Real Christianity

Tags: Lord Jesus, Thanksgiving, The Great Awakening

REMEMBERING JFK

Nov 22

Posted by RJ Dawson

Iniquity and lawlessness began rising exponentially in this country after the cold-blooded murder of an American President on this date sixty-two years ago.

In 2019 I started a new annual tradition on this site with a post entitled Remembering JFK. I’ve made a new post each year since with the same title, except for last year (2024). What follows is the sixth installment posted, as always, on November 22, the day America changed forever and which allowed for the greater rise of an evil element in power and ever-greater damage to the principles of our Constitution and rule by We the People. Today’s article is an update of the one I wrote in 2023, which remains topical, relevant, and informative, and also reveals the likely perpetrators.

A HIDDEN PLAN AND A CHANGE IN COURSE

Without getting into the deeper root causes that began in the 1890s and which eventuated in two world wars, a national depression, and the later creation of an entirely new country in the next stage of American Empire called Pax Americana, the most predominant changes to the country began in 1945. In our brief history lesson here, one may want to keep in mind that there is no such thing as the “accidental theory of history” in which transformative international events just happen by themselves and occur with no rhyme or reason or at the whim of obscure minor characters.

We are conditioned to see history this way because it is the manner in which the major news media has always presented it. Most people have no clue of the connecting undercurrents always in play or of a powerful ruling elite calling the shots behind the scenes, since they own the media and control the narrative. The only news the average person is aware of, including the larger events in our world, is that from headlines suddenly jumping forth on major media or news bulletins on television airwaves, which sometimes include seemingly disconnected-from-reality shocking events suddenly becoming reality before his or her eyes. Right after this, quick explanations come forth so the masses will know the “why” and the “who” and thus know how to respond. As on cue, the majority always responds in the same way according to the psychological suggestion given, and accepts not only the explanation of who perpetrated the deed or caused the event and why but also how one must understand and adapt to it.

This is how the powers-that-be deceived early 1900s America, a sovereign nation of freedom loving people who would never have agreed to so much intrusion upon their liberty had they known any better or been aware of the sly doings behind the scenes. It is how America was tricked, for example, into accepting the creation of the Federal Reserve Act in late 1913 at the zero hour before the Christmas break which gave the control of the economy to a small cabal of bankers, which dovetailed well with the ratification of the 16th Amendment in February of that year giving Congress the legal right to impose a Federal Income Tax on American citizens.

It is also how the country was propagandized and tricked into supporting WWI in faraway Europe in which four million US soldiers were mobilized and almost 117,000 American military personnel died for no reason. The propaganda was such that the relatively few enlightened Americans who were intelligent and aware enough to know what was really going on were castigated as unpatriotic cowards while those easily fooled and cowed by fear tactics were conned into embracing official disinformation supporting the war with no reservations and seemingly without a thought. It was likely the first time in American history the majority of the population revealed itself as an easy mark that fell without a fight, no pun intended.

The same process continued throughout the early to mid-twentieth century with each major event that transpired. None of these occurrences “just happened” or took place due to the official explanation. They happened because of the rich and powerful pulling strings behind the scenes according to a master scheme toward world control which had been well-planned far in advance.

Of such was also the assassination of President Kennedy. He represented an unknown quantity with an independent mind and an apparent belief in the Constitutional process. Though there were immediate theories on what actually happened that day constructed by those who could see through the charade which were then followed by many more theories based on emerging truth since, most Americans still don’t know the truth and pretty much don’t care to find it. The vast majority of the generation that was of age in the 1960s quickly buried its head in the sand and accepted whatever they were told to accept and thus believed the false “official” story like the good children they were, though this sad attitude began changing in following decades.

In their defense, however, it was not easy for the everyman to gain the required information in a dig for truth at that time, since so many of the necessary clues were hidden behind doors most had no access to, though once a door or two did open it led to more data coming forth which a few authors successfully compiled and built upon. Once the internet happened, though, a veritable tsunami of information became increasingly available which reminds one of a certain Biblical prophecy:

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. [Daniel 12:4 KJV]

Consequently, at this stage of the game, the news is now out that most people paying even the slightest attention know that members of the intelligence community participated in the JFK assassination. It has even come forth quite recently, according to a nephew of JFK, who was a boy at that time, and who happens to be a member of the current President’s cabinet—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—that the CIA was involved. Of course, this was suspected by some from the get-go sixty-two years ago. Another belief that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reported which came out just a few years ago was that the actual killer of his father, Robert F. Kennedy, in June of 1968, was not Sirhan but a mysterious security guard. It has since been established that though Sirhan was there and did fire multiple shots, he fired wildly from the front, though the senior RFK was hit from behind. There were also too many shots to have come from just one gun. There are other anomalies which end up refuting the official story.

CONTENDER PRETENDER

With regard to the death of our 35th President in 1963, however, the official story has long since been proven to be absolutely false and full of holes though most people are none the wiser largely because they have never taken the time to look into it, which is why such disinformation thrust forth by the major media always works with regard to the majority. It is in part why the majority is always wrong—it simply never has the full story or the complete facts and therefore bases its beliefs on what it is told to believe rather than the truth. One would think a person may say, “Well, I don’t really know what happened. I know what they said happened but I would not be very smart to believe it without verifying it.” And at that, if the person was truly interested in the truth, he would begin his research. Yet most people never do this simply because they believe the official story since they would rather not contest convention and also willingly submit to the authoritarians pronouncing and promoting the given narrative.

This used to be, long ago, un-American. Yet because the American Constitutional construct changed radically with the events of the Civil War in the 1860s—the War of Northern Aggression—and continued down that path in succeeding decades, it is no wonder that so many Americans had become subject to deception and official propaganda by the turn of the century (1900). There was truly a war on the Constitution back then by powerful people who refused to be restricted by its principles. And even though the twentieth century brought forth great scientific accomplishments and much of American life was improved, critical thinking skills in general have diminished substantially.

For example, if one were to compare the collegians of the 1950s and early 60s to those of later generations, one would see not only an ongoing lessening of personal strength, maturity, and awareness at a young age, as well as practicality and common sense, but also an increasing inability to perceive authoritative, manipulative social agendas and an increasing acceptance of official narratives, as if such were truth rather than the means to indoctrinate the masses into the formation of a veritable hive mind. This proves that the long-running psychological effort to dumb down the populace has worked and worked quite well.

Again, this hive mind concept was nothing new but the current manifestation of it is, in that it is the end result of a century’s work upon the minds of Americans. Most believe that which is not true as if it was and reject the truth that is. It calls to mind what William Casey, the director of the CIA, said in 1981:

“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”

Regarding who actually killed JFK and why has always mattered, of course, but has gained in importance ever since and especially matters at present, even though most Americans had previously become apathetic and would probably never believe or accept the truth anyway. However, the current Great Awakening, which began circa fifteen years ago, has changed that dynamic. Over these ensuing years the topic has grown in popularity as has the demand for answers.

It took a while, but thanks to a few key book authors, writers, many researchers, and most of all, what this author believes is the light of God shining forth exposing darkness, we have discovered the assassination had much to do with a certain entity’s resolute determination to become a nuclear power and JFK’s powerfully determined refusal to allow them to get there. It also had to do with the earlier forced selection of Kennedy’s running mate in 1960 which utilized egregious blackmail tactics with a future change of personal in mind. Kennedy had grave reservations regarding the choice but likely had no knowledge the man was chosen to be JFK’s planned replacement to serve the entity’s forthcoming interests.

Dealing with an educated population, however, requires a different tactic, one the devil is great at—lies and deception. If such can be couched within the realm of knowledge and historical “facts,” and if actual truth can be subverted, then one can achieve exactly what William Casey envisioned.

This does not mean God is not in charge but that He has given much dominion to humanity in general which should work to restrain the evil humans from wreaking such havoc. However, if the majority that can make a consequential difference refuses to take responsibility but continually allows itself to be deceived and submits weakly to false authority, then the relatively small percentage of humans that knows better and wants positive change has not only the evil ones to overcome but also the many willingly unaware who don’t seem to care.

THE CHALLENGE BEFORE US

Those who know ancient history and the Old Testament know the current ruling construct has actually existed since the beginning with the fall of man and has grown worse over time in that massive populations of the ancient world could be controlled by only a few and outwardly by only a solitary man sitting atop a pyramidal throne as it were. Such figures were Sumerian kings, Egyptian pharaohs, and Roman emperors. But they also included strictly religious leaders who used “the opiate of the people” to control minds and then wallets. Nevertheless, though only a relative few could see the solution by which to overcome such control, God certainly did so before everyone else and in the case of wayward ancient Israel, sent independent, incorruptible, intelligent, and ANOINTED prophets to expose the false narratives put forth as truth, reveal the wicked hidden sin of the powerful few, and break the mind power inflicted on the masses. This worked to varying degrees at times though many of these prophets ended up dead.

And there was and is no greater Prophet than our Lord Jesus who was also put to death as a result of sinister intrigue and a conspiracy but whose death serves as the greatest purpose in the history of humanity. For by it His people regain their spiritual freedom and life through His salvation and the new birth, and enlighten their minds to know and understand the truth as well as see right through the hidden machinations of evil ones intent on using humanity as slaves for their own purposes toward their own malevolent ends. The Lord referred to this as “having eyes to see.” The infilling of the Holy Spirit works wonders to enhance such spiritual sight.

On a human level JFK was very much aware of such hidden machinations behind the scenes and was intent on exposing the immoral perpetrators thereof. He died because he had the courage to rightfully challenge powerful men acting above the law, those who were wantonly engaging in evil and subverting the Constitution for their own sinister purposes. As President of the United States, he used the legal governmental authority he was given in the attempt to curtail their activity and even stop them. In the brief time he had, President Kennedy only had relative middling success in his efforts but did more than his predecessors ever did and much more than all those who followed him. Think of him what you will but the only way to stop him was to kill him. This meant he was on to something big.

May we all do our part to continue the fight that his death be not in vain.

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Christian Pharisees, Devil's kingdom, Discipleship, Father of Lies, Gospel Truth, History, JFK, Lord Jesus, President John F. Kennedy, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Sin and Evil, Spiritual Deception, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Truth

THE REAL BIRTHDAY OF THE LORD

Oct 7

Posted by RJ Dawson

Today is the first day of Sukkot. It is otherwise known as the Feast of Booths or Ingathering. Scripture indicates that today is likely the Lord’s real Birthday.

AN AUTUMN FEAST UNTO THE LORD

According to the Hebrew Festival Calendar which marks the beginning of the year or ecclesiastical year, the first month is Nisan. It is the first month of spring. Nisan occurred this year (2025) from March 30 to April 28. It actually began at sunset on March 29 because each day (each 24 hour period), according to the account in Genesis 1, begins at sunset:

And there was evening and there was morning, one day. [Genesis 1:5]

However, the Hebrew civil calendar begins in the autumn with the seventh month of Tishrei. The first day of the month is Rosh Hashanah (September 23, 2025). The tenth day is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement (October 2, 2025). After these comes the third and final major feast of the year which in the Hebrew is called Sukkot. As I mentioned earlier, it is translated into English as Booths or Ingathering. As in the first feast of the year known as Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Booths is also a seven day feast. It begins in part with the full moon on Tishrei 15:

Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work.’” [Leviticus 23:33-36]

“‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day.’” [Leviticus 23:39]

Tishrei 15 actually began yesterday, October 6, at sunset. Thus, this first day would be a holy convocation. The seven days are the 15^th through the 21^st of Tishrei. On the Gregorian calendar these Hebrew calendar dates would refer to October 7-13. The additional eighth day, Tishrei 22, which is also a holy convocation, occurs on October 14.

Regarding the great importance of this feast celebrating the autumn harvest, it also serves as a memorial to the days in the Sinai desert after the Exodus from Egypt when the people of Israel lived in rustic shelters of entwined boughs akin to early brush arbors. The following passage contains a closer look into God’s intentions and the early history of this feast. It contains several clues regarding the distant future:

“‘Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” So Moses declared to the sons of Israel the appointed times of the Lord. [Leviticus 23:40-44]

A NEW TESTAMENT CLUE

In Western Civilization, we celebrate the wonderful birth of our Lord Jesus on December 25. There are reasons for this, of course. Regarding the Christmas Season (and I don’t care what anybody thinks or that the date is incorrect), I love pretty much everything about it in its wholesome traditional sense. The sooner we start the Christmas Season the better as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think the Lord has any problem with Christmas since it points everyone toward Him and to hopeful salvation.

Previous generations in America have created a great and eventful holiday season here and we should both cherish and honor it. And again, regardless of excesses or whatever else, everybody knows the real reason for the season is the birth of our Lord. And even though the country has ventured far from its moorings and entered into great sin and depravity, the Christmas Season still brings much hope and allows for much spiritual joy. For this we must be infinitely thankful.

The greatest promise of the Old Testament literature was that a future day would arrive in which the Creator Himself, as the Anointed One—the Messiah—would actually arrive here for a long-awaited visit. God would become one of us. Of course, HE DID. And He fulfilled everything on His list to the very letter. Because He was born into this world as a Babe in a Manger and completed a perfect Life without ever committing a single sin, He was able to give His Life as a perfect sacrifice as depicted in the following:

“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.” [John 15:12-13]

Through the events of His great world-changing ministry and sacrifice He opened up a Door into His spiritual Kingdom which can be entered by anyone—whosoever will—who fulfills the requirements and conditions which He revealed during His ministry. All praise and glory to Him.

Regarding His profound visitation to our world, there is this:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [John 1:1]

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][1]

In the latter verse, the word dwelt is from the Greek word σκηνόω skēnóō skay-no’-o. It means “to tabernacle.” Here is the Strong’s definition: “to tent or encamp, i.e. (figuratively) to occupy (as a mansion) or (specially), to reside (as God did in the Tabernacle of old, a symbol of protection and communion):—dwell.” Here is a further rendering: “to fix one’s tabernacle, have one’s tabernacle, abide (or live) in a tabernacle (or tent), tabernacle.”

From this we can clearly see that God resided temporarily in this world as one of us in a “tabernacle” (physical body) of His own choosing just as every person is only passing through this temporary life on their way to an eternal fate. This is what was depicted in part in the original rustic tabernacles of the Sinai. It was a way station and a place of preparation for the future Promised Land.

We can therefore conclude that John 1:14 is a direct clue to the actual time of our Lord’s birth: In the night, under a full moon, on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles—

He tabernacled among us.

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, And the Word became flesh, Christmas, Feast of Tabernacles, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Sukkot, The Great Awakening, The Greatest Love, The Lord's Real Birthday

JULY 4TH 2025

Jul 4

Posted by RJ Dawson

Today we celebrate the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This great document and the hope thereof appears in its entirety at the end of this post.

America has been under attack for several years now. The ongoing planned destruction had previously been slow and steady. And though there are great sinister forces from without, the primary attack has come from within. The enemy hates individual freedom. The enemy hates strong well-informed individuals. The enemy hates Spirit-filled believers who have sided with the Lord Jesus 100% and are determined to do His will.

As I have mentioned often here, there were three types of American Colonists that existed in 1776. Each type comprised roughly one third of the colonial population. One type was fully on the side of the English king and Parliament. One type was fully disengaged, ignorant, apathetic, selfish, and completely unaware of the battle at hand and its future ramifications. And one type comprised the greatest generation, the great American Patriots who put everything on the line to fight for freedom.

These three types also comprise the Americans of the present. Whether or not America survives will depend on which type eventually wins. I encourage you to do your own research, make your own evaluations, and come to your own studied conclusions regarding these three types of Americans.

As of now, it appears that the forces of evil have gained the upper hand. But I must remind everyone that the same dynamic was in play 249 years ago. The American Patriots appeared to have no chance but that never stopped them from taking that chance. They knew they would have no chance at all unless they went all in. Their great victory proved again that good is greater than evil and that Light always overcomes darkness.

To date, American Christians have generally become spiritually weak, dumbed-down, compromised, and overcome by the culture. Many rarely or never read and study the Word of God and thus fail to apply it to their lives. Most American Christians are not dedicated disciples of the Lord Jesus. One may wonder how this could have happened but it’s actually quite simple: The majority of American Christians have rejected the total Lordship of the Lord Jesus, have refused to honor and follow His Word, have rejected the Book of Acts in particular, and have instead dedicated themselves to fruitless socially acceptable counterfeits including the leaders thereof.

However, there is a group on the rise that has been on the rise for several years now. I saw this at least thirty-three years ago when I began my initial research for my book Real Christianity. I saw that if real Christianity was to survive in America it must overcome the massive forces of Unreal Christianity. I certainly expressed the hope that this group of real Christians would continue to rise, and for that to happen there must be an Awakening. I mentioned this in the book.

However, it was not until late August of 2010 that I received the definitive proof. The Lord told me America was in the early stages of a national Great Awakening. That was almost fifteen years ago. It has proven to be true.

Since then the enemy stopped his slow gradualism approach and went full bore into the open, no longer all that concerned with attempting to hide his sinister plans or keep his subterfuge secret. Of course, it pretty much stayed secret anyway because the great bulk of Americans and American Christians remained absolutely clueless and ignorant with no desire to change for the better. It has made things very easy for the enemy. He now does his dirty work in plain sight and most Christians still do nothing about it.

Real Christians, however, back in the 1990s, did see. They had the Spirit of God. They had eyes to see and ears to hear. Sadly, they were by and large castigated and rejected by their own, those who could only manage to live in the present and chose the way of compromise and friendship with the world. If the real Christians could survive and manage to coalesce, real Christianity in America could be saved. Thus, SOMETHING profound must have happened in this country in the roughly fifteen year period of 1995-2010. This was a time when enough real believers, largely as mere disconnected individuals, remained dedicated to the Lord Jesus and doubled down on their dedication in the face of persecution from their own. The Lord was apparently greatly pleased. He needed this group and fought for this group. This was a Remnant group of His making that would be necessary for His future plans. It was these who would be used to bring forth the current Great Awakening.

After 249 years this country remains at a terrible crossroads. Most never saw what was coming during the good times but the few did. Presently, more can see it, if not by spiritual eyes then by experience. Empirical evidence always promotes clarity. Americans will experience more in the immediate future—dire circumstances from seemingly every direction—that will cause them to start waking up. They will see that all the warnings they previously rejected had great merit. They will see that those who had it right all along but had their names and lives destroyed should have been listened to and honored.

Perhaps the best verse of Scripture which perfectly illustrates what has happened over the last three decades is the following:

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” [Mark 6:4][1]

The Lord always has witnesses. One might recall what happened to His great and powerful personal witness. One might recall what the Lord’s own did to Him. What might recall what the unbelievers of His nation—the forces of antichrist—did to the members of the Lord’s Community. This same dynamic plays out every day in every nation. It has certainly played out in America.

Thanks to the Lord Jesus, however, we have great hope. Thanks to Him and His real followers, everyone will have the opportunity to gain the spoils that go to the victor.

249 years ago a group of American Revolutionaries openly declared themselves independent and free of corrupt government. They would go on to fight another five years to win the prize. When they won, and it was a GREAT victory, the spoils of war were shared by all Americans, even the traitors and cowards.

American Christians must therefore thank those who have been in the spiritual battle all along, those who were most usually never or rarely supported and who were forced into long term survival mode. It was the real Christians, the only ones the Lord was allowed to work through and with, who brought us to this time of opportunity and hopeful victory.

The Great Awakening is here. Whether it will be enough or not remains to be seen.

In CONGRESS July 4, 1776

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

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America, American Revolution, Discipleship, July 4 1776, Lord Jesus, Prophetic Warning, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Rejecting God's Prophets, Spiritual Warfare, The Declaration of Independence, The Great Awakening, The Prophetic Word, Unreal Christainity

CHURCH BUILDINGS AND DISPOSABLE ASSETS

Jul 2

Posted by RJ Dawson

Enterprise Christianity operates like a business. It has a corporate head, a small group of midlevel managers, and a must-have dedicated building called a “church.”

It also has a very large group of the nameless and faceless who are effectively nothing more than monetary supporters and pew warmers, each of which matter very little to the overall operation. Based on the ongoing dynamic of ever-present congregation turnover, this indispensable 90% of church-going Christians is usually perceived by the clergy class as mere disposable assets and the individuals thereof are rarely taken seriously.

The truth of the matter is that the Church is not a building. The real Church is actually the People of God—the Community of Called-Out Ones—and is comprised of all real Christians, those whom the Lord Jesus has saved and whom He loves and cherishes. This is pure fact but also something that most Christian advocates either have no knowledge of or simply do not care about and will never let it stop them from engaging in their false traditions.

A DIFFERENT AGENDA

A man starts a “church.” He may start it from scratch but it usually involves a few trusted ones such as close family or friends. He begins having meetings. These may take place in a residential home or a small commercial rent space. An effective means of word-of-mouth advertising is utilized which slowly spreads the news of the new “work.” A few new people start filtering in. These are often Christians who were previously “unchurched” or are marginal members of existing churches looking for a new place. Because there is a newness and freshness in the new startup with a relatively high energy level the new people like what they feel and are somewhat excited. Several decide to make a commitment and stay. These people know others like them and the word continues to spread.

If the “pastor” is somewhat affable, seems sincere and caring, and is also knowledgeable, though with a relatively new narrative in line with current Christian trends, he will appear spiritually attractive. His new group will be seen as a place where one not only feels at home but also grounded. The nucleus members—the few friends and family there at the beginning—also share the love, so to speak, with the new members and invitees in an energetic and demonstrable manner. This not only puts people at ease but helps create a caring environment which answers a basic need for recognition and acceptance.

If the small group stopped growing at that point in which it could still fit comfortably in a large living room, it would have a much more likely ability to continually foster the true care the members need and would possess the basis for them to develop toward becoming actual disciples. This was the method the Lord used. Though great numbers followed Him He had a relatively small core group of dedicated ones in which He poured more of Himself into and shared deeper truths. The hope was always that the majority on the relative periphery would also dedicate themselves with a desire to be closer to God and thus also embrace true discipleship. Many did. Others moved on. This was always a matter of personal choice. To prove this, one must remember that the Lord was only able to gather 120 for the Day of Pentecost.

However, in our new startup “church,” like the vast majority of such including those in many mainline denominations, there is a decidedly different agenda than the one the Lord employed. Rather than forming relatively small interactive groups of dedicated ones as the Lord did, long held alternative Christian tradition required that the living room outgrow its setting and thus locate a larger venue in which to meet. This is the only way, you see, to allow for the eventual creation of the desired end goal—an actual congregation in which all members meet regularly under the same roof.

One may surmise the root reasons why some groups achieve this status and some do not. Among the “successful,” some new “church” startups may only grow to maybe a hundred while others expand to a thousand and beyond. Eventually, though, for whatever reason, all such congregations most often stifle out at a certain point and stop growing though may successfully maintain their achieved number levels large or small. It appears to be only coincidence that the membership total of the faithful matches the available capacity of the buildings they meet within.

MY PREDICTION

The great Christian enterprisers noticed this phenomenon early on and realized that the massive congregational growth they desired and sought could only be achieved if they proverbially expanded the walls outward far enough and constructed large enough meeting spaces to allow for greater flocks. I noticed this emerging trend many decades ago and surmised that such enterprising entrepreneurs would not stop until they built the largest buildings possible. I even stated in my first book, Real Christianity, the following:

Since these churches are a relatively new phenomenon, we don’t know what their end result will be, but one thing is certain—the pastor who has three thousand under one roof desires five thousand. He that has five thousand wouldn’t have a problem with growing to ten thousand. The one who has ten thousand wouldn’t need a lot of convincing, if the people keep coming, to build an arena that can seat a hundred thousand.

Where is the logical stopping point of such proliferation? Will it end when we at last reach the architectural limits of domed stadium size? Will some people eventually start converting sports and entertainment arenas into church buildings? As strange as it may sound, the answer is an unqualified yes, because the dream of some ministers is to build a tower that reaches into heaven, to fully exalt themselves against the very God they claim to be serving. Lest we forget, the large crowds following Jesus were fluid. They had no roof over their head, were not fixed in a permanent location, and were not drawn together by human charisma or religious culture but by the Spirit of God.[1]

I originally wrote this passage in the mid-1990s, several years before a particular very well-known American church pastor obtained a downtown former NBA sports arena and converted it to a “church” which can seat almost 17,000 congregants on any given Sunday. This church building currently has the largest capacity in the United States. Yet, there are many church buildings elsewhere in the world that exceed this number dramatically, including a few in Nigeria that reportedly are claimed to meet or exceed one hundred thousand.

Yet none of this vast church building activity all around the world over the last seventeen centuries since the original Roman Basilica of Constantine—Old St. Peters—was constructed in circa 320-360AD, has one ounce of New Testament legitimacy or precedent. In fact, Constantine set the precedent by doing something the Lord Jesus never taught or advocated for and which the Early Church of the first century never did.

Nevertheless, the good old USA is perhaps the worst offender in this regard, especially since its traditional church building advocates have much more in common with a former Roman emperor who became a faux Christian rather than with the Lord Jesus, the one they claim to serve. Though the Lord was an accomplished builder and carpenter, He never built a church building nor told any of His disciples to build one and there is no record whatsoever in the New Covenant Scriptures of any exclusive church buildings. Such structures simply never existed until the fourth century AD.

TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS

Therefore, it is not so much of a stretch to understand that the disciples of the Lord were never meant to spend their lives wasting away on pews as the mere chattel of faux Christian enterprisers unaware of or unclear on the concept. Instead, they were to develop into powerful Spirit-filled witnesses and dedicated ministers of the Gospel that can go toe to toe with the invisible bad guys.

So, rather than submit to being mere disposable assets used for superficial purposes and then cast off, believers in general must seek and embrace their true identity as members of the Lord’s exclusive spiritual Community, walking in His grace and empowered by His Holy Spirit. This is what the original pioneers of real Christianity did. Their exceptional world-changing deeds speak for themselves, so much so that, according to the KJV translators, they were said to have turned the world upside down.

May the great bulk of backslid American Christianity repent, return to its roots, and begin doing the same. And may Christianity’s greatest assets finally be recognized.

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. [1Corinthians 1:26-29][2]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Called Chosen and Faithful, Church Buildings, Clergy-Laity Division, Community of Called-Out Ones, Constantine, Discipleship, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Real Christians, Serving MONEY, The Early Church, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

ISRAEL GOES NUCLEAR: A HISTORICAL RECORD OF LAWLESSNESS [AND UNCLE SAM BOMBS IRAN]

Jun 23

Posted by RJ Dawson

Israel is the only state in the Middle East with nuclear weapons. However, it developed and obtained its nuclear arsenal through secretive clandestine means.

[Note: I began writing this article early Saturday, June 21, and completed the first full draft prior to final edits shortly before hearing the news of the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites Saturday evening. Yet with so much happening so fast in the Middle East I have since added additional material and also explanatory Notes to this article (in red) regarding events that have happened in the meantime. With grave concern for the massive bombing raid perpetrated against Iran by the U.S. on Saturday evening, it must be noted that it was illegal according to international law and wholly unconstitutional according to U.S. law. Overall, though the successful mission involved highly skilled and professional U.S. personnel obeying orders, the operation was lawless in the extreme.]

LAWLESSNESS

Of course, the state of Israel has never admitted to possessing a nuclear arsenal. It prefers to play it coy. On the one hand such an attitude is derived from the general historical facts of the matter which point directly to the surreptitious process employed, which is something Israel obviously knows must be concealed. Under normal circumstances this would be akin to a national version of unrepentant hidden personal sin that causes shame, something better left in the shadows. In this case, though, because there is no shame but more of a smug pride in their accomplishment, it is because if such facts were to get out they would tend to subvert one’s carefully constructed false outer persona and just might lead to ripping the mask off completely. Regardless of such efforts, however, and that the modern state of Israel has been largely successful for many decades in hiding its true identity, the current Great Awakening is assisting in exposing it for what it really is.

“But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” [Luke 12:2]

Israel’s deliberate cover-up of its surreptitious means of becoming a nuclear power also involves concealing the people and agencies utilized thereof, something deemed absolutely essential, not so much to protect national secrets and particular identities but to conceal a great evil, the evil ways in general that such clandestine efforts are carried out, and their real purposes. Suffice it to say there are thoroughly different agendas involved in such means and processes than what the public is propagandized to believe and by which, once revealed, it would be utterly shocked. That which occurs behind the scenes by such forces is truly the epitome of lawlessness.

Another primary reason that Israel has always refused to acknowledge its possession of nuclear weapons is due to the passage of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 which was signed into law by President Carter on March 10 of that year. This Act incorporated the Symington Amendment of 1976 which “barred U.S. economic and military assistance to any country that imported or exported spent nuclear fuel reprocessing or uranium enrichment equipment, materials, or technology but failed to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) full-scope safeguards.”[2]

Israel has never complied with IAEA directives at their Dimona nuclear facility and still denies it access.[3] This portends that the hundreds of billions of dollars in “aid” that Israel has received from the U.S. is actually illegal and explains their hush hush attitude.

The reality is such that approximately 67 years ago the relatively new state of Israel (founded in 1948), with the assistance of France (which gained nuclear weaponry in 1960) completed the construction of their first nuclear reactor in Israel at Dimona in the southern Negev, as early as 1962. This was largely done in an undercover manner with origins dating to 1958. It was reportedly so secret that U.S. intelligence agencies did not know of its existence for three years. (It is since believed that this reactor supplied the fuel for Israel’s undeclared secret nuclear weapons program which came to fruition by approximately 1967.)

When President Kennedy, who was elected in 1960, became aware of their progress with the Dimona Reactor in 1961 he was reported to be surprised and likely stunned, knowing that the facility could easily be built out for military purposes. No President had ever been as concerned about nuclear proliferation. He then insisted that the state of Israel be subjected to the same official inspections by international nuclear governing bodies to both keep track of the progress but also to limit the process to strictly that of energy. (His concern was not unfounded since the establishment of nuclear power is a mere step toward the creation of nuclear warheads and he certainly smelled a rat regarding Israel’s future intentions.)

Of course, the President’s stance was cause for great concern by Israel since they had successfully avoided such inspection activity to that date and rather than being subjected to proper oversight protocols, were instead assisted by people and agencies in very high places. In President Kennedy, however, they found a stalwart American leader who refused to operate unlawfully in this area and demanded international transparency (for the sake of such trivial issues as world peace). By June of 1963, by official communication, he gave Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion an ultimatum. As a result, Ben-Gurion resigned. This sent shockwaves through the parties involved in the subterfuge.

According to the in-depth research of later select independent sources who pieced together the sordid back story and its implications, it was this event that played a major role in President Kennedy’s assassination only five months later.[4]

Therefore, Iran is an enemy of Israel for only one reason. It is because Israel is threatened by the possibility that Iran might someday develop nuclear weapons also. If this ever happened Israel would be compromised and essentially stalemated. They would no longer hold the great upper hand in the Middle East. It is why they always eliminate any threat in this regard long before such becomes possible by attacking even the benign nuclear energy projects of its neighbors. They had previously bombed both Iraqi (1981) and Syrian (2007) nuclear energy facilities for fear that such could be converted for military use. Such actions are beyond ironic and constitute pure hypocrisy.

IRAN IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Over thirteen years ago in February of 2012, I wrote and posted a five-part series here which I entitled Iran in the Crosshairs. In case you may be interested, these are well developed articles filled with relevant facts that pretty much perfectly align with the present. Most of the names are different but the agenda is exactly the same. The point here is that the state of Israel has been crying wolf about Iran’s purported nuclear weapons intentions about as far back as the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

The facts are, of course, that Iran has never had a nuclear weapon. Every pertinent certified agency and intelligence service confirms this fact and it was even recently confirmed in March of this year by the United States Director of National Intelligence. Conversely, Israel is constantly stating that Iran is only two years/a year/six months/weeks/any day now away from building a nuclear weapon. Again, they’ve been saying this for over forty years. Yet, when two years/a year/six months/weeks/any day now came to pass there was still no weapon. These were not, therefore (of course), actual warnings of an impending threat but mere ongoing propaganda and fear tactics to gain what they wanted, namely billions more in military aid and whatever else plus an eventual green light to attack Iran, something Israel has desperately wanted to do. I wrote about all of this in my series.

As we all know now, that long desired intention finally took place with Israel’s uncalled for surprise attack against the sovereign nation of Iran on June 13, only ten days ago. This happened after a softening up faux peace talk process involving the U.S. which Iran apparently did not perceive to be a charade. Now, regarding who could win such a fight between these two Middle East countries, the facts are that Israel could never win without much assistance from the U.S. and by engaging in the initial attack were either counting on such assistance to occur or the overall plan was always one in which it would occur. If the U.S. was not involved and would not be involved, and if Israel did not possess nuclear weapons, Iran would most likely be the victor. This is already proving true.

Therefore, if the recent two week decision period on whether or not the U.S. will attack Iran given on June 19 is for real the U.S. will continue building up in the meantime for inevitable war. [Note: Shortly after I wrote this and the following lines, of course, the world found out this two week interim was yet another ruse and a trust-busting continuation of the effective betrayal of diplomacy.] If by some strange chance the U.S. decides to not engage (After great intercessory prayer from American Christians? After yielding to the American electorate against such a war?), Israel would then be down to its final chance—it would invoke the Samson Option.[5] This is the alleged last ditch military option in which Israel would employ its nuclear weapons arsenal against whatever targets it warrants including those at a distance if you get my drift. For those knowledgeable of Old Testament history who understand invoking the historical character Samson and his final act, they should rightly perceive ominous overtones. One might readily ascertain, therefore, why the U.S. will likely get (more) involved in the Israel-Iran War very soon. [Note: My prediction here proved true.]

On the other hand, Iran is closely allied with such notables as Russia, China, India, and Pakistan, each of which possesses stores of nuclear weapons, and in the case of Russia, a vast store. Will these nations sit idly by if Iran is attacked with such sufficient force that its livelihood and perhaps very existence is threatened? And what might Iran do to protect itself and retaliate?

Such wars never go according to plan. There are always unintended consequences. Things quickly spin out of control which necessitates further action outside the scope of original objectives. Once started, they always involve happenings and occurrences that are unplanned and previously unseen. This particular war in the making has great potential to achieve that very thing and could easily result in an international Pandora’s Box scenario to the nth degree.

[2] ://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v19/d6

[3] ://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-nuclear-programs-iaea-94c0f87c357fd72169dee198cb6800a7

[5] According to Seymour Hersh and Israeli historian Avner Cohen, Israeli leaders like David Ben-Gurion, Shimon Peres, Levi Ashkol, and Moshe Dayan coined the biblical term Samson option in the 1960s. See ://thesvi.org/deconstructing-israels-samson-option/

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Deception, Hidden Agenda, Iran, Iran in the Crosshairs, Israel, Lawlessness, Lord Jesus, Middle East, Nuclear Weapons, Pandora's Box, President John F. Kennedy, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Search For Truth, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The War On Truth, Unreal Christianity

THE DAY OF PENTECOST

Jun 3

Posted by RJ Dawson

Today is the actual anniversary of the Day of Pentecost. It occurs on Sivan 7 on the Hebrew calendar. Acts Chapter 2 is the test of our ministries, churches, and lives.

AN UPPER ROOM EXPERIENCE

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. [Acts 2:1-4]

To show how far Christianity in general has fallen, the vast majority of professed Christians in the world have either never heard of this occurrence or have certainly never experienced it. This is due to what is largely a complete rejection of the Lord’s actual teachings, the Book of Acts in general, and a concerted effort to create a false Christianity of many forms which comprises overall Unreal Christianity in the world today. To say the devil has been hard at work is an understatement. It is also further ironclad proof that humanity apart from God is unregenerate and primarily stubborn and rebellious, Christian or not.

The Good News, however, is since the beginning of the Lord’s new spiritual outpouring in the world which began roughly 125 years ago, multiple millions have experienced Pentecost and have added great power to the Lord’s Community which assists greatly in the spiritual war at hand. Those Christians who refuse the experience due to whatever personal or social reasons are doing the Lord no favors. It is beyond curious that such a clear directive in Scripture has become so entirely obfuscated and complicated which serves to both drive people away and also hinder their ability to receive. Regardless of how anyone may choose to otherwise describe it, this can only be viewed from a New Covenant perspective as an evil work.

As many people have proclaimed over the years including preachers, the devil goes to church. Well, this is not only true but has grown exponentially. At present the devil essentially owns a likely majority of “churches.” There are presently a great many Christian ministers, including many hugely popular ones with huge followings, who are standing for and agreeing with great evil when they should be using their platforms to expose it. But you see, if they did that their funding would likely dry up, they would likely lose their popularity, and their great enterprises would likely collapse.

Part of preaching and teaching the real Gospel message of the Lord is exposing evil and the perpetrators behind it. The Lord Jesus did this. The Early Community of the Lord did this. It is why such a great spiritual war broke out at that time centered on Jerusalem. This was the city where great evil in various forms had manifested and had its headquarters. By the late 60s AD it had become a place of refuge for much of the population but this only served to assist in the great conflagration that ensued in 70AD when what was left of the nation of Israel, the city of Jerusalem, and the great Temple was destroyed forever. Their act of great rebellion against the Romans was actually an act of great rebellion against the Lord Jesus.

Such a termination, fiery or otherwise, will also eventually occur against each and every form of Unreal Christianity.

God will not be mocked.

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?”

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. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. [Acts 2:37-47][1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Christian Pharisees, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, Day of Pentecost, False Christian Movements, False Forms of Christianity, False Religious Authority, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Rebellion Against God, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity, Upper Room, Worldwide Pentecostal Movement

THE ASCENSION

May 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

Today is the actual anniversary of the Lord’s Ascension into Heaven. It took place on the 40^th day since His Resurrection.

On the Hebrew calendar it occurred on Iyyar 26 (today). The Ascension began the ten day countdown to Pentecost.

The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

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.”

And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” [Acts 1:1-11][1]

Posted in Current Events

14 Comments

Tags: Ascension, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, The Great Awakening

HAPPY FOURTEENTH BIRTHDAY REAL CHRISTIANITY

May 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

Thanks to all my many readers over the years especially those of you who remain at present. I appreciate your faithfulness, friendship, and heartfelt spiritual rapport.

FOURTEEN YEARS

I created this site the day before making my first post on May 10, 2011: Fight the Good Fight of Faith. I had the assistance of a good friend who made the very first of five thousand comments here. Her help was most appreciated as is her initial contribution. Regarding that, I express much thankfulness to all who have made comment contributions. My longtime readers have made in the hundreds each and each of you have added much insight, perspective, wisdom, knowledge, spiritual experience, and stories from your lives. All of these have added up to a great body of interactive work illustrating what we as Christians have been taught to do by our loving Lord and Savior:

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! [Psalm 133:1]

“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.” [John 15:14-15] [1]

It is an inestimable blessing to work for the Lord. Everyone’s spiritual work matters and is appreciated by Him. He created a Community and this demands interactivity.

