A Good Soldier for Jesus Christ.

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” 2 Timothy 2:1 – 4

We who are True Christians will never enjoy living on this world, it is not our home. We are awaiting our flight to God’s glorious Kingdom; we are waiting to appear in the place Jesus has prepared for us with Him. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John 14:3 Here on this earth we are hated just as He was and for His sake. Oh, we can enjoy a few things in this life, but life on this earth is not ours to enjoy. As Christians the Lord tells us not to love this world, which I believe is the system of it not the world itself. God created this world, and He created it for Himself and for us who trust Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Always remember when Jesus said He created a place for us it must be close to Him because as Christians we are His, a gift from His Father and His love for us will never cease, NEVER! The churches are His Bride, not all churches but His churches, not all members but those who have been good solders for Jesus Christ. See, not all church members are good church members are worthy of the title Bride. Churches are like her members, none are infallible, and we do not always know what our membership are doing in secret, but God does. "Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD." Jeremiah 23:23 - 24 Only church members that are faithful to God, their family, and their churches can enjoy being part of the bride. Being a good soldier in Jesus Christ requires being a good soldier in church and being a good Christian in this life. We must understand that God sees everything and no sin hides from His eyes. Paul wrote “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” We are not on our own, we do not have to travel this life by our own power. It is Gods grace not only that brings salvation, but it is the same grace that sustains us in our everyday life. It is that grace that we must stand strong in, we have no power to sustain ourselves no more than we could save ourselves. “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Ephesians 4:7 We must recognize those graces given to us and be strong in then, striving to serve and worship the Lord, being good church members, and recognizing what God wants and expects of us as His elect soldiers. Listen closely to Albert Barnes “Grace is bestowed upon all true Christians, and all have enough to enable them to live a life of holiness. Yet we are taught here: (1) That it is a “gift.” It is “bestowed” on us. It is not what is originated by ourselves. (2) It is by a certain “measure.” It is not unlimited, and without rule. There is a wise adaptation; an imparting it by a certain rule. The same grace is not given to all, but to all is given enough to enable them to live as they ought to live. (3) That measure is the gift of Christ, or what is given in Christ. It comes through him. It is what he has purchased; what he has obtained by his merits. All have enough for the purposes for which God has called them into his kingdom, but there are not the same endowments conferred on all. Some have grace given them to qualify them for the ministry; some to be apostles; some to be martyrs; some to make them eminent as public benefactors. All this has been obtained by Christ; and one Should not complain that another has more distinguished endowments than he has." Well Said Brother!!! We must recognize that life is our battlefield and fight life everyday to win the battle of life with the tools God has given to us, remembering always while God’s grace will bring us to victory, we must run the race. God has chosen your life, it is a gift and the race is yours, the battle is yours no matter what God has chosen for you i.e. Job, it is your to run. While we do not understand why that God elected for us a life on poverty, a life of illness, a life of misery, or a live of wealth and joy, it is God that chose it for us and that life is our battlefield. Just make sure the life you are living is God’s will for you and fight for that life even if it leads to being a martyr for Christ. The harder the battle in this life the greater the rewards in heaven. “…be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5  Beloved, our old nature is to sin and our new nature is to be holy, it is a battle within to fight the good fight always remembering we are not fighting the fight of life alone, we live, move, and have our being by God’s grace. Therefore, let us pray for much grace to be strengthened because we will not always be perfect, but when we fall God will pick us up and tell us to keep fighting. We ought to pick each other and help our Brothers and Sisters edifying them without damnation or criticizing them. “Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” James 5:20 It is our work in life to serve the Lord our God in this life and if we fail, we not only fail ourselves, but we fail the church and God. Your life is not yours, it is Gods on loan to you, therefore it is to be used for the purpose that God has chosen for you, no matter how ugly the battlefield gets, FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF LIFE FOR God and Jesus Christ, and in the end God will reward you with eternal rewards. “Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” John 6:27 

Look Very Closely to the Word “Sorceries”

Revelation 18:23 “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.”

