Monthly Archives: November 2017

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Oh… THEY KNOW

“And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors (criminals), one on the  right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus,  Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:33,34 

I had to temporarily remove my darkening clock background and go pitch black for this post. You know, when Jesus ASKED for the forgiveness of those who crucified Him, those who SCREAMED for His death, those who even CURSED their own children through the statement of “let his blood be on us and our children” it was an act of mercy beyond human understanding.

They had tortured Him, beat Him with cat o nines that ripped flesh down to the bone from His body and they had MOCKED His eternal Kingdom by the piercing of a crown of thorns all the while SCREAMING for His death.

And STILL he asked for their forgiveness.. that they KNEW NOT, did not understand what they had done… and most importantly WHOM it had been done unto.

You know He said something else..“Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.” 

He was referring there to those who hear the Gospel and reject it.

There IS a very precise list of SINS in the BIble, THERE ARE SINS,THEY WILL ALWAYS BE SINS and SEXUAL SINS ARE STILL SINS!  You cheat on your spouse, that is a sin, you have sex with the same-sex as you that is a sin! There IS no difference! And if they want to pull stunts to get MORE ATTENTION that is them also.

BUT when they PROFANE A LIVING HOLY GOD AND THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST that is a red flag waved.

There are lines that should never be crossed and when we as Christians sit idly by and let the candy coats with their fake pagan churches who try to hide behind the name of God while committing ABOMINATIONS to Him…guess what.. we are condoning it and that makes us just as guilty!

The “parades” with mock crucifixions and people making fun of Jesus and now we have “gay” manger scenes. People this blasphemy, this is getting into the territory of the unpardonable sin.

The VIRGIN Mary was OVERSHADOWED by the HOLY GHOST thus produces Jesus Christ in her womb. He had NO earthly Father, and just as Gabriel proclaimed to Mary, Luke 1:34,35: “Then Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The HOLY GHOST shall come upon thee, and the POWER OF THE HIGHEST shall overshadow thee:

THEREFORE also that HOLY thing (ONE) WHICH SHALL BE BORN OF THEE SHALL BE CALLED THE SON OF GOD.”

If people want to wallow in sin and be unrepentant that is one thing but to mock and make fun of our God is another and to create “manger scenes” with TWO “Josephs” is going absolutely too far. Just when I think I have seen it all…. These actions are on a level of filth and depravity that defy logic!

There IS NO FEAR of God or His Holiness in this country anymore and it is high time the TRUE Church of Christ gets up off its laurels and SPEAK OUT against these blasphemies. 

Because it IS NOT ABOUT BEING GAY, there are great gay people, there are great straight people, but no one is going to heaven unless they repent and are saved BUT the “people” behind these actions are simply TRUE GOD HATERS made up of ALL groups of people.. both gay and straight with the SAME AGENDA.

If anyone thinks God is going to tolerate this.. you might want to read a little of Revelation… maybe the can hide behind their seasonal “statues” when SEVENTY FIVE POUND hail stones start pounding them from heaven…

MAYBE.. they’ll second guess their laughter when they are in hell GNAWING THEIR TONGUES OFF BECAUSE OF THE PAIN….

Maybe… THEY WILL REMEMBER THEIR SNIDE REMARKS AND MOCKING THE HOLINESS OF THE LORD WHEN THEY ARE TRYING TO COMMIT SUICIDE AND GOD HAS TAKEN AWAY THEIR HUMAN ABILITY TO DIE…AND THEY ARE FORCED TO LIVE….

Yeah…JEHOVAH GOD STILL has that kind of power and I promise you this world is getting ready to see it displayed its majesty, its glory… and for these the heart sickening horror that makes even their bowels inside of them loose completely out. 

Matthew 12:31,32: ” Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; BUT (EXCEPT) THE BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN UNTO MEN.

And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: BUT WHOSOEVER SPEAKETH AGAINST THE HOLY GHOST, IT SHALL NOT BE FORGIVEN HIM, NEITHER IN THIS WORLD, NEITHER IN THE WORLD TO COME.” 

Do not pray for these people! If you want to pray you pray that these pagan altars will fall.. you pray for the children whose minds are being corrupted and confused by WHY there would be two “Josephs” It makes me sick even writing the use of his name like that.

Jeremiah 11:13: “Therefore PRAY NOT THOU FOR THIS PEOPLE, NEITHER LIFT UP A CRY OR PRAYER FOR THEM….”

They are NOT like the people Jesus prayed for… who were under the satanic influence as satan’s “hour to act” had come. THESE people are under their OWN influence, quoted it before.. quoting it again…

Romans 1:20-32:” For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead (DIVINE NATURE) so they ARE without excuse. 

BECAUSE that, when they knew God, they glorified him not AS God, NEITHER were they thankful; BUT BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS (thoughts) AND THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS DARKENED. 

PROFESSING THEMSELVES TO BE WISE THEY BECAME AS FOOLS. And changed the glory of the UNCORRUPTIBLE GOD into an IMAGE MADE LIKE TO CORRUPTIBLE MAN, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

WHEREFORE GOD ALSO GAVE THEM UP TO UNCLEANNESS THROUGH THE LUSTS OF THEIR OWN HEARTS, TO DISHONOUR THEIR BODIES BETWEEN THEMSELVES.

WHO CHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD INTO A LIE, AND WORSHIPED AND SERVED THE CREATURE (THEMSELVES, THEIR FLESH) MORE THAN THE CREATOR, WHO IS BLESSED FOR EVER, AMEN.

FOR THIS CAUSE (REASON) GOD GAVE THEM UP TO UNTO VILE  AFFECTIONS; for even their women (females) did CHANGE the natural use into that which is against nature.

And likewise the men leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet (due),

AND AS THEY DID NOT LIKE TO RETAIN GOD IN THEIR KNOWLEDGE, GOD GAVE THEM OVER TO  A REPROBATE MIND, to do those things which are not convenient(fitting);

BEING FILLED WITH ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, FORNICATION, (and YES, this still means ANY sexual activity outside the male/female marriage, PERIOD), WICKEDNESS, COVETOUSNESS, MALICIOUSNESS, FULL OF ENVY, MURDER, DEBATE, DECEIT, MALIGNITY; WHISPERERS,

BACKBITERS, HATERS OF GOD, DESPITEFUL, PROUD, BOASTFUL, INVENTORS OF EVIL THINGS, DISOBEDIENT TO PARENTS, WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING, COVENANTBREAKERS, WITHOUT NATURAL AFFECTION, IMPLACABLE, UNMERCIFUL;

WHO KNOWING THE JUDGMENT OF GOD, THAT THEY WHICH COMMIT SUCH THINGS ARE WORTHY OF DEATH, NOT ONLY DO THE SAME, BUT HAVE PLEASURE IN THEM THAT DO THEM.”

God GAVE THEM OVER TO A REPROBATE MIND.. that is what happens when people keep on and on and as another scripture states they have “their CONSCIENCE seared with a hot iron” which means that they have crossed the line of no return for their souls and ANYONE who can profane the Holiness of God and the birth of His Son HAS CROSSED THAT LINE.

So if you want to sin.. you sin… BUT  you better be keeping God out of it. As Christians we better be speaking out against these things because OUR silence has led to the mess we have now.

And for us to agree that it is their RIGHT to mock and blasphemy OUR GOD makes us the lowest cowards on the face of earth!

But as we will ALL see one day and if we don’t get a rein on this.. it’s going to be sooner than later… the GOSPEL will defend itself. THESE people WHO stir these thing up, those who PIT homosexuals AGAINST heterosexuals, the blacks AGAINST the whites, the same old demons that love to divide and spread HATE, and we all run head first following them into the trap, the very same are NOW teaching the blasphemy of God.

BE ON GUARD, again, EVEN if you are not saved, don’t let them pull you into this!

WHO are they? The book of Jude tells us and it tells us specifically that we ONCE knew this truth and it also tells us that the abomination that is brought in COMES in as false teaching on sexuality and it tells us that money is the motive, it also addresses ALL the words and mocking they say against the Lord and that we are to CONTEND for the faith!

Jude only has one chapter so this is verse numbers, Jude:3-16:

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort (WARN) you THAT YE SHOULD EARNESTLY CONTEND FOR THE FAITH WHICH WAS ONCE DELIVERED UNTO THE SAINTS (the TRUE Gospel, not the watered down, candy coated FALSE teachings of today) 

For THERE ARE CERTAIN MEN CREPT IN UNAWARES (those who came in under the pretense of the Gospel, that no one bothered to stop) WHO WERE BEFORE OF OLD PREORDAINED (long ago marked out for this purpose) TO THIS CONDEMNATION (damnation) ,

UNGODLY MEN, TURNING THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LASCIVIOUSNESS ( having an overly sexual nature, also translates to licentiousness, disregarding rules and having again overtly sexual desires),

AND DENYING THE ONLY LORD GOD, OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

I will therefore PUT YOU IN REMEMBRANCE, THOUGH YOU ONCE KNEW THIS,

how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward DESTROYED THEM THAT BELIEVED NOT. 