May the Lord continue to bless each of you very abundantly and may you all continue to be effective for Him. He deserves our very best.

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Discipleship, Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening

A STIFFNECKED PEOPLE [Part 3]

May 3

Posted by RJ Dawson

The rebellion against God by stiffnecked ancient Israel that resulted in its 70AD cessation corresponds to the parallel rebellion by stiffnecked Unreal Christianity…

SPIRIT OF ANTICHRIST

Whoever has a problem with the Lord Jesus has a pretty big problem. Regardless of whether they understand the stance they have adopted or not, or if they are sane or not, anyone who opposes Him is on the opposite side of salvation. And while this position may not indicate a non-saneness among such people, it does indicate the equivalent thereof in a spiritual sense because the greatest human disease of all is the sin disease and the only cure for that is the salvation which the Lord Jesus, and only the Lord Jesus, has made available. And since this particular issue of spiritual salvation is one of which unbelievers/non-Christians would consider an unrelatable or “religious” one, it is usually not within their purview, meaning they cannot relate to it or will not attempt to try and are thus indifferent toward it and willingly separated from it.

In Parts 1 and 2 I briefly mentioned this inherently common rebellious issue stemming from the rooted bad attitude of majority national Israel which God described as being stiffnecked (KJV) or obstinate (NASB95). Yet I also touched on the fact that Unreal Christianity has proven to be pretty much the exact equivalent. One must remember, however, that this attitude also lies hidden and unperceived until provoked when it then presents itself in full fury. That which causes the provocation is the conviction of sin. That which brings on the conviction is the authentic Gospel. Most people steer clear of this including the majority of Christians who are not experienced with anointed preaching and witnessing against sin which is actually the very heart of the initial Gospel message. It is why John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus, the twelve apostles, and Peter at Pentecost each strongly preached the preliminary need of repentance because it is the first step toward addressing the sin issue:

Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” [Matthew 3:1-2]

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” [Mark 1:14-15]

They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. [Mark 6:12-13]

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.” [Acts 2:38]

Accordingly, it means such hesitant Christians (née rebellious), rather than deal with their sin according to the clear Scriptural instruction, hide it and even coddle it, apparently because they have no intention of eliminating it apparently again because they want to reserve the right to continue in it even if it means subjectively reclassifying it as non-sin. To this end they apparently for the third time prefer extremely soft spiritually meaningless churchy sermonettes, liturgical theater, non-spiritual motivational speaker directives (that never or rarely address root sin), and pacifying pabulum so as not to be put on the spot and have their unrepentant sin revealed.

This proves that social and cultural status (and the money derived thereby) are much more important to such people than right standing with a holy God because the very thought of the process of real repentance is both embarrassing and humiliating as well as socially damaging.

HE NEVER SINNED

It is good that the Lord Jesus never supported such an attitude. It would obviously be antithetic to His very mission which demanded He be a bulwark against the sinful and wayward ways of this temporary fallen world. Because He was the epitome of resistance in this regard and even waged spiritual war against this and other spiritual enemies, He was an ongoing and continual target of attack and reprisal by the forces of antichrist. This is why persecution is a constant for real Christians. It is why the mandated command of the Lord to take the offensive, forge ahead, and attack the very gates of hell triggers a defensive counterattack (persecution) which acts as a proof and witness of real Christianity, something Unreal Christianity is completely devoid of since it represents no effective threat to the kingdom of darkness.

Because of the Lord’s wholesale and fearless opposition to sin, He was tempted severely. He was fought at every turn. He was eventually hated by almost everyone but without a cause. He was rejected. Even His own left Him at the end and were not there when He needed them most. His enemies pretty much called Him every name in the book. Of course, His detractors were actually describing themselves and were falsely accusing Him of exactly what they were doing, but they had managed to create such a stunningly believable fabricated front that the deceived humans (the majority) couldn’t see through it. Sound familiar?

Maybe this is why churches in general are loaded by and large with spiritually immature people unpossessed of critical thinking ability, spiritual eyes to see, and the wherewithal to actually do a little reading and research work to build up the eyes of their heart. On the other hand, however, those things are generally outlawed in such places because the last thing churches in general need is a congregation of people open to the revelation of God who seek truth, serve the Lord Jesus, think for themselves, refuse to be dictated to, and are impossible to program. Churches as we know them could never exist with a controlling majority of those kinds of people. They need a spiritually low common denominator of folks perfectly willing to go along to get along which never questions authority or applies the full New Testament to their proceedings.

So right there is another clue: The Lord did not seem to fit. Anywhere. He seemed to be rejected. Everywhere. Why? Well, again, He opposed sin and sinning. He was not a sinner. He had no sin. This means He did not possess the sinful human nature passed down through the millennia from the first humans. The Lord Jesus also had no human father of the biological kind. He had a human mother but she had been an especially chosen one. His mother Mary was certainly in need of a Savior like everybody else but she had to have as close to a sinless nature as there could be, and was likely exceptionally good-natured, humble, and thoroughly obedient to God. She was actually referred to by God as the favored one—one richly blessed—who found favor with God.

We know this by how quickly she said yes to the angel messenger Gabriel. We might remember by comparison that an older, seemingly wiser, very religious, dutiful, excellent member of society and one serving in the priestly ranks had a similar visit by the same angel yet made a significant error which was a perfect display of human nature in action. That man was the future father of no less than John the Baptist himself. As a penalty this older wiser man was struck dumb in large part because as old and wise as he was he still could not completely control his mind or his emotions or his tongue.

But Mary made an A plus. This means the Son of God had derived from a godly mother who likely did better than anyone else regarding doing her best to keep, act on, and correctly believe in and apply the Word of God. When these two are put together—having God for one’s Father and a truly godly human mother (a Man unlike other humans)—it is no wonder the Lord Jesus didn’t fit anywhere in this world. This should be a lesson to all Christians in that if one fits well in the world within human society, he or she likely does not fit so well in the Lord’s kingdom if such a one is in it at all. The Word of God is clear:

Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. [James 4:4]

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [Romans 8:5-8][1]

THE FATHER-SON RELATIONSHIP

We know, of course, that the Son pleased the Father to the nth degree. He scored a perfect grade in this area. This means the Son perfectly subjected Himself to the Father and to the law of God. He was perfectly aligned with the Word of God in that He is the Living Word and the Word is God. The Son was on perfectly friendly and loving terms with the Father. He set His mind on the things of the Spirit and never the flesh. And He was never a friend of the world.

God chose to become the Son in part as a living example to His followers. As the example of every real Christian, that is, every Christian who truly loves the Lord, wants to serve the Lord, and dedicates his or her life to the Lord and His work, every real Christian must do his or her best to follow His example and do likewise. This is obviously not easy and will take much work and effort over several years. Regardless of levels of success one can only do one’s best. If one thinks about it too much it will look like a daunting task and may even appear impossible.

Yet we know by the examples of those as recorded in the New Covenant Scriptures that such success can certainly be achieved though it is relative. In other words, there was only one Son of God walking this earth who achieved absolute perfection but He also had by far the most difficult assignment and mission. No one else achieved this perfection, not Peter, not Paul, not any of the apostles or any other disciple. Even so, each of these and so many more were sons in their own right and achieved an astounding level of spiritual success by doing their best to live according to the example of the Son of God—

But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to [the regulations of] the Law, To purchase the freedom of (to ransom, to redeem, to atone for) those who were subject to the Law, that we might be adopted and have sonship conferred upon us [and be recognized as God’s sons]. And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father! Therefore, you are no longer a slave (bond servant) but a son; and if a son, then [it follows that you are] an heir by the aid of God, through Christ. [Galatians 4:4-7 AMPLIFIED]

One must therefore never look at living for the Lord as impossible, unworkable, too difficult, or not worth putting forth the effort due to a perceived likely lack of success, but accept it wholeheartedly as the greatest of privileges knowing that God will grant His sons every ability and means toward spiritual achievement and victory.

Making a resolute stand for the Lord Jesus and being determined to fulfill His will is thus the antithesis of being stiffnecked against Him.

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AWAY IN A MANGER: HE FIXED HIS TENT AMONG US

Apr 29

Posted by RJ Dawson

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]

In the preceding verse, the word “dwelt” comes from a Greek word which means “To fix one’s tabernacle or tent,” and “To dwell.” There is no doubt this Greek word came from a Hebrew original. God Himself fixed His tent among us.

THE TIME OF HIS VISITATION

It was in the autumn of the year. The Feast of Sukkot or Ingathering was the last on the annual calendar. It was a weeklong event celebrating the harvest. Also called the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths, it hearkened back to that in-between time in the vast and lonely Sinai desert when Egypt was long gone and in the remote recesses of their rear view mirror. The Promised Land was up ahead in the distant future. It was an unsettled time of transition and hope.

“You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” [Leviticus 23:42-43]

These booths were crude, temporary dwellings. Constructed of entwined boughs and branches from desert flora and brushwood, these canopied shelters served as impermanent homes as commanded by the Lord. As in all things spiritual with fleeting types and shadows, their otherwise ostensible purpose and full meaning was known only by Him. The Hebrew word is sukkah. The first time it is used in Scripture, it refers to a corral Jacob built for his livestock, the location of which eventually became the settlement of Sukkoth east of the Jordan.

In escaping Egypt and entering the unknown and ultra-challenging wilderness of Sinai, the sons of Israel were a nation in the making and a people on the move. Forty years of wandering were on tap in order to learn to walk by faith and know the voice of the Lord. It would be a hard lesson for the current populace of that time, being thoroughly engrained with worldly vestiges of a foreign and pagan nation. It would take long years for the Lord to extract the fetters which opposed spiritual life and add the building blocks of circumcised hearts and willing minds. In His own wisdom He chose an unruly and rebellious people with stiff necks and hard hearts to eventually show forth His glory and to bring to this world the hope of celestial communion.

These rustic booths of branches were thus a stark opening lesson in spirituality 101—that of pure and holy humility—the door which makes all else possible. Whoever declines the offer and refuses to cross this threshold chooses instead to harbor their pride. It should thus be obvious that God chose the most humble of circumstances to enter into this world.

AWAY IN A MANGER

While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” [Luke 2:6-12]

Newborn babies are completely vulnerable. They are entirely dependent on their parent’s love and protection. God had carefully chosen Joseph and Mary if for no other reason than their great faith and obedience born of a humble nature to serve and please the Lord. Mary did not understand why she was chosen but she readily complied. Joseph had a tad tougher row to hoe and it took a few angelic visitations to get him on track. As long as these two remained faithful all would be well, but there was no guarantee.

There is also no guarantee for anyone in this life outside the will of God. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. Each of us enters this world just as the Lord did but each of us is also initially unaware of God’s purpose. Discovering His purpose is the true quest of life. It is what gives our lives meaning. He’s got it all covered as long as we don’t rebel. We know by the life He lived that rebellion and disobedience were never part of His nature. Some of us learn the lesson somewhat easily by comparison to those who fight all the way. For the majority, it is far too high a price and for them, this life is the only home they will ever know. In the drive to escape all things humble they construct the most humble and temporary life of all compared to the glories of heaven.

The tabernacles of the Lord’s people are temporary. They are necessary for now. We exist to please Him and nothing pleases Him more than to take care of us, rescue us from the ravages of sin, and bless us. This demands a process not at all unlike the process He chose to be with us. He meets us where we are.

And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. [Luke 2:13-16]

GETTING OUR WINGS

I love the movie It’s a Wonderful Life and the overall message it conveys. It illustrates the important role of each person and signifies the far-reaching effect each of us has on the lives of others. We all know the line spoken by George Bailey’s young daughter at the very end of the movie: “Look Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.” For every person who overcomes his or her personal pride and surrenders to the Lord, the same thing happens. A miracle takes place.

“I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” [Luke 15:10] [1]

By humbly giving our lives to the Lord as He gave His for us, we also effectively fix our tent as He did. From such humble beginnings, He is then able to bring us out of Sinai into our personal Promised Land, a place of greatly meaningful service to Him and to others.

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A STIFFNECKED PEOPLE [Part 2]

Apr 23

Posted by RJ Dawson

Ancient Israel was supposed to be a spiritual exemplar—a light shining to the nations. Instead it became a microcosm of this dark fallen world (the macrocosm).

LEMMINGS OFF A CLIFF

Like many of you, if not most I assume, I had assumed in my youth that the little rodents called lemmings had an inbred death wish in that a large group of them will on occasion get together and decide they must run at full speed toward a local towering seaside cliff and then rush headlong right over the side, diving into mass lemming destruction in the deep briny waters far below. I never learned why they did this only that they did. And that was that. I probably heard this for the first time when I was quite young and never questioned it, you know, the same way we hear and learn a lot of stuff growing up without ever questioning it (pretty much all of it for most people).

When I got a little older I began to put two and two together and saw the need to question a few things here and there because some of what I learned in life didn’t add up. Somewhere in that youthful time frame was the genesis of my early onset critical thinking skills in that I learned the best course was to question pretty much everything. One of the things I figured out was that lemmings running over a cliff was a myth. They don’t actually do this. Though endowed by the Creator with tiny little rodent brains their brains actually work pretty well which means their gray matter is not really loaded with a little kill switch that somehow gets triggered (by “instinct” I assume?) to gather with a bunch of like-minded ones and go flying into eternity.

However, that does not mean they don’t have a rodent herd mentality because they actually do band together in large groups on special occasions. These are kind of like political rallies or rock concerts. Or lemming mega churches. Actually, banding together in large groups is the way lemmings migrate. In herds. Lemmings migrate in herds. They do this when their present environment no longer adequately engages in supply side economics and they go off looking for a new land of rodent milk and honey. And they are wise enough to travel in very large groups.

On the way over yonder, when they come upon the inevitable natural barrier, they do their best to go around it or through it even if it means a good climb or a decent descent or a good swim through a local body of water. And it is likely, sadly, that there may be a few casualties but not on purpose. It is also likely they have no rebels in their herds like cheesed-up bikers or rat finks or squirrelly agitators. No, the little critters are just migrating together with a herd mentality.

HUMAN HERDS

Regarding rebellion, however, especially spiritual rebellion, humanity in general has been proven over the millennia after the fall of man and advent of spiritual death to also possess a built-in herd mentality and also be in possession of pure animal instincts. Though there is a brain in the head (a much larger one) it often does not have the power to overcome raw unbridled emotions which many people live by or an additional component which the New Testament refers to as “the lust of the flesh.” One would think evolution would have granted an in-brain controller or governor (like in the old lawnmowers) of some kind in the physical evolutionized superior body to limit the desired excesses of physical cravings and whatnot.

But then again, evolution is a ridiculous unscientific theory dashed to bits on the rocks of proven-wrongness though many believe it is why humans actually exhibit animalistic behavior because they are actually animals anyway which seems to be proven worldwide on a daily basis.

Looking for clues, psychology says the human soul is composed of will, mind, and emotions. The New Testament says it a little differently in that the big three composing the entire human are spirit, soul, and body. In both cases there appears to be a controller/governor which should seemingly rule the other two, the first being the will ruling over the mind and emotions and the second being the spirit ruling over the soul and body.

However, the Bible also teaches that the spirit of man died in the Garden of Eden due to the sin of Adam and Eve and cannot ever be resurrected unless one is born again as taught by the Lord Jesus. This means human beings in their natural unregenerate pre-born again state are merely soul and body with no spirit to rule over/control/govern them, which again puts the focus on the will within the soul (according to Psychology) as the only possible authority figure to ride herd on the other hapless members. Such members often have zero impulse control and complete inability to resist temptation.

But where does the human will gets its strength? How can it possibly conjure up the great power it needs to shut down the all-over-the-map, out-of-control, physical-body/fleshly/human-nature/animalistic-tendencies coupled with raw/uninhibited/wild/hysterical/uncontrolled emotions with the consistency of water? That appears to be asking a lot of little mister will and it likely is since this guy was never intended to be able to achieve such a world class accomplishment.

So if the spirit is dead (before being born again) and the will is too weak, what keeps humans on the earthly societal straight and narrow since many people appear to try hard to do what is right, at least in civilized societies with a Christian ethic, and have a pretty good amount of success? What is the actual controller/governor riding herd on one’s behavior? I know what you’re thinking: God has given us a conscience, a built-in sense of right and wrong that seems to be like the little angel guy on one shoulder debating with a little devil guy on the other as both try to convince us to do either the right thing or the wrong thing.

It would appear then, that if a herd of humans gathers together based on doing the right thing then one will have a pretty good society or culture. Or nation. Maybe even a church. Which means there would exist relatively good nations in the world (which must be in the minority because achieving such good nationhood is hard). And of course there would also be nations of the other kind. And sometimes there are nations which have a good conscience so to speak (good leadership) but possess a majority of unwilling members who have the decided tendency to listen to the little devil guy instead of the angel guy.

The opposite would also be true in that, due to unfortunate events like an evil group wresting government control in a good nation, in which a good nation ends up going bad because the good people thereof are too stupid, lazy, willingly uninformed, and hopelessly weak to overthrow the evil ones. (This should sound very familiar.)

What is more, sometimes there is a very special nation such as the ancient nation of Israel which had God Himself as their Leader and yet they still couldn’t get it together the vast majority of the time. I mean, if the Lord God of all Creation is your Leader (Conscience/Controller/Governor), how can you not have a good nation or even a great one? Yet we know the history, however. And we know it almost never worked with ancient Israel except in fits and starts. And that it certainly wasn’t because the Leader was not good because He was both Good and Great. Sadly it has generally been the same with every nation on earth in that they all end up going bad eventually mainly due to a violation of the conscience on an increasingly mass scale.

THE FEW, THE REMNANT, THE SAVED

And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. [Revelation 20:15]

I would think the evidence of this world would indicate there is therefore nothing to be done about the human problem but await the big incinerator below the big cliff and be done with the whole mess. Actually, as it turns out, that is the final solution. But not for everyone. For the majority of ancient Israel, yes. For the majority of humanity in general, yes. But again, the big fire will not claim everyone. One must take a looksee, therefore, into what the few who escape the culminating conflagration have in common.

We can start with the greatest Human Being who ever lived (there is no second place). Stay tuned…

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Tags: America, Ancient Israel, Book of Life, Christian Pharisees, Depraved Mind, Garden of Eden, Israel, Lemmings, Lord Jesus, Mind of Christ, Natural Mind, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Sin and Rebellion, The Great Awakening, You Must Be Born Again

A STIFFNECKED PEOPLE [Part 1]

Apr 22

Posted by RJ Dawson

As a variation on the incredulous query of Nathanael in John 1:46, “Can any good thing come out of Israel?”

AGAINST ALL ODDS

As I’ve written here many times, it is truly a great wonder that the ancient nation ever survived as long as it did. Without God’s ongoing support and supreme faithfulness Israel would have had no chance. Sadly, it was not so much that it was vulnerable to outside attack, though this was certainly the case, but it was much more about national suicide. As the Lord God stated directly on numerous occasions, starting way back as early as shortly after the Exodus from Egypt (1446BC), the emerging nation had a serious attitude problem and could be described perfectly through the use of just one word, which was first used here:

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people…” [Exodus 32:9 KJV]

Also, we see that it was the Lord God Himself who first used this term. And with regard to this perfect descriptive, God actually referred to His people in Scripture as “stiffnecked” a total of four times in the KJV Old Testament (out of eight overall) and once, through the prophet Ezekiel, as “stiffhearted.” In the KJV New Testament, Stephen, under a powerful spiritual anointing, used the term only minutes before his murder at the hands of, well, the stiffnecked, who were enormously convicted because the descriptive term described them so well:

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. [Acts 7:51] …When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. [Acts 7:54] …Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him… [Acts 7:57-58]

The evocative –S– word was later cleaned up somewhat in later Bible versions. For example, what follows is the NASB95 translation of the first OT occurrence which also includes verse 10 for context:

The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” [Exodus 32:9-10]

Whoa. That’s pretty harsh. If God said that today He would be censored and accused of, well, you know.

Here is the same passage in the KJV, which is just a tad more descriptive:

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. [Exodus 32:9-10 KJV]

Now, why in the world would God be so powerfully angry at His own people not long after showing great love by miraculously rescuing them from abject misery and hopeless slavery in Egypt? What could they have done that would want to make Him trash the entire plan He had for them and consume/destroy them and start again from scratch making a new nation with Moses?

Oh yeah. The golden calf. And they had lost all moral control and had “rose up to play” and “have corrupted themselves.” All this while the Lord God was up on the mountain delivering grand plans for the nation’s bright future to Moses who was fasting for forty days in order to effectively commune with God, receive the Torah, come down in glowing joy bearing great gifts and a wonderful message, and would later lead them to the Promised Land.

That.

Therefore, it is absolutely perfectly understandable why God was so extremely wrathful that He wanted to off them entirely. We must note, of course, that the golden calf was in reference to the Egyptian deity Apis which in part portends to a love of money and which also means Israel quickly reverted back to idolatry and vile immoral behavior as soon as their deliverer was gone for a while. They were always doing this. They always required, by their inability to control themselves and live a holy life, a powerful anointed man of God to deliver, shepherd, and maintain them since they possessed so little personal discipline and desire for spirituality and closeness to the Lord. There was thus Moses, and then Joshua, and then after they arrived in the Promised Land one Judge after another over not just a few decades but centuries.

However, the actual much bigger issue regarding the very quick fall from grace Israel made on that momentous occasion of the revealing of the Torah is that God allowed His perfect mind to be changed and that He eventually relented of inflicting due justice by wiping them off the face of the earth. How did this happen?—

PUTTING UP WITH GOATS TO SAVE THE SHEEP

The same as it always does. Someone stepped in and did some heavy duty interceding. Someone got on their face before God and pleaded and prayed and wept and wailed. Someone proved to God that though the great majority may be hopelessly hell bound by their own choosing, there are others, though few, who really, really, really love the Lord and want to serve and honor the Lord no matter what and are willing to put up with any humiliating circumstance, every indignity, much longsuffering, and even pain if that’s what is required to do it. Some people will choose to try very hard to live holy lives and not rise up to play or corrupt themselves. The Lord God knew that Moses not only had a great heart for God but also a spiritual passion for God’s people and God’s great plans for them, and that he was willing to do whatever and put up with anything to see it all come to pass as impossible it appeared to be, in part because he knew all things were possible with God.

So Israel was saved to live another day yet again—saved from itself—due to the righteous Remnant of Israelites of which Moses was a part—the few and far between—being faithful to God and standing in the gap and taking it on the chin and interceding in prayer and suffering persecution from the very people they kept praying for and preserving in hope of their eventual salvation which never came for the majority.

I remember long ago when the Lord first gave me the revelation that the greater the particular ministry the more time it would take to prepare for it. Thus, Moses would not only have to be a very strong man, and he was, but would also need much preparation because he was being tasked with one of the hardest ministries of all time.

He would have to deal with the great cloud of stiffnecked goats in order to minister to the few faithful sheep.

REAL MEN OF GOD

It goes without saying, of course, that the people of Israel were in general a very hard people to shepherd (understatement alert). Moses, the man God chose for the task, was surely a monumental figure in history—one of a kind—since he actually fulfilled for forty years a ministry which was not only akin to herding a million cats but effectively far more difficult and which involved eternal proportions. He also spent his first eighty years preparing for those last forty, first as a member of royalty “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22), and secondly as an obscure unknown sheepherder in the land of Midian. Yet Moses was just a man and could never have successfully completed the immense preparation requirements and then the massive task of transforming a great multitude into a cohesive nation able to conquer the wicked interlopers in their given land of Promise without the Lord God in complete control due to the humble man’s willing submission and the Lord’s powerful anointing, guidance, and strength.

For greater perspective on the actual nature of what had become a thoroughly sinful people deserving of not only ongoing rebuke but severe judgment back into exile, consider the following prophetic word of Ezekiel delivered eight and a half centuries later in 593BC in the midst of the Babylonian invasion (God uses the adjective “rebellious” four times!):

Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children (stiffhearted KJV), and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ As for them, whether they listen or not—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.” [Ezekiel 2:1-7] [1]

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DOCTOR FRANKENSTEIN I PRESUME?

Apr 8

Posted by RJ Dawson

Who are the unknown concealed purveyors of various nefarious secretive agendas designed to condition, persuade, and convince the public at large to believe in and act on mere illusions presented as reality?

IT’S ALIVE!

When one is presented with the unfortunate subject of brainwashing one usually pictures a run-down grubby quasi-scientific laboratory off on the gritty edge of an industrial district in a bad part of a dark metropolis staffed by nutcase goons with grimy lab coats, strange facial expressions often stuck in place, and a psycho determination to fulfill a wild and crazy theory or some such for the sake of wholesale societal change involving the transformation of people into automatons. Or programmed slaves. Or manipulated masses obsessed by wacked-out agendas. Or extremists extraordinaire unaware of being the victims of mass social engineering yet insisting their position and belief is good, right, and correct though otherwise obviously backwards, stupid, senseless, morally wrong, and thoroughly unsupported by facts.

OUTWITTING TOTO

The sure existence of brainwashing demands the existence of brainwashers. While the reality of the latter may be acknowledged on a small scale, this acknowledgment decreases as the scale increases. At some point early in the process of their latest brainwashing technique the manipulators behind the scenes have the decided ability to fade into perceived nothingness though their ongoing number of deceived subjects increases exponentially. This would otherwise not only prove their work’s effectiveness but also their presence.

Yet when their illicit strategy works according to plan no one beyond them even notices there is a plan and thus is correspondingly never aware of the brainwashers’ existence. That they escape detection is obviously due to the brainwashers not only controlling the narrative but also controlling the narrative disseminators which they created whose main function is to spew out incessant spurious falsities, untruths, and inaccuracies disguised as facts as part of an ongoing overall agenda. This successfully gives forth only a fabricated perception of reality. The narrative disseminators also act as an imperceptible façade behind which the brainwashers may not only hide but essentially cease to exist in the minds of their subjects.

Hence, we somehow arrive at having great masses of the brainwashed yet without existent brainwashers. This in turn puts forth the false notion that the brainwashed masses do not exist either, as being brainwashed that is, which allows the brainwashed to continue on in their brainwashed condition though not aware of it or aware of what they actually are, especially since most of the people they know personally or are friendly/familiar with are seemingly just like them. They all appear to share the same common beliefs, have the same general view of history, have the same relative overall view of the world, and in the main operate according to the same social and cultural conventions.

EXPOSING THE MASTER SHYSTERS

This further means that the remaining few non-brainwashed who are still in control of their minds and have a handle on truth and actual reality are perceived by the brainwashed masses as the real social deviants since such people refuse to get with the program and go along with the nefarious overall social agenda. What this really means is that there are some who are somehow not programmable and are seen by the brainwashers not only as bad subjects but enemies of their shrouded plan. Their greatest fear is that the non-programmable few will expose their shrouded plan.

Because of this the societal brainwashers do all they can to initially censor any truth-tellers who are determined to shine light and expose darkness. They know such good guys not only want to tell the truth but also—aghast!—free the brainwashed captives. If censoring fails they will then attempt to demonize the truth-tellers by making them appear incorrect, extreme, and even nuts in the eyes of the brainwashed in the hope that the brainwashed masses turn against the ones trying to free them. Sound familiar?

IT’S THE REJECTION AND SHUNNING OF VERIFIABLE FACTS AND OBJECTIVE TRUTH THAT PROVES SUCH PEOPLE ARE BRAINWASHED.

This further proves the existence of hidden Doctor Frankensteins.

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. [2Corinthians 4:3-4][1]

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Tags: Deception, Don't Confuse Me With Facts, Enemies of God, Gospel Truth, Hidden Agenda, Lord Jesus, Media Manipulation, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Reality vs. Illusion, Search For Truth, Secret Societies, Social Media, Spirit of Truth, Spiritual Warfare, Surveillance, The Great Awakening, The Presence of the devil, Truth-tellers, Wizard of Oz

LIGHT EXPOSING DARKNESS: REVEALING THE FAKERY OF UNREAL CHRISTIANITY

Mar 17

Posted by RJ Dawson

It will all be exposed for what it is. For an increasing number of Christians much has already been revealed. The majority, however, is still in the dark.

A NEW LIGHT IS DAWNING

“The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light,

And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,

Upon them a Light dawned.” [Matthew 4:16]

“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” [John 8:12]

“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.” [John 12:46]

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. [John 1:5]

“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” [John 3:19-21]

“There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” [Luke 12:2]

GOD DID NOT CREATE FAKE CHRISTIANITY

In fact, of course, God did not create fake anything. Everything He made is awesomely wonderfully real. The enemy, however, is a great faker. He is a deceiver. This enemy is composed of all the unseen wispy bad guys the Lord Jesus revealed as real (not mere figments) and also all the human beings who joined in as well (those who sold their souls willingly but also the great bulk of deceived ones). According to Holy Writ a third of the previously holy angels joined up with the chief rebel and rebelled against God in a concerted effort to overthrow Him. It was an ill-conceived asinine plan from the start destined for abject failure and was based on a rise in personal pride in which mere created beings actually believed they could topple and dethrone the One who made them as if the Creator had not already factored in such an occurrence in case it was ever attempted.

That little episode did not work out so well for the bad guys. If it had they would have created a fake world in heaven with a fake king and a fake cast of sycophantic supporters. As it turned out they were all defeated soundly and pretty much immediately cast down to earth from their former heavenly sphere to a place where they could create their chosen deceptive fake world and were allowed to do so. And their fake world has otherwise obviously grown exponentially ever since.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” [Genesis 3:1]

Well of course God said that you lying piece of garbage. And Eve knew God said it. But she still succumbed to the serpent’s lying deceptive tactics anyway and you want to know why? Because she was beautiful. In this was the possibility for the advent of personal pride just as it had been the case for the chief angel who was apparently extraordinarily multi-gifted in both talent and appearance. Scripture appears to imply this. Therefore Eve had failed to consistently apply the correct level of humility and place to her life to disallow the wicked rise of pride and her desire for the prestige she felt she deserved which led to her downfall. (Even though she was living in paradise.)

It is the same with humanity ever since. Rather than praising our Creator for who He is and His great love and showing gratitude for the blessings He has bestowed we sometimes focus on what we want or prefer which takes the focus off the Lord and puts it on ourselves as if we could do anything substantial to better His plan for our lives including our eternal fate. Through this we drift astray and attempt our own way which may work for a time but fails utterly in the end. This sad fate of fallen man has become ubiquitous throughout history and has rewritten the story of mankind as one containing little hope or promise and an extreme lowering which has become the norm.

In humanity we are thus left with a mere part of the book: A created mammalian species formed from the elements of the ground with a former star link to God fashioned in such a way to illustrate an eternal appearance and make up but one which yet possesses an inherent humility due to physical realities that should otherwise convey to one the need for humbleness and place while enjoying the benefits of being “wonderfully made:”

For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: When I awake, I am still with thee. [Psalm 139:13-18 KJV]

But no. Pride took over. The sin of pride separated everyone from God. Pride says humanity in its fallen state is more than it actually is and we are worth more than we actually are. Pride makes us think we will live forever and be invincible and everybody better respect and honor us or we will get angry and put off because we know we’re great and everyone else should know that too and I’ll show you I’m great by the things I do or just by the way I look so back off and let me exult in my bad self, okay you morons!?

And one wonders why the Lord Jesus COMMANDED that we be born again. In reality humanity has generally become by its own choosing a worthless junkyard of failure and assumed importance destined to rot and rust and roast in hell and the only way out of such a default destiny is to reach way back to the cause of such a terrible tragedy and root out the root which caused it all and make a new start based strictly on the Lord’s protocol which He lovingly exampled for us all in His one single solitary perfect life.

Therefore the possibility certainly exists that people can be good looking and talented and intelligent and gifted but also understand his or her place and one’s scope and limitations and retain the correct level of required self-effacement, unpretentiousness, and modesty and quit thinking one is better than another and certainly never entertain such idiotic notions that one is somehow better than God or equal to Him.

You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, that what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”; or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”? [Isaiah 29:16]

ONLY THE LORD JESUS MUST BE EXALTED

Only He deserves it. Only He deserves praise. Only He must be the honored One. Only He is the Great Spiritual Warrior who defeated death, hell, the grave, and every other spiritual enemy. Only He has made salvation possible. Only He has made a way for anyone to join Him now and forever. Only He can take one to the next level, a place of eternal joy. Only He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Whoever then attempts to place himself or herself in a place of honor meant only for Him and take authority where none has been granted is doing the same thing any of these previously mentioned rebels have done. And those who do such a thing in the name of Christianity are the worst offenders. That such offenders are in the majority is otherwise obvious except for those deceived who cannot see the forest for the trees. Such offenders have done what all such people have ever done in this fallen world of sin and depravity in that they have created various fake worlds in the name of the Lord. Can there be any higher form of sinful disrespect, dishonor, and evil than falsely proclaiming the Lord and merely using Him for one’s own enterprise?

The Lord severely rebuked the fake religionists of His day for this very thing who had successfully taken over His entire nation and put forth a thoroughly fake religious world with themselves as high ultra-respected potentates. They did this as the only way they could rule and gain wealth and prestige because God would surely never allow them such a place in His world until and unless they came to Him fully on their face in actual sincere real repentance which, of course, they would never do (except a mere few).

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. [2Peter 3:9]

So why do we think it any different in our day or any day in any Christian venue? If such a deceptive pile of futile and fruitless religious garbage was possible and actually happened in the Lord’s own nation that He had created then why does one think the same is not possible in “Christianity?” In reality it has not only been possible but ultra-doable since it has been done repeatedly and is still being done today. This is what I refer to as Unreal Christianity and have been calling it this consistently for decades. At its very core and essence it is FAKE in that it is not what the Lord Jesus created in the beginning nor does much of it even closely resemble the original.

So here we have a curious case of gross deception in which the great majority of Unreal Christianity cannot see through even the easiest to perceive deceptions and fakery and continue to honor it and also exalt it’s fake leaders just as the majority of ancient Israel did not only in its early days but also and much more prominently in the days of our Lord. And Unreal Christianity has been getting away with it often for many centuries simply because so few would call them out and the very few who did were quickly killed off. This let everyone know they better shut up if they figured it out or suspect something amiss because you get killed for it which would seem to prove the vile sinister nature of such fake Christian organizations.

Did not the same exact thing happen to the Founder of Real Christianity? And did He not say the same thing would/could/did happen and continued happening to His own followers ever since and at present? Was not His death in part the result of exposing fake religious garbage?

Therefore I can unequivocally assure one and all that the Lord has a purpose and desire to expose those faking it in His Name and sometimes does this in a really big way. I personally believe now is such a time and this is based on so much that has already been exposed to date. It matters not that most Christians are not aware of this but more and more are becoming aware. I have personally seen and even experienced a massive amount of Christian fakery in my time and have also seen much of it exposed for what it is as have many of you. This means there is always a level of success in keeping the fakery hidden but it cannot be hidden forever.

“There is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” [Luke 12:2]

Sadly, the only reason the true reality of Unreal Christianity has stayed hidden historically and at present is because of the deceived Christians who sustain it, support it, and keep the fakery intact by insisting it is real. But many of these are presently falling off into eternity with not enough to take their place. This means the overall charade is destined to be revealed just as the Lord said it would and just as it was in His time.

His Light is still shining on darkness and all the fakery associated with it and His voice still calls to the sleeping. The Good News is more are hearing His voice with each passing day and heeding the call. The Great Awakening continues.

“The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light,

And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,

Upon them a Light dawned.” [Matthew 4:16] [1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Adam and Eve, America, Christian Pharisees, False Religious Authority, Hidden Agenda, Jesus is the Light, Light and Darkness, Light of God, Lord Jesus, Pride, Prideful Church Leaders, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Reality vs. Fakery, Repentance, Self-Righteous Pharisees, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

CHRISTIANS MAKING NICE WITH THE ANTICHRIST [Part 4: Our Great Spiritual Warrior]

Jan 30

Posted by RJ Dawson

Though many Christians believe otherwise, the New Testament does not actually refer specifically to any individual as the antichrist but rather to a demonic spirit…

OUTING THE ENEMY

When the Lord Jesus arrived on the scene, all of hell was put on immediate notice. The worst possible thing that ever could have happened, from their vantage point, not only did happen but did so in a manner in which the devil, his invisible demon minions, and all of his human compatriots became aware immediately that their time was just about up and also that there was not a thing they could do about it.

This was readily proven by the emotional fear-based responses of specific demonic entities the Lord Jesus dealt with during the course of His ministry. Consider the following:

When He came to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way. And they cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” [Matthew 8:29]

Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, “What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” [Mark 1:23-24]

The “time” these demons were referring to was the occasion of their coming judgment. They always knew it was coming someday but when the Lord arrived they knew it was imminent. Remember, our Lord Jesus, the greatest and most powerful spiritual Warrior in existence, He whom even demons referred to as the Son of God and the Holy One of God, was on a mission to not only defeat and destroy demons and all of hell but also and much more profoundly to defeat and destroy the one at the top of the pyramid who had gained control of human death. The Lord therefore intended to defeat death itself. This was quite the substantial goal (understatement alert).

The following passages reveal not only the Lord’s eventual victory in this endeavor but the entire reason for His appearing and overall ministry:

“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.” [Acts 2:24]

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. [Romans 6:8-9]

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. [Hebrews 2:14-15]

The last enemy that will be abolished is death. [1Corinthians 15:26]

“…I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” [Revelation 1:18]

DEATH AND THE ANTICHRIST SPIRIT

Whoever opposes Messiah Jesus also opposes their only chance at salvation. It is not possible for unrepentant adversaries of Messiah Jesus to overcome their sin. It is why those in league with the antichrist spirit actually embrace sin because there is no way to otherwise serve this evil spirit. Also, those people deluded by committed antichrist advocates (who don’t see them for what they actually are) may not embrace sin with the same fervor and commitment but will certainly be more prone to sin in general (regardless of any positive they attempt to apply otherwise) due to their inept spiritual condition brought on by weakened defenses and collaboration with the enemy. Like so many Christians who fail to understand why they cannot gain victory over sin or some particular sin as the Lord’s teachings promise, they are simply too deceived through their acceptance of false teachings to perceive their deception.

If they KNEW the New Testament they would also know the false doctrines they’ve been influenced by and even overcome by and would readily reject them. And if they KNEW the actual teachings of the Lord Jesus as clearly presented in the gospel texts they would never succumb to the antichrist spirit.

