During the last 24 months and especially the last 9 months life has taken quite a turn and has impacted on the amount of time and energy I have been able to spend delving into the subject matter of this blog.
And yet…
The one matter that has been addressed practicably in my life is the unfathomable mind of God and His good and perfect will for our lives.
You may find such a comment unusual in the light of what I am about to write, especially if you are more acquainted with modern “positive” Christianity than Biblical Christianity, but, even at times all our flesh has trouble making sense of the ways of God, and we need to remember that our flesh requires death, and that includes dying to our opinions whilst under instruction by that Great Teacher, the Holy Spirit aka the Spirit of Truth.
(This also does not make any SENSE unless you SEE the UNSEEN by FAITH and you cannot get faith except by hearing.1
This is not wishing as even many Christians tend to interpret it. It is perceiving in the mind and heart (not an imagination / intuition unlike what positive thinking and witchcraft would encourage.) Remember Faith is a gift so if you do not have it then this will remain non-sense to you.)
This though is all put in perspective that a good day for God can be the worst day for us.
It was a good day for God when His Son was crucified for the sins of those who believe in Him and repent. It even pleased Him. Isaiah 53:10-12
“Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”
It was good when God made every tree in the garden including the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Genesis 1:12-13, Genesis 1:31, Genesis 2:9 respectively,
“And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”
“And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”
21st Century Western thinking has been corrupted by the idea and concept of:
Personal Rights (which has been pushed beyond sanity and loosened the shackles which tethered men and women to a mature and perfect interpretation and application of such an idea aka the law of God.) You must choose between your rights or being right before a Holy God. A light burden compared to what we can see coming on the horizon, the complete abdication of the rights of God to command certain requirements from His creation – (what if the periodic table of elements did not behave as it should, we are beginning to see just that!),
Independence (though in many regards such a ideal is vitally important as a counter to the rising global socialism in all it’s forms of nationalism and internationalism), it is amazing how many who take the “ours” and “we” approach cry blue murder when the collective hand falls on “what’s mine not yours.” including thoughts, beliefs, convictions and the way ones life is lived.
Freedom (which used to always be connected to biblical morals and duty and thus could never be interpreted as a virtue for licentiousness unlike today),
Justice (which has become a justification for our sins by actions of self righteousness and has morphed into a real and present innovative injustice) a shift has taken place from English Equity whose hand is stayed by common law and tempers the harshness of the letter of the law balanced by the spirit of the law, towards Roman Equity (which is what Jesus was tried under by Pontius Pilate, aka the only law in this system was the preservation of Caesar’s authority and dignity, and today the Judges responsibility is to protect the interests of the state both economically and from embarrassment as per their legal requirement), and
Happiness (which is a vain and futile venture into idolatry – serving what your see (which is what idolatry means) aka not just stuff but also relationships, chasing not only stuff but experiences, family etc – and loving pleasure more than loving God and ones neighbour). 2 Timothy 3:4.
It is rarely times of prosperity and our idea of “blessing” that brings the growth in our lives that God desires to see in us. (The blessing God says he will bring is usually spiritual not physical, though obeying the commandments will frequently bring physical blessing just by their very nature. eg: keeping sexual relations within the confines of marriage constrains virtually all likelihood of STD’s, or the jealous ungodly one night stand who becomes obsessive and commits homicide in fits of envy, hate and sexually driven rage, the break up of your home and heart, financial enslavement and another man or woman raising your children in godlessness. Speaking the truth keeps those who would tempt you to compromise far from your home and heart because they will not tolerate you and will have already rejected you.)
It is not mirth that tends men’s thoughts towards seeking God and being humbled against the “pride of life”. Rather the poor in spirit are blessed (not the poor financially).
Instead, for the purposes of conforming us into the likeness of His Son, He must take us through fire, trial and difficulty (which may involve being poor financially). See Acts 14:22
“Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
This itself can be a blessing if it saves us from a future of eternal separation from God.
Fire is good for cleansing. It sterilises medical instruments and cauterises wounds (though will more than likely result in infection).
It refines metals (like the kingdoms of this world) and tests our mettle, by bringing out our character (bring out Christ in us), which otherwise would remain polluted by those things that dilute it or compromise it.
So if you are God’s son or daughter do not be surprised to not only stumble upon adversity, but have long prolonged periods of refinement.
Let this be your encouragement in this world. That such a path on which you walk and stumble upon is not confirmation of your condemnation and perdition but rather proof of your redemption and the process of sanctification in your life and conforming to the image of Christ.
As Morpheus says to Neo in the Matrix “There is knowing the path, then there is walking the path.”
Not that Morpheus actually knows what he talking about in these regards, but such a statement is truth, so let’s elevate truth when we hear it.
My Families Blessing … What?
