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BAPTISM OF OPTIMISM: REJOICE!
He was born to die. He always knew it. He planned it. But even at the very darkest hour He knew there was a call for unbounded optimism: He would soon open the Way to Life.
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Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. [Hebrews 12:1-2]
COUNT IT ALL JOY
Mature Christians of the real variety are very well acquainted with giving a message most will reject. As the Lord Jesus engaged in the greatest ministry of all time with a perfect message expertly delivered and a perfect teaching curriculum second to none, no one was more aware of the inherent difficulty of the task at hand than Him, in that His perfect message would be wasted on the majority.
It would seem, during His time, that all impartial hearers and personal witnesses of His love, compassion, mercy, mighty works, and incessant miracles would immediately join up with Him in a veritable heartbeat if for no other reason than that nothing they experienced could be denied. Denial of His extraordinary presence and perfection was impossible. His ministry was that clear. It was absolutely astounding.
And yet, as a stark testimony to the sheer impossibility of errant and immoral human beings besought with a sinful human nature—obstinate and unyielding at its core to any and all reform—recalcitrant and unruly—not only did the majority of His own people reject His message, they also rejected Him and drove His Name into the dirt.
His “own people” constituted not only His fellow Israelites in general but also the political leaders of His nation, the religious leaders of His nation, the foreign leaders in positions of authority in His nation, an untold number of His relatives, and even members of His own immediate family. One can only wonder at the great mental, moral, and emotional disconnect existing in the heart of the willfully lost and the message that could set them free. The Lord had effectively given everything He had, even acting as a supernatural electrician running miles of spiritual romex connected to the power plant of Heaven directly to their hearts and all they had to do was flip a switch. BUT NO.
And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “He has lost His senses.” The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” [Mark 3:2-22]
Rather than acknowledge the great Light that had arrived for their salvation and honoring Him and praising Him and being thankful for Him they instead said He had an illegitimate birth, that He was a drunk and a glutton, that He was crazy, and that He was demon possessed. If this does not reveal to an impartial observer the wickedness of humanity nothing ever will. These hell bound moral laggards, at that time the greatest DAs in the history of the world though perceived by the world as upstanding and trustworthy, were the epitome of deceived demon-influenced dunderheads which a sinful unseeing nation prostrated themselves before and trusted exclusively with no thought of thinking for themselves or even giving God a glance. The blind were truly leading the blind but only because the wimpy blind yielded to the authoritative blind because they were far too fearful to risk thinking for themselves.
And yet none of it took the Lord by surprise. No one was more aware of the utter depravity of humanity. He created humanity. He watched humanity fall. He saw humanity from the very beginning from the Garden up to His present and knew very well what He was dealing with. And He came to this earth anyway. He subjected Himself to the vast stupidity and hate anyway.
He knew most would reject Him. He knew most would find fault with Him. He knew most would count themselves better than Him. He knew most would trust their own inclinations or those of their betters. He knew most would not budge an inch from whatever their chosen belief system was. He knew the majority of the indoctrinated and brainwashed would willingly remain that way.
He knew, for most of the people He preached to, that facts would never matter. Nor would the truth matter. Most would not and could not appreciate the truth. For most there was simply no love for facts and truth if these in any way violated their chosen beliefs.
BLINDED BY SIN
And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains. [John 9:39-41]
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]
“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.” [Revelation 3:17-18]
How spiritually blind must one be to indignantly and continuously reject the very Light that would heal their blindness and allow them to see spiritual reality? How dark are the hearts that refuse the Light which would otherwise brighten their being and deliver them from the eternal night?
THE JOY SET BEFORE HIM
Yet there were others, a decided and relative few, who took a completely different tack. They were personally bold enough to go against the grain of the fallen world and deceitful sinful culture. These were spiritual pioneers who would rather seek Light and salvation even it meant inviting the wrath of the wayward and cause ongoing personal suffering. They possessed a gravitas that strengthened them against all onslaughts from evil, both human and demonic, and allowed the Lord to greatly supplement their strength with a spiritual power none could resist.