When you study the book of Revelations and search for answers you will find a lot of disagreement. This is true in most of the scriptures, but it is most certain in “The book That is Yet to Be, Revelations”. Our church has had two multiple year studies thru this Prophetic Book. I have worked extremely hard to study this book, using M.L. Moser Jr as my reference. Brother Moser has a Study Guide to this book; it is not a lot of commentary but an outline of the entire book. Chapters 17 and 18 are talking about the New Babylon which is described as Catholicism or the Great Harlot or the Scarlet-Colored Woman. While I am not going to get a lot into this topic, she (the Catholic church) is prominent in the world and still has much power and control. Almost 99% of the worlds so-called Christian population adheres themselves to Catholicism as the “Mother Church”. They deny Jerusalem as the Mother Church and attest that it is Catholicism and testify that she started in Acts chapter two, but there is not one single piece evidence that any church started in Acts Two! However, we must assume that most all these churches that assume her to be the Mother Church will follow her lead. If you read chapter 17, I believe the Holy Spirit through John describes the Great Harlot as the Catholic Church, without question. I also believe that the small “Protestant” churches are little harlots (Protestant) churches are selling themselves to the world as religious Harlots for a profit. 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”. Chapter 18 of Revelations shows the fall of the modern-day Babylon, once the Great Harlot gathers all the little harlots into one fold, she will sleep with the False Prophet and the Anti-Christ in helping control and establishment a one world religion on the earth. If you look at the religionist-Christians today you already see many of them as Harlot with the world to profit themselves, their churches, and their bank accounts. “For the love of money is the root of all evil…” The Anti-Christ and False Prophet by the authority and power of the Great Dragon (Satan) will through Islam and Catholicism control 2/3 of the world’s religious population leaving only about a 1/3 for the False Prophet to deliver. It will all be controlled by MONEY which the Anti-Christ will control. Again, money will be the controlling factor, and therefore the word Harlot is used. Chapter 18 deals with the Great Harlot’s destruction, God said “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” Verse 21 Then God told us how she, the Anti-Christ, The False Prophet, and Satan would deceive the people, “…for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” This word sorceries means a few things, witchcraft and magic but is also means medication or drugs. Most people focus on the witchcraft and magic and eliminate the drug aspect. However, the Greek word for sorceries is pharmakeia which is where we get our word pharmacy which is where we get our drugs. However, witchcraft, magic, and drugs are all designed to make you hallucinate or to control your mind into believing something true or not true. Once a person is hooked on a habit of this sort they can almost never stop, and they would sell their soul (if they could) to get it. I have never been against something that is medically needed, and anything that is prescribed by a real and responsible doctor helps people with pain then so-be-it. However, medical use of Marijuana today is for habit usage and not medical usage. It is like pain pills they are habit and people will do whatever is needful to get them. The conversation has been debated for years to legalize Marijuana, saying it is just an herb and it is harmless, and the worst one of all, it is no different than alcohol. While it is true that there in not much difference, both alter the mind, and both will cause you to do things you would normally not do to get it. The great push for legalization is two-fold, (1.) for the tax money, and (2.) to control the people that use it. Most of the time using Marijuana leads to harder drugs, pain pills, meth, heroin, etc. All of these are designed to alter the mindset (1.) by Satan and (2.) by the people pushing to sell it. These little Harlots called protestant churches who prostitute themselves out to the wishes of the world bring legalization to the pulpits in support as they do with most of Satan’s desires. Satan is setting the world up for a take-over in the Tribulation Period and he will use drugs to assist in this takeover. Remember God said “…for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” And “For the love of money is the root of all evil:” because both will be controlling factors in taking over the world, and your government is not excluded. NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER TRUST YOUR GOVERNMENT! Our government in the USA is full of evil, while some Presidents of the past have claimed to be Christians and could have been, but it is hard to believe that many could have been. God calls them His servants in Romans 13, but not servants of righteousness. However, He does calls them “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil…” v.3 I believe our government was designed by God to bring the world into the Tribulation Period and therefore the world leaders including Presidents are used in time to bring in this time. Now the legalization of Marijuana is a legal way to control the population and alter their minds. Never doubt the government to give you drugs in a vaccine or in some other form to control you. Money and Drugs are both controlling. Never take a drug that is not needed for pain or medical help and only take what you absolutely need. And never love money, both will cause you to disobey the Lord and cause you to whore yourself to the world and Satan for them.     

Christians, Stand Firm!

Jude 1:17 - 18 “But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.”

I know it is hard living is a world that is getting worse and worse every day. It is hard to live in a world that hates God more and more every day. The hate of this world is not just against God, it is against Christians and churches alike. Jesus said, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” John 7:7 The world hates us because we are Christians, it hates us that we stand for God’s word and try to do God’s works, against abortions, against homosexuals, against sinfulness. This world is getting eviler by the day, evil has overtaken our education system and are brainwashers with evil and teaching anti-Godism. Our government have been taken over by these same evil people who are as evil as our educational system, and it is not going to get better. Paul wrote to young preacher Timothy, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” 2 Timothy 3:12 – 13 If you look closely at this verse you will see the reality of this verse In America, but also in the world. Christians have always lived in persecution since Jesus was here, but look closely at verse 13, “evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” The word “seducer” is defined - a deceiver, imposter – which are liars not only telling lies but believing them. Today you no longer must prove anything, just keep telling the lies and the people will believe it. Three things control this world, money which is the root of evil, the news media which controls our information, and government which make the laws. The seducers control all three in this world, and it is getting worse by the day. Jude warned us, “…there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.” A “mocker” is defined - a false teacher: - mocker, scoffer – these false teachers, i.e. educators, news media, and etc. will be pushing their own lust and brainwashing people with their own evil lust, and God warned when this happens we are in the “last days”. John wrote in The Revelations, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” Revelation 18:23 The “Bridegroom” is Jesus Christ and the Bride is the churches, their voices will not be heard again even though we keep preaching. People will attempt to eliminate both the bible and the voice of the churches; Satan will use the voice of the Arminian churches assist in to do this. They will confuse the world with false teachings to promote humanistic views that eliminates God, Jesus, and Grace from salvation that also works to the elimination of God from peoples thinking. These false prophets will promote humanism over God creating a Godless religion. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”  Romans 1:25 This is the definition of mockers and scoffers, the educators, news medias, and politicians, all fit into this category of mockers and scoffers, all are liars. Therefore, as we see this world getting worse and worse, we as Christians and churches should not be of great concern because God has ordained it all to be. He warned us that happenings over time would worsen more and more and seeing all these evils should grow our faith in God. We should be rejoicing, not over the persecutions and liars but over seeing God’s revelations of the end of our time coming true and closer and closer by the day. Therefore, as we watch the world grow more and more in evil, living in lies, and brainwashing our young it all points to the last days. Therefore, while the pain is great seeing salvations getting far in between, churches getting fewer and fewer, and churches dying off, it is all living in the last days. There was a time when churches and Christians were murdered even by so-called other Christians that were nothing but scoffers and murders. But do not forget God is in control and God will be victorious in the end. God sets kings up and God takes kings down, to God be the glory. Our suffering will only be a short time, therefore we churches and Christians must stand firm in Christ. Every time a Church weakens, or a Christian weakens to the power of this world Satan gets a victory. The Lord warned us, “Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” 1 Corinthians 16:13 

