and remain faithful, upbeat, and optimistic. Regardless of the challenges before you, I leave you with these words:

“For truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” [Matthew 17:20]

Later,

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

16 Comments

Raising the Dead (UnTase Me, Bro!)

May 9

Posted by RJ Dawson

Historically, how have Christian believers broken out of their spiritual lethargy? What methods has God used to shake His people from their slumber? What does He normally do to raise the dead and inject new life?

We have a concept known as “revival” that church people often refer to. Such revivals take many forms, from a week or two effort in a local church with a visiting evangelist to an all out spiritual awakening. Most such revivals do not amount to much, just as most church services in general do not amount to much.

American Christianity has become so watered-down any uptick at all is considered a big change of pace and bordering on going too far. The goal has become comfort and community standing in most circles. Churches and ministries insist on continuing in their sell-out 501C3 IRS and state charter status. They insist on maintaining a fake standing of respectability among sinners that has absolutely nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus. Ministries of all kinds continue to insist that no physical building or meeting place means no viable or effective ministry.

How did all this happen? And why does it continue to happen? How in the world did the life-changing and society-transforming Gospel of our Lord Jesus become entrenched in so many traditional and standardized mores and forms that actually do next to nothing in bringing real light to hungry sinners? Why do so many believers and ministers defend their incorrect applications and fight against the Lord Jesus Himself whenever He attempts a corrective?

During the great awakenings of the past, many hundreds of thousands broke out of their spiritual lethargy and routine traditions and turned back to God. The original Great Awakening that broke out in late 1734 was the first example in America of how a blessed people could become arrogant and stuck fast in fleshly sin and consequently needed strong national correction.

After the Pilgrim Separatists arrived on these shores in 1620, the next generations of the greats who established this nation saw the spiritual strength of American Christianity fall precipitously by the late 1600’s. God then again brought in new life in part from the European continent beginning in the early 1700’s to help right the course. This led to big changes.

There were knock-down drag-out fights concerning the “old way” and “new way” of new life. It was as if the Lord Himself was riding in on a horse leading the battle.

But what did the old-time traditionalists do? They fought Him! This always happens. God brings in new life, believers grow fleshly, dead, and religious, and then God must bring in new life yet again.

And every time He does it the ministers he does it through who bring such powerful conviction are fought against as if they are introducing heresy.

You know what real prophets want to say to such religious idiots? They want to say,

“Okay, Fine! Go to hell, then! Keep your stupid little two-bit dead religion!”

The problem is not that such dead Christian forms exist but that no one wants to believe their own church or ministry is one of those dead Christian forms. Therefore, the bad guys are always seen as the other guys or those weirdos on the other side of town.

But here’s a test: Do you see the ministry of Jesus in your church? Do you see the Acts of the Apostles in your church? Do you see miracles and power and unconditional love and great life in your church? Are you in trouble with the governing authorities who are by and large indifferent toward God, or have you cozied up with them and sold God down the river?

What do we want, our dead religion that society has no problem with or the life-changing and extremely powerful real Gospel that threatens the devil and makes unrepentant sinners want to kill us?

(Oh. Sorry. Probably too strong. Sure, what I just said is all over the pages of Scripture but its way over the top to try to apply such a thing to our modern times…)

But this is what the real Gospel has done throughout history. It is what it has done in the Great Awakenings of this nation. It caused division. It caused strong emotions. It caused betrayal among Christians.

Ignorance among Christians is always a problem. Christians must mature a little before they go spouting off a bunch of stuff about their beliefs and methods which are usually not really all that Scriptural.

But the greatest wrong is institutional traditional Christian thinking and doctrine that actually opposes the teachings of Jesus or refuses to fully acknowledge His entire curriculum and the plain historical record within the Gospels and Book of Acts.

The devil started a war when he invaded Christian circles many centuries ago and established his own various forms of Christianity. Real Christians must be willing to answer that war with a war of their own against his deception, falsehoods, faux Christian beliefs, and those he has deceived.

Many Christians are held captive by false gospels. Love and truth can set them free but the expression of such love and the teaching of such truth involves a high personal cost. Judging by the ministry of Jesus, the apostles, and early saints, one had to wade into some really bad religious biker bars to set captives free. Most established and “credible” Christian ministers do not do this, deciding instead to defend their own denominational standards and outright false doctrines, but real Christians have been doing it for 2000 years and continue today.

The problem is that Christians get fat and sassy and ever willing to fight to protect their flesh. The devil then gains a hold within that flesh. Christians who serve money (most) are easy pickings by the forces of evil because Satan knows such people have been compromised. Such backslid “believers” will only go so far but will stop when their income is threatened (or their next meal). Combining sinful human flesh and the devil creates a world created by that union that opposes the kingdom of God. And most people who call themselves Christians are much more comfortable in this FakeWorld than they are in God’s kingdom.

Our Lord Jesus is very hard on sinful human nature. That’s why He commands us to crucify it, kill it, destroy it, and eliminate it. Fat and sassy feel-good preachers with an opposing attitude and agenda instead coddle it and embrace it and support it. They are very uncomfortable with strong Gospel truth. They would rather make friends than preach repentance. They would rather support and applaud the temple money changers than do the following:

Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS?’ But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. [Mark 11:15-18]

Is this the God you serve?

Is your church due for such a cleaning?

The Lord never established what we know as churches. The apostles never did either. The early Christians never had church buildings or 501C3’s or salaried ministers or any of the things we claim we could not do without. What would happen if the Lord began establishing the same kinds of formats He did in the beginning?

Well, guess what? He is. The new formats will soon outnumber the old formats. It is happening right now. The Lord is raising up millions of no-name believers who do not care about prestige or community standing or church buildings or salaries or any of the things most ministers and church-goers claim they cannot do without.

Study the Lord’s lifestyle and ministry. Study the lifestyles and ministries of the apostles and first-century believers. Read behind the lines. Open your eyes. The astounding spiritual effect they had on the wicked world of that time had everything to do with the way they lived their lives. Whenever we try a “better” way that is not so hard on our flesh it always causes the opposite result. Will we sleep or will we live? Will we get fired up for the Lord or stay physically comfortable but spiritually dead?

Why did the Lord do things the way He did and teach His disciples likewise if it wasn’t vitally necessary for the work at hand?

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. [2 Timothy 4:1-5] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Acts of the Apostles, Cleansing the Temple, Lifestyles of Early Christians, Lord Jesus, Paul's Exhortation to Timothy, Pilgrim Separatists, Raising the Dead, Real Christianity, Revival, The Great Awakening

Achieving the Objective in the Face of Adversity

May 7

Posted by RJ Dawson

Followers of Jesus are often attacked in ways that cannot be anticipated. Veteran believers have been attacked so many times and in so many ways one would think they could learn to prepare for such whizzing cannonballs from out of left field and howitzers from the darkness of deep space. We all know it happens, it will happen, and there is nothing to do about it happening.

Persecution is simply a fact of the real Christian’s life, and it takes many forms. Many are subtle and arrive from various, seemingly unconnected sources. The worst forms come through people you know. Possibly the worst form of all is associated with betrayal at the hands of a friend.

All such persecution took place against the Lord Jesus, the One who pioneered what we call Christianity—the One who first stepped forth to face the full brunt of the devil’s attack. He told His hand-picked men that it would happen to them also, that it went with the territory, and that there was essentially no way to fulfill God’s will and attend to our callings without taking shots, some very severe, from rabid spiritual enemies.

Judging by what happened to the Lord, the apostles, and the early saints, the devil is a dirty fighter.

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.

Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes.

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household! Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” [Matthew 10:16-28]

All people experience fear, and at times the fear meter spikes. The Word of God says that people have fatal heart attacks due only to fear. It is a powerful emotion brought on by tough circumstances, sometimes dire, and is often the result of spiritual retaliation. Those people who never surrender their lives to God will potentially fear everything and everyone but God, and as a result have no answers for fears arising from very real circumstances.

But the Lord teaches us to fear Him. He clearly illustrates the fact that God has the ability and authority to destroy an unrepentant sinful person, both body and soul, by tossing him or her headlong into the fires of hell.

It is Scriptural passages such as this that cause nominal believers to question the Word of God and wonder if they will continue on in their trek toward total faith in God. They think that maybe such a passage was added later by a scribe or was translated incorrectly. Or maybe the verses were written down verbatim per the Lord’s teachings. And maybe, just maybe, one should cease and desist from his or her sorry, disrespectful, and rebellious ways, and FEAR GOD.

Considering the fact that non-believers have no answers for their fear beyond mental therapy and drugs, and that real Christians experience peace, courage, and strength by trusting in and obeying the Lord in the midst of terrifying circumstances, it would follow that such directives are absolutely true.

The cool thing about surrendering to God, despite the devil’s lies to the contrary, is that one is putting oneself under the authority of a loving and merciful Creator.

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” [John 6:37-40]

Yet, even though we may be in the will of God and be loved as a child of God and be watched over by God and be in the hands of God, spiritual attack and persecution are still in play and will happen as a matter of course. In fact, the more one lives for God, the closer one gets to God, and the more one successfully attacks the enemies of God, the more attack and persecution one will experience.

Therefore, the idea of a peaceful, calm, and steady Christian experience devoid of any form of retaliatory murder, bloodshed, dirty fighting, vile and untrue accusations, filthy gossip, and persecution is simply and unequivocally not Biblical. It is manmade. It is devoid of life. And it is fake.

Real Christianity is only for the valiant and courageous who are willing to put everything on the line and face the devil head on. Such followers of the Lord are either fearless or will never allow fear to stop them from achieving the objective. Winners are those who endure to the end, who finish a specific trek or mission, and who see things through regardless of impossible obstacles, wicked betrayals, and all forms of attack. They are those who complete the course.

None of it is possible without the Lord but that does not make it easy. Just because the Lord Jesus is with His sons and daughters in the fight and on task does not mean such battles and spiritual construction projects are a breeze.

But it does mean one thing. It means that as long as one continues to respect and honor the Lord Jesus and maintains his or her faith, courage, and obedience toward Him it will get done.

The job will be completed.

The objective will be achieved.

“No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.

Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” [Joshua 1:5-9] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Achieving the Objective, Be Strong and Courageous, Betrayal, Christian Persecution, Fear God, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Spritual War, Stay on Mission, Surrender to a Loving Creator

The Partial Bliss of Ignorance

Apr 28

Posted by RJ Dawson

Everyone acts upon what they know. People generally make choices based on an illusion of complete knowledge. Until one learns something new they act as if they know everything, or at least everything they need to know about a given subject.

Few people consider the fact that their current choices and actions are based not on a pure perspective, but on incomplete knowledge. The decisions we all make at any given time are therefore almost always suspect.

Our choices are imperfect but we don’t see this at the time.

Accordingly, our lives are built on incomplete data. How can such a structure make for a strong and secure foundation? The reason hindsight is always 20-20 is because foresight almost never is, though we often think it is at the time of decision making.

How many times must we say, “If only I had known…”

Consequently, it is usually the case that people make choices based more on what they want, even though they may attempt to make a studied and informed decision.

This means, of course, that it is desire that drives us. Such choices based on personal desire are relatively easy and simple. Of such are the choices of a child, including children of the adult variety.

But how can we possibly choose by including information we do not have? And how do we know we do not have it? What if we discover something the day after our decision is made that would otherwise affect our choice? (“Well, if I knew that, I never would have done what I did…”)

In time, some people get wiser. They don’t want to get burned again. They do not want to have to deal with the consequences of what turned out to be a stupid choice. So they become more careful. They learn about possible pitfalls. They develop a feel that goes into the mix of the decision-making process. Sometimes the feelings are based on truth.

But more often than not, these feelings are based on fear:

“The last time I went into the surf I stepped on a stingray/got nicked by a shark/got sucked into an undertow/got all stung-up by jellyfish.”

Yet, sometimes a person decides to never step foot in the ocean due only to perceived fears, no doubt based on someone’s fear-based advice. Until he eliminates such fear, his choices will always be suspect.

And he will never enjoy the thrill of the surf.

Though making correct choices must be learned empirically through experience, we cannot allow perceived judgments to cloud the outcome. We cannot treat a new circumstance exactly as the old circumstance, because conditions are always different.

This is why life is not formulaic—it is because God is not formulaic.

Therefore, sinful man apart from God always tries to create a safe world and eliminate all risk. This is not living by faith, and as such can in no way be pleasing to God.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. [Hebrews 11:6]

The more one attempts to eliminate risk, be ready for any bad scenario, have an answer for anything life may throw one’s way, cover all the bases, and prepare in detail for all things possible, the more one will actually open the door for disaster. If one feels he is covered no matter what may happen, one will unconsciously let one’s guard down, relax in a false security, and eventually get creamed with catastrophe.

Why? It is obvious that such a person not only prepares for disaster but expects it, or else he would not put so much effort in the preparation. He is not preparing to avoid disaster or eliminate it, but building a supposed safety net to deal with it when it happens.

He does not know the future but is convinced he must make a wise investment in covering himself. But his assessment of possible bad scenarios is very limited and full of holes. It is impossible to prepare for anything. “Anything” is way too large. Inevitably, one will take a hit where he neglected to cover himself with armor, in that the chink in his armor was previously unknown until his opponent’s sword found it.

Living by faith in the Lord Jesus, however, actually does cover one from any possible scenario. The difference is that one has no knowledge of the future but God does, and by faith, one trusts God for his protection.

It is the only possible way to live a secure and peaceful life.

Otherwise, one will trust in one’s ability, one’s money, one’s ability to earn money, in insurance of every possible kind, false doctrines and teachings that appear sound, and anything and everything except the Lord Jesus.

Following the Lord does not mean everything will be perfect, though. It is sometimes the will of God that we endure tests, trials, adversity, and persecution. I mean, we are in a spiritual war, right?

But we know by faith that the Lord will see us through the storm, and we can have the peace that passes all understanding in the midst of storms.

On the other hand, the illusion of complete knowledge apart from God is highly deceiving, and creates the very opposite of what one intended. The false sense of security that arises is the very thing that destroys one’s life.

“For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.” [Mark 8:35]

It is a scary thing to reject God and choose to be one’s own boss apart from God, or follow another. It matters not how sensible one’s choices may be. It boils down to acts of pure pride, defiance, and rebellion. No faith equals spiritual death regardless of how many bases appear to be covered or sources accessed to make wise decisions.

Not only that, but having no love for the truth of God’s Word will actually blind a person regarding it. The rejecting of living by pure faith and loving the Truth opens the doors of deception, and this deception will even come from the Lord Himself:

It is said that ignorance is bliss. This is true in part, in that a lack of knowledge promotes a false security.

But real bliss arises from pure faith in the Lord Jesus and obedience toward Him. It is the only way to cover all the bases. It is the cure for ignorance and blindness.

And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.”

Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?”

Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” [John 9:39-41] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

11 Comments

Tags: False Security, Ignorance is Bliss, Living By Faith, Lord Jesus, Love of the Truth, Real Christianity, Spritual Blindness, Spritual War, The Peace That Passes All Understanding, Without Faith it is Impossible to Please God

The Deceived Majority (Part 3)

Apr 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

Our news is heavily censored. The mainstream media does not tell the whole story. It only tells part of the story. It has preset limits. It will not report anything regarding the real intentions and purposes of the power elite. Hence, the American citizenry have been conditioned to fight against the very thing they need.

Instead of standing up for freedom, justice, truth, and the American way, the majority of the country stands up for the bondage, injustice, lies, and the un-American ways of the financial big boys running the world.

Americans have been deceived into shooting themselves and one another while the bank robbers make their getaway.

Why do you think we are currently in such a bad economic downturn? Indications are that there is no recovery in sight. Yet the government keeps doing everything it has ever done and more. We keep spending like there’s no tomorrow. We keep fighting wars we cannot win. Iraq turned into a disaster. The original goals were never met. Washington DC keeps raiding the pockets of Americans doing things that do nothing substantial for Americans. In fact, our money is being used against us, yet we still go along with the program. This is sheer lunacy. Americans are acting as if they are certifiably insane. All the signs are there that America is insane. We keep doing the same thing election after election hoping for a different result and nothing material ever changes for the better. The new boss is the same as the old boss. We keep electing their choices instead of ours.

But America is not insane. America is deceived.

I had high hopes for the 2012 elections. But the overall Tea Party Movement had already been co-opted and watered-down since the 2010 elections. It was the one force within the Republican Party demanding real change for the better but has currently collapsed into mediocrity in supporting globalist, establishment candidates. The majority of Christian “evangelicals” in this country also support the establishment choices. Go figure. American voters continue to choose candidates who promise the moon and but give us a different kind of moon. It’s happening all over again.

The Tea Party Movement now sees very clearly that it has supported the wrong candidates. Newt Gingrich has gone south regardless of the Sarah Palin endorsement and the mega-millions of his Las Vegas casino supporter. Evangelicals threw their votes away as usual, the majority on the goofy and duplicitous Rick Santorum. And last and least, Mitt Romney, the bought and paid for rich guy of the mega rich, has actually garnered much Tea Party support, though he is about as Tea Party as the president.

The Tea Party higher-ups blew it. They rejected the only Tea Party candidate in the race. They are starting to understand that they messed up big time, that they missed their moment in the sun, and that they handed the race to the very people they claim to be against. Mitt Romney is the chosen candidate of the economic elites who are destroying America. Tea Party people, Christian Evangelicals, and Catholics are supporting Romney in large numbers. As time goes on they will see what stunning dunderheads they were.

There was a freedom uprising in the making after the Ron Paul Revolution of 2007-2008, the Tea Party breakout in early 2009, and the high point during the 2010 elections, but it has gone soft again. Some of the elected Tea Party candidates have proven to be disingenuous pretenders. We’ve been made to believe that the likes of the president, Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich are the only possible saviors of the nation, and the latter three are even being portrayed as pro-Tea Party, which is just dumb.

Ron Paul remains THE ONLY Tea Party game-changing presidential candidate, and was so even among the full field of Republican aspirants.

Most do not study the policies and background of presidential hopefuls. Most do not care about their real views. Most Americans only care about surface stuff and personalities and sound bites and emotional rhetoric and political theater. The American electorate appears as a high school kid dreaming about a certain girl but never having the gumption to ask her out. Instead, he chooses someone easy and unchallenging—the crooked rooker and vain rhetorician—the pretender and the pretty boy—the mnemonic mime and crowd pleasing good old boy—the pseudo-evangelical and the believer in moron angels—a bunch of safe status quo Lego-equipped plug-ins, but no real game changers. Real change for the better can happen, there is no doubt about that, but voters keep choosing the “safe” route. Americans keep choosing mediocre snake-oil salesmen and double-agent politicians instead of truth-telling statesmen.

Like the ten wimpy spies in the Sinai wilderness who chickened-out on facing giants and fighting for the Promised Land, the Deceived Majority has forced the real American Patriots to continue trudging around the desert instead of fighting for and gaining the prize. You know what happened next after the spies turned in their report. God was on fire with anger, upset by their lack of faith, courage, and refusal to man-up. (See my article, Fighting For the Promised Land.)

This is what America is now facing. As Billy Graham said at the first Clinton inaugural in 1993, we have sown to the wind and reaped the whirlwind.

The solution remains right in front of us. All we have to do is just do it.

JUST DO IT.

We must fix our country. We the People are the boss, not the hell-bound elites in power. We are being murdered in slow motion. Americans feel this effect and the pain associated thereof but continue to put up with it. We know something is very wrong but most are unaware of what is actually causing it or what to do about it. Who are the murderers of America?

There is only one presidential candidate who consistently sticks to his views whether it hurts or helps him politically. He does not have the “lying politician gene” possessed by most office holders that they use to shade truth and protect themselves. He is not a politician. He is not telling you what you want to hear. He is telling you the truth. He is an American statesman. The others are political inserts. They are backed by very powerful people and interests.

Ron Paul is backed by the people, and many of those are young adults. These young ones know what is going on. They are much smarter, more knowledgeable, and more aware than older Americans because they’ve only consumed relatively small amounts of the government and media-sponsored “believe what we tell you to” kool aid. These young patriotic critical thinkers are the hope of America and will eventually make the difference. They are supporting Ron Paul in ever-growing numbers with much passion. They are supporting their future dreams and American freedom.

With regard to the 2012 presidential election, freedom can still make it to the oval office this year, at least in some form, even though the fix is already in and the majority continues voting for the wrong people. (See my article, You’re Being Scammed.)

But because real change is afoot, the young will right our course in due time, whether this year or later. The demographics are very clear: Older Americans are choosing Romney. Gingrich and Santorum land in the upper middle, and much of Ron Paul’s support is from the young. It is without doubt generational. The Freedom Movement will continue to advance. The truth will keep coming forth. God will bring forth those who will make the difference. Whoever is elected in 2012 other than Ron Paul will have the power to drive the final nail in the coffin of this country and will certainly try, but the opposite will happen. It will again be sad to see an election opportunity go down the drain, but it will serve as an ultra-serious wake-up call.

Regarding deceived and wimpy majorities, only about one third of the American colonists supported the Revolution. Yet, this one third, a decided and very clear minority, defeated the greatest power on the planet with almost 70% of their own countrymen opposing them. How you like them odds? Remind you of a little guy named Gideon?

Real American Patriots are fighting back, not as a bunch of law-breaking rebels and senseless street rioters, but in the spirit of 1776 when the enemy was just as powerful and just as entrenched. Our founders knew the only way to be successful was through full commitment. They did not look back. They did not back down. They did not consider what losing would entail. It was all or nothing. They refused to quit. Americans did the impossible then, and Americans will do it again.

God is on our side. The arrogant big boys are going down.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

WE’RE WINNING (Quit Listening to Liars)

Tags: 2012 Presidential Election, Censored Mainstream Media, Lord Jesus, Real American Patriots, Real Christianity, Ron Paul, The American Revolution, The Deceived Majority, The Great Awakening, The Tea Party

The Deceived Majority (Part 2)

Apr 22

Posted by RJ Dawson

How do we know we have been sold down the river by a bunch of lying greedy traitors? Here’s one little reason: [US Debt Clock]

Now, take the Debt Clock and imagine a Sin Clock. Sin has been rising exponentially for a while now and will soon hit epic proportions. As a case in point, it was intriguing to me when I first read the Old Testament passage many years ago regarding the collective cultural sin of the Amorites:

“Then in the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.” [Genesis 15:16]

The entire culture of certain Canaanite tribes was based on the most vile and disgusting sins. Yet, the Lord would say something to the effect, “Hold on, their sin has not yet reached its fullness. When it does I will judge them.” Or in other words, “I’ll exterminate ‘em and get their sorry filthy demonic hides off My planet.”

But until their sin was full, there was always a chance of repentance. Once their cultural sin reached its zenith, however, there was no longer any chance for redemption. At that point, their minds and hearts had become totally depraved and they were hooked on sin 100% with no turning back.

Will America ever reach such a point? One must do some gauging. One must compare the total national sin of today with the total national sin of fifty years ago and a hundred years ago. There has always been sin, but there has never been a time of such national sin and depravity as there is right now. Never.

We allow babies to be ripped apart piece by piece from the womb and it’s not a crime. The majority of the nation, THE MAJORITY, engages in every form of sexual sin known to man and most of it is not only not a crime, it’s not even considered immoral.

Do we realize that the vast majority of Americans insist they are Christians? And do we understand that logically, it means all these “Christians” are the ones committing all these sins? Why do we think God is somehow okay with this? Who has been lying to the American people? Who is responsible for not bringing the necessary strong rebuke to get people back on track?

Could it possibly be American “Christians” and “Christian” ministers of all denominations who have made friends with the world, with money, with fleshly pleasures, and with pride and prestige? Ya think? Could it be that most preachers talk a great game but deliver a bunch of shallow soup devoid of the sin-convicting and life-changing pure Word of God that the Lord Jesus delivered? Do we have pansies in the pulpit who may appear as strong and anointed messengers of God but are actually spiritually neutered generic pablum-producers that affect no real change of heart? Judging by the state of the country and American Christianity, this must be the case.

The majority has turned its back on God.

Yet, people can believe any garbage they want to believe. Not only is this American, it’s the will of God, in that the Lord has granted to all the authority to choose. He encourages people to choose. He also encourages us to choose right, but He will never force our will.