These composed the Remnant. He would rescue these. He knew they would comply. He knew they would surrender to Him and obey. Why? Because they had already been communicating with Him through prayer and supplication for years, long before He ever arrived as one of us. They had been asking for His help. They knew He could help. They wanted Him. They longed for Him. They would do anything for Him. They knew He was and had always been the answer.
Of course, due to their excellent attitude and desire for actual spiritual reality they did not fare too well with other members of society who were impossible to communicate with on a spiritual level. These had a different mindset. They had very little in common with the unrepentant. The Remnant, with reference to this world, knew something was off. They refused to make peace with sin or accept the sinful ways of the world, though they also knew it would make life more difficult.
They knew the way of the Lord Jesus was the highest way, the most pure and righteous way, and they would do their best to follow it. Thus, they rejected the social relativism of the sinful culture which always sought an extremely low common denominator. Such relativism is, of course, the administered agenda of the controllers since dumbed-down masses all on the same drivel-inspired page of monotony are much easier to control and use to do their bidding. And the exact dynamic is present in Unreal Christianity.
OUR GLORIOUS PRESENT
People are waking up. People are gaining their sight. By allowing evil the upper hand and freedom to show itself in all its wickedness, that which had previously been hidden behind dark shadows has emerged into the open. They think the coast is clear. They think they are free to sin to their heart’s content with no ramifications or accountability. They have revealed themselves for what they are. And people are noticing. Those who desire righteousness are raising up a standard, first, in their own lives and then against the wicked. Many are coming to an understanding of repentance, what it is and why it is necessary.
Real Christians have always known from the time of their born again experience that a spiritual Rubicon must be crossed and that one can never go back. They know that when a person makes a commitment to the Lord Jesus it is an irrevocable commitment. There is no looking back or turning back or desire to do so. They know they have crossed a line of separation. The terms of the New Covenant demand it. Those who have recently been awakened know they can never unsee what they have already seen. They know too much.
They know the only remaining direction is forward.
The world of fakery, much of it media-inspired, whether cultural or religious, must be left behind.
BAPTISM OF OPTIMISM
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. [Psalm 23:1-3]
But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever. I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, and I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones. [Psalm 52:8-9]
The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. [Psalm 92:12-15]
He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. [Psalms 11:28]
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.” [Jeremiah 17:7-8]
Do not fear, O land, rejoice and be glad, for the Lord has done great things. Do not fear, beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness have turned green, for the tree has borne its fruit, the fig tree and the vine have yielded in full. So rejoice, O sons of Zion, and be glad in the Lord your God; for He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured down for you the rain, the early and latter rain as before. The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with the new wine and oil. [Joel 2:21-24]
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” [John 10:10b][1]
© 2022 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
STRANGE DAYS HAVE FOUND US
The 1960s ushered in the full-flowering of a new age, a weird age, with strange days, and pills that make you larger, and pills that make you small.
And today’s pills are consumed in mass quantities by young and old alike, but regarding truth and finding the path of God, don’t do anything at all.
So turning on, tuning in, and dropping out apparently didn’t achieve the desired result. Instead, it was a generation’s call to self-deception and the beginning of a mass exodus to the devil’s strange little wonderland.
DOWN A RABBIT HOLE
Since then the weirdness quotient has been gaining steady ground, through a process of fits and starts, as America decides it will do the wrong thing, then the right thing, then the wrong thing…
The “sane” generation of the sixties supported without question a government that slipped off track, while the up-and-coming insaners kept warning of gross evil and injustice to the nth degree. The sane rejected said argument and continued to blindly follow the lemmings trail. In time both groups merged by believing the big lie and the big liar.
It was only those who got close to the Lord Jesus, stayed close, and obeyed His Word who had a real handle on things, but these were rejected and are still, as the deceived majority always castigates the seeing minority.
And nowadays it has reached such crisis proportions that the majority seems to sit back and be led around by anyone and anything other than the Lord. Like one of those giant schools of fish in the nature vids all packed together like a single organism, moving in mass, darting here and there, told what to think, how to live, and what to believe.