The path the Lord has had me walk has been a growing, backbreaking slog (the picture of Christian prior to loosing his burden, in John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress, makes more sense with experience) and derives from the time I specifically prayed that God purge me back around 1993.
(Dumb, but then I was ignorantly bowing to the will of God which is the specific definition of prayer.
Careful what you ask for, but then God already knows what your going to ask for because He put it there in you heart.
When you get a hold of that truth all of a sudden everything becomes calm and still, and you stop fighting for your will to be done or trying to twist God’s arm or Word.
The words “Peace be still” become a present reality in life as the waters of your soul are made quiescent.)
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus Christ is the fulfilment of the commandments. It is this rest of the 4th commandment which He has given us. A rest from our works of unrighteousness and works of the flesh.
2 Peter 3:16 “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
As you can perceive this path goes back much further than the last few years but that would be more apt to be included in a more detailed testimony which detracts from what I have to impart here.
The last 24 months my family has had to contend with a deteriorating condition in my wife which has led to a number of hospitalisations this year, culminating in an admission to emergency.
Presenting in a state of collapse and inability to hold anything, memory loss and a continuing loss in weight etc, I discovered her “serious condition” was a Serious Condition since the emergency Doctor called me asking for my help.
I was later to find out her organs were shutting down and the medical staff were scrambling to see if they could get them to reboot (which is not usually the case once the point of no return has been reached) as they found she was in metabolic acidosis.
Thankfully over the next few days it became clear by the evidence that her organs had begun operating again.
I was told if I had brought her into emergency any later she would have died.
As it turned out and as I pointed out the issue was linked to serious nutritional deficiencies.
An issue that had come up repeatedly and neglected as an issue repeatedly.
This time though we had a wonderful kidney Doctor and Professor who did comprehensive blood work which brought her to my wife’s bedside to conclude and inform us that my wife had a case of wet berriberri. The only case she knew of in Australia since prisoners were released from concentration camps in World War 2.
(I have since then met others who have had exactly the same thing. This also turned out to be just one of the issues.)
You could imagine what a shock such a revelation was to us, even when I was aware of nutrition issues, that put the matter in a proper context.
With so many “professionals” telling us previously it was everything but nutrition (including it is all in the mind), you doubt the clear truth and evidence you know to be true.
That also can occur in this world and even more so within a Church context surrounded by “Christians”, aka the Social Group / Hive Mind.
God can clearly show you in His Word the truth, but our fleshly ears seem to pay greater attention to those we consider “above” us and those “around” us.
But I have come to realise the closest of those to us may be miles away in this world but hold the same love of the truth in Christ.
My brother’s, sister’s and neighbour’s are those who do the will of the Father in heaven. Mark 3:35
With such a serious situation one would think things would fall apart.
Amazingly they didn’t. In fact it was discovered that our children had a most memorable time having me more reliably at home, in the Word before bed, praising God, praying, and getting them to pick up the slack in doing more chores and helping around the house, even doing their homework without being told to.
We were supported by wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ who brought over regular meals and others helped by looking after my children till I got home from work.
Even work tried to make things more flexible though I came to literally days before I would have to leave my employment.
The children seeing their Mum in such a bad way though had a very sobering effect on them and such things that came out of this were good. It brought them back to the reality of life, the importance of time, and the comfort a godly home brings even in the midst of turmoil.
It brought up the issues of death, eternity, and set everyone’s priorities straight, in the distracting culture and world of the 21st Century, we need to be doing this actively on a regular basis, not only when turmoil strikes our lives.
This brings us to the real question of who are we. Who are you, who am I?
Are you the one who sits in tranquil sterility of a cotton wool Western Culture of safety, provision, comfort, luxury, and nice dainty relationships of puerile tolerance and exulted ignorance. (If you are you will be having a rude awakening a lot sooner than later) reflect on Proverbs 22:3 and Matthew 24:42-44
“A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.”
and
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”
Or do you only know who and what you are when you face trial, tribulation, buffeting, vilification, hateful passions of the wrathful, inclement environments and events.
Will you stand or fall?
(Our problem in the West still is not persecution, yet. It is ourselves, our lusts and wicked desires that can be so easily solicited by this Global Sodom and Egypt.
They are using the approach pleasure – avoid pain principle.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUVKqExc4M
watch this video especially at 1’16” – 1’34”
It is the latter that our cruel / over protective Big Brother and Beast called Government whose hand it intends to stay.
The hand of God, the Father’s disciplinary hand held back so man can revel in his unbridled licentious passions, filthy fetishes, and wicked wanderings.
Let the straight path be covered with briars and stones of stumbling, may it be hidden from sight, cry the froward tongues.
Cheers with fists punching the sky come from those of froward hearts.