Those who decide to give their heart to the Lord and truly follow Him will be led by Him toward eternal life. As long as they continue to follow Him and stay on the path they will eventually get there. Yet those who do not follow Him per His teachings and allow the antichrist spirit the opportunity to influence and delude them will be led in the opposite direction toward eternal death. One must note that the longer one is misled the greater the odds are that they will be deluded and never break free. Because one can never serve two masters one cannot embrace both the Lord Jesus and the antichrist spirit at the same time. It is one or the other. Some Christians think they are right with God when they are not due to the spiritual deception they fall under because of a lack of full commitment to God.

The following is a great narrative of how this process works: The Lord had gone to the temple precincts early one morning and began teaching. Not long after, the raucous event with the accused adulterous woman took place in which all present were shocked by what happened. It set the tone for what would occur afterwards which perfectly illustrates the dichotomy of being pro-Christ or anti-Christ.

As the Lord continued teaching, some of the Judæans there came to believe in Him while others dug in their heels and refused to. The latter were comprised mostly of the strong religious Judæans including the Pharisees who had invested heavily in a contrary belief system opposed to God’s actual Word and also to Messiah Jesus. Watch closely how this process plays out as the action moves to the location of the temple treasury:

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “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.”

They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.” [John 8:31-38]

The Lord goes on to state emphatically that these Judæans in covenant with the antichrist spirit who refuse to honor Him as the Messiah are children of the evil one:

“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. [John 8:44][1]

We understand then that the millions of Christians currently devoted to supporting the work of an otherwise obvious bad spirit and its international group of devoted human supporters/worshippers, characterized by a vast worldwide hoax, deceptive lying propaganda, and wanton murder and mayhem, cannot possibly be serving the Lord Jesus or following Him but have instead been overcome by the spirit of antichrist.

By their fruits you will know them…

WEBSITE ADDRESS: rjdawson.com

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America, antichrist, Casting Out Demons, Christian Pharisees, Death, Deception, Discipleship, Doctrines of Demons, Enemies of God, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation in Jesus, spirit of antichrist, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The LORD is a Warrior, The World The Flesh The Devil

CHRISTIANS MAKING NICE WITH THE ANTICHRIST [Part 3: New Testament References]

Jan 27

Posted by RJ Dawson

Though many Christians believe otherwise, the New Testament does not actually refer specifically to any individual as the antichrist but rather to a demonic spirit…

ANTI-MESSIAH

The word Christ (anointed one) is derived from the Greek Christos which is translated from the Hebrew Mâshîyach from which we get the English word Messiah. Therefore, the antichrist spirit is especially and specifically opposed to the Lord Jesus as Messiah and rejects the fact that He is the Messiah. Those possessed by, deluded by, or strongly influenced by this particular evil spirit act as stalwart adversaries to the Lord’s Messiahship.

Regarding Scriptural reference, there are only five occurrences of the word “antichrist” in the New Testament. They occur in four verses. One occurrence is in plural form. The original Greek word is antichristos (“the adversary of the Messiah”).

All five occurrences are found in the first two epistles of John, the only NT writer who uses this word (and might have coined it). These epistles (along with his third) were actually written just prior to the events of 66-70AD which he refers to as the “last hour.” By this designation John is echoing the Olivet Prophecy of thirty years before spoken by the Lord Jesus when He referred to the final end of the Israelite Nation. John was thus living at the very end of the “end times” when he wrote these epistles and was by that time extremely well aware, both externally and spiritually, of the parameters of the prophetic times in which he lived and that which was on the immediate horizon.

The five occurrences of the word “antichrist” and the four verses containing them are as follows:

ONE

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. [1John 2:18]

TWO

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. [1John 2:22]

THREE

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. [1John 4:2-3]

FOUR

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. [2John 1:7][1]

From these passages, we learn several things that assist in identifying this bad spirit. In 1John 2 we discover that the appearance of antichrist was expected, that many antichrists were already present, and that those who denied that Jesus was the Messiah are liars. We also discover that these liars denied Jesus as both Father and Son in that a person either honors both are honors neither. (The Father and Son cannot be separated—if one is denied so is the other. It is therefore impossible to honor the Father while denying the Son.)

In 1John 4 the author contrasts the Spirit of God from the spirit of antichrist and provides the clear identifying signs of both. The author also confirms that the antichrist spirit was then in the world. In 2John 1 the author specifically uses the word deceiver(s) as an additional descriptive of the antichrist spirit in that it not only fiercely opposes the Lord Jesus but also works to deceive people about Him. In this process this demonic spirit employs and works through a relatively homogenous group of its human supporters/worshippers, international in scope, to deceive the people of the world about the true Messiah.

This also signifies that the antichrist spirit uses its powers of deception to fool others about itself and its followers. It is said that the greatest trick the devil ever used is to convince people he doesn’t exist. We see a similar trick in that the antichrist spirit in concert with its human supporters/worshippers attempts to delude others about its actual evil nature. This trick of deception is especially used against naïve unsuspecting Christians and has been quite effective historically but perhaps never as effective as at present.

WATCH OUT!

The Lord warned His followers about great deception. He commanded that His followers give it their all and follow His example. He taught them many lessons about the power of sin and temptation and that they must overcome sin and master it in order to live spiritually fruitful lives which honor and please the Lord. Sadly, the majority of Christians in the world never do these things or fail to do them consistently and thus open themselves up to the deceiving power of the enemy.

Many Christians fall into the same trap Judas did. Others go so far as to follow the example of Cain rather than Abel. A large distinct faction of Christians even joins forces with the spirit of antichrist and its unbelieving anti-Lord Jesus cultists to the point of justifying the latter group’s gross violations of His teachings.

Such people are deluded by false prophecies, man-made religious doctrines, and cultural propaganda. They are much more familiar with and accepting of such aberrant indoctrination and the deceptive literature thereof than the actual New Covenant writings taught by the Lord Jesus and His early followers.

The beliefs of such Christians are thus not based on New Testament truth and facts but on mere unfounded false perceptions.

And sadly, their perceptions become their reality…

WEBSITE ADDRESS: rjdawson.com

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, antichrist, Christ, Christian Pharisees, Discipleship, False Prophecy, Jesus is the Messiah, John the Apostle, Judas Iscariot, Last Days Deception, Lord Jesus, Olivet Prophecy, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Reality vs. Illusion, spirit of antichrist, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The New Testament, Unreal Christianity, Yehoshua HaMashiach

CHRISTIANS MAKING NICE WITH THE ANTICHRIST [Part 2: Ancient Origins]

Jan 23

Posted by RJ Dawson

Though many Christians believe otherwise, the New Testament does not actually refer specifically to any individual as the antichrist but rather to a demonic spirit…

It is a spirit that relentlessly hates and opposes the Lord Jesus as all evil spirits do but does so in a more robust and formidable manner that includes a specific agenda and a well-organized human component.

BETRAYAL AND MURDER

The direct linking of evil spirits with human beings is, of course, nothing new, as the pages of the NT are literally saturated with such linkings though such unions usually involve the human unwilling. It seemed every day of the Lord’s ministry involved His delivering some poor soul from demonic possession or oppression. These people had no ability to free themselves but would if they could which proves a forced union by a higher power. The Lord Jesus showed that He had an even higher power—the highest power—and was determined to fulfill this particular plank of His mission statement for the sake of granting freedom to whosoever believed in Him, demonic spirits be damned.

Conversely, there were also human beings who entered willingly into covenant unions with demonic forces. Of such was the antichrist spirit organization. It combined the invisible “other dimension” bad guys of New Testament lore with visible boots-on-the-ground flesh and blood bad guys doing the bidding of the former. Such people are those who essentially sold their souls due to their abject hatred of the Lord Jesus and all He stood for as well as their ravenous personal lust for worldly power, wealth, and even fame. One wonders at the mindset of such people and their motivation but it is perhaps easier to comprehend once one understands that their illicit covenant union, international agenda, and unbridled lust go back multiple centuries, even likely to the very beginning:

And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. [Genesis 4:8b]

Cain wavered in his focus on God. He was also having a problem with sin in his life. As a result he failed to discern the proper sacrifice unto the Lord. By his wholly incorrect offering which well-illustrated his spiritual cluelessness and indifferent attitude he showed great disrespect to God:

…Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. [Genesis 4:2-3]

This was a problem due to a particular unfortunate result of his parent’s rebellion:

“Cursed is the ground because of you…” [Genesis 3:17]

When what he gave was not accepted Cain got very angry and his countenance fell (Genesis 4:5). The Lord explained to him that if he did well he would surely be accepted and his countenance would be lifted up. Yet because he had already proven he was not doing well it proved that “sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you” (Genesis 4:7). The Lord told Cain he must do better.

Regarding sin, He told Cain he must no longer give in to it (lose the temptation battle) but that “he must master it.” (Genesis 4:7). Having a good relationship with God demands this. Unrepentant sin and a good heart toward God never go together.

Now, Abel, on the other hand, had already gained mastery over sin. He had won the temptation battle that Cain had yet to win and Adam and Eve had lost. Abel overcame. Thus, he understood what God required and gave the Lord exactly that. It is why his offering was accepted:

Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering… [Genesis 4:4]

Abel pleased the Lord. His countenance was lifted up already and was lifted up even more when the Lord gave him a good report. He was likely smiling from ear to ear! Cain could have easily learned from Abel’s example but was instead quite bitter. One imagines an intensely angry appearance and surly demeanor. There was obviously something else going on in Cain’s life that kept him from relating to God.

It is likely that Cain had issues regarding his self-worth and was unable to live up to his mother’s high expectations which probably caused him to deduce he would never be good enough. It is also possible that probable spoilage made him feel he was already entitled without achieving anything or obeying God. This unfortunate attitude worked havoc with his relationship with God and caused sin. It is why he did not put the required full effort into giving God “the first fruits.” He was likely too focused on self and the slights he felt he suffered. His attitude gave vent to sin and sin was dragging him down. After the Lord’s correction Cain could have given it his all to overcome sin and get right with God but he instead went the other way. You see, based on the name she gave him (possession, acquired, or “gotten one”), Eve had most likely thought Cain would be the promised Messiah per the prophecy of Genesis 3:15.

…and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the Lord.” [Genesis 4:1][1]

THE MESSIANIC BLOODLINE

This momentous occasion had obvious consequential overtones. It was the first time a woman gave birth. Did Eve think it could ever happen again? Did she initially consider it a one-time event? She knew she was blessed and that the birth of Cain was a miracle in that it required the Lord’s providential assistance. Of course, all human births are miracles though most are never acknowledged in such a way. Eve also gave birth to the first firstborn son, an event that was somewhat rare but highly honored according to OT writ and one which was perceived as a special blessing and sign from God.

However, as was often the case in the ancient Hebrew historical accounts that became a somewhat regular pattern, the firstborn son himself was sometimes personally undeserving of such an honor in that he did not respect it or even acknowledge it. We see that especially in the life of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, who had so dishonored himself and disrespected spiritual life that God replied: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Romans 9:13). Cain fell into this same category. In fact, he set the precedent.

Cain, of course, was not the Messiah. He would not even be in the bloodline of the Messiah. Ironically therefore, Cain killed the one who was the very next man in the early generational line of the Messiah after Adam. This would be righteous Abel who was an OT type of Christ. His cold-blooded murder, therefore, meant the Messianic line had been cruelly severed right at the beginning which demonstrates the dirty deed of Cain was not simply an act of uncontrolled anger and passion but one involving a demonic agenda.

A tale so sad proves the presence of an ultra-evil one who was not only in the garden previously but was still hanging around playing with Cain’s head not so long afterward. This “serpent” (nâchâsh) apparently deduced quite well what God was up to in that He intended Adam and his descendants (lowly humans!) to rule over this world, which included ruling over him, and he would not have it. The wicked and oh so shrewd night crawler consequently knew he must stop such a plan ASAP.

Once the devil gained dominion over Adam by successfully tempting him to sin all he had to do next was eliminate Abel and there would never be a future Messiah, Savior, and eternal King. The devil would thus maintain his dominion in perpetuity. There would also be no inglorious tossing of the hissing viper into future eternal hellfire. Thus, his success through Cain marked a win-win for his side and an escape from certain eternal judgment…

Therefore, what Cain did was essentially the same thing Judas Iscariot did. Although this man (Judah of Kerioth) was a disciple of the Lord in apparently good standing and one of the twelve (though a diabolos—John 6:70), he broke relationship with the Lord just before the end and was then actually possessed by satan (Luke 22:3, John 13:27).

With betrayal on his mind Judas quickly joined up with the wicked antichrist temple plotters who had formed a covenant with the antichrist spirit in a conspiracy to kill the Lord.

So we see that the Anti-Christ spirit has a very long history…

WEBSITE ADDRESS: rjdawson.com

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Adam and Eve, America, antichrist, Betrayal, Building the Third Temple, Cain and Abel, Doctrines of Demons, Jesus is the Messiah, Judas Iscariot, Lord Jesus, Messianic Line, New Testament, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, spirit of antichrist, Spiritual Warfare, Temple Mount, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

CHRISTIANS MAKING NICE WITH THE ANTICHRIST [Part 1: You’ve Been Warned]

Jan 9

Posted by RJ Dawson

Though many Christians believe otherwise, the New Testament does not actually refer specifically to any individual as the antichrist but rather to a demonic spirit…

FRAUD ALERT

In the Gospel accounts, the Lord Jesus often gave direct warnings to His disciples to prepare them for what was surely to come their way. He was obviously well aware of the tempter and his myriad ways of deception and knew His men would need future help in discerning the true from the false. Sometimes the difference between the two looks slight but depending on the observer can also appear as indistinguishable (there’s a scary thought). In the following passage from His Olivet Discourse the Lord told His disciples that the soon to emerge trickery of the enemy would be so effectively sly it would almost deceive His mature chosen followers:

“…For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.” [Mark 13:22-23][1]

The operative phrase here is “in order to lead astray.” This is forever the plan of the enemy, to lead one away from the Lord and keep anyone and everyone from getting close to Him. The last three words of that phrase are from the Greek word ἀποπλανάω apoplanáō (ap-op-lan-ah’-o). It is defined as “to lead astray (figuratively); passively, to stray (from truth):—err, seduce. Further, it means “to cause to go astray,” “to lead away from the truth to error,” “to go astray, stray away from.”

Because the antichrist spirit opposes the Lord Jesus as Messiah and wars against the Truth, it is always his intent to deceive. According to the preceding passage of Scripture, the enemy will thus employ false Messiahs and false prophets to do what they do best regarding the deception game. Of course, if one is not aware that these people are false then one will not defend against them and will be much more likely to be taken in, as it were, and believe something entirely false as if it were true. We currently have many well-accepted and established ministers that qualify as such with large followings proving a great many Christians remain none the wiser which further proves they have been deceived.

Such deception among Christians by the faux bros has long since reached epidemic proportions over the many centuries of the Christian era in that there are many more deceived Christians in the world who believe and act on things that are false rather than those who successfully follow the Lord Jesus in the way of Truth. To simplify the reason why, it is due primarily to trusting authority figures far beyond the level of trust they deserve. Wisdom demands that every authority figure must be held to account and this cannot be done unless they are properly vetted. And if you want to know how to vet a Christian minister it is simple:

A real Christian authority figure ALWAYS yields to the ultimate authority of the Lord Jesus and will not knowingly teach something other than what the Lord taught or not teach something He taught.

Therefore, New Testament ministers are vetted by the New Testament itself since it is the written Word of God. There is always the additional possibility that the Lord may speak directly through spiritual means or revelation but if it is actually His voice whatever He says will always agree with His written NT Word.

Though such a vetting process may appear simplistic, it is actually not all that difficult to discover areas of transgression or straying from the Lord’s clear curriculum if one is well versed in NT Scripture. Consequently, this means all real Christians must acknowledge and accept the fact that it is their responsibility to make sure they know the New Testament and thereby be able to notice when Christian ministers veer off course or were never on course to begin with.

In the final analysis, since a Christian must vet ministers, it proves he or she must also be a minister (and also be subjected to proper vetting). And this in fact is what the NT teaches in that every real Christian is a minister of the Gospel. Remember, the Lord never invented a clergy-laity division. Therefore, any refusal to accept one’s responsibility as a Christian and as a Christian minister regarding knowledge of the Word means one will not have the necessary ability to remain above deception. This is exactly why so many Christians, the majority, have been deceived by false ministers and their false doctrines.

Such irresponsible and effectively lazy Christians—those who place their spiritual responsibility upon Christian authority figures and yield to their total unvetted control, especially those who are most happy with such an improper arrangement—cannot help but be used and reap a harvest of trickery.

This is also precisely why millions of Christians are presently making nice with the antichrist…

WEBSITE ADDRESS: rjdawson.com

Posted in Current Events

17 Comments

Tags: America, antichrist, Deception, Discipleship, False Christs, False Prophets, False Religious Authority, Lord Jesus, Prophetic Warning, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, spirit of antichrist, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The New Testament, Unreal Christianity

HAPPY NEW YEAR?

Jan 1

Posted by RJ Dawson

Today is the day we celebrate the beginning of a brand new year. In that regard, may 2025 be a blessed year for all.

In reality, though, this particular day is essentially meaningless regarding actual new beginnings.

Even though the civil calendar we presently use—the Gregorian—contains 365 days and twelve months, it otherwise has little cyclical bearing on celestial events. This means our months are not based on actual lunar cycles but are largely made up and based on nothing. The beginning of the calendar (today) also has no bearing on celestial cycles. Nevertheless, because particular authority figures created the Gregorian calendar several centuries ago and everyone was forced to adopt it, it begins today, January 1.

CELESTIAL CALENDARS

Ancient calendars were originally based on such celestial events, primarily the time it takes planet Earth to travel around the Sun. Yet within that cycle was an earlier calendar—smaller cycles regarding the time it takes the Moon to travel around the Earth.

The former is referred to as a solar calendar and the latter a lunar calendar. Their significance is that one can actually refer to something tangible, and in the above cases, something very powerfully tangible, to order the passing of time.

Though our current calendar is divided into twelve months and fifty-two weeks, it remains a mere abstract construct in relation to the actual celestial cycles.

Hence, January 1 is largely meaningless from a celestial perspective.

Regarding the actual first day of the calendar, common sense tells us that the year, divided up into four seasons, would naturally begin with the season of new life, the spring. The end of winter and the beginning of spring constitutes the actual beginning of a new solar cycle from our perspective, though this differs regarding on which side of the equator one lives.

The ancient Sumerians and later Babylonians managed to combine both of these cycles into a single calendar, a lunisolar calendar. This calendar was later adopted by the Hebrews during their Babylonian exile after the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC.

It was discovered that 235 lunar cycles fit almost perfectly into 19 solar cycles. This results in 12 years of 12 months and 7 years of 13 months. By installing an additional month every third year or so during the 19 years, one arrives at an overall cycle (19 years) encompassing both the solar and lunar cycles and what is essentially a perfect calendar based on celestial events, in which one can mark time by the actual movements of the sun and moon.

For example, the actual current lunar cycle or month began with the new moon of December 30, 2024 at 4:26pm CST. There will be a full moon on January 13 which constitutes the exact middle of the lunar cycle. Therefore, like the solar cycle, one can see that January 1 also has no bearing on the lunar cycle although this year it was very close.

The present Hebrew calendar is lunisolar, but does not actually line up perfectly with exact lunar cycles since it is calculated based on when a new moon is sighted with respect to “evening and morning.” This means the new day always started at sunset and the first day of a new month also had to start at sunset. In reality, lunar cycles can start at any time during a 24 hour day.

For example, today, January 1, is represented on the Hebrew calendar as the 1^st day of Tevet. Tevet, however, is actually the fourth month, since the official Hebrew civil calendar begins in the autumn of the year.

Calendars based specifically on celestial cycles used to matter very much. They were necessary for the right times regarding planting and harvesting.

SPIRITUAL CALENDARS

Spiritually speaking, could it be the same? Does God have a spiritual calendar? Is pure nature a reflection of the unseen spiritual? Remember, pure astronomy is not astrology. God created celestial events and cycles. The Universe in this sense runs like clockwork. The more one studies such cycles, the more one discovers an absolutely perfect system which demands an extremely brilliant intelligence. These are not just random cycles, but cycles with cycles to the effective infinite degree.

Also, because we know that God, in His Word, makes thousands of references to time and cycles, as well as numbers, He no doubt has a reason for it. But if that reason is to be discovered, it can only be discovered by using His actual calendar rather than a man-made abstract.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth;” and it was so.

God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. [Genesis 1:14-18] [1]

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America, Babylonian Calendar, Genesis, Gregorian Calendar, Happy New Year, Hebrew Calendar, Lord Jesus, Lunar Cycle, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Solar Cycle, The Great Awakening

CHRISTMAS: A TIME OF GREAT HOPE AND NEW BIRTH

Dec 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

Though delighted by bright colored lights and snowy winter wonderlands, the real reason for the season happened Away in a Manger on a Silent, Holy Night…

A HOPE THAT DOES NOT DISAPPOINT

Who doesn’t love Christmas? Though much of the Christmas Season evokes the purely secular and even self-indulgent delights, it’s also the one time of the year in which honoring the Lord Jesus and celebrating His birth is not only largely acceptable but embraced. This is what gives it substance. Yet of far greater import is not simply a joyous though quickly passing holiday season forgotten after New Year’s but the greatness, goodness, and security of the Lord’s ongoing spiritual Kingdom that births the eternal hope that truly does not disappoint.

As one takes in the following astounding passage of Scripture which reveals much of the vast interworkings of the Lord’s Kingdom and the rich experience of the original Christians of that time, one should ponder the amazing hope-filled features therein and take stock of one’s own Christian life to see if perhaps one may need additional helps to assist in dealing with one’s current challenges:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. [Romans 5:1-5]

We all have our different salvation experiences and each is part of a rich tapestry that comprises the vast witness of the Lord’s spiritual Community. In addition, since the beginning of a worldwide spiritual outpouring initiated over 120 years ago, many millions have now received from the Lord the infilling of His Holy Spirit. This is the exact encounter with God shared by those on that initial Day of Pentecost two thousand years ago. The 120 people who gathered together on that morning had an encounter like no other. It was truly an Upper Room Experience. Such an occurrence had never happened before in history. It was a first time event that actually birthed His Community which proved that another immaculate conception had taken place:

And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues (languages), as the Spirit was giving them utterance (ability to speak out). [Acts 2:2-4]

The Spirit of God Himself filled the entire Upper Room where they were all gathered after they had spent ten days preparing themselves. They knew something very great and powerful was going to happen. The Lord had commanded them to take up residence there as one of His last orders before ascending to heaven. Just as Joseph and Mary had heard directly from God to leave Nazareth and head down south to their ancestral land of Judah and the small city of Bethlehem many years before, so did these 120 dedicated followers of the Lord go down to the city of Jerusalem to await their fate. As it happened, each received an entirely new spiritual birth just as the Lord had commanded all believers to undergo:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God.” [John 3:3]

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” [John 3:5-7][1]

This is what I wrote in my book Real Christianity about this Upper Room Experience:

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 Israelites, 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! [2]

A NEW BIRTH

Though we are often torn in many different directions engaging in any number of wonderful doings during this great time of year which often outnumber the weeks, days, and minutes until Christmas Eve, the whirlwind of activity is most often worth the enriching benefits. If not careful, however, we may lose sight of why the season exists in the first place: It is all about a new birth—the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus. His birth changed the entire world forever. His great birth birthed a brand new hope in our hearts.

It is certainly a hope that does not disappoint!

Merry Christmas everyone

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Born Again, Christmas, Hope, Lord Jesus, Love of God, Merry Christmas, Power To Be Anointed Witnesses, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation, The Great Awakening, The Infilling of the Holy Spirit, The New Birth, The Spirit of Christmas, The Upper Room

HAPPY THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY REAL CHRISTIANITY

May 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

When I created this site on this date thirteen years ago America was in the early stages of a national Great Awakening. Yet, it has been an Awakening that the majority of American Christians have missed entirely.

CHRISTIANS REJECTING JESUS

Oh, we love Him when He happens to get our religion right. We love it when He by some odd chance happens to agree with our take on Biblical interpretation. Notwithstanding that some such interpretations could not be more off and the Lord doesn’t seem to be on the same page with us most of the time we still appreciate it when He is.

Thank you Lord Jesus for affirming us and our ridiculous renderings and rejection of Your teachings. Oh sure, we do like some of Your overall curriculum but we would be hard put to accept all of it. I mean, some of the stuff You said was borderline wacky from our perspective and that is largely why we were forced to clean it up. We do this mostly by simply excising it from our Christian curriculum which we deem far superior. And that which we don’t excise in full (extract from our hearts and minds and never mention much less teach though we still carry around such written words of Yours anyway in our billions of unread Bibles), we reinterpret to fit our liking and tastes so as not to offend or be offended.

You must understand that giving offense is offensive. The majority of Christian ministers strive never to offend because it simply causes far too many problems. They have learned to try very hard to never offend their congregations, of course, because that would jeopardize their reputation, social standing, and most importantly, their paycheck. They know it is not fair to use You as an example here because You did not depend on a paycheck. You apparently did not care a whit about Your reputation either, and mostly, You never had an official “church” to pastor. All You did was roam about the countryside without even a home to call Your own. Your rules for ministry were thus much easier than ours.

You see, unlike Yourself in Your primitive times and Your strange primitive means, we live in a much more upscale rendering of Christian civilization at present which in turn forces an upscale version of Your teachings. Now, that certainly does not mean we will not honor Your full curriculum as contained in the New Testament writings, principally the gospels, but simply that we will ignore it otherwise. This may sound like a contradiction but from our perspective it is the only sane thing to do if Christian ministers, ministries, and church building enterprises are to survive. I’m pretty sure You must know that if we ever appropriated Your full curriculum—the whole catalogue—the whole nine yards—our present non-New Testament church building enterprises and ministries would blow apart in a nanosecond and most Christians ministers would find themselves in a bread line. In our most humble opinion these would be very bad things.

Thus, we must reject You for the most part but put forth the public perception that WE LOVE YOU! In this way we can have the best of both worlds so to speak. And because You are so willing to grant Your grace, mercy, and forgiveness we are confident You must understand. I mean, if You were to judge us for this or (aghast) get angry or upset about it, would not that be a violation of Your teachings?

JESUS IN CHAINS

Now concerning this so called Great Awakening which most of us have never seen and which is certainly not happening in probably 90% of our churches and ministries, it must be something other than what its adherents claim it to be. This should be evident because if such an Awakening actually was happening and was for real and was of You it would have to be happening among us first, right? Speaking of which, we don’t know where some people get the idea that spiritual truth strangely bypasses the most religious among us. How could that happen? Where in Scripture does it say that ultra-religious people miss God?

Furthermore, the vast majority of Christians like things just the way they are and have been for decades on end primarily because one cannot make the best any better except only in minuscule ways which could never drive a Great Awakening anyway. So all us Unreal Christians playing our unreal games that refuse reformation, regeneration, and even resurrection would appreciate it if those “hard sayings” of Yours would stay locked away and that Your great shining Light of Truth would not expose us or convict us because then all heaven would likely break loose and our cover would be blown. We would then be seen for what we are—Christian pretenders running an authoritative institutional false form of Christianity containing a hidden underground dungeon for those who refuse to go along.

PAST THE POINT OF NO RETURN

In these thirteen years I have written around 850 articles of good material designed mostly to teach the hidden truths of the New Testament but in a parabolic manner designed to promote critical thinking. Call it “putting things out there to reach those with eyes to see and ears to hear.” I have also engaged in a massive amount of further writings through comments and replies. In fact, I have saved every single comment made on this site by myself and each of you wonderful readers and have created an ongoing updated file that is now almost 1500 pages in length. The vast majority of reader comments have been positive. I thank you all and am much appreciative. It proves most of us searching for truth are teachable. Being teachable demands humility. But it also demands verifying everything one has been taught with Scripture. Therefore those Christians who are always in the Word with an open heart toward the Lord and are willing to become more knowledgeable of the Lord’s teachings are truly the heart of the Lord and at odds with the Christian status quo. And because of this they will be rejected by the majority just as the Lord was because such rejection and hatred is a byproduct of telling the Truth. This means that real Christianity is always defined by its received persecution, which means where there is no persecution, often of the extreme kind, then there is no actual legitimate Christian witness even though there may be a large outwardly “Christian” presence.

Well, after 124 years of the latter day Pentecostal Revival that has since gone worldwide affecting hundreds of millions, it is a decidedly SAD thing to see America fallen to such a degree that the country no longer has any hope of its own revival. In fact, I have already told you a few years ago that America is effectively DEAD. And this means that American Christianity in general is effectively DEAD. It does not mean that the Lord has not tried repeatedly to keep it from happening and attempting to send every form of revival He can including hardcore cardiopulmonary resuscitation defibrillation methods featuring multifunction electrode pads (CLEAR!) all to no avail. By this we know that the majority are not only spiritually dead but insist on staying that way. Judging by what the Lord had to go through for a great many centuries with His own rebellious, insufferable, and vilely sinful people (EXCEPT FOR THE FAITHFUL REMNANT!), it is sadly no wonder He has had to go through the same with American Christianity which has learned well how to look and act the part though mostly never doing the part (the definition of hypocrisy). Rather than allowing themselves to be judged by the Lord they judge themselves by each other and to that end strive to collect as friends and associates only those who judge them good by human standards. This makes such people think of themselves in good standing since they never subject themselves to the spiritual light of the Lord. Kind of like this:

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. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” [Revelation 3:17-22]

THE FUTURE

I hope to continue. The last few years have been difficult as they have been for so many, but the Lord has remained faithful as always. I recently read something quite wise by Mary Carothers of Foundation of Praise in one of her last brief articles before going to be with the Lord about six weeks ago. She was 91. She had stated that God’s providence, though sometimes abundant and at other times limited is always sufficient. So whether we are living good times or facing difficult circumstances God is still God just as He has ever been God and God is still good as He has always been good and God still loves us all enough to die for us when we were yet sinners. And most importantly God remains ultra-worthy of receiving praise at all times regardless of our circumstances. In fact, praising God with a pure heart will actually change our circumstances for the better! By praising Him and thanking Him we empower Him to turn negatives into positives!

Regarding the present, those of you who understand Biblical numbers may identify with this: I have been seeing a lot of 8’s lately. This started several weeks ago and has been accelerating. 8 is the Biblical number of resurrection, regeneration, and new beginnings. Since I have been facing pretty much impossible circumstances, especially over the last year plus, it would make such 8’s seemingly inapplicable. And yet, though at this very moment I still have not received what I know I need and must have and am at a critical juncture in time, the many 8’s I have been seeing tells me very clearly that good times are coming. Actually, they are already here in part in the sense that morning light arrives before sunrise.

Therefore, even though those who now rule have pretty much reached that point of total corruption, all is not lost. The Lord is not done. The evil ones will be severely judged. However, those who will be true to the Lord Jesus must continue making difficult spiritual decisions to stay on the Path regardless of the immense pressure to do otherwise.

Thirteen years after I began this site and going on fourteen years since I received the revelation of the Great Awakening, an immense amount of truth and knowledge has been released into the world that had previously been hidden that reveals the sham construct (this wicked world) built up all around us that most still cannot see, largely because they have become a part of that infrastructure. But many others do see, though they comprise a Remnant, and have learned a great deal of new truth and knowledge though it has been difficult relaying that truth and knowledge. How strange it is then that some can perceive so absolutely clearly, learn so much because they are willing, humble, and teachable, and also see right through the evil deceivers and their deception while so many others can see absolutely nothing, remain clueless, and are consequently made use of and exploited by the Lord’s enemies.

If one truly understands this dynamic one will truly understand why the Lord used parables.

¹⁰And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ¹² For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘You will keep on hearing, but will not understand;

You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;

For the heart of this people has become dull,

With their ears they scarcely hear,

And they have closed their eyes,

Otherwise they would see with their eyes,

Hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart and return,

And I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” [Matthew 13:10-17][1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, American Christianity, Christian Denominations, Discipleship, Ears To Hear, Eyes To See, Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus, Parables, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

WHO KILLED THE LORD JESUS?

May 5

Posted by RJ Dawson

NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE 1995:

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. [1Thessalonians 2:14-16] [1]

KING JAMES VERSION:

For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. [1Thessalonians 2:14-16]

NEW KING JAMES VERSION:

For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. [1Thessalonians 2:14-16]

COMPLETE JEWISH BIBLE:

For, brothers, you came to be imitators of God’s congregations in Y’hudah that are united with the Messiah Yeshua – you suffered the same things from your countrymen as they did from the Judeans who both killed the Lord Yeshua and the prophets, and chased us out too. They are displeasing God and opposing all mankind by trying to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles, so that they may be delivered. Their object seems to be always to make their sins as bad as possible! But God’s fury will catch up with them in the end. [1Thessalonians 2:14-16]

AMPLIFIED BIBLE CLASSIC EDITION:

For you, brethren, became imitators of the assemblies (churches) of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea, for you too have suffered the same kind of treatment from your own fellow countrymen as they did [who were persecuted at the hands] of the Jews, Who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and harassed and drove us out, and continue to make themselves hateful and offensive to God and to show themselves foes of all men, Forbidding and hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles (the nations) that they may be saved. So as always they fill up [to the brim the measure of] their sins. But God’s wrath has come upon them at last [completely and forever]! [1Thessalonians 2:14-16]

DOUAY-RHEIMS 1899 AMERICAN EDITION / TRADITIONAL ROMAN CATHOLIC:

For you, brethren, are become followers of the churches of God which are in Judea, in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they have from the Jews, Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and the prophets, and have persecuted us, and please not God, and are adversaries to all men; Prohibiting us to speak to the Gentiles, that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath of God is come upon them to the end. [1Thessalonians 2:14-16]

LIVING BIBLE:

And then, dear brothers, you suffered what the churches in Judea did, persecution from your own countrymen, just as they suffered from their own people, the Jews. After they had killed their own prophets, they even executed the Lord Jesus; and now they have brutally persecuted us and driven us out. They are against both God and man, trying to keep us from preaching to the Gentiles for fear some might be saved; and so their sins continue to grow. But the anger of God has caught up with them at last. [1Thessalonians 2:14-16]

NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION:

For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Judea, which are in Christ Jesus: You suffered from your own people the same things those churches suffered from the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and also drove us out. They displease God and are hostile to everyone in their effort to keep us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. In this way they always heap up their sins to the limit. The wrath of God has come upon them at last. [1Thessalonians 2:14-16]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Apostle Paul, Christian Pharisees, Gentiles, Lord Jesus, Salvation in Jesus, Sin and Evil, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, YHWH-Salvation

CHRISTIANS ASSISTING THE ENEMY: SPIRITUAL TREASON AND GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

Feb 2

Posted by RJ Dawson

When Christians support entities clandestinely involved in sin and evil but do so unaware, are they just as guilty? Is their ignorance an excuse?

JESUS IS GOD

One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” [Mark 12:28-30]

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 14:8-9]

“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.” [Luke 11:23]

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

ARTICLE III. SECTION 3. CLAUSE 1:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

GIVING AID AND COMFORT TO THE ENEMY: THE JUDAS KISS

Consider Disciple Iscariot. Some may think he was simply misguided. Maybe he got lost in the weeds while trying to dovetail what he had been taught as a good Pharisee with the fresh teachings of his new Rabbi Yehoshua which appeared to Judas to be somewhat foreign and difficult to grasp. In the end, however, he proved what he actually was and what his true intentions were by choosing of his own free will to lurk about in the shadows, secretly side with the Lord’s influential, formidable, and wealthy enemies, sell out for money, and join up with the devil. By this despicable act of treachery, he betrayed the Lord Jesus, destroyed God’s plan for his life, and thereby doomed his soul. He committed spiritual treason.

This one man, Judas, the son of perdition (John 17:12), of which David had prophesied a millennium before (Psalm 109), is also allegorically representative of all Messiah-rejecting antichrist Israelites (possibly specifically Judahites) who rebel against and hate their King, and thus mirror the treasonous apostle’s beliefs, intentions, and activities (Acts 1:16-20). His fate is their fate.

In my book, Real Christianity, I wrote the following:

Only Jesus is worthy of absolute power. Only Jesus can control it. Only Jesus cannot be adversely affected by it. When a human being is given power, he must be given checks and balances as well. In this way, he has a good chance of not being destroyed by power, or more importantly, not destroying others by it. This is why the concept of the “one-man show” church should be anathema to Christianity. This concept comes in many varieties. Other than a single individual, the “one man” could be a pastor with a sycophant board of elders, or even a worldwide hierarchy pledged to a single leader. In each of these varieties, individuals have no voice, no power, and simply do what they’re told.

We should never forget, however, what absolute power does to people. It corrupts the holders thereof and their yes-men, and in time alienates those subordinates who are passionate for positive change, inevitably causing rebellion against the abuse of power and the neglect of those under that power. If able to unite, the neglected will rise up to rightfully extract power from corrupt leadership. This rising up or rebellion against reprobate authority serves as a check on the flagrant mishandling of authority. A successful rebellion of this kind is called a revolution. A successful Christian rebellion is called a reformation.

The great Reformation of the sixteenth century was nothing more than a rebellion against corrupt, absolute power. The American Revolution of the late 1700s was exactly the same, though in a different arena. If the American Revolution had failed, George Washington would have been guilty of treason against the English throne and would likely have ended up with a rope around his neck. Many thousands were burned at the stake during the Reformation, not because they were heretics, but because they challenged corrupt leadership. Each of these celebrated, successful rebellions proved to be far-reaching, long-lasting remedies against the pox of nefarious authority that had come to be concentrated in the hands of one man. [Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church © 2001 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.]

In the Lord’s time, that one man appeared to be the high priest Caiaphas. This man outwardly controlled the Temple and was also president of the Hebrew legislative and supreme judicial high court, the Great Sanhedrin. He was overtly the most powerful man in the Israelite nation. Lurking behind Caiaphas, however, was the actual power behind the throne: His father-in-law and the former high priest Annas.

Though Annas was the actual high priest from 6-15AD and had been superseded by four others (Caiaphas being the fourth beginning in 18AD), this most powerful and influential man still covertly retained the title of high priest and is referred to as such in the Gospels and book of Acts, though the Law of Moses clearly states there must be only one high priest at any given time. Although one may deduce that these two men, Annas and Caiaphas, were joint-holders of the powerful office, it was actually the elder Annas who was the one man in which all the power—religious, political, and economic—was concentrated. Thus, Caiaphas was effectively a mere puppet obeying the dictates of his father-in-law.