Media manipulation has since sailed way off the charts, as good old Americans do the strangest things. It’s become an upside down world where evil has suddenly been vaulted to the top and worshipped as good. And anyone trying to right the course is seen as a complete idiot and moral degenerate while the real moral degenerates parade around in all their filthy glory with a zero shame index and a conscience long since destroyed:
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron… [1Timothy 4:1-2]
Some will fall away from the faith. This reveals the exodus of turncoats and destroys one of the greatest and most deceiving false doctrines, meaning many will quit on God and doom their souls for love of themselves and this fallen world.
Paying attention to deceitful spirits. HELLO? Sinners have always accessed the devil’s media, read his books, attended his lectures, and followed his lying advice, but unreal Christians? Uh, YEAH. When the devil speaks, people listen, as to a stockbroker with a hot tip. Better stay in the Word. Otherwise, newspaper taxis will appear on the shore, waiting to take you away.
Doctrines of demons—the teachings of invisible fallen angels—powerful entities that warp men’s minds with convoluted logic and outright deceptions, bringing mass confusion and a complete lack of understanding of the real spiritual world the Lord taught us about. Or tries to. It’s bad enough that people religiously believe the most idiotic things, but “Christians?” Unreal Christianity has possibly done more harm than all other false religions put together.
The hypocrisy of liars. The Lord Jesus warned us about the leaven of the Pharisees, mixing pure grade A extra virgin first cold press hypocrisy into all their teachings, and baking a bulbous loaf of dead bread guaranteed to confuse, obliterate critical thinking, make the partakers thereof spiritually deaf and blind, and leave their sanity on the docks as they sail away into a faux spiritual la la land.
Seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. Yep. Rejected the Lord. Burnt to the core of their little cerebellums. Up is down and black is white and good is evil, and magnetic polarity reverses course, and they spend their days opening up one giant Pandora’s box after another, beckoning the contents to flee like released rats into the world of the unsuspecting neutered and brainless to passively accept the Last Days Big Fake-Out.
Strange days have found us indeed. The weird quotient is rising exponentially. Hold on to your walk with God, folks, because it’s starting to get really wacky out there. In fact, staying as close as possible to the Lord will be the only thing that will save us from the great deception coming our way.
THE WHITE KNIGHT IS TALKING BACKWARDS
And this is just the start! Wait ‘til you see what’s coming next. If you think it’s weird now, and it is, you will be shocked and awed as the future unfolds. The cat is out of the bag. And more cats and bigger cats will follow. It’s going to look like Alice in Wonderland in plain sight. A nationwide epidemic of slappy face will break out as people keep trying to wake themselves up from the real time nightmare emerging.
These are the strange days of deep deception, the times of night descending into day. The deceiving power of the enemy is so strong we have largely not understood that a vast bizarro world has been surreptitiously built up all around us.
1984 is no longer knocking on your door—it’s in your living room.
LIFE HAS BECOME AN ILLUSION
“…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]
Fake Christians could get a clue if they obeyed God and honored His Word, but the great deception never stopped at the church doors. In fact, such places can easily hold their own against any New Age freak on the planet, both in weirdness quotient and outright rebellion. Instead of openly welcoming those dark wispy spectres traipsing down the aisles humming the theme from Star Trek and blowing their otherworldly breaths into passive minds, perhaps checking their credentials first would have been a good idea:
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. [1John 2:22-23]
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 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 4:1-3] [1]
And it is still in the world.
And it took the pill that makes it larger.
Go ask Alice.
© 2013 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
WAKE FROM SLUMBER: EMBRACE THE REAL KINGDOM
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” [John 18:36]
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The reality of the kingdom of the Lord is much more far-reaching than most Christians acknowledge. Many believers have made varying compromises toward this simple but extremely profound fact, that the Lord’s kingdom is thoroughly and unapologetically spiritual.
It is something that cannot be replicated in the material world but that has never stopped Christians from trying. There have always been ongoing, incessant movements throughout the Church Age to demystify the nature of the Lord’s kingdom and thoroughly revamp it into materialistic modes and representations. There has always been the strange thought in many Christian circles that material representations and symbols are indispensable to a proper understanding of the kingdom, in that without such the reality of real spirituality is both unknowable and unapproachable.
