“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”

When you have eyes to see you will see with ease and with understanding. Your senses will be attacked, your logic must be set aside, and you must lean into the wind of God’s plan.

As in sailing you do not sail or face directly into the wind. That point of sail is called “In irons.” It is a no go point of sail.

We must not be fearfully focused on the happenings of today. Most were clearly prophesied. The winds of change we are feeling will be dealt with far more successfully if we set our sails at an angle to the wind. We must use the wind to our benefit.

One of the fastest points of sail is called “Close reach or beating” Looking at a clock, your vessel is pointed at the 1:00 position to the wind even though your destination is at 12:00. The wind is coming from 12:00 so… the angle gets you moving along with drawing your sail in tight and keeping pressure on the rudder. If you let go of the rudder, the boat will turn into the wind and stop forward motion. Our hand is meant to be on that rudder. God’s sometimes turbulent instructions are not supposed to stop you rather He is trying to empower us.

The boat is our personal life, the sails are the understanding we have of the Word and the water is the resistant sea of life we all must cross.

Our understanding of how our boat operates tells is to find the best angle to the wind. Sometimes a sailor will spot a point on an opposite shore and use it to angle the boat into the wind properly. What if a person or a need were used to point our way, even though a “storm” is brewing? What if a condition God has wanted us to deal with is a point we could aim for?

When we sense God’s fury is rising according to His Word, why should we be fearful? Why not adjust our course toward a point on the opposite shore of our problems and head that way, deal with it. It is not our final destination! It is however a way to get us to our destination successfully.

The nature of sailing through the storms of life is that we almost always have to take a different “tack” or less direct direction in order to eventually get to where we want to go. We zig-zag as it were but we know we are moving up-wind. We are getting there.

Each time we “come about” zig or zag, we are looking at different shore line maybe a different problem or person that God wants us to aim at. The Wind will empower us as we turn our rudder accordingly, feeling the resistance vibrate the rudder as we gain speed.

Remember in turning to duck, as the boom swings to the other side of the boat and  catches the wind. Do not be half hearted about this maneuver. Let the forward momentum of your successfully dealing with what ever it was the Holy Spirit had you aim at before empower your next “tack.” If the boat does not complete the process of “coming about” if it lacks enough forward motion, you will find yourself heading into the wind, “luffing” at a dead stop or “In irons.”

In John 16:5 Jesus tells the disciples “I am going to Him who sent Me.” Sorrow filled their hearts. This was a storm to the disciples. “It is to your advantage that I go away.” (vs 7)

This is the angle, the “tack,” the point of sail they needed to see. Understanding will come if they embrace the correct point of sail. The best speed to their destination is achieved as the “all truth” is revealed to them. Their (our) sail must be set to take advantage of the Wind of these times. Our rudder is held firm against life’s resistance keeping the Wind, our source of forward propulsion, in our sails. We need the pressure.

Remember that night Jesus walked on the water it was storming. When He (and Peter) got into the boat, Jesus did not say “Peace…be still” to the Storm. One gospel says,
”Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going.” John 6:21 (NKJV) 

That night God was the Storm. The disciples had failed to learn something.

“Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened.” Mark 6:51-52 (NASB)

“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

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“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”  Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NASB)

“To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.  Deuteronomy 4:35 (NASB)

In a group discussion on 6-11-16, the Spirit asked me, “Is there a lid on your vessel?”

I come to you in the name of my savior Jesus the Messiah, “Yahweh is salvation, the anointed one.”

I also come to you in my name Michael which means “who…is like God?” for there is none like Him, who is gracious and kind towards those that are His in Spirit and truth, and even towards evil men which many of us were.

Even in the face of dreadful happenings, or in examining our own self, let us not weep as though we are forsaken, as though we are cut off from God. For if we grieve as though cut off where shall we run for help? There is only One to run to, our refuge, a high tower. Do we not have a God of mercy and justice?

For even as Nehemiah said over the weeping people, weeping because they had heard the Words of the Law being read by Ezra and the law without relationship is death; as it was supposed to be.

“This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.”

”Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”  Nehemiah 8:9 (NASB)

Nehemiah somehow knew that our grief is misplaced if when we finally hear the Word only sorrow comes to heart. What we did not understand we are not held accountable for.

“…for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation.”

In His great mercy, it is not what we have done but what we do in our repentance, what we do next, that makes the difference with Him!

As the Lord is trying to expand our understanding is it to grieve us? Will He not strengthen us to walk in it? Will He not even give us a vision for it lest we perish?

As Jesus changes our paradigm; our “…generally accepted concept that explains a more complex idea or set of data ” * We must ask ourselves, if there is a lid on our vessel?