The principles of protection implemented in preventing hunger, pain, loss, turmoil within, deadening the conscience to the Spirit of truth and praising the virtues of lies and deception. Ignorance is bliss.
But this is truly hell. Separated from Truth, from God, from good, from need and the need to seek. Now one only need to explore self and the god within and discover with all the gurus and spiritual leaders before them that there is nothing there. The great nothingness and the terrifying darkness of an empty life without God. (Genesis 1:2)
May Lakshmi be with you (aka good luck) for God most certainly will not. He will hide Himself and not be found, you who have taken again from that Tree a second time.
The refusal of chastisement proves them to be the bastards they are, unlike Maslow who breaks backs to prove himself the same. see Hebrews 12:8
They try to live Fatherless, absent of the Father of Life, Light and Love.
Of course they disagree vehemently because they redefine the meaning of Life, Light and Love, because they call evil good and good evil.
They wrest the words of God and even the definitions of men. They reshape them, enlarge their morphological borders to encompass multidimensional layers of meaning all for nefarious scheming agendas.
This is because, regardless of the facts, they consider themselves masters of their own universe, they do have a father, the father of lies.
(But be at peace. God has also encased His Word in stratification of meaning, in that the wicked trap themselves in their own devising’s. Job 18:5-21.)
The lesson from all this is to despise all these devices of the enemy. That is the usage as found in Hebrews 12:2-4
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”
The word despise in the Greek is katafrone,w kataphroneo .
This is made up from kata meaning to look down and phreneo meaning understanding or thinking or feeling,
“…to feel contempt for someone or something because it is thought to be bad or without value.” Louw Nida Lexicon
It means to think little of or have no regard for.
So it is not that he hated the shame as the English word today would convey as something being despicable (aka think of Daffy Duck), but how little it meant in the big scheme of things. Something worthless and contemptible because He could see what good was going to be achieved by it.
Well what fruits I can now see in my family and in my life and the life of my wife is becoming very stark, now the crashing waves of chaos have calmed down to light chop.
(Though new health challenges keep coming up which I take as a challenge for me to seek remedy and grow in knowledge. The lesson is take responsibility for you and your families health, physically and psychologically not just spiritually. Your support in prayer would not go unwarranted.)
Ordo Ab Chao the motto of the Freemasons, Order out of Chaos is not something men in all their scheming can bring forth, but only God.
This chaos I see is served by multiple “coincidences” numerous events and ongoing difficulties culminating and coalescing to complete just one more stage in a grand design in conforming us into Christ’s image, and breaking the beasts image in our hearts and actions.
This has been a reset. A renewing. An opportunity to reassess.
Our children have come to truly appreciate the things that are real and have real meaning. They, like all children, desire time. It tells them they are important. Today’s distractions are there to prevent children from feeling and recognising the desire for time and feel like just a drop in the ocean.
They appreciate our words and instruction (though not always liking it when it addresses them personally in their sin). They are learning to appreciate their mother, learning to be more considerate and understand our efforts of sacrifice.
Appreciating just simple things like new clothes that serve mere need not wants (artificially generated by Catalogues, Advertising and such) was so clear in one of my children recently.
Sometimes being without can be a virtue if it’s lessons are heard.
Yes they are still children and have their moments, many moments, just as God looks at many of us and see we still have our moments (oh man can I have mine), but there is a seriousness that not so much I have noted by my own observation, ( I am the harshest critic of my own parenting), but by the observation of everyone else who we come across.
They are clearly standing out in the eyes of others, Christian or not.
A curious perspective worth indulging a moment, but equally important to ignore and forget else one rests on ones laurels and begins judging ones stance and actions before a holy and righteous God by comparing with those around you. 2 Corinthians 10:12.
A most insane practice which the church has been doing throughout it’s decline over the last 150 years.
Only keep one or two steps behind the world’s decline in each decade and claim the moral high ground. Nothing but self deception.
Now the church has a lower standing before God (morally speaking) than the world did in the 1950’s, if not even the 1990’s. As 1 Peter 4:17 states
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
Think not what is happening in the world is God judging the world. judgement BEGINS at the house of God!
I have the tendency to set the bar high for my family. I do not expect them to reach it today or tomorrow, but I do expect they are reaching higher tomorrow than they did today.
I expect nothing from them which I do not expect from myself.
Not for salvations sake, for that is in Christ, but for the glory and honour of His Name, that His name be not blasphemed because of our hypocrisy or lackadaisical slackness.
My hope is they will continue in their families, setting the bar higher still, higher than I can even perceive possible in the declined state of mind and spirit I am in, for we have stooped so low and are pathetic.
As I say that, I consider Revelation 2:5
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.”