AND THE ANGELS WHICH KEPT NOT THEIR FIRST ESTATE (habitation, this refers to the ones thrown out of heaven with Lucifer, that are now demons), BUT LEFT THEIR FIRST HABITATION, HE HATH RESERVED IN EVERLASTING CHAINS UNDER DARKNESS UNTO THE JUDGMENT OF THE GREAT DAY.

EVEN AS SODOM AND GOMORRAH, AND THE CITIES ABOUT THEM IN LIKE MANNER, GIVING THEMSELVES OVER TO FORNICATION (sexual immorality), AND GOING AFTER STRANGE FLESH,

ARE SET FORTH FOR AN EXAMPLE, SUFFERING THE VENGEANCE OF ETERNAL FIRE.

LIKEWISE ALSO THESE FILTHY DREAMERS DEFILE THE FLESH, DESPISE DOMINION, AND SPEAK EVIL OF DIGNITIES.

YET MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL, WHEN CONTENDING WITH THE DEVIL ABOUT THE BODY OF MOSES DURST (dared) NOT BRING AGAINST HIM RAILING ACCUSATION, BUT SAID, THE LORD REBUKE THEE.

BUT THESE SPEAK EVIL OF THOSE THINGS WHICH THEY KNOW NOT: BUT WHAT THEY KNOW NATURALLY, AS BRUTE BEASTS, IN THOSE THINGS THEY CORRUPT THEMSELVES.

WOE UNTO THEM! For they are gone the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the the error of Balaam, (the false prophet hired to attempt to curse Israel but God took control of him) FOR A REWARD (money), AND PERISHED IN THE GAINSAYING OF CORE.

THESE ARE SPOTS IN YOUR FEAST OF CHARITY, WHEN THEY FEAST WITH YOU,

FEEDING THEMSELVES WITHOUT FEAR:

CLOUDS THEY ARE WITHOUT WATER, CARRIED ABOUT WINDS;

TREES WHOSE FRUIT WITHERETH, WITHOUT FRUIT, TWICE DEAD, PLUCKED UP BY THE ROOTS;

RAGING WAVES OF THE SEA, FOAMING (SPEWING) OUT THEIR OWN SHAME;

WANDERING STARS, TO WHOM IS RESERVED THE BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS FOR EVER.

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying Behold, THE LORD COMETH WITH TEN THOUSANDS OF HIS SAINTS TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT UPON ALL, AND TO CONVINCE (convict) ALL THAT ARE UNGODLY AMONG THEM OF ALL THEIR UNGODLY DEEDS, WHICH THEY HAVE UNGODLY COMMITTED,

AND OF ALL THEIR HARD SPEECHES (HARSH THINGS)  WHICH UNGODLY SINNERS HAVE SPOKEN AGAINST HIM.

THESE ARE MURMURERS, COMPLAINERS, WALKING AFTER THEIR OWN LUSTS; AND THEIR MOUTHS SPEAKETH GREAT SWELLING WORDS, HAVING MENS PERSONS IN ADMIRATIONS ( people pleasers) BECAUSE OF ADVANTAGE.” 

And I want to give a final thought… when God DESTROYED Sodom and Gomorrah.. THERE WAS NO MORE WARNINGS…. He came with two angels to SEE if the reports were accurate… and those reports WERE…  honoring His promise to Abraham, he SAVED Lot and his daughters out of that city, but there WAS no more warning.

I highly suggest today, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and you do not want to be eternally lost… you may want to hasten that decision because this place is prime for divine judgment… judgment He has ALREADY said in His word IS coming. Because THEY KNOW… THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

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Angel’s sang revisited

“And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,

Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which IS Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest , and on earth peace, and good will toward men.” Luke 2:9-14

Oh to have been there that fateful night! To have heard the voices of the heavenly host proclaiming the birth of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s.

To see and hear those of heaven who worshipped Him through the eons of time around His heavenly throne and now to have come to the earth to praise Him here!

His praise can not be stifled and His praise is eternal and that night heaven kissed earth and for a single thread in time the two became one.

And oh to have been in that field, the shepherds who had always been considered the least, now being the first, as Christ would later describe His kingdom as one in which the “least are the greatest and the greatest the least”.

Those considered the least among their fellow servants of the day now receiving a royal invitation hand delivered by a divine messenger to come see, see the newborn King.

An invitation to worship Him, who owns heaven, owns earth, and all that dwell therein, now born into humanity in the most humble of circumstance, the members of the animal kingdom He had created now being privileged to being the living audience to that birth.

Can you imagine the stillness, the quietness in that stable?

Can you imagine the wonder, the awe, the serenity and peace at the very birth of the Prince of Peace?

Shepherds who once there, beheld the face of a tiny, tender, vulnerable  infant whose body held the very power that created the universe,and all that was, is, and ever will be.

That gentle, tender state of infancy only being a reflection of the mercy, humility, love, and forgiveness that His birth brought to us.

To have heard the song the angels sang, those whose praise can never be still, they knew what had been given to us and if you listen with your heart, you can hear them still.

There is always the questioning, waged only out of disbelief, as to the actual calendar date, but what does it matter? Seriously, Epiphany could have been more accurate, some of the teaching based in Jewish seasons, times, and feasts could also be.  I would love to know, we would all love to know, but we don’t and the day chosen and set aside is the day we have.

But what does it truly matter when His birth just as His resurrection is MORE than worth celebrating every single day.

As a child “was given unto us” and that child grew, that child ministered, that child healed, and taught, and that child gave His life for us all, and that child resurrected in supreme glory!

The praises sang that night, I am sure also rang out through heaven when that stone rolled away and He rose in absolute victory over death, hell, and the grave! And as He one day returns to this earth with the voice of the archangel, heaven will be heard again and in that day, the fulfillment of His kingdom on earth, we WILL have peace on earth and good will toward all men.

So as Thanksgiving has came to a close and we are in the Christmas season, a season that has become so secular that now instead of joy and peace at the thought of the Savior’s birth, we have become so stressed, so pressured that many enter into a complete seasonal depression.

It was NEVER intended to be about the gifts, the only gift that matters IS the gift WE WERE ALREADY GIVEN.

It is not about the perfect party, the perfect family dinner. All that is just more of this world’s smoke screen to divert hearts and souls from the TRUE meaning of this night and no one needs me to tell them that.

And we can ALL fall to that pressure, and I know most of us have.  We do WANT everything to be PERFECT, but perfect ONLY exists in Jesus Christ Himself. It does not exist in our realm and we should not TRY to make it exist. Because it makes Christams about us, our families, and our plans and no so much about Him.

Just as Christ’s very name is removed from the word Christmas itself, being replaced by “x” they have taken what was intended as “the Mass of Christ” and created  “Mass of X”  generic, fill in the blank, name it what you will pagan festivity that we all are victim to today.

As nativity figurines are a rare find on store shelves and Norman Rockwell’ s sleigh ride to church scenes are steadily being replaced by television commercials of “visions of drunken office parties infiltrating our heads”.  

“Parson Brown” of the old beloved lyric now being replaced by a “circus clown” and who can bear hearing the sorrow of one “meeting his old lover in a grocery store” drinking beer and realizing her life was a joke and they had nothing in common..

HOW is that NOT depressing? And a host of secular “christmas” songs that, I for one, would be on the floor crying, if I listened too long.

And if we listen too long, at the voice of this world screaming over and over that “these ARE” the “must have” looks, fashions, gifts, and tableware of “THE” season, they WILL drown out that voices of long ago and they WILL drown out the sweet songs of the heavenly host and drain us of every ounce of joy that God WANTS us to have while celebrating the birth of His Son!

Turn them off and tune them out this holiday season, keep the wonder in our hearts of the greatest gift of all, let the glory of the Lord shine around you this holiday season and let those songs of the angels fill our hearts and add one of our own.. “Jesus Christ crucified and the angels sing Holy”…. let HIM hear us singing it too!

Love & Peace till next time!

*Title and  some content from original post 12/12/2014* REVISITED 12/2021/ Φλογιζω Reverend Nina Brown Johnson

Εξυπνιζω  NBJ 2017

 

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Tallying of time

“To EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time to EVERY PURPOSE under the heaven:

A time to be born (to bear), and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and  a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; and a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get (gain), and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend (tear apart), and a time to sew (repair); a time to keep silence, and  a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. What profit (gain) hath he that worketh in that in that wherein he laboureth? ” Ecclesiastes 3:1-9

That ending verse being reminiscent of what was spoken by Jesus in Mark 8:36,38:

“For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? 

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Maybe going  a little in reverse.. but I want to take that scripture first. Jesus warned also in another parable of the man who had EVERYTHING and chose to concentrate on building his earthy empire even bigger WHILE neglecting the fact that these things are temporary. Check it out, Luke 12:16-20:

 “And he spake a parable unto them, saying,  The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow (store) my fruits?

And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow (store) my fruits (crops) and my goods.

And I will say unto my soul, Soul, thou hast much good goods laid up for many years: take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” 

Work and excelling in the world and chosen professions mean very little in the grand realm. Of course God wants us to do well but we can never use any worldly successes as a key toward entering the kingdom of heaven.