* Webster’s New World Dictionary, (revised and updated)

As a vessel of His do we say what He is to pour in or not? Like the pot, are we to say to the Potter how and for what shall we be made?

So was there a lid on the minds and hearts Jesus spoke to? A lid is a containing and protective device. Back then they were protecting what layers of credibility (Rabbi’s) had spoken and yet they did not see the Messiah standing right before them. (Matt 16:3) This is the danger we face as believers today. We must ask ourselves, “Do I have a lid? What is my lid protecting?” “God’s Word!” you say?” Maybe we should say, “Our understanding of God’s Word or the doctrines we have built our house upon!”

I am NOT saying everything we have believed is wrong. I am saying God in His sovereignty and by necessity is redirecting our attention to our part in His timeline and this must be understood by us with an entrusting belief and obedience.

Jesus came to heal our impaired judgment through teaching, Jesus had NO lid. Even in the anxiousness and distress in the Garden, He knew the future. Do we? Do we trust the future He has revealed or is our lid on too tight?

Is God still able to pour in? Is the Holy Spirit able to pour into you more of His “all truth?” He cannot with a lid in place. He can not pour in something fresh. What about when we are preparing to preach or when an alarming teaching comes forward? Are these not alarming times? We limit God and His Holy Spirit when a lid is in place.

Loved ones, I took the lid away a long time ago. Some of what I write about seems unorthodox. God is the most unorthodox of all. God is never inside the box except to grasp us by the collar and lift us out! He understands our reverence but points to His sovereignty. He is pouring out a new thing. Can He pour from us? In our claim to “believe” (Pisteuo entrust) in Him, will we then obey?

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36

God and what He pours into us does not need our protection. It, in all its freshness, needs to be poured out. We can neither receive, fresh truth and the critical insight for our times, nor pour it out as intended, if we have a lid… on our vessel.

“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

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“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB)

Knock, knock, knock’in on heavens door*. Part 2

* “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”  (Written and sung by Bob Dylan, CBS Records)

August 1981, Cruising south along Interstate 95 through the rolling hills of North Carolina, I am alone in my escape. Few cars are seen in the distance in either direction. It has a calming effect as my mind wanders through the moments, the flashes of warning I had experienced in the previous few weeks. In my ignorance I had almost missed them. Some of those warnings were so profound I could not help but ponder my short-sightedness.

If you knew what I knew, you would not wonder why I frequently checked the rear-view mirror. Their arm had a long reach if they decided to extend it. I knew they would, so I looked again and again until I saw it. The very thing I feared came upon me!

I was cruising down a long sweeping hill at seventy miles per hour. Up over the hill behind me pops a black Cadillac Sedan Deville with cream-yellow Jersey plates. He is catching up fast. “Oh Jesus….,” came to mind and mouth. Not that I was on such intimate terms with Him. It is amazing how we speak His name as though familiar. Why does He come to mind or mouth first anyway?

The car is the right color, the right plates, dark tinting, and I imagine anger in its ominous aggressive charge. “Oh God, please don’t let them catch me out here.” I knew what the headlines would read in the local Podunk Gazette. “Man found dead in bullet riddled car!” Dateline: Podunk “After careening off of Interstate 95, a car and its driver, both riddled with bullet holes, were found in a ravine. The young man appears to be the victim of extreme road rage. There were no witnesses. His identity is yet to be established.”

The black Caddy came bearing down on me. Fear consumed me as my heart raced. For some reason I did not try to outrun him. It would have been useless. I drove he drove, until finally upon me, He made his move to pass along side. The moment of truth had come. “Oh God….. “

How does my story relate to this book? We, yes we, are facing a moment of truth. The enemy of God is now overtaking us, pulling along side of us. Do we know our enemy? Do we know what is to come, how we will react?

Now wheel to wheel, I am looking at my adversary from the corner of my eye. I floored it and jerked the steering wheel hard to the left crashing against the Black Caddy! My car was heavier and pushed the other off the road in a cloud of reddish dust. It rolled over and over moving forward with me in slow motion as I wrestled my car under control. It was then I saw a small child thrown out of the broken rear door window. Ejected like a rag doll rocket, he flew through the air toward me, I slammed on the brakes! With a deadly smash, my windshield became a massive web of fractures. Framed by the chaos, looking at me as wide eyed as I was at her was the bloodied lifeless face of a little girl. Those chasing me would not have had …”Oh God, …OH GOD …OH GOD!” I screamed in wide-eyed terror, “What have I …?” 