Several years ago God motivated me greatly in applying Ephesians 5:15-17 to my life, and how I spend my time,
“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”
How marvellously God has redeemed the time I wasted, time I spent in foolish pursuits, sinful indulgence, God’s grace is miraculous and shockingly… gracious, but has also required my activity not my continued apathy or “waiting upon the Lord”.
There is a time and a place for that and when you are out of the will of God it is paramount you take 2 Corinthians 6:2 into account
“(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)”
This statement in the letter to the Corinthians is a quote from Isaiah 49:8
“Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages”
God will take us through dry places, trials and testing will take place, but stand in your faith, for like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the Son of God walks with you and will bring you through the fire.
The love between my wife and I has only grown stronger and she has gone through a rapid transformation herself becoming an almost unrecognisable better version of herself.
I encourage you to pursue obeying the word of God in all things, because it does impact our lives right now, not just in some future time in some ethereal promise.
We have found ourselves discussing things we have not broached before and this has opened up areas where we thought we had understanding when in fact we did not, thus applied the clear commands of the New Testament to our marriage which provides remedies against this wicked world, creates unspeakable joy, and gives experiential glimpses into the relationship of Christ and the Church which itself should give us inspiration for how we also are to relate in our marriages.
We may not be able to do all that we hope but the very fact we know I am seeking to fulfil her needs and be the husband she needs and she is seeking to fulfil my needs and be the wife I need, (not just being the husband and wife we think we want to be for each other which really is still an immature means of seeking self and not your spouse) creates a peace even when we cannot always meet those goals.
Using Christ and the Church as the model for a loving marriage once you begin to both get into the swing of it, you start to not only understand how wise it is but how much joy there is in obedience.
It takes two to tango and we both know we on the same dance floor not just in the same building, or same city.
I hope and pray that Christians awaken to the reality that is living the life Christ expects us to live. I pray we continue to do so and grow into ways we do not know even exist.
Just knowing we are both working to the same end and have the same objectives though the route to meeting those are different for me as they are for her has brought such a peace and strength to us that we are actively looking forward to see how God can use us in the time to come.
As a satellite changes its trajectory by using the orbit of a heavenly body so too the Lord has made further adjustments in the direction of our lives through the use of the difficulties we have gone through, so that instead of going in a general direction of Gods will, we are being aligned in a more precise fashion. (And more to come without a doubt.)
Instead of allowing us to be a “wandering star” we are made to walk in the way. As Jude 1:13 states
“Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”
A wandering star is the Greek word planh,thj planetes which we derive the word planet. In the ancient world a planet was thought to be wandering which means to be out of the way.
This makes more sense now of that famous song sung by Lee Marvin “I was born under a wandering star”.
The gods were attributed with planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus so it makes total sense for the Son of God to come and call Himself the Way.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
So if you are going through intense difficulties in your life orient yourself towards getting more in the path, the Way of Christ, you might be heading in the general direction but a simple error over huge distance can result in completely different destinations.
Allow God to reorient your life, your desires, your passions, your fears, your weaknesses and strengths in the direction He wills for you to head.
We need God to do this in our lives because there are some serious gravitational vortexes coming up on the horizon which have been designed to suck everything into a coming global containment system, or should I say, enslavement system.
Ideological, and philosophical gravitational vortices that are on the scale of some galactic comparison to a black hole.
A 21st Century dark age.
Spirit crushing, bestial and soul wrenching, pulling everything you are and believe into tiny pieces. But fear not for God has a way of escape planned out for each of us.
Just as NASA has to plan (predestinate) their mission to get a satellite to pass by certain way points utilising the gravitational pull of planets so too God has planned out the life of His Saints at predestined waypoints where those things of this world that are out of the way are used in His infinite wisdom to reorient us back into His way so we head exactly to the foreordained waypoint in life.
God used persecution in the early church to scatter the Saints so they would spread the gospel, not remaining stagnant in one cloistered location. Acts 8:1-4
“And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. 4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.
He brings His saints through trials and tribulations not to always escape them.
Acts 14:22
“… we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”
Here then is our encouragement our patience and our endurance, that as Paul says in Philippians 1:6
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
We all have our stories and God is working in our lives more directly and blatantly as this worlds glimmer and sheen tarnishes before our eyes.
Even so Come Lord Jesus
In the Wonderful Name of Salvation
Dunce Scholar 2015
PS: Looking forward to amping up the supply of armaments to the saints in coming posts for this battle is a mind war.
Not interested in issuing butter knives, let us together sharpen our Sword of the Spirit that our tongues may speak One Language and make One clear clarion trumpet call to battle.
Raise the standard of Christ who was raised for us.
Footnotes:
1.
Romans 10:16-18
“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.”
2 Corinthians 5:7
“For we walk by faith, not by sight:”
Seeing doesn’t come by intuition but by revelation.
The Psychology of Satan and the Unfathomable Mind of God 