Therefore, though Annas had not officially held the office of high priest for seventeen years at the time of the Lord’s trial, the extended House of Annas controlled essentially everything at that time and had held power for decades. Later, five of his sons and a grandson also became high priests. This notorious crime family would remain in power until overcome by insane militant Zealots toward the very end at the outbreak of the great Jewish Revolt of 66AD. The deal struck between these two parties to kill the Lord came back to bite both in the worst possible way when the rebellious nation of Israel was destroyed forever in 70AD.

The House of Annas, of course, greatly assisted in Israel’s destruction, primarily by its unyielding opposition, hostility, resistance, and hatred toward their own Messiah, His ministry, and very purpose, as well as principally participating in His rejection, betrayal, and death. Without any doubt, by keeping and honoring a long held national tradition, the Annas clan committed treason against God. It violated to the ultimate degree God’s first and foremost commandment. This ruling clique and the willingly wayward nation it controlled was constantly attempting to scatter all that the Lord was gathering. The early Community of Called-Out Ones thus had no greater persecutors than their Messiah-rejecting brethren.

One may say then, that the Lord Jesus had conducted His own revolution “against the pox of nefarious authority that had come to be concentrated in the hands of one man.”

BACK TO THE FUTURE

One does not have to look far at present to notice a similar circumstance. There is a hidden enemy in control that most Christians do not recognize. This enemy has invaded many spheres of international influence and has held such power and overarching sway for centuries. This deceitful influence extends even to the Christian realm, of course, in that many overtly Christian ministries, churches, and even entire denominations are controlled by a concealed power that is not of God.

Now, please do not misunderstand the structure of this evil arrangement and operation by relegating it only to the supernatural realm. One must recognize that just as the Lord operates through people, so does the devil. Just as the Lord has His own followers, so does the devil. Just as the Lord has those who are 100% dedicated to Him, so does the devil have those who are 100% dedicated to his authority. Therefore, because we know that much of Christianity does not actually subscribe to the full curriculum of the Lord Jesus, there must be a fake Christian contingent that only looks the part. It talks the talk but never walks the walk. I call this Unreal Christianity. Since the Lord does not have control of this massive worldwide contingent (since the controllers thereof do not want His control), it means the devil controls much of what is outwardly Christian whether one can wrap his head around such a thing or not. And the primary and most practical manner in which the enemy does this is through money.

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” [Luke 16:13-15]

In recent posts I have dropped clear clues regarding this. In my article of November 13, 2023, Christian Brainwashing is Real, I stated the following with regard to the present egregious war crimes and indiscriminate malicious murder campaign affecting multiple thousands of innocent non-combatant civilians, including tens of thousands of babies, children, and defenseless women of all ages—an otherwise bald-faced slaughter approaching genocide—by the state of Israel:

Unless one is 100% true to the Lord Jesus one will place their allegiance elsewhere and consequently be subject to deception. Also, major Christian ministries, including major Christian television ministries, have now been outed for what they are, at least in part. Until they stop supporting this ongoing wanton murder of innocents which thereby influences millions of Christians to also support it, and call out this evil for what it is, they are revealing themselves in part as veiled propaganda outfits with alternative agendas and hidden paymasters.

In other words, overt Christian ministries are being controlled by covert money masters. Such masters essentially control such “ministries” including the content of such ministries. For example, to this day, since the Israeli war against Hamas began on October 7, 2023, not one mention has been made by such Christian outfits of the blatant Zealot-like war crimes of Israel or the destruction of so many innocent lives. Instead, one is constantly barraged with the ongoing one-sided plight of Israel by any number of Israeli spokesmen who, of course, pay no homage whatsoever to the Lord Jesus and actually hold Him in contempt.

This begs the question, therefore: Why are the antichristers allowed such an influential platform on Christian television? Could it be because the antichristers are financing some or much of Christian television? And could it be that the antichristers are also financing other Christian ministries and even denominations? Is this why so many Christian ministries refuse to out the devil and his minions and break their relational connections thereof?

No matter how one looks at this it remains spiritual treason of the highest order. It is a pure betrayal of the Lord Jesus. After such clear violations of God’s commandments and demonstrations of pure evil on a massive scale as perpetrated by the Israeli state, the truth has come right out into the open. Therefore, unawareness of one’s friendship with the enemy is no longer justified. It is guilt by association. One will have to answer to God for it.

We know from the ancient legal maxim that ignorance of the law does not excuse— ignorantia juris non excusat—that Christians who claim to follow the Lord Jesus must have an awareness of His teachings and that a lack of such awareness will not excuse one of guilt if in violation.

It is therefore imperative, especially in these days of such high levels of deception and corruption, that all followers of the Lord Jesus read and study His teachings—His entire curriculum—as revealed in the four gospels, as well as the rest of the New Testament since it contains a record of the very working out of His teachings by mature spiritual disciples. For by this, and only by this, will one be able to (1) overcome deception, including demonic enchantment, and (2) gain the necessary clues to the grand masquerade now upon us.

And in case you’re wondering, the Lord Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and earth, remains in firm control and will destroy His enemies eventually. The only question remaining is the identities of those who will stand strong and fight with Him as loyal spiritual warriors to the very end and share in His victory. Treasonous sellouts who love this present world need not apply.

“ABIDE IN ME, AND I IN YOU”

The following passage of Scripture was written in the early 60s AD not long before the fateful end. John knew what was about to transpire. He was well aware of the enemy. May we also know what is coming in these days, including the identity of the Lord’s veiled adversaries lurking about in the shadows, and be rightfully prepared. I suggest getting as close to the Lord Jesus as possible. Praise His Holy Name.

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. 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. [1John 2:18-24] [1]

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America, antichrist, Betrayal, Christian Pharisees, Enemies of God, False Prophecy, House of Annas, If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Indoctrination, Jesus is God, John, Judas Iscariot, Last Days Deception, Lord Jesus, Money, Political Corruption, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Sin and Evil, spirit of antichrist, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, United States Constitution, Unreal Christianity, Zealots

A GREAT AWAKENING UPDATE: 12/31/23

Dec 31

Posted by RJ Dawson

It was 13 years ago this August that I received from the Lord the revelation about our current Great Awakening.

HOW IT HAPPENED

It was the end of August in the year 2010. I was writing a paper. I had written many papers that year. They averaged about eight to twelve pages in length. The paper I was writing at that time was about former revivals in America. Suddenly, I heard the Lord speak, very clearly. He said, “We are in the early stages of a national Great Awakening.”

To say the least, it was a tad shocking. As I have told you often over the twelve years and eight months of this site, dear readers, that relatively short paper I was writing then grew larger. I continued with it through the fall and winter and completed the work in April 2011. What I thought would be a short paper of 8-12 pages became a book, my second book, of about 340 pages, saturated with footnotes and including three appendixes. The existence of the book proved the Lord was telling me something significant, that something very great and powerful was in the works.

One might recall that during that time in late August of 2010, there was absolutely nothing on tap concerning any Great Awakening. All the ministers and other Christians I sought out had heard nothing about it. It wasn’t until maybe five years later or so that the phrase itself started being used. We started hearing the term “Great Awakening” more and more but usually through secular sources. Christianity in general in America never used it except occasionally to refer to the distant past. Christianity in general in America still doesn’t use the term for what is happening all around us. Christianity in general in America remains absolutely oblivious. Still.

But others have been working extremely hard. Others have been doing mass amounts of difficult research. There is far too much to recount here. A relatively small part of the country has indeed awakened but this small part remains for the most part non-Christian and secular.

Maybe this is for the best. Of course, the reason the people involved are having so much success is because they work independently. They don’t wait around for official sanction. They don’t wait around for donations. They use their own money, what little they may have. They just plow ahead and leave others behind.

This is what I have done in my research. I have worked extremely hard throughout my life starting a long time ago, decades before I received the revelation of our current Great Awakening in 2010. I did the best I could. I had to make a living like everyone else but I was also called by the Lord to a ministry that I was determined to fulfill and still am. Except very rarely here and there, I have never been funded. I simply used what I had and still do. Life would have been much easier to have never answered the Lord’s calling and simply dedicated myself to making money like most people do but it would have been entirely less rewarding.

Whoever takes that path, the path of serving mammon instead of serving God, always comes to a sad awakening at the end of life. Though the person might have fulfilled all the social conventions and is spoken well of for obeying the dictates of the culture, there is an emptiness that no amount of money or material goods could ever satisfy. Such people are often struck with the emptiness of it all. What was their life for? What did they actually accomplish?

Remember, the Lord clearly stated the following:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” [Matthew 6:19-21]

Most Christians in America, however, have been falsely taught to not follow such a principle. That is why most Christians in America almost always have their sights set on this world and this life rather than on heaven and eternal life. It is why most refuse to work for the Lord.

This is why so much of Christianity, like most of the country, remains oblivious to what is actually happening right now. They know nothing of any Great Awakening nor do they know America is done. On December 31, 2022, in my post 2022 In Review: A Synopsis of My Work and a Look Toward a Challenging Future (a year in which wrote more pages for this site than any other calendar year, trying my best to warn and teach), I stated the following:

AMERICAN ICHABOD

We now live in different times. We are way past the “times that try men’s souls” phase. America is now a different country. Some say it is no longer a country. The America many of us knew is long gone, with the wind so to speak, and is essentially dead. The Great Awakening was sent by God to wake people up and in part keep the fall from happening but most have stayed fast asleep and prefer it that way. It is much easier than facing the facts, doing research to prove the facts, and standing up for the Lord and against the devil, his henchmen, and a degenerate culture. At the end of the day it is every man for himself in the sense that you are the only one you can control.

There has been a great incessant effort over at least the last twelve years to find the truth, know the truth, and tell the truth but has done little good for the most part. Half the country will never change it seems. It is lost in a strange neverland. Another large percentage continues to hang out among the yellow stripes and dead armadillos taking far too long to decide and merely bickering over things that don’t matter anymore. This leaves about a third, maybe. Maybe 30%. In reality, though, even among the committed, many have only so much time and resources. What remains is a core group of Americans, a small group, absolutely dedicated to the Lord Jesus and determined to serve Him, work with Him, fight the spiritual war with Him, and shed the Light of His true Gospel.

Call it the American Remnant. They know they MUST be salt and light. They know they MUST fill up their oil lamps and keep them filled. Much more effort toward this is required than in the past because so much has been saturated with evil and said evil causes a greater drain on one’s batteries. The country as a whole continually ceased living for God by degrees and refused to stand up and fight against encroaching evil which gave evil an increasingly greater foothold. America, a once great nation, went from spirit to flesh to sin to death.

Therefore, it is no longer about saving the good that once was but is now about resurrection and the remote possibility thereof. But unless you’re the Lord, no matter how much you try you can’t revive a dead guy. America has thus become a national Ichabod. The glory has departed. I said this would happen twenty-five years ago. I put it in writing…

I then added an excerpt from my first book, Real Christianity, in which I predicted what would eventually happen to this once great country. (I will add the excerpt later in this article.) At that time, in the mid-1990s, there was no indication that any such thing could ever happen. America was robust and thriving. In fact, right at that time (something I only learned the details of several years later), the people running things had already given up on the country and began dutifully extracting the wealth. This commenced in the autumn of 1997. I knew something really bad was going on then but didn’t have the details. Few did. The only reason a few people know now is due to some extremely diligent researchers among us who worked extremely hard to discover the information.

Suffice it to say that a Great Awakening was certainly in its early stages in late August thirteen years ago. At this point it has grown quite a bit and I believe will soon grow exponentially. More and more people are becoming aware. Sadly, however, the majority has stuck its head in the sand. The majority has been co-opted by an opposing narrative created to deceive, obfuscate, lead astray, and capture. One wonders how it is possible that a couple hundred million Americans can be so deceived as to latch on to such a ridiculous narrative. But this is actually nothing new. The majority is always oblivious. It’s actually a wonder anyone wakes up at all. This is what I wrote in my book in roughly 1997:

IS AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION?

The price of compromise has been great. The United States of America is supposedly a Christian nation. Polls constantly show that at least ninety percent of the population refers to itself as “Christian” of some form or another. Yet, there is blood in the streets; there is an increasing number of kids who can’t learn; much of the population has discarded the idea of monogamy and have become so hedonistic in their relations they could learn morality from the example of numerous animal species; and diseases are coming out of the woodwork and running far ahead of treatments.

The country is enormously successful monetarily, especially compared to other nations, yet we are up to our ears in debt, and we fight from paycheck to paycheck to keep our head above water. For a Christian nation, something’s not right; someone’s dropping the ball. Illumined by the inescapable fact that we have churches on every street corner and airwaves saturated with Christian television and radio (these terms are used very loosely), we are in ridiculous shape if we are indeed a Christian nation.

I submit that we are not a Christian nation, not because we don’t consider ourselves Christian, but simply because we do not uphold the teachings of Jesus or live according to them. Instead, we live according to the twisted teachings of impostors, rogues, spiritual eunuchs, and pretenders. Professional clergymen are wholly responsible for bringing Christianity in America to this point since they are the ones who are largely responsible for teaching and interpreting the words of the Lord. If they were doing God’s will from such lofty places of authority, shouldn’t the effects show up in society as a whole if our society is indeed Christian?

If the ruling clergy class has been mandated by Jesus to be the movers and shakers of His teachings in this country, it has apparently messed up. Whatever guilt they do carry they steadfastly refuse to acknowledge, which makes correction impossible. This is why God is removing them—they refuse to act wholly on His behalf. And if you don’t think this is true, that they’re becoming history, check the stats. Their numbers are dwindling in this country, while the numbers of “nobodies” who simply want to do God’s will are rising dramatically.

Will America be saved? No. But when certain people get out of the way and other people mature en masse, hundreds of thousands of hungry souls will find salvation, and America’s greatest great awakening will take place. [Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church © 2001 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.]

WE MUST FOCUS ON THE LORD JESUS

Regarding America and American Christianity in 2024,

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them; for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says,

“Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.” [Ephesians 5:6-14][1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Discipleship, Ichabod, If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Lord Jesus, Love is the Fulfillment of the Law, Love Thy Neighbor, Mammon, New Testament, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Research, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Greatest Love, The Love of Wealth and Power, The Remnant, Treasure in Heaven, Wake Up America!, When You Gonna Wake Up?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Dec 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” [Luke 2:8-14][1]

Thank you for all of your support and prayers, dear readers, after a most challenging year. The Lord Jesus remains in charge as always and all of His many promises remain fully in effect. He loves each of you with His entire heart. He remains faithful and true. He promised to provide all our needs and even stated the following:

“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” [John 10:10]

The Greek word is περισσός perissós (per-is-sos’). Here is the Strong’s definition (G4053):

From G4012 (in the sense of beyond); superabundant (in quantity) or superior (in quality); by implication, excessive; adverbially (with G1537) violently; neuter (as noun) preeminence:—exceeding abundantly above, more abundantly, advantage, exceedingly, very highly, beyond measure, more, superfluous, vehement(-ly).

From this we know the Lord is for real and means what He says. He entered our realm and became one of us in order to fulfill the process of giving us abundant life. To achieve that highest of goals He had to give His life. What a sacrifice He made! He lived a perfect life with no sin and then became the Sacrifice Lamb on our behalf. No one has ever given more. This is truly the greatest love and He proves His love every day.

Regarding the battle at hand, we must always remember that this world in which we live is a proving ground—a test—and contains both good and evil. Those who follow His plan by repenting of sin, being cleansed by His Blood, resisting temptation, and serving Him with a full heart will allow for the outworking of His abundant life. We must engage in spiritual battle and be victorious over all the plans of the enemy. Our life must be a successful good fight of faith. He teaches us all we need to know to be victorious. All things are possible with Him. It may take time (the timing is His) but He is always worth our full trust.

May we all honor Him completely and absolutely and welcome His presence always. May we work for Him diligently. May we love as He loved.

The Christmas season illustrates what is possible. Beyond the wonderful lights, decorations, presents, and family fun is a Savior who longs for reconciliation with each and every one. May we always give the greatest gift to Him—that of our very lives. He is worthy.

May each of you and all your loved ones be blessed abundantly at this great time of year.

Have a blessed and Merry Christmas.

Posted in Current Events

Tags: It's a Wonderful Life, Lord Jesus, Merry Christmas, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening, The Spirit of Christmas, Trust Your Heart With God

REMEMBERING JFK (2023)

Nov 22

Posted by RJ Dawson

The start of most of our present ills in this country can be traced to the cold-blooded murder of an American President on this date sixty years ago.

In 2019 I started a new annual tradition on this site with a post entitled Remembering JFK. I’ve made a new post each year since with the same title. What follows is the fifth installment posted, as always, on the day America changed forever. I encourage you to read the prior articles and insightful reader comments.

A HIDDEN PLAN AND A CHANGE IN COURSE

We are conditioned to see history this way because it is the manner in which the major news media has always presented it. Most people have no clue of the connecting undercurrents always in play and a powerful ruling elite calling the shots behind the scenes since they own the media. All most people know regarding the larger events in our world, for the most part, is that a newspaper headline suddenly jumps forth or a news bulletin hits the television airwaves and a seemingly disconnected-from-reality shocking event suddenly becomes reality before one’s eyes. Right after this, quick explanations come forth so the masses will know the “why” and the “who” and thus know how to respond. As on cue, the vast majority always responds in the same way according to the psychological suggestion given and accepts not only the explanation of who perpetrated the deed or caused the event and why but also how one must understand and adapt to it.

This is how the powers-that-be deceived early 1900s America, a sovereign nation of freedom loving people who would never have agreed to so much intrusion upon their liberty had they known any better or been aware of the sly doings behind the scenes. It is how America was tricked, for example, into accepting the creation of the Federal Reserve Act in late 1913 at the zero hour before the Christmas break which gave the control of the economy to a small cabal of bankers, which dovetailed well with the ratification of the 16^th Amendment in February of that year giving Congress the legal right to impose a Federal Income Tax on American citizens.

It is also how the country was propagandized and tricked into supporting WWI in faraway Europe in which four million US soldiers were mobilized and almost 117,000 American military personnel died for no reason. The propaganda was such that the few Americans who were intelligent and aware enough to know what was really going on were castigated as unpatriotic cowards while those easily fooled and cowed by fear tactics were conned into embracing official disinformation supporting the war with no reservations and seemingly without a thought. It was likely the first time in American history the majority of the population revealed itself as an easy mark that fell without a fight, no pun intended.

The same process continued throughout the early to mid-twentieth century with each major event that transpired. None of these occurrences “just happened” or took place due to the official explanation but because of the rich and powerful pulling strings behind the scenes according to a master scheme toward world control which had been well-planned far in advance.

But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. [Daniel 12:4 KJV]

Consequently, at this stage of the game, the news is now out that most people paying even the slightest attention know that members of the intelligence community participated in the JFK assassination. It has even come forth quite recently, according to a nephew of JFK who happens to be running for President—Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—that the CIA was involved. Of course, this was suspected by some from the get-go sixty years ago. Another belief that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reported which came out just a few years ago was that the actual killer of his father in June of 1968 was not Sirhan but a mysterious security guard. It has since been established that though Sirhan was there and did fire multiple shots he fired from the front and the senior RFK was hit from behind. There were also too many shots to have come from just one gun. There are other anomalies which end up refuting the official story.

CONTENDER PRETENDER

Regarding the death of our 35^th President, however, the official story has long since been proven to be absolutely false and full of holes though most people are none the wiser largely because they have never taken the time to look into it, which is why such disinformation thrust forth by the major media always works with regard to the majority. It is in part why the majority is always wrong—it simply never has the full story or the complete facts and therefore bases its beliefs on what it is told to believe rather than the truth. One would think a person may say, “Well, I don’t really know what happened. I know what they said happened but I would not be very smart to believe it without verifying it.” And at that, if the person was truly interested in the truth, he would begin his research. Yet most people never do this simply because they believe the official story since they submit to the authoritarians pronouncing and promoting it.

This used to be, long ago, un-American. But because the American Constitutional construct changed radically with the events of the Civil War in the 1860s—the War of Northern Aggression—and continued down that path in succeeding decades, it is no wonder that so many Americans had become subject to deception and official propaganda by the turn of the century. There was truly a war on the Constitution by powerful people who refused to be restricted by its principles. And even though the twentieth century brought forth great scientific accomplishments and much of American life was improved, critical thinking skills in general have diminished substantially.

“We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.”

Regarding who actually killed JFK and why doesn’t much matter because most Americans really don’t care and would never believe the truth anyway. But it had much to do with a certain entity’s resolute determination to become a nuclear power and JFK’s powerfully determined refusal to allow them to get there. It also had to do with the earlier forced selection of his replacement using egregious blackmail tactics with a future change of personal in mind that would serve the entity’s interests.

What this means, of course, is that in this fallen world of sin and evil the great ones with great wealth and power exist at the top as they always have and can do pretty much anything they want as long as they have a willing and complicit majority population of dupes. All one must do to achieve this is work to keep people ignorant and unschooled but obedient to authority, something which has always been the case throughout much of history. Dealing with an educated population, however, requires a different tactic, one the devil is great at—lies and deception. If such can be couched within the realm of knowledge and historical “facts,” and actual truth be subverted, then one can achieve exactly what William Casey envisioned.

Those of you who know the Old Testament know this construct has actually existed since the beginning and grew worse over time in that massive populations of the ancient world could be controlled by only a few and outwardly by only a solitary man sitting atop a pyramidal throne as it were. Such figures were Sumerian kings, Egyptian pharaohs, and Roman emperors. But they also included strictly religious leaders who used “the opiate of the people” to control minds and then wallets. Nevertheless, though only a relative few could see the solution by which to overcome such control, God certainly did before everyone else and sent independent, incorruptible, intelligent, and ANOINTED prophets to expose the false narratives put forth as truth, reveal the wicked hidden sin of the powerful few, and break the mind power inflicted on the masses.

And there was and is no greater Prophet than our Lord Jesus who was also put to death as a result of sinister intrigue and a conspiracy but whose death serves as the greatest purpose in the history of humanity. For by it we regain our spiritual freedom and life, and enlighten our minds to know and understand the truth as well as see right through the hidden machinations of evil ones intent on using humanity as slaves for their own purposes toward their own malevolent ends.

JFK died because he had the courage to rightfully challenge powerful men acting above the law and used the governmental authority he was given in the attempt to curtail their activity and even stop them. He only had relative middling success in his efforts but did more than his predecessors and much more than all those who followed him.

Think of him what you will but the only way to stop him was to kill him.

This meant he was on to something big.

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America In The Balance, Deception, Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success, History, JFK, John F. Kennedy, Lord Jesus, Media Manipulation, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Reality vs. Fakery, Spiritual Warfare, The Deceived Majority, The Great Awakening, The Prophetic Word, The War On Truth, War of Northern Aggression

CHRISTIAN BRAINWASHING IS REAL

Nov 13

Posted by RJ Dawson

There are Christians so indoctrinated they will reject even the most elementary teachings of the Lord Jesus if His teachings violate their “Christian” beliefs.

Rather than brainwashing, we may call it by less pejorative terms such as the aforementioned religious indoctrination or one of the following however it may apply: Training, conditioning, influencing, and even programming. Much of religion, if not all, uses such a process to gain low-denominator sycophants. It can go so far as to create mind-numbed robots who accept and believe things not because they are true but because they have been put forth as true for the sake of an ulterior agenda. Brainwashing/indoctrination is therefore a completely different process than what the Lord Jesus employs in making disciples—He is a Teacher. He teaches spiritual truth. He never uses coercion. He doesn’t force feed supposed facts and figures in a highly impressionable manner in the effort to stamp one’s mind. He doesn’t use manipulation or control tactics. He loves His disciples first and foremost and treats them accordingly. He obviously never violates His own commandments.

SEE IF YOU CAN FIGURE THIS OUT:

I was talking to a person once about the Bible. This person was a member in good standing of a particular Christian denomination. When the subject of the accuracy of the Bible came up this person said one can never believe what the Bible says overall which means all of it cannot still be true after all these years and that there must have been changes made to it since the beginning and it must contain errors.

There was nothing I could say.

It was not a matter of possible minor transmission miscues here or there in our Bibles, though some translations are better than others, but the fact that this person belonged to a Christian denomination based on the very Bible that was supposedly hopelessly flawed and which one could not put one’s faith in. This person just revealed belief in a flawed Bible yet belongs to a Christian denomination. Where is the logic in that? In other words, this person likely never read the Bible or very little of it and has little or no faith in its truth and accuracy but still wholeheartedly and faithfully belongs to a particular Christian denomination. If this is not the effect of pure religious brainwashing then what is?

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

By the way, my long time approach on this site has contained an effort at being parabolic with the truth in an effort toward promoting critical thinking. I want the teaching to be thought-provoking and stimulating. The Lord obviously did this and it worked great in that it drew out an understanding of otherwise hidden truths. He also used parables as a way to bypass religious indoctrination and mindsets set in stone. Rather than state otherwise plain truth and Scriptural truth in what some or many may perceive as being antagonistic toward personal beliefs (which happen to be incorrect) or see such teaching as too “preachy” (because it brings on conviction of sin and makes one feel uncomfortable), using the parabolic method compels one to ponder before emoting, the latter of which often causes one to reject truth.

Yet, though this method works well it cannot be used exclusively. There were other times, of course, when the Lord spoke the truth directly and very powerfully. He even told His disciples once that He would dispense with allegory altogether and would no longer teach them in such a way, probably because they reached a point of greater maturity and could handle it. He said He would do this primarily with regard to His true identity:

“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.” [John 16:25]

MY LATEST POSTS

This has been brewing for a while. There have been times in the past when I have been more direct and less allegorical. However, I have felt compelled to step it up this year, especially after what I went through in the spring when it appeared I would never write again. Such an occurrence can compel a different mindset. When the Lord blessed and I was able to resume writing again in mid-summer, three and a half months later, though not at my previous pace, I decided on being more direct. I am still dealing with the situation so my mindset has not changed. Some of you may have noticed that my posts as of late contain a higher level of Scriptural truth and even more general truth than usual and that I have been addressing topics which appear controversial (to put it mildly). When one does this he or she must know there will be a cost.

On a good note, however, I want to extend my sincerest thanks to one gracious reader who put a link to my site on hers. I greatly appreciate it. I also thank the few of you who are still here with much appreciation and also to new readers. Blessings to all.

BEHIND THE LOOKING GLASS

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]

Regarding my previous post about the Israeli-Hamas war, which was apparently the post that caused the most negative reaction thus far (though the posts I wrote on The Real Chosen People did well in that area also), I had decided to begin shining some light on the goings on in the Middle East including mentioning the war crimes of the state of Israel (uh-oh). Talk about exposing sacred heifers.

You see, once a Christian decides to go all in with the modern state of Israel and support it blindly and unquestionably, there is absolutely nothing Israel can do in their eyes that is considered wrong or sinful even if it means murdering and maiming innocent babies and small children by the thousands—blowing them to pieces and crushing them beneath destroyed buildings and infrastructure.

Such look-the-other-way support demands a corresponding hardening of the heart.

Many thousands of innocent women have also been murdered and maimed in the ongoing Gaza campaign. I must assumed these include young women, married women with children, middle-aged women, older women with grandchildren, and even elderly and infirm women. Helpless women and children are being murdered but are only considered mere collateral damage. Some of these are Christians. YET, MILLIONS OF CHRISTIANS IN AMERICA SUPPORT THIS ONGOING MASSACRE UNEQUIVOCALLY.

How can this happen? It has not occurred, of course, without considerable assistance from the biased major media yet such does not absolve one of personal responsibility. It is otherwise obvious that such Christians are no longer considering or obeying the Lord’s teachings but have transferred their allegiance to another whether they know it or not. Perhaps the following may cause Zionist Christians to give a second’s thought to their allegiance:

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” [Matthew 7:15-20]

It also reminds one of this:

And that brings the following to mind:

“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” [Luke 16:10-15][1]

So yes Virginia, there is such a thing as Christian brainwashing. Such Christians go to churches that don’t fully support the Word of God or even believe it is real, violate the teachings of the Lord Jesus, even the most elementary such as the Golden Rule, and most do not even bother to read His teachings or study them. They also support feigning insincere hypocrites doing vile things to innocents. They even go so far as to believe they must bless such people or God will never bless them and will even get them.

What about blessing real Christians—the Real Chosen People? Above all, what about blessing the Lord Jesus? Does God attach any great blessings to the one who blesses the Lord Jesus?

Now, in case you may be wondering, there is only one cure for such Christian brainwashing. Christians who know this know what it is.

Sadly, Christians who don’t will likely reject it (or already have).

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: A Nation Blessed by God, America, Bible, Blessed are the Pure in Heart, Christian Pharisees, Discipleship, False Teachers, If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Indoctrination, Lord Jesus, Mammon, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Parables, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Real Identity of Jesus, religion, Serving MONEY, Spiritual Warfare, The Blessings of God, The Great Awakening, The Love of Money, The Real chosen People, The Word of God, Unreal Christianity

HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF? POTENTIAL OUTCOMES OF THE ESCALATING ISRAELI-HAMAS WAR

Nov 6

Posted by RJ Dawson

*This little girl is considered by the IDF as a “co-combatant” and is therefore treated the same as an enemy soldier. 5,000 such innocent children have already been killed by Israel in this war.*

Those who have studied ancient Israel’s war with Imperial Rome in 66-70AD notice interesting parallels with the present…

THE ZEALOTS’ RISE TO POWER

As mentioned in previous articles on this site, the two prominent Israelite religious parties in first-century Judea—the Sadducees and Pharisees—not only made the fatal decision to work together in orchestrating the death of their long-awaited Messiah which set their nation on a terminal course, they also made another fatal choice by aligning themselves closely with the militarist Zealot Party. Having perceived that the Zealots could be quite useful regarding their aims, the three parties formed a close bond, as a three-fold cord if you will. This resulted in the former loosely-aligned terroristic bands containing known robbers and villains under a common name which invoked their nationalistic zeal into a growing and more cohesive paramilitary force.

In the intervening thirty-plus years between the Lord’s time and the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome in 66AD, the Zealots had become much more sophisticated and gained greater ability to contend effectively with their hated Roman occupiers and actually wage war. This paramilitary group coalesced into three large main bodies, each with a powerful leader perceived as a Messiah figure.

When the main war began they put up an excellent fight showcasing their highly emotive tone against the Roman’s more steady professionalism. Those first-century Israelite fighters acted in a highly commendable manner from their country’s perspective and invoked the exploits of the renowned King David over a thousand years before. They saw their fight as not unlike the great battles of their more ancient forebears against the enemies of the time, whether nation states or indigenous Canaanites and Philistines.

Though it appeared quite clearly at the onset that Israel had no chance against powerful Roman forces, the small nation quickly illustrated otherwise by causing significant losses at intervals. This caused Rome to step up its game in that it realized the clash would not be a mere mop-up operation but a real fight. Rome had initially landed on the Mediterranean coast in northern Galilee and began its offensive there. Its forces were soon engaged in terrific battles and were forced to use all the military tools and know-how at their disposal. They eventually moved east facing skirmishes and winning battles along the way. The Israelites continued to put up stiff resistance. In the region of the Sea of Galilee there was another major battle though the superior Roman numbers using better and more numerous arms and military hardware prevailed.

This caused the Zealot armies to move south. They decided their best play was to head to Jerusalem in which their many forces could come together and use the walled city as both a strong protective bulwark and a national headquarters. As fate would have it, it was the place they would make their last stand. The Roman legions soon arrived in Judea and after one last major battle suffering significant losses they rallied together outside the walls of Jerusalem, having cornered their prey, and set up a siege encircling the city. It happened exactly as the Lord prophesied it would thirty-five years before:

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” [Luke 19:41-44]

NATIONAL SUICIDE

Inside the city walls there was a constant grappling for power regarding which Zealot group would lead and which Messiah figure would take charge. The Pharisees and Sadducees, after having lost much power and influence in the city and environs among the people as well as with the ardent Zealot brigands, had perceived that they had indeed created a monster all those years before. For the Zealot Party, which had been reconstituted after three decades into a legitimate fighting force worthy of national honor, had by that time taken over the country in a winner-take-all last ditch effort to defeat Rome. Those of the wealthy religious parties then knew the ultra-committed Zealots would fight to the last man and sacrifice everything in the process if necessary.

No Israelites had ever done anything like this before. Throughout its long history, great national sin, losing power, and being subjected to the rule of one nation state and empire after another, even going through the Babylonian Captivity, their forebears had never gone so far as to risk everything. But this was the Zealot method. It had always been that way. They had always, since their inception roughly seventy years before, been men who would risk it all for their cause, even their lives. It was a credo that those of the powerful religious parties had not fully understood at the time of their initial alliance. Though the Sadducees and Pharisees had always been men of much intrigue and secret scheming to the point in which they could deceive and influence pretty much anyone, even the most powerful, they had never seen the need to make such great risks. It was because they knew they didn’t have to because they could gain and maintain their power, influence, and wealth regardless of who held political power.

But the Zealots were not men of such high level deceptive tactics, those who would slouch about in the night as it were, using underhanded methods for mere political gain. No, they were nationalists standing up for their country and would much rather fight than fool and murder than manipulate. Their methods were much more to the point even if it meant taking on the vaunted world-class, well-supplied, and unstoppable legendary legions of the Roman Empire which had to that time destroyed every other fighting force on the planet and anything else in their way. Whereas the Sadducees and Pharisees had the sense to know such otherwise plain facts and would never risk a head-to-head confrontation, the reckless Zealots saw it much differently.

In fighting the Romans directly in disregard of political guile, they intended on saving their country the way David would, in glorious battle. But alas, they were not David, the man after God’s own heart, but actually anti-Davids and anti-Saviors, men distant from God given over to sin among those evil ones who would go so far as to kill the one Man who could save them. The various false Messiahs of the Zealots would rise and fall but no one of them ever commandeered a majority for long. In the end, they stayed ever true to form. They gained full control of the nation because everyone wanted them in control though many changed their minds after it was too late.

The Zealots did risk it all. And they did cause the loss of everything. It was the end of national Israel.

SAVING ISRAEL FROM ITSELF

By indiscriminately killing over 10,000 Palestinian civilians including upwards of 5,000 innocent children (over 6,000 injured) to date since October 7 in its current air/ground offensive and destructive bombing campaign in Gaza, Israel has now managed to do the impossible by uniting the entire Muslim world (over one billion people) against it. Even the ever-squabbling Shiites and Sunnis are starting to come together. To give just one instance of how far things have already escalated on the international front, Pakistan, a nuclear power and 97% Muslim country of which 90% is Sunni Muslim, has apparently offered to deliver nuclear warheads to Turkey if such is requested. Turkey, almost 100% Muslim, is also a 90% Sunni Muslim country and a formidable regional player not to be taken lightly.

Of course, no other country in the immediate region has nuclear weapons except Israel, though it has never acknowledged this. France helped Israel get going on their nuclear program in the late 1950s and through secretive means Israel gained nuclear weapons by the mid-1960s. It managed to do this despite President John F. Kennedy’s strong objections and rightful attempts to stop them. Once he was taken out it cleared the way for Israel to become a nuclear power

There was also an unprecedented ice-melting alliance made earlier this year between Iran (Shiite) and Saudi Arabia (Sunni). Iran, another major player and at the top of the American and Israeli attack list for many years now, has close relations with Syria (Shiite) but also limited relations with Turkey which are reportedly increasing. Israel has always done well at doing its part to keep the Muslim world divided as a defense measure and is why Israel, in the late 1980s, was involved in the very creation of Hamas, its current hated enemy—it needed a hedge against Yasser Arafat’s PLO and Fatah. Though the Israeli intelligence involved acknowledged later that this was a serious blunder, Israel’s current leader’s policy of supporting Hamas politically in recent years has evoked strong protests on the home front.

Those who have closely followed the events in the Middle East of the last several decades know this current conflict in Gaza is the bloodiest with the most far-reaching effect. It will only get much worse if the stated plan remains ongoing and the present course continues. The events of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which began almost exactly 50 years to the day before this one, were such that Israel had come close to activating its nuclear arsenal when the tide of battle had turned against it. It doesn’t take much extrapolating to see that this current conflict will likely turn into a regional war involving major Muslim nations who greatly outnumber Israel but are also much better equipped militarily than they were fifty years ago. The US is already dutifully involved and will be more so if other Muslim nations and fighting forces enter the fray.

Will a possibly overwhelmed Israel once again reach a point when it seriously considers the nuclear “Samson” option as the only remaining means of defeating its enemies? Accordingly, does the present leader of Israel, a man who equates long-vanished Old Testament adversaries of ancient Israel with indigenous Palestinians, regard himself as a Zealot-like Messiah figure? Referencing a possible ceasefire or pause for humanitarian purposes in Gaza, he said recently: “We’ll simply carry on until we win.”

THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH?

Those who may think this current conflict is the Armageddon of Revelation playing out before us and that it is therefore inevitable in that nothing can be done to stop it, they are making the same mistake so many Christians have made before. The entire construct of the 1970s prophecy teachers has been proven false. I have written about this in previous posts here. I lived through those days and followed that supposedly prophetic narrative closely, believing all of it early on and even using it in my witnessing. But I also began discovering flaws shortly thereafter. That was 1977. As the years went by the construct began dissolving even more and then never came to fruition in the clear timeline supplied and purported. It was therefore either a mistaken forecast at best which some of the prophecy teachers kept updating (changing) to overcome errors, or a deliberate act of propaganda which allowed for two things: (1) Millions of Christians blindly supporting Israel unconditionally and excusing it regardless of its often brutal behavior and doing nothing about the horrific events and ME wars leading to “the end” since they believed all of it to be inevitable and the result of Biblical prophecy, and (2) That which acted as cover for the powers involved and gave them free reign to act indiscriminately with a complete lack of accountability.

Christians who were deceived by the 1970s false prophetic timeline and still believe it to this day must take a much closer look and understand that the New Testament prophecies about the “Last Days” were not references to our time but their time. The “Last Days” prophecies were about the last days of the ancient nation of Israel in the first-century which came to an end in 70AD—the final generation—and not the generation of the 1970s or today. The prophecy teachers of the 1970s said we were living then in the last generation of the world and that reading the newspaper was like reading ancient Hebrew prophecies. Yet it has now been over 50 years and we are still here. There has been no rapture. None of those guys lived to see what they taught as immediate prophecy for their generation come to pass.