What have I done? Fortunately, I have only told you a story, a story of me reacting the wrong way, in a true situation. In that imagined moment, fear chose for me. I failed to be sure who my enemy was or was not. I chose violence in the face of fear. They lose. I lose. Had this really happened, the life I was to receive from God would never have happened. Likewise, the eternal life we are to receive from God will never happen if our reactions to future fearful events are not held in check by His Spirit and His powerful understanding.

“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

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“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”learly a two stage salvation. 

How can that be? If so, what stage are each of us in?

Paul said, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵  He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,  whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷  so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7 (NASB)

Note two processes. 1. the washing of Regeneration (Greek means renewal or regenerated but is formed from 2 root words meaning to bring back and (to) life or birth) See Strong’s 1343

2. “Renewing” (Greek means “renovation) see Strong’s 342.

Paul (again) makes it a little clearer.

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Much more then, having now been justified, by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:8-10 (NASB)

Note: 1. Justified (declared righteous) and so reconciled to God by the blood of Jesus. 2. (future tense) through Him.   Again, 1. Reconciled (by justification) to God by the death of Jesus, we shall be saved by His (Jesus’) life.

We must first be declared righteous by identification with the blood of Jesus where we ask Him to be Lord of our lives. Then we enter into the process of making Him Lord by embracing His Way, Truth and Life.

John expresses the two stage experience this way, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36 (NASB)

Again two processes. Expressing trust while knowing that believing means to entrust yourself to the Lordship of Jesus, to obey the Son! Once reconciled, to not obey or disobey is rebellion and the breaking of the covenant you have entered into with God. The Ways of Jesus are meant to empower us further through life in righteousness by righteous choices. Only obedience accomplishes this.

Much of the church has not seen obedience as an expected fruit or criteria by God, I believe, because we have not recognized the two stage plan of salvation. Many have prayed a prayer and think OK I am good to go? You know they have! What about us? Are we obedient in the Lord’s ways? Do we hate anyone? Does anyone hate us? Who are we going to vote for? Do they adhere to Godly principles? Does this question make you angry with me?

Of course we have no chance of salvation without reconciliation. We have no chance of future salvation if we violate the rules and do not repent from our heart. We will have made our birthright of no account by choosing to hate or apologize, clinging to our bowl of soup, if you will. (Heb 12:14-16)

Remember Jesus said (I paraphrase) he who endures to the end will be saved. (Matthew 24 13-14) That is future tense. He is speaking to believers of their future reward, their eternal salvation in the future and the fact that something very specific will cause them to lose that reward. He also would have lost His resurrected life if He had not loved us enough to forgive and intercede for us from the cross.

“Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³  “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” Matthew 24:12-13 (NASB)

Jesus is also saying that a cross-like type of experience does not exempt us from loving our offenders and interceding for them.

Clearly there is a future understanding to our salvation. That is profound and contradictory to our thinking that nothing is required of us. Jesus came to tell us saying there are things required of us in our development as children of God IN Christ.

I heard a loved and honorable local preacher on the radio us a slogan that sounds good. “All you need is Jesus.” Yes that is true if you understand that there are two stages to salvation. Reconciliation which means mutual submission between God and us, and then the renovating of our souls in the renewing of our minds as demonstrated by us in our obedience to the Ways of Jesus the Christ.

Renewing (which follows reconciliation) is the result of learning what is expected of children of God, we the joint heirs with Jesus, and obeying these several commandments. John 14:15, 15:10,  “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name  of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18 (NASB)

Finally, in Sunday school the word “believe” was discussed. “Pisteuo” to believe, to entrust. Strong’s 4100, and I did not have to say a word at all in class! PTL! The Lord told me not to speak at all in class before I left home for church.

“He who believes [entrusts himself to] Him is not judged; he who does not believe [entrust himself to Him] has been judged already, because he has not believed [entrusted] in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18 (NASB)

Jesus name means “Yahweh saves.” This is the meaning behind the name of Jesus and it is what we must believe entrust ourselves to. How do we do that? Proceed from being reconciled to God into a life of practiced obedience to Jesus and His commandments.

Our future salvation is arrived at by two stages, reconciliation and renewing or renovation by the Holy Spirit; resulting in our obedience.  “We are saved by His life.” Romans 5:10

One last point. The renewing to come after reconciliation had to happen after Jesus departed when the Holy Spirit would be sent. He would bring to our remembrance the Words of Jesus guiding us into all truth. Truth that requires a guide.

“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

   We initiate the return of Christ!  (The E-book)

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“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”  Revelation 12:11 (KJV)

Last night during my walk I was thinking about this scripture. A question came to mind. Why didn’t God say, “…the blood of the Lamb and their testimony? Our testimony should be all about Him yes?

