Category Archives: Guarding your mind

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“Gazingstock”

1 CORINTHIANS 4:9-13: “For I think that God hath set forth (displayed) us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to the angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake (the world opinion) but ye are wise in Christ; we ARE weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we ARE despised.

Even unto the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked (poorly clothed), and ARE buffeted (beaten) and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: BEING reviled, we bless; BEING persecuted, we suffer (endure) it. BEING defamed (slandered) we entreat (encourage): we ARE made the filth of this world and ARE the offscouring of all things unto this day. “

We often think of the Apostles as almost superhuman, almost as if, had they needed to, they could have run through stone buildings.

We are half right, considering that they, with the exception of Paul hung out with Jesus and SAW Him ascend into heaven and combined they were FREED by angels, SAW demons cast out and SAW the dead resurrected back to life.

BUT the super part belonged to the LORD the other is just human!
As we read the verse above, nothing about that sounds glamorous, or remotely desirable as a lifestyle and these are the things we often forget.

I truly believe that this is what causes so many “new” Christians to slip and some seasoned ones to misplace their robes and end up wearing a coat made of jade 

For the most part it is preventable.

Once we accept Christ, and especially if we have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost, we have that wonderful newness.

Everything IS brand new; WE ARE New but then life, emotions, and the enemy come and often no one has ever told the “new” person that what they are going through is NORMAL for the course and no one helps them through that maze, and they end up lost in it and give up even trying to find their way home.

The second group comes into play, as often having a fight with hell all the way to the altar and sometimes passed the altar and into the water because they have a call on their life.

And once they do make it “in” that fight only intensifies and I really, really wish I could give a “one word will make it all go away” answer right here.

BUT it does not exist.
Once this particular spiritual warfare has been engaged, it cannot be disengaged because:
#1. The calling of God on lives is determined before birth and “they do not expire until we do.”
#2. Giving up is not an option, you will lose your salvation, and everything you have ALREADY fought through will have been for nothing.
#3. Outside of the will of God and without His protection, satan will chew you up and spit you out.
#4 Your fall will affect every single person you love and all those whom you were to minister to.
#5 THE most important reason is that JESUS died for you and saved you and He will NEVER let you be tested beyond what you can handle, and a servant cannot be above His Master, to reign with Christ we must suffer with Christ.
“Think It not strange…” sometimes battles are so fierce and dark that you cannot even see daylight, but you must remember you war against principalities and powers of the air.

I don’t know how I would have ever made it had God not blessed me with the people he did in my life and ministers that would share their own personal battle stories and some so hard to fathom, that my problems would pale in comparison.

Without the knowledge that these things happened to people whom I knew were Godly and doing their best in their walk, I could have never kept my head above water, I held onto every single word and would remember their stories and how they got through it and that they were still standing and that I serve the same God.

HEBREWS 10:32,33: “But call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were illuminated (enlightened), ye ENDURED a GREAT FIGHT OF AFFLICTIONS (struggle with sufferings); partly, (in part) whilst ye were made a GAZINGSTOCK (SPECTACLE) BOTH BY REPROACHES AND AFFLICTIONS (tribulations) and partly (in part) whilst YE BECAME COMPANIONS OF THEM THAT WERE SO USED (treated).

What can we say there?

The days after your salvation, such a GREAT FIGHT with sufferings and troubles. You were as one that the world would look at and stare upon, as one in medieval stocks for the entire village to mock and ridicule.
Reproaches of those who laugh at your salvation and the enemy who questions “Where is your God now?”

But it is due in part so that YOU CAN become who you are to become in Christ.

1 PETER 1;4-8,10: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding GREAT and PRECIOUS promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside (along with) this, giving ALL DILIGENCE, ADD to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge: AND to knowledge temperance (self-control); AND to temperance patience; AND to patience godliness; AND to godliness brotherly kindness; AND to brotherly kindness CHARITY (love).
FOR if these things be in you (are yours) and abound, they make you that YE SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Wherefore the rather brethren, GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE: FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS YE SHALL NEVER FAIL.”

So, you have heard it from Paul, and you have heard it from Peter, now they are some pretty reliable sources!!!

All these things WILL work to your good and all these things WILL produce every quality needed to be productive in the Kingdom of God.
If you are “new” please stay close and active in a good Bible believing church, read along with them, find ministers that you enjoy hearing and enjoy the word, don’t pressure yourself or let anyone else pressure you, the only opinion of you that should matter is God’s and He is awesome and will teach you all things.

Find a good prayer partner that you can trust, that can pray with you when life comes at you or temptation comes calling and if you fall of the boat, repent and get back on the boat!

And keep trying, IT WILL GET BETTER, and IT WILL GET EASIER.
If you are in group two, seek the old paths and surround yourself with prayer warriors and try to spend time with older ones who have been there and done that and they WILL encourage you and give you godly advice that is imperative to stay on track in your calling.

And the best news is this, once you successfully war against an attack of the enemy, he will no longer use that same weapon, because it is no longer effective.

Once you make it through a tough battle you will soon find that the battle made you stronger and you will be able to stand against attacks that would have put you out earlier in your ministry.

You will also be better at seeing attacks coming and be prepared more easily, not to say there will never be blind sides, but when it is said and done, you will be glad you stayed the course, because medals are not just given, they must be won.
Φλογιζω NB/2016  REVISITED 08/15/2021 Praying someone will be encouraged by this thought TODAY! **REVISTED 08/20/2022** God’s Word is forever the same.

 

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A change of heart….

“And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” JEREMIAH 24:7 

A few days and it will be Valentines Day, always, always has been one of my favorites, I was born a helpless romance junkie and think it should be a crime for anyone to not celebrate the one day set aside to celebrate the greatest of all gifts… LOVE.

And I do NOT mean it in the context of the world standards with their absolutely perverse notion of what love even means, although this time of the year it is hard to escape, especially this year with all the hype about the new even more twisted sequel to a certain movie.. but enough of that

Funny how we humans can dress up the devil and sell him as the best thing that ever happened to us.

Satan will try, he doesn’t care if it has been twenty years, thirty years, whatever, he never gives up and that is why we have to always be on guard and the biggest threat to your salvation is always gonna be your “old friends” and maybe that little throw in there will help someone who may be having “a blast from the past” that the enemy has sent to knock the wind out of your sails.

Remember what Jesus said “Let the dead bury the dead” go on with your life.

Back to love.. real love… the best part of any good romance movie is when the love question comes and one says to the other “If you could only look into my heart…” and we know the correct mushy Hallmark ending to that sentence is “you would KNOW just how much I love you” and all the other mushy love stuff.

So, I want you in honor of true spirit of Valentine’s Day to answer me a question. well actually you will be answering it to you, since I am obviously pretty far outta earshot… If someone were to look deep into your HEART, what would they see?

Would they see tattered, torn, broken, and left feeling forsaken by friends, and family? 

Would they see all the damage, stress, and strain of the trails you have been through in your life and all the rips and shreds left by lost loves and lost loved ones?

Would they see regret, and remorse, and guilt so severe over things you cannot change that have left you with the inability to forgive YOURSELF?

Would they see wounds and scars from a lifetime of deceptions and many bad decisions?

Would they see sorrow, grief, and pain and the worry over the tragedies of others?

The true beauty in having a “damaged” heart is that only a heart that has known true agony can fully give itself to others and most of all to God because only He can revive, renew, and repair all that we think is eternally lost and only he can take a heart too afraid to be loved or show love and make it overflow with the purest of love, to flow out so strong that it can even flow onto those you think are incapable of love and convert them. 

That is why He tells us that He will GIVE us a heart to KNOW Him, but we must come to Him with our whole heart.

And in doing this we have to admit what we see and be willing to trade in our hearts of stone, hardened through life, hardened against faith, hardened in unbelief because of the things we have suffered, and we have the argument that our wounds are too deep, too much water under the bridge and we can’t give our lives to Christ because we just “can’t live it” right now, but that is such self-deception! 

We only have to give Him those stone hearts and let Him tell us what He sees. 

Ezekiel 36:26,27: “A NEW HEART also WILL I GIVE YOU, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I WILL TAKE AWAY THE STONY HEART out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep judgments, and do them.”

He does the work! He gives US the new heart and once He gives us His spirit, HE leads us, guides us, and CAUSES us to walk in His paths!

There is NOTHING that we can do for ourselves! And I for one thank God for that, I personally could have never “fixed” myself, no one or not the greatest team of any super brains on earth could have “fixed” me and you know what?

They can’t fix anyone else either!

Only Jesus, because we have to have a heart transplant that only ONE physician in the universe knows how to perform!

So if you are looking and not liking what you see, and be honest, that is the groovy thing with this blog, NO ONE knows you while you are reading it!

I don’t know it, your friends don’t know it and NO ONE sees you, so you can be honest, right there where you are, LOOK… what do you see?

Joel 2:12,13: “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, TURN ye even TO ME with ALL YOUR HEART, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; And rend (tear open) your heart, and not your garments.

And TURN unto the Lord your God; For HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL, SLOW TO ANGER, AND OF GREAT KINDNESS….“

I promise you, you can trust Him with ALL your heart, and I also promise you, if you could only look into the Father’s heart, you would truly see just how much He ALREADY LOVES YOU!

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

Original post date 02/10/2017 REVISTED 02/12/2022 Rev. Nina Brown Johnson

by

“Gazingstock”

1 CORINTHIANS 4:9-13: “For I think that God hath set forth (displayed) us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to the angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake ( the world opinion) but ye are wise in Christ; we ARE weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we ARE despised.

Even unto the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked (poorly clothed), and ARE buffeted (beaten) and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: BEING reviled, we bless; BEING persecuted, we suffer (endure) it. BEING defamed (slandered) we entreat (encourage): we ARE made the filth of this world, and ARE the offscouring of all things unto this day. “

We often think of the Apostles as almost super human, almost as if, had they needed to, they could have run through stone buildings.

We are half right, considering that they, with the exception of Paul hung out with Jesus and SAW Him ascend into heaven and combined they were FREED by angels, SAW demons cast out and SAW the dead resurrected back to life.

BUT the super part belonged to the LORD the other is just human!
As we read the verse above, nothing about that sounds glamorous, or remotely desirable as a life style and these are the things we often forget.

I truly believe that this is what causes so many “new” Christians to slip and some seasoned ones to misplace their robes and end up wearing a coat made of jade 

For the most part it is preventable.

Once we accept Christ, and especially if we have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost, we have that wonderful newness.

Everything IS brand new, WE ARE New but then life, emotions, and the enemy come and often no one has ever told the “new” person that what they are going through is NORMAL for the course and no one helps them through that maze and they end up lost in it and give up even trying to find their way home.

The second group comes into play, as often having a fight with hell all the way to the altar and sometimes passed the altar and into the water because they have a call on their life.

And once they do make it “in” that fight only intensifies and I really, really wish I could give a “one word will make it all go away” answer right here.

BUT it does not exist.
Once this particular spiritual warfare has been engaged, it can not be disengaged because:
#1. The calling of God on lives is determined before birth and “they do not expire until we do.”
#2. Giving up is not an option, you will lose your salvation, and everything you have ALREADY fought through will have been for nothing.
#3. Outside of the will of God and without His protection, satan will chew you up and spit you out.
#4 Your fall will affect every single person you love and all those whom you were to minister to.
#5 THE most important reason is that JESUS died for you and saved you and He will NEVER let you be tested beyond what you can handle and a servant can not be above His Master, to reign with Christ we must suffer with Christ.
“Think It not strange…” sometimes battles are so fierce and dark that you can not even see daylight but you must remember you war against principalities and powers of the air.

I don’t know how I would have ever made it had God not blessed me with the people he did in my life and ministers that would share their own personal battle stories and some so hard to fathom, that my problems would pale in comparison.

Without the knowledge that these things happened to people whom I knew were Godly and doing their best in their walk, I could have never kept my head above water, I held onto every single word and would remember their stories and how they got through it and that they were still standing and that I serve the same God.

HEBREWS 10:32,33: “But call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were illuminated (enlightened), ye ENDURED a GREAT FIGHT OF AFFLICTIONS (struggle with sufferings); partly, (in part) whilst ye were made a GAZINGSTOCK (SPECTACLE) BOTH BY REPROACHES AND AFFLICTIONS (tribulations) and partly (in part) whilst YE BECAME COMPANIONS OF THEM THAT WERE SO USED (treated).

What can we say there?

The days after your salvation, such a GREAT FIGHT with sufferings and troubles. You were as one that the world would look at and stare upon, as one in medieval stocks for the entire village to mock and ridicule.
Reproaches of those who laugh at your salvation and the enemy who questions “Where is your God now?”

But it is due in part so that YOU CAN become who you are to become in Christ.

1 PETER 1;4-8,10: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding GREAT and PRECIOUS promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside (along with) this, giving ALL DILIGENCE, ADD to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge: AND to knowledge temperance ( self-control); AND to temperance patience; AND to patience godliness; AND to godliness brotherly kindness; AND to brotherly kindness CHARITY ( love).
FOR if these thing be in you (are yours) and abound, they make you that YE SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Wherefore the rather brethren, GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE: FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS YE SHALL NEVER FAIL.”

So you have heard it from Paul and you have heard it from Peter, now they are some pretty reliable sources!!!

All these things WILL work to your good and all these things WILL produce every quality needed to be productive in the Kingdom of God.
If you are “new” please stay close and active in a good Bible believing church, read along with them, find ministers that you enjoy hearing and enjoy the word, don’t pressure yourself or let anyone else pressure you, the only opinion of you that should matter is God’s and He is awesome and will teach you all things.

Find a good prayer partner that you can trust, that can pray with you when life comes at you or temptation comes calling and if you fall of the boat, repent and get back on the boat!

And keep trying, IT WILL GET BETTER and IT WILL GET EASIER.
If you are in group two, seek the old paths and surround yourself with prayer warriors and try to spend time with older ones who have been there and done that and they WILL encourage you and give you godly advice that is imperative to stay on track in your calling.

And the best news is this, once you successfully war against an attack of the enemy, he will no more use that same weapon, because it is no longer effective.

Once you make it through a tough battle you will soon find that the battle made you stronger and you will be able to stand against attacks that would have put you out earlier in your ministry.

You will also be better at seeing attacks coming and be prepared more easily, not to say there will never be blind sides, but when it is said and done, you will be glad you stayed the course, because medals are not just given, they must be won.
Φλογιζω NB/2016  REVISITED 08/15/2021 Praying someone will be encouraged by this thought TODAY!