Likewise we can not use our worldly cares and obligations to make us exempt from fulfilling our duties to that kingdom. Jesus Christ and His kingdom and the ASSURANCE that we have made every preparation required of us for the “storage “of our soul in Him is to be the number one priority. 

And this is not even about “work”or”works” it is about the preciousness of time and the ever ticking clock counting DOWN our time on this world. Many, who are at the end of their lives, through terminal illness often say the same chilling words… “wasted time” a celebrity who recently passed had told his family this.

Why do we have to be out of time to realize how blessed we are for EVERY day that we have.  And why do so many wait and wait… and wait… REFUSING to accept salvation, BELIEVING in God, but also falsely believing that they have “all the time in the world” when we are NOT promised tomorrow or even the next breath.

Which is why God told us in His word, “SEEK ye the Lord WHILE he may be found.” And others, while saved and have the promise of ETERNAL salvation forget the promise of the goodness we receive in THIS world when we do go after the things of God and forsake all that hinders us in serving Him.

Mark 10: 29,30: “And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, and sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake,and the gospel’s,

But HE SHALL RECEIVE AN HUNDREDFOLD NOW IN THIS TIME, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, WITH PERSECUTIONS; AND IN THE WORLD TO COME ETERNAL LIFE.”

People get so hung up on what they are LOSING that they don’t realize that they are NOT LOSING ANYTHING except a life that is running out, and maybe people who are hindering and harming their life and they have been given an opportunity to GAIN one hundred times over in joy, family, by being brought into the extended family of Christ, and spiritual riches and blessings that they could not even begin to imagine.

But like contestants on a bad game show they are willing to settle for the not so great consolation prize that is available to all participants in the game of life, when that prize could have been traded up for a grand prize of cosmic proportions.

And in the end, time wasted, time that no one is getting back. Time that could have been used to lighten another’s burden. Time that could have been spent making someone smile and in cheering up their lives you will find that you cheer up your own.

Everyone suffers, everyone goes through heartache. It IS seasons and times on earth, it IS the purpose of earth. But the surest way to overcome our own pain is by lessening the pain of another.

We overcome the darkness that tries to enclose on us through sadness, grief, illness by doing unto others and shining a candle into someone else’s dark world. This is why the Lord said that all these things come WITH persecutions. As long as we are in this world, we will have sorrow, we will have rain, we will have storms, and giants to face.

As we are TOLD that ALL of these things are for a TIME.

A TIME to die and LET things die.

A TIME to pull up and change our plans.

A TIME to kill, things that are just not working by walking away from those things.

A TIME to break down and destroy spiritual strongholds.

A TIME cast away stones. A TIME to be serious, be stern, be somber.

A TIME TO LOSE. A SEASON OF WEEPING and MOURNING, sorrow and tears.

A TIME to tear apart, hate, and be silent.

BUT with all these painful trying times of this world, we have these precious times and seasons of promise.

A TIME for birth of something new, a birth of new fruits, new joys, new endeavors.

A TIME to plant, and sow in hope of a good harvest, love, kindness, friendships.

A TIME build again, gather stones, spiritual altars of praise and worship.

A TIME to laugh, dance, and embrace.

A TIME of healing, repair, and restorations.

A TIME to speak in love, peace, and prosperity.

BUT in it ALL, It IS life and it is the life unto which we ALL have been appointed. God’s word also says that without a vision His people would perish.

I do practice what I preach and I have many regrets, regrets of wishing I had talked more to this one or should have done that differently but that IS also part of life.

And as the year comes to an end I challenge everyone to take stock and for all of us to ask ourselves, if we knew, like the man in Jesus’s parable, that our time was EVEN shorter than we thought (because in reality, IT always IS) what could we have done differently?

How many times would we have made ourselves press upward rather than giving into the downing spirits of this world?

How many times could we find that ever elusive silver lining and just how bright and majestic would that rainbow had been IF we could have seen it through the downpour of our tears?

And as His word also promises that IN HIS TIME… He makes ALL things beautiful, ask ourselves have we really traded in all those ashes for the beauty that STILL lies ahead or have we given ourselves up already dying to a past that can never been brought back, holding onto memories, that while joyful and precious have taken such precedence over our present that we are deadened to exploring the possibilities of making new ones.

When we live in an emotionally downward state, and God knows there are many reasons, WORTHWHILE reasons that cause this to happen, but when it happens, we are becoming oblivious to the joy that STILL surrounds us in the form of all those we love. Time is precious, don’t forget that and LIVE everyday like it was your last. TIME is a gift, IT is precious and given to us from God and we have to stop KILLING time because like it or not TIME itself is already killing us.

God Bless you in your upcoming week!

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω  NBJ 2017    

Original. Post 11/2017

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Beautifully Broken

“While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell (fragrance) thereof. A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me….” Song of Solomon 1:12, 13 line 1.

The book of Solomon, a book that I think every woman in the world should read, should study, every single verse has something that will encourage, strengthen, and free us.

As I have said one hundred times and probably will say it at least one hundred more, you have to pray for spiritually interpretation and not get all hung up on the romantic comparison to human relationships.

And even the initials.. think about it.. Song of Solomon… S O S recognized the world over as a cry for help, immediate, desperate need for rescue. I was to post my personal testimony this go round, and actually I did last week.

After much prayer and a few hours of tears and consulting with two that lived it with me, I pulled it. Which I will share it some day, if even only in ‘live” environment. This is after all the world-wide web and there was no way of sharing it to my sisters without running a high risk of “stirring up a hornet’s nest” as the saying goes. But I still want to continue on with part of it.

My story basically came down to being in the world, as far into the world as one could possibly go and I point that out for this reason… God KNOWS where we are whether we are where we should be or not. And He knows how we were led there.

And as God has a plan for ALL of our lives, so does the devil. this is the reason so many women suffer abuses, whether physical, emotional, or sexual, many of those suffer LIFE-LONG.

Many coming from broken homes with abusive fathers marrying abusive, dominating men and NEVER breaking that cycle. NEVER knowing the freedom and love Jesus has for them and some are even brainwashed spending their entire lives in church while still suffering ungodly treatment at home.

And some of us.. well, we are so hurt, so wounded, so broken that we self-destruct because we will never allow anyone close to us again and settle neatly into lives of acceptance in our own circles, but often those circles are anything other than holy.

My story was such and while working at a specialty shop, I became a victim of acquaintance stalking which with the progression of time overshadowed even existence and damage that went far beyond anything anyone could have seen coming.

People can be truly evil and now being in Christ, I truly believe this particular person was truly demon possessed.

I also believe that the enemy sets up events to lead people right where he wants them and that is his pre planned point of destruction. And I can tell you assuredly that my very life was divinely and supernaturally spared.

And I can also tell you that these events and that supernatural intervention is the force that broke me. Joseph told his brothers that what they had meant for evil, God used for good. And had I not went through my ordeal I would not have come to Christ.

Anyone else out there have that problem?

BELIEVE in God, KNOW He is real, but your vessel is so full of hurt, rage, a false sense of guilt and shame, that you have became convinced that you are ALREADY condemned?

A good warning to anyone who feels the leading to change your life, don’t believe the lies of the enemy that God will not save you. Because when the enemy knows your under conviction and evaluating your life, he will hit you with everything he has if you do not run to Christ fast enough, which is what happened to me.

The only way my circumstances could have ever been different is had I never been on the road the enemy had me on.

And God knows I spent months and months crying as life had forced me to look at all the things inside myself that I did not want to look at and had spent a lifetime running from. And we can run but we can never outrun ourselves.

We can function, smile, try to live life but all the pain, hurt, and inner torment of our souls and all the negativity that goes with it starts to crack those alabaster boxes.

We can for a while patch those cracks with things of this world, put on our happy faces, tell ourselves that  life is well, we are strong, and it is such a joke.

I promise those patches are only temporary and those vessels will leak again unless you surrender to Jesus.

BROKEN vessels can not be repaired they MUST BE MADE NEW.

So after being touched by what was undeniably divine, I was left with the fact that there was something so broken inside of me and that there was NOWHERE to run or hide and the only option had been to acknowledge the fact that I was absolutely helpless in the ability to free myself from the prison of myself and seek that freedom or die there.

I cried, and cried, prayed, and prayed, always felt like I was praying to a God in the middle of the universe whom had indeed spared my life but that I had no right to ask for anything, and I begged Him to just “fix me” and this was a long painful process. This wasn’t a just for a week or a day, this was constant and even though, I thought I was broken already, the moment, the true moment, that my soul absolutely broke, my Dad was praying with me and I was baptized with the Holy Ghost, and I did not know how to explain what I had experienced but I knew WHO I had experienced.

I had no idea this experience existed. He was no longer a God in the middle of the universe, He was my very present help.

My trauma went so deep that I had to be given the Holy Ghost before I could even deal with all of it. And the next day I was absolutely delivered and set free from chains that had bound me almost my entire life.

And I can also tell you that whoever I had been died right there on my floor and I was born again unto the presence of the God of the universe and freedom that I had never known.

Freedom, joy, and a peace that nothing would ever be the same because now I KNEW God, I KNEW that my sins were forgiven and I KNEW He was REALLY there and really accepted me.