Do you realize what such portends for humanity? Do you know what is therefore really going on? It’s all part of a grand test. God wants to see who will be worthy. He gives us all a free will. He allows for temptation. Who will fall? Who will resist? Who will live for God? Who will do their best to get it right and try to live according to His revealed will and Word? Who will have the courage to continually overcome and fight back against evil?

NOT THE MAJORITY. Except for possible brief moments, the Majority is almost always wrong, spiritually speaking. Always. In other words, if you want to run with the pack the odds are great you will lose your soul.

Human life on this planet is therefore, in general terms, a Sinai desert experience:

“All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers. You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.

“Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

“Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

“He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint. In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end.

“Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God.” [Deuteronomy 8:1-20]

Our Lord Jesus stated very clearly that only few will make it. Only a small minority will make it into the kingdom. Only a small minority will make it into heaven. Out of multiple thousands of those who followed the Lord during His ministry, only 120 made it to the Upper Room.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” [Matthew 7:13-14] [1]

Since this is the case, it logically follows that if one is to do the right thing, live for God, and successfully resist sin and temptation, one must TRY. One must put forth EFFORT. One must often put forth FULL EFFORT. One must overcome the rip tide of sin and rebellion and the strong tug of temptation. The grace of God is free, but the powerful forces of evil are always around, probing, tempting, compelling, and willing to deal.

The majority falls for the devil’s lies every time. The majority is deceived and does not even know it.

So what’s the solution? It’s the same as it’s always been. The miracle of America is that it was formerly a place where enough people were living for God and desired His authority that the entire country was on the right track. Real Christians were still a distinct minority on the planet, but many were concentrated on our shores.

But as Christian morals and real faith in God has diminished, so has the state of the country. The only solution is turning back to God.

And you know what? It’s actually happening…

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

5 Comments

Tags: Abortion, American Christianity, American Sin and Depravity, Enter Through the Narrow Gate, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, The Deceived Majority, The Great Awakening, The Sinai Desert Experience, US Debt Clock

The Deceived Majority (Part 1)

Apr 21

Posted by RJ Dawson

On January 7 of this year, I posted an article entitled, You’re Being Scammed. I highly recommend you check it out, both for content and the clear prediction made three and a half months ago. You can read it here.

I also wrote a three part series called, Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success. These were posted on January 26, 27, and 29: Part 1. Part 2. Part 3.

The following are related articles:

Fight the Good Fight of Faith

When You Gonna Wake Up?

The point of these articles in part was to prove that the majority of people are somewhat lazy and willingly uninformed. In the case of what has happened to America, it’s because the majority of American voters are often lazy and stupid. At least, this is exactly what political pundit and former Clinton campaign manager James Carville once stated about Democrats. You can find his long quote regarding this in the fourth of the seven preceding articles.

It always amazes me how shallow, forgetful, and deceived people are when selecting their President. We go through this every four years. And every four years, the campaign managers and major financial backers almost always succeed in duping the electorate.

It’s pretty much the same every election. The big boys plan it all years in advance, groom their candidate boys for a decade or two, and then spring ‘em on us like a fresh new wind, all tidy and clean with bright shining smiles and full of inspiring rhetoric.

And almost every single one of them is lying through his teeth.

Nixon was a case in point. He was one of the greatest politicians that ever lived, and craftily played both sides of the street with ease. He would think one thing and say another in such a way that America was pretty much fooled every time, going way back to his Vice President days with Eisenhower. He was generally conservative in his early political career in the late 1940’s and early 50’s, but became the left’s point man within the Eisenhower Administration. He acted the anti-Communist but was actually double dealing. The history is there if you want to research it.

Then the country unbelievably elected him President twice, the second time by trouncing the Democrat McGovern in 1972. What the majority has never figured out was that Nixon was a liberal wearing conservative clothing. His rhetoric and his record were two different things. (Sound familiar?) The majority of voters, however, never bother trying to match the two, being interested only in speechifying and promises.

Thus, presidential elections rarely matter. The majority never pays attention to a politician’s real record. The majority is only concerned with the shallowest of surface perspectives. Continually electing the people we keep electing borders on insanity. But it never stops.

There have always been chosen ones. But on the other hand, the big boys have controlled both parties and both major party candidates for the better part of the last 100 years. If one does not believe this, then one simply does not have the knowledge. What one probably has instead is the residue of lies and deceit stuck fast in one’s brain, and the propaganda masters smile and grin and laugh and even cackle at how easy it is to fool the public.

And it is. It is very easy. All one has to do to be successful is deceive the majority.

Parts 2 and 3 will delve further into this topic and also bring the pivotal 2012 election into play. Stay tuned.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success, Fight the Good Fight of Faith, Lord Jesus, Presidential Elections, Real Christianity, The American Voter, The Deceived Majority, We're Winning (Quit Listening to Liars), When You Gonna Wake Up?, You're Being Scammed

How To Stir Up Religious Spirits (And Start a Raging Persecution Fire)

Apr 19

Posted by RJ Dawson

The Death of Stephen by Gustave Doré (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Way to go, Stephen. Now look what you did!

If only you would have left well enough alone. Why couldn’t you just find a nice little church somewhere and behave yourself? Why couldn’t you just sit down and shut up? Why couldn’t you just keep your crazy opinions to yourself? Didn’t you know this would happen? Didn’t you know those nice people would go crazy when you confronted them with the truth? Now they’re coming after all of us!

The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people. But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. But they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.” And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away and brought him before the Council. They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and alter the customs which Moses handed down to us.”

And fixing their gaze on him, all who were sitting in the Council saw his face like the face of an angel.

The high priest said, “Are these things so?”

And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.’ Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM.

“But God spoke to this effect, that his DESCENDANTS WOULD BE ALIENS IN A FOREIGN LAND, AND THAT THEY WOULD BE ENSLAVED AND MISTREATED FOR FOUR HUNDRED YEARS. AND WHATEVER NATION TO WHICH THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I MYSELF WILL JUDGE,’ said God, ‘AND AFTER THAT THEY WILL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.’

“And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.

“Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was disclosed to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent word and invited Jacob his father and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five persons in all.

“And Jacob went down to Egypt and there he and our fathers died. From there they were removed to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. But as the time of the promise was approaching which God had assured to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until THERE AROSE ANOTHER KING OVER EGYPT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT JOSEPH. It was he who took shrewd advantage of our race and mistreated our fathers so that they would expose their infants and they would not survive.

“It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father’s home. And after he had been set outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds. But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian. And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him, but they did not understand.

“On the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’ But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND JUDGE OVER US? YOU DO NOT MEAN TO KILL ME AS YOU KILLED THE EGYPTIAN YESTERDAY, DO YOU?’ At this remark, MOSES FLED AND BECAME AN ALIEN IN THE LAND OF MIDIAN, where he became the father of two sons.

“After forty years had passed, AN ANGEL APPEARED TO HIM IN THE WILDERNESS OF MOUNT Sinai, IN THE FLAME OF A BURNING THORN BUSH. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I AM THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM AND ISAAC AND JACOB.’ Moses shook with fear and would not venture to look. BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, ‘TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY GROUND. I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM; COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.’

“This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘WHO MADE YOU A RULER AND A JUDGE?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN.’ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness together with the angel who was speaking to him on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living oracles to pass on to you.

“Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him, but repudiated him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt, SAYING TO AARON, ‘MAKE FOR US GODS WHO WILL GO BEFORE US; FOR THIS MOSES WHO LED US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT—WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM.’

“At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and delivered them up to serve the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, ‘IT WAS NOT TO ME THAT YOU OFFERED VICTIMS AND SACRIFICES FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, WAS IT, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL? YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP. I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON.’

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. And having received it in their turn, our fathers brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations whom God drove out before our fathers, until the time of David. David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him.

“However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says: ‘HEAVEN IS MY THRONE, AND EARTH IS THE FOOTSTOOL OF MY FEET; WHAT KIND OF HOUSE WILL YOU BUILD FOR ME?’ says the Lord, ‘OR WHAT PLACE IS THERE FOR MY REPOSE? WAS IT NOT MY HAND WHICH MADE ALL THESE THINGS?’

“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said,

“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.

Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison. [Acts 6:7-8:4][1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Christian Persecution, Christian Pharisees, Lord Jesus, Martyrdom, Moses, Real Christianity, Religious Spirits, Stephen, The Holy Spirit, The Most High Does Not Dwell In Houses Made By Human Hands

STRONGHOLDS (Don’t Confuse Me With Facts!) Part 2

Apr 16

Posted by RJ Dawson

The fortifications of hell include the fortresses of false mindsets and lies that keep people in prison. Many are deceived by false ideas that become strongholds. These strongholds must be marched on, attacked, overwhelmed in battle, and destroyed to set people free. This can only be accomplished through spiritual means. The apostle Paul continued his narrative to the Corinthians as follows:

We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. [2 Corinthians 10:5-6]

We can plainly see that Paul is speaking of false ideas that make up a false mindset or even a false religion, and that such things must be destroyed. Speculations (“Imaginations” in the KJV) comes from the Greek word logismos. It means, “a reckoning or reasoning” actually hostile to faith in the Lord Jesus, as with the self-explanatory lofty thing. Part of the apostle’s mission is taking every thought captive, to imprison every false idea, to destroy every false argument, and to punish all disobedience.

The point is to subject all thinking to Messiah. The mind of Christ is pure and correct. The minds of His disciples must be as well. His code is perfect. His teachings are complete and pure. However, because false ideas and lies masquerade as truth and people are brought under their power through deception, a war scenario fits perfectly. The Lord, for example, destroyed the devil’s arguments during His temptation in the wilderness by effectively using the Word of God. The devil was using the Word as well, but had deceptively corrupted it. He had amended it to include lies and a false application. He built strongholds into it.

This is what corrupt ministers do as well. They adulterate the pure Word of God. They do not teach or live out the pure Word as the Lord Jesus and the apostles did. We have a written record of the Lord’s teachings and actions, as well as those of the apostles and first-century Church. It is not that difficult to make comparisons between then and now. When the Lord spoke the Word, lies were exposed and strongholds came down. The real Word of God is completely pure and very, very powerful:

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. [Hebrews 4:12]

The mature believer is able to minister the Word of God properly in the tearing down of strongholds. The Word can penetrate not only thought processes but also intentions. The apostle Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, as were all the original early believers. It was not possible to spread the Gospel as far as they did and as fast as they did without the ability to war in the spirit in this way. By the power of God, and with the Lord working with them, everything within and among the enemy’s camp was revealed.

It is obvious that many people refused to relinquish their revealed falsehoods, however. Instead, being incensed, they would turn the spiritual battle into a purely physical event and beat or even murder the believers. By doing this, they reinforced their false belief systems and actually strengthened their road to hell.

Yet, those who subjected all their thoughts and ideas to God were made aware of their deception and strongholds. By an act of their will, they allowed the Light of God to shine upon and within them and it exposed their darkness. Their darkness was consequently chased away and they were cleansed. Without the Light of God, they were unaware of the false concepts and ideas implanted in their minds.

However, they allowed the Word of God to be spoken. They listened, they heard, they believed, and they embraced truth, confessing their salvation. This process can be summed up in the following verse:

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. [Romans 10:17]

People who have not subjected themselves fully to the authority of the Lord Jesus have residing within themselves impure codes of living, false concepts, and lies masquerading as truth. These things are truly very strong fortresses. There are so many false belief systems in the world it is a wonder the planet is not even darker.

The devil has formulated lies and darkness into what appears to the deceived as truth.

It is only the Word of God that is able to cut to the heart of such false ideas. As warriors attacking a strong military fortress, real believers must continue to fight against all untruths, giving no quarter, and checking every section until all is secure. The deceived will be set free in no other way, and that, of course, includes all of us.

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” [John 8:36] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Deception, Don't Confuse Me With Facts, False Doctrine, Fortresses, Impure Codes of Living, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Strongholds, The Word of God, Unreal Christianity

STRONGHOLDS (Don’t Confuse Me With Facts!) Part 1

Apr 15

Posted by RJ Dawson

Truth can be very offensive. People formulate their perception of the world by the choices they make or those made for them.

The New Testament talks about the concept of strongholds, and this concept is seldom more applicable than when it involves a person’s understanding of truth. Everyone has a code to live by, but of course, not every code is good. Of codes that do appear to be good, most are not pure. If an individual lives according to an impure code, the flaws within the code will eventually appear as flaws within his life.

Unreal Christianity is loaded with such flaws. To quote from my book:

WHERE HAVE ALL THE TEACHERS GONE? (LONG TIME MISSING)

Much church teaching is about things other than the pure Word of God. It involves specialized doctrine which is often in opposition to that of other churches and even Holy Writ, and is designed for gaining control and unity within a congregation. Such schooling will never result in the necessary graduation rates of spiritually mature believers required to fulfill our commission.

The task of the New Testament teacher is to impart that which the written Word of God contains. He does not pick and choose. He shows no partiality toward certain scriptures. The Lord did not place him in the body to express denominational slants or biased doctrinal positions based on improper understandings or traditional outlooks. Since it is obvious that Christianity is still filled to the gills with doctrinal error and silly statutes, it is evident that real teachers are not wanted at the party. Anytime God sends a person to divide truth from error, he or she usually gets run off or becomes an MIA. Truth becomes the victim and error is protected, just as it happened with the Lord and Barabbas. [1]

Some flaws are obvious. Most flaws are not. Anyone can be deceived or can deceive himself into living according to a flawed code, and thus not be aware of the inherent impurity. Yet, even if one becomes aware of a flaw within his personal or Christian code, it is often discounted or dismissed.

This could be due to cultural influence or familial allegiance. It could even be due to personal stubbornness, since many people will hold fast to false concepts or wrongheaded ideas after such things are pointed out, usually because such a thing is perceived as an attack on their character or intelligence.

Sometimes people might think or even know something within their code is wrong, but have no respect for the person or belief system that reveals it. Whatever the case might be, a mental or spiritual stronghold within an individual that is in opposition to truth is a detriment to said individual by limiting his freedom and clouding his understanding.

What follows is the one New Testament passage that reveals this truth. Since so many believers have been taught from the King James Version or derivatives, and since it is from the KJV that the word stronghold was initially derived, I will list it first, followed by the same passage from the NASV, and from which all other passages in this article are taken:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)… [2 Corinthians 10:3-4 KJV]

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. [2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NASV]

In modern English, the words strong holds become fortresses. These are from the Greek word ochuroma, which appears only once in the NT and derives from a root that means, “To fortify, through the idea of holding safely.” It is defined in the physical as a castle, a stronghold, or a fortress—hence, a strong military fortification.

However, in the sense that Paul uses, it is (1) anything on which one relies (1a) of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavors to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent.[2] In the Scriptural passage written by Paul, the teaching apostle uses the illustration of a powerful military fortification in referring to a false concept, idea, or false argument.

The Lord Jesus used a similar method when He stated,

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” [Matthew 16:18] [3]

Here we have, again, the illustration of gates, or bars, or a strong prison. It is the rock of revelation that the Lord Jesus is indeed the Messiah, and it is upon this rock that the Lord will build his community. In addition, the gates of Hades will not prevail against or overpower the Church. Death will not hold the Lord. He will die but will not stay dead and will break out of death, and subsequently lead all of those who recognize Him as Messiah out of death as well.

In this case, hell, or actually Hades, is a real place. It is the place of the dead, apparently in the very heart of this planet. However, Hades is also among us in the here and now, in that spiritual death among living human beings is rampant.

It is the community of the Lord Jesus, filled with and empowered by His very Spirit that moves against all strongholds and destroys them, especially the stronghold of death when an individual comes to salvation and freedom in the Lord.

[2] UBS Greek Dictionary; Louw-Nida Lexicon

The devil has formulated lies and darkness into what appears to the deceived as truth. It is only the pure Word of God that is able to cut to the heart of such false ideas. [Excerpt from Part 2]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

15 Comments

Tags: Deception, Don't Confuse Me With Facts, False Doctrine, Fortresses, Impure Codes of Living, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Strongholds, The Word of God, Unreal Christianity

The Miraculous Red Sea Crossing

Apr 13

Posted by RJ Dawson

Today is Friday the 13^th, a most superstitious day on the calendar. This is the second of three Friday the 13^th’s this year. We had one in January and will have another in July, so the day isn’t all that rare.

But today also happens to be Nisan 21 on the Hebrew calendar. Nisan 21 is the seventh and last day of Unleavened Bread. It is a holy day, as was Nisan 15 last Saturday.

Traditionally, these seven days marked the time between the nation of Israel exiting Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. It was a time of unleavened bread because they were on the run, first to simply pack up and get out, and secondly to stay ahead of Pharaoh’s army. The king of Egypt first decided to let them go at last, but then changed his stubborn mind yet again. It was a fateful decision, as was every other decision he made against God. If he had left well enough alone after any of the ten plagues, he would have been better off. But because he kept fighting against the will of God and God’s people, he eventually lost everything.

We can find such a place in Egyptian history when the nation was devastated, but that’s another story for another time. Today, we will remember a miracle.

If the Red Sea miracle did not happen, there would be no Israel. If there was no Israel, there would be no Messiah Jesus. There would be no sacrifice for our sins. We would all go to hell. But it did happen because there was purpose in it. It was not only to save the nation for the sake of the future birth of the Sacrifice Lamb, it was to save the nation. God loved Israel and He still does, of course.

But at that last moment, when the world-class army of Egypt was bearing down on them, and when they had no perceivable means of escape, God came through.

And this is always the point: The more difficult and impossible the circumstance, the greater the miracle, the more love shown through the miracle, and the more glory gained by the Lord.

In another words, the more magnified God is in one’s life, the more life one has. Our Lord Jesus called it abundant life. It means super-abundant in quantity, and superior in quality. It means the best. One cannot have the best without having the Lord. He proves His love by giving us His best. He proves His love the best by giving us Himself.

This is what He did for the nation of Israel that day almost 3,500 years ago. It was not God that enslaved His people, and it was not God that decided to go after them one last time. That was strictly Pharaoh’s decision. It was God’s decision to set His people free, which He did, and it was God’s decision to protect them from certain death.

He didn’t want to wipe out Egypt, but He had no choice. He loved His people.

And He loves you and me.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. [Exodus 14:21-22][1]

I don’t know what your miracle might be this day, but I believe there is a miracle. It might not be as dramatic as the crossing of the Red Sea, but it will definitely show God’s love. I learned a long time ago that the Lord never spoils His children. He wants to bless us and does, but we must be able to receive properly and not let the blessing go to our head or be distanced from God by it. So the Lord must be prudent. His ultimate goal is to get us to heaven with Him forever. He also wants to bless us in this life but such is secondary.

I read a true story about a young preacher once. He was living day to day and largely hand to mouth, preaching here and there. He didn’t have much money, and never knew what he might receive through offerings, but the Lord always took care of him. One evening after preaching he received a sizable offering. It was enough to pay his bills for an entire month.

As he was beholding the check with shock and awe, the Lord spoke to him. He told him to give the giant check to a missionary who was also there that night.

What would you do?

The young man knew he heard God. He knew He had to obey. And he gave away the offering.

Imagine the scene. He had already seen his future a lot more brightly, and then saw it all seemingly snatched away. About an hour later at a restaurant, he and a bunch of people from the church were having dinner. The young evangelist was approached by a man who knew what had happened, not because the young preacher told anyone—he had made it a point to keep it all secret. The older man knew because God told him. And God also told him that the young preacher was to learn a valuable lesson about giving.

Long story short, the man gave the young evangelist another check. It was ten times the amount of the first one, to the penny!

Now, God’s blessings are not always that dramatic, but that particular one was made to serve a purpose. The Red Sea miracle was also made to serve a purpose. It was to show His people how much He loved them. And it was to scare the daylights out of every other nation in the region.

Today, on Friday the 13^th of all days, will be a day of miracles for those who love the Lord with all their heart and obey Him. It could very well be something out of the ordinary. Or it could be a seemingly simple but profound, “I love you.”

Will you recognize it? Give the Lord Jesus the glory. He loves to come through for His people!

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Crossing of the Red Sea, Leaving Egypt, Lord Jesus, Miracles of God, Moses, Nisan 21, Real Christianity, The Blessings of God, The Nation of Israel, Unleavened Bread

The Hebrew Month of Nisan 2012: Atonement and Resurrection (Part 3)

Apr 5

Posted by RJ Dawson

Nisan 14 / April 6, 2012 (Began at sunset on April 5):

Four days after crossing the Jordan River, and exactly forty years after the first Passover in Egypt, the nation of Israel celebrated its first Passover in their new land:

While the sons of Israel camped at Gilgal they observed the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month on the desert plains of Jericho. [Joshua 5:10]

They had received this teaching from Moses:

“Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight.” [Exodus 12:5-6]

Also on this date, the Lord Jesus became our Sacrifice Lamb:

So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, bearing His own cross, to the place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. There they crucified Him, and with Him two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written, “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” [John 19:16-19]

We know that the Lord Jesus died on the cross at some point after the ninth hour[1]—about 3:30PM. The time was according to the Hebrew manner of reckoning the hours in the day, which began at sunrise. On that particular day, there were actually about 12.5 hours between sunrise and sunset, and sunrise took place sometime between 6:00 and 6:30AM. However, the gospel accounts do not say the Lord died at exactly the ninth hour, because other events took place after the ninth hour and before His death. It is safe to say He died somewhere between just after the ninth hour and with enough time remaining to bury His body before sunset.

Also, this particular Nisan 14 was a Thursday, not a Friday. It was the fifth day of the week. Five is the Biblical number of Grace. The Lord did not die on a Friday. He died on a Thursday.

On the equivalent of Wednesday evening, the Lord and His disciples ate the Passover meal. He then suffered the trauma of Gethsemane. After being up all night, shuttled around to various false trials, and beaten severely, our Lord Jesus had been stripped of His clothes and nailed to the cross at the exact time of the Temple morning sacrifice, which was at the third hour of the day. This was somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30AM.

Over six hours of excruciating pain and suffering later, the Lord died. His body continued hanging on the cross until it was taken down at the request of Joseph of Arimathea.[2]

If the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, it meant the sacrificial lambs were slaughtered a day before the Sacrifice Lamb. The Lord must have partaken of the Passover since it was commanded in the Torah, and it was during which that He instituted the New Covenant by introducing His broken body and shed blood as a memorial.

Could it be that the Lord’s death was progressive? It certainly appears that the “death angel” passed over the Garden of Gethsemane the night the Lord made His final surrender. At some point the sins of the world were placed upon Him. This was a legitimate form of death. There was no protection for the Sacrifice Lamb. It would have cancelled out His purpose. Once sin was placed upon Him, the spotless Lamb became sin on our behalf.[3] He continued “dying” until the next late afternoon when He breathed His last, when full payment was made, and when all was finished.

Theoriginal Passover in Egypt took place in the middle of the night, when the death angel “Passed Over” each house while looking for the shed blood of lambs upon the door posts and lintels of the dwellings. Whichever family’s house did not display the blood of a perfect lamb suffered the loss of its firstborn son.

Those families whose houses displayed the blood were representative of having the blood of Jesus displayed on their hearts as a substitute sacrificial firstborn Son, who died in place of their actual firstborns, and thus suffered no loss.

Nisan 15 / April 7, 2012 (Begins at sunset on April 6):

After crossing the Jordan, the nation of Israel ate the produce of the Promised Land for the very first time:

On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. [Joshua 5:11]

This was the first day of the seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread, Pesach 1, a day of holy assembly, which concluded with Pesach 7, another high holy day on Nisan 21.[4] It was the day after the Lord was slain, the sixth day of the week, and equivalent to our Friday.

Nisan 16 / April 8, 2012 (Begins at sunset on April 7):

It was on this day that the manna which God provided for forty years during the wilderness wanderings ceased. From that point forward, Israel would only eat the food of their new land.

The manna ceased on the day after they had eaten some of the produce of the land, so that the sons of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate some of the yield of the land of Canaan during that year. [Joshua 5:12]

This was a Sabbath day. Manna never fell on a Sabbath, but a double portion always fell on the day before—the sixth day of the week (Friday morning). Therefore, there was still manna left over from Friday to eat on this day, but it never fell again. In the week of the Lord’s passion and death, this day was also the seventh day Sabbath, which always fell on a Saturday.