What this actually represents is complete ignorance of the Lord’s kingdom and an attempt to reformulate it into outward representations created to capture the mind and thus, the heart. But it doesn’t work. It only functions on a mundane level that many Christians are apparently satisfied with and only serves to cover up and cloud over the possibility of knowing the actual kingdom.
IMAGE IS EVERYTHING? NOT
There is a reason the Lord God said from the very beginning to never make any kind of graven image or material representation of what is thought to be of the spiritual world or the things that comprise it. Invariably, if one is wont to create such, one will invariably create something sinister regardless of how benign it may appear outwardly. In the most obtuse sense, someone feels he must construct a small image to which he will direct his “spiritual” energy and thought, in that he may feel a strong need for such though completely ignorant of why or why it must be such. These efforts grow in time to full-fledged statuary of perfect human forms, something the ancient Greeks perfected centuries before the Lord’s time.
We still have a great many examples of this ancient “art” and many more representations, of course, that have been created since. It gets seriously goofy when one lays eyes on the ridiculous stone figures of such people as George Washington and other founding fathers of America. This entire thing could not be more of a joke. I think Washington himself would be greatly embarrassed and would probably lead the charge in getting rid of them. One of the even more goofy efforts in this vein is the trend that began a few decades ago in constructing statues of baseball players outside major league baseball parks. Baseball players? Seriously? I like baseball but whoever signs off on this stuff needs to have their head examined.
The Lord has always warned against any of this stuff because people can be so easily deceived and begin seeing these things as reality. But they are mere idols. Other than the Lord Jesus, every human being who ever lived is flawed and sinful regardless of what they or others may think. No human being is worthy of a statue nor is the human being in general worthy of such, nor is such a proper representation anyway. Everything about unregenerate humanity is actually antithetical to spirituality, the antithesis of honor, and screams out the need for humility.
THE DEFAULT MUST BE RADICALLY ADJUSTED
Human beings are all going to hell without the Lord’s salvation. Regardless of all the good we know about everyone, there is also all the bad which must be acknowledged. Something must be done about it. Human beings can get so caught up in their own good looks or accomplishments, or the many material items they may have been able to acquire, and believe that all of that is somehow indicative of spiritual worth and self worth. It is not.
Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.” [Luke 12:15]
The default eternal destination of every human being is hell. If something is not done to correct that then that is where one will end up. If one does nothing to change and attempt to get right with God one has no chance. But one must not only begin the process, one must see it through, no matter what it takes or how long it takes. Eternity is riding on it. The Lord stood before Pilate at His ongoing trial and stated this very clearly. Here was God Himself making it very clear that His kingdom was not of this earth. Pilate was an intelligent man but completely failed to grasp this truth.
Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.” [John 18:33-38]
Here was God. YHWH. The Great I AM. Standing before a mere human potentate. His rabid enemies right outside wanting to kill Him. This pretty much tells you all you need to know about the real nature of this world and of humanity. Why such a great divide? How did this happen?
It is obvious that the real Gospel calls for radical change and transformation, something the majority of Christians have never engaged in and often shun. Many of these have substituted material representations and large material structures costing great amounts of money to build and maintain. Many have substituted counterfeit doctrines and teachings resulting in spiritual ignorance. What would the Lord say?
Keep in mind that the Lord never wanted to be replaced by human leaders but allowed it only because people insisted. We also know He doesn’t dwell in houses made with human hands.
Why then the temple? Again, the entire paradigm changed forever after the Babylonian Captivity. A second temple was built but it never had anything in the Holy of Holies. The Ark of the Covenant was gone and has been missing ever since then. The third temple built by Herod, that which authorities insist was actually still the second temple, was also empty where it mattered. Was this a sign?
DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY
And then the Lord came and they killed Him. They wanted the material. They wanted the money. They wanted the prestige. They wanted the honor. But the Lord said all of that was a complete joke and what one really needs is to get one’s spiritual eyes fixed. He stood before His inquisitors with nothing. This Man who made the universe, who created the planet, who set off Creation. This Man stood before them with nothing that they could see. And yet He was rich beyond measure. He would go through the process. He would allow them to kill Him. But He also warned them of what was coming and the judgment they would face. They paid no attention, just as most people pay no attention to what is required of them to gain eternal life.