But sometimes even knowing all that we still wrestle with the issue of the scars that have to be dealt with once and for all. For about two months even after I was saved, I struggled, I struggled with nightmares, and the same old lies the enemy had tried to whisper to me for years.

I went to church one Sunday night and at this time I knew nothing really about the word of God, just the very basics, and the sermon was out of the Book of Solomon and at the end the preacher kept saying that “someone” had been going through this, more or less, free but still needing to BELIEVE that freedom. They did this altar call about three of four times and I knew it was me and I was so scared,  they made everyone close their eyes and keep praying and said that they were going to ask one more time for this person to come.

Finally I did make it up there and could not stop crying and my pastor at the time had one wrist and the preacher had the other because I was seriously considering running completely away.

Then I felt this presence next to me and there are no words to describe it, just the sweetest presence, and I was still crying with my thousands of reasons why I was not worth saving and the preacher told me, “He’s here” and I said “I know, He is standing right there” couldn’t see Him, but He was there.

And I know there is so many people would think that is just insane, but until you know Him for yourself, don’t be so sure about what you think is possible. Because NOTHING is impossible with God. The preacher gave me a very specific word about what I had been through and a certain word about the garden of God and as soon as I heard that word, I was just absolutely overwhelmed by this gentleness that had almost like a humility with it. It so hard to explain, I don’t think it can be explained I think you have to experience it for yourself.

But the moment my soul choose to BELIEVE and just surrender to a love that is so indescribable and I have never ever been the same and all the torment that the devil had put me through was absolutely washed so completely away by all I can even describe is a love that is NOT of this world, is nothing like we feel as humans and I was so overwhelmed by His Presence that honestly if He had manifested I could not have even made eye contact.

Again I know the world is full of naysayers and doubters but all I know is what I know and I know that I have a world full of sisters who need, just as my soul needed a manifestation of His presence to truly free them and make them new. 

I also know that there are so many teaching that the miracles and wonders of old were for the disciples and stopped with the book of Acts. That is okay if those who believe that want to stop there. Just because they believe that does not make it true for everyone.

But I had been “IN” The world and had no idea the power and wonder of Jesus UNTIL I experienced Him. God is NOT a respecter of persons, as the Bible teaches, what He does for one HE WILL DO FOR ANOTHER. And it changes everything.

He takes every hurt, every wound, every sorrow and He replaces it with His love, His mercy, and still the one I still stand in awe of is His gentleness. As I said I did not understand the Holy Ghost or anything else, I just knew that there was nothing I could do for me.

And for some us that is what it takes, complete destruction to be made beautifully new.  Many things can “break” us, I love the story of Hannah and her story has nothing to do with violence, her heartache resulted from her inability to bear a child.

It is not always violence, our hearts hold many secrets and fortunately we CAN dwell in secret place of the most High.

I’ll hit and miss verses in this, but please read it if you have a moment. 1 Samuel 1 tells us of Hannah’s heart.

This took place at that time men had multiple wives, (again multiple wives WERE NEVER God’s idea) and even though Hannah was the favored wife, she was unable to conceive so she was ridiculed and constantly tormented by the other wife, she suffered this year after year.

So 1 Samuel 1:10 tells us: “And she was in bitterness of soul, and wept sore.”

She then prayed a vow to God, promising him that if He gave her a son she would give him to the service of the Lord. As she prayed, she prayed in her heart but her lips moved,without audible words, so Eli the priest thought she was drunk.

This is a good thought for when people misjudge and accuse us when we are going through something they do not understand.

1 Samuel 1:14,15: ” And Eli said unto her, how long wilt thou be drunken? put away thy wine from thee. 

And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit;  

I have drunk NEITHER wine nor strong drink, BUT HAVE POURED OUT MY SOUL BEFORE THE LORD.” 

The story goes on for a bit and he tells her to “go in peace” remember this is also what Jesus told Mary.

1 Samuel 1:18: “And she said, Let thine handmaiden find grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way and did eat, and her countenance was NO more sad.” 

She goes on to conceive and give birth to her son and when she returned him to the temple to honor her vow, she prayed this prayer of joy, rejoicing, and a proclamation of His power and majesty.

1 Samuel 2:1-10: “And Hannah prayed, and said, my heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn (strength) is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over (smiles at) mine enemies; BECAUSE I rejoice in thy salvation.

THERE IS NONE HOLY AS THE LORD: FOR THERE IS NONE BESIDE THEE: NEITHER IS THERE ANY ROCK LIKE OUR GOD.

Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: FOR THE LORD IS A GOD OF KNOWLEDGE, AND BY HIM ACTIONS ARE WEIGHED.

The bows of the mighty men are broken: and they that stumbled are girded (clothed) with strength. They that were full have hired themselves out for bread; and they that were hungry ceased (had been fed): so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed (has grown) feeble.

The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. He maketh poor, and maketh rich; he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory, FOR THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH ARE THE LORD’S, AND HE HATH SET THE WORLD UPON THEM.

HE WILL KEEP THE FEET OF HIS SAINTS, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; FOR BY STRENGTH SHALL NO MAN PREVAIL.

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces, out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: then Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and EXALT THE HORN (STRENGTH) OF HIS ANOINTED.”

So I know this is not for everyone, if you’re happy inside and have a great relationship with God, that is wonderful. But if  are struggling with issues or you have never trusted Him as your Saviour and you KNOW that there is no “fixing” you, or the problem that weighs you down then please, please, seek Him, trust Him, and rest your tortured soul in His mercy.

Get His opinion of you before you throw one more moment of your life away. What better time than as we celebrate all the things we have to be thankful for.

Psalm 110:4,5: “ENTER into his courts with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: BE THANKFUL UNTO HIM AND BLESS HIS NAME. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”

In his presence, we find that table at which the King sits and notice with our starting verse, our SOS, He sits at His table but it is our “spikenard” that gives the aroma. Just as Mary came to him and broke her flask .

We SEEK Him, He is already there but we have to seek Him because He will not just take us over, He does not work that way. We have to be willing to break our own flasks and once we do that precious oil flows forth.

We can NEVER purify ourselves which is why  HE IS is the “bundle” of myrrh that forever dwells with us and in us, in our heart, in our soul.

Just as Esther bathed in myrrh for purification, we are washed IN Him, in His purification of us. And in that split second that TRUE surrender takes place and that we DIE to ourselves and are simultaneously reborn into him 

And just as the sorrow and sadness of Hannah was  replaced by joy and peace, and she was given victory over her enemy. You will be also once your pour out your soul to the only one who can pour His strength into you!

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

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Unshakeable

“That your faith should not stand (be) in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:5  One of my all time favorite Bible verses is Romans 3:23, which says this: “For ALL have sinned, and come (fell) short of the glory of God.”

ALL is the key word there, ALL of us, whether we have been saved fifty years or even if we have only been saved a few days. ALL of us. It is not based on looks, character traits, morales, no of that is comes down to one simple truth.

Psalm 51:1:” Behold, I was shapen (brought forth) in iniquity: and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

This verse has nothing to do with anything to do with anyones mother or lineage. This verse IS all of us. ALL of us, EVERY SINGLE HUMAN ON THIS EARTH, with the only exception of this being the birth of Jesus Christ whose conception was by the Holy Ghost overshadowing Mary the Virgin and just supernaturally placing this child in her womb.

And Mary remained a virgin until after Jesus birth. Even though her had Joseph had married, that marriage was not consummated until Jesus. Matthew 1:24,25: “Then Joseph being raised from sleep did and the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not (kept her a virgin) till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.”

My sincerest desire is to address a COMMON issue facing believers today. The first being those who do believe in God but refuse to surrender to Him because they have fallen to the totally FALSE belief that in order to be saved, we must somehow “make ourselves right”.

Listen my dears, this is impossible. God put it this way to the prophet Jeremiah, 13:23: “Can the Ethiopian change the colour of his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.”

We can not change ourselves. We are what we are and to believe in God, knowing that Jesus himself said this, undoubtedly the most quoted scripture of all time, John 3:16-18: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the son of God.” 

That is the secret, it is all what WE believe and if we BELIEVE in God but also BELIEVE we can never be saved through pure faith, guess what we will never be saved and that we not be because God would not save us that would mean that we would rather hold onto our guilt and shame, convinced by the enemy that we must be punished and pay a price for hat sin that we are UNABLE to pay.

It IS self-righteousness. It maybe isn’t like hypocritical self-righteousness that we find in churchgoers who look down on everyone else through the holier than thou attitudes and are a smoke in the nostrils of God, because of it. But it is self-righteous in an even worse way, it in effect saying, “Well, I know I need saved, I KNOW Jesus is real but if it all the same, I think I’ll SAVE MYSELF.”

And it can not be done. Jesus Christ IS and WILL always be the only one who came here without sin and remained sinless. As asked in Jeremiah, can ANY of us change what we are BORN as?

No, we admit, ask forgiveness and the next part is the hardest to overcome when we are new to Christ.

The first and most important fact you have to know and get so deep in your soul is this, GOD DOES NOT EXPECT ANYONE TO BE PERFECT. We will ALL have days, we will ALL sometimes stumble, Proverbs 24:16 (a):” For a just man (person) falleth seven times, and RISETH UP AGAIN…”

We are saved, we are covered by the blood but we are STILL human, still in human bodies that ARE genetically PRONE to sin.