Nisan 17 / April 9, 2012 (Begins at sunset on April 8):

The Captain of the Lord’s host appeared to Joshua:

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the LORD.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” The captain of the LORD’S host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. [Joshua 5:13-15]

It was also on Nisan 17 that the events of the week culminated in the glorious resurrection of our Lord Jesus.

Scripture says that the Lord was resurrected on the first day of the week, which would have been equivalent to our Sunday. This means He was actually crucified, as stated previously, on Thursday, Nisan 14. That evening at sunset, after Joseph and the others had taken the Lord’s body off the cross, prepared His body for burial, and encased Him in the tomb, it become Nisan 15. This was not only the high holy day of Pesach 1, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, it was also the day before the Sabbath.

Then, after the Sabbath was over and the night had passed, Sunday morning dawned. This was Nisan 17, or the day of First Fruits, which took place after the Passover Sabbath each year.[5] On the agricultural calendar, it was the beginning of the barley harvest, and our Lord Jesus was the first fruits, the choicest portion. Imagine the scene, then, as all these days and prophetic events played out perfectly, and imagine the shock and delight of Mary Magdalene at the tomb that morning:

But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” [John 20:11-16]

He had been physically dead, just as He said He would be, for three days and three nights:

“For just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” [Matthew 12:40]

But on that resurrection morning of Nisan 17, also in keeping with another prophecy, a new Temple was raised by the Lord Jesus Himself that will never be destroyed again:

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” [John 2:19][6]

This is the hope that every real Christian has, that one day he or she will also be resurrected bodily just as the Lord was, to spend eternity with Him and one another forever!

[1] Matthew 27:45-50, Mark 15:33-37, Luke 23:44-46

[2] Mark 15:42-47

[3] 2 Corinthians 5:21

[4] Exodus 12:18

[5] Leviticus 23:11, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Crucifixion of Jesus, First Fruits, Lord Jesus, Passover, Real Christianity, Resurrection of Jesus, The Blood Covenant, The Promised Land, The Sacrifice Lamb, Unleavened Bread

Two Days Before the Cross

Apr 4

Posted by RJ Dawson

“I’m concerned about Him. It seems He has a death wish.”

The noise of the city had died down considerably as evening descended. There was a slight cool in the air as the two men sat discussing the events of the day.

“I’ve never heard Him say anything against Moses. He honors Abraham. He speaks well of our prophets. Someone did a good job of raising Him in the beliefs of our fathers.”

“Yes, but He has also said some things that seem to oppose those beliefs. I was listening to Him one day several months ago and He seemed to discount our law. He was teaching against the concept of an eye for an eye. It seems He was saying there is a better way to go about things.”

“But how can anything be better than what Moses has given us?”

“Well, sometimes it seems we have to honor aspects of our law that go against a better outcome. I mean, if a man loses an eye through the accident of another, through the actions of a man who had no intent to do such a thing, such a man must be forced to pay with an eye anyway. Shouldn’t he be allowed to plead his case?

“But that would violate the law, would it not?”

“And why should a man of God ride a donkey into the great city in the manner He did? What was that?”

“It was another one of those coincidences that point toward prophecy. You know the scripture.”

“Yes, I know, I know. But then right after that His actions were completely unfounded. What man can come into our holy temple area and do what He did? Where is the justification for all the mayhem He caused? People were shocked at His behavior, many of them the same people who had been praising His arrival just before that. And you know He will never get away with it. It’s been two days now, and I fear for His safety. The men, the men He is dealing with will never stand for such actions.”

“Do you know of something stirring?”

“I feel it stirring in my heart. This man Yehoshua has not only attacked our traditions, He has attacked a cabal of powerful people, men whom even I fear.”

“But we both know there is graft and usury, and these men have become rich in the process. Between you and me, in these moments of hidden conversation, can we not at least mention the violations before us? This prophet, or whatever He may be, He saw as we see. Yet we would never make any attempt to correct the wrongs as He did. He has displayed a power of character and a courage we do not have.”

“And unless He has left the area, I fear He will pay for His courage. This whole thing against our religious traditions has continued building over time. He seems like a man who is starting a war. I had kept hearing reports of him, and also heard with my own ears on occasion, that He is constantly opposing some aspect of our religion, and has even railed against our holy men.”

“Yes, He has. But no holy man of ours ever had a viable retort. His teachings keep trumping our traditions…”

“But some of the things He’s done make a mockery of justice. I heard that He refused to press charges against a lowlife woman who was clearly caught and exposed in the very act of adultery. She should have been stoned according to our law. Moses gave no exceptions.”

“But I remember His answer. Its profoundness and simplicity still amaze me. Very clear…”

“That only one who has no sin can apply the sentence? How many times have such sentences been carried out in our long history? Were those who threw the stones always without sin? This idea makes a mockery of justice. Who is without sin?”

“Those who make the proper sacrifices, that’s who. Those who live a pure and clean life. Those who keep the Torah. It is the burden of the righteous.”

“I don’t know about that anymore. I have always believed in those things and supported our way of life and laws, but He has showed me that our application and interpretation of the law is not so pure. He keeps showing us holes and inconsistencies and misapplications within our traditions. He is showing that while the law may be perfect, we often do not do a very good job in its application.”

“You think she should not have been stoned? Isn’t it clear the law says she should be?”

“Yes. It says that. But they all dropped their rocks and walked away. They decided they could not be the ones who carried out the sentence.”

“But how did that happen? They had all been so sure.”

“It’s the same reason I’m wondering about all these things just now…”

By then the night had fallen. The streets outside had grown quiet and a cool breeze touched their faces. It was one of those moments when one respected the silence and comfort of the evening, when work was done, and when one thought of things usually not possible during the busy day.

The two men sat motionless, somewhat deep in thought. They happened to be looking east out a large window from a second story room, toward the Mount of Olives. Occasionally, one of them would take sip of tea. As they pondered the subject before them, not wanting to disrespect what seemed to be a holy time and a moment of reflection, they beheld an astounding sight.

There before them, peeking up from the high eastern ridge, was a bright orange waxing moon, almost full. In a few seconds they were bathed in light. The darkness of the room and city streets vanished but their eyes remained fixed on the natural wonder before them. Brighter and bigger it became until it lifted off completely from the earth, as in a slow ascent toward heaven. In that moment their thoughts also shoved off into the air, and they saw things a little clearer.

They could not express it, though. Both of these men knew there was something different about the Man of their discussion. They did not understand, what with all the competing thoughts and different doctrines and contrary applications of the great law. But each of them knew on a deeper level that this former carpenter from Nazareth, of all places, had captured their hearts.

And in the deep darkness of ancient Jerusalem, on an early spring night long ago, the Light had come.

[Thanks to all for visiting. Stay tuned. The third part and conclusion of this series, The Hebrew Month of Nisan: Atonement and Resurrection, will be posted tomorrow.]

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: An Eye For An Eye, Ancient Jerusalem, Fallacious Religious Traditions, Law of Moses, Lord Jesus, Mount of Olives, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Real Christianity, The Triumphal Entry, The Woman Caught in Adultery

The Hebrew Month of Nisan 2012: Crossing the Jordan (Part 2)

Apr 1

Posted by RJ Dawson

Nisan 10 / April 2, 2012 (Began at sunset on April 1):

Three days had passed since Joshua sent out the two spies. The long-awaited crossing of the Jordan River by the entire nation of Israel into the Promised Land was about to take place. This was a monumental event for the Hebrew people. Forty years after leaving Egypt, they were almost home.

At the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp; and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.” [Joshua 3:2-3]

So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan. [Joshua 3:14-17]

Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and camped at Gilgal on the eastern edge of Jericho. [Joshua 4:19]

The spiritual equivalent of crossing the Jordan River is profound. It compares to a time when training and preparation has ended and a full grasping of what one has trained for begins. Joshua and Caleb were effectively sentenced by the unbelief of the prior generation to forty years in a place they did not really belong. These two stalwart warriors had been ready to take the land forty years before. Imagine how ready they were at this time. They were bursting with desire to take the Promised Land.

Here’s our lesson: When one is given a promise by God one must then prepare for the arrival of that promise. We think it will happen right away, right after receiving the revelation of the promise. But the actual achievement of the promise is often years into the future. It is like a seed that must be activated and generated into a fruit-bearing plant.

The specific promise God has made to each of us is activated by ongoing prayers of faith.

Praying in faith—believing the promise will happen and praying for it to happen—is how it does happen.

One must put in the required effort to show oneself worthy. One must effectively pray it in, call it forth, and walk it out. One must allow for and actively participate in the Lord’s preparation and training for an event that would otherwise be impossible. Our part is to believe and pray consistently so the Lord can continue the preparation.

It is like the development of a baby in the womb. There is a particular gestation period, but the birth of the promise will never happen without one’s spiritual effort. Ceasing to believe and pray ceases the development. Continuing to believe and putting one’s faith into action through consistent faithful prayer, regardless of circumstances or apparent lack of fruit or progress, is what keeps the promise on track.

Though Joshua and Caleb understood this, the prior generation did not and would not. The prior generation was a collection of faithless, complaining gripers always looking back to Egypt (the world) instead of forward to the Promised Land (the kingdom). God would have to use Moses and these two men to train and prepare the next generation in belief, so that belief would be established with the nation of Israel, and so that Israel would be victorious when the time of the promise came to pass.

This is why crossing the Jordan is so important. To attain the promise, one must cross over from the old into the new. But this is not possible without a Sinai “crucifying the flesh-establishment of belief” experience.

The next event on the calendar is indicative of covenant. All the men of the second generation, the generation of belief, had never undergone circumcision while wandering in the Sinai. The entire previous generation that left Egypt had died off, except for the faithful and valiant Joshua and Caleb. After crossing the Jordan, the men of Israel were circumcised on the first day in the Promised Land. This indicates our own circumcision of heart as we enter God’s kingdom.

Their children whom He raised up in their place, Joshua circumcised; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them along the way. Now when they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. [Joshua 5:7-8]

Also on this date, the Passover lambs were chosen in preparation for the Passover. The following is the account of the first Passover preparations in Egypt, just prior to the Exodus, and forty years before the Jordan crossing:

Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel,saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household.’” [Exodus 12:1-3]

The Israelites were commanded to keep and prepare each individual lamb for the next four days.

It was also on this exact date, Nisan 10, that Messiah Jesus made His triumphal entry into the city of Jerusalem. He was the perfect Lamb chosen by God and made officially public on the exact prophetic date. Though the people celebrated Him as the King Messiah, it was actually the unveiling of the suffering Servant Messiah, the Lamb of God, four days prior to His atoning death.

They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: “Hosanna! BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!” Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple… [Mark 11:7-11] [1]

Over the next four days, beginning Monday with the Jordan Crossing, consider what the Lord may be doing in your life relative to these events. It is time to take the Promised Land.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Ancient Israel, Crossing the Jordan, Hebrew Calendar, Jordan River, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Sinai Wanderings, The Conquest of the Promised Land, The Exodus from Egypt, The Hebrew Month of Nisan

The Hebrew Month of Nisan 2012 (Part 1)

Mar 29

Posted by RJ Dawson

According to the lunar-solar Hebrew calendar of modern Rabbinic Judaism, last Saturday, March 24, was the first day of the month of Nisan. Historically, this is a very important month and, coinciding with the season of spring, denotes a new beginning.

Nisan is the first month of the festival, or ecclesiastical year.

It is the seventh month of the civil year.

(In an intercalary year, when there are thirteen months, it is the eighth month.)

The name Nisan is Babylonian, and was named during the 70 year captivity in Babylon in the sixth century BC. In the Old Testament, in the Torah, this month was originally known as Abib in most Bible versions. The word Abib means, “fresh, young barley ears,” and refers to the time of the year when the barley first becomes ripe.

Each Hebrew month begins and ends with the new moon. But because the official rabbinic calendar is predetermined, technical problems arise. The calendar is not dynamic but fixed to allow for the setting of dates decades or even centuries in advance.

For example, the actual new moon which began the current lunar month took place in the USA on Thursday morning, March 22, at 9:38 Central Daylight Time, though the official Hebrew calendar did not start the new month of Nisan until Friday evening, March 23 (Hebrew days always begin at evening, in keeping with the account in Genesis 1:5: “And there was evening and there was morning, one day”).

So, technically, Nisan 1 began in the USA at sunset on Thursday, March 22. You’ll have to check your own lunar cycle wherever you may live in the world to discover when Nisan 1 began in your area.

The following list of dates includes the happenings of this time of year in relation to the days of the ancient calendar of the Hebrews. Many believe that God still honors His calendar and therefore, these days are very important. Each feast day carries prophetic overtones. The spring feasts were all fulfilled two-thousand years ago when Messiah Jesus arrived the first time, and the fall feasts will be fulfilled when He returns at some point in the near future.

To eliminate confusion, the listed dates are according to the official rabbinic calendar.

Regarding the month of Nisan:

Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.” [Exodus 12:1-2]

There are several significant events in Biblical history that took place on Nisan 1, the above passage of Scripture being one of them. God still pays close attention to His calendar, and His timing for personal events in our lives often involves calendar dates. Many of us are feeling a new spiritual beginning of some sort at this time.

What follows is a sampling of important dates to orient us to the beginning of this new season.

Nisan 1 / March 24, 2012 (Began at sunset on March 23):

It was on this date that the Mishkan was set up for the first time:

Now in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected. [Exodus 40:17]

The nation of Israel had left Egypt after the first Passover almost one full year before this event. The people had been in the Sinai since the Exodus from Egypt, and because of their lack of faith, they denied themselves entry into the Promised Land many months before and were destined to wander in the desert a full forty years. In that time the design was revealed, and the elements needed for the tabernacle were built, including the Ark of the Covenant. It was on this date that the tabernacle in the wilderness was set up for the first time in its history.

This is indicative of a new spiritual start and a new beginning. It is indicative of the beginning of a new ministry. Since the Great Awakening in America is on course, though in the early stages, the beginning of a new chapter is undoubtedly taking place now. We are in transition to a greater fulfilling of this process, and individual believers are sensing this in their own lives and walking it out. Many are feeling a strong tug on their hearts to get closer to the Lord, whatever that may involve.

The next section is dedicated to two different eras: (1) The nation of Israel entering into the Promised Land for the first time thirty-nine years later, and (2) The events of Passion Week almost fifteen hundred years after that.

The Mishkan had repeatedly been set up for ministry and taken down in various locations as the nation of Israel traveled about the Sinai. At the end of their wanderings, Israel stood at the precipice of destiny. The prophecy was about to be fulfilled. They were now on the threshold of entering the Promised Land and would soon partake of their first Passover in the new land.

Notice the similarity of events when compared to Passion Week, to be discussed in Parts 2 and 3, when our Lord first entered Jerusalem as the officially recognized and honored Messiah. Is there any doubt that God creates new beginnings and fulfills prophecy on a specific timetable according to certain dates?

Nisan 7 / March 30, 2012 (Begins at sunset tonight on March 29):

While the nation of Israel was camped on the eastern side of the Jordan, two spies, or scouts, were sent out by Joshua across the Jordan River to Jericho to gather intelligence for the first battle of the conquest of the Promised Land.

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, to possess it.’”[Joshua 1:10-11]

Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. [Joshua 2:1] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Ancient Israel, Hebrew Calendar, Jordan River, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Sinai Wanderings, The Conquest of the Promised Land, The Exodus from Egypt, The Hebrew Month of Nisan, The Tabernacle in the Wilderness

Sound Familiar?

Mar 27

Posted by RJ Dawson

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. [Romans 1:1-32] [1]

In these wonderful modern times of bright enlightenment and the disavowing of outdated Christian moral standards, it is good to know we have a record, almost two-thousand years old, which tells us the more things change, the more they stay the same.

The preceding passage from Paul’s letter to the believers at Rome was most likely written in the city of Corinth in early AD 58. Writing in Corinth certainly inspired him with regard to the lack of morals in the place. Corinth was one of the most depraved cities of first century times, if not the most. Laden heavily with sexual immorality, blatant idolatry, and paganism, its sins even invaded the churches in a profound manner, causing Paul to write strong instructions in his letters to the Corinthians and serious rebukes regarding the behavior of some. Can ancient Corinth be compared to modern America? To American “Christians” in general?

Morals are plunging fast. A complete reversal of realities has taken place. The filth of immoral idiots is broadcast all over the airwaves. Our own government has been taken over by money-hungry traitors who have essentially sold their souls to the devil for profit and prestige.

Modern American Christianity has also sold out to the money god, and grows farther away from the teachings of the Lord as each day passes. They refuse to honor Him in heart, and restrict their praise to lip service. They also refuse the reality of the Gospel message, with all its power, strength, and light. The Book of Acts is not seen as a how-to manual, but a mere dusty history book, dead to the reality of the present.

Christians should not bother reading the Book of Acts if they refuse to practice it.

The real community of the Lord still has the answers and power to do anything, face anything, overcome anything, and be victorious over any foe. The hitch for most faux Christians is that it will cost—it will cost you everything. And such a price is far too high.

It’s okay for Messiah Jesus to go to the cross. It’s okay if He is beaten almost beyond recognition. It’s okay if His blood is spilled in preaching the Gospel. It’s okay if Stephen was stoned, if Paul was stoned, if the apostles went through hell, and if foreign believers are currently being persecuted all over the world. But no one may dare to even think about telling American Christians we must possibly go through the same.

We have a corrupt government growing more corrupt every day, and corrupt sell-out churches and ministers who exist to glorify and enrich themselves. American Christianity in general has grown just as material, controlling, and money-grubbing as the world it supposedly seeks to save.

Despite all this, however, there is Good News. Persecution is coming to America. The real Gospel is coming forth. Real Christians are coming forth like we have not seen in a long time. A powerful, mature, unified spiritual effort in the works for decades is about to explode on the scene.

Watch what happens. All those who refuse to obey God will be left behind in their staid, comfortable, sleepy-time, cold-hearted, controlled, regimented, disobedient, material, boring, lifeless, and snooty versions of Christianity. But all those who hear God and obey will continue to experience greater life, truth, miracle power, spiritual joy, and strength. And they will be fought against like never before. Yet, these real believers will not be stopped or denied because they are with the Lord, doing the will of the Lord, have given their whole hearts to the Lord, and will follow Him and obey His commands whatever the cost. They have not only passed through the Red Sea, they have crossed the Jordan River.

The Great Awakening is happening.

The following text is an excerpt from Real Christianity, written way back in the go-go 1990s and published before 9/11, before the Patriot Act, before the disastrous American foreign policy of the last decade, before the dissolution of Fourth Amendment rights, before smart phones, before the exponential rise in our surveillance society, before roughly another 20 million butchered babies in the ongoing and unchallenged slaughter of American innocents, before the crash of 2008 and the devastation of the American economy, before multi-trillions in debt, before the groping madness of the TSA, and before Christians used their right to vote to help elect the very people responsible for all of the above with no apparent remorse:

SLOW TRAIN COMING

When was the last time you saw somebody murdered for Jesus? When was the last time somebody was dragged out of your congregation and executed? When was the last time you saw somebody whose obedience to the Lord caused him to risk his very life rather than submit to the wishes of the enemy? Too radical? Then how does one explain the killing of so many Old Testament prophets, or the violent deaths of the apostles, or the violent persecutions of the early church? Where is the violent persecution of today’s church? Where are followers of Jesus being maimed and murdered today?

Not in America. And why? Is it because America is the land of the free and the home of the brave? Is it because Christians have such firm control of the goings-on in this country that violent, physical persecution could never take place here? Look again. The fact of the matter is that persecution campaigns will come, as a matter of course, when the church in America, like the prophets of old, reaches a pre-determined level of strength, maturity, unity, and spiritual power. It is a given. It is a law. This principle cannot be circumvented, nor should it be. The Church is not only supposed to be loving, kind, and gentle, but also able to kick the corpulent posteriors of demons and take their names. When the church in any geographic area reaches this point of maturity and commitment, the human instrumentalities of the devil will strike back in defense of their turf with violent, bloody persecution.

The church in America has become much too timid and confused about its role in this area. Even those who claim to have prophetic ministries appear somewhat squeamish about upsetting any apple carts (or money-changers’ tables). For the most part, we go to church and are nice and mind our business. We hear the news about the moral strength of America going down the drain and shrug our collective shoulders. As a majority of the population, far too many of those who call themselves Christians in this country are still running around in diapers.

There is, however, a group of Christians on the rise—a group that has grown weary of the toddler section, a group that has long since left the nursery to which they were assigned. A dead church structure is still an impediment, but no longer a jail. These individuals are so committed to Jesus that, like the prophet, they have overcome their fear and apathy and laid everything on the line. They have risen to such spiritual heights that they can see right through the feeble attempts and various losing methods which the business-like old guard uses in an awkward effort at ruling both Christians and Christianity.

The community of saints which Jesus is presently raising up is not independent but fully under His authority. Its members are not nonconformists but merely mature in the Lord. They are fully committed and dedicated to His agenda. Their banner is love, their love is for truth, and their righteousness is a precious blood-bought gift. These are included in the ones who will stand in the gap, who will be hated by all nations for His name’s sake, and who will be misunderstood, reviled, and rejected by the “brethren.” As long as the great silent masses of Christians in America think they can get by without attracting violent, bodily persecution, they will likely do everything in their power to do so. But the Word of the Lord is plain concerning this Laodicean attitude. Those who are neither hot nor cold will be spewed out of the mouth of God. [2]

Give me more darkness said the blind man,

Give me more folly said the fool,

Give me stone silence said the deaf man,

I didn’t believe Sunday School.

Take it away said the hungry man,

Although I’m starving I’ll get by.

Take it away said the thirsty man,

I’ll find a drink before I die.

I’ve got plenty of time to think of Heaven,

But right now there’s too much on my mind.

And I’ve had enough of that religious stuff

And besides I can’t relate to your kind.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Christian Persecution, Lord Jesus, National Judgment, Phil Keaggy, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Slow Train Coming, The Book of Acts, The Book of Romans Chapter 1, The Great Awakening, Voice of the Martyrs

A Heavenly Homeland on Planet Earth

Mar 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

Many of us are aware of a world beyond the senses.

In the moments we allow ourselves the time to reflect on life instead of merely living it out day by day, we often perceive something beyond mere nature—an unanswered depth—a fleeting reality that is both difficult to grasp and easy as a dream. There is something there, beyond us, and certainly beyond a cheap existence characterized by routine and the mindless pursuit of material needs.

Yes, we must possess the material if we are to live—we must have a living—but for what purpose? I learned very early in life that working to earn a living meant survival for most people. It meant something to do to pay the bills. It rarely was something enjoyed or chosen for its own benefit. For the few who enjoy their work at earning money, as if it is not about earning money, there is a happiness and lack of anxiety that does not exist in the lives of seemingly everyone else.

For those who make peace with their profession—not because they enjoy it as a first choice or would choose it if earning money was not the primary option—they have accepted the sacrifice of themselves for the greater good and being comfortable as a solid member of society. They have eliminated any possible criticism of failing to carry their own weight, have their financial bases more or less covered, and the resultant peace is worth the price.

But there is another peace that cannot be found in living for this world. This is the peace many search for but often never find or have a very difficult time finding. It is a peace that arrives from without, again, in those rare moments of reflection we allow ourselves. It is the same peace a child knows in his time of innocence when he doesn’t know any better. He never considers that he will not be taken care of or protected or fed. The child simply considers it a given.

Most people want that kind of peace. It is never really about whether or not we will work and achieve and stay busy and accomplish things and be productive. It is instead about doing something and achieving something that goes beyond this mere mortal world in which people live for a short time and then go away forever.

         When we allow ourselves such a time of thinking about bigger concepts and deeper perceptions, we are actually attempting to look into eternity.

         We are attempting to secure our place there.

         We are trying to find our way home.

Jesus came to us and met us on our level. There is no possible way for God to meet us otherwise. We can certainly never get where He is through our own means, even though we may try through various pursuits. Real Christianity is thus characterized by God reaching out for us, whereas religion breaks down into a fruitless search for God.

The irony of searching for truth is that one will never find it.

But the hungry in heart are those who God sees and appreciates, and at some point He begins guiding the searcher to Himself. The one who refuses to cease from the search is the one who can be led and eventually lands at his or her destination.

Contrary to this, most people, including most “Christians,” accept substitutes for truth or watered-down versions of the Lord’s message. It is sad when people allow their strong wills and discipline to chain them to a religious life they see as a better life than the mere mundane—a spiritual life of sorts—but one falling far short of the spiritual reality the Lord wants for us. It is sad because these people cut themselves off from the very thing they are ostensibly searching for.