Therefore, instead of sitting around doing nothing while watching “inevitable” prophecy happening, what would happen if the vast majority of Christians in the world rose up and began speaking out against the constant ongoing Middle East blood-letting and war after war? What if a great intercessor army was raised up to pray against all the murder and mayhem and misery? What if Christians worldwide and especially in America actually stood up for PEACE as the Lord Jesus taught us to do instead of support and fund the warmongers and their endless wars which kill and maim multiple millions? And why do so many Christians never think of that which is actually inevitable—the reap-what-you-sow blowback and scads of karma chickens coming home to roost?

Again, the following is what the Lord Jesus said of His own nation in His time:

Sound familiar?

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Ancient Israel, Biblical Prophecy, Book of Revelation, False Messiahs, First Century Israel, Hidden Agenda, Iranian Christians, JFK, Last Days, Last Days Deception, Lord Jesus, Messiah, Nuclear Weapons, Olivet Prophecy, One Will Reap What One Sows, Peace, Pharisees, President John F. Kennedy, Prince of Peace, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Roman Empire, Sadducees, Spiritual Deception, The Destruction of Jerusalem 70 AD, The Great Awakening, The Romans, Unreal Christianity, Zealots

THE LORD WILL NOT HOLD CHRISTIANS GUILTLESS FOR SUPPORTING SIN AND EVIL

Oct 27

Posted by RJ Dawson

Those who know the least are often those with the most settled, unswerving, and unchanging incorrect beliefs. It is an otherwise clear sign of indoctrination.

THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS ARE THE CURE

The New Testament must be differentiated from the Old Testament just as the New Covenant supersedes the Old Covenant. The apostle Paul wrote about this often and the teaching exists throughout his many writings. Those who know the New Testament and believe it to be the Word of God also know that Paul was taught the Gospel directly by the Lord Jesus in a one-on-one spiritual encounter that must have lasted quite a while and probably happened during his desert sojourn. It is also not difficult to correctly surmise here that Paul attended to his own forty day fast likely at the same time:

For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. [Galatians 1:11]

The man Saul was not only naturally brilliant, of course, and fiercely determined, but as Paul, he also came to be extremely knowledgeable of spiritual things. The Lord Jesus chose him for a reason and made a point to make it a special occasion because of one of Paul’s (Saul’s) other natural attributes: He was magnificently bullheaded.

The only cure for such if one will walk in the Spirit and do the will of God is to be humbled, and in Paul’s case and others like him, greatly humbled. In other words, the Lord Jesus sees all and knows all. He knows what one will be thinking next Wednesday at 1:37pm. He knows everything about every one of us. It is why it is so ridiculous when one tries to hide from God or think God does not see one’s every move. It is why so many people steer clear of the Lord because they know in their hearts that He knows this and they feel strongly uncomfortable and awkward about a possible meeting as a result. They do not appreciate the thought of having to encounter a holy God because of their many unconfessed sins which will undoubtedly be revealed as will be their sinful thoughts and thinking as well as knowing their intentions and justification for questionable activity will likely never pass muster. Such was possibly going through Paul’s mind when the following occurred:

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. [Acts 9:1-9]

BULLHEADED CHRISTIANS

Most Christians, of course, had not needed such a dramatic conversion experience. Prior to salvation they were not so full of themselves, their own worth, or filled with pride to such a degree, especially the kind Saul/Paul had—religious pride—which is about as difficult to extract as the giant back teeth of a living and very angry Tyrannosaurus Rex. Only God can do it. And He certainly knows how. But He will never waste much or any time and effort on people whom He knows will never repent. He knew Paul’s heart beyond his indoctrination and also knew he would make the right decision though not without some extra help.

All real Christians living in the world at present certainly had to go through an initial humbling process to gain their salvation that may certainly have involved some level of what Paul went through. It all depended on how much pride they had and how soon they were willing to give it up. Sadly, most people never do and it is why most people never make heaven but receive instead the eternal dumpster fire by their own choice. They simply consider themselves just fine and dandy and awesome and pretty and strong and together and well-liked and appreciated as one can be and therefore have no need of any (dread!) repentance. Adam and Eve’s first son Cain was like that. As the first man ever born into this world naturally, it was not so good an omen…

It is why those who would be saved from sin and from themselves must be like Abel. They must be transformed from Cains into Abels. They must be changed from Saul to Paul. In Biblical terminology it must be as follows:

And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God. But as for those whose hearts go after their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares the Lord God. [Ezekiel 11:19-21]

And of course the vast majority of God’s Old Covenant “Chosen People” had their wicked sinful bullheaded stiff-necked conduct come down on their own heads just as the Lord said would happen. And the same thing will happen with unrepentant and unreal Christians who cannot help but exhibit the same behavior though with a quite benign and cheery faux exterior.

We must never forget that anyone can be happy and self-assured in their sin until they are convicted of their sin. Then their happy self-assured cheery exterior quickly vanishes and the true person hidden within comes raging forth. Regarding the fake Chosen Ones as illustrated in the New Covenant writings, here is a good example of that:

“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. [Acts 7:51-54] [1]

Gnashing their teeth? Have you ever seen anyone do this? Sounds demonic. Here’s the Greek:

βρύχω brýchō (broo’-kho); a primary verb; to grate the teeth (in pain or rage):—gnash. Usage: I. To grind, gnash with the teeth. II. To bite, to chew.

What kind of potent hateful psycho anger causes a person to do this? It is not unfair to say it relates to the behavior of wild or rabid dogs or a shark feeding frenzy. Of such are the natural excesses of unbridled human sinful behavior and an obvious case in point on why crucifying the flesh is a necessary and mandatory tenet of the Lord’s teachings.

SIDING WITH THE ENEMY

“You shall not murder.” [Exodus 20:13]

“Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty.” [Exodus 23:7]

Which brings us back to the fact that the Lord will not hold Christians guiltless for supporting sin and evil. For example, one should know it is evil when multiple thousands of innocent toddlers and young bright-eyed children are being killed indiscriminately with a great many more to come toward a desired societal liquidation, and one would otherwise know such a fact clearly and absolutely if not for being taught that such is perfectly fine against certain people (but not others) and under certain conditions, because their kind are merely human animals anyway. Right? Speaking of which, rather than go through so much trouble trying to save and house and feed and find homes for so many hundreds of thousands of stray dogs and cats in America (probably more), why don’t they just shoot them? Then bulldoze them into unmarked mass graves? Wouldn’t that be easier and far less expensive? After all, it’s not like they have a soul and are going to heaven.

Therefore, in light of such, why is it that many Christians allow, support, and condone certain sins which the Lord teaches against and sometimes funds the people committing them? How is it that many Christians are so inoculated against proper conviction that they never think about such sins or attempt to stop committing them, or excusing others from the same and therefore tolerate and support evil behavior?

We should see that the Lord Jesus, who is PERFECT and NEVER sinned was always being falsely accused by his haters of some such offense that was never actually true. Why? They were operating under strong conviction and hated being outed for the evil people they were by One they couldn’t fool instead of being treated as righteous people the way they desired and were treated by the deluded and fearful due to their phony duded-up exterior and faux religious standing and behavior. It appears, then, that their sense of sin was contrary to His (understatement alert).

This being the case, what book or set of teachings were they being taught from and indoctrinated by? It was obviously not from the Lord’s superior, correct, and perfect teachings. And right there is your answer: Many Christians have been subverted by anti-Christian teachings and propaganda that they have accepted blindly and wholeheartedly even though such teachings violate God’s holy Word and such propaganda is used to manipulate them into siding with and giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

And even after being shown the error of their ways, many still refuse to repent, see the light, or change their way of thinking. They double down all the more, stick with their anti-Christian teachings all the more, believe the manipulative propaganda all the more, and attack those who are shining the light of Scripture all the more.

This is exactly what happened to Stephen. It is exactly what happened to the Lord. Both were innocent but both also spoke out very strongly against sin and evil. And both were attacked and killed by their own wayward countrymen—the stubborn, obstinate, stiff-necked, headstrong, and bullheaded (exactly as the attacks of Unreal Christians against real Christians)—those oblivious ones who find it impossible that they may possibly be wrong about anything and are determined to support their settled, unswerving, and unchanging incorrect beliefs, including religious beliefs that defy Scripture, even if it forfeits their place in heaven in order to remain in cognitive dissonance hell.

These types never do the proper research.

Posted in Current Events

12 Comments

Tags: Apostle Paul, Cain and Abel, Christian Pharisees, Cognitive Dissonance, Conviction, False Religious Authority, Guilty, Heart Circumcision, Indoctrination, Lord Jesus, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, New Testament, Prideful Church Leaders, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Repentance, Saul of Tarsus, Sin and Evil, Spiritual Humility, Spiritual Warfare, Stephen, Ten Commandments, The Great Awakening, The Real chosen People, Unreal Christianity

A GREAT AWAKENING UPDATE: AUGUST 2023

Aug 31

Posted by RJ Dawson

It was 13 years ago today that I received from the Lord the revelation about the current Great Awakening.

HOW IT HAPPENED

To say the least, it was a tad shocking. As I have told you often over the twelve years of this site, dear readers, that relatively short paper I was writing then grew larger. I continued with it through the fall and winter and completed the work in April 2011. What I thought would be a short paper of 8-12 pages became a book, my second book, of about 340 pages, saturated with footnotes and including three appendixes. The existence of the book proved the Lord was telling me something significant, that something very great and powerful was in the works.

Remember, the Lord clearly stated the following:

AMERICAN ICHABOD

I then added an excerpt from my first book, Real Christianity, in which I predicted what would eventually happen to this once great country. (I will add the excerpt later in this article.) At that time, in the mid-1990s, there was no indication that any such thing could ever happen. America was robust and thriving. In fact, right at that time (something I only learned the details of several years later), the people running things had already given up on the country and began dutifully extracting the wealth. This commenced in the autumn of 1997. I knew something really bad was going on then but didn’t have the details, Few did. The only reason a few people know now is due to some extremely diligent researchers among us who worked extremely hard to discover the information.

IS AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION?

WE MUST FOCUS ON THE LORD JESUS!

Regarding America and American Christianity in 2023,

“Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.” [Ephesians 5:6-14][1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Discipleship, Ichabod, Lord Jesus, Mammon, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Research, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Love of Wealth and Power, The Remnant, Treasure in Heaven, Wake Up America!

STATING THE OBVIOUS

Jul 18

Posted by RJ Dawson

(Apparently not.) The obvious is a tough sell with the oblivious. Obvious proofs appear foreign to them. Facts are confusing. Truth provokes anger.

THE RECEPTION OF DECEPTION

It is much easier to deceive people than convince them they have been deceived.

It is hard to understand how the oblivious can willingly reject truth and willfully embrace deception. This is easier to comprehend when one considers the great power of conventionality and traditional mindsets coupled with peer pressure and one’s desire to fit in to society. Adding intellectual laziness, little or no actual historical knowledge, a general lack of discipline, narcissism/vanity/pride, no interest beyond the moment (presentism), and the absence of a spiritual backbone to stand up for the Lord Jesus and the picture comes more into focus. Such people become much more accepting of prevailing shallow social norms, including cultural decadence, and fear any personal deviations so they can better “assimilate” and avoid being perceived as standing apart or “marching to the beat of a different drummer.” Historically, the vast majority has always chosen this path. It is that which the Lord Jesus referred to as the “broad way:”

FLESH AND SPIRIT

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” [John 6:63]

Those who choose the broad way put all their confidence and assurance in what the New Testament identifies as the “flesh.” This term refers to the human body and human nature, that which is external, as opposed to the spirit. The Lord Jesus referred to these two several times and taught the clear distinction between each, instructing His disciples that one must not be governed by mere flesh and the lusts thereof but by the spirit, and that one must submit both to His leading.

Of course, due to the fallen sin nature of all human beings prior to being born again from above and obtaining a spiritual nature, living in the flesh will always result in personal sinful choices and opposition to God. Though some people living according to their fallen human nature may work hard at disciplining themselves and limiting their sinful choices they are still living according to a non-spiritual standard based on that which is, according to the Lord Jesus, “weak” and “profits nothing.” It is therefore impossible to please God while living according to the flesh, since one is not living by faith, which can only be accomplished by living in the spirit. This has never stopped people, however, from creating religions in which people continue living in the flesh according to mere human religious standards dictated by authoritarian leaders who eschew the necessity of a new spiritual birth.

The following Scriptural warning thus also applies to the majority of that which is referred to as “Christianity,” that which I term Unreal Christianity:

Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh… [Philippians 3:2-3]

Those who choose the broad way do so not only because it is far easier than the correct path—the narrow way—but also because they prefer the flesh to the spirit. In New Testament terms this means relying on one’s own carnal abilities and fallen human nature and that of others. They prefer groupthink, that which seeks agreement at all costs, though always results in irrational dysfunction. They simply cannot handle independent thought which might lead them to question unproven and contrived consensus narratives and otherwise obvious deceptions (which the Lord warned would lead to destruction). Rather than take their comfort in the Lord, the people who choose the broad way take comfort in one another and follow their own accepted and chosen flawed leaders. Such people are much more comfortable surrounded by those who believe the same and adhere to the same general social construct and are thus reassured, incorrectly, that so many people, the majority they meld with, can’t possibly be wrong.

Such superficial social constructs are ubiquitous and may appear in several forms. Most are well aware of the secular variety but these also include the religious realm, which include the “Christian” realm, which feature offshoot Christian social constructs including major traditional denominations. These are merely based on real Christianity, in various limited arrangements, and which attempt to make real Christianity more palatable and acceptable (easy), to gain a larger market share and influence (allow for large masses), which effectively more closely resembles the “broad way” the Lord Jesus warned us about…

Thus, many Christian bodies et al, existing as yet another form of digression to divert one from the one narrow way the Lord Jesus taught must be followed if one is to gain salvation and eternal life, often mimic the spiritually dead secular culture and its many spinoffs and cults thereof. This includes, of course, the ever-present and powerful contemporary deception cult of these times, the Cult of Woke, which was created by the agenda masters to help counteract and head off the current Great Awakening. It exists essentially as an anti-awake and anti-aware sleep-fest designed to be a reactionary antichrist insurgency driving decadence and ignorance against the massive emerging truth and spiritual freedom movement of our national American Great Awakening which began at least thirteen years ago.

This irrational, illogical cult is promoted primarily by the zombifying corporate television mass media and big tech social media firms (which are supported by many Christians that may not perceive the overall agenda) by way of universal 1984-style telescreens of every size dominated by agenda-based platforms utilizing superficial collectivist dictums, controlling consensus narratives, and censorship of truth. Sadly, this strange but trendy belief system has fully captured the willing minds of multiple millions in America to the tune of possibly half the country which would otherwise stand a good chance of being awakened by the obvious.

This, again, includes Christians and explains the many woke churches. The Lord Jesus taught that one must either accept Him and His full teachings or not at all which also explains why so many “Christians” are deceived and become more deceived going forward. Such slumber-induced deception also occurs for the most part due to an inability or refusal to properly identify one’s greatest threat—that of pure unadulterated masquerading evil—and its thoughtless proponents are even brainwashed to unknowingly embrace an ancient folly:

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;

Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

And clever in their own sight! [Isaiah 5:20-21]

The deceived ones living in their dream world therefore lose their ability to perceive wickedness guised in holiness (Matthew 23:27), cannot comprehend wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15), and fail to recognize Satan appearing as an angel of light (2Corinthians 11:14). This results in a flippant disregard of unseen evil—a dismissal of malevolent spiritual reality—and amounts to actually joining it, completely unaware of its true nature and hidden proponents. It also obviously disallows one’s vital defense against evil as portrayed in the following:

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 6:12-13]

ENTER THE KINGDOM

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. [Proverbs 18:10]

Remember, there is only one Community of the Lord—the one the Lord Jesus founded in the very beginning—which, unlike various Christian bodies, includes ALL the teachings of the Lord and in which the Lord Jesus and no other is the principal Instructor and personage and His full curriculum the focal point, not just a portion of His teachings or the emphasis on a few, with the following two commandments as the greatest:

“‘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 22:37-40]

These commandments are not honored, obeyed, and practiced outside the Lord’s Kingdom, which is a purely spiritual Kingdom, and is not of this world. Consequently, His Community needs no heavy-handed hierarchies, dictating religious authoritarians, and extra-Biblical enforcement doctrines to make it work and hold it together, as in the counterfeit Christian kingdoms, because the Lord Jesus makes it all work through His unconditional love, His presiding authority, His full curriculum, and His Holy Spirit. His followers make it work by trusting and obeying Him, working with Him and each other, and applying His Word.

Again, counterfeit Christian social constructs merely mimic the dead culture’s means and social mores instead of submitting fully to the Lord Jesus and granting Him complete authority, which would thereby establish His methods and measures. But this otherwise obvious spiritual solution is disdained as it portends a loss of religious control and status, resultant material benefits, and personal independence (which includes walking in the flesh). The following pretty much sums it up:

“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]

THEY WILL BELIEVE ANY LIE—AND DEFEND IT

Also, to maintain such a low common denominator social construct, the committed advocates of such make anyone who differs from said construct pay, and pay dearly, for any apparent personal boldness and oppositional independence. Those who, without thinking and sans research, made the commitment and toed the mark and became just another nameless and faceless brick in the wall feel that those who don’t fully commit and become a fellow brick (a brainwashed brick), or do but then later question something about it, must have a problem with their perfect collective construct. They do not appreciate seeing that to which they invested in and gave their lives held in perceived low regard. In this they attempt to nip independent thought in the bud and set an example for any others so inclined.

And not stopping there, they become chief persecutors manifesting their hate and anger against those they persecute and discriminate against. Sound familiar? They will go so far as to destroy a person and his or her reputation and make it virtually impossible to continue living within such a construct unless that person apologizes and does penance, often to a grossly degrading degree, in order to continue partaking of the good there, which usually involves economic good and a better material life (Matthew 6:24), but primarily involves being accepted as a member in good standing. These submissive and submitted ones who care more about their social credit score than their place in God, by succumbing to the hive mind, thereby avoid being subjected to the infamous “third degree” of their overlords (their betters) and no longer have to watch their backs among their associates or worry about their wrath. They become fully conformed cult fellows having mastered doing all they are told and believing all they are taught.

Many of these people, likely most, unfortunately, by willingly subjecting themselves to such demeaning degradation and deception are never the same. They learn to toe the mark as they should and never again question anything in order to avoid the thought police, having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1Timothy 4:2). People do this because:

(1) They become greatly fearful; they give in to fear. They have no courage to walk in faith with the Lord.

(2) They don’t have enough self-confidence or knowledge to maintain an independent position or defend it (that which allows for additional information and truth) against the domineering crowd staring them down and threatening their social standing if they don’t conform.

(3) They do not want to appear as a deviant. They can’t handle the thought of being a social outcast.

The much better otherwise obvious course of action would be to get away from such a compromised band of mockers post haste as soon as possible. But most don’t. They’re too willingly unwise. They’re too willingly unwilling. Truth would assist their escape and make them free but obvious truth escapes them.

THE DOUBLE DOWN PRINCIPLE

Such choices thus eventuate in an overall lack of awareness, a dearth of knowledge, and common apathy. When these truths are revealed to them, through whatever means, it is not appreciated. In general, people don’t like it when they discover their ignorance. They don’t like it when their lack of knowledge is exposed. They don’t like it when their level of understanding is challenged. They don’t like it when what they believe to be true is proven to be false. They don’t like it when so much of what they believe is nothing more than the end result of successful propaganda campaigns. In the realm of religion such propaganda is often mere indoctrination and people don’t like having their belief systems challenged or exposed as not only incorrect but largely baseless. It throws them off. It rocks their boat. It craters their foundation.

Hence, the double down. Rather than calmly putting their ignorance, accepted knowledge quotient, level of understanding, concept of truth, personal religious beliefs, world view, and cult indoctrination TO THE TEST, they instead double down and consider any and all opposition as fighting words. This means ignorance is truly bliss but only until such a one’s ignorance is revealed. It is then that bliss often becomes anger. Quickly. And by doubling down against correction their ignorance becomes all the more set in concrete. Again, it is much easier to deceive people than convince them they have been deceived.

WHY CERTAIN PEOPLE INSTANTLY HATED THE LORD JESUS

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. [Matthew 12:14]

It mattered not that He did everything He could to not tick people off; many got ticked off anyway. For the Lord, the anger He aroused in others by His perfect teachings was not intentional, not usually anyway, but merely the byproduct of exposing that which was incorrect by teaching that which IS correct. Those that had already figured everything out, knew it all, constructed and/or supported a fake religion or cult and built their lives on such sand foundations were bound to clash with the Rock who actually did know it all.

And because such ignorant virtue-signaling hypocrites walked around in great fleshly pride while the Lord Jesus presented Himself as a humble servant, it made it all the more infuriating. It proved their sense of superiority had no actual place except in an external sense because one cannot be prideful if one is incorrect, especially in the religious realm, so whoever inadvertently exposes one to be incorrect must be made to pay. If, on the other hand, through hearing the preaching of the Gospel, one perceives himself as incorrect, and especially an incorrect sinner, and wants to be freed from his sinful condition, he will repent and do his best to get right with the Lord and be reconciled to Him. However, if one insists he and his religious social construct are superior to the Lord and refuses to acknowledge his sin and repent then the Lord must be made to pay.

To repeat these choices:

(1) One will recognize himself as a sinner in need of a Savior and repent properly and correctly which amounts to throwing himself upon an altar of repentance and destroying his lower temporary life within the realm of fallen humanity (that which Scripture states is one’s initial crucifying of the flesh), in order to gain salvation and therefore preserve his spiritual eternal life (one must be born again according to the Lord’s instructions), OR

(2) One will advocate for and participate in crucifying the Lord.

Hence, again, those who clash with truth and perceive the Lord’s teachings as fighting words reveal themselves as the unrepentant indoctrinated who cannot be reached by stating the obvious.

In the Lord’s time, such people obviously consisted of those within the primary Israelite religious parties as stated in the gospels and New Testament literature. That the religious elite of these parties were brainwashed is obviously evident and is one thing (and some or many of them were demon possessed). Unfortunately, it is also evident and another thing that the elite had religiously indoctrinated many if not most of the Israelite people which in part served to effectively keep as many Israelites as possible from receiving the Gospel. They did this primarily using fear and control tactics. Many Israelites were thus forever fearful they would, (1) be put out of the synagogue, (2) lose their place in society, and (3) suffer financial ruin. Such was the power the religious elites held. It has been true ever since. Sound familiar?

WHY CERTAIN PEOPLE INSTANTLY LOVED THE LORD JESUS

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings. [Hebrews 13:8]

“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]

One will notice that those who appreciated the Lord Jesus and became His followers back in His time were most often humble and self-effacing. In essence, they were teachable. They had no problem having their ignorance and lack of knowledge pointed out because they were already well aware of it and wanted change for the better. They also knew they were sinners (though not necessarily by that term), in violation of their conscience, and burdened by shame, and wanted this to change also. However, interestingly enough, they were most often better informed and equipped than the unrepentant who falsely deemed themselves superior. They also already knew they were victims of false teachings or lack of teaching and wanted to be taught the truth. Though looked down upon they refused to do as so many others did, those who lived their lives by simply going along to get along. Those who loved the Lord had no regard for such low common denominator kindergarten knowledge levels—a child’s way of thinking—that so many adults incorporated without any thinking. Hence, those who followed the Lord were by and large critical thinkers. They wanted to know. By rejecting society’s false notions and its embraced general ignorance they were willing to be rejected by society in order to be accepted by the Lord. They loved truth.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” [John 14:6]

“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]

In addition, new believers noticed right off that the bigwigs, both secular and religious, had rejected Jesus from the get go and, again, they personally identified with such rejection. Most of His followers were in some way solitary social misfits that somehow fit perfectly in the Lord’s band of spiritual brothers and sisters. When they found the Lord (when He found them), their lives suddenly made sense. Therefore, it was relatively easy for such people to put their acquired knowledge and level of truth to the test because whatever they had possessed to that point never got them much in life anyway. And they were also ready and willing to jettison anything that clashed with the Lord’s curriculum or stood in opposition against Him, including incorrect interpretations of His teachings, false doctrines, aberrant cultural traditions, fabricated social narratives and programming, religious indoctrination, or societal status:

Those original followers of Jesus were serious disciples-to-be who developed into mature effective disciples in good standing and were part of those who turned the then known world upside down (Acts 17:6). They were a major part of the very first Great Awakening. They accepted their callings with joy. They took what the Lord gave them and ran with it. They fought the good fight of faith. They were excellent witnesses. They effected great spiritual change for the better, allowing the Lord to work through them shedding His Light everywhere.

Most of all, they proclaimed incessantly from the housetops and high hills that the Lord Jesus was not only the long prophesied Anointed One, the Messiah—Yehoshua HaMashiach—and was not only our Good Shepherd, and was not only our only Savior, and was not only the Son of God, but was and is also God Himself—the Creator of the Universe—something the Lord Jesus had proved repeatedly during His ministry for all who had eyes to see.

And just as their Lord had done so brilliantly, our first-century forebears spent the rest of their lives STATING THE OBVIOUS.

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] [1]

Posted in Current Events

20 Comments

Tags: America, Christian Pharisees, Community of the Called-Out Ones, Crucify the Flesh, Cults, Discipleship, Gospel Truth, Jesus is God, Jesus is the Messiah, Lord Jesus, Narrow Way, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Obvious, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation in Jesus, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Sinner's Self Deception, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Unreal Christianity, Yehoshua HaMashiach

ANNOUNCING NEW POST

Jul 13

Posted by RJ Dawson

Hello friends. I’m dropping this notice to let you know the Lord has blessed and I am writing again. I have an article about ready to post coming very soon. Please look for it.

Thanks to all of you who read my last article I posted over two months ago—my twelve year anniversary post of May 10. I appreciate all your congratulations and heartfelt comments. I also greatly appreciate your many prayers. I have really missed communicating with everybody and look forward to your latest comments and hearing from you again.

Additionally, there is one particular reader I want to thank most of all: THANK YOU. I have never received as great a Happy Birthday Real Christianity acknowledgement and recognition as yours this time around. May the Lord continue to bless you abundantly.

As always, all glory and praise to our Lord Jesus who we all thank most of all.

See you soon,

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. [1Thessalonians 5:18] [1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening

HAPPY TWELFTH BIRTHDAY, REAL CHRISTIANITY

May 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. [1Thessalonians 5:18]

Blessings to you all, my friends, each and every one of you, going back twelve years, Thanks for reading and all your support.

Some of you may have noticed my absence and that I haven’t posted for several weeks. I do miss all of you and have tried to keep up with your posts but can no longer do so. Changes are afoot. Toward the end of March I experienced a circumstance which disallows me from writing as I once did. I have therefore made the necessary effort to write today’s post, since the anniversary is important, though it will likely be my final post until circumstances change for the better, and they will. I would appreciate your prayers until then. Such circumstances must involve the Miracle Realm but this is not a problem because I believe in miracles. Miracles are the Lord’s promise. He came to give us abundant life and that includes blessing us with miracles.

We must always be cognizant of the fact that the Word of God clearly states the existence of both a natural world and an unseen spiritual world. The spiritual world came first. The Lord worked from the spiritual world to create the natural world. The natural world is extremely limited, but in the spiritual world, with God, ALL things are possible.

Nevertheless, most people, including most Christians, only believe and/or pay attention to what they can experience though the five senses. They are overwhelmed by the natural world and fill their lives with it. They simply do not understand or honor the fact that each person has a spirit in seed form which can and must be activated and which facilitates the mandatory born-again process the Lord Jesus revealed. Without a born-again experience a person is doomed to live out his or her life purely in the natural and will know nothing else. All the promises and benefits of the spiritual world are thus not available to them by their choice.

In my time away I have noticed much more than before the deficiencies of gaining fellowship and having true spiritual communication through this digital medium. As much as I appreciate you all, you are all essentially and effectively a million miles away. I greatly value our communication, your insightful and heartfelt comments, and my ability to reply. I love that process. As a teacher, it gives me a great opportunity to share what I have come to know, hopefully, for your benefit, just as you all benefit from the support and interaction of others regarding your work.

But now that I can no longer write or engage in my research at present, it has been somewhat problematic to maintain the spiritual zeal required for my calling, but I have since made the required adjustments. In case you’re wondering, the Lord allowed the aforesaid circumstance to happen though I do not believe He is the author of it. Regardless, I must thank Him for it. We must be thankful in all things and I am thus thankful that I can no longer engage in my labor of love as I once did. I honor the Lord always. He went to the cross, died for my sins, and saved my soul a lifetime ago and I am forever appreciative and eternally grateful. He expressed the greatest love for all of us. He is the greatest.

I have been taking up the slack by spending more time in prayer. I have also been fasting more. As a result, the Lord has been revealing things to me that I likely would not have received and seen otherwise. For a man who spends so much time reading, writing, studying, doing research, teaching, and engaging in spiritual communication with you all though through a limited medium, it is a drag to have to stop all this until the miracle arrives, and it will.

I appreciate those of you who continue to check in and read my past articles. My hope for each of you is that you be blessed of the Lord beyond measure and continue growing ever closer to Him and to the doing of His will in your lives.

Our Lord Jesus is worth everything. He gave everything. He became last in all things so He could be first in all things. All glory, honor, and praise to Him. He is our conquering Hero who defeated all enemies for all time. He proves this every day. May He prove it to the fullness in each of your lives. Don’t ever stop believing in miracles.

Thanks again. It’s been a great twelve years.

With love and appreciation,

¹⁶ Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually—always.

¹⁷ Be unceasing in prayer—praying perseveringly.

¹⁸ Thank [God] in everything—no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks; for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will].

¹⁹ Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the (Holy) Spirit.

²⁰ Do not spurn the gifts and utterances of the prophets—do not depreciate prophetic revelations nor despise inspired instruction or exhortation or warning.

²¹ But test and prove all things [until you can recognize] what is good; [to that] hold fast.

²² Abstain from evil—shrink from it and keep aloof from it—in whatever form or whatever kind it may be.

²³ And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through—that is, separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God—and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

²⁴ Faithful is He who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [that is, fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].

²⁵ Brethren, pray for us.

²⁶ Greet all the brethren with a sacred kiss.

²⁷ I solemnly charge you [in the name of] the Lord to have this letter read before all the brethren.

²⁸ The grace (the unmerited favor and blessings) of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, be with you all. Amen, so be it. [1Thessalonians 5:16-28] [1]

Posted in Current Events

30 Comments

Tags: Fellowship, If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Lord Jesus, Miracle Realm, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Community, The Great Awakening

FIRST DAY OF SPRING AND A NEW MOON (PAY ATTENTION)

Mar 20

Posted by RJ Dawson

The Vernal Equinox occurred on March 20 at 4:24 pm CDT. The New Moon occurs on March 21 at 12:23 pm CDT.

The Winter is over. Spring has begun. A new Lunar Cycle is also about to begin. It is rare that these two occur so close together, separated by only 20 hours (19:59).

It could be that this New Season and New Moon in the natural world is a sign of a New Beginning in the spiritual world.

Events are greatly accelerating. You will need an Anchor. Do not give in to fear. Keep your Faith in the Lord Jesus. Trust Him.

Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a Refuge for me,

A Tower of Strength against the enemy.

Let me dwell in Your Tent forever;

Let me take Refuge in the Shelter of Your Wings. Selah. [Psalm 61:2-4]

The Name of the Lord is a Strong Tower;

The righteous runs into it and is safe. [Proverbs 18:10]

“Behold, I am making all things New.” [Revelation 21:5][1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Beginning of Spring, Good News, In the Name of Jesus, Lord Jesus, New Birth, New Covenant, New Life, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening

ANNOUNCING NEW POST (AND A REMINDER OF MY PREVIOUS POST)

Feb 13

Posted by RJ Dawson

Hey Friends. Hope all is well. I’ve been working on a new post since Saturday. I will likely post it either Tuesday or Wednesday. Read on…

I’m not sure what happened to my previous post. It seems to have slipped by the wayside. Thanks to those of you who did read it and your comments. In the event you may have missed it you can check it out here: Real Christians Are Not “Kings and Priests”

You may have noticed I am not posting as often. I am also writing longer articles. I may decide to continue with this format and make this week’s new post one relatively long article instead of dividing it into parts. Your feedback is appreciated. I know blogging in general should probably consist of comparatively brief posts posted more often and even daily but my current format is working better regarding my inspiration at this time.

Regarding the new post, it deals with a theme of the Lord’s ministry contained in many Gospel verses that consist of His direct quotes. However, these sayings, like many others, are NT Scriptural passages one will likely never hear in a standard sermon. Such shunned teachings of the Lord (there are many) reveal a hidden censorship and bias by some ministers and churches that reveal their personal and religious priorities and agendas. Therefore, this is Gospel material that many Christians are not aware of that we all have need of, especially in these days.

Until then,

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening

2022 IN REVIEW: A SYNOPSIS OF MY WORK AND A LOOK TOWARD A CHALLENGING FUTURE

Dec 31

Posted by RJ Dawson

I hit the ground running in January 2022. It was a great start to my most productive year yet. And now, in these last hours of the calendar year, I will end with post #80.

TO MY FAITHFUL READERS

Thank you for your spiritual support. I appreciate each of you taking this annual trip with me. A writer is not much without faithful readers. You have given me much of your time in reading and also added much with your valued comments.

It has now been twelve calendar years. I started this site on May 10, 2011. I also hit the ground running then and wrote 64 posts in less than eight months. By May of 2012 at the one year mark my total posts had grown to over 100. My total posts to date are right at 800 and exceed 2500 pages. I consider this quite a consistent accomplishment and proves my faithfulness to the work the Lord has given me to do though what I do here is only part of my overall work. Also, a great many of these posts required much research, multiple drafts and edits, and contain spiritually mature, sound Biblically-based and topical material which many Christians either cannot handle or don’t care for. This limits potential readership by a large margin.

Though the last twelve years have been good overall, for which I am most thankful, there were also several extremely challenging times. 2022 was one of those. We all go through such. Like many of you, though, I stayed faithful throughout my travels over the years and kept up my work regardless of circumstances.

Regarding my site, I have used the same WordPress Theme since the beginning. It’s old and outdated and whatever but still works for me. Some of you may recall the notice I put on some of my posts asking you to please not read my posts at the WordPress Reader but at my site. I work hard at trying to present the best posts I can (though my Theme will no longer allow me to justify the text) and the WP Reader does a very bad job of reflecting my work. So I ask again, please read my stuff at my site. On the far lower left is a widget containing your comments and additional material. There is also a long list of my current posts on the left. If new to the site please review. I also post my books for sale in the left hand column. At the top is access to all my posts.

Though I have no means of receiving funding on my site I do ask for your prayers toward an increase in income. There is much I need to do but have limited resources. This year was especially challenging in that area. Your prayers are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

AMERICAN ICHABOD

Call it the American Remnant. They know they MUST be salt and light. They know they MUST fill up their oil lamps and keep them filled. Much more effort toward this is required than in the past because so much has been saturated with evil and said evil causes a greater drain on one’s batteries. The country as a whole continually ceased living for God by degrees and refused to stand up and fight against encroaching evil which gave evil an increasingly greater foothold. America, a once great nation, went from spirit to flesh to sin to death.

Therefore, it is no longer about saving the good that once was but is now about resurrection and the remote possibility thereof. But unless you’re the Lord, no matter how much you try you can’t revive a dead guy. America has thus become a national Ichabod. The glory has departed. I said this would happen twenty-five years ago. I put it in writing:

IS AMERICA A CHRISTIAN NATION?

To refresh your memory regarding Ichabod:

Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant and about to give birth; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.” [1Samuel 4:19-22]

You will become more cognizant of this in the coming year. Though most will never see spiritually, of course, those who grow closer to the Lord will gain greater spiritual eyesight and see things they never saw before. And it will all make sense. The Lord needs us to have spiritual eyes and ears. Our work with Him is impossible otherwise.

World War is now upon us. Great division is here. Corruption has erupted. We have a Christian Tower of Babel. The entities which once served to act as checks and balances have become derelict in their duty. The forces of Antichrist have gained great ground. The only hope now is ongoing unrelenting victorious spiritual warfare.

I suggested back in March the following: In light of what is coming, every church in America should be having 24 hour daily prayer meetings with all members on their faces before God. That has not happened. In fact, Christians in general have become even more lackadaisical. Like the other sellouts in control in secular realms, most Christian “leaders” in control have also sold out. And like the others, these Christians, a majority, have also done a great job of covering their great sins. Most Christian activity in America is now largely simply going through the motions with no true spiritual motivation toward great gains and big victories. Most churches and ministries are purely institutional status quo outfits intent on doing what they’ve always done, lost in greater ineffectiveness and bound by money and dead tradition. The majority of churches and church “leaders” are not living in the spirit but walking in the flesh. For these, again, the majority, there is no hope of saving the good or of revival. That leaves only resurrection. And the odds are greatly against that.

THE ALWAYS EVERY TIME SOLUTION

So what to do? As always, I suggest seeking the Lord Jesus. More than you ever have before. I suggest, again, that we thoroughly immerse ourselves in the Book of Acts. This historical account teaches us what the greatest Christian generation did, how astoundingly successful they were, and exactly what we must do to be like them and have the spiritual success they had.

I will warn you in advance, though, those of you who may not know, that you will get stiff resistance in doing this. The world and culture will fight you every step of the way as will the devil and his minions. The greatest fight, however, will be with Unreal Christianity and the flesh, both of which hate and reject what is presented in the Acts of the Apostles. Though our spirits cry out for salvation and freedom and love and joy and peace and spiritual victory, our flesh knows all those things come with a price and many simply won’t pay it. They would rather find easy counterfeit replacements to assuage their conscience and fool themselves into believing they’re obeying God or are right with God.

Regarding our immediate future, then, I say turn to the Lord Jesus all the more. He is the only one we ever had a chance with anyway though many discover this only after eliminating everything else after seeing that all of it fails to deliver.

2023 will thus be the worst of times and the best of times at the same time. You will continue to see evil things you never thought you would see and wonder how in the world we came to this. Some of you will also see the increasing miraculous happenings of the Kingdom of God. The Great Awakening will continue and force the enemy’s hand. The enemy will overact and accelerate his efforts. The Lord will bring victory where He can based on our compliance with His will.

Choose wisely.