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WITH FRIENDS LIKE THAT…

I love old sayings, people long ago learned lessons and passed that wisdom down to forewarn future generations.
Ministers are like front line soldiers discovering what’s in the enemies arsenal and reporting back to the troops what weapon is needed to take them down.
Some of the wisest words ever spoken were, “With friends like that, who needs enemies.”
As Paul said “when he thought to do good, evil was ever-present with him.” Sometimes it is difficult for us to see just who our real enemies are.
Think about it, the Bible says that Satan himself “can transform into an angel of light” and we know that he is well versed in the scripture and loves nothing more than to try to twist the word of God to snare, trap, and pervert us.
Genesis 3:1(a) “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made…” and most know this story, through convincing Eve that she really, really wanted this and she should just trust him, it would all be okay, he deceived her into making a decision that we all paid for and Jesus gave his life to repair the damage that “friend” caused.
David, not even trying to resist his lust for Bathsheba ( I know it was lust because he had tried to get Uriah to go home, hoping he would sleep with her and think he had fathered the baby and let them all live a lie) when all of his plans failed, he in effect had Uriah “murdered by war” using him to deliver his own death warrant.
The wages of sin are death, this brought it down on his entire family. Nathan the Prophet went so far as to deliver the judgment handed down from God that the sword would never leave David’s house.
So that voice as the serpent rose again, David’s son Amnon became completely possessed by a spirit of incestuous lust toward his half-sister Tamar. As Satan purposed all this in Amnon’s heart he sent his messenger with just the reassurance Amnon’s flesh needed to act upon that lust.
2 Samuel 13:2,3 ” And Amnon was so vexed (distressed) that he feel sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her ( knew it was wrong ). But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shiva David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.”

His “friend” talked him into raping her, destroying her and filling her brother(his half) Absalom with such hate that it mirrors the rebellion Lucifer led in his attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven.

He had Amnon murdered and led a rebellion against David and died trying to flee David’s army, when his long beautiful hair became caught and tangled on a tree branch leaving him helpless against the sword.
Snared and tangled up, some prophetic symbolism in that, what unchecked bitterness and hate will do to us.
That is what happens when one person chooses to listen to the wrong voice. A girl’s life was completely devastated, two brothers were dead, two mothers, a father, and an entire kingdom was left to mourn and to never be the same.

One more example, sometimes the enemy wants to take you down so bad that he will send a multitude of voices, because after all, how can so many be so wrong?

The story of Queen Esther tells us of Haman, the King’s power-hungry, right hand boy who hated the Jews especially Esther’s uncle, Mordecai because Mordecai refused to bow to him.

So Amidst his whining over the injustice of the situation,

Esther 5:14 “Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and on the morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go merrily with the king unto the banquet. and this thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.”

Long story short, Haman was hanged on his own gallows and Mordecai got his job.
God tells us “surely they shall gather together, but not by me, no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper.”

Haman fell into his own trap, a trap laid at the urging of those closest to him, who supposedly had his best interests in mind, telling him exactly what his blackened, sin-laden heart wanted to hear.

So like those collect calls from Egypt, you don’t realize the price until you get the bill and if you knew the cost you would have never agreed to accept those charges, it may be a bill like David’s, that his family ended up having to pay.
Your true friends may not understand your faith, but they will respect it and be happy for you.
Read Luke 15:8,9 the parable of the lady who found her lost silver and her friends rejoiced with her.
Steer clear of “friends” who only want to drag you back to “Egypt”, because misery loves company and if they are not free they surely don’t want you to be.
Just as with Adam and Eve, once the blinders were off and their eyes were opened to the truth,they knew the sin and the shame.

Amnon, when his “love” immediately turned to complete disgust and hatred once he had achieved his desire.

That is what sin does and no matter how good they make it sound or tell you just how much you are missing, if you give in to them, when the day comes, and it will come, like Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, yours will be also and I promise you that your are not going to like what you see.

The truth is that not only are friends like these a danger to your soul, they also endanger theirs by tempting you as a child of God.

As the Bible teaches us, if we as believers defile this temple God will destroy it (us).
Daniel 5 tells the story of Belshazzar, who had the bright idea that it would be fun to defile the vessels of the Lord which had been taken from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.

He and all with him drank from them, while praising their false pagan gods and having the equivalent to a big drunken feast, within an hour,  his eyes beheld with horror and his knees actually shook with terror as a hand appeared from nowhere and proceeded to write out his death warrant on his own wall, when Daniel interrupted it he would soon learn that no one could save him from the judgment of God and he was dead that night.

We are vessels, holy unto the Lord, set aside for his use and anyone who wishes to defile us will truly have hell to pay.
Friends like these you don’t need. Pray and ask the Lord for real ones. And while you are waiting, remember he is the best friend you will ever have!

Companion post: COLLECT CALL FROM EGYPT. WILL YOU ACCEPT THE CHARGES?

Φλογίζω / 05/24/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina Brown Johnson 2015 

REVISTED 08/07/2021

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“Stoned…so you’ll be sure to miss it…”

“Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR:

Whom RESIST steadfast in the faith. KNOWING that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that ARE in the world.

BUT the God of all grace, WHO HATH CALLED YOU UNTO HIS ETERNAL GLORY BY JESUS CHRIST, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect (blameless before God) , stablish (establish), strengthen, settle you.

To him be the glory and dominion for ever and ever . Amen” 1 Peter 5:6-10

Familiar verse there again, but the word is the word and sometimes we NEED to hear it more than once. I want to expound on this passage just a little bit. Peter was giving his fellow companions instructions on how to survive in their terrible time, a time when the church was being persecuted and believers rejected, hated, and martyred.

He encouraged them to look past the sufferings and injustices of this world and place their trust in Jesus knowing and resting in the assurance that he would, when the time was perfectly right, according to His perfect will uphold them and present them above their enemies,a s He will prepare that feasting table for you in their very presence. He warned them also, as that same warning has been for every single believers since Peter penned it, even to us NOW that we are to be SOBER, serious minded CONCERNING our salvation, our walk with the Lord, and SERIOUS in KNOWING and respecting the fraility of our own human condition, that we can if not constantly monitoring our own hearts and intentions, can be destroyed by the enemy while our attentions that should be focused on God and things concerning the kingdom, are instead focused on things of this world.

And we are told to RESIST the devil by standing in the faith of God and have comfort in the fact that none of us are ever alone, and if you must fight against a temptation, or a mindset, that you should know and have assurance in the knowledge that you are not alone and that your brothers and sisters in Christ have many fought that same battle that you fight. And we are given the promise that holding onto to that faith and that reassurance that God himself, who has CALLED us to himself, to be his children, his heirs, and citizens of his holy kingdom, will indeed help us by settling all the turmoil, internal and eternal, strengthen us through the building of that faith in him, and he will give you peace in all things.

So by this point, you may be asking yourself, Well, there now woman, what’s up with that title?

So glad that you asked!

Anyone who was not raised on church music or has any lyrical association with all thing nineteen seventies would recognize that as a play on an old standard, absolutely no copyright infringement intended, well now that I have written my dutiful disclaimer, I shall tell you.

Most know that I am located in the states and live in the South, not terribly South but south enough to be “accented” with the Bell lingo, quite a conversation point at time, and while I do try to hit across the globe when I write, painfully aware of what my international brothers and sisters suffer, this post is aimed at my own countrymen.

While watching the news I had to sit back in wonder as it was reported the new “changes” that would be taking place in my state, just as all the “changes” that will be taking place in the nation as a whole, as while the details of new way to fight Corona, and all about how people who were “hurting” from the economy and all the woes Corona has brought would not be forgotten, along with mentions of other most mediocre legislations that would come,of course, for the betterment of us all and one point just astounded me, the legalization of marijuana for “RECREATIONAL” use.

Yeah those are six words that should NEVER be linked together in a single sentence.

Especially considering that the area I live in is one of the highest in opioid addiction,overdoses not only through opioid but other substances, not to mention alcohol abuse, meth, and the poverty, and absolute destruction of families and lives that go along with those trappings.

So when I heard those words delivered with what appeared sheer glee, as the state will reap the rewards of that “harvest with a niffy tax, I could not help but wonder what are our lives even worth to our “leaders’, I can answer that for you also, NOT MUCH.

Just enough to endanger those who are not on guard against the dangers of ANY drug use or those who are already battling hell against addiction because that is a battle, and a hard fought battle that never really ends, those who have recovered from alcohol or drug addiction must ALWAYS fight against that lure to try to pull them back into that pit of destruction and despair.

So for the powers that be to decide that during the pandemic, while people ARE feeling isolated and alone, which by the way, isolation is one of the biggest threats to a recovering person, that the time has come to make it pot perfectly legal, and not just legal for medical use, but adding the word “recreational”.

Think about the very meaning of”Recreational” : “relating to or denoting activity done for enjoyment when one is not working.” and think about “Recreational drug use” :”relating to or denoting drugs taken on an occasional basis for enjoyment.”

KNOWING full well that it does induce effects, why else do we call it “Being fried”, pot is not just some sort of “Herbal supplement”. it has very real effects and those effects are addictive.

So in my thinking, I’m like, okay, we have people who are hurting and we are in a pandemic and economy crash, we already have people dying everyday from overdoses, so sure, why NOT give the one more obstacle to overcome and why NOT make it so easy to obtain and so PERFECTLY legal, so that they will have no problem whatsoever obtaining it or run the risk of getting caught with and being charged with possession.

Why NOT even let be said that it is solely for the purpose of their enjoyment, to use ta their discretion.

It is simply this, they do NOT care if you become addicted, they DO NOT CARE if it ruins you, your family, your life.

They only care that it will further their agendas of popularity and revenue increase and people this is just the iceberg tipping, and Satan has always used entrapment as one of the biggest tricks in his bag of many.

The enemy has always played the game of making it easy, putting all those temptations laid out nicely before you to choose as you will but never telling you the price you will pay in the long run, when your life, your health, and nine times out of ten, your family is destroyed and then, the damage is so great that God and God alone is the only one capable of cleaning up the mess that addictions leave of a life.

So on we go on with these new changes, and believe me there will be many more coming, please, for the love of God, do not make the mistake of truly believing that because it IS legal, and because everyone else is doing it, that you should also.

We are responsible for our own lives and the choices we ourselves make and we are warned against “Spiritual wickedness in high places” and a true leader will do what is in the best interest for the health and safety of those they are alleged to be in service to, not to legastite laws that will in fact become a burden to be born on the backs of those who partake of those new “freedoms”.

People often refuse to follow Christ and detest the Gospel based on their beliefs that they are “hindered”, prevented from doing things that they desire to do, but in reality, God gives us his words and his commandment to PROTECT us from those things that while they may be pleasurable, for  a season, they will lead to our destruction.

Remember these words? Hebrews 11: 24,25: “By faith, Moses, when he was come to years (reached adulthood), refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (short time);”

We often forget when we think of those from Bible times, they WERE human, with the same feelings, emotions, and temptations of us all, and Moses could have been the ruler of ALL of Egypt and at that time Egypt was one of the greatest powers on earth, if not the greatest.

Moses had it all laid at his feet, to do with whatsoever he chose, but what he chose was to WALK AWAY from that sinful nation that had in fact ENSLAVED his people and went on to hear the voice of the Lord CALLING him to lead those same people out of that terrible bondage with the mighty hand of God.

We make those choices and so many today are in bonadage an with new snares and trap set daily to ensnare them even farther, and why? What could be a possible motive?

Dependance, my dear friends, dependance, just as the story when Moses was leading the Hebrews, and they begin to complain that he was leading the out to die in the desert and then they actually complained,complained about the food that GOD HIMSELF WAS FEEDING THEM and complained of missing the foods that they had when they were enslaved?

Numbers 11:4-8:” And the mixt multitude that was AMONG them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel ALSO wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this MANNA, before our eyes. 

And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.

And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.”

Had they so easily forgotten being worked mercilessly, dawn to night, had they forgotten being beaten, had they forgotten the sight of the backs and bodies of their loved ones marred by striped raw flesh from those beatings?

Had they forgotten the heartache and helplessness of being able to come to the defense of others as they witness those atrocities?

Had they forgotten that they were under the absolute control of Egyptians to do with what they would, including, thinking back to the degree to slaughter all the Hebrew baby boys, a decree that without the intervention of God would have annihilated Moses at birth.

How they had forgotten all these things at the simple thought of cucumbers, fish, and melons that had been eaten, without a doubt, in haste and fear, as they would need to hurry to continue their toil, an absurd thought, a ludicrous trade,a whispering of Satan, convincing them just how “good” they had it in Egypt!

Notice how this complaint actually got started with the “mixt multitude” those who had came out of Egypt with the Hebrews, not necessarily Hebrews, think of the weeds that the enemy plants along side the “wheat” that has been planted by the Lord. Basically these people start to murmur and complain, soon God’s children hear and then they start to cry and complain ALSO.

Why? Because it is so easy to follow the crowd and do what everyone else is doing  and the enemy knows that and that’s what he is banking on, that we will rather run with the crowd that risk rejection by that crowd.

So they forgot all about the food God was giving them, the sheer MIRACLE of eating food from heaven itself, food that actually tasted of FRESH OIL,fresh oil symbolically fresh oil, that they needed to become new, in their new freedom.

But they chose to listen to the crowd and forgot God’s goodness and they forgot the terrors of Egypt, and if we forget where we have been, and if we forget just how awful and bad that place was, and if we forget how we had prayed to NEVER have to be in that place again, we will

Another secret here:

Psalm 9:17: ” The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

Comparing apples and oranges, you can see how easily Satan tried to twist the minds of the freed Hebrews, to turn them against God’s call and against Moses, trying to lure them back into captivity with the mere promises of leeks and garlic, HOW MUCH MORE CAN HE LEAD PEOPLE BACK INTO BONGAGE OR WORSE BONDAGE WITH THE PROMISE OF DRUGS?

Do you see what the design is now? If every desire is attainable, if every ounce of the flesh is catered to, Where is your eternal salvation in this? Where is your quality of life?

That life will lead you into bondage and into dependance on the very powers that offer you that “luxury of living” and that is the ultimate goal.

Realize today that if you are in Christ, or even if you are not in Christ, but realize that you do not want enslaved to a substance that WILL control and DESTROY you, don’t fall for it, you are not being offered freedom you are being offered bonaged in a pretty package and if we play with fire we will be burned.

The enemy wants you to be “stoned” so that you will completely “miss it”, that you will miss the gentle sound of conviction God speaks to your heart, that you will completely miss the call he has on your life, and that you will miss the hope, peace, and joy that you could have as you trade it for his broken promises  and in effect trade your promises of eternal life for eternal destruction if you do not escape his clutches in time.

Love and peace to you till next time, keep on praying and keep on believing that your tomorrow can be so much better than your today!

Φλογιζω NBJ 2021/ Reverend Nina Brown Johnson

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AND YOU ARE?

Don’t you just love it when you voice an opinion in mixed company only to have the person with the opposing view look at you and say in that smug tone laced with sarcasm and disgust at the mere thought that you could possibly question their obviously superior intelligence, and they say “And you are???
I for one love it! Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of exactly who we are in God.
Elijah the prophet of God, who was allowed to pray that it not rain, pray the rain would return and pray that fire would come down from heaven in the presence of his enemies.
Elijah started those prayers with this statement “If I be a man of God..”

Paul, in his writings dubbed himself “The prisoner of the Lord”.

James refers to himself as “Servant of Jesus Christ”.

John the “Beloved”. 

And Mary who never gave herself a title but at his feet she knew exactly who she was and she fell absolutely, helplessly in love with him, a love born from being touched by love itself in it’s purest form, a love so gentle, humble so powerful that it had restored her soul.

She knew to be separated from Him would be a fate far worse than hell.
They and so many more throughout the Bible have a very common denominator, they knew who they were in God and never let anyone convince them otherwise.