Just as birds instinctively, meticulously build nests, baby turtles instinctively know to head out to the ocean, and as humans, we have feet that instinctively “run to destruction.” and we must ACCEPT that.

Stop TRYING to make ourselves perfect and stop trying to live up to expectations of our behavior that God NEVER placed on us and most importantly stop beating ourselves to death over the mistakes of the past or even the makes of yesterday!

The Lord IS our help. He IS our strong tower, and he IS our salvation, we are not our own and we can not be ANY of these things to ourselves.

Micah 7:7,8:”THEREFORE, I will LOOK unto the Lord: I will WAIT for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

Rejoice NOT against me, O mine enemy, WHEN I FALL, I SHALL ARISE; WHEN I SIT IN DARKNESS, THE LORD SHALL BE  A LIGHT UNTO ME.” 

And that mercy that does not beat us down or condemn us when we come short, we mess up, and that mercy IS for life, not just the moment of salvation.

Lamentations 3:21-23:” THIS  I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It IS of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT (never end).

They ARE new every morning; GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS.”

So if you’ve been wrestling with this, just let it go. Yes, that simple, let it go. It is not God’s that is putting you through that and you alone have to change your OWN thinking and you change that by just LETTING IT GO. 

Anyone who has read my testimony knows that I struggled a lot coming to Christ, mainly due to these issues,and there was quite a bit of time between the point that I like to call “trying to get saved” which means that I HAD asked, HAD prayed but I still did not feel the change that I needed, until I was delivered and filled with the Holy Ghost.

And we are all different, but I really believe this will help anyone going through this.  and I think this is a really cool story and especially the timing, I am a hopeless romantic, I love Valentine’s Day and every mushy romantic thing you can think of. So Valentine’s Day 2000, my sister gave me what she said was an odd gift for valentine’s day, it was a beautiful personalized Bible, and one month later, I was filled with the Holy Ghost and Thank God, my life has never been the same.

So what she had actually given me was the greatest love story ever written and the author of that story being pure love Himself, which IS perfect for the occasion! So that is my main Bible, but prior to this I had ordered one believe it or not, from an Avon lady when I was in the process of “trying” to GET MYSELF RIGHT 🙂 many of us have been guilty of it.

Anyway, the back has a section for help and I found a heading titled “Jesus’s idea of prayer” and it is actually when they asked him how to pray and he told them the Lord’s prayer, so you know, I thought, that works!

I memorized it and would call my sister every night and ask her to pray with me and I would pray it, and even now when we pray together, we often start out with that prayer. I was so scared trying to pray out loud and even after I was saved, if they call on me in church to testify, I was honestly so shy and scared that I would shake.

So please don’t ever think that you’re too scared, too shy, too nervous, God gives us boldness and courage AS we step out in faith in these areas. So I want to give you this very well-known prayer, but I want to break it down and show why it is essential to memorize this by heart and pray it EVERY day and how each verse can be used individually to pray over any need you may have.

Matthew 6:9-13: “After this manner therefore pray ye.

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.” 

This prayer starts with acknowledging God in heavenly realm, it offers to Him the respect and honor due unto his name. Psalm 93:2:” Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.” Isaiah 66:1:” Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool….”

Remember Jesus also told us that “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven.” So this prayer asks for His kingdom to come for that purpose.

It asks for His will. 1 John 1:14: “And THIS is the confidence we have IN HIM, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.” 

But also for His will to be done IN earth, not only ON earth but in the earth of these vessels we call bodies that became known as humans the moment He created Adam from the dirt of the ground. And it asks AGAIN for that connection between heaven and earth to be established.

Next we are seeking not only our material needs for that day, but ALSO and more importantly our spiritual needs as Jesus also spoke, during His time of temptation by the devil, “It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” And that is WHY we must LIVE by these words. 

And of course forgiveness, as we forgive we are forgiven and this includes the mercy, and kindness that He shows us that we are to show others. If we forgive someone their shortcomings, or even something they owe us, or in mercy look over something that had been said or done, God will return the same to us.

This is where we get into, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged; condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:” Debts are not always financial or material, we can also be indebted through action and emotion. 

And of course praying NOT to go into temptation, remember what he told the disciples in the garden, “Pray that ye not enter into temptation.” This is another area, we ALL can fall to temptation, again we are human. James 1:11-13: “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried (tested), he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. 

Let NO man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God can not be tempted with evil, NEITHER TEMPTETH HE ANY MAN. But EVERY man (person) IS tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and ENTICED.”

So the devil knows what to send your way to try to entice us away from God, so we are to pray not to go into temptation, BUT deliver us from evil, deliver us from those temptations, and also from all our hurts, pains, and sorrows,and I believe this can prayed over the multitudes on a higher scale.

  And it ends with a three-fold acknowledgement,  “a three fold cord is not easily broken” and this gives honor and allegiance, not to this world and the powers that be, but honor and allegiance to Him and His kingdom, as He also said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not hence.” 

Hence translating to here, but it one day be as we are told in Revelation 11:15…” The kingdoms of THIS world are become (have become) the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, AND HE SHALL REIGN FOR EVER AND EVER.” 

His power, which has no rival or equal, as  Jesus also said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and earth.” He expounds on the full reach of that power, Luke 12:5: “But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” 

Habakkuk 2:14:”For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

And the need to ALWAYS bear that glory in mind, speaking of FUTURE New Jerusalem Revelation 21:23: “And the city had no need of the sun, neither the moon, to shine in it: FOR THE GLORY OF GOD DID LIGHTEN IT, AND THE LAMB IS THE LIGHT THEREOF.” 

This prayer covers it all. of course you still need to study and learn all you can but I hope this comforts someone by helping you realize that GOD IS FOR YOU! He is ever present and ever merciful. Jesus is the only person who has died to save us from our sins, why on earth would He not help us overcome our own flesh? No one wants you to make it to heaven more that him! TRUST THAT!

Just ENJOY that salvation and rest knowing that “he who started  a good work in you will finish it”!

Wishing you love, peace, and a blessed week!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2017

 

 

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“Grinding the ax” #4 “STRANGLE HOLD”

“Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest thy be discouraged.” Colossians 3:21

Our fathers, the first and foremost man in our formative years. And if you have a good one, that is great and will be a guaranteed blessing over your entire life. But what about the fathers who are warned in the verse above?

This verse is actually almost verbatim in Ephesians 6:4:” And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them up in the nurture (training) and admonition OF the Lord.”  

So we are being told what NOT to do and exactly what we should do. Children who are constantly “ridden” by their parents, who are made to feel whether intentionally or unintentionally that they are never quite good enough, or “perform” well enough to “earn” the love that they should have naturally received from that parent.

I do know this verse specifies fathers, but we know the damage mothers can do is equally as damaging.

And we could pull a truck load of stats on the completely dysfunctional mother/son relationships that are often prominent among serial killers.

So what I want to focus on the relationship of fathers to daughters and the relationships that are formed later in life.

I also want to bring into the mix the fact that often when women have had extremely dominating fathers and whether that consisted of physical abuse alongside the obvious emotional damage that is caused, that seems to put the pattern in place.

But testosterone is a funny thing and soul debilitating dominance lorded over women is not ALWAYS by their fathers. It can come later in life through a boyfriend, husband, or even male friends who can become quite the material for a medieval tale of when black knights begin to suffer from white knight syndrome .

When “friendship” leads to the need to control your life, and demand answers for your every move that is no longer friendship, that IS control. Male dominance has been and is still our toughest battle regardless of what role that male has in our life.

But for some, it is a short path from growing up with a horrid father to marrying an even worse husband.

So how did it start? People taking the word of God and their DISTORTED view of God and applying THEIR carnality to it. Just as God answered it in his word: 

Judges 21:25: “In those days there was no king in Israel: EVERY MAN DID THAT WHICH WAS RIGHT IN HIS OWN EYES.”

And things have certainly NOT been right and are still NOT right.

But with the revelation of Isaiah 33:22: “For the Lord IS our judge, the Lord IS our lawgiver, the Lord IS our king; HE WILL SAVE US.”

We know things can and must change. Cruelty and wickedness hiding behind the disguise of goodness and righteousness is nothing new.

The devil himself pretending through the serpent to be a friend to Eve, the wicked all through the Bible whispering into the ears of those who would hear, plans of how to destroy another and thereby having them also destroy themselves.

“Spare the rod, spoil the child” taken so far out of context and USED specifically as a Biblical justification for nothing more than truly sadistic people to senselessly beat children.

If you doubt me on that, web search a few cases of children being adopted and even born into supposedly christian families taken away, rescued out of horrendous abuse. People have even written books advocating these UNGODLY practices.

The old Testament ALSO had a law on stoning your son.. IF he were  a drunkard.. how many little kids drink again?

Listen what Jesus told the Pharisees when they were hassling him about the OT marriage laws.

Mark 10:3-5; “And he answered and said,unto them, What did Moses command you? and they said, Moses suffered (PERMITTED) to write a bill of divorcement, and to put her away. 