It is as if one desires a college education and a Masters Degree, but becomes so enthralled with graduating from third grade he desires to travel no further. As a seasoned nine-year-old, he compares his new life of enlightenment to his old life when he was an ignorant child of five and could not read, could not understand arithmetic, and had next to no knowledge beyond his tiny existence. He ponders the facts: A third-grader can read. A third-grader can add and subtract and multiply and divide. A third-grader is a quantum leap above the child he was a mere three or four years before.

This is how most Christians are. They become satisfied with eating manna because it’s better than starving. They have no desire for moving on and fighting for an elusive future. They have next to no faith to allow God to take them into a Promised Land of milk and honey. They exist in a quotidian circular pattern of routine and redundancy that takes them nowhere but where they were yesterday and last year and last decade.

They are not following God. Maybe they did. But they stopped at some point and became comfortable with a Sinai wilderness light years from the birthright and the place God tries to take them.

You see, God is a romantic at heart. He is a traveler. He is an explorer. He loves doing new things. But when you know everything it’s no fun unless you can take others on the journey with you. It is the same as when you read a book that has a giant impact on your life. You want others to read it and enjoy it as well. You may not want to see your favorite movie again at a particular time, but would love to watch it with someone else who shows an interest. It becomes a new experience due to the possibility of someone else enjoying it as you do.

God is like that. He loves to turn us on to stuff and take us to places we’ve never been. He loves it when we have eyes filled with wonder, when we trust Him as an innocent child, and when we expect something really cool to come our way because He loves us.

But there is a problem. There is a guy named Snidely Whiplash whose entire goal in life is to tie us and our dreams of eternal things to railroad tracks. He strives to destroy us by first destroying our dreams and innocence. He attempts to tempt us into the bondage of sin and bad habits and hate and fear. He tries to develop within us a cynical and bitter attitude. More than anything else, he tries with all his might to distance us from God and keep us from God and stymie every effort we make toward God.

In the end, he will make many, many more converts than the Lord Jesus ever will. He will be more successful than God in this sense. Of course, he is not so much making converts as he is enforcing the default destination of the unrepentant soul without God.

But God doesn’t keep score by numbers. He never has. And He has made a Way toward Life for all to discover. That the majority of humanity will miss the boat is not His problem. Eternity is not for timid souls with third-grade educations. It is for those with an explorer’s heart who love adventure and risk. It is for those who are forever getting up after being cast down. It is for those who never say die.

It God’s book, this is the definition of winning. With Him, despite pain and suffering and setbacks and reviling persecution, the one deserving of eternity is the one who never quits. Spiritual success is the mere process of rising again, and again and again and again. It is the defeat of the devil by outlasting him. It is the defeat of this world by getting the hell out of it and into the kingdom of God. It is about disciplining oneself not to stay a third-grader forever but continuing on to greater spiritual heights and adventures. It is about seeing the mountain top and vowing to get there regardless of any obstacles no matter how hellish. It is not about giving up and constructing a proxy golden calf, which is what most churches and Christian expressions have become, but continuing on, even though we may leave, like Abraham, almost everything we know on the other side of the needle.

The search for truth is the search for eternity. Nothing can replace it. Nothing else will be accepted by the real Christian.

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” [Matthew 6:33]

The secret is following the Lord. The next time you pause to reflect, don’t just gaze at eternity for a few seconds the way you often do, but get up and walk toward it. Take the Lord by the hand and let Him take you ever closer to the Promised Land. The kingdom of God is here, now. It is the city Abraham searched for his entire life. It is the place where faith activates all things possible according to the will of God. It is the place where dreams come true.

And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. [Hebrews 11:6-16]

Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” [Luke 17:20-21] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Abraham, Field of Dreams, Finding Our Way Home, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, The Kingdom of Heaven, The Promised Land, Wandering in the Wilderness, Without Faith it is Impossible to Please Him, You Must Be Born Again

THIS MEANS WAR

Mar 20

Posted by RJ Dawson

“The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.” [Exodus 15:3]

The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies. [Isaiah 42:13]

“The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.” [Zephaniah 3:17]

In the above passages, the word LORD is used instead of the actual word — YHWH. The Hebrew scribes considered it sacrilegious to write down the name of God so they substituted the Hebrew word Adonai, which is translated into English as “LORD.”

YHWH is truly a great Warrior. He is the greatest of all warriors. When He became a Man, He never stopped fighting, but actually upped the ante several million times and began to fight all the more. When the Lord Jesus arrived on this planet, He effectively declared war like He had never declared war before.

He declared open warfare against the devil. He declared open warfare against the world constructed by unrepentant sinful mankind in league with the devil. And He declared war on sin, sinful human nature, and the binding power of sin upon humanity.

He determined to set the captives free.

As a result of His declaration of war, He suffered libel and slander. They said He was the fruit of a sinful liaison, that He was illegitimate, and that His blessed and pure mother had done the unthinkable.

They said He was crazy, that He had a screw loose, and that He was missing a section of His mind.

They said He was a common drunk because He drank wine.

They said He was a glutton, despite His very thin frame and a forty-day fast.

And they said He was demon-possessed, that He was filled with and controlled by filthy demonic entities who gave Him His power and spiritual standing.

Have you suffered any of these things because of your Christian stand? When you became a real Christian, did people (mainly other “Christians”), say the same kind of things about you?

If so, you can relate to God. You understand what spiritual war is all about. And you understand why war is necessary.

Spiritual warfare is not to be avoided but embraced.

The Lord began His warfare by becoming as one of us, born into the world the way all humans are. He lived a quiet life of preparation until the age of thirty. He then made a public show of Himself, coming out into the open, answering His calling, and positioning Himself for the warfare He would embrace. Though He needed no repentance, He came to John and was immersed in water as everyone else was commanded to do. He then received the infilling of the Spirit of God, as all those believers on the Day of Pentecost would later receive.

Then He left “Egypt.” He left the world of man. He went into the wild lands alone to fight the devil. But before He fought the devil He had to defeat His flesh, not that He was sinful or would ever be sinful, but to show forth the correct example of what spiritual warfare required. One cannot fight the devil while also indulging his or her own passions. He defeated His flesh in this sense by fasting for a full forty days.

Only two other men are listed in Scripture as having undergone a forty-day fast. This does not necessarily mean others did not do it, but only two men, Moses and Elijah, are listed. Moses did it twice. These three men were later present on the Mount of Transfiguration, representing the Law (Moses), the Prophets (Elijah), and Grace (the Lord Jesus). The other two men also had powerful anointings and were able to work miracles. But the other two men were not God.

Defeating “the World” by leaving it and refusing to partake of its lusts is something most “Christians” never do.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. [1 John 2:15-17]

Outside observers see little difference between Christians and non-Christians because there IS little difference.

Once the Lord left “the World,” He began a back-breaking fast that would put Him in the stratosphere of spiritual power. He would fight His flesh by denying it. He was already holy and pure and always had been. But as our example, and to solidify and concentrate His spiritual power and authority, he fasted away His outer humanity.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [Galatians 5:16-25]

After defeating the world and the flesh, it was time for the Lord to go toe-to-toe with the devil himself. Through speaking forth the Word of God, he defeated Satan, answering each temptation with powerful spiritual resistance and truth. When He returned to begin His ministry, He had defeated all three enemies and had established the means through which to keep them defeated. Everywhere He went from that time on He had power OVER the world, the flesh, and the devil. And used this power to openly attack His enemies, hitting them head-on with ballistic missile after ballistic missile, giving no quarter, and destroying them at every turn.

In the end, He even destroyed death.

He showed us how it’s done.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. [Ephesians 6:10-13]

The fact that we are at war with very powerful spiritual forces explains everything.

Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep, like a warrior overcome by wine. He drove His adversaries backward; He put on them an everlasting reproach. [Psalm 78:65-66] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: Jesus Declared War, Lord Jesus, Mount of Transfiguration, Real Christianity, Spiritual Warfare, Temptation in the Wilderness, The Enemies of Jesus, The LORD is a Warrior, The World The Flesh The Devil, YHWH

The Real Chosen People (Part 3)

Mar 17

Posted by RJ Dawson

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” [John 15:16]

Most of the people who refer to themselves as some form of “Christian” choose God on their terms. But God chooses real Christians on His terms. Thus, unreal Christians create their own unholy covenant with God according to their own stipulations and provisos. It is not a real covenant, though, because God is not involved in it. He signed none of the papers. He did not agree to the terms. Such minor details do not concern the pretenders, however. They continue onward by themselves insisting God is with them. And these people preach about the Jews being stiff-necked?

Many “Christians” have been duped into thinking they have the power to choose Messiah Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But Christians don’t do the choosing. What they do, before they become real Christians, is have a hungry heart for truth and light. They know there must be something much more than this temporal world of sin. As a result they begin searching for that “something more.” In the process they find belief systems, gurus, false forms of Christianity, and eastern religions that look real and are quite promising. But after looking within these and practicing their tenets for a while, they continue to move on because there is no heart connection. They do not feel fulfilled. They are not satisfied. Something is missing. Knowing this, they realize they have identified yet another fake. Most people in the world are content with fakes, but real searchers of truth never allow this for themselves. They continue seeking, not knowing God is attracting them magnetically by His Spirit until they are chosen.

Among every pagan nation in the ancient world, each dwelling in deep darkness and rebellion, God chose one nation to represent Himself:

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. [Deuteronomy 7:6-10]

Fifteen hundred years later, the very nation He called forth to be His own rejected Him. It became the opposite of faithful. It no longer loved Him or kept His commandments. It chose to hate its own Messiah.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’” [Matthew 23:37-39]

There was always a believing Remnant, however. In the first century, the Lord Jesus managed to gather together the hungry in heart and those searching for truth among His people. He chose them because of their condition of heart. With 120 people, including the remaining original eleven apostles and His own mother, He created His own community. These were people who loved and honored Him, who recognized Him for who He is, and who pledged their lives to serve, obey, and trust Him forever. They are the chosen of the Chosen.

“Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” [Luke 9:35]

He chose many more after Peter delivered the first message of the Qahal:

So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. [Acts 2:41]

Can you hear the echo in the writings of Isaiah?

Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; but you have become weary of Me, O Israel. You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with incense. You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; rather you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities. I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together; state your cause, that you may be proved right. Your first forefather sinned, and your spokesmen have transgressed against Me. So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary, and I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement. [Isaiah 43:19-28]

Was it just a coincidence that what was left of the geographic kingdom of David was utterly ruined forty years after the nation rejected their Savior? Was it coincidence that Jerusalem was razed and the Temple destroyed in 70AD?

Prior to this, He had made a Way for His real people, whether Jew or Gentile. He established a New Covenant. For forty years He continued adding thousands of believing Israelites, creating a new spiritual nation, as He said He would do through the prophets of old:

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” [Jeremiah 31:31-33]

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” [Ezekiel 36:26-27]

As most “Christians” reject the Lord, so did most Jews initially reject the Lord. But of those who accepted the invitation to the kingdom, Peter says:

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” This precious value, then, is for you who believe;

But for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE;” for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. [1 Peter 2:4-10]

There are only two kinds of people in the world—those who are chosen by the Lord Jesus as members of the New Covenant and those who are not. Real Christians are not only called by the Lord and chosen for His community, they are also faithful and true warriors. Non-members of the New Covenant oppose it.

These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the Called and Chosen and Faithful.” [Revelation 17:6-14] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: Called Chosen and Faithful, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, The Chosen One, The Chosen People, The Destruction of Jerusalem 70 AD, The Nation of Israel, The New Covenant, The Qahal, The Real chosen People

The Real Chosen People (Part 2)

Mar 12

Posted by RJ Dawson

“BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN; MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL-PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.” [Matthew 12:18-21]

In these days when seemingly everyone but the devil is gaining heaven and “Christianity” is watered-down to a consistency barely above water itself, why do we think God even cares about doing any choosing? This is how far fake Christianity has traveled. There is hardly any distinction at all between so many so-called Christians and a world going to hell. And it is the touchy, thin-skinned, aggressively defensive and convicted Unchosen itself that is first to speak out strongly against any perceived judgment, however slight, regarding its perceived standing in God.

The motto of real Christians, on the other hand, is thus:

“Talk about me if you please, but I’ll talk about you on my knees.”

Where in this country is there a voice that represents the real presence of God? Where is the voice that distinguishes truth from error and fake, dry, dead, boring lifeless expressions of faux Christianity from the real thing? Those who have dissolved the life-giving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will have to account for it. All those who have been deceived by their “other gospel” will rise up against them at the Judgment, not that it will matter then.

Why does one think the people in hell will be gnashing at each other with their teeth like a pack of wild dogs? There is the clear indication that the Unchosen do not agree with their ultimate status.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come.

“Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.

“But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.

“Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.

“But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

“For many are called, but few are chosen.” [Matthew 22:2-14]

This is a perfect illustration of God’s selection process. It goes like this:

(1) The first thing the king does is send out invitations. He makes his choices based on his own criteria. But these criteria must be based on those whom he considers His friends, relatives, and select subjects of his kingdom.

(2) What do the invited guests do? They refuse. They ignore him. They ignore the invitation. They treat the king with supreme indifference and disrespect. They are all completely unwilling to attend the wedding feast.

(3) Curious as to why no one wants to come after having been chosen, the king sends out another group to ask the invitees yet again, explaining how much trouble he has gone to, how much He has prepared, and how much he really wants them all to come and share in his joy. The slaves tell everyone what a great time will be had. There will be barbecued oxen and fatted livestock and a great dinner! My son is getting married and I want you all to come!

(4) This time the invitees not only continued to reject the king but some of them actually mistreated the king’s slaves, and they even killed them! What would compel the invited guests to resort to killing the messenger boys sent out by a loving king? (“Hey Joe, check out this story in the paper. Some dude up north was throwing a wedding for his son and one idiot killed the mailman when he got his invitation.”)

(5) The king was enraged! So He sent his army, executed the murderers, and torched their sorry city. I mean, all they had to do was politely decline. Why all the rage and murder about a simple wedding invitation?

(6) Now the king decides He is just going to invite everyone he can find. He no longer makes any judgment whatsoever on who may be qualified to come to the wedding. Those who were qualified, by a particular standard anyway, proved themselves to be completely unworthy. He therefore sends out his slaves to invite one and all, whether good or bad. This time, he ended up with a packed house. His estate was filled to the gills with the rabble of the countryside. They must have thought themselves to be impossibly blessed. No one had ever done anything like this for them before. “Huh? You want little old nobody nothing me to go to a wedding at the king’s estate? Woo Hoo!” They all wasted no time in taking showers and getting their fancy wedding duds on, however humble, and high-tailed it to the big barbecue. The king was most happy!

(7) But all was not perfect. You see, there was this one guy who made no acknowledgement at all of the great thing that happened to him. He didn’t consider himself fortunate and honored to be invited. He didn’t try to get cleaned-up. In fact, he had so little respect for the proceedings that he didn’t even put on a wedding garment. He just kind of wondered in off the street with no expression on his face loosely holding an invitation. The king confronted the man. He even called him his friend. But the man had no answer regarding his lack of proper attire. As a result, he was effectively thrown into hell. To close out the story, the Lord Jesus said:

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”

There are three kinds of people in this parable:

(A) Those who are called and chosen but do not respect the king and reject his invitation, some of whom even kill the king’s servants. By their own decisions, they revoke their called and chosen status.

(B) Those who are called but are not chosen because they do not properly respect the king or his invitation and dress incorrectly.

The man without the wedding garment was masquerading as a real Christian. The “wedding clothes” represent the robe of righteousness. Righteousness is a gift.[1] It cannot be earned but can be accepted after one shows the proper respect and honor for the King, who made payment for sin. Those who wear the robe are those who properly repent (turn from sin), trust (turn to the Lord), and obey (do His will). To be righteous means to be cleansed of all sin by the sacrifice of the Lamb.

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. [Isaiah 61:10]

The following verses give us an indication of what God requires with reference to the proper wedding clothes:

“But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” [Revelation 3:4-6]

“Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. [Revelation 3:14-20] [2]

[1] Romans 5:17

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: For Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen, Gentiles, Lord Jesus, Parable of the Wedding Feast, Real Christianity, Robe of Righteousness, The Chosen People, The Wedding Clothes, Wedding Garment, White Garments

The Real Chosen People (Part 1)

Mar 9

Posted by RJ Dawson

Many Christians have been conditioned to believe that “The Chosen People” are the Jews, regardless of whether they honor the Lord Jesus as Messiah or not. Christians have been taught that Jews are the only people on Earth who belong to God and will forever belong to God even if they deny that Jesus is their Messiah, if they deny He died to save them from their sins, if they disparage His Name and character, if they actively fight against and oppose real Christianity, especially in Israel, and if they as individuals refuse to repent of their sins and submit to His Lordship.

For some odd reason, Christians have been taught that the New Testament teachings do not apply to the Jewish people. Why? Simply because they are Jews? We are living in a day when Messianic Judaism is very popular and growing. The followers of Messianic Judaism honor Jesus as Messiah. They are still Jews, of course, but believe in and follow the Lord Jesus as did the Messianic Jews of the first century.

Well then, what is a Jew? What is Judaism? Historically, after the complete destruction of what was left of the Jewish homeland in 70AD when Jerusalem was invaded and destroyed by the Romans, and when the Jewish Temple was completely razed to the ground and burned, there was only one segment of traditional Judaism that remained.

The Sadducees ceased to exist, since there was no longer any Jewish state. The Essenes, those likely responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls, also faded away. Some Jewish nationals held out after Jerusalem was destroyed, comprising segments of the Zealot Party, but committed mass murder against one another and suicide on the heights of Masada in 74AD. There were two other large uprisings against the Romans, the largest and last of which was the Bar Kochba Revolt from 132-135AD. After their defeat, there was no longer any effective and organized Jewish resistance against the Romans. It was the end of the Zealots. The Jewish homeland was lost.

The Pharisees, however, were the one party that lived on. They did not die out as all the other major religious parties had. They continued to exist as the sole religious representatives of the Jewish people. The Pharisees became Judaism, later known as Talmudic or Rabbinic Judaism. The same people who gave the Lord Jesus so much trouble during His ministry and fought the apostles at every turn, especially the apostle Paul, never ceased to exist. They continued teaching as they always had. They continued to deny Jesus as Messiah.

Again, Jesus was 100% a Jew (Hebrew: Yehudi; Greek: Ioudaios), from the Tribe of Judah, and a direct descendant in the kingly line of David. Every original apostle had Hebrew ancestral roots, and so had every single member of the Community of the Lord we read about in the earliest history of His Movement as recorded in the Book of Acts. For seven to ten years after the Resurrection of the Lord, the entire Qahal of the Lord Jesus was composed entirely of Hebrew descendants, members of the nation of Israel, and of the twelve tribes. It was not until the salvation of Cornelius and his group, as recorded in Acts 10, that the apostles understood that non-Hebrew Gentiles were also to be included among the Lord’s people. Prior to that time, the Hebrew followers of Jesus had somehow assumed that only Hebrews and full proselytes to Judaism would qualify for membership.

So here we see the first great division, especially after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, of the Israeli people. One Hebrew camp saw that Jesus was indeed their long-awaited and hoped-for Messiah. The other Hebrew camp rejected Jesus as Messiah. The camp of rejecters coalesced around the Party of the Pharisees, the lone remaining representatives of overall first century Judaism. The Pharisees have existed throughout history ever since, and continued as the sole Hebrew organized religious force against Jesus the Messiah.

What happened to the first century Jewish believers in Jesus? After Cornelius, more and more Gentiles entered the fold of real Christianity. Indeed, the apostle Paul was called by God to be the first and foremost apostle to the non-Jewish Gentiles. Later, at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), it was decided by the Jerusalem Hebrew believers that Gentiles did not have to undergo all things Torah in order to attain official membership in the Body of Christ. As more Gentiles flooded in, ethnic differences between Hebrew and non-Hebrew believers were downplayed over time. This did not mean that Jewish followers of Jesus did not retain their Jewish identity. Such would have been tragic. These first century Jewish believers in Jesus were descended from the great Patriarchs of the distant past and represented the then-current true remnant of Israel.

Paul, a Hebrew in very high standing, both ethnically (of the Tribe of Benjamin) and religiously (a Pharisee)[1], as well as a solid Roman citizen says this:

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

“And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” [Galatians 3:26-29]

This is a very powerful statement. From this we know that strict Jewish distinctiveness no longer matters with respect to membership in the kingdom of God. Whether one can trace his or her physical lineage to Abraham is no longer an issue. One can be a descendant of Abraham whether he or she is connected by genealogy, Judaism, or Israeli national identity.

It is not an ancestral link that makes one a seed of Abraham but a spiritual link by faith according to promise.

The Jewish non-believers discount and reject this entire notion. To them, it destroys Jewish identity. As a result, they hated Paul with the same passion they hated the Lord Jesus (How dare these heretics dispose of our status as God’s chosen people!).

Which brings us back to the original point: God’s chosen people are only those who honor the Lord Jesus as Messiah. Yet, even as you read this you probably cringe and think such cannot possibly be true. But it’s right there in your Bible. As is this:

“For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” [Romans 2:28-29]

Throughout the Gospels and New Testament writings we see, then, that the “Chosen People” are those who are in Christ, who embrace the Lord Jesus as the only Messiah and Savior, whose hearts have been circumcised, who are in spiritual relationship with Him, and who submit to His full Lordship.

Though the Hebrew people were originally chosen by God as descendants of Abraham, the majority of the Hebrew people rejected God. All one must do is pick up the Old Testament and read a few pages to find that this is true.

There has always been a believing Hebrew remnant, however, and there were always enough who honored God to keep the ancient nation of Israel intact though diminishing. Israel split in two after Solomon’s death, the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom went into captivity and never returned, effectively ceasing to exist, and only the Southern Kingdom of Judah remained until the time of our Lord as a national entity, which was originally also comprised of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. After its destruction by the Romans it was the end of the Jewish nation. The unbelieving and disobedient had so outnumbered the believing remnant who dutifully followed YHWH that the geographic and religio-political nation ceased to exist.

The Community of the Lord, however, began at the same time once the Messiah was revealed. Therefore, there is no hope for those who reject Jesus and look for another. There is no other Messiah and never will be. And without Messiah Jesus, there is no salvation, because He is salvation—it is the very meaning of His Name.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4:8-12] [2]

[1] Philippians 3:5-6

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: Gentiles, Jesus is the Messiah, Messianic Judaism, Rabbinic Judaism, Real Christianity, Talmudic Judaism, The Chosen People, The Destruction of Jerusalem 70 AD, The Nation of Israel, The Pharisees

Remember the Alamo 2012

Mar 6

Posted by RJ Dawson

Image Via Wikipedia

In the pre-dawn darkness 176 years ago this morning, the courageous defenders of the Alamo were attacked and eventually overwhelmed by thousands of Mexican troops after a thirteen-day siege.

They knew what was coming but defended their ground. Expecting major reinforcements early on, they all came to realize with each passing day that less than sufficient support would come to San Antonio, yet they realized they still had a direct role to play in the fight for Texas independence.

In what is considered “A Masterpiece of American Patriotism,”[1] Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis penned the following:

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World:

Fellow citizens & compatriots—I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna—I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken—I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch—The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis

Lt. Col. comdt

P.S. The Lord is on our side—When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn—We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Travis

A mere fifty-five years after the battle of Yorktown in which American Patriots defeated the British and won the Revolutionary War, the battle of the Alamo is the most celebrated event of the Texas Revolution. It represented a sacrificial fight for liberty in that every defender gave his life fighting against incredible odds. Greatly outnumbered, the men fought courageously and valiantly against the forces of an arrogant little dictator whose hubris later caused him to lose a vast and rich territory to men fighting for liberty, much like those of the earlier Revolutionary War.

The Battle of the Alamo allowed for the gathering of Texian forces to the east under the authority of Sam Houston and bought time for a final victorious battle against Santa Anna on April 21st at San Jacinto, east of Houston, where Texas independence was won and the Republic was born.