It would be good if all Christians would get spiritual. It would be good if we would all pay attention to actual spiritual reality. If we did the things the Lord actually told us to do it would make more sense. The things the apostle Paul taught regarding spiritual gifts would make more sense. All Christians would flock to spiritual truth and do all that was required.
More Christians would wake from their slumber.
While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.” [Matthew 27:19] [1]
© 2018 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
ANTI-DISCIPLESHIP: The Problem of Willful Immaturity
The Lord Jesus commanded us to be excellent disciples. We must be fully trained. The majority of Christians refuse this command. Most Christians are willfully immature.
“A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.” [Luke 6:40]
IGNORANCE IS BLINDNESS
Some people have very low IQs. Their intelligence level is not their fault. There are low IQ people in the world who have achieved masterfully. I believe the Lord is proud of them. I believe the Lord is proud of anyone who overcomes against great odds to achieve great things. He taught many times in His parables on this theme. He implied clearly that it is never about what a person may start out with but what a person achieves even though the odds are stacked against success.
Most such people do not achieve, of course, which only makes those who do stand out all the more in showing what is actually possible.
Some people start well but are shut down repeatedly by circumstances not under their control. But they refuse to stay shut down. They get back up, are knocked down, get back up, then something comes against them from out in left field and knocks them down again. They think a minute, get their bearings, refuse to be defeated, and get right back up. They start to figure out that as long as they get back up and go at it again they have a chance. But they also start to see that every time they get back up after the enemy tries to destroy them that the enemy has less power.
It is the same with disciples of the Lord Jesus. These are the real Christians. They take the Lord’s commands and instructions seriously. They are thanked for their great desire to do right by God by being attacked all the more. And for those who know and have been through it, the very worst attacks are those by friends.
Why do some Christians act like first-class asses? Why are some Christians filled with so much hate? There are reasons, you know. Here’s one of them:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? [Matthew 23:29-33]
This exact dynamic has been playing out for a very long time among Christian adherents though most of it has gone unacknowledged or is completely unseen. It is unseen due to ignorance. Many Christians are ignorant because they refuse to obey the Lord and do their proper work. When Christians refuse to be real disciples they become ignorant of spiritual things. This ignorance creates a wall. The wall shields them from the truth. They can’t see it. They become blind to truth. Then they act out on what they know, which is not much, and attempt to defend their place of ignorance and laziness, which is not defendable. Then they resort to anger and hate to defend themselves. Thus they become not only all the more stupid but all the more close-minded and hateful.
We know what happens with human inbreeding. We know that inbreeding causes problems and if it is not stopped the problems grow worse over time. The people thereof become more prone to mutations and disease. Inbreeding is not healthy.
The same thing happens with Christian denominations and churches. If there is no free flow of the Holy Spirit, no new ideas, knowledge, or new applications, no cross-pollination, and especially no emphasis on obeying and following the Lord and walking in real discipleship, the people thereof will grow spiritually stupid and ignorant of the Word of God. They become stagnant. They become inbred. They see their little place as the entire world. They see everyone else as inferior. This inbred condition causes a distrust and hatred of all things and all people unlike themselves. There is only one solution for this terrible condition and dreaded disease:
READ THE WORD OF GOD. STUDY INTENTLY THE PURE TEACHINGS OF THE LORD JESUS. DO THIS ON YOUR OWN. LET IT BE STRICTLY BETWEEN YOU AND THE LORD JESUS.
Anyone who refuses to read the Word of God is deceived. Let me repeat: ANYONE WHO REFUSES TO READ THE WORD OF GOD IS DECEIVED. PERIOD.
They are spiritually blind. It is not possible to see without the one who is able to heal blind eyes and grant sight. It is especially problematic when Christians are thus blind. It is most problematic when Christian leaders are blind. Sadly, there’s a bunch of them. Christian Pharisees are everywhere, hidden in plain sight.
And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? [Luke 6:39] [1]
© 2016 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE SALT OF THE EARTH
“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]
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You know the wrong people are in charge when sin triumphs.