And Jesus answered and said unto them, (Because) For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept.”

Meaning that they WERE given these severe laws because of their own hardness.

But God reveals His thoughts through His word, James 2:13: “For he SHALL have judgment WITHOUT mercy who hath shewed (shown) NO MERCY; and mercy rejoiceth against (TRIUMPHS OVER) judgment.” 

It is like this, just because we are technically allowed to do something DOES NOT mean that is what God desires for us to do it.

Micah 6:8:” He hath shewed thee, O man, ( all people), what IS good; and what doth (does) the Lord require of thee,  but to do justly and LOVE MERCY (loving kindness),and to walk humbly with thy God? 

So if all of this coupled with stories such as when the angel of the Lord put the smack down on Balaam and lined him out for hitting the donkey (Numbers 22:27-33),  doesn’t prove that God want us to ALL be kind toward each other and to also BE treated kindly, I don’t know what more could.

Just as treating children harshly came from the thoughts of people doing what they wanted.

We also got pulled into the “submission” trap. The Bible does truly say, “wives submit unto your own husbands” but again that is something that has been taken and RAN wild with, as if we were some sort of inferior creation that God placed here for men.

Oh I don’t think so.

Submission means to RESPECT your husband, to care about his feelings and not treat him like dirt, don’t make fun of him, and emotionally emasculate him by being that “brawling” woman spoken of in Proverbs.

God’s intentions for this was that the husband SHOULD be exactly what His word said for him to be.

And in this a husband was to be “submitted” to, as in a place of safety and a place of trust, such as that verse goes on to say “as unto the Lord”.

And I would love to hear the excuses that so many are going to try to give the Lord as to why they betrayed this TRUST that he had given them with their wives and children, and it’s not going to be a pretty picture!

So it DOES NOT mean we are subservient, or a lesser in God’s eyes.

It means that we SHOULD have that protective, nurturing, place if we ever need and at times we all do.

We covered His word in the last post of how He EXPECTS His daughters to be treated and seeing that even in a nation where women have many rights and “hold our own” we can all attest to our numbers of domestic violence, for all the strides we have made, in this area, we have gone backward!

We ARE more free. We HAVE more resources. We HAVE better laws and protection. So what went wrong? Why do we have these statistics that say we are NOT free by any stretch of imagination?

We are still trapped somewhere in our psyches by the lies of the past and the misogynistic teachings of generations before and we want to HIDE that pain and we are giving over to absolutely FALSE sense of shame by not speaking out.

That is what the enemy WANTS and just as he lied to Eve, he is lying to so many women about their past and keeping them in a “strangle hold” that prevents them from moving FORWARD.

Merriam-Webster definition two of the term “STRANGLE HOLD” is this: “A FORCE OR INFLUENCE THAT CHOKES OR SUPPRESSES FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT OR EXPRESSION.”  

If we have that past or are presently living with dominance, harshness, physical, or emotional abuse that is exactly what is happening to us.

The reason the devil has perfected it is because if you have had these experiences with men, especially fathers or husbands, HOW on earth can you “submit” to a being who is male?

When women are brainwashed into BELIEVING that they are subservient and God hates them, why would they seek Him?

The devil bagged and tagged on this one and we have to stop him!

We stop him by NOT taking anyone’s word for who we are or who God created us to be. Study God’s word and discover for yourself!

And when you reach the verses stating that “women are to be silent” and  “i suffer not a woman to teach…” STUDY the background with a good dictionary/history Bible and you will find that Paul was talking to a specific group of people AT THAT TIME. Because a group of women were “gunning” for him and trying to bring in false teachings and for that PERIOD IN TIME, he forbade them to speak so he could PROTECT the Gospel.

Need a little more reassurance, dig this, Galatians 3:23,28: “But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith that should afterwards be revealed.

Wherefore  the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

But after THAT faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For YE ALL ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD by faith in Jesus Christ. 

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ.  There is NEITHER Jew nor Greek,  there is NEITHER bond nor free, THERE IS NEITHER MALE NOR FEMALE; FOR YE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST.”

That is a good verse to put to anyone who wants to argue Paul’s teachings with you…. he wrote that. He wrote the verses used to silence women and he wrote the verse that proved otherwise,  all true, but taken out of context by those who WANT to twist those verses to justify their own prejudices.

It’s time to separate God from the men who claim to represent him! If you are dealing with these issues or dealing with the past issues, PLEASE talk to Him, talk to Him just as if he were in the room sitting there.

I promise He does hear and tell Him how you feel, TRUTHFULLY how you feel, if you end up in tears and “I HATE…” starts coming out of your mouth, LET IT COME because the only way we recover is through submitting that to God and HE KNOWS how we feel and when you have been hurt and are trying to work past it.

God is not going to hold that against you, it is normal to feel that way and once you let it go, you will NO LONGER feel that.

But you have to get it out, ALL of it, at His feet, Hebrews 4:15: “For we have NOT an high priest which cannot be touched WITH THE FEELINGS OF OUR INFIRMITIES…” 

Which means Jesus suffered through all the things we do and HE DOES UNDERSTAND any possible thing you could tell Him and he understands with love, compassion, and gentleness toward you and He wants to take it away and give you peace and be those protective arms that hold you through your tears.

But first we must decide that we are slaves no more and no more will we live in the devil’s strangle hold.

There is NO shame in having been a victim and there is courage in admitting that you are a survivor. There is NO shame in needing out NOW and fear is perfectly normal when fighting for your freedom.

We just have to decide which we are WILLING to be. Think about these verses: Isaiah 53:4-6,11: ” Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed; neither shall thou be confounded (disgraced); for thou shalt not be put to shame; for thou SHALT FORGET the shame of thy youth, and SHALT NOT REMEMBER the reproach of thy widowhood any more. 

For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 

For the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused (suffered rejection) saith thy God.  

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, (tormented and battered by ‘storm”)  and NOT comforted. behold, I WILL lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy FOUNDATIONS with sapphires.”

He knows, and He alone can give us that comfort that we have not been given, He alone see the pain of every season we can go through.

And He alone can lay for us that beautiful foundation, built upon Him and His TRUTH. Trust Him, know Him and most of all, let Him know you!

Related posts: “Grinding the ax” 1 “acknowledgement”

“Grinding the ax” 2… “Real Love?”

“Grinding the ax” #3 “Anger Danger”

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those most to this, my main site. Thank you

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

Revisited post: 06/15/2019

 

 

by

Daniel Saw….

*From 2017 archive as lead in to upcoming post*

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12 

As all know, on November 5, the state of Texas suffered the worst mass shooting in the state’s history. When a gunman who had a history of violence, having been charged with assaulting his wife and stepson, and discharged from the military for “bad conduct”, according to news reports, actually having fractured the stepson skull, had ESCAPED from a mental health facility in 2012, been cited for animal abuse in 2014, managing to not only to avoid jail time, but allowed to harass his mother in law through text messages and show up unwanted at church gatherings.

You really have to wonder WHO was supposed to be “watching” this guy?

According to news stories from CNN, NBC, and FOX, the story played out like this, the gunman whose prime target was his former in-laws, stormed the First Baptist Church, in Sutherland Springs, Texas on that fateful morning, and left in is wake twenty-six people dead ranging in age from eighteen months to seventy-seven years, and also taking the life of an unborn baby by shooting the mother.

Three generations of one family died, a couple who for the first time were visiting the church, and the pastor’s own adopted daughter. Reports also that a five year old child had been shot five times.

Twenty-six dead and twenty more injured. How could anyone ever recover from the horror of that? The arguments have resurfaced again about gun control and YET it was another man with a gun that led to putting  a final stop to this nightmare.

There are always going to be weapons, criminals and the dangerously insane will ALWAYS find something that can be used as a weapon, and that is virtually anything, because it is not the object it is the intent to destroy and no one can stop that intent.

I have yet to understand that if the politicians who keep screaming “gun-control” REALLY believe their own rhetoric, shouldn’t they be the FIRST to dismiss their OWN ARMED SECURITY? Seriously, if you want to preach it to everyone else, maybe try living it yourself!

But evidently only “special” people should be allowed weapons and protection and the rest of us… well.. I probably am beginning to advocate “armed” deacons, and I really questioned if weapons in church would be appropriate by any standard.. BUT Nehemiah was forced to work with one hand while rebuilding because he had to stay armed with a sword in the other, so I don’t know and I am not a pastor so it is not my job to know.

That is another very scary aspect to all of this, the gunman had been to church and made others feel uncomfortable, the article did not go into specific, but the question was posed as to how exactly do you ask someone to leave or not attend a church? And better yet how would you determine who and when this would apply? So many questions but one absolute.. we are starting to see attacks on our churches just as our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world are persecuted for their beliefs.

Different way of doing but still the same demonic agenda, make people too afraid to worship and too worried about who might come through the door to be fully involved in the work of God.

Just as Jesus said, and you have to think about when he said this, almost two thousand years ago. There have always been evil people, God destroyed the earth with the flood BECAUSE of violence.

Violence breeds and sin breeds and when you have a society that allows ANYTHING and has a whatever rocks your world mentality about every morale issue in the book.