Today we hear so many voices telling us what to think what to eat, what to buy, what we should wear, and who would should be, our minds can become so clouded that we don’t even know who were are and we become too quick to forget who were are in Him.
To achieve our purpose in these blessed last days God has chosen us to be born into, please give up a little you time, or TV time, just make a little time to get in that prayer closet, your personal secret place that is just and God, pray and fast, and remember this does not have to be food, you can fast anything.

Salvation and grace are completely free gifts, but to get in position for the last day outpouring of the spirit and great harvest of souls, and to allow him to stir the gifts and the calling he has placed in you, well it requires diligence on your part.
2 Thessalonians 2:3, tells of the great falling away of the church, we’ve been seeing that come to pass over the last few years.
It is a time to weed out those who serve one day a week or for some reason other than a relationship with Christ and they will fall away.

 Those who are willing to make any sacrifice necessary to see His Kingdom come will be those left standing, the approved of God .
The ones before us who held on, no matter what suffering, ridicule and persecution they had to endure. and when they fell they sought God to lift them up again.
David was human just as human as we are, yet he made tragic mistakes but he sought forgiveness.
God said David was a man after his own heart, I know the common thought on it, but I really take it as David sought the very heart of God, to know Him and be part of the very heart of God.
His praise was constant and he continually sought to have his heart searched, cleansed, restored and anything that may stand between them to be removed.
God wants to help us and there is nothing inside of us that He doesn’t already know.

He is a supreme gentlemen, he will never embarrass you, or tell the whole world all of your secrets. 

He wants us to bring everything to Him and  admit that we have problems so he can help us.
Everyone needs trusted prayer partners but you also need that one on one with God, seek purification, seek out the calling and gifts and seek confirmation of them at church.
We can feel led in certain areas, but I tell you ,whatever area of ministry that stirs your heart is usually where your calling will be found BUT always study God’s word and if seems like a foreign language in the King James, get the New King James, it’s more easily understood, there several of versions of the Bible out there but I personally stop here, but no matter what you are called to do, you must have a good foundation of the word of God. It protects you from false doctrine especially when you are seeking.

“Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which is given thee by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” 1 Timothy 4:14

I feel this is another shortcoming of modern churches today, we are to seek these gifts because they are not for us, they are needed to accomplish the work in the Kingdom.

“Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly unto them; thy   profiting may appear to all. TAKE HEED UNTO THYSELF, AND UNTO THE DOCTRINE; CONTINUE IN THEM: FOR IN DOING THIS THOU SHALT SAVE THYSELF AND ALL THAT HEAR THEE.” 1 Timothy 4:14,15

The time has come to seek and stir up those gifts of God, as he said if you will do these things you will see the lost saved.
And while seeking, the enemy will rear his head to attempt to discourage you, and he will ask “And you are?” 

Take your answer from Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:10 (a)”But by the grace of God I am what I am; and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain:..”

We are the generation chosen to seek His face, now it is up to us to believe that!


Original Post Date: 02/15/14  Φλογίζω/  All Rights Reserved.  Nina BrownJohnson/ 2015 Revisited 06/19/2019  

 

 

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Prayer of David

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, and the ship was like (about) to be broken.

Then the mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them, (threw everything possible overboard to lighten the ship).

But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, and he lay, and was fast asleep.” Jonah 1-5

This is the final post in the series dealing with the thought of spirit versus flesh.

In a past post we looked at Peter and the disciples, who succumbed to emotional exhaustion and  the sorrow caused by the dread of the uncertainty of what was about to take place.

And Paul, who definitely had a predisposition to violence was constantly imprisoned, and ridiculed and was quite honest about the struggles that he faced as he allowed the Lord to teach him the reactions God wanted him to display and he did, one of the many proofs of this came after he and Silas were miraculously freed when God sent an earthquake and opened ALL the prison doors.

Paul alerting the jailer to the fact that they were all still there just as the jailer was about to commit suicide because of their escape.

Paul’s unexpected display of love and mercy being one of the things God used to bring conviction on the jailer, saving him and his entire family.

And with “Kidron calling” we discussed the tear filled journey taken by many including David, whose comfort and complacency directly led him to the place of temptation which Bathsheba. 

David should have been in battle with his men, and his fall to that temptation gave way to what would send him and those faithful to him fleeing toward the wilderness.

And finally Jonah whose just simply allowed his flesh such control that he really believed that he could outrun God. 

Most know the story, when it became evident that he was the reason this storm had come upon them ALL and asked to be thrown overboard with which the storm ended for those on the ship but it still took a horrifying ordeal to convince Jonah that he would do as he had been told.

And still, Jonah held on to enough of his flesh that he actually got mad when God showed mercy to Nineveh and revoked his judgment after they had repented, Jonah was mad because he wanted them destroyed to fulfill his prophetic word.

He could have had his own insecurities as prophets are usually hated and ridiculed, maybe he thought if he sleep long enough and ran far enough someone else would do his job for him and God would somehow “forget” that he had given Jonah this job, and unfortunately,  there is still a lot of that going on today.

These stories have many common threads but one that is really prevalent is how all these examples affected other people, from the hurt and heartache Jesus suffered when his friends couldn’t even stay by his side and would go on to run and even deny him and being betrayed by one who knew him so well and had held such closeness with him that he knew exactly the spot that he could hand Jesus over to his enemies.

Of course, Jesus knew all this and still loved us enough to go on over that brook of CALLED.

And the story of David filled with weeping upon weeping as we all “take people with us”, whether we want to believe that or not, we do.

Our decisions, just like in Jonah’s story, can affect and endanger others, as he laid comfortably sleeping  while those on the ship were in fear of being absolutely destroyed. Jonah oblivious to what was going on around him, and as with the fare price, he did indeed pay a much higher price and STILL had to do his job.

That is what happens when we allow denial to convince us that everything is really just someone’s else’s problem that they’ll just have to deal with.

God has given us the Bible and all the stories of those before us to be examples to us of many things and often what to do and a greater blessing of what NOT to do and how NOT to handle our problems.

In starting this series I had that thought over and over in my own heart as I have been trying to deal with my own struggles after losing my Mom and I have found that to be true so many times, we all struggle with something at one point or another in life.

We can choose to be big fakes and try to hide those struggles and put on our “churchy Christian” faces (yeah, someone actually called me that a few weeks back ;), I was thinking, “If you only knew”…, obviously they had no clue to the battle I was having just staying on the boat!) and we can chose to pretend that we are all together and fa-bu and all kinds of groovy.

But that is not real and God hates that, actually His word says this, and I have quoted this verse probably thousands of time during my time with the Lord and His word never fails:

James 4:7-10: “SUBMIT yourselves therefore TO God, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw nigh (near) to God, and he will draw nigh unto you.

Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts ye double minded. 

Be afflicted (lament), and mourn, and weep:

LET your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness (gloom). 

HUMBLE yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

So with all the troubles in life that can sometimes TRY to lull us back into those old comfortable places where we can just go to sleep hoping to wait out the trip of the dreaded, now uncertain future ahead, so afraid of tearfully crossing that brook ahead of us, that we can forget the promises, and the blessings, and the fulfillment of the callings that are just on the other side of that brook…if we will make that journey.

I want to end this on the note of David, this is the answer for us if we have struggled with these issues or even if someone wasn’t thrown from the boat, they had just temporarily “fallen off”!

That is one of the innumerable beauties of God, it’s not about falling off the boat, or having to be thrown from the boat, it is all about climbing back on board and trying your best to sit down, shut up and trust the Captain.

I love the boating terms, always will, and I have put this is past posts, but back in the day when our late Pastor, who had been a Navy man, would hit us with a particularly toe stepping message, he’d always end it with this, “Shape up or ship out!” and then he’d smile really big and finish with, “And these pews don’t have oars on them!”

Still pretty good advice, we can’t go backward there is nothing there except heartache and death, so we have to go forward, even if we are going without human companionship. 

Imagine the disciples once they were “on their own”, they really had to put their faith to the fire and as Jesus told none of us are above any of us and all of our work will be tried in that fire.

This is David’s prayer after he had been confronted by Nathan the prophet concerning his sins with Bathsheba and the “murder by war” of Uriah.

It is a wonderful prayer and even to be broken down and prayed by certain verse over our specific struggle, we can all find hope, help, and healing in the word of God.

                                                         Psalm 51

“HAVE mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness; according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions; and my sin is ever before me.

Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight; that thou mightest be justified when thou speaketh, and be clear when thou judgest.

Behold, I was shapen (brought forth) in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right (steadfast) spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free (generous) spirit. 

Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.

O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

For thou desirest not sacrifice; else I would give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite (crushed) heart, O God, thou will not despise.

Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem.

Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.”

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ2018

 

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“Turning upside down right side up”

“And in the process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought an offering of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.

And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering; But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.

And Cain was very wroth (angry), and his countenance fell.

And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth (Why are you so mad?) And why is thy 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, and thou shalt rule over him.” Genesis 4:3-7 

Starting at the “process of time”, ever think of the effects of the PROCESS OF TIME? So many old sayings, “Time waits for no one”, “All in good time”, “Time will tell the tale”,  quirky maybe, TRUE nevertheless and time is NOT any ones friend!

But you know, God actually WANTS our “latter days” to be BETTER than our former days! So why do we often feel the complete opposite? I want to give you a comparison post.

Written “thoughts’ from scriptures, true words of who other’s have felt during the “process of time” and what the scripture states we SHOULD experience during that process. 

So over time Adam & Eve’s boys grew and they offered up their “best” unto the Lord. Abel offered what he knew to be right and what he had been taught to be right.

Cain on the other hand offered up the “fruit of the ground”, things he had grown and sometimes spiritual, maybe we can be guilty of NOT doing what is right but rather “offering” to the Lord the leftover things in our lives.

Instead of giving him the first and the best, we give him what we have left of what we have pulled out of earth and “earth” is us and our hearts. God loves us but God will NOT accept second best as an “offering” of devotion, love, and praise to him.

He has to be number one, so sins sets in and what he was saying to Cain is this, IF he would give HIS best He would be accepted. ANYTHING less than his best would not be accepted.

And that this attitude and failure to correct that attitude would result in SIN controlling him and that Cain himself SHOULD rule over that sin and NOT be snared by his own attitudes and correctable shortcomings.

As we know with the story of Cain and Abel, Cain DID NOT take the Lord’s advice, but went contrary to God’s warning and through jealously and hatred murdered his own brother.

Now we’ll get a glimpse of what it is to FEEL when our countenance “has fallen”, when trouble has taken our joy and worry consume our thoughts, and even when that sin that lie in wait has won and we have fallen to its snare.

Psalm 38: 1-9: “O Lord, rebuke me NOT in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

For thine arrows stick fast in me (deeply pierce me), and thy hand presseth me sore (down).

There is NO soundness in my flesh BECAUSE of thine anger, NEITHER is there any rest (peace) in my bones BECAUSE of my sin.

For mine iniquities have gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.  

My wounds stink (are foul and festering, growing worse) and are corrupt BECAUSE of my foolishness.

I am troubled (bent down); I am bowed down greatly: I go mourning all the day long. For my lions are filled with a loathsome disease ( inflammation):

And there is no soundness in my flesh. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart (groaned during turmoil) 

Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.”

The feelings of nervousness, no soundness in our “flesh”, anxiety and fear causing stomach troubles, and the “wounds” that grow worse, actually translating to “festering” as NOT ACCEPTING the forgiveness of God does cause all those spiritual conditions that manifest in our “countenance” to intensify and grow worse, because of the overwhelming FALSE thought that God is SO angry that he will never forgive us.

When David wrote this, he was clearly distressed in multiple ways and really expresses the “punishing” hand of the Lord upon him. And i can’t help but wonder how often do we feel this way?

God’s word offers us such hope, such forgiveness that it will clearly offer the healing for these conditions but we have to be willing to ACCEPT it and it is so easy for us as humans, to want to beat our selves up over mistakes and “wrong turns” in life that we will suffer these conditions of OURSELVES rather than to ask God to deliver us and set us back on that right road.

And he will, just as he advised Cain, only Cain refused God advice choosing to “take care of his own problem”.

You know kinda like a “I made my bed, I’ll lie in it” kind of mentality. But God NEVER told us to have that mentality!

And his word is actually quite opposite to these self-destructive, self- punishing, being your own judge, jury, and executioner!  Back to Cain, once God called him out about the murder of his brother and had leveled his penalty for that action, he STILL showed unmerited MERCY and forgiveness to Cain, when Cain expressed his fear of dying for those actions.

Genesis 4:13-15: “And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment (iniquity) is greater than I can bear.

Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth: and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 

And the Lord said unto him,(NOT SO) Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, VENGEANCE SHALL BE  TAKEN ON HIM SEVENFOLD. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.”

Now THAT is mercy and forgiveness! So knowing not many has angrily murdered there brothers, but also knowing sin is sin, why do so many RESIST just letting the Lord take over, forgive them and set his “mark” upon them and rest in his love, mercy, and provision? I think it goes back to that same old messed up thinking, and again that thinking IS NOT right! It does NOT line up with God’s WORD for us!

And it actually takes precedence OVER God’s role in our lives because instead of bowing down to God, we can find ourselves bowing down to our own prideful need to reprimand ourselves, and it is pride based.

It is pride that makes us falsely believe that we should “take care of our own problems” and it really is like telling God that you believe that he saved you, or a list of all the other things he has done for you in your life, BUT you “made this mess, you’ll clean it up”, kinda crazy isn’t it? How exactly do we do that?

We can’t save ourselves.

As the Bible tells us,  a leopard can’t change its spots, and Jesus told us, we can’t change our height, there are things we can never change, only God can can.

And we can’t “get out of our own messes” we have to accept God’s help and I say “accept” because I know God always wants to help his people and it is his desire to see ALL of us free and living in the peace and joy he preordained and purchased for us with his own life!

And we can take a lesson from Cain, even though he fell to that anger and pride, he still had the good-sense to ask God for help and ask God to CHANGE  his future!

Job 5:1-9: ” CALL now, if there be any that will answer thee: and to which of the saints (holy ones) wilt thou turn?

For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one, I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.

His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robbers swallow up their substance (wealth).

Although affliction cometh not forth  of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground.  

Yet man is born unto trouble (distresses and toil), as the sparks fly upward. I (but as for me) would seek unto God,and unto God would I commit my cause.  Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number.”

Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to WILL and to DO his good pleasure.” 

Luke 12: 32: “Fear not, little flock;  for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

Take him up on it! Don’t let false guilt and self persecuting pride rob you of what Jesus is trying to give you! Let him turn that upside down warped thinking right side up and save you not only from the devil but for a more formidable enemy…yourself.

The enemy doesn’t have to destroy you when you are needlessly destroying yourself.

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NB 2018

Awesome song, wonderful message to remember!

 

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OPIOID OOPS ….

What can you say? What can you about the pharmaceutical industry and a medical field that through greed and absolute contempt for human life, families, and our nation has in effect created a population with addiction and overdose rate that are absolutely staggering and now in a moment of “OOPS, our bad, we may have made a mistake” they NOW want to force feed their victims “cure” drugs, Methadone, Naltrexone, and Suboxone at an even MORE EXPENSIVE price.