WALK IN THE SPIRIT

“The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [Matthew 26:41]

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” [John 3:6]

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” [John 6:63]

So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. [Romans 8:12-14]

And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. [Galatians 4:28-29]

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. [Galatians 5:16-18]

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [Galatians 6:8]

For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. [1Peter 4:6][1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Be Filled With the Holy Spirit, Book of Acts, Crucify the Flesh, Dead Churches, Discipleship, Flesh, Future, Ichabod, Keep Your Lamp Filled With Oil, Kingdom of the Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, Political Corruption, Prayer and Fasting, Prayer and Repentance, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Revival, Salt and Light, spirit of antichrist, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Search For Truth, Unreal Christianity, Victory in Jesus, You Must Be Born Again

MARY HIGHLY FAVORED: “BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN!” (Intro)

Dec 14

Posted by RJ Dawson

Three years ago at this time I wrote the following six part series with the above title. I will repost each part at intervals until Christmas. Blessings to all

Hello friends. I hope all is going well for you during this special time of year. I started a new article with the above title early in the week and it has expanded beyond one posting. I am giving you all this head’s up that I will be posting Part 1 soon.

Mary is one of history’s most intriguing figures and it is especially that way for Christians worldwide. Even so, there is little historical material regarding her life. Perhaps this is why there is so much traditional information which actually has no backing in Scripture. However, within the extant Scriptural material we have there are many captivating clues about her life that lead to greater knowledge. This is what we will be sharing with one another in this series.

Thanks for reading. In the meantime, blessings to you and Merry Christmas!

Posted in Current Events

6 Comments

Tags: Early Church History 101, Lord Jesus, Mary, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening

WHY THE CHRISTMAS STORY IS ALSO A PARABLE

Dec 8

Posted by RJ Dawson

“Okay, here’s what the Lord’s going to do. He must go stealth. The enemies are always waiting at the doors and ready to pounce. He will bypass them. He will go in under the radar. They will never recognize Him.”

[If you are reading this at the WP Reader, please read at my website. Thank you.]

“But that’s going to make things very difficult for the people He chooses to work through.”

“Yes, but they love Him. They know what they signed up for. They will answer His call.”

“It would seem some would never answer that call. They may even think it was the enemy. Anything that would cause so much discomfort, rejection, and pain may be seen as coming from the wrong source.”

“Yes, but that is only true for those who don’t really know Him. The ones who hear His voice, well, they will certainly act. They will obey. They will know it is not because He doesn’t love them or is purposefully causing them to sacrifice so greatly without a higher purpose somehow being involved.”

“How does He manage to do this?”

“He speaks to their hearts. He shows them things in their spirit. It is a form of communication that escapes detection from outside sources, and those who receive cannot even readily relay what it is they hear because they sense no one will understand.”

“So they act.”

“Yes. They act. He knew Mary would act. He knew she would obey. It was completely her decision, of course. But that’s what a calling is. It is not only the Lord telling people they have been chosen or called into a particular service, it is also that He already knows they will say yes. They say yes because they hear His voice and love Him, but also because they know deep within that the calling He gives them answers a very deep need and desire in their hearts. They want to serve, but they want it to be right. Many serve incorrectly, thinking they are serving Him, but never get the satisfaction they desire or that deep feeling in their hearts. They feel like they are working very hard but not getting anywhere. This never happens with Him. Those who hear His voice and obey know something substantial happens when they do. They know they are entering an area in which their soul is satisfied, filled, and blessed. Mary knew this.”

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. [Luke 1:26-38] [1]

Posted in Current Events

7 Comments

Tags: Angels, Bethlehem, Choose For Yourselves This Day Whom You Will Serve, Christmas, Ears To Hear, Eyes To See, Gabriel, Joseph and Mary, Lord Jesus, Mary, Mary Did You Know?, Nazareth, Obedience, Spiritual War, The Call of God, The Great Awakening, The Lord's Real Birthday, The Spirit of Christmas, The Voice of God, The Way of the Heart

EVERY TIME A DOOR SLAMS A PASTOR GETS HIS WINGS (2022)

Dec 6

Posted by RJ Dawson

“Next…”

“Hi. I’m Mrs. Jones. I sit in the third row every service, and…”

“I know who you are Mrs. Jones.”

“Well I know that but I wanted to make this official because it is an official thing we are doing here isn’t it?”

“Okay yeah go ahead.”

“Well, I think you should preach on the things that make people feel good but not so good that they won’t get the message, okay?”

“What does that even mean?”

“It means you should preach real good but not get too off or wacky.”

“Wacky? Wacky?

“Well, I think you know what I mean so you just do that…”

“Next.”

“Pastor, I think you should be cognizant of the fact that people work hard and are busy and need things that are strong but not so strong that it adds to our burden okay? Because life has many burdens and…”

“What do you mean ‘Preach strong?’”

“Okay, I mean strong like in doing it in a way that we get a good message but not something weak but good. You know, strong.”

“Okay, strong. I’ll try that. Next.”

“Pastor Bailey I really like that you are giving us this opportunity to tell you what to preach and, no, wait, not tell you what to preach but suggest, er, to tell you what we would like, or need, er…”

“So what is your, uh, suggestion?”

“So, my thing is I like those kind of Scriptures that are like verses of poetry, you know? I really like those especially because they look great on little wall plaques or bookmarks and I like when I can go to church and picture in my mind mountain vistas and seascapes and scenes of nature. So I think poetry verses are good.”

“Poetry verses? (Are you for real?) You mean Psalms?”

“So, I don’t know what that is but if its poetry verses then I guess yes…”

“Sigh… Next. Please.”

“Pastor, I think you do a great job but we need more teaching! I like real teaching so we can get in deep! Are you familiar with Matthew Henry? Now he could get in real deep and we could all learn…”

“You want me to read Matthew Henry Commentaries from the pulpit?”

“Well no, not especially, but like that, because we need real teaching!”

“Okay, thank you. Real teaching. Please close the door behind you. Thank you… What do we have so far Jennifer?”

“It looks like you are supposed to preach things that make people feel good but not so good that they don’t get the message. Nothing wacky. And it must be strong but not too strong because people are tired. And, oh, it must involve poetry verses and also be deep teaching. Deep. Teaching. Got that?”

“Are you sure this is in the contract?”

“Page 16, Clause 3.”

“Do I have to listen to anyone else tonight?”

“Only one more. It says you must seek five new members each week.”

“Each week!”

“Yes. I’ll get the last one… Who’s next out here?”

“Me!”

“Okay, come in…”

“Hello Pastor!”

“Hello. Well?”

“Here’s what I think. I think you should preach whatever the Lord puts on your heart.”

“Do I even know you?”

“I’m new.”

“Okay. So you’re new. Hi. I’m George Bailey, er, Pastor Bailey. Good to meet you. Your name?”

“I’m Clarence. And I know all about you! What’s important is that you obey the Lord. That’s my advice.”

“But I have to obey all those people! It’s in my contract.”

“I know, but…”

“And next week it’s five more! And then the next! I can’t do this! I must be off my nut! This can’t be happening! I wish I was never born!”

“Oh, you mustn’t say that! …Wait. …You know, I think that could work! …Okay, you were never born. You don’t exist.”

“Don’t exist! Wait a second! This all sounds familiar! Are you some kind of angel or something?”

“Why yes.”

“Great! Now you’re the new pastor too! Later! Don’t hold my calls, Jennifer…” (Slam)

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Discipleship, Evangelization and Witnessing, Lord Jesus, Ministry Within Community, People Helping People, Power To Be Anointed Witnesses, Prayer, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Power, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The LORD is a Warrior, There is Power in the Name of Jesus

Tags: Angels, Church, It's a Wonderful Life, Pastor, The Great Awakening

A TRIBUTE TO THE DEDICATED ONES WHO WORK IN OBSCURITY (AND A STORY OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER)

Nov 26

Posted by RJ Dawson

There are dedicated Christians who go about their effective work for God in total anonymity. This post is about their ministries.

[If you are reading this at the WP Reader, please read at my website. Thank you.]

They move mountains. They assist the Lord in maintaining lives and relationships. They do their work in secret. They are not in it for recognition or glory. They know that such an attitude would stymie their effectiveness. These are people who go about their spiritual work in such great dedication that they always plow ahead regardless of circumstances. They know the people they help need them and their work and are dependent upon them whether they know them, acknowledge them, appreciate them, or are even aware of what they do and have done. Recall the Lord’s teaching:

“When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” [Matthew 6:5-6][1]

How many of us have been blessed by such selfless people and don’t even know who they are?

THE REMARKABLE POWER OF GOD

I remember a prayer story from my early days as a new Christian. I’ll get to that later. I was just a rookie but was absolutely enthralled at the prospect of God’s spiritual power working through human beings. In my short time to that point as a new believer I had already seen and experienced the undeniable outworking of His power. The greatest thing I saw at that early date was the magnificent transformation of a couple I knew who were instrumental in my salvation. What had happened to them?

I heard the stories. These were people I respected in my young life, people I hung around with. I hadn’t seen them in a short while but heard they had gone off the deep end. Something about a church. They had joined a church? I could hardly believe the reports. The next time I saw them, in a visit to my apartment, I saw two different people. I noticed right away that they were filled with some kind of happiness and energy. They were exuberant, smiling. It wasn’t due to the usual when a friend greets a friend. Something was decidedly different. Then, after a while, they began trying to explain what had happened to them. And they began witnessing. My great mood suddenly vanished…

The meeting didn’t end well. I basically told them to stop, to back off, or leave. They grew sad. And they left. Now, if this was just some sort of shallow sales job the way it is with some of those notorious witnessers who try to convince a person of the validity of their religious tenets it would have been different. Those kinds of people have no power with God. They thus have no real spiritual love. They essentially subsist on intellectual arguments or quote particular Scriptures to set the tone for a necessary choice to be made. They do this through stating their superior position juxtaposed with the lower position of the witnessee who stands in need due to his inferior condition. And while an aspect of this form of witnessing is correct, the attitude, purpose, and desire of those who “witness” this way are most often not.

I later discovered that those who the Lord worked through to bless me with my initial Gospel witness were undeterred and had decided to continue on in the fight. They were not satisfied with one short meeting that started out great but went bad. Though they were brand new to the faith and personally hurt by my negative response (though in my defense it was all so very strange and they were pressuring me to make a decision), they decided it wouldn’t end there. They went back to their church. They enlisted the big guns.

They told everybody to pray…

Their prayers proved to be my undoing. There were people in that little church who prayed for me but I never knew who they were. Though I knew later on that my friends were praying and maybe another one or two were, the subject was never addressed. Others had prayed some powerful prayers. There were strong collective prayers. They moved mountains. Long story short, after three months’ time their prayers worked to perfection. I came to full salvation in Jesus.

THE PRAYER STORY

After being settled in as a new Christian I began learning about historical New Testament happenings I was never previously aware of. I was raised in a Christian home but belonged to a denomination that didn’t put much or any emphasis on the Bible. As a result I had very limited knowledge of the New Testament. I certainly had no practical knowledge of how real Christianity actually worked so the things I began learning about the New Covenant Scriptures were somewhat shocking. Most Christians have a very limited understanding of the New Testament, usually confined to the basic Gospel story. When I began to learn what was actually contained in Paul’s letters regarding the operation of meetings, the gifts of the Spirit, and the actual history of the first-century Community of believers as told in the Acts of the Apostles, a whole new world opened up to me. I also experienced the actual operation of the gifts in our meetings. Then I learned about actual prayer and especially intercessory prayer. I learned how powerful the latter could be and how necessary it was. I became aware of the following story:

Somewhere in the mission field overseas some believers were driving a vehicle over relatively rough terrain. The car or truck, I can’t remember which, slipped off a bad mountain road. If not for some brush and mostly a particular tree stump the vehicle and the people in it would have suffered a terrible fate. As it began to slide down a steep descent just off the road the car immediately became temporarily lodged upon the tree stump. The Christians in the car could not exit safely. Of course, they began to pray.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, the Lord alerted a prayer warrior. This was a person used very often for intercessory prayer and knew the drill. The feeling came over her that it was time to pray. The anointing became very powerful. The woman, seeking relief, went to floor. She then grabbed the nearest table leg and held on for dear life while she prayed in the Spirit. In the midst of an extreme spiritual battle she prayed intently while holding on as if it was vitally important that she did so. After a length of time the anointing lifted and she knew the prayer time was over and whatever needed to be accomplished had been.

Meanwhile, in another part of the world, the occupants of the car hanging perilously, restrained by a mere stump which might or might not be able to continue gripping the ground, had also been praying. The car never fell. It stayed glued to the tree stump. The stump held. They had somehow managed, against all probability, to safely exit the car. It was later, when these people happened to meet up again, and in comparing notes, that the two parties discovered how the Lord had worked. The woman’s powerful intercessory prayer had assisted in the saving of the missionaries.

I have read of several stories like this. There are Christians who keep detailed prayer journals which also sometimes contain answers to their prayers. It is a wonderful thing to see such answers to prayer, some which come years later, as the Lord creates the circumstances for people to meet again after often “chance” encounters.

YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED

A coincidence is when God wants to remain anonymous.

While writing the last section I received a message on my phone. It was from an old friend. A text from out of the blue. I had not been in contact with him for many years, over a decade. They live in a different part of the country and we had spent much ministry time together. As it turned out he still had my number on his phone which means he either still had the same phone which I would think would be highly unlikely or had transferred all his numbers. I no longer had his number. I‘ve been through several phones since the last time we had been in contact. I decided that his text wasn’t just a random event. I mean, here I am writing about such things when he happens to contact me after a dozen years?

Maybe half an hour later I decided to call him. He was doing some chores outside. We talked briefly, only a few minutes. It was great catching up and he said he would call me back later on after he completed the necessary chores. But in that brief chat he told me that his former pastor who I also knew very well had, in the interim, heard from God about three years ago to make a ministry move. He and his wife had left the fellowship they had served for many years and, are you ready? …They went into the mission field.

This was no run of the mill coincidence.

I ask those of you who like to pray, any of you who are prayer warriors, and those in intercessory prayer ministry, to pray for this couple in the mission field. I also ask that you would pray for my friend and his family. There is also an urgent unspoken need of someone I know that requires prayer. Thank you.

And thanks to all the dedicated ones who operate powerfully in obscurity for your vital service to the Lord and fellow believers, whatever it may be. You are MOST appreciated. Keep up the great work!

Later

Posted in Current Events

12 Comments

THE REJECTED BECOME THE CHOSEN: SEPARATIST PILGRIM PIONEERS AND THE JOURNEY TO AMERICA

Nov 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

In the 1590s English Separatists and dissenters were finding life in England ever more difficult. Several were sentenced to hanging in an enhanced effort to kill off the movement toward spiritual liberty.

[If you are reading this at the WP Reader, please read at my website. Thank you.]

Laws were passed that made exile to the European continent the punishment and death if one ever returned. England would thus stop at nothing to rid itself of unwavering Christian reformers. There was no going back for those who had gone so far with God. Queen Elizabeth was determined to wipe them out and the level of her persecution continued until her death in 1603. She had no heirs and her passing thus ended the generational line of the ultra-dysfunctional Tudor monarchs.

The new king was James Stuart I (1566-1625), the then present king of Scotland under the name of James VI. He had ascended the Scottish throne at a mere thirteen months of age in 1567 when his mother, Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587), had abdicated. As “King of Great Britain” James I united England, Scotland, and Ireland under his leadership. Though his mother was a loyal Catholic, James was raised as a member of the Protestant Church of Scotland. The developing church was attempting to continue the reform movement began a decade earlier by essentially removing all things Catholic, but James obviously felt more comfortable with those men manning church offices whose ecclesiastical nature lent them to monarchial rule.

Of course, that’s what bishops and ruling prelates are by nature and why such offices were created. The Presbyterians were setting up a national polity in which churches would be administered by the Biblical model of elders and overseers, which simply does not mix with monarchy any more than does oil and water. The comfort level for kings had always involved close trusted ones, be they civil or clergy, and James was thus not prepared to get on board with the movement toward spiritual truth. In becoming king of England he had quickly embraced an anti-Puritan sentiment, which gives one an idea of his treatment of Separatists and other dissenters who continued pushing for reform and refused to conform to non-Biblical tenets. The Puritans still maintained membership in the Church of England and had consequently escaped the larger wrath of Elizabeth, but the heat began rising. Yet, regardless of the new king’s negative attitude toward them, it was their own compromise and apprehensive middle-ground approach that relegated them as unfit for the spiritual frontier. They were not of a mind nor possessed the strength of purpose to be used of God in the necessary major way as those Separatists who had given their all. The Puritans as a group had remained far too connected. They were unqualified as pioneers.

After Elizabeth’s reign of terror, it seemed there remained only one Separatist church community in all of England. Located in the hamlet of Gainsborough, most of its members had fled to Holland two years later. There remained a few holdouts of this group in the town of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, and it is here the story gets interesting. In Scrooby there lived a man who became postmaster there in 1590. He had attended Cambridge in his youth and later became greatly interested in the new Christian reformation movements. By the early 1600s he had taken under his wing a young man from Austerfield while ministering in the Scrooby area as a reforming Puritan when persecution raised its head once again. A group of perhaps 50 were meeting secretly at Scrooby Manor, having managed to cobble together a small community from the remains at Gainsborough, when the decision was made in 1607 to break ranks completely with the Church of England and establish themselves as Separatists. Thence began the great adventure.

The two men were the postmaster William Brewster (c.1566-1644), who would become a leading Elder at Plymouth Colony, and his young protégé William Bradford (1590-1657), the future Governor thereof. These two were undoubtedly placed together by Providence. Bradford’s father died when he was only a year old and his mother when he was seven. The orphan was forced to live with several relatives in the interim. He met Brewster at the meetings of the Puritan Richard Clifton when only a young man of about twelve and at last found an appropriate father-figure. From this he received a better upbringing and someone to direct his already keen interest in the Reformation movement.

The restrictive spiritual atmosphere in England was such that the young congregation decided they must leave the mother country and sail across the channel to Holland to live according to their convictions. Yet, as another indication of the severe trials and fight to come their way, they were robbed of all their possessions by the officers of the ship they hired and imprisoned for attempting to leave England illegally. They remained undeterred, however, and were able to make their getaway the next year, finding peace and religious toleration in The Netherlands. After a year in Amsterdam amid the bickering of two other congregations, they moved to the city of Leiden, approximately 100 strong, and settled into a peaceable and productive life.

One can see by the trials they faced and tests they passed that God was preparing them for a much greater mission. Others had disqualified themselves for one reason or another, be it a lack of faith, selfish attitudes, inability to work together, or loyal connections to the state church, which prohibited a lack of complete loyalty to God. Those connected, as the Puritans, had not considered their inevitable betrayal through their association with ecclesiastical authority and the throne or the temptation of looking back. We see the same thing in the ancient history of the Israelites when God had to remove all Egyptian influence and fleshly nature from His people through their wanderings in the Sinai desert.

These Separatist future founders of the American Plymouth Colony had proved their loyalty to God by both their obedience to Him regardless of greatly challenging circumstances, and also their complete separation from the world.

In Leiden, Brewster began publishing books for sale in England and was soon under arrest by English authorities in 1619, who had accused him of the same crime as William Tyndale—printing up non-official religious works that did not toe the mark of the accepted Anglican confession. The Dutch government agreed with England in a political move and confiscated the printing equipment. Brewster was able to escape to England and hide out. It was during this time that plans were made to make the most radical move of all—securing a land patent from the London Virginia Company.

The community as a whole had become very concerned after ten years of relative comfort and security in Leiden that their children, if allowed to grow up and become established there, would lose both their English heritage and Christian beliefs. The Netherlands was a free pluralistic nation by comparison to England, but the resultant freedom also gave place to a more open mindset regarding moral values and sin. It occurred to the group that the time had come yet again when they must move on if they would maintain their walk with God. Their willingness to suffer so many trials for the sake of the real Gospel had undoubtedly impressed the Lord. Due to their relentless attitude toward holy living and walking in God’s new light, rather than fighting against the movement or holding back like almost every other group, they had become the chosen ones to take not only the Gospel to America, but a community form much closer to Scriptural intent.

The 180 ton Dutch cargo vessel Mayflower was hired in London and sailed to Southampton on the southern coast of England in late July of 1620. Most of the Pilgrim community remained in Leiden, Holland and bought a small ship called the Speedwell to take them to Southampton, from which both ships would sail across the Atlantic to Virginia. The second ship proved unworthy of the journey, however, having leaked on the trip across the English Channel, and after repairs, began leaking again at the start of the great voyage. Stopping at Dartmouth, repairs were made a second time. On their second attempt at the Atlantic crossing, as they reached the open ocean after having traveled roughly 300 miles, the Speedwell continued leaking once again and the Pilgrims were forced to return to England. Many of the passengers had become so tired and frustrated they decided to stay home. Here was yet another test of heart and a further winnowing of the passenger list, from about 120 to 102. Of these, approximately 40-45% were members of the Leiden congregation.

They decided to scuttle the second ship entirely and transfer all their goods and supplies to the Mayflower, making for very cramped quarters and a much less comfortable trip. After losing about forty days, the Mayflower finally set sail from Plymouth, England on September 16 (Gregorian calendar). The second half of the ocean voyage was very rough, having hit the severe northern Atlantic storm season, and piled yet more discomfort and trepidation upon the passengers. Imagine the battle these Pilgrims had with doubt and second thoughts, crammed together in a freezing ship tossed forth like a cork on the frigid seas.

After 66 long days, the sturdy ship arrived intact off the coast of America around November 21, 1620. During the long and fitful journey there was one death but also one birth. The colonists’ destination was the mouth of the Hudson River, part of Virginia at the time, but the captain first sighted land off the coast of Cape Cod. In the attempt to go south the elements were again against them, almost causing shipwreck. As if by divine hand they returned to Cape Cod and dropped anchor. With great courage and whatever stamina remained as the biting cold winds of winter descended upon them, parties were arranged to explore the land for a suitable settlement site. By the next summer, 50 of the original 102 passengers had perished, the majority over the harsh winter, and most of them from disease contracted during the voyage.

From these extremely difficult and humble beginnings Plymouth Colony was built upon the hope and grace of a committed people and the Lord Jesus. Having served as willing pioneers and taking the full brunt of the battle, many more parties were soon making the trip across the Atlantic and adding to the new colony. In time it became a routine crossing peopled primarily by English Puritans who began spreading out into the wilderness. In time the Separatist Pilgrims became greatly outnumbered, though their spiritual stand and way of life had a decided effect on later arrivals.

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Be Strong and Courageous, Christian Persecution, Come Out From Among Them and Be Separate, Lord Jesus, Overcome Evil with Good, Pilgrim Separatists, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Freedom, Spiritual Pioneers, Spiritual Warfare, Thanksgiving, The Fight For Liberty, The Great Awakening, The Real chosen People

REMEMBERING JFK (2022)

Nov 22

Posted by RJ Dawson

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on this day 59 years ago at 12:30pm. It was the result of a conspiracy.

[If you are reading this at the WP Reader, please read at my website. Thank you.]

I wrote the following on November 22, 2019:

I remember when it happened. As was my routine, I had gone home for lunch. My grade school was within easy walking distance.

It was getting close to the time when I should be heading back. I was sitting right in front of our small black and white television. My mother was a few steps away in the kitchen. Suddenly, whatever I was watching was interrupted. There was a news bulletin. One could almost sense the haphazard effort of the station in relaying the shattering news while trying to maintain professional decorum. A man with a strong and hurried voice began speaking. The president has been shot…

The United States of America changed forever on that fateful day. After 56 years, the majority of Americans know the official story is full of holes. This was proven early on. But a very strange thing happened. Though evil people were having their way, Americans insisted on supporting the official narrative. As more truth leaked out regarding what really happened, and as many knew in their gut something was not quite right, it became one’s patriotic duty to do the very opposite of what should have been done.

This let those in control know they were in good shape. The country was in their hands. They could do whatever they wanted and would not only get away with it but would never even be questioned. Everything changed at that point. Fast, dramatic change ensued. Regarding the country, it was all for the worse. In the space of less than four and a half years our president was murdered in cold blood right out in the open in the bright sunshine in a gruesome display. His brother, who surely would have become president in 1968, was also killed right after securing the Democratic nomination. Martin Luther King was also murdered by a sniper two months earlier. Each one of these cases involved much subterfuge and unanswered questions. Quick verdicts were reached in the official narrative. The vast majority of Americans went along with the official stories though many had private doubts. What happened to the country?

THERE WAS ONCE A REVOLUTION

Throughout the period of the 1760s to mid-1770s patriotic American colonists grew increasingly concerned about the great lessening of personal liberties and the increasing power plays of a distant British government. These people were a relatively small minority. Most American colonists were full-bore Tories who either supported the King and Parliament without question or were too apathetic and ignorant to care one way or the other. By the time independence was declared these three groups comprised roughly the same percentage. Only about a third of Americans were willing to commit themselves fully to the cause of outright revolution to secure their individual liberties which had been under severe attack for several years by those who saw their control weakening and who must strongly reassert its position of rule to overcome any notion of freedom from said rule.

How did only a third manage to overcome the other two-thirds? It is fully understandable that the third of Americans which fully supported the British overlords did so to protect their wealth and social standing. People like this are cowards at heart. They have little or no concern for others, those who make up the majority, who are on the outside looking in and do not share in their upper class stature. Their lives are not about higher ideals and ideas but merely a social position brought on by comparatively greater wealth and the desire to make friends with power—those who would advance them in their careers and protect their higher place in society.

Regarding that other third, the apathetic group, these people are also well-represented in history. They are those who never stay informed, don’t care about truth, will stand for nothing of any real importance, are willingly ignorant, and are basically only along for the ride. They like floating down lazy rivers. They find the whole idea of taking a stand for higher values and ideals ridiculous. They have no understanding for laying good foundations for future generations. They can barely see beyond the end of their nose. The present is what they care about, just like the Tory group, but they don’t care about it enough to make any attempt to excel.

REAL PATRIOTS

Back in the 1960s the generation in charge still held to the false notion, “My country right or wrong.” The most insane occurrences were taking place all around from day to day and it seemed that most would insist on keeping a stiff lip and hard face refusing to question anything. Had they been brainwashed? Why could they not see the evil? Why did they continue to support those in power who were violating the Constitution on a daily basis and doing whatever the hell they wanted to insure that the rich and powerful gained even more wealth and power?

King George III and the British Parliament never came close to the violations inflicted on America less than two centuries later. It has only gotten worse since. We now live in a semi-surveillance state in which our God-given rights and freedoms have been seriously curtailed by the very entity supposedly existing to insure them. Where are the real American patriots? How many are left?

Exactly 56 years ago powerful people conspired in the dark to remove the President of the United States because he refused to go along with an ongoing sinister plan to run roughshod on We the People. They were willing to kill him in broad daylight to achieve their goal.

And they got away with it.

I wrote the following on November 22, 2020:

It has been exactly 57 years. An American President was brutally gunned down by an evil element in Dallas, Texas. That evil element gained great power that day. It has only increased in power since.

One can always tell when evil has gained a foothold: Evil unlawful acts not only proliferate but have no remedy. No matter what one may do to overcome the evil nothing works. It may be stopped temporarily. There may even be modest gains against it at times but such minimal losses are often quickly gained back. Exponentially speaking, evil continues on an upward trend.

At last a few bright people figure out that the reason for evil’s upper hand growing greater is because it is being fed. Somehow or another evil has gained access to great funding and support. These few bright people then figure out that evil is gaining this funding and support surreptitiously. In other words, otherwise good people have been deceived into supporting an evil element. Such good people are not so wise because only the unwise allow themselves to be fooled continually.

This is why, in Old Testament parlance, God always sent prophets. The prophetic voice was clean and clear. It was strong and unwavering. It was sent to shine a Light on TRUTH. It was sent to wake people from their spiritual slumber. Through the prophetic Word, the Lord Jesus identifies good and evil. He tears away the cloak of deception. He reveals the evil element behind the curtain.

When the unwise but otherwise good people then understand that which comprises the evil element, they cease supporting it. As its funding and support begins being cut back it no longer has the free ability to wreak havoc as before. In the effort to save itself it uses that much more of the only weapon it possesses: More evil. —More sin, more lies, more cheating, more obfuscation, and more dissembling. By this it only reveals itself all the more.

We are living in the days of a Great Awakening. Pay attention.

In 2021 on this date I posted a compilation of the preceding two posts from 2019 and 2020. Before proceeding with today’s 2022 post I will add a comment I made in the 2020 post:

Yes. Times have changed radically over these last 57 years. Regardless of President Kennedy’s flaws, he was aware of a great evil element and did all he could to successfully fight it. He saw that it threatened great evil for the country. He had limited success against it but was making progress. In the end he was simply overwhelmed by it with too few standing with him. And of course, evil being what it is, the evil element had no reservations about murdering him in cold blood if it came to that. And it did. Everything immediately changed for the worse that day. It was the end of America as we knew it. The American people in large part never caught on, but this is changing.

“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 tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.” [John 8:44]

2022

As you can see, I established an annual tradition regarding our remembrance of our former President John F. Kennedy beginning in 2019. This will be the fourth year in a row. It was on this day, November 22, 1963, that JFK was murdered in Dallas, Texas. It was 12:30 in the afternoon. Though the day began with a dreary overcast and rain it slowly began to clear up as the morning progressed. By the time the President’s plane landed at Dallas Love Field the day was transformed into bright sunshine. There was much excitement and joy in the atmosphere. Little did the people know that an evil element, unseen to all, had been planning a brutal assassination for what was likely months.

Regardless of the various theories regarding the conspiracy that took the President’s life, the most plausible ones have much in common. There was certainly a secret cabal that had been cobbled together. Each participant had its own reasons and motives. As always, however, as I have often mentioned in these pages, the primary motive for such always boils down to power and wealth. The power and wealth of some very powerful and wealthy individuals, some at the state level, had been threatened. Such people operate largely in secret though their outer façade may be well known. Most people do not understand that there are always primary hidden agendas. That which is presented on the surface is mere cover for what lies beneath. What you see in the major media is mere window dressing designed to obfuscate and lead people off in the wrong direction. It is a deception game.

Remember, the greatest lie the devil always tells is that he doesn’t exist. Remember also that a major part of the Lord’s ministry was exposing the devil and his scurrilous hidden machinations. Evil always operates in the dark because it must. Otherwise its cover is blown. People catch on. Most people, sadly, never catch on and are easily deceived. It explains why the enemy gets away with his ongoing crime spree. We are talking multiple generations here. If you have never considered this side of history—actual history—you have work to do.

A great many authors have written a great many books about the assassination of President Kennedy over the last 59 years since the terrible event occurred. Some have gotten pretty close to the truth. When one reads these books and continues keeping up on the subject as new light comes forth it furthers one’s understanding of how and why it happened.

A CONSPIRACY

It is the same when one reads the accounts of the murder of the Lord Jesus. Of course, the word “conspiracy” and the term “conspiracy theory” have been branded by the perpetrators of such conspiracies as silly and foolish and used only by the screw-loose crowd. But the Lord Jesus was certainly murdered as the result of a conspiracy.

The religious leaders who controlled the synagogues, the Pharisees, wanted Him dead pretty much from day one. They hated everything about Him. This explains who they were working for and were aligned with. Remember, the Lord’s own people in Nazareth, the people who knew Him well and among whom he grew up, tried to kill Him the first day He preached there. (“Welcome home. Good to see you. Wait. What did you say?! It’s off the cliff with you! Let’s get Him!”) There’s a fine how-do-you-do.

Those who controlled the temple complex also came to hate Him once they understood more about Him. The wealthy Sadducees had become hopelessly corrupt by that time. They were closely aligned with the money power and Rome. It took them decades to arrive at such a place. The priesthood was also corrupt. It had become so corrupt that a large element of the Zadok priesthood, over a century before, had pulled up stakes and left Jerusalem entirely. These became the Essenes. They set up shop out in the wilderness by the Dead Sea, wanting nothing to do with the corrupt city or temple.

The deciding blow of the conspiracy against the Lord came when both the Pharisees and Sadducees, ostensibly religious but both great lovers of money, who had already conspired together, also conspired with the Zealot Party, which comprised the terrorist arm of the nation. The Zealots were murderous ideologues who would stop at nothing. They hated and despised Roman authority. They were pledged to throw off the yoke using any violent means possible. Once these people were brought on board the Pharisees and Sadducees were virtually assured of success. They did not realize at the time, however, that they had made a deal with the devil, so to speak, that would come back to bite them later on like an enraged rabid dog. It was primarily the Zealots who eventually caused the destruction of the nation.

How is it then, that these three great powers who conspired together, those that essentially possessed all the wealth and political power of the nation, could end up losing everything less than forty years later? It all came to an end in 70AD. The original city of Jerusalem and the great temple were both reduced to rubble. The entire place was wiped clean. The only structure remaining was the massive Roman Fort Antonia. The Roman emperor Hadrian built an entirely new city only sixty plus years later. Nothing that presently exists of the current city of Jerusalem, other than Fort Antonia, existed at the time of the Lord. It was a total annihilation, just as He had prophesied.

Thus, their great conspiracy ultimately failed. It succeeded in that they did conspire to kill the Lord Jesus and did kill Him, just as did the conspiracy to kill JFK had succeeded. The problem with the former conspiracy was that the Lord Jesus didn’t stay dead.

It could be that America won’t stay dead either.

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America, American Revolution, Deception, Evil, Eyes To See, Hidden Agenda, Lord Jesus, Overcome Evil with Good, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, Sin and Evil, Spiritual Warfare, The 1960's, The Great Awakening, The Presence of the devil, The Search For Truth, Truth, Truth-tellers, Wake Up, Wake Up America!, When You Gonna Wake Up?, Zealots

YES, THEY REALLY ARE THAT STUPID

Nov 20

Posted by RJ Dawson

I wrote this article over five years ago. Since then, things are now much worse in America. For the majority, the corrective continues to be rejected.

[If you are reading this at the WP Reader, please read at my website. Thank you.]

All over the country millions of Christians are going through their usual church routines this morning having not changed one iota for the last five years, or the five years before that, or the fifty years before that. Are they blind? Lazy? Rebellious? Deceived? Hopelessly stuck on tradition? Under powerful authoritative religious rule and control that has robbed them of their spiritual identity? Whatever the case, I posted the following on October 23, 2017:

The Lord gave us a wake-up call in 1906. What happened then illustrated how powerful the Lord can be when we get it right, even in the face of great opposition.

It was a powerful event. What was just as striking, however, was the usual resistance of the opposing authoritative Christians. The humble organizers, the good guys, those who were merely self-effacing enough to seek and obey the Lord, were hounded from the very beginning and eventually forced into using the most rudimentary building for services.

They began in a house, but the movement grew too big too fast and they couldn’t allocate enough houses fast enough, so they were blessed with a bigger building, though old and run down. It had much in common with the Lord’s actual beginning, something we lose the significance of over time. But there really wasn’t any room anywhere in Bethlehem for the Lord to be born. No residence, no inn, no nothing where people normally live. He ended up with the farm animals, something equivalent to our barns, but a small one. He apparently had no problem with this. He even expected it. He expected this world to treat Him in such a way. He was born anyway, in a place none of us would ever permit our own babies to be born, regardless of circumstances.

The same thing happens with His work. The apostle Paul said no people of higher bearing are chosen, in general, for the Lord’s work, largely because they deem themselves far too important. They are also ultra-pampered. There is no room for a pampered preacher in the Lord’s real work, but we are besought with pampered preachers everywhere you look. In fact, this has become the standard.

Where then, are the real preachers? Where are the real Christians? In general, you will rarely find them in the limelight. William Seymour was a one-eyed black man shunned by much of Christian society yet the Lord worked wonders through him. The apostle Paul has been wrongly relegated after the fact as some sort of high churchman or great theologian. Of course, he was certainly brilliant, but much more so in a spiritual sense. Prior to his own personal Pentecost he used his theological brilliance and high religious standing to do the very opposite of what the Lord had intended for him. How did he get so lost? How did he get so caught up with his own pride? How did he ever get so full of himself?

One might ask about 90% of today’s so-called pastors and preachers and priests and what have you. To show what must be done NOW to correct this is to show what had to happen to Paul—the Lord knocked him down, thoroughly humiliated him, showed him who the boss was, blinded him and made him helpless, and then completely revamped his life. He showed him how he was completely wrong and on the wrong path and had the wrong attitude. He could have just let him go to hell but He knew Paul would respond correctly to the correct stimuli, which in this case involved knocking him on his butt and destroying everything that he had previously held dear.

Paul responded properly. He quickly ascertained that he had been a giant jerk of the worst kind and was thoroughly embarrassed. After a few days his sight returned. He underwent full repentance, giving himself totally to the Lord for whatever purpose no matter how difficult. He went through further humiliation, from a religious view point that is, by immersing himself in water in the Name of Jesus, the name of his new Master and Savior, and he was soon filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s all right there in the Book of Acts. It was a complete changeover, beyond even a total remodel. The old Paul was DEAD. A new Paul was BORN.

RESISTING REAL CHRISTIANITY BRINGS GRADUAL DEPRAVITY

The same thing must happen to Unreal Christianity in America or it will continue the death spiral it brought upon itself and has engaged in ever since it rejected that which all must submit to for new life to come forth. It is not so much that the Lord cares all that much for trying to set right those Christian leaders who will never change or repent, like so many of the Pharisees of old. It is that He wants to rescue all those good-hearted Christians living in a lesser state, as Paul was, who are deceived and blinded by fake Christianity. They will never be set free from within. It must come from without, as the Lord must do so much from without since He has been rejected so much from within.

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… [Romans 1:22-28] [1]

The Lord Jesus will never stop trying to wake us up and turn us around, and talk sense to us, and break us from our dependency on religious rebellion, in order to save us and free us, because He loves us, enough to die for us, even if it means knocking us down while on our own personal road to Damascus.

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, American Sin and Depravity, Christian Pharisees, Deception, Depraved Mind, False Forms of Christianity, False Religious Authority, Hidden Agenda, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Revival, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

IDENTIFYING THE SHEEP AND GOATS: DIFFERENTIATING REAL DISCIPLES FROM THE BOGUS BOYS

Nov 19

Posted by RJ Dawson

There are two Christianities. One is real. One is fake. The following will help you tell them apart.

[If you are reading this at the WP Reader, please read at my website. Thank you.]

The reason Unreal Christianity is a big bulky non-innovative high-dollar extremely low bang-for-your-buck non-New Testament intractable overly bureaucratic religious sluggish slow-moving massive blob dictated to by institutional seminary-trained bosh heads, cold-minded clerics, and charged-up dense denominators endlessly parroting the centuries-dead Ichabod gloryless company line is because, principally, the Lord Jesus is not in charge.

That is a problem.

When one reads the New Covenant writings with a clear head and pure heart without all the mind-numbed artery-clogging casuistic falsely-interpretive nonsense nomenclature and grossly obese religiosity and churchianity content, one discovers an incredible streamlined living and loving Community of Called-Out Ones exhibiting cleanliness, quickness, Spirit of God-fueled power needing next to zero overhead and fitting into any and all cultures with a life-giving new-life Gospel message for anyone anywhere on the planet.