[1] Historian Mary Deborah Petite

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Battle of San Jacinto, Battle of the Alamo, Houston, March 6 1836, Remember the Alamo, Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas Revolution, The Alamo, William Barret Travis

The Christian-Muslim Hate Fest (Part 2)

Mar 4

Posted by RJ Dawson

SWORDBROTHERS

“And I say unto you, you must encourage the Zealot Party among your people to rise up against the Arab occupation. You must also arm yourselves and go forth into the world and kill all those who stand in the way of establishing this gospel of peace. War is what we must have to defeat the heretic and those who fight against my movement. It is common sense that no one will listen otherwise or get the message. Our interests are at stake throughout the world and we must defeat the pagans who will fight our cause.

“Then we can make the necessary peace to spread the gospel. War is our friend in bringing people the good news.”

But then a Zealot spoke up and said, “It is not in our Law to go all through the world and fight, but we must only fight for our homeland, the land God has granted to us as His chosen people.”

“Woe to you! For you think the gospel can somehow be spread without war and murder. You think we can somehow preach the message of peace without fighting against the evil people who hate us and hate our cause!

“Woe to you for thinking that the message of love for all others can be spread without killing those who get in our way and refuse to release their territories for our purposes! We are the ones who are right. All these others in the world are heathens and defiers of our good and honest principles.”

“But sir,” spoke one of the disciples, “How can we love if we kill?”

“It is a fact of life that we must kill or be killed,” he replied. “Otherwise how can we love?”

Then the Zealot said, “Now you are even confusing me…”

“Woe to you! For do you not know that stoning sinners is a fundamental part of the Torah? Do you not know that we must stone those who resist the way of light? How can we have a peaceable and holy community if we allow resisters to exist and fight against us? All who dissent against my holy way must be eliminated. Otherwise evil people will overrun the world and make it impossible to spread the way of peace and allow for the establishment of economic markets that benefit our people.”

“What?!…”

“THIS IS WHAT! Eternal war means eternal peace. Killing sinners is the way of God. Kicking people out of our fellowships who refuse to toe the mark and believe like us is the way of spiritual unity and love. Have you not heard? Love means death for all who rebel. Love means removing all those who are different. Love means blowing the hell out of anything that stands in our way. Love means transforming all people into slaves with no rights to walk as they should. This is the love of God!”

“You know, You have convinced me,” replied the Zealot. “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! Kill the heretics! Destroy the dissenters! YEE HA!”

American Christians in general insist that Muslims are all about murder and terror and decapitation and killing their enemies with a desire to establish an Islamic Caliphate and rule the world. While I do not disagree with this in general terms in that there is an obvious movement among Muslims for such, and while I know the evidence for Muslim hatred and persecution of Christians is equally obvious, I think many Muslims would rather distance themselves from these strict precepts and find a way to live in peace with some semblance of personal freedom. It is not so much that they want to deny their faith, it is that they want the same thing the peoples of the free world possess. They are seeing that personal liberty is good, though perceived as incombatible with the heart of Islam.

Today, all the Islamists acknowledge that the freedom enjoyed in the West is a hundred times better than in the Islamic countries. [Saudi Scholar ‘Aql Al-Bahili]

But they also see that much of what passes for “Christianity” is hypocritical to the core.

Real Christianity is spreading steadily in Islamic countries through a remarkable underground cell movement, but American Christians either don’t know this, do not care to know it, or resist it. It has largely been censored by our censored mainstream media.

We had the same attitude immediately after World War II when General Douglas MacArthur essentially begged for Christian missionaries to Japan. But Americans in general so hated the Japanese they denied them the Gospel. They didn’t want the “dirty rotten” Japanese to be saved. It was a perfect time of openness toward Christianity for Japan, which MacArthur knew. But the Japanese were denied the opportunity of the Gospel, not only by the American people, but by the American government and the vast majority of American church leaders. There is much blood on their hands as a result.

Of course, if America wants to do the same thing the purveyors of an Islamic Empire want to do, such as invade sovereign nations militarily, set up puppet leaders, kill hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians (like the elderly, the women, the children, and the babies that made up most of the 120,000 Japanese killed immediately by the two atomic bombs dropped on their country), then it is a different story. The overseas Islamic enemy is seen by most American Christians not as potential partakers of the Gospel, but as evil ragheads bent toward our destruction who should be eliminated.

There are many fewer Christians in Iraq now than there were before the Iraq War, for example. The US war with Iraq did not make the country safe for democracy, and certainly not for Christianity. Instead, it created a much worse situation for Christians there and decimated the Christian population, many of whom have fled the country and continue leaving as they are able. Iraqi Christians had more numbers and freedom under Saddam Hussein. Yet, the United States is now on board to attack Iran in the not too distant future and continues to support the possibility of Israel using nuclear weapons against Iran if “forced to.”

Suffice it to say, there will be many war-first American Christians at the Judgment seat of Christ with a lot of explaining to do. And for all those who insist that loving our enemies is a wimpy attitute, these must also believe that the Son of God was the greatest wimp of all time.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Douglas MacArthur, Iran, Iraq War, Islam, Japan, Muslims Converting to Following Jesus, Nuclear Weapons, Saddam Hussein, United States, World War II

The Christian-Muslim Hate Fest (Part 1)

Mar 1

Posted by RJ Dawson

Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

The rhetoric against Islam has been growing louder recently. Some of our guys burned some Korans by mistake, apparently, and the usual ultra-overreaction among Muslims has transpired. (But it’s okay for Muslims to burn Bibles.)

Every time this happens it reminds me of what Jewish non-believers did in reaction to the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. There were so many incidents in which those Jewish non-believers went stark raving crazy and instantly wanted to kill and maim and butcher and slander and what have you. They eventually had their way against the Lord. They were responsible for killing many followers of Jesus in those early days. The Gospels and Book of Acts are filled with such incidents. The Lord called the ringleaders children of the devil, and He meant that literally.

Of course, what has often been lost in the conversation is the fact that our Lord Jesus had a perfect Jewish ancestral pedigree, as did all the apostles and every single member of the early community of saints. I remember the humorous anecdote of a friend after his Bible study. He overheard the conversation of two ladies brand new to the preceding knowledge:

“How could Jesus be a Jew when His mother was such a good Catholic?”

They were all Jews (Yes, including Mary). The Lord’s community was a purely Jewish movement then; there were no Gentile converts to the Way of the Lord for about seven to ten years after the Resurrection. Claims of anti-Semitism against the Jewish religious idiots who were responsible for all the carnage are therefore completely disingenuous. The greatest obstacle and problem the apostle Paul ever had, of course, were not Roman government authorities or crazy Goyim, but unbelieving Jews who considered followers of the Lord the vilest creatures on the planet.

This is how many Americans view Muslims. They see them as vile perpetrators of an evil false religion responsible for the deaths and mutilations of thousands. I am certainly not here to defend Islam. Islam in general hates Christianity. It hates Christians. One may not see this underlying hate until something is done to bring it to the surface. The guy in Florida threatens to continue burning Korans as a way to bring attention to the plight of persecuted formerly Muslim Christians in Iran and elsewhere. Conversion to Christianity is anathema to Muslims and those who are doing it are paying dearly. We in the West have concentrated our efforts in this area on the Iranian Christian leader, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, a former Muslim who remains under a death sentence for converting to Christianity. But there are a great many Muslims who have decided to follow Jesus, certainly in the hundreds of thousands and most likely more.

Rather than attack Islam, I think the better thing to do is shine a light on Christianity. Most “Christians” are not real Christians, and this is why a mere cultural war between these two religions will go nowhere and never has. Real Christianity transforms hearts. Real Christianity is a wholesale turning away from all that opposes the Lord. It is a one hundred percent embracing of Him, all He stands for, and all He teaches. When the early converts actually obeyed the Lord Jesus regarding their conversions and discipleship, incredible things happened. The Book of Acts happened. Miracles happened. They were filled with the actual Spirit of the Lord Jesus and began doing what He did.

Most Christians do not do this. Most Christians do not want to do this. Rather, they find a way not to do it. They find a way to make fun of it, and discount it, and reject it.

The Koran contains many passages about killing infidels and etc. But at least the strict practitioners of Islam actually do what the Koran commands them to do. Can Christians say the same? Do Christians really believe and practice what the Bible teaches?

Of course not. If all Christians did, the effort against Islam would not be fought with weapons of war and hateful rhetoric. This obviously does not mean we should not defend our country! It does not mean we should not fight for freedom. But the Lord stated very clearly that the highest form of freedom is spiritual freedom. He also taught us that we should fight for the liberty of whosover wants it, in that the kingdom of our Lord Jesus is for everyone, regardless of nationality. If we practiced real Christianity, we would not see Muslims as evil incarnate. We would see them the way the Lord sees them, the way He sees us, as those in need of life. That’s what the preaching of the Gospel is supposed to be about, right? Go into all the world and make disciples? Preach about the Lord and the way of salvation for all?

This is exactly what is happening in Muslim countries. Pastor Youcef found salvation after his family was witnessed to by former Muslims who had found the Lord, after they had been witnessed to, etc. Indigenous Christian ministers fighting an underground spiritual war in Iran and the Muslim world are not fighting against Islam; they are fighting against the same forces all real Christians fight against.

But unreal Christians fight in the natural. Rather than love our enemies, as the Lord directly commanded, and which results in salvation for our enemies, false Christians spew hate and wish violence against Muslims for their hateful and often murderous ways.

What self-respecting Christian would ever even think of sharing heaven with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?

I seem to recall something in Scripture about a certain future apostle who hated Christians and wanted to kill them all. What ever happened to that guy?

Have we forgotten what the Lord Jesus said as He hung in excruciating pain and abject misery on the cross?

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” [Luke 23:34]

Have we forgotten what Stephen said as big jagged rocks hurled like baseballs were tearing his flesh and shattering his bones?

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” [Acts 7:60]

Ask yourself what it was that had so incensed the murderers of our Lord Jesus and Stephen. Ask yourself what Pastor Youcef thinks about Muslims even as he sits in jail, separated from his family, with a death sentence hanging over his head. Is he possibly embarrassed by the activity and beliefs of faux Christians who act not from love but hate?

The more fake Christians shine a light on the unchristian dictates of Islam, the more God will shine a light on the unchristian dictates of fake Christianity.

He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.” [Mark 7:6-9] [1]

The tradition of the unrepentant Jews was in part a murderous tradition. How is it any different from the murderous traditions of unrepentant Muslims and Christians?

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Islam, Koran, Lord Jesus, Muslim, Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, Real Christianity, Unreal Christianity, Unrepentant Christians, Unrepentant Jews, Unrepentant Muslims

Against All Odds: The American Revolution

Feb 29

Posted by RJ Dawson

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: 1776, Against All Odds, American Revolutionary War, James Taylor, Johnny Has Gone For a Soldier, Liberty, Mark O'Connor, The Fight For Liberty, The Foundation of Freedom, The Freedom Movement

The Lighter Side of Darkness

Feb 26

Posted by RJ Dawson

When human beings are subjected to the full authority of the Lord Jesus, they treat other human beings with equal respect. They have long since gotten down off their high horse. They see by the light of the Gospel that they were formerly sinners destined to hell and realize they were saved from that hell by the sacrificial death of their Lord and Master. They consequently can no longer be critical of others as “sinners” since they themselves are former sinners saved only by the grace of God.

Real Christians still commit sins, however. What changes is the lifestyle of sin. Those not subjected to the Lord have no true awareness of their sin and no true desire to cease from it. They exist in a fairy tale land of no recompense for their evil deeds. Indeed, the idea that they do “evil deeds” is ridiculous to them. In their reasoning, only vile criminals, murderers, etc, engage in “evil deeds.” But God has a different opinion. And when people come into contact with God for the first time through the hearing of the powerful Gospel message, which includes the cutting truth that one is a sinner in opposition to God, it causes them to bow before their Creator and seek His pardon.

Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.

And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” [Luke 7:36-50]

Real repentance is often done with much emotion. For those who refuse to repent, they consider the Gospel message as inapplicable to themselves, in that they see themselves as righteous apart from God.

These reject the Gospel message and continue on their journey toward hell.

Those who repent, on the other hand, cease being sinners in that their previous sins are removed by the cleansing blood of the Lamb of God. They do an about face. They start walking in the opposite direction. They get off the train to hell and hop on board the train to heaven.

They still sin from time to time, partly from ignorance, partly from not yet fully overcoming the dictates of their sinful nature, and partly from not continuing in their spiritual disciplines. An altar of repentance always awaits them for personal use when needed, and the blood of the Lord is once again invoked to cleanse them. In time, they grow more spiritually mature and their faults grow fewer.

They learn to take it on the chin. They learn to not fight back against others who treat them with contempt. They see other people as those in need of salvation the same way they were. They become more accommodating and graceful. They learn the art of spiritual tact. They attempt to help others see the light that was shown to them. They do not consider themselves better, or holier, or a greater specimen of humanity, but someone who was saved from a life of sin and eventual hell by a loving Savior through no effort whatsoever of their own.

They understand that their righteousness is a gift.

They see clearly that the death of the Lord Jesus paid for all sins for all time.

They see there is nothing to crow about, that though they are cleansed, they personally had nothing to do with it except merely saying yes to God and accepting His generous offer of salvation.

         Humility becomes their standard.

         Obedience to the Lord becomes their modus operandi.

         Loving the Lord and others becomes their purpose.

         Telling others about the Good News becomes their principle occupation.

They want to see others saved from sin and set free the way they were.

They want others to meet the Lord.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” [Matthew 11:28-30] [1]

THANKS TO ALL FOR READING AND SPREADING THE WORD

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: Lord Jesus, My Yoke is Easy and My Burden is Light, Real Christianity, Real Repentance, Self-Righteous Pharisees, Sinners Saved By Grace, Spiritual Maturity, The Good News, The Gospel Message, The Lighter Side of Darkness

What is a Real Christian?

Feb 22

Posted by RJ Dawson

Once again we have another controversy in the news about what it means to be a Christian. Who is a real Christian? What does a real Christian believe? What does a real Christian do? Are you a real Christian?

Franklin Graham, Al Sharpton, and a few left-leaning television talking heads seem to have different ideas about the subject. What do I think?

I think who cares what they think? It doesn’t matter what they think. It doesn’t matter what I think. What matters is what the Bible says. What matters is how closely one lines himself or herself up with the teachings of Jesus. The only thing that really matters is what He thinks.

Now, of course, since we have roughly a billion different Christian denominations, sects, offshoots, strange individuals who believe things no one else does, and the vast majority who think they are Christians no matter what it is they believe, there must be a final appeal to authority. There must be someone who straightens out the whole mess and sets us all straight.

That Someone is the Man who created Christianity.

He didn’t call it that. He had no church boards or elder boards or denominational leaders trying to outdo each other in a funny hat contest. The apostles wore no backwards collars. They didn’t affect some high-minded holier-than-all-you-unwashed-bozos arrogant religious attitude. The Lord was not judgmental, condemning, or prejudiced during His sojourn on earth 2000 years ago. He went out of His way to help people. Simple people. Ordinary people. Everyday people. He never acted toward religious bigwigs with one attitude and toward the lower classes with another attitude. What you saw was what you got. If you didn’t like it, it was your problem. And if you have a problem with Jesus, YOU HAVE A VERY BIG PROBLEM.

So what was the big controversy regarding Franklin Graham’s recent interview? The big thing, the main thing, was that the hosts could hardly believe Mr. Graham was questioning the president’s Christianity. “You don’t believe our president is a Christian?” they seemed to all think in unison.

But Franklin Graham was not swayed. It’s difficult for Christians to be nice to everyone and also tell the truth. Well, here’s a news flash: The Lord did not instruct His people to be nice to everyone. He taught them to go forth and tell the truth. He commanded them to go out and tell everyone the Good News. If someone does not like the Good News, tell it anyway. If someone makes fun of you for telling the Good News, tell it anyway. If someone wants to destroy your life, your reputation, or kill you, tell the Good News anyway.

Why else did all the original apostles except John die a violent martyr’s death? Why was the Lord Himself killed by a bunch of sorry religious idiots? Because He was nice guy?

The truth is not easy. It never has been.

Do I think the president is a real Christian? My opinion does not matter. Only God knows our hearts. Only God will ultimately judge us. But I can say that the Bible teaches that murder is a sin. And I can say that anyone who advocates for abortion is advocating for murdering tiny defenseless babies. And I can say anyone who argues that abortion is an option in the realm of “women’s health” is dead wrong from a Biblical point of view.

Unrepentant baby killers will not inherit the kingdom of God. There is absolutely no Scriptural backing anywhere in the teachings of Jesus that says murder is okay. In the Old Testament, murder was a stoning offense. For decades, the argument was repeatedly made that a “fetus” is not a life. It is a mere gob of tissue. We know now for a fact with no doubt whatsoever that the so-called “fetus” is definitely a life, and that life begins at conception. This has been scientifically proven. Ultrasound videos prove the little dudes and dudettes are alive and growing.

Leave that baby alone and that baby will come to full term and be born in almost every case.

The other big question posed to Franklin Graham was, “Are Mormon’s Christians?”

How do I answer that? Well, again, since we have roughly a billion different Christian denominations, sects, offshoots, strange individuals who believe things no one else does, and the vast majority who think they are Christians no matter what it is they believe, one might ask the Lord if Mormons are real Christians. In lieu of that, one may simply study the teachings of the Lord Jesus.

Shallow-minded believers must do some actual work for a change. Research the New Testament. May we all quit leaning on our stupid religious opinions and do what the Word of God says.

Celebrities, media people, and others in the spot light have gained an inordinate amount of influence regarding their personal beliefs. But who cares what anyone believes if it violates Scripture? The only thing that matters is obeying the Lord. The only thing that matters is submitting oneself to Him as a real disciple, otherwise known as a real Christian.

Real Christians practice Real Christianity to the best of their ability. There is a learning curve. Real Christians are not perfect. No one is except the Lord Himself. He is the only human being who has ever traversed His way through this earth without ever committing a single sin.

Whoever does not believe that is going to hell, simply because they do not believe in the only Way of salvation.

But what about all those people who are good people (etc etc etc etc etc) that never practiced Biblical Christianity? Uh, what about ‘em? Should we try to convince the Lord to let unrepentant sinners into heaven? Will one demand that God quit being such a jerk and let blatant sinners screw up heaven the same way they screwed up the earth?

Right. Yeah, let’s do that. Sure.

Rather than go around asking dumb questions with an attitude that all Christians are real Christians, wouldn’t it be better to become a real Christian and remove all doubt?

But what IS a real Christian?

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.

“This I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.

“If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’” [John 15:1-25] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Living Epistles, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Ten Commandments, The Holy Spirit, The Letter Kills but the Spirit Gives Life, The Lord is the Spirit, Two Commandments, Where The Spirit of the Lord is There is Liberty

Tags: Abortion, Al Sharpton, Are Mormon's Christians?, Franklin Graham, Is Barack Obama a Christian?, Lord Jesus, New Testament, Real Christianity, Repentance, Who is a Real Christian?

10 or 2? The Greatest Commandments and You

Feb 18

Posted by RJ Dawson

Some American Christians are metaphorically up in arms over a curious issue. Representations of the Ten Commandments have been removed from public places, court houses, etc, and removal of these icons is threatened elsewhere. A great fight has ensued with either side casting the other in a not too pleasant light.

On one end of the spectrum, secularists claim the Ten Commandments is an ancient outdated list of dos and don’ts that has no place in a country in which church is divided from state. Christians counter that the nation was founded on the Ten Commandments and that our entire system of jurisprudence is based upon them. The latter consider the disagreement as an attack against the Christian moral code by anti-Christian government-first authoritative bigheads, atheists, statists, and secular humanists. Those against the posting of the TC consider its supporters as backwoods half-brained ninnies living in the past.

Both parties might step back from the fight for a while to consider what the New Testament actually says. While the Ten Commandments have indeed been foundational in Christian circles, it is only because Christians have stopped at a place in their development and did not apply the actual teachings of Jesus:

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 5:17-20]

Well, this statement certainly seems to support the traditional keeping of the Ten Commandments. For the record, though, the Lord is actually referring to the entire Torah, which is composed of 613 commandments. However, as did the Pharisees, so do many Christians. There is a higher mandatory standard that many in both camps fail to keep which keeps them out of the kingdom. That’s why the Lord continued His teaching on the subject by adding caveats:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” [Matthew 5:21-22]

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” [Matthew 5:27-28]

“It was said, ‘WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” [Matthew 5:31-32]

“Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FALSE VOWS, BUT SHALL FULFILL YOUR VOWS TO THE LORD.’ But I say to you, make no oath at all…” [Matthew 5:33-34]

“You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” [Matthew 5:38-39]

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…” [Matthew 5:43-45]

Only two of the preceding six statements refer to one of the Ten Commandments. The point here is that there is much more than the mere celebrated ten that so many people are willing to fight about. To add to the above caveat list wherein the Lord makes the proper amendments, we also have an even more curious teaching on the opposite end. Whereas the Lord got into fine detail regarding what the Torah actually states, He also pares down all of that detail into a prima facie foundation with reference to not only the Law of Moses but His own voluminous teachings:

But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:34-40]

Jesus said the remaining 611 commandments of the Torah and the entirety of all prophetic writings are suspended from the strong upper framework of the two greatest commandments of all. And guess what?

Only one of the two greatest commandments is listed among the Ten Commandments.

There is obviously then, much misunderstanding and misapplication of the Ten Commandments themselves and the true teaching regarding them. Can anyone find a single quote by the Lord Jesus in reference to the ten? How about among the apostles? The fact of the matter is that the Ten Commandments are not mentioned one time in the entire New Testament. Not even once.

This means there was a different standard among the early believers than is among most of us. It means their Christianity was a completely different Christianity. They were not hung up on lists and they did not give but partial commitment. They knew that if they properly obeyed the two greatest commandments, they would also be fulfilling all the rest of the applicable commandments that had not already been fulfilled.

Therefore, what we should be posting are the Two Commandments, not the Ten Commandments.

In addition, the early believers knew that wearing one’s religion upon one’s proverbial sleeve was anathema to real Christianity, and that obeying the commandments did not mean posting a select few on the walls of buildings and the institutions of man, but on our hearts.

We are the building. We are the wall. We are the medium the Lord has chosen to advertise Himself to the world.

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. [2Corinthians 3:2-18]

As stated here, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of our Lord Jesus whose love has been poured out within our hearts if we have indeed been filled with His Spirit. It is He to whom the greatest commandment is applied. And it is to each other that the second is applied. These two living commandments (not suggestions) make the entire curriculum of the Lord work properly and bring it to life. They are based on love for Him and love for one another.

Obeying the Two supersedes obeying the Ten.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” [John 14:15-18] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

9 Comments

Keep Your Lamp Filled With Oil

Feb 15

Posted by RJ Dawson

There is a constant theme in the teachings of our Lord Jesus. He is forever telling us to stay alert, stay awake, and fight against deception. He tells us to stay prayed up, fasted up, filled up, read up, and lit up. Not only must we stay in His written Word, we must always stay close to Him, the Living Word. Living for God is impossible otherwise.

Any real believer can be deceived at any time. Our enemy is no slouch. He is a very powerful deceiver, and Christians who downplay this or do not take the Lord seriously will have no chance. The more one turns his or her Christianity into a kindergarten Sunday school class, the more likely he or she will never grow up.

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.

Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’

And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” [Matthew 25:1-13]

There are false doctrines within overall Christianity that make a mockery of such teachings. The idea that one can never be lost once being saved plays right into the devil’s hands. Why in the world is the Lord ever telling us to stay alert? Sleepy time Christianity has institutionalized spiritual laziness and the rejection of sound teaching regarding one’s fight against deception. One of the worst things a believer can do is act as if the enemy has no chance against us or that one’s sin is somehow always being removed as if by magic though there be no real repentance or aggressive attention to spiritual details.

Most Christians trust their guy in the pulpit, and though there are many solid ministers, there are also many solid quacks and spiritual pansies who side with the devil more times than otherwise. Letting some hand-picked man or woman or whoever might come your way be the central arbiter of your spiritual life is not Biblical. Remaining a dunderhead while trusting a Christian guru without staying close to God is very foolish, but this is often the norm in Christian circles. Good shepherds are relatively rare and should be respected, but appeals to authority other than the Lord will not be allowed at the judgment: “But look at all I did, Lord! My pastor/priest/reverend told me to do it that way! All my friends said I was right!”