Was it REALLY all just in innocence, that they were simply UNAWARE that these drugs were addictive?

Yeah, and as the old song goes “I’ve got some ocean front property…. I want to give you a little down low on just what is going on with this and I live in a part of the country that has some of the highest addiction rates to be had and the neighboring states can back us up with stats all their own.

This is NOT an accident, you can call it greed, call it “clinical trial” call it “get rich at the cost of the hurting and desperate”, call it “bilking the insurances”, call it whatever you want, but it already HAS a name and its name is PHARMAKEIA.  

Opioids and many other PRESCRIPTION medication IS currently the devils choice “mind control agent” as he operates in the exact way the Bible tells us that he does by “BLINDING the MINDS” of people.

Many people who become addicted are addicted BECAUSE they were given a prescription by a person in the medical field that they felt secure, confident in TRUSTING with their life, only not knowing that that trust would unwittingly be betrayed and they would be led to a far greater problem than the aches and pains and often less than chronic medical woes that prompted their first visit.

And MANY who are addicted through perfectly “innocent” prescriptions of their own are then “cut-off” after becoming dependant on that medication and “take to the streets” to find a replacement to kill the pain that they are left with, now only INTENSIFIED because their mind and their body is craving the drug.

Families DESTROYED, mother’s burying their children, children burying their parents, countless children sent into foster care, and do you think the one who prescribed the drugs are losing any sleep?

Tell you a few more DISTURBING facts, again in my area, a “help wanted” advertisement for a “drug counselor”, one of the requirements.. you MUST be a recovering addict, yeah, great idea, put one just coming through with one going through, sure that will work out great!I do understand AA and Al-Anon, and so on for self-help and the buddy system but NOT as your source counselor.

And I do not mean to sound harsh, some physicians that may THINK they are helping people, and maybe are TRYING to help by opening up Methadone and Suboxone clinics, but they are NOT.

They are STILL addicted, they have only changed “pushers” and if they do not have the money to shell out for this “help” and it often involves WEEKLY office visits, not to mention the cost of the “medication” (conveniently enough, COUPONS are available) and much of this “helpful drug”ends right back out on the streets, being sold so others can get high.

But anyway, if they are looking for help from kind hearts, who are helping out of the kindest of that heart… well,sadly tough luck to them.

Still a game of pay to play and those with the addictions are the losers in that game.

And WE ALL LOSE, FAMILIES, LOSE, CHILDREN LOSE, THE NATION LOSES, and AMERICA HAS THE HIGHEST RATES OF PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE IN THE WORLD!  

Are we just in chronic pain? NO, actually according to the CDC site, one in five people visiting their PCP with non-cancer pain related issues are prescribed OPIOIDS.  PCP’s account for one half of all opioids prescribed.

With one in four of these becoming addicted after being prescribed these drugs for long-term use, but yet it is the main prescribed recommended option for pain relief.

Pain medication comes in at number one with a forty-nine percent rate of being the FIRST choice of patient care, opposed to surgery and rehabilitation, and other types of medications.

WHO are their targets of prime prescribing? WOMEN, WHITE WOMEN in the above forty age group, with whites between the ages of twenty-five and fifty-four being highest in the opioid group.

WHY is this? could it be like the “generational” cancer that hits certain families and certain groups mid-forties?

Could it be a great take out plan between “gap” group that linked the older God-fearing generation to the new liberal, darwin taught generation that so desperately needs those in the middle to bridge that gap with the truth of the Word of God?

Call it conspiracy but the Bible teaches to compare natural to natural, spiritual to spiritual, and NO ONE can convince me that there is anything NATURAL about PRESCRIPTION OPIOID  DEATHS QUADRUPLING SINCE 1999 (and of course as the CDC site states, so have the profits)!

 More than HALF A MILLION AMERICANS DEAD BETWEEN 2000-2006 FROM OPIOID OVERDOSES (including Heroin).

Every DAY over A THOUSAND people are treated in Emergency departments for failing to use drugs as directed.

Every DAY NINETY-ONE DIE FROM OPIOID OVERDOSE. Truly disturbing is that statics starting at twelve years old.

According to the 2017 census, which changes every second if you use the government census “clock”  we have three hundred, twenty-five million, eight hundred, and seventy-thousand, six hundred and seven citizens and in 2010 alone there were two hundred and fifty-four MILLION prescriptions written bringing in  revenue for the pharmaceutical industry of ELEVEN BILLION DOLLARS!

 That was SEVEN years ago!   Does it SHOCK anyone that NOW the recommend you “SUB” a “cure” drug for the opioids and go BELOW the addiction to a NEW addiction that will make everyone even richer? 

The CDC has a new report for 2017, it’s around eighty-three pages including graphs and charts and complete state and age breakdowns.

I encourage you to PLEASE read it, you can find it at https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/pdf/pubs/2017-cdc-drug-surveillance-report.pdf you can also copy and paste from that site and it is where my information came from, or can can just go to cdc.gov and search it out, but there are also many other good sources.

Another major problem with all of this is certain states that are listed as prescribing three times the amount of opioids PER person without any indication of differences in pain from other states.  

Again, I would NEVER belittle ANYONE’S pain, I suffer from chronic pain, every single day, and I have for years and God has healed me from some conditions that will still show on a report but that I no longer feel the effects of and I know that there are different levels of pain, but please note above that one out of five are prescribed unnecessarily.

So we have to wake up and realize a few things, we sometimes think because someone is in the medical field that we are to take EVERYTHING they say and EVERYTHING they recommend as right and that is not always the case.

God gives us wisdom and we should always PRAY before beginning any treatment or medication because even “basic” medications can have serious side effects that once you listen carefully, risks can far outweigh any benefit you would receive by taking it.

But we have been so brainwashed by ad after ad cheerfully telling us to GO, ASK for this medication or that medication that we do exactly as we are told.

NEVER questioning their question of “Ask your doctor or pharmacist today if _____ could be right for you.”

If  then we did decide that God and our own intuition is a far better judge of that, we would answer “NO! That is not right for me!”

It’s kinda like, “Hey, do you wanna trade that skin condition for lymphoma,or would you prefer kidney failure?” or “Having trouble sleeping? Try our new drug______ it hasn’t been tested very well , so essentially YOU ARE our research specimen, so keep up your insurance premiums because there is a SLIGHT risk of death when using this product.”

And even IF they have to recant their wondrous claims about their NEW drugs by the time all is said and done and the bodies counted, lawsuits settled, they are STILL filthy rich.

The entertainment industry has been “priming” us for YEARS with this nonsense,and once it opened the floodgate especially with a certain insanely popular show a few years back, whose main BELOVED character was a drug addicted, jerk weed doctor who happened to be a genius,

America was “hooked” because the background plied into the plot to make you SYMPATHIZE with this character.

Character after character IDOLIZED working, living, and of course “loving” all the while stoned out of their heads, the sky never falling and the walls never caving in on them.

And countless celebrities living out their addictions in the spotlight and as with it all, it BECOMES “normal”, it BECOMES “natural” and when we can list drug use as “recreational” on healthcare information forms, WHAT ON EARTH DO WE EXPECT TO HAPPEN?

When we continue to coddle these spirits, WELCOME them into our lives, our homes, our families. satan proved a long time ago in the garden that humans are NOT as smart as they think, HE JUST HAS TO LET YOU THINK YOU ARE.

And as this was all forming in the belly of the beast, I saw it coming long ago, and one of the things that really told the tale, was the usage of the word “prescription” it was GIVEN a new, hip term “SCRIPT” yeah, let’s make it casual, see how many that appeals to. It is no longer considered addiction, it is life management, EVERYONE IS DOING IT.

It has been seeping into brains through music FOR years, the OLD british boys, coming in with all their freak show lsd songs and one group that I’m just not  naming because I wouldn’t give the devil the “Satisfaction” but noticed years ago, they glorified mother’s “little helpers” to get her through the day, and so many to the advice to be “medicated” to “tolerate” daily maternal life that now how many mothers ARE NOT EVEN ALLOWED TO SEE THEIR OWN CHILDREN?

Any one remember the disco era’s beloved master, cocaine? Of course you’re gonna have to be on something to get into the groove of all the one night stands that generation brought in play.

Oh we could go on, and on, and it is STILL going. 

LOOK BACK.. EVERY SINGLE GENERATION HAS FELL FARTHER AND FARTHER, WHAT DO THEY HAVE IN COMMON? MUSIC TO SET THE “MOOD”, MEDIA, PUSHING THE NEW BEHAVIORS AND GIVEN REASSURANCE THAT IT IS ALL NORMAL, SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE AND GOOD FOR YOU, A DRUG OF CHOICE, THE PHARMAKEIA, THE SORCERY, THAT CONTROLS YOUR MIND, MOOD, AND EMOTIONS SO NO ONE WILL EVER REALIZE THAT THEY ARE KILLING THEMSELVES.

The devil has been around a long time and he knows he has to get people in agreement with him to accomplish what he wants, and what he wants is your destruction and he will LET you THINK you are calling the shots, you are your own boss, making your own decisions but you wake up one day and you will realize that you are ENSLAVED to the task master that is STRAIGHT FROM THE MOUTH OF HELL. 

That is going to be hard pill to swallow for America.

So please do not allow your mind to be blinded by the spirit of pharmakeia  that has taken over America.

With the rates of eighty-percent of Americans taking some type of prescription medication, it is of little importance of what classification of drugs it belongs to.

If it is prescribed long-term and it CONTROLS something in your mood, your thinking, sleeping habits, or the “pain” family, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but one way or another IT HAS CONTROL OVER YOU.

And please pray before you let anyone prescribe anything for you or your children.

ASK questions, How long will I need this? What are my other options (YES AMERICA, THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS) Why did you chose this particular drug? How will this benefit my long-term health goals? What is the addiction rate?

And don’t take their word for it, research it YOURSELF, my mom and my sister both have turned down “new” medications after doing their own research, and deciding that THE RISK IS NOT WORTH ANY POSSIBLE BENEFIT.

Back to the crisis at hand, if we have an eighty percent now, what will we have within five years? If rates have quadrupled that fast? If we do not get a handle on this, we will be hitting ninety-nine percent in the country.

WHY? Because through pharmakeia, which is the word for SORCERY, minds are being completely deadened, no shock people don’t care about their souls, they can’t function enough to be dealt with, or kept awake long enough to feel conviction or the need for repentance, or THINK about anything of merit, or other humans, only the concern of getting the next high, and with those long-term plans, the more you take, the more you need and the less effect it is going to have, as also with that research, people being prescribed far greater dosages, much higher than the recommended guidelines.

To then be OFFERED the next step, the “fix” from the addiction is MORE addiction, HOW much do you want your intelligence insulted? To be a little more forward, DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT THEY ARE PLAYING YOU FOR?

They are only taking people lower and lower and NO ONE is getting clean, NO ONE is getting better, and NO ONE is getting healed.  

People are only allowing unethical medical professionals to sacrifice them to the god of pharmakeia and NOT EVEN PUTTING UP A FIGHT.

If you don’t have  a problem, don’t get one and if you have one get rid of it, but get rid of it the Bible way, this is bondage that only God can break, there is nothing you can do in yourself and you have to admit there is a problem and this is when Jesus was talking to the disciples about another demonic problem.

Matthew 17:24: “ Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” God is the ONLY way this is going to break and until we REALIZE that we do have to be kind and show mercy and not be judgmental BUT we have to quit coddling this problem, and pretending people are fine, when they are NOT.

And until we ACCEPT what is really happening to us, as a nation, then nothing will change and we will just keep burying the bodies, the pharmaceutical will just keep getting richer, and the orphans will just keep multiplying.

But if you do see and you do want change to happen, either for you or loved one, start NOW, quit swallowing the secular view on it.

God still heals, Jesus healed the lady with the issue of blood for twelve-years, He healed the lady that had been bent completely over for eighteen years, He healed the man that could not walk for thirty-eight years, talk about long-term illnesses!

And in John 5:6 Jesus asked “Wilt thou be made whole?”  Meaning, Do you want to be well?  No more quick fixes, no more miracle cures, the only healing, the only true deliverance will we have is in and through Jesus Christ and if we want to see this spirit break, we are gonna have to want it and THEY are gonna have to admit they NEED it and WANT IT ALSO.

We are gonna have to fast and pray for this nation and pray for those who do want to be well and “faith up” and get ourselves right to see the healing that Jesus said would FOLLOW us, but we can not continue to pretend that this is all good because it is ANYTHING but.

Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

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Laughing their way RIGHT INTO HELL….

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: FEAR GOD, and keep his commandments: for this IS the whole duty of man. For God shall bring EVERY work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good , or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12: 13,14

I am forever amazed at the entertainment industry and how far they will go for ratings and to make the almighty dollar, and the willingness to sell out anything and everything to further their careers, including THEIR OWN SOULS.

When I think I have seen it all, I discover that i was quite wrong.. I do not watch very many shows because most now are absolute filth and even if someone else is watching and there is “something” there it will present “itself”, I truly believe God allows this so it can “warned” of and I have even had people comment to me that had watched so & so and had NEVER heard anything like that before or noticed certain references mocking Christians and God.

There is list and no one needs them pointed out but I will and if you ARE watching any of these shows, you’d better think again. Of course SNL, South Park, and anything Bill Maher, Bill Nye, and the late George Carlin has touched is polluted filth, PERIOD.

The list could go and on and what is even more horrific is the cartoons and “teen” programs which are weaving in anti-God “jokes” and even point-blank blasphemy such as SEVERAL different references to “tongues” and actually mimicking and mocking that characters are “Christians” and I caught one that even had the audience chanting “HG” they were saying the name , I will NOT use it here for fear, but it is reference to ONE of the members of the HOLY TRINITY, chanting this while a skit member who was supposed to be an “old Christian” man RAN the aisle of the audience. The most horrify thought with this, the person who did that skit PROFESSES Christ.

Al Sharpton (whom I’m NOT even getting into!) doing a skit years ago, also on SNL as a “wise man” from the Nativity story and here is the deal, NO ONE mocks God and when all the “curse” started following the “Batman” trilogy, you know, Heath Ledger dying while doing the joker, ( I know the world argues that but I don’t write for the world, so…) and then as we know the horrific theater shootings related to the SAME character.

Just a case of mental illnesses? Think not, you can trace the beginning of this back to the first in the Trilogy when the “Batman” character mocks God. And it is in movie after movie, after movie.

These shows are fiction, the character are fictitious but GOD IS VERY REAL and He will not be mocked period and no one is going to tell him it is a joke or it is a job and when you have shows geared toward kids, they grow up thinking it is okay to mock God and Christians and WHEN CHRISTIANS LAUGH RIGHT ALONG SIDE THEM who is telling them otherwise?

HOW serious is this? How about serious enough to NEVER be forgiven? To speak against the Holy Ghost is UNFORGIVABLE. Jesus will FORGIVE us for ANYTHING, murder, stealing, adultery, ANY sin you can name BUT NOT SPEAKING AGAINST HIS SPIRIT.