It is fast. It is mobile. It is loving. It is caring. It is merciful. It is self-effacing. It is filled with joy. It is creative, fruitful, and productive. It is easily financed. It never requires large money outlays to be powerfully effective. The members love each other, always support each other, and always develop quickly into strong mature and secure disciples. Rather than pour everything into a building with one guy preaching there is no building and a hundred guys preaching. They go anywhere demanded, do anything commanded, suffer any hardship, overcome evil with good, and battle raging hate with pure love.

And it can’t be stopped. Kill one member and ten more pop up. Try to eliminate it and it only grows larger. Try to destroy it and Great Awakenings break forth. Persecution only makes it more powerful. When the devil jabs he gets knocked over the ropes with a ferocious left hook. When he fights dirty he gets pounded into the ground. When he uses lies and gossip he and his entire operation is revealed for all the world to see. When he tries to hide he gets outed. When he brings darkness he is exposed with a million megawatt game spotter.

There is thus no comparison between real Christians and the fake pretentious pretenders. One is led by the Lord Jesus and the other is not. One is filled with His Spirit and the other is not. One can move mountains and the other cannot. One can raise the dead and the other is the dead. One believes and the other disbelieves. One obeys and the other rebels. One is faithful and the other is a cynical denier of spiritual reality. One will inherit the Kingdom and gain eternal life and the other will …not.

SHEEP AND GOATS

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’

“Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” [Matthew 25:31-46] [1]

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Christian Pharisees, Clergy-Laity Division, Community of the Called-Out Ones, False Forms of Christianity, False Religious Authority, Final Judgment, God's Judgment, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Sheep and Goats, The Great Awakening, Truth, Unreal Christianity

CORRUPTION ERUPTION: THE ROT HAS SET IN

Nov 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

“The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

[If you are reading this at the WP Reader, please read at my website. Thank you.]

THE FATE OF EVIL

All evil will be judged. Everyone and everything associated with it will be dealt with. Those who join up with evil and make the free choice to be connected to it and engage in its practices, whatever their reason, will suffer the same fate. The time will come when all evil and all evil people will be judged, sentenced, and cease to exist. Evil will never make the transition to eternity. It will be incinerated.

“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 10:28]

TWO OPTIONS

“All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” [Matthew 25:32]

The Word of God reveals a clear dualism. There is good and there is evil. There are the righteous and there are the unrighteous. There are sheep and there are goats. There is wheat and there are tares. Every human being who has ever existed or ever will is in one group or the other. There is no middle ground.

The Word of God also defines sin. No other definition matters. Any other definition is false. Therefore whoever makes the choice to live according to God’s commands knows that God is the sole Author of His commands and made them for a reason. A person has no choice, then, but to accept God’s parameters for living. One cannot make up his own rules and be right with God. He or she cannot choose some of God’s commands and reject others. His commands have already been established. Thus, it is simply a matter of a person living for God to the full or not living for Him at all. Again, there is no middle ground.

When God gave the Law to Moses He made no provision for alteration. There was no amendment process. He never allowed for the later “Oral Law” which corrupted His Word (and is still in effect today). His Laws were not suggestions. They were not experimental applications seeking personal and societal solutions. God already knew what worked and what didn’t. He already knew what was evil and what was good. He already knew what good and acceptable behavior was and what behavior was evil and unacceptable. He didn’t need anyone telling Him what He already knew. He didn’t need someone with an extremely limited level of knowledge and life experience telling Him what He had known for multiple centuries regarding the behavior of human beings. He created human beings. Every human being who has ever lived has an extremely limited level of knowledge and life experience compared to God. The same holds true for generations. Entire living generations of human beings existing at any one time are collectively grossly inferior to God. It is therefore laughable for anyone to suppose he or she knows better than God. An honest courageous person thus understands that the best way is God’s way, that God knows best, and that all one needs to do is do one’s best to trust God, obey His commands, and live for Him.

The dishonest rebellious person, however, refuses to accept this course of action. Such a one would rather submit to his or her own will or that of another rather than God. Consequently, he or she will question God and will question His commands. He or she will attempt to eliminate some or all of His commands, accept what he or she happens to agree with, and will refuse to accept the rest. He or she will desire to modify, alter, amend, change, or revise God’s commands to suit himself or herself not understanding or caring that such is a purely selfish course of action which can never be applied universally. The only universe such people care about is their own. The dishonest rebellious person, then, is not concerned with pleasing God but only pleasing him or herself. He or she does not care about an actual relationship with God. If the only way to be right with God and have a good relationship with Him is to obey His commands, such individuals would rather not be in relationship with Him at all. Their personal freedom, including the freedom to sin, is more important to them. They are thus contemptuous of God and His commands. They will violate any law, rule, or social more, usually to the degree they feel they can get away with (because most are cowards at heart), for personal pleasure and enrichment.

CORRUPTION ERUPTION

This is exactly where corruption originates. It starts small and grows over time. When a person commits sin for the first time, always at a young age, his or her future course depends on how the sin is dealt with. Though God has blessed humanity with a working conscience which convicts a person of sin and which assists in one learning right from wrong, some people learn to reject the conviction of their conscience and eventually deaden their conscience to the point that they have no problem with sinning and engaging in ongoing sin. This is an otherwise obvious form of mental illness but when everyone else is mentally ill the mental illness does not register. When everyone else in one’s chosen group rejects God and chooses sin, are they actually living in sin? From God’s perspective the answer is yes indeed, of course, but from the perspective of those within that sinful group, society, or culture, since everyone adheres to the same principles and beliefs and behaves the same way, there is no comparative by which to judge. The people therein are therefore unaware of any acceptable alternative since they reject the possibility of all others and remain smug and secure within their own group and are constantly confirmed of one’s rightness by each other.

In other words, if all the animals in a particular enclosed pasture are goats, then goat behavior is perfectly acceptable because no one there will ever challenge goat behavior because everyone there is a goat. Goat behavior thus becomes the norm and any animal not a goat is perceived as a vile deviant that must be hated, rejected, censored, cancelled, ripped off, run off, and/or murdered, likely with malice. (That will teach them to mess with perfection.)

As another case in point, Cain and Able had a difference of opinion. Abel loved God, obeyed God, honored God, and served God. Cain did none of those things. Since Abel had love in his heart, he had the ability to put up with Cain’s sin and bad attitude. He had no evil intent toward Cain. He knew it was not his place to do anything about his brother except do his best to remain positive about him and pray for him. Cain, however, had no such ability or attitude. He grew to despise his brother. He was jealous regarding Abel’s walk with God. His hatred for Abel’s excellent attitude and good behavior grew until it reached a boiling point. Rather than repent, change, conform to God’s will, and eliminate his bad attitude and sinful lifestyle as well as create a happy union with both God and Abel, Cain chose instead to violently murder his brother and thus eliminate him. He did this in part to create his own “pure society” playing by a different set of rules in opposition to God’s Kingdom.

He also did it to remove the source of his conviction.

This is how it always happens. Rather than accept and conform to God’s perfect universal commands for living, rebellious sinners who oppose God make their own set of rules which benefit themselves and force everyone else within the range of their influence or authority to conform to them. Since all such subsets of rules are insufficient and even immoral and fraudulent compared to God’s, and since any number of such societal subsets exist simultaneously, they cannot help but spawn greater hate and ever-greater division. Some such societies and cultures will gain greater traction and overcome others. This allows for a strongman or chieftain to arise who plays the part of God and battles other such chieftains. The end result is incessant killing and perpetual warmongering. It is the end result of rejecting God and His commands. It is Cain killing Abel on an ever-increasing scale. In time, eventually, the pack of evil, selfish, unrighteous cowards will wipe out all the good, unselfish, courageous, righteous ones. The evil will eliminate the good from the earth. The goats will win. Sound familiar?

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. [Genesis 6:11-12]

BEYOND THE POINT OF NO RETURN

I remember when I was a kid and learned about what happens when one flies an airplane too far out to sea with no opportunity to refuel. Once the pilot reaches the point of no return he will not have enough fuel for the return trip and is doomed. And I wondered why anyone would do that and not make sure it wouldn’t happen. I also remember a small factoid regarding the Japanese kamikaze pilots bombing American ships out to sea in WWII: They were only given enough fuel to make it to the target. Those guys were so dedicated, and they only chose the most dedicated, that they wouldn’t have turned back anyway. But just in case…

The same holds true for societies and cultures. Those who research the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, for example, become aware of certain societal signs to watch for which indicate the downward slope of a nation in decay. I studied this a long time ago and was certainly intrigued by seeing those exact early signs in my own country at that time. America was starting to look just like Rome in its declining phase. Things have grown steadily worse since then, much worse than most people would have ever thought, and we are now in the exponential days in which cultural decay is proceeding rapidly. There are no longer any sufficient societal checks to keep the inevitable from taking place. America has gone beyond the point of return.

People who used to have high moral standards have allowed their morals to slip. Many formerly strong people regarding societal mores have allowed themselves to be overcome by the upcoming lawless culture. They used to know what sin was and stood against it but stopped standing and laid down. Salt and light is at an extremely low ebb. Many in the older generation who had much better morals and a Biblical worldview have grown tired of standing against the incessant onslaught of sin and corruption. It is such that no one has escaped it. Evil has come against every segment of society. No one is immune.

Even many Christian ministries and churches have gone the way of the world. A majority have adopted whatever new cultural mores have come forth, mores which oppose real Christianity. A new agenda has replaced the former. Rather than living for the Lord and accepting, believing, and practicing the full Gospel, the new agenda calls for mere financial survival and ministry in general is now tailored toward making money and serving mammon. Sin, even egregious sin, is rarely or never addressed. This is just a fact. It cannot be denied. Money is now first. This means, according to the statement by the Lord Jesus, that most of Christianity is not serving Him but serving wealth. This means there is no longer any effective witness from American Christianity against the wicked traditional servers of money. These two used to be at loggerheads but now are joined at the hip. One has an infinite supply of ready cash and the other needs increasingly greater amounts. American Christianity has thus grown as corrupt as the corrupt ones it used to rebuke. There is no longer any effective rebuke. And this is in part why the evil ones are presently going in for the kill.

American Christianity in general grew weak and corrupted because it kicked out the strong honest Christians it could not control who were trying to save it.

The same thing happened in the secular and civic realm. Those trying to save the country clashed with those trying to destroy it. I revealed this destruction protocol in my prior post though few of you read it. I understand that such articles are not popular. I suggest to those who have yet to read it to take a look, though. I told you in advance. Yesterday marked another one of those points in history in which everything is made clear to those paying attention.

Regardless of this present darkness and the corruption therein, however, the Great Awakening continues. Praise God for that. May many more wake up and get right with God.

Otherwise, consider the following:

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” [Matthew 5:13][1]

Posted in Current Events

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

Tags: America, American Sin and Depravity, Cain and Abel, Christian Pharisees, Discipleship, False Moral Codes, Good and Evil, If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Law of Moses, Lord Jesus, Mammon, Oral Law, Parable of the Wheat and Tares, Political Corruption, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Sheep and Goats, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Salt of the Earth, The Sentence of Hell, Unreal Christianity

THE RISE OF THE ANTICHRISTERS

Oct 4

Posted by RJ Dawson

…the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice… [2Peter 2:16 KJV]

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. [1John 2:22]

OUR PRESENT CHALLENGE

By now the lines have been drawn. Most have chosen their side. America is divided. It is breaking apart. There is no going back. Unless, that is, Christians in America, the only possible potential unifying and positive force remaining to restore the country, get their act together. But of course, that will never happen because such Christians, in a general sense, have denied the fullness of the Gospel and consequently have no chance against the level of evil coming forth. Therefore, it will take the “church within the church” to stem the tide toward destruction. This group comprises that small steadfast percentage of American Christians overall, those who take the Lord absolutely seriously, who truly understand what happened at Calvary and how it applies to them personally. Only these possess the 100% dedication to the Lord Jesus, displayed by their pure discipleship and absolute honor of His full curriculum. Only these can be the required positive force to counteract and overcome the negative forces of hatred, rebellion, and destruction. Their pure moral loving nature, anointed by the Lord’s powerful Spirit, stands as a bulwark against the flowing immoral degeneracy of the current evil agenda.

And for any who think I am being far too concerned about saving the country rather than living for the Kingdom I will remind you that without a country with a Constitution of laws to protect and defend the innocent and law-abiding and their God-given rights for the good of all one will be forever on the defensive against marauding evil authoritarians ever on the prowl for taking a spoil and destroying the good. There will be nothing to stop them. Once Constitutional Freedom of Religion, Speech, and the Press is cut away to nothing it will be total war on Christians and Christianity with no possible corrective.

Therefore, there is a Great Awakening. Seeing what was coming, I have been calling for the need of one for decades. I have been speaking, teaching, writing about, and hoping for its arrival openly for the last quarter century. I have mentioned it in my book Real Christianity. And since I received the spoken revelation of its arrival over twelve years ago and have been proclaiming its presence since the beginning of this public blog in May of 2011 long before the vast majority of Christians in America had a clue I can tell you it’s been a lonely fight. The only question at this point is whether enough REAL Christians get involved and work with the Lord Jesus to bring about the desired outcome.

What we have then is a variation of the Lord’s statement, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” In our case, will enough Americans and American Christians become REAL Christians? That’s the real question. It is not that we do not have a Great Awakening. We do. People are certainly waking up. It is happening right now. It’s been gaining steam from initial beginnings at some point just prior to August of 2010. The question remains, will enough American Christians join it to make a difference?

THIS PRESENT DARKNESS

The two sides in this spiritual war are based pretty much exclusively on Pro-Christ or antichrist.

There are intelligent and knowledgeable people in this country who are predicting much more than just Civil War (as some call it, somewhat inanely, a cold impassive term with no guts or feeling that does no justice to the actual terror of that historical bloody betrayal). They are predicting actual geographical division. They are saying the country will be broken up into groups of states. One man in particular foresees another North-South divide with the South including most of the western states but not including the three west coastal states which will compose a third region. Where the North-South border will be is not clear but one can probably figure it out. One thing is certain, however: America as we knew it is projected as gone forever (or with the wind) and those who hide from this reality are only making things worse.

In reality, of course, for the few remaining who can still see reality and actually handle reality, the war began long ago. It was a war waged on everything good, strong, and wholesome about America. It was a secret attack by secret forces who had secretly invaded with most American Christians none the wiser because they were ill-prepared spiritually and never prepared for an attack by the devil himself using his chosen duplicitous instruments who act like him and deceive, lie, hate, kill, steal, and destroy like him.

Now, if this was 2000 years ago the Lord Jesus would certainly have prepared and equipped them. He would have told His people all about the wicked wiles of the evil one and the backstabbing antichristers and the great evil such creatures do. But unlike real ministers of the Gospel, the wimpy DA’s we call pastors and priests who took control of American Christianity long ago never had the spiritual backbone to teach the real truth of the Gospel, part of which is teaching about the great enemy among us who only wants to destroy us. No, most did not do that. They were much more concerned about the cultural aspects of Christianity and the religious aspects of Christianity and were too clueless to understand that there were never any such things in the beginning because God is the antithesis of an idiot and His Kingdom is something far different from their desired kingdoms. Yet, even with the Biblical knowledge they did have they didn’t honor it and created out of thin air such counterfeits anyway. Why? Well, maybe because it worked out well for them.

But it worked out very bad for the poor dumb Christians who followed them. They never learned about how great our enemy is. They were taught that all is always well and God is in control regardless of human effort and participation and everything will be alright and there is a reason for everything and I know I don’t have any control but I trust the Lord as I watch my life get frittered away by the evil ones who rip me off that we just can’t stop because, you know, well, because. If this does not describe a Christian DA then nothing does. And these poor misguided people were not that way by nature but were taught to be that way and affect that attitude by guess who? By the very ones in control who pontificate their nonsense all the day long whether we are talking in the last century or the one before that or even right now when one must put up with the never-ending nonsense of the same defeatist and stupid attitude in which they master dancing all around the actual truth that would set people free but never go there for fear of upsetting the very one behind the gates of hell they are supposed to be attacking. And they side with the Lord’s enemies.

It is why America has descended into this present pit without the spiritual wherewithal to muster any gumption at all toward a slimy wicked enemy who would go down hard if only enough Christians would attack him the way the Lord Jesus and His men did. Those were the great ones. They were tough. They proved their toughness by the rigors of discipleship they subjected themselves to unlike the Christian wimps of the present who have about as much spiritual testosterone as a eunuch. Rather than attack the enemy they ignore him and hope he’ll go away. They refuse the great powerful spiritual strength they should have and would have to overcome him and defeat him and mop up the parking lot with him because they refuse the infilling of the Lord’s Holy Spirit and the powerful anointing thereof because they refuse real repentance and refuse to not be in control. It is why they created their fake versions of Christianity and also why their people suffer all the live long day unable to overcome and never become the mighty warriors they were meant to be. One can never be spiritually victorious with such an unaware and powerless collection of unreal Christians.

We are no longer accepting things we cannot change. It’s now time to change the things we cannot accept.

YOU MUST FIGHT BACK

I remember reading a book by John Eldredge and an account he put forth regarding his young son’s big problem in first grade which robbed him of a great joyous attitude and replaced it with downcast cloudiness. What happened? Well, as it happens to most Christians who get blindsided by the devil but lack the ability and strength to fight back because no “minister” ever told them about spiritual war so they simply take it on the chin and lose the victory and go through life as spiritual losers knowing they can’t possibly ever win a fight against the big bad devil—What happened to the kid was that he was accosted one day at school by a bully. His innocence, trust, and good nature was shattered.

Now, most Christians these days would likely tell their young son there is nothing you can do in such a situation because the bully is bigger than you and you must be nice and not add to trouble so we probably need to tell the authorities… Hogwash. As I continued reading the book to see what Eldridge would do about the unfortunate event I was both surprised and somewhat euphoric when he sat his young son down, looked him in the eye, and said:

“Look at me.” He raised his tearful eyes slowly, reluctantly. There was shame written all over his face. “I want you to listen very closely to what I am about to say. The next time that bully pushes you down, here is what I want you to do—are you listening?” He nodded, his big wet eyes fixed on mine. “I want you to get up . . . and I want you to hit him . . . as hard as you possibly can.” A look of embarrassed delight came over his face. Then he smiled.[1]

The kid was absolutely overjoyed. He had thought fighting back was somehow wrong even though he wanted to; he didn’t want to get in trouble. But all of the sudden he was beaming and his wonderful nature came back and the gloominess was gone. He looked forward to the next day when he would reclaim his place and position and restore his reputation and standing. And the moral of the story was that he never had a problem with that so called bully again and gained a great victory and felt great about himself.

For Christians in this day and age there is no way to gain the victory in this current battle without a committed, for the duration, spiritual fight. We must face the enemy eyeball to eyeball without backing down and without compromising. However, we must not engage until we’re properly equipped. It’s a spiritual war. The forces of evil are spiritually powerful. One must be spiritually powerful as well. The Lord never sends His children into open spiritual warfare without giving them the weapons and armaments they need. And what is His great weapon of choice you may ask? What makes one love everybody? What anoints our prayers with great power and might? What empowers our gifts, ministries, and witnessing?

IT’S HIS OWN HOLY SPIRIT. HIS OWN POWERFUL PRESENCE PRESENT IN YOU. THE ENEMY CANNOT STAND AGAINST IT. THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WIPES HIM OUT. THE DEVIL IS DEATHLY AFRAID OF THE LORD JESUS. THE ANTICHRISTERS HAVE NO CHANCE AGAINST HIM REGARDLESS OF THEIR DEMONIC CONNECTIONS.

So, returning to the narrative, all those fake Christian ministers who were never Spirit-filled who taught their mostly willing congregants a false wimpy powerless gospel forced their congregants to be overcome by the greatest bully of them all. Rather than rear back and punch him squarely in the face they gave him the upper hand. They made a mockery of the powerful Gospel of the Lord Jesus. The majority of Christians in America have thus never been equipped for spiritual warfare, have never engaged the enemy, and apparently never want to and never will. This is especially true today. It is in part why the enemy has run roughshod over American Christianity and most American Christians. Their fear factor is far superior to their faith factor. In light of what the Lord can do and wants to do, their attitude is both defeating and disgusting.

It is why America has fallen.

DOES ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR?

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority.

Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.

These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them.

It has happened to them according to the true proverb, “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire.” [2Peter 2:1-22][2]

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Tags: America, antichrist, Bill of Rights, Christian Pharisees, Community of the Called-Out Ones, Discipleship, Divide and Conquer, False Forms of Christianity, False Prophets, False Teachers, Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Sin and Evil, Sodom, spirit of antichrist, Spiritual Warfare, The Apostle Peter, The Father, The Great Awakening, The Holy Spirit, The Presence of the devil, The Son, Unreal Christianity, War of Northern Aggression

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Aug 29

Posted by RJ Dawson

Those who create their own versions of Christianity which differ from the original are MOCKING GOD. They have no respect or honor for the Lord Jesus, WHO IS GOD.

Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking Him and beating Him, and they blindfolded Him and were asking Him, saying, “Prophesy, who is the one who hit You?” And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming. [Luke 22:63-65]

DENOMINATIONAL BLASPHEMY

All the major denominations of first-century Judaism were not just wrong; they were operated by blasphemous pretenders who mocked God by creating their own distinct religious belief systems, fleshly interpretations of Scripture, and mental constructs based on wrong thinking due to their great sin and distance from the Lord. Everything they created differed significantly from the original. Their desire was not to be in good relationship with God and not to preach Truth but to gain earthly power and prestige, unbridled authority over people through the medium of religion, and enrich themselves monetarily.

“The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” [Revelation 2:8-9]

THE REAL AND THE UNREAL

He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition.” [Mark 7:9]

What possesses a person to make departures from Holy Writ? What causes Christians to reject the original teachings of the Lord and create their own? Why do they believe they have the authority to do this? Why do they think they can get away with it? What is so wrong with original real Christianity that they feel justified in rejecting it, or tweaking it, and changing it to better suit themselves? Don’t they know it is the responsibility of a follower of the Lord Jesus to conform to Him and His teachings rather than create offshoots merely based on His teachings?

There should be no Christian denominations. Every single one has departed from the original by their very creation. If all believers in the Lord would adhere to His curriculum there would be no need of another. Catholics fight with Protestants and Protestants fight among themselves and they both fight against the Pentecostals and Charismatics who also fight among themselves. There are even divisions within denominations. Churches split but so do denominations. Some of this is playing out right now. It is part of the reason they increase, at times exponentially. If they all abandoned their respective alternative Christian belief systems, slaughtered their sacred cow religious slants, and embraced the Lord’s curriculum only, Christian denominations would no longer exist.

OUT OF DARKNESS

On the other hand, Protestantism was progress. Some Protestant denominations progressed more than others. They were seeking greater Light. Most found some Light and were on a progressive spiritual track to gain more early on. Some continued. Some stopped at certain points. Wherever they stopped and set up permanent camp is when a denomination was formed. They deemed themselves in their own minds far enough down the road from Catholicism to justify discontinuing their spiritual progress. Instead of continuing onward through the fog toward the bright shining light of a new day they apparently still remained out on the vast plain of Shinar and proceeded to build their own Towers.

Here a Ziggurat, there a Ziggurat, everywhere a Ziggurat.

In essence, however, this was only an illusion. Roman Catholicism has long termed Protestants as “departed brethren.” If they truly departed, however, they would have departed completely and conformed to the Lord’s original. Most never did this. Maybe the Lord was leading them out. If so they should have kept going all the way—all the way back to the first century. But none of the major Christian denominations ever did any such thing. Therefore, did they really depart at all?

We know the Protestants retained some Roman Catholic doctrines. We know they maintained Catholic formats. They looked and believed different in part but they also continued to look very similar. The new Protestants felt more comfortable being “Catholic light” than embracing Acts Chapter 2. Sound familiar?

Keep in mind that the real Christians in the world, those who had forever remained faithful and true to the Lord Jesus, obviously still existed at that time five hundred years ago as they always had since the very beginning. But because they were obscure like their Master and preached the Truth like their Master and were never in it for power, prestige, authority, or money like their Master, they were also persecuted like their Master. They were looked down upon by this world like their Master. They were written out of perceived history like their Master. And they were rejected by denominational Christianity the same way their Master was rejected by denominational Judaism.

For those who may not know, I will say this again. The Lord Jesus will have nothing to do with halfway followers. He only accepts those who give their entire hearts to Him. What is the proof of this? How can anyone know who actually does this? What is the test? Here you go: They will believe and act exactly like the original first-century believers.

THE LOVE TEST

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” [John 13:34-35]

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

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me;” [John 14:21]

“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.” [John 15:10]

“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.” [John 15:13-15]

“…Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…” [Matthew 28:20]

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 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; [1John 2:3-4]

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “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][1]

THE HATE TEST

One can discover the unreal by the way they treat the real. Unreal Christians are Christian persecutors. Real Christians never persecute anybody. Unreal Christians use fear, force, guilt, shame, anger, deceit, trickery, and insistence upon their various non-Scriptural traditional means, methods, and beliefs to get their adherents to conform to a common denominator. This creates their false unions (Towers). We know that great masses of people can be psychologically brainwashed, indoctrinated, conditioned, and programmed, even to their own detriment, in order to remain socially viable and accepted members within their group.

The Lord Jesus, however, never engaged in any of this and never taught such. He was forced by who He is to often remain a largely solitary Man even among His own. He also taught that His disciples would be treated as He was and they were. They had to learn to stand alone much of the time against the onslaught of those who bought into false paradigms and fruitless works who often resorted to force and hatred as means to compel conformity. The fearful always fell for such; they had no faith to counteract their fear. They found solace in joining such groups because they knew the leaders thereof would then leave them be and their social standing, low denominator as it was, would remain in place. Being part of such groups helped relieve anxiety and fear. It made them feel as though they belonged. They could thus relax within their faux social constructs, gain the support thereof, and not have to deal with their sin or the higher requirements of God.

The Lord Jesus, however, rejects such unrepentant cowards. He has nothing to do with these mulish misled mockers. He will not have in His Community anyone who refuses their entire heart.

He will never give His love to an unfaithful masquerading bride.

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

Posted in Current Events

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

Tags: America, Book of Acts, Christian Denominations, Christian Pharisees, Constantine, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, Discipleship, False Forms of Christianity, If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Lord Jesus, Love, Mocked, Protestant Reformation, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Warfare, The Day of Pentecost, The Great Awakening, They Hated Me Without a Cause, Tower of Babel, Unfaithful, Unreal Christianity, Ziggurat

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

Aug 16

Posted by RJ Dawson

Real Christians MUST understand that Unreal Christianity is a devious enemy. It is a false façade operating deceptively diverting Christians away from the full Gospel truth.

RELIGIOUS FAKERS AND FAKERY

In case one has yet to get the memo, evil will do ANYTHING to get its way. We know from the way the devil tempted the Lord that he is a master manipulator and deceiver. If he would engage in such powerful tactics with God Himself he would certainly do it with anyone. We know from the way he successfully deceived Eve and how their transaction released sin into the world that he would stop at nothing. Evil is thus deceptive, cunning, and shrewd. Pageantry and symbolism serve as great tools. The devil is a specialist at presenting himself as perfectly legitimate and honest. He is a great actor.

Hypocrite: ὑποκριτής (hoop-ok-ree-tace’): An actor under an assumed character (stage-player), i.e. (figuratively) a dissembler (“hypocrite”):—hypocrite.

The first-century Pharisees had perfected the craft of religious playacting. They were insincere poseurs pretending to be effective stand-ins for God and an apparent majority of Israelites of the time were utterly fooled. A big part of their fooling was being blindsided by the majestic presence of such bedecked ones all fitted out in their religious finery and egress fenestrations. Secondly, their multi-credentialed résumés granted them superior status not to be trifled with. And thirdly was the fear factor, an egregious quality born of powerful presence and religious pride which disarms and instantly dispatches beholders to places of subservience. Theirs was a purely flesh creation designed to fool minds set on the things of the flesh. This deceptive process, however, opened them up to demonic influence. Their success, therefore, never came from God, nor does the success of today’s Christian Pharisees.

MAKING MERCHANDISE OF YOU

They provide the illusion-affirming attention religious people need to live the lie. They don’t care about anyone’s soul or eternal destination, only that their own status is confirmed and authority honored. In short, they pretty much do the opposite of the Lord Jesus but are such masters of illusion they appear to be outdoing Him. And if this is not true why are the majority of Christians in the world under their sway? We discussed in Part 7 how such an occurrence could happen and how it did. One wonders how so many still cannot see through the ruse but, as I’ve explained it in this article thus far, we are dealing with an extremely high form of deception.

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds. [2Corinthians 11:13-15][1]

IT BEGAN WITH A ROMAN EMPEROR

Constantine decided on wholesale changes. He went nuclear. He completely rejected the perfect original curriculum of the Lord Jesus. He rejected as well the clear historical record of the Book of Acts and created a new syncretic “Christian” religion. He established a post-Real Christianity institution and then claimed Christianity for himself and his rebellious agenda. He was otherwise obviously never a real Christian and actively opposed the Lord Jesus and His Community. He declared all religions illegal in the Roman Empire, completely eliminating any freedom of religion that existed before. He declared his new Universal Christianity as the only legal religion and forced everyone to join. This included grave penalties for anyone who may refuse. Those who refused exclusively were the real Christians who still honored the Lord Jesus and served Him only. Of course, real Christianity was also rendered illegal throughout the Roman Empire and all real Christians instantly became a persecuted people. This persecution never stopped. The real Church was forced to go underground.

While Unreal Christianity flourished above ground, entirely earthly, entirely of the flesh and not the Spirit, and became flushed with wealth, power, and worldly success, the real Christians only enhanced their position within the spiritual realm and secured all the more the truth that the Lord’s Kingdom is a spiritual kingdom. We know they survived and even thrived in a world of increasing darkness including that of the religious variety simply because the presence of the Lord Jesus never left and His positive impact and influence on the world remained. We know that though the devil continued his fight against the Lord, the truth, and the Lord’s Community, he was never able to eliminate his nemesis entirely because spiritual Light is eternal and forever shines against the darkness, always revealing it and exposing it for what it is.

The enemy can thus only gain and maintain a foothold and never succeed in making the darkness of his heart global among all humanity and nature. The presence of the Lord Jesus always disallows this and always will.

Therefore, just as was the case with the first one, the Christian Tower of Babel was never completed.

And never will be.

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: America, Christian Pharisees, Constantine, Deception, Discipleship, False Apostles, False Conformity, False Forms of Christianity, False Prophets, False Religious Authority, False Shepherds, False Teachers, Hypocrites, Lord Jesus, Overcome Evil with Good, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Reality vs. Fakery, Roman Empire, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Presence of the devil, Tower of Babel, Unreal Christianity

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

Aug 9

Posted by RJ Dawson

The initial history of the Early Church occurred during 32-70AD. Afterwards, until the early 300s, real Christianity grew exponentially. Then the enemy made a masterstroke…

The Christian Tower Builders had been preparing well. During a period of roughly 230 years after the destruction of the nation of Israel (70AD) and the establishment and great fruitfulness of the Lord’s spiritual Kingdom throughout the Roman Empire, the enemy had been stealthily at work. He had developed a plan to strike back at his hated nemesis even though its full effect would be long in coming. His first intention was to undermine the original teachings of the Lord by introducing familiar philosophical reasonings and standard ancient religious concepts which centered on idolatry. He would add Gnostic understandings which initially emerged during the apostle Paul’s time primarily in Asia Minor centered roughly at Ephesus, having likely originated in Alexandria, Egypt. In essence, the enemy would do what he had always done to lead people astray: Obfuscate their thinking, corral them into cults, and draw them into eventual worship of him whether such people knew it or not.

He would also begin the process of recreating and applying the accoutrements of tyrannical rule which would largely mirror the Roman emperor and his court and thus generate the means to rule over as many Christians as possible through as few as possible. This had always been a successful strategy in other cultures in prior times in that it created influential figureheads by which to control and manage the herds of humanity regardless of realm—government/politics, religion, the military, or even economics. Regarding Christians who had already adapted to following one Leader—the Lord Jesus—the enemy would have to make the attempt to introduce sub-leaders, those who stood between God and the follower and who would act as religious mediators. In this way he could cut off a believer’s direct communication with the Lord by making him go through a surrogate and compel him to become dependent on a stand-in—a hireling—and by this muddy the believer’s knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. Sound familiar?

One may wonder how the enemy thought he could be successful at any of this after the great triumphs of the Lord’s Community, the far-reaching application and successful results of its spiritual power and authority (greater than any other), and the prodigious number of born again believers to the tune of multiple millions. Why did he think his subterfuge may work?

To start with, one may consider all that God had done for His ancient people and what He equipped them with, starting from Adam to the nascent nation of Israel escaping Egyptian bondage, and onward to the full burgeoning of the nation, and then see what happened to each. How did Adam fare? How did the promising initial population of the world deteriorate so badly that it required the Flood of Noah to cleanse the land? What happened to that first generation after the Exodus? How did the conquest of Canaan go? What eventually happened to the promising nation of Israel? You see, the Lord was positively involved in all these efforts, had great plans, unlimited resources, and the spiritual power to see them through and grant success but they all botched it. How was any of this failure even possible?

So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. [Hebrews 3:19]

Unbelief: ἀπιστία (ap-is-tee’-ah): faithlessness, disbelief, unfaithfulness (disobedience), want of faith, weakness of faith:—unbelief.

—Adam introduced sin into the world. The world population destroyed in the Flood had grown far from God, willingly distant from His will, exponentially evil, and characterized by the sin of murder. The first generation of Israelites after the astounding miracle of the Red Sea Crossing at the Exodus were wiped out in the desert and never entered the Promised Land due to unbelief, disobedience, rebellion, and obstinate opposition to the divine will. Joshua’s Conquest was great in part but the assignment was never completed fully per his instructions and far too many Canaanites remained which eventually assisted in corrupting God’s people.

So you see, the devil had much to be hopeful for. He felt assured that he could corrupt Christians as he had corrupted so many others in world history. He knew what he had assisted in doing to the nation of Israel, which no longer existed, and was confident he could do the same to the Lord’s new spiritual Community. Though this may have appeared inconceivable early on and certainly a daunting undertaking due to the Lord’s people being a much greater foe than past heroes of the faith, the enemy knew he was still dealing with human beings who had their flesh to contend with. They were imperfect. They may have chinks in their armor. They may be vulnerable to certain sins. Those Christians who failed to stay filled with the Holy Spirit, die daily, and crucify their flesh would be susceptible to a successful attack and such were those who would be targeted.

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [1Peter 5:8][1]

He would attack indirectly. He would make a play on the flesh. He would mess with people’s minds. He would conjure up the specter of religious pride. If these sound familiar they are exactly what He tried on the Lord Jesus with obviously no success whatsoever. But they had worked in the past. They worked with Adam and Eve and later Israelite kings, notably Solomon. They certainly worked with the Pharisees et al. It was a known strategy and a very familiar story. If he managed to make steady inroads during the second and third centuries he could eventually reach the plain of Shinar phase of the operation. Would the devil be able to foment a maneuver in which the spiritual reality of living stones could be transformed into a religion of fake rocks? Made of burnt mud brick? Could he gather enough faux believers to overcome the real believers and therefore institute a new Christianity, one based on syncretism and hybrid renderings, on ultra-ceremonialism, and authoritarian rule?

This was certainly his aim. Again, he knew the concept well and knew it worked well. The challenge would be furthering the notion that Christians need not obey the Lord Jesus exclusively or obey His directives of being Spirit-filled as per the Book of Acts model. It was the only model that worked, of course, at establishing a real Christian and equipping him or her to successfully overcome the world, crucify the flesh, remain properly subjected to the Lord, walk in the Spirit, and defeat spiritual enemies.

The devil knew he must thus construct his own oppositional monolith to counteract the real Church, his own vast “community,” and his own hierarchy through which to rule.

When the fourth century dawned, he decided the time was right. He had worked hard over two centuries to blur the lines of what Christianity was and had introduced damnable heresies as it were, an echo of ancient OT times when he raised up false prophets in the land of Israel. Peter wrote:

But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly… [2Peter 2:1-5 KJV]

The devil had convinced enough Christians to betray the Lord the same way the faithless Israelites had. He must now create an opposing force sufficient to engage in battle on equal terms. He had a means in mind. He had a particular man in mind. He would now foist it upon an unbelieving unaware world and do it quickly so as to deceive enough of the population to render them willing accomplices.

The Christian Tower of Babel was becoming a reality.

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

Tags: Christian Pharisees, Community of the Called-Out Ones, Discipleship, Early Church History 101, False Christian Movements, False Conformity, False Doctrine, False Forms of Christianity, False Gospels, False Prophecy, False Prophets, False Religious Authority, False Shepherds, False Teachers, Gnosis, Hired Hands, Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Shinar, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Tower of Babel, Unreal Christianity, Wicked Heart of Unbelief

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

Aug 5

Posted by RJ Dawson

As noted in Part 5, there are two Christianities. Both are united. Real Christianity is united spiritually with the Lord Jesus. Unreal Christianity is unified in opposition against Him.

CLUES TO A MASQUERADE

¹Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. ²It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. ³They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. ⁴They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.

⁵The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. ⁷Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. ⁹Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth. [Genesis 11:1-9]

TYPES AND SHADOWS

The preceding ancient passage is loaded with spiritual clues. Before we get into likely allegorical meanings within it we must first reiterate once again the existence of two Christianities: The real and the unreal. Regarding real Christianity we must remember that the Lord’s Kingdom is spiritual. Oppositional Unreal Christianity is not spiritual. Based on the following verse from Part 4 in this series there is only one other choice remaining:

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. [Romans 8:5]

To this I will add to what we studied in Part 5 regarding the Lord Jesus being the one Foundation and Cornerstone of a “spiritual house” composed of “living stones” as the apostle Peter termed it in his first epistle. The apostle Paul calls it “the temple of the living God” (2Corinthians 6:16). He gives a better description of this spiritual temple in the following passage:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. [Ephesians 2:19-22][1]

Based on these passages it is clear that the Lord is spiritual and His real followers are spiritual. We have an entire history book of the Early Church located between the Gospels and Epistles that tells us how this occurred. The Book of Acts contains one passage after another of individual believers getting filled with the Holy Spirit and all the signs that accompanied their transformation into Spirit-filled believers. We also have proofs located in the teachings of the Lord in the Gospels regarding the historical events in Acts. He instructed them about what would happen, how it would happen, and what to prepare for before it happened. Everything written in the epistles supports what happened in Acts. Paul even goes into greater teachings on the subject regarding spiritual gifts and manifestations.