There is no more restraint, no one needs me to tell them just how bad the world is and all the tortures, rapes, murders, and human trafficking, not to mention cruelty to the animals that God gave us dominion over and that dominion does require caring for them. There is group after group dedicated to issue upon issue TRYING to save just a few because the level of iniquity, lawlessness, and sin has reached proportions that would make Noah’s day and Sodom cringe.

Being exposed to this, living in this and being constantly bombarded with the news of this DESTROYS that love, it destroys the “faith” in our fellow humans and just as rescue workers and military personnel run risks of “gallows’ humor” and PTSD BECAUSE of the horrors of WHAT they see, we too can become NUMB.

It is NOT that we want to be but just as Jesus said, IT IS THE SIN that deadens the love. I have often pondered Daniel, and as a young Christian, I was completely overwhelmed by a feeling of sorrow when reading certain of his words, words such as:

Daniel 8:26,27: “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up  (seal) the vision, for it shall be for many days (the future). And I Daniel fainted, and WAS SICK CERTAIN DAY…..” and as he often fasted, prayed, and sat in sack cloth (mourning and repentance) and after another vision of the future:

Daniel 10:2,3: “In those days, I Daniel WAS mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh (meat) nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till the three weeks were fulfilled.”

This is the vision in which Daniel had sought the answer to and when the answer came, he had been told that the devil had withstood that answer for three weeks and the forces of hell had to be fought through before that answer could even arrive.  Think now how sedate we have become in our battles?

But back to my point, this is the verse that cut through to my soul, this was when Daniel SAW the Lord who had brought his answer. 

Daniel 10:7,8: “And I Daniel ALONE saw the vision; for the men that were with me saw NOT the vision, but a great quaking (fear) fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.

Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained NO strength in me: for my comeliness(vigor) was turned in me into corruption (frailty), and I RETAINED NO STRENGTH.

The presence of the Lord overwhelmed him but Daniel also SAW the future. He SAW what would come, he SAW the horrors, the abuse, the nudity, the depravity, he SAW the paganism, he SAW the outright worship of satan.

He SAW even worse.. he SAW mass media, not fathomed in his time, promoting the hatred of God, he SAW God’s name and the Name of His son blasphemed and ridiculed.

He SAW those paraded in mocking crucifixions and laughing and spewing hate into their own damnation. He SAW babies murdered inside the womb of their mother’s because they were not convenient.

He SAW these tiny bodies dismembered and sold to the highest bidder. He SAW children bloody, beaten, starved, abandoned, and sold to the highest bidder.

He SAW those so enslaved to drugs, and alcohol that they barely function much less worry about their souls.

Daniel SAW and it was not seeing the final destruction sin would bring upon man that brought him to a state of overwhelming sorrow…Daniel SAW what we would become.

We are beginning to see it to, there are things now I would have never dreamt WOULD ever come to pass as I began my walk with the Lord, and I know many of you feel the same way.

But the secret is that love, love has to go on. But God help us for what we have already saw and what yet remains to be seen.

And there IS no understanding of the things and how our brothers and sisters will ever go on and recover from these horrors, but LOVE untimely wins and LOVE truly conquers all.

Please don’t let the hate and anger of this world ever take that, remember the words of Jesus as we all await the final vindication and justice and redemption, the day we WILL be delivered from the evils of this world, wait and wait patiently for Him. 

Luke 21:19: “In your patience possess ye your souls.” 

Just keep holding on and holding on to each other! God Bless you, until next time…

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017 Original post: 11/09/2017 Revisited 06/20/2022 as lead to new post.

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“Grinding the ax” #3 “Anger Danger”

“And the Lord said unto Cain, WHY art thou wroth (angry)? and WHY has thou countenance fallen?

IF thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? And if thou doest NOT well, SIN LIETH AT THE DOOR, and unto thee shall be his desire (sins desires IS for you), and thou shalt rule over him (you SHOULD rule over the sin, not vice versa).

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew (killed) him.” Genesis 4:6,7

Think about this, this was NOT just friendly advice, this was GOD himself warning Cain that his anger had led sin to his door and for him to NOT allow it to take him over.  Just as Jesus warned Peter Luke 22:31:….“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.”  

WHO he is quite clear, Revelation 12:12: “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them, Woe unto the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, HAVING GREAT WRATH (ANGER), because he knoweth he hath but a SHORT TIME.”

Not quite a shock that anger is one of his favorite games and as the Lord warned those before us, we must also KNOW what His word says about anger but most importantly KNOW to avoid those who wield it as a sword of control.

Anger IS a perfectly normal emotion, think of all the times God wanted to destroy the Hebrews during times of disobedience but Moses would plead for them and God would turn his anger.

And many other examples of the holy anger of God all throughout the Old Testament.

Think of how gentle, merciful, and kind Jesus is and just how far He would have been “pushed” to really get that angry, then by explaining these verses in a way that we could understand them through His actions.

Matthew 21:12,13: “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast (drove) OUT all of them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew (overturned) the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves.

And he said unto them, It is written, MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER, but ye have made it A DEN OF THIEVES.”  

So there IS a justifiable anger but we have to let it go and Ephesians 4:26,27, explains exactly why: “BE YE ANGRY, BUT SIN NOT: let the sun NOT go down on your wrath (do not take that anger to bed) NEITHER GIVE PLACE (an opportunity to snare you) TO THE DEVIL.”

It is perfectly okay to get angry but the snare comes when that anger is allowed to take root as the Bible tells us, Hebrews 11:14,15: “FOLLOW  (pursue) peace with ALL men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.  

Looking DILIGENTLY lest ANY man FAIL (fall short) of the grace of God; Lest ANY ROOT OF BITTERNESS SPRINGING UP TROUBLE YOU, AND THEREBY MANY BE DEFILED (causing many to fall).”

Finally, THIS is the word of God concerning fellowship with those who are angry and violent. 

Proverbs 22:24,25: ” Make NO friendship with an ANGRY man; and with a FURIOUS man thou SHALT NOT GO; Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.”  

Proverbs 29:22:“An ANGRY man STIRRETH UP STRIFE, and a FURIOUS man abounds in transgression.” 

Proverbs 26:21:”As the coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire; so IS a CONTENTIOUS man to kindle strife.”

Proverbs 15:18: “A WRATHFUL man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.”

Proverbs 16:29: ” A VIOLENT man enticeth his neighbor, and leadeth him into the way that is NOT good.” 

Proverbs 11:17: “The MERCIFUL man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is CRUEL troubleth his own flesh. 

Proverbs 12:10:” A RIGHTEOUS man regardeth (cares for) the life of his beast (pet, animal, etc) but the tender mercies of the WICKED ARE CRUEL (meaning even the “best” they can do is STILL cruelty).

Just a sampling from ONE book of the Bible!

It is very easy to see what God’s word advises us… DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM. 

I do realize it is NOT easy to get out of these relationships but the Bible also states in Proverbs 21:19:” It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a CONTENTIOUS and ANGRY woman.”

So see it is across the board, male, female, applies to us ALL, we are told to avoid them at all costs.

Now for prayers when dealing with violent people and uncertain circumstance: 

Psalm 140:1,4:”DELIVER me, O Lord, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man.  KEEP (protect) ME, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

PRESERVE me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings (schemed to destroy).” 

Psalm 71:2-4:” DELIVER me in thy righteousness, and cause me to ESCAPE; incline thine ear unto me, and SAVE ME. Be thou my strong habitation (hiding place) whereunto I might continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me, FOR THOU ART MY ROCK AND MY FORTRESS.

DELIVER ME, O, GOD OUT OF THE HAND OF THE WICKED, OUT OF THE HAND OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS AND CRUEL MAN.” 

Psalm 56:3-4,9,11:”What time I am afraid I WILL TRUST IN THEE. In God will I praise his word, In God I have put my TRUST; I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT FLESH CAN DO UNTO ME.” 

“When I cry unto thee, THEN shall mine enemies turn back: This I know for GOD IS FOR ME. ”

“In God have I put my TRUST: I WILL NOT FEAR WHAT MAN CAN DO UNTO ME.” 

Psalm 27:1:”The lord IS my light and salvation; WHOM SHALL I FEAR? the Lord IS the STRENGTH of my life; OF WHOM SHALL I BE AFRAID?” 

Psalm 17:4:”CONCERNING the works of men, BY THE WORD OF THY LIPS, I HAVE KEPT ME FROM THE PATHS OF THE DESTROYER.”

I want to end it right here: Romans 8:31: “WHAT shall we then say to THESE THINGS? { the questions and circumstances of life} IF GOD BE FOR US, WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?  

I had planned to combine this with submission but it ran long so please catch the next one as we continue on our journey. May God Bless you and heal and deliver everyone who is faced with these decisions.

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

More in this series:    “Grinding the ax” 1 “acknowledgement”

                                         “Grinding the ax” 2… “Real Love?”

                                         “Grinding the ax” #4 “STRANGLE HOLD”

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those posts to this, my main site. Thank you

Revisited 06/14/2019

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“Grinding the ax” 2… “Real Love?”