 “He that is NOT with me IS AGAINST ME; and he that GATHERETH NOT with me; SCATTERETH abroad. 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 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.”  Matthew 12:30-33

Jesus HIMSELF is telling us that if we are not gathering with Him we ARE SCATTERING, to hear these things and be aware of them and sit idly by while our God is being mocked and us either laughing or NOT saying anything and NOT letting others KNOW that this is wrong and not only is it wrong, IT CAN COST THEM THEIR VERY SOUL, makes us the worst kind of “scatterers” and He also tells us that a person may speak a word AGAINST Him and BE FORGIVEN but to speak AGAINST HIS HOLY GHOST WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN NOT IN THIS WORLD OR THE NEXT.

So if you have NEVER thought about this or if you have NEVER been taught that it is wrong, I AM HERE TO TELL YOU, IT IS WRONG.

God IS HOLY, God WANTS us to have joy and laughter IS merry medicine but IN context. THERE IS NEVER, EVER AN EXCUSABLE REASON TO MAKE JOKES ABOUT GOD OR ANYTHING PERTAINING TO HIM OR HIS KINGDOM, OR HIS FOLLOWERS, EVER!

I am also shocked at the amount of “memes” that flood social media and most are supposed to be “Pentecostal” humor, and TRUE Pentecostal or any other denominations of God’s children could tell people sending these things out that is the devil and the devil only that finds this stuff humorous and ones who share it are LETTING satan use them to mock and ridicule their fellow-servants and it further SCATTERS the flock.

But DON’T take my word for it. TAKE THE WORD: ” HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, ye children of Israel: for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, NOR THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IN THE LAND. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out (BREAK ALL RESTRAINTS), and blood toucheth blood.

Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven;yea, the fishes of the sea shall also be taken away. YET NO MAN STRIVE (CONTEND), NOR REPROVE (reprimand) ANOTHER: for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. 

Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and THE PROPHET ALSO SHALL FALL (stumble) WITH THEE IN THE NIGHT,And I will destroy thy mother. MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE: because thou hast REJECTED knowledge, I WILL ALSO REJECT THEE, that thou shalt be no priest to me:….” Hosea 4:1-6(a)  

His people ARE being destroyed because of a lack of knowledge and we see quite clearly whose feet the blame for this will be laid at.

“The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth (takes) it to heart: and merciful men are taken away. none considering that the righteous are is taken away from the evil to come: He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness (having God’s righteousness and salvation).

BUT DRAW HITHER (come close), ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore (harlot). Against WHOM do ye sport (RIDICULE) yourselves? Against WHOM make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression , a seed of falsehood.” Isaiah 57:1-4

We KNOW who they speak against and we also KNOW their end:

“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 have gone the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam FOR REWARD (profit), and PERISHED IN THE GAINSAYING (rebellion) of Core.

These ARE spots (stains) in your feasts of charity, when the feast with YOU, feeding themselves WITHOUT FEAR: clouds they are WITHOUT WATER, carried about of winds; Trees WHOSE FRUIT WITHERETH (dries up) WITHOUT FRUIT, TWICE DEAD, plucked up by the roots;

RAGING waves of the sea, FOAMING OUT OF 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 thousand of his saints. TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT ON 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 MEN’S ADMIRATION BECAUSE OF ADVANTAGE. 

But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How they told you there should be (would be) MOCKERS IN THE LAST TIME (last days), who should (would) walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves (cause divisions), sensual (worldly) having NOT the Spirit.

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves, on your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

And of some HAVE COMPASSION making a difference (distinction). And others SAVE WITH FEAR, pulling them out of the fire: HATING EVEN THE GARMENT SPOTTED (DEFILED) BY THE FLESH.” Jude verses 10-23

Not going to be quit so funny… do your part and speak up every opportunity you are presented with, God will not be mocked and in hell the laughter will cease, your voice against this “entertainment” may be the voice that prevents someone from going there.

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

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BELIEVE

“And not long after there AROSE against it a tempestuous wind, called Eurocyldon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear (head) up into the wind, we let her drive ( BE DRIVEN).

And running under (under the shelter of) a certain island which is called Claudia, we had much work to come by the boats ( to secure the ship’s skiff); Which when they had taken up (taken it on board), they used helps (cables) undergirding the ship; and fearing lest they should fall (run aground) into the quick sands, strake sail, and SO WERE DRIVEN.

And being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. And when NEITHER sun nor stars in MANY days appeared, and no small tempest lay (beat) on us, ALL HOPE THAT WE SHOULD BE SAVED WAS TAKEN AWAY.

But after a long abstinence (from food) Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm (disaster) and loss.

And NOW I exhort (urge) you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.  For there stood by me this night, the angel of God, WHOSE I AM, and WHOM I SERVE, saying, FEAR NOT, Paul; THOU MUST BE BROUGHT BEFORE CEASAR: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.

Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer (take heart): For I BELIEVE GOD, that it SHALL BE even as IT WAS TOLD ME.” Acts 27:14-25

Now, Paul was a prisoner on this ship that was caught in this massive storm a storm who had a name, Eurocyldon, which pretty much means wind stirring up waves. Many are in the midst of storms, the storm in your life that IS stirring those waves up against you as they try to blow you completely off course. I am also quite sure your storm also has a name, as they always do.

The storm of despair, the storm of sickness, the storm of recurring circumstances, the storm of financial woes, whatever the storm you are going through, it is the name of your worst enemy at the moment.

But here is where we are going to take a turn in this storm business. I know so many of God’s children who just keep getting hit, over and over. I write quite a bit about it and I truly hope this will be of encouragement.

First off, they did not try to control the ship during the storm, there are just things in life that no matter how much we wish we could, we simply have no control over some things and in the grand realm of all things, we really have no control over anything, so they let the ship BE driven and just simply tried to hold on.

Secondly, they lightened the ship, tossing off every thing that was not vital to survival, often, that is what storms do in our lives, they have a way of making us realize what is truly important and what we can and can not live without.

Finally, as the storm STILL beat down in the darkness, ALL hope SEEMED lost and they really thought they were all going to die. Paul had seen this coming and warned all that they should not go but go they did, after reminding them of fact so that they WOULD now take his next statements with seriousness, he tells them to cheer up, because even though the ship will be lost, they would live.

An angel had appeared to him to comfort him with a VERY POWERFUL fact, Paul WOULD go to Caesar, so NO storm, NO action on earth COULD PREVENT WHAT GOD HAD SPOKEN, and you know what? IT STILL CAN’T!

So I want to stir up your thinking a little, get you concentrating on the blue skies and smooth sailing that are just beyond this latest barrage of woe.  As children of God, we have the promises of God on our lives and I want to you to think about the word God has given to you FOR your life, a word of knowledge or a word of prophecy of His plans for your future and your work and if at all possible make a list of the things that God has spoken over you and KNOW that as long as you have “unfinished” business for the Kingdom, or a direct promise from God concerning something yet to take place, you are under “NO WEAPON THAT IS FORMED AGAINST YOU SHALL PROSPER” umbrella, if you will. 

Just as in another scripture Apostle Paul wrote of a great and effectual “door” the Lord had for him, but that there were MANY adversaries to try to prevent him from entering that door. The battle you have faced could very well be the same set-up. I am not saying that it always is, but when you read God’s word, you clearly see it is not always easy to stand against the “wiles of the devil” but we are encouraged to STAND. 

Let me give you a few more examples of Paul being encouraged through the dark nights by being reassured that he still had work to be accomplished.

“Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be NOT afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace; For I AM WITH THEE, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.” Acts 18:9,10

Jesus gave Paul comfort that he would not let anyone hurt him because Paul would preach to many and he stayed there for a year and six months after the Lord gave him this reassurance.

And again as his life was being threatened, the Lord appeared, as this was reference to the work he would do.

“And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so MUST thou bear witness also in Rome.” Acts 23:11

God always encouraged Paul by assuring him that he would be okay because he had a job to do and just as our starting verses, PAUL SAID ALL THAT NEEDS SAID when he said “I BELIEVE GOD”

He believed because he believed what had been told him on behalf of God.

Believe, Believe, Believe… “While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, Thy daughter IS dead; trouble NOT the MASTER. But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, FEAR NOT: BELEIVE ONLY, and she SHALL be made whole.” Luke 8:49,50

Just as death had no right to Jairus’ daughter when Jesus said she could not be taken, nothing has any right over you unless the Lord allows that right and as long as you have a word, a hope, and a confidence of His promises you can rest assured, it is not over until He says it is over.

May God Bless and encourage you! Love and Peace until next time!

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

 

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A change of heart….

“And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.” JEREMIAH 24:7 

A few days and it will be Valentines Day, always, always has been one of my favorites, I was born a helpless romance junkie and think it should be a crime for anyone to not celebrate the one day set aside to celebrate the greatest of all gifts… LOVE.

And I do NOT mean it in the context of the world standards with their absolutely perverse notion of what love even means, although this time of the year it is hard to escape, especially this year with all the hype about the new even more twisted sequel to a certain movie.. but enough of that

Funny how we humans can dress up the devil and sell him as your best friend.

Know a little something about dressed up  “old friends” lately too, you know the ones who keep coming and coming to torment you, yet according to them they are your FRIEND. 

But it does prove a point..

Satan will try, he doesn’t care if it has been twenty years, thirty years, whatever, he never gives up and that is why we have to always be on guard and the biggest threat to your salvation is always gonna be your “old friends” and maybe that little throw in there will help someone who may be having “a blast from the past” that the enemy has sent to knock the wind out of your sails.

Remember what Jesus said “Let the dead bury the dead” go on with your life.

Back to love.. real love… the best part of any good romance movie is when the love question comes and one says to the other “If you could only look into my heart…” and we know the correct mushy Hallmark ending to that sentence is “you would KNOW just how much I love you” and all the other mushy love stuff.

So I want you in honor of true spirit of Valentines Day to answer me a question.. well actually you will be answering it to you, since I am obviously pretty far outta earshot… If someone were to look deep into your HEART, what would they see?

Would they see tattered, torn, broken, and left feeling forsaken by friends, and family? 

Would they see all the damage, stress, and strain of the trails you have been through in your life and all the rips and shreds left by lost loves and lost loved ones?

Would they see regret,and remorse,and guilt so severe over things you can not change that have left you with the inability to forgive YOURSELF?

Would they see wounds and scars from a life time of deceptions and many bad decisions?

Would they see sorrow, grief, and pain and  the worry over the tragedies of others?

The true beauty in having a “damaged” heart is that only a heart that has known true agony can fully give itself to others and most of all to God because only He can revive, renew, and repair all that we think is eternally lost and only he can take a heart too afraid to be loved or show love and make it overflow with the purest of love, to flow out so strong that it can even flow onto those you think are incapable of love and convert them. 

That is why He tells us that He will GIVE us a heart to KNOW Him, but we must come to Him with our whole heart.

And in doing this we have to admit what we see and be willing to trade in our hearts of stone, hardened through life, hardened against faith, hardened in unbelief because of the things we have suffered, and we have the argument that our wounds are too deep, too much water under the bridge and we can’t give our lives to Christ because we just “can’t live it” right now, but that is such self-deception! 

We only have to give Him those stone hearts and let Him tell us what He sees. 

Ezekiel 36:26,27: “A NEW HEART also WILL I GIVE YOU, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I WILL TAKE AWAY THE STONY HEART out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statues, and ye shall keep judgments, and do them.”

He does the work! He gives US the new heart and once He gives us His spirit, HE leads us, guides us, and CAUSES us to walk in His paths!

There is NOTHING that we can do for ourselves! And I for one thank God for that, I personally could have never “fixed” myself, no one or not the greatest team of any super brains on earth could have “fixed” me and you know what?

They can’t fix anyone else either!

Only Jesus, because we have to have a heart transplant that only ONE physician in the universe knows how to perform!

So if you are looking and not liking what you see, and be honest, that is the groovy thing with this blog, NO ONE knows you while you are reading it!

I don’t know it, your friends don’t know it and NO ONE sees you, so you can be honest, right there where you are, LOOK… what do you see?

Joel 2:12,13: “Therefore also now, saith the Lord, TURN ye even TO ME with ALL YOUR HEART, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning; And rend (tear open) your heart, and not your garments.

And TURN unto the Lord your God; For HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL, SLOW TO ANGER, AND OF GREAT KINDNESS…..“

I promise you, you can trust Him with ALL your heart and I also promise you, if you could only look into the Father’s heart, you would truly see just how much He ALREADY LOVES YOU!

Φλογίζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2017

Original post date 02/10/2017 

 

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“Learning to just say… NOT SO!”

” And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, NOT SO; BUT HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED JOHN.” LUKE 1:59,60

Now the deal with this is that at that time sons were usually named by the father and after the father, but his name had come not from man but from God and knowing this, Elisabeth quickly spoke in the babies defense with NOT SO.

How often do we accept the names and titles wrongfully given to us and our children, not once arguing our own NOT SO! ?

I have written in the past about names and titles and the damage they can do but this was on my heart so strong concerning what does it do to our children, our families, and even us when do not loudly proclaim NOT SO at the wounding words and accusations of others? And what role will it play in ultimately fulfilling our destinies?

What if Zacharias and Elisabeth had disobeyed the voice of the angel of the Lord? What if they had chosen to name this child any name other than the commanded John? Well, we know of a certainty, “John the Baptist” would not have existed, all that was spoken, even in that time, among those who heard him and those who hated him, would never have been uttered and the destined place in the cosmic scheme of all things would have been void and John’s namesake message of GRACE might not have been so quickly proclaimed. 

Of course I know God is sovereign and God uses who He wants, when He wants, but I am just stirring your thoughts to the fact that this was PREDESTINED, PREORDAINED, and that I think many of us are fighting battles and fighting against that predestination by being caught up in names that we have accepted but God NEVER chose to call us or others. 

I can never think of names without thinking of the name of my sister, Ruby, who is my “sister-sister” natural sister and spiritual sister. When her name was in my Mom’s heart, it could have not been more perfect, she is beautiful inside and out, has so much compassion that she cries when others cry and missed her calling as a “Florence Nightingale” (notice the image of a loving nurse popped right up, ah.. the power of a name) due to care and nurture of the sick and wounded. And she truly has been a precious jewel placed in our family and we do thank God for her.

And I think especially of children, when labels are placed on them, especially when they HEAR these labels and all the negativity and self-doubt that those labels immediately cover them in and I do wonder what if, what if those labels change?

What if someone boldly stands and says, NOT SO! I wonder about times when people make accusations and spread gossip about others, especially, IN CHURCHES, often with the “But don’t mention it….” attached to it, ( I am meaning when people tell you the most awful things a person has done or supposedly still doing, and are attacking their character and accusing them to you, while wanting to stay anonymous, behind the others back with them not even aware they are being slandered) we are never to judge someone or listen to “charges” against them without first consulting that person to hear their side of the story, but often we choose to see the worst in others and become, judge, jury, and executioner without ever affording that person a “trail”.

And “as we judge, so shall we be judged” so we can be assured that somewhere along the way, someone will backbite, trash talk, and harm our reputation without us having the benefit of speaking on our behalf in the matter.

And in hindsight, which we all know it the greatest of all sight, I look with terrible, terrible regret at times when I should have stood on behalf of others and myself and screamed NOT SO!