Knowing God and Jesus His Son is Not Fleshly!

James 2:19 “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

Throughout the world, and in our own Nation we find many religions, but few Christians. I have been strong in repeating this very fact, salvation is not believing in God, salvation is believing in Jesus Christ. Salvation is not in believing only in the name of Jesus Christ nor in the actions of Jesus Christ, but truly trusting Him for Who He is and His actions on the cross to save you from your sins. Anyone can be taught to believe, anyone can be taught to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour, but salvation is more than that, salvation is about trusting Jesus Christ as Saviour in totality. Believing in God is simple, god can be anything, I remember John Denver believed in nature as God, some people believe in other people as God i.e. the Pope, anything or anyone can be god to people. People can even believe in Jehovah as God, but they refuse to believe in the true Jehovah. Satan knows God, most demons are fallen angels and they know who God is, and Satan’s earthly servants knows who God is because the fight Him. Religious people know who God is, assemblies are filled every week with people that knows who God is. But they still do not know God, because they do not genuinely believe in God as God, neither do they believe in Jesus as Saviour. It is one thing to know God or to know Jesus because hell is full of people who know God, but they really do not know Him. No one truly knows God until they know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, no one! Paul wrote these words, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:10 No lost person understands this verse. What is the “heart” God is referring too, it is the inner person or as God calls it the inner man? “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;” Ephesians 3:16 When God speaks of the heart He is not speaking of the blood pumper as we do, He is speaking of the inner person which is actually your spirit. Look closely what Paul wrote in Romans 2:28 - 29 “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Here notice Paul is speaking to two things, he is speaking of our stance as Christians, we are not fleshly Jews but spiritual Jews as Christians, and second Paul is not talking about our cutting out in the flesh but in the spirit. But notice Paul said “circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit” Paul is saying the “heart of the spirit” which is the outward actions of the inner man. People sometimes say “they have a good heart” but I ask, “in what way” is it pumping well, is the arteries not stopped-up, no their talking about their actions being good. They are believing that their actions are good because they look or sound good to them because their doing what their mind tells them. True believers in Jesus Christ have a living spirit which is their heart as God calls it, God is not talking about the blood pumper but the spirit. The spirit or inner person or heart was given in creation, Adam and Eve were created “upright” or righteous in God’s image. It was in the fall they died in two ways, eventually physically but immediately spiritually. They were separated from God, or “hid themselves from God” no longer desiring to be with God. While they still lived physically, spiritually they were dead to God, loosing all access and communication with God, and no longer desiring God. Everything we are to God is spiritual and not physical. We are saved spiritually not physically. God said, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” John 6:63 In Ephesians 2:1 God speaks of quickening our dead spirits, which is our only communication link with God because they were dead. Everything we do in this life for God we do it spiritually. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:11 - 12 And even in our true worship it is spiritual not fleshly, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23 – 24 Lost people cannot worship God, neither can they know God nor His Beloved Son Jesus Christ.

Therefore, please let me close with this, if the Holy Spirit has not quickened your dead spirit then you cannot know God. People who are lost can know God, Jehovah God as many things, but to know Him intimately they cannot and do not know Him. They do not recognize His Authority, His Sovereignty, His Works, or even His True Being. They do not recognize His Son Jesus The Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection, they do not understand the cleaning power of His blood, nor do they truly trust Him for their salvation. They do not know or trust the Holy Spirt, and the power and works He accomplishes, nor do they trust Him to deliver them to the gospel to be saved, they do not believe Him as teacher of the scriptures nor the spiritual leader of their works in life. Because they believe they have all these glorious powers in their own spiritually dead selves and their own depraved powers, to do what God does for us. Therefore, while they may know of God, they do not know Him, and this is why they reject God and depend on themselves until they open their lying and depraved eyes in the fiery pits of eternal hell. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” Romans 1:25