When believers let their lamp go out it is because they are living today on yesterday’s oil. The Lord alluded to new wine skins being necessary on given occasions of new growth and new spiritual output. Doing things the way we did it yesterday does not necessarily work in the here and now. It never works in the future. God changes course a lot and does new and different things all the time. Without following Him and paying attention one can never keep up. It is always sad to see so many Christians living in the past and refusing to allow themselves the refreshing renewing and change for the better that comes with truly following God.

Do the journeys of the Israelites mean anything at all? God was always doing different things. He wanted no one to come up with a formula or plan or doctrine or belief system that would somehow give all the answers and make Him predictable. As another example, when the Lord Jesus healed the blind He always did it differently.

From these simple truths we should know we can NEVER figure out God, but the reason why is not what you may think. A real living relationship with the Lord demands an ongoing newness and freshness, and such cannot be achieved or lived out by doing the same thing we did last year or last decade. Some Christians are so stuck in the mud they are still living in the wineskin of fifty years ago. As a result, they have little life. Their oil has long since run out. Their lamps serve no purpose. They give off no light. They missed the bridegroom long ago but act as if they are still waiting for Him.

It will be a long wait.

That’s why the answer is the non-answer. Living for God successfully means staying close to Him so one can hear His voice and thereby obey Him and do His will, whatever it may be. Therefore the answer is remaining in a state of real repentance, living by faith, praying always, fasting enough to get the job done, giving, and studying the Word. These are not answers so much as they are the means to the answer. These things help us to keep our lamps and oil flasks filled. We were made to be filled with the Spirit of God. We must always keep our oil supply fresh and our tanks topped off.

And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. [Acts 13:52][1]

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

35 Comments

Tags: Be Filled With the Holy Spirit, I Do Not Know You, Keep Your Lamp Filled With Oil, Lord Jesus, New Wineskins, Parable of the Ten Virgins, Phil Keaggy, Real Christianity, Stay Alert!, The Kingdom of Heaven

IRAN IN THE CROSSHAIRS! (Part 5)

Feb 8

Posted by RJ Dawson

There are upwards of 100,000 Christian believers in the nation of Iran by conservative estimates. The number could be considerably higher. There is a solid Christian underground that meets primarily in private homes. Evangelistic activity is strong but very risky. Witnessing for Christ is illegal.

The state religion of Iran is Shia Islam. All other faiths are essentially against the law, though Christians are singled out for extreme prejudice and hostility. They undergo discrimination in all areas, including housing, employment, and education. The government engages in the arrest, imprisonment, and torture of Muslim converts to Christianity who sometimes pay the ultimate price for their faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus. Under the strict Islamist regime, forsaking Islam is a crime punishable by death.

As in many other hostile nations, Christians cannot meet openly and are forever subjected to suspicion and betrayal, even by family members. Since Iran is over 98% Muslim, almost all new Christian believers are former Muslims and are routinely hounded by those of their former religion. Secrecy is often a must for survival’s sake, yet house churches are often raided. Due to the strong faith of Iranian Christians in light of such strong persecution, the suffering and scattering of believers spreads the embers of Christian light to more Muslims hungry for truth. Iran is ripe for revival and there is in fact a strong awakening taking place in the country. Many of the people have access to Western media and it is only a matter of time until a strong Christian presence is established.

This dynamic must be considered in light of the probable attack from Israel and Western forces that is currently in the making. Iran is a great restrictor of personal freedom, has a government-sponsored radical Muslim ideology, and makes no bones about its intentions. Iran is a powerful nation and has powerful allies who are pledged to varying degrees to supporting it against economic and military attack. These allies also share a general hatred of real Christianity though it be burgeoning in Communist China and India, as well as beginning to make an impact in other Muslim nations.

Muslims are coming to Christ in very large numbers, though this fact is rarely revealed in the major media. It is an unprecedented movement throughout Islamic countries and among Muslim immigrant populations and the pioneers are paying the price. Yet the Lord teaches us to outlast the enemy through constant victorious faith regardless of harsh conditions, suffering, and an apparent lack of progress. We also know that persecution always results in greater numbers and deeper faith of believers. Islam is doing itself no favors by attempting to stomp out Christianity, as it is only making it grow.

I remember being involved in the very early house church movement in America. I recall that the chief persecutors of the growing movement were not government authorities but established Christian churches, even those in the more “understanding” nondenominational sphere. Many churches co-opted the process by breaking their congregations down into home groups, but this is the opposite of true cell division. Some Christians went flat crazy against the movement much as radical Muslims do now. And it is for the same purpose — maintaining strict religious control to protect the organization, even if the battle is against the Spirit of the Lord.

Due to obvious circumstances in hostile environments, there is no other reasonable method for meeting to share the Gospel. The vastly expanding house church movement in America is indicative of God’s hand regarding our future. The community of the Lord was born in a house in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. The movement was illegal then also, both in Judea and throughout the Roman Empire. But the Gospel spread rapidly through small groups of dedicated believers and this very process is currently taking place in Iran.

Christians should therefore be careful of getting sucked into anti-Iran and anti-Muslim war rhetoric and propaganda since Iranian Muslims are the seed bed of Christianity in that country.

Though persecuted, our Iranian brothers and sisters are without doubt praying for their government leaders and those associated with fomenting the coming war, and are showing the love of God. They know war well in that the spiritual war has been raging in the region for decades. Iranian believers want to save fellow Iranians and their country for the Lord.

Let us remember that “Iran in the Crosshairs” also means Iranian Christians in the crosshairs. Would God use His “chosen people” in Israel against His sons and daughters in Iran? Such things are always more complicated than they appear on the surface. The Word of God has the correct answer on how to approach the conflict and the various people groups involved. The Lord has Iran in His own crosshairs for His own purposes.

Those who revoke and shoot down “Love Thy Neighbor” do so at their own expense.

“All those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.” [Matthew 26:52][1]

THANKS TO ALL FOR READING AND SPREADING THE WORD

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

5 Comments

Tags: Book of Acts, Christian Persecution, House Church Movement, Iran, Iranian Christians, Israel, Lord Jesus, Love Thy Neighbor, Original Christian Community in Jerusalem, Real Christianity

IRAN IN THE CROSSHAIRS! (Part 4)

Feb 7

Posted by RJ Dawson

PREPARING FOR WAR

When the small financial-political elite known as neoconservatives had taken over American foreign policy and made their guiding principle the mainstream policy of the land, it did not matter that it grossly violated both the spirit and letter of the United States Constitution. The American people supported it, whether they knew what they were supporting or not. Most had no idea. Most Americans believed it was the patriotic thing to do.

It is always a master stroke by the big boys to play the patriot card. They deceive Americans into thinking that not supporting the government and the military 100% means not being loyal to the nation. This group has thus attempted to make traitors of millions of solid US citizens. The rush to war and fake patriotic fervor that removed many Constitutional rights a decade ago caused most Americans to remain with the unseeing pack to avoid being thought of as disloyal, wrong, or nuts.

But who are the real nuts? Who is taking away American freedom? Who caused the economy to implode? Who got off scot-free when almost everyone else has suffered as a result? A handful of people have taken control of the country and are running it into the ground while they rob Americans of their wealth to support their illicit efforts to rule the world. Even though the president railed against Bush foreign policy during the 2008 campaign, and many of his supporters believed him and hated Bush, he seamlessly embraced Bush’s foreign policy when he became president. Democrats kept quiet because they got their guy. Most are still quiet.

Thus, the NeoCon imperial foreign policy has been brought to full force by the two administrations of George W. Bush and the current administration and has become synonymous in the minds of the majority of Americans as the only correct foreign policy to have. As a result, American citizens have become deceived regarding the true aims of this policy. It is not to benefit the country and never has been. It is to benefit the members of the small elite cabal in power. It is to support multinational corporate interests. It is to support greater government authority and less individual freedom. The reason why should be obvious—since it has been imposed, the elite has gained in riches and power while the United States has suffered terribly.

The American news media has largely become the propaganda arm of this cabal. Left and Right duke it out on the surface but are buddies behind the scenes. It is a classic “good cop-bad cop” scenario. Regarding foreign policy and government philosophy, George W. Bush and the president are buddies. They are on the same team. They are brothers in arms. The president’s foreign policy is no different from Bush’s foreign policy. Differences are deceptively installed on the surface to make these guys look like mortal enemies, the mainstream media fans the flames, and the American people are fooled into thinking they are dealing with two competing camps. One side spends its time defending Bush and another side defends the president.

But it’s all for show. It’s there to hide what’s really going on.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

There is actually only one club at the very top which owns both political parties and almost every office holder in the Federal government. It is the money club. It is composed of the very rich elite and their bought and paid for spokesmen, whether they be corporate leaders, politicians, television personalities, or media members. It is all about the Golden Rule—whoever has the gold rules. The love of money has developed into a religion and those who subscribe to it are bound by it. Those who love their paychecks know what will happen if they tell the truth. They would rather serve themselves and their bosses and let the country go to hell.

Why is this so difficult to grasp and keep in front of us? Why do the American people remain so apathetic in light of such truth?

Americans want a strong and powerful national defense. But there is a giant difference between defense spending and overall military spending. Much military spending is absolutely unnecessary, much is wasted, and a great percentage is unaccounted for. This has nothing to do with national defense. But Americans have been deceived into thinking all military spending is vitally necessary and that our enemies will get the jump on us without it. It’s a ruse. We are a nuclear powerhouse that can destroy the planet if we wanted to, and can certainly vaporize any nation stupid enough to attack us, unless we are talking about a death match between nuclear heavyweights.

Yet Americans have been made to feel that little tiny non-nuclear Iran is gonna get us? The nuclear reason is a mere cover and surface excuse to go to war. There is no actual military threat against this country from Iran. If Iran did have nuclear weapons, would they really be so stupid to give up their nuclear threat by using it?

Because nuclear weapons are so devastating, those countries who possess them know they must never use them. If they do they will destroy themselves through the response of another nuclear nation. Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) means nations use the nuclear weapons not as actual weapons but as an equalizing threat.

If Iran ever builds a nuclear weapon, the odds are they will never use it in a first strike, but use the threat to balance power. And because such a balance will curtail Israel’s current position of nuclear strength against Iran, Israel must act to prevent not the proposed Iran nuclear bomb necessarily being used, but the future bomb being used as a threat to tie their hands, just as the US and Russia neutralized each other during the Cold War. Iran would then have greater ability to attack Israel through conventional means because Israel’s nuclear response would be neutralized.

In addition to the supposed nuclear weapons threat, it is the threat of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism that is put forth as the other main reason for attacking them, just as it was with Afghanistan and Iraq. To support the threat of the terrorism threat, hearings were recently conducted in Washington that upped the ante and put the idea on the public mind. It was also revealed that the head of Israel intelligence was recently in Washington and was involved in secret meetings. A news story was floated that Iran would be willing to attack America on its own turf. All of these elements are beginning to cook together in preparation for war.

Of course, most Americans are not aware of the facts behind the “facts” because they trust the news media. All too often, we simply go along with what we’re fed from television and major news sources, a media that is for-profit and corporate in nature and is in league with the international power players in Washington and Wall Street. In other words, the major media is not a free press in search of truth. It is corporate in nature with an economic bottom line and is controlled by wealthy top-of-the-pyramid guys. The inherent bias is directed toward their desired outcomes. They have mastered the art of duping the majority.

A strike on Iran is only a matter of time, but the time grows ever closer.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: American Freedom, Iran, Israel, Mainstream Media, Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), Neoconservatives, Nuclear Threat, Nuclear Weapons, United States Constitution, United States Foreign Policy

IRAN IN THE CROSSHAIRS! (Part 3)

Feb 5

Posted by RJ Dawson

PREPARING FOR WAR

February 4, 2012: Nuclear heavyweights Russia and China have vetoed a Western and Arab-backed United Nations resolution demanding that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad surrender his office, thereby blocking UN efforts to stop what is becoming a Syrian civil war. The veto will only embolden al-Assad as his government continues a bloody crackdown that killed hundreds the previous night and injured many hundreds more. It was the most violent police action yet in the last eleven months of the internal uprising against his government by domestic opposition.

On the much larger front—the impending strike against Iran—the veto gives a clear indication of where the two superpowers stand in the latest Western buildup to war in the Middle East. Russia and China have refused to honor economic sanctions against Iran, their valued trading partner, and continue to defy the West and the other three permanent members of the UN Security Council. While the United States, on the surface, puts hope in a diplomatic breakthrough, it and other Western powers are slowly building up a strong military presence in the region. Israel is leading the initiative in a relentless drive to put an end to Iran’s nuclear program before it results in a nuclear weapon. That the entire world is being dragged into the conflict does not concern the Israelis.

There are currently nine countries in the world with nuclear firepower. Five nuclear powers are against a likely military strike by Israel in the conflict—Russia, China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. The nuclear powers of the West demanding that Iran cease work toward a possible nuclear bomb are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Israel.

Shades of Gog and Magog?

“Son of man, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; Persia (Iran), Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you.’” [Ezekiel 38:2-6][1]

At present, there is a covert war going on inside Iranian borders, as nuclear scientists and others are being assassinated in an effort to not only stop the Iranian civilian (non-military) nuclear program but strike fear in the heart of the government. Haaretz has reported that the latest murder of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Iran was the work of Israeli Mossad agents.

The Iranians know, however, that despite their trampling of human rights and the liberty of their own citizens, they own the moral high ground as a sovereign nation. They are merely pursuing what any nation may pursue regarding their civilian power needs. They do not have a nuclear weapon and are at least two years away. Leon Panetta, the US Secretary of Defense, clearly admitted this in December and recently stated they might possibly get there by the end of 2012, but the West has been crying wolf for several years now, continually repeating the same mantra.

Israel supports Panetta’s timetable. On February 2, at the Herzliya Conference, Israeli Military Intelligence leader Aviv Kochavi said,

“If Khamenei issues a command to achieve a first nuclear explosive device, we estimate it would take another year before that’s achieved,” and, “if he asks to translate that ability to obtain a nuclear warhead, that would take another year or two.”

Israel, on the other hand, has hundreds of nuclear weapons ready to go, some no doubt trained directly on Iran. The nation of Israel can take care of itself and usually does unless a broad conventional war breaks out. When Israel decides to bomb nuclear facilities under construction in the region, as they did in Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007, they just do it.

There is satellite surveillance evidence that site destruction in Iran occurred last November. An Iran Revolutionary Guard missile base close to Tehran was destroyed, and Israel has acknowledged this, essentially taking credit. Vice Prime Minister Moshe Ya’alon claims missiles being built at the base had a 6,000 mile range, “thus threatening the United States.” The US has remained mute regarding the bombers of the site, but has denied that Iran had missiles with such an intercontinental range.[2] This is another case of Israel highly exaggerating the threat in a clear effort to scare Americans and keep them on point.

Iranian long range missiles currently have a maximum range of about 1200 miles by latest estimates, which is long enough to reach all US military installations in the Middle East as well as Israel and beyond, but they represent no threat to American soil. This obviously does not lessen the threat in the region, but rather than war, and certainly rather than nuclear war, the West would rather contain the Iranian threat and exhaust every other possibility toward a solution. But the writing is on the wall. Israel wants to go to war immediately. Iran continues stalling in hopes of a fairer fight. Neither side will give in. War is inevitable.

The ancient land of Persia (Iran—Aryan), is a great prize to control. It possesses the third largest known reserves of oil behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Getting Iran back would be a huge gain and would put the West on top to stay in the region, but an independent Iran would do the opposite, throwing the balance of power the other way in an alignment with Russia, China, India, et al, who receive the bulk of Iranian oil. Therefore, the Iran situation is a tug-of-war over the last domino to fall, and if it refuses to comply it will likely be bombed toward submission. Detailed plans for the attack have been in the works for several years, and military-corporate interests covet the considerable financial rewards of the war and ongoing influence in the region.

The coming war has a higher stakes dynamic than the preliminary Iraq and Afghanistan wars, because it directly involves at least five extra-regional nuclear powers. Pakistan, also a nuclear nation and closely allied with China, has been developing closer ties with Iran as of late and is moving away from the US, citing the need for closer economic links with their Muslim neighbor. The ongoing revolutions in Muslim countries are part of this newly opened Pandora’s box, in that the greater region is in a state of political flux. All signs are pointing to a conflagration in the making.

In the biggest picture, the war on Iran is the final push to force the country under the complete control of the international banking interests currently fighting a strong sanctions war. Like the former Libya under Muammar Gaddafi, it is one of the few remaining holdout nations on the world scene, and certainly the most prized and powerful, that is battling against surrendering to the dictates of the globalist economic union.

[2] Since Iran has put satellites into orbit, it technically has the ability to fire its rockets on a horizontal trajectory, meaning such can possess intercontinental range.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Ancient Land of Persia, China, Gog and Magog, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, United Nations Security Council, United States Foreign Policy

IRAN IN THE CROSSHAIRS! (Part 2)

Feb 3

Posted by RJ Dawson

You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” [Matthew 24:6-8][1]

Remember the UN-US Iraq no-fly zones and economic sanctions of the 1990’s? These had no effect against Saddam Hussein or his rule, but only punished the Iraqi people. The problem with setting up such dictators through our flawed foreign policy is that they become entrenched. They surround themselves with wealth and layers of internal protection.

We saw by what recently happened to former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi that the only remaining option to remove such a guy from power is open warfare, in this case with the assistance of a national rebellion, and his eventual execution. Dictators and kings never go down easy. Saddam didn’t go down easy but he did go down.

The 9/11 attacks of 2001 formed the perfect raison d’être to go to war in the wider region centered on Iraq, not simply to fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Rumors were floated that Saddam Hussein had nuclear weapons or would soon be in possession of them, and that he had weapons of mass destruction. The Bush administration insisted that Saddam possessed deadly WMD’s and they represented a dire threat to America. The same fear being sold to America about Iran’s nuclear weapons program at present was sold to us then as well, and was bought completely by a deceived public.

Afterwards, of course, the central reasons for going to war proved to be false, regardless of our highly capable and resourced intelligence service. Despite all the lies, excuses, and hyper-spin since, the fact remains that America was conned. We went to war on false pretenses fighting an enemy that never attacked us. Iraq was busted for other reasons, the same way repeat criminals are often convicted on their priors.

The Bush administration claimed no such WMD’s were ever found, though independent sources suggest otherwise.[2] Could it be because some of them were manufactured in the West? Saddam certainly did not have nuclear weapons. He never attacked us on 9/11 or had anything to do with it, though it was claimed he was somehow in cahoots with Al Qaeda. What he did do was defy the powerful people in the West that made him what he was.

He was originally set up by us as our ally but later established his own independent authority, as leaders of sovereign nations are wont to do. He strayed from the leash and appropriated his own way in the world according to the perspective of US interests, which essentially amounted to an open betrayal. By moving from the dollar to the euro, and thereby incensing the money boys and their international plans, he effectively declared war on them and had to be removed. It’s usually suicide when a puppet cuts his strings.

Much of what has taken place in the region to date is part of an overall plan toward eventual war with Iran. Economic sanctions against Iran are currently not working so well, though they be severe, and certainly not as intended. As a result the pressure is building and the hot war is coming forth. On February 2, to increase economic pressure, the European Union added to the current sanctions by banning all purchases of Iranian oil by its 27 member states. Those with current contracts may honor them for six months. This coincides with the six month grace period the US has imposed on all other countries in the world who buy Iranian oil.

Iran is being portrayed as isolated in the world but in truth is allied economically with Venezuela, Turkey, and the major nuclear powers of Russia, China, and India, the latter of which has recently considered purchasing their Iranian oil imports with either gold or rupees, further lessening the clout of the dollar in the area. These three powers refuse to participate in economic sanctions against Iran, and consider the country a good and necessary trading partner, especially since they import such great amounts of Iranian oil.

Russia and China just happen to be two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council with a veto vote, along with the US, the UK, and France. What will happen when economic sanctions are placed upon them and the other trading partners of Iran by the West this summer? The world is being cut in half by the Israel-Iran dogfight and nations are taking sides. Does anyone really expect Russia and China to back down?

[2] Despite later Bush administration pronouncements that no WMD’s actually existed, including claims by high-ranking officials David Kay, Bush’s top weapons expert in Iraq, chief U.S. investigator Charles Duelfer, and former US Secretary of State Colin Powell, this view is contested by former Iraqi Air Force General and fighter pilot Georges Sada in his book, Saddam’s Secrets, © 2006 Integrity Publishers.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: China, Dollar, Euro, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, Saddam Hussein, United States Foreign Policy

IRAN IN THE CROSSHAIRS! (Part 1)

Feb 2

Posted by RJ Dawson

February 2, 2012: Israel says the West has the ability to make a successful military strike on all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, though the Pentagon claims we do not have conventional weapons strong enough to do the job.

“The West has the ability to strike, but as long as Iran isn’t convinced that there’s a determination to follow through with it, they’ll continue with their manipulations,” said Vice Prime Minister, Strategic Affairs Minister, and former IDF chief Moshe Ya’alon. “The Iranians believe that a determination isn’t still there, both in regards to military action and in regards to sanctions,” and that “any facility protected by humans can be infiltrated by humans. It’s possible to strike all Iran’s facilities, and I say that out of my experience as IDF chief of staff.”

This contradicts a Wall Street Journal report last week in which Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta was quoted as saying the United States does not have a bunker buster bomb big enough to penetrate and destroy the underground Iranian facilities where suspected nuclear programs are in the works. “We’re still trying to develop them,” said Panetta.

Later today Leon Panetta said he feared Israel would strike Iran this spring.

Who is actually driving US foreign policy in the Middle East?

The following series is an attempt to set the record straight, reveal less-known information, and expose the truth regarding the current crisis regarding the United States and the nation of Iran. There is an ongoing globalist agenda covered up by a false agenda. America has been hoodwinked regarding its foreign policy in the Middle East.

Critics of presidential candidate Ron Paul, for example, who might like him otherwise, usually cite his foreign policy views as the reason they choose not to support him. His views, however mischaracterized and in the minority they may seem to be, are generally the correct ones. They are based on the vision and wisdom of our founding fathers and Constitution of the United States. It must be noted that members of our active duty military support Ron Paul more than any other announced 2012 presidential candidate. What do they know that most Americans don’t know?

It should be shocking that our national creed is treated with such indifference and lack of respect, especially by our duly elected representatives, but Americans have become too apathetic to be rightfully concerned. We are motivated more by fear of perceived enemies than honor of the law of the land. Military strength means we must always be strongly prepared, but never against our rights as American citizens or disrespect of the law. Spreading ourselves too thin has actually weakened us, and has taken us down the road of all empires: Continual expansion means eventual inability to maintain control. Contraction has always been the inevitable outcome of all historical empires.

The dominant foreign policy of America that most people continue to support is one of aggression, war, incredible spending, nation-building, and most of all, the unbridled and ongoing expansion of the American Global Military Empire. It is geographic in that we have military personnel stationed in over 150 countries of the world, which accounts for almost 80% of the nations on the planet. Total US military bases on foreign soil total approximately 750. According to anyone’s definition, this is a massive presence which clearly denotes empire, and it is the maintenance of this empire that is actually subverting our military strength.

And the United States can no longer afford it. Our national debt is currently 15.3 TRILLION dollars. It is rising exponentially. Our foreign wars have assisted in bankrupting the country. We don’t have the money. The money we do have is mere paper with no backing, and is becoming worth less by the minute through rising inflation since we keep the printing presses humming. The currency itself is also becoming devalued but retains relative strength due mainly to our wildly out of balance trade deficit. We are buying many more foreign goods than others are buying from us and this is keeping the dollar in decent shape, though the world cannot do as much with the dollars they possess. The Federal Reserve has set interest rates at the bottom for the foreseeable future, below the rate of inflation of course, in part to make the dollar attractive to foreign investors. But this is done at the expense of our own recovery and is only putting off the inevitable collapse of the US economy. The Dollar Index has lost 3.5% in the last two weeks since its highs in mid-January and war pressure is ratcheting up to stop the slide.

There is currently a war on between the dollar and the euro. Many countries are making a move to alternative currencies. The prospective war in Iran is actually about (1) the petrodollar-euro war, (2) the Russia-China-Iran economic oil alliance, which also includes India and Pakistan, and (3) the move by the US to gain the strategic and geographical high ground by securing Iran once again as a national ally and bring the nation under the full control of the West.