Many “old timers warned of the ability to kill with words, to murder another’s reputation and in doing so we are in effect breaking the sixth  commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”. Because we are killing them with the power of that untamable beast and yet we don’t want it mentioned….of course they SAY they do not want to “stir up” trouble, but trouble is exactly want they want stirred.

This could never be discussed without a trip to the Old Testament and going down that tortuously, long hard road that Joseph trod. From the verse, in which his Mother, gives him, HIS name:

GENESIS 30:24: “And she called his name, Joseph; and said the Lord shall add to me another son.” To the naming of HIS sons;

GENESIS 41:51,52: ” And Joseph called the name of the firstborn MANASSEH  (fortified), for God, said he, hath made me FORGET ALL MY TOIL, and ALL my father’s house.

And the name of the second called he EPHRAIM(fruitful),; for God hath CAUSE ME TO BE FRUITFUL IN THE LAND OF MY AFFLICTION.”

And we can travel that road reading his story until words would be fulfilled about his very bones over four hundred years later:

EXODUS 13:19: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he (Joseph) had straightly sworn (placed under a solemn oath) the children of Israel, saying, GOD WILL SURELY VISIT YOU; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.”

So Joseph’s namesake “add to” surely was fulfilled, but what about all the names and titles he had to have faith to ignore on that road? Hated by his brothers because of their jealously, he endured, that time equivalent to “brat”, “pet”, and “Daddy’s boy”, and suffered by their hands, now we add  “rejected”, “abused” “hated to death”, Finally “slave” falsely accused and imprisoned, he would have been labeled “rapist” and after those he helped remembered him no more, and as two years went by, he could have easily been labeled “forgotten and forsaken” but he NEVER allowed these labels to adhere to him and he held onto FAITH, that these names, these “titles”, these labels were NOT SO!

Can you imagine the pain, not only of the hurt and anguish he felt at the realization that they did indeed HATE him, but to be ripped away from all he had ever known and loved? But as God brought him out and brought him up, he chose to name his children,  “fortified” strengthen and protected, causing him to FORGET ALL his father’s house, all he suffered and unfortunately the pain of the loss of all he loved.

And “fruitful”, because he said GOD HAD MADE HIM FRUITFUL IN THE LAND OF HIS AFFLICTION. Many, many times he could have just laid it down, he could have lost hope and gave into to voices calling lies over him, and walked out on his destiny, but he chose to BELEIVE in his heart that these heartaches and struggles were only for a little while and when the enemies tried to convince him otherwise, he would remember in his heart what his father had taught, he would rest in his God and know all the lies and false labels had no power over him.

So I want to ask you today, what labels have been applied to you? What labels have been falsely attached to your family, your children? What words, names, and titles do you need to ask the Lord to tear down and break the yoke of those strangling, binding words today, because they HAVE POWER, but GOD HAS MORE!

But God gives us freewill and we must CHOOSE what voice we will hear and what we are willing to accept and we must have courage through the word of God to CHOOSE to hear what HE says about us.

As the Bible states, “Let God be true, and every man a liar”  DO NOT allow others to label you and for the love of God, never let the label children or the elderly while they are in “earshot”, what we hear, we tend to believe and if WE BELEIVE OTHERS THINK US BAD,SICK, OR MENTALLY UNSTABLE , okay, guess what? BAD, SICK, and MENTALLY UNSTABLE WE SHALL BE!

But if YOU choose to say to that person (or yourself) NOT SO! And offer instead to that person a word of hope, healing, or encouragement, and peace, that can change their mindset and MAYBE change the final outcome of that life. Find scripture and use them.

Afraid? “He hath not given us a SPIRIT of fear, but of a SOUND MIND”

Sick? “HE IS risen with healing in his wings”

Tired? COME UNTO ME…..I WILL GIVE THEE REST.”

Every single problem we can have, THERE IS  a word for that problem, use a reference Bible, go online and search scriptures for…… and use them, when everything and everyone around you says you are defeated…. NOT SO! “We ARE MORE THAN CONQUERS THROUGH HIM THAT LOVED US.”

Think about it today, don’t look back years from now when damage is done ( I do hold to the belief that THERE IS NO DAMAGE THAT GOD CAN NOT UNDO, but if it can be avoided, it will save much heartache) and wish you had said NOT SO! to thoughts, labels, titles, and the voices of others, regardless of WHOSE MOUTHS those wrong voices are coming out of! God and GOD ALONE holds your past, present, and future and HE IS the author and finisher of your faith.

He started you, he wrote your story and HE IS more than able to take a tragic beginning and compose into it the world’s most triumphant work! What HE starts in all of us, HE WILL finish. So again, please, please please, (see I really, really pleaded with you) DO NOT ACCEPT ANYONES thoughts, labels, and TRASH, just say, satan (they are his agents) THAT”S JUST NOT SO!

Φλογιζω Σαλπιζω NBJ 2016

by

“Gazingstock”

1 CORINTHIANS 4:9-13: “For I think that God hath set forth (displayed) us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to the angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake ( the world opinion) but ye are wise in Christ; we ARE weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we ARE despised.

Even unto the present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked (poorly clothed), and ARE buffeted (beaten) and have no certain dwelling place; and labour, working with our own hands: BEING reviled, we bless; BEING persecuted, we suffer (endure) it. BEING defamed (slandered) we entreat (encourage): we ARE made the filth of this world, and ARE the offscouring of all things unto this day. ”

We often think of the Apostles as almost super human, almost as if, had they needed to, they could have run through stone buildings.

We are half right, considering that they, with the exception of Paul hung out with Jesus and SAW Him ascend into heaven and combined they were FREED by angels, SAW demons cast out and SAW the dead resurrected back to life.

BUT the super part belonged to the LORD the other is just human!
As we read the verse above, nothing about that sounds glamorous, or remotely desirable as a life style and these are the things we often forget.

I truly believe that this is what causes so many “new” Christians to slip and some seasoned ones to misplace their robes and end up wearing a coat made of jade 

For the most part it is preventable.

Once we accept Christ, and especially if we have been given the gift of the Holy Ghost, we have that wonderful newness.

Everything IS brand new, WE ARE New but then life, emotions, and the enemy come and often no one has ever told the “new” person that what they are going through is NORMAL for the course and no one helps them through that maze and they end up lost in it and give up even trying to find their way home.

The second group comes into play, as often having a fight with hell all the way to the altar and sometimes passed the altar and into the water because they have a call on their life.

And once they do make it “in” that fight only intensifies and I really, really wish I could give a “one word will make it all go away” answer right here.

BUT it does not exist.
Once this particular spiritual warfare has been engaged, it can not be disengaged because:
#1. The calling of God on lives is determined before birth and “they do not expire until we do.”
#2. Giving up is not an option, you will lose your salvation, and everything you have ALREADY fought through will have been for nothing.
#3. Outside of the will of God and without His protection, satan will chew you up and spit you out.
#4 Your fall will affect every single person you love and all those whom you were to minister to.
#5 THE most important reason is that JESUS died for you and saved you and He will NEVER let you be tested beyond what you can handle and a servant can not be above His Master, to reign with Christ we must suffer with Christ.
“Think It not strange…” sometimes battles are so fierce and dark that you can not even see daylight but you must remember you war against principalities and powers of the air.

I don’t know how I would have ever made it had God not blessed me with the people he did in my life and ministers that would share their own personal battle stories and some so hard to fathom, that my problems would pale in comparison.

Without the knowledge that these things happened to people whom I knew were Godly and doing their best in their walk, I could have never kept my head above water, I held onto every single word and would remember their stories and how they got through it and that they were still standing and that I serve the same God.

HEBREWS 10:32,33: “But call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were illuminated (enlightened), ye ENDURED a GREAT FIGHT OF AFFLICTIONS (struggle with sufferings); partly, (in part) whilst ye were made a GAZINGSTOCK (SPECTACLE) BOTH BY REPROACHES AND AFFLICTIONS (tribulations) and partly (in part) whilst YE BECAME COMPANIONS OF THEM THAT WERE SO USED (treated).

What can we say there?

The days after your salvation, such a GREAT FIGHT with sufferings and troubles. You were as one that the world would look at and stare upon, as one in medieval stocks for the entire village to mock and ridicule.
Reproaches of those who laugh at your salvation and the enemy who questions “Where is your God now?”

But it is due in part so that YOU CAN become who you are to become in Christ.

1 PETER 1;4-8,10: “Whereby are given unto us exceeding GREAT and PRECIOUS promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside (along with) this, giving ALL DILIGENCE, ADD to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge: AND to knowledge temperance ( self-control); AND to temperance patience; AND to patience godliness; AND to godliness brotherly kindness; AND to brotherly kindness CHARITY ( love).
FOR if these thing be in you (are yours) and abound, they make you that YE SHALL NEITHER BE BARREN NOR UNFRUITFUL IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. Wherefore the rather brethren, GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE: FOR IF YOU DO THESE THINGS YE SHALL NEVER FAIL.”

So you have heard it from Paul and you have heard it from Peter, now they are some pretty reliable sources!!!

All these things WILL work to your good and all these things WILL produce every quality needed to be productive in the Kingdom of God.
If you are “new” please stay close and active in a good Bible believing church, read along with them, find ministers that you enjoy hearing and enjoy the word, don’t pressure yourself or let anyone else pressure you, the only opinion of you that should matter is God’s and He is awesome and will teach you all things.

Find a good prayer partner that you can trust, that can pray with you when life comes at you or temptation comes calling and if you fall of the boat, repent and get back on the boat!

And keep trying, IT WILL GET BETTER and IT WILL GET EASIER.
If you are in group two, seek the old paths and surround yourself with prayer warriors and try to spend time with older ones who have been there and done that and they WILL encourage you and give you godly advice that is imperative to stay on track in your calling.

And the best news is this, once you successfully war against an attack of the enemy, he will no more use that same weapon, because it is no longer effective.

Once you make it through a tough battle you will soon find that the battle made you stronger and you will be able to stand against attacks that would have put you out earlier in your ministry.

You will also be better at seeing attacks coming and be prepared more easily, not to say there will never be blind sides, but when it is said and done, you will be glad you stayed the course, because medals are not just given, they must be won.
Φλογιζω NB/2016

! Original post 02/2016.  Still battling blue screen, Please check out this blast from posts past!🐦

 

 

 

 

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Drunk Girl- The Morning Aftermath

I have been thinking, and once the famous ultra hip TV mega minister decides to donate a lovvvve gift to me for about a cool million I will use that money to make a television commercial.
But not just any old commercial actually an anti commercial, like a stealth patriot to go head to head with what now airs on the “Culinary Channel”, you know (wink, wink) for “Thin Chick” vodka and “Spectacle” cocktail.
Gotta love em, super retro chic ladies dressed to the nines whipping up cocktails left and right, living, loving, laughing and so ultra sleek and modern, who would that not appeal too?
That worries me, worries me a lot young ladies and teens who one day will be young ladies look at this and it appears to be a very appealing lifestyle.

Picture this, we zoom in on drunk girl whipping up her cocktails, fade to black, open back with a bedroom scene, there she is, her frazzled hair and smeared makeup that would be the envy of any Victorian era clown, she groggily looks over and mutters to herself “Who is that?”
We fast forward,  in our next scene drunk girl, who is now painfully sober is leaning over a commode violently sick, clutching a double lined pregnancy test in her hand, pausing for just a moment to listen as her answering machine picks up a call in the background that her test just came back positive for a STD.
Wow, now that is glamour! That is reality, that is what they do not want you to see and most certainly what they never want you to know may be!
I also love the “Going Places” channel program with the hunky Scotsman, who basically gets paid to travel internationally and get toasted.
Wonder how many young men would aspire to that coveted job description?
You know you are living in the devil’s world when that can be a profession!
So sad, once upon a time, drinking was mainly a male problem and women fought so hard against it, but thanks to our new culture shock it now any one’s game.
And you will become one of two types of intoxicated, you will either be a big ball of emotions and “love” or you will be mean and nasty, just add alcohol and you can turn the nicest person into a monster, hence therefore “Devil in a bottle”
I love their “Drink responsibly” warnings, that is so funny, lose all inhibitions, have heightened carnal instincts and yeah, that’s going to lead to responsible behavior, I am sure.

But “social” drinking has become so popular that the lines on it have also blurred even among Christians, but as we know again, God’s word does not change and every single word he has given us is FOR OUR BENEFIT, to prevent harm to us, so let’s check on the Bible’s take on the subject.

Proverbs 20:1 : “Wine IS a mocker, strong (intoxicating) drink is raging (arouses):
and whosever IS DECEIVED thereby IS NOT WISE.

Isaiah 5:11: WOE unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong (intoxicating) drink; that consume until night, till wine inflame them!

Proverbs 23:29-35: Who hath (has) woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions?
who hath babblings (complaints)? who hath WOUNDS WITHOUT CAUSE? who hath redness of eyes?
THEY THAT TARRY (LINGER) LONG AT THE WINE; they that go to seek mixed wine
Look not upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup ( when it sparkles),when it moveth itself aright (goes smoothly)
At THE LAST IT BITETH LIKE A SERPENT, AND STINGETH LIKE AN ADDER ( VIPER)
Thine eyes shall behold strange women (see strange things), and thine heart SHALL UTTER PERVERSE THINGS
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth
upon the top of a mast
They have stricken (struck) me, thou shalt say, and I was not sick (hurt); THEY HAVE BEATEN ME, AND I FELT IT NOT; when shall I awake? I WILL SEEK IT AGAIN (HAVE ANOTHER DRINK)”
You will notice the description of the seductive sparkling of the drink, warning us to not even look at it and though it beats and wounds, it’s effects are not realized because now the seduction is complete and it has gained control and once it has control, all self control is lost.

Habakkuk 2:15 : Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth the bottle to him, ( persuades someone to drink) and MAKETH HIM DRUNKEN ALSO, THAT THOU MAYEST LOOK UPON THEIR NAKEDNESS.

Oldest trick in the book and many women have been it’s victim, so remember IT DOES NOT matter whatsoever what a commercial promotes or what society says you should indulge in, without decorum and dignity you are no lady.
God created women to be beautiful and to feel beautiful, but beautiful IN HIM and you will never find that OR self respect at the bottom of a bottle.
Any girl can grow up to be a woman, but not all women grow to be ladies
I’ll close it with this, what you NEVER wanna be:
Proverbs 11:22 : AS A JEWEL OF GOLD IN A SWINE’S SNOUT (PIG’S NOSE) IS A FAIR
(BEAUTIFUL)  WOMAN WHICH IS WITHOUT DISCRETION (WHO LACKS TASTE).
Φλογιζω   /ALL RIGHTS RESERVED/  NBJ/ 2015

by

"EN GARDE !!!"