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When sinful people have their way and no corrective measures are taken, greater sin happens. This causes lesser sin to remain completely untouched and such lesser sin becomes interwoven into the fabric of the culture.
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And every time those in cultural control allow greater sin to transpire without the proper corrective, those sins, greater than the lesser sins, also become culturally acceptable.
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The proof of resident sin and spiritual blindness is that otherwise sane people reject obvious answers.
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Is not the continual application of failed and unworkable methods to correct growing and expanding problems while also rejecting obviously correct, workable, and time-honored solutions a form of insanity?
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SPIRALING OUT OF CONTROL INTO EVER-INCREASING SIN AND LAWLESSNESS
We now live in the time when sin and lawlessness are going through the roof. Lawlessness has been rising exponentially.
Every time someone tries to do something about it they get shouted down by the sin-embracing seeming majority.
But this seeming majority is not at all the actual majority. It is simply a unified, defiant, vocal marginal faction that has taken over and won the culture war.
How?
BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH ARE NOT DOING THEIR JOB.
SALT AND LIGHT IN NAME ONLY
Many American “Christians,” millions and millions of them, are sitting around doing absolutely nothing other than being “good church people.” Their authority figures have long since ran off all the real Christians who possess great salt and light because such leaders prefer collections of spiritually weak people who meekly always do what they’re told but rarely or NEVER what the Lord Jesus tells them to do.
Such God rejecters—“Christians” in Name Only—are infinitely easier to control, manipulate, and house, and much more likely to support false prophets. By surrendering their God-ordained status as the Salt of the Earth and Shining Lights with Eyes to See, they are no longer worth anything to God.
“Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” [Luke 14:34-35]
The ethos of real Christianity has thus been destroyed among the majority.
Salt and Light now only exists among those real Christians who serve ONLY the Lord Jesus.
American “Christians” in general should be ashamed, but like Americans in general, they have become spiritually emasculated by their bless-me clubs.
CONNECTION AND CLUE TO THE PAST
The Lord Jesus clearly stated that the last days of the world would be like the days of Noah:
“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
“It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
“It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.” [Luke 17:26-30]
LINKING THE FLOOD WITH SODOM
Have you ever noticed that the Lord Jesus tied these two accounts together? Both accounts relate to great judgment upon thoroughly depraved and morally corrupted people. By the time God’s judgment and final destruction arrived, it was because the people had reached the full limit of sin and were beyond redemption.
They all refused the corrective of repentance and thus no grace could possibly be granted. They loved sin. They wanted it. They chose it. They were no longer good for anything.
We know the sin of Sodom. Undoubtedly, it was also the same among the people who refused the ark of Noah.
According to the Lord Jesus, the following are the activities the people of both historical accounts were involved in just prior to final destruction:
(1) They were eating
(2) They were drinking
(3) They were marrying
(4) They were being given in marriage
(5) They were buying
(6) They were selling
(7) They were planting
(8) They were building
During the great flood, the entire population of the world was destroyed except for the eight people on the ark.
During the destruction of Sodom, the entire population of those cities was destroyed, except for the rescued Lot and his daughters.
This proves that most, the vast majority, will reject the ark of the Lord’s salvation in the last days and will refuse to exit their doomed antichrist cultures.
It means exactly what the scriptures claimed almost 2000 years ago:
But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [2Timothy 3:13]
CLEANING UP SINFUL CRISIS DISASTERS
There are a few people reading this who know what I’m referring to. You have been involved in impossible clean-up projects as the result of the great sins of others. You know what it’s like to be involved on the fixing end of an impossible crisis that happened because of outright sin and rebellion. You know how much effort it takes to become Salt and Light, to be Salt and Light, and to work with Salt and Light to clean up corruption. It’s a great feeling to work so hard and see great results.
But what does one do when the people causing all the gross corruption are unwilling to fix the mess they created? What happens when they laugh at the corrective of repentance? What happens when such people become the majority? And what happens when so-called leaders bow to the dictates of the sinful majority and refuse to apply the proper corrective?
You’re seeing it right now.
Sin is spiraling out of control into ever-increasing lawlessness.