There is no doubt that the Iranian government has been hostile to the US ever since the 1979 Iranian revolution that ousted the Shah, when an independent Islamic Republic was formed. But their hostility began when we overthrew their government in a 1953 coup and set up the Shah as our own guy in charge. Iran has always been coveted not only due to its location and vast resources, but currently because it represents the last puzzle piece toward dominance in the region.

This is what the long-term Iraq and Afghanistan wars are actually about, in that they served as opening salvos and precursors to eventual regional hegemony. Iraq became our ally after we lost Iran. These two countries fought an eight year proxy war to a stalemate in the 1980’s. The breaking point with Iraq came when Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait. The 1991 war against him was a lesson he failed to learn. Some thought he should have been removed at that time.

A decade later Saddam defied the United States by switching from American petrodollars to the euro in November of 2000. This was the largely unknown watershed moment when the decision was made to take him out.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: China, Dollar, Euro, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Nuclear Weapons, Ron Paul, Russia, United States Foreign Policy

The 2012 Freedom Movement (Part 2)

Jan 31

Posted by RJ Dawson

More people are educating themselves. There is much more information to be had. Americans are realizing more and more that America is going away and could be lost forever. And no one is more on point then young twenty-somethings and young people who are getting the big idea that they like America and are willing to fight for their future. Many of these supported our current president and have seen a completely different person than the one they thought they voted for. Everyone must go through this at some point. We all get disillusioned when so much promise turns into so much business as usual.

Hence, young Americans hold the key to the future of the country. Many people think most young adults are card-carrying liberals and staunch supporters of the Democratic Party, but this is simply not true. Were liberals in charge from January 2001 to January 2009? Will we continue to choose sides and protect our establishment choices even though they are running the country into the ground? Will we continue to be fooled by the “Divide and Conquer” method the ruling elite uses to remain in power? We keep electing Democrats and Republicans and they continue destroying the country. America is currently in the bad shape it’s in due not to those in Washington DC, but due to the wrong choices of We the People.

The Freedom Movement is about We the People coming of age and growing up. It is composed of Americans of all persuasions. The political parties and their media want to continue igniting political and class warfare because it sells. It’s great for business. But the Tea Party Movement and the Occupy Wall Street Movement have much in common, though I do not agree with the law-breaking tactics of some of those in the latter. Rioting and destruction is self-defeating. Yet, standing up for the truth will ultimately bring an attack from those who oppose it. Many independent voters have risen above the usual hate between parties and ideologies and are trying to save the country, not fight one another to prove a point. Imagine what will happen if we combine forces against our common enemy.

Educate yourself. Discover the politics of the major backers of our candidates. Where are they getting their money? What political interest groups are in their corner? Who are they working for? Who is Wall Street supporting? What globalist anti-American groups do the candidates belong to?

Regarding the only candidate concerned about your freedom, Ron Paul has been falsely characterized by the media as an isolationist (a lie) and weak on defense (a lie). People often cite his foreign policy as something they cannot support. As opposed to fighting undeclared wars that kill millions of foreign citizens and cost trillions of dollars? His real record has been falsified and you owe it to yourself and the country to find the truth. In the meantime, can you find any fault in the following about Congressman Paul?

He is a Medical Doctor who has delivered over 4,000 babies.

He is the only candidate who served proudly and honorably in the military.

He is the author of nine books.

He is a champion of the Constitution and freedom.

He is an advocate of states’ rights over the federal government.

He has never voted to raise taxes.

He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.

He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.

He has never voted to raise congressional pay.

He has proposed term-limit legislation multiple times.

He refuses to partake of the lucrative congressional pension program.

He has supported stronger borders and coastlines and opposed all benefits for illegal aliens.

He has never taken a government-paid junket.

He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.

He voted against the Banker Bailout.

He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.

He proposed legislation making service industry tips tax free income.

He voted for Military Force against Terrorists in response to the 9/11 attacks.

He proposed legislation to decrease Congressional pay by the rate of inflation.

He has opposed funding global organizations and participation in agreements that compromise the Constitution and US sovereignty such as the IMF, World Bank, NAFTA, WTO, and UN.

He has introduced legislation to increase transparency of the federal government as well as auditing the Federal Reserve.

He is a real Christian.

Ron Paul has always known what the problems are that keep America from being what it should be, and has consistently been saying the same thing for decades. His message is spreading exponentially. Other candidates have adopted some of his arguments. He continues to gain greater support each voting cycle. His views are the views of future peace, prosperity, and liberty. They are the views of American freedom. He is the ONLY game changer.

Our Lord Jesus always fights on the side of freedom. That’s what the gospel message is all about. Why would He suffer death on the cross only to be an advocate for bondage?

The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies. [Isaiah 42:13] [1]

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Independent Voters, Judge Napolitano, Lord Jesus, Occupy Wall Street Movement, Real Christianity, Ron Paul, Tea Party Movement, The Freedom Movement, United States Constitution, We the People

The 2012 Freedom Movement (Part 1)

Jan 30

Posted by RJ Dawson

The backlash has begun. The times we are currently living in are unprecedented. Our Constitutional rights are under attack like never before. The economy is being shored up by several mass printings of Federal Reserve Notes (our worthless paper currency), and inflation can only rise. Huge numbers of Americans have lost their jobs, homes, and livelihoods. The USA PATRIOT Act has devastated our Fourth Amendments rights. The Amendment states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Supreme Court recently weighed in on warrantless searches in UNITED STATES v. JONES

Yet there is no way to defend against all possible cyber searches. In some way or another, American citizens are constantly under some sort of surveillance. According to the letter of the law and the decree of certain courts, the government has been reigned in and does not have the broad powers it desperately wants. But in reality anyone with a cell phone can be tracked and there is no way one can know it. Anything one does online can be tracked. It is possible for unlawful secret surveillance to take place with no one being the wiser. For example, when you stepped outside this morning you were on camera. Satellite surveillance blankets the entire globe 24/7. Several countries have spy satellites, of course, and international law does not police the action of those who surveil from space.

The Fourth Amendment is essentially a privacy clause, but real privacy no longer exists. The right of American citizens to be protected from stolen data should always exist but there is obviously no guaranteed manner and failsafe mechanism to do this. When the Fourth Amendment was originally written, it concerned one’s tangible private papers and correspondence. But almost everything has become digital and is up for grabs. It is impossible to protect all of one’s cyber paper trail from illegal searches and seizures.

This is simply a fact.

Most Americans consequently have the attitude that if they are doing nothing illegal it simply does not matter. But this is not and has never been the point.

We are supposed to be free citizens with unalienable rights bestowed by God according to the original legal documents of this land. But our freedoms have been greatly curtailed and the trend will continue unless the citizenry fights back. Zero action on our part will result in zero action to stop the ongoing abuse of our rights.

Enter what has been called “The Freedom Movement.” Millions of American citizens are beginning to take the first steps toward standing up to runaway governmental power. We all know something is very wrong. Citizens are becoming more concerned every day. It is often only during federal election years that people pay more attention to this subject. But sadly, every candidate but one is not at all sympathetic to the curtailed rights of Americans. Thus, if that one man does not get elected, NOTHING SUBSTANTIAL WILL CHANGE. And if this is what America wants, then it is what America will get.

Again.

It happens this way every four years. Americans always elect a candidate that represents the power elite but acts like a man of the people. Even a littler study into the matter will reveal this. Why it is that only a small minority of Americans has ever bothered to stand up for the truth over the last 100 years in particular can only mean we are deceived into believing the lies of presidential candidates and make our choices based on the wrong information.

For example, 601,000 people cast votes in the 2012 South Carolina primary on January 21, and over 40% chose the winner, Newt Gingrich, largely due to his rhetoric and debating ability, and primarily because he attacks the news media. Two thirds of evangelical Christian voters chose him despite the fact that Rick Santorum was endorsed by evangelicals. Ron Paul, on the other hand, stood up for the teachings of our Lord Jesus by invoking the Golden Rule and he got booed! What is that all about?

For one thing it represents the ability of Newt Gingrich to work a crowd. He is excellent at it. Victorious candidates must be able to do this. Our current president is one of the best. We continually fall into the trap of believing a candidate’s insincere rhetoric and actually expect that most of what is promised will never happen once the candidate is elected.

Therefore, Americans have traditionally looked at presidential elections as mere political theater. We elect actors not statesmen. We elect bought and paid for politicians with unseen agendas. It’s not their fault. It’s our fault. We continue to be duped. But this is changing.

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: 2012 South Carolina Primary, Bill of Rights, Cyber Surveillance, Fourth Amendment, Lord Jesus, Patriot Act, Real Christianity, Ron Paul, The Freedom Movement, UNITED STATES v. JONES

Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 3)

Jan 29

Posted by RJ Dawson

Rulers and politicians have therefore learned that in order to be successful, all they have to do is fool the majority.

James Carville, the campaign manager and chief strategist for Bill Clinton and the one man largely responsible for getting him elected in 1992, supposedly made the following quote. It is disputed by some but remains on many sites. It could be he never officially said it, or it could be damage control. Regardless, there is an obvious level of truth in the statement:

“Ideologies aren’t all that important. What’s important is psychology. The Democratic constituency is just like a herd of cows. All you have to do is lay out enough silage and they come running. That’s why I became an operative working with Democrats. With Democrats all you have to do is make a lot of noise, lay out the hay, and be ready to use the ole cattle prod in case a few want to bolt the herd. Eighty percent of the people who call themselves Democrats don’t have a clue as to political reality. What amazes me is that you could take a group of people who are hard workers and convince them that they should support social programs that were the exact opposite of their own personal convictions. Put a little fear here and there and you can get people to vote any way you want. The voter is basically dumb and lazy. The reason I became a Democratic operative instead of a Republican was because there were more Democrats that didn’t have a clue than there were Republicans. Truth is relative. Truth is what you can make the voter believe is the truth. If you’re smart enough, truth is what you make the voter think it is. That’s why I’m a Democrat. I can make the Democratic voters think whatever I want them to.”

These sentiments can be applied to the Republican Party as well, or any other voting bloc. It’s about pushing the right buttons. It’s about finding out what resonates with people, about discovering what they want to hear, and about saying it in such a way that confirms their thoughts and ideology.

Voters often do not understand that some of their political views have been conditioned by what they hear and believe. Truth often has little to do with it. That’s why a politician moves every way the wind blows in order to gain support from enough voters to get elected or stay in office. A statesman does not do this. A real statesman speaks from the heart and does not change his core values and views since they are based on truth. Most people can’t handle the truth. That’s why the truth often gets roasted. People want comfort, they want to feel comfortable, and they elect people who make them feel comfortable. They go to churches where they feel comfortable. And if they don’t have a love for the truth then truth makes them uncomfortable and they shun it.

It’s called manipulation. Liars are excellent at manipulating people. The best manipulators, however, are not found in the realm of politics. The best ones are found in religion. Political liars and manipulators are at best B List operators compared to the A List operators found in religious circles. It’s why false prophets are so powerful and so numerous. And these goats are so good at misrepresenting themselves that most people can’t name one of them, even though he might be standing in front of you on Sunday morning.

This is again why truth is the great liberator. It sets people free from the enchantment of deception.

Our Lord Jesus came to this earth to shine the light of truth on darkness so people could be set free from the darkness they were stuck in. Disinformation campaigns abound to counteract the work of God in this area. The more people the dark side can control the more power and wealth it will possess. When a person first discovers that he has been lied to, deceived, manipulated, and used he gets very angry. Then he wonders how it could have happened. He wonders how he could have been so stupid.

This is what happens when truth removes the veil of deception. When the blinders come off a person simply cannot understand how he had become so blind.

Then he realizes that he trusted the wrong people. He realizes that a super intelligence got the drop on him. But even that doesn’t make much sense until he realizes he actually lowered his guard and dropped his defenses because he thought he was in the midst of friends. And he realized these were no friends at all no matter what they appeared to be on the outside.

America needs to learn a very tough lesson. That we haven’t learned by now reveals how incredible the deception really is. By trusting a bunch of politicians and their financial backers, we have been sold down the river. Americans are without doubt beginning to understand this more and more. When it hits the fan, there will be a lot of anger and expressions of that anger. When you’re cheated and cheated on, when you’re lied to and made to believe a lie, and when you realize these wonderful people you trusted and honored were actually jerks that hate your guts and laugh at you behind your back, you get angry.

You want to get even.

But getting even is not the answer. Taking over is the answer. Throwing the lying manipulating bums out is the answer. Getting honest is the answer. Getting right with God is the answer. Repentance is the answer. Electing honest people is the answer. Watching them like a hawk is the answer. Paying attention and getting educated, wise, smart, and hip to the threat of charade is the answer. Forgiving yourself for being an idiot is the answer.

Remember the words attributed to Mr. Carville. Know that the same exact paradigm is happening right now. Quit being a sheep led to slaughter. The Lord Jesus already did that for you. Stand in His truth. Make Him proud. Make His sacrifice worth it.

Save your country.

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: Bill Clinton, Democratic Party, Duping the Majority, James Carville, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Republican Party, The Enchantment of Deception, The Mystery of Lawlessness, Truth-tellers

Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 2)

Jan 27

Posted by RJ Dawson

There are several reasons people lie. The greatest overall reason is to serve oneself. The two predominant purposes are for the pursuit of power and the pursuit of wealth. The devil wants to rule the entire planet through these very pursuits. There have always been certain people throughout history who desired and attempted the same, and some have actually ruled great portions of the globe, but no one has ever ruled the entire planet.

The devil uses these people very easily. He uses them because he owns them. He owns them because they fail (miserably) the three principal temptations that the Lord Jesus passed when He triumphed over Satan prior to the start of His ministry. These may be termed the three core temptations of mankind, since they strike directly at the human heart and at the heart of one’s prospective walk with and obedience toward God. The way a person responds to this three-pronged attack from the pitchfork guy gives an excellent indication of his or her future viability as a solid disciple of the Lord, otherwise known as a Real Christian. What follows is the scorecard of the losers:

Failed Temptation #1:

Using one’s God-given talents to serve God and help people for one’s own personal enrichment. Living for self. Loving the world. Refusing to live for God: “MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD” [Matthew 4:4]. In this passage, the Lord is quoting from Deuteronomy:

Failed Temptation #2:

Refusing to live by faith. Not trusting God. Having a hardened heart of unbelief: “YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST” [Matthew 4:7]. Again, the Lord quotes from Deuteronomy: “You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested Him at Massah” [Deuteronomy 6:16]. It was at Massah when the following occurred:

Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” [Exodus 17:1-4]

Failed Temptation #3:

Giving oneself over to the devil for personal glory and gain. The classic “selling of one’s soul.” Serving the devil instead of serving God. Lusting for power and wealth to the point of worshipping Satan: Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY’” [Matthew 4:10]. The Lord quoted from Deuteronomy for a third time:

“You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name.” [Deuteronomy 6:13]

Eve was the first to be subjected to this exact line of temptation. She believed the lies of Satan. She then deceived Adam and he also believed the lies:

When the woman saw that the tree was (1) good for food, and that it was (2) a delight to the eyes, and that (3) the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. [Genesis 3:6]

Do not love the world (Kosmos) nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, (1) the lust of the flesh and (2) the lust of the eyes and (3) the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [1 John 2:15-16]

The devil promises people power and wealth. He promises to allow them to fulfill their lusts. Unrepentant people desire these things. They want the same thing the devil wants. Therefore, the devil works in tandem with humanity to build and rule his illicit kingdom which opposes God in every way. He arranges venues whereby people can have their fill of power, wealth, and lust of all kinds. He and his demons also partake by entering into human bodies and fulfilling their lusts as well. Unrepentant people and demons make a covenant to work with one another to get what each craves. This is exactly what Adam and Eve did. They joined up with the devil against God in order to fulfill their sinful lusts. They ate of the forbidden tree.

We are currently in a time when the greatest empire the world has ever seen is being built right before our eyes. This Kosmos is a worldwide economic empire that spans the globe. The devil has successfully convinced the majority of the world to go along with him in his efforts toward total rule. It is one thing to rule through certain very powerful and wealthy people and set them up as rulers under his authority. It is another thing, though, to deceive the vast majority of humanity to follow his lead by essentially promising them the same thing. All of the deceived want power and wealth and will give their lives for it, but most will only have a small portion or little at all. Yet, the dream is ever alive in their minds that they can have more, and get more, and be more.

People are thus blinded through their pursuit of wealth and power. And because they are blind, they are deceived. As the deceived, the devil does whatever he wants with them. They are his puppets.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Matthew 6:24]

What the devil’s people never seem to realize, because they are so power-hungry and have such a love of money and are blinded by it, is that they will only live on this planet for a very short time. Their bodies will die. Even if they come into their fortune at a young age, they will eventually lose everything they’ve ever gained, which is strikingly temporal.

Unrepentant people are easily deceived.

Rulers and politicians have therefore learned that in order to be successful, all they have to do is fool the majority.

This process is going on right now with reference to the presidential election. Every candidate except one is either lying about his past record, is downplaying it or trying to cover it up, or both. These men know all they must do is fool the majority. They also know that the majority do not take the time to educate themselves about the candidates. They know the majority will believe lies rather than the truth. They know the majority can be deceived by shiny packages and sleight of hand. They know they can be diverted and made to believe their spin. They are polished. They are excellent liars and posers. They are not what they seem to be. And they are supported by powerful and wealthy people behind the scenes.

The truth can be out there. It can be put forth. It can be in the open light of day. It can be that it cannot be denied. But as long as the bad guys can fool the majority it doesn’t matter. If one wants to get elected, all he or she needs is an electoral majority. That’s all. The truth-tellers and truth-believers might make up a sizable segment of the electorate, but it never matters regarding getting elected as long as they remain a minority. Convincing the majority that the truth-tellers are idiots is all the deceivers must do.

Of course, truth-tellers are always a distinct minority. They have eyes to see. They have ears to hear. They tell the truth. But the majority won’t buy it. They seem weird or different. From the perspective of the deceived majority, the Lord Jesus was the weirdest, kookiest, strangest, and most “different” Person who ever lived. He was soundly rejected by them.

The duped majority would rather be lied to and deceived, and made to feel secure than deal with the truth. If a messenger happens to have bad news they would rather kill him and believe the lie that all is well. And though they possess a false security and a modicum of success for possibly several decades of life in this world, they will discover the opposite in the next. They will have lived their life for nothing. They will have lost their souls. This is not only dumb and dumber, it’s asinine.

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” [Luke 12:20] [1]

And worst of all? They will have to do the one thing they never wanted to do while alive:

They will have to deal with The Truth.

They will have to face God.

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: Deception, Duping the Majority, Father of Lies, Living in a Fantasy World, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Temptation, The Love of Wealth and Power, The Truth, Truth-tellers

Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success (Part 1)

Jan 26

Posted by RJ Dawson

The truth has no other agenda than to shine forth and light the way. The truth reveals darkness. The truth uncovers deception. The truth fights an ongoing and unceasing war against falsehood, lies, treachery, and betrayal.

The truth exposes the hidden kingdom of the devil.

The whole world (Kosmos) lies in the power of the evil one. [1 John 5:19]

The majority of the people on this planet have always been under a thick cloud of deception. The people who want to rule over and enslave humanity must deceive them. They must lie and cheat. They must hoodwink, trick, and fool.

If they don’t, they’re out of business. The truth is the one thing they are most afraid of, because it is the one thing that will reveal them for what they are. These evil, secretive people have always, whether they know it or not, taken their cue from the devil himself.

“You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” [John 8:44-45]

The devil is the one who invented lying. He has always used lying as his principle tool for gaining power. Every single person who has joined his side or obeyed his suggestions has been deceived by his lies. These then end up using the devil’s very methods to deceive others.

He shades the truth. He is always involved in a cover up. He uses ultra-brilliant slight-of-hand tactics to make people believe something false in order to keep them from knowing reality, to control them, and to make them subjects of his illicit kingdom. He establishes sin as the status-quo.

Why in the world do so many people adamantly insist on engaging in behavior that will take them to hell? They are obviously deceived and have no clue regarding their eventual destination. Nobody in their right mind would want to lose their soul. If someone knew they were going to hell, wouldn’t they want to do something about it?

Liars are in league with the devil. There are no exceptions. There are no “little white lies” that are innocent or good. Such lies are as harmful as all other lies. A lie is a lie. Liars learn their craft from the devil. It might be through an intermediary, of course, or through someone who has learned to lie and teaches others to do so.

Some people teach lies they know are lies. The majority teach lies they believe are not lies. They think they are teaching truth. They have been deceived. They have been lied to unknowingly. They are enchanted by a spell and are completely unaware of it. This is the nature of deception. Some people are excellent liars. They have the ability to lie in such a way that the majority will always believe them.

The majority, it appears, actually appreciate being lied to. They would much rather live in a fantasy world than face the truth. As long as the people they put their faith in keep telling them the kind of untruths that make them feel better about themselves and that the status-quo is correct, they rally around it. It gives them security. But it is a false security.

Beware the ones you put your faith in. There is only One who will tell you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. He is not on television.

Yet, it apparently doesn’t matter. Most people would much rather have a false sense of security than face the truth, which removes a false foundation. Facing the truth means facing reality. But facing reality is scary. It’s upsetting. It involves dealing with personal sin.

It means facing God.

Most people don’t want anything to do with facing God. That’s why the majority of people will go to hell. It is not only because they are deceived, it is because they are willingly deceived. God has sent truth-tellers into the world from the very beginning in an effort to counterattack the lies of the devil and set people free.

“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [John 8:31-32]

It follows, then, that whoever does not continue in God’s Word and are not disciples of the Lord Jesus will not know the truth and will not be free.

Truth-tellers are always misunderstood, lied about, gossiped about, smeared, cheated, libeled, slandered, and betrayed. This happens to all truth-tellers. Some have greater protection than others and are able to stay alive long enough to make an impact. Some actually have good success. But other truth-tellers are killed off early.

Abel was a truth-teller and was killed at a relatively young age by his own brother. Cain was a liar and took his orders from the devil. The devil knew the Messiah would arrive through the righteous generational line of Abel. Cain killed his only chance at salvation! This was a perfect type of what happened when the Messiah came to His people.

The ancient Hebrew prophets were truth-tellers. They were pretty much all killed by the lying jerks in power, one despicable Hebrew king after another, often after manipulating the majority of the people to do their bidding. In other words, the majority of the Hebrew people were actually in favor of killing the prophets. And the more prophets they killed, the more their country went down the drain.

“Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. So you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs. For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.’” [Luke 11:47-51] [1]

The greatest truth-teller of all time is the Lord Jesus Himself. His own people crucified their Messiah after deceiving the Roman government about Him. Imagine that. Those evil people were such world-class lying manipulators they deceived even Rome! Pontius Pilate found no fault in the Lord according to Roman law. But Pilate relented because they threatened to lie to the Roman emperor about his loyalty. Pilate knew they would have been successful. He thus saved his own skin and condemned an innocent Man to death having no idea who He really was.

Rate this:

Posted in Teaching

Tags: Deception, Duping the Majority, Father of Lies, Living in a Fantasy World, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Temptation, The Love of Wealth and Power, The Truth, Truth-tellers

Door of Life

Jan 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

Real Life is the one thing lacking in the Christian experience of most, and it is the reason so many Christians are stacked up against the outside of the entry door to the Kingdom. Milling around without, not wanting to venture inside, they have set up transitory venues like so many crude wooden market booths constructed hastily against the outer walls. The door remains in their midst and every so often someone has the temerity to not only ask about it but want to proceed through it.

“We can’t have that!” the vendors all cry. Denominational Christianity always winces when someone wants to go deeper into a closer walk with God. They are all well aware of the real Spirit-filled experiences of others but have been so conditioned by their own reluctance and weakness, and also their cultural underpinnings to shun all things “Pentecostal,” that they successfully remain outside. The Lord continues to beckon all to the door however, as He always has. Large numbers of “I don’t think so’s” will not sway Him from His mission. The door of death has become persona non grata and down-to-earth Christians recoil at what would happen to their social standing if they followed the Lord through it.

The people on that original Day of Pentecost had the same concerns at some early point in their walks with God but had quickly cast off the doubts. They instead manned-up and courageously took a stand for God and the truth. They realized that something optimum must happen, that something very powerful and new awaited them on the other side, and that they must obey the Lord.

Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” [Acts 1:4-8][1]

We all know what happened next. If only the Lord had arranged some other way that did not involve such boisterous expression and (crud!) speaking in tongues. What a terrible way to start the Church! Well, at least we can all be glad that it was over long ago, right? That it doesn’t happen anymore. That God has thankfully done away with it. That…

Well, the above is true, of course, for those who reject it and build church communities without it, and remove any and all people from their midst who actually do it. And there are other things behind that door of death, you know. The people outside hear stories of miraculous healings and strong manifestations of the very Spirit of God that never take place outside in the normal world. Some are always curious but are very concerned about breaking any social conventions and losing their standing among their fellows. I mean, what would people think, right? “Can’t do it, no sir. I’m stayin’ out here. Those people inside that door are freaks…”

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [Titus 3:3-7]

There’s a Holy Ghost experience waiting inside the Kingdom. The Door of Death is always open. Real repentance removes our sin and all things that hinder, and prepares us for real Life. The 120 knew something incredible was going to happen, but no one could have imagined just how incredible.

Of the tens of thousands who followed the Lord during His ministry, only 120 followed Him all the way to the Upper Room. It was a command, of course, but not everyone obeyed. The majority never obeyed. You can be sure that at least a few hundred had severe second thoughts when the Day of Pentecost arrived. They had been the reluctant ones. The Lord had appeared to over five hundred at one time in His glorified state, but most of these experienced Pentecost outside the initial Upper Room experience. They refused to enter the Door of Death and thus did not understand that it was also The Door of Life. They stayed back and some even watched what was happening. They missed it! But many of them found their way to the streets below the Upper Room as Peter preached that initial message of the entire Church Age. They ran through the door and were a part of that original class of three thousand that turned Jerusalem upside down.

The moral of the story is that only a few are willing to be pioneers, leave all, and do all that the Lord requires, including entering the Door. They must experience real Life. They must show succeeding generations the Way.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Day of Pentecost, Door of Life, Holy Spirit, Jerusalem, Kingdom of God, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Speaking in Tongues, Spiritual Pioneers, Upper Room

Door of Death

Jan 21

Posted by RJ Dawson

The way to life is through the door of death. A seed must be planted in the soil of death in order to bring forth new life. Unless one is born again (after dying) one will never enter the Kingdom of God.

What is this death?

The first mention of it in the Bible is the following:

Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” [Genesis 6:5-7]

The King James Version puts it this way:

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. [Genesis 6:6-7]

The door of death is repentance.

Personal repentance is therefore the part each individual plays regarding the one person he or she has full control over. When a person is convicted of personal sin through the light of the Gospel message, it is his or her opportunity to do just as God did in the above passage.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” [John 12:24]

Prior to one’s born again experience, a person is spiritually worthless. He or she is a sinful entity deserving of death, or absolute death, as the wicked people of Noah’s time were deserving of extermination.

Imagine how gut-wrenching it must have been for God to wish He had never created human beings! He was sorry for it! He regretted it! If He had to do it all over again, He never would have created Adam and Eve. That is exactly what this passage reveals. It also reveals the absolute depravity of unrepentant humanity.

People are inherently sinful and wicked, and God hates this sin and wickedness. He was not only sorry for creating human beings, He owned up to it and did something about it. Except for one man whom God considered righteous and the seven members of his family, God destroyed the entirety of humanity.

And all those throughout history who have never properly repented will also be destroyed eventually.

But by His grace He has granted each of us one chance to escape proper, otherwise inescapable judgment. The default position is hell. Every human being who has ever lived will go straight to hell. You will not pass Go. You will not collect $200.

Unless you repent.

Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” [Luke 13:1-5]

It is therefore incumbent upon each of us to repent, to die to ourselves, to crucify our flesh, and to “lose” our life:

And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?” [Luke 9:23-25]

This is a very misunderstood passage of Scripture. Many nominal Christians are either not aware of it or never apply it properly. It is another one of those “all or nothing” teachings of the Lord that demands real discipleship and true repentance.

The words “lose” and “loses” in the passage are from the Greek word apollumi, which means “to destroy.” It is the same Greek word found in the following verse, though translated directly:

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy (apollumi) both soul and body in hell.” [Matthew 10:28]

This total soul and body destruction is what transpires when a human being suffers the final judgment in the lake of fire. It is the exact same destruction that must take place at repentance.

Now, this is obviously a very strong teaching that most Christians refuse to accept. The easy-believe crowd rejects it. Fake preachers never preach it. Soft denominational Christianity has discarded it long ago.

This is why most of those who call themselves “Christian” have never had a true born again experience:

“You MUST be born again.” [John 3:7]

There is no new birth if there is no real repentance, no destruction of one’s former life, no wholesale turning away from the life of sin and self, or no total subjection to the Lord Jesus.

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose (destroy) it, and he who has lost (destroyed) his life for My sake will find it.” [Matthew 10:37-39][1]

One will never discover one’s real life without destroying one’s sinful life.

The way of life is through the door of death.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Carry Your Cross, Door of Death, Lord Jesus, Lose Your Life To Save It, New Birth, Real Christianity, Repentance, Self Denial, The Way of Life

The Gathering

Jan 17

Posted by RJ Dawson

I received the following question from a good friend and brother in the Lord recently:

Morning brother…I was reading (the following passage) this morning and wondered what your thoughts are….though it is addressing Israel, do you think there is a New Covenant application to this as well? I have heard people call for help from the four directions and there is something about gathering from the four winds. “Gatherings” would make a great word study. God’s richest blessings on you today and into eternity. Let’s gather soon.

But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place. Since you are precious in My sight, since you are honored and I love you, I will give other men in your place and other peoples in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ And to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the ends of the earth, everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.” [Isaiah 43:1-7]

This is my response:

Thanks for the question. First of all, everything in the OT Scriptures has a New Covenant application. God does not have two separate peoples. The nation of Israel, descended from Abraham, is ethnically the people of God by DNA in that Abraham’s descendants are part of the covenant God made with Abraham. But throughout Old Testament history, the majority of the people descended from Abraham turned their back on God and violated this covenant. Just like a marriage, for example, both parties of the covenant must be true to the covenant terms. Otherwise, the covenant, or contract, is violated. If you hire someone to do work on your house, there is a contract explaining the role each party must adhere to. If the contract is honored properly, you get your work done and the worker gets paid by you to do the work. Simple. If the person you hired does not fulfill that which is spelled out in the contract, you do not have to pay him since he violated the contract.

Israel’s covenant with God was violated by the majority repeatedly. However, there was always a remnant of the descendants of Abraham who stayed true to God and did not violate the covenant, but this was always a small percentage. Hence, a remnant. It was in the nation of Israel’s original DNA for the majority to go south, and the majority repeated their sinful behavior all throughout their history. When God Himself became a Man and walked among them, the majority of His people agreed with the decision to kill Him. A remnant of Abraham’s descendants, however, believed and obeyed, as it always had.

The Lord’s twelve disciples were of the believing remnant, except for Judas, who decided on his own to betray the Lord. The 120 on the Day of Pentecost were of the believing remnant, but were a very small minority. When Jerusalem and the outward nation of Israel were destroyed in 70 AD, the unbelieving covenant-breaking Jews were scattered. The believing Jews already knew about the Lord’s prophecy of that destruction (they believed) and the Lord guided them to safety.

New Covenant believers are not divided between descendants of Abraham and non-descendants of Abraham. There is no distinction.

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. [Galatians 3:26-29]

Therefore, there are only two different kinds of people in the world: Real Christians and everyone else. Real Christians obey, honor, believe in, and trust the Lord Jesus. Everyone else does not.

There are, however, promises made to the descendants of Abraham that are exclusive to them, but they must honor the Lord nonetheless. How can one NOT believe in Jesus and be right with God? How can one have “The Father” but NOT have “The Son?” It is impossible:

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. [1 John 2:22-24]

The distinction between the Father and Son is parabolic. If one does not have eyes to see, a veil is covering his or her eyes. This is why the Lord spoke in parables—only those who had eyes to see and ears to hear got it and understood. If one SEES the Son, one SEES the Father also. The unbelieving Jews of the Lord’s time could not see that Jesus—God in human form, “The Son”—was also YHWH, the God of the Old Testament, or “The Father.” They rejected Jesus because they did not believe He was the one God of the Jews. Of course, they thought they had a relationship with God and were right with God, but they were not. They had not “The Father,” and the Lord Jesus said they actually had a different father altogether:

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.” [John 8:42-45]

The Lord is definitely gathering His children. He is doing this overall but also in regard to small communities. But there is a problem. Just as Ananias could hardly believe the Lord when He told him that “Saul” who became the apostle Paul, had become a real believer,[1] so do many Christians refuse to accept many of those whom God has called. In other words, many Christians reject other Christians because they do not think they are real Christians, or because they think they are messed up in some way. This prejudice is the only real problem the Lord has in creating his communities.

Christian denominations are not real communities created by the Lord. They are almost exclusively man-made organizations. Most “churches” are man-made as well. They are organized and united together not in the Spirit by the Spirit of God, but are instead based on a particular doctrine or way of doing things. I love it when the Lord takes those of His people who are otherwise separated in such a way and puts them together. (“I didn’t think you were for real because…” “And I didn’t think YOU were for real because…”) There are some believers whom almost no one thinks are for real! But here is what Paul said about real believers:

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God. [Romans 2:28-29]

And this is what the Lord said about those leaders who claim to be believers but are not:

“You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” [Matthew 23:24-28] [1]

This sentiment, though directed to unbelieving Jews, can also be applied, and much more so, to unreal Christians, since there are so many millions of false Christians the world over who claim to believe and obey the Lord but do not.

In the end, the Lord will have accomplished creating ONE worldwide unified body of believers. Until then, we must keep working with Him to gather and be gathered as He says to gather and be gathered. But we must not compromise on who the Lord wants us to be for the sake of gathering. We have millions of “churches” composed of people who gather together physically but are not unified in heart (see above quote from Matthew).

The only real gatherings are those composed of real believers, like the gathering on Pentecost, for example. Each one of the 120 was right with God. They were diverse, of course, because diversity is the strength of unity. But each was right, and strong, and obedient. 99% of churches are not like this. So what is God doing? He continues to work to gather His people together, to eliminate prejudice, to end fearfulness, and to mature His people. And sometimes, He has to get downright angry because of the people who only want to mess things up and keep His people in bondage (see above quote from Matthew).

The Lord is faithful, but all too often Christian prejudice against other Christians stymies His plans to gather His people together. One can be assured that the 120 on that original Day of Pentecost were composed of representatives of many different and very diverse groups. Their unity, therefore, had to be based on something much greater than that which unites most Christian groups and organizations.

It was a gathering united by the Holy Spirit of Jesus.

[1] Acts 9:10-20

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

These are the latest Gallup Poll numbers.

Tags: Abraham, Day of Pentecost, Israel, Lord Jesus, New Covenant, Real Christianity, Real Christians, Real Unity, The Gathering, The Holy Spirit of Jesus

You’re Being Scammed

Jan 7

Posted by RJ Dawson

The Republican Party establishment is doing the unthinkable. Ronald Reagan is turning over in his grave. The party regulars are so determined to maintain control they will put up another lightweight bought-and-paid-for candidate this November. This plan, like all other election plans, has been in the works since at least the last election. John McCain was bought and paid for and played the role of Loser against the chosen candidate of BOTH political parties in 2008. And now John McCain has endorsed Mitt Romney, the establishment man, as the next Republican nominee.

Mitt Romney has also been endorsed by Mr. Middle-of-the-Road, no passion, “No New Taxes” George H. W. Bush himself, as well as Governor Chris Christie, who was nominated by George W. Bush for U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey in 2001. Sadly, the liberal Mitt has been endorsed as well by new South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin and received heavy support from the Tea Party. Haley’s endorsement of Romney is nothing short of a betrayal and shows how serious the double-dealing is in current politics. She, of course, received $36,000 from Romney’s PAC in 2010. In fact, many of Mitt’s endorsers have received money from his PAC.[1] What a coincidence.

To her credit, however, while not yet officially endorsing any presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has warned the GOP against marginalizing Ron Paul. She said we all need Ron Paul’s message and that he must be included in Republican Party plans.

But according to the party bigwigs and what is apparently now the feeling of the general Republican voter, this will not be the case. Republicans want a soft, easy, and “electable” candidate. The Reagan testosterone, vision, and backbone have been tossed out the window. In these times that try men’s souls, when an American statesman is called for, the Republican Party establishment has not chosen a Washington or John Adams, but a Neville Chamberlain. And we don’t even get the piece of paper to wave around (9/30/1938):

The Mitt is therefore the obvious establishment chosen one. He has learned very well that money talks and has learned how to make it talk. Every Republican candidate so far during this election cycle (flavor of the day) has shot to the top and then crashed and burned, except Ron Paul, and Ron Paul is the one candidate the establishment hates. They refuse to give him ANYTHING, yet his support remains strong and steady. Cain shot up and went down. Perry shot up and went down. Bachmann shot up and went down. Gingrich shot up and went down. Currently, Santorum has shot up and will soon come down. The fix is in. Romney is the choice.

And because the Republican Party establishment will continue to savage Ron Paul and refuse to give him anything at all, the Republican Party will go into the election without him and it will end up costing them in November. Keep in mind that Ron Paul is a Republican and has been for many years. But it won’t matter. He refuses to be bought, refuses to obey the “official” Republican Party line, and will be smeared and cut out (unless by some miracle they see the light). At this writing, the Republican Party establishment would rather lose than accept Congressman Paul.

Newt Gingrich said no “decent” American would ever support Ron Paul. I guess he believes Mr. Paul’s Congressional district is composed of a bunch of indecent folks. Regarding who is “decent,” check this out: http://loopyloo305.com/2011/12/06/the-real-newt-gingrich/ . And in yet another strange twist on the weird endorsement front, Todd Palin has now thrown his hat in with Gingrich, and likens Newt’s political trials of the 1990’s with what his wife Sarah Palin went through after becoming a vice-presidential candidate in 2008.

Rick Santorum took the attack against truth to new lows when he called Ron Paul “disgusting.” But guess whose questionable record is now surfacing? And speaking of endorsements, Rick Santorum endorsed Mitt Romney in 2008. Romney is the same candidate this time around as he was then, which makes Santorum a veritable clone of the Mitt.

Yet, regardless of such vicious attacks against Ron Paul and his millions of supporters, Ron Paul won’t go away because more and more Americans are rallying to his side. He could end up gaining somewhere between a quarter to a third of the delegates needed for the nomination, or the equivalent thereof in terms of voters. The prudent thing for the Republican Party to do would be to accept him and his message. But the establishment will most likely refuse.

It is then that light bulbs will be going off over the heads of that many more Americans. They will realize that the Democrat and Republican Parties are joined at the hip and are mere opposite sides of the same coin. These two political parties are solely responsible for the entire mess we are in. And it doesn’t matter to the big boys who wins the presidency as long as it is one of their chosen ones of either party. The fix is in that it will either be the president or Romney.

And we’re going to fix the country with either of these guys? Are they serious? Of course they’re not serious. (YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!) They don’t want to “fix” the country. They’re the ones who screwed it up to begin with. There is a purpose behind the plan. It is about wealth and it is about power. It is about control. The American Middle Class is disappearing and the rich are getting richer. This is their time. They are sticking it to you America.

Who are “they?” They’re the ones who have the power and wealth to do whatever they want. What do they want? MORE Power and Wealth.

Does not Biblical prophecy continually put forth that this exact scenario will happen? Well, guess what? It is happening:

“Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth,[2] which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time…’” [Daniel 7:23-25]

Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [2 Timothy 3:12-13] [3]

It is your choice as a real Christian to desist from serving the big boys and instead serve the Lord Jesus. It is your duty to serve only Him. If you do this you will suffer persecution, as all real saints always suffer, but you will also incur His blessing. And the greatest blessing of all is serving alongside Him in the greatest battle of all—the spiritual war going on all around us designed to rescue the lost, save souls, spread the truth, and bless His people.

Mitt Romney is a Mormon. Mormon’s are not Christians. If you beg to differ it is obvious you have not studied Mormonism. The president is a 100% supporter of abortion, and it is impossible to be a real Christian and also support the butchering of tiny defenseless babies. Romney is a world-class gymnastic flip-flopper on abortion and has been pro-abortion in the past when it best served his interest.

Ron Paul, however, is a real Christian. He is also 100% pro-life. He is a medical doctor who has delivered over 4,000 babies in his career and has NEVER performed an abortion. NOR HAS HE EVER SEEN THE NEED TO PERFORM AN ABORTION.

The MSM is attempting to scam you. The Lord Jesus is attempting to bless you with Truth. Wake up. Read up. Pay attention. Get wise.

Cast your nets on the right side of the boat.[4]

See what the Lord sees.

[1] http://www.salon.com/2012/01/07/35_romney_endorsers_received_contributions_first/singleton/

[2] The Roman Empire

[4] John 21:6

Rate this:

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Chris Christie, John McCain, Lord Jesus, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Nikki Haley, Real Christianity, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin

Parallel History?

Jan 4

Posted by RJ Dawson

He kept saying He wanted to set people free—free from the disease of sin. Yet, the nation of Israel was awash with synagogues on every street corner, scads of rabbis, a plenitude of priests, and major religious parties such as Sadducees, Pharisees, and Essenes.

With so much religion, why was there so much sin?

Of course, Israel had been a rebellious nation from the get go. It is a wonder she ever had any success at all. God got them the hell out of Egyptian slavery through centuries of effort and as soon as they’re out the majority want to go back. He gave them an opportunity to enter their own promised land a short time later and the vast majority acted like the bunch of faithless pansies they were. Their penalty? Forty years of wandering around a harsh desert waiting for an entire generation to be killed off. There was even a time when God wanted to kill all of them on the spot and start over with Moses.

Yet, we read this stuff and never take it seriously or have any relational inkling what it means.

But America is fixing to find out.

The judgment has already begun and it keeps getting worse by degrees. But only a few are paying attention. Only a few want to do something about it. Two spies out of twelve were pro-active. Only a small percentage of Americans are willing to do what it takes to right the country. Only about a third of the American colonists were for the American Revolution and were willing to die for freedom. The great majority were against it.

Imagine the fact that roughly 70% of Americans in the early 1770’s were against the Revolution.

Then look at what is happening right now. Look at the economic judgment that has come upon this nation in the last four years. Think about the prior president. Think about the current president. Then understand that they were each duly elected by We the People. Americans continue to be deceived.

Why did ancient Israel rebel against God so often? Why was the nation always getting into serious sin trouble? Why did they repeatedly force God’s hand to continually get them out of trouble by sending judges and prophets and military leaders? Why didn’t they just do what they were told?

Why was America founded by people seeking spiritual freedom after being subjected to intense persecution in Europe? And why are direct descendants of the early colonists now fighting against those who want to restore the country?

Our Lord Jesus said it is impossible to serve both God and wealth.[1] The apostle Paul wrote, “For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil.”[2] Could it be that when a person begins to gain wealth he or she has a tendency to live for and protect their wealth and lose sight of God? Is it possible that a wealthy nation with a relatively high living standard could consequently drift away from God and become lost and blinded in sin? Is not this exactly what happened to ancient Israel?

Still, however, there is a problem. Religion was everywhere. Most Israelites claimed to be living for God. The vast majority of Americans claim to be Christian. Is what happened to ancient Israel happening to America right now?

When Israel was right with God she was given righteous leaders. When the nation went south she ended up with one evil despot after another. These idiot Hebrew kings, especially Solomon, despoiled their own people. He was an evil tyrant, much worse than King Saul. The people were warned repeatedly through the prophets what would happen if they had a human king ruling over them. But the nation insisted on bringing judgment upon itself.

Is this exactly what America has been doing for the last several decades?

Soon, the fortieth year of legalized baby killing will begin. Since the reprobate Supreme Court issued its ruling in 1973, well over 50 million American babies have been legally butchered. Do you think God cares?

Watch what happens: Judgment upon this nation will continue to increase as it has been. And unless change occurs, watch what happens when the forty-year anniversary takes place a year from now as judgment increases exponentially.

Also, watch what happens to real Christians in this country. Persecution will increase against them exponentially. But what else will also increase exponentially?

Blessing. God’s people are entering a time of exponential blessing and favor. And there are two principle reasons that it has taken a while to get here: We have lacked love. And we have lacked unity. We have lacked doing for one another because we: (1) Did not believe the same. (2) Belonged to different, competing churches. (3) Held contrary doctrines. (4) Possessed more religion than God. (5) Repeatedly disobeyed the real teachings of Jesus. (6) Refused to honor Jesus as God. (7) Refused to repent and live the truth as reflected within the Book of Acts.

I could go on.

Hence, unrepentant selfish sinners will have no cure since they reject Jesus and His wonderful grace, and real Christians will be blessed and taken care of because they honor the Lord and are humble and contrite of heart.

God so loved Israel despite their gross national sin that He showed up in person to help them.

The majority killed Him and lost everything.

The minority, however, were blessed abundantly and made free.

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them,

“Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [Luke 4:16-21] [3]

[1] Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13

[2] 1 Timothy 6:10

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity

Tags: Abortion, America, American Revolution, Ancient Israel, Lord Jesus, National Judgment, Real Christianity, religion, The Disease of Sin, We the People

Seeking the Ancient Paths

Jan 1

Posted by RJ Dawson

: Image via Wikipedia

What is the true essence of historical, first-century Christianity? What did our Lord Jesus actually teach His disciples? Is it anything close to what developed in later centuries?

It is not. It is not close at all. Picture a small band of real men roaming the countryside like homeless artisans working on a new craft, but a craft so new and so unprecedented that its practitioners did not understand what it was or what they were actually attempting to put together.

They are obscure. They blend in according to appearance and dialect, words and movement, and appear as just another group out of touch with the reality of the times.

Judaism did not really exist as a unified religion. The land was inhabited by a splintered collection of various sects and beliefs based on the teachings of any number of prophets and rabbis, both present and ancient, and carried a tone of defeatist lethargy and a longing for what once was.

Only what was had not been in many centuries. The glorious kingdom of Solomon was but a very distant memory that recalled not merely a tarnished legacy but the loss of something precious and unique. It was Solomon’s father David who had carved out and created a kingdom through ongoing wars, but personally lacked the opportunity to see it reach the heights of what this world sees as glory.

Many Jews of the first century gloried in the great exploits of Joshua and King David, and longed for a return to those times when Hebrew men threw off the yokes of oppressors and ran off squatters and pretenders to the their holy land. Could this not happen yet again? Where were all the great warriors?

The priests longed for another Moses. Many wished the powerful prophets such as Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, and Jeremiah could return once again and right the nation’s course.

But they knew in their hearts it was too late. There was hardly any kingdom left. Multiple generations of Hebrews had repeatedly and collectively sinned against God with impunity and those of the Lord’s time knew they deserved little. But they continued to yearn anyway. They pined away dreaming of the past as the hated Romans desecrated their lands and liberty.

Could God ever give them another chance?

This was the setting as the little-known Rabbi from Nazareth led His band of men from town to town and throughout the countryside of Galilee. The people wanted real life again and He was fulfilling the early stages of a plan to give them just that, though a very powerful enemy sat squarely on the land like a heavy, dark cloud of oppression.

It was not the Romans. It was religion—dogmatic, heavy-handed, dead, insipid, joy-killing religion. The land had become infused with it over time ever since the last prophetic word was heard over four hundred years before. The priests had achieved their dream of taking over, and created a hybrid strain based on the Mosaic code that had more in common with Communism than the true teachings of the Torah. They had created a strange hard-nosed casuistic conduct code spelling out everything imaginable that a person might be involved with in life. There was an answer for everything and great force to make their congregants toe the mark and fulfill their duty.

And it was sorry to the core. Their approach was entirely lifeless and void, and demanded regimented obedience and heavy fines for non-compliance. It caused great fear among the descendents of those great Israelites who had won their freedom from foreign dominance and slavery. Imagine those mighty ones who had fought for liberty now under the heavy boot of religion, and imagine that it all grew from within the nation by blood descendants. Imagine kings becoming paupers and those on top of the world becoming moles beneath it.

This was Israel in 30 A.D. These were the times when the Messiah arrived on the scene.

Rate this:

Posted in Real Christianity