“Aha Peasant, EN GARDE!” the command shouted for one of several reasons, maybe a random sword welding D’Artagan wannabe has just pounced out from behind an innocent looking bush and challenged you to a duel or maybe your being gently warned to be on your guard.
I am taking for granted that you who are reading this are nowhere near any bushes so we’ll go with the latter.
I’ve been noticing something for a long time now and it is not the easiest subject to bring up but it needs addressed.
Churches and Christians as a whole have become a wee lax in the area of respect to the Holiness.
This is not aimed at any one person and if we go to church together, please, please, don’t think that!
Movies, and the media have for a long while made fun of us and of God.
The onslaught of the white bottomed candy coats with their ever-increasing need to market Jesus as the cool, hip, and never offended by what YOU may do God of  ALL YOUR FLESHLY DESIRES have produced an array of off colored jokes, and Christianity related acronyms that seem to find their way printed on everything that makes one wonder are they referring to a Deity or are they selling laundry detergent.
Tacky, questionable off-color jokes and even more tasteless greeting cards with everything from the Ark to Wise Men.
Little animal and snowmen, and anything else you can imagine Nativity figurines now widely available.
(Still pretty sure he was born as a man!)
In it all, what bothers me most is the jokes about Pentecostals and the never-ending parade of “Cool Jesus” picture posts and “religious” memes and the never-ending saga of share to be blessed with twenty thousand dollars.
Again I am not being harpy, I have struggled with trying to tell people who maybe they really need to THINK about WHAT THEY ARE SAYING AND WHAT THEY ARE LAUGHING ABOUT and I have to keep MYSELF on guard.
My Mother told me that she prays especially for forgiveness for sins that she may never have realized that she committed.
Because as she said, something we may not even think is a problem could be absolutely vile to God, and that is true.
We have accepted all this and you can share to be blessed, but share your time, your heart, or an uplifting thought or scripture.
God is Holy, The Holy Ghost the most Holy of Holiness and think about it, Moses was commanded to take his shoes off because THE VERY GROUND was sacred, if one wrong move was made toward the Ark someone was going to die, dishonor the Sabbath, someone was going to die and on and on through the Bible and falling at feet of the Lord out of absolute respect and awe of His majesty.
We have let it sneak in slowly and it has to be dealt with before it defiles our temples and alienates our minds to the true Gospel.
Jesus is not groovy, He’s not your hip buddy.
He is Holy and is to be only addressed with adoration and consummate respect.
 He is our friend and our Savior but we have to not let that line blur and if we want cool and hip we might need to look up Michael Buble because God doesn’t play that.
Again I do not believe it is intentional, I think it has come through by the world seeping in on us, because we have let down our guard.
See it for what it is and who is behind it and get the rollers under and put it out of your life and walk away from those who try to drag it back to you.
EPHESIANS 5:4: “Neither filthiness, nor FOOLISH TALKING, nor JESTING (coarse jesting, crude or off-color jokes) ARE NOT CONVENIENT (do not become Christian conduct or Christ like behavior) But rather give thanks.“
I personally believe God has a fabulous sense of humor and “laughter is merry medicine”, but it has to be in the right context, instead of pleasing the flesh with bad humor use that same voice to give him honor and praise.


PHILIPPIANS 4:7 :And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, SHALL KEEP (GUARD) YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.”
His peace will keep your hearts and mind alert to these insidious little cracks in the flesh but you must stay aware of them.
So EN GARDE! And I am totally not hiding behind a bush!
Φλογίζω/All rights reserved/ NBJ 2015

 


by

“EN GARDE !!!”

“Aha Peasant, EN GARDE!” the command shouted for one of several reasons, maybe a random sword welding D’Artagan wannabe has just pounced out from behind an innocent looking bush and challenged you to a duel or maybe your being gently warned to be on your guard.
I am taking for granted that you who are reading this are nowhere near any bushes so we’ll go with the latter.
I’ve been noticing something for a long time now and it is not the easiest subject to bring up but it needs addressed.
Churches and Christians as a whole have become a wee lax in the area of respect to the Holiness.
This is not aimed at any one person and if we go to church together, please, please, don’t think that!
Movies, and the media have for a long while made fun of us and of God.
The onslaught of the white bottomed candy coats with their ever-increasing need to market Jesus as the cool, hip, and never offended by what YOU may do God of  ALL YOUR FLESHLY DESIRES have produced an array of off colored jokes, and Christianity related acronyms that seem to find their way printed on everything that makes one wonder are they referring to a Deity or are they selling laundry detergent.
Tacky, questionable off-color jokes and even more tasteless greeting cards with everything from the Ark to Wise Men.
Little animal and snowmen, and anything else you can imagine Nativity figurines now widely available.
(Still pretty sure he was born as a man!)
In it all, what bothers me most is the jokes about Pentecostals and the never-ending parade of “Cool Jesus” picture posts and “religious” memes and the never-ending saga of share to be blessed with twenty thousand dollars.
Again I am not being harpy, I have struggled with trying to tell people who maybe they really need to THINK about WHAT THEY ARE SAYING AND WHAT THEY ARE LAUGHING ABOUT and I have to keep MYSELF on guard.
My Mother told me that she prays especially for forgiveness for sins that she may never have realized that she committed.
Because as she said, something we may not even think is a problem could be absolutely vile to God, and that is true.
We have accepted all this and you can share to be blessed, but share your time, your heart, or an uplifting thought or scripture.
God is Holy, The Holy Ghost the most Holy of Holiness and think about it, Moses was commanded to take his shoes off because THE VERY GROUND was sacred, if one wrong move was made toward the Ark someone was going to die, dishonor the Sabbath, someone was going to die and on and on through the Bible and falling at feet of the Lord out of absolute respect and awe of His majesty.
We have let it sneak in slowly and it has to be dealt with before it defiles our temples and alienates our minds to the true Gospel.
Jesus is not groovy, He’s not your hip buddy.
He is Holy and is to be only addressed with adoration and consummate respect.
 He is our friend and our Savior but we have to not let that line blur and if we want cool and hip we might need to look up Michael Buble because God doesn’t play that.
Again I do not believe it is intentional, I think it has come through by the world seeping in on us, because we have let down our guard.
See it for what it is and who is behind it and get the rollers under and put it out of your life and walk away from those who try to drag it back to you.
EPHESIANS 5:4: “Neither filthiness, nor FOOLISH TALKING, nor JESTING (coarse jesting, crude or off-color jokes) ARE NOT CONVENIENT (do not become Christian conduct or Christ like behavior) But rather give thanks.“
I personally believe God has a fabulous sense of humor and “laughter is merry medicine”, but it has to be in the right context, instead of pleasing the flesh with bad humor use that same voice to give him honor and praise.


PHILIPPIANS 4:7 :And the peace of God which passeth all understanding, SHALL KEEP (GUARD) YOUR HEARTS AND MINDS THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.”
His peace will keep your hearts and mind alert to these insidious little cracks in the flesh but you must stay aware of them.
So EN GARDE! And I am totally not hiding behind a bush!
Φλογίζω/All rights reserved/ NBJ 2015

 


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WITH FRIENDS LIKE THAT..

I love old sayings, people long ago learned lessons and passed that wisdom down to forewarn future generations.
Ministers are like front line soldiers discovering what’s in the enemies arsenal and reporting back to the troops what weapon is needed to take them down.
Some of the wisest words ever spoken were, “With friends like that, who needs enemies.”
As Paul said “when he thought to do good, evil was ever-present with him.” Sometimes it is difficult for us to see just who our real enemies are.
Think about it, the Bible says that Satan himself “can transform into an angel of light” and we know that he is well versed in the scripture and loves nothing more than to try to twist the word of God to snare, trap, and pervert us.
Genesis 3:1(a) “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made…” and most know this story, through convincing Eve that she really, really wanted this and she should just trust him, it would all be okay, he deceived her into making a decision that we all paid for and Jesus gave his life to repair the damage that “friend” caused.
David, not even trying to resist his lust for Bathsheba ( I know it was lust because he had tried to get Uriah to go home, hoping he would sleep with her and think he had fathered the baby and let them all live a lie) when all of his plans failed, he in effect had Uriah “murdered by war” using him to deliver his own death warrant.
The wages of sin are death, this brought it down on his entire family. Nathan the Prophet went so far as to deliver the judgment handed down from God that the sword would never leave David’s house.
So that voice as the serpent rose again, David’s son Amnon became completely possessed by a spirit of incestuous lust toward his half-sister Tamar. As Satan purposed all this in Amnon’s heart he sent his messenger with just the reassurance Amnon’s flesh needed to act upon that lust.
2 Samuel 13:2,3 ” And Amnon was so vexed (distressed) that he feel sick for his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin; and Amnon thought it hard for him to do anything to her ( knew it was wrong ). But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shiva David’s brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man.”
His “friend” talked him into raping her, destroying her and filling her brother(his half) Absalom with such hate that it mirrors the rebellion Lucifer led in his attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven.
He had Amnon murdered and led a rebellion against David and died trying to flee David’s army, when his long beautiful hair became caught and tangled on a tree branch leaving him helpless against the sword.
Snared and tangled up, some prophetic symbolism in that, what unchecked bitterness and hate will do to us.
That is what happens when one person chooses to listen to the wrong voice. A girl’s life was completely devastated, two brothers were dead, two mothers, a father, and an entire kingdom was left to mourn and to never be the same.
One more example, sometimes the enemy wants to take you down so bad that he will send a multitude of voices, because after all, how can so many be so wrong?
The story of Queen Esther tells us of Haman, the King’s power-hungry, right hand boy who hated the Jews especially Mordecai ( Esther’s uncle ) because Mordecai refused to bow to him. So Amidst his whining over the injustice of the situation, Esther 5:14 “Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and on the morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go merrily with the king unto the banquet. and this thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.”
Long story short, Haman was hanged on his own gallows and Mordecai got his job.
God tells us “surely they shall gather together, but not by me, no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper.”
Haman fell into his own trap, a trap laid at the urging of those closest to him, who supposedly had his best interests in mind, telling him exactly what his blackened, sin-laden heart wanted to hear.
So like those collect calls from Egypt, you don’t realize the price until you get the bill and if you knew the cost you would have never agreed to accept those charges, it may be a bill like David’s, that his family ended up having to pay.
Your true friends may not understand your faith, but they will respect it and be happy for you.
Read Luke 15:8,9 the parable of the lady who found her lost silver and her friends rejoiced with her.
Steer clear of “friends” who only want to drag you back to “Egypt”, because misery loves company and if they are not free they surely don’t want you to be.
Just as with Adam and Eve, once the blinders were off and their eyes were opened to the truth,they knew the sin and the shame.
Amnon, when his “love” immediately turned to complete disgust and hatred once he had achieved his desire.
That is what sin does and no matter how good they make it sound or tell you just how much you are missing, if you give in to them, when the day comes, and it will come, like Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened, yours will be also and I promise you that your are not going to like what you see.
The truth is that not only are friends like these a danger to your soul, they also endanger theirs by tempting you as a child of God.
As the Bible teaches us, if we as believers defile this temple God will destroy it (us).
Daniel 5 tells the story of Belshazzar, who had the bright idea that it would be fun to defile the vessels of the Lord which had been taken from the temple by Nebuchadnezzar.
He and all with him drank from them, while praising their false pagan gods and having the equivalent to a big drunken feast, within an hour,  his eyes beheld with horror and his knees actually shook with terror as a hand appeared from nowhere and proceeded to write out his death warrant on his own wall, when Daniel interrupted it he would soon learn that no one could save him from the judgment of God and he was dead that night.
We are vessels, holy unto the Lord, set aside for his use and anyone who wishes to defile us will truly have hell to pay.
Friends like these you don’t need. Pray and ask the Lord for real ones. And while you are waiting, remember he is the best friend you will ever have!

Companion post:COLLECT CALL FROM EGYPT. WILL YOU ACCEPT THE CHARGES?
A theme song for you, “Satisfaction” David Phelps

Φλογίζω / 05/24/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015

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DEMONS, THE DEVIL, AND THE DECEIVED / PART3/ "MAKING RESERVATIONS FOR HELL"

The deceived, the souls who have bought into the lies of Satan, those who have chosen to forsake a Holy God and follow a fallen angel, accepting his damnable belief that they will all be going to a sin ridden party in hell, to continue to wallow in all the filth they wallow in on this earth.
Yes, there is a growing number who really, really believe this. There are also those who choose to believe in heaven but not hell. Those whose choose to believe the lies spoon fed to them but those that title themselves “ministers” who not only do not know the Lord but are a disgrace and abomination in using his holy name, who convince them that yes, they can wallow in their sins, never repent but yet one day walk with the Lord. Oh my how special and convenient for them!
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change nor does his word… for anyone.
Again, the music, all genres having lyrics touting the fact that heaven is a bore and hell is where it’s at and they laugh and they laugh. Like the pagan rituals that mock death.

So deceived that the correct party song for this bunch should be “Hi ho, Hi ho, it’s off to hell I go”!
Isaiah 28:15, 17-19: “BECAUSE YE HAVE SAID, WE HAVE MADE A COVENANT WITH DEATH, AND WITH HELL WE ARE IN AGREEMENT; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies or refuge, and under falsehood we have hid ourselves.

Judgment I will lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and hail shall sweep away your refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. AND YOUR COVENANT WITH DEATH SHALL BE DISANNULLED, AND YOUR AGREEMENT WITH HELL SHALL NOT STAND when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

For the time it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: AND IT SHALL BE A VEXATION (TERROR) JUST TO READ THE REPORT.”

That’s God’s thought on the subject!

Their reservations for their perceived notion of hell will be suddenly cancelled and his wrath and holy anger will be poured out with such fury that, as we know, they will beg rocks to fall on them to hide them from his face, they who laughed at death, will now beg for it only to have it flee from them, so abominable that even that even death will say to them, “I will not save you!”
Soon to be cast into a literal lake of fire to burn forever, alongside their now helpless master, to be fed with the sorrow that they were so quick to feed others on his behalf.
I think these are in the worst condition of all, because even those who have served devils and worshiped Satan have been wise enough to repent.
Acts 19:18-20 “And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds MANY OF THEM WHO ALSO WHICH USED CURIOUS ARTS (WITCHCRAFT) BROUGHT THEIR BOOKS TOGETHER, AND BURNED THEM BEFORE ALL MEN: AND THEY COUNTED THE PRICE OF THEM, AND FOUND IT TO BE FIFTY PIECES OF SILVER. SO MIGHTLY GREW THE WORD OF GOD AND PREVAILED.”
Those who do not believe are already condemned, but these people do believe, they simply do not care, they are so blind that they really do not care if they go to hell.
Who are they?  Jude 8:10,13:”Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 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. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out of their own shame; wandering stars, TO WHOM IS RESERVED THE BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS FOREVER.” 
Now for the saddest scripture in the Bible, this is even after they know he is real, he is bringing wrath on earth, this is their response. 
Revelation 9:20,21:”And the rest of the men (humans) which were not killed by these plagues YET REPENTED NOT of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and stone and of wood: which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: NEITHER REPENTED THEY OF THEIR MURDERS, NOR OF THEIR SORCERIES, NOR OF THEIR FORNICATION, NOR OF THEIR THEFTS.”
Most of us know people like this and they can be very frustrating to deal with. I have people in my family who have been messed up with witchcraft and those who profess to be atheists, I do understand.
My flesh often wants to say, “Well when seventy-five pound hail stones starts hitting the ground, you will hit your knees!” But God does not want that, he wants his word to be peaceful and easily absorbed.
Try not to get angry with them, keep praying that their eyes will be opened. Keep planting seed, God’s word will not come back void, he uses one to plant, another to water and he gives the increase.
Paul, who as Saul hated Christians had his eyes opened by the Lord and went on the be the greatest Apostle of the Lord and wrote most of the New Testament. all things are possible with God, so never give up on them!
Finally, Revelation 21:7,8 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

But the fearful (cowardly), and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and the murderers, and whoremongers (sexually immoral) and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, SHALL HAVE THEIR PART IN THE LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH”
“Hell is RESERVED for the devils and his angels” it is so sad that so many are making reservations to be there with them.