The proof of resident sin and spiritual blindness is that otherwise sane people reject the obvious answers to correct the problem, and refuse to correct it even if they manage to know the answers.
This is the point when a culture has lost all sense. There is no salt. There is no light.
Being the Salt of the Earth is now not only politically incorrect, it is religiously incorrect.
Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.
No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him.
Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning.
The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. [1John 3:4-8] [1]
Each and every entity that allows sin and promotes sin is of the devil.
THE LORD JESUS IS THE ONLY ANSWER
All real Christians in America must get the big idea if they have not already. It is only the Lord Jesus who has the answers to fix the problem, and He works through His people—those who have surrendered to His authority and become real disciples.
But He was rejected by His own, as all real Christians are rejected by their own.
As sin increases, the people who know how to fix things and have the power and ability to fix things are increasingly rejected by the ones who are increasingly destroying things.
Yet, the love of the Lord is such that He is bringing a Great Awakening to America anyway.
If you believe yourself to be a real Christian, then walk in complete confidence, strength, and anointing that you may be used of God to bring Salt and Light to a place and culture in desperate need of it, though you must wade through hate, indifference, and rejection to get the job done.
Don’t just take up your cross.
TAKE UP ALSO THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
BE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.
© 2015 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Blessed Are The Eyes That See
Formerly, truth shone like the sun.
There was no denying it. It stood forth for all to see, and all could see, and all did see.
There was never any thought of questioning something so perfectly, starkly, and prodigiously shining forth.
Truth was like Everest or the Pacific or the vast blue sky above. It was the fruited plain that stretched from horizon to horizon, north to south, and east to west. It had no actual boundaries.
And it was free.
But then, slowly, terribly, a grey darkness drifted in, ever so slightly, deceiving, conniving, covering up, shading, equivocating, and probing—not against the truth, but against the perception of it. For it was perception that mattered.
In other words, one cannot actually question Mount Everest or the Pacific Ocean. But one can question one’s perception of Mount Everest or the Pacific Ocean.
Do they really exist?
How do you know?
Why are you so sure?
Do you just take everything you are told as a given?
Are you so gullible?
Can you not think for yourself?
The darkness, actually a light shade of grey, became somewhat darker. As those who questioned obvious truth became increasingly more perplexed, though they had not been previously, and though they had also shined bright like the sun in innocence and pure faith and love, with glowing smiles and clear consciences, and no reason to worry, their souls also became darker.
Then they became foolish. They eventually became idiots. Truth became lost to them and they became wise only in their own eyes, and they grouped themselves together in communities of ignorance, and they began practicing very strange behavior, and engaging in increasingly horrendous deeds.
They fell completely out of their first estate and tumbled down several spiritual echelons until they were no longer spirit at all but pure animalistic purveyors and practitioners of evil most foul and most dark.
And they liked it.
And they built religious communities and claimed the discovery of new truth and truths and new light and new ways of seeing things and new perspectives with new allowances and laws and manners of living, and they taught them, and these things became a code to live by.
And they did live by them. And their world was as dark as dark could be and all the people were as blind as could be but they smiled and lived and carried on as if they were light and walking in the light.
And they cursed the darkness. The darkness that was actually the light. The light that had never stopped shining. And they cursed the truth as well, and disbelieved it. They disbelieved it in mass.
The truth had never stopped being the truth. Mount Everest was still Mount Everest. The Pacific Ocean was still the Pacific Ocean as it had always been.
And the vast sky was still blue.
But not according to their perception, because their perception had changed, and thus, their perspective had changed, and thus, the obvious was no longer obvious whatsoever.
Professing to be wise, they became fools… [Romans 1:22]
And they hated one another and called each other heretics and started denominations. And they had religious wars over points of doctrine and burned one another at the stake and murdered and maimed in the name of God and for the cause of their religion.
And to this day they continue to violate the two commandments upon which the entire Law of Moses and Prophetic Books hang.
They have lost their way.
They have smiles on their faces but little love.
And they act like they know God.
And go through their routines every Sunday morning.
In darkness.
With eyes that don’t see.
And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”
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. 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.
“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.
“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.’
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.
“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]
© 2013 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