Now that we have the preceding background information established we can go back to the Genesis Chapter 11 passage about the Tower of Babel and identify its allegorical significance:

AFTER NOAH

When the great flood was over Noah and his family remained in the general region where the Ark came to rest. We identified this region in Part 3. We know Noah lived another 350 years after the flood so his descendants had ample time to reproduce exponentially. Yet, instead of moving out into the world they remained all together in the same area. Now, there must be some reading between the lines here because it must have been the case that a small percentage of Noah’s descendants did obey the Lord and ventured out as pioneers and adventurers. Yet the vast majority did not. In this they were essentially just like those who were killed in the flood in that they were disobedient and rebellious toward God and likely very fearful instead of faithful. They were not the kind of people you could create a new spiritual civilization with.

LET US MAKE BRICKS

Here we have a direct opposite type of the spiritual temple of the Lord:

They decided to find a new location in which to live. It was relatively close. They moved in mass as a uni-culture. They all believed the same, thought the same, and spoke the same language. We discussed this in Part 1. They left the hilly and mountainous region and came upon the plain of Shinar. This is loaded with clues. The flat plain with no variation describes these people to a tee. There was no rock anywhere. It was most likely an alluvial plain, one built up over millennia by multiple layers of silt deposited by flowing waters. There were likely very few trees as well and only relatively low vegetation. Thus, the place they chose had no building materials. But not to worry. We’ll just make bricks from mud.

Okay, there’s another clue. Remember when we discussed Adam’s creation from the elements of the ground in Part 4? The ground does not represent spirit. It represents flesh. Over 99% of Adam’s flesh was made of only eleven elements. But Adam was also filled with the Spirit of God. Because the New Covenant describes the Lord Jesus as a Rock—a Living Stone—and His people comprising the spiritual temple as living stones, we can gather that stones represent spirit and mud bricks represent flesh.

So here we have these disobedient non-spiritual fleshly people leaving a place filled with building materials and settling in a place with none. They then proceed to use alluvial soils as their main building material. In order to insure the strength and durability of their bricks they burn them. They created fake rocks. Then, instead of using actual mortar which contained sand (ground up rocks/quartz) and limestone as a bonding agent, they used tar! This was likely some form of natural asphalt or bitumen but likely not as thick or concentrated as that around the Dead Sea. There must have been great pits nearby where this substance was available. There are indications that it could have been reddish in color, based on the Hebrew root word. Did you know Adam’s name comes from a root word that means red or ruddy?

To burn in this sense calls to mind what Paul wrote about those hypocritical apostates who fell away from the faith. In the KJV it is written: “…having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1Timothy 4:2). These burned bricks represent the fully indoctrinated. Their minds are made up. You can’t build a tall religious edifice without making sure your members will never stray. This denotes the cultish nature of so much Christian indoctrination when such people never receive from the Spirit of God but must have their beliefs drummed into them.

LET US BUILD A CITY

Notice that they want to build a city first. The city represents their economic interests. It is an indication that they are putting money before God. The Lord Jesus said one cannot serve both. Flesh always puts money first. Spirit always puts God first.

LET US BUILD A TOWER

Rather than a desire for spiritual things these wayward people set their minds completely on the things of the flesh. Flesh doesn’t want God but it craves religion. Flesh also craves material representations of religion. Flesh never thinks in terms of the invisible spirit, or invisible faith, or invisible spiritual gifts, or the invisible Spirit of God. It must have only that which can be experienced through the five senses. Therefore, these people had to build a material representation of their religion which would thoroughly overwhelm and satisfy their flesh. And not only that, they would build it so high that it’s “top will reach into heaven” and overthrow the power and authority of God. Christian religionists have done this very thing on countless occasions over these many centuries of the Christian era. Regardless of the fact that the Lord Jesus, His original twelve, and His early Community never constructed any buildings “dedicated to God” but maintained everything on a spiritual level and met in private homes, it never stopped later Christians from engaging in the same practices as the Tower builders. This manifested powerfully for the first time in the fourth century by the Roman emperor Constantine when he began converting large Roman public buildings into “churches.”

LET US MAKE FOR OURSELVES A NAME

Have you ever heard of a church that doesn’t have a name? How about a denomination? Have you ever heard of a church that doesn’t have a single “pastor” in charge? Should not only the Lord Jesus be in Charge? Shouldn’t His Name be on the church sign out front? Quick question: When the apostle Paul was out establishing spiritual communities did he ever name them? We know Christian communities were identified by the city where they were located but this is merely referring to all the real believers in that particular city. There were no church buildings.

It is obvious that Christians who are obsessed with names and identifying their stuff never properly consider the greatest Name of all, the Name above all names. The majority of Christians rarely or never put the Name of Jesus first.

They are obsessed with building their own Stairways to Heaven.

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: Adam, Cornerstone, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, Crucify the Flesh, Foundation, Indoctrination, Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Noah, Real Christianity, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Serving MONEY, Shinar, Spiritual Warfare, The Book of Acts, The Great Awakening, The Name Above Every name, The Real Temple, Tower of Babel, Unreal Christianity

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

Aug 3

Posted by RJ Dawson

There are two Christianities in the world: The first is the real one created by the Lord Jesus and preached in the first century. The second is the amalgamation of all others.

UNREAL CHRISTIANITY

It might appear virtually impossible for all the various forms of Christianity on the planet to actually come together in general agreement. Imagine each Christian denomination and independent church great and small and here and there casting off and discarding their particular individual identities, distinctive doctrines, and exclusive characters, and then glomming themselves together in a worldwide kumbaya moment as one might throw various colored waxes into a gooey melting pot. Specific identifiable shades all fade out into an indistinct brownish gray-like beigey non-hue. Former Protestants sit with former Catholics around a welcoming campfire singing folksongs accompanied by an acoustic guitar or two while heart-struck with philia love and their new unity-mix faith which encompasses all God’s children in warm fellowship all aglow.

Right.

However, if you hold this painting before you using both hands and turn it just a tad and then tilt it up a bit to catch some light you’ll gain an entirely different perspective and suddenly see that our hypothesized mass union has in fact already occurred. The otherwise impossible unity has already been achieved. How? Well, you see, this particular Christian unity is not based on a consensus of doctrines and practices but on opposition against the original. Thus, it matters not that the bright white light of the first-century original real Christianity happened to fall upon a flawed oppositional prism and scattered out into a million different off colors each dissimilar in its own right. Why? Because each is tainted with the commonality of rebellion.

ONE FOUNDATION

“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.” [Luke 6:46-49]

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [1Corinthians 3:11]

Though the first of the preceding passages refers to individuals, the same holds true for individual Christian organizations (churches, ministries, denominations, etc.): They are either built on the only correct Foundation or they are not. The Lord Jesus is not only the Chief Cornerstone but the very Foundation of His Community (Church, Ekklesia, Qahal, etc.) and, of course, He should be. It belongs to Him. He started it. Original Christianity is His movement. When one becomes a real Christian he or she accepts the totality of the Lord’s teachings, not merely what one feels like accepting, and does what He says. He or she comes to the Lord, hears the words of the Lord, and acts on the words of the Lord. All of them. Whoever does this joins His spiritual Community. There is only one. And there is only one Leader.

It is therefore relatively easy to understand the process which resulted in so many different Christian organizations, each one different from the original to varying degrees. Whether those who started such were well-intentioned or not doesn’t change the fact that they failed to build on the correct and only Foundation. They also took liberties with their doctrines and practices. They each have different beliefs and traditions. And it may appear as though many churches and denominations are still standing though built on the ground sans the Lord’s Foundation but this is either because the flooding torrent has yet to arrive or they have long since died internally and only their outer shells remain. It could also be that outer shells is all they ever were.

The following is a third Scriptural passage regarding the one Foundation, the implications thereof, and additional truth regarding how the Lord’s actual spiritual house must be built and what happens if one strays from the blueprints:

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. [1Peter 2:4-8][1]

CHURCHES AS FRANCHISES

Most people understand the importance of uniformity when it comes to corporate franchises. Each franchise must adhere to the regulations and guidelines which allow for every franchise to appear and function as every other franchise regardless of location. It is why individual franchises within a particular corporation all look the same, function the same, and have the same product as every other one though they may be located throughout a large geographical area or even all over the world.

Interestingly enough, several Christian denominations mirror this exact model in that all their individual churches look essentially the same, function the same, and have the same product as every other one though they may be located throughout a large geographical area or even all over the world. They also have the equivalent of a corporate headquarters and a management hierarchy (a pyramidal tower). Their individual churches must also show a profit as do business franchises. That is, each must prove it is able to collect enough local donations to keep the doors open, provide for the pastor and leadership team, fund local sub-ministries, and support the denomination. Also, just as it is in business, correct advertising, financial, and sales methods must be utilized. And though independent churches without denominational support often must sink or swim on their own, member churches of a denomination have the comforting privilege of accepting assistance from the overall organization when needed.

One wonders then, seeing such uniformity within business franchises and denominational churches, why the majority of Christians including Christian leaders fail to see the same need for uniformity when it regards the Lord’s original. Why don’t they put the necessary effort into conforming to His standard rather than their own? Why do they allow for church and ministry leaders to gain such big spotlights there is no room for the Lord? And most troubling, why do they often remove the Founder from His own movement?

Could it be because it’s the only way to continue building their Tower?

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

Tags: Christian Denominations, Church, Community of the Called-Out Ones, Cornerstone, False Forms of Christianity, Foundation, Lord Jesus, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Real Christianity, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening, The Real Temple, Tower of Babel, Unreal Christianity

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

Aug 1

Posted by RJ Dawson

The majority of what is referred to as “Christianity” in this world is counterfeit. It is not of the spiritual realm. It doesn’t work in the spiritual realm. It is a mere illusion.

THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH

For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. [Romans 8:5]

The preceding verse gives a perfect illustration of mankind’s dual-natured composition: We are both spirit and flesh. We have also been blessed by God with a free will. That means at any point in one’s life one can (1) choose one or the other, (2) make a decision based on one or the other, and (3) can even devote one’s life to one or the other. Our eternal destination will also be based on one or the other.

However, our dual nature did not exist originally nor was it ever the intention of God for such a dual nature within humanity to exist. He did not create humanity this way. It is something that developed later.

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. [Genesis 2:7]

The “breath of life” is synonymous in this instance with the Spirit of God. This phrase is derived from two Hebrew words: נְשָׁמָה (nesh-aw-maw’) “breath, spirit,” and חַי (khah’-ee) “alive, living.” The breath of life here is the living Spirit of God. The connotation is clear and denotes how all other living beings on the planet are fundamentally different from humanity: Adam had the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God was breathed into Him. This fact supports the following previous fact in the Genesis account:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Genesis 1:27][1]

Prior to Adam’s momentous and life-changing event when he received the Spirit of God—though he was a much greater physical specimen than any other created being on earth—he was closer in essence to the animals which he later named. Thus, after his initial creation but before the introduction of the breath of God, Adam was by all accounts merely flesh, whether animate or inanimate, but still a magnificent physical specimen “fearfully and wonderfully made.”[2]

He was created from the elements of this earth, or in Biblical terminology, the “dust from the ground.” His physical body was composed of flesh (as opposed to spirit), and based on an estimate of the average human body at present, approximately 98.5% of his flesh was composed of only six elements: Oxygen (65%), Carbon (18%), Hydrogen (10%), Nitrogen (3%), Calcium (1.4%), and Phosphorus (1.1%). Most of the rest was made of Potassium, Sulfur, Sodium, Chlorine, and Magnesium. There’s also another 49 trace elements involved as well.[3]

Therefore, flesh creation as he was, it was the Spirit of God that made him what he was to be. The breath of God finalized his creation. The Spirit of God within made him like God. It allowed for a closeness and fellowship with God. No other creature can claim this even though many if not most animals are sentient, and there are certainly those that relate very close to man such as dogs and horses.

BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT

Because all living creatures have the spark of life that animates them but do not have the Spirit of God as did Adam, a distinction must be made to differentiate the two. Did you know that all life is created from that which is not seen? For example, we must breathe to live. We can go without food for many weeks. We can go without water for several days. But we can only go without air for mere minutes. In breathing, we inhale invisible oxygen and exhale invisible carbon dioxide. Trees do the opposite. They draw in or “inhale” carbon dioxide and water, use the invisible energy of the sun to convert these into specific chemical compounds that provide sustenance (such as sugars), and produce or “exhale” oxygen. Trees actually clean the air and produce much of the air that humans and animals breathe. In other words, though all life is composed of elements it is also produced by the invisible energy all around us.

Thus, there is a wholly natural animating spark derived from the intricate system of Creation in which energy is combined with elements to produce natural life, whether it be mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects, or trees. The life is in the seed and the seed responds to the correct combination of energy and elements to create what it was created from. In simple terms then, God created a natural world that works without His direct involvement not unlike an appliance or tool that is activated and runs when a power source is applied, such as electricity or a battery. His creation is one giant brilliant system that works perfectly indefinitely with no need of anyone to man the controls so to speak though God can and will intervene for His own purposes.

This appears to make God impersonal. For atheists, it makes it easier to see God as a non-entity. The old Deists perceived God as a possible personality who created but does not involve Himself with His Creation. Most people in the world never or rarely think of God or a Creator but merely spend their lives seeking to survive and thrive while here and thus put little stock in an afterlife. Are such people any different from animals?

In fact, due to the fall of mankind and the introduction of disobedience, sin, and rebellion into God’s perfect Creation, the resulting sinful nature of man caused a complete break in relationship with God and destroyed the close communication and relational love between Father and son. Also, of course, not only was Adam banished from the perfect garden in Eden, he also lost the animating breath of spiritual life: The Spirit of God left Adam.

God had told him if he ever sinned he would die. He did sin. And he did die. But he stayed alive on a lower level. It was his spirit that died. He went from being body, soul, and spirit to body and soul. Rather than become like God according to his destiny, the first Adam actually became more like an animal. He retained the spark of life shared among all life forms on earth but lost his spiritual life and his spiritual connection to God. Rather than be like his son Abel he became like his son Cain. Because he was no longer a spiritual man he was forced out of the perfect spiritual garden and sent to the natural world. He became a mere soul man, a man of flesh, because he had set his mind on the things of the flesh.

Whoever would reverse this destructive process released by Adam must set his or her mind on the things of the Spirit which were released by the last Adam.

CROSSING THE SPIRITUAL DIVIDE

God also created spiritual beings. These are the most advanced form of life. Man was made “a little lower than the angels” (Psalms 8:5 KJV). This translation, though done with likely proper intent, is misleading, however. The Hebrew word translated as angels in the KJV is Elohim which is the exact word used for God in all of Genesis Chapter 1. The NASB translates Psalm 8:5 not as angels but God. The point is that Adam was obviously created lower than God but was also a lower form of created being than God’s advanced spiritual angels, though only slightly lower.

Yet, He had the potential to be a being of a higher order than the angels.

In fact, it can be argued that Adam, being a recipient of the actual Holy Spirit of God, was given a golden opportunity to become that very thing. That was the initial plan anyway.

He failed.

His seed, however, would not, and was destined to graduate to the very throne of God.

[2] Psalm 139:14

[3] sciencenotes.org/elements-in-the-human-body-and-what-they-do/ (updated 5/2/21)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

Tags: Adam, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, Crucify the Flesh, Door of Life, False Forms of Christianity, Holy Spirit, Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Spiritual Reality, The Great Awakening, The Last Adam, The Way of Life, Unreal Christianity, Where The Spirit of the Lord is There is Liberty

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

Jul 26

Posted by RJ Dawson

The Book of Genesis states clearly that the land of Eden was located in the area of the Tigris-Euphrates headwaters in what is now a region predominated by eastern Turkey.

EDEN

It is where YHWH Elohim planted the garden in which He later placed Adam and Eve. The garden is initially characterized as a garden of trees—an orchard—“every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food.” The Greek Septuagint calls this abundant fruitful garden Paradise. The home of Adam and Eve was a place of divine perfection and both natural and spiritual order.

Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it flows around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. [Genesis 2:10-14][1]

Eden was located in what is now the Armenian Highlands, an area rich in water resources, the location of several rivers, their tributaries, large natural lakes, and springs. The source of the Tigris River is primarily Lake Hazar and is also fed by many small tributaries in the area. The Euphrates begins not far from the headwaters of the Tigris at the confluence of two smaller rivers, the Karasu and Murat, which flow west from the eastern ranges. This area of confluence is now Lake Keban. (There are many relatively new hydroelectric dams on these rivers.)

The greater region has most probably changed appreciably since very ancient times. It was likely a relatively peaceful place with a different climate before the advent of much volcanic activity and the associated uplift which created mountains, etc. For example, Mount Ararat is presently an inactive volcano which last erupted in 1840.

WHEN WAS ADAM?

Christians have postulated various dates for the creation of Adam based on different criteria, one of which follows an exact rendering of the listed patriarch’s ages in Genesis which gives a date of about 4000BC (Young Earth). Others say such a late date is unreasonable because it fails to consider and/or ignores scientific facts. These place Adam as far back as 50,000 years ago, or at various dates since, including just after the Ice Age, known scientifically as the Last Glacial Maximum of 11,000-8,000BC when the Pleistocene ended and the Holocene began.

As the great glacial ice sheets began melting and retreating to the north, the resulting meltwater caused sea levels to begin rising precipitously. From approximately 20,000-13,000BC, the ocean level rose about 45 feet. Then from about 13,000BC to roughly 4,000BC sea levels rose another 375 feet for an overall total of approximately 420 feet. Since 4000BC the ocean level has remained constant.

It was not until after the Ice Age that evidence of human habitation appears on the historical record. Evolutionary theory claims that homo sapiens sapiens first appeared from out of nowhere 200,000 years ago (the big leap forward) but offers no actual evidence of transition or habitation at such an early date. According to Young Earth theory, the flood of Noah took place around 2300BC. Yet, interestingly enough, we have clear evidence of three roughly distinct cultures emerging circa 6000BC or even earlier in the same Armenian Highlands location where Eden once existed. We also know that Noah’s Ark came to rest after the flood in that same region.

So here we have (1) Eden, (2) the garden of Eden, (3) the place where Noah landed the Ark (the mountains of Ararat) and likely began his sailing journey, and (4) the evidence of human habitation and the rise of three distinct cultures all in the same geographic area. It is a great thing that over the last few decades among a few erstwhile researchers, proponents of both science/ancient history/archaeology/etc. and the Biblical record have utilized both to come to a meeting of the minds rather than stay incommunicado over perceived insurmountable differences.

THINGS TO PONDER

There are central differences of opinion among Christians regarding our origins and the Genesis record. Most of what we believe is what we have been taught. It is most often the case that Christians do not challenge their beliefs to any significant degree if at all and therefore rarely change their minds. If we continue to frequent institutions which support our beliefs and ban any and all challenges to them we develop a mindset of enforcement rather than enquiry and thus do not see the need of any research regarding them. When a person in another institution in another part of town has an opposing view which he also refuses to test properly we should see why we do not communicate and why fellowship is not possible.

There are some who believe Creation commenced in 4000BC. There are some who believe it was earlier and likely much earlier. There are some who believe that Noah’s flood was worldwide. There are others who believe it was a local flood. Some believe that the Genesis 1 Creation story is the same as Genesis 2 but that Genesis 2 is more specific. Others believe these two are separate accounts, which means God created human beings in general in Genesis 1 but created two specific human beings (among the others elsewhere) with a distinct purpose in Genesis 2.

I have found that the best way to go about finding the truth is allowing what we think is true to be challenged. Our own individual research can do that. Over many decades of open-minded truth-seeking Biblical study and research, I am absolutely convinced that the Biblical record is true. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. But I can guarantee you that I have tested many Christian doctrines against the Word of God and found many to be unsupportable. We can do the same concerning our ancient origins if we have an inquisitive mind to do so. I believe the benefits gained are well worth the effort.

Truth never fears a challenge.

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: Adam and Eve, America, Archaeology, Christian Denominations, Confusion, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, Euphrates, False Forms of Christianity, Garden of Eden, Genesis, History, Lord Jesus, Mesopotamia, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Research, Shinar, Sumer, The Great Awakening, Tigris, Tower of Babel, Truth, Unreal Christianity

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

Jul 25

Posted by RJ Dawson

In Part 1 we discussed the basis for the great sin of those who decided to settle on “a plain in the land of Shinar” to eventually build the Tower. What was their motivation?

I posted Part 1 last Thursday. I had hoped to post Part 2 the next day. Then my research took me to places I had not planned to go. The trail kept going deeper into uncharted territory. I had to keep following it. And as is often the case, new research has a tendency to take precedence over schedules…

For example, I found one interesting quasi-scholarly article from several years ago which put forth a thesis that the Biblical land of Shinar was not necessarily in the southern region of Mesopotamia, the place scholarly consensus locates ancient Sumer, but actually quite a ways further to the northwest in what is now eastern Syria. The author made many good points. He made enough good points that I had to question what I had come to believe in the past on this subject. And if you may be wondering, I have done some deep dives into far ancient history and the origins of mankind over many years. It is always interesting what one discovers.

I always start with Scripture. I believe Scripture is inspired by God. I use the Book of Genesis as an ancient factual foundation and framework from which to build out the historical record. Of course, Genesis is relatively brief and often starkly brief but God always gives the pertinent information necessary to get His point across. Due to its concise nature, however, it allows for many different scholarly opinions and perspectives regarding the actual ancient historical and chronological record. There are a few basic reasons for such differences:

(1) Some scholars are less interested in being open minded and going where the truth takes them and more interested in maintaining whatever status quo belief they have accepted as the truth. Such people have a vested interest in their interpretation of ancient history in that their churches, ministries, and Bible schools have adopted a particular viewpoint which disallows any further light or updates based on new information. In other words, it would be significantly inconvenient to modify their mindsets since such would cause systemic change which the majority within their institutions et al simply would not understand. They make the decision, therefore, to protect the institution and the majority opinion thereof at the expense of truth.

(2) Some scholars simply are not very good at their profession. It is why some have put forth the wackiest of ideas from somewhere out in left field. They either do not have the proper background information which usually easily disproves their notions, simply do not know any better, and don’t seem to care about becoming better informed, or maybe they are taking a sensationalist tack with their theories to gain attention and notoriety.

(3) And then there are those compromised by money. Most people are apparently unaware that money talks and in this case paychecks and prestige talk. If one knew the percentage of people in society who were willingly compromised in this way they would be shocked. It is not a small number. In fact, it is most likely a decided majority. That includes academic professors who generally teach what they are taught to teach and told to teach. There is no room for modifying their curriculum to include newly discovered information if it somehow puts a damper on what they have been teaching for years. But this is due primarily to economic reasons in that the entity—colleges, universities, etc.—are built on specific knowledge models which may or may not be true because such models work best for making monetary profits. Many churches work the same way.

I could go on but those are the basics. One may notice that it was all three of these, at least in part, that essentially got the Lord Jesus killed. He came in as a shining Light proclaiming pure Truth and those who didn’t put Truth first hated Him for it. They didn’t appreciate their hidden darkness being exposed. And keep in mind that some of the most wonderful, nice, and polite people, including ministers, can suddenly be transformed from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde when they are exposed for what they really are.

RETURNING TO THE GENESIS NARRATIVE

Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [Genesis 11:1-2][1]

We must therefore understand that simply because a general consensus of opinion exists does not mean that opinion is necessarily correct. Most people are not of a mind to question authority or check their betters but simply believe what they are told in that they allow themselves to be indoctrinated. They have been taught that having everybody on the same page is healthy and good for society when the opposite is true.

I’m going to be running some things by you, my readers, in this series, that may appear to be somewhat foreign or unusual and it will require you to think deeper on the subject and consider doing some additional research. It’s all for the sake of truth. Also, please keep in mind that I don’t have any ulterior agendas. The preceding three points do not apply to me. This is a free site. You can take it or leave it. Of course, your contributions are most welcome. I certainly believe in community involvement, dialogue, and discussion. Comment threads on this subject will likely be quite revealing and informative.

Remember, the issue at hand is the sad truth that Unreal Christianity has built a modern Tower of Babel that puts to shame the original that existed millennia ago out on the distant windblown plain of Shinar built by religious rebels too fearful of Truth to honor it and too disobedient to God to honor Him.

Both stories have the same outcome.

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 2)

Tags: America, Archaeology, Christian Denominations, Confusion, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, False Forms of Christianity, Genesis, History, Lord Jesus, Mesopotamia, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Research, Shinar, Sumer, The Great Awakening, Tower of Babel, Unreal Christianity

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 1)

Jul 21

Posted by RJ Dawson

Throughout our Christian Age, countless Christians have taken liberties to create and adopt beliefs and practices which were never granted or supported by the Lord Jesus.

There is only one New Testament. It contains the only original record of the teachings of the Lord Jesus. It is upon His teachings that Christianity bases its entire existence. He is the chief Cornerstone. His teachings are the foundation of our instruction. They contain the code by which real Christians live—the standard—the only means by which to bring forth spiritual fruitfulness and please God. There should therefore never be any deviation in any direction to any degree from His original perfect curriculum.

Right.

In reality, there is likely no other major belief system or “religion” of any kind that contains more deviations, more divergences, more departures, more differences, and more digressions from the original. It is truly the saddest state of affairs among all such sad states, from a New Covenant perspective, which illustrates a complete disregard for the Author and Finisher of our Faith and the high price He paid to bring us the only perfect belief system in existence—so perfect that it’s full and correct application results in the only means to actually rescue people from eternal damnation.

But whatever.

LET’S PUT THIS IN PERSPECTIVE

There was a time in the very early days on this lovely earth of ours many millennia ago when all the people of the earth (a relative few compared to later billions), instead of venturing forth over the planet as the individual adventurers they should have been in obedience to the Lord’s commandment and positive desire for them, decided to instead all hang out together as an ancient collective, so to speak. They had an entire planet to explore but opted instead to be a congealed mass of low common denominator conformists believing only what everyone else believed. Sound familiar? It helped that there was only one language:

Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [Genesis 11:1-2] [1]

The Biblical Shinar is the same as ancient Sumer. Though much research has transpired regarding this geographical area, one cannot be definite regarding all aspects. For example it is said that there was another people that existed in the area prior to the Sumerians. These are termed the Ubadians. They are said to have arrived as early as 4500BC. Some sources claim they spoke an earlier language than the later Sumerians who arrived roughly 1000-1200 years later.

Incidentally, I have researched ancient Sumerian, the language of ancient Sumer circa 3500-2000BC, and discovered that it was a language isolate in that it belongs to no known language family. This has been contested by a few but remains the consensus view. It is also the oldest known written language in the world. Archaic Sumerian, its oldest form, has been proven to exist as early as 3100BC. Sumerian gradually began disappearing as a spoken language in circa 1750BC but continued to be used in cuneiform writing until that medium ceased to exist at around the time of our Lord. [2]

Is Sumerian also the oldest spoken language in history? The debate at present usually names Sumerian and Sanskrit, the latter language indigenous primarily to India, as the earliest of the world’s spoken languages (Sumerian no longer exists), although there is ongoing debate about the actual origin of Sanskrit. Some claim it also originated circa 3000BC but this is a reach. However, Sanskrit is an Indo-European language (Indo-Aryan branch) which must share origins with whatever was the first Indo-European language spoken. That language was obviously distinct from Sumerian and must have come into existence later.

From the Biblical perspective, it certainly appears that Sumerian was the very language spoken at the time of the Tower of Babel incident, which would make it the one language spoken then and the original common language of world history. In this regard, one must keep in mind that the Old Testament historical texts contained the only general written world history for many centuries, going back to well over 2500 years ago. Moses had collected the world’s history through Egyptian sources during his time (1526-1406 BC). His history was passed down orally among the Hebrews until committed to writing centuries later. Yet, it was not until roughly two to three centuries ago that much ancient history as we now understand it was developed, aided in large part through the new science of archaeology.

During this entire time, then—three and a half millennia—the world had already possessed the record of Genesis. Of course, with the advance of science, primarily in the 1800s, the Biblical record of Genesis suffered ongoing attacks as being merely a collection of ancient myths unworthy of modern scientific knowledge. Yet, archaeology continued to prove the Biblical record as correct and the early “scientific” naysayers as wrong.

I have studied the beginnings of archaeology which took place in the early 1800s. I have studied the work of those men as they continued their pursuits in the Middle East and primarily the “Holy Land.” It was modern archaeology in its infancy. Palestine was one of their first targets. They wanted to dig up the tells (buried stratified city mounds) of ancient Israel to prove or disprove the Biblical record. From there they branched out to other lands mentioned in Holy Writ. Their discoveries were astounding. Hidden beneath the sands and strata of the Middle East were the actual long lost cities of the ancients and the Biblical record, proving to all but the most incredulous skeptics that the Bible was historically accurate.

And the rest, as they say, is history. Moses, the writer of Genesis, was right. The God who spoke to him was obviously right. The only legitimate time-tested record for the ancient origins of mankind, therefore, continues to name that ancient land between two rivers—Mesopotamia—as the place where it all began.

[2] The Graeco-Babyloniaca Once Again © 2007: “The latest datable cuneiform tablet that we have today concerns astronomical events of 75 AD and comes from Babylon. It provides a terminus post quem, at least for Babylon.”

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 3)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 4)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 5)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 6)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 7)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 8)

A CONFUSION OF BELIEFS AND TRADITIONS: OUR CHRISTIAN TOWER OF BABEL (Part 9)

Posted in Current Events

Tags: America, Archaeology, Christian Denominations, Confusion, Counterfeit Religious Traditions, False Forms of Christianity, Genesis, History, Lord Jesus, Mesopotamia, Moses, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Original Christian Community in Jerusalem, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Shinar, Sumer, The Great Awakening, Tower of Babel, Unreal Christianity

DEALING WITH HEART PAIN THROUGH KINDHEARTEDNESS

Jul 15

Posted by RJ Dawson

It is said that the greatest pain is heart pain. Sometimes it never goes away. Life is such that reminders of what caused it never cease.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. [Hebrews 4:15-16 KJV]

When Jesus came into Peter’s home, He saw his mother-in-law lying sick in bed with a fever. He touched her hand, and the fever left her; and she got up and waited on Him. When evening came, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed; and He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were ill. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases.” [Matthew 8:14-17]

Jesus wept. [John 11:35] [1]

I’ve written recently about the great pain the Lord Jesus suffered beyond His great suffering on the cross. There was ongoing pain that plagued Him throughout time. Maybe we do not think of God in that way, that He, as great and powerful as He is, suffers from something apparently only endemic to mere humans. Yet, the Scriptures are very clear on this subject: God suffers.

Perhaps that is why He is so into mercy. He goes out of His way to have compassion for others. And perhaps that is why so many people have a heart for mercy and compassion, even though they may have never submitted to the Lord. It is because we are made in God’s image. This is why even unrepentant sinners often find it in their heart to be loving and kind and help people along the way.

The last two plus years have been very difficult for a lot of people. Though never reported in the major media, a great many people have lost their businesses, their means to make a living, their relationships, and their health, many in spite of the so-called cure. Millions were forced to comply with authoritarian strictures that did much more harm than good. Millions will never recover. I am at a loss regarding what will become of so many of these people. And instead of this being a time of much greater soul searching, of much research toward answers, and of genuine caring on the part of those who made it through for those who didn’t and so many who are suffering still, we have seen an even greater manifestation of hardheartitis. Rather than move into an even greater state of compassion for the hurting, broken, and terribly betrayed, many have taken a hard heart against them, as if they all got what they deserved.

There is no way the Lord can be pleased with this. We know what touches His heart and we know He will do absolutely anything for anyone as demonstrated by His supreme sacrifice in payment for our sins, many of which are directed against Him. He has long since taken an attitude of forgiveness and hopeful reconciliation, of course, though he bears no fault. He will do anything in His power through righteous means to become reconciled to any person anywhere. And remember, though the Lord often gets blamed for the way things are or for what humans have done to Him and each other, He has never been guilty of sin. He is pure and holy. Sadly, some people gag at that truth.

ANOTHER CAR ADVENTURE

Though I believe in proper maintenance and keep my vehicle as well maintained as possible, over the last several months I have had a problem with said vehicle. It has a tendency to not start. Earlier it was due to a balky starter. There were times I would try to start the car with no success. I would wait a short while, turn the key again, and the engine would roar to life. I dealt with this for a year or two. It got worse. I took it in for repairs. I am blessed to have a great place to take my vehicle when the need arises. The people running it are honest and forthright. It is one of those rare places in that field in which you know they are shooting you straight. I have a great relationship with them.

I came across it, probably in the yellow pages, over a decade ago, when new to the area. I was about to take a long cross country trip. The day before, I was running a lot of last minute errands. It rained heavily. The next morning, when I started up the car, there was a problem. It was running like garbage. Since I had very little time, having appointments on the road that must be kept, I quickly looked through the phone book, chose a place that looked good to me, and gave them a call. The owner answered. I explained my situation. He said bring it in. When I got there, though he didn’t know me from Adam, and though he had other work in process, he attended to my car right away. I had chosen the right place. There is no doubt it was God-directed.

It turned out to be an ignition coil and a plug. He explained that there was a slight design flaw on my vehicle that allowed water to splash up and settle in the wells where the plugs and coils are located. He fixed the problem. I was there about two hours. I think it only cost me about $200. I thanked him profusely for going out his way to help me. He replied that he needed to help me get on the road.

When I took my car in maybe four years ago for the start problem I had then and they confirmed it was the starter, they put a new starter on it and all was well. What I didn’t know at that time was that the preferred starter they wanted was unavailable and so they got the next best thing, a starter from another manufacturer than the ones they usually installed. Last year, when the starter problem rose again, I took it back in. They replaced the starter.

Then they did something I have never seen done before or ever even heard of, and I talked to people about this that would know.

After installing the new starter, a good one from their main parts supplier which was then available, they brought out the old starter in a box and put it on the counter when I was paying. They said the old starter, the inferior one, was actually still under warranty. They explained why they had installed it previously. They told me to take it down to the parts house where they got it and ask for the warranty money. I was blown away that they would do that.

So I went to the local parts house. They said yes, the starter was still under warranty, but they would need to talk to the owners of the shop and give the warranty money through them. I returned to the garage. They called the parts house. The parts house released the money to the garage. As soon as they got the credit they came out and handed me about $130 or so for the old starter. I told them you can’t do that. They insisted. I said okay, then let’s split it. They refused. I essentially got a starter for free for three or four years. This was an unprecedented situation.

Now regarding my latest start problem, the one that has been off and on for the last half year or so, it turned out to be a bad battery terminal, the part that connects the wire directly to the battery. I’ve been dealing with cars forever and this kind of knowledge makes one feel like an idiot, but I logically thought it was the battery. When I took my car in on a previous occurrence, maybe two or three months ago, under similar conditions, they saw me right away, found that the battery tested good, and replaced one of the battery terminals with a much better one. For free. The owner did this. With a smile.

So the other day, I had a bunch of stuff to do that had to be done that day, and was about to leave early in the morning. And surprise, surprise, the car wouldn’t start. I could hardly believe it. It was fine just two days before. I live in an out of the way place. I prayed. I checked the old terminal. I took it loose, took it apart, cleaned what maybe needed cleaning, put it back together, tightened it down, and nothing. Dead battery. I would need a jump.

In this process a yard service contractor showed up not too far away and began mowing. With time wasting away and needing to get on the road, I prayed some more. I decided to go ask the yard guy for help. We had never met. I got his attention while he was mowing and explained my problem. He was very friendly. He first said he would come by in maybe thirty minutes. Then he suddenly stopped his mower, turned it off, and came from out of the yard. We had a friendly discussion. This was a positive guy. He agreed to come over right away. He pulled up next to my car, we hooked up my cables, and my car started right up. He noticed the bad terminal. We said our goodbyes. I thanked him profusely. He refused to take any money. I knew he wouldn’t but thought it was the right thing to do to at least offer.

I called my garage. They had no time. Were very busy. They were two weeks out. I explained the situation. He said he might have time just after lunch. Everywhere I went until then I had to keep my car running. Had many places to go. I had to leave my car running in parking lots. It never overheated. Also, when I had taken apart the bad terminal and cleaned it, the nut in one side never seated again properly. The connection was not very good. My car kept running. That afternoon I made it over to the garage. I had to wait. No big deal. But then the owner made time, came out to my car, and tested the battery. It was good. Incidentally, I bought the battery from them. It’s a five year battery. It’s been over four years. Batteries have since almost doubled in price.

He went back in the shop and got one of those excellent terminals they use and installed it. For free. And a smile. The car started right up. I thanked him profusely. I have prayed for these people many times. One can never know for the most part whether one’s prayers have had an impact but no matter. It is not the one who prays but the One who answers the prayers that makes the difference. These people are so busy they are actually two and a half weeks out and their customers keep making appointments. Half the garages in my area have gone out of business. They have almost more business than they can handle. And they continue being friendly and forthright with their customers.

I will leave it to you, dear readers, to make any spiritual applications regarding my stated adventure in this post. Is there a bad connection? Do the battery terminals need cleaning or replacement? Need a new starter or know someone who does? Maybe there’s a bad ignition coil or sparkplug. Regardless, the best way to deal with such problems is to first seek the Lord in prayer. Then be ready for the answer. And know that the answer will most often include mercy and compassion, either on our part or that of another. Sometimes we have to initiate the process.

Suffering is very real and we often have to deal with pain, but heartfelt mercy for those who hurt and are in need acts as a salve and anointing to meet such needs and absolve such hurts. The Lord demonstrated how this is done. Much compassion is called for in these times. We must give it and also receive it, depending on the circumstances. Dealing with pain, whether our own or that of others, is helped tremendously through simple acts of caring and love.

In my experience, I have discovered that beyond an apparent unseen barrier keeping people disconnected, a smile, an act of help though relatively minor, or something bigger such as miracles, all act as works of compassion that dissolve the barrier and allow for necessary human contact toward the alleviation of suffering. Most of us have been on both the giving and receiving ends of such interactions. Both have their purpose. Both are edifying. And you can’t have one without the other.

So, what began as a very hopeful day for me which turned into a short term mini-misadventure ended up being a great day thanks FIRST AND FOREMOST TO THE MERCY AND COMPASSION OF THE LORD JESUS, and secondly to some very good and friendly people who also demonstrated such care, one of which I had never met, who were willing to help out. For free.

And I’m not so sure they’re even professed Christians.

Posted in Current Events