More in this series, please check out: Demons, Devil, & Deceived #1 Fallen       Demons, Devil, & Deceived #3 Hell
Original Post Date:10/17/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015

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DEMONS, THE DEVIL, AND THE DECEIVED / PART3/ “MAKING RESERVATIONS FOR HELL”

The deceived, the souls who have bought into the lies of Satan, those who have chosen to forsake a Holy God and follow a fallen angel, accepting his damnable belief that they will all be going to a sin ridden party in hell, to continue to wallow in all the filth they wallow in on this earth.
Yes, there is a growing number who really, really believe this. There are also those who choose to believe in heaven but not hell. Those whose choose to believe the lies spoon fed to them but those that title themselves “ministers” who not only do not know the Lord but are a disgrace and abomination in using his holy name, who convince them that yes, they can wallow in their sins,never repent but yet one day walk with the Lord. Oh my how special and convenient for them!
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. He or His word do not change for anyone.
Again, the music, all genres having lyrics touting the fact that heaven is a bore and hell is where it’s at and they laugh and they laugh. Like the pagan rituals that mock death. So deceived that the correct party song for this bunch should be “Hi ho, Hi ho, it’s off to hell I go”!
“BECAUSE YE HAVE SAID, WE HAVE MADE A COVENANT WITH DEATH, AND WITH HELL WE ARE IN AGREEMENT; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us; for we have made lies or refuge, and under falsehood we have hid ourselves. Judgment I will lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and hail shall sweep away your refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. AND YOUR COVENANT WITH DEATH SHALL BE DISANNULLED, AND YOUR AGREEMENT WITH HELL SHALL NOT STAND when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. For the time it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: AND IT SHALL BE A VEXATION (TERROR) JUST TO READ THE REPORT.”
Isaiah 28:15, 17-19
That’s God’s thought on the subject! Their reservations for their perceived notion of hell will be suddenly cancelled and his wrath and holy anger will be poured out with such fury that, as we know, they will beg rocks to fall on them to hide them from his face, they who laughed at death, will now beg for it only to have it flee from them, so abominable that even that even death will say to them, I will not save you!
Soon to be cast into a literal lake of fire to burn forever, alongside their now helpless master, to be fed with the sorrow that they were so quick to feed others on his behalf.
I think these are in the worst condition of all, because even those who have served devils and worshiped Satan have been wise enough to repent.
Acts 19:18-20 “And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds MANY OF THEM WHO ALSO WHICH USED CURIOUS ARTS (WITCHCRAFT) BROUGHT THEIR BOOKS TOGETHER, AND BURNED THEM BEFORE ALL MEN: AND THEY COUNTED THE PRICE OF THEM, AND FOUND IT TO BE FIFTY PIECES OF SILVER. SO MIGHTLY GREW THE WORD OF GOD AND PREVAILED.”
Those who do not believe are already condemned, but these people do believe, they simply do not care, they are so blind that they really do not care if they go to hell.
Who are they? “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 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. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out of their own shame; wandering stars, TO WHOM IS RESERVED THE BLACKNESS OF DARKNESS FOREVER.” Jude 8:10,13
Now for the saddest scripture in the Bible, this is even after they know he is real, he is bringing wrath on earth, this is their response. Revelation 9:20,21
“And the rest of the men (humans) which were not killed by these plagues YET REPENTED NOT of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and stone and of wood: which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk: NEITHER REPENTED THEY OF THEIR MURDERS, NOR OF THEIR SORCERIES, NOR OF THEIR FORNICATION, NOR OF THEIR THEFTS.”
Most of us know people like this and they can be very frustrating to deal with. I have people in my family who have been messed up with witchcraft and those who profess to be atheists, I understand.
My flesh often wants to say, “Well when seventy-five pound hail stones starts hitting the ground, you will hit your knees!” But God does not want that, he wants his word to be peaceful and easily absorbed.
Try not to get angry with them, keep praying that their eyes will be opened. Keep planting seed, God’s word will not come back void, he uses one to plant, another to water and he gives the increase.
Paul, who as Saul hated Christians had his eyes opened by the Lord and went on the be the greatest Apostle of the Lord and wrote most of the New Testament. all things are possible with God, so never give up on them!
Finally, Revelation 21:7,8 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful (cowardly), and the unbelieving, and the abominable, and the murderers,
and whoremongers (sexually immoral) and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, SHALL HAVE THEIR PART IN THE LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH.”
“Hell is RESERVED for the devils and his angels” it is so sad that so many are making reservations to be there with them.

More in this series, please check out: Demons, Devil, & Deceived #1 Fallen       Demons, Devil, & Deceived #3 Hell
Original Post Date:10/17/2014. All rights reserved. Rev. Nina BrownJohnson 2015

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COUNTING WRONG

My favorite all time quote is from Ronald Reagan in response to Muammar Qaddafi’s far out plans of taking on America, “He counted on America to be passive and he counted wrong”.

This was inadvertently brought back to mind last night. It is par for the course over the last few weeks and it seemed perfect for today’s topic.
The enemy, and sometimes other people seem to believe they can put you in, what is their perception of your place, and you will passively stay there but just as Libya soon learned the meaning of those infamous words, there are times that we have to stand up for ourselves or be trampled into the ground.
To be honest my first day out in this new adventure I almost gave up. I had the awesome privilege of receiving enough, how shall we say, unwanted drama through social media that I seriously questioned whether the good would outweigh the bad.

These were the very waters I had tried to avoid having to tread because I knew I’d have to fight some battles that I would have preferred to sit out.
Bad on my part, that is why Satan throws stuff like this at us, he knows what buttons to push to shut us up, back us off, and set us down.
I truly thought once about deleting it all and trying another route, but you know what, God did not create me to be a coward, sure, as the old saying goes they can kill you but they can’t eat you!

Well, I actually guess they could but hopefully you would at least taste bad!!

God sent me wonderful encouragement through others with his word and uplifting thoughts they shared that were right on time.
Once God’s spirit started rising up in me and I grew a better backbone, I decided that I will not let anyone take from me what God gave.

 I can take the remarks about the pants, I can deal with the old school belief that if you wear make-up you’re a quote unquote Jezebel, I can deal with the boys only club of ministry society.

What I can’t deal with is anyone touching the anointing and that is where the fight will get bloody.

If you are battling oppression in any form today, I want to hopefully encourage us all with this list of people who stood up to not just THE ENEMY but to all those who wished to interfere with the preordained work of God.

The Pharaoh counted on taking Abraham’s wife for his harem, but when God himself appeared to this pagan in a dream letting him know assuredly that he was a good as dead because she belonged to another.

As he counted up the gifts he gave trying to gain favor as he sent them on their way, he realized when he had accessed just how easily he thought she could be obtained, he found out with the loss of his riches that he had counted wrong.

Joseph’s brothers counted on destroying him, but upon discovering his new identity as second in power over all of Egypt they learned they had counted wrong.

Pharaoh counted on killing off the Hebrew sons, but with God’s sovereign plan the one baby he missed, that would grow up in his own house would bring about Egypt’s downfall. When he counted babies, he counted wrong.

Pharaoh counted on continuing to enslave the Hebrews after being commanded  from God to free them, finally having been hit with nine plagues, he conceded that he may have counted wrong.

Pharaoh counted on the Red Sea to allow his armies passage, but he and his host all drown there, and for his last time he counted wrong.
Korah counted on overthrowing Moses. 

Then the ground opened up and swallowed all that pertained to him.  Guess he too counted wrong.

Balak counted on hiring Balaam to curse Israel. Only to discover his plan had been intercepted by a Holy God and now only blessing could be spoken, yep, counted wrong.

Balaam counting on getting by disobeying God, and beating a donkey, once his eyes had been opened to the angel who informed him that he would have gladly killed him, not even aware how close he came to death and he surely regretted that he counted wrong!

Depraved men counted on forcibly taking and sexually assaulting Lot’s angelic house guests, only to blinded through the door and the entire place destroyed from the face of the earth, they had counted wrong.

Philistines counted on enjoying their “Let’s torture Samson” party and invited thousands of guests, Soon they would discover their careful calculations were only a bad misguess.
As party sayings go, he really brought the house down, counting on torturing God’s anointed for the fun of it, as God gave Samson the strength to cave the entire place down, as the laughter turned to horror as they were crushed to death.

Sisera, the enemy of Israel counted on a nice warm resting place when Jael took him in, had he lived through her nailing his head to the floor, well he would have known when he counted her as a friend, he counted wrong.

Goliath laughed hysterically at David’s small size counting on taking this boy down. God’s guided stone sending this beast to the ground and when his head came off, all of his army knew when they counted on destroying Israel that they counted wrong.

Absalom who counted on overthrowing his father, soon found himself suspended from a tree branch, caught by his beautiful hair. I’m sure before being ran through by the sword, he knew he counted wrong.

Nebuchadnezzar counted on torching the three Hebrew boys, once he saw not only were they fireproof but also not alone, to his horror he realized he counted wrong.

Haman counted on hanging Mordecai and killing all the Jews, after a chat between the King and Esther lead him to his gallows, those who had encouraged him in his plan knew they all had counted wrong.

Belshazzar counted on using vessels of the Lord as stemware  for his pagan party, his death warrant was soon written upon his wall,
that’s what happens when you count wrong and attempt to defile a vessel, any vessel that is consecrated unto God.

Darius’ overseers counted on ridding themselves of Daniel by turning him lion food, but once morning came and Daniel was still very much alive, they themselves were thrown in the den, these are men who counted wrong, once again.

Satan and the armies of hell counted on taking all power once they had Jesus dead, but to their surprise he tore down their stronghold taking the keys to their kingdom, all the sting of death, overcoming the grave by resurrecting from his death.

They counted on defeating him and there will never again be doubt of just how badly they counted and they counted wrong.We could go on for days, but I hope this encourages someone.

We do get discouraged, but when that happens give it to the Lord, let him raise up his spirit in you.
Think of it as spiritual wrestling, you may down but never let them make it to the three count.
You may be growing weak and losing strength fast and your enemies may think you’ve been counted out but with God as your Captain you can let them know really fast, if they really believe your out of the match and down for the count then obviously they have very badly counted wrong.

Φλογιζω/ All rights reserved. Reverend Nina BrownJohnson/ baresoulphlogizo 2015

Revisited 02/17/2021 Because sometimes people need to be reminded that is not who were are or who we fight or rather whom tried to fight against us, it is WHO we serve! So if you need a little encouragement today, I hope this will remind you of what you already know, everyone mentioned in the Bible were people, men and women, JUST LIKE US, different time period, different battles but still prone to fera, worry, and confusion but in all their trials God came shining through and if you serve him he will do the same for you. Φλογιζω

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AND YOU ARE?

Don’t you just love it when you voice an opinion in mixed company only to have the person with the opposing view look at you and say in that smug tone laced with sarcasm and disgust at the mere thought that you could possibly question their obviously superior intelligence, and they say “And you are???
I for one love it! Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of exactly who we are in God.
Elijah the prophet of God, who was allowed to pray that it not rain, pray the rain would return and pray that fire would come down from heaven in the presence of his enemies.
Elijah started those prayers with this statement “If I be a man of God..” Paul, in his writings dubbed himself “The prisoner of the Lord”, James refers to himself as “Servant of Jesus Christ”, John the “Beloved”  and Mary who never gave herself a title but at his feet she knew exactly who she was and she fell absolutely, helplessly in love with him, a love born from being touched by love itself in the most pure form, a love so gentle, humble so powerful that it had restored her soul. She knew to be separated from Him would be a fate far worse than hell.
They and so many more throughout the Bible have a very common denominator, they knew who they were in God and never let anyone convince them otherwise.

Today we hear so many voices telling us what to think what to eat, what to buy, what we should wear, and who would should be, our minds can become so clouded that we don’t even know who were are and we become too quick to forget who were are in Him.
To achieve our purpose in these blessed last days God has chosen us to be born into, please give up a little you time, or TV time, just make a little time to get in that prayer closet, your personal secret place that is just and God, pray and fast, and remember this does not have to be food, you can fast anything.

Salvation and grace are completely free gifts, but to get in position for the last day outpouring of the spirit and great harvest of souls, and to allow him to stir the gifts and the calling he has placed in you, well it requires diligence on your part.
2 Thessalonians 2:3, tells of the great falling away of the church, we’ve been seeing that come to pass over the last few years.
It is a time to weed out those who serve one day a week or for some reason other than a relationship with Christ and they will fall away.

 Those who are willing to make any sacrifice necessary to see His Kingdom come will be those left standing, the approved of God .
The ones before us who held on, no matter what suffering, ridicule and persecution they had to endure. and when they fell they sought God to lift them up again.
David was human just as human as we are, yet he made tragic mistakes but he sought forgiveness.
God said David was a man after his own heart, I know the common thought on it, but I really take it as David sought the very heart of God, to know Him and be part of the very heart of God.
His praise was constant and he continually sought to have his heart searched, cleansed, restored and anything that may stand between them to be removed.
God wants to help us and there is nothing inside of us that He doesn’t already know. He is a supreme gentlemen, he will never embarrass you ,or tell the whole world all of your secrets. He wants us to bring everything to Him and  admit that we have problems so he can help us.
Everyone needs trusted prayer partners but you also need that one on one with God, seek purification, seek out the calling and gifts and seek confirmation of them at church.
We can feel lead in certain areas, but I tell you ,whatever area of ministry that stirs your heart is usually where your calling will be found BUT always study God’s word and if seems like a foreign language in the King James , get the New King James, it’s more easily understood, there several of versions of the Bible out there but I personally stop here, but no matter what you are called to do, you must have a good foundation of the word of God. It protects you from false doctrine especially when you are seeking.

“Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which is given thee by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.” 1 Timothy 4:14

I feel this is another shortcoming of modern churches today, we are to seek these gifts because they are not for us, they are needed to accomplish the work in the Kingdom.

“Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly unto them; thy   profiting may appear to all. TAKE HEED UNTO THYSELF, AND UNTO THE DOCTRINE; CONTINUE IN THEM: FOR IN DOING THIS THOU SHALT SAVE THYSELF AND ALL THAT HEAR THEE.” 1 Timothy 4:14,15

The time has come to seek and stir up those gifts of God, as he said if you will do these things you will see the lost saved.
And while seeking, the enemy will rear his head to attempt to discourage you, and he will ask “And you are?” 

Take your answer from Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:10 (a)”But by the grace of God I am what I am; and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain:..”

We are the generation chosen to seek His face, now it is up to us to believe that!


Original Post Date: 02/15/14  Φλογίζω/  All Rights Reserved.  Nina BrownJohnson/ 2015