“For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth (observes) all of his goings. His own iniquities shall take (entrap) the wicked himself, and he shall be holden (caught) with the cords (binding ropes) of his own sin.” Proverbs 5:21,22

Going to go a little in reverse with these scriptures. But I do have a question, why is ABUSE among family or spouses “domestic” abuse?

Of course I am being  a little flip here, but does it mean it is “tame” and completely unlike random “stranger” attacks?  Is is permissible BECAUSE it is interwoven into a family unit? Obviously so and THAT is the problem and THAT is why we are so quick to dismiss it.

But as I said with the start of this. GOD DOES NOT WANT YOU TO BE ABUSED, MISTREATED IN ANY WAY, OR EVEN MILDLY “TALKED DOWN” TO.

I have asked this question many times, but if God wanted this for ANYONE, male or female (because there ARE many abused men also) why on earth would Jesus have allowed Himself to be tortured and beaten before the crucifixion?

WHY would He had went through that IF His will was for His children to be in abusive relationships?

And so many women have suffered senselessly having been BRAINWASHED by the notion that this IS God’s will because they had taken vows.

What about the common “To LOVE, HONOR, and CHERISH” vow, most men have taken?

And of course we are all outraged at the treatment women suffer through in many more oppressed parts of the world, (as WE should be) BUT if as Americans our rates of abuse are through the roof, HOW can we encourage and be examples to others to fight for that freedom, if we allow ourselves to be victims behind closed doors?

Got to get our own houses in order before we tell others how to arrange their furniture.

And people could ask of me, what gives me a right to speak about any of it, well, as with this blog’s title, I have learned a lot at the feet of Jesus, and I have been through A LOT and I can point to my own teen years, restraining order and later living through the nightmare of acquaintance stalking (which I will probably share my story soon about, that one is still a tough one and I have wrestled with just how far I want to go with that).

But through it all, Those experiences ARE what lead me to God and how I do understand the”cause and effect” of the aftermath of falling into the traps the enemy has set for us and the self-destructive road it will lead us down, IF we do not seek divine intervention BEFORE we hit that intersection.

We all start in the SAME place, we want to be loved and we want to be accepted but people who have been hurt, and wounded TEND to attract predators and the reason for this, as it was explained to me, is that they literally sense that vulnerability in you and this explains why it is OVER and OVER and OVER for so many UNTIL the let the Lord break that yoke.

Because it IS a yoke. And it IS a yoke of desiring freedom for others BUT believing deep down inside that you yourself DO NOT deserve that freedom and that mindset is just part of the grand trap and I know with the American numbers of one in three women who ARE living in these relationships, obviously someone or many someones FEEL this way.

My starting verse I chose because of something a guy actually told me once that his girlfriend had said to him, and people wear many “faces” and usually the guys we come to discover have been so dreadful to their mates ARE the very ones, most likely voted to be, well, “less likely” and have high praise from others and with the same eeriness that interviewed neighbors of serial killers often portray, the echoed words are usually, “He SEEMED like such a great guy…..” and statements such as, “He was ALWAYS polite and courteous….” classic!

And Lucifer was ALSO the most beautiful of God’s creations and can TRANSFORM into an “angel of light” BUT he is still the same old evil being, just dressed up in a more appealing costume.

That is the thing, UNTIL we as a society and individuals DECIDE to have  a zero tolerance for how we allow OURSELVES to be treated, it is not going to stop.

The cycles are not going to end and without God and determination that it stops, those generational chains of not only being prone to becoming an abuser but also those chains of being psychologically prone to becoming  a victim, are never going to come off.

And everyone HAS to stop making excuses for others, male, female, whatever. If you feel like you have to make excuses for how they treat you, YOU DO NOT NEED THAT PERSON IN YOUR LIFE.

I want to break this into two groups. Marital and non-martial. But we run into one more problem that needs dealt with when tackling this subject.

God INTENDED for sexual relationships to be under the sanctification of marriage, SO if you are in a relationship that has become sexual, SPIRITUALLY, you ARE already “married” to that person and the soul damage is still going to be just as great.

Everyone likes to argue the fact, that you don’t “need a piece of paper” to prove love.

Well, in this case, is not the paper, it IS the act of consummation that does it.

Satan has turned people against marriage and commitment based on the “freedom” theory.

The lack of marriage does NOT protect you from anything and can actually set people up for far worse.

So we are running our scriptures from that point, the word of God concerning, men, women, love, and marriage. 

MARRIAGE: 1 Corinthians 7: 2-15: ” Nevertheless, to avoid fornication (which IS still a sin, regardless of what the world has to say) let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

Let the husband render due benevolence (affection); and likewise also the wife unto the husband.

The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife {are you seeing this is MUTUAL teaching?}

Defraud (deprive) ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that satan tempt you NOT for your incontinency. 

But I speak this by permission, and NOT of commandment. {Paul was expressly HIS heart-felt beliefs on the subject}

For I would (wish) that all were even as myself (celibate). But every man (person) hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. I say this to the unmarried and widows.

It is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they can not contain (exercise control), let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn (with passion).

And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband:

But and IF she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away (divorce) his wife.

But to the rest speak I, not the Lord; If any brother hath a wife that believeth NOT, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him NOT put her away.

And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and he be pleased to dwell with her, let her NOT leave him.

For the unbelieving husband IS sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife IS sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.

But if the unbelieving depart, LET HIM DEPART. A brother or sister IS NOT under bondage in SUCH cases: but GOD HATH CALLED US TO PEACE.” 

You can see from these scriptures that there IS equality and that there IS times that we should part ways with each other. Paul was so careful to address the differences between what is acceptable for believers and for those who are not yet.

But NO ONE is under bondage to another human being.

Same chapter, verse 23, declares this beautifully: “Ye are BOUGHT with a price; BE YE NOT SERVANTS OF MEN.”

Think about the starter verse from part 1 in this series, ” ..for OF whom a man (person) IS overcome, OF THE SAME IS HE BROUGHT IN BONDAGE.”

God DOES deliver us, God saves us, BUT if we can easily allow ourselves snared BACK into that same trap and just stick the title of “love” on it.

Bad relationships have NOTHING to do with love. Think about these verses:

1 John 4:18: “There is NO fear in love; but perfect love (God’s love) casteth OUT fear; because FEAR HATH TORMENT….” 

1 Corinthians 13 :4-8: “Charity (LOVE) suffereth long (long-suffering means endurance in difficult situations), and IS KIND; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not: (doesn’t brag on) itself, is NOT puffed up (prideful).

Doth NOT behave itself unseemly (rudely). seeketh NOT her own (isn’t self absorbed),  is NOT easily provoked (does NOT fly into fits of rage),  thinketh NO evil;

Rejoiceth NOT in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

Beareth all things, Believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity (LOVE) NEVER FAILS….” 

So back to the beginning.. WHAT exactly does the Lord see when He sees interactions between couples?

Malachi 2:14,15: “Yet ye say, Wherefore (why)? Because the Lord HAS BEEN WITNESS BETWEEN THEE AND THE WIFE OF THY YOUTH, AGAINST WHOM THOU HAST DEALT TREACHEROUSLY; 

YET, SHE IS THY COMPANION, AND THE WIFE OF THY COVENANT.

And did he not make one? { God’s marriage commandment that TWO SHALL BECOME AS ONE} Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed (children). THEREFORE TAKE HEED TO YOUR SPIRIT, AND LET NONE DEAL TREACHEROUSLY AGAINST THE WIFE OF HIS YOUTH.”

Colossians 3:11: “Husbands LOVE your wives and BE NOT BITTER AGAINST THEM.” 

EPHESIANS 5:25-33: “Husbands LOVE your wives, EVEN AS CHRIST LOVED THE CHURCH, AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR IT:

That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 

SO OUGHT MEN TO LOVE THEIR WIVES AS THEIR OWN BODIES, He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

For NO man ever yet hate his own flesh; but NOURISHETH AND CHERISHETH IT, EVEN AS THE LORD THE CHURCH:

FOR WE ARE MEMBERS OF HIS BODY, HIS FLESH, AND OF HIS BONES, 

FOR THIS CAUSE SHALL A MAN LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER, AND SHALL BE JOINED UNTO HIS WIFE, AND THEY TWO SHALL BE ONE FLESH.

 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 

Nevertheless LET EVERY ONE OF YOU IN PARTICULAR SO LOVE HIS WIFE EVEN AS HIMSELF; AND THE WIFE SEE THAT SHE REVERENCES (RESPECTS) HER HUSBAND.” 

Ask yourself this, does the relationship you are in fit THIS criteria?

Does the love you feel from the other person fit THIS criteria?

Or does that “love” come with the “torment” of fear?

Think about it and please join me next time and we’ll see what the Bible says about dealing with angry people,and the truth about submission, you might be quite surprised.

Εξυπνιζω NBJ 2017

To read series:     “Grinding the ax” 1 “acknowledgement”

                                “Grinding the ax” #3 “Anger Danger”

                                “Grinding the ax” #4 “STRANGLE HOLD”

*Authors note* This series originally posted on “Alabaster Breaking”, my sister site, that no longer exists. I found it very difficult to maintain both sites and just transferred those posts to this, my main site. Thank you

Revisited post: 6/13/2019