What scripture, what Word, has helped form your testimony? How did scripture, the Words of eternal life, the Words of Christ, lift you to a place in Him like you’ve never known before? Or is that yet to happen?

Your new birth, your reconciliation begins with the death of Christ and the covering of His blood as you request His Lordship. As Paul says, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:10

Paul again says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

Just remember that newness, (new ‘kainos’ in freshness, not age ‘neos’) Jesus came to freshen up our understanding of God and His Word.

Yes, as babes in Christ we need the milk of the Word to thrive but it is not about age, it is about maturity in Christ.

At some point, the Word, your diet, changes because you are changing. You need the more mature Word, the meat of the Word.

As I heard it said in a sermon yesterday, “We need the protein of the Word, the building blocks of life, in order to grow and continue to thrive in Him.

As I share scriptures that challenge us, many of them are presented as new even thought they were always there. The opening of our eyes of understanding is a primary goal of the Holy Spirit.

My calling is to trumpet the Word God shows me (I truly believe by the Holy Spirit.) I pray your heart witnesses to it against traditional understanding. We are being guided into truth that requires a guide. IT WILL NOT look like it once did!

Another example in the sermon was a blindfolded boy of about 10 years who was led out into the congregation as 4 different women, each with a microphone, simultaneously gave him instructions. One was his mother.

It was dramatic! He would take a few steps, in the cacophony of voices, he would turn but hesitate, take a turn, a few more steps and finally took a step up, and another step up, into his mother’s arms.

In the confusing mass of voices, many similar to his mom’s, by concentrating he was able to focus on the voice he knew and trusted. He had never been tested this way before.

His Word is calling to us with a new urgency. We cannot deny scripture that guides us by warning. There have been many voices speaking to us over the decades. Speaking today, the Holy Spirit is revealing “all truth” as Jesus said He would.

They read scripture plainly. It took Jesus to show them more. The Holy Spirit was sent to show us even more. How much more will this understanding mean to us? Will we in deed grasp the Words of eternal life, hearing His voice in our hearts? Will those Words change us more, becoming the Word of our testimony?

“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

   We initiate the return of Christ!  (The E-book)

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“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! Deuteronomy 6:4 (NKJV)

Would a loving God do this? Did God’s harsh dealings with those who worshiped false gods in ancient times contradict His being a loving God?

Who is He a loving God to but His own? Where do we find mercy, grace and enduring love directed generously to but to His own?

In destroying the enemies of His own is this not an extension of the destruction seen in Noah’s day? Who were those He destroyed from the earth? Is He not going to do the same again? Luke 17:26

Does the Father not have a goal to achieve? Will He not achieve it?

Look around you. What is worshiped, what is revered, where are men’s hearts? WE, His own, wrestle with carnality when carnality should have died in us.

Rejoice!

Like the thrashings of a dying man our carnality is in its death knell. The rattle of last breaths, of anger, bitterness and harsh reactions is dying in those who are His. It is a terminal condition filled with hope for any who wish to live like new. For “all things become new..”

Is it not a process? Let us pursue the process of dying unto living and that living be a reflection of life in the kingdom and eternity. Let us live now like Him, having received through Christ, knowledge, by grace and peace, and all things pertaining to life and godliness. 2 Peter 1: 2-4

Both needs must be met. Not just one. Life and godliness.

Do not say, “It is not possible!”

Let your eyes and heart be lifted up to your potential and your calling in Him!

Amen and amen.

“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

   We initiate the return of Christ!  (The E-book)

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“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”

On 2-6-16 in prayer I asked. “Jeremiah 4”   I read it. “Oh my!”

I suggest you read it in light of what God did not like then He still does not like or tolerate now.

Here are a couple of quotes from Jeremiah 4.
”O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou may be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?”  Jeremiah 4:14 (KJV)

“Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you? Jeremiah 4:14 (NASB)

And again it says, “Your ways and your deeds have brought these things to you. This is your evil. How bitter! How it has touched your heart!” Jeremiah 4:18 (NASB)

We cannot forsake what we can learn from the prophets and the history they speak of. The future can be seen in His positions toward those He loves. He has not changed.

Israel was expected to wash their hearts. “…wash thine heart from wickedness,…” So are we. Yes, we do it!

That same day in prayer (2-6-2016) I was impressed to write of what must happen before Jesus can return.

These events are in no particular order except the first item which I believe triggers the rest. Its time has come.

Enduring love saves, the good news of the kingdom, must be preached as a witness world-wide.

“But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved; and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:13-14.

The world-wide preaching or witnessing about “enduring love saves,” is an unfulfilled prophecy by Jesus. It is up to us to preach it. Every scripture about love applies. The resources for your messages are abundant.

This message is good news but as an event spoken of by Jesus it also ushers in very difficult times ahead of Christ’s return. Many will fall away that did not have too if we fail to see our opportunity.

The Apostasy must occur and the man of lawlessness be revealed. Thessalonians 2:3-4
”Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,  who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (NASB)

The number of Martyrs (deaths) must be fulfilled.

“… and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹ And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.” Revelation 6:10-11 (NASB)

The many will love darkness and not light. John 1:5, 3:19, 12:46.
“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.” John 3:19 (NASB)

The darkness of God will descend upon mankind in the Day of the Lord.
”Alas, you who are longing for the day of the LORD, For what purpose will the day of the LORD be to you? It will be darkness and not light;…” “Will not the day of the LORD be darkness instead of light, even gloom with no brightness in it?”  Amos 5:18, 20 (NASB)

The restoration of all things. Acts 3:19-21 (NASB)

“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; ²⁰  and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, ²¹  whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

I believe the restoration refers more to the restoring of the teachings of Jesus / God than restoring of the temple etc. Here’s why I believe this.

Next verse Paul says, “Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you.” Acts 3:22 (NASB)

Jesus is the prophet we should give heed to. This is the context of Paul’s statement. Jesus did not say “Build another temple for sacrifices!” He said through Paul, “…your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit!”

The relationship that we are to restore in the fullness of all Jesus taught by the Father’s Words is this, “Take My yoke [servitude, teachings, laws or obligation]  upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.”  Matthew 11:29 (NASB) [added for clarity]

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21 (NASB)

Society world-wide is leaving behind the teachings of Christ and the bible for a worldly view. They embrace a kindness born of compassion for everything but life. It is a counterfeit lacking Christ. They are saving manatees and everything else as they abort babies by the millions. If the Devil were ever to be recognized for his sinister control over mankind, it is in this.

Remember, we are slaves to whom we obey. “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” Romans 6:16 (NASB)

“In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 17:6 (NASB)

Are we not in this condition as a nation, as a world community? Are we trading one king President for another right now in America, forsaking God? As a nation our representatives have renounced our heritage, plain and simple. We have renounced our real King, our God, by voting for those who support ungodly agendas’. “No!” you say? I am sure you are not thinking clearly. “As a nation, the blind are truly leading the blind.” Matthew 15:14.

Our repentance from bitterness, anger, hatred and unforgiveness, our pursuing peace with all persons, to the extent it is possible for us to do so, is the restorative balm that brings our account with God back into a reconciled (zero balance) state. That we are permitted to do this is the good news of the kingdom. We are promised that we will receive what we give. Once reconciled by Christ’s death, this ongoing process of living our lives no longer requires a sacrifice by Jesus. It requires a sacrifice by us! We have been given everything pertaining to life and Godliness.

Until our love for our fellow man is fully and compassionately evident, we cannot fully love as Christ loved us. Until then, whatever warmth we had in our hearts, there first because of Christ’s love for us, is cooling toward others.

Our Christ-like surrender to God’s will, this witness of our absolute belief in God, His Christ Son and in resurrected life, will be looked upon by God with favor but with distain by the “many” that are doomed. Our faith will be (is) seen as extremism. Recent laws exist that speak of us as extremists; as enemies of the progressing blight over America’s majority mind. For some believers our “Crazy for God” witness and the ramifications of the “enduring love,” message will be reason to depart the faith.

Dear brethren, followers of Christ, what may come easy to us because we prepared will be lethal to those barely able to walk by faith in the troubles ahead. The scales of our heart must tip toward God and His counsel in times of offense and trial. Tell them!

The non-followers of Christ, and I do mean non…followers, will either join us or hate us. Their hatred will not be containable nor their wrath toward us. The tormenting contradiction in their souls will be volcanic and irresolvable. To them, we are either the face of love or the scowl of damnation depending on their heart. By then hopefully we will be love as God is love, enduring not judging them as He endured us at one time.

“and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3:19 (NASB)

God’s love surpasses what He knows about us. This is the love of Christ. It is also to be the love we possess and distribute. If we do, we will be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Pray and intercede now for those whose path you may cross, whether it is today or in the future. Lost “saved” souls are dead men walking and do not know it. They are future victims of the Apostasy. Your seeds of love, the power of your understanding, may make the eternal difference for them.

“If we remain in His grip, how far from His heart can we be!”

In the guardianship of Christ,

Michael

    Exit Strategy

   We initiate the return of Christ!  (The E-book)

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